From the BBC:
Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has been found dead at his home outside London.
A police investigation has been launched into the death of the 67-year-old - a wanted man in Russia, and an opponent of President Vladimir Putin.
A former Kremlin power-broker whose fortunes declined under Mr Putin, Mr Berezovsky emigrated to the UK in 2000.
Thames Valley Police said the death, at a property in Ascot, Berkshire, was being treated as unexplained.
... Last year, Mr Berezovsky lost a £3bn ($4.7bn) damages claim against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.
Mr Berezovsky claimed he had been intimidated by Mr Abramovich into selling shares in Russian oil giant Sibneft for a "fraction of their true worth".
The allegations were completely rejected by the London Commercial Court judge, who called Mr Berezovsky an "inherently unreliable" witness.
Suicide? Murder? Did Putin have him rubbed out like Berezovsky's colleague who died from polonium poisoning? Am I being a Conspiracy Theorist by thinking Mr. Berezovsky probably didn't just keel over from a heart attack?
Back in 1989, I spent about six hours on a trans-Atlantic call negotiating a business deal with a minion of Robert Maxwell (the press baron initialed R.M. who wasn't Rupert Murdoch). At the last moment, Maxwell intervened to try to cheat on a point already agreed upon, so my boss and I immediately broke off negotiations. Two years later, when I heard that Maxwell had fallen off his yacht, being an inveterate conspiracy theorist I assumed there was more to the story than just the slip in the dark that the Responsible Authorities agreed upon before Maxwell's vast embezzlement of his workers' pensions was discovered.
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86 comments:
Nice work Putin. The first generation oligarchs who opposed him are now either all gone or subservient. Obama could learn a thing or two.
They better check for exotic metals, poisons like ricin and tiny tiny holes. I'd mourn for these oligarchs, but I can't figure out how to light just half a small candle.
rich people usually get that way by either inheriting or by cheating other people. So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?
Berezovsky was a thief and a murderer.
Why now? He recently lost a big lawsuit in London (for $5 billion, I think) to Abramovich, a fellow oligarch. His business dealings had gone badly. He had been selling assets recently, apparently short of funds. There is a story of him trying to borrow $5k from a friend. All of this may or may not imply suicide.
Regardless of how he died, he deserves to burn in hell.
So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?
It's all we've got.
How much does this save Cyprus' banks, assuming they can count on an inheritance dispute tying up all his money effectively forever?
So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?
Where do you come up with this? Paleocons, think Pat Buchanan, do not adore anyone unless they are a stalwart of Western Civ in general, and historic American Civ in particular. They detest wealthy globalists who would use the multicult to destroy our way of life.
Given this guy's anti-Putin stand and his ethnic background, neocons will probably be calling for an investigation and will get all worked up about Russia. Neocons are generally favorable of the Russian Oligarchs.
being an inveterate conspiracy theorist I assumed there was more to the story...
That's what everyone assumed about the death of Olof Palme, whom all sorts of folks across the spectrum wanted to see gone. Turns out he was shot by a petty criminal who mistook him for a rival petty criminal, was shocked to learn who he really killed, and assumed, wrongly, that the police would be at his door within days.
I never liked Palme, but you have to admit his average-man demeanor was no act.
So why is it that paleocons adore the rich? --Colt Python Femme with the pretty picture of her granddaughter
You're confusing "adore" with "respect", and "rich" with "white". But then, so do most "progressives" today.
Good News!
He was one of the main instigators of the first Chechen War.
My retired father works as a part-time consultant for a Surrey firm which recently (in the last couple of months) carried out work at Berezovsky's Ascot estate. Upon hearing the news of his death, I told him I hoped his business colleagues had received payment already. The work concerned the property's natural gas line. I hope the client's death had nothing to do with gas.
Id say there's about a 70% chance of suicide, 20% murder and 10% of natural causes.
Putin is a two bit gangster who does have people murdered, but Berezovsky was well protected and he was probably much less of a threat nowadays.
"At the last moment, Maxwell intervened to try to cheat on a point already agreed upon, so my boss and I immediately broke off negotiations."
not buying cameras I presume?
"Given this guy's anti-Putin stand and his ethnic background, neocons will probably be calling for an investigation and will get all worked up about Russia. Neocons are generally favorable of the Russian Oligarchs."
Right. Putin is indeed a murderous criminal, but it's better to have one criminal in charge than to endure over half a dozen all at odds with each other. The Russian Oligarchs deserve no pity - they plundered Russia at its most vulnerable time.
Berezovsky was 67 so its not impossible that it wasn't murder. And if it was big deal. Capone made it to age 48 without being murdered.
The more interesting current case is that of Serge Magnitsky, an actual hero, who died at age 37, and is now facing trial post-mortem. Personally I find that a bit more unusual than a man dying at age 67, but that's just me.
Of course the paleocons at TAC seem to oppose criticism of Russia on the Magnitsky matter as being the work of 'Anti-Russian hawks'.
Democrat shill aka Desert Lady 2.0 said:
"rich people usually get that way by either inheriting or by cheating other people. So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?"
This is a strange thing for a supposed engineer to say. If you really were an engineer you would know many examples of engineers getting rich in their own lifetimes by engineering a new or better product. Four of the top ten fortune 500 companies have engineering at the core of what they do, are they ripping people off?
Eh.. This is why i have no respect for the tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists that post here at isteve. If obama reslly were a dictator like putin, obams opponents would be dying mysteriously
I wonder if Maxwell also stole the pensions of the crewmen on his yacht. If so, not a wise move.
"Colt_Python_Femme said...
rich people usually get that way by either inheriting or by cheating other people. So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?"
It's neocons who are the fanboys of the super-rich. Not paleocons.
Mr. Anon says:
"I wonder if Maxwell also stole the pensions of the crewmen on his yacht. If so, not a wise move."
A friend tells me that another individual initialed R.M. told him that that was his initial guess: Robert Maxwell was such a jerk that the crew probably did it.
Let me guess...Polonium or some other exotic element from the Periodic Table with decay isotops that are not very healthy for human physiology must be involved ...someone else must be involved. Here is a hint: the first letter of his first name is "V", and the first letter of his surname is "P".
Does anyone else find it interesting that most Russian oligarchs (thieving bastards) are Jewish?
Amy Chua does.
The more interesting current case is that of Serge Magnitsky, an actual hero, who died at age 37, and is now facing trial post-mortem. Personally I find that a bit more unusual than a man dying at age 67, but that's just me.
Of course the paleocons at TAC seem to oppose criticism of Russia on the Magnitsky matter as being the work of 'Anti-Russian hawks'.
The "paleocons at TAC" are right. The "Magnitsky matter" is being hyped and used by neocons who harbor ethnic animus towards Russians and are hostile towards a Russia run by and large by Russians.
Guess who comes up second on two search engines if you enter "Amy Chua Russian Oligarchs"?
Some rich guys are admirable, in that they became rich by taking a great idea, product, or whatnot, and improving it so that it became wanted and in turn improved everyone's lives. Sure Ford had his problems, but he made the auto affordable for everyone. Not just the rich. Sure Steve Jobs was a jerk of the highest order, but he changed computing, first with the affordable and workable Apple II, and then with the Mac which was EASY. Though not so affordable.
What people admire is the willingness to take risks, to fail, and do so spectacularly, and then succeed changing society forever with that success.
The reason Steve Jobs is still widely admired, and Bill Gates not so much, is that Jobs created great products that were fun to use, and had great design. Gates -- made corporate hell-designed software.
70% natural causes, 20% suicide, 10% murder. Past few years, Berezovsky wasn't important or interesting enough to anyone who matters.
If you're gonna exile someone, why can't you freeze their assets too? How come these thieving "enemies of the State" are still billionaires?
This is the same guy that the Kremlin recently accused of financing pussy riot with the the aim of hurting the church and Russia. I believe he probably did, but more in an effort to hurt Putin.
The fallout sure looked like an orchestrated campaign.
He denied it. Perhaps Russia was sincere rather than cynically trying to defame him. Or he could have just died.
They're saying suicide.
Back in the good ol' days, the next polarity after capitalism/communism was supposed to be north/south, presumably the developed nations against the impoverished ones.
That didn't happen. But could it seem like the next polarity is between Jewish influenced/dominated nations and those that are not?
Victor Ostrovsky, ex-Mossad agent and author of a couple tell-all books, claimed that Maxwell was done away with by the Mossad. Maxwell had a longtime relationship with them and when things went sour Maxwell threatened to expose them. Faced with blackmail they decided to eliminate him and lured him into a covert meeting with them, thus resulting in his 'suicide'. That's what Ostrovsky claims, anyway.
Berezovsky looked like an unhealthy, portly person who showed his age. Heart disease seems like a strong possibility followed by drug overdose. Billionaires also die; all that money and then the person has to screw it all up by dying.
I sure haven't noticed much reverence here for either rich people in general, or Russian oligarchs in particular. Since this guy had enemies with the resources and motives to have him knocked off. it wouldn't be all that shocking if he was murdered.
Amy Chua is like the incarnation of every Asian stereotype you can think of - rude, insensitive, shallow, selfish, materialistic. For her, the Russian oligarchs are fellow travelers.
"This is a strange thing for a supposed engineer to say. If you really were an engineer you would know many examples of engineers getting rich in their own lifetimes by engineering a new or better product. Four of the top ten fortune 500 companies have engineering at the core of what they do, are they ripping people off?"
I don't think it is strange: most engineers do not get into the field for the idealistic purpose of entrepreneurship. Those people are more lucky inventors with an engineering background anyway. Most people become engineers to support themselves/ their families on an upper middle class salary. The vast majority of engineers do not get rich.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/17/russian-killers-on-streets-of-britain
Amy Chua is like the incarnation of every Asian stereotype you can think of - rude, insensitive, shallow, selfish, materialistic. For her, the Russian oligarchs are fellow travelers.
Those aren't traditional Asian stereotypes. The traditional Asian stereotypes are things like obsequiousness, being overly sensitive, passivity, abstemiousness, long-suffering, etc. The Russian oligarchs are wheeler-dealer, aggressive, verbally adept, Jewish "mensch" types - about as far as from traditional Asian stereotypes as you can get.
With a name like Maxwell, he must be Scots Irish.
Maxwell was given a funeral in Israel better befitting a head of state than a publisher, as described by author Gordon Thomas:
On 10 November 1991, Maxwell’s funeral took place on the Mount of Olives Har Zeitim in Jerusalem, across from the Temple Mount. It had all the trappings of a state occasion, attended by the country’s government and opposition leaders. No fewer than six serving and former heads of the Israeli intelligence community listened as Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir eulogized: "He has done more for Israel than can today be said."
...Others have linked Shamir's cryptic statement to Maxwell's having told the Israeli government that Mordechai Vanunu had leaked details of Israel's secret nuclear weapons programme to Maxwell's Sunday Mirror newspaper, prompting them to kidnap Vanunu.
"If obama reslly were a dictator like putin, obams opponents would be dying mysteriously"
Name one opponent of Obama worth killing.
The narrative in America today is so tightly controlled that no one seriously threatens Obama.
Putin must be jealous. Even Stalin never had it so easy.
>>Amy Chua is like the incarnation of every Asian stereotype you can think of - rude, insensitive, shallow, selfish, materialistic. For her, the Russian oligarchs are fellow travelers.
But she calls them out. Who else favorable to the main stream media/political elite dares to notice that most of the thieving oligarchs are Jewish?
Those aren't traditional Asian stereotypes. The traditional Asian stereotypes are things like obsequiousness, being overly sensitive, passivity, abstemiousness, long-suffering, etc. The Russian oligarchs are wheeler-dealer, aggressive, verbally adept, Jewish "mensch" types - about as far as from traditional Asian stereotypes as you can get.
You might be describing perhaps antiquated Japanese stereotypes, but definitely not the overseas Chinese merchant diaspora.
Colt_Python_Femme, please cut it out with the babe pictures. No one here is dumb enough to think that this could be you. Young, attractive women have better things to do than post on political blogs.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/23/boris-berezovsky-vladimir-putin-feud
""Putin will personally rejoice at the news [of Berezovsky's death]," Goldfarb said. "He's a vindictive little man. Politically, they [Russia's ruling elite] will have to find someone else to be the bogeyman, and to play the role of Trotsky.""
--Interesting that Goldfarb (Berezovsky's friend), Berezovsky, et al view Putin as Stalin and themselves as Trotsky and the Jewish Bolsheviks i.e. Putin is the goy who rose to power with them (Berezovsky promoted Putin to power back when he owned the Russian media in the 90s and was influential in politics) but then purged them from power, just like Stalin the goy rose to power with the Jewish Bolsheviks before purging them.
"Goldfarb suggested: "Berezovsky was on the right side of history. He was quick to recognise his mistake and start criticising Putin. He was most consistent in his opposition to Putin's regime."
He added: "When this aberration that is plaguing Russia is finally over, Berezovsky will be vindicated.""
--I.e. when Russia stops being run by Russians and is run by guys with names like "Berezovsky" and "Goldfarb".
He got Putin his place?
Yes, during the 90s Berezovsky was a kingmaker in Russian politics. He had substantial control over the Russian media and was instrumental in Yeltsin's reelection and basically selected Putin as Yeltsin's successor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Berezovsky_%28businessman%29#The_Kremlin_Family_and_Putin.27s_rise_to_power
He miscalculated. He presumably thought Putin was an easily malleable, dim-witted goy like the drunk buffoon Yeltsin. Putin started going after Berezovsky and the oligarch almost immediately following his election, and had the state take over Berezovsky's TV channel the following year.
"If obama reslly were a dictator like putin, obams opponents would be dying mysteriously?"
"Name one opponent of Obama worth killing."
Andrew Breitbart
That didn't happen. But could it seem like the next polarity is between Jewish influenced/dominated nations and those that are not?
It's already happening.
ps (with, admittedly, tin foil hat and lizard-people-glasses on) I do feel pretty confident that George Patton was assassinated/murdered, and that there is some evidence that Joe McCarthy and James Forrestal were as well
Of course the paleocons at TAC seem to oppose criticism of Russia on the Magnitsky matter as being the work of 'Anti-Russian hawks'.
Some of them do go from "No more foreign adventures" to an unmerited sympathy for thuggish regimes.
I have World on Fire right next to me:
"When I first mentioned to my husband, who is Jewish, that six out of seven of Russia's wealthiest tycoons are Jewish, he raised an eyebrow: "Just six?" he asked calmly. "Who's the seventh guy?"
Despite his ruthlessness, Putin can sometimes display his softer side to oligarchs.
RWF said: Some of them do go from "No more foreign adventures" to an unmerited sympathy for thuggish regimes.
Hunsdon: Also helps to bear in mind that Dreher and Larison are Orthodox Christians.
Guys,
About Colt_python_femme.
I don't read all the comment threads, but it is my strong impression from what I've seen that "she" is a shill-type troll.
In any event, I don't think she reads or has ever engaged the commenters. Does she even engage Steve? It doesn't seem that way. It's mostly boilerplate.
So we have someone who:
*is always amongst the first commenters
*posts a single post per thread; doesn't respond to others.
*posts a picture, but not her name (this is the most ridiculous ploy that frauds use; there is no such person who uses their real photo and NOT their real name.)
This is what I've seen and this is classic shill behavior. I hope Steve bans this ip address as it's insulting and disruptive
...Others have linked Shamir's cryptic statement to Maxwell's having told the Israeli government that Mordechai Vanunu had leaked details of Israel's secret nuclear weapons programme to Maxwell's Sunday Mirror newspaper, prompting them to kidnap Vanunu.
Wouldn't that be a huge transgression of journalistic ethics? Journalists are supposed to protect their sources, not blow their covers.
ps (with, admittedly, tin foil hat and lizard-people-glasses on) I do feel pretty confident that George Patton was assassinated/murdered.
In other words, you don't feel pretty confident.
anony-mouse - thank you for telling us about Magnitsky. I just looked him up on the Internet.
Putin is a total horror. But the so-called paleocons don't care about the fact that he murders decent Russians. They only care about gloating over the jooz, because they are obsessed.
Another thing about paleocons is their shock, shock, that the Republican party is "caving" on immigration. The Republicans were the party that invited the illegals into the country in the 1st place. But that is a different story.
USG, with its agenda of universal consumer capitalism, gay porn, radical feminism and population replacement of whites, has the Putin regime as its only serious opposition aside from some pathetic ragtag Muslims. So it's not surprising that some paleocons have some sympathy for Putin-despite his arguably being a worse thug than Obama.
Some of them do go from "No more foreign adventures" to an unmerited sympathy for thuggish regimes.
Well the people who accuse TAC paleocons of having "sympathy for thuggish regimes" could also be accused of having "sympathy for thuggish regimes", since they tend to sympathize with the US gov't and Israel.
So why is it that paleocons adore the rich?
They don't. I think the above is a good candidate for the most ignorant remark ever made at this site.
No that unmerited sympathy is only awarded to nations whose leaders fake a devotion to Orthodoxy. Larison should get so much more grief than he does for being a complete shill for the Moscow Patriarch when he routinely labels neo-cons as dual -loyalty citizens.
The stereotype on isteve seems to be that Jews project their faults onto others. Well in that case I imagine Larison must be of the tribe. A couple months of reading Larison, coupled with the fact that Pat B. wanted American boys to die for Serbia makes me think the paleocon movement is just a bunch of chicken hawks angry that American military force isn't used for their pet projects. Only Mr. Sailer genuinely seems to believe in a restrained foreign policy. Most of the other paleocons are just pissed their tribe doesn't get to call the shots like they did in the Nixon and Reagan administrations.
I guess that's largely to be suspected when a movement begins because one of your clan doesn't gets beat about by William Bennett for the Endowment of Humanities. Talk about your huge stakes.
Can't talk about Scots Irish and can't defend Putin if you want to make it through komment kontrol, apparently.
Exactly Ian. If Ben Carson dies things will get very interesting. Although Carson is alot more dangerous to Obama as a symbol than his actual prowess like Breitbart.
On the dispute about engineers and wealth: three thoughts.
1. When I first went to the consulting firm just out of grad school The head of the company told me that engineers made a lot of money at first but all the really big positions in corporations were always filled with liberal arts graduates.
2. La Griffe du Lion's model of wealth formation only credits the verbal side of IQ tests. He doesn't think that you get much wealth formation from engineers.
3. North Eastern Asians are surely designed by nature to be engineers. And certainly some of them are also entreprenuers, but in general Europeans seem to be better at starting new companies.
Albertosaurus
It's the Fast Train to Clarksdale.
coupled with the fact that Pat B. wanted American boys to die for Serbia
That is complete bull crap. Pat Buchanan never asked America to defend Serbia. He never asked for American boys to die fighting for Serbia.
He asked that America not intervene on the side of the Albanians to take Kosovo away from Serbia. In other words he wanted America to stay the hell out of that fight and let the two sides settle their own differences. The Serbs were more than able to defend themselves against the Albanians, but not against the USAF.
It was the neocons who asked that American boys die fighting Serbians. Paleos wanted to stay out of that fight.
" Pat Buchanan never asked America to defend Serbia. He never asked for American boys to die fighting for Serbia. "
No. he asked American boys to die fighting against Serbia.
Before the Neocons lined up against Serbia, Buchanan called for the USA to send the Navy to protect the Croatian port of Dbrovnic (sp?) from Serb shelling.
A year later he flipped his position 180 degrees.
Putin is a total horror. But the so-called paleocons don't care about the fact that he murders decent Russians. They only care about gloating over the jooz, because they are obsessed.
Paleos like Putin because he appears to be a patriot that defends the interest of Russia against the wishes of the global, elite Davos crowd. Unlike the leaders of other white nations, he does not appear to hate his countrymen, nor want to replace them with a more vibrant population.
That's also why Putin is popular in Russia I guess.
Another thing about paleocons is their shock, shock, that the Republican party is "caving" on immigration. The Republicans were the party that invited the illegals into the country in the 1st place. But that is a different story.
First, it is not illegal immigration that upsets paleos. It is non-European immigration that makes them upset. Whether that immigration is legal or illegal is immaterial as paleos do not want to become a non-European nation.
Second, you have to assign blame to the democrats led by Emanuel Celler who controlled the House and Senate with super majorities, as well as the White House, when they passed the Immigration Act of 1965, which codified into law that America could no longer favor some immigrants over others to maintain our ethnic balance.
Third, the GOP under Eisenhower expelled a million Mexicans during Operation Wetback. So I don't see the GOP as having invited in the illegals. They did invite guest workers, but they never intended for them to stay, become wards of the state and vote.
Which leads us to my final point. It is the rise of the neocons who have pushed the GOP to the left on immigration. The neocons would have never tolerated an Operation Wetback. If you are the party of empire and spreading democracy, you cannot exclude people from coming here. How would that look if you tried to export democracy to Iraq and then told them they could not immigrate to the USA? They would think you were a hypocrite. So being the party of the world's policeman necessitates the neocons supporting open immigration.
That is one major reason why paleos are not in the business of being the world's policeman. They don't want us to end up like Rome where you start letting the foreigners have representation in the Senate.
""Putin will personally rejoice at the news [of Berezovsky's death]," Goldfarb said. "He's a vindictive little man. Politically, they [Russia's ruling elite] will have to find someone else to be the bogeyman, and to play the role of Trotsky.""
Hmmm. Someone else. Like... Goldfarb?
ps (with, admittedly, tin foil hat and lizard-people-glasses on) I do feel pretty confident that George Patton was assassinated/murdered.
In other words, you don't feel pretty confident.
LOL. No, it seems pretty clear and unequivocal that Patton was assassinated. But where the where the tin foil hat comes in handy is believing that the USG as an entire entity was behind it to put an end to his wild anti-communist mouthing off - could be, or could have been any one of many other possible actors.
And the same headgear helps one to believe that Joe McCarthy and/or James Forrestal were both administered carbon tetrachloride during their respective stays in Bethesda Naval Hospital, so as to put an end to their anti-communist work. Seems possible to me, but not probable.
Anyone who has ever been and does business in Russia will not be surprised one bit that Jews (or Armenians) are the wealthiest individuals. Sorry to be offensive but they are twice as ambitious as Russians, work three times as hard and are certainly no less intelligent. The amount of plain old thievery in Russia is outstanding at all levels, among every ethnicity. And the oligarchs-they did not steal all their money and are they that different from Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan etc., the great tycoons who utterly dominated and controlled the US economy before trust busting came into vogue. They seem very similar to them to me.
Anonydroid at 2:14 PM said: They don't want us to end up like Rome where you start letting the foreigners have representation in the Senate.
Hunsdon said: Very well said---the entire piece.
I don't get all the effette hand wringing over Putin. The man was head of KGB Directorate #1 - you think he never got his hands wet (literally) or watched the light fade in someone's eyes? Its a mainly American affliction that politicians aren't allowed to have a past.
The same people who abloo bloo bloo about Putin leveling Grozny or his suppression of "human rights" (US speak for "we're against it when YOU do it") tend to ignore the fact that Obama orders drone executions with regularity while he's trying to elect a new population.
If Putin could run for president of the US, I'd vote for him over the current crop of sell outs who are only looking to make sure they're positioned high on the pile.
Chua wrote in WOF…(Incidentally, if Jewish-American are viewed as an ethnic minority in the United States, they do not remotely dominate the U.S. economy; unlike in Russia, for example, only one or at most two of the ten wealthiest Americans are Jewish).
In 2012, 6 of the top 15 richest Americans were Jewish.
That is false Anon. Pat B. wanted the America navy risking "blood and treasure" (TM about a hundred crazed Paulites) to defend Croatia from in his words the "Stalinist" Milosevic. He really did a complete 180. In the same article he actually uses Milosevic's mistreatment of the Kossovars as a reason to intervene. What's the word... chutzpah did I spell that right. But but but Pat's Catholic.
Read "Defend Croatian Freedom" and then try and find anything by Kristol et. al. in which they commit an equivalent about-face. I hate the neo-cons, but it is clear to me that they are at least honest about their goals. Too many paleocons want a resurgent Russia to humiliate "Jew-controlled" US. In my who/whom calculations the US is where a live and it is where me and mine live (another paleocon favorite).
Read "Defend Croatian Freedom" and then try and find anything by Kristol et. al. in which they commit an equivalent about-face. I hate the neo-cons, but it is clear to me that they are at least honest about their goals.
Nothing there about committing US ground troops. The Sixth Fleet would have never been in any danger. And he seems to asking what this so-called NATO is all about after the end of the Cold War.
Read "Defend Croatian Freedom" and then try and find anything by Kristol et. al. in which they commit an equivalent about-face. I hate the neo-cons, but it is clear to me that they are at least honest about their goals.
Buchanan was also a supporter of free trade in the 1980s. Yet after seeing the disastrous effects of that, he changed his views. He might even have been in favor of Reagan's amnesty. I don't know that for sure. But if he was, he clearly is against it now as real world data has proven to those who will see that making the USA a majority third world nation is probably not in our best interest. Changing one's views in light of real world events is not necessarily a bad thing.
As for Kristol and company, I don't think they have changed their views about American foreign policy DESPITE the two disastrous wars they led us into this century. In fact, they appear to be doubling down and looking for more wars to conduct. The fact that they cannot see the folly in spreading democracy is also hard to behold.
I think most neocons still support free trade too. Even after seeing staggering trade deficits, our increasing dependence upon China, and the hollowing out of our blue collar work force, they still push for more free trade.
And of course the neocons are still on board for more third world immigration. McCain and Graham are pushing the way on this. It's one thing to have pushed for this two decades ago, and quite another now.
So you give credit to the neocons for remaining consistent. Maybe that is a good trait. But to remain consistent in the face of so much evidence to the contrary is a fault to me.
The paleocons are not perfect, but what will it take to convince the neocons that their policies are harmful to America?
Too many paleocons want a resurgent Russia to humiliate "Jew-controlled" US. In my who/whom calculations the US is where a live and it is where me and mine live (another paleocon favorite).
PS, I am watching the NCAA tournament on CBS. 60 minutes has just come on and they are interviewing 'Pussy Riot'. You might think that paleos have misplaced love for Russia, but the elite in this country have an irrational hatred of Russia. To treat 'Pussy Riot' like they are some legitimate human rights advocates is wrong. What they did in that Church was disgusting, and I have no respect for people who protest in that manner.
Before the Neocons lined up against Serbia, Buchanan called for the USA to send the Navy to protect the Croatian port of Dbrovnic (sp?) from Serb shelling.
A year later he flipped his position 180 degrees.
Maybe, like most of us, he didnt really know the full extent of the problems in Yugoslavia?
In my who/whom calculations the US is where a live and it is where me and mine live
In my who/whom calculations I think I am on the wrong end of that equation in twenty-first century America. I might live here and have served in its military, but this is not my country anymore, and I do not support pushing its leftwing, rights-driven, culture-crushing agenda worldwide. Additionally, I don't feel the least bit of kinship with the recent arrivals of the past thirty years. I feel about as out of place in America as I would in that proverbial Star Wars cantina, which is probably the desired effect of those pushing mass immigration into European lands.
This is kind of funny, but do you know who Putin reminds me of the most? Netanyahu. No, really. I kind of like both of them for what they are. They're more or less apparatchik tough guy nationalists. They are, of course, buffoonish in their way. I wouldn't assert either to be an intellectual, but it does seem to me that there are worse things for your people than having a tough guy who cares about your people running the government.
In a knife fight, either Putin or Netanyahu would filet Barry O, W, or Clinton (in their prime) without mussing their cuffs. Damn shame T-paw didn't get in.
From The Nation..NEW YORK - A powerful Jewish watchdog group Monday criticised a sketch from Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony in which host Seth MacFarlane’s character “Ted,” an animated bear, tells actor Mark Wahlberg that if “you want to work in this town” you have to be Jewish.
Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation league, issued a statement calling calling the sketch “offensive and not remotely funny.”
The statement said, “While we have come to expect inappropriate ‘Jews control Hollywood’ jokes from Seth MacFarlane (American actor hosting the ceremony), what he did at the Oscars was offensive and not remotely funny. It only reinforces stereotypes which legitimise anti-Semitism. It is sad and disheartening that the Oscars awards show sought to use anti-Jewish stereotypes for laughs.
“For the insiders at the Oscars this kind of joke is obviously not taken seriously. But when one considers the global audience of the Oscars of upwards of two billion people, including many who know little or nothing about Hollywood or the falsity of such Jewish stereotypes, there’s a much higher potential for the ‘Jews control Hollywood’ myth to be accepted as fact. “We wish that Mr. MacFarlane and the Academy Awards producers had shown greater sensitivity and decided against airing a sketch that so reinforces the age-old canard about Jewish control of the film industry.”
I think Litvinenko accidentally poisoned himself with polonium, but who knows.
Abe Foxman reminds me of Statler. Or maybe Waldorf.
http://globalfire.tv/nj/05en/politics/putin_jews.htm
In a knife fight, either Putin or Netanyahu would filet Barry O, W, or Clinton (in their prime) without mussing their cuffs. Damn shame T-paw didn't get in.
Yeah but I can almost picture W producing an M4 from somewhere and breaking somebody off. Prolly just the media conditioning talking.
Maybe, like most of us, he didnt really know the full extent of the problems in Yugoslavia?
In retrospect, the whole episode seems like criminal/political gangs reaching for control and the whole process then careening out of control. Think of it: secular Catholics, secular Orthodox, secular alcohol-drinking Muslims, speaking the same language and racially indistinguishable and all with high rates of intercommunal intermarriage-at least in Bosnia. No discernible grounds existed for such a bloody war.
Wasn't it true that the Serb militias attacked Dubrovnik because it was a popular tourist site that they wanted to exploit for their own benefit?
"Anonymous said...
I don't get all the effette hand wringing over Putin. The man was head of KGB Directorate #1 - you think he never got his hands wet (literally) or watched the light fade in someone's eyes?"
I would have no problem believing that Putin has never personally murdered anyone. The KGB was a bureaucracy, staffed mostly with functionaries, only a fraction of whom were killers (in the immediate sense). How many CIA directors have personally murdered someone? The purpose of bureacracies is so that policy-men don't have to get personally involved in all the nasty things they order.
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