Welcome back to Lucid, and a big hello to all new subscribers. Our next Q&A will be Friday, Dec. 22, 1-2pmET. Our guest will be Heather Bruegl, a public historian, activist, and decolonial and indigenous rights education consultant. She is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Bring your questions about land back movements, indigenous sovereignty issues, Native American efforts for climate justice, and more!
And while we're talking about Putin...the front page story in the NY Times tells how he is raking in $millions. What he's doing is to have his friends buy companies at prices that are a fraction of what they're worth...actually forcing the sales. The money is used for anything Putin wants to use it for. No wonder Trump loves him. They're cut from the same cloth.
How will our World reconstruct the many number of damaged locations around our globe? The numerous places affected by many wars, destroying areas for peoples to live in some decent way. Their livelihood and existence are gone, and not replaceable. The tension and stress is going to be impossible to correct! Not to mention the horrendous amount of monies it is going to take to provide basics of existence. Suggestions and answers of how is not possible?
I just hope we never find out just how brutal a dictator Trump really is. I think he is at least as bad and likely even worse than his buddy Putin. Putin is again trying to take down the United States and turn it into an autocracy aligned with his kleptocratic dictatorship.
Maybe a cartoon of Vladimir Putin holding a puppet of Trump over his hand is appropriate? He would be sitting in an planning office full of high tech computers surrounded by books and papers on the dark arts and methods of subversion needed to destroy democracies.
Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 once said; "We will bury you". Putin with Trump as his stooge intend to do just that!
I see Putin as a part of the far right movement in the world, AKA fascism. Fascism has a strong business component, to where a corporatocracy will favor that form of government. We saw this when our business elites pushed the CIA to remove Arbenz from Guatemala and install fascism there, in the form of Castillo Armas. It seems that fascism is very very good for business. Thus we see the danger of allowing a business elite to rise to power, which we did. Now the trick is, for the business elites to convince millions that fascism is good for the US. With Trump, they have been very successful at this.
Business elites go along with fascists not only for economic benefit but also in the wrong headed belief that they think they can control them once they get into power. Not!
In our case here in the US, rapacious capitalism (neoliberalism) is so dominant that I believe that it is the driving force behind our fascist movement. This is a bit different from previous fascist movements that were mostly politically driven. It seems our political class is following the business class lead.
And over 100 mosques destroyed in Gaza, including one that was 1000 years old. Israel is doing all it can get away with each day in order to destroy the Palestinians and their culture, and then to take their land, coastline, and natural gas deposits. The US and UK are all in.
Thank you so much for caring about the historical/cultural heritage aspects of the environment (past & present) as well. War & conflicts, natural disasters, pollution, uncontrolled urbanization, all pose major problems to historical/cultural heritage preservation in keeping artifacts/traditions intact against the various factors trying to change or erode them – this includes artifact restoration, passing on artisan’s work, storytelling, and family histories I believe. Preserving historical/cultural heritage is vital and essential for communities as it promotes the visibility and empowerment of them. Preserving historical/cultural heritage is a way of telling others that the people/communities within these locations, museums, historical buildings, traditions are important and worth protecting!
One must not forget the power of the Evangelical Christians to be major influencers on the Israeli govt to keep Israel ( including West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights) as the true ancient Holyland of biblical times. As one pastor from the Foursquare Evangelical Church in town said to me at a recent ecumenical clergy seminar on
issues of justice and ‘just war’: “We just want to keep those infidel Arabs out of there.”
The Evangelicals are a powerful influence in American politics as well. Sooooo take it from there!
A poignant and honest statement, and beautifully written. Memory and loss are crucial elements of maintaining human values and dignity, things that warmongers and autocrats (often one and the same) either wish to destroy or care little of their worth. Thank you to Ms. Ben-Ghiat for continuing to emphasize the inner - as well as the more recognizable outer - destruction that autocratic societies face - whether forced upon them, or even worse, because of the divisive bitterness it engenders, chosen by the people themselves.
Charlie, well said. I share the feeling which at times is overwhelming. The capacity for empathy distinguishes us from the psychopaths and sociopaths that lacking compassion spread suffering while in pursuit of profit.
While I share the pain for the cultural losses I’m reminded that we we face at least three fascist threats: Russia, Israel and China; all anxious to see trump, or one of his fascist GOP clones win in 2O24. China is evaluating the price paid by Russia and Israel for their respective aggression before attacking Taiwan.
Both Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu (BN) benefit from prolonging the war to avoid judicial accountability, aka jail. They both prefer Trump over Biden. We’re learning that Biden and the Dems electoral prospects in 2024 diminishes the longer these wars, or massacres, continue, a reality that seems to escape Biden.
We may individually have more leverage with Israel than we do with Russia. Biden’s embrace and unconditional support for BN has further reduced his popularity especially among youth, Arab Americans, progressive voters and I would add environmentalists. This largely overlooked scenario has been well elucidated by Lincoln Mitchell, a political scientist in his recent eponymous substack and Ian Masters’ Background Briefing interview, both dated 12/20.
We may not be able to personally help Ukraine, but we weigh in the Palestinian massacre. Hamas terrorism does not justify support for Israeli’s terrorism. Opposing Israel is not antisemitic. Israel’s fascism is fueling antisemitism. The Intercept now reports 25,000 Palestinians killed, including 8,000 children—2/3 women and children; 50,000 wounded, 100 journalists killed since 10/7 … When is enough enough!
We must urge Pres Biden and our congressional reps to publicly demand a cease fire, end to non humanitarian aid to Israel and support for ICC investigation and prosecution of war crimes, including genocide and apartheid.
Action is an antidote to despair. Contact Biden at WH.gov; call your Congress persons at (202)224-3121. Urge others to do the same. Write to your newspaper when appropriate. We must help Biden avid complicity in Israel’s war crimes.
Ruth,one thing that you have referenced and the media does not say, putin is a Soviet Communist in the most strict terms. He is Stalinesque. The only difference is putin has a lot of western money especially from the fossil fuel industry.
Stalin was a paranoid sociopath and I suspect that Putin has a similar mindset. They both loved/love authoritarianism. The difference I see in the two is that Stalin was a communist but Putin is a fascist. But both are destructive concepts.
On a different subject (today's subject), the Colorado Supreme Court judges are receiving death threats because of the decision they made to bump Trump off the ballot in that state. Correct me if I'm wrong, but death threats, like the ones we're hearing about a lot, just did not happen before Trump came along. Really. If I am wrong, I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, this is what Trump has done to this country.
Violence is a major part of fascism for many reasons. Social dominance and submission is promoted in fascism, and once accepted by followers, it becomes easier to punish the submissive and the so called inferior in society. Fascism promotes a feeling of being under siege by some outside enemy. Violence becomes a tool to vanquish this enemy.
Putin is a monster that must be destroyed. So are his enablers.(Trump, MTG, etc.) The Ukrainians will handle Putin, it's on us to clean up our own house.
I started in 1981 traveling and working for 20 years with Russian and Georgian (Soviet when this began) psychologists, educators, teachers and students. It was perhaps the only time that doors were opened for Americans and Soviets to work together and accomplish amazing levels of collaboration through the Global Thinking Project (GTP--global-thinking-project.org. We lived in each other’s homes--more than 400 students, teachers, and researchers. We established one of the first telecommunications networks between Russian and American schools, joined also with Australia, Spain, and other countries. This allowed us to use a primitive internet to have students and teachers around the world to collaborate on environmental science research.
But during this period Putin was roaming from East Germany, to St Petersburg, and then to Moscow. He worked for the first democratic mayor in St. Petersburg, but he continued his corruption learned in the KGB, but also with his mob, which he brought with him to Moscow. Putin was in the right place with right connections to become the tyrant that he is. While this was happening we were there working a different universe.
Your thinking and writing, Ruth, is crucial to our understanding of how to deal with evil.
Ruth, thank you for juxtaposing the Ukrainian and Palestinian tragedies;
both have similar unintended consequences, undermining our democracy. Putin and Netanyahu may be helping us sleepwalk into fascism.
Some pose the rhetorical question: “How Can We Possibly Be Sleepwalking into Another Trump Presidency? (Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 12/1/23.) We aught ask ourselves: “Are We Sleepwalking Into Dictatorship?” (David Remnick, The New Yorker, 12/10/23.) Liz Cheney warned us: “One of the things we see today is sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States,” Cheney told CBS News’s John Dickerson,” (“Liz Cheney warns US ‘sleepwalking into dictatorship’ “ Lauren Irwin, The Hill, 12/01/23.)
Columbia University political science professor, Lincoln Mitchell argued that if the war drags on his loss of support amongst youth, Arab Americans and the democratic leftist base will dramatically increase further. These voters may not bother voting, benefitting trump. They will blame the wars failed outcomes on Biden, along with his age and other perceived flaws.
We don’t have much influence in the outcome of the war in Ukraine, but we do in the so-called Gaza War, a veritable genocidal massacre.
We need to weigh in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for humanitarian reasons and to increase the odds of defeating the GOP in the 2024 general elections. and saving our democracy. Lets’s demand:
* A cease-fire on the part of Israel;
* Withdraw all non humanitarian aid to Israel and
* Support for an ICC investigation and prosecution for war crimes committed by Hamas and Israel, including but not limited to genocide and apartheid.
benefit from dragging their wars to avoid going to jail. Biden electoral victory diminishes unless Putin loses or withdraws from Ukraine. Biden also needs to compel Netanyahu to agree and honor a cease-fire and stop the genocidal massacre of innocent Palestinians sooner rather than later.
We help Biden by supporting an immediate cease-fire.
And while we're talking about Putin...the front page story in the NY Times tells how he is raking in $millions. What he's doing is to have his friends buy companies at prices that are a fraction of what they're worth...actually forcing the sales. The money is used for anything Putin wants to use it for. No wonder Trump loves him. They're cut from the same cloth.
How will our World reconstruct the many number of damaged locations around our globe? The numerous places affected by many wars, destroying areas for peoples to live in some decent way. Their livelihood and existence are gone, and not replaceable. The tension and stress is going to be impossible to correct! Not to mention the horrendous amount of monies it is going to take to provide basics of existence. Suggestions and answers of how is not possible?
I just hope we never find out just how brutal a dictator Trump really is. I think he is at least as bad and likely even worse than his buddy Putin. Putin is again trying to take down the United States and turn it into an autocracy aligned with his kleptocratic dictatorship.
Maybe a cartoon of Vladimir Putin holding a puppet of Trump over his hand is appropriate? He would be sitting in an planning office full of high tech computers surrounded by books and papers on the dark arts and methods of subversion needed to destroy democracies.
Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 once said; "We will bury you". Putin with Trump as his stooge intend to do just that!
Since everything Trump touches dies, maybe we need to bury Trump first.
We're sure as hell going to try!
I see Putin as a part of the far right movement in the world, AKA fascism. Fascism has a strong business component, to where a corporatocracy will favor that form of government. We saw this when our business elites pushed the CIA to remove Arbenz from Guatemala and install fascism there, in the form of Castillo Armas. It seems that fascism is very very good for business. Thus we see the danger of allowing a business elite to rise to power, which we did. Now the trick is, for the business elites to convince millions that fascism is good for the US. With Trump, they have been very successful at this.
Business elites go along with fascists not only for economic benefit but also in the wrong headed belief that they think they can control them once they get into power. Not!
In our case here in the US, rapacious capitalism (neoliberalism) is so dominant that I believe that it is the driving force behind our fascist movement. This is a bit different from previous fascist movements that were mostly politically driven. It seems our political class is following the business class lead.
And over 100 mosques destroyed in Gaza, including one that was 1000 years old. Israel is doing all it can get away with each day in order to destroy the Palestinians and their culture, and then to take their land, coastline, and natural gas deposits. The US and UK are all in.
Thank you so much for caring about the historical/cultural heritage aspects of the environment (past & present) as well. War & conflicts, natural disasters, pollution, uncontrolled urbanization, all pose major problems to historical/cultural heritage preservation in keeping artifacts/traditions intact against the various factors trying to change or erode them – this includes artifact restoration, passing on artisan’s work, storytelling, and family histories I believe. Preserving historical/cultural heritage is vital and essential for communities as it promotes the visibility and empowerment of them. Preserving historical/cultural heritage is a way of telling others that the people/communities within these locations, museums, historical buildings, traditions are important and worth protecting!
One must not forget the power of the Evangelical Christians to be major influencers on the Israeli govt to keep Israel ( including West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights) as the true ancient Holyland of biblical times. As one pastor from the Foursquare Evangelical Church in town said to me at a recent ecumenical clergy seminar on
issues of justice and ‘just war’: “We just want to keep those infidel Arabs out of there.”
The Evangelicals are a powerful influence in American politics as well. Sooooo take it from there!
A poignant and honest statement, and beautifully written. Memory and loss are crucial elements of maintaining human values and dignity, things that warmongers and autocrats (often one and the same) either wish to destroy or care little of their worth. Thank you to Ms. Ben-Ghiat for continuing to emphasize the inner - as well as the more recognizable outer - destruction that autocratic societies face - whether forced upon them, or even worse, because of the divisive bitterness it engenders, chosen by the people themselves.
This is a time of great sadness. The destruction of culture often foreshadows a decline of civilization.
Charlie, well said. I share the feeling which at times is overwhelming. The capacity for empathy distinguishes us from the psychopaths and sociopaths that lacking compassion spread suffering while in pursuit of profit.
While I share the pain for the cultural losses I’m reminded that we we face at least three fascist threats: Russia, Israel and China; all anxious to see trump, or one of his fascist GOP clones win in 2O24. China is evaluating the price paid by Russia and Israel for their respective aggression before attacking Taiwan.
Both Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu (BN) benefit from prolonging the war to avoid judicial accountability, aka jail. They both prefer Trump over Biden. We’re learning that Biden and the Dems electoral prospects in 2024 diminishes the longer these wars, or massacres, continue, a reality that seems to escape Biden.
We may individually have more leverage with Israel than we do with Russia. Biden’s embrace and unconditional support for BN has further reduced his popularity especially among youth, Arab Americans, progressive voters and I would add environmentalists. This largely overlooked scenario has been well elucidated by Lincoln Mitchell, a political scientist in his recent eponymous substack and Ian Masters’ Background Briefing interview, both dated 12/20.
We may not be able to personally help Ukraine, but we weigh in the Palestinian massacre. Hamas terrorism does not justify support for Israeli’s terrorism. Opposing Israel is not antisemitic. Israel’s fascism is fueling antisemitism. The Intercept now reports 25,000 Palestinians killed, including 8,000 children—2/3 women and children; 50,000 wounded, 100 journalists killed since 10/7 … When is enough enough!
We must urge Pres Biden and our congressional reps to publicly demand a cease fire, end to non humanitarian aid to Israel and support for ICC investigation and prosecution of war crimes, including genocide and apartheid.
Action is an antidote to despair. Contact Biden at WH.gov; call your Congress persons at (202)224-3121. Urge others to do the same. Write to your newspaper when appropriate. We must help Biden avid complicity in Israel’s war crimes.
Robert Leyland Monefeldt
Heartbreaking to know.
Ruth,one thing that you have referenced and the media does not say, putin is a Soviet Communist in the most strict terms. He is Stalinesque. The only difference is putin has a lot of western money especially from the fossil fuel industry.
Stalin was a paranoid sociopath and I suspect that Putin has a similar mindset. They both loved/love authoritarianism. The difference I see in the two is that Stalin was a communist but Putin is a fascist. But both are destructive concepts.
Putin is a communist with western money which transforms to fascism
On a different subject (today's subject), the Colorado Supreme Court judges are receiving death threats because of the decision they made to bump Trump off the ballot in that state. Correct me if I'm wrong, but death threats, like the ones we're hearing about a lot, just did not happen before Trump came along. Really. If I am wrong, I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, this is what Trump has done to this country.
Violence is a major part of fascism for many reasons. Social dominance and submission is promoted in fascism, and once accepted by followers, it becomes easier to punish the submissive and the so called inferior in society. Fascism promotes a feeling of being under siege by some outside enemy. Violence becomes a tool to vanquish this enemy.
Putin is a monster that must be destroyed. So are his enablers.(Trump, MTG, etc.) The Ukrainians will handle Putin, it's on us to clean up our own house.
I started in 1981 traveling and working for 20 years with Russian and Georgian (Soviet when this began) psychologists, educators, teachers and students. It was perhaps the only time that doors were opened for Americans and Soviets to work together and accomplish amazing levels of collaboration through the Global Thinking Project (GTP--global-thinking-project.org. We lived in each other’s homes--more than 400 students, teachers, and researchers. We established one of the first telecommunications networks between Russian and American schools, joined also with Australia, Spain, and other countries. This allowed us to use a primitive internet to have students and teachers around the world to collaborate on environmental science research.
But during this period Putin was roaming from East Germany, to St Petersburg, and then to Moscow. He worked for the first democratic mayor in St. Petersburg, but he continued his corruption learned in the KGB, but also with his mob, which he brought with him to Moscow. Putin was in the right place with right connections to become the tyrant that he is. While this was happening we were there working a different universe.
Your thinking and writing, Ruth, is crucial to our understanding of how to deal with evil.
But while we were seeing cooperation
1/4
Ruth, thank you for juxtaposing the Ukrainian and Palestinian tragedies;
both have similar unintended consequences, undermining our democracy. Putin and Netanyahu may be helping us sleepwalk into fascism.
Some pose the rhetorical question: “How Can We Possibly Be Sleepwalking into Another Trump Presidency? (Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 12/1/23.) We aught ask ourselves: “Are We Sleepwalking Into Dictatorship?” (David Remnick, The New Yorker, 12/10/23.) Liz Cheney warned us: “One of the things we see today is sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States,” Cheney told CBS News’s John Dickerson,” (“Liz Cheney warns US ‘sleepwalking into dictatorship’ “ Lauren Irwin, The Hill, 12/01/23.)
2/4
Columbia University political science professor, Lincoln Mitchell argued that if the war drags on his loss of support amongst youth, Arab Americans and the democratic leftist base will dramatically increase further. These voters may not bother voting, benefitting trump. They will blame the wars failed outcomes on Biden, along with his age and other perceived flaws.
We don’t have much influence in the outcome of the war in Ukraine, but we do in the so-called Gaza War, a veritable genocidal massacre.
We need to weigh in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for humanitarian reasons and to increase the odds of defeating the GOP in the 2024 general elections. and saving our democracy. Lets’s demand:
* A cease-fire on the part of Israel;
* Withdraw all non humanitarian aid to Israel and
* Support for an ICC investigation and prosecution for war crimes committed by Hamas and Israel, including but not limited to genocide and apartheid.
3/4
Putin, Netanyahu
benefit from dragging their wars to avoid going to jail. Biden electoral victory diminishes unless Putin loses or withdraws from Ukraine. Biden also needs to compel Netanyahu to agree and honor a cease-fire and stop the genocidal massacre of innocent Palestinians sooner rather than later.
We help Biden by supporting an immediate cease-fire.
WhiteHouse.gov
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(292)224-312