Rob, it is good to get such a rounded report, as there is so much happening in the world.
On Iran: Russia may be taking a leaf out of NATO's book, supplying weapons - Oreshniks - and the personal to train people to use them, rather than committing troops to any US lead conflagration. Russia has already supplied two hazelnuts to Belarus, so is not averse to sending them where they may be needed.
On Europe: The EU has been labelling Putin as a dictator, in spite of 2,000 international observers declaring the last Russian elections above board, BUT it is Europe that is being totally anti-democratic: banning and gaoling Romania's top leadership candidate; gaoling Le Pen as her popularity surges; touting banning Germany's leading political party, the AfD; and it is a moot point about who shot Robert Fico, because he certainly opposed the EU on Ukraine. The Moldovans are also angry at their leader's pro US stance, and no doubt Serbia's Vulin will be attacked for his pro-Russian stance.
The US and EU are teetering on the brink of a Depression. In the past leaders have seen war as a means of stimulating economies back to buoyant times. The dark clouds of war are gathering ominously over Europe and the Middle East for a World War, and our governments in the west are definitely on the wrong side of history should an all out war start. The alternative is to end the dreadful income inequity that has accelerated since Reaganomics took hold. Sadly, those at the helm do not want to steer us to safer waters via this route.
Thanks for that Joy. I like the idea of Oreshniks to Iran. Since the Americans have been arming Ukraine to the teeth for more than a decade how could they complain. It will be interesting to see how the establishment deals with the AfD and Alice Wiedel as the party's popularity increases. I am optimistic that the Europeans will not start a war because they can't afford it and because the European people do not want it.
I didn't realize how bad Trump f**ked up the US Economy that pushed it to the brink
SIMPLICIUS Ѱ reposted
₦₳V𝚜𝚝é𝚟𝚊 🇷🇺 ᴢ @Navsteva
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3h
British Say Dollar System Almost Blew Apart on April 8; Demand Opening the Liquidity Floodgates
The City of London mouthpiece, The Economist, acknowledged on April 10 what EIR has already reported: that “America’s financial system came close to the brink” of collapse this past Tuesday, April 8. The Economist succinctly summed up its April 10 report on the details of the financial higgledy-piggedly which went on: “The failure of both risky [stocks] and supposedly safe assets [Treasuries] at once threatened to destabilize the financial system itself.”
Thanks for that. Larry Fink of Blackrock said: 'These tariffs are beyond anything I could have imagined in my 49 years in finance.' He also said that the US, hitherto a stabilizing force is now a destabilizing force. I'm not sure where Trump is getting his advice.
Your ekshaustibe are so iñfor*atiºe that you ñeed ñot bery *uch *ore as I doñ't libe iñ US I'* añ outsider iñ that señse. I ad*ire your work Your Patagoñiañ-Spañish follower
When it rains it pours. So many comments today. You might have heard about the racist and generally horrible young person Steven Miller a close associate of Trump. Today he tells us the reason for Trump tariffs. This is a copy of an X/tweet from a Fox broadcast without text indents
The Vigilant Fox 🦊 @VigilantFox 17m (4/13/25)
NOW: Stephen Miller just unveiled Trump’s economic war plan—and it’s pure American DOMINATION.
Forget everything you’ve heard. This isn’t tinkering at the edges.
It’s a full-blown strategy to crush China, explode American energy, and make the U.S. the most powerful economic engine on Earth.
On Fox Business,
@StephenM unleashed:
“All I want to say is America is in the best position under President Trump, to dominate the economic future,” he said.
And here’s how:
“Deregulation, exploring and opening American energy, including trillions of dollars in clean coal… and we are on the verge of passing a tax bill that will provide economic certainty and make America into the most desirable place on planet Earth to shore jobs, invest, expand, hire and grow.”
Miller made one thing clear:
“This is an economic strategy.”
The formula?
“Deal with China’s abuses, deregulate, explode American energy production, create the most favorable tax system for American development on the face of the Earth.”
And the end goal?
“That is the recipe for radical American success, Maria.”
Ideological fundamentalism also supports the development of a new language consisting of simplistic binary language of good versus evil to either give legitimacy or deny illegitimacy. Our interests are framed as the advancement of good values, while the illegitimate interests of our adversaries represent the opposite.
In the competition for dominance during the Cold War, the US was the “leader of the free world”, while the Soviet opponent was an “evil empire”. After the Cold War, the US argued that its enemies were “evil-doers”, adversarial states were part of an Axis of Evil, while the US was a crusader for freedom.
The US attempt to replace Russia as an energy provider to Europe was framed as countering the “Russian energy weapon” and instead spread America’s “freedom gas” and “molecules of U.S. freedom”. The US and Russia pursued the same objective, but they are nonetheless not comparable as one is good and the other is evil.
George Orwell referred to it as newspeak, the creation of a new language that makes it impossible to express and even think anything in opposition. ......."
My oldest friend is an American historian and is worried sick about the loss of American Democracy because of Trump. I blame the uni-party in the US which is led by finance. He holds out the hope that what the democratic party used to be can be revived. We also disagree on "the pandemic" and I told him that the democratic party could well loose the election on their ongoing support of vaccines and US healthcare. It happened.
Our friendship, over the last 3 years, has been on a knife edge and for the most part, because of the issues of Ukraine and the covid vaccines. He sent me two articles to read. One by Masha Geeson, the Russian hater, and another by a long term Canadian educator in which he said that the Trucks demonstration against the mRNA vaccine was at the level of Hitler so I stopped following him.
I put off reading the 2 articles until this morning., Surprise! They were both on how Trump is moving the US to fascism. I agreed with both the articles. Something positive from Trump!
The reason I am writing this is that I have dropped following the Left but there are good things in a couple of web sites in reaction to Trump. His actions are so far out that the alternative media has provided a place for some good journalism. The two articles came from Common Dreams and Truthout. I might check them out occasionally.
I try not to worry about speculations because they may happen or they may not happen. If they do not happen, we will have expended nervous energy for no reason. I worry for democracy everywhere, as you do. I empathise with you on relationships being on a knife edge. My scepticism on global warming and other things, along with my strong opposition to Woke and support of Russia has lost me relationships with friends and family. It's sad but that's life in these 'interesting times'.
My wife called a few friends early in covid to warn them that Don has gone off the rails and they should humor him.
For the first time in my life, I better understand what it is like to be "The Other".
The gaps between positions go to the depths of personal and national values which are taken to be obvious but in fact understanding values is an unsolvable philosophical problem.
It depends what you mean by understanding values. Understanding why people hold values is a matter of psychology or maybe history but not philosophy. Examining values or exploring them conceptually is within the scope of a philosopher but that's not the same as understanding them. I know what you mean about being 'Other'. During lockdown some us stood out because we didn't wear masks - and we certainly felt different - because we weren't lost in the hysteria. Sometimes I felt like the only sane person in the asylum. Seeing people ride bicycles out in the countryside wearing masks summed it up really. Do your wife, family and friends hold the same views about Covid now as they did back then?
An anthropologist studying "the other" covers their technology, language, laws, politics, religion, in short, their values. This includes understanding how their values are housed in various intuitions and what they will fight to the death to preserve. Bruno Latour in "An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence: An Anthropology of the Moderns" describes 15 modes of existence which characterize the moderns. He goes beyond the subject/object and nature/culture dichotomies. Unlike the American individualism which holds self reliance as their core value, he constructs the self from the modes. Each of the modes has their own truth conditions and uses the term from linguists, fidelity conditions. Truth in law is different than truth in religion, fiction, science, technology, etc. Thus epistemology is sidelined in this ontological construction of the Moderns. It has taken me, a slow learner, 20 years to write these comments.
What got me into Latour's work is my quest to understand experience. Latour says "... Moderns' own accounts of their experiences do very little to make them understandable. In my view, this contradiction between the themselves and the account of them authorized by the available metaphysics makes so hard to describe the Moderns empirically. " ""... how to speak appropriately about a plurality of types of beings by relying on the guiding thread of experience, on empiricism as William James defines it: nothing but experience, but nothing less than experience"
This morning I read Simplicus76 latest article on the limitations of German weapons. In contrast to the West, and following his 2023 article linked article
which I linked below, he describes that the Russian approach to weapons is survivability in an existential war. I saw experience put front and center as necessary to survival and the engagement of the entire culture by Russia. (Just thought of this: Maybe the hatred of Russia is in part because they are not Modern, they are "the other"). In the Modern world, war is a sideline activity, seldom existential.
This is related to Lautor's call to return to the earth for the survivability of the humans, to face Gaia. In his short general book "Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime" on page 2 he says "The hypothesis is that we can understand nothing about the politics of the last 50 years if we don't put the question of climate change and its denial front and center." For Latour, Gaia is a political actor.
You asked if my wife holds the same views about covid as before. For our immediate family we don't have any vaccine injury, and covid hysteria has subsided. But she still has faith in the Health System. It will take a revolution in understanding before people can accept the fraud in the health system. Faith in the Health System is a core value of our culture. My hunch is that as more and more comes out about the mRNA vaccine harm, and the long term harm since they turned our bodies into manufacturing the toxic spike proteins, and excess deaths and vax injuries make the mainstream media, the shock of entire event will make my position finally understandable. Another avenue of change is if it becomes clear that the childhood vaccine schedule is largely responsible for the change in Autism from 1 in 10,000 to one in 136, or even lower. The attack on childhood immune system by the US vaccine schedule, of which, none have had safety studies, is ripe for disclosure. For myself, "the pandemic" led me to take responsibility for my health and now at age 82 I am off all 5 prescriptions which were taken to avoid chronic disease. My body is leading the charge.
That's fine. This substack, and to a less degree, Karl Sanchez's substack, have afforded me the opportunity to post these pieces. I hope that eventually you might look at Latour. The news comes so fast and furious that a couple of days ago, I was able to go between a couple of interviews in real time!
I just want to make one additional comment that is important. Latour developed a different sociology, a bottom up sociology. Normal sociology starts by assuming that "the social" exists and goes from there. Latour's in contrast is constructed bottom up.
Thanks for providing this space to write. Maybe my words will be of value to some random person.
Sorry, I missed part of your post. I have been following developments on The Daily Skeptic which confirms all the fears we've had. I have not taken prescriptive medication in more that 25 years nor have I consulted a GP in that time. My wife is a herbalist. Since Covid, I have lost trust in our health service. I have needed an operation for about a year but I won't go to the NHS but hope to have it done privately soon.
"bifurcation of nature" From AI generated answer on the web. All below copied from the web.
First, a little bit on Alfred North Whitehead, 1861 - 1947, British mathematician and philosopher. He with Bertrand Russel attempted to reduce mathematics to formal logic in the treatise Principia Mathematica. He also created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology.
AI Overview
In Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy, the "bifurcation of nature" refers to the modern tendency to separate reality into distinct, incompatible realms: the "material sphere" (what science studies) and the "mental sphere" (human experience and appearance). Whitehead argued that this separation is an imposition, not a natural feature of reality, and it leads to a problematic understanding of both science and experience.
The Dualism:
The bifurcation of nature is essentially a dualistic view of reality, where the physical world (matter) and the mental world (consciousness, subjective experience) are seen as separate, distinct entities.
Scientific Materialism:
Whitehead criticizes scientific materialism, which assumes that the fundamental reality is a brute, unchangeable matter that exists independently of our perception. He argues that this view overlooks the dynamic, relational nature of reality.
Bifurcation as an Imposition:
Whitehead contends that the bifurcation of nature is not a natural division but a philosophical imposition, a way of thinking that we impose on our perception of the world.
The Problem:
This separation leads to several problems, including:
A sense of disconnection between scientific knowledge and human experience.
A tendency to prioritize scientific objectivity over subjective values.
A potential for misunderstanding the role of the mind in shaping our understanding of the world.
Beyond the Bifurcation:
Whitehead's philosophy seeks to overcome this bifurcation by emphasizing the interconnectedness of all aspects of reality and by recognizing the crucial role of subjective experience in shaping our understanding of the world.
Whitehead's Alternative:
Whitehead's process philosophy emphasizes the importance of "events" and "relations" in understanding reality, suggesting that reality is not composed of static objects but of dynamic, relational processes.
Examples of Bifurcation:
Whitehead uses examples like the separation of "sense objects" (e.g., colors, sounds) from "scientific objects" (e.g., electromagnetic waves, molecules) to illustrate how the bifurcation of nature can lead to a fragmented understanding of reality.
You've explained that very well Don - thanks. I agree with the thrust of Whiteheads position and argued for it in my Ph.D - 'Between Persons: Towards a Relational Ontology of Authenticity'. Things exist in relation to each other not in opposition - as Aristotle thought. This relation is often complementary.
Of the many arresting coinages and bracketed abbreviations that form the highly specialized language found in Bruno Latour’s An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (and deployed on AIME, the collaborative website associated with the book), one of the most beguiling is “Double Click,” noted [DC]. Variously designated as an “Evil Genius,” a “devil” (Inquiry 93), and “the serpent of knowledge” (113), this conceptual character entices “the Moderns” (capitalized to signify cultures and institutions rather than individuals) with the affirmation of Enlightenment dualisms and the promise of unmediated access to knowledge. Not only does Double Click harden distinctions between subject and object, human and nonhuman, society and nature; it also suggests that we can have unmediated access to knowledge in the blink of an eye, without having to acknowledge the laborious processes by which knowledge is produced and transmitted or the ways in which those processes of transformation have the potential to transform us. As the entry for Double Click on AIME explains, “The metaphor is that of a computer mouse[,] which has taught us to expect all the information we might require to be available at the click of a button without taking into account the dizzying series of mediations required by this operation.” The seductiveness of [DC] is thus that it effaces the processes and realities that make its effects possible: the “breathtaking alignment of lines of code by hundreds of anonymous programmers”; the “transformations, the translations needed for the completion of all courses of action.” If we turn our attention to those transformations and translations, Latour argues, we will discover an infinitely more intricate reality than Double Click wishes us to see, a reality made up of networks of actants that relate to one another across discontinuities or hiatuses. We will also recognize that the delicate mediations and negotiations that maintain these fragile networks are endlessly susceptible to short-circuiting, misfire, and collapse. [DC] is thus shorthand for the failure of Modernity, under the weight of scientific rationalism and technological totalization, to recognize the processual, fluctuating relations that constitute our shared world and its multiple, intersecting modes of existence. As a character, moreover, Double Click personifies the pattern of ecological exploitation and spoliation that our culture of unfettered access has spawned, that has already had dire consequences for human and nonhuman existence, and that may well eradicate humanity altogether if it goes unchecked.
Confronted by a devil whose wiles threaten to annihilate us, Latour and his intellectual collaborators exhort us to return to the philosophical foundations of Western thought through “a reactivation of metaphysics” (Maniglier 37). This does not mean, as Patrice Maniglier explains, an “enterprise of pronouncing a univocal truth about Being in general” but rather “a redefinition of metaphysics itself” as a set of diplomatic encounters on a flat, nonhierarchical plane: “an altogether singular form of ‘diplomacy’” that would grant all the modes of existence equal access to being and that would allow all the “institutions” to which those modes correspond (“both science and religion, politics and management, literature and psychology, custom and subsistence”) “their proper weight of reality” (37). To bring about such encounters, we must acknowledge not only that the modes of existence are inherently multiple but also that they collectively give rise to “paired intersections, or crossings, [that] can be defined empirically and can thus be shared” (Inquiry xx). We must also strive to suspend the dualisms that, for Latour, have structured—and weakened—Modern epistemology: “The raw and the cooked, nature and culture, words and things, the sacred and the profane, the real and the constructed, the abstract and the concrete, the savage and the civilized, and even the dualism of the modern and the premodern, do not seem to get [us] very far” (146).
This last dualism resonates especially powerfully for scholars of the pre-Enlightenment past, and its intellectual and historical implications are worth teasing out carefully........
Well Don, that sounded very complicated and made my brain hurt. I agree with and can relate to some of it but I also disagree with some of it. I simply don't have the time to engage with this though I would find it interesting to do so. If you look at my Agnosticism series you will get a handle on my approach to epistemology - it's a little less complex than this. I think that one of the most important qualities of philosophical works is simplicity. Philosophers such as Hegel, Sartre and many of the postmodernists (especially Gilles Delueze and Felix Guatarri) lacked this quality. I should say that Bertrand Russell is one of my favourite philosophers because he possesses this quality. If you can't understand Russell it's probably not his fault. Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks for the update Rob. The man child Trump seems to be living up to maximum expectations.
As you have mentioned it seems like Zelensky has been given a bit more legroom to spout off on MSM about phantom Chinese armies operating in Ukraine and it is supposedly a reason to drag the World into a war even though there are mercs on both sides.
Ukraine is also appealing to the capitalist nature of the US by mentioning the $324 billion loss of trade that the US had from exiting Russia.
Looks like the coke is well and truly flowing in the Ukrainian junta.
Hard to get a handle on Trump. I used to think that he might have had some idea as to what he was doing, but now I think he hasn't a clue and just does things because they sound good to him.
He like a lot of modern day "conservatives" have no idea as to how formulate a plan much less how such a plan might be implemented. The announcement seems to be all that is required, then everything just follows from that. Maybe they expect the invisible hand to do all of the work
There seems to be no internal coherence to his ideas, just a grab bag of desires that quite often conflict. It is going badly already and I can't see things improving. His working class supporters are going to be royally screwed.
The only good thing is that here in Australia where we are having a Federal election, the conservatives thought that they would slide into power on the reflected glory of whatever Trump did. Now Trump has blown everything up they are floundering and totally lost and dropping in the polls.
Thanks Chris. I also find Trump baffling and I agree that he is acting out of ignorance and/or poor advice. He is not well read apparently; knows nothing about history or geography and he is saddled with that superior exceptionalist mentality typical of the hegemon. The attack on the Houthis seemed bizarre but Alex Krainer believes that it could have been done to punish the Europeans who use the Red Sea much more than the Americans. Roughly 56% of European trade goes through Suez while only 13% of US trade goes through the canal. But if this is true, it is costing the Americans a fortune.
Yes Rob, I think Trump is quite ignorant of a lot of things but is too arrogant to admit it so just blusters on. I was quite surprised when he recently accused Spain of being in the BRICS. If you are starting from this level of ignorance it is very difficult to make good decisions.
It's hard to know whether he is ever told anything close to the truth or is continually bullshitted to by his advisors and/or US intelligence or just ignores any advice he gets, preferring to rely on instincts.
I do get a sense that being an American businessman, he thinks everyone is just as venal as he is and therefore has a price. I think it is quite a shock to him that he finds that this is not the case with Putin and Xi Jinping and that they are no longer prepared to be bullied by the US protection racket.
As for the tariffs, I think a lot of the world now realises that trade with the US might no longer be worth the effort either and are acting with that thought in mind.
The Russian MOD has been reporting Ukrainian casualties of 10,000 per week for well over a year now which translates to 500k +. The Ukrainian military according to the cokehead including reservists is 980k as of April 2025. If Russian numbers are even somewhat reliable , the Ukrainian military should have collapsed by now due to the 50% casualty rate and resultant morale issues. Therefore the Russian numbers cannot be right.
My reasoning on recruitment numbers is as follows and is why I excluded it (rightly or wrongly):
From what I read, recruitment numbers are low compared to losses, no more than 15k per month, ( net loss of still 35k per month) , they are poorly trained, and lack any motivation at all apart from survival. As such they are probably as much, if not more of a liability.
And yes the numbers are all vague, but if the Russian MoD numbers are low, and given the above is somewhat right , the Ukraine military should still be close to collapse. Maybe the widespread use and effectiveness of drones is what keeps them afloat.
Thanks for that Hussein. I am also amazed that the Ukrainian army is still resisting but Ukrainian sources I follow are saying that the fronts are 'sagging'.
I think the Russian MoD figures are probably underestimated. Richard Steven Hack did some work on this about a year ago. I don't follow you reasoning which should include the number of men recruited/conscripted. If this figure exceeded losses then the Ukrainian army would not collapse necessarily. In recent months mobilisation has not kept pace with losses. If this continues the army could collapse at some point. I have no idea whether the coke head's figures are correct btw. At the end of the day I can't be sure of any of the statistics I provide.
Hussein, don't forget a percentage of those 10,000 a week casualties will be lightly wounded and will return/ be forced to return to battle. perhaps as many as 20% of that 10,000 figure. Who knows?
We don't know what percentage of new recruits are sent into the trenches at zero to await death. While some of the seasoned troops sit it out in the next defence line?
I would wager that the new recruits sent to zero are most of the casualty count.
In the englishspeaking world, people seem oblivious to what's happening "again" in Germany. For around 12 years, German politicians (including Baerbock) and the media openly propagated the destruction of Russia. This has now been replaced by those in charge in Germany suggesting to the population that Russia will attack Germany and that Germany must be prepared. Germany is, and hasn't just recently, massively rearming, and German society is being geared for war. Conditions in Germany are becoming less and less different from those during the Nazi era.
The majority of educated Germans are still obsessed with dreams of great power. At least a great power over Europe, including Russia. The EU is merely a means to this end. Out of touch with reality, in their excessive selfaggrandizement, in their megalomania, the majority of educated Germans seem unwilling to acknowledge that the world has changed. Nevertheless, their war cries are not harmless. (google translation)
Beat Wick, CH
Schriftdeutsch:
In der englischsprachigen Welt scheint man nicht wahrzunehmen, was in Deutschland «wieder» vor sich geht. Rund 12 Jahre wurde von deutschen Politikern (unter ihnen Baerbock) und Medien unverblümt die Zerstörung Russlands propagiert. Abgelöst hat sich dies nun, indem von den verantwortlichen Stellen in Deutschland der Bevölkerung suggeriert wird, Russland werde Deutschland angreifen und Deutschland müsse darauf gerüstet sein. Deutschland rüstet, nicht erst heute, massiv auf und die deutsche Gesellschaft wird auf Kriegstauglichkeit getrimmt Die Zustände in Deutschland unterscheiden sich immer weniger von jenen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus.
Die Mehrheit der Bildungsdeutschen ist immer noch von Grossmachtträumen besessen. Zumindest einer Grossmacht über Europa inkl. Russland. Die EU lediglich ein Mittel zu diesem Zweck. Wirklichkeitsfremd, in massloser Selbstüberschätzung, in ihrem Grössenwahn scheint die Mehrheit der Bildungsdeutschen nicht wahrnehmen zu wollen, dass sich die Welt verändert hat. Trotzdem, Harmlos ist ihr Kriegsgeschrei nicht.
Thanks for that Beat Wick. My impression is that the people of Europe generally do not want a war. Are you saying that educated people in Germany want a war with Russia?
What I mean is: A majority of educated Germans arrogantly see themselves as a 'nation of poets and thinkers'. As those, and they express this, who must assume the leadership role in Europe, meaning they must rule over other Europeans. Their politicians and media presume to speak for all of Europe, even though only part of (Western)Europe is in THEIR EU. Besides ruling Europe and also participating globally (alongside and under the USA), as in Hitler's time, Russian resources are also a major concern. Of course, there is no direct mention of war. Regarding Russia, I would put it this way: If you are not willing, I will use force! Germany is characterized by uniformity in language and mentality, by obedience, authority, classism, and racism. Consensus and diversity are largely alien to Germans.
For those who understand some German, here's a small sample (Ulrich Heyden is German, Globalbridge Swiss).
‘So unterstützen prominente Deutsche die Kriegstreiber'
Thanks for explaining. I know what you mean by poets and thinkers. I studied many German philosophers, including Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.
Germany is an exceptional nation with a lower case e
I have been following the German prof who now is a substack writer. Many posts related to your observations on arrogant Germans. Here is one of his recent posts
"Liberal democracy was once a form of government. Now it has become a shallow civic religion and it really sucks.
We also compared those in the colonised countries with children, thereby justifying our domination over them. But nowadays, we are the children and they are the adults - the situation is reversed.
Reason is sometimes in fashion and sometimes out of fashion. If an intellectual movement comes into existence that is rational - such as the Enlightenment in 18th Century France - it is challenged by movements promoting a more emotional 'Romanticism' which is always expressed in art. Some would say that rationalism contributes to events such as the French revolutionary 'Terror' or the holocaust. The move away from rationalism happened following the French Revolution which was inspired by the Enlightenment. The poetry of Shelley or Coleridge, the music of Wagner and the art of Blake or Turner - all challenged rationalism. Such art is needed now.
Roughly, the Enlightenment, was based on science, the state (Westphalia 1644) and secularism. Science became the dominant form of rationalism for the modern world with the bifurcation into primary and secondary qualities.
***
From the web:
"Locke thought that certain properties, such as motion, size, shape, and number are primary, in that they are inherent in the objects. On the other hand, properties such as colour, taste, smell, and sound, are secondary because they depend on a person's subjective sensory experience."
Latour uses the term from a computer mouse, "double click" to describe the transfer if information without translation. Translation links information to time, place, assumptions, law, politics, etc.
Trump, the circus performer, uses double click communication along with Elon Musk. How could they threaten the global economy without considering the consequences to the embedded actors and materials?
Trump and Musk believe in their belief that they know the consequences of their actions.
I recognise some of the philosophical issues you raise with regard to Locke's epistemology and metaphysics. But you have lost me when you say that science was a 'bifurcation into primary and secondary properties'. That sounds like the philosophical equivalent of a mix of genres to me. Could you clarify please. No idea about double click btw.
I thank you for the opportunity to clarify both "double click" and bifurcation.
I have no background in philosophy except 50 years of looking for insights in the contradictions that appear everywhere. In particular, I was interested in the importance of experience, or practice, which has little coverage.
These two concepts are part of an alternative metaphysics which in my opinion might be part of an intellectual framework necessary to confront Gaia, the Earth. Survival of the humans depends on a return to Earth. It will be forced on us but it can be alleviated if humans realize that they are part of the Earth.,
There are better sources which I just found on the web. I will start a new link rather than putting long quotations in this nested list.
I have just been reading Zero Hedge and Sputnik which are reporting a list of exceptions to tariffs that Donald has just announced. Predictably, these include equipment for making semiconductors; Smartphones; Computer processors; Memory chips and
Hard drives. Why on earth did they not include these exemptions originally. This shows that they did not realise the implications of the tariffs. Maybe tomorrow Trump will provide another list of exemptions. Doh!
Rob, it is good to get such a rounded report, as there is so much happening in the world.
On Iran: Russia may be taking a leaf out of NATO's book, supplying weapons - Oreshniks - and the personal to train people to use them, rather than committing troops to any US lead conflagration. Russia has already supplied two hazelnuts to Belarus, so is not averse to sending them where they may be needed.
On Europe: The EU has been labelling Putin as a dictator, in spite of 2,000 international observers declaring the last Russian elections above board, BUT it is Europe that is being totally anti-democratic: banning and gaoling Romania's top leadership candidate; gaoling Le Pen as her popularity surges; touting banning Germany's leading political party, the AfD; and it is a moot point about who shot Robert Fico, because he certainly opposed the EU on Ukraine. The Moldovans are also angry at their leader's pro US stance, and no doubt Serbia's Vulin will be attacked for his pro-Russian stance.
The US and EU are teetering on the brink of a Depression. In the past leaders have seen war as a means of stimulating economies back to buoyant times. The dark clouds of war are gathering ominously over Europe and the Middle East for a World War, and our governments in the west are definitely on the wrong side of history should an all out war start. The alternative is to end the dreadful income inequity that has accelerated since Reaganomics took hold. Sadly, those at the helm do not want to steer us to safer waters via this route.
Thanks for that Joy. I like the idea of Oreshniks to Iran. Since the Americans have been arming Ukraine to the teeth for more than a decade how could they complain. It will be interesting to see how the establishment deals with the AfD and Alice Wiedel as the party's popularity increases. I am optimistic that the Europeans will not start a war because they can't afford it and because the European people do not want it.
Unfortunately EU nations are taking money away from health, education and government services to pay for planned military expenditure.
I didn't realize how bad Trump f**ked up the US Economy that pushed it to the brink
SIMPLICIUS Ѱ reposted
₦₳V𝚜𝚝é𝚟𝚊 🇷🇺 ᴢ @Navsteva
·
3h
British Say Dollar System Almost Blew Apart on April 8; Demand Opening the Liquidity Floodgates
The City of London mouthpiece, The Economist, acknowledged on April 10 what EIR has already reported: that “America’s financial system came close to the brink” of collapse this past Tuesday, April 8. The Economist succinctly summed up its April 10 report on the details of the financial higgledy-piggedly which went on: “The failure of both risky [stocks] and supposedly safe assets [Treasuries] at once threatened to destabilize the financial system itself.”
https://economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/04/10/americas-financial-system-came-close-to-the-brink
Thanks for that. Larry Fink of Blackrock said: 'These tariffs are beyond anything I could have imagined in my 49 years in finance.' He also said that the US, hitherto a stabilizing force is now a destabilizing force. I'm not sure where Trump is getting his advice.
Thanks Don. I also read, on yahoo I think, that it could have been Japan that started dumping some treasuries.
Your ekshaustibe are so iñfor*atiºe that you ñeed ñot bery *uch *ore as I doñ't libe iñ US I'* añ outsider iñ that señse. I ad*ire your work Your Patagoñiañ-Spañish follower
Thanks for that Sue.
When it rains it pours. So many comments today. You might have heard about the racist and generally horrible young person Steven Miller a close associate of Trump. Today he tells us the reason for Trump tariffs. This is a copy of an X/tweet from a Fox broadcast without text indents
The Vigilant Fox 🦊 @VigilantFox 17m (4/13/25)
NOW: Stephen Miller just unveiled Trump’s economic war plan—and it’s pure American DOMINATION.
Forget everything you’ve heard. This isn’t tinkering at the edges.
It’s a full-blown strategy to crush China, explode American energy, and make the U.S. the most powerful economic engine on Earth.
On Fox Business,
@StephenM unleashed:
“All I want to say is America is in the best position under President Trump, to dominate the economic future,” he said.
And here’s how:
“Deregulation, exploring and opening American energy, including trillions of dollars in clean coal… and we are on the verge of passing a tax bill that will provide economic certainty and make America into the most desirable place on planet Earth to shore jobs, invest, expand, hire and grow.”
Miller made one thing clear:
“This is an economic strategy.”
The formula?
“Deal with China’s abuses, deregulate, explode American energy production, create the most favorable tax system for American development on the face of the Earth.”
And the end goal?
“That is the recipe for radical American success, Maria.”
Looking forward to reading all about it.
"The Language of the Ideological Fundamentalists
Ideological fundamentalism also supports the development of a new language consisting of simplistic binary language of good versus evil to either give legitimacy or deny illegitimacy. Our interests are framed as the advancement of good values, while the illegitimate interests of our adversaries represent the opposite.
In the competition for dominance during the Cold War, the US was the “leader of the free world”, while the Soviet opponent was an “evil empire”. After the Cold War, the US argued that its enemies were “evil-doers”, adversarial states were part of an Axis of Evil, while the US was a crusader for freedom.
The US attempt to replace Russia as an energy provider to Europe was framed as countering the “Russian energy weapon” and instead spread America’s “freedom gas” and “molecules of U.S. freedom”. The US and Russia pursued the same objective, but they are nonetheless not comparable as one is good and the other is evil.
George Orwell referred to it as newspeak, the creation of a new language that makes it impossible to express and even think anything in opposition. ......."
https://glenndiesen.substack.com/p/ideological-fundamentalism-in-international
A very personal comment.
My oldest friend is an American historian and is worried sick about the loss of American Democracy because of Trump. I blame the uni-party in the US which is led by finance. He holds out the hope that what the democratic party used to be can be revived. We also disagree on "the pandemic" and I told him that the democratic party could well loose the election on their ongoing support of vaccines and US healthcare. It happened.
Our friendship, over the last 3 years, has been on a knife edge and for the most part, because of the issues of Ukraine and the covid vaccines. He sent me two articles to read. One by Masha Geeson, the Russian hater, and another by a long term Canadian educator in which he said that the Trucks demonstration against the mRNA vaccine was at the level of Hitler so I stopped following him.
I put off reading the 2 articles until this morning., Surprise! They were both on how Trump is moving the US to fascism. I agreed with both the articles. Something positive from Trump!
The reason I am writing this is that I have dropped following the Left but there are good things in a couple of web sites in reaction to Trump. His actions are so far out that the alternative media has provided a place for some good journalism. The two articles came from Common Dreams and Truthout. I might check them out occasionally.
I try not to worry about speculations because they may happen or they may not happen. If they do not happen, we will have expended nervous energy for no reason. I worry for democracy everywhere, as you do. I empathise with you on relationships being on a knife edge. My scepticism on global warming and other things, along with my strong opposition to Woke and support of Russia has lost me relationships with friends and family. It's sad but that's life in these 'interesting times'.
My wife called a few friends early in covid to warn them that Don has gone off the rails and they should humor him.
For the first time in my life, I better understand what it is like to be "The Other".
The gaps between positions go to the depths of personal and national values which are taken to be obvious but in fact understanding values is an unsolvable philosophical problem.
It depends what you mean by understanding values. Understanding why people hold values is a matter of psychology or maybe history but not philosophy. Examining values or exploring them conceptually is within the scope of a philosopher but that's not the same as understanding them. I know what you mean about being 'Other'. During lockdown some us stood out because we didn't wear masks - and we certainly felt different - because we weren't lost in the hysteria. Sometimes I felt like the only sane person in the asylum. Seeing people ride bicycles out in the countryside wearing masks summed it up really. Do your wife, family and friends hold the same views about Covid now as they did back then?
An anthropologist studying "the other" covers their technology, language, laws, politics, religion, in short, their values. This includes understanding how their values are housed in various intuitions and what they will fight to the death to preserve. Bruno Latour in "An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence: An Anthropology of the Moderns" describes 15 modes of existence which characterize the moderns. He goes beyond the subject/object and nature/culture dichotomies. Unlike the American individualism which holds self reliance as their core value, he constructs the self from the modes. Each of the modes has their own truth conditions and uses the term from linguists, fidelity conditions. Truth in law is different than truth in religion, fiction, science, technology, etc. Thus epistemology is sidelined in this ontological construction of the Moderns. It has taken me, a slow learner, 20 years to write these comments.
What got me into Latour's work is my quest to understand experience. Latour says "... Moderns' own accounts of their experiences do very little to make them understandable. In my view, this contradiction between the themselves and the account of them authorized by the available metaphysics makes so hard to describe the Moderns empirically. " ""... how to speak appropriately about a plurality of types of beings by relying on the guiding thread of experience, on empiricism as William James defines it: nothing but experience, but nothing less than experience"
This morning I read Simplicus76 latest article on the limitations of German weapons. In contrast to the West, and following his 2023 article linked article
which I linked below, he describes that the Russian approach to weapons is survivability in an existential war. I saw experience put front and center as necessary to survival and the engagement of the entire culture by Russia. (Just thought of this: Maybe the hatred of Russia is in part because they are not Modern, they are "the other"). In the Modern world, war is a sideline activity, seldom existential.
"https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/in-the-spirit-of-russian-total-war
This is related to Lautor's call to return to the earth for the survivability of the humans, to face Gaia. In his short general book "Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime" on page 2 he says "The hypothesis is that we can understand nothing about the politics of the last 50 years if we don't put the question of climate change and its denial front and center." For Latour, Gaia is a political actor.
You asked if my wife holds the same views about covid as before. For our immediate family we don't have any vaccine injury, and covid hysteria has subsided. But she still has faith in the Health System. It will take a revolution in understanding before people can accept the fraud in the health system. Faith in the Health System is a core value of our culture. My hunch is that as more and more comes out about the mRNA vaccine harm, and the long term harm since they turned our bodies into manufacturing the toxic spike proteins, and excess deaths and vax injuries make the mainstream media, the shock of entire event will make my position finally understandable. Another avenue of change is if it becomes clear that the childhood vaccine schedule is largely responsible for the change in Autism from 1 in 10,000 to one in 136, or even lower. The attack on childhood immune system by the US vaccine schedule, of which, none have had safety studies, is ripe for disclosure. For myself, "the pandemic" led me to take responsibility for my health and now at age 82 I am off all 5 prescriptions which were taken to avoid chronic disease. My body is leading the charge.
Thanks for that. I’ll have to give Latour a look when I get some time but I’m too busy right now.
That's fine. This substack, and to a less degree, Karl Sanchez's substack, have afforded me the opportunity to post these pieces. I hope that eventually you might look at Latour. The news comes so fast and furious that a couple of days ago, I was able to go between a couple of interviews in real time!
I just want to make one additional comment that is important. Latour developed a different sociology, a bottom up sociology. Normal sociology starts by assuming that "the social" exists and goes from there. Latour's in contrast is constructed bottom up.
Thanks for providing this space to write. Maybe my words will be of value to some random person.
Sorry, I missed part of your post. I have been following developments on The Daily Skeptic which confirms all the fears we've had. I have not taken prescriptive medication in more that 25 years nor have I consulted a GP in that time. My wife is a herbalist. Since Covid, I have lost trust in our health service. I have needed an operation for about a year but I won't go to the NHS but hope to have it done privately soon.
"bifurcation of nature" From AI generated answer on the web. All below copied from the web.
First, a little bit on Alfred North Whitehead, 1861 - 1947, British mathematician and philosopher. He with Bertrand Russel attempted to reduce mathematics to formal logic in the treatise Principia Mathematica. He also created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology.
AI Overview
In Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy, the "bifurcation of nature" refers to the modern tendency to separate reality into distinct, incompatible realms: the "material sphere" (what science studies) and the "mental sphere" (human experience and appearance). Whitehead argued that this separation is an imposition, not a natural feature of reality, and it leads to a problematic understanding of both science and experience.
The Dualism:
The bifurcation of nature is essentially a dualistic view of reality, where the physical world (matter) and the mental world (consciousness, subjective experience) are seen as separate, distinct entities.
Scientific Materialism:
Whitehead criticizes scientific materialism, which assumes that the fundamental reality is a brute, unchangeable matter that exists independently of our perception. He argues that this view overlooks the dynamic, relational nature of reality.
Bifurcation as an Imposition:
Whitehead contends that the bifurcation of nature is not a natural division but a philosophical imposition, a way of thinking that we impose on our perception of the world.
The Problem:
This separation leads to several problems, including:
A sense of disconnection between scientific knowledge and human experience.
A tendency to prioritize scientific objectivity over subjective values.
A potential for misunderstanding the role of the mind in shaping our understanding of the world.
Beyond the Bifurcation:
Whitehead's philosophy seeks to overcome this bifurcation by emphasizing the interconnectedness of all aspects of reality and by recognizing the crucial role of subjective experience in shaping our understanding of the world.
Whitehead's Alternative:
Whitehead's process philosophy emphasizes the importance of "events" and "relations" in understanding reality, suggesting that reality is not composed of static objects but of dynamic, relational processes.
Examples of Bifurcation:
Whitehead uses examples like the separation of "sense objects" (e.g., colors, sounds) from "scientific objects" (e.g., electromagnetic waves, molecules) to illustrate how the bifurcation of nature can lead to a fragmented understanding of reality.
You've explained that very well Don - thanks. I agree with the thrust of Whiteheads position and argued for it in my Ph.D - 'Between Persons: Towards a Relational Ontology of Authenticity'. Things exist in relation to each other not in opposition - as Aristotle thought. This relation is often complementary.
Description of "double click" from
"Research Article| May 01 2020
We Have Always Been Medieval: Bruno Latour and Double Click, Metaphysics and Modernity
Marilynn Desmond; Noah D. Guynn Romanic Review (2020) 111 (1): 1–7.
https://doi.org/10.1215/00358118-8007936"
https://read.dukeupress.edu/romanic-review/article/111/1/1/164262/We-Have-Always-Been-MedievalBruno-Latour-and
Of the many arresting coinages and bracketed abbreviations that form the highly specialized language found in Bruno Latour’s An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (and deployed on AIME, the collaborative website associated with the book), one of the most beguiling is “Double Click,” noted [DC]. Variously designated as an “Evil Genius,” a “devil” (Inquiry 93), and “the serpent of knowledge” (113), this conceptual character entices “the Moderns” (capitalized to signify cultures and institutions rather than individuals) with the affirmation of Enlightenment dualisms and the promise of unmediated access to knowledge. Not only does Double Click harden distinctions between subject and object, human and nonhuman, society and nature; it also suggests that we can have unmediated access to knowledge in the blink of an eye, without having to acknowledge the laborious processes by which knowledge is produced and transmitted or the ways in which those processes of transformation have the potential to transform us. As the entry for Double Click on AIME explains, “The metaphor is that of a computer mouse[,] which has taught us to expect all the information we might require to be available at the click of a button without taking into account the dizzying series of mediations required by this operation.” The seductiveness of [DC] is thus that it effaces the processes and realities that make its effects possible: the “breathtaking alignment of lines of code by hundreds of anonymous programmers”; the “transformations, the translations needed for the completion of all courses of action.” If we turn our attention to those transformations and translations, Latour argues, we will discover an infinitely more intricate reality than Double Click wishes us to see, a reality made up of networks of actants that relate to one another across discontinuities or hiatuses. We will also recognize that the delicate mediations and negotiations that maintain these fragile networks are endlessly susceptible to short-circuiting, misfire, and collapse. [DC] is thus shorthand for the failure of Modernity, under the weight of scientific rationalism and technological totalization, to recognize the processual, fluctuating relations that constitute our shared world and its multiple, intersecting modes of existence. As a character, moreover, Double Click personifies the pattern of ecological exploitation and spoliation that our culture of unfettered access has spawned, that has already had dire consequences for human and nonhuman existence, and that may well eradicate humanity altogether if it goes unchecked.
Confronted by a devil whose wiles threaten to annihilate us, Latour and his intellectual collaborators exhort us to return to the philosophical foundations of Western thought through “a reactivation of metaphysics” (Maniglier 37). This does not mean, as Patrice Maniglier explains, an “enterprise of pronouncing a univocal truth about Being in general” but rather “a redefinition of metaphysics itself” as a set of diplomatic encounters on a flat, nonhierarchical plane: “an altogether singular form of ‘diplomacy’” that would grant all the modes of existence equal access to being and that would allow all the “institutions” to which those modes correspond (“both science and religion, politics and management, literature and psychology, custom and subsistence”) “their proper weight of reality” (37). To bring about such encounters, we must acknowledge not only that the modes of existence are inherently multiple but also that they collectively give rise to “paired intersections, or crossings, [that] can be defined empirically and can thus be shared” (Inquiry xx). We must also strive to suspend the dualisms that, for Latour, have structured—and weakened—Modern epistemology: “The raw and the cooked, nature and culture, words and things, the sacred and the profane, the real and the constructed, the abstract and the concrete, the savage and the civilized, and even the dualism of the modern and the premodern, do not seem to get [us] very far” (146).
This last dualism resonates especially powerfully for scholars of the pre-Enlightenment past, and its intellectual and historical implications are worth teasing out carefully........
Well Don, that sounded very complicated and made my brain hurt. I agree with and can relate to some of it but I also disagree with some of it. I simply don't have the time to engage with this though I would find it interesting to do so. If you look at my Agnosticism series you will get a handle on my approach to epistemology - it's a little less complex than this. I think that one of the most important qualities of philosophical works is simplicity. Philosophers such as Hegel, Sartre and many of the postmodernists (especially Gilles Delueze and Felix Guatarri) lacked this quality. I should say that Bertrand Russell is one of my favourite philosophers because he possesses this quality. If you can't understand Russell it's probably not his fault. Thanks for sharing.
Many thanks for the update Rob. The man child Trump seems to be living up to maximum expectations.
As you have mentioned it seems like Zelensky has been given a bit more legroom to spout off on MSM about phantom Chinese armies operating in Ukraine and it is supposedly a reason to drag the World into a war even though there are mercs on both sides.
Ukraine is also appealing to the capitalist nature of the US by mentioning the $324 billion loss of trade that the US had from exiting Russia.
Looks like the coke is well and truly flowing in the Ukrainian junta.
Cheers Anthony - we've had North Koreans, now Chinese and maybe the Iranians will make an appearance in the Donbass soon.
Thanks Rob, excellent as usual.
Hard to get a handle on Trump. I used to think that he might have had some idea as to what he was doing, but now I think he hasn't a clue and just does things because they sound good to him.
He like a lot of modern day "conservatives" have no idea as to how formulate a plan much less how such a plan might be implemented. The announcement seems to be all that is required, then everything just follows from that. Maybe they expect the invisible hand to do all of the work
There seems to be no internal coherence to his ideas, just a grab bag of desires that quite often conflict. It is going badly already and I can't see things improving. His working class supporters are going to be royally screwed.
The only good thing is that here in Australia where we are having a Federal election, the conservatives thought that they would slide into power on the reflected glory of whatever Trump did. Now Trump has blown everything up they are floundering and totally lost and dropping in the polls.
Thanks Chris. I also find Trump baffling and I agree that he is acting out of ignorance and/or poor advice. He is not well read apparently; knows nothing about history or geography and he is saddled with that superior exceptionalist mentality typical of the hegemon. The attack on the Houthis seemed bizarre but Alex Krainer believes that it could have been done to punish the Europeans who use the Red Sea much more than the Americans. Roughly 56% of European trade goes through Suez while only 13% of US trade goes through the canal. But if this is true, it is costing the Americans a fortune.
Yes Rob, I think Trump is quite ignorant of a lot of things but is too arrogant to admit it so just blusters on. I was quite surprised when he recently accused Spain of being in the BRICS. If you are starting from this level of ignorance it is very difficult to make good decisions.
It's hard to know whether he is ever told anything close to the truth or is continually bullshitted to by his advisors and/or US intelligence or just ignores any advice he gets, preferring to rely on instincts.
I do get a sense that being an American businessman, he thinks everyone is just as venal as he is and therefore has a price. I think it is quite a shock to him that he finds that this is not the case with Putin and Xi Jinping and that they are no longer prepared to be bullied by the US protection racket.
As for the tariffs, I think a lot of the world now realises that trade with the US might no longer be worth the effort either and are acting with that thought in mind.
Interesting times.
Interesting times, indeed.
The Russian MOD has been reporting Ukrainian casualties of 10,000 per week for well over a year now which translates to 500k +. The Ukrainian military according to the cokehead including reservists is 980k as of April 2025. If Russian numbers are even somewhat reliable , the Ukrainian military should have collapsed by now due to the 50% casualty rate and resultant morale issues. Therefore the Russian numbers cannot be right.
Any ideas?
My reasoning on recruitment numbers is as follows and is why I excluded it (rightly or wrongly):
From what I read, recruitment numbers are low compared to losses, no more than 15k per month, ( net loss of still 35k per month) , they are poorly trained, and lack any motivation at all apart from survival. As such they are probably as much, if not more of a liability.
And yes the numbers are all vague, but if the Russian MoD numbers are low, and given the above is somewhat right , the Ukraine military should still be close to collapse. Maybe the widespread use and effectiveness of drones is what keeps them afloat.
Thanks for that Hussein. I am also amazed that the Ukrainian army is still resisting but Ukrainian sources I follow are saying that the fronts are 'sagging'.
I think the Russian MoD figures are probably underestimated. Richard Steven Hack did some work on this about a year ago. I don't follow you reasoning which should include the number of men recruited/conscripted. If this figure exceeded losses then the Ukrainian army would not collapse necessarily. In recent months mobilisation has not kept pace with losses. If this continues the army could collapse at some point. I have no idea whether the coke head's figures are correct btw. At the end of the day I can't be sure of any of the statistics I provide.
Hussein, don't forget a percentage of those 10,000 a week casualties will be lightly wounded and will return/ be forced to return to battle. perhaps as many as 20% of that 10,000 figure. Who knows?
We don't know what percentage of new recruits are sent into the trenches at zero to await death. While some of the seasoned troops sit it out in the next defence line?
I would wager that the new recruits sent to zero are most of the casualty count.
We will never know the full accurate losses.
In the englishspeaking world, people seem oblivious to what's happening "again" in Germany. For around 12 years, German politicians (including Baerbock) and the media openly propagated the destruction of Russia. This has now been replaced by those in charge in Germany suggesting to the population that Russia will attack Germany and that Germany must be prepared. Germany is, and hasn't just recently, massively rearming, and German society is being geared for war. Conditions in Germany are becoming less and less different from those during the Nazi era.
The majority of educated Germans are still obsessed with dreams of great power. At least a great power over Europe, including Russia. The EU is merely a means to this end. Out of touch with reality, in their excessive selfaggrandizement, in their megalomania, the majority of educated Germans seem unwilling to acknowledge that the world has changed. Nevertheless, their war cries are not harmless. (google translation)
Beat Wick, CH
Schriftdeutsch:
In der englischsprachigen Welt scheint man nicht wahrzunehmen, was in Deutschland «wieder» vor sich geht. Rund 12 Jahre wurde von deutschen Politikern (unter ihnen Baerbock) und Medien unverblümt die Zerstörung Russlands propagiert. Abgelöst hat sich dies nun, indem von den verantwortlichen Stellen in Deutschland der Bevölkerung suggeriert wird, Russland werde Deutschland angreifen und Deutschland müsse darauf gerüstet sein. Deutschland rüstet, nicht erst heute, massiv auf und die deutsche Gesellschaft wird auf Kriegstauglichkeit getrimmt Die Zustände in Deutschland unterscheiden sich immer weniger von jenen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus.
Die Mehrheit der Bildungsdeutschen ist immer noch von Grossmachtträumen besessen. Zumindest einer Grossmacht über Europa inkl. Russland. Die EU lediglich ein Mittel zu diesem Zweck. Wirklichkeitsfremd, in massloser Selbstüberschätzung, in ihrem Grössenwahn scheint die Mehrheit der Bildungsdeutschen nicht wahrnehmen zu wollen, dass sich die Welt verändert hat. Trotzdem, Harmlos ist ihr Kriegsgeschrei nicht.
Beat Wick, CH
Thanks for that Beat Wick. My impression is that the people of Europe generally do not want a war. Are you saying that educated people in Germany want a war with Russia?
What I mean is: A majority of educated Germans arrogantly see themselves as a 'nation of poets and thinkers'. As those, and they express this, who must assume the leadership role in Europe, meaning they must rule over other Europeans. Their politicians and media presume to speak for all of Europe, even though only part of (Western)Europe is in THEIR EU. Besides ruling Europe and also participating globally (alongside and under the USA), as in Hitler's time, Russian resources are also a major concern. Of course, there is no direct mention of war. Regarding Russia, I would put it this way: If you are not willing, I will use force! Germany is characterized by uniformity in language and mentality, by obedience, authority, classism, and racism. Consensus and diversity are largely alien to Germans.
For those who understand some German, here's a small sample (Ulrich Heyden is German, Globalbridge Swiss).
‘So unterstützen prominente Deutsche die Kriegstreiber'
https://globalbridge.ch/so-unterstuetzen-prominente-deutsche-die-kriegstreiberei/
Thanks for explaining. I know what you mean by poets and thinkers. I studied many German philosophers, including Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.
Thanks.
America is an Exceptional nation with a capital E
Germany is an exceptional nation with a lower case e
I have been following the German prof who now is a substack writer. Many posts related to your observations on arrogant Germans. Here is one of his recent posts
"Liberal democracy was once a form of government. Now it has become a shallow civic religion and it really sucks.
eugyppius Apr 04, 2025 Paid"
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/liberal-democracy-was-once-a-form
they are not cutting SS and Medicare benefits. they are cleaning them up. https://amac.us/newsline/society/democrats-media-bury-elon-musks-explosive-revelations-on-social-security-fraud/?utm_objective=website_traffic&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=amac&utm_medium=daily_news_am&utm_content=dmb041025&dderh=633ea4a8cade39bef7d42e9a57a36afe
I'm just reporting what was said in Tass - but I will provide the links you have given in a footnote. Thanks George.
We in the West are rational.
"the others" are irrational
Because they are irrational, we can colonize them
West can not see that the situation has reversed itself.
Hence 1984 is alive and well in the West
Self colonization is the new normal, especially in Europe
We also compared those in the colonised countries with children, thereby justifying our domination over them. But nowadays, we are the children and they are the adults - the situation is reversed.
Surprise!
Rational has become the new irrational!
Of course those in power and elites are acting rationally as they justified colonialization. Of course, "The others" were irrational.
The West used a double loop trap to justify the position that they were irrational.
We believed that "the others" believed rather than being rational.
We used the trap of belief in belief.
This insight is from the polymath Bruno Latour
Reason is sometimes in fashion and sometimes out of fashion. If an intellectual movement comes into existence that is rational - such as the Enlightenment in 18th Century France - it is challenged by movements promoting a more emotional 'Romanticism' which is always expressed in art. Some would say that rationalism contributes to events such as the French revolutionary 'Terror' or the holocaust. The move away from rationalism happened following the French Revolution which was inspired by the Enlightenment. The poetry of Shelley or Coleridge, the music of Wagner and the art of Blake or Turner - all challenged rationalism. Such art is needed now.
Roughly, the Enlightenment, was based on science, the state (Westphalia 1644) and secularism. Science became the dominant form of rationalism for the modern world with the bifurcation into primary and secondary qualities.
***
From the web:
"Locke thought that certain properties, such as motion, size, shape, and number are primary, in that they are inherent in the objects. On the other hand, properties such as colour, taste, smell, and sound, are secondary because they depend on a person's subjective sensory experience."
Latour uses the term from a computer mouse, "double click" to describe the transfer if information without translation. Translation links information to time, place, assumptions, law, politics, etc.
Trump, the circus performer, uses double click communication along with Elon Musk. How could they threaten the global economy without considering the consequences to the embedded actors and materials?
Trump and Musk believe in their belief that they know the consequences of their actions.
I recognise some of the philosophical issues you raise with regard to Locke's epistemology and metaphysics. But you have lost me when you say that science was a 'bifurcation into primary and secondary properties'. That sounds like the philosophical equivalent of a mix of genres to me. Could you clarify please. No idea about double click btw.
I thank you for the opportunity to clarify both "double click" and bifurcation.
I have no background in philosophy except 50 years of looking for insights in the contradictions that appear everywhere. In particular, I was interested in the importance of experience, or practice, which has little coverage.
These two concepts are part of an alternative metaphysics which in my opinion might be part of an intellectual framework necessary to confront Gaia, the Earth. Survival of the humans depends on a return to Earth. It will be forced on us but it can be alleviated if humans realize that they are part of the Earth.,
There are better sources which I just found on the web. I will start a new link rather than putting long quotations in this nested list.
I have just been reading Zero Hedge and Sputnik which are reporting a list of exceptions to tariffs that Donald has just announced. Predictably, these include equipment for making semiconductors; Smartphones; Computer processors; Memory chips and
Hard drives. Why on earth did they not include these exemptions originally. This shows that they did not realise the implications of the tariffs. Maybe tomorrow Trump will provide another list of exemptions. Doh!