War, Science, and Philosophy in a Fractured World.
Doug's Darkworld | War, Science, and Philosophy in a Fractured World. Doug's Darkworld War, Science, and Philosophy in a Fractured World. THE GOOD WAR? leave a comment » Well, another thing I would have hoped to avoid seeing in my lifetime: A popular war. More exactly, a wildly popular war. The last time this really took off on a national scale was during World War Two. At least from my understanding of history, that was before my time. So it’s not surprising that the current war is being compared to that one. Saw a guy online ranting that Putin was now the equivalent of Hitler and had destroyed Russia’s world standing for generations. Words can’t describe how ridiculous that is. And the mainstream media is almost pure war porn and war mongering now. With Zellensky and Biden stridently calling for endless war. Aside from the mind numbing hypocrisy of the US accusing Russia of aggression, possibly the greatest case of the pot calling the kettle black in history, Zellensky refuses to even talk to Russia, and he’s even claiming they will get “all” of Ukraine back including Crimea. As I have pointed out before (one will never see this mentioned in the western news) Crimea was only part of Ukraine through historical accident, it was administratively added to Ukraine in the 1950s when both were part of the Soviet Union, but the people there are Russian and never wanted to be a part of an independent Ukraine. Basically Zellensky is claiming he’s justified in conquering a land full of Russians that doesn’t want to be part of Ukraine. Yet Americans are convinced Zellensky and Ukraine are fighting for their freedom from Russia, and it’s a noble cause that must be pursued at all cost. And the cost is western gas and food prices going through the roof, and the Dems getting hammered in the fall elections. No, there’s nothing noble, the Russo-Ukrainian War is just another American manufactured war. it’s the war the Deep State (or the Blob or the Atlantic Empire, or whatever you want to call the nexus of power in the western world, Washington, the New Rome) wants and worked hard to get. The big picture. World War Two was enormously profitable, historically profitable, for the American fossil fuel industry, arms industry, and the Pentagon. I mean these guys usually profit in modern war, but this time it was all profit, the American homeland was unbothered by World War Two. So after the war, they and Washington were already in bed together, so the cozy arrangement continued. Endless war, the Cold War, endless profits. The military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about. And now, I guess it’s a habit? A strategy like what bees and ants do? America chooses its enemies, and works hard to keep them enemies. Russia tried to join the west, the USA wouldn’t let them. Global Reform and How the US Hurts Itself. Most Americans though have bought the complete twaddle that certain regimes are “evil”and that treating them with anything but complete hostility is appeasement; can’t have that, it will unleash a new Hitler upon the world. Neither Saddam nor Putin had a whole lot in common with Hitler, and the Russo-Ukrainian War isn’t Hitler invading Poland. In fact as far as I can tell under the blizzard of propaganda is that both sides are being relatively restrained and trying to only hit military targets. Neither side gains anything by trying to destroy key infrastructure or cause mass casualty attacks. Russia’s goals are limited and not served by deliberately targeting infrastructure or civilians. Neither are Ukraine’s, destroying the Russian bridge to Crimea or otherwise causing mass harm to Russia runs the very real risk the Russians would escalate in kind. Russia has lots of nuclear weapons, an escalation Ukraine can’t match. Another huge personal conundrum … there’s really no way to know what’s actually going on in this war. This article for example: Day 150 of the Russo-Ukrainian War. If it’s even half true, the war has gone very badly for Ukraine. Yet the west is mostly claiming that the plucky Ukrainians are inflicting terrible casualties on Russia. Then there’s this: The War ‘Diplomat’: How Borrell and the West Lost the ‘Global Battle of Narratives’ Yes, only America’s allies have bought into the NATO crusade against Russia. Claiming this is “losing the global battle of narratives” strikes me as odd at best, deluded at worst. The point here is that if Russia is actually winning the war, and it’s not an unreasonable conjecture, while NATO and Ukraine think they’re winning … this war could last a long time. And since we’re talking about a proxy war between the US and one of its two great global designated enemies, serious business. Another such war is still going on after 72 years. That would be the Korean War, still technically just a cease fire. The US has never agreed to negotiate the end of the war, so the war still sits stalemated with both sides armed to the teeth staring at each other across the DMZ. Forever war, forever arms sales, forever Pentagon spending. The only losers are everyone else. Sometimes I wish I was as sure of my world view as almost everyone else is. It quickly passes. I am sure that war is a bad thing all around. There’s no such thing as a good war. Copyright © 2022 Doug Stych. All rights reserved. (Image: Self explanatory, attribution in image, found on Facebook. Believed to be legal use under US copyright law, claimed as Fair Use in any event.) Written by unitedcats July 27, 2022 at 8:59 pm Posted in History, Hitler, Korea, nuclear weapons, Philosophy, Russo-Ukrainian War, War, Zelensky “SOMETIMES IT SEEMS WE’RE LIVING IN THE TIME WHEN OUR CHAIR HAS BEEN YANKED OUT BUT OUR BUTTS AIN’T HIT THE GROUND YET” leave a comment » Another week, Biden’s proxy war against Russia continues at fabulous expense… while the GOP strips Americans of their rights and … Biden issues toothless executive orders: Biden’s executive order on abortion is better than nothing. But not much better. And honestly, it isn’t better than nothing, since aside from doing nothing, it encourages more division and paralysis in the Dem base. “He’s not Trump!” got Biden elected, barely, but it’s of no use as the SCOTUS dismantles the Constitution in favor of theocracy. I mean, I voted for Biden hoping he would undo at least some of the major damage Trump did. The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) for example, the humiliating agreement Iran signed to get their nuclear program carefully monitored so that it remained peaceful in nature. Trump canceled the JCPOA agreement with Iran for no good reason, Biden should have reinstated it. Nope. Biden Eschews Diplomacy, Chooses Path to War with Iran. Sigh. I’m really depressed as hell by the ongoing war. I have all sorts of links, but I realize they are wasted on most readers. The American public seems to have largely fallen for the propaganda about the Russo-Ukraine War like they have for so many previous US wars. The problem is that those previous wars involved countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, Serbia, etc. Russia is a nuclear power, and it’s entirely possible they will use nuclear weapons if it looks like they will lose the war. A loss being NATO gets to deploy first strike weapons in Ukraine, or Crimea might be reconquered by Ukraine. And if risking a nuclear war with Russia isn’t bad enough, NATO has China in its sights: NATO: The most dangerous military alliance on Earth. On the plus side, unbeknownst to most Americans, the rest of the world is not lining up behind NATO and its war on Russia: Many G20 members have not followed the US-led sanctions campaign against Russia, including Indonesia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The meeting opened with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi calling for the G20 nations to work together to end the war. Look at that, the rest of the world wants to pursue peace. Something the Dems at least used to pretend to want, even as they fomented war. And in fact they are spending vast sums of taxpayer money on the current war. There’s so so many problems in America that would benefit from this kind of spending … Instead it’s going to fight a war that is not only irrelevant to US security, it’s wreaking havoc on the American and world economy: The Unending Farce of US Sanctions against Russia. How did this happen? Also, guessing most Americans do not understand how effing clever Putin is? Putin outfoxed both Bush and Obama in crises Georgia (2008) and the US (2014) created. The first ended with South Ossetia and Abkhazia effectively part of Russia. (Which the people living there wanted anyhow.) And the second with Crimea returning to Russia, just as the people of Crimea wanted. And this crisis Putin had eight years to plan, instead of him having to react to a massive provocation. Though granted there was plenty of provocation in this case too, it was just spread out over years (decades really) instead of overnight. Another thing Americans mostly don’t understand is that “Putin started a terrible war” and “NATO went out of their way to provoke him” are both true. They aren’t mutually exclusive. Unless one lives in a black and white tribal world, a world view all too many ascribe to. I have no idea how this war is going to turn out, no one does, but Washington still doesn’t understand that so far Putin has already won: Biden Says Russia’s War in Ukraine ‘Must Be a Strategic Failure’. Almost feel sorry for Biden. His whole world is turning to sheet and Putin “winning” a war would end him politically. Turns out that just beating Trump wasn’t anywhere near enough, he needed to accomplish something as well. Runaway inflation and $5 a gallon gas are Biden’s only legacy now, possibly losing a war to Putin (like Obama and Bush did) must keep him up at night, if not actually giving him nightmares. It might be June 1914 any day now, who knows. Certainly seems like the scariest time of my life, Russia has actual WMDs unlike Saddam or Kaddafi. World War Three could start tomorrow. Boy, think of the blogging opportunities! And well, since I might not be blogging long, might as well repost this now: THE DOUG’S DARKWORLD GUIDE TO NOT SURVIVING A NUCLEAR ATTACK. Consider it a public service. And for other depressing predictions, try this out: Wake Up, America, This Is Collapse. Have a great weekend everyone. Copyright © 2022 Doug Stych. All rights reserved. (Image: A quote found on Facebook. Claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. Quotes are legal to share as long as one doesn’t put them on a T-shirt or coffee cup etc for sale.) Written by unitedcats July 16, 2022 at 7:29 am Posted in Biden, History, Putin, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine, World War Three “AS FOR SELF-DECEIT, MOST PEOPLE FIND IT AS ESSENTIAL FOR SURVIVAL AS AIR.” leave a comment » My computer blew up recently. That’s not really why I haven’t posted though. Long story short, over the past year there’s been a sea change in how I view the world. The title above (from “Forever Odd” by Dean Koontz) sums it up. I think this change of perspective is a good thing, something I already knew on many levels. In some ways it’s something that has perplexed me all my life. For good or for ill, my parents instilled in me a strong aversion to lying from an early age. I mean, the logic seemed impeccable to me, in order to get along with each other shouldn’t the truth be the foundation? So I innocently went through my childhood believing what was told to me. And in retrospect some kids (and grown ups) told me some real whoppers. And of course it was not unusual for me to be accused of lying when in fact I was telling the truth. Still, I felt these were the exceptions, not the rule. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I really understood that many adults lied routinely. And even then, the scope of the problem eluded me for decades. I knew people lied, I knew self deception was real, but I still routinely expected most people to tell the truth most of the time. I had a reasonably good opinion of humanity. This is no longer the case. I now think most people’s lives are a snake’s nest of lies, and most people aren’t even really cognizant of them. It all started to fall apart when I moved to Iowa in 2016. I quickly discovered that my old friend of 40 years was a liar, cheater, and thief. As I said to her brother at the time, “she must use a spreadsheet to keep track of all her lies.” And upon review I’ve realized that a lot of people I’ve known for a long time are, shall we say, remarkably dishonest. What does this all mean? It means I need to be ever more careful to be honest with myself, and to pick my friends more carefully. Easier said than done, but I’m trying. In addition to my personal life, does this have any global lessons? Or global perspectives? I think it does. While engaging in my world view revision, I came across this: In-Group Cognitive Bias – NeuroLogica Blog. In a nutshell, people are very tribal by nature, and very prone to believing nonsense about people who aren’t in the tribe. And since self-deception is so innate in humans, it makes it much easier for “leaders” to get their tribal members to swallow nonsense. So in essence this new world view has made it clearer to me why so many people are easily propagandized by religion or politics. My today’s theory at least. I find this incredibly depressing. And this is why my blog has limited appeal. I’m consciously trying to avoid any in-group bias, so my appeal is limited to say the least. Almost everyone belongs to an in-group of some sort, and most are quite fervent in their beliefs. Oddly enough, a huge part of these beliefs is believing the other groups are deluded. True enough, that’s the best sort of lie, a lie that’s true … but leaves something big out. The fact that they too are deluded. In different ways and different formds, and some delusions are obviously far more dangerous than others. But the difference is in intensity, not in kind. And even that distinction can be meaningless if the result is horror. For example: Democrats Love Saying That AR-15s Should Only Be Used On Foreigners. The title pretty much sums it up, Dems love to decry the horrors inflicted on America by assault rifle wielding Americans, but think it’s perfectly reasonable that they be used in other countries. George Takei (whose opinion I formerly respected) sums up this craziness exactly: “Crazy thought, but those 20 million AR-15s now in this country could sure arm a lot of Ukrainians.” Mr Takei, what’s going on in Ukraine is a nightmare, adding more weapons is going to just make it worse. American AR-15 owners need have no worries, the US is sending plenty of other weapons to Ukraine and doing its best to avoid even the possibility of a diplomatic solution. So what’s to do? I will continue to post articles that I think are interesting or illuminating. This is a favorite recent one, the Chilean Navy UFO. (image above.) This picture was taken by an infrared camera on a Chilean Navy helicopter in 2014. Ten minutes of seemingly inexplicable footage was taken. They turned it over to the Chilean government’s CEFAA Committee (Committee for Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena,) yes, Chile too has a government bureau charged with investigating UFO reports. The CEFAA studied the video for two years, and concluded they had no idea what it was. Then they released it to the public with this statement: “The great majority of committee members agreed to call the subject in question a UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) due to the number of highly researched reasons that it was unanimously agreed could not explain it.” So that settles it, right, a rock solid film of an inexplicable flying object! UFOs are real! Wait, wouldn’t this then be world news? Wouldn’t everyone have heard of it? Not quite. Literally within days of releasing the video it had been positively identified by internet sleuths … as an airliner. In fact exactly what airliner and airline flight it was was determined. Read the whole story here: The Chilean Navy UFO. Kinda sums up the whole UFO mythology. People that believe in such simply can’t or won’t look for actual solutions and convince themselves there is a mystery where there is none. Governments might as well set up agencies to investigate fairy sightings. UFOs are just a modern version of ghosts or fairies. As I have said before “The Middle Ages never ended, we just have cooler stuff.” Oh well, more links in the next post. Which will hopefully be in days instead of weeks. Have a great weekend everyone. Copyright © 2022 Doug Stych. All rights reserved. (Image: Copyright unknown, probably Credit: CEFAA. Claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. Arguably an historically important image, and there is no other such image available to illustrate this sighting.) Written by unitedcats July 8, 2022 at 7:36 pm Posted in aliens, History, Paranormal, Personal, Philosophy, Russo-Ukrainian War, UFO MEMORIAL DAY leave a comment » Another Memorial Day. I guess a BBQ is the tradition. Mexican food here, I live in a pretty secular household. Just another day on the farm. Memorial Day is an American holiday, it started after the Civil War. The only American War where the homeland suffered. The death toll was also horrific, by most measures the first or second worse mass death event in US history. I know I was taught in high school that the period after the Civil War was one of the most peaceful in US history. Ostensibly because the country was tired of war. I’m older now, and I suspect a lot of natives would question that assessment. Much of the west was being constantly warred on after the Civil War, some of the worst massacres of natives occured after the Civil War. And, well, primarily in the Southern US, terrorist wars were launched and conducted against African Americans. Hardly a nation at peace. The figures I looked up say the US has been at war over 91% of its existence. And a lot of Americans died in those wars, this is the day we remember them. Soldiers who lost their lives fighting in America’s wars. Well, skol, here’s to them. Most of them were good people fighting for their country. Even the ones that weren’t, well, being killed in a war is a hell of a price to pay for whatever their situation might have been. I’ve spent my whole life studying war, such exquisite madness. I have nothing but respect for those who served, I served myself. And the ones who died, in battle or of their wounds later, I hope their families and loved ones keep their memory alive, this day and all days. That’s acknowledging their sacrifice with words, but I’d like to go a bit further. What was their sacrifice for? I would guess many would say to protect America and its freedoms. Certainly those in my lifetimes. And here’s my first divergence with the standard narrative, no matter how noble their sacrifice, that doesn’t mean the wars America’s soldiers died in were noble. In my opinion none of America’s wars in my lifetime have been just wars, they have all been foreign wars of choice. And I think it’s a damned shame Americans died in those wars, and the best way I can honor their sacrifice is to be a voice for peace, so no more Americans die in stupid foreign wars. A mission I think is even more important today than ever before in my life. The US is deeply involved in a pointless foreign war, the Russo-Ukrainian War, that America played a huge role in instigating. A terrible war, though all wars are terrible. This is the big lie that has been foisted on the American people, the idea that war is noble. That there is such a thing as a good war. And so so many Americans are convinced that this war is it, this is the good war, a war that brings back memories of ‘The Greatest Generation.’ That would be the World War Two generation, arguably America’s last just war. Putin is the next Hitler, destroying him is our only best choice, he is a monster who ca… truncated (33,166 more characters in archive)