EUROPE IS IN A DOOM LOOP

1 February 2024

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/31/europe-is-finished-condemned-third-rate-elites/

SUMMARY

Allister Heath mourns the demise of Europe, citing economic failure, geopolitical irrelevance, migration crises, and democratic deficits. He suggests Europe's decline is irreversible due to ingrained issues like welfarism, decadence, and self-hatred.

"... the doom-loop is unstoppable."

He argues that young Europeans would fare better in the U.S., emphasising higher living standards, lower taxes, and a more vibrant spirit. Additionally, he criticises Europe's political, economic, and demographic challenges, asserting that even Brexit failed to diagnose and prompt necessary changes.

The piece concludes by cautioning against realigning with Europe, emphasising the continent's accelerating decline and asking,

"How can further increasing our ties with a zero-growth continent or a shrinking German economy do anything for Britain? It can't. And how will the British Left respond to the rise of the far Right in Europe?"

CRIT

1. The EU was working fine when it was a partnership between equals, France and Germany. After the "trente glorieuses", the 30 boom years from World War II to the oil price hike in 1973, Germany moved ahead.

2. The Cold War was a time when the West could probably have bumped off Russia. Putin came to power in 1999 with objective to end the chaos and introduce order.

3. Helmut Kohl was Chancellor during the Cold War to 1998 and saw through German reunification in 1990. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, he spotted the opportunity to take on board all those former Soviet countries and use them as Germany's supply chain. Meaning what had been the West-East German-French Alliance then switched to a North-South - this further damaged France, the alliance and the EU. The euro was another great win for Germany, getting stronger and stronger, worrisome for America.

4. Amongst many achievements, the next Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, came up with the brilliant plan of using Russia for energy, America for defence and China for commerce. He also notably opposed the 2003 American Intervention in Iraq.

5. From de Gaulle to Mitterand, France had an independent defense policy and this meant it had its own armaments industry and could very easily have been the birthplace of European military independence from America, but instead has only been able to export outside Europe, in competition with other arms suppliers. By buying American, Germany put a stop to a nascent EU army

6. You can imagine the net result of all this on American fears for its hegemony. Since the last world war, the Democrats have always wanted to destroy Russia and with Ukraine And the promise of NATO Membership dating back to 2008, they created the perfect opportunity. Plus the pipeline and the consequences for American LNG and energy prices for Germany. And the Inflation Reduction Act which is sucking the talent and industry out of Europe, especially Germany.

7. Allister Heath blames the doom loop on mediocre European politicians, but I would put the blame very squarely on American foreign policy.

8. America wanting to kill Russia, or at least the Democrats wanting to kill Russia (the Republicans seem more in favour of making friends and avoiding war - this was completely and deliberately misunderstood in Trump's approaches to Russia), before tackling China; and also wanting to prevent a Germany-Russia tie-up ; and weaken Europe (the EU) generally, which means weakening Germany.

9. Cameron, the new pom-pom girl replacing Boris, must delight America, but this doesn't stop America from wounding the UK by refusing a trade deal. Further proof of American strategy to destroy Russia; weaken Europe, Germany in particular; and prevent a German Russia tie up.

ARTICLE

(For those like me without a subscription.)

In summary, Allister Heath says it's time to mourn the demise of old Europe. The rot is too far gone, the decline too pronounced, the welfarism, decadence, pacifism and self-hatred too ingrained, the doom-loop unstoppable. Once the world's richest, most advanced continent, Europe is finished, its humiliating fall all too obvious to the rest of the world, if not to deluded Europeans.

Its self-inflicted pathologies - catastrophic economic failure, near-total geopolitical irrelevance, a migration and integration crisis, and a gaping democratic deficit - have now metastasised. They have become too complex, too daunting for Europe's third-rate elites even to consider tackling, and especially for the selfish, demagogic politicians who have presided with such insouciance over its social disintegration, "degrowth", Potemkin militaries and appalling demographics. Germany, France,
the Netherlands and elsewhere are on the brink of social explosion, with farmers the latest to have become radicalised.

Any young, ambitious European would be better off moving to America, especially anti-woke Florida or Texas. They will pay less tax.They will live better, happier, freer lives.They will be less likely to face total war. Their living standards will be drastically higher.

In the 248-year intra-Western contest between the US and Europe, there has been only one winner. America is also sick, as witnessed by its own social decay, the rise of the woke ideology and the preposterous -rematch of the geriatrics between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Yet unlike in Paris, Berlin, Rome or Brussels, enough remains of its capitalist spirit, its dynamism, its entrepreneurialism, its love of science, meritocracy and technology, to see it through its current troubles.

Europe's greatest legacies to the world -capitalism, individual liberty, the rule of law
and the "Western, Educated, Industrialised,
Rich, and Democratic" (or "weird") values so
brilliantly described by Joseph Henrich of
Harvard University - will live on in the US.
But there is no way back for a European
continent that has embraced nihilism, post
Christian paganism, illiberalism and the
politics of envy, that believes that saving the
planet requires shutting down successful
industries and impoverishing its people, that
cannot face down Islamist extremism and
anti-Semitism, and that won't reform its
welfare state.

Even Brexit, the ultimate warning signal, failed to change anything. Europe's ruling class dismissed the UK's departure as an aberration, an own goal by self-harming British eccentrics, and doubled-down on its failed policies. It refused to listen to voters; no wonder their rage is becoming ever more combustible, inchoate and unfocused.

The EU population will peak at 453.3 million in two years' time, then slump to 419.5 million by 2100, despite massive immigration,Eurostat predicts. The population will agedrastically, driven by a collapse in the birthrate. Welfare states will implode, with taxesrocketing on the young to pay for healthcareand pensions for the old. The Euro-elites' onlyanswer, even more migration, will empowerpotentially dangerous extremists. In France,Germany, Belgium and elsewhere, the failureto integrate many recent migrants, and theruling class's answer - to lie that all is well - ispaving the way for a cataclysm. The rise ofGermany's AfD should worry us all. TheEuropean elections will see gains forpopulists.

The gulf in living standards between America and Europe keeps on widening. In the final quarter of 2023, US GDP grew by an annualised 3.3 per cent; the Eurozone grew by zero per cent and the German economy shrank again. Putin's invasion of Ukraine didn't help, but Europe shouldn't have become so dependent on Russian gas.

The continent's high-tax, high regulation
The continent's high-tax, high regulation
model has caused decades of under-performance, and now Emmanuel Macron, the EU and the Dutch and German governments are deliberately shutting down swathes of their agriculture to meet net-zero targets. The Germans are destroying their car industry, and Europe will import Chinese electric vehicles instead. Decades of "industrial strategy" and subsidies have failed to create a world-class European tech industry. The continent's economic suicide is already triggering an exodus of the best and brightest.

Europe's geopolitical irrelevance is equally striking. Its defence is being shouldered by long-suffering US taxpayers. The French are nowhere to be seen in the fight against the Houthis; its army is a shadow of its former self, and wouldn't last long in a real war. The Poles and a few others are trying their best, but the German military is a joke, and all the great promises to rebuild European armies made in 2022 have meant nothing. The
continent is almost completely demilitarised, lacks personnel and hardware, doesn't have the capacity to produce more of the latter, has zero long-term answers to contain Putin and has done nothing to prepare for the possibility of a second Trump victory. It's a disgrace.

It beggars belief that so many of the middle class British Remainers and Rejoiners, who will help propel Labour to victory this year, are still so unfathomably ignorant about the true state of Europe's economy and society. Blinded by anti-Tory hatred, obsessed by shiny TGVs and the memories of their pleasant holidays in southern Europe, they assume that things must - just must - bebetter in Europe.

Almost all Labour MPs privately believe that the solution to our own lack of growth is to rejoin the single market or customs union, even though these have failed to save Europe's own economies. How can further increasing our ties with a zero-growth continent or a shrinking German economy do anything for Britain? It can't. And how will the British Left respond to the rise of the far Right in Europe? Will it still love Germany if the AfD is part of its government? Will it still love statist France if Marine le Pen is in the Elysee?

Britain is in an appalling state, but so is Europe. The Brexiteers' Euro-pessimism has been vindicated; the problem is that the establishment refused to use Brexit to break with Brussels' regulatory philosophy and to re-orient our economy away from stagnant EU markets. Britain is therefore increasingly suffering from the same pathologies as Europe, and facing a similar terminal decline. This isn't an argument for more EU, but one for even less, as well as radical domestic change. Europe's gradual eclipse is accelerating, and it would be absurd for any British government to consider realigning the country with it.

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RUSSIAN CRIMES

26 January 2024

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-fridge-parts-uk-b2483117.html

Stunning version of what's going on, a pantheon of propaganda, but overlooking other important Russian failures, acts and omissions:

- Russia's military in the Ukraine invasion is resorting to dismantling household appliances for parts

- the war has set back Russia's military modernisation by nearly two decades

- Russia desperate, such as ordering weapons from North Korea and using Iranian drones 

- significant casualties and setbacks on the field

- the war benefits noone, neither Russians nor Ukrainians

- UK pledges continued support to Ukraine: military aid and humanitarian assistance 

- mistreatment of Russian mobilised troops, beatings by military commanders and challenging conditions at training grounds.

Yea yea...😃😃😃

What about:

 

- Russia's heinous record of intl malfeasance

- sanctions have ruined Russia's economy

- Russia has no friends

- Russia has five years left to live, that's all it's got.

Joking, right?

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IS THE WEST IN NEED OF NATIONALISM

22 January 2024

How to "ensure the survival of our nation and culture". This is what we want, but The West is not doing a good job here and I wonder why. 

You might think that the problem in Ukraine is the same as the problem in Israel, in the sense that at the local level, these are civil war where one side is trying to push the other out of the country. Could the same circumstances provoke civil war in the UK?

Situations get out of control when, within the one state, a people are divided linguistically, religiously, culturally, along some fundamental line of cleavage, and the sides become intolerant of each other.

So you get to thinking that genocide, ethnic cleansing, deportation ... call it what what you want ...but basically the creation of a second state for one of the two sides to flee to and seek refuge in; or alternatively keep the minority for manual work, but suppress all their civil rights.

The appliction of this logic leads to:

- Bombing or secession of the Eastern provinces of Ukraine 

- The two-state solution for Israel or an apartheid state

- And maybe a Homeland for the Hindus or the Sikhs or I don't know what in the UK... a Homeland for the British!

But maybe this is wrong thinking, because the problem is not that the two cultures are irreconcilable, it is that the government has failed to integrate them.

And the case that proves this is actually Russia, because Russia is made up of five different ethnicities (at least, the neocon plan was to break the RF up into five statelets and pillage its abundant resources). But reality is that the Russian government has avoided civil war and all the different and diverse ethnicities are integrated into the Russian motherland.

The best example of this being Chechnya. We remember two facts at the same time : one is the Islamic insurgency or Sunni Jihad, which resulted in Grozny being flattened ; and the second is the outstanding contribution the Chechnyans have made to the war in Ukraine.

So really instead of seeking two-state solutions, with the country diminishing itself geopolitically and economically, perhaps we should ask why Kiev and Tel Aviv failed to integrate the Russian speakers and the Muslims respectively and respectfully. And that would be a useful lesson for our own troubles in France and the UK.

Incidentally, the West does not understand this "talking point" at all. The West thinks that Russia has imperial ambitions and Putin is a monster. It thinks Kiev's bombing the Russian-speakers in the east from 2014 was Russia's pretext for its invasion, but it wasn't a pretext at all it was a provocation, it was what provoked the "unprovoked" invasion and diabolising Putin sets everyone's emotions on edge when cooler, calculating, Russian heads are prevailing. 

Western government sources would have us believe the war in Ukraine began on 24 Febraury 2022 and in  Gaza on 7th October 2023.

In reality, it seems to be a problem of different identities unable to find their place within one National Identity. At the base of a successful integration is nationalism, a strong sense of common belonging, nuanced by recognising local differences or identities, of being Russian before all else, the motherland, for example.

France could really do with this. France is desperately in need of integrating the 10 to 20% of its population that has an identity from North Africa. Salafism or Wahhabism is dying out in the Middle East, with MBS in Saudi and al Sisi having removed the Brotherhood from Egypt and in Abu Dhabi, Dubai or the UAE generally, you have a greater sense of freedom walking about there than you do in many of the suburbs of large cities in France. Thus Arab or Muslim extremism is receding ... unless we in The West give it comfort.

So perhaps the reason why nationalism doesn't work on these guys in France of Arab extraction is more that they remember the colonial experience, especially Algeria, and feel the mistreatment continues in the metropole, rather than because they're Muslim and are looking to convert us from our own beliefs and rules to Islam and Charia. It is civil rights rather than wars of religion. After, they are human too, no? Want peace, prosperity, free to worship whomsoever, send their kids to a good school, move to the suburbs or a nice house further out with a garden and a swing, no?

And what about America, where there appears to be a moral nihilism on the part of the elite and an existential nihilism on the part of the people? The original Protestant settlers exterminated the native population (hello hello), as being sub-human. And then brought in large numbers of Africans which it has never succeeded in integrating, there has been only trouble since the civil rights movement of the 60s. (Civil rights is real equality of treatment under the law, for blacks, for russian-speakers, for palestinians...).

In our Western democracies, the oligarchs rise to the surface, exploit their power And seem to run Congress as part of the military industrial complex, but in a so-called totalitarian (ie no western style democracy with alternance of parties in power) states like China, noone is beyond the reach of state-defined justice. Jack Ma was getting too big for his boots and he was relegated, as were the oligarchs like Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Russia - this was one of the first things Putin did to end the post-Soviet chaos and create structures and order. 

So that looks like the triumph of equality, to unite ethnically / religeously / linguistically different peoples. Unite through fair and equal treatment into one national identity. You know it's working when Muslims go to fight and die for Russia in Ukraine

Equality. So is it democracy (freedom) v. equality? 

Maybe that is what stops the West from integrating its diverse minorities ... here is the irony, or hypocrisy if you prefer. Western liberal democracies drop their border walls to let in diverse peoples whom they proceed to exploit and then wonder why there are these distractions like identity / culture wars and woke parades and civil rights disturbances and cancellations for those outside the box ( like those who've read this far!) and eventually Civil War.

[ For another time, are Liberals pushing individualism too far, at the expense of a stabilising collective identity?]

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THE FINAL SOLUTIONS

21 Janury 2024

We want to understand what's been going on the world geopolitical stage - if it isn't Ukraine then it's Gaza if it isn't gather then it's time when why do we feel so much closer to World War 3; and what can we do to find peace the other side of the conflicts?

Based on the principles of Godzilla (who was the biggest, meanest bully on the block), one-culture one-country, and balance-of-power geopolitics, I feel there's a good and final high-level understanding that most objective and rational people could agree on ( if only they can be left free of this terrible claustrophobic Western propaganda, and allowed to think for themselves from the available and build their own narrative understanding).

The principal goal of any nation state is to keep secure and conserve or improve its position in the anarchic world order of nation states. 

American objective in this regard is to weaken Russia first, to prevent a China-Russia alliance, then America will be free to focus on its principal adversary which is China.

Second, after Russia, America's objective is to avoid a link-up between Russia and Germany and this explains its European policy and why it has weakened Europe, while taking sales ( breaking Germany's commercial link with China and sucking talent and industry out of Europe and into America, from where it can make the sales) and raising costs the point of detonating the Nordstream pipeline) as eliminating another potential threat for the future.

In passing, we can acknowledge the failure of American foreign policy in the realm of military and and financial sanctions.

You can call the solution in Gaza genocide, ethnic cleansing, deportation or simply one-culture one-country. 

A template solution : have a West Ukraine while Russia integrates Russian speakers in the East, try a two-state solution with an independent Palestine  and an independent Taiwan. Ie have separate sovereign states; and use balance of power geopolitics to mark borders and maintain sovereignty.

This is a divide and rule strategy by splitting bigger nation states into smaller it makes it much easier for America to dominate the geopolitics.

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IS AMERICA'S MADNESS REVERSIBLE?

18 January 2024

From time to time, I watch these nature films and also the boxing. They are about violence, first recourse is to violence. Like the American reaction towards the Palestinians. Or America's response to Russia, that finally responded vack to America by entering Ukraine after years of fearing invasion.

We human animals quit the jungle and agreed to live together in tribal settlements for protection from outside attack by animals and other tribes. To manage the impulse to violence inside the group, to keep order and direct energies, we developed religion and began building the rule of law.

That's all very rational. But America's behaviour increasingly defies reason, it goes beyond simply wanting to maintain its world hegemony (athough that explains a lot) and now we see only threats and actual violence.

America spends no time on foreign policy analysis and no effort was made evaluating the programs of work necessary for success, such as would the military supply chain be up to the challenge.

No reflection before action, no planning after setting the goals, nothing except an immediate recourse to violence. Why is this?

It's true that the political leadership in the West is mediocre, some leaders have been mad, others senile even, but given that foreign policy doesn't change much from one Administration to the next, it's not really the leadership that's deciding foreign policy, it's what we call the Deep State keeping up the momentum of wars, so this won't explain the serious mistakes in American foreign policy.

Although Congress seems to be a most corrupt place, where in reality it is the military industrial complex calling the shots, the congresspeople as paid spokespersons for commercial causes, this still doesn't explain satisfactorily, to me at least, why America would get itself into three seriously-losing positions, on three war fronts, with three nuclear powers, and all at the same time. Why are they not seeing the colossal risks, let alone the injustices?

Europe has been neutralised, France has lost its voice and lost its way since Mitterand, and Germany didn't see the American maneuver coming. So Europe is not there to warn America, it daren't.

Never mind what all the clever Talking Heads tell us in the alternative media, no one in power listens to them.

It's very apparent that America has lost its head and become irrational, plain irrational - it is destroying others as well as itself and as I say, it is hard to see why. There's no listening, no internal dialogue within the elite, only conflict,  propaganda and cancellation; and there's no external dialogue or diplomacy, only war. 

If you are not inside the small box of permitted thinking then you are outside and you are ignored or cancelled. And yet, I believe in a plurality of voices and let the best ideas win through. This is what democracy is about. If we don't work like that, we have a dictatorship or fascism, call it what you want.

No listening, no reflection, no objective thinking, no analysis of history. There's just an immediate resort to violence ... so we are back in the jungle!

It was religion and the rule of law that was supposed to keep the peace, so if there is no peace, little social cohesion left - as evidenced by the culture wars, the mass demonstrations, the rise of populism - it must be due to the collapse of a cultural or moral framework, once offered by religion. Religion gives a vision (of heaven and hell as motivator to individual acts), a common way of life (the Commandments and catechism, rewards and punishments for morality) and a set of values (the protestant ethic starts with education, there is a belief in progress from hard work, this needs discipline, thrift and discovery, there is great moral pressure on the individual). Religion unifies and controls ... or it used to. 

Thesis: the Puritan Work Ethic united the people in praise of the Lord. Now that's dissappeared, replaced by science, people feel pushed into extreme individualism, to deny limits once set by our collective identities. By identities, we understandI mean, your race, your culture, your orientation, your gender...all these things you are free to choose. This means that "society", "the family", all these groups we belong to and define who we are, all are swept away. 

With the result Western governments are losing physical, moral and financial control and are devising more and more methods to control their people.

 

Our reserve of tolerance and restraint is broken, it's just constant stress and in-fighting and attempts by the elite at Total Control through blatant propaganda, social credits, discrediting those telling uncomfortable truths, outlawing protest. This strips out our capacity for rational thought and leaves us reacting emotionally and instinctively.

I think that to arrive at this state, our society and its leadership suffer from some kind of group psychological madness. Behaviour is no longer guided by reason but by animal responses. Perhaps an anthropologist could explain this one day...  it looks to be a form of nihilism, this is what happens when an elite loses its sense of purpose and when the people lose their moral sense, Society disaggregates and becomes anomic. Doesn't that characterise the United States today? And increasingly the United Kingdom?

Seems we have the re-emergence of irrational animal instincts. We have this madness that we cannot explain through any kind of rational analysis.

So what to do about this? The usual route for dealing with madness is to get back in touch with reality and attempt to adapt to the real world ie change, respond to the opportunities and threats on offer. Means relaxing, opening doors, listening to the winds of change.

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IF THE AMERICAN ORDER IS DEFUNCT, WHY DOES EUROPE STILL SUPPORT IT?

14 January 2024

Why does Britain continue to contribute to Ukraine? It can only be out of blind deference, it is because of black-and-white thinking - if you are not with us, you're against us.

Reality is, we are in a multi-polar world and that requires listening, diplomacy, negotiation, cooperation. But the West are in a state of denial or resistance.

The West is blind to the construction work underway in The Rest of the world. How to explain this resistance to change? Why for example has Britain just agreed to contribute another £2b of borrowed money to the war in Ukraine, when its own infrastructure and economy are crumbling?

Reality is, no-one anywhere, not even in China which is only really interested in commerce, would be necessarily against the American Empire, provided America is a fair and comprehensive umpire. The problem is it just doesn't work as-described at Bretton Woods anymore, the game is broken, it no longer lives up to the promise, it no longer lives by its own rules.

THE PROMISE

We know that in the US, the system of kickbacks, from industry to campaign funds, and the Wall St. ethic of short-term gain, is what keeps Congress ever-looking for the next war. It would seem to work like this:

 The outlook is maritime (and they thought they could fuck Russia?). 

 The frame is global dominance and free trade. 

 The method is the international rules-based Order, keeping the shipping lanes open for trade, one world currency for payments and safe storage of profits.

 The organisation is through the global units, set up around Bretton Woods in 1944:

  IMF for a common trading currency and any balance-of-payments problems

  The World Bank for the reconstruction of Europe, then Japan and South Korea and later to assist the development of "the Third World"'s infrastructure and economies.

  GATT now WTO, for fair trade.

THE REALITY

 AMERICA

The decline of these lofty ideals set in with decolonisation, corruption and finally Biden. Reality is, the Global Resistance pushed back against the use of the military and sanctions  instead of discussion. China worries about the value of its US govt bonds in the face of heavy indebtedness and borrowing.

 THE UK

In 2016, it was popularily recognised in Britain that a strong Europe comes from a Europe of Nations and that the European Commission was completely wrong in thinking that a federal Europe would be a strong Europe - reality is, the EU is "a house divided against itself". The only problem here is that the British Elite have failed to recognise this truth, and - as expected - have proven themselves incapable of competently managing a sovereign UK.

 EUROPE

Europe's response never ceases to amaze! Where is its diagnosis of its problems?  Europe has lost its Enlightenment ability to critically observe and adapt, and is floating like a cork in a rising tide of irrelevance and impotence.

Brussels, in its deference to Washington, doesn't see how America has severely weakened the European economy, created massive supply problems -  especially in energy - left it defenceless, voiceless and of no strategic importance in world affairs; and now has a cesspool-of-a-war bubbling away at its heart. 

What situation could be worse than this? Yet the EU (lately dwindling member support) and UK don't see any of this, they just resist the construction of a new multi-polar world Order that is taking place before them, under their noses.

It is Make-Believe v. Reality.

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HOPES FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD 2024

13 January 2024

In three geopolitical regions of the world now - the Middle East, Europe and East Asia - the future of humanity and this planet is threatened by all-out direct war between super-powers, so let us try to imagine how peace might descend on the world in 2024.

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Various currents are coming together in the Middle East with the Arab nations uniting in a sense of common identity and a common future. Relaxing this way results in a more tolerant and less aggressive interpretation of Islam, a drawing away from America and the West, a turning East looking to Asia and  emerging groupings such as the BRICS, and an increasing self-reliance, confidence and self-assertiveness.

Iran to the East is Persian of course, but is included in the Middle East, as is Turkey to the North in the Proche Orient, together with Egypt to the West linking the Middle East to North Africa. This makes the Middle East a crossroads between Asia Europe and Africa.

Arab nations finding common cause is a big problem for Israel. Israel sees itself as a separate ethnic group, but Jews and Arabs are semites, what tells them apart is their religion. Jews are a religious community not an ethnic grouping. Israel is governed by Ashkenazi Jews holding to an extreme version - and political ideology - of the religion called Zionism. Let's remember that Zionism was built by the mad Ashkenazis fleeing the maddening European pogroms (so in a sense we created this horror, a kind of anti-Christ philosophy sharing much with the philosophy of that mustachioed gentleman). 

Will Israel catch up on this new trend from aggression to tolerance? It is certainly in its interests to do so. After all, if Israel wants to be accepted by its neighbours, then surely it should accept its Muslim subjects by according them rights of citizenship. And what if America recalibrates to gradually withdraw from the ME - the Jewish Lobby would become powerless to retainAmerican suppory for the 51st state*.

So point being that although absolutely no-one believes In a one-state solution, that is only because people here, Western elites and popular opinion, are trapped in yesterday's thinking. It is quite possible that Israelis will come to abandon Zionism as unworkable - they are a very pragmatic lot, which accounts for their outstanding success as well as their widespread persecution ("anti-Zionist", not "anti-Semitic"!) - and accept a non-apartheid, one-state solution where they live cheek by jowl with other Arab albeit non-hebraic, people, as they did before "Partition" ... And if it can't do this then remember that Humpty Dumpty could not be put back together again (look at where America's foreign policy mistakes have left Its victims today).

...Of course you could say that this confuses the meaning of Semite and Arab and  overlooks the profound hostility expressed in the Quran towards Jewish people, but then again wasn't there also a similar hostility between Sunni and Shia?

So that is the hope for peace in the Middle East and the alternative is that the Jewish community evacuate to another part of the world, possibly Argentina, to avoid destruction.

* Is America's Israel Lobby Ashkenazi? My impression is that the only Messianic Zionists are those living in Israel and that American Jews are far more liberal, ignorant of what is happening in Gaza and not entirely Jewish.

PEACE IN EUROPE

If the Middle East is toning down the aggression, finding a unity, drawing away from America and developing a self-reliance; then could this be a global trend that will eventually hit Europe? In other words, in a spiritual re-awakening, might Western Europe come to realise that it has much in common with the rest of humanity and in particular those Europeans living the other side of the border-zone between West Europe and Russia? We in West Europe certainly need to draw away from the American neocons as they have brought disaster upon us, so that would be a long and difficult path to follow, requiring technology and military industries and a security framework with Rissia, but a most welcome path.

In support of this argument about a new trend sweeping out of desert, we can remind ourselves that the three abrahamic religions, which are followed by 60% of humanity, originated in the Middle East, meaning this move to peace and tolerance has a spiritual dimension.

Those are quite reasonable hopes for peace in the Middle East and in Europe and while we are at it, consider the situation between America and China.

PEACE BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA

The issue with Taiwan is much the same as the issue with Ukraine. China does not want an American platform on its border, containing, or limiting, its freedom of movement, and threatening its sovereignty and security. 

You could argue that if Taiwan can promise neutrality, it will be spared destruction, in the same way that the government in Kiev was most unwise to accept the invitation to join NATO, and the people of Israel to follow the extreme beliefs of the Likud party.

The destruction of Taiwan would not be good news for America's strategy of containment, but neither would it be good for China because China too would pay a heavy price for challenging American global hegemony.

So it seems that Taiwan could offer a neutrality in exchange for Chinese protection, both countries living under a common roof ... "one roof, two apartments" ... more a treaty than a federal solution or some supra-national body like the EU or ASEAN.... perhaps Taiwan's joining ASEAN (which incidentally organised a conference attended by 27 countries following Nancy Pelosi's mad and irrational visit last year) could start the ball rolling.

When trying to imagine how China and Taiwan could feel about each other, this video about a common enemy and shared experience, is useful

https://youtu.be/NQ0q0-jBfik?si=VFaYgyfgpBZk5UU_

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DO SOME PEOPLE TALK TOO MUCH?

10 January 2024

https://youtu.be/pDTBAiuxGcM?si=llKXF-s-ei6ySc8H

Does Mercouris talk to much? Are his Youtube videos too long? Why do some people talk so much?

"The first thing to say is", well, he is a lawyer!!!

A lawyer has two complexities to deal with.

One is his client's case. Cases don't get to court unless they are complicated and ambiguous.

And he has the law to manage which is also complexed and nuanced.

And his goal must be to fully explain his client's case and make sure that the judge understands it. 

So yes they can be quite long-winded, with lots of repetition as they navigate the intricate details of the case and its legal framework. 

All in a crisp confident clear voice; but low-key ie unemotional, factual, objective.

But I totally agree, 86 minutes is enough for a really long and deep snooze during the day!!! He'd do better to spend more time in planning and preparation with diverse supporting collaterals, and less in delivery.

Plus he could include his "brief" with plan, as agenda items, and his skeleton arguments (we can see he does what all lawyers do and anyone who has a case to argue: they always prepare skeleton arguments which they then talk through). So plan and skeletons as slides.

And other illustrative media such as film, interviews, graphs... 

But then again, lawyers of a certain age and above do not have much of a grasp of modern IT and PowerPoint and apps, plus he is handicapped by his poor sight.

"Anyway" ...

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WE ARE RULED BY GANGSTERS

30 December 2023

https://www.youtube.com/live/dlKuQ3r3Mwk?si=xSu817r0XOfgdB7L

Exactly, it's not so much that our leadership are incompetent, it's that they are corrupt - it is the practice of war that they love because it's good for business.

But we want freedom and prosperity and we know that comes from peace and productivity and planning.

So how is it that it's the bad people that get to the top? Because the system must be wrong, it isn't delivering. All we get is mass murder, theft, lies and impoverishment. Repeated foreign policy failure, the fear of regional conflagration or World War, the threat of recession or depression, intl pariah status, nothing seems to discourage this band of gangsters : 

"One failure after another, one disaster after another, eight trillions of dollars down the drain".

Not while they are making money ... you can hear the clickety-clack of counting money when they're talking.

As Erdogan says, Netanyahu is worse than Hitler, Israel takes from America to lock up and torture these poor people and our leaders queue to praise them. Netanyahu's dream is of an ethnic cleansing and an apartheid state, based on words written 2,500 years ago that he falsely claims promise a Jewish state and the appearance of god on earth. This is so mad! How can this be?

We thought democracy was the best system of government, but it has failed us and corporatism - rule by corporations, corporate elites, oligarchs - has supplanted rule by the people. We are no better than the autocratic states we criticise. Why aren't these guys chased out of town, asks JS? It's because they own the town, like in some cowboy film.

We need insurrection, to storm Congress and the H o P, take them away in chains to the guillotine !!!

AND EUROPE WILL RISE AGAIN.

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A NEW POLITICAL DYNASTY FOR INDONESIA

1 December 2023

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-constitutional-court-ruling-democracy-political-dynasty-joko-widodo-gibran-rakabuming-raka-3851566

READERS' REACTIONS

Some reader reaction:

"Very interesting article about the Supreme Court's reversal of the under 40 ruling."

 

"It is a bit worrying when you see relatives bending the rule of law."

ANALYSIS

The court ruling didn't lower the min. age requirement, which is still 40, but it did open up opportunities for younger people who have executive governance experience. I can't see much wrong with that, on the face of it, except to say this could have been a change initiated and approved in Parliament rather than in the Supreme Court.

It is also worth pointing out that the youngest prime minister in the UK was William Pitt the Younger and he took over at the age of 23 and the youngest president in the world has ever seen was Emmanuel macron who came to power at the age of 39.

As to powerful dynasties let's not forget the Kennedy clan! And surely tinkering with the minimum age requirement or other qualifications is not the way to prevent or encourage a Dynasty. Dynasties are organised to improve their own lot, but aren't all politicians like that and shouldn't there be anti-corruption legislation and its effective implementation to deal with that ? I mean, if you fear dynasties then look elsewhere for a means to control them.

CONCLUSION

The minimum age requirement to be president of Indonesia is about finding candidates with sufficient experience and wisdom. Well, if people under 40 have proven wisdom and experience then why not let them run? If you stop these younger people from running, then you're excluding potentially great leaders like our William Pitt the Younger!

And finally, if the people don't like the idea of a dynasty then it is the third largest democracy in the world and they've only got to say "Jokowi you're joking!".

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COLUCHE FOR PRESIDENT

15 December 2023

Coluche was one of those rare people where a single name is enough. He was one of the world's greatest comedians but unlike Billy Connolly his language couldn't translate outside his country of origin.

In 1980, he decided to run for president of France and he had many original ideas on his program: there would be no work for anyone, there would be no school for the children, all drugs would be legalised and money abolished.

In 1980 there was no internet and Snail mail was the only way to communicate in writing so kaluche wanted all the stamps issued to have either a picture of a fanny or an asshole, so that when lick the stamp ...

He was a complete outsider and his appeal was to all the people who had no voice so I suppose today, you'd call him a populist and the nearest you get today is Trump, although I think Trump is rather more vulgar.

Notice to the population

 COLUCHE CANDIDATE

 I call the lazy, the filthy, the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the fags, the women, the parasites, the young, the old, the artists, the jailbirds, the dykes, the apprentices, the blacks, the pedestrians, the Arabs, the French , the long-haired, the crazy, the transvestites, the former communists, the convinced abstainers, all those who do not count for politicians to vote for me, to register in their town hall and to spread the news.

 ALL TOGETHER TO FUCK THEIR ASS  WITH

 Coluche

 The only candidate who has no reason to lie.

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