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Thread: Generational Dynamics World View - Page 2







Post#26 at 08-14-2012 07:13 PM by The Grey Badger [at Albuquerque, NM joined Sep 2001 #posts 8,876]
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Quote Originally Posted by Gianthogweed View Post
Crisis delayed? Russia's Crisis was in the 80s and 90s. Wouldn't they be nearing the end of the 1T at this point?
Justin'77 sure seems to be reporting a society at the tail end of its First Turning! I'd say the rise of Putin initiated it. But then, I wasn't there; let's ask Justin.
How to spot a shill, by John Michael Greer: "What you watch for is (a) a brand new commenter who (b) has nothing to say about the topic under discussion but (c) trots out a smoothly written opinion piece that (d) hits all the standard talking points currently being used by a specific political or corporate interest, while (e) avoiding any other points anyone else has made on that subject."

"If the shoe fits..." The Grey Badger.







Post#27 at 08-14-2012 07:18 PM by The Grey Badger [at Albuquerque, NM joined Sep 2001 #posts 8,876]
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Quote Originally Posted by Tussilago View Post
So now the Bolshevik mass murder of the peasants and wholesale repression of Russian society is a "conformism" akin to the American 50's that was "all about conforming" and, wait for it, I guess being "prosecuted" by that horrible totalitarian Death Nazi, Joseph McCarthy?

When Strauss and Howe decided to name the 50's period the "American High" they were, in other words, actually thinking about concentration camps!

Don't you realise how completely idiotic this sounds?

Well... ?


Anyway, the Trotskyite-Leninist nomenclatura lived in such a world apart in every sense of the word that whatever mood swings occur among them is completely irrelevant to the dominating mood in the Soviet society at large.
Well, S&H's use of the term High really only applies to the Recovery period of an expanding society after a successful 4T. I far prefer the value-neutral term Recovery. Even though it might be a bad one, as in '50s Britain, or a dead cat bounce. Russia's sounds like a dead cat bounce.

BTW - Ayn Rand wrote a valuable portrait of that era in "We, The Living", even though her strange values shine through - and they shed a lot of light on the origin of those strange values.
How to spot a shill, by John Michael Greer: "What you watch for is (a) a brand new commenter who (b) has nothing to say about the topic under discussion but (c) trots out a smoothly written opinion piece that (d) hits all the standard talking points currently being used by a specific political or corporate interest, while (e) avoiding any other points anyone else has made on that subject."

"If the shoe fits..." The Grey Badger.







Post#28 at 08-14-2012 08:36 PM by Odin [at Moorhead, MN, USA joined Sep 2006 #posts 14,442]
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Tuss, take it up with Justin, he's the one that was there, and he is certain that they are 1T right now.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism







Post#29 at 08-14-2012 10:47 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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15-Aug-12 World View -- France's politicians fear widespread unrest after Amiens riot

*** 15-Aug-12 World View -- France's politicians fear widespread unrest after Amiens rioting

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • France's politicians fear widespread unrest after Amiens rioting
  • German view of France: Nostalgic and Narcissistic
  • Multiple bombings create hundreds of casualties in Afghanistan
  • Egypt reopens Rafah border crossing with Gaza
  • Norwegian tourist falls asleep on airport baggage belt


****
**** France's politicians fear widespread unrest after Amiens rioting
****



Burnt out car in Amiens (AP)

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets and deployed a helicopter to
quell unrest in Amiens in northern France on Monday evening. They
were responding to rioting by around 100 local youths who used
buckshot, fireworks and other projectiles to injure 16 police
officers. There is fear that the unrest may spread and become more
violent, as happened in 2005. ( "Paris riots continue for seventh night"
) Major rioting
is nothing new in France, with the French Revolution in 1789 and the
Paris Commune in 1870 each killing tens of thousands of people in
Paris alone. It's thought that poverty is the underlying cause of the
riots, especially among immigrants from Africa. AFP

****
**** German view of France: Nostalgic and Narcissistic
****


From an article from Der Spiegel:

"France is a deeply nostalgic and narcissistic country
which is also, precisely for those reasons, very charming. The
country would like to be part of Europe's north, but its heart
belongs in the south. It will take more than navel-gazing to get
the nation through the euro crisis unscathed.

A few weeks ago, French President François Hollande spoke in the
garden of the French Embassy in Rome. He had met that afternoon
with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and, once
again, had opposed German demands for reforms. And then, in the
evening, he gave a speech in which he bemoaned, at length, the
demise of French as an international language. It sounded oddly
nostalgic, as if he somehow hoped to stop the global triumph of
English.

Both appearances in Rome had more in common than it would seem at
first glance. One of the reasons France is currently such a
difficult partner in Europe is that the country Hollande
represents is old-fashioned -- and hopelessly in love with the
idea of being old-fashioned. It lives in the past, and even when
it knows that it's in trouble, it refuses to change. ...

France's problem is that it can't decide whether it wants to be
part of the north or the south.

On the one hand, when it comes to economic power and political
clout, the country compares itself almost obsessively with
neighboring Germany. Its politicians leave little doubt as to
their conviction that they represent the most important country in
Europe. But at the same time, what France cherishes about itself
is its southern side. It sees itself as a Mediterranean country
and is proud of its way of life, an area in which it feels
superior to the Germans -- and the rest of the world.

Both sides of the French psyche are in full evidence in Paris,
where long lunches seem to be an essential part of doing
business. Some French employees are entitled to more than 40
vacation days a year. Conversely, many work longer days than their
German counterparts. And there is also an elite consciousness
among those at the top of society, which they have worked hard to
earn in management schools and top universities.

But in rural France, for example in villages in the Corrèze
department, the former constituency of President Hollande, there
is a world in which time seems to have stood still for
decades. France's old-fashionedness is both fascinating and
grounds for despair. This country sees no reason to conform to the
rest of the world, and it becomes stubborn when the rest of the
world wants it to do precisely that."
Der Spiegel

****
**** Norwegian tourist falls asleep on airport baggage belt
****



Officials spotted the tourist when they saw this X-ray image on the baggage belt. (La Repubblica)

A 36 year old Norwegian tourist at Rome's Fiumicino airport tried to
check in for a flight to Oslo, and found no one on duty. So he lay
down on the baggage belt and fell asleep. When the belt finally
started up, he didn't wake up, and reportedly traveled on the belt for
15 minutes before he was spotted on the X-ray monitors. Telegraph (London)

****
**** Multiple bombings create hundreds of casualties in Afghanistan
****


In one of the deadliest days of the year for Afghanistan civilians,
at least 39 people were killed and more than 100 injured in multiple
terrorist bombings up and down Afghanistan. There were nearly a dozen
would-be bombers, though all but three were arrested or killed before
the attack. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but
it's believed that the Taliban are responsible, and are showing their
power as the American and Nato forces plan their withdrawal in 2014.
LA Times

****
**** Egypt reopens Rafah border crossing with Gaza
****


The Rafah border crossing, that allows Palestinians and others to
travel freely back and forth between Gaza and Egypt's Sinai region,
was closed following the August 5 attack that killed 16 Egyptian
soldiers, but was reopened on Tuesday. According to one observer,
"The security in the Sinai is better than before. The army has
complete control of the streets in major areas and there seems to be
no tribal infighting." Daily News Egypt


KEYS: Generational Dynamics, France, Amiens, French Revolution,
Paris Commune, François Hollande, Spain, Mariano Rajoy,
Afghanistan, Taliban, Egypt, Rafah, Gaza,
Norwegian, Rome, Flumicino airport

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Post#30 at 08-15-2012 03:29 AM by Tussilago [at Gothenburg, Sweden joined Jan 2010 #posts 1,500]
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Quote Originally Posted by Gianthogweed View Post
Alright, then how would you measure it?
I'm not sure it can be done as whatever the truth is, it lies hidden under a pack ice of repression and lies and has since been murdered, eradicated and distorted many times over. After all, it was the Bolsheveiks who came up with the expression: "Political Correctness".

That said a few observations can be made:

* Around the turn of the century up to WWI, Russia goes through a similar period of unrest and radicalism as the rest of the European world, only more violent and catastrophic.

* The early Bolshevik and other radical leaders tended to be born in the 1870's, in other words, they belonged to the Russian branch of the Missionary generation. (Was this part of the reason why Franklin D. Roosevelt preferred them so much over the other kind of 20th century totalitarian dictatorships, which instead were dominated by the Lost?)

* The 1920's was full of desperate rebellions in the countryside against Soviet Bolshevik Missionary rule as well as a civil war. Those taking part on the "Green" and White sides have been swept away by history and executed as the rebellions were crushed, but would it be too adventureous to suggest that many of these rebels were in fact disaffected Russian Losts?

* When the Soviet Union emerged from the Stalinist nightmare in the 1950's, the culture adopted by elite and populace was one of expecting and getting to work on technocratically administered material progress, shiny space rockets and huge engineering projects, all cast in a draping of gleaming concrete modernism and teamwork. Was this the works of a hitherto muted Civic generation shining through?

* In the 60's and into the 70's, there was a noted undercurrent of defiance, disregard for the Soviet colossus and yearns for freedom, symbolized by the Samizdat culture. A muted Soviet Silent Boom Awakening?

* From the Brezhnev era in the 70's on, Soviet and East European Warsaw Pact countries were becoming increasingly unglued and dysfunctional. Finally in the 80's, during the second cold war period of gerontocracy, runaway military spending, production shortages and breadlines, the Soviet Union was starting to fall apart from within, a process accelerated through the attempts at reform by Gorbachev and culminating in the almost bloodless events of 1989-1991. Was this what a vast social and political revolution in an astoundingly feeble system of systematic hypocrasy looked like in a 3T Unraveling?

All this is tentative, but I think I can see a pattern emerging.
Last edited by Tussilago; 08-15-2012 at 04:33 AM.
INTP 1970 Core X







Post#31 at 08-15-2012 09:10 AM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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Quote Originally Posted by Tussilago View Post
> The early Bolshevik and other radical leaders tended to be born in
> the 1870's, in other words, they belonged to the Russian branch of
> the Missionary generation.
There was no Missionary generation in Russia. Russia's previous
crisis war was the Crimean War, climaxing in 1855 in enormous
humiliation for Russia. The generation born in the 1870s was a Nomad
generation, and if I were to give that generation a name, I would call
it the "Nihilistic Generation." Russia lost a couple of non-crisis
wars to the Ottomans and the Japanese, and the next crisis era began
with Bloody Sunday in 1905. Russia was involved in the Balkan wars and
WW I, and then finally the Bolshevik Revolution and the civil war
between Stalin and Trotsky were the next crisis wars.







Post#32 at 08-15-2012 11:22 AM by edifice [at Denver joined Aug 2012 #posts 46]
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I think the book and theories work well from an American or Anglo-American viewpoint. Once you move beyond this part of the world, things change with respect to turnings. I also think, at least as far as modern history is concerned, we need to step back and look at the larger picture: Every 500 years or so, power shifts from West to East, and then East to West. Right now, power is shifting again from West to East, as we see with the rise of the BRICS nations and the crumbling Dollar Standard. Perhaps to understand Russia (or any Eastern nation, for that matter) and turnings should take this shift of power into account?







Post#33 at 08-15-2012 12:06 PM by Justin '77 [at Meh. joined Sep 2001 #posts 12,182]
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Quote Originally Posted by The Grey Badger View Post
Justin'77 sure seems to be reporting a society at the tail end of its First Turning! I'd say the rise of Putin initiated it. But then, I wasn't there; let's ask Justin.
That's pretty much what I've seen. If anything, the Pussy Riot dealie is likely an early rumbling foreshadowing one of the fault-lines along which the upcoming (figure 5-7 years from now) Russian 2T is going to crack. In all likelihood, nothing will come of it; but it'll be remembered by the still-kids Prophet-gen.

It all continues to line up pretty damn well with what I came to guess, going back to the 4T that ended with Stalin's consolidation of power. Which all the 'broken cycle' and 'suppressed cycle' claims, as a contrast, very much do not.

---
-edit-
Oh yeah, and it's a mistake to look at "Warsaw Pact countries" as if they were a socio-generational bloc. The indicators are many, and long-standing, that the constituent parts that the Russian rulers glommed onto their empire weren't on the same cycle as Russia itself. It's possible they would have synched-up, given time. But apparently -- and unsurprisingly -- one saeculum isn't enough to do the trick.
Last edited by Justin '77; 08-15-2012 at 12:10 PM.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est que cela, la loi ? On peut donc être dehors. Je ne comprends pas. Quant à moi, suis-je dans la loi ? suis-je hors la loi ? Je n'en sais rien. Mourir de faim, est-ce être dans la loi ?" -- Tellmarch

"Человек не может снять с себя ответственности за свои поступки." - L. Tolstoy

"[it]
is no doubt obvious, the cult of the experts is both self-serving, for those who propound it, and fraudulent." - Noam Chomsky







Post#34 at 08-15-2012 01:00 PM by The Grey Badger [at Albuquerque, NM joined Sep 2001 #posts 8,876]
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Quote Originally Posted by The Rani View Post
You verge on being a BULLY. Bullies are actually very fearful people. I do hope that you can one day be at peace with yourself so that you don't continue to harass people.

Peace be with you!
Rani, I don't think you've been reading Xenakis' blog as regularly as I have, or you'd be a little easier on Odin's statement. There was one in which he traced a massive, nasty, world-wide 4T problem to exactly that - Evil Silent Generation Feminists who (1) made false claims of abuse against innocent husbands in order to (a) get alimony and (b) sleep with a long succession of men, and (2) neglected their children and left them open to abuse by said long succession and others, (3) causing Gen-Xers to be irrevocably damaged, which made them nihilistic, and hence unwilling to rat out the malefactors among them, (4) aided and abetted by greedy uncaring Boomers .... the entire thing was a polemic that makes the late Philip Wylie (GENERATION OF VIPERS) look like Mister Rogers by comparison. In many of his pronouncements, he has tarred us all with the same brush - same pavement roller, in fact - and made it clear he hates our bloody guts. Or why I answered that statement the way I did.

I do believe he makes a few allowances for the very rare exceptions among us -- but I can't swear to it.
How to spot a shill, by John Michael Greer: "What you watch for is (a) a brand new commenter who (b) has nothing to say about the topic under discussion but (c) trots out a smoothly written opinion piece that (d) hits all the standard talking points currently being used by a specific political or corporate interest, while (e) avoiding any other points anyone else has made on that subject."

"If the shoe fits..." The Grey Badger.







Post#35 at 08-15-2012 01:30 PM by Odin [at Moorhead, MN, USA joined Sep 2006 #posts 14,442]
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Quote Originally Posted by The Rani View Post
You verge on being a BULLY. Bullies are actually very fearful people. I do hope that you can one day be at peace with yourself so that you don't continue to harass people.

Peace be with you!
And you, ma'am, verge on being Passive-Agressive.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism







Post#36 at 08-15-2012 01:32 PM by Odin [at Moorhead, MN, USA joined Sep 2006 #posts 14,442]
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Quote Originally Posted by The Grey Badger View Post
Rani, I don't think you've been reading Xenakis' blog as regularly as I have, or you'd be a little easier on Odin's statement. There was one in which he traced a massive, nasty, world-wide 4T problem to exactly that - Evil Silent Generation Feminists who (1) made false claims of abuse against innocent husbands in order to (a) get alimony and (b) sleep with a long succession of men, and (2) neglected their children and left them open to abuse by said long succession and others, (3) causing Gen-Xers to be irrevocably damaged, which made them nihilistic, and hence unwilling to rat out the malefactors among them, (4) aided and abetted by greedy uncaring Boomers .... the entire thing was a polemic that makes the late Philip Wylie (GENERATION OF VIPERS) look like Mister Rogers by comparison. In many of his pronouncements, he has tarred us all with the same brush - same pavement roller, in fact - and made it clear he hates our bloody guts. Or why I answered that statement the way I did.

I do believe he makes a few allowances for the very rare exceptions among us -- but I can't swear to it.
I'm surprised that Xenakis is able to show himself with a straight face here again after Sean Love/Zarathustra just destroyed his arguments a few years ago.
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism







Post#37 at 08-15-2012 01:34 PM by Brian Beecher [at Downers Grove, IL joined Sep 2001 #posts 2,937]
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Quote Originally Posted by Odin View Post
And you, ma'am, verge on being Passive-Agressive.
I'm not sure what this means, but I guess some people can be passive and agressive at the same time. Perhaps this is part of the meaning of what is often termed bi-polar disorder. Such folks when in passive mode can be wary of anyone who crosses their path, while in aggressive mode are eager to take on all comers.







Post#38 at 08-15-2012 01:44 PM by Odin [at Moorhead, MN, USA joined Sep 2006 #posts 14,442]
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Quote Originally Posted by Brian Beecher View Post
I'm not sure what this means, but I guess some people can be passive and agressive at the same time. Perhaps this is part of the meaning of what is often termed bi-polar disorder. Such folks when in passive mode can be wary of anyone who crosses their path, while in aggressive mode are eager to take on all comers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive...ssive_behavior
To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism







Post#39 at 08-15-2012 10:40 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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16-Aug-12 World View -- Sunni Arab countries urge their citizens to leave Lebanon

*** 16-Aug-12 World View -- Sunni Arab countries urge their citizens to leave Lebanon

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • Sectarian tensions grow as Shias in Lebanon kidnap Sunni Syrians
  • Sunni Arab countries urge their citizens to leave Lebanon
  • Reporters witness Assad regime bombing of women and children
  • Anniversary of Japanese surrender triggers heightened tensions with Korea
  • China protests detention of citizens by Japanese on disputed islands


****
**** Sectarian tensions grow as Shias in Lebanon kidnap Sunni Syrians
****



The al-Meqdad clan (Reuters)

Sectarian tensions throughout the Mideast took a big jump on
Wednesday, when the al-Meqdad clan of Lebanon, described as a Shia
Muslim family with a military wing, kidnapped more than 20 people in
retaliation for the kidnapping on Monday of family member Hassan
al-Meqdad. A Syrian rebel group had taken credit for the kidnapping
of Hassan, accusing him of being a sniper and a member of the Lebanese
Shia group Hizbollah. The 20 kidnapped people were presumably Sunni
and of the Free Syrian Army. There was one Turk, with the rest
Syrian. Al-Jazeera and Naharnet (Lebanon)

****
**** Sunni Arab countries urge their citizens to leave Lebanon
****


The string of kidnappings led four Sunni Arab countries -- Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Kuwait -- to urge
their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately. A UAE foreign ministry
official said it issued its alert after the embassy "received
information about UAE nationals being targeted and because of the
difficult and sensitive circumstances in Lebanon." BBC and
Guardian

As I've written many times, both Syria and Lebanon are in generational
Awakening eras, and so a crisis civil war in either country is
impossible at this time, despite the warnings of various politicians
and experts. However, much of the rest of the Mideast is in a
generational Crisis era, and the real danger is that the sectarian
violence in Syria will trigger a war throughout the region. Saudi
Arabia is becoming increasingly nationalistic and sectarian. For all
practical purposes, it has annexed Bahrain, where a Sunni minority is
brutally governing a very large Shia majority, and Shia populations
in eastern Saudi Arabia itself are becoming increasingly restive. As
usual, Israel serves as an energizing factor, but the conflict in
Syria is seems to have overtaken Israel as a factor in mobilizing
riots and demonstrations. Generational Dynamics predicts that
there'll be a new war in the Mideast, re-fighting the war between Jews
and Arabs that following the 1948 partitioning of Palestine and the
creation of the state of Israel.

****
**** Reporters witness Assad regime bombing of women and children
****


Reporters from AP, VOA, Fox News and other media all witnessed the
systematic bombing of civilian neighborhoods in the town of Azaz in
Syria on Wednesday by fighter jets from the military forces of the
Bashar al-Assad regime. Anti-Assad activists have been claiming that
Assad's military purposely targets civilians instead of Free Syrian
Army forces, and Wednesday events appeared to support that claim. The
bombs targeted a poor residential neighborhood with no rebel bases.
The UN Human Rights Council said Wednesday that war crimes have been
committed on both sides, but that the greatest responsibility lay with
the al-Assad regime. AP

****
**** Anniversary of Japanese surrender triggers heightened tensions with Korea
****


Wednesday was the 67th anniversary of the end of World War II, and
South Korea's president Lee Myung Bak angered the Japanese by using
the occasion to ask the Japanese to provide compensation to surviving
South Korean "comfort women" who were captured and used for sex during
the war. He also asked Emperor Akihito to apologize for Japan's
treatment of Koreans during the period 1905-45, when Korea was a
colony of Japan. In return, the Japanese angered the Koreans when two
Japanese Cabinet ministers visited the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo. The
shrine honors Japan's war dead, including those now branded as war
criminals. LA Times

****
**** China protests detention of citizens by Japanese on disputed islands
****


There were several new incidents related to disputed islands in the
Pacific on Wednesday, including one where South Korean rock star Kim
Jang-hoon swam to an island whose sovereignty is disputed between
Korea and Japan. However, the event with the most potential for
increased tension was the detention of five Chinese nationals on
islands claimed by both China and Japan. China's Foreign Ministry has
lodged a formal protest with the Japanese. Yonhap (Seoul) and Xinhua

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Lebanon, Syria, al-Meqdad clan, Hassan al-Meqdad,
Hizbollah, Free Syrian Army, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Israel, Palestine, Bashar al-Assad, Azaz, UN Human Rights Council,
Lee Myung Bak, South Korea, Japan, Emperor Akihito, Yasukuni shrine,
China

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Post#40 at 08-16-2012 10:58 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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17-Aug-12 World View -- Angela Merkel praises Canada for not 'living on borrowed mone

*** 17-Aug-12 World View -- Angela Merkel praises Canada for not 'living on borrowed money'

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • Angela Merkel praises Canada for not 'living on borrowed money'
  • Greece postpones request for extension of austerity requirements
  • Spain's debt spiral accelerates at high speed
  • In ironic twist, Assad's planes kill ally's kidnap victims


****
**** Angela Merkel praises Canada for not 'living on borrowed money'
****



Angela Merkel and Stephen Harper (AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a trip to Ottawa to meet with
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said that Germany intends to
do "everything we can to maintain" the euro. She renewed her call for
fiscal discipline by praising Canada for not "living on borrowed
money" and saying it should serve as a model for Europe. Almost
everyone in Europe is on vacation right now, but the next major event
on the euro timeline is expected to occur on September 12, when
Germany's Verfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) will issue
a verdict on whether the euro zone rescue plan for Spain and other
countries is legal under European treaties and the German
constitution. AP and Bloomberg

****
**** Greece postpones request for extension of austerity requirements
****


News reports have been swirling with rumors that Greece's prime
minister Antonis Samaras plans to ask for a two-year extension on
meeting austerity requires imposed by the EU and the IMF in return for
its third bailout package. However, no sooner did the swirling start,
but it became clear that European leaders are very hostile to the idea
of giving Greece any more time, especially since the extension would
have to be funded by an additional 20 billion euros in bailout funds.
Austria's foreign minister, for example, said Thursday that "We need
to create ways to be able to eject someone from the eurozone,"
referring to Greece. And so Samaras has decided to postpone his
extension request until an EU leaders' summit scheduled for October
8-9. Kathimerini

****
**** Spain's debt spiral accelerates at high speed
****



ECB lending to Spain's financial institutions (FTA)

It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Spanish financial
sector is having to increasingly rely on loans from the European
Central Bank (ECB). However, analysts are surprised that the
borrowing is accelerating very rapidly. FT Alphaville

****
**** In ironic twist, Assad's planes kill ally's kidnap victims
****


In the welter of conflicting stories about various types of atrocities
in Syria, readers may recall that in May, Syrian opposition fighters
kidnapped a busload of Shia Lebanese citizens as they traveled back to
Lebanon from a religious pilgrimage to Iran. (From June: Hezbollah leader Nasrallah's defiant threat to Syrian kidnappers backfires
) All but 11 of the kidnap victims
were freed in May, but the fate of the 11 remaining has been in
question. Iran, of course, is a close ally of Syria's leader Bashar
al-Assad, whose army launched a bloody bombing assault on residential
neighborhoods of Azaz, as we reported
yesterday. Now, Abu Ibrahim, head of a Syrian opposition
militia, says that the 11 were being held in Azaz, and that they were
the victims of al-Assad's bombs:

"Four Lebanese were killed. The other seven are in
critical condition as a result of the severe bombardment. [Syrian
President’s] Bashar Assad’s warplanes bombarded the buildings and
medical centers in Azaz."
If the claims are true, it would be ironic if al-Assads warplanes
killed his own Shia allies, when all he really wanted to do was
exterminate a few Sunni women and children. Daily Star (Beirut)


KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Germany, Angela Merkel, Canada, Stephen Harper,
Greece, Antonis Samaras, Spain, Syria, Bashar al-Assad,
Azaz, Hezbollah, Iran

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Post#41 at 08-17-2012 10:39 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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18-Aug-12 World View -- Lakhdar Brahimi to replace Kofi Annan as Syria peace envoy

*** 18-Aug-12 World View -- Lakhdar Brahimi to replace Kofi Annan as Syria peace envoy

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • Lakhdar Brahimi to replace Kofi Annan as Syria peace envoy
  • Arrest of minister in Lebanon may signal weakening power of Hizbollah
  • For one brief, shining Olympic moment, Russians loved North Caucasians
  • Relations between South Korea and Japan at rock bottom


****
**** Lakhdar Brahimi to replace Kofi Annan as Syria peace envoy
****



Lakhdar Brahimi (AFP)

The United Nations announced on Friday that 78 year old Algerian
diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will become the international envoy on the
Syria conflict, representing the United Nations and the Arab League,
replacing Kofi Annan. On the day that Annan announced his six-point
peace plan, I wrote that it was "farcical," and this has turned out to
be an understatement. In fact, Annan's tenure as peace envoy has
actually made the situation worse, by providing cover for Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad to continue his slaughter of civilian
Sunnis, and cover for the Russians and Iranians to make sanctimonious
statements while they support al-Assad's bloody slaughter.

What I found most interesting were some of the things that I heard
Brahimi say during a couple of live interviews with him that I heard
on Friday. When asked why he took the job after Annan's failure, he
said, "I'll just repeat what Kofi Annan said -- that I must be as
crazy as he is." In fact, Brahimi's statements had a very different
tone than Annan's. Whereas Annan sounds pathetic and dishonest,
Brahimi sounds realistic and truthful, at least so far.

He said that he took the job after promises by Security Council
members that they would support him -- where they hadn't supported
Annan. Unless this was just weasel words, then the only thing that
this can mean is that the Russians are willing to agree to a Security
Council resolution that at least partially condemns al-Assad. We'll
see.

The only thing that I heard Brahimi say that was truly crazy was when
he was asked where there was still a role for diplomacy in stopping
the Syrian conflict. As best as I can remember, he said, "Of course
diplomacy will play a role. Diplomacy is essential. No war can end
without a round of diplomacy."

That makes about as much sense as saying that no book can end without
a back cover. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics,
politicians do not determine the great events of history. Events are
determined by masses of people, generations of people. Politicians
have nothing to do with it, except insofar as their policies reflect
the will of the masses of people. Wars don't end because some
diplomat like Brahimi comes in and chats with everyone. That's
ridiculous, but it appears to be what Brahimi believes. Wars end when
the people are ready for them to end. Syria has not yet reached that
point, but with political support for al-Assad continuing to crumble,
that point may be reached soon. And then Brahimi can take all the
credit. AFP

****
**** Arrest of minister in Lebanon may signal weakening power of Hizbollah
****


A seemingly insignificant arrest in Lebanon could indicate an
important change in mood. Former minister Michel Samaha, a friend of
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, has been arrested for participating
in a plot, hatched by al-Assad, to destabilize Lebanon through a
series of bomb blasts. Not long ago, such an arrest could not have
occurred because Lebanon's government feared the power of Syria and
Hizbollah. But now, the Lebanese are losing their fear of Syria, and
Hizbollah, which is both a political party and a terrorist group in
Lebanon, is keeping quiet. Reuters

****
**** For one brief, shining Olympic moment, Russians loved North Caucasians
****



Freestyle wrestling gold medal winner Jamal Otarsultanov (geo.tv)

The mutual xenophobia between (Orthodox Christian) ethnic Russians and
(Muslim) citizens of Russia's southern (North Caucasian) provinces has
been growing in recent years, but it abated for a while during the
London Olympics, when the North Caucasians became the first to win
gold medals for the Russian team, and ended up winning 20 Olympic
medals, including five gold medals, for Russia. For a brief while,
Russians loved their North Caucasian fellow citizens, but once the
Olympic games ended, Russians returned to such slogans as, "No More
Feeding the Caucasus." =39785&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=837187b85d57f52d12c3247b660796a7]Jamestown

****
**** Relations between South Korea and Japan at rock bottom
****


Recent territorial conflicts over islands disputed between Japan and
South Korea have become more contentious, and are now crossing over
into policies on economic cooperation. The Japanese, who are
particularly offended by criticisms of Japan's Emperor Akihito by
South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, have canceled a bilateral
finance ministers' meeting, and are withdrawing planned support for
South Korea in its bid for election as a nonpermanent member of the
United Nations Security Council for 2013-2014. The Hankyoreh (Seoul)


KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Lakhdar Brahimi, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria,
Kofi Annan, Bashar al-Assad, Security Council, Hizbollah,
Michel Samaha, North Caucasus, Russia, North Korea, Japan

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Post#42 at 08-18-2012 04:39 AM by Tussilago [at Gothenburg, Sweden joined Jan 2010 #posts 1,500]
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Quote Originally Posted by John J. Xenakis View Post
There was no Missionary generation in Russia. Russia's previous
crisis war was the Crimean War, climaxing in 1855 in enormous
humiliation for Russia.
Humiliation for whom? The tzarist court or the Russian people? Because the defeat in the Crimean War so clearly showed the weaknesses of a backward nation militarily, it also led to the abolishment of serfdom and a period of budding capitalist entrepreneurship, introducing foreign capital and the industrial revolution to Russia. In other words, the development was more or less aligning the empire to the general trend in European civilization at the time, which post 1848 was one of free market industrial development and a massive growth of the economy. Bruised old radicals were putting their youthful idealism on the shelf and engaged in a ruthless capitalist adventurism, initially kicked off by the gold lode discovery in California in 1849. If anything the period mostly resembles a 3T, of which now also Russia was made part.


The generation born in the 1870s was a Nomad
generation, and if I were to give that generation a name, I would call
it the "Nihilistic Generation."
Why? Been reading Dostoyevsky a lot lately?

Look, if you have a generation of radicals all over the civilized world occupied by essentially the same causes during the decades around the turn of the century, i.e the social question, the labour movement, feminism and democracy, why would that generation be ontologically different in Russia? Isn't it apparent the Russian radicals, including the Bolsheviks, were part of the same general Awakening Turning mood and Idealist generational identity ("Missionary") as in the rest of the world? Besides, Reactives never try to reach for Utopia, especially not in an economically prosperous climate (which in Russia of course disintegrated following the social unrest of 1905, the catastrophic showing and chaos generated by WWI and finally the Bolshevik takeover). They are too busy following individual life trajectories or trying to enrich themselves at the expense of their peers.

I would suggest that what we saw in Russia is what can happen if the most violent terrorist fringe of an Idealist generation actually succeeds in taking over political control (not by slowly infesting and infiltrating the culture and society's institutions, but by violence, toppling a feeble power structure). Everything in the Bolshevik psyche points to this: the Marxist ideology of suspicion which made everyone a potential "class enemy" and created a climate of runaway paranoia, the dogmatic idiocy and puritanistic adherence to doctrine - which resulted in massacres of protesting workers within a year of the October Revolution (the supposed heroes and beneficiares of the party) - the missionary zeal in attempting to convert the whole world to ones only true ideals - in sum, the addiction to political correcteness, defined as when reality does not conform the idealist map, you follow the map.

In turn, the frightful example (to some) of the Russian Revolution likely contributed to the 20's 3T mood abroad (not negating that this mood might also have been settling since the 00's or early 10's for other reasons).
Last edited by Tussilago; 08-18-2012 at 02:59 PM.
INTP 1970 Core X







Post#43 at 08-18-2012 09:21 AM by Tussilago [at Gothenburg, Sweden joined Jan 2010 #posts 1,500]
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Quote Originally Posted by edifice View Post
I think the book and theories work well from an American or Anglo-American viewpoint. Once you move beyond this part of the world, things change with respect to turnings.
It's either that, a peculiar American or at most Anglo-American thing with no relevance outside that special sphere of recurring Puritan blossomings, or cultural mood shifts (Turnings) are civilization wide phenomena that may be modified to a larger or smaller extent by local conditions. That is, they ought to be civilization based as far as various regions of a civilization communicate and are influenced by the ideas, fads and social trends of the others, and are affected by a shared historical experience. What I cannot accept is the idea that all countries for some reason would keep their own little cycle seperated from all the others, and not only that, that it would for some reason follow the exact same sequence of generational types and Turnings in the same order, only set to different timetables!

There is basically no reason to believe in such a thing, which would be a very weird mix of complete national exclusivity and of total human universality. What countries can do as far as certain events do stop at the national border, is dropping into and out of the cycle at various times, or to a lesser or greater degree conform to an ideal type of the cycle in question. This naturally also implies that the United States does not exist in a cultural vacuum, but is part of and subject to the larger Euro-American civilization of Christendom.

Cultures do not halt at national boundaries, they halt when they come upon a completely different culture with which they have essentially nothing in common, due to operating from different core myths and primal assumptions.
Last edited by Tussilago; 08-18-2012 at 09:56 AM.
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Post#44 at 08-18-2012 09:49 AM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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The generation born in the 1870s was a Nomad generation, and
if I were to give that generation a name, I would call it the
"Nihilistic Generation."
Quote Originally Posted by Tussilago
Why? Been reading Dostoyevsky a lot lately?

Look, if you have a generation of radicals all over the civilized
world occupied by essentially the same causes during the decades
around the turn of the century, i.e the social question, the labour
movement, feminism and democracy, why would that generation be
ontologically different in Russia? Isn't it apparent the Russian
radicals, including the Bolsheviks, were part of the same general
Awakening Turning mood and Idealist generational identity
("Missionary") as in the rest of the world?
Some care has to be taken when making inferences from a word like
"Idealist." After all, Abraham Lincoln, FDR and Hitler were all
"idealists" in their own way. Osama bin Laden was an "idealist".
Every crisis and non-crisis war has to be justified politically, and
that always requires some idealistic concepts. In order to evaluate a
war, it's necessary to evaluate a longer history and the entire
constellation of generations.

Bolshevik Revolution nihilism:
http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1917_276.html







Post#45 at 08-18-2012 02:18 PM by JDG 66 [at joined Aug 2010 #posts 2,116]
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Quote Originally Posted by Tussilago View Post
Sorry, but this sounds like complete nonsense. The Depression and WWII Crisis in the US was absolutely nothing in comparison to the society wide breakdown and chaos during the utter tyranny of Lenin and Stalin.
-The two are not mutually exclusive.
Quote Originally Posted by Odin View Post
...Folks like Xenakis make the mistake of equating devastating wars with 4Ts.
-The two usually coincide. But they could also fit into a 2T, particularly a civil war.

Quote Originally Posted by Odin View Post
Justin77 lived in Russia for several years and according to him it's been in a 1T since Putin took power. He's been there, I trust his judgment...
-I read something by Pleshkov (who is Russian), Stalin's Folly, which was mostly about 1941, but he spends some time on the genrations post-WWII. His description of their "Great Patriotic War" actually reminded me of S&H's description of the post-ACW "Progressive" generation. I don't entirely agree with S&H's description there, put, FWIW.

Quote Originally Posted by John J. Xenakis View Post
There was no Missionary generation in Russia. Russia's previous crisis war was the Crimean War, climaxing in 1855 in enormous
humiliation for Russia...
-I'll agree that Russia was humiliated, but 4TCW's typical involve a massive effort by the government and society to win, even if the price is high. Instead, enemy troops landed in the Crimea and besieged Sevastopol, which ended in an evacuation. There were other, less noted actions in the Black Sea and the Baltic, but I really don't see any eveidence of a "backs to the wall" effort on Russia's part. Compare that to the reaction in 1812-1814.
Last edited by JDG 66; 08-18-2012 at 02:24 PM.







Post#46 at 08-18-2012 10:03 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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19-Aug-12 World View -- BBC's Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank

*** 19-Aug-12 World View -- BBC's Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • South Africa racial tensions revived with bloody mine workers confrontation
  • BBC's Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank
  • Japanese officials to visit disputed islands after 'stunt' by Chinese activists
  • China protests visit by Japanese nationalists to disputed islands


****
**** South Africa racial tensions revived with bloody mine workers confrontation
****



A policeman fires at protesting miners in South Africa on Thursday (Reuters)

At least 34 people were killed, 78 injured and over 200 people
arrested on Thursday in a confrontation between police using live
ammunition and protesting mine workers at the Lonmin Marikana platinum
mine in South Africa. Two of the dead are policemen, and police
claimed that they were defending themselves from striking miners who
were carrying sticks and machetes. The entire country is shocked by
the incident, because it recalls the "Sharpeville Massacre" of March
21, 1960, when white policemen fired at a crowd of black protesters,
killing 69.

Thursday's incident does not involve white vs black violence, but it
involves racial violence nonetheless. The strike was called by the
rock drillers, who earn the lowest pay (about $500 per month) and
perform the hardest and most dangerous job, and who are mostly from
the Basotho tribe, immigrants from the country Lesotho. The better
paying and safer jobs are done by groups from the elite Xhosa tribe.
The rock drillers are asking that their pay be tripled, to around
$1500 per month. Independent Online (Cape Town) and BBC

****
**** BBC's Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank
****


This is from the blog of BBC commentator Humphrey Hawksley:

"I have just looked too closely into a regularly
renewed household insurance policy run by HSBC and uncovered an
underbelly of the life of a British consumer.

The premium was increased by 100 per cent without notice or
explanation. The policy which I thought was with HSBC had been
outsourced to Premium Scanner which had re-outsourced it to BDML
which is owned by Capita. The insurance company is Prestige which
on the Internet has a telephone number in Spain. A premium charge
is made on the 0845 number which begins with a lengthy rambling
message. But this is not stated and the staff do not know what the
charge is. In my first call to an rival insurance company, I was
quoted less than half the HSBC premium for twice as much
cover. HSBC claims to ‘search the most competitive price from our
panel of insurers.’

In two hours of household admin this morning, I have found
hundreds of pounds in small bills here and there that are being
wrongly charged."
As we reported in July, HSBC
Holdings is the largest bank in Europe, and has admitted to criminal
money-laundering. In today's society, where fraud and extortion are
rampant, it pays to check everything. Humphrey Hawksley

****
**** China protests visit by Japanese nationalists to disputed islands
****


A flotilla of 20 ships carrying about 150 Japanese nationalists and
eight lawmakers arrived Sunday on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, whose
sovereignty is claimed by both China and Japan. The flotilla visit
comes just days after Japan's coast guard arrested, and then released,
a group of 15 Chinese activists from Hong Kong who visited the same
islands to establish China's sovereignty. China issued a strong
protest about the visit on Saturday. The flotilla visit was sponsored
by Tokyo's Metropolitan Government and not approved by the Japanese
government. Some of the Japanese nationalists plan to fish in the
disputed waters to try to catch their breakfast. Reuters and Xinhua and Asahi (Tokyo)

Although China appears to be using its vast military power to enforce
claims against practically everything in the Pacific Ocean and central
Asia, there is quite a big difference between the status of the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea and the Paracel and
Spratly islands in the South China Sea. As we've reported, China has
established "Sansha City" in the South China Sea, along with a
military force that apparently plans to kill anyone that challenges
China's claims to the entire South China Sea. But China can't really
do something similar with the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. The reason is
that, in 2010, Hillary Clinton reaffirmed that the Senkaku/Diaoyu are
considered Japanese territory under the mutual defense treaty that the
United States and Japan signed in 1960. Thus, the Senkaku/Diaoyu
islands have the same status as Taiwan. China claims both as their
sovereign territory, and we're obligated to go to war with China to
defend either of them.

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, South Africa, Lonmin Marikana,
Sharpeville Massacre, Lesotho, Basotho, Xhosa,
BBC, Humphrey Hawksley, HSBC Holdings,
China, Japan, Senkaku, Diaoyu, East China Sea,
South China Sea, Paracel, Spratly, Sansha City

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Post#47 at 08-19-2012 11:04 PM by John J. Xenakis [at Cambridge, MA joined May 2003 #posts 4,012]
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20-Aug-12 World View -- Anti-Japanese nationalist riots erupt in cities across China

*** 20-Aug-12 World View -- Anti-Japanese nationalist riots erupt in cities across China

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • Anti-Japanese nationalist riots erupt in cities across China
  • California hopes to stop bankruptcies by anticipating bankruptcy
  • Real-money bets on poker, slots and other Vegas games coming to iPhones
  • Credibly charged serial rapist Julian Assange gains worldwide support as U.S. victim
  • Finance Minister says debt crisis can't become 'bottomless pit' for Germany
  • Turkey becomes overwhelmed with refugees from Syria


****
**** Anti-Japanese nationalist riots erupt in cities across China
****



Members of Japanese nationalist group land on Senkaku island and plant flag on Sunday morning (Kyodo)

Thousands of anti-Japanese protesters took to the streets in cities
across China on Sunday, demanding that Japan concede sovereignty of
the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands to China. In Shenzhen, protesters
vandalized and overturned Japanese cars and attacked Japanese
restaurants. Some used bare fists to smash in the windows of a white
Honda Chinese police car as others rocked and pushed the car over to
jubilant cheers. Others stomped on the overturned vehicles, screaming
and waving the Chinese flag. Police arrested several protesters in
Shenzhen after the demonstrations. The protests came after Japanese
nationalist activists aboard a flotilla of 20 ships sailed to the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, arriving Sunday morning, in order to establish
Japanese sovereignty. China's Foreign Ministry is condemning the
visit to its "sovereign territory." Reuters and Xinhua

****
**** California hopes to stop bankruptcies by anticipating bankruptcy
****


California cities Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes have all
declared bankruptcy in the last seven weeks, and Moody's Investors
Service issued a report on Friday saying that a number of additional
cities are approaching default. California's cities are particularly
vulnerable because a very large real estate bubble is bursting,
because huge benefits to retired union workers were granted during the
bubble years, and because Governor Jerry Brown last year cut state aid
to cities. California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has announced that he's
exploring a "new system" for identifying financially stressed cities
and to take steps to keep them from going bankrupt, presumably by
allowing them to raise taxes as much as necessary. Bloomberg and Reuters

****
**** Real-money bets on poker, slots and other Vegas games coming to iPhones
****


Game developers are building digital versions of Las Vegas casinos as
users of smartphones and tablets wagered $20 billion in real money on
slots, poker and other games of chance last year. Online gambling is
legal in the U.K., and game developers hope to make the internet
casino games available to Americans one way or another, either legally
or illegally. Bloomberg

****
**** Credibly charged serial rapist Julian Assange gains worldwide support as U.S. victim
****



Alleged serial rapist Jullian Assange pokes his head out of London's Ecuador
embassy on Sunday to give a speech. If he leaves the embassy, he gets arrested. (AP)


Once again, we're watching the spectacle of feminist and left-wing
political groups supporting an alleged serial rapist, Julian Assange,
as he uses anti-U.S. sentiments to escape being questioned in Sweden
over credible charges that he raped two women.

This was the biggest such spectacle since Democrats paid millions of
dollars to NOW to support President Bill Clinton after he'd been
credibly charged as a violent serial rapist in 1999. What was
particularly poignant was watching Democratic operative Susan Estrich,
herself a rape victim who had crusaded for twenty years for the
protection and support of rape victims, to sell herself out as a woman
and rape victim to give full-throated support to alleged rapist
Clinton. And these were the same feminists who, just a few years
earlier, pilloried Clarence Thomas for the "crime" of having asked
someone out on a date. But feminists throwing rape victims under the
bus is nothing compared to how feminists threw their own children
under the bus in the 1980s. Every feminist policy was geared towards
financially rewarding mothers who practiced the most debauched and
destructive behaviors. Gen-X kids in the 80s usually had no "father"
except for a string of men in their mothers' beds. The kids didn't
read feminist press releases, and so they knew that their mothers were
lying about violence to get rid of their real fathers and to get as
much money as possible. When they grew up, they created and sold tens
of trillions of dollars in intentionally fraudulent synthetic
securities, creating the global financial crisis which today is far
from over. Gen-X kids learned from the masters, their mothers, how to
get rewarded for the worst debauched family behavior, and they grew up
and proceeded to get rewarded for the worst debauched fraudulent
financial behavior.

The Swedes are furious that they're being lectured to by Ecuador, a
country with a history of kangaroo courts and jailing journalists. So
what should the Swedes do if they want to bring the alleged serial
rapist to justice? My suggestion is this: The Swedes should make a
big monetary donation to feminist organizations in Ecuador in return
for pressuring the government to turn Assange over to Sweden to answer
for the rape charges. Feminists don't hesitate to throw rape victims
and children under the bus for money, so they certainly won't hesitate
to do the same for Assange. And who knows? Maybe there'll be some
justice for some Swedish serial rape victims as a result.
Wired and Washington Post (1999) and Committee to Protect Journalism and The Local (Sweden)

****
**** Finance Minister says debt crisis can't become 'bottomless pit' for Germany
****


Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble ruled out another aid
package for Greece, saying, "It can’t be helped -- we can’t make yet
another new program. There are limits." This would seem to close the
door to Greece's coming requests for a 2-year extension on its
austerity program, which require an additional aid package of at least
20 billion euros. According to Schäuble, the sovereign-debt crisis
mustn’t become a “bottomless pit” for Germany, even though it's
Germany that would pay the highest price for a breakup of the euro
region. Bloomberg

****
**** Turkey becomes overwhelmed with refugees from Syria
****


Turkey is setting up four new refugee camps to cope with the sharp
increase in recent weeks in the number of Syrians fleeing to Turkey.
There are now 70,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, with a cost of caring
for them now at $167 million. More than 170,000 Syrian refugees have
been registered in neighboring countries - Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and
Turkey. Some 1.2 million people are uprooted within Syria, many
staying in schools or other public buildings. Zaman (Istanbul) / Reuters


KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Japan, China, Shenzhen, Senkaku, Diaoyu,
California, Stockton, San Bernardino, Mammoth Lakes,
Moody's, Jerry Brown, Billl Lockyer, Las Vegas,
Julian Assange, Sweden, Ecuador,
Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, Greece,
Turkey, Syria

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Post#48 at 08-20-2012 12:04 PM by Justin '77 [at Meh. joined Sep 2001 #posts 12,182]
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Quote Originally Posted by John J. Xenakis View Post
**** Credibly charged serial rapist Julian Assange gains worldwide support as U.S. victim
You need to find yersself a better source, bud. Assange hasn't been charged with anything -- the Swedes claim to want him for [a second round of] "questioning" [to follow the first round, which occurred some time ago in Sweden], although their refusal to engage in questioning of him on the grounds of the Metro Police in London, on the grounds of the Ecuadorian embassy, and pretty much everywhere else offered to them makes even that excuse seem a bit shaky.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est que cela, la loi ? On peut donc être dehors. Je ne comprends pas. Quant à moi, suis-je dans la loi ? suis-je hors la loi ? Je n'en sais rien. Mourir de faim, est-ce être dans la loi ?" -- Tellmarch

"Человек не может снять с себя ответственности за свои поступки." - L. Tolstoy

"[it]
is no doubt obvious, the cult of the experts is both self-serving, for those who propound it, and fraudulent." - Noam Chomsky







Post#49 at 08-20-2012 03:41 PM by TimWalker [at joined May 2007 #posts 6,371]
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"Sansha" described.







Post#50 at 08-20-2012 03:46 PM by TimWalker [at joined May 2007 #posts 6,371]
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Senkaku islands dispute.
Last edited by TimWalker; 08-20-2012 at 03:49 PM.
-----------------------------------------