davel 4h ago • 100%
When people say authoritarianism it is reliably synonymous with totalitarianism as defined by Hannah Arendt, which is basically horseshoe theory, where fascism and communism are equivalated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism#Examples
There is no one consensus definition of authoritarianism, but several annual measurements are attempted, including Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World report. Some countries such as Venezuela, among others, that are currently or historically recognized as authoritarian did not become authoritarian upon taking power or fluctuated between an authoritarian, flawed democracy, and hybrid regime due to periods of democratic backsliding or democratization. Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia are often regarded as the most infamous examples of "totalitarian" systems. Some countries such as China and various fascist regimes have also been characterized as totalitarian, with some periods being depicted as more authoritarian, or totalitarian, than others.
Hannah Arendt came from a wealthy family and was unsurprisingly anti-communist. Her work was financially supported and promoted by the CIA. The CIA and the Cultural Cold War Revisited
U.S. and European anticommunist publications receiving direct or indirect funding included Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, New Leader, Encounter and many others. Among the intellectuals who were funded and promoted by the CIA were Irving Kristol, Melvin Lasky, Isaiah Berlin, Stephen Spender, Sidney Hook, Daniel Bell, Dwight MacDonald, Robert Lowell, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, and numerous others in the United States and Europe. In Europe, the CIA was particularly interested in and promoted the “Democratic Left” and ex-leftists, including Ignacio Silone, Stephen Spender, Arthur Koestler, Raymond Aron, Anthony Crosland, Michael Josselson, and George Orwell.
The authoritarian states are whichever states the Council on Foreign Relations deems authoritarian this month. It just means “governments that Global North capitalists want regime changed,” and that’s usually because the authoritarian government is blocking their access to neocolonial profit-making.
davel 4h ago • 100%
“monogamist ally”!? Does the person who said that have NO IDEA who this is?
The person who said it was Danskin himself, who last time I heard claims to be polyamorous, so I have no idea what you’re trying to say. All those screenshots are from InnunendoStudio’s/Ian’s own Twitter account.
davel 4h ago • 100%
It didn’t take long for you to prove their point for them, did it?
davel 5h ago • 100%
They only need to keep the “good” war going for two more weeks, to distract from the “it’s complicated” war.
davel 5h ago • 100%
Glenn Greenwald, 2012*: The Jose Rodriguez lesson
Related: The Majority Report interview
*Before Democrat-aligned media decided that “he changed.” He never did. He’s always been a liberal civil liberties journalist. He just wasn’t a partisan hack like they assumed.
davel 6h ago • 45%
Moldy meme is moldy. Early propaganda of Russia being a “gas station with nukes” has aged about as well as the Ghost of Kyiv.
davel 6h ago • 100%
One of the best ways to drain people’s energy these days is via the internet. — Colin Robinson, energy vampire
davel 6h ago • 100%
Marx was a very adroit writer, and not above dry sarcasm.
davel 7h ago • 100%
You might be wrong. In fact this might be parody https://reductress.com/post/how-to-save-money-by-eliminating-all-sources-of-joy-from-your-life/
davel 8h ago • 100%
Look upon his Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Mormon Satanist. Transracial Socialist Workers Party Kopimist Monk. Debt-free. Alcohol-free. Drug-free. Caffeine-free. “Over 45,000 downvotes, mocked, stalked, parodied, and called a troll—all because I dare stand against the Duopoly. Yet here I am, unbeaten. Breaking the chains of oppression!”
Just the straight-edge virtue signaling alone is 😬 And “debt-free”? That’s mostly dumb luck, and not at all moral virtue.
Edit to add: I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as ratioed. No one on Lemmy is buying what he’s selling, but I guess that just proves how right he is.
davel 9h ago • 33%
Liberals can’t tell their left from their right, as usual. Just six days ago: https://lemmy.ml/post/21384121/14295137
You see, the socialists are the real fascists. Ian Danskin would be horrified to see this perversion of his work.
I don’t think you’re aware of how far left Innuendo Studios is. Ian “Pinko” Danskin doesn’t seem to be working to convince his audience to vote for Harris. You might even say he‘s discouraging it. I don’t know where he lives or how he plans to vote, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he votes for the pinko candidate, Claudia de la Cruz, especially if he doesn’t live in a swing state where his vote might actually have any effect on the outcome.
davel 10h ago • 100%
If only we had access to everything you’ve ever said on Lemmy. Oh wait, we do.
davel 10h ago • 100%
This cold war joke is just as applicable today.
A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink.
“I have to admit, I’m always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.
“Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best but truly, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”
The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused… There’s no propaganda in America.”
davel 10h ago • 100%
As if the US military build-up to encircle and “contain” China has nothing to do with it. This new cold war began in earnest with Obama’s pivot to East Asia. The US has over 750 overseas military bases, while China has one anti-piracy base in Djibouti. The rhetoric is Orwelian.
When the Russian invasion started, the US government and media stressed that it was “unprovoked” at every opportunity. The empire doth protest too much.
- NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.
- The War in Ukraine Was Provoked—and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace
- The Ukraine Mess That Nuland Made Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland engineered Ukraine’s regime change without weighing the likely consequences.
- Leaked audio reveals embarrassing U.S. exchange on Ukraine, EU
- US Imperialism and the Ukraine Coup
- Former German Chancellor Merkel Admits that Minsk Peace Agreements Were Part of Scheme for Ukraine to Buy Time to Prepare for War With Russia
- Zelensky admits he never intended to implement Minsk agreements
- The West’s Sabotage of Peace in Ukraine In May of [2022] Ukrainian media reported that then-British prime minister Boris Johnson had flown to Kiev the previous month to pass on the message on behalf of the western empire that “Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with,” and that “even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.”
davel 11h ago • 100%
Donny, you’re out of your element.
davel 21h ago • 100%
First of all sorry for any spelling error or smth, english is not my native language and i struggle a lot to express 😅
Your English is better than some native English speakers.
davel 23h ago • 100%
I’ve listened to that Rockhill interview before; it’s great. A somewhat related interview: How The Left Should Analyze the Rise of a Multipolar World, China, Russia & BRICS
PATO: The Pacific and Atlantic Treaty Organization >Their cooperation is forcing NATO to build closer ties with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific. For the first time, senior officials from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan took part in a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday. They baddies are “forcing” NATO into this. The poor [imperial core](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_countries), being dragged around again. #AlwaysTheSameMap Citations Needed podcast: [The Always Stumbling US Empire](https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/ep-13-the-always-stumbling-us-empire): *"Stumbling", "sliding", "drawn into" war––the media frequently assumes the US is bumbling its way around the world. The idea that the United States operates in “good faith” is taken for granted for most of the American press while war is always portrayed as something that happens to the US, not something it seeks out.* Also, doesn’t “CRINK” already have a name, the [Axis of Resistance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Resistance)? Anyway, death to POTATO. - The Intercept, 2021: [Meet NATO, the Dangerous “Defensive” Alliance Trying to Run the World ](https://theintercept.com/2021/06/15/meet-nato-the-dangerous-defensive-alliance-trying-to-run-the-world/) - CounterPunch, 2022: [NATO is Not a Defensive Alliance](https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/17/nato-is-not-a-defensive-alliance/) - Noam Chomsky, 2023: [NATO “most violent, aggressive alliance in the world”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlVmvarb-E) - Thomas Fazi, 2024: [NATO: 75 years of war, unprovoked aggressions and state-sponsored terrorism](https://www.thomasfazi.com/p/nato-75-years-of-war-unprovoked-aggressions)
[John Mearsheimer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer) is a [realist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(international_relations)) who’s still and always faithful to the [liberal international order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_international_order), unlike the also liberal [Jeffery Sachs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs). All-In Summit 2024: [John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvFtyDy_Bt0)
![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ml%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2Fd63dd9b8-aa9d-4df0-9439-df6b41ec15a8.jpeg "Nothing's Changed, Correct meme")
Philosophy professor [Hans-Georg Moeller](https://fah.um.edu.mo/hans-georg-moeller/), author of [A Moral Fool: A Case for Amorality](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-moral-fool/9780231145091) >For [Harris] the two things are the same: on the one hand objective moral truth (universal morality), and on the other hand scientific facts about what increases wellbeing and what doesn’t. […] I think the two things are very different from one another. >Just as religion is not something that depends on the existence of god, but is a specific social practice, a specific form of communication that relates to a certain unrealistic assumption; likewise morality is a specific discourse, a specific way of acting, that relates to and derives from making unrealistic assumptions about something that doesn’t exist. Follow-up video: [If Morality Exists Everything Is Permitted.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdsDzZDMzKM)
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Democrats were the most gullible 😐 ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ml%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F429fd6e6-69cc-4588-8ede-a8e8cb950cb8.png)
[jwz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski): [Perennial "Fuck the Blue Angels" post.](https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/10/perennial-fuck-the-blue-angels-post-4/)
This article is a critique of [Monbiot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot)’s recent interview with Chris Hedges: [The Secret History of Neoliberalism 📺](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=see5c5Sgi14) [Hedges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges) is also critical of capitalism, but, being an incorrigible liberal trapped in [capitalist realism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism), the best he can imagine is worker coops or every person being their own petty bourgeois shopkeeper.
These are handy tools for bypassing soft paywalls, especially when [Bypass Paywalls Clean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bypass_Paywalls_Clean) fails you. - Apple Support: [Hide distractions when browsing webpages in Safari on Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/hide-distractions-when-browsing-ibrwb68cc4bf/mac) - uBlock Wiki: [Element Zapper](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Element-zapper/989b866871014012fb8e558417b60f2f6c7ddddf)
- [Actually Existing Socialism](https://www.youtube.com/@actuallyexistingsocialism3695) - [BadEmpanada](https://www.youtube.com/@BadEmpanada) - [Balkan Odyssey](https://www.youtube.com/@BalkanOdyssey_) - [Boy Boy](https://www.youtube.com/@Boy_Boy) - [Critical Theory Workshop](https://www.youtube.com/@criticaltheoryworkshop5299) ([Gabriel Rockhill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Rockhill)) - [Dessalines](https://www.youtube.com/@dessalines6388) - [The Deprogram](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOInEMAm0Y4VXoAfbJMR3Wg) - [TheFinnishBolshevik](https://www.youtube.com/@thefinnishbolshevik2404) - [First Thought](https://www.youtube.com/@firstthoughtnews) - [Geopolitical Economy Hour](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDAi0NdlN8hMl9DkPLikDDGccibhYHnDP) ([Michael Hudson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hudson_(economist)) and [Radhika Desai](https://radhikadesai.com/)) - [Hakim](https://www.youtube.com/@YaBoiHakim) - [JohntheDuncan](https://www.youtube.com/@JohntheDuncan) - [Lady Izdihar](https://www.youtube.com/@LadyIzdihar) - [Luna oi!](https://www.youtube.com/@Lunaoi) - [Marxism Today](https://www.youtube.com/@Marxism_Today) - [The Marxist Project](https://www.youtube.com/@themarxistproject) - [The Michael Parenti Library](https://www.youtube.com/@themichaelparentilibrary) - [NonCompete](https://www.youtube.com/@NonCompete) - [PSL National](https://www.youtube.com/@PSL_National) - [Paul Cockshott](https://www.youtube.com/@paulcockshott8733) - [Politics In Motion](https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticsInMotion) ([David Harvey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey)) - [Politsturm International](https://www.youtube.com/@politsturm_inter) - [Prolekult](https://www.youtube.com/@Prolekult) - [Richard Wolff](https://www.youtube.com/@RichardDWolff) - [Second Thought](https://www.youtube.com/@SecondThought) - [Socialism For All](https://www.youtube.com/@SocialismForAll) - [The Tricontinental](https://www.youtube.com/@Tricontinental) ([Vijay Prashad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijay_Prashad)) - [YUGOPNIK](https://www.youtube.com/@YUGOPNIK)
The Spectator interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_USzVCWzh10
>But even the whole debate about how to solve the Nord Stream mystery (or thriller) — which reminiscent of a James Bond film, with all its military and technical details — perhaps draws too much attention away from the underlying field of interest. Storytelling, and especially the construction of a crime thriller, is very much about directing sympathy (preferably towards the real culprit and away from the false leads, so that the reader doesn’t get to the solution for as long as possible). Another very important point is to draw attention to the irrelevant aspects and away from the crucial information and analyses. As seen above, the extensive and detailed “yacht story” could serve to divert attention away from a completely different action, in which professional military actors used warships or submarines, for example, to plant the explosives. > >And perhaps even the war, with all its horror and violence, is not the main story at all, but its tragedy, dynamism and violence only conceal the “hidden story”, the underlying structure of economic and financial interests and the geopolitical tug-of-war over energy markets and infrastructure. > >Some geopolitical analysts argue that the Nord Stream blast and even the war in Ukraine and the preceding change of power in 2014 only served to displace Russia as a gas and oil supplier and to enable US and British companies and investors to take over the European energy market. In other words, the thesis is that the end of Russia’s role as the main energy supplier for Germany and Europe is not the result of the war in Ukraine, but rather its cause; or in other words: “It’s the energy market, stupid!”. >Of course, you could also look at the story in this [materialist] way. I generally have the impression that these realities and cold economic interests are often obscured by stories of cultural struggle (open society vs. traditional family/man-woman images) and political stories (democracies vs. autocracies) in order to keep the public busy with emotional discussions and distract them from what is really going on: a ruthless game of chess for money, power and, above all, resources.
- https://www.patreon.com/collection/1161 - https://www.patreon.com/violetblue
>Israel’s decision to assassinate Nasrallah, using some of the enormous bunker-busting bombs the United States has been arming it with, is beyond foolhardy. It is outright deranged. Israel has removed – and knows it has removed – a moderating influence on Hezbollah. > >Israel’s action will achieve nothing apart from teaching his successor, and leaders of other groups and countries labelled as terrorist by western governments, several lessons: > >- That Israel, and the West standing squarely behind it, do not play by any known rules of engagement, and that their opponents must do likewise. The current restraint from Hezbollah that has been so baffling western pundits will become a thing of the past. > >- That Israel is not interested in compromise, only escalation, and that this is a fight to death – not just against Israel but against the West that sponsors Israel. > >- That Israel's ideological extremism – its Jewish supremacism, and its endless craving for Lebensraum – must be met with even greater Shia-inspired extremism. > >Decades of western terrorism in the Middle East unleashed a Sunni nihilism embodied first in al-Qaeda and then in ISIS. >Now, the West, via Israel, is fomenting for the Shia resistance its own ISIS moment. The moderates in what the West dubs “terrorist organisations” have once again lost the argument. Why? Because the US imperial project known as “the West” has once again demonstrated it will not compromise. It demands full-spectrum, global dominance – nothing less. > >Israel may make very short tactical gains in killing Nasrallah. But we will all soon feel the whirlwind.
I expect no better from a [lying war criminal](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201015-three-women-loads-of-lies-and-the-destruction-of-libya/).
>In fact, as we’ll unpack further below, this tech-bombing was even worse than you imagined. The military wing of Hezbollah does not use pager or walkie talkies. They’ve used their own fiber optic network since 2006, and otherwise rely on couriers. These devices were in the hands of civilian Hezbollah workers, such as members of its large social services effort. Yes, military members may have been hurt too, but that was dumb luck, like being in proximity to blown-up pager-user or picking up a ringing device on behalf of someone else. > >Needless to say, this also means that ***the device attacks were pure terrorism, with no remotely colorable military purpose whatsoever***. Remember, the press has brayed that Israel has been working on this caper for 15 years. But Hezbollah moved its military comms to fiber optic before that. And Israel surely knew that. So that means this entire enterprise was from its outset a terrorist scheme and never a military operation.
I’ve known this for a while thanks to the *Money & Macro* YouTube channel: [How Commercial Banks Really Create Money (the Money Multiplier is a MYTH)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDNSNX48Kmo)
>“I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism,” [Leon] Panetta said on “CBS News Sunday morning.” >Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) condemned Israel over the pager explosions, saying the incident “unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines U.S. efforts to prevent a wider conflict.”