(Regards the article about Maiden)
No, I literally mean it’s a huge article and most people likely won’t want to read it, but should (if interested in this topic). Because this person did extensive research and this is a topic (Maiden) that has many facets it’s quite extensive.
Your life was to a great degree defined by a Cold War, just like the generation before you was defined by WWII, and generation before that the Great Depression and so on. But times change. Germany today is not the Germany of 1933 and those that hold onto some past idea of who the Germans are, are simply “stuck in time.” Russia isn’t the Soviet Union of 1965, the Cold War ended in 1991 and the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union are gone. And the US isn’t in the era of Ronald Reagan in 1984 either. The era of being militarily strong, but reserved in the use of force and using it for self defense, is long past.
(What defines who you are)
We don’t have a moral high ground. Our hands today are bloodied and we have shaken the hands of despots that murder our own citizens. We make deals with warlords and drug manufacturers when this benefits us. We operate using the same techniques as the Soviets in the Cold War: torture, kidnap, mass cesor, mass propagandize, lie, cheat, mass surveil, side step basic constitutional rights systemically (the Soviets had a Constitution)... We overthrow legit and democratic governments and install dictators when this benefits us (you realize that’s Mr Z today - no more elections in Ukraine). We make sure oppressive kingdoms are secure, like Saudi Arabia around which our entire Middle East strategy is based.
Why are we better than the Russians? Just because it’s us? Because we give pretty speeches about democracy, human rights, and sovereignty? Because we raise an LGBTQ flag on our government buildings? Or is it because we’re always the good guys in our movies, saving the orphans in a war zone?
This is no longer the Cold War. That ended 33 years ago. Almost all our military campaigns today have an economic or pure political motive and it is near impossible to articulate a serious (realistic) national security argument for us (please think about what I’m saying for a second). Since the Cold War ended, we have increased the tempo for our military to a rate of about 3.6 times that (missions/time) as compared to before the end of the Cold War.
—It’s not that the Russians have become so nice, open, free, and democratic... They moved a little bit in a more free and democratic direction.
—It’s that we have slid a whole lot in a direction to where we have become near indistinguishable from what we once refered to as the “evil empire.” We do all the same $hit today.
A person kidnapped and tortured by us doesn’t care that it was us and somehow think it was for a good cause. We are still @ssholes that kidnap and torture: https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/an-irreparably-damaged-life-cia-kidnapping-victim-khaled-el-masri-20-years-on-a-70c197a8-ae67-470b-91e1-413e148bea0a
If you behave a certain way, are motivated by certain ideals, it doesn’t matter what you call yourself, or the shapes on the flag, or how many nice speeches you give. We are the sum of our behaviors. We are ultimately defined through our actions.
If you’re into symbols vote for Biden: https://www.freep.com/gcdn/presto/2022/03/02/USAT/eb4f9c82-ec58-4a08-aa2e-420e2bb33e70-GTY_1376308923.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp (ashes forehead)
But if you think as a Catholic or Christian it’s wrong to support abortion, LGBTQIA, etc. then maybe the guy with the symbol on his forehead isn’t the right guy for you after all.
What really defines Biden, a speech, symbols, or his actions?
(trying to search for the truth)
The problem with doing research on topics, and I do this also, is that we tend to research and create arguments that are one giant validation error.
For example: https://youtu.be/Cj7qBp3TR8s?si=PBrZa7hd98YMcQZL This LTC is basically saying everything I say. I just found him BTW, so it’s not like I’m just regurgitating what he said to you. Do I accept his arguments because they are simply validating what I want to believe? Or is our common way of looking at things, which is hopefully logical, what leads us to the same conclusions?
We go out from a basic assumption and end up finding the facts, testimony, experts, even arguments which prove what we want to see. It’s no different with people we don’t want to like. We end up finding all sorts of things wrong about them. But is it real? Usually not.
The only way I know how to get around this is to treat these topics a little bit like an investigation or a trial. Attempt to remove all emotions/feelings. All these cliche phrases, cool guy talk, need to go. Use a timeline, look for inconsistencies (the truth normally rests in consitency), verify a fact is actually a fact (not a theory or assumption even if everyone believes it), eliminate all speculation, don’t confuse correlation with causality, look for motives, and look for who had the ability.
For example, an argument I have been attempting to pound into heads and made by the LTC in the YouTube video is that this argument of “if we don’t stop the Russians now they will keep going,” is utter nonsense. They do not have the ability to do that. So it’s just an argument that sounds good in support of a cause but has no realistic basis. How do I know for sure they can’t realistically do this? They don’t have the manpower and material to make that happen, they don’t have the population and industry, the logistics to make that happen. Russia would be attacking a force much bigger and more capable than they are if they “kept going.” It’s just fantasy.
It’s not that the Russians have become so nice, open, free, and democratic... They moved a little bit in a more free and democratic direction. Since about 2012 Moscow has moved a long way back into the USSR's suppression of individual freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. Elections are an open joke, as Medvedev himself stated publicly. No legit opposition parties even exist anymore. Serious opposition candidates have been openly murdered, and that's not just Navalny. "Libel" of a government official or even a powerful oligarch is now a felony. Regional governments have been abolished. A Baptist missionary was arrested in the last month or so because only the Russian Orthodox religion can be practiced now. Although I suppose Islam is still permitted in the provinces.
...“if we don’t stop the Russians now they will keep going,” is utter nonsense. Not if you read their political and cultural guidestars like Dugin, Ilyin, and Gumilev, whom Putin has quoted regularly since ~2005. I've suggested "Putin's Brain" before, but it gets so snarled up in Heideggerian jargon that it's a tough read. "The American Empire Should Be Destroyed" by James Heiser is a lot more accessible to us laymen. I've only just run across Gumilev, so Alibris hasn't sent me any books on him yet. My source seems to see him as a rampant fascist.
