New show: NewsReal with Joe & Niall

[Mari]

Two Suspects Bring 'Propped Up' Dead Man to Post Office to Collect His Pension, Report Says

The whole story sounds like an insane plot for some dark comedy, but Irish law enforcement is now investigating the incident.

sputniknews.com

Geeeez!!!

This reminds me of the fantastic serbian movie "Mrtav 'ladan" (engl. Dead cold?)

Two brothers, Lemi and Kiza, who have spent all their money, try to bring their dead grandfather from Belgrade to Vrsac at the least cost, but he goes missing on the way there.

And since Ireland is "Meka" for ex-Yu people, I wonder if those 2 guys were actually Irish or not....

 

[Niall]

A heads-up for tomorrow's NewsReal: it will be livestreamed on our FB page, here, at the usual time. I'll post an exact link to it here tomorrow before the show.

 

[Niall]

A heads-up for tomorrow's NewsReal: it will be livestreamed on our FB page, here, at the usual time. I'll post an exact link to it here tomorrow before the show.

A minor miracle just occurred: YouTube accepted the appeal for our last video, which means we can (and will) stream on YT this week - not Facebook.

 

[Ophiuchus]

I already hear the pianoman playing...

 

[Niall]

Here's the link to watch today's show. We'll be discussing the Canadian Trucker Convoy, the 'mandates', the 'war' in Ukraine, and the socio-economic consequences of all the above!

 

[Niall]

Today's NewsReal show link:

We'll be discussing last week's strange US military operation in Syria, the hair-trigger situation in Ukraine, the permanent pandemic, and more! It's... Groundhog Day at the End of Empire!

 

[Niall]

The book I wanted to mention when discussing Washington perspectives of Russia before, during and after the Cold War is The American Mission and the 'Evil Empire': The Crusade for a Free Russia Since 1881, by David S. Foglesong. Now that I think about, another book on 'historical russophobia' is Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria, by Swiss journalist Guy Mettan.

Anyway, in the beginning of the Foglesong book he discusses the observations of one George Kennan the elder, an uncle of the George Kennan who we discussed on the show. This elder Kennan was a renowned American journalist in his time (the second half of the 19th century), who travelled the Russian empire and wrote favorably about it. Until, apparently, he met exiles at remote penal colonies in the 1880s and underwent a 'conversion experience'. From then on, he was a man on a mission to 'free all Russia from slavery'.

Foglesong describes how a whole movement developed in the US - with Kennan, as THE American expert on Russia, at the center of it - dedicated to 'liberating Russia from the tsar'. Media campaigns like his contributed to grossly misinforming Americans about Russia while feeding self-aggrandizement about their mission to 'make the world better, like us'.

The thing is, they never articulated their mission as such. It was all propelled by self-lies about how morally awesome we are, and how we ought bestow it on everyone else. The lack of insight in Western man, due largely to his lack of historical-knowledge-as-self-knowledge, a la Collingwood, is the hallmark of what would become 'Pax Americana'. This, to my mind, is why official America's view of Russia is essentially consistent from tsarist to communist to democratic Russia.

It wasn't always like that though! Imperial Russia sided with the Union during the US Civil War (which Lincoln would probably have lost but for Russian support). Beginning with George Kennan in the 1880s, however, Russia moved from ally to foe, and has remained there since.

 

[Voyageur]

Now that I think about, another book on 'historical russophobia' is Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria, by Swiss journalist Guy Mettan.

Yes, there were a number of interesting details in this book. Was also surprised of who was listed as fictional writers or contemporary writers, each employing written strategy to keep russophobia propaganda moving right along.

It wasn't always like that though! Imperial Russia sided with the Union during the US Civil War (which Lincoln would probably have lost but for Russian support). Beginning with George Kennan in the 1880s, however, Russia moved from ally to foe, and has remained there since.

There is Ehret and Chung's book the Clash of Two Americas, the Unfinished Symphony (unread although familiar with sections):

One of the little-known amazing facts of the Civil War is that the Russian Czar Alexander II posted his navy to both the Atlantic and Pacific coast of the U.S. His actions thwarted British and French military interventions. The Czar proclaimed that if Britain or France intervened in the U.S. Civil War, then he would consider it as casus belli to initiate war. His actions may have saved the Union.

Close ties between the U.S. and Russia led to the 1867 Alaska Purchase, and eventually in 1906 there were plans to build a rail tunnel crossing the Bering Strait. It would have connected the U.S. and Russia. Eventually it could have joined with the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which the Russians started building with American help in 1891. The connection would have linked the U.S. to China and Europe too, with a “land bridge” of rail.

The British Empire viewed railroad construction as acts of “aggression”. The British Empire tried to sabotage them, because they bypassed the mighty Royal Navy, which ruled the sea. Empires view any competition as acts of aggression against their world domination and trade. British propaganda labeled Germany’s Berlin to Bagdad railroad “German aggression” leading up to World War One.

Look forward to checking out Foglesong's book, so thanks that.

 

[Niall]

Here's today's show link:

The world will end on Tuesday, says the British media, when Russia definitively invades Ukraine!

Or are they just lying again?

 

[Voyageur]

We'll be discussing last week's strange US military operation in Syria, the hair-trigger situation in Ukraine, the permanent pandemic, and more! It's... Groundhog Day at the End of Empire!

As an aside, and going back the Groundhog Day show, that document you guys brought up at 44. min (Classified by Ambassador William J. Burns), wherein Burns used the word "neuralgic." Had to think on its use and where it was used and why. Thought it bit odd, sort of clinical. Generally a painful nerve problem in the body (facial/head often), yet its political use looks to:

(Cambridge) neuralgic

causing or feeling very strong, painful emotions:
Political allegiance is a neuralgic subject in this community.
Their populations have become increasingly neuralgic about immigration.

Just though to mention it in passing, had never really heard it use in that context.

Thanks for the show.

 

[Ruth]

A minor miracle just occurred: YouTube accepted the appeal for our last video, which means we can (and will) stream on YT this week - not Facebook.

For all those people who don't have Facebook (and don't trust Ytube), maybe you can consider other platforms, such as Rumble, Bitchute and Brandnewtube... Sooner or later, Big Tech is going to mess things up completely, for everyone.

 

[Niall]

We're trying something new today. The show will hopefully livestream on YT, as usual...

...plus the Sott.net FB page, plus the NewsReal FB page, plus (apparently - we didn't even know it was possible!) the Sott.net Twitter page. Depending on how it goes, we might later create a VK page for the show, then add that to future livestreams, along with a separate Twitter page for NewsReal.

 

[Laurentien2]

is the show on?

 

[Chu]

Yes! They were having some technical difficulties on Youtube, but now it works. And it also works on FB and twitter.

 

[Niall]

Well that didn't work. Maybe next time! Thankfully, it streamed as normal on YT. Because 3/4 of the show ended up being on the 'invasion of Ukraine', I'm going to shorten the versions for Rumble/Odysee to just that topic.