Society's ChildS


Colosseum

Ancient Rome's decline and today's United States - some eerie similarities

Joy Pullmann
The Federalist
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 19:20 UTC
Cicero
Cicero
Comparing the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" with the rise and now decline of the British and now American empires has been something of an intellectual parlor game for now more than 200 years. But it's fun to play because everybody has a slightly different collection of information and analysis to offer, and because people like predictions and patterns.

Consider the parallel "ages of man" dispute that has been going on for several thousand years - the ancient Greek poets Hesiod and Ovid offered theirs (they counted five and four, respectively), so did Shakespeare (he counted seven), and today we have generation-based theories such as William Strauss and Neil Howe's Fourth Turning.

I don't think any of us knows whether the United States has already passed peak awesome, and while my mind says Charles Murray is right that we've probably lost our country, my heart won't take that answer. I listened to the latest in our Hillsdale Western Heritage 101 lectures, on "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic" with Dr. Ken Calvert, with all this in mind. Of course, even studying this for years will not generate a crystal ball, but the lecture did generate some data points to fuel another dinner table discussion.
Read More...
Star of David

Israeli public and officials outraged: Swastikas painted on Polish embassy in Israel after PM's 'Jewish Holocaust perpetrators' remarks


RT
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 18:34 UTC
former Nazi Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, Poland
© Kacper Pempel / ReutersSurvivors and guests walk inside the barbed wire fences at the former Nazi Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, January 27, 2018.
Swastikas were painted on the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv a day after Poland's Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said there were Jewish perpetrators in the Holocaust, outraging the Israeli public and officials.

Swastikas and obscene anti-Polish slogans, which branded Poles as murderers and equals of the Nazis, were discovered at the entrance of the embassy building on Sunday. Israeli police said they have launched an investigation into the incident, Haaretz reported.

The President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Pinchas Goldschmidt, told Rutply news agency on Sunday that Morawiecki's remarks were "totally unacceptable." According to the Rabbi, calling "Jews 'perpetrators' of the Holocaust, these are words which undermine and are unacceptable to any person who knows history, who knows Europe and wants a better future."

"We did not expect the Polish Prime Minister to say such things," Goldschmidt said. "When politicians issue statements, there is usually a political need to issue those statements and there is definite a certain segment of the Polish population which feels the same way and that's something, this is a problem not for us, not only for us, but I think it is a problem for Poland."

Comment: See also: How Israel uses the holocaust to deflect from its own damning similarities with the Nazi regime

Read More...
Chess

Senate blocks immigration measure that doesn't include money for Trump's wall

Jordain Carney
The Hill
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 15:03 UTC
senate immigration vote
© Susan Walsh/AP
The Senate has blocked an immigration measure sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) that did not include money for President Trump's border wall.

The amendment fell in a 52-47 vote. It needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle set up for four different immigration measures the Senate will vote on Thursday.

Each of the four proposals appear to be short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Thousands protest in Kiev demanding Poroshenko's impeachment in response to Saakashvili deportation


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 18:21 UTC
Kiev protest Poroshenko
© Reuters/ Gleb Garanich
Thousands of supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and an opposition figure in Ukraine, are holding a march in central Kiev demanding the impeachment of Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Sunday.

According to the assessments of police, which has been ensuring public security during the rally, the march has gathered several thousand individuals.

The rally was expected to start at noon local time (10:00 GMT), however it has been delayed by 50 minutes. The organizers of the march cited the delays of public transport operation in Ukraine, preventing the rally participants from arriving in central Kiev on time.

Comment: Sounds like the screws are being turned to oust Poroshenko. That Saakashvili is being held as some champion against oppressive corruption makes the situation in Ukraine all the more absurd.

Read More...
Light Sabers

S. Korea all smiles at Olympics, yet troops take part in massive SE Asia drills


RT
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:42 UTC
South Korean marines Cobra Gold 2018
© Athit Perawongmetha / ReutersSouth Korean marines participate in an amphibious assault exercise as part of the "Cobra Gold 2018" (CG18) joint military exercise at a military base in Chonburi province, Thailand, February 16, 2018.
South Korea has deployed hundreds of troops to Thailand to participate in the annual Asia-Pacific Cobra Gold military exercises, taking place between February 13 and 23, organized by the US and Thai militaries.

Exercise Cobra Gold was launched in 1981, with South Korea formally joining the drills in 2010. This year, a combat unit of over 430 South Korean sailors and marines participated, while the US deployed its largest ever force of 6,800 service personnel, reports ABC News.

Comment: Just as South Korea and North Korea are showing some signs of warming relations, the US steps in with more intimidation tactics aimed at North Korea.

Read More...
Chess

Afrin Kurds turn to Syrian Army to protect borders from Turkish offensive


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 18:02 UTC
Syria
© AFP 2018/ Delil Souleman
Amid reports of Turkey allegedly launching a gas attack in Syria, Kurdish YPG groups in Afrin are calling on the Syrian army to protect their borders from Turkish combat men, a YPG representative Nuri Mahmud told RIA Novosti.

Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd has reported that the Syrian Kurdish forces and government have agreed for the Syrian army to enter Afrin to help repel Turkish attacks.

The Turks-initiated military operation "Olive branch" has been underway against Kurds in Afrin, Syria's north-west since January. Turkey reported it had eliminated over 1.5 thousand militants, including both Kurdish fighters and Daesh militants (deemed a terrorist organization in Russia), according to Ankara.

Comment:

UPDATE: A spokesman for the SDF has reportedly confirmed the deployment of Syrian troops to Afrin:
"The Syrian army will enter Afrin on Monday," said Sheikho bello, a leader of the Kurdish Democratic party, adding that "the aim of entering the city is to protect and defend it."


Read More...
Airplane

Iranian airliner crash leaves 65 people dead


RT
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 17:01 UTC
Iranian plane
© Remy Gabalda / AFP
An Iranian plane with 65 people on board has crashed near the city of Semirom in the Isfahan Province of Iran. Iran's Aseman Airlines says all on board were killed.

The aircraft went off radar midflight from Tehran to Yasuj, some 20 minutes after take off, local media reported.

The plane disappeared from radar in a mountainous area. The search and rescue operation is hampered by bad weather, preventing helicopters from landing, Iran's Press TV reports.

Comment: There are some initial parallels with the Russian airliner crash a week ago:

71 dead in Moscow passenger plane crash - UPDATES
HOW IT WENT MISSING

Domodedovo air traffic control lost contact with Saratov Airlines flight 703, bound for Orsk, several minutes after take off, an official from Russia's Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) told local media. He said communication with the crew was cut and the plane vanished from radar screens.


Read More...
Propaganda

WaPo finally admits 'Russian propaganda' was really US mainstream media material and was 'factual'

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:06 UTC
russian troll
© The Free Thought ProjectNot
The Washington Post went from claiming that Russian bots were using alternative media outlets to spread "fake news" to admitting that they were actually sharing mainstream media stories that favored Trump.

During the 2016 election, the narrative that interference from "the Russians" had an impact on Donald Trump's success was alive and well, and it was pushed heavily by the Washington Post. However, the Post is now claiming that the propaganda it accused Russian bots of spreading was actually American, and it was "factually accurate."

In a new story titled "Russia used mainstream media to manipulate American voters," the Post admitted that instead of creating and spreading "fake news," the accounts it claimed were controlled by Russians actually focused on sharing stories from American mainstream media outlets, and one of their most used sources just happened to be The Washington Post.

Comment:

Read More...
Black Magic

Ukrainian radicals storm Russian cultural center in Kiev and burn Russian flag


RT
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 17:03 UTC
Ukrainian ultranationalists
© Valentyn Ogirenko / ReutersUkrainian ultranationalists burn the Russian state flag, which they took from the office of the Russian Center of Science and Culture, in Kiev, Ukraine on February 17, 2018.
Ukrainian right-wing extremists have burst into the building of the Russian international cultural agency in Kiev. The radicals burnt a Russian flag and wreaked havoc in the facility at a time when "children were there."

The intruders also vandalized an exhibition dedicated to the famous Russian opera singer, Feodor Chaliapin, Rossotrudnichestvo - the cultural agency in question - said in a statement. It also added that the incident happened when "more than 60 children" were present inside the building.

Several dozen ultranationalists stormed the gates of the facility and made their way into the building, a video posted by the radicals on Facebook shows. Members of the neo-Nazi C14 and Pravy Sector (the Right Sector) groups took part in the action, the radicals said.
Read More...
Bullseye

Facebook advertising VP says Russian ads 'swaying the election' was not main goal


RT
Sun, 18 Feb 2018 07:11 UTC
facebook window
© Tobias Schwarz / AFP
Even though Facebook has caved in to pressure from US lawmakers to crack down on 'Russian interference,' promising more safeguards against it, its vice president for advertising says Russians never tried to sway the 2016 election.

Thirteen Russian nationals and three entities have been indicted by a US federal grand jury for supposed meddling in the presidential election. The allegations include "supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump... and disparaging Hillary Clinton," including through Facebook. Now the Facebook vice president for advertising, Rob Goldman, says the accusers and their massive mainstream media supporters got it wrong.


Comment: Mueller indicts 13 Russians, 3 companies for trolling the US election, saying mean things about Killary


"Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal," Goldman tweeted.


Comment: The mental gymnastics people go through to hold on their "Russia bad" narrative never ceases to amaze. See also: Yet another Russiagate fail: Facebook finds no link between Russian ads, Trump campaign

Read More...