Thursday, 7 November 2024
quote [ Michael Parenti speaks at the University of Colorado, Boulder: "US interventionism, the 3rd world, and the USSR" April 15, 1986 ]
This is one of those videos that has sound bite after sound bite. Parenti rarely missed and this is probably one of his most poignant lectures. Even more relevant now that the USSR is gone and we can see the outcome.
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TimmoW said @ 7:56pm GMT on 7th Nov
[Score:1 Good]
This was interesting. The opening bit about 'foreign aid' as 'capitalist endeavors to extract wealth from developing nations while leaving taxpayers footing the bill' was enlightening.
I'd need to double check the history of the US-Soviet relations at the time; the rest seemed a little bit of a smear campaign against the US, but I would not be remotely surprised to find out it was true. |
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steele said[1] @ 9:19pm GMT on 7th Nov
[Score:1 Underrated]
Fascinating, right? It blew my mind the first time I watched it because it connected a lot of the moving parts I'd gathered about how the world works from watching coups happen. My posts on Bolivia spring to mind. (One of the first things jeanine anez did after taking power was take out an IMF loan for 350 million.) Really opened up my understanding of geo-politics and made reality much less surprising. To be honest, he kinda barely scratches the surface. It's all quite insidious. I'd be happy to recommend more on the topic, if you're interested. I've spent the last 15 years having to unlearn a lot of lies the public school system "taught" me.
One of Parenti's most prolific quotes (Often simply dubbed The Parenti Quote in leftist spaces) comes from his book Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism: “During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime's atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn't go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them. If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.” Not mentioning it for any specific reason. Please do feel free to do your research, but be warned, if you dig too deep you might find The Jakarta Method. |
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R1Xhard said @ 4:14am GMT on 9th Nov
[Score:1 Underrated]
Interesting/morbid subject. https://www.australianforeignaffairs.com/articles/review/2020/09/the-jakarta-method/max-walden
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steele said @ 9:08pm GMT on 9th Nov
And still ongoing. I very much recommend the whole book, it's quite the read. Really shows how hypocritical and white supremacist the US is while it sells itself as the moral arbiter of what's right in the world.
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R1Xhard said[1] @ 12:25pm GMT on 10th Nov
[Score:1 Underrated]
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TimmoW said @ 6:25pm GMT on 16th Nov
[Score:1 Funny]
https://www.eldiario24.com/en/china-solar-energy-blackout/4035/
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steele said[2] @ 11:31am GMT on 17th Nov
LMAO! Holy shit, that's too good! So on the nose!
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TimmoW said @ 7:31pm GMT on 19th Nov
[Score:1 Underrated]
Bahaha. Yeah. As soon as I saw the headline I knew I'd be sending it here. What a wild ride. Gosh I wish journalistic integrity was a thing.
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steele said @ 12:33am GMT on 22nd Nov
Yea. Are you familiar with John Stockwell?
Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere |