From Pine View Farm

Drumbeats category archive

“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Echoes”* 0

At the Portland Press-Herald, Victoria Hugo-Vidal looks at the conflict in Gaza and hears an echo.

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*Mark Twain

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Implements of Infiltration 0

Image:  Open toobox containing Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, James Comer, Mike Johnson, and red-hatted man.  Caption:  Putin's Tools.

Michael in Norfolk has more.

Image via Job’s Anger.

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Help-Less 0

Woman and child labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Echoes”* 0

At the Des Moines Register, David Skidmore looks at Republican obstructionism as regards aid to Ukraine and hears an echo.

__________________

*Mark Twain.

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The Mechanics of Mind Control 0

Der Spiegel takes a long and penetrating look at how Vladimir Putin maintains his control on Russia. It is well-worth a read in these troubled and troubling times.

Here’s a tiny bit:

But why do people accept that Putin is attacking the neighboring country, isolating Russia from the West and declaring it his arch-enemy?

“It’s quite simple,” says (Russian ex-pat Ekaterina–ed.) Schulman. Putin claimed that Ukraine had to be de-Nazified, she says. “The autocrat’s word is the official Russian position. There is pressure to be loyal and there is punishment for those who publicly deviate from this narrative.”

Putin has imposed wartime censorship. According to the regime, anyone who criticizes the attack on the neighboring country is slandering the army and is subject to prosecution. The censorship laws are so vaguely formulated that the security authorities can take action against just about anyone. Just wearing blue and yellow sneakers, the colors of Ukraine, can be enough to land a person in hot water. One Moscow man who did that got fined the equivalent of 100 euros. Meanwhile, a woman in Krasnodar was talking to her husband about the war in a restaurant. A restaurant employee reported her to the police and she had to pay the equivalent of 400 euros in fines; her husband went to jail for 15 days for “rioting.” People are snitching on others all over the place in Russia right now. Compliant helpers have denounced tens of thousands of fellow citizens to the security authorities – also because of critical posts on the internet.

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The Graham Cracker 0

Cliff Schecter minces no words as he parses the perfidy.

Via C&L, which has commentary.

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One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0

Robert Reich takes exception to a comment by noted fifth columnist Tucker Carlson:

Days before Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison, Tucker Carlson gushed over Vladimir Putin, saying, “Leadership requires killing people.”

Well, I’m sorry, Tucker. You’re wrong.

Real leadership is the opposite of thuggery.

Follow the link for the evidence.

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The Fifth Columnists 0

The Pittsburgh Post’s Gazette’s Gene Collier finds Republicans’ refusal to assist Ukraine to resist Putin’s aggression to be–er–somewhat problematic. Here’s a bit of what he has to say:

(House Speaker Mike–ed.) Johnson works only for Trump, who, coincidentally, works only for Trump, unless he’s working for Putin, who’ll help Trump achieve any purpose toward that end.

It was Johnson who scuttled the bi-partisan border deal Republicans have been screaming about for decades, which he did at the urging of Trump, who has to run for president on something other than 91 felony charges. Trump was doubtless behind Johnson’s Ukraine walkout as well, which happened just as Putin opponent Alexei Navalny was turning up dead in a Russian prison.

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Another Fifth Columinst 0

Dick Polman looks at Tucker Carlson’s Russian impulses and finds a parallel from the past.

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The Fifth Columnist 0

At AL.com, John W. Davis savages Donald Trump’s ahistorical, incorrect, incoherent, inane promise to lead the United States to violate its commitment to its NATO allies. Here’s a bit (emphasis added); follow the link for the rest.

During World War II America deployed, fought and died with our allies to liberate democracies occupied by Hitler. We formalized this alliance after that war, the better to deter future dictatorial adventurism. NATO countries remain united to stop any thought of invasion; an attack against one is an attack against all.

Former President Trump said he would not defend NATO allies if invaded, if he deemed them financially delinquent. Says Trump, who regularly reneged on just payments to his own contractors. Says Trump who would encourage Russia to, “… do whatever the Hell they want” to our allies. Our NATO allies risked all to trust and join NATO, so to shed Soviet chains and torture chambers. Russia’s leaders want nothing better than to enslave Eastern Europe again.

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Those Who Forget the Past . . . 0

. . . would doom themselves–and the rest of us–to repeat it.

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Russian Impulses 0

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The Campaign Promise 0

Once again, Maya Angelou’s admonition comes to mind:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

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Gazing at Gaza 0

Der Spiegel takes a long and deep look at the situation in the Middle East and at the background. Christoph Reuter und Monika Bolliger, authors of the story, come to the disturbing conclusion that “the risk of escalation in the Middle East is growing.”

Given the often contradictory and frequently emotionally-charged reporting and commentary on events there, I think this article is well worth the few minutes it will take you to read it.

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Putin’s Fifth Column 0

Thomas Geoghegan offers a theory as to why the Trump and the Trumpettes are so hostile to the U. S. aiding Ukraine in its battle to defeat the Russian invaders. Here’s a tiny bit from his article:

Aid to Ukraine, as Biden and the Democrats have made it, requires a belief in the U.S. or at least a belief in electoral democracy, civility, and our constitution. But that is what the far right attacks. Biden frames support for Ukraine as bolstering democracy over authoritarianism and order versus expansionism. Aid to Ukraine is also an implicit judgment of Trump—the moral equivalent of denouncing January 6 here. And, of course, aid to Ukraine was the casus belli of Trump’s first impeachment when the 45th president threatened to make military aid to Ukraine dependent on Volodymyr Zelensky’s complicity in smearing the Bidens. For Trump and his allies, Kyiv’s comic actor turned wartime hero is a mortal enemy far more dangerous than Hunter Biden Liz Cheney. Zelensky’s integrity and self-sacrifice are antithetical to Trump’s disdain for public purpose. Trump does not even feign any interest other than private interest. Of course, aid to Ukraine is in trouble—it is a defense of democracy in which the Trumpian far right no longer believes.

The whole piece is worth the few minutes it will take you to read it.

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The Choice 0

Framee One, captioned

Click for the original image.

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A Question of Identity 0

Not long ago, I heard an apocryphal quotation from a fictional Native America chief. I forget exactly where, but it stuck with me. The chief was speaking to a cavalry officer and said something like this: “If you win a battle, it’s a victory. If we win, it’s a massacre.”

At Psychology Today Blogs, Joe Pierre explores the line between labeling acts of violence as “terrorism” or as “mental illness.” Here’s a bit:

In summary, evidence from several experimental studies indicates that we’re more likely to attribute terrorist violence to mental illness when the perpetrator aligns with our own personal identities or ideological positions. This appears to function in an identity-preserving way, allowing us to think of ourselves and our larger group identities as “good” by discounting violence perpetrated by those in our ingroups as an aberrancy of mental illness. Conversely, when perpetrators are viewed as “others,” in terms of either identity or ideology, we’re more likely to blame violence on ideological belief, with moral culpability assigned accordingly.

I think his article a worthwhile read, especially in the light of recent events.

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Establishmentarians 0

In longer post about (some) Republicans apparently unwillingness to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, long-time BJ blogger Betty Cracker writes:

Maybe the dwindling handful of GOP Russia hawks would rue that day, but the ascendent Trumpists in the House (and some in the Senate) would welcome a right-wing, ethno-Christianist conquest of Europe. They want that for this continent too and would merrily leave NATO allies to their fate, never mind that it would destroy American credibility in international affairs until the heat death of the sun.

I sure hope she’s wrong. Follow the link and draw your own conclusion

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The Call to Arms 0

Title:  The Beginning and End of Full Disclosuer War.  Image:  Mounted knight stands on a drawbridge with a cohort of warriors behind him.  Knight says,

Click to view the original image.

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War and Mongers of War 0

Sam argues that no credibility should today be given to those who mongered the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq, regardless of how they in retrospect attempt to legitimatize their lies.

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