2016/07/15 18:30:01
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Oh, a very old Cafe here, and on the lamp an inscription “Bourbon” … it looks a very poor place, not for those who live in palace anyway, maybe for those who are living their days on the streets…some musicians, some cats… out of rats. Here is a story put in verses which I hope you’ll enjoy :
Cat World
Living alone and having a home, took a cat who was alone
For some, it might be curious, it may sound indeed hilarious
And strange, but now I’m a cat and felt myself happy, being that.
Things got nasty in that year’s fall, before the Christmas, got a call
It was the new chief, the big rat, remember him as small and fat
He told me short : ” you’re fired ! and your house has been hired…”
Now guess, who get my house ? yes, you’re right, the old mouse.
Yet, he’s moving in my good flat and I’m thrown out, just like that.
You may ask : why is happening all this ?
Saw the cat and mouse sharing a kiss ?
Yeah, the kiss in the form of fate, generated by mouse’s class mate
Guess, who’s the best mate for him ?
Yes, the rat, his old friend from Gym.
Back then, both have scary times, cat gangs haunting them for nights.
But then, the new guiding principle, banned the cats away, it’s simple.
Then emerged the new street order
Letting rats and mouses go further.
For the cats the meat was undue, cheese becomes the only menu.
Oh yes, only for those with money, for them life becomes like honey.
With the cats like in the fable, mouses are dancing now on the table
They have gone so far indeed, letting some cats to wash their feet
For a slice of sweet cheese, cat-girls have done their mouse please
For the cats who chose to quit, well, they were thrown out on the street
Living alone, not having a home
Making a living, with my singing
Playing on strings, for my cat kings
Having a say, they let me to play
Music for cats, but not for the rats
Becoming friends, shaking hands
Opening ways, for brighter days.
Living alone, not having a home
Playing the music, a piece of classic
The last tango, and then, I shall go…
The Heaven is here, nothing to fear
Angels are coming, bright and loving
This is my day … they took me away
In the kingdom of the cats
With no mouses and no rats
With no fear to live alone
Now, I found my real home.
Rats are living in high places
And they have human faces
But the ship is slowly sinking
And the rats are surely living…
“Thanks to all, too many to name by name. We vineyarders will turn this world around, with a little help from Russia.” Denis
to me would fit the same with ” we vineyarders will turn this world” – a little – “around” with a big help” of Pjiotr and Vlad and Maria and millions of civilized hence not deranged individuals in the russian Civilisation. I like those charakters. It gives me breath
that they are in the world. And our very little astrological plant, so dear watered by you ioan also gives a breath in reliable ( ha!) images, which are not ruled by man but by God’s children – inherited by our ancestors
cheers , Annette just entering, our Berlin-dearest-Sister in appreciation
mundanomaniac
I am glad if I could add a fresh breath to your little astrological plant together with many others here in this Vineyard. My best wishes to you and Annette.
Totally. Fabulous.
Your best yet.
I am going to print it out, decorate it and frame it :-)
Eimar
Oh, I’m glad you like it, you were in my mind when I wrote this, still remember your sweet cat…
Just a coincidence : https://www.rt.com/viral/351658-turkey-coup-cat-photo/
Saw it – :-)
This should really make you laugh out loud – and Vot Tak if he’s passing by:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mZZe72baX-4
Something going on in Ankara at tnis moment…bridges closed, helicopter firing at /near turkish national intelligence centre says rt news feedline?????
Any news about the army uprising in Turkey? This could get interesting if it gets coup-esque.
Army takeover in turkey !?
Coup in turkey, will sanity prevail?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jul/15/turkey-coup-attempt-military-gunfire-ankara
It looks like military coup is is happening right now in Turkey.
https://www.rt.com/news/351334-ankara-shooting-jets-helicopters/
https://www.rt.com/news/351345-turkey-coup-military-ankara/
Now, before people start cheering for the overthrow, they should now that this is not being done because of Erdogans support for daesh or conflict with Russia. My guess is this is the opposite – Erdogan probably outlived his usefulness when he started shaking hands with Russia and started working on deflating the conflict. (No matter how fake and dishonest Erdogan and Turkey’s political elite were at expressing the wish for better cooperation).
Washington needs conflict, not a lovefest or something like a russo-turkish cold war.
Maybe we even see a return of the PM Smugface (Davutoglu).
This doesn’t seem likely to me, Erdogan may have purged some senior staff but the Turkish military has a strong secular tradition, I don’t think a radical takeover would work.
BREAKING! MILITARY COUP IN TURKEY!
The military says they have the control of the country and are retaining the Chief of Staff .
Tanks on the streets in Ankara
No telephone, no internet.
Elephant in room, anyone? No?
Alrighty then… one of these “nothing to do with Islam” type people strikes again:
EXCLUSIVE – ‘He drank alcohol, ate pork and took drugs. He was NOT a Muslim – he was a s***’: Truck terrorist’s cousin reveals he is an ‘unlikely jihadist’ who beat his wife and NEVER went to the mosque
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3691895/He-drank-alcohol-ate-pork-took-drugs-NOT-Muslim-Truck-terrorist-Mohamed-Lahouaiej-Bouhlel-s-cousin-reveals-unlikely-jihadist-beat-wife-NEVER-went-mosque.html
–
Phew!
That was a close one! Considering the creature in question was a Tunisian-born (living in France under a resident permit, even though, according to French law he should have been deported after his first breach of criminal law violation) called Mohamed (BTW: I’m sure plenty of X-tians name their sprogs Mohamed all the time…)!
We should all thank the gods – that don’t exist – this guy wasn’t “a real Muslim” after all.
Well! That’s relief! Never mind the mowed down 84 dead (including at least 10 children in the casualties) or the over 25 plus victims in hospital in intensive care, and the rest of the victims, also in hospital. Never mind any of that, what it really matters is that this guy wasn’t a “real Muslim,” even though the perpetrator was heard by several witnesses shouting “allahu akbar” (probably a catchy phrase he picked up on social media, nothing to concern ourselves with here).
–
Meanwhile… back to the previous “nothing to with Islam” attack in France…
French government ‘suppressed gruesome torture’ of Bataclan victims as official inquiry is told some were castrated and had their eyes gouged out by the ISIS killers
“Victims of terrorist attacks were tortured by ISIS, inquiry hears
Policemen on the scene of nightclub vomited when they saw victims [..]”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3692359/French-government-suppressed-gruesome-torture-Bataclan-victims-official-inquiry-told-castrated-eyes-gouged-ISIS-killers.html
–
What a good day this is to bury bad/suppressed news, isn’t it?
It’s funny how some posters, particularly on the so-called alternative media, were so quick to call that terrorist attack a “false-flag,” mostly based on the fact that everybody (I don’t, btw) have a cell phone, and therefore… where were the victims pictures/footage? According to their lunatic theory, it was all a wind-up, with paid actors ala Boston Marathon.
Call me crazy; but I rather not see pictures/footage of mutilated bodies that can make hardened policemen vomit.
Having said that, the big story here, is that French authorities kept this well under wraps until now.
-TL2Q
Daily mail uk says coup going on in turkey Ankara…?????on rt news now
BREAKING: ‘We’ve taken over!’ Military claim coup in Turkey as chaos reigns in Ankara
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/690032/BREAKING-Military-coup-in-Turkey-shots-fired-and-bridges-closed
–
Oh! What a shame this is!
Considering there’s no liberal ready-made excuse for Turkey being, as we know, *cough*cough* NATO-whores, Russian pilot killers and also ISIS collaborators/oil smugglers (if not out-right bonafide architects of ISIS themselves…)
What a goddamned shame! Isn’t it?
-Tl2Q
Does anyone else feel like things are hotting up rapidly now? It seems there’s some kind of moderate geopolitical tremor almost every day now, from the recent attacks in Dallas and Nice (both possibly false flags), to the missiles arriving in Europe and South Korea, Clinton’s unique preventative pardon, Brexit (obviously), Clinton’s unique preventative pardon…And this is only the tip of the iceberg. (And speaking of Clinton’s unique preventative pardon, the elite in general are not even bothering to hide their blatant gangsterism even more… And what’s with that Gothenberg Tunnel opening ceremony?)
A string of tremors often presage a major earthquake. It just feels to me like the pace of outrages is quickening, indicating some major, horrific geopolitical tectonic shift is about to occur, most likely precipitated by a Gladio-style false flag of truly epic proportions, perhaps because the elite are getting impatient to strike now while they still can as things seem like they might be starting to slip through their fingers, like isolating Russia, regime change in Syria, China’s refusal to backdown, etc.
Does anyone else feel like things are rapidly spiraling to a point where something’s got to give?
And yet, despite all these terrible harbingers of doom, I refuse to cower in fear. I reluctantly and sadly accept the tragic farce that is our species. As the engineers driving our geopolitical train recklessly aim to careen it off the bridge and into the gorge, I will do my best to focus instead on the love I share with my family and friends, and live in my continued pursuit of all that is beautiful for as long as I can. I understand more and more the profound wisdom of something Leonard Bernstein said: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” When faced with their imminent demise, the musicians on the Titanic continued to play their music together until they could play no more. Is that not one of the most bitter-sweet anecdotes of all time, and an excellent example to keep in mind in these times?
For as Hemingway said, “A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” I will do my best not to succumb to the fear they wish me to feel, for that is how they defeat us, and legitimize their illegitimate authority. They may control the circumstances of my life, but I will endeavor to keep my mind free.
Lochmann
Here is a German song which suits your feelings or respond to them. The song has also English subtitle (translation) for others here to understand. I think this song fits here on this blog, in this Cafe :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS2pwy_Y8xQ
ioan, you have such a finely-tuned radar, which detects the small movements, vibrstions, tremors, in every café. Danke schoen, for the video, the verses, the compassion! And for inspiring mundanomaniac, who has made some truly thought-provoking comments lately. Like him, I too believe there is a being (not the only one), accompanying all of us watchers (and commenters). He expressed this much better than me, but I’m unable to locate his exact words. So my feeble misquote will have to do.
S113
Thank you for your kind words and and everyone on this blog and in this Cafe for sharing their views, which I highly respect and appreciate.
Lohmann, excuse me for misspelling your name
Thank you for sharing that, ioan. What an excellent song. I anticipate hearing it more in the future.
Thank you for sharing that, ioan! What an excellent song. I anticipate hearing it more in the future.
Lohmann
I am sympathetic to what you suggest in your post. Events certainly are accelerating, and occurring at more frequent intervals. I also hold (a perhaps unusual) viewpoint that this kind of accelerated tension and trauma creates a kind of electrical excitement which disturbs the geological structure of the earth and sets up conditions for earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis which act as release valves.
Trauma is a psychological weapon. Even if we do not consciously experience it, daily reports of violence and suffering, and increasingly unstable geopolitical conditions tax our nervous system and overload our capacity to function with equanimity and reason. We are also suffering under the environmental degradation of the earth and too much exposure to various pollutants including electromagnetic frequencies that are inharmonious to our own biological rhythms. Many human beings are are completely unaware of how they are being effected, and manipulated, by all the above and more. At a certain point we do break down and become either become numb and passive, or driven by reactionary anger and fear, in either case, unable to act freely.
As you suggest, if we are conscious of the effects of all these hindrances coming at us, we can choose to mitigate their negative influences. Like yourself, I look for inspiration in great art and literature, and immerse myself in art, nature, music, beauty, and human relationships which nourish my soul and help me maintain my inner equilibrium and sense of who I AM. We do not take up these finer activities to escape reality, but in order to remain in reality.
So next act- US Dem and Rep conventions, which are likely to be a kind of release valve for much tension. If this long sequence of political events are part of an agenda, a script, it does feel as though we are now rapidly building to a climax.
k
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
> Trauma is a psychological weapon.
Indeed it is. Keeping us in a state of fear, while distracting us with insalubrious entertainments, certainly profits (quite literally) those who seek to control us.
I feel a kinship to those in early 30s Germany who saw where things were heading. What could those with their eyes open do? The tide was too strong to swim against, and doing so would only cause one’s own boat to capsize. I emmigrated from the States, as many did in Germany so as to rescue themselves and their loved ones before it was too late. But once safely landed somewhere else, how can one avert their gaze from the disaster they know is about to befall their homeland? Is it crass to seek inner peace while all too aware of the misery so many will succumb to at the hands of the craven, the evil, and the misguided? Is it fair or just to seek the beautiful, while around you innocents die in conflagrations? Or are these two separate thoughts that should not be causally conflated?
It’s hard, because one wants to stop, and hopefully, prevent injustices; one wants to see an end to needless suffering. Can one be happy in the face of all the injustice and suffering in the world? (I’m not talking of that species of evil, sad monster who rule us who can only find happiness in causing such misery.) Can one find reason to rejoice in life when senseless tragedy appears on the horizon? How can one dance when the house is on fire? And yet is it not better to appreciate the wonder of all that is while one is yet alive, than stare at the meaninglessness at the heart of it?
It’s said that what separates us from other species is our ability for ratiocination. Yet I can’t help but think that what really separates us is that we are able to experience beauty, and KNOW that we are experiencing it.
I think ultimately it comes to this, perhaps the most courageous and subversive existential attitude we can adopt to get through our life in one piece:
Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.
-Wendell Berry
I think, what some say is right: human consciousness is kind the attempts of the universe to get a consciousness about itself. I think, even if the experiment on earth should be botched for one or some eons, the unalianable memory of the species will prevail. So I, knowing to be terminal, stick to the eternal love.
And I stick to C.G.Jung’s:
I “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”
Cheers
A beautiful and comforting thought in the face of the mystery of why there is somethingness instead of nothingness… An enormous universe without any sentience anywhere within it seems rather silly and pointless, doesn’t it?
And yet, with or without it, I still see no point to it. So, while I’m still here, I’ll just enjoy the music and caress of the wind, the magic of the colour green, the feel of a loved one’s hand in my own…
Can one be happy in the face of all the injustice and suffering in the world? How can one dance when the house is on fire?
I think you answered your own questions in your last post, I would just chime in that for me it’s not so much about dancing or being happy in the face of tragedy, but more about not losing my inner equilibrium, and giving equal attention to the good, the beautiful, and the true. I don’t want to ignore the immensity of human suffering, the tragic degradation of the earth, or the storm clouds gathering on the horizon,
but I want also to cast my glance towards the mysterious creative force at the foundation of our existence and how it shows up in my life in the redwood trees, the sea breeze, Hafiz, Novalis, Beethoven and on and on and on……Though the house is burning, I will still take comfort in the poetry of the world, and will not abandon my love for the Great Eternal Mother of All.
In the words of Joanna Macy,
“The other side of our pain for the world, is our love for the world.”
K
Thank you, kinterra, well said. I think that is the conclusion I am coming to myself…
This may seem like an odd example to cite, but there’s a truly remarkable scene at the end of Zach Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead that, to me, perfectly encapsulates what we’re talking about. After rescuing a few people our hero is soon to die at the hands of the zombie horde behind him once they crash through a gate. He peacefully looks the other way at the beautiful sunset before him for one last time before putting a bullet into his own head.
An all too sad and beautiful example for our times…
@ Lohmann
I almost detect enthusiasm in your expectation of an earthquake-size event to compensate for the firecracker that fizzled out in Turkey like a damp squib.
Hold your horses for the time being. Our Bastille will come but is going to be a different one – storming it with pitchforks is a bit passe’.
Kim
Very astute observation. It’s a fine line between dread and anticipation.
As for “our Bastille” I’m not sure I share your confidence in its inevitability, given the world-ending forces at the disposal of those who would rather go down with everyone else than share their spoils.
Situation in Turkey:
MSM is claiming that coup attempt has failed, but Turks on social media report ongoing conflict.
Coup is reportedly led by members of the air force and Gendarmarie. Erdogan has regained control in Istanbul, but not in Ankara.
Re: Turkey
Conflicts News reports that fighting continues in Ankara:
https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/754183032110735360
I have seen comments by several Turks on social media who believe the coup was likely orchestrated by Erdogan himself, as a way to purge the military and consolidate his own power, moving Turkey further from a parliamentary system, more towards a presidential one.
I had a first look at the recently released 28 pages of the 9/11 inquiry regarding the Saudi involvement. For going along with the report’s context, I am setting aside
– that Osama bin Laden refused to be involved in the attacks in his first public statement, the only one regarding 9/11 I deem credible,
– that the alleged hijackers were unskilled in flying airplanes,
– that some of the alleged hijackers reported themselves alive,
– that two planes were flown well beyond their flight capacities and therefore should have disintegrated/crashed before the impacts,
– and so forth at nausea.
The inquiry reports Saudi allowances to several hijackers of a few 10’000 dollars per person, a couple 100’000 dollars in total. Therefore, according to the inquiry, the alleged hijackers received money worth some bread crumbs. If this were all that was needed to cover the hijackers’ extra spending for a year or so, not to name their pilot training, it would be truly amazing. It is so little, Jon Doe could afford it. But alas, what do I know about ideologically motivated wannabes?
As the report points out, it collected available information on the Saudi involvement based on FBI and CIA files and other (blacked) sources. At the time of the inquiry, much of this information lacked independent fact checking, such that conclusions and findings are mere allegations. Therefore, nothing seriously new to me.
By the way, the pages 435, 438 and 439 look remarkably different in font type and scan quality. Were these pages scanned on a different device and/or do they stem from a different copy of the report?
French Politeness
When I started reading on-line French newspapers about two years ago I was surprised how often the headlines featured a Monsieur Poutine but never bothered to read the news articles because I was looking for some material in the culture sections (forgive my little snobbery). Besides, if you look at that name from the anglophone corner of the eye, it reads like POW (as in COW or ROW)- TINE (as in MINE) and there is no familiar ring about it – just an ubiquitous French Monsieur who is always in the news, a routine affair for the locals. (Oops, the penny dropped and the cat is out of the bag!) Yes dear readers, Poutine is read like “routine” and Monsieur Poutine turns out to be our esteemed Mr. Putin.
Emboldened by the new discovery, I checked how other languages deal with the name of the current President of the Russian Federation and found out that among all Roman script languages, French is the only one to deviate from the formal spelling we are used to. The question now is, why do the French find it necessary to go through the trouble of changing the spelling of the name of the man when most of the world is quite happy with, apart from the Nato war dogs, curs and their handlers?
Of course, our francophone readers (and the Saker if he’s paying attention) are already raising their hands and fingers but I ask them to put them down before the game is up. This game is mainly for the monoglot anglophones, that is to say, the great majority of them outside our Cafe circle, a bastion of culture and enlightenment.
For the less language-endowed here I suggest a little diversion to an Austrian village (with which Ioan is familiar, I’m sure) to supply a hint to our puzzle. It is a quaint village in the Upper Austria region that has had a record number of robberies of an unusual kind; in fact that is the only crime committed in that small village for decades. The robbers are particularly attracted to the name of the village and keep on pilfering the sign posts and that causes serious consternation among the villagers because they are taxed for the replacement signs and the bad name the village is getting from being often in the news.
By now, by hook and by crook you would have found out why the French bestowed a change to Mr. Putin’s name, if you are curious enough. And that leads to the next question, this one rhetorical: would the anglophones change the spelling of a name in similar circumstances?
My answer is that they would not; why miss the chance to have lots of fun and crack a few jokes at the local pub? And that’s why I tip my hat to Galllic politesse which, up to a point, contradicts the anglophone’s myth of French rudeness towards them, especially if they address the French in English.
The best illustration of that myth was given by a friend of mine I met in Paris a few years ago on his first visit to Europe. He was a writer and had read immensely about France, always through English-speaking writers and from whom he formed the view that the French were rude to English speakers. However, during the course of our stay in Paris we only came across polite and helpful waiters, shop assistants and passers-by and my friend was getting a bit disappointed that his long-held view of impolitesse francaise was daily contradicted by the unco-operative French.
One day, walking along the Quartier Latin, he saw the opportunity of proving his point and, without having any excuse to do so, asked a gendarme for directions in English (he couldn’t speak French), to which the policeman replied in English: “Sorry, I don’t speak English Monsieur” and my friend was beaming with joy because his view on the French was vindicated as “the bastard spoke English but said he didn’t speak it’!
Instead of allowing my friend to wallow in his success, I went back to the gendarme and asked him in French about his reply to my friend and he said that many gendarmeries instruct the police on the beat to reply with the standard phrase “I don’t speak ….” in several languages. And I was happy to have upheld the tradition of politesse francaise.
As Aristotle said, in order to become virtuous we need to act as virtuous; thus, if we act politely we become better and more civilised – something we should do more of at Chez Saker, myself included.
Kim
Kim
I share your views Kim even I haven’t been in France. A couple of years ago I knew a woman from France, from Paris, she lived not far from me and we became friends because of the common love for dogs, she had a little dog and every day made her walking with that little lover. As I do speak a bit French (better than wrote) we become very fast friends, it was a pleasure for both sides, she was happy that there is somebody to speak with her in her language and I because I could exercise and re-remember the French language. She came just for a while, with her son who had work here, just for a longer visit to him. After that she went back.I don’t know if she lives, she had 84 back then (for 14 years) The “politesse” cannot be learned so easily – if ever – you must be born with it, or at least with a higher sensibility in your spirit and that is truth for everybody. Of course, if somebody has a good family and has a good school with good teachers, there is a chance to learn the polite way, but even in this case, I think, the personality or the spirit is the decisive factor. This is why – at some extent – the real communism has failed. We are not the same, made on rolling band. Each person is different. Even this difference can be further evaluated and categorized from the top till the bottom. This could be a hard and long but very interesting discussion.
Kim ioan
Living in the US,’politesse’ is so rare, what you have brought forth warms my heart. I would gladly think thinks puts me in the category of “someone with a higher sensibility in spirit.”, but (being older) it was something learned in my youth. Not many signs of this in the US anymore… sigh…
I do however appreciate my visits to Mexico where one is always greeted with a handshake, and one’s well being and family are inquired about before ever speaking about business or other pragmatic affairs.
I will hold out for the possibility that if we survive the catastrophic events of our times, we might once again find ethics and virtues the cornerstone of our activity in life.
K
An interesting discussion. Puts me in mind of two quotes…
“The worse anyone feels, the worse treated he is. Fools elect fools.” -John Berryman
‘It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than “Try to be a little kinder.”‘ -Aldous Huxley
Kim,
Taking a cue from you, I would also like to repeat for myself,
” something we should do more of at Chez Saker, myself included.”
I am not sure that Putin‘s name‘s transcription as „Poutine“ is due to French politeness. One thing poor Westerners often fail to understand is that the use or the transcription from a language written in another alphabet does not only consist in giving another outline to each letter like, say, transcribing Russian/cyrillic „C“ as in CCCP with a schlangenlinie or serpent‘s line, looking like „S“. The letters in the other alphabet also correspond to sounds we may not have at all (or, like in latin script, may be superfluous or ambiguous), and their order may be different. Ignoring all that, we keep writing foreign names as we saw others writing them, and in doing that different countries/languages have different traditions. In Serbian (written in cyrillic and latin in an exactly matching way) all names are written as pronounced/heard, so „Hollande“ becomes „Oland“. Others, e.g. the Poles, leave most names as originally written, but when the pronounciation is too weird they use the „phonetic“ transcription, e.g. „Szekspir“ for an english author of the past. I am sorry I do not know whether the French keep all names written in latin letters as they are, or bend them like the Poles when they feel like it – but names originally written in cyrillic script have to be transcribed anyway into latin, and this following the rules they always follow, and these are mostly „phonetic“, i.e. an attempt to write down in latin what can be heard when a native speaker reads what is written in cyrillic. In the case of the Russian president, French listeners understand what here, in English, must be transcribed in the English style: p, oo, t, ee, n. Since the French are impolite enough not to have become English by now although the english did everything to turn them around, they also have a French way of transcibing sounds – e.g. „ou“ for what the english know to be a clear case of „oo“, and „i“ for what in english should be written as „ee“, and when then an „n“ is following („..-in“), a final „-e“ must be added to make clear that what the Russian said did not sound like what would be written „..-in“ in French, namely the sound „e“ + a nasal vibration that is not part of Russian or English, but French, where it may be written „-in“, „-ain“ or in a dozen other ways. In short: the French did write down what they hear, in their orthography, and „Poutine“ is then the only possibility. Same thing in Germany – in spite of our deplorable kinship with the english world murderers and our chaotic orthography, our chaos is not identical to that of the English, so that the „oo“ sound is transcribed as „u“ in German and „ee“ as „i“, while the consonants are the same in Russian, English, and German, which gives „Putin“. Why the english follow our example is unknown, they should pronounce „Pu..“ wrongly as „Pyu..“ and some do, (not to speak of the Americans‘ „Budn“).
In the 60s I read in our most respected Intelligenzblatt, „Die Zeit“ at the occasion of the publication of another tome of a new edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia that it was so ideologically distorted that they did not even mention the recently disgraced Comrade Khrouchtchove (in French transcription), our good old friend Chruschtschow (in Geman transcription) – assuming as good Germs that „Chruschtschow“ should have been mentioned somewhere between „B…“ and „D…“. French denouncers of communism had to wait until the tome K… was printed to be able to complain that „Khrouchtchove” had been condemned to be a non-person. Well… in Russian his name begins with „Xpy…“ and could therefore only appear in the very last tome of said encyclopedia…. with enough time to revise his case several times before printing. There is a way out of this mess, but the poor Russkies are to stupid to choose it: give them bloody foreigners your own version of your name in their script, and stick to it. The Chinese did just that – the pinyin transcription into latin invented in the 50s became by now the official, only acknowledged way of expressing Chinese words including names in latin script, one method for the whole rest of the world. Yes, it looks strange but works well.
As for this Austrian village – I never heard or read of it. What was its name?
bp
With all due respect to Mr Putin, I think that Kim was remarking on the way most French speaking people would pronounce the more common Latin spelling and the similarity to another perjorative, ‘putain’ which goggle can translate for you.
‘Poutine’, in Canada, is a much loved Quebecois dish of chips, (fries) cheese and gravy which has recently become popular elsewhere in the world, though I don’t see the attraction myself.
The Austrian question is, according to this site below, more about the puerile British sense of humour, and they are probably right as I too find it @@@@ing hilarious. :)
http://www.banderasnews.com/0611/nw-fucking-austria.htm
@ bp
Thank you for your extensive explanation but I think you missed the point, which was French politeness.
I could show you numerous examples of foreign names in French texts following the general rule of not altering them to suit French pronunciation. A good example that comes to mind is Chaplin (not Chapline), Tolkien, Austin, Darwin and so on. Closer to home, I remember reading about Grigori Rasputin (not Raspoutine) in a French magazine many years ago. And I rest my case.
Kim
Parbleu, Hélène,
I am shocked at what you hint at, I thought such things had been abolished in France centuries or at least decades ago, so that nobody would even know what to make such jokes about. Last time I was in Paris, happy to have found a cheap and nice hotel room in a cheap and nice neighbourhood, once, at leaving my metro station, a lady shouted at me from where she was standing: „Ca va?“, at which I could only shout back „Ouais!“, at which she continued „On y va?“ – which left me speechless, because, well..there was this impression… shocking! By the way, on the other hand, she sounded enterprising and much more in good spirit and friendly than namely „polite“, while my rebuffing her invitation must have made an impression of my being much more ingrate and impolite than shocked… so that, I don‘t know, perhaps I should have answered her second question also in the positive? Investigating circumstances that can not exist at all- what a challenge!
Still, the Latin spelling „Putin“ may be common or even general in your bilingual country, but definitely not in France, so that, according to me, there is (again) nothing to joke about, since the two vowels, if written correctly, i.e. in the French manner, do not rhyme at all. I am certain, the hollandish write Putin with „oe“ instead of „u“, since „oe“ is their spelling of the „oo“-sound, and its use guarantees a correct pronounciation, but all jokes on Amsterdam ladies and Russian presidents that rhyme on „u“ instead of „oe“ cannot take place.
Thank you for your filling me in on Austrian geography… well, these Austrians have distorted our german eternal refrain during bad times „Die Lage ist ernst aber nicht hoffnungslos“ (The situation is serious but not without hope) into the contrary for describing the typical nightmare of the Austrians: „Die Lage ist hoffnungslos, aber nicht ernst“ (The situation is hopeless, but not serious). What can one expect from such people…
For ethnologues the english humour using Austrian place names may seem „puerile“, but comparatively more grown up than our german humour that starts and ends with products of the digestive apparatus. Serbs do smile when one tells them about the famous Helmut Newton Photo Museum in the street next to Bahnhof Zoo, the Jebenstraße…
May I, without being regarded as impolite, include here a remark about your answer, Kim. Or two remarks, let‘s see. The first is that in the index of my „quid“ (a French yearly lexicon, condensed journalism as it were) they write Chaplin, yes, but Raspoutine, and the reason must be that Latin letters are simply copied, but other alphabets have necessarily to be transcribed, and then are „phonetically“, usually.
The second: You gave brilliant examples of French „politeness“ in your first post, which I would still prefer to call „friendliness“, since all the French I happen to meet there are plain friendly, and they cherish their amitié, while a certain way of being polite can be in reality very unfriendly – and the French were renowned for namely that – sins of the past, perhaps. However, the art of being perfidious while being impeccably polite is probably the same as the art of making jokes beyond name calling. My impression is that the French would never enjoy that scolding someone by mistreating his name that – e.g. here at The Saker‘s – the Germanic males so much indulge in – including me who knows very well that this is very bad writing and should never been done. But it is so bloody comical! We can‘t help it! For instance there is a song by George Brassens, „La Brave Margot“, about a peasant girl that helps a little cat to grow up and looks so lovely at doing that that others from the village come every day to behold that lovely scene. „Et Margot qui était simple et très sage présumait que c‘était pour voir son chat…“ (And Margot, who was simple and very well-behaved [or “wise“…] assumed that they did this for seeing her cat)… In case it had been not a he-cat, as it was in this song, but a she-cat, this would have been an Austrian joke with Germanic directness. But it was about a he-cat, and the morality was not damaged.
Have a nice day
bp
Well, I have never been so high-strung as I have been these past few days. I don’t know what happened, and may never know. All my conclusions could be incorrect (a much better word choice than ‘wrong’, with thanks to Veritas for setting the example!)
But I want to hug any member of the Canadian Armed Forces. And send really fancy thank-you cards to a few members of the Canadian government (who I didn’t vote for, by the way).
War propaganda needs to be banned in this country. And this post-Cold War experiment in, what looked to me as, some sort of Canadian nationalism in our politics should be carefully reviewed for lessons to learn. With the fall of the USSR, it seemed safe to let down our guard, sign NAFTA, and be like every other nation… then 20+ years later, we barely avoid triggering a hot war confrontation between the world’s two most powerful armies. Oops!!
So it seems it’s back to Cold War Canada, the peacekeeping, mediating, diplomatic nation that matches with everything. We’re back, and we’re bringing the beige. (And Latvia seriously needs some beige – it’s a good first step for us). That’s my take on it, anyway.
And now, for an extra-strong, soothing espresso drink… time to unwind…
While I’m in espresso-assisted recovery from total fear of Armageddon, I thought I’d add to my comment. Because I never want to live through that again —
So in the interests of Canada’s national security, and the very planet’s existence, I suggest the following:
1) No “unions” for Canada, including NATO, NAFTA, SCO, etc. Everyone negotiates with us separately, so we never again forget Canada’s role as buffer between the two most powerful armies on Earth. No consensus pressure in the buffer zone.
2) To combat the totally one-sided American hero-worship, we need
– a Russian kid’s cartoon show
– a Russian franchise family restaurant in every major Canadian city
– some of the most popular Russian household brands in all major retailers,
– a bit of Russian pop music
– a few Russian blockbuster movies, and so on
3) No war propaganda, and yes, this means we’ll needs dreaded bureaucratic group to monitor this.
And the Russian Foreign Ministry gives me one more idea. Canada needs to host a visit by Medvedev and Lavrov ASAP. And Medvedev should speak in the Parliament.
Re movies – ‘ Mongol’ is fantastic.
Watch it on YouTube.
Thanks, Eimar. Appreciate the reference. I’ll check it out…
S113
Your fears about Canada is not groundless, but the things gone nasty – you know better than I do – some 20 years ago with the indiscriminate immigration policy, the same thing is happening in the EU and now we “enjoy” these “fruits”.It took just less than one year and the EU has been changed in the bad way. The war mongering against Russia is the very bad answer to this question, only putting oil on fire, non the less letting us to see the double-standards and duplicity of those in power. As if somebody is pushing their hands toward a greater chaos while they are blind to see the results.
Hi ioan, appreciate your thoughts, all good reflections for us!!
The provocation was intended to come through the Canadian Arctic in this past week or so, while we were all directed to the European/Russia border. That’s my belief, my conclusion.
In preparation, earlier this year we saw this suspicious, extra-melty, Arctic Ice event:
http://sputniknews.com/photo/20160331/1037279698/arctic-ice-floe-melts.html
Same thing last year. Deliberate, engineered, planned.
“I don’t know how else to get through to you,” an exasperated Putin says to media at SPIEF in June. “We are talking about nuclear war.” He again also mentions “full relations” with Canada.
Immigration is not Canada’s Achilles heel, it is letting go of Cold War protocols, and thinking of ourselves as ‘one of the North Americans’. Yes, we are stuffed full of Soros-type agent provocateurs, but they are colored revolutionaries, not immigrants or migrants.
During the Cold War, Canada’s interactions with Russia and US were carefully regulated by treaties and such. (Remember the good old days when we were all mad about MAD??) Canada’s National Defense had concluded, logically, that the only way to respond to the threats against Canada was to be neutral. Actually, to be something less provocative than neutral, a completely non-descript, unaffiliated entity, capable of rapidly assuming any form/shape necessary to respond to a potential conflict with our neighbours. This was the only way to avoid becoming a really big Kansas or Kazakhstan, after the dust settles.
So it’s Retro Fashion in Canada!! The 70’s are back! Watch National Defense Minister Sajjan, FM Dion, and PM Trudeau to follow the old Cold War protocols. With cooperation from Putin’s Russia. Without cooperation from the neocon/CIA Beltway. But with, I believe, whatever cooperation Obama can bring from the USA.
One more tidbit:
Someone who claims to have knowledge of China’s stance on Canada told me that China supports this, and will follow these guidelines in its dealings with us, too. Unconfirmed report. :-)
At the following link there is some up close pictures of the truck used in the Nice attacks.If you look closely you will see something very interesting. ( http://82.221.129.208/ifyouareinamericayouprobablycantseethisai3.html )
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base announced that a state-of-the-art homegrown radar system capable of detecting and tracking micro air vehicles (MAVs) will be installed in the northeastern province of North Khorasan soon.
In remarks released on Saturday, Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeili highlighted the country’s self-sufficiency in manufacturing strategic radar systems, saying that Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base is willing to use domestically-made radar systems.
http://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2016/07/16/1131653/iran-to-install-anti-mav-radar-system-in-northeast-province-soon
The Café is very quiet now, the familiar habitué’s gone to the Turkish post-coup talkfest to find the evasive truth which I am prepared to reveal by asking a simple tools-of-trade question: Qui bono?
But even this ‘simple’ question involves the peeling of many layers of potential and imaginary beneficiaries to fit in with our preconceived worldview, and this guides our approach to unravel the web of causal links hidden from view now but which shall be revealed in the fullness of time when such knowledge becomes redundant of practical application but will then be fed to eager historians to write thesis and dissertations to further their careers.
Having sorted that one out (?) the air is clear to proceed with a monologue on the nature of events, particularly the question of historical events where human agency, change, the material conditions, social milieu, the ideological underpinnings and the concept of history itself intermingle both to reveal and obscure our vision of history and how to pigeonhole in a square a multisided event.
History is like the flow streaming out of the Augean stables after Hercules took the broom to the place: complex fertile matter susceptible to many uses.
Kim
Kim,
Not only they are busy in Turkey coup talkfest, but visitors seem to be wary of the ‘very old’ French cafeteria (who knows when ‘terrorists’ will appear).
Even though, I asked myself many questions about the ‘failed coup’ including that of ‘Cui bono’, i joined the large group of ‘enthusiastic group who analyses the positive fallouts of failed coup’ …
Resistance movement against AZ unipolar Hegemony needs member countries who can decisively fight against evil forces – and, at that point, I’m still in doubt, can such opportunist authoritarian capitalist kleptocrat politician like Erdoghan representing such stale regressive socio-cultural-political philosophy like Salafism in a multi-society country like Turkey become a true member of Resistance movement ?
Russia-Kazakhstan-China-Iran need to be very cautious while welcoming the new member in the Resistance team – while 1939 pact between Germany and USSR led Stalin to believe German aggression is far way, the distance was just two years… the warming up of relation between Turkey and Russia (as well as possibly, SCO) as we are witnessing now in mid-2016 should not result in Putin believing that the chameleon lost his capabilities of changing colour again to wreck havoc in entire Eurasia by 2018!
@ Straight-Bat
“can a… stale regressive socio-cultural-political philosophy like Salafism in a multi-society country like Turkey become a true member of Resistance movement ?”
And the answer is NO! Such countries are inherently unstable since they rely on authoritarian rule to keep the parts together. That, in itself is a source of permanent conflict because someone/group runs roughshod over others and Turkey’s rulers have a very nasty record of intolerance the victims of which will not forget or forgive.
As a matter of principle I wouldn’t touch Turkey with a barge pole but pragmatic politicians (e.g. Mr. Putin) might find some use for it, but never as a reliable ‘partner’. After all, the Turks have always been Russia’s enemy.
I was very much surprised when Russia proposed the plan for the Turkstream pipeline which, if materialised, would put Russia at the mercy of a despotic ruler in Ankara protected by Nato. Ukraine is bad enough but Turkey would take the cake… and eat it too! (Bingo, double metaphor!).
Kim
since I notice and study the comments the heavenly lights give – in the canon of the fathers – considering all our involvements, while having only an infinitesimal but sufficient meaning of weight on the Libra of the whole, receiving by that the suspension our heart is needing for rebreath
Kim I like your parsing
in these times of pain but not for me
cheers
Jupiter will soon put its foot on the scale of Libra.
“History is like the flow …..complex fertile matter susceptible to many uses”
No s**t Sherlock!!!
But don’t forget – it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi0Rt0slfy4
This week, Japan returns to fascism, Emperor worship, and repeal free speech, etc…
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437950/japans-new-fascism
@ Anonymous
So what? Japan is supposed to be an independent country; its current constitution was imposed by force by another country; hence it is expected that it should renege that constitution and have its own. What’s wrong with that?
And if the people of Japan want to have a fascist government, that’s their business too and no outsider has the right to interfere with their choice. The US has a fascist government, isn’t Japan allowed to have one too? After all they are good buddies…
Kim
BBC calling! BBC calling!
Specially retro-fitted Russian warplanes may now be dropping barrel bombs on Syrian hospitals according to AFP, the one-man UK dress shop Syrian Observatory and the BBC.
All the worn memes are here complete with tear-jerker picture -hospitals, barrel bombs, Russia and apparently, in case nobody knew, children are not spared in this civil war. But they forgot to add Putin. This is not acceptable and some propagandist will get his or her wrist slapped..
No mention of who started, funds and supports this USA, Saudi, Qatar, Turkey and NATO precipitated war on Syria.
Shame on you, BBC propaganda scum.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36817960
@ SanctuaryOne
It is indeed a sad and shocking state of affairs when the venerable old Beeb becomes the decrepit whorish mouthpiece for war criminals. It’s like a betrayal for those of us who were weaned on Play School and grew up respecting it as a reliable source of news and views. Gone down the gurgler like the Guardian.
Kim
@Kim,
The ‘venerable old beeb’ has always been, since its inception, the main propaganda mouthpiece for Empire. It is entirely government controlled and funded; when too many subversive elements slip through, as they do from time to time, the inevitable crackdown is draconian.
Eric Blair (George Orwell, 1984) worked for the BBC as a propagandist and based his concept of the ‘Ministry of Truth’ on it and on the real-life Ministry of Information where his wife worked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministries_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Ministry_of_Truth
Its not ‘like’ a betrayal, it is a fundamental betrayal (lie) and one that is so entrenched from a very young age in English speakers that it is near impossible to ever fully eradicate.
Its like mother’s milk in that regard.
The Guardian, however, did start out as a well-intentioned voice of the voiceless. It began as the Manchester Guardian in a direct response to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 where disgruntled workers were slaughtered by local militia at a mass rally for Parliamentary reform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre
Disgruntled workers are still rallying for Parliamentary reform and the Guardian has long since disappeared down the neo-liberal plughole. :(
Helen,
I read your posts on BBC and The Guardian with interest – brief and informative. Thanks for providing clarity on UK socio-political conditions in some other posts.
I had a impolite conversation with you earlier on Corbyn – i’m sorry for that if it hurts you. Hope you will take it easy, since all of us are activists looking forward to a world free from poverty-hunger-illness (for everybody in every society).
@Straight-Bat,
I come here to learn and that means reading and considering opposing views as I don’t know any other way to shape my own. So no hurt done here. I find unwarranted bigotry to be offensive but very little else.
My interest in the Corbyn phenomenon is not that I am a rabid fan (too long in the political tooth for that) but because I see it as a clear sign of something new struggling to be born, something that dates back before the original anti-globalisation protests—not before time and not just in the US and Europe.
I’d like to see the death-grip that the US/UK/EU has on the world’s neck broken, even if that is of necessity a long and messy process.
Helen,
Appreciate your views on learning – something I try always, but sometimes without success.
Your are right about ‘Corbyn phenomenon’- his struggle started much before the original anti-globalisation protests. Personally, I feel Corbyn has been trying very hard to actually represent the ‘Labour-as-a-class’ which was opposite to what his party has been transforming into (even before Blairites took control).
It will not be out-of-context to mention that, like many others, I got terribly shocked to see how Tsipras-led Syriza let down the 90% Greek population after they got elected – interestingly, many peoples commented that the writing was on the wall long back, and that Tsipras and Varoufakis were part of the AngloZionist infiltration of all the European ‘socialist’ parties. After so much of anti-austerity and anti-EU struggle in Greece, what did the peoples get ? Backstabbing, to be precise!
” I’d like to see the death-grip that the US/UK/EU has on the world’s neck broken, even if that is of necessity a long and messy process ” >
This represents exactly my wish as well – I could not have put it in words so succinctly.
No offence to anyone, but it is a truth that a small group of AngloZionist elite-oligarch-aristocrat families based in UK-USA-Rest of 5Eyes-Israel-west Europe actually stifled the entire human civilization – the humanity needs to break free from the death-grip even if that calls for another world war.
@ Helen
Thank you, one is always on a learning curve, hopefully. I know old Aunty Beeb has always been the establishment’s mouthpiece, but as you said, she used to make some allowance to maverick offspring, even as recent as Thatcher’s little adventure in the South Atlantic by allowing robust opposition to unnecessary belligerence.
We do indeed carry Aunty Beeb’s ‘teachings’, among many others. Even an innocuous Play School was (is?) a clever tool for social engineering.
Kim
I feel stuck, not knowing quite what to do, although I’ve been doing a lot lately. I’m thinking more of what the hell am I doing about what matters?
In this state of wondering what to do, I came here again. The lead picture fits my mood. Not really a cafe at all, but a bar for losers who don’t know where else to go to drown their sorrows.
This Turkey thing that is sucking all the air doesn’t really interest me, although it does fill in some kind of a vacuum. It’s all about power mongering, and I’m not really into that. I’m trying to get out of that rat-trap rap. I’ve read about it here over at the analysis room. I feel I should keep up with the news but it’s the same ol, same old news over and over again.
There’s a lot of interesting things going on but most of it is “useless and pointless knowledge.” I like the cafe idea where ideally the conversation is about real knowledge that lasts and makes a difference; and of course love that has to stay under the covers, lest it provoke the thought police.
Anyway, I came here again, having already read the fifty or so comments. I want to stay engaged here, although I feel I’m drifting to I don’t know where. Somehow, I feel Russia holds the key to engagement with what matters. In that vein, I borrowed a thick book novel from my sister, when in Wisconsin, where I was raised; and lo and behold, the protagonist is an American Canadian, who loves Russia, and goes there, searching for his lost son, kind of the reverse of the Prodigal Son story.
Anyway, (again), I came here and started from the top, with the realization that I have not been really reading but skimming. ioan started off with his rendition of “rats kissing cats” etc., followed by the personal elements of life in the succeeding comments, that contrast with the impersonal and objectifying of persons in the mechanization of war. The cafe supplies what our caffeinated culture lacks, or at least has the potential to serve real food instead of drugs by whatever name or chemicalized potions they contain.
Anyway, (again and yet again), I need to find the gems in the rough, and the love in the roughage, and if that means going through the cult garbage, so be it. This vineyard, and particular this cafe, I think has the potential to be a revolutionary force, idea-wise and ideology-street wise, to turn this world around. At least, I don’t know of any other corner of this world that does. Maybe it’s those great Russian writers who are channeling themselves through the mavericks here.
All right, I feel better for staying engaged, engaged to this community of knowers and lovers. Whether I’ll ever take the step of marriage is not at all certain, unless it’s communal marriage and spiritual sex, and that’s even less certain, at least at this time, on this Erdoganed planet of wanna-be kings and killery queens.
@ Dennis: oh, please stay engaged! Add to the buzz in your community, in your family, with your friends and here, too. I enjoy the dialog of Uncle Bob vs. the bloody dummies/fake bullet hole, so-called “conspiracy” folks. It keeps us all sharp.
And all the other contributors, too. Ioan and his poems and his flailing mother whom he cares for. Mundanomaniac whose Neptunian astrology sets my natal Pisces placements skating with my Mars aspects along a Scorpionic edge. And all the poets: The political cadre group who have been around for years: The intellectuals and scholars: the philosophers and religiosos: Oh to be in the world yet not of it? yet be here now, yet stay connected. 300 year cycles? Is our only choice just how high we can phase individual expression of current incarnation against the background time/space net?
That which is put before me is my task. I live surrounded by white tribe, USA Fox News watchers and so I have to keep my response to them very simple, very real and phrased so that they actually hear what I have to say. Mostly,lately I have been walking around the community volunteering for Neighborhood watch.( no, we do not carry guns). It is one way to transform Mars energy from abrasive to protective.
We have been having break ins which are — Snatch and grab of purses, computers, and prescription drugs for sale on the street. There was one which was a “inside job” and was staged according to the beat cop who answered the call. And so it seemed. There was much smoke screen verbiage and confusion laid down. It resembled a domestic power coup attempt in the relationship of the two people involved. But the Neighborhood Watch folks all compared the bits and pieces of information and as a group came up with an informal provisional consensus about what really happened. This helps how we operate.
And this is why it is so important that contributors here continue each in his own capacity—we are sifting, winnowing and making free thinking, free form community. And people benefit personally just for having participated no matter what they decide.
And many thanks to Moderators for their patience . At least you have a ring side seat to what is happening in history as you serve this community.
Dennis Leary
Welcome back to the Cafe, is your sister better ? I think you missed Ojaj and your little garden too, besides the Vineyard
@ Dennis
It is always refreshing to read your “teachings” as well as your writing, a place of contemplation and renewal, hope and idealism, the stuff we need on our journey for peace and meaning. But I have to replace ‘love’ with ‘generosity’.
Kim
I am a big fan of Craig Murray who wrote on his blog..
“It is self-evidently essential to negotiate for Independent Scotland to remain in the EU”
My reply – ..
Why anyone should want to remain in The EU is beyond me, unless they themselves are a part of the corrupt gravy train. A paid brainwashed bureaucrat. I didn’t think Craig Murray was like that…so he probably won’t want to know what my wife and I thought of the people we met in Derbyshire at a music festival camping for three days.
We didn’t discuss politics at all. We hardly went on the internet at all – though the connectivity was excellent (even in a field in Derbyshire, England). We just couldn’t stop laughing…even funnier than the British section in Benidorm – and nearly as outrageous.
The bands were very much better though. I didn’t even mind the religious set – though to be fair I think The Muslims do it better…but of course I couldn’t possibly say that to the British soldiers camping next to me. What I didn’t understand is why they went to bed so early..and then get up at the crack of dawn. The first thing they said to us when we staggered out of our tent at 10:00am..was “We have already cooked breakfast….You are very welcome to join us.”
We had never met them before in our life – except for a bit the previous day – when they asked if they could camp right next to us.
We didn’t ask anyone’s jobs – but with some it was easy to guess.
We just had brilliant fun.
What nice people.
My sister lives in Derbyshire – but she doesn’t really like camping or heavy rock music.
Its going to get really hot – even in Derbyshire – over 28 Degrees C today.
Tony
@ Tony
Thanks for your down-to-earth personal accounts from that little corner of England. They also bring us down to Earth and add a more human touch to Chez Saker, often stultified with intellectual abstractions as a refuge from our own sense of insecurity.
Cheers
Kim
Agreed. Thank you, Tony. Loved the many translations of your previous post, that gave me a good laugh.
Hi Kim,
I also have a distaste for oversimplified progressive optimism- an intellectual construct that presumes things will just work out and take care of themselves. But I have discovered there is a subtle difference between blind faith and hope. Hope guides us to act courageously in spite of the limitation of circumstance. Between abstract intellectualism and the down-to-earth every day there is this middle kingdom- the realm of the soul. Here we are never refugees, but always co-participants in creating the future. Every kind word and deed makes a difference. Whatever I do and all that I do propels the world in one direction or another. It is not so difficult to imagine this great body of human activity as something organic and alive in itself. The sum being more than its parts, gives over to a feeling for the Soul of the World.
K
Rebecca Solnit
“Hope means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action, action is not possible without hope.”
“there is this middle kingdom- the realm of the soul. Here we are never refugees, but always co-participants in creating the future”
yes, but
never to forget what happens to the soul of the child in the more ore less civilised hell of the families
schools, ten and more years: give me your brains forget about your soul
and so on
but if something lights up that middle-kingdom in the soul of the child that still lives in an adult person, then there is no longer a refugee
Thoughts like yours concerning the soul outside of the therapeutic realm are of conciderable value to me
“yes, but never to forget what happens to the soul of the child in the more ore less civilised hell of the families”…..
Should we add to ‘civilized’ families- lack of nature, lack of culture, addiction to media, abuse, trauma, terror, imitation food, bottom line economic dogma, darwinism, and myriads of other poisons that exterminate all vestiges of this middle kingdom of the soul?
The real war- one of terror, by terrorists, is on the human soul and on Terra herself?
My fallback is that even if we cannot do much, everything we do matters much. Those of us who rebel against the closed circles of sterility, conformity, and determinisms do so because we sense a creative essence in nature, in life, and in the human being. We can assert our conscious participation in and with the poetry of existence- all that we love and admire for its unceasing creative elan. And, hope that a primal and demiurgic principle of alchemical transmutability shall prevail over and beyond all the years of endless repetition of mechanical dogmas that would strive to keep us in captivity.
J’vie en espoer.
K
Perhaps it takes a damp run down cafe, perhaps in a misty back street close to the docks somewhere, with a cat yowling faintly in the background, to pick up some good “samizdat”.
Just in from Inessa S this nugget, from back in 2007, but with huge relevance to right now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qNVhMHhsvk
Great video, Isabella, and very timely, as you note! Thanks for the post.
@ Isabella
I missed the ‘2007’ in your post and jumped straight into the video not having an inkling what was a coming up.
As I watched I assumed Mr Putin was referring to the recently activated ABM system in Romania and was disabused by seeing the 2007 later. And here is the catch: nothing has changed in 9 years in Nato’s long march towards Moscow, the nemesis of past predators.
Kim
Just fresh for Saker-Readers with german abilities (English on Wednesday)
“… und grade tanzt Sonne im Bannkreis des Erdmerkurs – der der Erdsonne von 1802 auf drei Grad benachbart ist
und wie die Sonne ist der Merkur in Krebs
ein Merkur des Inneren
den man einen jüdisch/kasarisch endogamen Merkur nennen könte
Hirn im Reich der jüdischen Mütter
also überzeitlicher
Merkur der Erdelements
Manager des Familien-Vermögens –
da Geld nicht endogam ist – der “westlichen” Menschheit –
für 8 Jahrhunderte
seit 1802
http://mundanestagebuch.blogspot.de/2016/07/18.html
In another post days ago I argued that Russia should withdraw from the US controlled Olympic movement. That the US is attacking Russia through its membership in it. Now it appears that the attacks are moving forward and Russia may just be “banned” from the Rio Games totally. The US may think that they can’t conquer Russia militarily (though I think they plan to accomplish that anyway,by a “death from a thousand cuts) . But they do believe they can “conquer” Russia by making her an outcast in the World. The MSM is on board ,with the countless stories,over and over,almost daily of “bad ,evil,aggressive,Russia. The sanctions are a “death by drip” to slowly daily inflict pain on the Russian economy.Certainly those sanctions hurt the West too. And the Russian (too limited) counter -sanctions hurt the West even more. But they don’t care about that. In the halls of power they have made the decision that “no matter what” the sanctions are left to “do their thing”.
The West knows that a huge source of pride to Russians. And that people Worldwide acclaim Russians for,is their athletic prowess. And to strike at Russia’s pride and World repudiation would be a great victory for them. They are working (and very successfully) on that now. First were the planned attacks to discredit the Sochi Games. Only partially successful for the West. But half a win was better than they should have got.Second.were the calls for the Football World Cup in 2018 to be stripped from Russia. They haven’t succeeded yet,but they have plenty of time to further that. Then there were the charges of Russian football hooligans being “out of control” in France. Forgetting that football hooliganism is rampant in Europe most of the press attacks were “focused” on the Russians. Now the newest attack by the West is the most damaging. And could lead them to their greatest victory.They have a good chance to overturn their “half win” from Sochi into a full one. And humiliate Russia Worldwide at the same time.This “doping scandal” is about to (I believe) overturn the results of Sochi. And at the same time the West is forcing the World Olympic bodies to strike at Russian athletics (I suspect after their success here they will again renew their call to “punish” Russia more, by stripping them of the 2018 World Cup.With a good chance to succeed). The West succeeding with this plan will be a body-blow to the Russian people.And negatively effect World public opinion of Russians.It is time that Russia acknowledges what the West is planning and does something about it. Withdrawing from corrupted Western organizations and forming new World sporting organizations is a needed step to gaining control over this situation.It wouldn’t be easy. And wouldn’t be successful immediately. But in the long run it would be successful. And that is the only advantage Russia has ,”the long run”. Its time to use that advantage against the West.
As a follow up to this, it appears Putin is seeing the same thing.From a statement of his today shown on RT:
” The international community is witnessing “a dangerous recurrence of politics interfering in sport,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
In his Monday statement, the president pointed out that the allegations against Russian athletes are based on the testimony of a “single person with a scandalous reputation.”
Such meddling aims “to turn sport into an instrument of geopolitical pressure” and “form a negative image of countries and people,” Putin’s statement published by the Kremlin said.
The Olympic movement, which has united people around the globe for over a century, “may now be on the brink of splitting,” the Russian leader warned.”
https://www.rt.com/news/351916-putin-wada-doping-politics/
Totally agree.
It’s time to take a negative and turn it into a positive.
It is deeply ironic that the Russians are accused of doping, while the very fundamentals of fairness are being destroyed in the West: they are now using the ‘transgender’ cult to introduce steroids and hormonally- altering drugs to allow men claiming to be women to compete against women, even in dangerous contact sports.
The very principle of like competing with like, so that winning is a function of talent and fitness is being fatally undermined.
This is something the Russians, by offering an alternative in the original spirit of the Olympics could exploit.
They would get a lot of popular support in the West, especially among women.
Lots of chatter from me in this café, one subject, dull monotone :-). I’m grateful to have a space where I can do this – and enjoy the same from so many others! So a final blather, before closing the door on this one. Thanks to the proprietors, and sincere apologies to any guests whom I offended while in a heightened, freaked-out state (or otherwise).
While I have no idea what this Canadian govt will do next, I’m thinking I need to let go of my wishful thinking of Canada joining the BRICS. … I had wondered whether it would become the BRICCS?? BRICCaS? Or maybe the BRICQS, just for fun, in tribute to the Québécois, that Francophone quarter of our population who refuses to go quietly into the Anglo night. Actually, they just plain refuse to go at all, (or at least they used to, anyway).
Life’s just different when you live between two superpowers, you know? (And you just know there are hardliners in both militaries, who are asking, “Why haven’t we just worked through lunch one day, and taken over Canada?” )
So it’s on to a new café, a new day… and personally, I feel more confident about this nation’s place in this wonderful blue-green orb we all call home. May peace and stability continue to gradually emerge in both expected and unexpected places
@ S113
“…that Francophone quarter of our population who refuses to go quietly into the Anglo night.”
It’s a marvel of human ingenuity and resilience that the remnant of the once great empire has resisted the winds of history and evaded the rampant Anglo-agglutination called linguistic globalisation, especially by being so close to the beast’s fangs. How long will its enduring spirit last?
Once again one is lead to the question of human agency shaping events and the role of ‘great men”, capable of both great deeds and great disasters, especially Napoleon Bonaparte whose megalomania was his, and France’s loss.
North America was in the grasp of Spain in its entirety until the demands of keeping its European empire became too costly in men and money even with the transatlantic flow of silver, a substantial part of which landed in London by state-sponsored privateers. The silver stolen from the Spaniards became the capital resource to mercantilism and nascent capitalist enterprises to finance the English thrust to displace the Spaniards from the New World. That was adding insult to injury.
While the English corsairs were busy at sea, France was doing its bit to finish off the Spanish European empire, simultaneously gaining large footholds in North America whose map was being delineated by the French and Spaniards, both so confident in themselves to the point of allowing the English a small concession for political/religious refugees to settle. That was a small mistake which, compounded by Bonaparte’s folly, became a catastrophe of global consequences.
Kim
@ mundanomaniac
“… never to forget what happens to the soul of the child in the more ore less civilised hell of the families schools, ten and more years: give me your brains forget about your soul”.
True, after all the family is the first institution to start the socialisation process. Radical anti-psychiatry even points the finger at the family as the manufacturer of insanity (if you are interested in this area read Szazs, Laing, Cooper, Foucault, etc. the proponents of this approach to mental illness).
However, in modern societies the family is being replaced by the state (also called the nanny-state) which, paradoxically, goes against the neoliberal trend of privatising everything. However there may be a logic behind it after all: everything is privatised except the state’s instruments of social control, taxation, law enforcement and war making. This arrangement is very useful for the ruling elite because it delegates to the state the nasty tasks and frees itself from the trouble and expense (and the opprobrium) of running its ‘security’ apparatus under the guise of “democracy”.
The family has been under attack for some time now because it is one of the few “old world” institutions still standing (religion is another) with an ideology of resistance against capitalist imperatives. Remember, families were not only the basic social unit but also an economic entity.
Yet, the family is the only natural aggregation human beings have and it’s demise will place humanity in the level of Nature’s lowest species.
Kim
The Clinton Foundation has been used as a Front for a Protection Racket by the Clintons since it was founded, but it will be used more that way if Hillary Clinton becomes President at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket_(crime) .
The Clinton Foundation was founded in 1997, and the Clintons were involved in a Protection Racket, but the former President of Serbia did Not want to Pay the ‘protection’ money, and in March of 1999 the Clintons began an Illegal and Immoral War against Serbia.
Hillary Clinton Admitted to this in one of her books that she Persuded Bill Clinton to wage an Illegal and Immoral War against a Democratic Innocent European Country.
There are Honest Journalists in the West, who have Researched matters, and we Know that the Clintons began an Illegal and Immoral War on Serbia to take Media Attention away from Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
Hillary Clinton wrote in her book that she Persuaded Bill Clinton to do that, and the News Article is Titled: Milosevic: true or false at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/21/tenquestionsonslobodanmilo .
It Says: “How much do you know about Slobodan Milosevic, the recently deceased former president of Yugoslavia? Here’s 10 statements that we’ve all heard many times in the western media these last seven days. But which of them are true and which are false? 1) Milosevic was a dictator. 2) He was a Serb nationalist. 3) He was responsible for the break-up of Yugoslavia. 4) His 1989 speech at Kosovo Polje was a nationalist rant that inflamed ancient ethnic hatreds. 5) He started four wars. 6) He was responsible for the massacre at Srebrenica. 7) He ordered a systematic programme of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. 8) He was toppled by a “democratic revolution” in 2000. 9) The trial at The Hague had produced evidence of his guilt. 10) He will be mourned by “only a few”. How many do you think are true? Seven, eight- all of them? The answer is zero. Every single statement is untrue.”
The Clintons set up Corrupt Sham Court to Convict the Innocent and to acquit the Guilty, and it had the Euphemism of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, and People can read about this Corrupt Political Court at http://www.globalresearch.ca/search?q=ICTY&x=5&y=11 .
Another Leader of a Country who did pay the Clintons Protection Money,was the Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The Clintons tried this with the former President of Ukraine, and when they did not recieve their Corrupt ‘protection’ money.
The former President of Ukraine was toppled in a Coup, where the Secret Real President Hillary Clinton was Responsible for a Coup of Another Democratic European Country.
The Clintons did the same with Syria, and it was the American Sponsored Syrian Rebels who used the sarin nerve gas, and Hillary Clinton supplied it to use as an excuse for a war against Syria, and we can see that Hillary Clinton Approved of Charity Work in Syria at http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/04/28/seymour-hersh-hillary-approved-sending-libya-sarin-syrian-rebels.html , and we can see the Charitable Works of how Hillary Clinton using her Puppet Barack Obama created ISIS to Slander and try to topple the Democratically Elected Leader of Syria, and the Resultant Charitable Works by creating ISIS at http://yournewswire.com/hillary-clinton-admits-isis-was-created-by-u-s-government/ , and at https://www.google.com.au/search?q=syrian+war&biw=1096&bih=565&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjMob-Om93OAhWBOpQKHWipCDsQ_AUIBygC&dpr=1.75 .
This is why there are Americans who want the Clinton Foundation to donate Allof their Money to the Louisiana Flood Aid and Reconstruction Effort, because Charity begins at home.
We have seen the Washington Corruption Octopus with its Many tentacles, and they have one on the Bribed and Corrupt Clintonite Puppet Media, the Democratic Primaries, the FBI, and possibly on Vote Rigging and Election Fraud at the next Election.
There are Many men and women on the Left who think that Hillary Clinton is the wrong type of woman to be the first female President of America, because you Cannot cover up History, and they want the Democrats to have another woman to become America’s first female President in four years time, if Hillary Clinton is the Presidential Candidate for the Corruptocrats.
This is because they think that after a Trump Presidency, that the Democrats will become Honest, and there will be a Democrat as President, and Many of these People will Vote at this Election for the Green Party that has a female Leader, because they do Not want the Trans Pacific Partnership, which they Consider to be a great betrayal of trust, and some of these Politicians include Hillary TTP Clinton and Ttp Kaine, Regardless of Lies to the contrary by these Liars, and Many People think that the Green Party is the Only Party to Vote for in the future, if America’s Plutocrats Order their Puppet Politicians to support the Trans Pacific Partnership, and that would Apply to the Republicans and the Democrats, because these Informed Voters do Not accept some of the Republicans and some of the Democrats being Responsible for the TTP, and these Informed Voters will Not accept Business as Usual if the Trans Pacific Partnership is passed, because Most of them who are former Republican voters and former Democrat voters, Will become lifelong Green Party Voters, because the Wise will Not believe the Dishonest and Untrustworthy Hillary Clinton who should be holding Press Conferences, or retire form the race for the White House, because Americans want Constitutional Democracy.