Spain in Our Hearts

google search for Torkild Rieber returns on top Norwegian seaman, while Wiki says at the very beginning that he was a Norwegian immigrant to the United States who became chairman of the Texas Company (Texaco). here's an enlightening article about this gentleman: How Texaco Helped Franco Win the Spanish Civil War: "Not a single investigation on the subject appeared in any major American newspaper at a time when the civil war in Spain was front-page news almost daily."

listening to Spain in our hearts, about Americans in Spanish Civil War.

beautiful and smart women: Virginia Cowles, Martha Gellhorn. and courageous too. Toby Jensky, Milly Bennett... wonderful Virginia Cowles reported from both sides in the war: Looking for Trouble

see also Robert Hale Merriman.

Even the fervently anti-Stalinist George Orwell, who witnessed the Stalinist secret police in the Soviet-controlled Loyalist government hunt down his fellow front-line soldiers on trumped-up charges of being fascist spies, learned that, in at least one instance, one of those arrested was murdered by his Communist captors, grudgingly admitted that those like Merriman were proof that “’good party men’ make the best soldiers.” -Robert Merriman Was Brave, But Apologized For Soviet Tyranny

интересная книга. грустная.

Hokeyness Ensued

The Obamas Called Kamala Harris. Cameras Rolled. Hokeyness Ensued.

Hokey - Something that's hokey is silly and sentimental — you could also call it "sappy" or "mawkish." A hokey speech is more likely to make people roll their eyes and squirm than to make them cry.

это NYT 😂🤡😀

сказали бы cringe, чего уж там

что-то у них там поломалось в отделе пропаганды и агитациии. вот сегодня опять Democrats Embrace ‘Weird’ Messaging on Trump - ну да people все схавает, как говорится.

P.S. господибожемой, я старше Меркель

Nothing important can come from the south

The passionate desire of people in poor countries to assert control over their natural resources, which pushed them into conflict with the United States during the Cold War, lay completely outside the experience of most American leaders. Henry Kissinger spoke for them, eloquently as always, after Chilean foreign minister Gabriel Valdes accused him of knowing nothing about the Southern Hemisphere.

“No, and I don't care,” Kissinger replied. “Nothing important can come from the south. History has never been produced in the south. The axis of history starts in Moscow, goes to Bonn, crosses over to Washington, and then goes to Tokyo. What happens in the south is of no importance.”

это из Overthrow

вспоминается Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Metal Thieves etc

Metal Thieves Are Stripping America’s Cities: Across the country, copper and other valuable materials have been stolen from , statues and even gravesites, costing millions to repair. это смутно мне напоминает...

и на смежную тему: US military to shut down embattled Gaza aid pier

и штоб два раза не вставать, Starmer quizzed over Biden's gaffe at Nato summit: With President Zelensky standing just yards away, President Biden managed to introduce him as President Putin.

🤡

Overthrow

Why does a strong nation strike against a weaker one? Usually because it seeks to impose its ideology, increase its power, or gain control of valuable resources. Shifting combinations of these three factors motivated the United States as it extended its global reach over the past century and more. This book examines the most direct form of American intervention, the overthrow of foreign governments. --Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer

Introduction gives a good enough idea. [pdf / gbooks] Kinzer is a very productive author, tons of interesting books.

American annexation of Hawaii should be compared with the Boer Wars, almost same time, and same reasons. see also bayonet constitution and Newlands Resolution. крымнаш в общем 😁

следующая глава - про американо-испанскую войну и оккупацию Кубы, очень саркастичная. к ней хорошее дополнение - статья в Wiki American propaganda of the Spanish–American War. и про Филиппины познавательно.

- Nicaragua: "Oh, Mr. President. Do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality,"

- Honduras: President Taft personally ordered the charges against Bonilla dropped. also read about Zemurray.

- Iran: [British] appealed unsuccessfully to the United Nations Security Council

- к главе про Чили интересное дополнение ITT’s spectacular rise and fall

скверный Трамп

Trump Lets Democrats Dominate the Public Debate Over Biden’s Future - вот ведь какой мерзавец, позволяет демократам доминировать 😂

но это NYT лукавят: Трамп назвал Байдена "кучей дерьма" и выразил уверенность, что он снимется с выборов. RT подтверждает с массой подробностей: Trump caught on camera insulting Biden

нет штобы дедушку с праздником поздравить 🤡

CNN сообщают

. Several US military bases in Europe on heightened alert amid possible terrorist threat

. Russia wants to confront NATO but dares not fight it on the battlefield – so it’s waging a hybrid war instead

impartiality

BBC boss claims impartial news is 'increasingly becoming an affront' to audiences who feel balanced coverage is 'an attack on their values' - это Daily Mail via

а в марте Guardian сообщала: BBC boss defends broadcaster’s impartiality amid ‘storms of social media’. это, правда, другой босс..

вы уж там договоритесь как-нибудь, а то вас не поймешь. тем временм Sunak refuses to say whether he told gambling row aide the election date - how very interesting. see also @ BBC

ну и заодно - еще про британские чудеса: Nigel Farage to boycott BBC over ‘biased’ Question Time audience. может закроют лавочку наконец - я имею в виду BBC.

и наконец Rishi Sunak "Hurt" After Right-Wing Party Calls Him "Paki" 😂

politics as usual

AIPAC Unleashes a Record $14.5 Million Bid to Defeat a Critic of Israel

граждане комментируют:

Gary E: I don't understand how more contributions automatically translates to winning an election. Don't the voters get a say with their votes?

товарищ не понимает 😂

а вот товарищи понимают:

Ronald: Foreign influence in American elections, pure and simple. But , hey, In America that is par for the course. And with money being able to buy elections, the control is absolute.

...
Tom Krebsbach: This is Democracy for sale, plain and simple. And a democracy for sale is not a democracy at all. It is plutocracy.

power positions

Power positions do not yield to arguments, however rationally and morally valid, but only to superior power.

--Hans Morgenthau

приводит на память “Do not quote laws to men with swords.”

неплохие заметки про Morgenthau в Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy, в 10-й главе

Politics Among Nations и Система международных отношений. Нации в борьбе за власть - перевод

интересно, что это вовсе не Генри Моргентау, который сформулировал пресловутый План. как говорится, даже не однофамилец 🤡

legitimate attempt

There was never an executive order or memo ordering or even suggesting a coup go forward. The American position was couched in terms of "not stopping a legitimate attempt" to change the government of South Vietnam. --The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War

а тут все наоборот: The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

Among those dazzled by the Administration team was Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. After attending his first Cabinet meeting he went back to his mentor Sam Rayburn and told him with great enthusiasm how extraordinary they were, each brighter than the next, and that the smartest of them all was that fellow with the Stacomb on his hair from the Ford Motor Company, McNamara. “Well, Lyndon,” Mister Sam answered, “you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” It is my favorite story in the book, for it underlines the weakness of the Kennedy team, the difference between intelligence and wisdom, between the abstract quickness and verbal fluency which the team exuded, and the true wisdom, which is the product of hard-won, often bitter experience. Wisdom for a few of them came after Vietnam.

убедительно пишет Halberstam. ох не любил он восточную элиту. что протестантскую, что католическую. да и западную тоже. но в Кеннеди он положительно влюблен.

"The Best and the Brightest" is ostensibly about how shining intellectuals -- primarily McGeorge Bundy, Robert , and Dean Rusk -- of the Kennedy White House trapped America in Vietnam. ... In fact, I came away from the book with the keen sense that these "intellectuals" were just arrogant and shallow, self-serving and power-hungry individuals.

this is from amazon review A Major Disappointment

в 9-й главе он интересно рассказывает про Walt Rostow. вспоминается афоризм про Россию, где за год меняется все, а за 100 лет - ничего. к США это тоже относится.

Le Pen Thrashes Macron

и другие хорошие новости: Right-Wing Tsunami: Conservatives Ascendant In Euro Parliament Vote, Le Pen Thrashes Macron; Germany's SPD Suffers Record Rout

Поздравляю 🤡

ну и пошло-поехало:

. Macron Calls New Legislative Elections in France
. Belgian Prime Minister De Croo has announced that he will resign
. French conservatives' chief wants election deal with far right, in major shift

и так далее

great unwashed

great unwashed first used in 1830, almost 200 years earlier than basket of deplorbles. там оба выражения упоминаются в статье, так что это не я первый заметил.

Foggartism

He has become an advocate of an eccentric political philosophy, Foggartism, one of whose tenets is to ship youngsters off to parts of the empire, to ease unemployment at home and provide a labour force to the colonies to enable them to supply the motherland with goods and produce. The Silver Spoon – John Galsworthy

см. также фоггартизм

Сребреница

. Refuting Srebrenica Genocide Denial Yet Again, as UN Debates Draft Resolution

. UN resolution recognizing Srebrenica killings as genocide inflames tensions - это сам VoA сообщает

. Россия выступила против принятия резолюции Генассамблеи ООН по Сребренице. - а это lenta.ru, очень подробно.

в общем мнения учОных разошлись

битва с Маском в разгаре

целый премьер-министр вмешался: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Elon Musk, above, as an “arrogant billionaire” who was out of touch with the public. - это из статьи Elon Musk accuses Australia of censorship after court bans violent video

not a moment for small talk

Multiple languages were spoken by the men inside them — Ukrainian, Brazilian, Colombian, Polish — but few words. It was not a moment for small talk. --Looking for a Fight

обширная статья в NYT про иностранных наемников на Украине. с претензией на художественные достоинства. французский язык не упомянут, видимо материал проверен Госдепом. продвигают наемников в окно Овертона осторожно.

The Math on Ukraine

meanwhile NYT publishes in their Opinion section a defeateast article by infamous / notorious J.D. Vance: The Math on Ukraine Doesn’t Add Up (italics are mine - vs)

predictably shitstorm in the comments, almost 2,000 already

Не могу поступаться принципами

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust. - настоящая американская Нина Андреева.

очень сдержанные комментарии @ ny_quant ну и ожидаемая буря в стакане воды в twitter, к примеру @bariweiss

upd 4/16: NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism - недолго музыка играла. ну и 4/18: NPR Editor Who Accused Broadcaster of Liberal Bias Resigns

ну и подробное резюме от zerohedge: NPR Scandal Should Kill Taxpayer-Funded Broadcasting - да щаз...

no intention to lecture anybody

“I come here with no intention to lecture anybody or tell anybody what to do or get in the way of the process of politics and other things in the U.S," Cameron said.

“I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country and a believer that it's profoundly in your interest and your security, and your future and the future of all your partners, to release this money and let it through,” he added. --Fresh from Trump meeting, UK’s Cameron gives Ukraine aid the hard sell

someone quipped that everything before the word but is bullshit. here it's the word just.