Europe's Annus Horribilis, Biden Team: "USA in a very strong global position", Georgia's ex-President Throws in the Towel, "Stop Blaming Foucault", The Genius of Kubrick
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Europe has gone through a Centurus Horribilis. Hope 2025 is the dawning of a new age. At least the GAE color revolution playbook failed in Georgia. Jake Sullivan can retire as a stay at home husband to his fellow swamp creature wife Maggie, who just carpetbagged a Congess seat. The downfall of the regime came on November 5: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/downfall-kamala-2024-election
Is there a reason smart guys like you and Jaeger don’t mention Europe’s crazy energy policies? Germany was doing fine until they kicked in after 2018. Arguably, reversing them would be as impactful as your issues.
I've mentioned those energy policies dozens of times on this Substack in the past. I've mentioned them so much that I fear annoying my readers for hitting them over the head far too often about it.
Great SCR. A lot to think about. Best wishes for the New Year for you (as well as everyone who subscribes and/comments on these threads).
Europe is lying in the bed it made for itself. The situation for ordinary people is dire, but the complacency and smugness of the past (thinking 90s and early 2000s) has been revealed as a fool's paradise.
Prosperity for all (albeit on a very limited and modest scale) was a Cold War concession to the working classes. Triage economics is the default setting of the West, just as it is everywhere else. We are starting to see just how much social peace Europe is left with now that the good times fade into memory.
One quibble about language. The term 'Far Right' is a term of abuse, rarely fit for descriptive purposes, let alone analytical ones. The AfD is a centrist party. Populist, but without any connection to the Right, let alone the historic Far Right in Germany. The social forces forming the AfD are utterly unlike those that created the pre-war right or the post war Far Right fringe in West Germany. And the AfD has no ideology beyond Germany's national interests (law and order at home and securing a good relationship with Russia). We can expect to hear endless squealing about renascent fascism elsewhere. There is no need for FbF get dragged along by anythjng suggestive of this hysteria.
TurboAmerica is spared Europe's agonies because it has vast energy resources and a viable (if ineptly managed) military sector. Hydrocarbons and men with guns are essential for political health. Who would have known?
Once again, best wishes for the New Year. With Trump headed back to the White House things are looking up.
I get where you're coming from, but this is a review. If it were a full-length piece on 2008 Georgia and South Ossetia, I would be much, much more nuanced regarding the Russian role. But because IT IS just a weekend review, I have to err on the side of legality/official status, unless I am being purposely polemical.
Once a country loses financial sovereignty, the people can elect the most Left/Right radical government, that government will be constrained to the same inherited straitjacket.
The issue with Foucaultism is that it was selectively employed to chip away at the foundations of Western civilization. Other viewpoints could run wild.
Looks like 2024 may have marked the end of colour revolutions in Europe. It didn’t quite work in Georgia and a lot of the signs were in Georgian anyway so suggested it to be more localised. However essentially annulling an election in Romania is far more overt than a colour revolution. Surely 2025 will be better for Europe!
Happy New Year, sir! Man, ontology gets a bad rap these days…I got a lot out of Hegel and others of that ilk. Probably most thinkers today are just solipsists that cannot take themselves out of their thinking.
Hit the like button at the top or bottom of this 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 please don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already!
Europe has gone through a Centurus Horribilis. Hope 2025 is the dawning of a new age. At least the GAE color revolution playbook failed in Georgia. Jake Sullivan can retire as a stay at home husband to his fellow swamp creature wife Maggie, who just carpetbagged a Congess seat. The downfall of the regime came on November 5: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/downfall-kamala-2024-election
Happy New Year, Yuri
War-mongering left loses to the faaaaarrrr right. What a shocker.
A bit of sanity here and there is not all that faaaarrrr, when you think about it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. For some reason you are not showing up in my feed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Which feed? On the Substack app? Are you getting email notifications for posts?
Substack app. You're not showing up in the banner even though I'm subscribed. I'll check my settings and be in touch on Chat.
Merci
Please let me know what you find. I have had this problem with FbF for over a year, and haven’t been able to figure out how to get him to show up.
Is there a reason smart guys like you and Jaeger don’t mention Europe’s crazy energy policies? Germany was doing fine until they kicked in after 2018. Arguably, reversing them would be as impactful as your issues.
I've mentioned those energy policies dozens of times on this Substack in the past. I've mentioned them so much that I fear annoying my readers for hitting them over the head far too often about it.
How did I forget to do this earlier ?!?
Best wishes to you and your work in 2025 and on and on and on . . .
You too Andras!
Great SCR. A lot to think about. Best wishes for the New Year for you (as well as everyone who subscribes and/comments on these threads).
Europe is lying in the bed it made for itself. The situation for ordinary people is dire, but the complacency and smugness of the past (thinking 90s and early 2000s) has been revealed as a fool's paradise.
Prosperity for all (albeit on a very limited and modest scale) was a Cold War concession to the working classes. Triage economics is the default setting of the West, just as it is everywhere else. We are starting to see just how much social peace Europe is left with now that the good times fade into memory.
One quibble about language. The term 'Far Right' is a term of abuse, rarely fit for descriptive purposes, let alone analytical ones. The AfD is a centrist party. Populist, but without any connection to the Right, let alone the historic Far Right in Germany. The social forces forming the AfD are utterly unlike those that created the pre-war right or the post war Far Right fringe in West Germany. And the AfD has no ideology beyond Germany's national interests (law and order at home and securing a good relationship with Russia). We can expect to hear endless squealing about renascent fascism elsewhere. There is no need for FbF get dragged along by anythjng suggestive of this hysteria.
TurboAmerica is spared Europe's agonies because it has vast energy resources and a viable (if ineptly managed) military sector. Hydrocarbons and men with guns are essential for political health. Who would have known?
Once again, best wishes for the New Year. With Trump headed back to the White House things are looking up.
Good summary, but Russian "peacekeepers" in North Ossetia? C'moon, use words we all understand, or wrap your euphemisms in quotation marks.
I get where you're coming from, but this is a review. If it were a full-length piece on 2008 Georgia and South Ossetia, I would be much, much more nuanced regarding the Russian role. But because IT IS just a weekend review, I have to err on the side of legality/official status, unless I am being purposely polemical.
Point taken, keep up the good work!
No Annus is Horribilis if you’re gay enough
clever
Once a country loses financial sovereignty, the people can elect the most Left/Right radical government, that government will be constrained to the same inherited straitjacket.
This is the lament of today's Italians
The same to us greek peoples...
The issue with Foucaultism is that it was selectively employed to chip away at the foundations of Western civilization. Other viewpoints could run wild.
The US only recognizes a foreign country’s election if we agree with who has been elected. Democracy!
Looking towards 2025, I am going to have to cast an even wider net to find good essays/articles/reviews/etc.
Perhaps an email where readers can send stories articles that might be of interest with a short summary of what it is about.
There are already a few people who regularly send me links and I encourage others to do so as well.
OK, I can do that for sure😄
Or you could less of the SCRs (perhaps bi-weekly) and more on the book reviews and finished the Spanish Civil War.
Spanish Civil War will be all of January. There is no other way. I must complete it.
Looks like 2024 may have marked the end of colour revolutions in Europe. It didn’t quite work in Georgia and a lot of the signs were in Georgian anyway so suggested it to be more localised. However essentially annulling an election in Romania is far more overt than a colour revolution. Surely 2025 will be better for Europe!
Happy New Year, Ben
Happy New Year
Happy New Year, sir! Man, ontology gets a bad rap these days…I got a lot out of Hegel and others of that ilk. Probably most thinkers today are just solipsists that cannot take themselves out of their thinking.
Happy New Year bro