Posted on 11/24/2022 11:38:06 AM PST by Cathi
A look at how the majority of the rest of the world sees things through the lens of Pepe Escobar.
Pepe Escobar is a Brazilian journalist and geopolitical analyst. His column "The Roving Eye" for Asia Times regularly discusses the multi-national "competition for dominance over the Middle East and Central Asia."
Very useful, eye opening discussion for the very intelligent freepers. I do not recommend it for the others.
Your vocabulary and passion betray you.
I may as soon as I find a way to invest there via mutual funds. I would buy rubles also.
Betray me? I think it's right on my page. I'm a conservative Marine Corps combat vet who went into law after the Corps. I'm passionate about the United States. Not really a secret to betray.
What's your deal explaining why you are pushingthe rest of us to watch a two hour YouTube by an avowedly socialist, BLM-supoorting hard-left activist?
Talk about DU....
Army to Marine Corps, waving a flag at one another is not any kind of tactic. As to passion about the United States, I am passionate about our nation when it is correct and moral, and not when the Biden administration -- the third term of Obama, as I see it -- is doing the anti-American things it is doing. No "my country, right or wrong" for me.
That being said, combat vet, if you were in charge of interrogating a prisoner, you would do so, questioning with the hopes of learning something from an enemy combatant.
Your assertion that I am suggesting you watch/listen to any video is incorrect. I merely noted that you "cast the first stone" in the "who's intelligent" salvos thrown back and forth.
That exchange upon which I commented was:
To: Cathi
Very useful, eye opening discussion for the very intelligent freepers. I do not recommend it for the others.
Guess I'll skip it then!
That's it. The remainder of our exchange is a show of your thin skin.
Whoever Cathi is, whoever you are and whoever you might think I am, we all have a right to our views. Even the damn Democrat Socialists of America, some of whom sit in our very own Congress.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Socialists_of_America_members_who_have_held_office_in_the_United_States
I won't suggest any of us who would employ FR for commenting on issues of the day are a "condescending douchenozzle" because ad hominem is never particularly constructive.
SoConPubbie observed for you as to you:
To: Bruce Campbells Chin
Guess I'll skip it then!
Probably a good idea for you.
Seems apt. But as an anecdote about a post and something far more potent than a mere Leftie's view to things, when a resident of Germany, my German neighbor was aghast that I had read Mein Kampf, for a number of reasons. At that time, it was still not officially available by government edict until the new publication with footnotes and more was made available only recently, and additionally I, a Jew, had read the tripe. I wanted to read firsthand what true evil was in and for such a historic time. So Army to Marine Corps, we should be better than ad hominem and such. So do I think.
Well of course - these are the views of the "intelligent freepers." Haven't you seen the other things / sources posted by Cathi and her fellow comrades here over the last several months? They, in these words, found Putin's speech "spot on" that attacked the West as evil from its inception, claiming it started the slave trade, etc.
One might ask that, but that was hardly a response to the point being made, was it?
The argument you're advancing about this particular video is the same dodgy "know thine enemy" argument advanced by General Milley and the CNO when explaining why there were hard left and Anti-white BLM books on the recommended reading list. The obvious problem is that neither General Milley's recommended reading list nor this 2-hour-long video were presented in the context of knowing your enemy. It wasn't like being told to read Mao's Little Red Book. Instead, both those leftist books and this openly leftist video were presented in the context of these are good, informative views that we should incorporate into our own thinking.
And Cathi is not American.
Yes, indeed - and admitted, proud, far-Left source supporting communism, socialism, BLM, terrorist regimes, etc. is certainly the way to go. Intelligence and open mindedness ooze out of those things you promote.
I should add that the only reason I mentioned my service was because someone claimed that I somehow “betrayed” some secret because of my “vocabulary and passion”. I was simply pointing out that anyone could click on my name and see my background if they so chose. No secret.
Police shouldn't be aware of the potential information from a perp, attorneys shouldn't be aware of opposing counsels' strategies, commanders in the field shouldn't recon and learn of enemy positions, and of course Intel officers shouldn't read anything they might disagree with....
I've read the idiotic Communist Manifesto yet remain an avid defender of freedom and am wholly against dictatorship in any and all forms, and read Darwin's Origins yet remain an avid "creationist," and more.
To opine that a "perspective" isn't "worth much" is to argue that information -- even opposing information -- isn't worth much.
Isn't it odd that we are discussing such as this on a forum by the marvelous name of Free Republic.
Promoting the causes of the far Left both home and abroad as good and virtuous is not what is generally done on a conservative, American forum. That's what this post does. That is not the same thing as what you are writing here...quit changing the context of the discussion.
“But second, there is no way I am going to take 2+ hours out of the day to watch a YouTube video of someone of whom I have never heard, based on recommendations by people I don’t know and whose judgment I have no reason to trust.,”
This is the video... Pepe Escobar has a Spanish accent so is bit hard to understand. The interviewer do not allow for closed captioning. I am familiar with Pepe he has been talking up Russia, China, the BRICS for years. This is his shtick.
You are a very patient man...:-) Personally as an “American to Army” I have come to the conclusion that some people are just not “educable.” There are about a dozen of these currently on FR and I never respond to ANY of their posts.
But, for those uninformed who may be unaware, but still interested in understanding truth here is a link to Wiki’s info on U.S. involvement in “regime change, coup de ta and color revolutions.” It, too, is “eye opening”...:-)
As an aside the United States currently has 750 U.S. military bases in 80 countries.
As Pepe Escobar outlined in his one hour interview we are in the midst of dramatic global change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change
United States involvement in regime change
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Since the 19th century, the United States government has participated and interfered, both overtly and covertly, in the replacement of several foreign governments. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. government initiated actions for regime change mainly in Latin America and the southwest Pacific, including the Spanish–American and Philippine–American wars. At the onset of the 20th century, the United States shaped or installed governments in many countries around the world, including neighbors Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
During World War II, the United States helped overthrow many Nazi German or Imperial Japanese puppet regimes. Examples include regimes in the Philippines, Korea, the Eastern portion of China, and much of Europe. United States forces were also instrumental in ending the rule of Adolf Hitler over Germany and of Benito Mussolini over Italy.
In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. government struggled with the Soviet Union for global leadership, influence and security within the context of the Cold War. Under the Eisenhower administration, the U.S. government feared that national security would be compromised by governments propped by the Soviet Union’s own involvement in regime change and promoted the domino theory, with later presidents following Eisenhower’s precedent.[1] Subsequently, the United States expanded the geographic scope of its actions beyond traditional area of operations, Central America and the Caribbean. Significant operations included the United States and United Kingdom-orchestrated 1953 Iranian coup d’état, the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion targeting Cuba, and support for the overthrow of Sukarno by General Suharto in Indonesia. In addition, the U.S. has interfered in the national elections of countries, including Italy in 1948,[2] the Philippines in 1953, and Japan in the 1950s and 1960s[3][4] as well as Lebanon in 1957.[5] According to one study, the U.S. performed at least 81 overt and covert known interventions in foreign elections during the period 1946–2000.[6] According to another study, the U.S. engaged in 64 covert and six overt attempts at regime change during the Cold War.[1]
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has led or supported wars to determine the governance of a number of countries. Stated U.S. aims in these conflicts have included fighting the War on Terror, as in the Afghan War, or removing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), as in the Iraq War.
“Very useful, eye opening discussion for the very intelligent freepers. I do not recommend it for the others.”
You are not watching this video either. It is two hours long. I have read enough of Escobar through the year. I am not going to watch of two hours of his pro-Russian sludge.
That is a scurrilous lie. I certainly am not "promoting the cause of the far Left."
As to changing the "context" of any discussion, I referred at all times back to the original post made by Cathi, observing an "unenforced error" by another, not you, and then merely adding something from my own experience to subsequent exchanges.
I am an American who has worked and lived in a number of other nations, currently reside in the states, and am perhaps even more "conservative" than many who post here who rubberstamp such as CDC pronouncements, NY Times articles, and the like.
"Promoting the causes of the far Left" is an idiotic accusation, if you aim it at me. But then you write also, "sometimes the passions of an intense debate have brought out the worst in me."
The person who posted Haiphong's video did not post it as an example of communist thinking worthy of understanding in order to oppose it. They posted Haiphong and Escobar's video as an example of truthful information and a viewpoint that should be adopted.
There is a giant difference between posting the opposite side's material so it can be analyzed and posting that same material and encouraging the adoption of its ideas.
Thank you for a kind word.
My brother-in-law -- sadly a Democrat in another state -- presses me to play Republican to his Democrat. I refuse, for I often say I am to the "right" of the Tea Party, wholly against debt and muchly against war when at all possible. Given the growth in the federal debt to now more than $32 trillion dollars -- all done in my opinion through hoaxes like Covid, and cons like some climate emergency, and wars which have not been won but lost or those like Syria which continue -- far too many Republican senators have rubberstamped Democrats and the many increases in the debt limit.
That which cannot continue, will not continue. It requires patience to put up with those for whom the simplistic picture is the only one in a very complex world. Their "religion" is really "I'm right and you're wrong" even as they profess some other.
A fascinating and odd assertion. By this, to you assert that the poster, Cathi, is "encouraging the adoption" of certain ideas? If so, I should like you to prove your assertion. If not, then an apology might be in order.
Take a look at Cathi's posting history and comments, it is pretty clear what they support and promote.
I did review the many posts Cathi has made, and while at it, looked at yours as well. You two seem on opposite poles of what many demand we see as one of only two sides on which to be. Pro-Putin. Pro-Zelensky.
If these were the two choices, perhaps greater clarity could be had, but I find there are more than two. The "not my circus and not my clowns" summary of a somewhat isolationist is certainly not yours, as your wrote, "The world got a war handed to them by Putin and his Russian supporters. Now we all have to deal with it." (11/24/2022)
I recall that iconic photo of Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sitting together on a couch, quite the photoshop moment. Opponents? Friends?
Your comment above says "we" -- by the "world" -- got a war. But who are the combatants? Is the US a combatant under commander-and chief Biden? NATO under the command of Stoltenberg? If you cheer on Zelensky, are you also cheering on Biden and those Americans who have played so protifably in Ukraine for well over the last decade? Or maybe Nuland with her famous "f*ck Europe" on-mike classic?
I hold to the "not my circus" stance, which has a long tradition from Washington forward. No war has been formally declared by either Biden or the Congress. And yet, lest we forget "we" are busy with combatant status in Syria, And a "glorious end" to "our" Afghan war, another Biden circus, under previous management by Bush, Obama and Trump.
So your "now we all have to deal with it" statement is fully in compliance with the triumphant wins we have had in Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Syria, Sudan and beyond. "We" and Putin are neither pronouns or names with which I am willing to align. Not my circus. Not my clowns. But apparently your act is in the center ring, follow spot and all, and as best I can see, Biden is right there with you. Both of them, father and son. Good luck with that.
But wait. To Mariner, you wrote, "So you should welcome NATO and the USA sending in to Ukraine whatever arms it takes to crush Russia. That will save NATO and US taxpayers billions of dollars in the future. By your logic we should send Ukraine a few dozen atomic warheads and ballistic missiles so they can finish off Russia if necessary." So I guess you don't think we're actual combatants? Or at least we shouldn't start an atomic war? Sounds reasonable.
I'll agree with something you wrote. If Zelensky wins, "we all have to deal with it." And if Putin wins, "we all have to deal with it." And if.... Because "we all have to deal with it." Even though they're not my circus and not my clowns, I too will "have to deal with it." So will you. Regards.
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