Last evening when walking the dogs in the neighborhood, I had a pleasant conversation with a neighbor. We agreed to disagree. As a daily reader of the NT Times he knows that Russia is an evil empire and that China is a bigger threat to the US. He also thinks Gaza is a disaster and Netanyahu is a disaster and should be removed.
He is a retired, high level academic who has a French Jewish background.
We have different cosmologies.
It is so frustrating for me not to be able, in the midst of a conversation to make arguments that will nudge him a bit to understanding Russia. He knows with certainty that "People in Russia are not free."
Well, if the Modern world, USA and Europe, have been plundering "the other" for a few centuries, they seem to be unable to understand when "the other" no longer tolerates their "rules." And even fight back . The USA and Europe have to be forced to learn that "security" as a justification for plunder no longer works.
Like the Evangelicals whose beliefs are carved in stone that no acid can remove, people like your acquaintance refuse to be moved by facts and reason. For example, this will see the light of day later and comes from today's Meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects and State Council Commissions on Socioeconomic Development:
Putin: "As you know, on May 7, the President of Russia signed a decree on national development goals – on our most important long-term priorities, on the fundamental tasks facing society and the state.
"First of all, we are constantly talking about saving the people, improving the health of people and improving the well-being of Russian families, creating new opportunities for everyone to maximize their abilities and talents and achieve success, creating a comfortable and safe living environment, and improving the environmental situation in cities and settlements."
Yes, Russians are being dragged by the scruff of their hair kicking and screaming into a new and vastly improved Russia, much of it designed by their own hand. The meeting of Regions during the state visit to Uzbekistan was loaded with signs of what's to come development-wise and must be held in the back of the mind when reading the rest of Putin's remarks today.
It's not just the cosmologies that differ; it's the sources of information and their credibility that's paramount, IMO.
Thanks so much, Karl, for discovering and republishing another Putin pièce de résistance. As a Canadian, being tormented incessantly by our emperor Justinian's - and his fawning courtiers - vapid, vacuous drivel, I relish Putin's lucid, rational, eloquent discourses. They're a real balm for my frustrations.
Last evening when walking the dogs in the neighborhood, I had a pleasant conversation with a neighbor. We agreed to disagree. As a daily reader of the NT Times he knows that Russia is an evil empire and that China is a bigger threat to the US. He also thinks Gaza is a disaster and Netanyahu is a disaster and should be removed.
He is a retired, high level academic who has a French Jewish background.
We have different cosmologies.
It is so frustrating for me not to be able, in the midst of a conversation to make arguments that will nudge him a bit to understanding Russia. He knows with certainty that "People in Russia are not free."
Well, if the Modern world, USA and Europe, have been plundering "the other" for a few centuries, they seem to be unable to understand when "the other" no longer tolerates their "rules." And even fight back . The USA and Europe have to be forced to learn that "security" as a justification for plunder no longer works.
Like the Evangelicals whose beliefs are carved in stone that no acid can remove, people like your acquaintance refuse to be moved by facts and reason. For example, this will see the light of day later and comes from today's Meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects and State Council Commissions on Socioeconomic Development:
Putin: "As you know, on May 7, the President of Russia signed a decree on national development goals – on our most important long-term priorities, on the fundamental tasks facing society and the state.
"First of all, we are constantly talking about saving the people, improving the health of people and improving the well-being of Russian families, creating new opportunities for everyone to maximize their abilities and talents and achieve success, creating a comfortable and safe living environment, and improving the environmental situation in cities and settlements."
Yes, Russians are being dragged by the scruff of their hair kicking and screaming into a new and vastly improved Russia, much of it designed by their own hand. The meeting of Regions during the state visit to Uzbekistan was loaded with signs of what's to come development-wise and must be held in the back of the mind when reading the rest of Putin's remarks today.
It's not just the cosmologies that differ; it's the sources of information and their credibility that's paramount, IMO.
Thanks so much, Karl, for discovering and republishing another Putin pièce de résistance. As a Canadian, being tormented incessantly by our emperor Justinian's - and his fawning courtiers - vapid, vacuous drivel, I relish Putin's lucid, rational, eloquent discourses. They're a real balm for my frustrations.