Russia and the Solecism of Power

For it is the solecism of power, to think to command the end, and yet not to endure the mean.     
Francis Bacon, Of Empire (1625)

Introduction

Nearly every discussion about Russia raises three questions: Who is to blame?  What is to be done?  And where is Russia heading?  This paper focuses on the third question, though the other two cannot be ignored entirely. 

The Resurrection of Marx – End of Britain?

Jeremy Corbyn, the infamous Karl Marx admirer, has been elected UK opposition Labour leader.  Corbyn is really communist who professes an admiration for Karl Marx. He is the new face of Britain’s opposition Labour party which will help to make a British EU exit more likely. The Marxist sophistry is rob anyone who has more. They never understand that we all provide our piece of the economy that creates the whole. Many are starting to realize that this could be the downturn for Britain.

“Secular” Turkey

• A deeper look into the history of Turkey reveals that, unfortunately, Turkey has never been either truly secular or democratic. In Turkey, freedom of conscience and religion is respected — but only if you are a practicing Sunni Muslim.
• The problem is that “modern” Turkey claims to be a “secular” republic; a secular republic is supposed to treat all people — Muslims and non-Muslims — equally. The objective of the Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs), on the other hand, is to keep religion (Islam) under the control of the state, and to keep the people under the control of the state by means of religion.
• “Those who are not genuine Turks can have only one right in the Turkish fatherland, and that is to be a servant, to be a slave. We are in the most free country of the world. They call this Turkey.” — Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, Turkey’s first Minister of Justice, 1930.

When many Western analysts discuss the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, they rightfully criticize it for its religious intolerance, authoritarianism and lack of respect for secular principles and minorities. They also tend to compare the AKP to former Kemalist governments, and draw a distinction between the Islamist AKP and former non-Islamist governments.

They claim that Turkey was “secular” and somewhat “democratic,” until the AKP came to power.

Gordon Brown Adopts Marx’s Theory – Eliminate Cash Will Eliminate the Boom Bust Cycle

Gordon Brown… arguably Great Britain’s first Communist Prime Minister.

 

James Gordon Brown is a British politician who was the Prime Minister from June 2007 to May 2010 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Gordon has floated the Marxist Balloon for all we hear about now is eliminating physical money. Those who have ever worked in government NEVER see themselves as the problem – it is always us. So what is the Marxist Balloon? People not immediately in power float an idea so the government can gauge how the press and the people take it. If it goes badly, they say he is speaking personally. If it is not attacked, they float the policy. This is what Gordon Brown has just done.

Why We Need the Crash & Burn

I reported in the Greatest Bull Market during 1931 chapter that on the “very floor of the Congress echoed words claiming that even a dictatorship was better than the pains of depression.” Turn up the stress and you will accept anything to stop the PAIN. This type of political change becomes possible ONLY during a crisis. This is the Wave of Creative Destruction.

Revisiting the ‘Revolution’ of 1917 to put the Putin of today in context

History is a living philosophy, and those who “just watch it as it happens” will never understand it.

…

With Lenin’s death, Russia had a good riddance. He was born in 1870, and in 1924 he was reported to have died of “old age” — he was 53-years-old!

After Lenin’s death, the intrusion of those who had grabbed the power in Russia continued in all fields of human endeavor. To emigrate from “Soviet Russia” became impossible. Erelong, no one could publish anything on his own: Soviet “government” publishers kept censoring out any personal creative thought.

The same happened to all arts. Ironically, there appeared the new Soviet mediocrity in all spheres of life — arts and literature were taken over by newly created Soviet hackers. This government-produced mediocrity was sanctioned by those in power and was glorified and generously rewarded by the regime: “The Soviet violins at the world contests sound better than any other!”

Now, after the events of 1917 shook the entire world, the country again faces its unknown future. For a while, with the meteoric rise of Vladimir Putin, the former KGB official of the Soviet secret police, with his “liberal authoritarianism,” there was a short-lived illusion that things might change, that those Western democratic values would take root in the country: people were free to travel, express their opinions, form political parties, and even openly demonstrate their opposition to the regime.

Only very few realized that all those so-called “freedoms” were never guaranteed by the constitution; people had no right to bear arms to defend themselves, and all power rested with the unelected government. Those temporary freedoms were nothing more than erstwhile Soviet-style permissions of the Putin government, which had the final say and the military power to cut short all those permissions at any time. Politically, Putin had introduced tighter controls over parliament and the media and his opponents — moves which are reminiscent of the Soviet era.

And this is exactly what has happened: Putin’s victory last week, which was absolutely predictable to those familiar with the post-Soviet political history of the country, became a fait accompli.

Full article: Revisiting the ‘Revolution’ of 1917 to put the Putin of today in context (World Tribune)