[Sobering Up By Summer, Scott Ritter is the Worst Kind of Grifter, The Russian MSM is Liberal and Suspect, As Goes Donbass So Goes the World, "What Do You Think Now, Dumbass?", and MORE!!!]
"Im not in it for the fate of Russia" ahhh Russel. Probably good the discussion ended there. That feel when you aren't in it for Russia and even dislike people who are in it for Russia but you cant save humanity without them. Bentley quite likes Stalin but Stalin deported the Chechnyans from Chechnya and didnt even let them come back after the war. That was Khrushchev who let them come back. Stalin was pretty strict about the internal passport system and keeping the different ethnic groups separate. If Bentley prefers the USSR to the modern RF as an antiracist who likes the USSRs anti colonial universal brotherhood rhetoric than how to account for the fact that in the USSR it was much harder for non Russians to move to the the Slavic parts of the USSR than it is for a non Russian citizen of a different country to move to Russia today? Yet on the other end the USSR had Slavs colonizing central Asia, the far North, the Baltics, the far east etc?
Basically if you get past the USSRs cringe propaganda and look at what was actually happening as far as racial relations go they were much more conservative than modern Russia. The USSRs propaganda and official values didnt align with practice, and modern Russias values likewise dont align with practice in as much as the state acknowledges Russians to be the core people but is happy enough to replace them in practice.
IMO the USSR was better than modern Russia, the state despite its official rhetoric spread Slavs far and wide, it protected its national interest much more effectively than the RF, the official corruption was less..thats why the elite destroyed it, and the level of autarchy was respectable. I used to be solidly anti USSR and genuinely believed that the modern RF had potential to become a bigger and better state for Slavs for than either the old Empire or USSR ever could have. But looking at the state of things now in the RF and former Imperial space I doubt that. The RF copies all the worst aspects of the USSR and has dismantled everything that was useful.
Of course a convincing case that I wont argue against can be made that the USSR was a house of cards from the start and it was created by evil people who hated Russians but you can say that exact same thing about the RF. So its not a point in eithers favor.
I wont counter signal Bentley and I sincerely wish the guy well and commend him for telling the truth about whats going on in the here and now at the front. But as a genuine communist who really does want to re-create the Soviet Union are you ready to do internal passports, keep non Slavs out of the Russian parts of USSR 2.0, and deport the Chechnyans when its time to fight the 5th Reich (if we are considering modern Ukraine the 4th)?
Right, this guy sounds like a walking contradiction, he basicly promotes the same multicultural communist all living happy together in mother Russia singing gumbaya stuff that is promoted in the west. And thats right, Stalin deported those minorities inside the USSR for a reason. He didnt want any ethnic conflicts or future rebellions breaking out inside his empire. If this guy thinks kadyrov or some other 'noble enthic' warlord is still on Russias side when shit hits the fan he clearly doesnt know people or politics. Most asiatics in and around Russia dont tolerate weakness or stupidity, they dont have that emotion us westerners have. And they can smell that Russia is getting weaker with this conflict in Ukraine. The US knows this too and are happy to add fuel on the fire. Rolo was right to get on rant at this guy for trying to pander to these people who want to drink your blood.
Communism and Christianity ought to be another contradiction, but, actually, the more I think about it, there is no real contradiction between being a Communist and a Christian.
In the context of Russians who remember the banditry of the 90s I think that the general ideas of social justice and well справедливость (for the non Russian speaking that nominally means justice but for Russians it has a deeper moral dimension, like a duty to be righteous) automatically associates with Soviet nostalgia. Now that the SVO has ripped back the curtain on how rotten the state is that tendency will just be compounded.
In a way that Soviet Union really is a mirage that never existed in reality, just like Ukraine is mostly a creation of the imagination more than a historical reality. None the less this imaginary Ukraine has power and lots of people are willing to die for it, to a lesser but still not irrelevant extent that mythical version of the USSR still has a hold in the imaginations of lots of Russians and these days its not just boomers. Bentley of course is fighting for straight Marxist Leninist internationalism but to the Russians at the front who fly the victory banner from their BMPs and your nazibols its more a matter of once we had an empire that wasn't a laughing stock, wasnt run by bandits, and there was some social justice. The extent to which that corresponds with reality is less important than the image in the collective psyche. Just like with the Ukraine.
The intersection with Christianity is more complicated with Russia because the ROC has overplayed the Martyr card so damn heavily. As a Christian the aspiration to that social rightousness is perfectly valid imo but when that rightousness is so absent in the RF when contrasted with the USSR, and you (the ROC) claim the dismantling of the USSR is the 3rd most important event in history after creation itself and Christs resurrection you end up with a rats nest of contradictions and contradictions at that level are always a sign of BS. I guess Bentley is at the opposite end of the communist/Christian spectrum than Russians. Bentleys firebrand messianic Lenninist internationalism has no appeal at all to Russians as far as I can tell, not to either basic Soviet Nostalgist, nazibol Stalinist and certainly no Orthodox types who hang Icons and prayer ropes from the rear view mirrors in their cars next to St George ribbons. Imo even Stalin himself was over Messianic Lenninism once it has outlived its geo political usefulness by the late 40s.
On the other hand I think maybe you are correct that there is a natural intersection between just aspiring to puritan social justice in a strong and fair non material chasing Empire and Orthodox Christian ethics when both Orthodox Christian symbols and USSR loom large in your national memory.
But Im speaking about Russia here and Bentleys bonafide Red Internationalism is something of an anachronism in Russia. He likes Stalin but he is so much more like Khrushchev. That is he is a genuine Leninist Internationalist as he understands it but he doesn't actually understand it. The perfect example of this is Khrushchev absolutely hated modern art but he also strongly objected to Stalins original screw tightening against the Soviet artistic community. But what happened when Khrushchev loosened the screws as part of de-Stalinization and the very first small steps towards glasnost? Well a bunch of jew artist started making modern art that Khrushchev hated. Khrushchev didnt see the natural concurrence between modern art and messianic Lenninist internationalism.
This is strongly akin to how Bentley genuinely hates LGBTQ degeneracy, he hates what he correctly sees as globalist satanism, but he doesn't see how its nothing more than the next stage of a revolution in which Messianic Lenninist Internationalism was a previous stage.
What Communism are you talking about - The Soviet Union 1936, Hungary 1965, China 2023...? Does Communism ever have a definition people can agree upon when they talk about it?
Communism both plagiarized some of the authentic principles of Christianity & then sought to replace it in strictly ideological terms. As per comments above, excellent, thank God someone said it - Dr Livci, saves me from writing a long comment I don't have time to write. Excellent discussion, shame Bentley messed the end up for himself with his inconsistent views. Dejan Beric has done an update from the frontif anyone is interested, I can translate key points - he confirms that the flanks at Bakhmut were not a "withdrawal" but the troops fled the front. The counter offensive hasn't truly begun, it is coming.
Indeed there is no real theoretical contradiction (supposing anyone knows what communism really is, which I don't). But in practice communist regimes tend to be agnostic, when not straight anti-Christian. If am not mistaken, the Orthodox Church was prosecuted in Lenin's USSR. And how can one understand Christianity without God? If I got the bible right, Christ was supposed to be God's incarnation...
I haven't listened to this one yet (the first time) because I've heard him before and he is President of Team Peasant Fan Club, although he has some balls, that much cannot be disputed. My comment is related to your reply, it reminds me of a chapter in the book Might Is Right. Have you read it? It makes the same point regarding Communism and Christianity
My question would be, what's in it for the non-Slavs? If you have an empire, sooner or later all inhabitants in the empire will gain full citizenship. If you want to advance the interests, autonomy and ethnic identity of Slavs, you have to allow the non-Slavs to pursue the same objectives. A person should have an obligation to his family, but not to interfere with the families of others. And a paternalistic colonialism doesn't work. Giving one people power over other people always creates exploitation in its worst sense. I like the philosophy of the Minsk Treaty. The treaty as proposed protected the Russian-speaking peoples of Ukraine, gave Ukraine autonomy as long as it didn't physically threaten the Russian Federation, and gave Ukraine every opportunity to forge economic, commerce and cultural relations with the Donbass region. In other words, a nationalism that recognized the nationalism of other peoples.
I'm not going to be foolish enough to try to prescribe for Russia. The US had a mixed history with the Indians. In a lot of cases, many Indians seem genetically ill-adapted to Western civilization. On the other hand, I don't believe progress would have been impeded if the US had kept treaties with the Indians and had honored their land agreements. The Cherokees had a written language and a well-developed tribal government when they were forced off their lands, which had been given to them by treaty.
So no, I don't believe the US model of occasional land-stealing and treaty-breaking should be followed as an example. I should note in many cases, the Indians themselves were aggressors, and in those cases, forceful suppression was justified. As I've said in other posts, protect your people, but maintain fairness. And fairness does not necessarily mean equal political representation.
Very revealing interview, totally contradictory to everything I've heard on channels like The Duran and The New Atlas. Anyway, my opinion is there's no conflict between Slavskiy's nationalism and Bentley's international consciousness. The person who wishes everyone well will encourage nationalism; protecting your country and people. Part of that is to support the rights of other nations and peoples to do the same. Respect their borders and boundaries as you expect them to respect yours. Treat minorities in your own nation well, but limit any further immigration.
“There are oligarchs – very rich, very powerful oligarchs – in Russia who are traitors to the Russian Federation and the Russian people who don’t care if everybody in Russia and everybody in Donbass dies. They’re making big, big money off of this war … “ [the Ukrainian/Cypriot/Israeli Kolomoisky is the first that comes to mind]
I absolutely agree with Russell about the likes of Ritter, McGregor et al (i.e., fellow click baiters). I just wish Russell could see that WWII was not about Germans, Poles, French, Italians or Russians – but about those same capitalist oligarchs (who initially funded and armed the Bolsheviks), and that WWII was officially declared on March 24, 1933 – and that he would stop using that mother of all pejoratives created by Konrad Heiden.
Rolo, would you mind inviting Jareth Copus, he is a friend of mine and of Russel Bentley, a, young guy , he is an author of a well- sold book " Ukraine, forever a pawn" And a guy who saw through the 5 d chess narrative early on. He used to appear on Radio sputnik. If of intereset I have his contatcs.
By the way, Jareth Copus is Russian-American, he knows Russian, and he openly supports Russia on the streets for which he was attacked in USA, do invite him
Do you know Marko Marjanovic from Anti-Empire? Can you bring him to life again? He had in the past a great podcast with him, Riley, and Rolo called the worst of all worlds...
We have to get Marko back from the dead. He is one of the brightest minds around. We shoul will only leave his soul alone in peace if he got a new girlfriend, or became a father.
The best part of the conversation was when Rolo expanded on the topic of the replacement of Russians and the genocide in the 1990s. Could you please devote a separate show to this, not all young Russians raised on the idea of многонационалочка know this, let alone Westerners.
No Rolo, it's not so easy for us english speakers to go to Telegram and get the facts. I try it all the time. There are too many channels is the problem. that's all. Too many.
All in Russian or Ukrainian. Just a mass of text. We have to stop and translate via google or something one post at a time to try figure out if this channel is going to be loaded with the stuff we want.
No good? Okay. Move on to the next. That'd be the next POST, not the next channel. So we haven't advanced much.
Then when all that is fruitless we move to the next channel.
We are totally in the dark.
It is hard going.
See? Fluent readers of course scan a mass of material in an instant. Entirely different thing.
We, of course, need channels informative and to the point. Give us some clues.
And Scott Ritter. Listen: he's a middle aged man who has passed his moment of glory, can't you see that? He never stops saying he's ' A Marine', he never stops telling us about when he was a weapons inspector. Well back then he got to be a big deal for a while. He got to where he thought he was advising presidents.
Now he's nowhere. Unemployed. Pushed for a dollar like the rest of us. He is just trying to make a career for himself, find a future for himself, but he's got nothing. He's running on empty.
Forget him. Talk about other stuff. Yep. Forget all that 'traditional' lineup. they know nothing.
The best of them are the simply reporters of where the front line now is: military summary and DPA for instance. They just take the reports from each side and match them. Then we see some truth.
All the rest know nothing. Know nothing.
Your big thing is you know something. How much I don't know. But it certainly seems to be a hell of a lot. You need to find more guys like yourself who know something.
Forget those western guys.
What's the problem? You want to get a slice of the action, get the YT hits or something so's you can monetize your channel and make big bucks?
Well sorry, I don't know how to help with that.
My only advice would be to push what you've got: facts.
Like that simple thing I started with: a list of Telegram channels I could monitor and get good stuff from.
See?
p.s. and yep, I think the ruble as against the dollar is important. I've been watching it and is not good news.
Good points. I'm getting to like this blog because it gives me the other side of the coin; but it's still me who needs to do the maths and try to find the truth somewhere in between (mark I have not said "in the middle") because Rolo is often critic of facts that might have another explanation than treason, incompetence or sabotage. Plus the money whining (the slice you mention) disrupts a bit my reading of The Slavland. Too much is at stake in this war, and I tend to think we are either for the truth or for the money, both things being hardly compatible.
I am afraid the list of Telegram war channels in English you ask for would be very short. Language is one of the biggest problems the truth has: since English is the de-facto international language, it's 100 times easier for Angloamerica to broadcast its story to the world than for anyone else. And there's nothing we can do about it. BUT! Telegram has a translate feature that comes in extremely handy. You can activate translations in the settings (Languages section), then you touch on a message and you get a popup with options. One of them is Translate.
As to the ruble against the dollar, Mercouris will explain to you that Russia is purposefully devaluating the ruble. The theory behind it does not sound quite plausible to me, but I do not automatically disregard everything Mercouris says. :-)
Yes, Rolo makes it sound like the list of Telegram channels would be long but I don't find it so. I'm aware of the translate feature on Telegram but that's on the smartphone app I think, not the desktop and I use desktop all the time - can't stand tiny smartphones and only use them when I must.
So I use Unigram which has a translate feature. But it requires you to identify the passage you want to translate and then right click and pick translate.
Well you wade through text after text after text more or less blindly translating one here and one there trying to find good stuff and overall identify a whole channel that might be extra good.
currently i have voenkokotenok, wagner, wargonzo, komsomolskaya, slavyangrad probably about the best I've been able to find. Always keen to know of more/better.
I hope mercouris is right about the dollar, then. In respect to things like that I'm prepared to give him credit, with respect to matters military and comment on the battle I won't. :)
Slavsquat has put up an entire list of good blogs on his substack. Feel free to check it out. I don't want to write up a full list because it is tedious.
thanks for that. I will check him out. the point of a list from you though is that it would reflect your POV, I'd suppose.
p.s. this supports your gloomy view of the russian war machine I think. to me it's almost incredible. I cannot imagine our soldiers going to war like this. 'our' meaning UK, Aus, NZ. I'd be interested to know if I'm naive about that, too - does it happen in all armies?
And one other thing: how much of this sort of thing is not really 'corruption' but just a manifestation of different cultures? For instance in Turkey years ago I learned that the army was a job and a home for the jobless, unskilled and poverty stricken. The army accepted everyone. But you got no pay, virtually. And nor did, really, those above you. But the social organisation was such that everyone lived by kinda unofficial payments for services rendered - what the west pleases to call 'bribes' but are really not, they're just a different way of doing things and contain their own rationale and inbuilt 'fairnesses' and such. How much of this within the Russian system can be slated back to such cultural norms?
I feel this is an important point for cultural norms are one thing: decent men adhere to them and remain decent. Corruption is something else. Indecent men adhere to it, decent men are forced into participation. A world of difference.
Here's the telegram link I thought I might present to you:
Correct: the translate option is only available in the app. I also use the desktop version very often, but for quick updates the smartphone suits me, since there's no need to type anything; just read.
Thanks for those channels. I'll give them a try. Riley pointed me to zoka200, donrf22, strelkovii, erwankastell and of course rybar and rybar_eng. I joined them but so far haven't got time to check them thoroughly.
thanks for those additions. I know of Rybar and use it but the others are new to me.
I also use cyberspec news and arbalet I find when I take a look a minute ago.
They are good for graphic footage which I feel somewhat ashamed to enjoy watching sometimes - men dying in this madness - but perhaps it can be excused inasmuch as it does add reality, authenticity to claims of what's doing on the battlefield.
I look at levan gudadz, too and he's from YT. But he's much like all the YT sources: opinion pieces. Maybe a little more acute, to the point, than the others.
Like emil cosman, I don't think he's on Telegram, only YT, but he gives his long winded archly sarcastic opinion piece making half an hour out of one Tass post or something.
I look for better and as yet don't find it.
Slavyangrad Chat throws up some very illuminating stuff sometimes but there's such volumes and volumes of text to go through to find it. But that's where I got my first intimations about those at that time to me totally incredible revelations of military shortcomings in the Russia military such as men without equipment and issued ration packs that turned out to be dummy packs... inconceivable horrors at that time to naive little me.
Now I've grown up a bit.
And the horrors have moved to include possible total fracture of the whole Russian State not only its military and what I'm doing is snuffling along like a dumb bloodhound trying to find the truth.
I think many must be doing the same. Many. But perhaps not enough of us.
The view from the top is that the planet is controlled by one enormous very dubious corporation chock-full of billionaires, international financiers, etc.. who are in a sense "board members." Of course, these members occasionally squabble among themselves about strategy and dividing plunder but generally work cohesively together. And of course, these board members or more precisely "national crime syndicate" are obsessed about ways to control the increasingly rageful immiserated billions. Hence, they're determined to implement a worldwide technocratic hellhole deploying transhumanist biosecurity devices
(they'll be so cool and convenient), a central bank digital currency, and weaponized pharmacological controls not only isolated to medicine but prevailing over the entire food and water supplies. This brave new world, should seem very unappealing to all those who don't think they'll be very happy owning nothing while being led around via a neuralinked short tight leash.
Great stuff. The Anglo know it all know best. Prigo and Texas know nothing. Just kidding of course. The alt media for the most part is basically like a microcosm of the MSM. They censor everyone who is off-narrative. They have their secrets Russian insiders just like the. NYtimes have their invisible sources. The Duran and guys like that are simply the equivalent of Jim Cramer for stocks. Talk a good game but when the market will turn they will tell you to double down and stay in. Folks, triangulate your sources ALL the time. Do not get trapped in any opinion fish tank. If your youtuber of choice always has the same cast of characters, beware. Same with Gonzalo Lira. Gonzo did have a secret agreement with someone if you ask me to shit on the Ukros all day while still living in Ukraine. Keep Russell on your list, same for this great blog. Very needed voices.
Bentley is a fiery character and tells it exactly as he sees it. His experiences of all of this are his credentials. Journalists tend to not like such people because they cannot shape a narrative from anything he says other than what he says.
As far as those in the west who blog/vlog about this, they position themselves as part of the executive class. doing the planning and the decision making. Then they project that into their presentation. I saw this yesterday in a vid by Brian Beletic. He used the same vocabulary as Martyanov and Mercouris (they must have a back channel) with a special emphasis on the words 'panic', 'hysteria' to describe the reaction of others to Prigozhin's statement(s). He even wore galsses to take on the persona of a school teacher, setting everyone straight.
People like this are not to be found on the front line and regard the people in that position to be largely irrelavent, their own version of cannon fodder. When people are prepared to stand as a warrior and risk their lives, they deserve the utmost respect but seldom get it.
I would like to request Rolo do a show on the Russian Old Believers. They have a high birth rate. Even if there is no immigration, Russians would eventually disappear due to birth rate. The only whites doing well are religious groups like the Fundamentalist Mormons, Irish Tinkers, N'drangheta, Mennonites, Hutterites, etc. Demographers are projecting that the majority of people in Belize will be German due to the Mennonite birth rate.
These groups do well because they are tran-national. Their religion is their nation. They consciously use trans-nationalism as a strategy, especially the N'drangheta.
A French author who lived a long time in Russia but.mostly in Ukraine says it is for the most part a war between oligarchs in both countries. Huge business going on from drugs to any type.of.materials. unlike the Duran,heisframme.of reference has nothing to do with moral Russia wanting to denazify. He speaks Russian btw. This is another guy you will never see on the Duran in a million years.
Tex reminds me of the "good ol' boys" from the South I grew up with...arrogant, know it all but with some redeeming characteristics....
His works based salvation won't help him when he meets God, but thanks for telling the truth many of us have suspected for some time now...Russia (at least the ones running the show in Russia) are working with the West to kill off white guys...
What do you think of the RT story on the WaPo release of documents purporting to reveal that Prigozhin and Ukrainian intelligence have had back channel meetings?
I don't either, yet. I think the subscription is for using NOTES whether you have a published substack or not. So, in short I think it is like a "Follow" was in Twitter.
"Im not in it for the fate of Russia" ahhh Russel. Probably good the discussion ended there. That feel when you aren't in it for Russia and even dislike people who are in it for Russia but you cant save humanity without them. Bentley quite likes Stalin but Stalin deported the Chechnyans from Chechnya and didnt even let them come back after the war. That was Khrushchev who let them come back. Stalin was pretty strict about the internal passport system and keeping the different ethnic groups separate. If Bentley prefers the USSR to the modern RF as an antiracist who likes the USSRs anti colonial universal brotherhood rhetoric than how to account for the fact that in the USSR it was much harder for non Russians to move to the the Slavic parts of the USSR than it is for a non Russian citizen of a different country to move to Russia today? Yet on the other end the USSR had Slavs colonizing central Asia, the far North, the Baltics, the far east etc?
Basically if you get past the USSRs cringe propaganda and look at what was actually happening as far as racial relations go they were much more conservative than modern Russia. The USSRs propaganda and official values didnt align with practice, and modern Russias values likewise dont align with practice in as much as the state acknowledges Russians to be the core people but is happy enough to replace them in practice.
IMO the USSR was better than modern Russia, the state despite its official rhetoric spread Slavs far and wide, it protected its national interest much more effectively than the RF, the official corruption was less..thats why the elite destroyed it, and the level of autarchy was respectable. I used to be solidly anti USSR and genuinely believed that the modern RF had potential to become a bigger and better state for Slavs for than either the old Empire or USSR ever could have. But looking at the state of things now in the RF and former Imperial space I doubt that. The RF copies all the worst aspects of the USSR and has dismantled everything that was useful.
Of course a convincing case that I wont argue against can be made that the USSR was a house of cards from the start and it was created by evil people who hated Russians but you can say that exact same thing about the RF. So its not a point in eithers favor.
I wont counter signal Bentley and I sincerely wish the guy well and commend him for telling the truth about whats going on in the here and now at the front. But as a genuine communist who really does want to re-create the Soviet Union are you ready to do internal passports, keep non Slavs out of the Russian parts of USSR 2.0, and deport the Chechnyans when its time to fight the 5th Reich (if we are considering modern Ukraine the 4th)?
Right, this guy sounds like a walking contradiction, he basicly promotes the same multicultural communist all living happy together in mother Russia singing gumbaya stuff that is promoted in the west. And thats right, Stalin deported those minorities inside the USSR for a reason. He didnt want any ethnic conflicts or future rebellions breaking out inside his empire. If this guy thinks kadyrov or some other 'noble enthic' warlord is still on Russias side when shit hits the fan he clearly doesnt know people or politics. Most asiatics in and around Russia dont tolerate weakness or stupidity, they dont have that emotion us westerners have. And they can smell that Russia is getting weaker with this conflict in Ukraine. The US knows this too and are happy to add fuel on the fire. Rolo was right to get on rant at this guy for trying to pander to these people who want to drink your blood.
Communism and Christianity ought to be another contradiction, but, actually, the more I think about it, there is no real contradiction between being a Communist and a Christian.
In the context of Russians who remember the banditry of the 90s I think that the general ideas of social justice and well справедливость (for the non Russian speaking that nominally means justice but for Russians it has a deeper moral dimension, like a duty to be righteous) automatically associates with Soviet nostalgia. Now that the SVO has ripped back the curtain on how rotten the state is that tendency will just be compounded.
In a way that Soviet Union really is a mirage that never existed in reality, just like Ukraine is mostly a creation of the imagination more than a historical reality. None the less this imaginary Ukraine has power and lots of people are willing to die for it, to a lesser but still not irrelevant extent that mythical version of the USSR still has a hold in the imaginations of lots of Russians and these days its not just boomers. Bentley of course is fighting for straight Marxist Leninist internationalism but to the Russians at the front who fly the victory banner from their BMPs and your nazibols its more a matter of once we had an empire that wasn't a laughing stock, wasnt run by bandits, and there was some social justice. The extent to which that corresponds with reality is less important than the image in the collective psyche. Just like with the Ukraine.
The intersection with Christianity is more complicated with Russia because the ROC has overplayed the Martyr card so damn heavily. As a Christian the aspiration to that social rightousness is perfectly valid imo but when that rightousness is so absent in the RF when contrasted with the USSR, and you (the ROC) claim the dismantling of the USSR is the 3rd most important event in history after creation itself and Christs resurrection you end up with a rats nest of contradictions and contradictions at that level are always a sign of BS. I guess Bentley is at the opposite end of the communist/Christian spectrum than Russians. Bentleys firebrand messianic Lenninist internationalism has no appeal at all to Russians as far as I can tell, not to either basic Soviet Nostalgist, nazibol Stalinist and certainly no Orthodox types who hang Icons and prayer ropes from the rear view mirrors in their cars next to St George ribbons. Imo even Stalin himself was over Messianic Lenninism once it has outlived its geo political usefulness by the late 40s.
On the other hand I think maybe you are correct that there is a natural intersection between just aspiring to puritan social justice in a strong and fair non material chasing Empire and Orthodox Christian ethics when both Orthodox Christian symbols and USSR loom large in your national memory.
But Im speaking about Russia here and Bentleys bonafide Red Internationalism is something of an anachronism in Russia. He likes Stalin but he is so much more like Khrushchev. That is he is a genuine Leninist Internationalist as he understands it but he doesn't actually understand it. The perfect example of this is Khrushchev absolutely hated modern art but he also strongly objected to Stalins original screw tightening against the Soviet artistic community. But what happened when Khrushchev loosened the screws as part of de-Stalinization and the very first small steps towards glasnost? Well a bunch of jew artist started making modern art that Khrushchev hated. Khrushchev didnt see the natural concurrence between modern art and messianic Lenninist internationalism.
This is strongly akin to how Bentley genuinely hates LGBTQ degeneracy, he hates what he correctly sees as globalist satanism, but he doesn't see how its nothing more than the next stage of a revolution in which Messianic Lenninist Internationalism was a previous stage.
Excellent lecture. Thanks a lot. When the doctors speak, we the ignorants молчим.
What Communism are you talking about - The Soviet Union 1936, Hungary 1965, China 2023...? Does Communism ever have a definition people can agree upon when they talk about it?
Communism both plagiarized some of the authentic principles of Christianity & then sought to replace it in strictly ideological terms. As per comments above, excellent, thank God someone said it - Dr Livci, saves me from writing a long comment I don't have time to write. Excellent discussion, shame Bentley messed the end up for himself with his inconsistent views. Dejan Beric has done an update from the frontif anyone is interested, I can translate key points - he confirms that the flanks at Bakhmut were not a "withdrawal" but the troops fled the front. The counter offensive hasn't truly begun, it is coming.
Indeed there is no real theoretical contradiction (supposing anyone knows what communism really is, which I don't). But in practice communist regimes tend to be agnostic, when not straight anti-Christian. If am not mistaken, the Orthodox Church was prosecuted in Lenin's USSR. And how can one understand Christianity without God? If I got the bible right, Christ was supposed to be God's incarnation...
I'm just asking.
Lenin was a secret Christian
I haven't listened to this one yet (the first time) because I've heard him before and he is President of Team Peasant Fan Club, although he has some balls, that much cannot be disputed. My comment is related to your reply, it reminds me of a chapter in the book Might Is Right. Have you read it? It makes the same point regarding Communism and Christianity
In reality Communism is Christianity without a God.
My question would be, what's in it for the non-Slavs? If you have an empire, sooner or later all inhabitants in the empire will gain full citizenship. If you want to advance the interests, autonomy and ethnic identity of Slavs, you have to allow the non-Slavs to pursue the same objectives. A person should have an obligation to his family, but not to interfere with the families of others. And a paternalistic colonialism doesn't work. Giving one people power over other people always creates exploitation in its worst sense. I like the philosophy of the Minsk Treaty. The treaty as proposed protected the Russian-speaking peoples of Ukraine, gave Ukraine autonomy as long as it didn't physically threaten the Russian Federation, and gave Ukraine every opportunity to forge economic, commerce and cultural relations with the Donbass region. In other words, a nationalism that recognized the nationalism of other peoples.
I think Russia should adopt the exterminate and colonize and deport model that was used to settle America as opposed to assimilation
I'm not going to be foolish enough to try to prescribe for Russia. The US had a mixed history with the Indians. In a lot of cases, many Indians seem genetically ill-adapted to Western civilization. On the other hand, I don't believe progress would have been impeded if the US had kept treaties with the Indians and had honored their land agreements. The Cherokees had a written language and a well-developed tribal government when they were forced off their lands, which had been given to them by treaty.
So no, I don't believe the US model of occasional land-stealing and treaty-breaking should be followed as an example. I should note in many cases, the Indians themselves were aggressors, and in those cases, forceful suppression was justified. As I've said in other posts, protect your people, but maintain fairness. And fairness does not necessarily mean equal political representation.
I doubt Stalin was 1488, he used rus colonists to attack the identity of the conquered peoples. All the easier to absorb them into the collective.
Very revealing interview, totally contradictory to everything I've heard on channels like The Duran and The New Atlas. Anyway, my opinion is there's no conflict between Slavskiy's nationalism and Bentley's international consciousness. The person who wishes everyone well will encourage nationalism; protecting your country and people. Part of that is to support the rights of other nations and peoples to do the same. Respect their borders and boundaries as you expect them to respect yours. Treat minorities in your own nation well, but limit any further immigration.
40:06 Russell:
“There are oligarchs – very rich, very powerful oligarchs – in Russia who are traitors to the Russian Federation and the Russian people who don’t care if everybody in Russia and everybody in Donbass dies. They’re making big, big money off of this war … “ [the Ukrainian/Cypriot/Israeli Kolomoisky is the first that comes to mind]
I absolutely agree with Russell about the likes of Ritter, McGregor et al (i.e., fellow click baiters). I just wish Russell could see that WWII was not about Germans, Poles, French, Italians or Russians – but about those same capitalist oligarchs (who initially funded and armed the Bolsheviks), and that WWII was officially declared on March 24, 1933 – and that he would stop using that mother of all pejoratives created by Konrad Heiden.
Absolutely agree about the mother of all pejoratives. It sickens me to puking, and strongly discredits in my view whomever uses it.
Thanks for the great show! By the by, I wrote to this guy in the comments and asked him to invite Rolo, I suggest that other subscribers do the same. https://therealistreport.com/the-realist-report-riley-waggaman-on-russia-smo/
I have also done my duty already
Great!
Rolo, would you mind inviting Jareth Copus, he is a friend of mine and of Russel Bentley, a, young guy , he is an author of a well- sold book " Ukraine, forever a pawn" And a guy who saw through the 5 d chess narrative early on. He used to appear on Radio sputnik. If of intereset I have his contatcs.
By the way, Jareth Copus is Russian-American, he knows Russian, and he openly supports Russia on the streets for which he was attacked in USA, do invite him
send the info!
Outerheaven5th@yandex.com he said he would be glad to chat with you. Here is his email.
ok sent.
Thanks a lot.
no reply mate, sorry.
Do you know Marko Marjanovic from Anti-Empire? Can you bring him to life again? He had in the past a great podcast with him, Riley, and Rolo called the worst of all worlds...
Rolo says Marco won't do it again even for money. I also asked Riley to contact him but no good news so far.
We have to get Marko back from the dead. He is one of the brightest minds around. We shoul will only leave his soul alone in peace if he got a new girlfriend, or became a father.
If you have Twitter you can write to him there, I don't have an account
I also don't have a Twitter account.
I'm almost a 20th century guy in tech...
The best part of the conversation was when Rolo expanded on the topic of the replacement of Russians and the genocide in the 1990s. Could you please devote a separate show to this, not all young Russians raised on the idea of многонационалочка know this, let alone Westerners.
+1
There are more Russian's dying now than in the 90's, who's worse Putin or Yeltsin, I begin to have doubts...
No Rolo, it's not so easy for us english speakers to go to Telegram and get the facts. I try it all the time. There are too many channels is the problem. that's all. Too many.
All in Russian or Ukrainian. Just a mass of text. We have to stop and translate via google or something one post at a time to try figure out if this channel is going to be loaded with the stuff we want.
No good? Okay. Move on to the next. That'd be the next POST, not the next channel. So we haven't advanced much.
Then when all that is fruitless we move to the next channel.
We are totally in the dark.
It is hard going.
See? Fluent readers of course scan a mass of material in an instant. Entirely different thing.
We, of course, need channels informative and to the point. Give us some clues.
And Scott Ritter. Listen: he's a middle aged man who has passed his moment of glory, can't you see that? He never stops saying he's ' A Marine', he never stops telling us about when he was a weapons inspector. Well back then he got to be a big deal for a while. He got to where he thought he was advising presidents.
Now he's nowhere. Unemployed. Pushed for a dollar like the rest of us. He is just trying to make a career for himself, find a future for himself, but he's got nothing. He's running on empty.
Forget him. Talk about other stuff. Yep. Forget all that 'traditional' lineup. they know nothing.
The best of them are the simply reporters of where the front line now is: military summary and DPA for instance. They just take the reports from each side and match them. Then we see some truth.
All the rest know nothing. Know nothing.
Your big thing is you know something. How much I don't know. But it certainly seems to be a hell of a lot. You need to find more guys like yourself who know something.
Forget those western guys.
What's the problem? You want to get a slice of the action, get the YT hits or something so's you can monetize your channel and make big bucks?
Well sorry, I don't know how to help with that.
My only advice would be to push what you've got: facts.
Like that simple thing I started with: a list of Telegram channels I could monitor and get good stuff from.
See?
p.s. and yep, I think the ruble as against the dollar is important. I've been watching it and is not good news.
Good points. I'm getting to like this blog because it gives me the other side of the coin; but it's still me who needs to do the maths and try to find the truth somewhere in between (mark I have not said "in the middle") because Rolo is often critic of facts that might have another explanation than treason, incompetence or sabotage. Plus the money whining (the slice you mention) disrupts a bit my reading of The Slavland. Too much is at stake in this war, and I tend to think we are either for the truth or for the money, both things being hardly compatible.
I am afraid the list of Telegram war channels in English you ask for would be very short. Language is one of the biggest problems the truth has: since English is the de-facto international language, it's 100 times easier for Angloamerica to broadcast its story to the world than for anyone else. And there's nothing we can do about it. BUT! Telegram has a translate feature that comes in extremely handy. You can activate translations in the settings (Languages section), then you touch on a message and you get a popup with options. One of them is Translate.
As to the ruble against the dollar, Mercouris will explain to you that Russia is purposefully devaluating the ruble. The theory behind it does not sound quite plausible to me, but I do not automatically disregard everything Mercouris says. :-)
Yes, Rolo makes it sound like the list of Telegram channels would be long but I don't find it so. I'm aware of the translate feature on Telegram but that's on the smartphone app I think, not the desktop and I use desktop all the time - can't stand tiny smartphones and only use them when I must.
So I use Unigram which has a translate feature. But it requires you to identify the passage you want to translate and then right click and pick translate.
Well you wade through text after text after text more or less blindly translating one here and one there trying to find good stuff and overall identify a whole channel that might be extra good.
currently i have voenkokotenok, wagner, wargonzo, komsomolskaya, slavyangrad probably about the best I've been able to find. Always keen to know of more/better.
I hope mercouris is right about the dollar, then. In respect to things like that I'm prepared to give him credit, with respect to matters military and comment on the battle I won't. :)
Slavsquat has put up an entire list of good blogs on his substack. Feel free to check it out. I don't want to write up a full list because it is tedious.
thanks for that. I will check him out. the point of a list from you though is that it would reflect your POV, I'd suppose.
p.s. this supports your gloomy view of the russian war machine I think. to me it's almost incredible. I cannot imagine our soldiers going to war like this. 'our' meaning UK, Aus, NZ. I'd be interested to know if I'm naive about that, too - does it happen in all armies?
And one other thing: how much of this sort of thing is not really 'corruption' but just a manifestation of different cultures? For instance in Turkey years ago I learned that the army was a job and a home for the jobless, unskilled and poverty stricken. The army accepted everyone. But you got no pay, virtually. And nor did, really, those above you. But the social organisation was such that everyone lived by kinda unofficial payments for services rendered - what the west pleases to call 'bribes' but are really not, they're just a different way of doing things and contain their own rationale and inbuilt 'fairnesses' and such. How much of this within the Russian system can be slated back to such cultural norms?
I feel this is an important point for cultural norms are one thing: decent men adhere to them and remain decent. Corruption is something else. Indecent men adhere to it, decent men are forced into participation. A world of difference.
Here's the telegram link I thought I might present to you:
https://t.me/sanya_florida/8622
Correct: the translate option is only available in the app. I also use the desktop version very often, but for quick updates the smartphone suits me, since there's no need to type anything; just read.
Thanks for those channels. I'll give them a try. Riley pointed me to zoka200, donrf22, strelkovii, erwankastell and of course rybar and rybar_eng. I joined them but so far haven't got time to check them thoroughly.
thanks for those additions. I know of Rybar and use it but the others are new to me.
I also use cyberspec news and arbalet I find when I take a look a minute ago.
They are good for graphic footage which I feel somewhat ashamed to enjoy watching sometimes - men dying in this madness - but perhaps it can be excused inasmuch as it does add reality, authenticity to claims of what's doing on the battlefield.
I look at levan gudadz, too and he's from YT. But he's much like all the YT sources: opinion pieces. Maybe a little more acute, to the point, than the others.
Like emil cosman, I don't think he's on Telegram, only YT, but he gives his long winded archly sarcastic opinion piece making half an hour out of one Tass post or something.
I look for better and as yet don't find it.
Slavyangrad Chat throws up some very illuminating stuff sometimes but there's such volumes and volumes of text to go through to find it. But that's where I got my first intimations about those at that time to me totally incredible revelations of military shortcomings in the Russia military such as men without equipment and issued ration packs that turned out to be dummy packs... inconceivable horrors at that time to naive little me.
Now I've grown up a bit.
And the horrors have moved to include possible total fracture of the whole Russian State not only its military and what I'm doing is snuffling along like a dumb bloodhound trying to find the truth.
I think many must be doing the same. Many. But perhaps not enough of us.
:)
The view from the top is that the planet is controlled by one enormous very dubious corporation chock-full of billionaires, international financiers, etc.. who are in a sense "board members." Of course, these members occasionally squabble among themselves about strategy and dividing plunder but generally work cohesively together. And of course, these board members or more precisely "national crime syndicate" are obsessed about ways to control the increasingly rageful immiserated billions. Hence, they're determined to implement a worldwide technocratic hellhole deploying transhumanist biosecurity devices
(they'll be so cool and convenient), a central bank digital currency, and weaponized pharmacological controls not only isolated to medicine but prevailing over the entire food and water supplies. This brave new world, should seem very unappealing to all those who don't think they'll be very happy owning nothing while being led around via a neuralinked short tight leash.
A communist Christian from Texas. What an odd guy
Great stuff. The Anglo know it all know best. Prigo and Texas know nothing. Just kidding of course. The alt media for the most part is basically like a microcosm of the MSM. They censor everyone who is off-narrative. They have their secrets Russian insiders just like the. NYtimes have their invisible sources. The Duran and guys like that are simply the equivalent of Jim Cramer for stocks. Talk a good game but when the market will turn they will tell you to double down and stay in. Folks, triangulate your sources ALL the time. Do not get trapped in any opinion fish tank. If your youtuber of choice always has the same cast of characters, beware. Same with Gonzalo Lira. Gonzo did have a secret agreement with someone if you ask me to shit on the Ukros all day while still living in Ukraine. Keep Russell on your list, same for this great blog. Very needed voices.
That's why I like Andrew Napolitano: he brings in people he disagrees with, and tries to be as decent and even as possible.
Bentley is a fiery character and tells it exactly as he sees it. His experiences of all of this are his credentials. Journalists tend to not like such people because they cannot shape a narrative from anything he says other than what he says.
As far as those in the west who blog/vlog about this, they position themselves as part of the executive class. doing the planning and the decision making. Then they project that into their presentation. I saw this yesterday in a vid by Brian Beletic. He used the same vocabulary as Martyanov and Mercouris (they must have a back channel) with a special emphasis on the words 'panic', 'hysteria' to describe the reaction of others to Prigozhin's statement(s). He even wore galsses to take on the persona of a school teacher, setting everyone straight.
People like this are not to be found on the front line and regard the people in that position to be largely irrelavent, their own version of cannon fodder. When people are prepared to stand as a warrior and risk their lives, they deserve the utmost respect but seldom get it.
That was an interesting interview.
Great interview indeed. Even if I don't agree with all said, I deeply respect guys like Russel
I would like to request Rolo do a show on the Russian Old Believers. They have a high birth rate. Even if there is no immigration, Russians would eventually disappear due to birth rate. The only whites doing well are religious groups like the Fundamentalist Mormons, Irish Tinkers, N'drangheta, Mennonites, Hutterites, etc. Demographers are projecting that the majority of people in Belize will be German due to the Mennonite birth rate.
These groups do well because they are tran-national. Their religion is their nation. They consciously use trans-nationalism as a strategy, especially the N'drangheta.
A French author who lived a long time in Russia but.mostly in Ukraine says it is for the most part a war between oligarchs in both countries. Huge business going on from drugs to any type.of.materials. unlike the Duran,heisframme.of reference has nothing to do with moral Russia wanting to denazify. He speaks Russian btw. This is another guy you will never see on the Duran in a million years.
Tex reminds me of the "good ol' boys" from the South I grew up with...arrogant, know it all but with some redeeming characteristics....
His works based salvation won't help him when he meets God, but thanks for telling the truth many of us have suspected for some time now...Russia (at least the ones running the show in Russia) are working with the West to kill off white guys...
What do you think of the RT story on the WaPo release of documents purporting to reveal that Prigozhin and Ukrainian intelligence have had back channel meetings?
https://www.rt.com/russia/576285-wapo-zelensky-deleted-interview/
Aren't WAPO stories usually behind paywalls?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/14/prigozhin-wagner-ukraine-leaked-documents/
Probably....I just cited the RT story which cited the WaPo story....even the WaPo story may be fake news...who knows about anything these days??
The WaPo story did delete some of the stuff in the so-called "leaked documents" though....
Yes I saw that RT article. Things feel a lot like a hall of mirrors.
Hi Kolokol....I don't have a Substack site...not sure what your subscription means?
But how nice of you
I don't either, yet. I think the subscription is for using NOTES whether you have a published substack or not. So, in short I think it is like a "Follow" was in Twitter.
As near as I can tell if you "subscribe' in Notes there is no charge like in a regular substack.