Forum Replies Created
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One mans view (i agree with him, so maybe its two men’s views:) )
nation:https://www.thenation.com/article/what-weve-learned-in-year-one-of-russiagate/
Will break up my response into bite-sized (Old Hacker-style) posts, to prevent TL;DNR:
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First off, I reject the author’s premise that no evidence has been found to demonstrate Trump campaign collusion with Russia. Actually, a ton has already been reported, with the Don Jr, Kushner, Manafort and the Russians at Trump Tower being a slam dunk. We have the email chain. We have Don Jr’s joy at hearing he was about to get dirt on Clinton from the Russians, and he knowingly took the meeting. Instead of going to the FBI, the Trump campaign met on the sly to receive illegal info. That breaks the law. And they hid all of this for a year, lied about it repeatedly, changed their story three times after being finally caught, and then finally admitted it all.
But, I’ll go ahead and temporarily grant the author his premise. Thing is, the Mueller probe is ongoing and very tight-lipped. The supposed absence of proof proves nothing, because he hasn’t finished yet, and there is no report until he does. The author should wait until that happens to even suggest that there is no evidence.
Also, on the misuse of “oligarchs.” That has deep roots, as you know. Goes back to the Greeks. But, technically, we shouldn’t use “oligarchs” in place of “plutocrats.” But we almost always do.
Oligarchy means “rule by the few.”
Plutocracy means “rule by the rich.”It’s possible for oligarchs to become plutocrats, and that’s kinda where the most recent usage comes from. When “public servants” become extremely wealthy while they’re public employees — or due to this later. This, of course, happens all over the world and isn’t limited to Russia. We have our fair share, of course. But I think the reason why “Russian oligarchs” is used so often — again, I know you know this:
When the Soviet Union fell, it was the world’s largest rush to privatize everything, ever. Never before had so many public assets been privatized at such a clip. People like Putin reportedly made hundreds of billions in the process. There is no American cognate for this, cuz our system does this at a much slower pace, over a longer period of time. Yes, we have oligarchs, plutocrats, and once called the latter “robber barons,” which I liked as a term. But I think the Wild Wild East aspect of the Russian situation caused it to stick — fairly or unfairly — to them more than other nations.
When you get the time, I still would like to hear what you think did happen, during the campaign, with Trump, Russia, and the whole deal. Not about the false narrative you think is being presented. But what you believe actually happened instead.
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Billy, I dont think anything ‘worse’ happened than whats happened with Obama or Clinton or Bush, with regard to…say…Israel. And i dont hear a firestorm from either the Dem-MSM or the Rep-MSM about ‘that’.
Thats not the ‘kind’ of answer you are looking for, I know, but thats how wv-brain looks at this stuff, nowadays.
You noted some of the vids i post almost make it out that Trump is a ‘victim’ — well, i dont think he’s a victim, i think he’s a monster, but i totally ‘get’ the subtext among some radicals that he’s a victim. They are picking up on the fact that the MSMs didnt go after Obama or Bush or Clinton for ‘their’ various collusions with mega-powers. Be they Israel or Mega-toxic-Corporations (I dont see the difference btw, in ‘colluding’ with Russia or colluding with Monsanto or Exxon. See the famous movie ‘Network’ speech — you know the one 🙂
PS — as for the specifics of the Trump and Russia thing — I dunno what happened. I dont think we ever get to know the full extent of these kinds of gangster weddings. I’m sure Trump and his evil henchmen got in bed with all kinds of other National and Corporate gangsters and Oligarchs. But i just dont see what they did as any more harmful than what Obama did getting in bed with Goldman Sachs, etc. I mean you can say the russia thing was “illegal” and the Goldman Sachs thing is all nice and “legal” — but are ‘you’ satisfied with that kind of distinction? 🙂
We are being fucked to death…by…”powerful forces of Nature, Mr Beale” 🙂
w
vI think you’re making a much more sensible argument than most of those videos you post. Unlike them, in general — with exceptions — you readily admit that Trump and the GOP are also guilty of X, Y and Z . . . and then you zoom out big picture to say that national borders aren’t important. It’s the corruption shared by political actors, the degree of corruption, the quid pro quo of it all, etc. It’s the gangsterism of it all. Their venal “weddings.”
If I read you correctly, that is. Which is a pretty good argument for total repeal and replacement of our current system. I think you and I both want full democracy instead, egalitarian, free from concentrations of wealth and power, and oh so green, clean and sustainable . . .
Btw, I recently reread a pretty good book on moral philosophy, by Susan Neiman (written during the Bush administration): Moral Clarity.
It’s not perfect, primarily because she sometimes injects too much current politics to make her point, IMO, which was that “the left” should take another look at the Enlightenment. Eyes wide open, but another look all the same. On balance, I agree with that. Kant is her main voice, but I’m partial to the pre-Enlightenment Spinoza.
Toward the end, she talks about four brave activists in recent times, one of them being Daniel Ellsberg. Had forgotten a lot about the Pentagon Papers, and aspects of the bombings in Vietnam. But this factoid stood out for me:
Just during the time after the Papers were released, Nixon dropped 1.5 million tons of bombs on the Vietnamese. Neiman also reminds us (via the Nixon Tapes) how obscenely indifferent Nixon and Kissinger were to the carnage they leveled on the Vietnamese people. Among a host of other leaders, of course.
