I thought i heard the Saker say, at one point: “The communists promised the end of history.” That isn’t right. The communists promised never-ending history of ascending progress, in which every human being could meaningfully participate. Awesome interview! As always…
Nope. Dialectical materialism teaches that once a classless society is achieved (that is the phase called “Communism”) this removes the internal social contradictions inherent to other societies and history quite literally stops because its ‘fuel’ – contradictions – ceases to exist.
Cheers
The Saker
I am thinking that the US going with Israeli pressure to attack Iran may be lessened by the latest “Trumpism” over moving the capital. I was also wondering that if Washington does decide to ruin Iran with a military attack it also has a very good air defense system present. The US may also lose ships and planes in the Gulf. We also know that US does not tolerate severe losses without escalation and may find itself in a war despite a more modest intent.
Saker, I hear you talk about values and having lost our values.
My point is that human beings create values and that is good just like religions and moral ethics are respected… which is basically what values are.
Now!, I would like to propose that human beings have to move to “virtues” as a basis of “personal, individual” ehtic.
I recognize it is a very tall order, probably utopic, yet, that is my vision for the world.
It’s simple: when human beings have the “law” written in their heart, nobody needs laws and governments, do they?
Of course, this is probably too philosophic for the Saker Blog but I still maintain that the times we’re living are awesome! bordering on chaos, which means new stuff will slowly “bubble” up.
I simply “choose” to visualize President Trump do a “180 turn” like he did once in office… in 2018.
Him going public to the populists and say: “OK folks, we tried to work with congress and government and you saw the swamp there. Now, we will do it our way, i.e. create a direct system of communication between the people and Trump-government via something else than Twitter, YouTube, Google and Facebook and the fake news.”
I dare visualise that.
Do you think it’s possible?
Thanks Saker for excellent interview once again.
Sorry, no. I think that Trump caved in to the Neocons during his first 30 days in office and that now he has turned into a doormat. I also doubt that he will finish his term. Finally, should he be allowed to finish his term, I don’t think that he will be allowed to run again and, if I am wrong and he still does, I don’t think that he could win.
So no, I am sorry, for all these reasons I don’t see him doing that.
Kind regards
The Saker
Excellent interview, as always. I would like to add three points. It is true that the Empire is losing and it is also true that it is still powerful, having superiority in numbers over Russia. However, in a military conflict this means absolutely nothing. The US has spread its forces throughout the world, which is not the case with Russia, whose forces are concentrated. Yes, Russia did use a limited number of troops and combat planes for a surgical strike against ISIS in Syria, but this did not weaken the Russian military in Russia. The point is that even if the Empire was to concentrate the bulk of its forces against Russia, it would still fail, as Russia has enough troops and military high tech to defeat any aggression. The whole Russian military doctrine was and is concentrated on defense, and for this it is adequately prepared, especially when it comes to its latest high tech. The Saker is indeed correct when he states that the Empire might do something foolish out of sheer desperation. Its seeing its economic, financial, military and political power being diminished, and it might be tempted for a stupid first strike against both Russia and China, thinking that it will prevail with minimal loses. A very foolish attitude, which appears to prevail mostly on Wall Street. I trust that Pentagon generals have more sense. Secondly, when The Saker states that while the Empire is losing, that it does not mean that Russia is winning. Well, maybe not, but it is a fact that both Russia and China are winning, as at the moment you have a Russian-Chinese economic partnership as proven by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the upcoming Eurasian Economic Union. It is this fact that is making the Empire desperate, including the gigantic debts in both the US and EU and the fact that both the dollar and euro are printed backed by nothing. As I have written before, Washington has found itself in a situation which it has trouble accepting and at the same time not precisely knowing what it has to do. As for Europe, its watching these developments. The impression is that Europe is waiting for the right time to join the Russian-Chinese partnership in the Eurasian Economic Union. Finally, The Saker is certainly correct that Russia and Russians have given up their fascination with the West and Western values. One of the most foolish things the Empire did was instigate that coup d’etat in Kiev in 2014, turning Ukraine into a feudal entity, plundered by domestic oligarchs and foreign corporations and reducing the population to poverty. This reminded Russians of the situation in the country during Yeltsin’s reign, making them conclude nothing good can come from the West. Putin’s win in 2018 is assured, while the Western NGO’s in Russia will be wasting their time trying either to provoke a color revolution or place a pro-Western puppet in power.
Very interesting indeed! About Trump recognizing Jerusalem. My thoughts are that this will damage mostly the Saudi royal hypocrites, that they will be obliged to show their true faces ie. lackeys of the US-Israel. They will loose credibility among the moslem-arab world. This will benefit Iran and Turkey (specially Iran) who have been consistent on their support of Palestine.
Putin no question is a big leader, the best among the rest in my opinion. Here lies unfortunatly the weakness of the Russian system. Will they be able to produce somebody at least half as good as him? Because he (Putin) wont be around (unfortunatly) for 1 or 2 hundred years.
Think back to Putin at the beginning – did anyone think he would be as he is now.
He has gained knowledge and experience- has a good team – but it all came through experience
Russia political climate changed so that Putin had to adapt and change.
There is someone there – we will see over the next one – two years.
I thought i heard the Saker say, at one point: “The communists promised the end of history.” That isn’t right. The communists promised never-ending history of ascending progress, in which every human being could meaningfully participate. Awesome interview! As always…
Nope. Dialectical materialism teaches that once a classless society is achieved (that is the phase called “Communism”) this removes the internal social contradictions inherent to other societies and history quite literally stops because its ‘fuel’ – contradictions – ceases to exist.
Cheers
The Saker
I am thinking that the US going with Israeli pressure to attack Iran may be lessened by the latest “Trumpism” over moving the capital. I was also wondering that if Washington does decide to ruin Iran with a military attack it also has a very good air defense system present. The US may also lose ships and planes in the Gulf. We also know that US does not tolerate severe losses without escalation and may find itself in a war despite a more modest intent.
Saker, I hear you talk about values and having lost our values.
My point is that human beings create values and that is good just like religions and moral ethics are respected… which is basically what values are.
Now!, I would like to propose that human beings have to move to “virtues” as a basis of “personal, individual” ehtic.
I recognize it is a very tall order, probably utopic, yet, that is my vision for the world.
It’s simple: when human beings have the “law” written in their heart, nobody needs laws and governments, do they?
Of course, this is probably too philosophic for the Saker Blog but I still maintain that the times we’re living are awesome! bordering on chaos, which means new stuff will slowly “bubble” up.
I simply “choose” to visualize President Trump do a “180 turn” like he did once in office… in 2018.
Him going public to the populists and say: “OK folks, we tried to work with congress and government and you saw the swamp there. Now, we will do it our way, i.e. create a direct system of communication between the people and Trump-government via something else than Twitter, YouTube, Google and Facebook and the fake news.”
I dare visualise that.
Do you think it’s possible?
Thanks Saker for excellent interview once again.
Do you think it’s possible?
Sorry, no. I think that Trump caved in to the Neocons during his first 30 days in office and that now he has turned into a doormat. I also doubt that he will finish his term. Finally, should he be allowed to finish his term, I don’t think that he will be allowed to run again and, if I am wrong and he still does, I don’t think that he could win.
So no, I am sorry, for all these reasons I don’t see him doing that.
Kind regards
The Saker
Excellent interview, as always. I would like to add three points. It is true that the Empire is losing and it is also true that it is still powerful, having superiority in numbers over Russia. However, in a military conflict this means absolutely nothing. The US has spread its forces throughout the world, which is not the case with Russia, whose forces are concentrated. Yes, Russia did use a limited number of troops and combat planes for a surgical strike against ISIS in Syria, but this did not weaken the Russian military in Russia. The point is that even if the Empire was to concentrate the bulk of its forces against Russia, it would still fail, as Russia has enough troops and military high tech to defeat any aggression. The whole Russian military doctrine was and is concentrated on defense, and for this it is adequately prepared, especially when it comes to its latest high tech. The Saker is indeed correct when he states that the Empire might do something foolish out of sheer desperation. Its seeing its economic, financial, military and political power being diminished, and it might be tempted for a stupid first strike against both Russia and China, thinking that it will prevail with minimal loses. A very foolish attitude, which appears to prevail mostly on Wall Street. I trust that Pentagon generals have more sense. Secondly, when The Saker states that while the Empire is losing, that it does not mean that Russia is winning. Well, maybe not, but it is a fact that both Russia and China are winning, as at the moment you have a Russian-Chinese economic partnership as proven by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the upcoming Eurasian Economic Union. It is this fact that is making the Empire desperate, including the gigantic debts in both the US and EU and the fact that both the dollar and euro are printed backed by nothing. As I have written before, Washington has found itself in a situation which it has trouble accepting and at the same time not precisely knowing what it has to do. As for Europe, its watching these developments. The impression is that Europe is waiting for the right time to join the Russian-Chinese partnership in the Eurasian Economic Union. Finally, The Saker is certainly correct that Russia and Russians have given up their fascination with the West and Western values. One of the most foolish things the Empire did was instigate that coup d’etat in Kiev in 2014, turning Ukraine into a feudal entity, plundered by domestic oligarchs and foreign corporations and reducing the population to poverty. This reminded Russians of the situation in the country during Yeltsin’s reign, making them conclude nothing good can come from the West. Putin’s win in 2018 is assured, while the Western NGO’s in Russia will be wasting their time trying either to provoke a color revolution or place a pro-Western puppet in power.
Good Sir.
Paragraphs or some sort of indentation.
I could more easily read binary code.
Very interesting indeed! About Trump recognizing Jerusalem. My thoughts are that this will damage mostly the Saudi royal hypocrites, that they will be obliged to show their true faces ie. lackeys of the US-Israel. They will loose credibility among the moslem-arab world. This will benefit Iran and Turkey (specially Iran) who have been consistent on their support of Palestine.
Putin no question is a big leader, the best among the rest in my opinion. Here lies unfortunatly the weakness of the Russian system. Will they be able to produce somebody at least half as good as him? Because he (Putin) wont be around (unfortunatly) for 1 or 2 hundred years.
Think back to Putin at the beginning – did anyone think he would be as he is now.
He has gained knowledge and experience- has a good team – but it all came through experience
Russia political climate changed so that Putin had to adapt and change.
There is someone there – we will see over the next one – two years.
Your comment gives hope. Lets be optimistic!