Intro Into Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity

A brilliant summary--one can be intellectually agile and yet still be stupid. 

I often repeat one simple truth (it is not mine but it seems self-evident): intellect without morality is worthless or leads to evil. I think about those things all the time (I am no deep thinker, I never pretended to be), but never the issue of stupidity was so important as it is today, especially looking not just at those public Western "elites" but also those, well known and exposed, allegedly invisible "rulers", who "run" the world. Good God, they are even worse than the drab political edifice they construct for plebs to consume. 

Obviously, it is slightly more complex than the mere set of political interactions in the public sphere, but for the explanation of current West's sheer stupidity Bonhoeffer's Theory and George Carlin's monologue will suffice. Same as Mark Twain's genius quip:  

“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” 

That is why you can almost feel the physical pain Lavrov experiences when he talks to someone like Liz Truss, or when Putin talks to Olaf Scholz or BoJo--it is a very stressful business. You cannot argue with them because they are stupid. And stupidly and the lack of morality are often connected. The Theory of Stupidity is a very important piece of puzzle in West's complete degeneration into wholesale schizophrenia and its refutation of the critical thinking, the obverse side of pop-scientism. So, I thought I would add to my line of thought in this blog a bit of a social psychology element. And yes, there is no such science as political science--a fraudulent concoction of random historic and political facts presented as knowledge by... and you have guessed it, stupid people.  

My Good Friend Sent Me This...

It is a discussion (excellent one) of the Russian gold: 

In the current environment of weaponised Western sanctions against Russia, and the critical importance of monetary gold reserves as Russia’s ultimate asset, a timely question to ask is where Russia’s gold reserves are actually stored. The location of Russia’s gold reserves is especially intriguing given the ongoing freeze of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves – dollar, euro, pound – by Western powers, and the fact that there is a US Congress Bill being introduced by some senators in Washington DC to try to ‘freeze’ Russia’s gold.    

It is a well-illustrated piece with a great quote which concludes it:

as Chris Powell of GATA has and will say again:

“the amounts, location, and disposition of government gold reserves are secrets more sensitive than the amounts, location, and disposition of nuclear weapons.

Indeed, under nuclear weapons control treaties, governments with nuclear weapons have often shared that sort of information, even with hostile powers. But gold reserve information is far more tightly held and most gold information provided officially is actually disinformation.

Why is it this way? It’s because gold is an even more powerful weapon than nukes — an alternative currency that is not necessarily under any government’s power; a determinant of the value of other currencies, interest rates, government bonds, and equities."

That quote also explains why Russia took multi-dimensional conflict with the West in stride and continues development of own economy which was being prepared for this conflict for many years now. That is called a strategic planning.

"It Is Not My Fault"(c).

Excellent introduction into narcissists' reaction when they get figured out.  

But while human world and the world of geopolitics are distinct, geopolitics is driven not by geography but human reaction to geography and other aspects of natural surrounding which do provide nations and alliance with characters relatable to human behavior. Needless to say, in this excellent intro to narcissists' losing control over their victims present character, that of the losing control narcissist, of the combined West absolutely shines through. 

In related news, Welt in Germany opened "second front" today against... and you have guessed it.. Masha and the Bear. 

Die Zeichentrickserie „Mascha und der Bär“ ist ein russischer Exportschlager. Die Handlung ist vollgestopft mit russischer Kultur. Aber ist Mascha auch putinesk, wie schon behauptet wurde? Und ist der Bär Propaganda? Wer genau hinsieht, wird ein mulmiges Gefühl nicht los. 

Translation: The animated series "Masha and the Bear" is a Russian export hit. The plot is packed with Russian culture. But is Masha also Putinesque, as has already been claimed? And is the bear propaganda? If you look closely, you won't get rid of a queasy feeling.

Generally speaking, they don't know how else to make Russia "suffer" and European Commission joined "intellectual" forces with IAE and came up with a plan:

IEA: Drive And Fly Less, Work From Home To Cut Reliance On Russia 

Here is the summary.  

Excellent. Once Masha and the Bear are defeated and EU core nations begin to stink to heavens due to not taking proper showers, full victory over Russia will be declared. Somebody posted in the discussion thread the video of Alex Christoforou lamenting EU committing a suicide, but the issue here is extremely simple--it is not some "weak Scholz" or just "elites", truth is, these are Europeans themselves, especially this so called "middle class", who made sure that people like von der Leyen or Macron are kept in place to finish off the European Civilization. Just watch France, which will finish herself off on April 24 (in three days) and the deal will be sealed. Not that it would have been much different if Le Pen would have won. Not really. 

 

The United States gets its lunch consisting of EU and its industries but that too doesn't change much since the United States suddenly discovers that it barely has enough for itself, especially in terms of what matters the most--energy--and even coming trashing of Democrats at mid-terms changes very little in terms of overall national economic and political health, because the realities on the ground in Ukraine are such that the US made a very wrong bet. It is not surprising, American "elites" are as incompetent and ignorant as their European counterparts. 

 

Per Azov Steel--good decision by Kremlin. Not only Russia saves the lives of her soldiers but makes sure that somebody inside the plant is (are) convinced by hunger, thirst and the onset of Kubler-Ross paradigm to come out and surrender. Or die. Not only Mariupol is liberated but it is the fact that it was the most heavily armed and trained grouping of VSU and Nazi brigades which was supposed to repeat Stalingrad which was annihilated. The plan for defense of this festung was developed in Pentagon and, naturally, it failed. Somebody is hiding there, somebody interesting. Who could this be, hmm? I wonder. Will this or those hiding there commit a suicide in order to not surrender to those nasty Rosskies or will they decide that they may have a chance to be "exchanged" into their native countries? We'll see. It is getting curioser and curioser.  

Larry Johnson Talks To RT.

Great interview to RT. Follow this link. I like the idea of sending Godzilla to Ukraine)))

OK, They Are Obviously "Demoralized".

 You see, this is what "demoralized" troops do. 

Or look at this guy who speaks about his "baseball bat" of C-4, well, TNT. 

He looks absolutely "demoralized". As he says, this plastid is "for improving the baseball qualities of this bat", which is used to clear passages through concrete walls. You know, Russians are not really into baseball (albeit for players it is a great game, I cannot watch it though), but they surely know what baseball bats are for--a very popular item in many Russian stores.

That Is Why They Call Him Grisha In Russia...

.... Despite Graham, of course, being 100% Brit. He is what is called in Russian "Svoi"--ours, belonging to us, a friend--because he is now more than just great war reporter. 

These are a special breed of humans, with an acute sense of right and wrong. That's Graham Phillips for the last very many years. He is recognized on the streets of Russian cities, people try to hug him and shake his hand and I am 100% sure that in the peaceful life Graham would have been an outstanding resort reporter. I hope he will be and will limit himself to only one wound he has got in 2015, I believe, when reporting from the front-lines in Donbass. Yeah, these guys: Brits, Americans, French (there is an awesome French guy fighting for Donbass while also evacuating civilians from the war zone), what have you, who contribute more to preserving some very thin thread tying Russia and what is left best in Western Civilization. 

P.S. The rumors are circulating that Gonzalo Lira was killed by Nazi and SBU thugs in Kharkov. I am sure this hasn't been just the Ukie idea, they had someone "higher" suggesting this murder. Gonzalo was a US citizen, if I am not mistaken, but this fact is no guarantee of anything in 404. SBU is essentially a CIA outlet.

"We Bear Heat And Light"(c)

No, it is not Gazprom or Rosatom's motto in the headline. The motto in the headline, although a joke and a meme, is the motto of RVSN, aka Russian Strategic Missile Forces. Hey, it is a proper one, indeed a variety of missiles and MIRVs RVSN operates do, indeed, provide a lot of heat and light upon delivery. Behind the stream of news from 404 we all, understandably, forgot that life in Russia didn't stop. RVSN today launched, successfully, new ICBM RS-28 Sarmat, which is about to enter IOC. 

That thing can carry pretty much any munitions, including hyper-sonic Avangards, which brings us to other related news which may slip unnoticed in the informational bacchanalia in Western media. 

As TASS reports, Amur Shipyard already laid down first sections of the third serial production corvette of the Pr. 20385 (in Russian). Four of those 3M22 Zircon carriers are planned for the Pacific Fleet and are surely to change the whole concept of naval warfare in the Western Pacific. 

They are nice looking ships and now that we know the actual range of Zircons (1,500 kilometers), together with Gorshkov-class frigates (also Zircon carriers) it may explain why Borisov was stand-offish on carriers in his interview a couple of days ago.

As for aircraft carriers, such questions are often discussed at defense meetings in Sochi. In general, the development of high-precision and hypersonic weapons sometimes renders aircraft carrier groups useless, overshadowing their potential. And besides, the US may need a powerful aircraft carrier group, since they are far away and need to cross the ocean before they reach any theater of operation on this continent. Russia, on the contrary, has always pursued a defense strategy, so the need for these types of vessels is debatable. But I think that you can’t just stop using this type of naval equipment altogether, you must think about it all the time. But this costs a lot of money.

Now that Shoigu confirmed yesterday a radical increase in the speed of targeting information exchange between ISR and high-precision weapons carriers, which include Zircon carriers (in Russian), the carriers issue for Russia really becomes a moot point, albeit it is clear that with the commissioning of large amphibious assault ships such as project 23900 Russia may (don't quote me on that) bring to the sea some version of STOVL aviation. In all, Russian Navy does not completely abandon carrier aviation plans but in real war the utility of modern CVNs is really questionable, especially for the astronomical expenditure and high psychological significance attached to these beautiful and mighty looking, but fast becoming obsolete, ships. 

So, Russia continues to build her weapons and, while Mikhail Mishustin admitted that Russian economy "sagged somewhat", that sagging was expected under well-known circumstances and the growth will return starting this year. But here is my beaten to death point: combined West grossly miscalculated in terms of the size of Russian economy. No, it is not just the matter of crucial Russian exports ranging from energy, to metals, to food, it is about the actual size of Russian economy. And by size I mean, of course, real, physical economy which produces real products. Just one look at Russia's aerospace industry, both commercial and military, should have given a hint to Western "economists" but they failed, naturally. 

Netflix shares plummeted to their lowest point since January 2018 as investors reacted to the streamer’s first subscriber loss in more than a decade — bringing years of booming growth to a screeching halt. The stock was around $222 per share in midmorning trading Wednesday, down 36% from the previous closing price and sinking to a more than four-year low (its lowest since shares ended at $220.46 on Jan. 19, 2018). The latest tumble came after Netflix posted a Q1 loss of 200,000 subscribers and projected that it will lose another 2 million subs in Q2, prompting a wave of analyst downgrades. Netflix shares have shed more than 60% of their value over the last six months.

In related news: Netflix is "valued" more than Gazprom. I mean "shares". That explains why Russia doesn't care anymore about all those BS "rating agencies" and IMF and World Bank "projections"--the idiots live in a virtual world of virtual money. The new Russia's strategy for participation in WTO in metallurgical sphere  should be ready by June 1st, and Vladimir Putin was very clear today that behavior of the West towards Russia will not change (in Russian). It will be very interesting to see this strategy and how defense of the domestic producers will be reflected in it. Expect new developments in the extraction sphere because Russia has ALL critical resources ranging from Uranium to Titanium to what have you in industrial volumes and the only reason that Russia was not developing those deposits was because it was somewhat cheaper to buy them from other countries.  Circumstances changed dramatically, and Russia has enough cash to do it all. 

In SMO news, Patrick Lancaster is finally getting the recognition he deserves, with  more than 400,000 subscribers. I believe it is two days old report.

The dude has the balls of steel and is a real war reporter, old-fashion, down and dirty but that what real war is. Patrick has to stay safe, together with his gutsy cameraman. There are some reports of VSU simply abandoning villages and towns and the stream of POWs continues. Many of them do not even look like military men anymore: completely warn down and broken down, many say that the stream of surrendering VSU would have been even larger if not for many trying to surrender being shot in the back by Nazis. Well, we knew that from the get go, didn't we?