Democracy Promotion in East Asia, "Behind the New Iron Curtain (Russia)", How Diversity "Narrows the Mind", The End of Pitchfork, American Accents and Dialects
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Not every people, ethnic group, culture or nation is ready for democracy. In fact some don't believe in it. We need to stop seeing the world through American rose colored glasses.
👍 democracy is a distinctly western philosophy. Hasn't worked as well in the eastern parts. You know the old saying: east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.
The best thing about Peter Hitchens' book "The Abolition of Britain" is how it lays out that most all the things Brits and Yanks take for granted about governance are very specific inventions of British culture in the middle of the second milennium.
The American people (I am one) were repeatedly fooled into wars, and since WW2 have yet to extricate ourselves from the main one of WW2 and the alliances therein. Only recently did DC offhandedly mention Empire, and as is seen has lost its Army, it’s common folk, it’s very nation.
As the government has lost confidence in the people the government imports others...
We've reached the point where government and the people are irretrievably estranged. We know the ugly and tragic logical and historical outcome because violence is the only thing hubris and intransigence understand.
The trouble is that while the US may yet be successful in retreating from key post-WW2 commitments/entanglements, a whole new set is likely to take their place. Post-imperial America will attract foreign players in much the same way that post-Soviet Russia did. Also the institutional legacy of empire (the IC, portions of defence, industry etc) will seek to draw in old friends/rivals for all sorts of purposes.
Absolutely post American Empire will be a scramble in the Eastern Hemisphere.
America herself?
It’s possible but remote they touch America’s shores or indeed make any real inroads into the Western Hemisphere. Distance, legacy strength and nuclear weapons make this dodgy prospect.
Direct territorial appropriation in North America is all but impossible. I fear that Washington forms a symbiotic relationship with the cartels (this appears to be happening already on the borders). The cartels are global players in their own right and an extra-hemispheric rival who wanted to keep the US down could easily partner with them and with a Yankee Yeltsin/Vichy.
Adam and John at the No Agenda Podcast might have coined the term "rubbleize", which is where the good guys bomb the hell out of a place and then build it back, erm, better. Democracy at work, I guess.
Pallas Athena we’re about to see for ourselves is 🩸 One Bloodthirsty Bitch. 🩸There’s no purer form of democracy than the democracy I saw in Iraq: anyone can and did kill anyone else. Neighboring villages tore each other up, and I think it more “neighbors” than any other religious or political nonsense. Sounds as if Libya is also democratic. Like W said, democracies don’t go to war with each other! (History LOLZ 🤣🤣)
No. Democracies have to go to war with themselves first. Who has time for foreign affairs?
It's becoming clearer to me that non-authoritarian forms of government don't really work if there is not a "a people". In Canada, our multi-ethnic post-national democracy really just gives the system a fig leaf to look legitimate, but for the most part, Canadians don't get a say in how we are ruled any more. We are post-democratic already, people just don't realize it.
Well said. As a people become corrupt and selfish, democracy falls. It does seem the best form of government is one man rule by an inspired, dedicated benevolent ruler with oversight. Sadly, does such a man exist?
Not saying that would be good or bad (I'm sure both), but you're pretty well f*cked in any case where the leadership class doesn't consider themselves part of the people.
Honestly, I would be happy if people in cities weren't allowed to vote outside municipal elections (50% lol). Now I'm just rambling.
I agree with you. Certainly no one on government welfare. I wouldn't oppose returning to the age old practice of only property owners voting; you know, the skin in the game principle. LOL
The pitchfork piece is great. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Your experience with music mirrors mine. 5-15 years ago I had SiriusXM’s “indie” channel on almost constantly - and I really enjoyed it. Then I started to notice it was increasingly pushing these terrible women singer songwriters and pop songs. As the old tunes were phased out, I stopped listening entirely. It’d be nice to recreate some old playlists from that era, but as you noted, it’s just not that important to me.
“the realists in the US foreign policy community “
Who are they?
Kissinger?
He’s dead.
Nixon? Dead.
Trump? He’s not foreign policy.
He most assuredly isn’t in that community.
Who? Mearsheimer?
He decided to toss away what little he had on Jew Hate.
You speak of people called realists in the US Foreign Policy Community, I know of none and I should. In any case they all agree on Empire. Of course there’s Americans who are realistic. They aren’t in that community.
I assume that the true realists sign the checks for the foreign policy 'community' and take care not to sit next to any of them at dinner...probably don't even go to the same dinner parties in the first place.
The realist/idealist distinction is just a device to differentiate competing networks. Cosmetic ideation that impresses college kids who are studying international relations.
IMO the distinction to watch for is the one between foreign policy types who think in terms of narrative and those who are analytic. The Anglosphere diplomats and their fellow travelers seem obsessed with narratives but cannot think analytically.
Philip- I think that the realistic have left the Potomac Bunker for safer spaces. I don’t think that sane or honest people are calling the shots, never mind competent.
Trump isn’t even Gorbachev now, never mind Putin. He’s Yeltsin outside the Russian Parliament, without the vodka. When you’re that narcissistic who needs Vodka.
He’s a YT and internet influencer wannabe. He’s not in power or influence. All the impact of Douglas Macgregor. Col Macgregor spoke the truth as well... he might as well be howling from a mountain cave.
This shows you the utter futility of words, indeed worse than useless, and how useless the truth is... and always has been.
Mersheimer seems to want his swan song the betrayal- it is - of Israel.
He’s long out by the way, although right about Ukraine and Eastern Europe.... but Israel we have been abusing since Kissinger and Mersheimer knows it well. I’m getting the self loathing J vibe here, not that I care. My only point on Israel is let’s not betray an ally in need, for once.
And yes we are trying for years to bring them down from within, that’s what the Israeli supreme court fight was about.
Loved the regional accents piece - Ky has its own (Appalachian) but I’m constantly being told I “don’t sound like I’m from Ky” (this comes with a shit ton of connotations depending on where I am and who’s saying it). All the rest was a pleasure as always…
That review of Jet's "Shine On" album was Pitchfork at its best. No coincidence this is from 2006, when it was still permissible to have good old-fashioned fun in criticism.
I’m fascinated by stories about Russia. I almost can’t help but root for them because we need alternatives to what the west is pushing (as shown in your diversity portion). I would love to hear stories from expats to really get a sense of how authoritarian Russia is vs the US. My guess is that people feel at least as free there. I have read that the corruption is there but not at all like it’s portrayed in the west. That you can give a little money here or there to improve services though (like hospital visits in your own room vs shared, traffic ticket off the books vs in the books, etc). I really wonder what is true or false.
In Britain, you can find yourself in police custody for telling a "transphobic" joke or for complaining that your local high street is festooned with Palestinian flags.
Pitchfork Review: Here's my take: "When it comes to Rock music, people seem to divide into three camps in my experience:
· those who dismiss the whole lot of it as undifferentiated trash - as if Western music’s deep reservoir of creativity somehow ran dry in the middle of the 20th century.
· those who tend to mostly just like the latest stuff.... and Rock’s back catalogue quickly recedes from their conscious memory.
Interesting that Eastern Euros were mentioned as unwanted at UC schools in 1996. In Fall 1994 PBS ran a long documentary about Berkeley High School and the political correctness overwhelming it. The most outspoken student opposing PC was a poor kid with an American accent, Romanian last name and Russian mom.
Main reason I remember this doc is because I was in HS when it came out and Berkeley HS was very similar to mine, though larger and with a bigger Hispanic population.
'Democracy' has its own hubris. And it's fragile and in constant need of reinforcement. Not to mention that it only works for an honorable and self-sacrificing people. America no longer has such a majority.
Well on parchment we’re a constitutional republic with a broad franchise and not democracy.
We’re neither at present but were never a democracy, nor is the word in the constitution, nor did I or anyone else swear to it, nor the Pledge of Allegiance, nor the Founders except to denounce it.
The point about virtue is half true, the people are sound, the elites and rulers not...
Different societies across the globe are at various developmental levels. Democracy suits only a tiny spectrum of that ladder. World would function efficiently if global players get this simple yet fundamental difference.
The regional accents and dialects piece hits home. I’m from the American West but, until recently returning home, lived in the Midwest for the last 10 years.
Hearing some of the pronunciations and language used there made me cringe at first but it became endearing.
“Where’s the dog at?” vs “Where’s the dog?”
“I got for you a dog” vs “I got a dog for you”
(Replace dog with any object in the above examples)
“Vacuum sweeper” vs “vacuum” or “vacuum cleaner”
“Lovable” being used in place of “loving” as in, “she was being so lovable toward me.”
Also the Americanization of Midwestern town names originally settled by French explorers.
Versailles, MO being pronounced “Ver-sails” as one example among many.
NY Times used to have a neat regional dialect quiz and map on their website, I’ll see if I can dig up the link.
Thanks for this as always. The Harper’s piece was fascinating! The FA piece is remarkable. Don’t understand how the neocons / “liberal interventionists” still have such an influence over US policy after disastrous results
Let me Help Eeyore; neocons retain influence because they are present, They tell Biden he’s the Turbo 🇺🇸 Emperor. The Sane have fled the Potomac Bunker, and only the Mad and the Grasping thieves remain.
As Benjamin Judah abandoned Jefferson Davis (another esteemed Democratic Party Diplomat and former Secretary of State) taking with him the last of the Confederacy’s money and leaving Jefferson Davis to be captured, so the neocons will abandon these Democratic politicians... when the ship is not so much sunk as throughly plundered.
Regarding your article on Russia - Armchair Warlord (on twitter and worth a follow) has been beating this drum for a while - the economy and arms production doing far better than the west is willing to admit
Click the like button at the top or the bottom of the page to like this entry. Use the share and/or re-stack buttons to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you to do so...and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already.
And please do check out the second part in my series on the Spanish Civil War - https://niccolo.substack.com/p/the-spanish-civil-part-2-el-bienio
Not every people, ethnic group, culture or nation is ready for democracy. In fact some don't believe in it. We need to stop seeing the world through American rose colored glasses.
The older I get, the more I agree with this. Let others rule themselves as they see fit (with the usual caveats).
👍 democracy is a distinctly western philosophy. Hasn't worked as well in the eastern parts. You know the old saying: east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet.
The best thing about Peter Hitchens' book "The Abolition of Britain" is how it lays out that most all the things Brits and Yanks take for granted about governance are very specific inventions of British culture in the middle of the second milennium.
We do see the world.
We The People.
Unfortunately we’re not in power.
That’s why we’re teetering on civil war.
The American people (I am one) were repeatedly fooled into wars, and since WW2 have yet to extricate ourselves from the main one of WW2 and the alliances therein. Only recently did DC offhandedly mention Empire, and as is seen has lost its Army, it’s common folk, it’s very nation.
As the government has lost confidence in the people the government imports others...
But any rose colored glasses are long shattered.
We've reached the point where government and the people are irretrievably estranged. We know the ugly and tragic logical and historical outcome because violence is the only thing hubris and intransigence understand.
The trouble is that while the US may yet be successful in retreating from key post-WW2 commitments/entanglements, a whole new set is likely to take their place. Post-imperial America will attract foreign players in much the same way that post-Soviet Russia did. Also the institutional legacy of empire (the IC, portions of defence, industry etc) will seek to draw in old friends/rivals for all sorts of purposes.
Absolutely post American Empire will be a scramble in the Eastern Hemisphere.
America herself?
It’s possible but remote they touch America’s shores or indeed make any real inroads into the Western Hemisphere. Distance, legacy strength and nuclear weapons make this dodgy prospect.
Direct territorial appropriation in North America is all but impossible. I fear that Washington forms a symbiotic relationship with the cartels (this appears to be happening already on the borders). The cartels are global players in their own right and an extra-hemispheric rival who wanted to keep the US down could easily partner with them and with a Yankee Yeltsin/Vichy.
I doubt it will get that far.
DC isn’t Moscow, or Paris, or London. It is the Metropole only of Empire - and it’s lost America.
At least CJNG and Mayo Sinaloa are big international players
Presumably they are big enough to play a role in the bond markets and the banking sector...that alone would buy them a degree of protection/influence.
also, all the baggage that comes along under the "democracy" umbrella. I'm thinking of Boris Johnson saying the Libyan town of Sirte could become "the next Dubai" ... after the dead bodies were cleared away. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/17/boris-johnson-refuses-to-apologise-for-libyan-dead-bodies-remark#:~:text=The%20foreign%20secretary%20was%20also,dead%20bodies%20were%20cleared%20away.
Adam and John at the No Agenda Podcast might have coined the term "rubbleize", which is where the good guys bomb the hell out of a place and then build it back, erm, better. Democracy at work, I guess.
Pallas Athena we’re about to see for ourselves is 🩸 One Bloodthirsty Bitch. 🩸There’s no purer form of democracy than the democracy I saw in Iraq: anyone can and did kill anyone else. Neighboring villages tore each other up, and I think it more “neighbors” than any other religious or political nonsense. Sounds as if Libya is also democratic. Like W said, democracies don’t go to war with each other! (History LOLZ 🤣🤣)
No. Democracies have to go to war with themselves first. Who has time for foreign affairs?
It's becoming clearer to me that non-authoritarian forms of government don't really work if there is not a "a people". In Canada, our multi-ethnic post-national democracy really just gives the system a fig leaf to look legitimate, but for the most part, Canadians don't get a say in how we are ruled any more. We are post-democratic already, people just don't realize it.
Well said. As a people become corrupt and selfish, democracy falls. It does seem the best form of government is one man rule by an inspired, dedicated benevolent ruler with oversight. Sadly, does such a man exist?
Not saying that would be good or bad (I'm sure both), but you're pretty well f*cked in any case where the leadership class doesn't consider themselves part of the people.
Honestly, I would be happy if people in cities weren't allowed to vote outside municipal elections (50% lol). Now I'm just rambling.
I agree with you. Certainly no one on government welfare. I wouldn't oppose returning to the age old practice of only property owners voting; you know, the skin in the game principle. LOL
Thanks Niccolo.
My pleasure, bro.
The pitchfork piece is great. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Your experience with music mirrors mine. 5-15 years ago I had SiriusXM’s “indie” channel on almost constantly - and I really enjoyed it. Then I started to notice it was increasingly pushing these terrible women singer songwriters and pop songs. As the old tunes were phased out, I stopped listening entirely. It’d be nice to recreate some old playlists from that era, but as you noted, it’s just not that important to me.
You can start here - https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/7710-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-20-1/
One band I forgot to mention was Fuck Buttons. I love, love , love this song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p45i6yN8V48
WHO?
“the realists in the US foreign policy community “
Who are they?
Kissinger?
He’s dead.
Nixon? Dead.
Trump? He’s not foreign policy.
He most assuredly isn’t in that community.
Who? Mearsheimer?
He decided to toss away what little he had on Jew Hate.
You speak of people called realists in the US Foreign Policy Community, I know of none and I should. In any case they all agree on Empire. Of course there’s Americans who are realistic. They aren’t in that community.
Nor in office or at least not in power.
I assume that the true realists sign the checks for the foreign policy 'community' and take care not to sit next to any of them at dinner...probably don't even go to the same dinner parties in the first place.
The realist/idealist distinction is just a device to differentiate competing networks. Cosmetic ideation that impresses college kids who are studying international relations.
IMO the distinction to watch for is the one between foreign policy types who think in terms of narrative and those who are analytic. The Anglosphere diplomats and their fellow travelers seem obsessed with narratives but cannot think analytically.
Philip- I think that the realistic have left the Potomac Bunker for safer spaces. I don’t think that sane or honest people are calling the shots, never mind competent.
Trump isn’t even Gorbachev now, never mind Putin. He’s Yeltsin outside the Russian Parliament, without the vodka. When you’re that narcissistic who needs Vodka.
I view realists as dispensing with the tactic of 'promoting democracy'. Just makes the task of foreign policy more difficult.
I’m saying they’re out and we’re on 70% delusion and 30% grift...
Mearsheimer is the best we have
We don’t have him.
He’s out.
He said no to Empire $$
He’s out.
Only grifters need apply.
He’s a YT and internet influencer wannabe. He’s not in power or influence. All the impact of Douglas Macgregor. Col Macgregor spoke the truth as well... he might as well be howling from a mountain cave.
This shows you the utter futility of words, indeed worse than useless, and how useless the truth is... and always has been.
Mersheimer seems to want his swan song the betrayal- it is - of Israel.
He’s long out by the way, although right about Ukraine and Eastern Europe.... but Israel we have been abusing since Kissinger and Mersheimer knows it well. I’m getting the self loathing J vibe here, not that I care. My only point on Israel is let’s not betray an ally in need, for once.
And yes we are trying for years to bring them down from within, that’s what the Israeli supreme court fight was about.
Loved the regional accents piece - Ky has its own (Appalachian) but I’m constantly being told I “don’t sound like I’m from Ky” (this comes with a shit ton of connotations depending on where I am and who’s saying it). All the rest was a pleasure as always…
That review of Jet's "Shine On" album was Pitchfork at its best. No coincidence this is from 2006, when it was still permissible to have good old-fashioned fun in criticism.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9464-shine-on/
I’m fascinated by stories about Russia. I almost can’t help but root for them because we need alternatives to what the west is pushing (as shown in your diversity portion). I would love to hear stories from expats to really get a sense of how authoritarian Russia is vs the US. My guess is that people feel at least as free there. I have read that the corruption is there but not at all like it’s portrayed in the west. That you can give a little money here or there to improve services though (like hospital visits in your own room vs shared, traffic ticket off the books vs in the books, etc). I really wonder what is true or false.
In Britain, you can find yourself in police custody for telling a "transphobic" joke or for complaining that your local high street is festooned with Palestinian flags.
Pitchfork Review: Here's my take: "When it comes to Rock music, people seem to divide into three camps in my experience:
· those who dismiss the whole lot of it as undifferentiated trash - as if Western music’s deep reservoir of creativity somehow ran dry in the middle of the 20th century.
· those who tend to mostly just like the latest stuff.... and Rock’s back catalogue quickly recedes from their conscious memory.
· and lastly, those like me who think that most of it has always been trash but the very best does deserve a place in a kind of Classical Rock Cannon......https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/imagine-theres-no-muzak
Interesting that Eastern Euros were mentioned as unwanted at UC schools in 1996. In Fall 1994 PBS ran a long documentary about Berkeley High School and the political correctness overwhelming it. The most outspoken student opposing PC was a poor kid with an American accent, Romanian last name and Russian mom.
https://youtu.be/RZJxp4iFSK0?si=wlFRr5ThyUELpZ1p
https://youtu.be/7L7wBpW03F0?si=7ZNVN0Pa89tT6Znx
Main reason I remember this doc is because I was in HS when it came out and Berkeley HS was very similar to mine, though larger and with a bigger Hispanic population.
'Democracy' has its own hubris. And it's fragile and in constant need of reinforcement. Not to mention that it only works for an honorable and self-sacrificing people. America no longer has such a majority.
Well on parchment we’re a constitutional republic with a broad franchise and not democracy.
We’re neither at present but were never a democracy, nor is the word in the constitution, nor did I or anyone else swear to it, nor the Pledge of Allegiance, nor the Founders except to denounce it.
The point about virtue is half true, the people are sound, the elites and rulers not...
The people are civilized the elites barbarous.
Different societies across the globe are at various developmental levels. Democracy suits only a tiny spectrum of that ladder. World would function efficiently if global players get this simple yet fundamental difference.
The regional accents and dialects piece hits home. I’m from the American West but, until recently returning home, lived in the Midwest for the last 10 years.
Hearing some of the pronunciations and language used there made me cringe at first but it became endearing.
“Where’s the dog at?” vs “Where’s the dog?”
“I got for you a dog” vs “I got a dog for you”
(Replace dog with any object in the above examples)
“Vacuum sweeper” vs “vacuum” or “vacuum cleaner”
“Lovable” being used in place of “loving” as in, “she was being so lovable toward me.”
Also the Americanization of Midwestern town names originally settled by French explorers.
Versailles, MO being pronounced “Ver-sails” as one example among many.
NY Times used to have a neat regional dialect quiz and map on their website, I’ll see if I can dig up the link.
Found it:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html
Thanks for this as always. The Harper’s piece was fascinating! The FA piece is remarkable. Don’t understand how the neocons / “liberal interventionists” still have such an influence over US policy after disastrous results
Let me Help Eeyore; neocons retain influence because they are present, They tell Biden he’s the Turbo 🇺🇸 Emperor. The Sane have fled the Potomac Bunker, and only the Mad and the Grasping thieves remain.
As Benjamin Judah abandoned Jefferson Davis (another esteemed Democratic Party Diplomat and former Secretary of State) taking with him the last of the Confederacy’s money and leaving Jefferson Davis to be captured, so the neocons will abandon these Democratic politicians... when the ship is not so much sunk as throughly plundered.
Regarding your article on Russia - Armchair Warlord (on twitter and worth a follow) has been beating this drum for a while - the economy and arms production doing far better than the west is willing to admit