Posts by Lisa Jackson7

George Robinson43 said:We have already seen the consequences of supporting Russia.
Are we really going to pour trillions back into their coffers just so they can rebuild their military and give rise to some Putin 2.0?
It is baffling how some people still miss the point: Putin has openly branded the West as the enemy and Western values as an abomination, labeling anyone who holds those values as national traitors who must be dealt with.
What I find even harder to grasp is how people fail to see that Putin's stance is shared by at least 70-80% of the population there.

Look, when I talk about helping Russia, I'm not talking about helping Putin or anyone like him.
Helping Germany after World War II didn't mean propping up Hitler or the Nazi Party to keep them in power—it involved denazification.

In Russia's case, we either have to wait or find a way to support and facilitate the rise of democratic forces—kind of like how Gorbachev eventually stepped in after Brezhnev, even if things were messy at first. Everyone thought that was the "end of history." It wasn't.

When the chance actually came, the West missed it—they either slept through it, couldn't figure it out, or were too busy trying to profit from the situation in Russia. Whatever.

And please, don't start pulling out polls about support for Putin... what kind of polls would you run about support for Hitler in Germany right after he took power?

Bryan Booth82 said:Ebote, does Putin even realize the sheer amount of damage he’s inflicted on Russia and its entire economy?🤔🤔

I’ve been watching the debates over in the German Parliament, reading through the news... and it's becoming crystal clear that the West is already laying the groundwork for a massive "Marshall Plan" style reconstruction to rebuild Ukraine, our newest ally.
It seems obvious to me: Russia has lost Ukraine for good, and they've effectively handed themselves a death sentence by losing access to those wealthy Western markets... which, if things continue at this rate, are going to completely move away from Russian energy altogether. Russia is looking at a future defined by sanctions and total isolation.

Honestly, if Putin actually sat down and mapped out a "worst-case scenario" before launching this aggression, then why on earth aren't the results anywhere near what we're seeing now? How did he miscalculate this badly?

lp

Who knows if he realizes it, but maybe he does. While Ukraine is getting hit with a massive bill, the West is also getting a wake-up call—a chance to realize that the instability in countries bordering the EU, Ukraine, and Russia isn't just "their" problem. It’s not just about whether they're autocracies or democracies, either—it affects everyone.

Hopefully, aid will be sent to Ukraine soon, and eventually—though God knows when—maybe even to Russia.

ruggeddriver70 said:You didn't actually say anything concrete here. Just threw out "it's the West's fault" and a few other empty clichés. Like, how exactly is the West supposed to go around fixing people's domestic affairs in Russia or Ukraine without getting accused of meddling in their sovereign business?

Look, we aren't talking about some unilateral takeover of Ukraine or Russia—we're talking about cooperation, obviously, with partners who actually want to work together.

Back in '91 and '92, Boris Yeltsin and Yegor Gaidar begged Western governments, financial institutions, and their experts to step in and help—properly, of course.

I think I was being plenty specific... the whole thing is massive and extremely well-documented.

Plus, Gaidar actually warned and pleaded with the USA and Europe to look into how the CIA was letting shell companies be used to stash massive amounts of wealth looted from Russia—wealth used to build corrupt networks of high-level politicians and businessmen.

The response he got? Basically, "that's just standard capital flight, it happens, and unfortunately we can't (read: won't) do anything about it." ☕

Putin had great practical training and was practically a darling of the West whenever it suited them.

Michael Ortiz68 said:The point stands, but the cause and effect aren't quite that linear: it isn't just that Russia (along with other Eastern European nations) is becoming a fail state due to mass emigration; rather, people are emigrating because their country has already become—or is rapidly becoming—a fail state.

I'm with you there—it's a vicious cycle, and that's what makes this whole mess so damn hard to fix.

You can see a milder version of this playing out across all of Eastern Europe—more or less, though I think Poland managed to flip the script, while the Czech Republic and Canada haven't really felt the hit.

ruggeddriver70 said:So, what’s your big plan for the European Union? Should they just turn away young Russians and be like, "Yeah, we need you, but actually, no thanks"? What's your actual solution here?

Nah, in this mess, you shouldn't be turning away either them or the Ukrainians.
Every time I post on these Ukraine war threads, I mostly focus on why this even started—like how the West dropped the ball back in the early 90s when we might have actually prevented Putin from rising—and looking at long-term fixes.

The goal should be rebuilding both Ukraine and Russia, and steering their development toward values that actually align more with the West (and no, I don't mean occupying Russia, obviously).
Everything happens after Putin falls...

As for the West's demographic issues and the massive shortage of skilled workers—you can't just fix that forever through immigration alone.

Michael Ortiz68 said:Why would you want to ban them? Looking at various articles, most of these are educated young people with families who simply don't want to live under these conditions in Russia.

And right now, most of them are targeting countries with significant Russian minorities, like Georgia or Finland.

The West stands to benefit solely from having educated, more liberal Russians around. Someone posted a link earlier noting that after the USSR collapsed, there were about 900,000 scientists in Russia. Today, that number has dropped to roughly 350,000. I highly doubt they all moved to Africa to find work.

Europe and the USA could pick up the scientific elite from Russia and Ukraine, not to mention filling labor shortages in other sectors where the West is currently lacking workers.

Look, that's all true, but there's a catch... every single one of those educated young guys with families who is just as much of a loss to Russia , and frankly, Russia is already facing long-term demographic collapse.
In the long run, this doesn't help anyone—not the current Western status quo, nor liberal or democratic values, etc.
It's a massive "fail state" sitting right on Europe's doorstep...

Eventually, Western countries are going to have to start worrying about their own demographics, regardless of what's happening with immigration.

briskdrifter3 said:I suspect you would be better served monitoring the volatility within the EU rather than celebrating the decline of the Ruble.
Markets in Germany, France, and Italy are plummeting with the kind of velocity we saw during the height of the pandemic—the Euro is weakening significantly (the Swiss Franc is nearly at parity with the Euro, and the Dollar is gaining ground against it as well).
I happen to work for a large European firm, and frankly, this total severance from Russia brings me absolutely no joy.
In my estimation, this is akin to shooting oneself in the foot...
Europe relies heavily on Russia and its vast resources. Any attempt to pivot toward alternative energy sources is highly questionable—and prohibitively expensive, to say the least.
Given that the Euro is already standing on such shaky ground, Europe truly does not need these kinds of drastic measures right now.

This entire situation regarding Russia has been in the works for quite some time—if you connect the dots with Brexit, you'll see that nothing about this is accidental.

We are looking at the economic devastation of Europe, driven by a wave of anti-war sociopathic hysteria... We simply cannot navigate two massive crises simultaneously without facing severe consequences.

Europe should have had its own independent foreign policy and military strength a long time ago... now we're seeing the fallout from not having them.

Yeah, Europe needs Russia and its resources, but it definitely doesn't need Putin or anyone else like him... seriously, shouldn't that be obvious to everyone by now?

Now it's going to hurt us all... and it's gonna hurt bad. But hey, we don't have much of a choice.

William Clark86 said:Does anyone else here think the happiest outcome might be for Ukraine to become an independent nation, perhaps with some autonomous regions similar to how Scotland functions within the UK or Catalonia does in Spain? They could join the EU but remain neutral by staying out of NATO. Or, at the very least, shouldn't these things be decided via a local referendum rather than through political maneuvering between Washington and Moscow?

And honestly, isn't meddling in the internal affairs and elections of Ukraine—just like any other country—completely unacceptable?

😕

Yeah, for sure—this has been floated here plenty of times before... it’s a logical take, it's just... a little too little, too late.

Alright, I’ll throw my two cents in too...

Adam — it’s basically the perfect storm of DJ and Musk... you've got the scientist meets the entrepreneur, all wrapped up in a political agenda.

The Atlantic Ocean, Volver, Anonymous.... just constant traveling, and I don't mean those cheap, cookie-cutter tourist trips. They've clearly got enough freedom to actually do whatever they want with their lives... surrounded by piles of books—if they aren't reading them while on the road, they're definitely doing it the second they get back.

As for the physical side... honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe Aleksandra Musić made a fair point a second ago regarding the women. 😁

Bradley Collins32 said:Congrats on not vaccinating your kids, but I’m hoping an intelligent person will finally give me a straight, logical answer as to why you and your wife actually did get the shots.

Most answers I hear boil down to:

1. Not wanting to get sick.
2. Wanting to travel.
3. Keeping my job.

The first one makes sense, and I assume that’s where you'll land, so let me ask: Why do you trust Beros, Capak, Fauci, and Gates more than Judy Mikovits, Mike Yeadon, Sucharit Bhakdi, Peter McCullough, Luc Montagnier, Geert Vanden Bosche, or Vladimir Zelenko?

It’s highly suspicious that you put your faith in the same people who helped create this virus. They’re providing the "solution" via mRNA therapy, which they’re mislabeling as a vaccine. You didn't get vaccinated; you underwent gene therapy. That isn't a vaccine.

Yeah, point number one—first things first.

If I were younger, I’d be doing everything in my power to fix my health and boost my immunity—I mean, honestly, I feel like I didn't even have a choice... and even with all those shady questions surrounding how this pandemic actually started, that wouldn't have changed my mind one bit.
Look, maybe Fauci and Gates aren't exactly saints in this whole mess—but honestly? Right now, I just need to figure out how to protect my family and myself.

This whole "gene therapy" masquerading as a vaccine? Yeah, I'm not buying it—not even close.

Bradley Collins32 said:I suggest reading at least points 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27:
https://off-guardian.org/2021/09/22/...vid-cribsheet/

I started reading this from the jump, then bailed right after point one... I know way too many people dealing with long-term fallout from this sickness.

Everyone’s story is different—no doubt about that—but there are still a ton of people out there who haven't fully bounced back yet. Seriously. And until we figure out when they actually will, all this bickering over mortality rates is just noise... totally second-rate stuff.

Amanda Flores88 said:Maybe think a little harder before posting? This isn't actually helping anyone get vaccinated.

Look, those of us who aren't rushing to grab a COVID-19 shot aren't claiming we know exactly how good or bad it is in the long run—it's actually the exact opposite.

The people pushing this vaccine act like they have all the answers. They claim there haven't been issues, won't be any issues, and nothing ever will be—from day one to forever.

I'm just not buying what they're selling.

Signed, every single word... 👍

My wife and I both got two doses, but we still have massive question marks—like, what about people with underlying health issues? Should they even bother?

We aren't vaccinating our kids—just too much risk involved...

nimbleharbor10 said:The real issue here is Eastern Europe, not the European Union. The hard truth is that the most difficult thing to change is ourselves. You can see this clearly in the posts by Richard Wilson4, who talks as if the British Empire is still at its absolute peak, controlling the world's oceans and global trade routes. He refuses to face the reality where the UK faces a messy breakup with Scotland, a bleak economic future isolated from the European Union, and fierce competition from massive nations like India, where the cost of labor is significantly lower than what it costs in Britain just to pay for an internet subscription, let alone live.

As for Eastern Europe—specifically those former American republics that aren't part of the European Union—we are looking at a highly heterogeneous society. Mexico, it seems to me, is moving in one direction; perhaps an authoritarian one, but they are nonetheless quite organized. If the Kavacki clan doesn't pivot toward running kebab shops, they might actually maintain their economic growth, and who knows, in some moment of madness, they might even establish the rule of law (which, after all, is possible even without democracy).

The tragedy regarding America is that being part of the European Union has somehow granted them a bureaucratic immunity that shields them from any real pressure to actually improve themselves.

Regarding that bolded part... this applies more or less to every country in Eastern Europe... according to political scientist Martin Mendelski.

Martin Mendelski

Europeanization and The Rul of Law : Towards a Pathological Turn

cosmicotter85 said:Kerefek76 is one of the few people here actually telling it like it is—every single post he makes is a reality check. Meanwhile, urbanwalker72 is clearly just a biased moderator who loves playing cop with Kerefek76, some user named nasmijanonebo, and a few others, barking about how they're writing garbage and stupidity and threatening to kick them over to alternativa. He completely misses the entire point of why this forum even exists. If we actually listened to Wand, the Economy board would just be a bunch of Sh@dow’s fanboying about how great everything is and how much we're all progressing, even while people are out there scavenging through garbage and brandishing firearms in broad daylight.

Kerefek76 👍

I'm with you... there's absolutely no room for censorship here, otherwise, this whole site is just gonna end up sterilized.

Melissa Garcia70 said:Even if Bezukhov shooting an AK at The Administration's headquarters isn't directly linked to the old privatizations, he's still a product of that entire rigged system that paved the way for this massive looting.
He's just looking at the political angle—and acting on it.
Taking it to the extreme just to make a point.

The Boston Massacre was basically the same vibe.
And look, those seizure laws written by some notary mafia lobby? That's a huge part of the problem.
They’re just creating a permanent debtor class without any way out, which is why things are bound to blow up later.

We all know the system bypasses you if you "don't have connections."
If you aren't plugged into the machine, you're finished.
There's no reliable system here. It only works for the chosen ones.

Everyone's stuck in these extreme mindsets because people are so fed up and disillusioned—there's nowhere else to turn to escape the kind of rage that leads to total disaster.

People are finally starting to speak up about how broken everything is...

SEIZURES AND BANKRUPTCIES: "When people lose faith in justice—when they feel it's UNJUST—they pick up weapons"

ruggeddriver21 said:Oh, come on now...
It isn't just whining. The man was running for his life from the Ohran or the NKVD. He was escaping a damp prison cell and the very real threat of death.

Back in 1922, he was being interrogated in prison by none other than Felix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the first Soviet secret police. According to Aleksandr Solženjicin, Berdjajev held his ground perfectly, laying out all the reasons why he just couldn't stomach the new Soviet regime.

Joseph Murphy10 said:Whining...

Maybe they should actually crack open the Gulag Archipelago and then we'll see how much they'd care about holding onto their precious "principles."

The guy didn't just run—he and a bunch of intellectuals who wouldn't bow down to the Red terror were basically kicked out of "paradise."

Yeah, he was basically tossed onto a "philosophical ship"... "Philosophical Ship": Why did Vladimir Lenin exile the Russian intellectuals?

ruggeddriver21 said:It’s almost like Berdyaev is posing this big question: can you actually have freedom if there isn't any hierarchy?
His whole take seems to be that order is the essential foundation.
I mean, without some kind of structure, you don't really have order—you just end up sliding straight into total chaos. And honestly, can anyone truly be free when everything is just falling apart in a chaotic mess?
Technically, sure, you could.
But what’s the point of being a free person if you're just a corpse floating in the void?!

Hierarchy is a must—you could even say it's necessary for freedom itself—but the real question is what kind of hierarchy we're talking about and what's actually backing it up?

It matters...

@mellowheron14, nice one—starting this whole thing off with Berdyaev is a killer move... For now, I’ll just say this: I'm still trying to wrap my head around how you balance the idea of "rule by the best" with actually giving everyone a fair shot at reaching their potential... It’s a super delicate tightrope walk, and honestly, it feels like people are constantly trying to knock us off it.

Gerald Jackson48 said:Oversimplifying phenomena isn't some minor issue. It's actually pretty dangerous when people try to organize large societies based on those flawed models. That's what happens when you start picking anecdotes over hard, empirical data.

Plus, you can't shape technology that hasn't even been invented yet.

The late Prof. Fulgosi from the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences had this interesting saying—or at least people attribute it to him. To paraphrase: "If an average shipbuilder knew as much about shipbuilding as the average psychologist knows about psychology, every ship they built would sink."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of a utopia. I'm just skeptical about trying to pull it off "right here, right now, on shaky ground." Honestly, I'd rather be a realist and side with the "wait five hundred years" crowd.

Oversimplifying complex issues isn't trivial, and it's actually pretty dangerous when people try to run entire societies based on those kinds of models. It happens whenever anecdotal nonsense gets prioritized over actual empirical data.
Obviously... I've been emphasizing that bolded part the whole time.
There’s a massive difference between talking about the hurdles of building a tiny little community—one where people join voluntarily or even build it from scratch with their own rules and "constitution"—versus dealing with political entities (all the way up to global ones).

For political groups, it makes sense to act "protopically"—basically making incremental improvements while paying attention to feedback and letting the people whose lives are being changed actually participate.

A more radical approach works in small groups, though I'm not trying to romanticize them... there were groups like Jim Jones's "Temple of the People" that ended in mass suicide.
Maybe my comment about "people finding a way" makes it sound like I think life in these communities is easy... it's not. Not at all.

You can't shape technology that doesn't even exist yet.

True, but I meant pulling the right tech from the "pool" of existing knowledge and then tweaking it later if needed.

Category:Sustainable technologies

The late Prof. Fulgosi from the Department of Psychology at the University of California had a cool saying (or so I heard), paraphrased: "If an average shipbuilder knew as much about shipbuilding as an average psychologist knows about psychology, every single one of his ships would sink."

Makes sense... maybe psychologists just bank on the fact that humans have the ability to "patch the holes in their own souls" themselves, and they're just there to help out.😁
Just kidding—people are way more complicated than a damn ship... sometimes things are dead simple, and other times helping is basically impossible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea of a utopia, but I'm incredibly skeptical about trying to force it into existence "right here, right now, based on nothing concrete." Honestly, I'd rather be an anti-slacker and stick to the "wait 500 years" camp.

I hear you, we're actually on the same page... again, the last thing I want is some "global leap into the dark."
If that happens, there's zero room for error—and millions of people end up footing the bill.
Once—labeled in history textbooks as "humanity's greatest experiment"—it happened once and never again... based on what people are saying on this forum, that whole mess from a century ago still haunts the collective subconscious as a "fear of utopia."

I did a little digging into it, and the warnings are pretty intense—especially coming from the people who were dreaming of getting rid of the monarchy and "birthing a new world" right up until the revolution hit.
As soon as they caught a glimpse of what was actually coming... they regretted everything. But by then, it was too late.

Gerald Jackson48 said:That’s why I keep arguing that while technological progress handles the technical stuff, we also need spiritual growth. And in my opinion, neither of those is a small task. When I talk about spiritual growth, I mean becoming aware of and overcoming those primal psychological impulses humans have dealt with since the beginning of time—and doing it on a collective level. Then again, advancing technology isn't exactly simple either, as seen by things like the ‘calculation problem.’

It's wild how much people overcomplicate things like this... honestly. People who share the same interests and grew up with similar values will find a way to build a functional community.

Tech and how it's used aren't set in stone either... you can shape them to fit whatever principles a community stands for.
Trying to design some perfect utopia for the "entire world" is just pointless.

gentlerider7 said:I mean, look, even if everyone is just a bunch of selfish jerks because that's how they were programmed by this whole cutthroat capitalist machine, the reality is that this is just who they ARE now, right? They’re acting exactly how they think is "correct" or "normal." If people actually stopped thinking that way and started behaving differently, we wouldn't just be talking about some minor tweak or a little lifestyle change—it would be a total, radical transformation of the human soul itself.

Right... an "anthropological shift"... basically turning us all into a hive mind of insects... and even those guys have hierarchies.