The Glenn Greenwald substack link I provided was about how the so-called "fact checkers" were lying and is 24 hours old. You provide a link to the "fact checkers" from a week ago.
LOL.
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Glenn Greenwald, oh dear. Like he doesn't have an axe to grind?
How does a legally binding treaty that is public knowledge become an example of the 'deep state' at work? The Americans were all over Russia when Yeltsin was President -they were invited in to Russia and the Ukraine, they came with capital and expertise to modernize the clapped out industries Russia had; they formed partnerships with the richest Russian Oligarchs and Putin got his cut.
Crucially, for this post, the US persuaded Ukraine to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons (South Africa did too), and then built in mechanisms to safeguard the stockpiles of reserves and technology because in the 1990s the Russians were incapable of doing it -do you not remember those scare stories of nuclear weapons being stolen in Russia because their security was so poor and impoverished Russians needed the money and they were going to sell these 'bombs' to Militant Muslims? None of that was true either. All you have is a working agreement with the US which Putin doesn't like, so it becomes a conspiracy, just as the Infowars commentary on the Olive Stone film ends by insisting the wicked US was determined to import into Russia those evils that have so corrupted the US at home -geneticaly modified foods, Macdonalds, and 'sexual perversions', presumably Hungangels!
Whatever -I was going to link the film but YouTube asked me to sign in to see it, and other sources claim YouTube have now removed the film. I thnk that is wrong. I think Oliver Stone should be publicly accountable for this sort of trash, and also explain why he never balances his claims with comment from someone in the Ukraine who doesn't agree with him -the only voices you hear are pro-Putin.
It is available on Vimeo here so those not famiiar with it can make up their own mind-
https://vimeo.com/248285239
This is free on youtube. Over 19 million views now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4
Thanks for this link bruce-willy, and the deeply flawed presentation, which shares with Oliver Stone, but in less hysterical terms, the view that the crisis/crises are US led, and amount to a 'top down' form of political revolution. Go straight to 23.10 and Mearsheimer's claim that the Russians have taken Crimea but won't go further and 'try to conquer Ukraine' -because 'Putin's much too smart for that'-hmmmm....so he isn't smart?
Where are the people in these presentations? Nowhere, or, like sheep they blindly follow the Americans, or for that matter in the East and South, the Russians. No mention of the fact that between 1990 and 2004 the Oligarchs, corrupt officials and organized crime stole two-thirds of the country's wealth and the people had simply had enough and wanted change.
And why would Ukraine want to be part of the corrupt core, Russia, the destinaton for most of its wealth, rather than the open democracy of the EU and its Single Market? What terrified Putin was the move toward the very form of democracy that Mearsheimer admits Putin objects to, and decided to use force to stop it- because what the people want is irrelevant to him. But suppose its what the Ukrainians wanted?
As for NATO, there was no forward march in the simple sense he presents it or Finland would be in NATO and it is not. Georgia was an example of a State that to my mind is not logically or geographically in Europe, so has no claim on membership of the EU, but was for good reason fed up with being the footstool for Russian crooks, in the way Azerbaijan has become. So, as with Stone, so with Mearshemer, a contentious presentation of 'Power Politics' which takes it cues from the Top, never coming to terms with the 'bottom' or the broad mass of Ukrainian people, and one wonders if the Russian speaking citizens in the East and the South feel truly blessed to be part of Russia.
You can't force democracy on people, but can you deny it to them too, if that is what they want? And is it not strange, that Americans who have based their entire economic justification for their Union on free markets, seem in these two cases so reluctant to admit new members into it? The UK has left the largest Single Market in the world, and it has been a terrible mistake, one can see why Ukraine wants to be part of it, as indeed at one time, Putin himself considered possible.
He made his choices, and they were the wrong ones.
The Green Knight (David Lowery, 2021)
A contemporary version of the 14th century poem which changes its ending, and does not really follow through the theme of Chivalry that is fundamental to the original. It looks wonderful, and the acting is ok, but it is slow, and the change in the ending requires some thought, which I haven't given it much of. The sorcery and magic elements are not as prominent as they are in the original poem, nor is the well-worn idea that a young man must succeed at various trials before attaining 'adulthood' pursued, though this is also a fault in Tolkien. It's not that bad, so I recommend it. The IMDB entry is unusually inaccurate as it give Count Tipperary in Ireland as the location, whereas the extra on the DVD has the director and other members of the crew stating they shot it in County Kildare.
The Batman!
I sold my Green Knight 4K disc, didn’t like it. Glad I only paid $10 for it on Black Friday.
Very sad to hear that Ray Liotta has died at the age of 67 while filming in the Dominican Republic. He has over 120 credits on IMDB mostly of films I haven't seen or heard of, and though he will be remembered for Goodfellas, he was in many other fine films too.
Ray Liotta - IMDb
Ray Liotta Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ - YouTube
Inheritance (Vaughn Stein, 2020)
'Simon Pegg as you've never seen him before!'-and never want to see again. Like this film.