russia-insider--2020-12-11--Dear America - You Are Delusional, and Failing at Everything You Undertake

`` Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers : blaming their political opponents ; and blaming Russia .
And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well . ''
This article from our archives was first published on RI in November 2017 Orlov is one of our favorite essayists on Russia and all sorts of other things .
He moved to the US as a child , and lives in the Boston area .
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians ' in an excellent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kunstler , another regular contributor to RI ( archive ) .
These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up .
He is best known for his 2011 book comparing Soviet and American collapse ( he thinks America 's will be worse ) .
He is a prolific author on a wide array of subjects , and you can see his work by searching him on Amazon .
He has a large following on the web , and on Patreon , and we urge you to support him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His current project is organizing the production of affordable house boats for living on .
He lives on a boat himself .
If you have n't discovered his work yet , please take a look at his archive of articles on RI .
They are a real treasure , full of invaluable insight into both the US and Russia and how they are related .
Back in the days when I was still trying to do the corporate thing , I regularly found myself in a bit of a tight spot simply by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I seem to carry some sort of gene that makes me naturally irrepressible .
I can keep my mouth shut for only so long before I have to blurt out what I really think , and in a corporate setting , where thinking isn ’ t really allowed , this causes no end of trouble .
It didn ’ t matter that I often turned out to be right .
It didn ’ t matter what I thought ; it only mattered that I thought .
Of all the thoughts you aren ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most offensive one is adequately expressed by a single short phrase : “ That ’ s not gon na work.
” Suppose there is a meeting to unveil a great new initiative , with PowerPoint presentations complete with fancy graphics , org charts , timelines , proposed budgets , yadda-yadda , and everything is going great until this curmudgeonly Russian opens his mouth and says “ That ’ s not gon na work.
” And when it is patiently explained to him ( doing one ’ s best to hide one ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to work because Senior Management would like it to , that furthermore it is his job to make it work and that failure is not an option , he opens his mouth again and says “ That ’ s not gon na work either.
” And then it ’ s time to avoid acting flustered while ignoring him and to think up some face-saving excuse to adjourn the meeting early and regroup .
I lasted for as long as I did in that world because once in a while I would instead say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , let ’ s do it.
” And then , sure enough , it did work , the company had a banner year or two , with lots of bonuses and atta-boy ( and atta-girl ) certificates handed out to those not at all responsible for any of it .
Flushed with victory , they , in turn , would think up more harebrained schemes for me to rain on , and the cycle would repeat .
It is probably one of the main saving graces of corporations that they do sometimes ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to leak through .
The mistake in question is a staffing error in promoting those constitutionally incapable of keeping their mouths shut or shutting off their brains .
Such errors create chinks in the monolithic phalanxes of corporate yes-men and yes-women .
The likelihood of such mistakes increases with the agony of defeat , which causes attrition among the ranks of qualified yes-sayers , creating holes that can only be plugged by promoting a few non-yes-sayers .
However , this only seems to work in the smaller , hungrier corporations ; the larger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to avoid experiencing the agony of defeat for a very long time by moving the goal posts , outlawing any discussion of said defeat or other similar tactics .
Eventually the entire organization goes over the cliff , but by then it is of no benefit to anyone to attempt to inform them of their folly .
It is much the same with governments , except here the situation is even worse .
While the smaller , hungrier governments , and those blessed with a fresh institutional memory of extreme pain , do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves , the larger political agglomerations—the USSR , the EU , the USA—have the ability to keep themselves completely immunized against the truth for historically significant periods of time .
The USSR clung to the fiction of great socialist progress even when it was clear to all that the cupboard was bare and there were rats gnawing through the rafters .
The EU has been able to ignore the fact that its entire scheme is one of enriching Germany while impoverishing and depopulating eastern and southern Europe , neglecting the interests of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of self-delusion that is still currently in effect in the USA makes it a rather large subject .
Regardless of how great the lies are and how forcefully they are defended , a moment always comes when the phalanx of truth-blocking yes-men and yes-women stops marching , turns and runs .
This event results in a tremendous loss of face and confidence for all involved .
It is the crisis of confidence , more than anything else , that precipitates the going-off-a-cliff phenomenon that we could so readily observe in the collapse of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I have a very strong hunch that similar cliff-diving exercises are coming up for the EU and the USA .
But for the time being I am just another disembodied voice on the internet , watching from the sidelines and periodically saying the unfashionable thing , which is : “ This isn ’ t gon na work.
” However , I ’ ve said this a number of times over the years , on the record and more or less forcefully , and I feel vindicated most of the time .
• Carving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it join the EU and NATO and building a NATO naval base in Crimea “ wasn ’ t gon na work.
” The Ukraine is a part of Russia , the Ukrainians are Russian , and the Ukrainian ethnic identity is a Bolshevik concoction .
Look for a reversion to norm in a decade or two .
• Destroying and partitioning Syria with the help of Wahhabi extremists and foreign mercenaries supported by the US , Saudi Arabia and Israel while Russia , Iran , Turkey and China stand idly by “ wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and so it hasn ’ t .
• Giving Afghanistan “ freedom and democracy ” and turning it into a stable pro-Western regime with the help of invading NATO troops “ wasn ’ t gon na work , ” and hasn ’ t .
Western involvement in Afghanistan can go on , but the results it can achieve are limited to further enhancing the heroin trade .
• Destroying the Russian economy using sanctions “ wasn ’ t gon na work , ” and hasn ’ t .
The sanctions have helped Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of self-sufficiency in energy production and other forms of technology , in food and in numerous other sectors .
All of these harebrained schemes , hatched in Washington , have backfired grandly .
Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers : blaming their political opponents ; and blaming Russia .
And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well .
In the meantime , the world isn ’ t waiting for the US to shake itself out of its stupor .
The fulcrum of American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arabia and the petrodollar .
In turn , Saudi Arabia rests on three pillars : the Saudi monarchy , Wahhabi Islam and the petrodollar .
As I write this , the next king , Mohammed bin Salman , is busy hacking away at all three : robbing , imprisoning and torturing his fellow-princes , working to replace the Wahhabi clerics with moderate ones and embracing the petro-yuan instead of the now very tired petrodollar .
Not that any of these three pillars were in good shape in any case : the defeat of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Saudi monarchy which supported it , for the Wahhabi clerics who inspired it and , consequently , for the petrodollar as well , because Saudi Arabia was until now its greatest defender .
The new guarantors of peace in the region are Russia , Iran and Turkey , with China watching carefully in the wings .
American involvement in the middle-eastern project is now limited to Putin ’ s sporadic courtesy calls to Trump , to keep him updated .
And so here ’ s my latest prediction : Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ isn ’ t gon na work ” either .
The country is so far gone that just taking the first step—of allowing the truth of its condition to leak through the media filters—will undermine public confidence to such an extent that a subsequent cliff-dive will become unavoidable .
It ’ s a nice slogan as slogans go , but Trump is too old to be a reformer or a revolutionary .
He is of an age when men are generally mostly concerned about the quantity and consistency of their stool and how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Perhaps he will succeed in making America great… big piles of feces , but I wouldn ’ t expect much more than that .

"Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers: blaming their political opponents; and blaming Russia. And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in November 2017
Orlov is one of our favorite essayists on Russia and all sorts of other things. He moved to the US as a child, and lives in the Boston area.
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with James Howard Kunstler, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.
He is best known for his 2011 book comparing Soviet and American collapse (he thinks America's will be worse). He is a prolific author on a wide array of subjects, and you can see his work by searching him on Amazon.
He has a large following on the web, and on Patreon, and we urge you to support him there, as Russia Insider does.
His current project is organizing the production of affordable house boats for living on. He lives on a boat himself.
If you haven't discovered his work yet, please take a look at his archive of articles on RI. They are a real treasure, full of invaluable insight into both the US and Russia and how they are related.
Back in the days when I was still trying to do the corporate thing, I regularly found myself in a bit of a tight spot simply by failing to keep my mouth shut.
I seem to carry some sort of gene that makes me naturally irrepressible. I can keep my mouth shut for only so long before I have to blurt out what I really think, and in a corporate setting, where thinking isn’t really allowed, this causes no end of trouble. It didn’t matter that I often turned out to be right. It didn’t matter what I thought; it only mattered that I thought.
American involvement in the middle-eastern project is now limited to Putin’s sporadic courtesy calls to Trump, to keep him updated.
Of all the thoughts you aren’t allowed to think, perhaps the most offensive one is adequately expressed by a single short phrase: “That’s not gonna work.”
The end is near ...
Suppose there is a meeting to unveil a great new initiative, with PowerPoint presentations complete with fancy graphics, org charts, timelines, proposed budgets, yadda-yadda, and everything is going great until this curmudgeonly Russian opens his mouth and says “That’s not gonna work.”
And when it is patiently explained to him (doing one’s best to hide one’s extreme irritation) that it absolutely has to work because Senior Management would like it to, that furthermore it is his job to make it work and that failure is not an option, he opens his mouth again and says “That’s not gonna work either.” And then it’s time to avoid acting flustered while ignoring him and to think up some face-saving excuse to adjourn the meeting early and regroup.
I lasted for as long as I did in that world because once in a while I would instead say “Sure, that’ll work, let’s do it.” And then, sure enough, it did work, the company had a banner year or two, with lots of bonuses and atta-boy (and atta-girl) certificates handed out to those not at all responsible for any of it. Flushed with victory, they, in turn, would think up more harebrained schemes for me to rain on, and the cycle would repeat.
America seems to be blissfully unaware of how it comes across to the rest of the world
It is probably one of the main saving graces of corporations that they do sometimes (mainly by mistake) allow some thought to leak through. The mistake in question is a staffing error in promoting those constitutionally incapable of keeping their mouths shut or shutting off their brains. Such errors create chinks in the monolithic phalanxes of corporate yes-men and yes-women.
Trump is too old to be a reformer or a revolutionary. He is of an age when men are generally mostly concerned about the quantity and consistency of their stool and how it interacts with their enlarged prostates.
The likelihood of such mistakes increases with the agony of defeat, which causes attrition among the ranks of qualified yes-sayers, creating holes that can only be plugged by promoting a few non-yes-sayers. However, this only seems to work in the smaller, hungrier corporations; the larger, better-fed ones seem to be able to avoid experiencing the agony of defeat for a very long time by moving the goal posts, outlawing any discussion of said defeat or other similar tactics. Eventually the entire organization goes over the cliff, but by then it is of no benefit to anyone to attempt to inform them of their folly.
It is much the same with governments, except here the situation is even worse. While the smaller, hungrier governments, and those blessed with a fresh institutional memory of extreme pain, do not have the luxury of lying to themselves, the larger political agglomerations—the USSR, the EU, the USA—have the ability to keep themselves completely immunized against the truth for historically significant periods of time.
The USSR clung to the fiction of great socialist progress even when it was clear to all that the cupboard was bare and there were rats gnawing through the rafters. The EU has been able to ignore the fact that its entire scheme is one of enriching Germany while impoverishing and depopulating eastern and southern Europe, neglecting the interests of the native populations throughout. And the amount of self-delusion that is still currently in effect in the USA makes it a rather large subject.
Regardless of how great the lies are and how forcefully they are defended, a moment always comes when the phalanx of truth-blocking yes-men and yes-women stops marching, turns and runs. This event results in a tremendous loss of face and confidence for all involved.
It is the crisis of confidence, more than anything else, that precipitates the going-off-a-cliff phenomenon that we could so readily observe in the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s. I have a very strong hunch that similar cliff-diving exercises are coming up for the EU and the USA.
But for the time being I am just another disembodied voice on the internet, watching from the sidelines and periodically saying the unfashionable thing, which is: “This isn’t gonna work.” However, I’ve said this a number of times over the years, on the record and more or less forcefully, and I feel vindicated most of the time.
Internationally, for example:
• Carving the Ukraine away from Russia, having it join the EU and NATO and building a NATO naval base in Crimea “wasn’t gonna work.” The Ukraine is a part of Russia, the Ukrainians are Russian, and the Ukrainian ethnic identity is a Bolshevik concoction. Look for a reversion to norm in a decade or two.
• Destroying and partitioning Syria with the help of Wahhabi extremists and foreign mercenaries supported by the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel while Russia, Iran, Turkey and China stand idly by “wasn’t gonna work”; and so it hasn’t.
• Giving Afghanistan “freedom and democracy” and turning it into a stable pro-Western regime with the help of invading NATO troops “wasn’t gonna work,” and hasn’t. Western involvement in Afghanistan can go on, but the results it can achieve are limited to further enhancing the heroin trade.
• Destroying the Russian economy using sanctions “wasn’t gonna work,” and hasn’t. The sanctions have helped Russia regroup internally and achieve a great deal of self-sufficiency in energy production and other forms of technology, in food and in numerous other sectors.
All of these harebrained schemes, hatched in Washington, have backfired grandly. Those who have pushed for them are now reduced to just two face-saving maneuvers: blaming their political opponents; and blaming Russia. And these two maneuvers are set to backfire as well.
In the meantime, the world isn’t waiting for the US to shake itself out of its stupor.
The fulcrum of American influence in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia and the petrodollar. In turn, Saudi Arabia rests on three pillars: the Saudi monarchy, Wahhabi Islam and the petrodollar. As I write this, the next king, Mohammed bin Salman, is busy hacking away at all three: robbing, imprisoning and torturing his fellow-princes, working to replace the Wahhabi clerics with moderate ones and embracing the petro-yuan instead of the now very tired petrodollar.
Not that any of these three pillars were in good shape in any case: the defeat of ISIS in Syria was a defeat for the Saudi monarchy which supported it, for the Wahhabi clerics who inspired it and, consequently, for the petrodollar as well, because Saudi Arabia was until now its greatest defender.
The new guarantors of peace in the region are Russia, Iran and Turkey, with China watching carefully in the wings. American involvement in the middle-eastern project is now limited to Putin’s sporadic courtesy calls to Trump, to keep him updated.
And so here’s my latest prediction: Trump’s goal of “making America great” “isn’t gonna work” either.
The country is so far gone that just taking the first step—of allowing the truth of its condition to leak through the media filters—will undermine public confidence to such an extent that a subsequent cliff-dive will become unavoidable. It’s a nice slogan as slogans go, but Trump is too old to be a reformer or a revolutionary. He is of an age when men are generally mostly concerned about the quantity and consistency of their stool and how it interacts with their enlarged prostates.
Perhaps he will succeed in making America great… big piles of feces, but I wouldn’t expect much more than that.


russia-insider--2020-12-12--The Lives of These Russian Christian Military Heroes Will Blow Your Mind

Welcome to the homeportal of the Russian Christian Military Heroes series , where we delve into the lives of Russia 's most fearsome and pious heroes .
Click on their names to learn more !
This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2017 This article originally appeared on : Russian Faith , a new website with news about the Christian renaissance in Russia .
See their introductory video at end of article .
`` Stand for the Faith and the Russian Land ! ''
so go the words of the song `` A Farewell of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resounded harmoniously throughout the Russian lands like echoes from the bygone years , dancing across the Ukrainian fields .
They represent the beautiful symphony that exists between the Russian Church , the military , and state which we have covered extensively .
Whilst there are endless tales of great Heroes , far too many to describe in one article , let 's take a look through Russian history , zooming in on the host of some of the most obscure , and some of the most legendary Russian warriors .
Let us take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their country as protected by God through the lives of some of her greatest heroes .
Below is a portal of Russian Heroes which we have already written about .
Write us in the comment section down below and tell us which Russian Heroes you want to read about , and maybe they ’ ll get their own article .
As we continue to write about them , this page will be updated .
Check back in for the latest stories !
Saint Olga of Kiev and all Rus' Would it shock you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a great Russian military leader , the first that comes to mind is a woman ?
Were it not for her , Russia may very well be called Drevlia today .
In those days , Russians almost lost their motherland , but by means of Olga , they had it restored , and they called it Russia again .
This Warrior-Princess conquered the tribe that killed her husband , enamored the Roman Emperor so much he wanted to marry her , burned a city to the ground using only birds , established @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and is single-handedly responsible for saving Russia .
Her grandson Vladimir the Great , baptized the entire nation in the river Dnipro , beginning the period we call Holy Russia .
Ilya of Murom is Russia ’ s Christian Hercules .
He was born a crippled peasant , wrestled with a Holy Mountain in the form of a Giant , slept in his tomb for three days , and arose the mightiest warrior in the Russian lands , only to finish his life as a quite humble monk .
You can still see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with your own eyes !
The sleep of Ilya Muromets represents an ancient secret trait dormant in the blood of Russian people , to find out what that is and more , draw your bowstring and let the arrow of your mind fly back into the bygone years , and into the life of this legendary Bogatyr .
What happens when Mongols invade Russia and threaten to destroy her faith ?
You get the Russian Christian version of Shaolin monks , that ’ s what .
Don ’ t let the skulls and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are not pirates , in fact , they are far deadlier .
When Saint King Dmitri came looking for a blessing to fight the invaders , he found in Saint Sergius ’ s monastery his two champions .
These monks helped win the battle of Kulikovo Fields .
, when Russia went to the fields as multiple warring principalities and returned as a united country .
Though perhaps , one could argue she was united long before .

Welcome to the homeportal of the Russian Christian Military Heroes series, where we delve into the lives of Russia's most fearsome and pious heroes. Click on their names to learn more!
This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2017
This article originally appeared on: Russian Faith, a new website with news about the Christian renaissance in Russia. See their introductory video at end of article.
"Stand for the Faith and the Russian Land!" so go the words of the song "A Farewell of Slavic Women." These words have resounded harmoniously throughout the Russian lands like echoes from the bygone years, dancing across the Ukrainian fields. They represent the beautiful symphony that exists between the Russian Church, the military, and state which we have covered extensively.
Whilst there are endless tales of great Heroes, far too many to describe in one article, let's take a look through Russian history, zooming in on the host of some of the most obscure, and some of the most legendary Russian warriors. Let us take a look at how Russian people see their country as protected by God through the lives of some of her greatest heroes. Below is a portal of Russian Heroes which we have already written about.
Write us in the comment section down below and tell us which Russian Heroes you want to read about, and maybe they’ll get their own article. As we continue to write about them, this page will be updated. Check back in for the latest stories!
Saint Olga of Kiev and all Rus'
Would it shock you to know, that when I think of a great Russian military leader, the first that comes to mind is a woman? Were it not for her, Russia may very well be called Drevlia today. In those days, Russians almost lost their motherland, but by means of Olga, they had it restored, and they called it Russia again.
This Warrior-Princess conquered the tribe that killed her husband, enamored the Roman Emperor so much he wanted to marry her, burned a city to the ground using only birds, established one of the earliest tax systems, and is single-handedly responsible for saving Russia. Her grandson Vladimir the Great, baptized the entire nation in the river Dnipro, beginning the period we call Holy Russia.
Saint Ilya Muromets
Ilya of Murom is Russia’s Christian Hercules. He was born a crippled peasant, wrestled with a Holy Mountain in the form of a Giant, slept in his tomb for three days, and arose the mightiest warrior in the Russian lands, only to finish his life as a quite humble monk.
You can still see the body of this 11th-century hero undecayed with your own eyes! The sleep of Ilya Muromets represents an ancient secret trait dormant in the blood of Russian people, to find out what that is and more, draw your bowstring and let the arrow of your mind fly back into the bygone years, and into the life of this legendary Bogatyr.
Saints Alexander Peresvet and Andrei of Radonezh
What happens when Mongols invade Russia and threaten to destroy her faith? You get the Russian Christian version of Shaolin monks, that’s what. Don’t let the skulls and crossbones on their robes fool you, they are not pirates, in fact, they are far deadlier.
When Saint King Dmitri came looking for a blessing to fight the invaders, he found in Saint Sergius’s monastery his two champions. These monks helped win the battle of Kulikovo Fields. , when Russia went to the fields as multiple warring principalities and returned as a united country. Though perhaps, one could argue she was united long before.
A video introducing the Russian Faith website:


russia-insider--2020-12-12--David Irving, the Great WW2 Revisionist Historian Everyone Should Know About

`` I am not aware of any similar case of a leading international scholar who suffered such a dire fate for quietly stating his historical opinions , even during in darkest days of Stalinist Russia or any of the other totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century . ''
This article from our archives was first published on RI in June 2018 The author is the founder and editor of the Unz Review , a conservative American political website , and a one-time candidate for the governor of California .
The original title of this essay at Unz was : .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sense of the gist of the article I ’ m very pleased to announce that our selection of HTML Books now contains works by renowned World War II historian David Irving , including his magisterial Hitler ’ s War , named by famed military historian Sir John Keegan as one of the most crucial volumes for properly understanding that conflict .
Carefully reading a thousand-page reconstruction of the German side of the Second World War is obviously a daunting undertaking , and his remaining thirty-odd books would probably add at least another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But fortunately , Irving is also a riveting speaker , and several of his extended lectures of recent decades are conveniently available on YouTube , as given below .
These effectively present many of his most remarkable revelations concerning the wartime policies of both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler , as well as sometimes recounting the challenging personal situation he himself faced .
Watching these lectures may consume several hours , but that is still a trivial investment compared to the many weeks it would take to digest the underlying books themselves .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ overturn an established historical narrative , considerable skepticism is warranted , and my own lack of specialized expertise in World War II history left me especially cautious .
The documents Irving unearths seemingly portray a Winston Churchill so radically different from that of my naive understanding as to be almost unrecognizable , and this naturally raised the question of whether I could credit the accuracy of Irving ’ s evidence and his interpretation .
All his material is massively footnoted , referencing copious documents in numerous official archives , but how could I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ verify them ?
Rather ironically , an extremely unfortunate turn of events seems to have fully resolved that crucial question .
Irving is an individual of uncommonly strong scholarly integrity , and as such he is unable to see things in the record that do not exist , even if it were in his considerable interest to do so , nor to fabricate non-existent evidence .
Therefore , his unwillingness to dissemble or pay lip-service to various widely-worshiped cultural totems eventually provoked an outpouring of vilification by a swarm of ideological fanatics drawn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ situation was rather similar to the troubles my old Harvard professor E.O .
Wilson had experienced around that same time upon publication of his own masterwork Sociobiology : The New Synthesis , the book that helped launch the field of modern human evolutionary psychobiology .
These zealous ethnic-activists began a coordinated campaign to pressure Irving ’ s prestigious publishers into dropping his books , while also disrupting his frequent international speaking tours and even lobbying countries to bar him from entry .
They also maintained a drumbeat of media vilification , continually blackening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even going so far as to denounce him as a “ Nazi ” and a “ Hitler-lover , ” just as had similarly been done in the case of Prof. Wilson .
During the 1980s and 1990s , these determined efforts , sometimes backed by considerable physical violence , increasingly bore fruit , and Irving ’ s career was severely impacted .
He had once been feted by the world ’ s leading publishing houses and his books serialized and reviewed in Britain ’ s most august newspapers ; now he gradually became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with enormous damage to his sources of income .
That legal battle was certainly a David-and-Goliath affair , with wealthy Jewish movie producers and corporate executives providing a huge war-chest of $ 13 million to Lipstadt ’ s side , allowing her to fund a veritable army of 40 researchers and legal experts , captained by one of Britain ’ s most successful Jewish divorce lawyers .
By contrast , Irving , being an impecunious historian , was forced to defend himself without benefit of legal counsel .
In real life unlike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world are almost invariably triumphant , and this case was no exception , with Irving being driven into personal bankruptcy , resulting in the loss of his fine central London home .
But seen from the longer perspective of history , I think the victory of his tormenters was a remarkably Pyrrhic one .
Although the target of their unleashed hatred was Irving ’ s alleged “ Holocaust denial , ” as near as I can tell , that particular topic was almost entirely absent from all of Irving ’ s dozens of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was what had provoked their spittle-flecked outrage .
Therefore , lacking such a clear target , their lavishly-funded corps of researchers and fact-checkers instead spent a year or more apparently performing a line-by-line and footnote-by-footnote review of everything Irving had ever published , seeking to locate every single historical error that could possibly cast him in a bad professional light .
With almost limitless money and manpower , they even utilized the process of legal discovery to subpoena and read the thousands of pages in his bound personal diaries and correspondence , thereby @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ wicked thoughts.
” Denial , a 2016 Hollywood film co-written by Lipstadt , may provide a reasonable outline of the sequence of events as seen from her perspective .
Although the target of their unleashed hatred was Irving ’ s alleged “ Holocaust denial , ” as near as I can tell , that particular topic was almost entirely absent from all of Irving ’ s dozens of books , and exactly that very silence was what had provoked their spittle-flecked outrage .
Therefore , lacking such a clear target , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spent a year or more apparently performing a line-by-line and footnote-by-footnote review of everything Irving had ever published , seeking to locate every single historical error that could possibly cast him in a bad professional light .
With almost limitless money and manpower , they even utilized the process of legal discovery to subpoena and read the thousands of pages in his bound personal diaries and correspondence , thereby hoping to find some evidence of his “ wicked thoughts.
” Denial , a 2016 Hollywood film co-written by Lipstadt , may provide a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as seen from her perspective .
Yet despite such massive financial and human resources , they apparently came up almost entirely empty , at least if Lipstadt ’ s triumphalist 2005 book History on Trial may be credited .
Across four decades of research and writing , which had produced numerous controversial historical claims of the most astonishing nature , they only managed to find a couple of dozen rather minor alleged errors of fact or interpretation , most of these ambiguous or disputed .
And the worst they discovered after reading every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Irving ’ s personal diaries was that he had once composed a short “ racially insensitive ” ditty for his infant daughter , a trivial item which they naturally then trumpeted as proof that he was a “ racist.
” Thus , they seemingly admitted that Irving ’ s enormous corpus of historical texts was perhaps 99.9 % accurate .
Yet despite such massive financial and human resources , they apparently came up almost entirely empty , at least if Lipstadt ’ s triumphalist 2005 book History on Trial may be credited .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which had produced numerous controversial historical claims of the most astonishing nature , they only managed to find a couple of dozen rather minor alleged errors of fact or interpretation , most of these ambiguous or disputed .
And the worst they discovered after reading every page of the many linear meters of Irving ’ s personal diaries was that he had once composed a short “ racially insensitive ” ditty for his infant daughter , a trivial item which they naturally then trumpeted as proof that he was a “ racist.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Irving ’ s enormous corpus of historical texts was perhaps 99.9 % accurate .
I think this silence of “ the dog that didn ’ t bark ” echoes with thunderclap volume .
I ’ m not aware of any other academic scholar in the entire history of the world who has had all his decades of lifetime work subjected to such painstakingly exhaustive hostile scrutiny .
And since Irving apparently passed that test with such flying colors , I think we can regard almost every astonishing claim in all of his books—as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Aside from this important historical conclusion , I believe that the most recent coda to Irving ’ s tribulations tells us quite a lot about the true nature of “ Western liberal democracy ” so lavishly celebrated by our media pundits , and endlessly contrasted with the “ totalitarian ” or “ authoritarian ” characteristics of its ideological rivals , past and present .
In 2005 , Irving took a quick visit to Austria , having been invited to speak before a group of Viennese university students .
Shortly after his arrival , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local Political Police on charges connected with some historical remarks he had made 16 years earlier on a previous visit to that country , although those had apparently been considered innocuous at the time .
Initially , his arrest was kept secret and he was held completely incommunicado ; for his family back in Britain , he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth , and they feared him dead .
More than six weeks were to pass before he was allowed to communicate with either his wife or a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ word of his situation earlier through an intermediary .
His sudden , unexpected disappearance had inflicted huge financial hardships upon his family , and they lost their home , with most of his personal possessions being sold or destroyed , including the enormous historical archives he had spent a lifetime accumulating .
He later recounted this gripping story in Banged Up , a slim book published in 2008 , as well as in a video interview available on YouTube .
Perhaps I am demonstrating my ignorance , but I am not aware of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scholar who suffered such a dire fate for quietly stating his historical opinions , even during in darkest days of Stalinist Russia or any of the other totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century .
Although this astonishing situation taking place in a West European democracy of the “ Free World ” did receive considerable media exposure within Europe , coverage in our own country was so minimal that I doubt that today even one well-educated American in twenty is even aware it ever happened .
Perhaps one reason that most of us still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ society is that Our American Pravda works so hard to conceal the important exceptions .

"I am not aware of any similar case of a leading international scholar who suffered such a dire fate for quietly stating his historical opinions, even during in darkest days of Stalinist Russia or any of the other totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in June 2018
The author is the founder and editor of the Unz Review, a conservative American political website, and a one-time candidate for the governor of California.
The original title of this essay at Unz was: The Remarkable Historiography of David Irving . We changed it to give the reader a sense of the gist of the article
I’m very pleased to announce that our selection of HTML Books now contains works by renowned World War II historian David Irving, including his magisterial Hitler’s War, named by famed military historian Sir John Keegan as one of the most crucial volumes for properly understanding that conflict.
book1.jpg With many millions of his books in print, including a string of best-sellers translated into numerous languages, it’s quite possible that the eighty-year-old Irving today ranks as the most internationally-successful British historian of the last one hundred years. Although I myself have merely read a couple of his shorter works, I found these absolutely outstanding, with Irving regularly deploying his remarkable command of the primary source documentary evidence to totally demolish my naive History 101 understanding of major historical events. It would hardly surprise me if the huge corpus of his writings eventually constitutes a central pillar upon which future historians seek to comprehend the catastrophically bloody middle years of our hugely destructive twentieth century even after most of our other chroniclers of that era are long forgotten.
david_irving_1-600x802.jpg David Irving
Carefully reading a thousand-page reconstruction of the German side of the Second World War is obviously a daunting undertaking, and his remaining thirty-odd books would probably add at least another 10,000 pages to that Herculean task. But fortunately, Irving is also a riveting speaker, and several of his extended lectures of recent decades are conveniently available on YouTube, as given below. These effectively present many of his most remarkable revelations concerning the wartime policies of both Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, as well as sometimes recounting the challenging personal situation he himself faced. Watching these lectures may consume several hours, but that is still a trivial investment compared to the many weeks it would take to digest the underlying books themselves.
When confronted with astonishing claims that completely overturn an established historical narrative, considerable skepticism is warranted, and my own lack of specialized expertise in World War II history left me especially cautious. The documents Irving unearths seemingly portray a Winston Churchill so radically different from that of my naive understanding as to be almost unrecognizable, and this naturally raised the question of whether I could credit the accuracy of Irving’s evidence and his interpretation. All his material is massively footnoted, referencing copious documents in numerous official archives, but how could I possibly muster the time or energy to verify them?
Rather ironically, an extremely unfortunate turn of events seems to have fully resolved that crucial question.
Irving is an individual of uncommonly strong scholarly integrity, and as such he is unable to see things in the record that do not exist, even if it were in his considerable interest to do so, nor to fabricate non-existent evidence. Therefore, his unwillingness to dissemble or pay lip-service to various widely-worshiped cultural totems eventually provoked an outpouring of vilification by a swarm of ideological fanatics drawn from a particular ethnic persuasion. This situation was rather similar to the troubles my old Harvard professor E.O. Wilson had experienced around that same time upon publication of his own masterwork Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, the book that helped launch the field of modern human evolutionary psychobiology.
These zealous ethnic-activists began a coordinated campaign to pressure Irving’s prestigious publishers into dropping his books, while also disrupting his frequent international speaking tours and even lobbying countries to bar him from entry. They also maintained a drumbeat of media vilification, continually blackening his name and his research skills, even going so far as to denounce him as a “Nazi” and a “Hitler-lover,” just as had similarly been done in the case of Prof. Wilson.
During the 1980s and 1990s, these determined efforts, sometimes backed by considerable physical violence, increasingly bore fruit, and Irving’s career was severely impacted. He had once been feted by the world’s leading publishing houses and his books serialized and reviewed in Britain’s most august newspapers; now he gradually became a marginalized figure, almost a pariah, with enormous damage to his sources of income.
book2.jpg In 1993, Deborah Lipstadt, a rather ignorant and fanatic professor of Theology and Holocaust Studies (or perhaps “Holocaust Theology”) ferociously attacked him in her book as being a “Holocaust Denier,” leading Irving’s timorous publisher to suddenly cancel the contract for his major new historical volume. This development eventually sparked a rancorous lawsuit in 1998, which resulted in a celebrated 2000 libel trial held in British Court.
That legal battle was certainly a David-and-Goliath affair, with wealthy Jewish movie producers and corporate executives providing a huge war-chest of $13 million to Lipstadt’s side, allowing her to fund a veritable army of 40 researchers and legal experts, captained by one of Britain’s most successful Jewish divorce lawyers. By contrast, Irving, being an impecunious historian, was forced to defend himself without benefit of legal counsel.
In real life unlike in fable, the Goliaths of this world are almost invariably triumphant, and this case was no exception, with Irving being driven into personal bankruptcy, resulting in the loss of his fine central London home. But seen from the longer perspective of history, I think the victory of his tormenters was a remarkably Pyrrhic one.
book3.jpg Although the target of their unleashed hatred was Irving’s alleged “Holocaust denial,” as near as I can tell, that particular topic was almost entirely absent from all of Irving’s dozens of books, and exactly that very silence was what had provoked their spittle-flecked outrage. Therefore, lacking such a clear target, their lavishly-funded corps of researchers and fact-checkers instead spent a year or more apparently performing a line-by-line and footnote-by-footnote review of everything Irving had ever published, seeking to locate every single historical error that could possibly cast him in a bad professional light. With almost limitless money and manpower, they even utilized the process of legal discovery to subpoena and read the thousands of pages in his bound personal diaries and correspondence, thereby hoping to find some evidence of his “wicked thoughts.” Denial, a 2016 Hollywood film co-written by Lipstadt, may provide a reasonable outline of the sequence of events as seen from her perspective.
book4.jpg Yet despite such massive financial and human resources, they apparently came up almost entirely empty, at least if Lipstadt’s triumphalist 2005 book History on Trial may be credited. Across four decades of research and writing, which had produced numerous controversial historical claims of the most astonishing nature, they only managed to find a couple of dozen rather minor alleged errors of fact or interpretation, most of these ambiguous or disputed. And the worst they discovered after reading every page of the many linear meters of Irving’s personal diaries was that he had once composed a short “racially insensitive” ditty for his infant daughter, a trivial item which they naturally then trumpeted as proof that he was a “racist.” Thus, they seemingly admitted that Irving’s enormous corpus of historical texts was perhaps 99.9% accurate.
I think this silence of “the dog that didn’t bark” echoes with thunderclap volume. I’m not aware of any other academic scholar in the entire history of the world who has had all his decades of lifetime work subjected to such painstakingly exhaustive hostile scrutiny. And since Irving apparently passed that test with such flying colors, I think we can regard almost every astonishing claim in all of his books—as recapitulated in his videos—as absolutely accurate.
Aside from this important historical conclusion, I believe that the most recent coda to Irving’s tribulations tells us quite a lot about the true nature of “Western liberal democracy” so lavishly celebrated by our media pundits, and endlessly contrasted with the “totalitarian” or “authoritarian” characteristics of its ideological rivals, past and present.
In 2005, Irving took a quick visit to Austria, having been invited to speak before a group of Viennese university students. Shortly after his arrival, he was arrested at gunpoint by the local Political Police on charges connected with some historical remarks he had made 16 years earlier on a previous visit to that country, although those had apparently been considered innocuous at the time. Initially, his arrest was kept secret and he was held completely incommunicado; for his family back in Britain, he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and they feared him dead. More than six weeks were to pass before he was allowed to communicate with either his wife or a lawyer, though he managed to provide word of his situation earlier through an intermediary.
book5.jpg And at the age of 67 he was eventually brought to trial in a foreign courtroom under very difficult circumstances and given a three-year prison sentence. An interview he gave to the BBC about his legal predicament resulted in possible additional charges, potentially carrying a further twenty-year sentence, which probably would have ensured that he died behind bars. Only the extremely good fortune of a successful appeal, partly on technical grounds, allowed him to depart the prison grounds after spending more than 400 days under incarceration, almost entirely in solitary confinement, and he escaped back to Britain.
His sudden, unexpected disappearance had inflicted huge financial hardships upon his family, and they lost their home, with most of his personal possessions being sold or destroyed, including the enormous historical archives he had spent a lifetime accumulating. He later recounted this gripping story in Banged Up, a slim book published in 2008, as well as in a video interview available on YouTube.
Perhaps I am demonstrating my ignorance, but I am not aware of any similar case of a leading international scholar who suffered such a dire fate for quietly stating his historical opinions, even during in darkest days of Stalinist Russia or any of the other totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. Although this astonishing situation taking place in a West European democracy of the “Free World” did receive considerable media exposure within Europe, coverage in our own country was so minimal that I doubt that today even one well-educated American in twenty is even aware it ever happened.
Perhaps one reason that most of us still believe that the West remains a free society is that Our American Pravda works so hard to conceal the important exceptions.


russia-insider--2020-12-13--AMERICA: A Gigantic Clown Car Being Driven Into a Ditch

`` This homework assignment should be given to the Democratic members of congress , since they are otherwise preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend . ''
This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2017 The author is a prominent American social critic , blogger , and podcaster , and we carry his articles regularly on RI .
His writing on Russia-gate has been brilliant .
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians ' in an excellent 2009 profile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , another regular contributor to RI ( archive ) .
These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up .
You can find his popular fiction and novels on this subject , here .
To get a sense of how entertaining he is , watch this 2004 TED talk about the cruel misery of American urban design - it is one of the most-viewed on TED .
If you like his work , please consider supporting him on Patreon .
The original title of this piece was : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marx , tortured by boils and phantoms , was right about one thing : History repeats itself , first as tragedy , second as farce .
Thus , I give you the Roman Empire and now the United States of America .
Rome surrendered to time and entropy .
Our method is to drive a gigantic clown car into a ditch .
Is anyone out there interested in redemption ?
I have an idea for the political party out of power , the Democrats , sunk in its special Okefenokee Swamp of identity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to legislate the Citizens United calamity out of existence .
Who knows , a handful of Republicans may be shamed into going along with it .
For those of you who have been mentally vacationing on Mars with Elon Musk , Citizens United was a Supreme Court decision — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 558 U.S. 310 ( 2010 ) — which determined that corporations had the right , as hypothetical “ persons , ” to give as much money as they liked to political candidates .
This “ right ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitution , the 5-4 majority opinion said — giving money to political candidates and causes amounts to “ freedom of speech.
” The Citizens United ruling opened the door for unlimited election spending by corporations and enormous mischief in our national life .
Then-President Obama — a constitutional law professor before his career in politics — complained bitterly about the opinion days later in his State of the Union address , saying that the court had “ reversed a century of law to open the floodgates , including foreign corporations , to spend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the next seven years he did absolutely nothing about it , nor did the Democratic Party majority in congress .
Rather , they vacuumed in as much corporate campaign money as possible from every hokey political action committee ( PAC ) from sea to shining sea , especially in the 2016 presidential election starring Hillary “ It ’ s My Turn ” Clinton .
It turned out to not be her turn in large part because the voters noticed the stench of corruption wafting off this toxic flow of corporate money , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her billionaire opponent , troll that he was .
Of course , corporations have not always been what they are deemed to be today .
They evolved with the increasingly complex activities of industrial economies .
Along the way — in Great Britain first , actually — they were deemed to exist as the equivalent of legal persons , to establish that the liabilities of the company were separate and distinct from those of its owners .
In the USA , forming a corporation usually required an act of legislation until the late @ @ @ @ @ @ @ merely had to register with the states .
Then congress had to sort out the additional problems of giant “ trusts ” and holding companies ( hence , anti-trust laws , now generally ignored ) .
In short , the definition of what a corporation is and what it has a right to do is in a pretty constant state of change as economies evolve .
And insofar as the current economy is sinking like the USS Titanic — and our republic as a mode of governance with it — surely the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role and existential nature of a corporation in this polity .
This homework assignment should be given to the Democratic members of congress , since they are otherwise preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend .
The crux of the argument is that corporations can not be said to be entirely and altogether the equivalent of persons for all legal purposes .
In law , corporations have duties , obligations , and responsibilities to their shareholders first , and only after that to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and only then by pretty strict legal prescription .
It may be assumed that the interests of corporations and their shareholders are in opposition to , and in conflict with , the public interest .
And insofar as elections are fundamentally matters of the public interest , corporations must be prohibited from efforts to influence the outcome of elections .
That ’ s your assignment Chuck Schumer , Nancy Pelosi , and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership .
Get serious .
Show a little initiative .
Do something useful .
Draw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real that might make a difference in this decrepitating country .
Or get out of the way and let a new party do the job .

"This homework assignment should be given to the Democratic members of congress, since they are otherwise preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in September 2017
The author is a prominent American social critic, blogger, and podcaster, and we carry his articles regularly on RI. His writing on Russia-gate has been brilliant.
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with the brilliant Dmitry Orlov, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.
You can find his popular fiction and novels on this subject, here. To get a sense of how entertaining he is, watch this 2004 TED talk about the cruel misery of American urban design - it is one of the most-viewed on TED.
If you like his work, please consider supporting him on Patreon. The original title of this piece was: 'Homework Assignment'.
Poor old Karl Marx, tortured by boils and phantoms, was right about one thing: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Thus, I give you the Roman Empire and now the United States of America. Rome surrendered to time and entropy. Our method is to drive a gigantic clown car into a ditch.
Is anyone out there interested in redemption? I have an idea for the political party out of power, the Democrats, sunk in its special Okefenokee Swamp of identity politics and Russia paranoia: make an effort to legislate the Citizens United calamity out of existence. Who knows, a handful of Republicans may be shamed into going along with it. For those of you who have been mentally vacationing on Mars with Elon Musk, Citizens United was a Supreme Court decision — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 558 U.S. 310 (2010) — which determined that corporations had the right, as hypothetical “persons,” to give as much money as they liked to political candidates.
We've made important contributions to world culture
This “right” devolved from the First Amendment of the constitution, the 5-4 majority opinion said — giving money to political candidates and causes amounts to “freedom of speech.” The Citizens United ruling opened the door for unlimited election spending by corporations and enormous mischief in our national life. Then-President Obama — a constitutional law professor before his career in politics — complained bitterly about the opinion days later in his State of the Union address, saying that the court had “reversed a century of law to open the floodgates, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.”
And for the next seven years he did absolutely nothing about it, nor did the Democratic Party majority in congress. Rather, they vacuumed in as much corporate campaign money as possible from every hokey political action committee (PAC) from sea to shining sea, especially in the 2016 presidential election starring Hillary “It’s My Turn” Clinton. It turned out to not be her turn in large part because the voters noticed the stench of corruption wafting off this toxic flow of corporate money, which Hillary was using to vastly outspend her billionaire opponent, troll that he was.
It's been a heck of a ride, and it's coming to an end ...
Of course, corporations have not always been what they are deemed to be today. They evolved with the increasingly complex activities of industrial economies. Along the way — in Great Britain first, actually — they were deemed to exist as the equivalent of legal persons, to establish that the liabilities of the company were separate and distinct from those of its owners. In the USA, forming a corporation usually required an act of legislation until the late 19th century. After that, they merely had to register with the states. Then congress had to sort out the additional problems of giant “trusts” and holding companies (hence, anti-trust laws, now generally ignored).
In short, the definition of what a corporation is and what it has a right to do is in a pretty constant state of change as economies evolve. And insofar as the current economy is sinking like the USS Titanic — and our republic as a mode of governance with it — surely the time has come to redefine in legislation the role and existential nature of a corporation in this polity. This homework assignment should be given to the Democratic members of congress, since they are otherwise preoccupied only with hunting for Russian gremlins and discovering new sexual abnormalities to protect and defend.
The crux of the argument is that corporations cannot be said to be entirely and altogether the equivalent of persons for all legal purposes. In law, corporations have duties, obligations, and responsibilities to their shareholders first, and only after that to the public interest or the common good, and only then by pretty strict legal prescription. It may be assumed that the interests of corporations and their shareholders are in opposition to, and in conflict with, the public interest. And insofar as elections are fundamentally matters of the public interest, corporations must be prohibited from efforts to influence the outcome of elections.
That’s your assignment Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership. Get serious. Show a little initiative. Do something useful. Draw up some legislation.
Get behind something real that might make a difference in this decrepitating country.
Or get out of the way and let a new party do the job.
Source: Kunstler.com


russia-insider--2020-12-13--The US Has Lost Global Power, and Is Now Just Faking It

`` If the US manages to convince enough people , at home and around the world , that it is still dangerous , then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer . ''
This article from our archives was first published on RI in April 2018 Orlov is one of our favorite essayists on Russia and all sorts of other things .
He moved to the US as a child , and lives in the Boston area .
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians ' in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ James Howard Kunstler , another regular contributor to RI ( archive ) .
These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up .
He is best known for his 2011 book comparing Soviet and American collapse ( he thinks America 's will be worse ) .
He is a prolific author on a wide array of subjects , and you can see his work by searching him on Amazon .
He has a large following on the web , and on Patreon , and we urge you to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does .
His current project is organizing the production of affordable house boats for living on .
He lives on a boat himself .
If you have n't discovered his work yet , please take a look at his archive of articles on RI .
They are a real treasure , full of invaluable insight into both the US and Russia and how they are related .
It ’ s a hard job being a global hegemon and the world ’ s sole superpower .
You have to keep the entire planet in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taught its place , and kept there , by force if need be .
Now and again a country or two has to be conquered or destroyed , just to teach others a lesson .
Plus you have to relentlessly meddle in other countries ’ politics , rigging elections so that only US-friendly candidates can win , run regime change operations and organize colored revolutions .
Stop doing this , and some countries will start ignoring you .
And then the rest will quickly realize that you are losing control and go their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States still the world ’ s greatest power , in control of the entire planet , or has that moment in history already come and gone ?
We are constantly hearing how the situation is becoming dire : relations between the US and NATO countries and Russia are going from bad to worse ; there is a trade war going on with China ; North Korea remains an intractable problem and an embarrassment .
Many people maintain that we are very close to a world war .
But does “ very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is quite possible to stand for hours with your toes hanging over the edge of a cliff and never jump .
Suicide is a big decision : big even for a person , much bigger for a large country .
On March 1 , 2018 president Putin unveiled Russia ’ s new weapons systems against which the United States is defenseless and will remain so for the foreseeable future .
Previously , the plan was to surround Russia with military bases and missile batteries , then launch a preemptive first strike , destroying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to capitulate .
This plan has now conclusively failed , and a US/NATO attack on Russia is once again assured to be an act of suicide .
Worse than that , even limited military confrontations are now mostly unthinkable , because Russia can now inflict unacceptable damage on US/NATO forces from a safe distance and without putting any of its own assets at risk .
If Russia won ’ t attack and the US/NATO can ’ t attack , then how likely is a war ?
The new weapons systems have made it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is still important to maintain a credible military posture , but politically the US is no longer in control , and neither are the global institutions on which it has relied .
Instead , what we are seeing is the reemergence of nation states , and even of empires .
The political future of Syria is being decided by Russia , Turkey and Iran , with no useful input from the United States at all .
Significantly , whereas Russia and Iran are in categories of their own as far as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a US ally and the second-largest armed force in NATO .
The fact that Turkey is no longer eager to please the Americans is quite telling .
Except during the strange and tumultuous twentieth century during which the US briefly flashed across the world stage , these three countries went by different names , which all ended in “ empire ” : the Russian Empire , the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire .
Of these three , the Russian and the Ottoman empires were heirs to the Holy Roman Empire , whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , went on for centuries after Rome had turned into a depopulated ruin and a dark age had descended on Europe .
After Constantinople fell to the Turks and Islam took over the region , the center of Orthodox Christianity migrated north to Moscow .
Now add China , or the Chinese Empire if you like , which is now aligned with Russia , and complete the picture : all of the greatest and most ancient Eurasian empires have come back and are talking and cooperating , while the has-been upstart on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t even invited .
Given this situation , what is the US to do ?
It has three choices .
The first is to start a major war , thus committing national suicide ( while taking other countries with it ) .
It lacks the political will to make this decision , although it could blunder into a major war by accident .
The second choice is to basically just fold : give up trying to project power around the world , retreat into its own borders and lick its wounds .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well ; all that remains in the realm of possibility is to pretend that everything is still fine for as long as possible .
But how is it possible to pretend that everything is still fine even as everything is falling apart ?
The answer is to start faking it .
If the US manages to convince enough people , at home and around the world , that it is still dangerous , then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer .
It may no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aims , but it is still very much capable of mass murder , as was recently demonstrated by the US “ coalition ” bombings of Mosul and Raqqa , which now lay in ruins .
Similar wanton acts of mass murder have been committed America ’ s Saudi-Arabian proxy in Yemen , and by their Ukrainian proxies in the Donbass .
But even the opportunities to commit mindless mass murder with impunity are now becoming fewer and farther between , forcing the US to resort to more boutique acts of violence .
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and much of Europe ) curtains itself off from the rest of the world using an elaborately constructed wall of complete nonsense .
A favorite trope has to do with dreamed-up chemical weapons as the main frightener .
Take a look at the recent Israeli rocket attack on Syria .
It was justified using obviously fake video footage produced by the White Helmets—a group known for staging fake terror events .
At this point , they don ’ t even care how fake their product looks : this time around , they didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( used to sync up video with sound ) .
The setting was obviously a movie set , but production values were rather missing .
Instead , we had actors , some wearing white helmets , but no protective gear whatsoever , dumping buckets of water over shivering children .
How is that even supposed to make any sense ?
And then note that the rockets ( five which got shot down by the Syrians , with only three making it through ) came from Israel .
Why Israel ?
Because the Russians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fake chemical weapons provocation was being organized as a pretext to launch a rocket attack , and that they were going to shoot not just at the rockets but also at those who launch them .
Therefore , Americans decided that it would be too risky to launch the attack from navy ships , and instead asked the Israelis to do the honor of lobbing a few missiles at a remote airbase in Syria , correctly thinking that the Russians wouldn ’ t immediately retaliate against Israel if no Russians would hurt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no Russians at that airbase during their attack .
This is , on the one hand , quite pathetic , but on the other it shows that the Americans are still capable of a modicum of rational thought .
This , then is the strange period of history we are going through .
The US is lying nonstop ( since truth is not on its side ) while pretending to still be dangerous by committing wanton acts of mass murder ( small-scale ones , which it can be sure to carry out with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suicide ( via large-scale war ) and the decision to shut down the whole imperial project both remain politically impossible .
How long this strange , unstable period of murderous nonsense can persist isn ’ t known—your guess is as good as mine—but it obviously can ’ t go on for ages .
Give it a few years , or less .

"If the US manages to convince enough people, at home and around the world, that it is still dangerous, then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in April 2018
Orlov is one of our favorite essayists on Russia and all sorts of other things. He moved to the US as a child, and lives in the Boston area.
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with James Howard Kunstler, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.
He is best known for his 2011 book comparing Soviet and American collapse (he thinks America's will be worse). He is a prolific author on a wide array of subjects, and you can see his work by searching him on Amazon.
He has a large following on the web, and on Patreon, and we urge you to support him there, as Russia Insider does.
His current project is organizing the production of affordable house boats for living on. He lives on a boat himself.
If you haven't discovered his work yet, please take a look at his archive of articles on RI. They are a real treasure, full of invaluable insight into both the US and Russia and how they are related.
It’s a hard job being a global hegemon and the world’s sole superpower.
You have to keep the entire planet in line. Every country needs to be taught its place, and kept there, by force if need be. Now and again a country or two has to be conquered or destroyed, just to teach others a lesson. Plus you have to relentlessly meddle in other countries’ politics, rigging elections so that only US-friendly candidates can win, run regime change operations and organize colored revolutions. Stop doing this, and some countries will start ignoring you. And then the rest will quickly realize that you are losing control and go their separate ways while ignoring you.
Is the United States still the world’s greatest power, in control of the entire planet, or has that moment in history already come and gone? We are constantly hearing how the situation is becoming dire: relations between the US and NATO countries and Russia are going from bad to worse; there is a trade war going on with China; North Korea remains an intractable problem and an embarrassment.
Many people maintain that we are very close to a world war. But does “very close” actually mean anything? It is quite possible to stand for hours with your toes hanging over the edge of a cliff and never jump. Suicide is a big decision: big even for a person, much bigger for a large country.
On March 1, 2018 president Putin unveiled Russia’s new weapons systems against which the United States is defenseless and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Previously, the plan was to surround Russia with military bases and missile batteries, then launch a preemptive first strike, destroying its ability to retaliate and forcing it to capitulate.
This plan has now conclusively failed, and a US/NATO attack on Russia is once again assured to be an act of suicide. Worse than that, even limited military confrontations are now mostly unthinkable, because Russia can now inflict unacceptable damage on US/NATO forces from a safe distance and without putting any of its own assets at risk. If Russia won’t attack and the US/NATO can’t attack, then how likely is a war?
The new weapons systems have made it possible to start ignoring the US. It is still important to maintain a credible military posture, but politically the US is no longer in control, and neither are the global institutions on which it has relied. Instead, what we are seeing is the reemergence of nation states, and even of empires.
The political future of Syria is being decided by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with no useful input from the United States at all. Significantly, whereas Russia and Iran are in categories of their own as far as the US is concerned, Turkey has been a US ally and the second-largest armed force in NATO. The fact that Turkey is no longer eager to please the Americans is quite telling.
Except during the strange and tumultuous twentieth century during which the US briefly flashed across the world stage, these three countries went by different names, which all ended in “empire”: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. Of these three, the Russian and the Ottoman empires were heirs to the Holy Roman Empire, whose eastern half, with its capital Constantinople, went on for centuries after Rome had turned into a depopulated ruin and a dark age had descended on Europe.
After Constantinople fell to the Turks and Islam took over the region, the center of Orthodox Christianity migrated north to Moscow. Now add China, or the Chinese Empire if you like, which is now aligned with Russia, and complete the picture: all of the greatest and most ancient Eurasian empires have come back and are talking and cooperating, while the has-been upstart on the other side of the planet isn’t even invited.
Given this situation, what is the US to do? It has three choices. The first is to start a major war, thus committing national suicide (while taking other countries with it). It lacks the political will to make this decision, although it could blunder into a major war by accident.
The second choice is to basically just fold: give up trying to project power around the world, retreat into its own borders and lick its wounds. It lacks the political will to do this as well; all that remains in the realm of possibility is to pretend that everything is still fine for as long as possible.
But how is it possible to pretend that everything is still fine even as everything is falling apart? The answer is to start faking it. If the US manages to convince enough people, at home and around the world, that it is still dangerous, then it will be able to hide its increasing enfeeblement for a while longer. It may no longer be capable of achieving any of its aims, but it is still very much capable of mass murder, as was recently demonstrated by the US “coalition” bombings of Mosul and Raqqa, which now lay in ruins. Similar wanton acts of mass murder have been committed America’s Saudi-Arabian proxy in Yemen, and by their Ukrainian proxies in the Donbass.
But even the opportunities to commit mindless mass murder with impunity are now becoming fewer and farther between, forcing the US to resort to more boutique acts of violence. To justify these acts, the US (and much of Europe) curtains itself off from the rest of the world using an elaborately constructed wall of complete nonsense.
A favorite trope has to do with dreamed-up chemical weapons as the main frightener. Take a look at the recent Israeli rocket attack on Syria. It was justified using obviously fake video footage produced by the White Helmets—a group known for staging fake terror events. At this point, they don’t even care how fake their product looks: this time around, they didn’t bother editing out the clapper (used to sync up video with sound). The setting was obviously a movie set, but production values were rather missing. Instead, we had actors, some wearing white helmets, but no protective gear whatsoever, dumping buckets of water over shivering children. How is that even supposed to make any sense?
And then note that the rockets (five which got shot down by the Syrians, with only three making it through) came from Israel. Why Israel? Because the Russians had warned the US that they knew the fake chemical weapons provocation was being organized as a pretext to launch a rocket attack, and that they were going to shoot not just at the rockets but also at those who launch them. Therefore, Americans decided that it would be too risky to launch the attack from navy ships, and instead asked the Israelis to do the honor of lobbing a few missiles at a remote airbase in Syria, correctly thinking that the Russians wouldn’t immediately retaliate against Israel if no Russians would hurt, and knowing that there would be no Russians at that airbase during their attack. This is, on the one hand, quite pathetic, but on the other it shows that the Americans are still capable of a modicum of rational thought.
This, then is the strange period of history we are going through. The US is lying nonstop (since truth is not on its side) while pretending to still be dangerous by committing wanton acts of mass murder (small-scale ones, which it can be sure to carry out with impunity).
Meanwhile, both national suicide (via large-scale war) and the decision to shut down the whole imperial project both remain politically impossible. How long this strange, unstable period of murderous nonsense can persist isn’t known—your guess is as good as mine—but it obviously can’t go on for ages.
Give it a few years, or less.


russia-insider--2020-12-14--American Collapse - Great Podcast About How and When - with James Howard Kunstler

`` Personally , I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR ’ s ... and to express itself first in the financial markets ... '' This article from our archives was first published on RI in April 2018 The author is a prominent American social critic , blogger , and podcaster , and one of our all-time favorite pessimists .
We carry his articles regularly on RI .
His writing on Russia-gate has been highly entertaining .
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians ' in an excellent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dmitry Orlov , another regular contributor to RI ( archive ) .
These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up .
You can find his popular fiction and novels on this subject , here .
To get a sense of how entertaining he is , watch this 2004 TED talk about the cruel misery of American urban design - it is one of the most-viewed on TED .
Here is a recent audio interview with him which gives a good overview of his work .
If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him on Patreon .
I had a fellow on my latest podcast , released Sunday , who insists that the world population will crash 90-plus percent from the current 7.6 billion to 600 million by the end of this century .
Jack Alpert heads an outfit called the Stanford Knowledge Integration Lab ( SKIL ) which he started at Stanford University in 1978 and now runs as a private research foundation .
Alpert is primarily an engineer .
At 600 million , the living standard in the USA would be on a level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europe , but without the charm , since many of the planet ’ s linked systems — soils , oceans , climate , mineral resources — will be in much greater disarray than was the case 1,500 years ago .
Anyway , that state-of-life may be a way-station so something more dire .
Alpert ’ s optimal case would be a world human population of 50 million , deployed in three “ city-states , ” in the Pacific Northwest , the Uruguay / Paraguay border region , and China , that could support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ standards for a tiny population , along with science and advanced technology , run on hydropower .
The rest of world , he says , would just go back to nature , or what ’ s left of it .
Alpert ’ s project aims to engineer a path to that optimal outcome .
I hadn ’ t encountered quite such an extreme view of the future before , except for some fictional exercises like Cormac McCarthy ’ s The Road .
( Alpert , too , sees cannibalism as one likely byproduct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , my own venture into the fictionalized future of the World Made by Hand books depicted a much kinder and gentler re-set to life at the circa-1800 level of living , at least in the USA .
Apparently , I ’ m a sentimental softie .
Both of us are at odds with the more generic techno-optimists who are waiting patiently for miracle rescue remedies like cold fusion while enjoying re-runs of The Big Bang Theory .
( Alpert doesn ’ t completely rule out as-yet-undeveloped energy sources , though he acknowledges that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) We do agree with basic premise that the energy supply is mainly what supports the way we live now , and that it shows every evidence of entering a deep and destabilizing decline that will halt the activities necessary to keep our networks of dynamic systems running .
A question of interest to many readers is how soon or how rapid the unraveling of these systems might be .
When civilizations crumble , it tends to fast-track .
The Roman empire seems to be an exception , but in many ways it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being a sort of advanced Flintstones economy , with even its giant-scale activities ( e.g .
building the Coliseum ) being accomplished by human-powered work .
In any case , the outfit really fell apart steadily after the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius ( 180 AD ) .
The Romans had their own version of a financialized economy : they simply devalued their coins by mixing in less and less silver at the mint , so they could pretend to pay for the same luxuries they had grown accustomed to as resources stretched @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everything else we do — operates at levels of complexity so baffling that even its supposed managers at the central banks are flying blind through fogs of debt , deception , and moral hazard .
When that vessel of pretense slams into a mountain top , the effects are likely to be quick and lethal to the economies on the ground below .
In our time , the most recent crash of a major socioeconomic system was the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990-91 .
Of course , it happened against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still revving pretty well outside the USSR , and that softened the blow .
Ultimately , the Russians still had plenty of oil to sell , which allowed them to re-set well above the Fifth Century peasant level of existence .
At least for now .
The Soviet Union collapsed because it was a thoroughly dishonest system that ran on pretense and coercion .
Apparently , the US Intel Community completely missed the signs that political collapse was underway .
They seem to be pretty clueless about the fate of the USA these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the preoccupations of two very recent Intel chiefs — John Brennan of CIA and James Clapper , DNI — who now inveigh full-time on CNN as avatars of the Deep State against the wicked Golden Golem of Greatness .
Personally , I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR ’ s , but probably bloodier because there ’ s simply more stuff just lying around to fight over .
Of course , I expect the collapse to express itself first in banking , finance , and markets — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to simple failures of faith .
But it will become political and social soon enough , maybe all-at once .
And when it happens in the USA , it will spread through the financial systems the whole world round .

"Personally, I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR’s ... and to express itself first in the financial markets ..."
This article from our archives was first published on RI in April 2018
The author is a prominent American social critic, blogger, and podcaster, and one of our all-time favorite pessimists. We carry his articles regularly on RI. His writing on Russia-gate has been highly entertaining.
He is one of the better-known thinkers The New Yorker has dubbed 'The Dystopians' in an excellent 2009 profile, along with the brilliant Dmitry Orlov, another regular contributor to RI (archive). These theorists believe that modern society is headed for a jarring and painful crack-up.
You can find his popular fiction and novels on this subject, here. To get a sense of how entertaining he is, watch this 2004 TED talk about the cruel misery of American urban design - it is one of the most-viewed on TED. Here is a recent audio interview with him which gives a good overview of his work.
If you like his work, please consider supporting him on Patreon.
I had a fellow on my latest podcast, released Sunday, who insists that the world population will crash 90-plus percent from the current 7.6 billion to 600 million by the end of this century. Jack Alpert heads an outfit called the Stanford Knowledge Integration Lab (SKIL) which he started at Stanford University in 1978 and now runs as a private research foundation. Alpert is primarily an engineer.
At 600 million, the living standard in the USA would be on a level with the post-Roman peasantry of Fifth century Europe, but without the charm, since many of the planet’s linked systems — soils, oceans, climate, mineral resources — will be in much greater disarray than was the case 1,500 years ago. Anyway, that state-of-life may be a way-station so something more dire. Alpert’s optimal case would be a world human population of 50 million, deployed in three “city-states,” in the Pacific Northwest, the Uruguay / Paraguay border region, and China, that could support something close to today’s living standards for a tiny population, along with science and advanced technology, run on hydropower. The rest of world, he says, would just go back to nature, or what’s left of it. Alpert’s project aims to engineer a path to that optimal outcome.
I hadn’t encountered quite such an extreme view of the future before, except for some fictional exercises like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. (Alpert, too, sees cannibalism as one likely byproduct of the journey ahead.) Obviously, my own venture into the fictionalized future of the World Made by Hand books depicted a much kinder and gentler re-set to life at the circa-1800 level of living, at least in the USA. Apparently, I’m a sentimental softie.
Both of us are at odds with the more generic techno-optimists who are waiting patiently for miracle rescue remedies like cold fusion while enjoying re-runs of The Big Bang Theory. (Alpert doesn’t completely rule out as-yet-undeveloped energy sources, though he acknowledges that they’re a low-percentage prospect.) We do agree with basic premise that the energy supply is mainly what supports the way we live now, and that it shows every evidence of entering a deep and destabilizing decline that will halt the activities necessary to keep our networks of dynamic systems running.
A question of interest to many readers is how soon or how rapid the unraveling of these systems might be. When civilizations crumble, it tends to fast-track. The Roman empire seems to be an exception, but in many ways it was far more resilient than ours, being a sort of advanced Flintstones economy, with even its giant-scale activities (e.g. building the Coliseum) being accomplished by human-powered work. In any case, the outfit really fell apart steadily after the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius (180 AD).
The Romans had their own version of a financialized economy: they simply devalued their coins by mixing in less and less silver at the mint, so they could pretend to pay for the same luxuries they had grown accustomed to as resources stretched thin. Our financialized economy — like everything else we do — operates at levels of complexity so baffling that even its supposed managers at the central banks are flying blind through fogs of debt, deception, and moral hazard. When that vessel of pretense slams into a mountain top, the effects are likely to be quick and lethal to the economies on the ground below.
In our time, the most recent crash of a major socioeconomic system was the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990-91. Of course, it happened against the backdrop of a global system that was still revving pretty well outside the USSR, and that softened the blow. Ultimately, the Russians still had plenty of oil to sell, which allowed them to re-set well above the Fifth Century peasant level of existence. At least for now. The Soviet Union collapsed because it was a thoroughly dishonest system that ran on pretense and coercion. Apparently, the US Intel Community completely missed the signs that political collapse was underway.
They seem to be pretty clueless about the fate of the USA these days, too. If you consider the preoccupations of two very recent Intel chiefs — John Brennan of CIA and James Clapper, DNI — who now inveigh full-time on CNN as avatars of the Deep State against the wicked Golden Golem of Greatness.
Personally, I expect our collapse to be as sudden and unexpected as the USSR’s, but probably bloodier because there’s simply more stuff just lying around to fight over.
Of course, I expect the collapse to express itself first in banking, finance, and markets — being so deeply faith-based and so subject to simple failures of faith. But it will become political and social soon enough, maybe all-at once. And when it happens in the USA, it will spread through the financial systems the whole world round.