jas007

Far be it from me to knock people for what they believe of how they think. My point was that much of the public has been brainwashed by the mainstream media. They simply don’t know any better. How would they? The news is now sanitized. Anything that doesn’t support the approved narrative is never reported. It’s avoided at all costs. Or, if some real news actually sees the light of day, they’ll tell everyone they didn’t see what they just saw. As another poster has pointed out, just the other day the White House press secretary dismissed a recent video of Joe Biden up on stage, seemingly lost in space, as a poorly produced fake. And the next day, multiple news sources repeated that same nonsense. Lie to people enough and they just might believe anything. That’s part of the playbook. As the election approaches, it’s only going to get worse.

Too simple? It’s all complicated, to be sure, but when I’m trying to explain my thoughts, I try to keep it simple. Explain things as I would to a five-year-old. As we know, if you can’t do that, maybe it’s because you don’t really understand it yourself. I didn’t grow up in Eastern Europe. I’ve never visited Russia or Ukraine and I don’t know anyone from either place. I grew up in America, in an upper middle class old money neighborhood. I had a sheltered existence. Country clubs, private schools, and so on. I could always have anything I wanted and I’m pretty sure I’ve spent as many years in school as I ever did working a job. It never crossed my mind that I was fortunate. Things were the way they were because that’s the way they were supposed to be. I was naive. I never really questioned the narrative, at least as a kid. But somewhere along the line, I began to question authority. I began to open my eyes. Maybe things aren’t so simple. Or are they? And even if they are complicated, maybe they can be simply explained. Evil people are at work. That’s pretty simple, no? But those people want you to look elsewhere. They have to have a boogeyman. “It’s not us, it’s those evil people over on the other side of the world.” The Communists, the Russians, the terrorists. And while people are arguing with each other, others are laughing in the background, watching their bank accounts grow. I’m sure people everywhere are tired of the nonsense. Point out the obvious, and they’ll call you a “conspiracy theorist.” Fine. Lately, a lot of the so-called conspiracy theories are no longer conspiracy theories. They’re the truth. Sorry for the rambling.

Maybe Russia has changed? The Soviet Union is no more. As for Hitler? That’s history and it wasn’t just Hitler that was nuts. He had an entire country following him. Mass formation psychosis, as some people put it. If anything, I worry about today’s Western leaders and how they’re going down the same path towards war and destruction to cover their own failings in the financial arena. Have you not been paying attention? Western countries are bankrupt and losing their grip on control. They’ll seemingly stop at nothing. The propaganda is nonstop. No matter what the problem, it’s Russia’s fault. And if not Russia, it’s the “terrorists.” The warmongers are everywhere. The justice system has been weaponized. Borders are open. Free speech is under attack. And to top it off, we have certain people intent on establishing a “New World Order.” And part of that agenda includes a massive culling of the world population. COVID was just the first step. Bird flu may be next, along with another killer jab. To be sure, the New World Order agenda has been around for a while in one form or another, but it’s finally gaining traction.

I agree. “We never saw this coming! Russia was bluffing.” That’s really what they’ll say, if they’re still around to say anything. Propaganda is dangerous. Censorship is dangerous. You end up with a population of people who can only regurgitate the narrative they’ve been fed. Stand on a busy street in any major American city and question the people walking by. See what they know about Russia and world politics. -A large percentage would not be able to locate Russia on a map. -A large percentage would not know that the Soviet Union no longer exists. - A large percentage would think that Russia has a weak and ineffective military. - A large percentage would think that the Russian economy is in shambles and that the country still exists only to function as a gas station for the rest of Europe. - A larger percentage would think that Russia is an enemy of the United States, and that Putin (assuming they know who he is) is a dictator who enjoys killing women and children. -A large percent would think that the Russian people are “bad people.” -and the list goes on. Russian art, literature, and music? Not part of the narrative. Real Russian history? Ditto. Even members of congress might hold these views. Not because they actually know anything, but because those are the things they’ve been told to believe. And so the world is being led to war so that a few defense contractors can make a few more dollars.

Jeffrey Sachs has impeccable credentials. A tenured Harvard professor at an early age, now a professor at Columbia. And yet, because he thinks for himself and has a viewpoint that’s not in lockstep with the mainstream narrative, he’s a “Putin apologist.” A line of reasoning that’s an excellent example of everything wrong with today’s media and how it’s now being used as propaganda. Anyone who doesn’t agree with the mainstream narrative is an idiot! And people are dumb enough to believe that. Amazing, if you stop and think about it l.

Just out of curiosity, what problem did you have with True?

So those travel routers act just like the hotspot on your phone, except that you can plug stuff into it? The only thing I would use it for when out and about would be as a hotspot, but my phone can already perform that function, and I can connect to it wirelessly already. The problem I’m having is at home with my current home wifi gizmo. I’m looking for something that will be more or less “unlimited, “ in terms of data usage. If I have to pay more, so be it. The alternative is home fiber internet/wifi. That kind of service is usually fast and reliable and is always on.

I’ve got to do something to make my home WiFi internet simple and more reliable. My mobile phone service is with AIS, and the package I have with that number includes 100 g of internet per month, which is throttled after 5 gb. I use my phone as a hotspot when I’m traveling. That has always worked great. I also have an AIS 4G WiFi router that has its own separate number and its own SIM card. It has one Ethernet connection, so I can connect my Apple TV box. Anyway, when it works, it works ok, but it isn’t that fast. It also slows to a crawl every so often until I turn it off and then turn it back on again at which time it seems to establish a new connection with a possibly different server? So I have to do that ten times a day. Annoying. Maybe I’m doing something wrong or I’m expecting too much. What I’d like to find is a SIM card and router for data. Unlimited download at a reasonable speed that I don’t have to fool around with all the time. I went to the True store at the mall to see what they had, but the guy I spoke with didn’t really speak English very well. He showed me a router for 2000 baht or so, and a 12 month SIM with 100 gb at 1.5 MBS. That SIM was around 1700 baht, if I remember correctly. At the time, I couldn’t figure out if the 100 gb was meant to last all year, or whether you got that every month, full speed. So I didn’t buy anything. I wouldn’t mind if I had to pay 1700 a month. At my condo, I can get TMN cable and internet, or a package from True. The girl in the condo office seemed to think TMN was the way to go. Maybe I should just try one of those services. Cost isn’t an issue, but I don’t want to throw money away if I don’t have to.

Traveling to North Korea? Why not? It’s not as if they’re going to throw him in jail once he arrives. It’s no place I would visit for vacation, but then again, I’m nobody, so that’s a different story. Isolated? Reliant on oil, gas, and minerals? Like just about every major power, I think, or at least some combination of those. Every country has to adapt. The world has a global economy. I’ve never been to Russia, but from what I can tell, Putin is well liked in Russia. If all the Russians I come across in the Pattaya area are any indication, the Russian people seem to be relatively happy. Sometimes they try to talk to me in Russian, but that doesn’t work. Some can speak English, at least a little bit, and in any event, every one of them has always been polite to me.

Isn’t it rather obvious? The person interviewing Chomsky is part of the problem and doesn’t even realize it. He’s part of the mainstream establishment and fails to recognize that that his world view is manufactured. He has good intentions, though. As for wanting a “synopsis “? Why not just watch the video? It’s interesting.

The US would consider Russia an enemy even in the absence of problems in the Middle East or with China. The warmongers and the military/industrial complex wouldn’t be in business very long without a boogeyman. The inertia is still there from the Cold War, so it continues.

Depending on where you live, you don’t always have a choice, at least for fiber internet. Different buildings seem to use different providers. You have no choice.

I guess this Chomsky interview was recorded some time ago, when the internet was still in its infancy. Propaganda is the name of the game today, more than ever. The internet just adds another dimension. The reach is now global. Big tech tries its best to contain and filter out the truth, but that’s not always so easy. In any event, world is about to be at war, and one of the weapons used is propaganda. The lies are piled pretty deep, sprinkled with a little truth, for the sake of plausibility. Anyway, anyone interested should take a look at the Nazis use of propaganda in Germany in the 30s and during WWII. That was very effective for them. Print media, newsreels, documentaries, films. Today, the Deep State is following that playbook, without a doubt.

Again, you miss the point. I know what “supported” means. Unfortunately these days, it doesn’t mean much. You assume there really is such a thing as an “approved credible source.” That would be about none of them, from what I can tell. They stopped reporting real news long ago. Today, we have propaganda. So you take it with a grain of salt. That’s today’s reality. Fortunately, there’s still some free speech out there. Elon Musk bought Twitter and so we have that. There’s a lot of junk to sort through on X, as it’s now called, but at least it’s not censored. I read a lot. But I don’t keep a link to everything I read. I’m not writing a term paper and it wouldn’t do me any good, in any event. I read a lot and draw my own conclusions. Imagine that. Thinking for myself. And I can usually sort out what’s BS and what’s not. In another lifetime, I once had a job writing official BS. That’s all I did all day. Of course, when I took the job I thought it might require real work. Analyzing the facts to tell the true story. Fortunately, that’s not really what they wanted. Far from it. What they wanted was a plausible narrative. They didn’t always want the truth, they just wanted a fairy tale that sounded good. Once I figured that out, I had the easiest job in the world. I knew where the land mines were, so to speak, and I stayed away from them. I wrote whatever I wanted, and everyone was happy. A few people worked with me. We used to have a joke of sorts. Begin every piece like any good fairy tale: “Once upon a time….”

Unsupported? What do you want, some sort of link “supporting” every assertion in every post? As if a link to some website proves anything. I guess some people are easily fooled. “Gee, here’s a link to the New York Times. I guess the content must be true.” Do you realize that’s not necessarily the case? These days, a link to any particular piece of “news” is likely to be part of the mainstream narrative. In other words, a lie from the spin doctors. So why play games? Why pretend a link to a website proves anything? About the only thing I read in the mainstream media these days that I take at face value is when they post what day it is. I sometimes have to look that up.

You should probably listen to what he has to say. You might learn a thing or two. Or would you rather continue to pretend he’s a “grifter”? As for “sleazy”? I haven’t followed that part of the story, other than to wonder whether he wasn’t somehow set up. He had been warned that they were out to get him, so he says. Anyway, none of that detracts from the fact that he does know his stuff.

$51 trillion dollars won’t put boots on the ground. The U.S. has a big navy and advanced aircraft, but does not have the necessary equipment in place to materially change the course of the war at this point. Not the manpower, not the equipment. Nor does the rest of NATO. Currently, the big bad Navy can’t even stop the Houthi in Yemen, and Ukraine doesn’t have many modern aircraft and won’t have them anytime soon in close proximity to the battles. Aircraft have to be refueled . Aircraft have to be maintained. Tanks must be refueled. Tanks must be maintained. All of that requires a substantial military presence in close proximity to the front lines. It’s just not available and won’t be anytime soon. Place any of that stuff where it needs to be and it’s a legitimate target for Russia. And if this war is escalated, what happens next is anyone’s guess, but the outcome could be tragic. The West isn’t as powerful as you seem to think it is. Money, yes. Military might, not so much, unless nukes enter the equation. Too many people are simply delusional. That’s the problem. As for “vastly superior advanced technology”? That’s just propaganda. For all practical purposes, Russia has all the same technology the West has. That wasn’t the case in the 90s, perhaps, but today, it’s a different world. One could argue that Russia is better equipped for purposes of a ground war in Eastern Europe. The U.S. combat forces have not unlike what was used to fight WW II. Even today, much of the equipment is from the 1990s. Outdated. As for no “exchangeable currency”? You mean other than within BRICS? Surely you must know that there are customers for Russia”s oil, gas, and other resources. They aren’t giving that stuff away. All the US sanctions have done is weaken the U.S. dollar. Weaken the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. What do you think BRICS is all about? Much of the world is fed up with the continued devaluation of the dollar. A devaluation caused, in part, to fund wars to drop bombs on the very people who put their faith in the stability of the dollar. They buy US bonds, and how are they rewarded? By the theft of their money. Loaning money to the U.S. at negative interest rates is probably not the best idea.

Just out of curiosity, when did I say the U.S. “invaded” Cuba? And I don’t consider the Bay of Pigs fiasco to be an “invasion.” The real military could have done better than that. At the time of the Cuban missile crisis, the military was in favor of a strong military response. Massive bombing and all the rest. Kennedy opted for a naval blockade. Still an act of war, but less drastic. A deal was then made, ending the crisis. In any event, Neocons have now infested both the U.S. State Department and the U.S. foreign policy establishment, and there are no adults in the room, so to speak. The people running America are delusional beyond all belief. They seem to think sending hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine will somehow turn the tide of a war that cannot possibly be won by Ukraine or NATO. If they’re that delusional, they wouldn’t think twice about invading Mexico or Cuba to extinguish a hostile military presence. Remember, there are no adults in the room. The people in charge believe in the Neocon fantasy. Biden is no more than a puppet at this point, and there’s no telling who is calling the shots.

Why would the U.S. invade? Over the years, they imposed sanctions, in part to appease the Cubans in Miami, and as everyone knows, it’s difficult to win a presidential election without Florida. During the Cuban missile crisis the military was in favor of a strong military response. Kennedy decided otherwise, opting for a naval blockade. A deal was made to end the crisis. Russia would pull its missiles from Cuba, and the U.S. was supposed to remove nukes from Turkey. I think the nukes are still in Turkey, though. Maybe they were never removed. It worked out ok, in any event. Of course, Cuba has relied heavily on the tourist Industry over the years, even though U.S. tourists were prohibited from visiting. Russia hasn’t been the primary source of support.

It’s hardly propaganda. The deal was all but agreed to by Ukraine before the US and The UK nixed it. Why have peace when the money laundering can continue? Why have peace when you can continue with the delusional Neocon fantasy that the unipolar world still exists? What does it matter if a half a million Ukrainian kids are slaughtered? No one really cares about them. It’s all about prolonging the war at any cost.

Were you asleep during the Cuban missile crisis? Russia removed its missiles from Cuba. Whatever support Cuba has received since that time has been less signifiant. And in case you haven’t been paying attention, Cuba is now in big trouble, financially. They aren’t doing too well.

Los Lobo, That article is two years old, so not too relevant today. In ant event, given the continued U.S. meddling in Ukraine since at least 2014, I’m sure Russia wasn’t taking promises by Zelensky at face value. And remember, US Secretary of State James Baker once promised Russia that NATO would not expand one inch eastward. That was way back in 1991, I believe. And yet, look at what has happened since. Country after country in Eastern Europe has joined NATO or is in the process of doing so. Now, more than ever, the issue is important to Russia. They don’t want NATO on their doorstep in Ukraine. That’s understandable. At this point, it’s obvious the U.S. wants nothing more than to harm Russia in as many ways as possible. The rationale that NATO is only a defensive alliance won’t fly. Imagine hostile forces were established in Tijuana, or Juarez, or Cuba. Hostile forces armed with all the latest military equipment, including missiles. The U.S. establishment would go nuts. They don’t want that kind of threat right on the border. Again, that’s understandable. Why should it be any different for Russia?

I think you read too much propaganda. It’s probably not entirely you fault, though. That’s par for the course considering who controls the mainstream media.

Here’s your problem: you seem to really think that the West can somehow use “force” to stop Putin. It cannot. Not on the ground with traditional forces. It doesn’t have the manpower. It doesn’t have equipment in place, and even with the help of other NATO countries, it will fail. The only thing that force will do at this point is to bring the world closer to nuclear war. And then no one wins. We all lose. How does that make any sense? The Us has no business fooling around in Ukraine, but that’s what has been happening for years. Whether or not Ukraine is a member of NATO shouldn’t be of such importance that we start WWIII over the issue. And no, Russia does not want to reassemble the old Soviet Union. They just about went bankrupt trying to control all those countries prior to its dissolution, and it doesn’t want to try that again. All they want is no NATO on their doorstep. Seems reasonable to me. No different than in 1962 when President Kennedy wouldn’t stand for Russian missiles in Cuba. Despite what the Neocons want everyone to believe, territorial nation states are still a thing, as are spheres of influence.

I don’t see a problem with Ritter. He obviously knows what he’s talking about. Of course, that’s exactly why the administration is trying to silence him. They’ll do anything to maintain the narrative.