2021/09/06 12:30:01
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Good morning,
I really liked the letter “Christian-vignette-1”.
I’m not sure how yet, but I would love to be part of the discussion group.
I think I can contribute, in some way, with my life experience to the discussion group.
The Holy Chalice. “The sharing of the blood of Jesus”, that runs in my veins. No one can be contaminated by me anymore! These are some “keys” used to glorify Jesus and share our life with Him.
How deep is the transformation of the human being, by the Holy Spirit. How He manifests Himself and to whom, throughout the ages, He manifests Himself. Whoever controls this phenomenon controls his spiritual progress.
Does he?
Sincerely.
Tiago, please write to this email address: signup4christianvignette gmail.com (Of course I leave the @ sign out).
From my perspective I would suggest that we do not control this phenomenon. The transformation of the human being will take place in its own time. What we control is how we cultivate our own hearts. We open the inner spigot to the divine by cultivating universal love. We energise the heart by unifying it and we keep it clean of anger, jealousy etc etc. When the heart is clean, energised, overflowing and aligned with the divine then we see that the divine manifesting becomes commonplace.
How to align with the divine? The Christian Desert Fathers are a wealth of practical advice.
Well, this subject interests me a lot! This is brilliant, to have the opportunity to discuss these issues.
The presence of the Holy Spirit is one of the central issues of religiosity.
I still think that it is a natural phenomenon. It is very difficult to express the whole context in which this phenomenon occurs. Several questions arise. For example: what is the purpose of His presence? In what form does it manifest itself? In whom does it manifest itself? Has He always existed, or has He been present in life, in all civilizations? Where?
An example. We had Pythagoras, a Great Initiate, from the Egyptian school who worked in the Greek Oracles where the Pythias, major priestesses, were responsible for communication, who transmitted the messages, a bit like the Priests in the confessional. The medion of the human being varies in intensity from person to person. His sensitivity may emerge or be dormant, but deep down we are all mediums, able to receive spiritual messengers. Controlling the phenomena of the Holy Spirit helps to keep power centered in a few people, and I believe this is what happened to the Church. It modified the cult in order to control the masses.
Hello, and welcome, Tiago. A poetic overview would be that if the whole of life or existence in all of Its manifest glory can be considered a vast tapestry, then that Divine Tapestry was and is being, Imagined, Dreamed, and Created by a Master Weaver or Dreamer, or Divine Intelligence. We may say that this Divine Benevolence dwells in an Ocean of Love and Mercy, since there are no words that can express such a reality, and that IT has countless Souls to do Its Will, and countless worlds to do it in. ITs Voice is known as the Holy Spirit, or The Music of the Spheres, to use another poetic term, whose function is to create, sustain and maintain all of Creation, and IT does this through Soul, or more precisely, an endless parade of Souls.
The journey of Soul takes It away initially, from Its home in God’s Heavens, and about as far away as It can possibly go, before It slowly turns – spiritually speaking, and begins Its journey back. It’s said that Soul is older than time, but younger than the Holy Spirit, the implication being that Soul will outlive the world, indeed all worlds that contain whatever degree of materiality. Soul has immortality, intelligence, imagination, free will etc. Its destiny is to become a conscious co-worker somewhere in God’s worlds, according to Its talents, abilities and interests. There is no lasting Hell, per se, other than that which we make ourselves, imho. Likewise we make our Heaven, and we do it by working in harmony with the universal laws of life. The greatest being The Law of Love. Indeed, without the Law of Love, there would be no creation, we would not even exist. So our very existence is proof of a Love Beyond our Human Understanding, yet a love which we perceive and grasp within the depths of our being as being all encompassing, universal and complete; ie; within Divine Spirit is all Soul will ever need, want or even dream of being possible.
The Cycle of Life on Earth is a spiral that repeats itself from time to time. The Law of Love governs everything. This cycle directly influences the potential progress of the incarnated spirit. We are millennial spirits with up to 20 incarnations. We are living the end of the worst era, the Iron Age, where incarnated spirits are furthest from God. In other ages the “proximity” of God is felt in a more “palpable” way. Today the common human being lives, at least in the western world, enslaved, enslaved by the capitalist society, a liberal society (antichrist), supported by the Church. Incarnate spirits have little opportunity to progress significantly. Jesus’ work was to create conditions for greater progress for spirits, both in Heaven and on Earth. He created Universal Hospitals to support disincarnate souls, who before wandered lost and reincarnated in any “available” body. And He created a doctrine that if it had remained faithful, with doctrinal conduct, without deviating from Its teachings, would have allowed incarnate spirits to progress significantly, with the use of the Holy Spirit, and all the advantages that Its presence brings to the human being’s daily life. That is the central question for me. The presence of the Holy Spirit, with the experience of spiritual life that I have had, is felt in a direct way. It is heard with the use of the human body, in a real spiritual incorporation. With the transformation of the ritual of the cult, the Church closes the possibility for the ordinary citizens to make “free use” of the teachings of the Holy Spirit. It now has a mediator who controls everything. The priest. Communication, which could be weekly, now takes place every month for the more disciplined faithful, and every six months or once a year for the more erratic. All in the confessional ritual. God constantly promotes the occurrence of situations in the daily life of mortals for their progress. They are challenges that test our humility, tolerance and finally, our love.
There is a story of a yogi who is meditating under a tree. He asks God how many more lifetimes he must continue to reach emancipation. The answer he gets is as many leaves as there on the this tree. The yogi dances for joy that he has so few lifetimes left in his spiritual pursuit.
If we can agree that the Law of Love governs everything, as you put it, that is more important than anything else we, or anyone else, for that matter, may agree or disagree on. Should human beings keep this in mind, first and foremost, all of our other interactions would be smoother. Best, D.
Panjshir has fallen to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (that is what they call it now). Saleh and masoud’s kid, who swore to defend panjshir, have disappeared, just like ghani. Rumors are that they got out of afghanistan long before the siege. This shows the difference between the western puppets and the taliban. One group was ready to die for their cause while the other fled when they sensed defeat, how will they win if they cannot die for their own cause?
A peaceful afghanistan might be a tough challenge now. Iranian FM spokesperson khatibzadeh has condemned the deaths of tajik commanders who were fighting against the taliban in panjshir. Another rumor is that pak air force bombarded panjshir to help the taliban. Khatibzadeh also said that the intervention of pakistan in panjshit attaks is currently under examination. There is some friction between the Iranians and Pakis with respect to afghanistan, apparently both the nations’ interests collides in afghanistan. Iranin FM javed zarif said at raisina 2021 that an islamic emirate in afghanistan is an existential threat to pakistan and a national security threat to iran and india. IRGC had also assisted the now defunct afghan national army in it’s fight against the taliban. I think that iran, india and some european nations were trying to create some sort of a northern alliance like org, which would help them have political influence in the future afghan government, since iran and india had supported the northern alliance in the past. Lack of russian support probably dashed their plans. Putin recently stated in the eastern economic forum that the russians don’t want to see a disintegrated afghanistan and would prefer the taliban join the ‘civilized nations'(putin probably sees the talibs as stone age). During the flight of NATO from afghanistan, there were hopes by some countries, particularly USA and india, that there would be a civil war in afghanistan. The rapid talib advance probably caught everyone by surprise. But since the talibs were not controlling the entire country, there were hopes by other nations that the future afghan govt would involve all the parties involved in the conflict and would help them have some leverage in the new government. All hopes were dashed due to the complete elimination of all the ‘legitimate'(northern alliance, local war lords) oppositions, which has made the taliban the sole rulers of the entire afghanistan. Now the only countries that can have some sort of influence in the afghan emirate policies are pak and china. Pak’s intel service DG yesterday visited kabul on the invitation of the taliban leadership and the offical taliban spokesperson has said that china is their biggest economic partner now. All is not good for pak though, despite assurances from the IEA that the afghan soil (used particularly by baloch insurgents and TTP) wont be used by the terrorists to attack other countries, there was an attack recently on pak troops by the baloch insurgents, which killed 3 pak guards. TTP ( the illegitimate actor) is another big issue that pak might face, as the taliban might not act against them with sincerity and pak’s enemies would use TTP to bleed pak, the same way they would use IS-khorasan to bleed the afghan emirate. In additon to all of these, the durand line(drawn by the english and agreed by the then afghan king) problem might create an issue in the future between the emirate and pak. For china, a possibility of the east turkistan islamic movement militants receiving support from afghanistan might be a concern. The taliban now enjoys support in the sunni muslim world and the taliban not helping their uyghur sunni brothers against china would reduce their support among the sunnis. The great game of the 21th century is unfolding rapidly, but afghanistan doesn’t have any dearth of graves for the empires or their vassals.
Many from the far-right in the US are surprisingly happy with the victory of the taliban. On some social media websites and online forums, I saw these far-right users trying to ‘whitewash’ the pashtuns. One white nationalist user on twitter theorized that the pashtuns might be having nordic genetics as they ‘defeated’ the US, another shared a meme comparing european looking pashtuns with latino looking US soldiers.
Parabellum
Think of all those insurgent groups as the cia cancer cells that they are.
Like cancer, the cia has been cut out of Afghanistan.
But with a cancer operation, the question always is…. did they get all of it?
Radiation is often used to kill off any remaining cells.
Isis-k has been neutralised, maybe not entirely, just yet.
The British intel assets in the northern alliance also have been removed.
Of course the external powers will continue to play their devil games.
I think right now the biggest challenge for the Taliban is internal infighting.
And all govts are at risk of that.
Look right now at the UK govt… more effort is expended infighting than focusing on future of Britain.
I believe a lot of the debarkle in exiting Afghanistan by the US was internal toxicity between State, DoD and WH.
Partly a legacy of the Trump disruption, and partly a long term disjunction that no one has the power to correct.
Already Afghanistan has dropped from the western media.
It will be a long hard decade for Afghanistan… internal conflict will destroy them now with assistance from the devils who want chaos
Far be it from me to support anything in the US far right, but facts are facts and of course Afghans and Iranians and indeed many Pakistanis and Indians have “”European” genetics. Their languages are part of the Indo European family ie much closer to say English than say Finnish, Arabic, Turkic, Chinese etc. This is well known and barely in dispute.
What very few seem nowadays to know is that the very signature of the NAZIs, the swastika, is of ancient indo aryan origin and is to be found throughout India in many forms.
Now i think it is a matter of total irrelevance what the genetic make up is of the Afghans but as a beleiver in truth, even the detestable US racist extreme right can occasionally (very) be right.
I do not dispute the genetic similarities between europeans and indo-aryans, I just wanted to point out the hollowness in the cause of the far right movement of the USA. They would even glorify the taliban, their worst enemy, and attribute the taliban victory against NATO to their european genetics.
With the mongol-turkic(mughal) invasion of the subcontinent, the genetic, religious, language and cultural aspects of the indian subcontinent’s muslims also changed. In pak, they have a national language called urdu, which is actually a turkic word derived from the word horde. Interestingly, urdu is written is arabic script and has a lot of semitic derived words. The pak PM’s family name is khan, which indicates that he is a descendant of the infamous mongol, ghengis khan, even though imran khan is a pashtun. The pak flag is actually a turkic muslim flag, the crescent and star can be found in many turkic muslim origin states and arab ex-ottoman territories (algeria, tunisia etc.), although the arab muslims do not use the star and crescent banner. Many muslims of the subcontinent also have arabic, north african and sub-saharan genetics, apart from the turko-mongol lineages. In my view, pak is more turkic than indo-aryan in terms of culture and language, which also explains pak affinity to turkey and azerbaijan.
Urdu is not a Turkic language. It is Indo-European.
“Khan” means lord, and there are people beyond counting in the region who have ‘Khan’ as part of their last name. It does not signify descent from Genghis, it simply means that the person in question had ancestors who were feudal lords.
Afghanistan has a very distinct Turkic element, as far as race is concerned. Pakistan is neither Turkic in language, nor race.
The Mughal Emperors were ethnic Irano-Turco-Mongols, who were culturally and linguistically Persian, and their religion was Islam.
The people of Pakistan today have very little to do with the Mughal ruling elite.
The Turko-Mongols were the greatest warriors in the region. Even the Caliph in Baghdad had a special Guard composed exclusively of Turks, who were not allowed to intermingle with other people, lest they become weak. The Turkic Guard continued to live nomadically, because it was believed that the nomadic lifestyle was what made them as strong as ten sedentary men.
Even today, in Iran, there are people of Turkic descent who are physically as strong as a horse, or even stronger. Quite a few of the world’s weightlifting champions are either Iranian Turks or Central Asian Turks, or Turks of some kind. So, while the Caliphs in Baghdad were certainly correct in surmising the effect of a nomadic lifestyle on physical fitness and strength, ie. nurture, the racial, ie. nature, element is also at play here.
There is a reason that all of Central Asia, which were populated by ethnic Iranians, all the way to China, are now Turkic lands. And there is a reason why the Mongol hordes conquered more territory than anyone else before them; pure brute force backed by physical strength and hardiness, which nobody could match while the Mongols stuck to their traditional lifestyle. As soon as they became sedentary, and swapped Sky Father/Tengri for God/Allah, they also started down the path of their decline, and today they are all irrelevant, except Turkey, which is even less ethnically Turkic than Iran.
But watcher is right when he says that genetic makeup is irrelevant. Iran and Afghanistan are as mixed-race as countries come today. From full Nordic-types with blonde hair, to Africans with Afros, to absolutely Asiatic-looking Turks, we have them in Iran, and then we have a wide range of mixed types. At the end of the day, they are all the same; just different colored crayons in a box of Crayola. And if I may say so, the smartest and most good-looking ones are the ones who are of mixed race; like when you mix two colors and get a novel third color.
watcher is also right about the swastika, which was originally an Aryan symbol of life-force, imho.
From Wikipedia:
The word swastika comes from Sanskrit: स्वस्तिक, romanized: svastika, meaning “conducive to well-being”. In Hinduism, the right-facing symbol (卐) is called swastika, symbolizing surya (“sun”), prosperity and good luck, while the left-facing symbol (卍) is called sauwastika, symbolising night or tantric aspects of Kali. In Jainism, a swastika is the symbol for Suparshvanatha – the seventh of 24 Tirthankaras (spiritual teachers and saviours), while in Buddhism it symbolises the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. In several major Indo-European religions, the swastika symbolises lightning bolts, representing the thunder god and the king of the gods, such as Indra in Vedic Hinduism, Zeus in the ancient Greek religion, Jupiter in the ancient Roman religion, and Thor in the ancient Germanic religion.
And while many today are of the opinion that the Germans culturally appropriated the term Aryan, the swastika, etc., from Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan culture, I believe that those things were all the Germans’ birthrights.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Great
“An inscription on his tomb introduces him as “Great King, King of Kings, King of countries containing all kinds of men, King in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan [Iranian], having Aryan lineage.””
The most famous inscription by Darius is at Bisotun, in the Iranian province of Kermanshah. The inscription was made at a very sacred location, and it survived the Arab rampage because it was too high up the mountain wall for the Arabs to reach.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_Inscription
Whether Kermanshah, “Kerman King”, has any relation to the word German, is left to speculation at this point, but in light of Herodotus, and Darius’ tomb inscription referring to himself as an Aryan, it is not too far of a stretch.
What peeves me is when some people, like the esteemed A.H.H., take all of this to be Iranians attempts to connect themselves to Europeans, or Iranians buying into German mythology or propaganda.
First of all, I, for one, suffer from no inferiority-complex vis a vis Europeans. If the Europeans are superior to Iranians, then how is it that the Iranians are dancing circles around the collective strength of all European peoples, eg. NATO, at every turn? Iran is under a historically unprecedented siege, while the proud “Whites” enjoy the coerced support of the whole world, including Russia and China. How is it that Iran is winning, if the Europeans are superior? Just dumb luck?
To echo what watcher said, facts are facts, and I myself am only interested in the truth. If Europeans wish to cling to fantasy versions of their history, where they don’t want to be connected to Iran and the Middle East and India, which they despise, then that is their right. Neo-liberalism, after all, is the freedom and the right to be as dumb and ignorant and wrong as is humanly possible, and the Europeans are the epitome of this inane mentality and ideology right now.
Regarding the friction between Iran and Pakistan, which Parabellum notes, over Afghanistan, the following will clarify the reason why:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Pishin_bombing
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Zahedan_bombings
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdolmalek_Rigi
As far as I am concerned, all that blood, the blood of so many IRGC members, is on Pakistan.
So, Iran has ISIS lunatics, who cut people’s heads off and trade sex slaves at the town market to deal with on the one hand, and Pakistan supporting this other brand of terrorism, on the other. Jundullah, Jund al-Adl, and all the rest.
Afghanistan will not be allowed to become a base of operations for terrorists against Iran. And Pakistan, as a third rate nothing, knows who is calling the shots in the region. If Pakistan continues to support terrorist groups against Iran, perhaps the Taliban will start making claims on Pashtun territories in Pakistan, which are Afghan territories by right; the Pashtun language is also known as the Afghani language, and the Afghans are a real nation with a long history, whereas Pakistan, “Land of the Pure”, is a purely British colonialist creation, with no history to speak of.
Iran and India and Europeans were not trying to revivify the Northern Alliance. The Panjshir ‘Resistance’ was a French-Israeli project.
Iran wants an independent government in Afghanistan, because that will guarantee Iranian interests. The Taliban turned to Iran, exactly because they wanted to achieve a degree of freedom and independence from Pakistan, which they have achieved. And their opening the water on drought-stricken Iran, which Ghani had shut, and their import of fuel from Iran, is testament to their independent policy.
Do not conflate the words of the Iranian foreign ministry, with the IRGC. While Khatibzadeh may criticize the Taliban, the IRGC cannot afford to not be in control of absolutely everything around Iran. If the IRGC loses control, terrorist bombings will start happening in Iran. And if Iran falls, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine will fall, like dominos.
The IRGC are very domineering control freaks. So, just because the MSM is not touting IRGC influence in Afghanistan, does not mean they are not there trying to get on top of everything.
And in parting, the Panjshir Resistance, which you have labelled legitimate, was absolutely not so. And they had exactly zero support from anyone that mattered.
Great post. thanks.
One small point….
And It’d be great if Mundo would jump in here.
But surely the ”swastika” is the constellation “moving” around the north star across the four seasons?
Thus from antiquity there will be beliefs and symbolism ascribed to this celestial phenomenon?
I’m not sure, what horse I should jump on in this connection. Swastika is no constellation i know.
I read, it’s symbolizing the sun-wheel, hence power and consciousness.
Psychologically, the left-turn and the right- turns are discerned as ‘right-turn’ being move to consciousness and left-turn to unconsciousness.
I did not claim urdu to be turkic, I said that the word urdu is a turkic word. To imply that the language is not completely turkic, I wrote further that urdu is written in arabic script and has many arabic words. I am aware that persian, dari and hindu languages also contributed to urdu.
Many muslims in the subcontinent have turko-mongol blood. Not just turko-mongol blood but also semitic, sub-saharan and even caucasian (through mamluks) blood. Regarding people beyond counting having khan as their last name in the region, 1 in 200 males globally today are direct descendants of ghenghis khan. For many muslims in the subcontinent, it does signify descent from the mongols. I know that many titles like the khan, mallik(arabic), bakshi(arabic) etc were given not based on bloodlines. Even non-muslims in the subcontinent have mallik and bakshi family names bestowed upon their forefathers by the muslim rulers for being of good service, which the non-muslims readily adopted.
Pak has many turkic descendants, one particular famous personality was Maududi. Some turkic titles in place of family names are also found in pakistan. For example the last name ‘baig’ is derived from the turkic title of ‘bey’. I know that Pak isnt monolithic entity but has many ethnic groups like the punjabis, baloch, sindhis, kashmiris and those who migrated from india (known as mujahirs in pak). Pak culture has a significant turkic influence, obviously due to the mughals. For example, in their culinary they have plof, a central asian dish and samosa, derived from turkic dish called samse.
Muslim turks like taimur and the ottomans build some of the biggest empires even after they left paganism. Before than, pagan monglols were defeated by the egyptian muslim mamluks in the battle of ain jalaut.
Europeans were the first to systematically study and research the genetic and linguistic connection between europeans, iran and north india. The proto-indo-european language was first proposed by the europeans.
Even pakis have been saying to the world that they do not have any control over afghanistan. In my assessment, the geopolitical position of pak has risen, since it was involved in all the peace talks between the USA and the taliban. It might keep on rising if the BRI related projects like CPEC succeed. The pak port, a part of CPEC which provides china a direct link to indian ocean, is a rival to the iranian port, so this would be another reason for competition between pak and iran.
The duran line agreement was actually signed by the afghan emir Abdur Rahman Khan, giving the territories to the then british India, which eventually became pak territories after the splitting of india. I hope IEA and pakistan are able to resolve the issue peacefully.
This is my own assessment based upon the past support by the mentioned nations to the northern alliance and the statements by the recent iranian statement regarding panjshir and past iranian FM statement in raisina. I bought India in the mix because the fake news of pak air force and drones bombing panjshir in support of taliban were being peddled by the indians. But to my surprise, even the iranian FM’s spokesperson gave the statement about the examination of pak intervention in panjshir, which did not happen.
It might be true for the rest, but certainly not true for afghanistan. The afghans in the past and the present have shown that they are very capable of resisting foreign occupation and dislodging the local puppets of imperialists. Perhaps a weak neighborhood might be good for IEA as they will be able to exert their own influence over the others, the glorious old days of the durranis.
There is a reason why I put legitimate in apostrophe, because it was being portrayed as legitimate by the mainstream media.
The movement for the creation of pakistan was actually started by the indian subcontinent’s muslims, who also fought against the british to save the ottoman caliphate (turkic muslim affinity obviously). I actually agree with the creation of pakistan and think that the hindu and muslim population should have migrated to their respective homelands, all muslims to pakistan and all hindus to india. There is still time to do so and can be done by exchanging the population, like the way turkey and greece did. The way in which both the countries treat their respective minorities and carried out genocide in the past is appalling and the magnitude of attack on the minorities is increasing everyday.
In defense of the Mongols, Ain Jalaut was fought by the Mongol rear guard, the main body having decamped for home. Plus, the Mamelukes had in that battle their greatest general in Baybar’s and the Crusader contingent might have helped break up the archer formation. True, they celebrate it like their own 4th of July, but it is somewhat over rated, in my opinion. I enjoy your remarks very much. I’d like to hear what you can do with the Berbers, a people who had what the Mongols lacked: lethal persistence.
The crusaders were allied with the mongols and fought against the mamluks. Even if we down play the mamluks, it does not explain the subsequent series of mongol defeats handed to them by the mamluks. The mongols had started converting to islam. Berke khan, golden horde leader and a cousin of the then mongol head halugu khan, had already converted to islam and started attacking pagan mongols khanates in revenge strikes for mongol sacking muslim cities. As one historian rightly notes regarding the mongol-muslim conflict, ‘the religion of muslims did what their swords couldn’t’, decimating the mongol scourge.
I do not know much about the north african tribes
“It might be true for the rest, but certainly not true for afghanistan. The afghans in the past and the present have shown that they are very capable of resisting foreign occupation and dislodging the local puppets of imperialists.”
You are wrong. The US would have completely annihilated the Taliban, if the IRGC wasn’t propping them up.
https://www.wionews.com/photos/ambiguous-role-did-russia-iran-supply-taliban-fighters-with-weapons-against-us-troops-410890
Iran’s ‘ambiguous role’ in Afghanistan
A report published by Combating Terrorism Center at West Point said Iranian-made armaments were discovered in the hands of Taliban fighters.
The report claimed General Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan had cited Iran’s “ambiguous role” in Afghanistan in a 2009 report. The report said Iran allowed weapons to pass into the hands of the Taliban.
Former US defence secretary Robert Gates had also accused Iran of playing a “double game” in Afghanistan.
General McChrystal had said: “Iran plays an ambiguous role in Afghanistan, providing developmental assistance and political support to GIRoA while the Iranian Qods Force is reportedly training fighters for certain Taliban group.”
44 bricks of Iranian-made explosives found
McChrystal further said Iran had also provided “other forms” of military assistance to the Taliban.
“Iran’s current policies and actions do not pose a short-term threat to the mission, but Iran has the capability to threaten the mission in the future,” the US General had warned.
As NATO forces conducted “Operation Moshtarak,” a counterinsurgency operation with British, American and Afghan forces, the coalition forces found “44 bricks of Iranian-made explosives and dozens of Iranian-made mortars” in May 2009 in Marja.
Iranian weapons were said to have been found in Helmand where Taliban and NATO forces battled each other, the Combating Terrorism Centre said.
These are the kinds of reports coming from the West. The Taliban were receiving weapons, training, and intelligence from the IRGC. Without that support and assistance, there would be no Taliban today to speak of. And they certainly would not have been able to resist anyone or anything.
“The duran line agreement was actually signed by the afghan emir Abdur Rahman Khan, giving the territories to the then british India, which eventually became pak territories after the splitting of india. I hope IEA and pakistan are able to resolve the issue peacefully.”
You sound very naive. If you won’t take it from me, take it from Mahmud Ahmadinejad:
“Amid reports that Pakistan had helped the Taliban quell the resistance in Panjshir, Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Islamabad that it will be haunted by its actions in near future in which he foresaw the militant group threatening Pakistani government and sovereignty.”
Pakistan has around 120 billion dollars of foreign debt, a GDP a little over double that, and 200 million population, most of whom are well below poverty. Pakistan should worry about running its own affairs, and not meddle in Afghanistan on behalf of its Saudi-US masters.
The link is of an indian media called wion news, known for spreading fake news and is indian right leaning.
following are links to the their latest fake news of pak involvement in panjshir from wion, this is just in last two days:
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcBkA68s2YM
@2:08 the reporter says, “all accounts from panjshir indicate, that this was an ISI led assault, the pakistani air force used drones to drop bombs on panjshir, the troops from pakistani special cells group assisting the taliban on ground, all of this happened under the command of ISI chief faiz hamid and is not hersay, this has been verified by journalists and resistance fighters in panjshir”
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN17agwURHY
reporter: “The pakistani military invaded panjshir to demolish the resistance, and install a taliban flag.”
They even made news out of BBC’s christine fair interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ruGXC6TewA). If you scroll down below, you will find a comment(/moveable-feast-cafe-2021-09-06/#comment-971639) containing the link to indian right wing twitter handle regarding the interview, which anon tried to give a different spin but was corrected by Bostonian.
keeping wion aside, lets come to the main point.
The contradiction to this,
is in the same article. This,
If one believes in the Combating Terrorism Center report, then one should also believe in the US general, who did not see iran as a short term threat to the mission, which means that the taliban was capable even without IRGC support.
Without that support and assistance, there would be no Taliban today to speak of. And they certainly would not have been able to resist anyone or anything.
Taliban success can even be attributed pakistan, which also gave weapons, men, intelligence and material support to the group. It is not hard for pak to train pak pashtuns in the taliban. Taliban fighters are known to have escaped through the porus pak-afghan border and regroup in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (pak pashtun territory), from where they gradually starting building up again after the NATO invasion that toppled their emirate. The haqqanis of the taliban are known to be close to the pak intelligence agency ISI and have reportedly got money from pak through money laundering operations. The taliban used to stock up their weapon cache from the pak weapons black market in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Trump had suspended aid to pak because according to the americans, pak provided direct military and intelligence aid to the taliban which led to the death of many american soldiers. The news article that you linked also has news about support from russia (which is fake in my opinion), it can also be said that the taliban won due to the russian help.
The durand line agreement was given in response to your “Pashtun territories in Pakistan … are Afghan territories by right” statement. Pashtuns gave up their rights when they signed the agreement with the british. I known that the pashtuns are still not happy with it, that is why I wrote ‘I hope IEA and pakistan are able to resolve the issue peacefully’.
The answer to this is in studying the wars that pak fought with it’s eternal rival india and the afghan govt support for india in these wars. In the 1965 indo-pak war, pashtunistan (an afghan-indian project which both the countries used to further their own goals. For the afghan govt, it was to reclaim pashtun territories from pak and the for india, it was the balkanization of pak) militants attacked pak army in waziristan in coordination with indian airforce bombings of peshawar and kohat (according to the afghan state media). Afghan govt also reinforced their forces on the afghan-pak borders when indo-pak battle intensified. The afghan military deployment along the borders was one of the factors which made the pak agree to the ceasefire, otherwise pak would have to fight a two front battle facing both the afghans and indians.
Coming to the the present day, pak knows very well that there will always be a afghan pashtun threat to pak government and sovereignty. It has two options, 1) a foreign puppet afghan government which will always threaten pak (as shown in the 1965 indo-pak war), 2) a sunni islamic emirate in afghanistan which will not be overtly anti-pak (the last islamic emirate of mullah omar proved it). An orthodox and conservative islamic rule of taliban will not only increase the security against their western borders, but would also help them against india. The mullah omar led emirate had no diplomatic relations with india and pashtun militants did fight in the indian governed kashmir’s insurgency. Even with the present TTP threat, the IEA is still favorable to pak as compared to the other afghan governments.
The present war pitted pak against US led NATO. Saudis and taliban have frosty ties since 1998, because of the emirate’s refusal to the saudi request of osama bin laden’s extradition. To distance themselves from the attacks, Saudis broke all ties with the taliban after 9/11. That is why the taliban has an office in qatar and not in any other sheikhdom. pak-saudi relations are also not as they used to be in the past, pak had refused saudi’s request for pak military help in the yemen war.
That is why pak is betting on the CPEC. Even the IEA has shown inclination towards the BRI and chinese projects in afghanistan.
But it seems Pakistan was involved in the Panjshir assault. Why would Ahmadinejad and the Iranian foreign ministry express concern regarding Pakistan’s role, if it wasn’t involved?
And, if as you say, the Pakistanis have been helping the Taliban for years, which I fully agree with, then how can you say that the Taliban have been standing on their own?
“Between 2002–2011, US Congress approved $18 billion in military and economic aid from the United States (for Pakistan). — From Wikipedia
https://www.cgdev.org/page/aid-pakistan-numbers
So, is the Taliban really a US enemy? Or are they like ISIS and AQ?
If the Taliban are a genuine enemy of the US, and Pakistan was supporting them during the US occupation of Afghanistan, why would the US give Pakistan 18 billion dollars in the first ten years of the occupation?
Pakistan needs foreign aid, because it cannot feed its own citizens. Is it wise for a country that has hungry citizens, to spend money supporting foreign groups which are designated as terrorists worldwide?
Pakistan also receives aid from Saudi Arabia.
How do you analyze these facts then?
Why do those who make the claim have to rely on fabrications if the news is true? (https://in.ign.com/arma-iii/166118/news/arma-3-gameplay-panjshir-valley-pakistani-airforce-indian-news-channels)
(https://www.globalvillagespace.com/indian-media-accuses-paf-attacking-panjshir-with-fake-gaming-video/)
That is for them to answer with proofs. I dont see them as infallible.
Never said it.
became one when NATO invaded afghanistan
I dont know what you mean by this. If you are implying that ISIS and AQ were created by the USA, then my answer is that the taliban is not an american creation.
I dont know, better ask the muricans and pakis about their back end deals. US-led NATO and Pak forces have also fought against each other at the Pak-Afgan border in 2011 which killed 28 Pakistani soldiers. Like Iran, pak also played an ‘ambiguous’ role. Pak also provided air strips to the americans for carrying out aerial strikes inside afghanistan. NATO supplies to the their bases in afghanistan also used to pass via pak, which basically means that pak also supported NATO.
The pakistanis will answer that, not me. But one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. The west also considers hezbollah as a terrorist organization and even called solemani a terrorist.
Never disputed it.
Anonymous, thanks for the historical information.
Urdu is most certainly an amalgamation of many languages including Arabic and Devnagari (hindi). Khan does signify a feudal lord, Genghis or Changez Khan never attacked the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan in its present form is a new fangled country, courtesy the British.
An interesting essay about Afghanistan –
Answer to Why is Afghanistan called the “Graveyard of Empires”? by Umair Ahmad https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Afghanistan-called-the-Graveyard-of-Empires/answer/Umair-Ahmad-292?ch=3&oid=298000242&share=293a547c&srid=uifTef&target_type=answer
Mongols did attack india, it was repulsed successfully by a turko-afghan muslim ruler known as allahuddin khilji
Anonymous, thanks for the historical information.
Urdu is an amalgamation of many languages including Persian, Devnagari (hindi) and Arabic, it is a pleasant and expressive language.
Khan does signify a feudal lord, Genghis or Changez Khan never attacked the Indian subcontinent.
An interesting essay about Afghanistan –
Answer to Why is Afghanistan called the “Graveyard of Empires”? by Umair Ahmad https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Afghanistan-called-the-Graveyard-of-Empires/answer/Umair-Ahmad-292?ch=3&oid=298000242&share=293a547c&srid=uifTef&target_type=answer
hundreds of protesters in kabul in front of pak embassy protesting against pak. The protests were fueled by the fake news of pak assistance to taliban in capturing panjshir. The taliban will have their first taste of the massive indian online hasbara generated fake news and narrative building. A problem in afghanistan is that there is no real internet, the only internet that the majority of afghans know is the cheap facebook data packs and many of them are illiterate and cannot distinguish between real and fake news. The indian hasbara and puppet afghan dispora using their network will certainly utilize it to their advantage and try to stir up revolt against the IEA. Incidentally, some of the panjshir leadership is being housed in pakistan, the country that they are protesting against. IEA spokesperson zabiullah mujahid has said that they will not ban social media, which will cause further trouble in my opinion. The taliban has also announced government formation.
I like the idea of doing acts signifying repentance. Piers Plowman (in Will Lngland’s poem of the same name) always insisted that St. Truth required making restitution in full when repenting. I forget now what he said about capital crimes but I think he used the thief on the cross with Christ as an example of those who can’t make restitution…
It is written that even God had cause to repent for the grievous harm done by man on earth. That was back then, Atlantean times, what anguish is suffered by the Creator now ?
‘And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieued him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man, whom I haue created, from the face of the earth: both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the foules of the aire: for it repenteth me that I haue made them.7
Genesis vi.6, KJV, 1611
The wrath of the most high does not last. At least on this plane. Which is why as Buddha might have said it is much better to do one’s hell here than later: when one is stripped of all but spirit.
Another thing to remember is the covenant. The. Most High has locked the gates of hell for believers.
Love is a Smoke Made with the Fume of Sighs
Lovers concur that love is a smoke
Made with the fume of sighs.
It twists and it curls and hangs in the air
Until it eventually dies.
Lovers attest that love is a plume
Fed by infernal fires.
Destined to fade and to go the way
Of all unnatural desires.
Lovers agree that love is a fog,
That smothers and puts down the will.
Where angels and demons fight to prevail
Over the soul of the kill.
Lovers contend that love is a mist,
A paradise lost and regained;
A malodorous tale of deceit and betrayal
Whose purpose is never explained.
Love, to lovers, is a will-o-the-wisp,
Fair and faint and oft perfumed;
Yet fire to which we slowly submit,
Until we’re finally consumed!
…finally consumed by fumes of fiery smoke spumes…. all of us, one by one.
Ha ha…
I found this entertaining – a BBC reporter loses her cool on air when a guest says something that goes against the UK?NATO narrative.
https://twitter.com/AartiTikoo/status/1434518778264444934
I believe an “ill choice of clip” because the lady being interview (conveniently) stopped short of explaining “the why” part of all her “talking points”.
(I am assuming “Anonymous” knows this already – hence the choice of clip- which actually proves the BBC rep did a good job- which is the opposite point Anonymous was trying to make- which leaves me confused as to the motive of Anonymous was n posting it)
( Well I could speculate, but might be the equivalent of just waiting in line at a two hour long wait at dysentery fun rides- kinda like not really worth the wait- after being forced to buy unhealty food anyway… because they do not allow you to bring in your own choice of healthy food in the park- do not get me started on the “food” industry- (which might be more important a topic then the point you were trying to make anyway) )
You do not have to feel the need to reply to this post- just go about your day – we are stuck in the basement version of a nuclear fall out shelter – so I’m just venting – because angry that a nice picturesque French-eye one was not chosen.
Anon is probably an Indian, the lady who posted this is a hindu nationalist lady (they are anti-pak anti-islam) and the lady who is being interviewed is known anti-pak.
Would it be acceptable in this cafe to raise questions and comments about Orthodoxy which do not accord with the reverential tone expected in the Christian Vignettes?
For instance, why is there such a heavy emphasis on beards? It seems as if the greater the saint, the bushier his beard, but the Byzantine images of Christ and his saints depict them as only moderately bearded.
From the comments on another site I was surprized to see quite how much the ‘Orthobros’ hate Catholics and despise Protestants. Yet they themselves seem to be as literal minded as Protestants and more venomously argumentative than Catholics. Are they even more Hudibrasian than the Puritans?
Why has ‘render unto Caesar’ been replaced amongst both Catholics and Orthodox with ‘be Caesar’?
Why the extreme emphasis on Theology? It is even the focus of the first Christian Vignette. Has all that stuff about love, joy, peace, long-suffering etc. been replaced by the greater beatitude of love of argument and skill in talking everyone else down? Is that the high road to Heaven, and will it suffice to get past St. Peter?
Very good point, cynic. We must remember that in the scheme of things, the study of theology plays an important part insofar as it is an attempt to reconcile what we might loosely define as an inner reality and an outer reality. The outer reality largely depends on our circumstances at a given point in time and space, ie; location, conditions, family, state of consciousness of the social structure we find ourselves in, our place in that society, our personal world and its associated conditions etc. The inner reality also depends on various influences but especially our state of consciousness, our willingness to make an effort in certain areas of discipline etc. Or not.
While the outer reality is largely governed by appearances, the inner reality is governed by truth.
A definition of “a whole person”, would be someone who reconciles both realities in a harmonious manner, while an unhappy or discontented individual would be one who finds his inner and outer realities at loggerheads. While the inner reality is boundless, the outer reality is squarely determined by changing and fluid conditions. While the outer reality is often defined by the herd instinct, our inner reality gives free rein to who we are as an individual.
Our job is to reconcile these two realities. Moreover, the more conflict we seem to attract is often an indication of the true state we’re in. If life is an opportunity or attempt to bring the two realities together, then we should be far more tolerant as a species than we are. The lack of tolerance today and the willingness to do away with opposition is an indication that many people who are in positions of power, have either a lack of understanding
of the laws of life, or they just don’t care, and often both.
I’ll share a story here that illustrates what I’m getting at. Many years ago, in a discussion with my father, he stated that he did not believe that there is life after death b/c, as he put it; no one had ever come back to tell about it. Another anecdote, along the same lines, is that when Australian magnate Kerry Packer found himself on the operating table after a heart attack ( I think it was a heart attack but in any case, he was pronounced clinically dead for a short period of time, but was then revived, ) he stated afterwards, that he had died and there was nothing there. Both cases were human beings who had reduced their world outlook to their own experience or lack thereof.
Therefore, in the great scheme of things, theology is somewhat irrelevant, as is pretty much everything else. What is important however, is what we take away from our experiences. What is important is who we become during the course of our lives. Are we more tolerant, accepting, forgiving? Because if we aren’t, we’ll have time to adjust our viewpoints next time around, because the decisions we make in this life lead us to the conditions that define the next.
I think your belief in reincarnation is a bit dogmatic, Dimitar.
It is not ‘knowledge’ worthy of a man of knowledge, who seeks to unravel the mysteries of existence.
I am not denying reincarnation, in the sense that the Dalai Lama is believed to reincarnate. This kind of thing happens with shamans in the Amazon as well, and I have seen it.
And I also have no problem with the Hindu idea of moksha/liberation.
But, as an empiricist, I would like to know the evidence or the experience which you base your belief in reincarnation on? It is clear that you believe all people experience reincarnation. How do you know this to be true?
In the Amazon, a shaman who can reincarnate, is considered a very powerful person; someone who is defying death, seeking immortality. Some of them claim to be a thousand years old, and they can fully remember all their past lives.
When you die, your awareness as an individual disintegrates, in the same way that your body disintegrates. Your individual awareness is composed of memories, like your body is composed of cells.
The shamans I met explained to me that organic memory can carry over from electrochemical impulses into conscious energy, which means it is possible for our ‘energy body’ to preserve memories after the organic part perishes.
This preservation can mean a final liberation, where the person becomes a disincarnate entity composed of pure energy, or it can mean jumping into a newborn body.
To achieve ultimate liberation is the ultimate goal, according to my informants, but for some men of knowledge, it takes multiple lifetimes, which is why they choose to reincarnate.
When regular people die, it is game over for them; oblivion, final and eternal, without any second chances.
My informants believed that we live in a predatory universe, where life eats life to survive and grow, and where awareness eats awareness. As such, achieving liberation is a battle, and life is a war.
Under such conditions, what use is tolerance and acceptance and forgiveness, which you seem to be putting forward as ultimate virtues?
And let’s move away from the esoteric for a second, and ponder the material world. I’ve got ISIS at my door, and they want to cut off my head, and rape my wife and sell her as a sex slave to the highest bidder, and they want to take my daughter as a child bride, right? How can tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness help me? And if I choose to espouse those ideals, who will protect 80 million Iranians from experiencing a second Arab Conquest?
Who will protect the Syrians? The Iraqis, Lebanese, Yemenis? Who will stand up for the Palestinians?
The answer is no one, Dimitar. We are all that is left standing between the oppressors and the oppressed. It is by our fury and our missiles that peace and order are maintained in the region, so that children can play, and people can live normal lives.
Now let’s step back to the esoteric. As above, so below, it is said. ISIS, the US, and Israel, all have their counterparts in the other world, the world of energy; predatory creatures that would eat this planet whole, just as the US and Israel and ISIS would eat it whole, if there were not warriors standing in front of them, ready to fight and die.
I don’t think anyone truly realizes the edge of the abyss that the human race is currently standing on, and the level of evil and inhumanity and cruelty which ISIS, the Israelis, and the US represent. I pray that no one will ever find out.
In the summer of 2016, some of my brothers liberated a whole compound of women being held by ISIS as sex slaves in Syria. Some of them were mere girls. There must have been a couple of hundred of them. There are no words for me to describe their condition when they were rescued.
There are no words, Dimitar. Only fury and fire and hatred, which we have been dealing to these ‘people’ for a decade now.
Tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness? Only after we kill them all.
“My informants believed that we live in a predatory universe, where life eats life to survive and grow, and where awareness eats awareness. As such, achieving liberation is a battle, and life is a war.”
Which means your informants on their Ayahuasca trips did not experience the higher realms. In higher realms beings are composed of light, breath light as life force. Higher beings live on prana / light. The idea of beings eating beings in the higher realms is not comprehensible to such beings. It seems your informants left one jungle for another. A spiritual guide is hard to find.
You call their sacrament “tripping”, which tells me all I need to know about what you know, and about your level of respect for other cultures as well.
You would not speak of ayahuasca like that if you knew what it was. And you would know what it is, if you had drank it.
You give an opinion on something which you have no first-hand experience on. Not very wise.
Anonymous, there is a difference in the word ‘trip’ used as journey, and ‘tripping’ meaning being high on psychedelics.
“I think your belief in reincarnation is a bit dogmatic, Dimitar.”
I’m entirely fine with you thinking my belief is dogmatic. I post viewpoints here as part of a larger pool of ideas,
thoughts, theories etc. And I’m certainly not going to try to ‘prove’ anything to anyone. Some will get where I’m coming from, others won’t.
“It’s clear you believe in reincarnation, and that all people experience it…”
Why would one person reincarnate and not another? Karma and reincarnation go together, it explains why some incarnate in favourable conditions while others, in less favourable. Why some are fair of face and others not so fair. Why some are born in a healthy body and others in an unhealthy body, in a country that provides favourable living conditions and one that doesn’t, etc. Otherwise, the “non-reincarnationists’ really have no explanation, do they? There is no such thing as a bad or evil Soul, only an ignorant Soul. Our position in life does not excuse us from transgressing against the laws of life, all transgressions must be paid for, and all good acts are likewise accounted for. If you think about this a little, Soul’s ledger ( of good and bad karma ) outweighs It’s time on Earth, therefore It needs to come back and to continue the process that It Itself has set in motion. This experience eventually leads to realisations, and so Soul expands in consciousness until It becomes useful, and not a hindrance to life. What about say, the experience of someone who is responsible for the deaths of many, many people? How do you think that Soul will account for it? Or do you suppose that when that person dies, it’s all forgotten and over?
“Tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness? Only after we kill them all.”
Dear friend, Soul has been victim as well as oppressor, since ‘time immemorial’. At the end of the day, Soul must rise above the victim consciousness, as well as Its desire for revenge, etc. and accept Its birthright, to become a conscious co-worker with Divine Spirit. If God Itself, is able to tolerate, accept and forgive, then we too have to, b/c the purpose of existence is to become more God-like.
There is no God. And there is no accounting for good and bad deeds.
The idea that “if you are good, you will go to heaven, and if you are bad, you will go to hell” is a misunderstanding.
Heaven is ultimate liberation, ultimate freedom, and reaching it is a matter of strategy, and gaining the right knowledge, and following down the right path; it is the ultimate challenge, and just being ‘good’ as per arbitrary social-moral norms and customs, will not get you anywhere.
When you say karma is the reason some people are born in better countries, or some are born unhealthy, you are reflecting your bias; better country for living according to whose standards?
Muslims believe that living in a Western country is bad for spiritual growth.
Western people believe living in a poor country where the level of luxury is not up to Western standards is bad.
And if the ultimate goal is attaining liberation, then I know many healthy people who don’t have a chance in hell, while I have known very sick people who sought healing, and entered the path towards salvation, because of their sickness.
I believe the Palestinians, living under tyrannical oppression, are much more likely to attain spiritual liberation than anyone living in a Western country and espousing pseudo-Eastern ideals.
The six Palestinians that escaped Israel’s maximum security prison a couple days ago, have reached such a sublime state, and their souls have become so light, that no prison can ever hold them. They will just float away into that immensity out there when the time comes.
That prison break was an act of magic.
I have been in prison. It is no joke to break out of any prison, let alone Israeli maximum security where Resistance fighters are held.
So, by my standard, people born in Palestine have a better chance at attaining spiritual knowledge and liberation, so they are much better off than you fellows, whereas others might pity them and look down on them.
Who is right, who is wrong? Nobody. Everybody is just reflecting their own bias when they speak.
Most of what’s out there is unknowable, Dimitar. The unknown can be revealed one day, but the unknowable is unthinkable, inconceivable, unimaginable.
We do not know what is going on. This is the truth. And if I see Buddhists (or whatever belief system you are advocating) break out of maximum security prisons, as if they were Hudini, then I will believe that liberation and salvation are possible through those ideologies.
But you cannot even explain to me the evidence which has led you to believe in reincarnation, and meanwhile your buddy looks down his nose at Amazonian natives who have survived into the modern age without any modern medicine or technology.
We wouldn’t survive without modern medicine and technology. So, who is superior? And who has real spiritual knowledge? These people who survive because they are connected to everything else and are one with everything else? Or we who sit here and spout useless pseudo-spiritual empty talk that would not help us survive in the least if we were left to our own devices in the wilderness? Let alone confronted with tyrannical oppression of the US-Zionist kind.
The Palestinians are the real champions of our age, the real possessors of spiritual knowledge. The rest of us are all just egotistical maniacs, who wouldn’t survive a single day in their shoes.
And, Anomalous, if you are ever lucky enough to be called to the Jungle, in South America, and if you are lucky enough to meet a real shaman, you might change your mind, and become less rigid, and more accepting and tolerant of other creeds and other paths.
I only know two true spiritual paths: the Resistance, which is a holy war, and the Amazonians, who are not even people like you and I; they are the Godhead moving human bodies in a perfect dance in harmony with the hundreds of thousands of other species in the Jungle.
And unless you can bring some evidence to back your beliefs in reincarnation, then there is nothing more to debate.
Anonymous, you make a number of assumptions. First you assume I am being derogatory when I use the word trip. If I say Emmanuel Swedenborg made many trips to the heaven realms or I say he made many journeys the meaning is the same. Clearly your informants did not journey to the higher realms.
Second you assume I am being derogatory of all Ayahuasca culture when I was writing only of your informants. Universal truths are universal truths everywhere. See for example
“The first piece, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the Universe and all its powers and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells the Great Spirit and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.” – Black Elk – Oglala Sioux
Also you assume I do not have experience of what write. That is your assumption.
All the best
There is no other place to go on ayahuasca than the other world.
There are no higher or lower realms.
There is one universe out there, and some of it is ordinarily within reach of our perception, which we call “this world”, and the rest is unknown to us, but within our potential to perceive, which is the “other world”. In the “other world”, there are countless little realms like our world, and an endless profusion of entities which have awareness.
Then there is the rest of what is out there, which is absolutely beyond our capacity to perceive and know, which is unknowable.
When you take Ayahuasca, you are no longer bound by ordinary sensory perception. Another faculty for perceiving becomes activated. You might end up in sulphurous hell worlds, or beautiful realms of light. You might meet entities made of darkness, or of light. Everything conceivable can be found in the other world.
The only measure of ‘high’ or ‘low’ in the other world is energy and awareness; if you have a lot of energy, you will have a more powerful glow of awareness, which will allow you to perceive more and do more. If you don’t have enough energy, everything becomes chaotic.
So, perhaps you ought to define what you mean by higher realms. Are you merely referring to some particular place in the immensity out there? Or do you actually believe that human concepts like ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ have any meaning or any bearing in the other world? They don’t, Anomalous.
Ayahuasca is the vine of the dead. When you drink a sufficient dose, it induces a state of simulated death. It tells the organic part of your being that it has died, and then your perception experiences what happens after death.
Many people report going to hell-like realms, others heavenly places filled with light. Those are just subjective experiences. There is no heaven or hell out there, there is only an endless ocean of perception. And in that ocean, you and I, and Amazonian shamans, and everyone else in the world, are all equal and one. The only difference is that some people know how to get there, some don’t.
Anonymous
Let me use the words of Swami Vivekananda to answer your question
” Think of the universe as an ocean of ether, consisting of layer of layer of varying degrees of vibration under the action of Prana; away from the center the vibrations are less, nearer to it they become quicker and quicker; one order of vibration makes one plane. Then suppose these ranges of vibrations are cut into planes, so many millions of miles one set of vibration, and then so many millions of miles another still higher set of vibration, and so on. It is ,therefore, probable that those who live on the plane of a certain state of vibration will have the power of recognizing one another, but will not recognize those above them. Yet, just as by the telescope and the microscope we can increase the scope of our vision, similarly we can by Yoga bring ourselves to the state of vibration of another plane, and thus enable ourselves to see what is going on there. Suppose this room is full of beings whom we do not see. They represent Prana in a certain state of vibration while we represent another. Suppose they represent a quick one, and we the opposite. Prana is the material of which they are composed, as well as we. All are parts of the same ocean of Prana, they differ only in their rate of vibration. If I can bring myself to the quick vibration this plane will immediately change for me. I shall not see you any more; you vanish and they appear. Some of you perhaps know this to be true.”
Best wishes
“The only difference is that some people know how to get there, some don’t.”
Dear “empiricist”, do enlighten us if you know “how to get there”.
Btw… if you are indeed the one and the same as a recently departed “animist”, please let us know. It helps to know who one is talking to, so that one can consider whether to post or not re: some of your comments. The loop I find myself in when speaking with you feels like a case of deja-vu where said animist was concerned.
He “did not believe in karma”, just as you “do not believe in reincarnation”, but did not offer any real alternatives or explanations, at least none that stuck in my mind at least.
Hence my request, please explain what you consider to be the reason for the inequality among human beings at birth?
Of course, I know how to get there, Dimitar. I wouldn’t be attempting to talk about that which cannot be talked about, if I didn’t know how to get to the place of no words.
I get there by closing my eyes, and shutting off my internal dialogue. I get there via the only way to get there: a state of inner silence.
But I do believe in reincarnation, as I said. I just wanted to know why you believe in it. Won’t you indulge me?
I am not the person you are thinking of. You and I had an exchange a couple of weeks ago, where you said you would be happy to continue our association. So, I thought I would ask you about your beliefs. If I came off as aggressive, I apologize.
My comments on this blog are usually regarding the Resistance, Palestine, Iran, etc.
And regarding your request, dear Dimitar, as I have been trying to convey to you — with little success — not everything that is out there can be reasoned out. Most of what is out there is unknown or unknowable, and simply does not lend itself to ‘knowing’ through language and reason.
“Hence my request, please explain what you consider to be the reason for the inequality among human beings at birth?”
But I did answer you. Let me try and rephrase. There is no inequality. What you judge to be inequality, is just a reflection of your bias. Having more or less money or food or luxury is not inequality. We are striving for ultimate liberation, no? Can we agree, you and I, that the highest goal and ideal is to attain liberation? If we can agree, then what advantage does money and more food and luxury bestow towards achieving the ultimate goal?
What you are saying is tantamount to saying that an animal that is born in a desert is not equal to one who is born in a rainforest. How are they not equal? Don’t they both die? And how long is their life, compared to the infinite aeons that are out there? The blink of an eye.
Our lives are just the blink of an eye. The inequality that you speak of is just a subjective perception, a reflection of one’s bias.
About five hundred years ago, there lived in Iran a great ‘hakim’ or man of knowledge. They called him Sheikh Bahaii.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baha'_al-din_al-'Amili
Sheikh Bahaii performed many miracles, and built many complex technologies, like a public bathhouse whose water was warmed by a single flame. The flame was fuelled by biogas, which ran through ceramic pipes, from people’s sewage tanks, to the bathhouse.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaykh_Bahai_hammam — you can read about it here.
There is a tale that my grandfather told me about Sheikh Bahaii, which I will share with you now.
One day, the Sheikh was out and about somewhere in the West of Isfahan province, where he was doing some kind of water-related engineering task for the King, when he saw the most wretched looking man sitting on the ground, all alone.
The man was so thin, and so dirty, that the Sheikh took pity on him, and went forward, and asked the old man what calamity had befallen him that had reduced him to such a state. The Sheikh thought the old man looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. The Sheikh grabbed a rock from the ground, and turned it to gold just by touching it, handed it to the old man, and told him to buy himself some food and clothing and shelter, and admonished him to acquire (spiritual) knowledge, which would allow him to turn anything he touched into gold, if only in a manner of speaking, insinuating that the old man had not done a good job of using the life that he was given, which was why he looked so wretched.
The old man hadn’t spoken or looked at the Sheikh the whole time. He finally lifted up his head, smiled at the Sheikh, and then looked at another rock on the ground. The rock turned to gold instantly in front of the Sheikh’s eyes.
The old man said something like: with true (spiritual) knowledge, everything one looks at turns to gold, my son. But I have no need of gold. The gold and the rock are all the same in the end. I have everything I need right here, pointing to the absolute nothing which he possessed, bereft even of proper clothing as he was.
This was one of the most significant events in the Sheikh’s life, which taught him not to judge things by their appearance, and which also taught him that he still had a very long way to go as far as (spiritual) knowledge was concerned.
You can take this story to be a fable. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. But this kind of thing is just normal spiritual power, as far as Iranian mystics and dervishes are concerned. And it is often the case that the most powerful Iranian dervishes, look the most wretched and poverty-stricken.
The reason I am telling you this tale, is because you are like Sheikh Bahaii. You believe you can distinguish ‘inequality’ in the world. But perhaps the same people that you consider disadvantaged, are actually the ones who have an advantage.
I brought up the Palestinian prison break in the hope that you would make the connection. A soul that yearns for ultimate liberation, can escape from any material prison. And to truly yearn for freedom and liberation, one must be caged and oppressed, like the Palestinians.
So, the Palestinians have a real advantage as far as achieving the ultimate goal of spiritual knowledge, even though you would perhaps say that they were born in Palestine because of bad karma.
OK, thanks for the clarification, and please don’t think I’m coming on aggressively myself. We have many Anonymous’ and it’s easy to confuse them.
1. “Going within”, as you’ve described, is indeed, the first step toward knowing that which we cannot speak of.
2. All Souls are made equal, yes, but upon incarnation, or let’s say “entry into this world”, each Soul’s need to survive sets into motion a cycle of experience, which yields a process of reaping karma, both good and bad. That karma becomes the defining factor insofar as Soul’s placement in future incarnations. This is what defines, to human eyes, the apparent inequality between Souls at human birth. So, while Souls are “made equal” – in substance, yes, they are all the same – yet as individuals they are all different. Not only are they unique at their ‘birth’, they are also unique at any given point during their sojourn on earth, because Soul’s karma dictates conditions as they are necessary for Soul’s education, and each experience changes Soul to some degree. Soul’s state of consciousness is continually changing, It is not the same as yesterday.
This process is tailor made for each Soul, and is designed to one particular and very specific end, that at the end of it – a process which takes many incarnations of course ( the end being relative, b/c there is no end, ie; the process of Soul’s unfoldment continues throughout eternity ), two major life-altering experiences await Soul. These are Self-Realisation – which is the outcome of Soul’s sojourn through the worlds of matter, energy, space and time, and Its long association with the Lord of the Negative Worlds, through the Law of Karma.
There comes a time, however, that Soul establishes Itself beyond the reach of this Being, and Its journey continues to the rite of God-Realisation.
Now, if you’re asking me to prove any of this, I cannot. In the sense that we human beings know proof. If you are accustomed to going within, as you’ve described, you will know that what you may experience is not necessarily expressible in words. From this point, human beings get into a kerfuffle insofar as trying to understand one another, b/c there is no set language that pertains to one’s understanding. When someone says, “I don’t believe in karma” or “I don’t believe in reincarnation, prove otherwise to me”, it’s impossible to do so with any certainty, b/c an individual Soul sees, perceives and understands life through Its own specific lens, if you like. This lens of perception is defined by Its experience, and so one can only know of an experience
such as survival beyond the physical body if one has had the experience.
What is important is the bridges we build between each other and this can only be done through love, or charity, acceptance and tolerance etc. I cannot prove anything to you, nor you to me, we can only prove something to ourselves, so looking for explanations outside ourselves can only satisfy the mind at the very least, they cannot bring understanding to Soul, only experience can.
3. “…even though you would perhaps say they were born in Palestine due to bad karma,”…
please don’t do this, you’re putting words into my mouth. Soul is born into a particular race for very specific reasons. It may be born into another race, next time around. Soul’s spiritual needs define Its experience.
Best wishes, D.
“And unless you can bring back some evidence to back your beliefs in reincarnation, then there is nothing more to debate.”
LOL… where did I say I wanted to convince you reincarnation exists?
But since you’re creating such a hullabaloo, try answering some of the questions I asked,
like what explains the inequality of human beings at birth for starters? And don’t give me a stock answer like
that’s just a roll of the dice, or “you can’t choose your family at birth”. You’re up, hotshot.
https://blavatsky.net/Wisdomworld/additional/index.html#7
Thank you for your response Dimitar. The reconciliation between inner and outer would be better achieved, it seems to me, by inner spiritual action of each individual, according to his own talents and disposition, rather than by regurgitating some standardized theological cant absorbed from a priesthood – who usually fail to exemplify much that is spiritual. Alas, it was people with that sort of attitude who were the prime targets of persecution by those who considered themselves to be masters of the one true way. I’ve always liked that Biblical line about ‘in my Father’s house are many mansions..’ One size does not fit all. God probably wants more than one species of flower to blossom in the Garden. That’s a problem with all the Abrahamic religions – they kill everyone who disagrees with them, and squabble amongst themselves as to who has it absolutely right (as if that was a meaningful concept or even helpful – except to the Lords of Earthly Power.)
I have a little vision of St. Peter, Doorkeeper of Heaven, seated in his eyrie above the Pearly Gates, surveying the Highway to Heaven leading to his door. He hears a lot of shouting and angry declamations, looks out and sees another congregation of Orthodox roaring up the road, forcing everyone else aside, driving them off the road as they force their way forwards, bludgeoning everyone else with their superior theological technology. When they reach the parking lot they get out of their physical vehicles and float up to the entrance, only to find that St. Peter has locked the door and switched on the No Admittance sign. He’s also left them a humorous little message , ‘Visit the barber Orthobros!’
They are enraged and fall to hammering and kicking the door, screaming that they have every right to be admitted because they know more about Theology than God himself, and they can instruct Him as to the distinction between his Essence and his Energies. St. Peter ignores them and resumes reading a Good Book.
Eventually they hear a still cold voice from inside. “My name was ever on your lips, but my love and my presence was never in your hearts. Begone!”
“The reconciliation between inner and outer would be better achieved, it seems to me, by inner spiritual action of each individual, according to his own talents and dispositions…”
In a nutshell, this is it.
As I’ve said, the challenge of living in whatever society, with a predominant religion, is all part of Soul’s journey, ie; the social consciousness of most groups works against the individual and his/her wishes, and this is simply part and parcel of one’s spiritual experiences and training. The individual must find a way to survive. Remember, the Law of Silence is one of the greatest and most difficult laws that Soul will have to master. Discrimination is another, etc. etc. Thanks for yr response, cynic, best, D.
In terms of the greater, non space and time reality, higher and lower have a different connotation than we would use generally, although the terms have long been used to describe other conditions than of the earth.
Languages change, and as as we live in a deeply materialistic culture on the one hand, and perverse or corrupt awareness, or spiritual consciousness on the other, speech becomes ever more decadent and less able to describe the varied aspects of the spiritual lands of existence. The outmoded science dogma that there are limits to knowledge is a bit naff.
I admire those attempting to throw light on deeper aspects of life here, the discussions and thoughts are very helpful, thanks to all.
This famous quote by the Greek Philosopher Empedocles illustrates reincarnation –
“For I have been here now a boy and a girl, a bush and a bird and a dumb fish in the sea”
In simple terms of Hindu Philosophy, every single person on this earth is a unique soul (Jeeva). In this soul, all the database of life’s learning and actions go on a permanent basis and all this database remains always in soul in dormant state. There is not only the database of this life but also of previous lives in this soul (Jeeva). At the death of a person, one person’s memory and knowledge remains in dormant state in soul and temporarily suppressed while that soul takes a new birth in a new body. So whenever, a person is born, he/she is always carrying the database of his/her previous lives with them. Though most of the time it remains in dormant state but is always reflected as our likes and dislikes, moods and skills.
The law of rebirth governs all existence in creation. The Bhagavad Gita teaches the important truth that every human being has a choice to get freed from this cycle of rebirth. Human birth gives each one this chance to aim to attain a highly evolved and refined state, that is, the state of Brahman or Truth or Supreme Reality from which there is no return.
In the Bhagavad Gita, human beings—and all worldly creatures—have two components, which are variously described as matter and mind, the body and the eternal self (atman), or the “sacred ground” and that which knows the sacred ground. An eternal self sheds various bodies but in fact remains unchanged. All matter, including bodies, is composed of three material forces called ‘gunas’ (the constituent parts of matter that bind this soul to various bodies) : ‘sattva’, which brings joy and wisdom; ‘rajas’, which brings passion and greed; and ‘tamas’, which brings confusion, laziness, and neglect. The more sattva composes a body, the closer the eternal self occupying that body gets to reincarnation. This higher, “supreme self” is pure, free from sensory pleasures and desire, averse to a “sense of ‘mine,’” and eternal—it approximates the Western notion of an immortal soul.
In reincarnation, the eternal self continues from body to body unchanged, carrying its past attachment to “gunas’ with it. By entering different bodies, the eternal self partakes in the ‘gunas’, although it is not composed of them. As a result of reincarnation, one need not achieve enlightenment in one’s present life to be rewarded for their devotion to God; rather, one can move progressively closer to him, finding a purer body in each new cycle of life. Regardless of one’s present ethical composition, there is always something to be gained by turning to the divine and ridding oneself of the vicious lower ‘gunas’, even if doing so only promises to move the soul one step closer to transcendence.
https://harekrishnatemple.com/chapter17.html
I appreciate the quote, and the exposition, and I am a big fan of the Bhagavad Gita, but this still fails to offer any kind of proof or reasoning which backs the belief in reincarnation.
At our basic core, we human beings are just an awareness.
Think of little earthworms that live in the soil; they have no eyes, but they can sense light. They are aware of darkness and light, moisture and dryness, heat and cold, and based on their perception of these things, they react. For example, when they sense dry soil, they avoid it, and when they sense high moisture in the form of rain, they move up towards air, and so on.
The physical body of the worm is the instrument of its awareness and perception, but the raw awareness of a worm and a human being are the same, even though the human instrument of perception is far more advanced.
When a person’s perception is liberated from the human body, it can go anywhere in all of existence. All of existence is very very large and varied.
I speak from experience now. When a person’s perception goes out of their body, it can end up anywhere: in an animal, or a plant, or another human being who lived a thousand years ago, or it can end up in worlds that are identical to all the descriptions of hells and underworlds, or it can end up in paradises where a living radiant light bathes everything, where all is peace and love. I would say that the possible number of things or places that one can end up in is infinite.
There is a lot of stuff in infinity.
Many people, when they experience this out of body perception, and they end up in some other person who lived in the past, automatically assume that they are seeing a past life.
Awareness is a generic quality of the universe. So, in the above situation, to say that generic awareness saw one of its past lives, is totally accurate.
Let’s say this generic awareness, which a stone also possesses, because a stone is aware of heat and cold, it expands and contracts in reaction to them, and it is aware of air, because it erodes in reaction to air, and so on, let’s call this awareness, God.
You and I can pay attention to our legs or arms or head, and thus become aware of those parts of our body. In this same sense, God is aware of everything in all of the cosmos.
We are not God. God is God. We are our selves. And what makes me me, and you you, is all the experiences that we have gained during our lives, which have been impressed into our raw generic awareness, in the form of memories.
What makes me me, is all of my memories. People who have memory disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, are no longer themselves, in a subjective or objective sense. They are the sum total of everything they remember.
When we die, our raw generic awareness must perforce be recycled, because as a form of energy that exists in the universe, it can neither be destroyed nor created, it can only transform from shape to shape.
When the awareness is separated from the memories, you as a person, experience oblivion.
The fact that the raw awareness “reincarnates”, has nothing to do with you and I as individuals with distinct personalities.
Oblivion is true death.
There is only one rule in this game of Life: don’t die, survive!
If you want to survive as you, after your body dies, you must transfer your memories from electrochemical impulses, to conscious energy. Let’s say you have to download all of your files off your HDD, onto a flash drive, so that when your laptop or PC finally breaks, you can still continue to hold on to all your files.
The flash drive, so to speak, is an energetic construct that you have to build. It is the ability to remember every thing that ever happened to you in your whole life, down to the smallest detail. To put it bluntly, you need an AV file that contains all your memories and life experiences in sequence from start to finish, which you can continue to carry with you, and in this way refuse the summons to relinquish your awareness, which would otherwise be reincarnated and recycled, while you experience oblivion, eternal.
Good or bad karma, or being a good or bad person, has absolutely nothing to do with what happens to a creature after it dies.
“And what makes me me, and you you” is a good place to understand reincarnation. Why are you and me inquiring, seeking knowledge and wisdom and being spiritually inclined ? If you take a look around, I’m sure you wouldn’t find many such people as those who are currently involved in this discussion.
From where did this innate nature arise ? Why were we born in a particular womb. Why does one feel pleasant and happy when meeting a particular stranger and have a feeling of having known the person well. Why does one do acts of kindness to particular persons and inadvertently or knowingly harm others.
If you believe in astrology or have come across a truly great astrologer, you will know their predictions come true, such astrologers have the ability to predict everything about a person’s life in minute detail. How could this be possible, a logical explanation would be that events in one’s life are the fruits of previous Karma.
India has been blessed with Rishis, Munis and benevolent Seekers who have tried to lay a path for spiritual rejuvenation for ordinary people like us. We even have Tantric’s, following the left hand path, who use herbs, poisons, admixtures and other means in their search of different realms of existence.
It has been said in the Bhagavad Gita that the thought of a person at the moment of demise is a pointer to reincarnation. Here we must agree with Dimitar, that we constantly evolve from birth after birth, whether for the better or for the worse depends upon our present karma. Not all souls acheive transcendence and become one with God.
According to Hindu Philosophy we are now in Kali Yuga, where Dharma is standing on only one leg, when earlier there were four. This is why demonic forces and people are increasing day by day, and it becoming more and more difficult to Know the ultimate Truth. That is why regardless of one’s present religious or ethical composition, there is always something to be gained by turning to the divine and ridding oneself of the vicious lower ‘gunas’, even if doing so only promises to move the soul one step closer to transcendence.
A beautiful song by Kabir –
https://youtu.be/lTmCtuQvtNY
I made some mention of Swedenborg. Here is a quote from Swedenborg which I found of interest. Maybe interesting to some.
” I can report the following, that angels sorrow on account of the darkness in this world. They say that scarcely anywhere do they see light; that people seize on fallacious appearances and defend them, and in so doing multiply falsities, one after another; and that in order to support these, they employ reasonings based on false assumptions and falsified truths to find arguments which, owing to the darkness they are in in regard to causes and their ignorance in regard to truths, can never be dispelled. Especially do angels lament over people’s arguments in support of faith separated from charity and of justification by it, including as well their ideas of God, their ideas of angels and spirits, and their ignorance of what love and wisdom are.”
Photo of empty Cafe’?
Let me cheer you up a little.
Enjoy. Free for all.
https://telemarksporten.no/SakerPhotos/jimi_hendrix_desktop_3409x5100_hd-wallpaper-1181782Top.jpg
Kent
Marvellous expressive image and colour, really.
.”..One often writes ‘Execution’ and means ‘Song’:
perhaps simplicity is a sickness which can be wounded to death. “
Winter is closing in. Here are some late bloomers. Photos from yesterday
Enjoy
Kent
https://telemarksporten.no/SakerPhotos/IMG_2381.JPG
https://telemarksporten.no/SakerPhotos/IMG_2346.JPG
https://telemarksporten.no/SakerPhotos/_MG_2340.JPG
https://telemarksporten.no/SakerPhotos/IMG_2325.JPG
Kent, thanks for sharing. Enjoy while the weather lasts.
Here spring is springing.
The brunfelsia are budding frenetically, and soon I will be enjoying this:
https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/160000/velka/brunfelsia-shrub-1460455565oer.jpg
In fact a few parts of the shrub are boasting a few flowers already.
I love brunfelsia as I do nothing at all. Not even water in a brutal drought.
And despite my complete neglect….they do this^ (Pic)year after year.
It’s a bit late to show this but intetesting twitter feed and videos by Croatian (?) journalist – about the Kabul airport mayhem and the 5000 American trained Afghan death squads. Bad people.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Luka_Duvnjak/status/1434937305136050177
Not too late to post info that may uncover the truth.
Afghanistan war on terror started with a lie.
Continued with lies
Concludes (in this iteration) with another lie.
There is enough evidence on twitter and online for us to be confident the US soldiers opened fire into the Kabul airport crowd, murdering over 100 people.
(Killing unarmed civilians used to be considered a war crime).
It is hot in Uthmaniyah, 112 F. Get this stuff rigged up so we can get in the logging cab and some A/C. Raja, where did that kid come from? He saw the trucks and came. Came for what? Water. Giving him some water and tell him to get out of the way. We got to get this well logged, we got two to log today.
Rig it down. We can get the next one done and make it back to camp for supper. Raja, why is that kid washing my truck with a bottle of water and a rag? We got a wash bay, he is wasting the water we gave him. He is very grateful Sir. Why is this kid out here? He is Bangladeshi. Ok, so. His parents sold him to be goat herder. Now he is here with 500 goats. So thats where all the goats came from. So give him some extra water tell him thanks for trying and stop wasting that water.
A month later, Uthmaniyah 109 F. Raja, I thought I told you to tell that kid to quite wasting that water washing my truck. Yes, but he is very greatful. Thats fine but tell him we have a truck wash and he is wasting water. Is Yaqub back with lunch? Give the kid some lunch.
Sometime there after, Uthmaniyah 105 F. Raja the kids washing my truck again. But he is very greatful sir. Ok that is fine but tell him to quite wasting the water. Did Yaqub get the kid lunch? Yes sir. Good.
Uthmaniyah 108F. Raja where is the kid. He doesn’t come anymore. Why? He is ashamed cause he has nothing to offer.
Guts me to this day. Never take a mans pride.
Wow thank you for that, Marcus.
I read that three times over and by the third reading I could almost hear the voices and see the truck.
Straight to the heart, thank you.
I’m sending out ‘a hello and how are you?’, to ‘sandinEd’. Sandy, I’ve thought of you while writing recent poetry and wondered where you went. Mainly, I hope you’re well, ( since I don’t recall any moment or announcement of yr departure ) and if so, fare thee well wherever your road may lead. Do miss you, here, though.💛
So nobody’s seen or heard of sandinED ?
I miss sandinED’s comments here as well Dimitar. As far as I know this is her last entry on the Cafe:
/question-for-covid-dissidents-and-anti-vaxxers/comment-page-3/#comment-952561
Wish you all the best sandinED wherever you are. Peace and blessings
Thanks so much, Siljan. We certainly do wish her the best.
Something I’ve been listening to you might enjoy. Beautiful swell to this;
Cecile Corbel; “Innocence”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A1cey1dXTY
This, not only for the brilliant song, but also for the wonderful video as well.
Cecile Corbel; “Maypole”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uj8PCDeamM
Just ruminating in the evening, next to the upper crusty camp fire, illuminating the room, as the crusty flames dance on the panel drawn walls.
So the rumination goes…
Was Sir Lavorov leave planed, or was it to foreshadowing (just saying), as the wind whizzes by…
Time moves on, and the beautiful sounds of waves hit the beach shore.
So the rumination goes…
And time moves on, like the moonlight dancing, in the shadow jingle, of the soft beautiful night.
Replace “planed” with “planned”
Hey Auto correct program “Stups Up!?”
(How you work great when I do not need you, -you stuck in lunch/ off duty mode- when I need you)
(Is some one paying you auto correct, hey auto correct “I’ll pay you double,” (you little fickle program)) .
I meant Sir Lavroff planned (as in Serge Lavroff (auto correct fixed the name “Serge” but not Lavroff) as in the (potential) leave to Duma job (hypothetical/but rhetorical question for those paying any attention) … it was meant as poke at future politics …
Oh, just forget it and enjoy the poem… Edgar Allen Poe style (with emphasis on the Poe part)
I’ve seen someone complain at least once about racism on (English) RT comment sections.
Elsewhere I’ve been told that, barring the occasional fringe group or internet troll, Russia never had the same problem of racial discrimination as the US did.
https://www.rt.com/russia/533560-bomb-squads-called-sushi-outlets/
https://www.rt.com/russia/533472-yobidoyobi-apologizes-advertisement-black-man/
How many people voiced their objections to the adverts such that the pressure was strong enough to take the ads down? Not that I’m absolving the marketing team for pandering to ‘multiculturalism’ (assuming the allegations are true), but it still raises the question of what the popular opinion, barring the “nationalist activists”, is regarding this.
What does the readership here think of the ads themselves and the backlash they got? Who is in the wrong here?
A friend posted this the other day.I wonder if this Nikolai Raevsky is an ancestor of Sakers:
Today marks the 145th anniversary of the battle near Adrovts
The launch of the events dedicated to the 145th anniversary of the Serbian-Turkish war, important for our countries historical event not only due to its historical importance in the struggle for the independence of the Slavic peoples, but also the phenomenon of the Russian volunteer movement, was symbolically given in Gorni-Adrovka, a settlement of the Aleksinats municipality in southern Serbia. It was in these places that the battles of the Serbian-Turkish war were unfolded, which were attended by several thousand Russian volunteers. One of the bloodshed was held just near Gorny Adrovts, August 20, 1876 In that battle, following the order of his commander-in-chief of the Serbian army, Russian General M.G. Chernyaev, the colonel of the Russian army Nikolay Nikolaevich Raevsky was heroically killed.
After a temporary burial in the monastery of St. Roman, the ashes of the volunteer were moved to his mother’s homeland, to the monastery in their estate Erasmovka of the Chigirinsky district of Kiev province. At the scene of his death in Serbia, a stone cross was erected at the request of Raevsky, ′′ Russian colonel Nikolai Raevsky fell here in the fight against the Turks on August 20, 1876, and twenty seven years later – and the church. First dedicated to the Holy Trinity, it is perceived by the Serbs as ′′ Church of Vronsky ′′ or simply a Russian church. Serbia has widespread version that Nikolai Raevsky served Leo Tolstoy as a prototype for the image of Vronsky in the novel ′′ Anna Karenina “.
And after more than one century, the memory of the events of war does not fade away: annual Aleksinets municipal authorities, together with their friends from Russia, lay wreaths in places of heroic battles of their ancestors for the liberation of Serbia.
Students of the Aleksinats Gymnasium together with the local Center for Culture and Arts prepared a cultural and musical program in Russian, dedicated to the legendary hero of the war – Russian volunteer Nikolai Raevsky.
Great history!
I also remember reading in Tolstoy’s War and Peace about the “Raeysky Redoubt” holding firm during the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Sounds like a strong family connection.
A wide range of interesting connections are associated with Nikolay Raevsky, I had a feeling he knew Alexander Pushkin, and so he did, and his many children. Raevsky’s eldest daughter Maria, also became very well known. There is a wonderful book about her journey and long life in exile in Siberia with Prince Volkonskyy. I no longer remember the title, but she travelled to Siberia by horse and sleigh in the severest conditions after having persuaded the emperor to let her join him there. Remarkable, courageous woman.
The present upheaval begins to occasionally present us with public statements of regret over every war entered into by the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. I never would have wagered even a token amount that Wendel Willkie (U.S. presidential candidate in 1940) might ever have been judged by history as prescient. And yet now I’d take that bet. There are a host of events that historians have disregarded that may become the grist of the next half century of scholarly re-think. Here is one for you now. For years, I have watched for an opportunity to tell the story of the man, hired by Wild Bill Donovan, on behalf of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to bring in 13 German U-Boats loaded with German Pervitin during January through November of 1940 (running the British Blockade). That was back when only the Germans had the higher grade of “speed” known as “meth.” The British and the Americans only had “dex.” So, why the drugs? Was FDR a “speed freak?” Was that what kept him going? Was that what killed him at age 58? Were we giving it to our fighting men? I found a way to include that in my 7th novel. I’d cite the title, but I’d blow my cover. There’s going to be a lot of addenda and revision. White Out will flow like water. Mr. Putin did a nice job with his re-telling of the runup to June, 1941, which ran in The National Interest Magazine last year. Perhaps he might find the time ripe for another. I’d read it.
WWC> “dex” means meth, ie dextro. The levo has little effect. see molecular isomerism.
Interesting thesis. It seems obvious that FDR was slowly poisoned….some may cast their gaze to MI6…and that good man, Winston.
My own suggestion is to exhume the corpse and do some forensic chemistry, but my first inquiry would be to look for warfarin. see https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682277.html
But yes, there may well be some stimulant involved. Nicotine of course is a stimulant, in fact, and rather a cousin of cocaine. Wike chemistry isn’t too bad, take a look at the several entries and especially the molecular models.
The affair “smells” like poison and a coup, ( installing the mildly corrupt Truman ), which was the view Stalin took.
Cant make this stuff up! and now it begin…
https://www.zodlikeproductions.net/t253p450-main-news-thread-conflicts-terrorism-crisis-from-around-the-globe#111639
the link again –
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/afghan-refugee-hamed-ahmadi-texas-b1914039.html
also urgent attn for Col NZ :(
https://www.zodlikeproductions.net/t253p480-main-news-thread-conflicts-terrorism-crisis-from-around-the-globe#111654
stay safe mate!
bwbs
Uncle Bob
I’ve seen posts where you say you have info from real live Russians.😀
I’m really intrigued as to why Lavrov and it is also said Shogui are to enter the Duma.
Why
How
What
If you can ask your contacts to explain this?
Thirsty for info on this …….
Thanks
WW
This may answer your question:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said his foreign minister and his defense minister will head the candidates’ list for the dominant United Russia party in September’s Duma election.
Both Shoigu and Lavrov have substantial popularity for their firm positions on the military and and challenges to the West. Being on the party list does not oblige them to take Duma seats if elected.
Uncle Bob.
Thanks,appreciate your reply.
But I’m still thirsty🤔
§§§Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said his foreign minister and his defense minister will head the candidates’ list for the dominant United Russia party in September’s Duma election.
Yes. Saw that and that’s what got my curiosity.
§§§Both Shoigu and Lavrov have substantial popularity for their firm positions on the military and and challenges to the West.
Yes. Am a fanboi myself
§§§Being on the party list does not oblige them to take Duma seats if elected.
This ^
Why are they on the Duma party list????
This^
What?
Is what I’d like to see explained…. it’s Russian internal politics, so I’m thinking it needs a real Russian- or someone like yourself with contacts to explain this.
Thanks
I think it is pretty obvious,the party is trying to generate favorable votes by getting popular candidates on the rolls. That is no different worldwide,Russia is no different there. The retirement “reform” fiasco,and the economic problems from the Covid disaster has left the party dropping in the opinion polls. So they are bringing out the most popular people to generate votes.Its really kind of a no-brainer there.
WW xD this is me nonsense 2c only HA Ha
Full Disclaimer: i dont know no rus politics
Why? coz VVP want to be pres4life!!! (just like Xi emperor)
I think there was a law passed or to be passed, recently, once VVP sign it, will imply he can rule rus 4ever! so moving the 2 very respectable candidate out, means he sits on the throne 4ever!!!
mor 2c: or until his never-seen-b4 son/daughter grow up to take over??? restore of russian royal family legacy?!
not entirely ‘troll’ grade, as some other ‘local’ would post, if indeed the other fading superpower is no longer on earth, in mths or years, v unlikely to be decades, when there is no more the challenge and opposition of other foreign ‘super’ enemy,
then all these chess move will prove to be brilliant and superior in ‘foresight’.
as internal control, full control, full forceful control will be supreme!
Imagine! (or if able, Think!)
its a gambit!
is this (大刀阔斧 trans – bold and decisive) not already happening in Xi emperor land?!
p/s I look 4ward to dear A china siterep! :)
our dear VVP is an enigma for sure! god bless him and his soul :)
but ya’ll better listen to Unble Bob :)
2c is just that —> 1 + 1 (and not american flavor)
stay alive and watch TheEnd ppl!
bwbs
Great America is not really fooled (It was a deception from day one)
American is not really run by America (Bigger deception from day one)
Those who think they are in charge are actually being deceived but do not know it.
Those running the education system are pushing the deception on us (cuz they b brainwashed- actually the worst representation of what an education stands for)
(Is there something wrong with this picture…am I mission’ something?)
I typed in “missin” and auto correct types in mission’ ( as in a business mission statement).
Putin transfers power to Mishustin, one of the new business-minded technocrats that run Russia, a year after shock appointment.
Mishustin is to raise the standard of living for Russians, no small task.
Here are only two ways in which Mishustin shows his economic prowess.
Russia looks at large-scale export of blue hydrogen in partnership with local oil & gas majors witin a new working group created by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin aiming to co-ordinate hydrogen projects with state authorities.
When Putin announced unprecedented proposals to involve Japan in Kuril islands economy he added that he discussed this with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who has some good developments and proposals in this field.
A Year After Shock Appointment, Russian Prime Minister Mishustin’s Star is Rising
Some experts are predicting that the well-connected technocrat might be destined for a long career at the summit of Russian politics.
By Felix Light
Jan. 16, 2021
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.Dmitry Astakhov / POOL / TASS
When President Vladimir Putin named little-known former tax chief Mikhail Mishustin as his prime minister a year ago, he stunned the country.
In replacing Dmitry Medvedev — a political heavyweight and former president, but one tarnished by allegations of serious corruption — Putin had chosen a man few in Russia or abroad had even heard of.
“Not one prognosticator would have named him as a potential successor,” Andrei Kolesnikov, head of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, wrote in a recent report.
Prior to his ascension to the number two spot in Russian politics, Mishustin’s name had barely appeared in the international press. The Financial Times had once profiled the tax service he had headed for a decade, winning plaudits for his commitment to technological modernisation of the department, but Mishustin himself was a virtual unknown.
Even in his home country the talented technocrat with a background in IT and a gift for making the right connections at the right time was anything but a household name.
Nevertheless, despite being initially seen by some as a placeholder prime minister, in the year since his appointment Mishustin has seen his star rise, asserting his control over government appointments while seeing his popularity tick upwards to rival even his boss.
While Mishustin’s top-level government career is still young, some experts are predicting he might be destined for a long career at the summit of Russian politics.
Initially appointed as a proven administrator with a mandate to deliver Russia’s National Projects — a $360-billion package of ambitious spending pledges to develop the country’s infrastructure and raise living standards — Mishustin’s term has instead so far been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic.
In some ways, this has been a blessing in disguise for the new prime minister. With Putin suspending public appearances in favour of TV addresses and retreating into a strict personal quarantine regime amid the pandemic, responsibility for tackling the virus has been delegated to lower-ranking officials in central and regional government.
As such, the pandemic has represented an opportunity for figures like Mishustin and Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin — with whom the prime minister is reported to be close — to have valuable time in the public eye. Mishustin, Sobyanin and many of Russia’s regional governors have all enjoyed noticeable boosts in their popularity during the coronavirus crisis.
In November, Mishustin’s new influence in the corridors of Russian power was demonstrated in a mini-reshuffle, with the prime minister dismissing a string of mid-level cabinet members and replacing them with business-minded technocrats. In short, with people like himself.
According to some experts, Mishustin’s raised public profile is likely to outlast the pandemic.
In a recent essay for the Carnegie Center, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya described Putin as a president increasingly distant from domestic issues, and focussed instead on grander matters of foreign policy and his own personal legacy.
In his place, she argued, the “collective Putin” — the mass of bureaucrats and junior officials responsible for the day-to-day running of the country — has assumed many of the functions of office, carrying out what they imagine the president’s will to be. Naturally, the chief of Russia’s newly empowered bureaucracy is Mishustin.
“Power vertical”
The possible implications for Russia’s — and Mishustin’s — future are enormous.
Since Putin became president in 2000, Russia’s political system, organised as a so-called “power vertical,” has been intensely hierarchical, with authority and prestige channelled towards the president and away from lesser office-holders.
As a result, of the five prime ministers to have served under Putin, most have tended to be eclipsed by the president, with their popularity ebbing and flowing with his.
Even Medvedev — who served for four years as president in his own right — saw his job approval rise with Putin’s amid patriotic euphoria after the 2014 annexation of Crimea before again falling in concert after a deeply unpopular 2018 pension reform.
By contrast, Mishustin’s job approval rating — which typically hovers just under 60% in reliable independent polling — has begun, tentatively, to diverge from the president’s.
According to polls by the Levada Center, from September to November Putin’s job approval dropped from 69% to 65%, while in the same surveys Mishustin’s rose by a single percentage point to 58%, making him easily the most widely approved-of politician in Russia, bar Putin himself.
According to Abbas Gallyamov, a political consultant and former Kremlin speechwriter, Mishustin’s strong polling may indicate that the prime minister has succeeded in carving out an independent political brand among Russian voters, one that may leave him well-placed for future promotions.
“The current swings in the Putin-Mishustin numbers might indicate that the latter is seen not only as a complement to the National Leader, but increasingly as his possible successor,” wrote Gallyamov in a recent op-ed for The Moscow Times.
Discussion of succession may yet be premature. With the passage of last summer’s constitutional amendments, Putin is now legally entitled to remain in office until 2036. Even so, there is no guarantee that the 68 year-old president will serve out his remaining terms, and may instead use the additional time to plan his early departure from office.
Either way, there is little doubt that Mishustin will continue to exhibit the absolute loyalty to the president that has served him well up to now. In a widely reported exchange during a November visit to a Moscow-region nuclear research institute, Mishustin took exception to a researcher’s reference to Putin as his “colleague.”
“Not my colleague,” the prime minister corrected the scientist, “but our leader.”
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/01/16/a-year-after-shock-appointment-russian-prime-minister-mishustins-star-is-rising-a72624
thanks for this, Lodestar.
I note kudrin has another article in RT, another in a series, proposing more privatization.
I tend to be very wary of kudrin as I believe he is in the pocket of western bankers and atlanticists in Russia.
i believe that the kremlin is indeed wary of him and have sidelined him for a reason but it is certainly a topic worth watching that privatization, after the widespread looting, corruption, and manipulation under yelzin, is put forth once again. Not sure who would benefit the most, western bankers, Russian oligarchs, or both.
In any case, such a program needs to be carefully vetted.
Well Putin and Shoigu are off to the taiga for a few days hol….but I cannot imagine the latter wanting to be president as some surmised.
Yes JJ
Of course there will be many who will claim a secret meeting is planned between the RF and ETs.
No doubt Heinz Kissinger will in attendance along with some of of the “finance gang”
Meanwhile some of our cousins in the CIA are planning a “faux ET invasion” it has been reported.
Anything to frighten the tax payers is good, for them.
Some of us are developing our “third eye” to telepath a greeting or a warning.
Of course our K9 companions have surreal ability to sense a “faux” situation.
Regards Luka
For those among us who believe there is more to the Kennedy killing than we are told. This family history of Oswald’s killer,Jack Ruby might be very telling:
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-16.html
Things are moving fast.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/the-taliban-conquest-of-a-thin-strip-of-land-could-change-afghanistan-20210708-p587yv.html
The way forward
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
China should build these as fast as possible and use small reactor technology to drive them.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202010/09/WS5f7fc47ca31024ad0ba7d9df.html
Anyone else noticed the sudden change in Sputnik News’ layout? Now it looks like an English RIA Novosti with all the colors changed. Is it any better or worse than RT’s change to Disqus?
From the sociological, political ,and public health perspectives, the crisis and current drama continues to revolve around the world-wide vaccine programmes.
In the UK it is now legal for a teenagesr15 years plus to decide whether or not they will receive a vaccine. The programmes being implemented during school hours, presumably as Australia has undertaken en mass
At the forefront of freedom of information and facts, Dr Peter McCullough
https://www.bitchute.com/video/95lJP00jEZhu/
Will Russia will take a forceful “truce” in Daraa before elections?
Russia is set to hold elections on 17-19 September, including a vote for the federal parliament that President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party is expected to win, despite a slump in its ratings.
Four Russian subs ready to launch Kalibr missiles in Syria’s Daraa
By Boyko Nikolov On Sep 8, 2021
DAMASCUS, ($1=1,257.84 Syrian Pounds) – Despite the seemingly “false truce” in Daraa province, which we announced last week, tensions in the region remain high, BulgarianMilitary.com has learned. We remind you that last week the Arab website Al Arabia reported that the troops of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had tried to kill the tribal negotiators. Only the intervention of the local population in Daraa prevented this planned action.
From a Russian source, BulgarianMilitary.com has learned that there are currently two Russian submarines armed with Caliber cruise missiles off the Syrian coast at the Russian naval base in Tartus. The same source claims that two more Russian submarines of the same class, also armed with the same cruise missiles, went to the port of Tartus. They come from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Thus, Russia currently positions a total of 32 Caliber cruise missiles.
Military observers in the region suggest that Russia will take a forceful “truce” in Daraa. This will happen through a coordinated attack by air and sea, and Caliber cruise missiles will be fired from the Tartus naval base.
Currently, Syrian rebels and the opposition are not surrendering in the Daraa area and are fighting the Syrian Arab army. We remind you that this is not the first time that the Russian Navy has used Caliber cruise missiles in the region. There is confirmed information for the last 12 months that the Russians have attacked ISIS positions with such missiles.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2021/09/08/four-russian-subs-ready-to-launch-kalibr-missiles-in-syrias-daraa/
Has anyone heard of the Financial Green Pass?
This twitter feed mentions it. On his telegram channel he adds it come from a trusted source and unvac will not be able to access their bank accounts from Jan 2022. Jesus, that’s not good if his source is right.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Russ_Warrior/status/1435589941501759496
Dear Dimitar and Siljan.
I’m very touched that you remember me and send your good wishes. I didn’t think my departure warranted an announcement – i could imagine a collective yawn – or the question ‘ who is she ? ‘ – so I didn’t say anything.
Siljan, yes that was my last post. The subject that now must-not-speak-it’s-name was banned and the posters on that subject were condemned as uneducated, worse-than-flat-Earther morons – and asked to go away, I have to respect the host’s wishes. To misquote the song, it is his party and he can cry if he wants to. I don’t believe I’m a moron, ( but then again, if I was, I would be unlikely to know it ! ::-) ) I probably was a ‘ main offender ‘ on the subject in question, so I’ve gone away as requested. Isn’t that just good manners ? I don’t want to be a gate crasher..
Dimitar, The Song of the Wayfarer had me in tears – in fact the whole thread did – I thought, these are my fellow travellers / seekers and I would have liked to join in. I also loved your post on truth and simplicity. Dear kind, wise Dimitar, sometimes you post things I have been thinking myself – as if you have read my mind. Of course you express everything much more elegantly than I ever could.
So, lovely Siljan and Dimitar, I haven’t gone anywhere. I don’t post any more but I do continue to read – especially my favourites ;-)
Thanks again for thinking of me. All my love and best wishes to you,
Sand.
Dearest sand, I am so happy to hear from you. I cannot speak re: the issues you raised, however, please know that you’re respected here and your presence was noted and enjoyed. I had felt your absence and finally I had to ask, in case there was ‘an announcement’ I’d missed, but more than anything else, it’s a relief to know you’re well.
Do feel you’re among friends, here, as we skirt some of the hotter subjects and look at some of the broader issues that we tend to address with posts containing poetry and reflections on consciousness. My love in Spirit, D.
Good night dear Sand
When you need a hand
It’s over your head
With blessings spread
Sand, Good to know that you are alive and well!
I certainly shared in many of your sentiments and reactions at the time and refused to participate. As a result, I now post rarely, mostly on non-msm, where I believe a link might be of interest. I stridently try to avoid the subjects or sites that will not be named as it usually is a waste of time.
Take care and best regards,
Hey Sand,
Saw Dimitar’s, earlier call out, and intended to add an endorsement of missing not seeing your avatar.
Yes. Avoiding That Which Cannot Be Named was a conversation killer.
But y’know….. there’s still *plenty* to talk about.
I’ve come to see the new moderation policy as possibly a positive……. That Which Cannot Be Named consumes hundreds of hours of msm coverage.
A chance IRL conversation while waiting for coffee inevitably turns to some iteration of That Which Cannot Be Named.
Maybe. Maybe it’s an unexpected benefit to have somewhere where the focus has to be on anything (almost) other than That Which….
A few other random thoughts…..
I suspect this blog, Saker and others “behind the scenes” are the targets of some pretty vile and nasty stuff, which never of course gets published.
We are privileged because we don’t have to deal with trolls and idiots, and get a clean fresh space to engage…..just like a real cafe, patrons come, but the wait staff and kitchen staff and the owner-manager make the place pleasant. And they bar disruptive interlopers.
Ok ….here’s IRL reality…. I have a couple of fav cafs for takeaway coffee in lockdown. With no sit down patrons and significantly reduced sideline catering, cafes are doing it tough…
Two days ago, went for my coffee, the woman who I get on really well with and have been a customer for years…. she was really short – quite astringent- with me.
Before covid, I might have been (would have been) peeved. I might have vowed not to go back.
But. I didn’t take it personally.
I know she is struggling to meet the rent (she told me when we went into lockdown in July this might destroy her business).
I know her husband has been in and out of hospital….. no real diagnosis- nothing covid related and pre covid….. but of course with lockdown she was not able to visit him.
He’s out now, but not looking healthy.
I know a few other things.
So When she snapped at me, I left it two days and went back.
She looked a bit wary, and I told her how much I appreciate her cafe window and said a few other positive things.
The next day, she said….thanks for what you said yesterday.
That Which Cannot Be Named is impacting people in all sorts of ways across the whole planet.
So back here at the MFC /Saker blog.
Yes, our host got a bit rude with us.
But he’s told us some of the stresses and challenges of hosting this site.
Sand, I seriously doubt you and your contributions were the ones being classified as moronic.
Dimitar would not engage with you if you were a moron.
Myself I try not to feed the trolls.
I suspect the truly moronic comments were binned, but were cluttering up the inbox and irritating the mods.
And we had a few clever trolls engaging for a while.
That added disharmony.
Another thought…. I’ve been called an idiot, moron, thickhead…..whatever ….my entire life.
I’m kinda impervious to insult now. It’s taken a few decades to grow a thick skin, but now I realise most insults were 1/ not really about me 2/not worth bothering about 3/ Those that *were* intended …. nothing pisses the person off more than indifference to their little tanties (tantrums).
So can I suggest you “shake it off”, choose one of the options from the three above^ and rejoin us in the “sand” pit🐳
WW
ya a good sport WW
saw another ‘provocative’ Jap Minimalist Tee shirt and I instantly send my best wished to you!
whale be fine 🐳
anyway max out on me quota here again :(
good friends, stay safe stay alive :)
bwbs
p/s pop in and make a mark or 2 some time sandi :) your words are always stylish!
p/s imagine what if when the dust settle no less then 100M of those around you, if you are not one of the statistic, has gone bloody dripping on their alter? is this new weather climate change still karmicly ‘innocent’? this is why I detest ‘local’ as I personally cannot afford it, the next and ever-future reincarnations calculations! If you cannot deliver, dont offer ‘hope’! thus making the worst, offer and not or unable to deliver or refuse to deliever! as said, we were told this is a cafe but now it runs like a church! this is a problem! at least on the language level! No?
for sand and for all good friends…
when the hour’s late and the eye a-blear,
and its time to rest our weary heads
its good to know that friends are near,
safe and sound in their beds
we’ll join our hands, we’ll join our hearts,
and take to roads less well defined
we’ll forget our heads and body parts,
and leave our heavy loads behind
and should we chance to find our way,
we’ll surely see a face we know
should we meet in some cafe,
we’ll surely stop and say hello
whatever may come, whatever may be
wherever we go, whatever we do,
give thanks for blessed company
for friends we count in ones and twos
Your poem’s are often an inspiration, but I’m not sure about all of the above comment pleasantries otherwise, do not forget the place of the word as a sword of truth.
..so too, are they healing balm.
Hey Dimitar
Have you seen this?
Peter Porter Poetry Prize
https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/prizes-programs/peter-porter-poetry-prize/2022-peter-porter-poetry-prize
You have such an anthology now,,, one or several might be worth considering for entry.
Closes Oct 4— but pls check to be sure.
Cheers, White Whale, I will… beautiful post above addressed to sandy, btw.
Wondering about the way the Western World is acting. Maybe this experiment from the 1970’s is the answer:
The “Universe 25″ experiment is one of the most terrifying experiments in the history of science, which, through the behavior of a colony of mice, is an attempt by scientists to explain human societies. The idea of ”Universe 25” Came from the American scientist John Calhoun, who created an “ideal world” in which hundreds of mice would live and reproduce. More specifically, Calhoun built the so-called “Paradise of Mice”, a specially designed space where rodents had Abundance of food and water, as well as a large living space. In the beginning, he placed four pairs of mice that in a short time began to reproduce, resulting in their population growing rapidly. However, after 315 days their reproduction began to decrease significantly. When the number of rodents reached 600, a hierarchy was formed between them and then the so-called “wretches” appeared. The larger rodents began to attack the group, with the result that many males begin to “collapse” psychologically. As a result, the females did not protect themselves and in turn became aggressive towards their young. As time went on, the females showed more and more aggressive behavior, isolation elements and lack of reproductive mood. There was a low birth rate and, at the same time, an increase in mortality in younger rodents. Then, a new class of male rodents appeared, the so-called “beautiful mice”. They refused to mate with the females or to “fight” for their space. All they cared about was food and sleep. At one point, “beautiful males” and “isolated females” made up the majority of the population. According to Calhoun, the death phase consisted of two stages: the “first death” and “second death.” The former was characterized by the loss of purpose in life beyond mere existence — no desire to mate, raise young or establish a role within society. As time went on, juvenile mortality reached 100% and reproduction reached zero. Among the endangered mice, homosexuality was observed and, at the same time, cannibalism increased, despite the fact that there was plenty of food. Two years after the start of the experiment, the last baby of the colony was born. By 1973, he had killed the last mouse in the Universe 25. John Calhoun repeated the same experiment 25 more times, and each time the result was the same.
Calhoun’s scientific work has been used as a model for interpreting social collapse, and his research serves as a focal point for the study of urban sociology.
We are currently witnessing direct parallels in today’s society. Weak,feminized men with little to no skills and no protection instincts, and overly agitated and aggressive females with no maternal instincts.
Finally a bit of long awaited news,the last pipe of Nord Stream 2 has been laid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2RLVbmNJ28&ab_channel=RT
my discernment of the 36. week, Virgo mirroring Libra, utility mirroring beauty, the single
mirroring the idea of mating.
These are non-political contents, but they have their time in year and day and are the
basis for the maintenance of our species.
And Libra, the symbol of balance, are you conscious, that V.V.Putin is born under this
sign? Isn’t his policy a shining example for the boon, this sign contains?
So, 36. Week:
http://astromundanediary.blogspot.com/2021/09/heart-and-snake-mirroring-brain-and.html
just heard from china state news channel, in an interview,
talib Will Hv a ‘Woman Department’ in the Official Local Gov Body.
10% and not one less!
bwbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPTHURDIzw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wag5lRjXcBU
A tribute to Russian genius…there is nothing like this school anywhere else in the world. I don’t have the words to adequately express my admiration for the school’s founders.
OK ok dear humans. I’m back from a few days spent in Zone B and still tired after the shenanigans. Really, I’m not too energetic but will bounce back. There are still humans, kind and special ones. And really, those are the ones that I want to seek out.
Here is the new Chatter and Jabber thread. You all made me rant and rave :-) Its not personal. But, it is not the only thing that is there. Sometimes one has to speak your mind.
https://saker.community/topic/new-chatter-and-jabber-thread-starting-on-september-9/
Russia showing no mercy hit pro-Turkish forces with thermobaric bombs in Syria
Will reference on selecyed news links as more news comes in
in reply to…
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2021/09/08/four-russian-subs-ready-to-launch-kalibr-missiles-in-syrias-daraa/
Russians hit pro-Turkish forces with thermobaric bombs in Syria [video]
By Boyko Nikolov On Sep 9, 2021
DAMASCUS, ($1=1,257.86 Syrian Pounds) – Sources of BulgarianMilitary.com report that bombings over positions of pro-Turkish and Islamic units have been going on for 48 hours now. The strikes were carried out in the southern part of Idlib with thermobaric bombs*. According to sources, a retreating pro-Turkish convoy and an Islamic camp were hit.
Russia is trying to regain control of a key highway in the M4 region. At the same time, the Syrian Arab Army is gradually returning tens or hundreds of square kilometers of land to the Syrian state’s administrative possession.
According to unconfirmed reports, pro-Turkish and Islamic forces have lost a total of 280 soldiers in the last 48 hours. Nearly 24 hours ago, field sources claimed that dozens of Turkish drones had been spotted in the sky over Idlib. Experts say that such activity is typical when the withdrawal of a military unit has to be covered from the air.
BulgarianMilitary.com reminds you that for many years in this southern part of Idlib the Syrian Arab army has not been active. This suggests that very soon, after the airstrikes by the Russians, heavily armored vehicles of the Syrian army may enter the area. It is assumed that as a result of this action, massive military action will soon begin.
As we reported yesterday, September 8, there are currently two Russian submarines armed with Caliber cruise missiles off the Syrian coast at the Russian naval base in Tartus. Our field source claims that two more Russian submarines of the same class, also armed with the same cruise missiles, went to the port of Tartus. They come from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Thus, Russia currently positions a total of 32 Kaliber cruise missiles.
Military observers in the region suggest that Russia will take a forceful “truce” in Daraa. This will happen through a coordinated attack by air and sea, and Kaliber cruise missiles will be fired from the Tartus naval base.
Currently, Syrian rebels and the opposition are not surrendering in the Daraa area and are fighting the Syrian Arab army. We remind you that this is not the first time that the Russian Navy has used Kaliber cruise missiles in the region. There is confirmed information for the last 12 months that the Russians have attacked ISIS positions with such missiles.
The civil war in Syria
The Syrian civil war has been going on for almost a decade. Attempts by movements such as the Syrian Democratic Forces to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have failed.
The Syrian democratic forces are armed by allies and the United States, while the Syrian army is armed mainly by Russia. Russia is the only country officially invited to Syria by President Bashar al-Assad.
In 2017, the United States launched a massive missile strike on Bashar al-Assad’s forces after a report emerged that the Syrian president had used chemical weapons to attack his people in the country. Syria and Russia deny such actions.
During his tenure, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw much of US troops from Syria, leaving several troops to guard Syria’s oil fields on the pretext of “falling into the hands of Islamic State.”
With the withdrawal of the United States, Turkey comes to the fore, declaring it necessary to deal with the Kurds and the PKK movement in the northern part of the country, which borders Turkey. That is why Erdogan is sending troops in an attempt to build a stable and secure 30km zone between Syria and Turkey, which will prevent future terrorist attacks on Turkish territory, as it is.
Ceasefire
In February 2020, Turkey lost at least 62 troops killed in Syria. Nearly 100 soldiers were wounded, Syrian-backed forces destroyed dozens of Turkish armored vehicles, and more than ten drones, including drones, were shot down. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of involvement in the deaths of Turkish soldiers, Russia rejects these allegations.
In early March 2020, the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed that a ceasefire came into force in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later said that if the US and Turkish military did not leave the country, Damascus would use military power.
The reason for the Russian-Turkish negotiations was a sharp aggravation of the situation in Idlib, where in January, a large-scale offensive by the Syrian army against the positions of the armed opposition and terrorists began.
Government forces recaptured nearly half of the Idlib de-escalation zone and left behind several Turkish observation posts. After that, Ankara sharply increased its military contingent in the region and launched the operation “Spring Shield” to push the Syrian troops. Militants are loyal to Ankara and support Turkey.
* The thermobaric weapon is a conventional high-power explosive device. Unlike ordinary explosives, which carry an oxidizer, thermobaric munitions use atmospheric oxygen in an explosion. Other names are vacuum bomb or fuel-air bomb.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2021/09/09/russians-hit-pro-turkish-forces-with-thermobaric-bombs-in-syria-video/
also Syria fed up with Turkey
https://syrianews.cc/syria-officially-refutes-the-second-lie-by-erdogan-regime-in-48-hours/
I’m a bit late with this, but I wanted to thank everyone who visited this Café for the wealth of all kinds infused into its thread, the respectful, wise thoughts and conversations, the political and contemporary events links and analysis, the stories, poems, music, and photographs, and last but not least, the expression of human kindness.
bill gates does reddit
https://www.breeeek.com/bill-gates-does-reddit-ask-me-anything-and-people-didnt-hold-back