Timely. Putin escalating with performative acts like referendums in breakaway provinces and more threats; I am not bluffing wrt nuclear weapons. Western leaders standing strong; at the present.
Another current parallel
Trump has “a rotating cast of aides has been tasked with following him around the golf course at the club he's at and giving him positive reinforcement from Twitter and wherever else they find it on the web, per ppl told of the practice.”
Travel safe.............. BBC reports this morning, Putin has activated 300,000 reservists. He is also enjoying fondling the nuclear button. Erdogan is pushing for return of all Ukrainian land. Meloni continues her domination in the polls and is likely to win this weekend. Bolsonaro will probably win, if he does, or doesn't. Fascism, in our country, has clearly taken on the "Dominionist" fashion for the foreseeable future............ Just another day in paradise.
Ruth, my comment is in the form of a question. If in the interest of combating global warming and climate catastrophe, BIden were to call the CEOs of all the American oil companies to the white house and say to them: Either you all present me with a program to decrease fossil fuel emissions, or I am going to nationalize the industry and run it in such a way so as to decrease fossil fuel emissions, would you say this action fits the playbook of an authoritarian leader, or is justified in the face of the climate catastrophe we all face? I note that "nationalization" is not new in America.
The former president’s obsession with making money- illegally usually - is attractive to many American power elites who enjoy the spoils of his greed.
This obsession with money has been a lifelong driver of his power. He’s not about to change his tactics anytime soon, so the CEO’s and other power brokers will keep him around as long as the money rolls in. Wonderful article Ruth- helped open my eyes to the real motivators of greed! Thank you
How does the US currently compare to this inequality metric? What are the consequences of ever escalating concentration of wealth upward? How will Citizens United continue to exacerbate the problem?
“This is certainly the case in Russia: in 2019 the richest 3% held 90% of the assets, with Putin's oligarchs owning the lion's share of those.”
Interesting how for both Putin and the Russian people’s condition was accelerated by the Pandemic. For him isolation made him worse. For the people, tired of Authoritarianism, loss of freedoms, tired of lack of opportunity, tiring of corruption, propaganda, and lies. Putin’s fall will be like when the Berlin Wall came down. Is it already happening in Kazakhstan? Will Belarus be next? And then like dominos...
Putin's actions reveal what is going on in his mind, and it's not that different from other authroritarians we have seen. We see machismo, grandiosity, magical thinking, sadism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, callousness, possible psychopathy, intolerance of dissent, social Darwinism and a belligerent foreign policy. These personality traits create a national hellscape when a national leader exhibits these. Putin and Trump are buddies because they have similar personalities and gravitate toward fascism.
Earlier this year I was working with a student who was interested in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s use of cryptocurrencies, which was becoming a major issue. Ukraine had been using cryptocurrency to cover the funding of its weapons systems as it acts as a currency bound by no state and that has one of the easiest processes of international conversion. Lockheed Martin produces weapons systems, such as the Javelin anti-tank missiles, which Ukraine had initially been effectively using to defend its country from the Russian invasion.
Countries that do not rank high in measures of economic wealth, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), generally do better in the world of cryptocurrency. There are tools that can trace cryptocurrencies and related digital assets across blockchains to improve the current analysis of cryptocurrencies and their performance within economic activity.
Russia has been against using cryptocurrencies as a payment method in order to protect the Russian ruble, but this fear may soon be changing with all the economic sanctions imposed on Russia that appear to be increasingly highly effective even with goods not placed under economic sanctions! So stay tuned for a worsening situation for Russia!
I understand the psyche of the authoritarian. I understand why they do what they do. What I don't understand is why people are attracted to authoritarians. Who are these people, especially the ones who glom on.
For example, why does a Lindsey Graham attach himself to a sadistic monster like Trump? Or how about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? These are beyond everything else flawed people, so what do they get out of their relationship with Trump? How are these people any different than the people who linked their legacy on Hitler - Goring, Himmler, Goebbels, and Borman. Are these people any different than the supreme leader or are they somehow different.
And of course, there are a million or more devout believers who constitute a distinct minority, a cult. What are they getting out of all this?
The part I really don't get is why the vast majority who are sane and of sound mind don't soundly reject this insane aberration? In the old days, this authoritarian movement would never have gained so much ground in this country. Something changed and I can't figure out what.
This is a battle of good over evil. Pseudo-christians aside, I keep hopeful that the millions of Christians worldwide -- independent of 'organized religion' -- will in the grassroots pockets, snap back into righteousness of the Gospel. It's a numbers game. There are more good people than bad, the good people must gain control over the evil ones to save the planet. "There is neither Jew nor gentile, either slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus." --Galathians 3:28
Where are the people that believe this? Now is our time to work this through. This is the moment we have been called for.
[Important Ohio (Battleground state) down ballot election update!!!]
Extremist and QAnon conspiracy theorist JR Majewski is presenting himself as a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks………He LIES!!!
Associated Press reports that JR Majewski NEVER deployed to Afghanistan and has exaggerated stories of his service!
Daily Beast says “Ohio candidate’s [JR Majewski’s] story of military heroism is mostly BS, Report says.”
JR Majewski said he was at the US Capital on Jan 6, 2021 because he has the right to be there and also took veterans there to support [Trump] at this “Stop the Steal” rally as he describes it.
VOTE BLUE!!!
Vote for U.S. Congressional Rep (Longest serving U.S. Congresswoman in U.S. history!) Marcy Kaptur (Dem-OH-09) for the working people of Ohio!!!
Timely. Putin escalating with performative acts like referendums in breakaway provinces and more threats; I am not bluffing wrt nuclear weapons. Western leaders standing strong; at the present.
Another current parallel
Trump has “a rotating cast of aides has been tasked with following him around the golf course at the club he's at and giving him positive reinforcement from Twitter and wherever else they find it on the web, per ppl told of the practice.”
Travel safe.............. BBC reports this morning, Putin has activated 300,000 reservists. He is also enjoying fondling the nuclear button. Erdogan is pushing for return of all Ukrainian land. Meloni continues her domination in the polls and is likely to win this weekend. Bolsonaro will probably win, if he does, or doesn't. Fascism, in our country, has clearly taken on the "Dominionist" fashion for the foreseeable future............ Just another day in paradise.
Ruth, my comment is in the form of a question. If in the interest of combating global warming and climate catastrophe, BIden were to call the CEOs of all the American oil companies to the white house and say to them: Either you all present me with a program to decrease fossil fuel emissions, or I am going to nationalize the industry and run it in such a way so as to decrease fossil fuel emissions, would you say this action fits the playbook of an authoritarian leader, or is justified in the face of the climate catastrophe we all face? I note that "nationalization" is not new in America.
TFG’s walls are closing in: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/21/nyregion/trump-fraud-lawsuit-letitia-james?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Wow, Ruth, current events have turned into a laboratory for you! And everything you've written about has come to pass. It's a bitch being right.
The former president’s obsession with making money- illegally usually - is attractive to many American power elites who enjoy the spoils of his greed.
This obsession with money has been a lifelong driver of his power. He’s not about to change his tactics anytime soon, so the CEO’s and other power brokers will keep him around as long as the money rolls in. Wonderful article Ruth- helped open my eyes to the real motivators of greed! Thank you
Dr. B-G,
How does the US currently compare to this inequality metric? What are the consequences of ever escalating concentration of wealth upward? How will Citizens United continue to exacerbate the problem?
“This is certainly the case in Russia: in 2019 the richest 3% held 90% of the assets, with Putin's oligarchs owning the lion's share of those.”
Interesting how for both Putin and the Russian people’s condition was accelerated by the Pandemic. For him isolation made him worse. For the people, tired of Authoritarianism, loss of freedoms, tired of lack of opportunity, tiring of corruption, propaganda, and lies. Putin’s fall will be like when the Berlin Wall came down. Is it already happening in Kazakhstan? Will Belarus be next? And then like dominos...
Putin's actions reveal what is going on in his mind, and it's not that different from other authroritarians we have seen. We see machismo, grandiosity, magical thinking, sadism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, callousness, possible psychopathy, intolerance of dissent, social Darwinism and a belligerent foreign policy. These personality traits create a national hellscape when a national leader exhibits these. Putin and Trump are buddies because they have similar personalities and gravitate toward fascism.
Dysfunctions of all sorts!
Earlier this year I was working with a student who was interested in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s use of cryptocurrencies, which was becoming a major issue. Ukraine had been using cryptocurrency to cover the funding of its weapons systems as it acts as a currency bound by no state and that has one of the easiest processes of international conversion. Lockheed Martin produces weapons systems, such as the Javelin anti-tank missiles, which Ukraine had initially been effectively using to defend its country from the Russian invasion.
Countries that do not rank high in measures of economic wealth, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), generally do better in the world of cryptocurrency. There are tools that can trace cryptocurrencies and related digital assets across blockchains to improve the current analysis of cryptocurrencies and their performance within economic activity.
Russia has been against using cryptocurrencies as a payment method in order to protect the Russian ruble, but this fear may soon be changing with all the economic sanctions imposed on Russia that appear to be increasingly highly effective even with goods not placed under economic sanctions! So stay tuned for a worsening situation for Russia!
I understand the psyche of the authoritarian. I understand why they do what they do. What I don't understand is why people are attracted to authoritarians. Who are these people, especially the ones who glom on.
For example, why does a Lindsey Graham attach himself to a sadistic monster like Trump? Or how about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? These are beyond everything else flawed people, so what do they get out of their relationship with Trump? How are these people any different than the people who linked their legacy on Hitler - Goring, Himmler, Goebbels, and Borman. Are these people any different than the supreme leader or are they somehow different.
And of course, there are a million or more devout believers who constitute a distinct minority, a cult. What are they getting out of all this?
The part I really don't get is why the vast majority who are sane and of sound mind don't soundly reject this insane aberration? In the old days, this authoritarian movement would never have gained so much ground in this country. Something changed and I can't figure out what.
This is a battle of good over evil. Pseudo-christians aside, I keep hopeful that the millions of Christians worldwide -- independent of 'organized religion' -- will in the grassroots pockets, snap back into righteousness of the Gospel. It's a numbers game. There are more good people than bad, the good people must gain control over the evil ones to save the planet. "There is neither Jew nor gentile, either slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus." --Galathians 3:28
Where are the people that believe this? Now is our time to work this through. This is the moment we have been called for.
[Important Ohio (Battleground state) down ballot election update!!!]
Extremist and QAnon conspiracy theorist JR Majewski is presenting himself as a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks………He LIES!!!
Associated Press reports that JR Majewski NEVER deployed to Afghanistan and has exaggerated stories of his service!
Daily Beast says “Ohio candidate’s [JR Majewski’s] story of military heroism is mostly BS, Report says.”
JR Majewski said he was at the US Capital on Jan 6, 2021 because he has the right to be there and also took veterans there to support [Trump] at this “Stop the Steal” rally as he describes it.
VOTE BLUE!!!
Vote for U.S. Congressional Rep (Longest serving U.S. Congresswoman in U.S. history!) Marcy Kaptur (Dem-OH-09) for the working people of Ohio!!!