This compels reexamination of confirmation bias. Maybe it's not that we like to hear our beliefs flatly repeated back at us, so much as a desire to hear our foggy predispositions astutely stated and neatly interweaved.
Why is Putin after Ukraine and Xi after Taiwan? You or I could filibuster for a long while about tyranny, but while there is a succinct central truth, I had to hear it stated by David Frum to realize how blurry I'd been on the matter.
Like a lot of us who suffered through the Cheney/Bush administration, I've long associated Frum with his sneering "axis of evil" line. The prototypical arrogant Neocon. But he's repentant about the Iraq invasion, staunchly opposed to Trumpism (i.e. the current GOP) and he's insightful. He doesn't just amplify the same old talking points; he bakes fresh.
So why is Putin after Ukraine and Xi after Taiwan? We all know, but I doubt many of us could state it as succinctly as Frum did (in this podcast, which is well worth a listen). I've edited for clarity:
"I don't think anyone leading Russia thought "I don't have enough real estate. I don't have enough worthless real estate. I don't have enough shattered former Soviet apartment buildings populated by people. I have too few opportunities to spend productive assets in violence.
"They have lots of those things already. What they are fighting for is to change the character of the Ukrainian state. Kyiv is the largest Russian speaking democratic city on earth. A Russian language-speaking democracy!
"Putin has the same problem with Kyiv that China has with Taiwan. Taiwan is a cultural provider to Mainland China in a way that seems very disturbing and disorienting. Obviously, Taiwan is no strategic threat. So why does China care? Why is it so important?
"It's because they are showing your people what is possible."
Like you I have mellowed considerably on David Frum since the Bush 43 presidency. I now enjot reading him, as he is always thoughtful. him. I also don’t disagree that Putin found the much greater freedom in Kyiv and Ukraine annoying. Yet I think that was a bonus, not the main driver. Putin sincerely believed/believes Ukraine naturally belongs to Russia and that Ukrainians feel the same way. This he believes was the direction things were headed before the Russian Revolution what is more his buddy and NatSec advisor Nikolai Patrushev, who is even more deluded, assured him of this and fed info to Putin to that effect.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteYou had me until this:
>Putin sincerely believed/believes....
1. Putin doesn't have beliefs. He has thirsts.
2. Putin doesn't so much as fart sincerely, even while alone.
3. If Putin does have a speck of sincerity, and some wispy frayed chunk of belief anywhere in his warped, resentful, deluded, self-lemonade-drinking body of his, even those way way way smarter (and vastly better connected to him) than you or I would never EVER imagine making an assured claim as to what that might be.
I don't know why, but your main website jimleff.info triggers my malwarebytes webguard, citing suspicious activity
ReplyDeleteYeah, something seems funky. I’ll get it taken care of within a week. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCan you try again please at jimleff.info? And if you still get malware warning, try another browser?
ReplyDeleteSeems to be still happening unfortunately. Same on another browser. However, going into the website doesn't seem to trigger anything on my anti virus.
ReplyDeleteWebsite blocked due to scams
Website Blocked: jimleff.info Malwarebytes Browser Guard blocked this page because it may contain malicious activity.
Warning icon
We strongly recommend you do not continue. You may be putting your safety at risk by visiting this site. For more information, visit Malwarebytes Support.
Yeah, my web host took a look and said that everything looks clean (it’s a totally text site, there’s nowhere for malware to hide), and that sometimes security products create false positives:
ReplyDelete=============
With regards to the site having triggered a 3rd party security product,
there's only so much we can do. We have done both a manual check and an
automated scan and nothing malicious or out of the ordinary was found.
Additionally, the following site aggregates the results of many "safe
browsing" services (including Google though not Malwarebytes) and none
are flagging the site as a security threat.
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/df8c65f70f180c33de3080589e7e5e871f2663946a5083d81c7d72d3da0a6877?nocache=1
Based on this we can only assume that Malwarebytes flagging the site is
due to a false positive and the user that reported this should be able to
manually mark the site as safe in order to resolve any warnings.