Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Jeff Buchanan]

An opinion piece appeared in the NYT that piqued my interest this morning. This is a piece of it:

.......... Europeans, like Americans, are tiring of the war. They are increasingly skeptical that Ukraine can win it. But perhaps most important, they distrust the United States, which has done little in this war to dispel skepticism about its motives and its competence that arose during the Iraq war two decades ago. Unique though Americans sometimes believe their polarization to be, all Western societies have a version of it. As Europe’s “elites” see it, NATO is fighting a war to beat back a Russian invasion. But as “populists” see it, American elites are leading a war to beat back a challenge to their own hegemony — no matter what the collateral damage.

The context of that statement is in response to the author's quote of a part of Biden's SOUA where Biden says," I remain determined that American soldiers will not be necessary to defend Europe." As a White House spokesman put it last week, it is “crystal clear” that the use of ground troops is off the table. The author conflates the circumstances of the Russo-Ukraine war with The NATO Alliance's Article 5. Pretty sure Biden was saying US Troops will not be committed to defend Ukraine. He's not saying the US won't abide by Article 5. The important point the author is trying to make though is that the US, the ostensible leader of the battle to preserve the current world order, is failing in that role. I would agree with that assessment.

That intro leads to a discussion of a new book written by Emmanuel Todd. It is called “La Défaite de l’Occident” (“The Defeat of the West”). Its author, Todd, is a celebrated historian and anthropologist who in 1976, in a book called “The Final Fall,” predicted that the Soviet Union was headed for collapse. Of course it did less than 15 years later. So, in Europe, he has some chops. This "Fall of the West" concept interested me because I've spent a good deal of time thinking and writing about the threat to the current western dominated world order with its liberal democratic ideologies. That world order has preserved the peace since 1945. It is threatened by the formation of an Axis of authoritarian states that seeks to undermine western global influence and ultimately to replace it with the authoritarian ideologies of these Axis states - China, Iran, NK and Russia. I've argued that a Russian victory in Ukraine would go a long way in furthering the goals of the Axis powers and threaten western Europe. IMO, it remains a battle that can't be lost by the west, although I'm favoring a greater role of the European NATO nations to win that battle with the US in more of a supporting role..

[iam416]

Wait a minute....if you're suggesting DJT's words and actions: (a) don't always line up; (b) don't fit into a consistent idelogical framework; and (c) change from minute to minute -- then, well -- that CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Another take. Apparently Rand Paul has taken over $10M from Jeff Yass too and is one of the more outspoken opponents of the bill.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Facebook is "overwhelmingly conservative"? This guy Solana must live in an alternative universe.

He’s talking about the people who use it, not the management. It’s mainly older people who are still highly active on Facebook.