Caitlin Johnstone

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Russian Invasion Prognosticators Are Like Cult Leaders Repeatedly Predicting The Apocalypse

Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ Back in November The Military Times published a Ukrainian intelligence claim, which was picked up and repeated by numerous other mainstream publications, alleging that Russia was going to invade Ukraine by the end of January. Then in late January when the calendar debunked the Military Times incendiary headline “Russia preparing to attack Ukraine by late…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Listen to a reading of this article:

❖

Back in November The Military Times published a Ukrainian intelligence claim, which was picked up and repeated by numerous other mainstream publications, alleging that Russia was going to invade Ukraine by the end of January.

Then in late January when the calendar debunked the Military Times incendiary headline “Russia preparing to attack Ukraine by late January”, that same outlet ran a much less viral story with the headline “Russia not yet ready for full-scale attack says Ukraine“.

This past Friday the deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, Melinda Haring, tweeted the following:

“Putin has big weekend plans in Ukraine: 1) he’s going to cut power and heat, knock out Ukrainian navy and air force, kill general staff and hit them with cyber attack; 2) then install pro-Russian president and 3) resort to full-scale military invasion if Ukraine doesn’t give in.”

And, of course, none of these things happened. The weekend came and went, Haring issued a sheepish admission that she got it wrong, then immediately turned around and proclaimed that “Putin may strike on Weds”, then later pivoted to “We’ve been so focused on Russian troops and tanks that we missed Moscow’s strategy: strangle Ukraine’s economy and sap the resolve of its people.”

On January 14th we were told by NBC that we could expect a Russian invasion of Ukraine “within a month’s time”. On February 14th the prediction was as unfulfilled as the wishes of a Jordan Peterson fan on Valentine’s day.

Then British outlets The Daily Mirror and The Sun told us that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was to come at precisely 1am GMT on Wednesday, citing “American intelligence agencies”. This prediction, whose frightening “DAWN RAID” presentation likely gave sales a bit of a boost, was again debunked by the hands of the clock.

“The 3am time (1am GMT) when US intelligence sources suspected a Russian attack came and went without incident last night as Putin continued to keep The West guessing,” The Sun’s updated online article now reads.

https://twitter.com/27khv/status/1493548392844193793?s=20&t=3EcQyPjlnIh7-DPkUDRT9g

Last week the US president told US allies that Putin may invade on February 16th, a prediction Ukraine’s President Zelensky made fun of in a widely misinterpreted joke. This claim also has been discredited by the clock.

And now we’re being told that nobody seriously believed Russia was going to invade on the 16th, and that February 20th is the real invasion date.

“The prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 16 was always overhyped,” Politico tells us. “The time frame to really keep an eye on is what happens shortly after Feb. 20.”

Radio evangelist Harold Camping famously predicted that the Apocalypse would occur on September 6, 1994, then again on September 29 of the same year, and then again on October 2. In 2005 he revised his claim and said the real Rapture was coming on May 21, 2011, and then when that failed to pan out he said it was happening on October 21 of that year. Whenever he got a prediction wrong he’d just do some more magic Bible math and move the date into the future.

Camping was one of many exploitative Christian cult leaders who’ve falsely predicted the Second Coming over the years amassing thousands of followers with an early form of tabloid clickbait. The difference between the Harold Campings of history and the Ukraine invasion prognosticators of today is that Harold Camping died disgraced and disdained instead of being elevated to lucrative positions in the most influential news media outlets on the planet.

Today’s Harold Campings will invent all kinds of justifications for their shameless participation in a transparent government psyop designed to advanced the unipolarist geostrategic agendas of the US hegemon once their war forecasts fail to bear fruit. The most common justification will be to claim that the Biden administration’s hawkish posturing and strategic information warfare is what deterred the forcible annexation of Ukraine into the Russian Federation. As we discussed previously, this claim is logically fallacious, explained here by Lisa Simpson:

We’re already seeing this “we stopped the Russian invasion” narrative circulated by unscrupulous pundits like Tom Friedman of the New York Times, whose spectacularly awful career differs from a stopped clock only in that it is wrong two additional times per day.

“If Vladimir Putin opts to back away from invading Ukraine, even temporarily, it’s because Joe Biden — that guy whose right-wing critics suggest is so deep in dementia he wouldn’t know Kyiv from Kansas or AARP from NATO — has matched every Putin chess move with an effective counter of his own,” writes Friedman.

Putin could just as easily have launched a virulent propaganda campaign claiming the US is about to invade Mexico any minute now and threatening severe repercussions if it does, and then taking credit when the invasion fails to occur for his bold stance against the Biden regime. It would have been the easiest thing in the world; just copy the western script replacing each instance of “Ukraine” with “Mexico” and each instance of “Crimea” with “Texas”.

We’re also seeing a new narrative in the oven with claims of a Russian cyberattack against Ukraine, which as an invisible attack whose evidence is classified would serve the imperial face-saving effort, with the added bonus of justifying further economic warfare on Moscow.

“This is such a transparent scam,” journalist Aaron Maté recently tweeted of the hacking claims. “The warmongers crafting new US sanctions on Russia have repeatedly said that Russian cyberattacks could trigger them. With no invasion happening, this is Plan B.”

The Ukraine invasion that never arrives is showing us once again that when it comes to Russia you really can just completely ignore all the so-called “experts” in the mainstream media. Just dismiss 100 percent of everything they say, because any random schmoe’s best guess would be better than theirs.

Looking to the mainstream media for truth is like looking to a prostitute for love. That’s not what they’re there for. That’s not their job. If you believed these predictions, the correct thing to do as they fail to come true is not to engage in a bunch of mental gymnastics justifying it, but to drastically revise your worldview and your media consumption habits which caused you to believe this crap in the first place.

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52 responses to “Russian Invasion Prognosticators Are Like Cult Leaders Repeatedly Predicting The Apocalypse”

  1. arvo Avatar
    arvo

    Caitlin,i just read yer piece on how hard it is to be anti-war… why? it is easy. pick out who started it. like, in the ‘IRAQ war’, it was the United States of A. were ye against that war? did ye think ”’saddam provoked’?
    now having benn totally, stupidly wrong on predicting Putin’s aggression on Ukraine, can ye mebbe, like, CONDEMN IT WITH NO BULLSHIT ‘BUTS’ AND ‘ALTHOUGHS’? like, be ANTI -WAR? dat too hard fer ye?

  2. This article aged badly Avatar
    This article aged badly

    You’re a moron and this article has certainly aged well we patiently expect more of your very “intelligent” analysis

  3. Poopdeck Avatar
    Poopdeck

    It’s only a week later and already this article didn’t age well.
    I’m no fan of the CIA, but apparently they were right all along.

  4. Realist Avatar
    Realist

    Check out the Saker’s (Andrei Raevsky’s) website. Indications are that Washington may well have cut Russia off from the internet, including Russian government sites like the foreign ministry. This could well be the start of the war that Washington has wanted since forever. Perhaps Russia’s expulsion of the deputy American ambassador to Russia earlier today gave Washington the excuse it wanted to pull this stunt.
    ~
    Just keep scanning the internet while it is still up to verify or falsify these reports. If internet service is truly being denied to Russia by the American telecom companies, all information about the looming war between the US and Russia may be effectively and deliberately blocked. As I’ve always said, this war will not be televised. Your government certainly does not want you informed.

    1. Inna Avatar
      Inna

      I think anyone with consciousness should quit working for Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, all big tech companies. I do not really want to live under their rule much longer.
      They (no idea who) have been cutting my Internet too.

  5. Technocracy is Unsustainable Avatar
    Technocracy is Unsustainable

    “What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment. If there is no Russian or Chinese plan to invade or bomb them , what is the need for NATO? What is the need for such heavy purchases of U.S. military hardware by America’s affluent allies? And if there is no inherently adversarial relationship, why do foreign countries need to sacrifice their own trade and financial interests by relying exclusively on U.S. exporters and investors?

    Instead of a real military threat from Russia and China, the problem for American strategists is the absence of such a threat.”

    https://michael-hudson.com/2022/02/americas-real-adversaries-are-its-european-and-other-allies/

  6. Nydick, Harry S Avatar
    Nydick, Harry S

    You have he western warmongers on one side and the Russian need for money on the other. In short, Greg Palast’s explanation is far ore sensible than any of the propaganda we’re regularly bombarded with. In brief, Russia’s actions have two motivations. First, it feared that the Ukraine would attempt to retake Crimea, which Russia had annexed in 2014, becasue the majority of its population still considered themselves Russian. The build up was both to discourage the Ukraine from any such attempt and to create fears of oil shortages and to drive up the price per barrel, from a low of about $35 (when this began) to its current price of, roughly, $100.
    Russia’s treasury was virtually depleted. Its greatest asset is its oil. By driving up the price, Russia is, again, on a firm financial basis.
    From the U.S. side, all the propaganda and claims using non existent proof, has served to support U.S. Imperialism and its self-appointed role as the world’s police force, while simultaneously as providing a boost to Joe Biden’s dangerously low approval rating.
    Unfortunately, most Americans are nationalistic (as in ‘We’re #1’) and are gullible and incapable of discerning most truths, becasue they have slowly and regularly bee trained to think that way.
    There will be no war. Russia will find a way to save face (perhaps in a ‘I told you we weren’t attacking’ stance) and the U.S. will take credit for stopping what was never going to happen in the forst place.

    1. pretzelattack Avatar
      pretzelattack

      when the Crimeans voted to rejoin Russia, it was because they feared attack by the Ukrainians. a realistic concern, and one which persists to this day. Russia has a realistic fear of being encircled by the US and its puppet, NATO. there is no “face saving” required of Russia; it isn’t the agressor here.

      1. BB Benderhaus Avatar
        BB Benderhaus

        The US is triggered by Russia. Therefore Russia must desist from all such actions that trigger the US. So it is quite obvious thst Russia is the aggressor here since they keep triggering the US by their existence.

        1. pretzelattack Avatar
          pretzelattack

          heh, yeah. or an abusive relationship “why oh why do you make me beat you”.

  7. GENOXY Avatar
    GENOXY

    But none of this precludes the Washington warmongers (WW) from sponsoring a false-flag of their own.
    The WW have a narrative already in place – “Putin conspired with Xi not to disrupt the Beijing Olympics by invading Ukraine. Once the Olympics Closing Ceremony is held it will be like a starting gun for Putin to pounce out of the starting gate and launch towards Ukraine.”

  8. Inna Avatar
    Inna

    Democrats are expecting to lose Midterm elections, so I guess Russian Aggression is going to be the US 2022 Midterm Elections issue. Because with the invention of the 4th Covid booster shot, the public’s enthusiasm for the Pandemic has waned. So we need a new semi-permanent global enemy to last until the 2024 election, or at least for a few months … And it better not be a domestic issue because the Congress does not want to work for their people, yet they have to feed the MIC beast/boss.

    1. Pascal Avatar
      Pascal

      The solution to that one is easy: they could have a war only in the media, which wouldn’t be very different from what people like Bloomberg or The Guardian (of BS) are doing now – announcing invasion and shelling every other day – and dump bombs into the Black Sea to keep the MIC financiers happy. Sun Tzu said that in a war, you’ve got to take full advantage of the terrain. When the terrain is a sea, God knows how many tons of bombs you can drop there (at $100K average) before anybody notices anything. If you play your hand well, you can probably also “bury” a couple of tank brigades and a few aircraft carriers without risking being nuked by Moscow…

      1. Inna Avatar
        Inna

        Not funny, I used to take summer vacations at the Black Sea as a child.
        I hear US Navy is cruising there now.

      2. svay Avatar
        svay

        Helicopters go down well too.
        https://youtu.be/zWN6XGUAhZU

    2. Inna Avatar
      Inna

      Biden to seek more than $770 billion in 2023 defense budget
      https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-biden-seek-more-than-770-billion-2023-defense-budget-sources-say-2022-02-16/

      1. L8917 Avatar
        L8917

        Declining value of the dollar/inflation causes me to ask if that’s actually a reduction in warmongering power, although DSOR et alia allow the abyss to take us wherever it wants.

        1. Inna Avatar
          Inna

          Silver Lining!

  9. pasha Avatar
    pasha

    Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the White House, a team of technicians works frantically to perfect The Device.
    “Ready? Okay. Screen test.”
    “Hi, I’m Joe, Joe, Joe Biden, the President-dent-dent of the US of AA . . . “
    “Okay, he looks presidential enough. Run the program.”
    “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
    “No! Next!”
    “There you go again.”
    “Next!”
    “A million points of light . . . “
    “Next!”
    “It’s a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness . . . “
    “Oh shit, no . . . next.”
    “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
    “Next.”
    “Cheese-eating surrender monkeys . . . “
    “Next.”
    “Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.”
    “Next.”
    “The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country . . . “
    “No! Move on!”
    “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk.”
    Sigh. “Next.”
    “In Washington, D.C., a gaffe is when you tell the truth.”
    “Shit, shit, shit. We’re doomed.”

  10. Republicofscotland Avatar
    Republicofscotland

    That shitrag the Guardian newspaper now reporting that Russia is shelling.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ukraine-crisis-nato-fears-russia-trying-to-stage-pretext-for-attack-after-reports-of-multiple-shelling-incidents-live/ar-AATY4WR?ocid=msedgntp

    I had to laugh at Jens Stoltenberg’s comment at his Nato press briefing when he said we cannot go back to the days of allowing nation powers to attack or bully smaller nations.

    Meanwhile as Nato push their warmongering propaganda.

    Brit living in Ukraine says that Ukrainians are more concerned with the Eurovision Song Contest than a Russian invasion. Daniel Williams form the Isle of Wight (45) added that Ukrainians are more excited about champions League Football than what Russia is doing.

    1. L8917 Avatar
      L8917

      I’m more concerned with what happens when JB/TeamBrandon don’t get a bump or at least enough of a bump to keep them afloat, and whether there is another smaller country that can be made out as a problem, and it decides to become one because it doesn’t see that there’s anything to lose.

  11. svay Avatar
    svay

    Jens Stultenborg on the BBC news a few minutes ago: “We have seen attempts by Russia to stage false flags incidents recently.” I’m quoting from memory, so that’s not verbatim, but he definitely said “we have seen attempts,” not “we have seen evidence that indicates Russia will …” or anything like that.
    I wonder if he has also seen those weapons of mass destruction that were in Iraq before the US ‘liberation’?

  12. Pascal Avatar
    Pascal

    This is the best possible illustration of Mark Twain’s aphorism that it’s very difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.
    Your last paragraph reminds me of a parable (that modern folks tend to call jokes). A salesman gets home early and finds his wife naked in the bedroom, closing the wardrobe.
    – What are your doing naked at this time of day? he asks.
    – Well… I was feeling hot and so I took my clothes off.
    – And you haven’t done the bed yet?
    – Well actually I had a bit of a headache and so I thought I’d lie down and try to sleep it off.
    – Well you’d better put your dressing gown on or you’ll catch a cold. The thermometer is below 70.
    – I can’t. I gave it to the cleaners yesterday.
    – But I thought I saw it in the wardrobe this morning…
    He opens the wardrobe and there’s a guy standing inside:
    – And what are you doing here for Christ’s sake? he asks.
    – Well… if you believe all she told you, I’m waiting for the bus…

    1. L8917 Avatar
      L8917

      CapricornOne was on this weekend-I opted out of “the news” and heard nearly all of HalHolbrook’s pitch that was ultimately a threat.

      I’ve seen most of it half a dozen times, the whole thing twice, but I almost always turn it off after SamWaterston’s final scene.

      The cat is on the roof, I understand, and someone’s girl is there too.

  13. pretzelattack Avatar
    pretzelattack

    same thing happened during the runup to the second Iraq war. the “intelligence source” known as Curveball (I’ve forgotten his real name but he later admitted he lied) kept “revealing” locations of Iraqi wmd’s, and every single one turned out to be fraudulent when investigated by UN inspectors, but all they did was pretend that made the case for war even stronger, “we must act now, before he uses the WMD’s we cannot find!!”.

  14. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    Few things manipulate the stock market and oil prices so well as tank treads kicking up mud along some foreign national boundary. Oh, except perhaps an increase in interest rates immediately following a multi trillion dollar spending bill or several as the inflation rate doubles twice over and politicians remain busy sorting out their pork.

  15. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    It’s a little known fact but easily checkable. The US has not won a war since the American Civil War – they only won that one because they were on both sides.
    Throughout the entirety of WW2, the US and Britain only ever fought 12 to 16 German Divisions. The Germans attacked the USSR with 180 Divisions and eventually over 200 Divisions. Including Italian, Dutch, Spanish, French, Romanian, Hungarian and Croatian troops. And more than a few Ukrainian SS Divisions after the invasion. It is estimated that 1 in 5 German troops in France at the start of D-Day were Ukrainian. In one week, at the battle of the Kursk Salient, Germany and Russia lost more troops killed than Britain and the Commonwealth, the US and other nations combined for the entirety of the war. Guess one could conclude that the Russkis won WW2 almost single-handedly.
    War in the Pacific. The US was careful to avoid contact with the bulk of the Japanese Army and concentrated on the Japanese Army’s greatest enemy, the Japanese Navy. At the time of surrender the Japanese Army still held all of the Asian mainland it had taken. Four fifths of the Japanese forces were never defeated in battle. The attack by the USSR through Mongolia and the realisation of a resurgent Japanese Communist Party and Soviet occupation forced their eventual surrender.
    The Korean War has never been concluded. Have a good look at the American War against Vietnam and their other adventure in Afghanistan.
    If Russia actually wants Ukraine they could have it… at any time. The US won’t be there to assist. The US military is fully aware of its capabilities – and its massive limitations.

    1. Pascal Avatar
      Pascal

      Ah yes but… all that time throughout those wars, the MIC has made billions of dollars selling weapons which of course have overflown into politicians’ pockets! Why would you want to win a war if making it last allows you to take more and more money out of the taxpayer’s pocket to put it into your own? The guys who fight it know they’re the “good guys” anyway. What would winning add to that? And the sponsors (aka taxpayers) are happy to know that their hard earned dollars are used to repel the bloodthirsty murderers of a communist (fascist, Islamist… tick the right denomination) faction swimming across the ocean with their knives between their teeth to come and slit their their throats while they’re asleep!

      1. L8917 Avatar
        L8917

        Adds a new context to the line ‘fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here’, them being the amorphous other that international cartels use to keep the profits rolling.

        Step right up and spin the big wheel, round & round & round it goes, stopping on the world’s next big foe. Sign here, I’ll hold your wallet, please put on the gloves of absolution and the mask of ignorance before you begin…and away we go! Who’s next? How about you, little boy? Care to give it a spin? Something for everyone! No prize unclaimed, no land neglected, nobody escapes the great and secret game, the predator of man second only to disease, perhaps most of the time-but we’ll have to see about that, won’t we?

      2. Bill Avatar
        Bill

        I agree, even the Bush dynasty was involved in weapons sales to both sides. Bush senior during WW2 was the first US Congressman(or Senator?) to be impeached for selling arms to the enemy.
        Always ‘follow the money’.
        However, I do agree with Caitlin Johnstone’s premise that the US is perhaps the worst and most evil empire ever devised.
        Re WW2 history. War history is not actually considered ‘history’ by any academic stretch. The closest you can come is through ‘war data’ and political history.
        Hollywood is not history!

    2. L8917 Avatar
      L8917

      I’ve read and seen that the US military leads the nation by at least half a decade, often with phrasing that leads into perception, sometimes even a product that may have some benefit, et cetera that might make it seem worth the cost. It makes sense, considering the investment of time converted to money that that industry would lead a country.

      If gForce is now aware that it ain’t got it-it being manpower, weaponry, intelligence-will it take five years for the “citizens” to know?

  16. Realist Avatar
    Realist

    Great White Father speak with forked tongue.
    ~
    Amazing how Lord Biden can accuse Russia of “invading” Ukraine with a straight face when it was Washington’s meddling in the country that fomented the coup, ramped up the hate and started all this madness. Are Russian politicians and their family members allowed to freely circulate throughout America, sabotaging the national order and elected government? Is regime change a constitutional right of every NGO apparatchik on a tourist visa? Yet Putin’s Russia allowed that freedom for its American “partners” for far too long. “You know the thing,” which is just a deliberate big ball of confusion coughed up by a desperate hegemon now obsessed with its own inadequacies and failures. There is precious little of the truth allowed in Lord Biden’s false narratives masquerading as grand proclamations of principle. (What a trip it must be to occupy his skull!)
    ~
    Taking over Ukraine is the last thing Russia intends as that hapless country fits the classic description of the “tar baby” in Black American folk culture. As the theory articulated by Br’er Rabbit goes, Washington’s increasing entanglement with the problematic Ukraine, undoubtedly the last place on earth that Washington belongs–5,000 miles away on the Eurasian Steppe, will only add to its troubles and regrets. Putin well recognises all the potential grief that Ukraine spells and wants none of it. In fact, like the proverbial black cat he wants it out of Russia’s future, never to cross paths with it again. However, Washington will always miss this larger point because simple minds note only that Ukraine is geographically contiguous with Russia and a never-ending opportunity to cause injury to that country. Furthermore, the exceptional nation’s pathological hubris will never allow such an admission and a potential escape from yet another self-imposed trap of itself. The obstinacy just drips from the senile old despot’s snarling lips in all his teleprompter readings. Time for that skunk to exit the garden party. He will never be anything but another crisis waiting to happen.

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      Well said Realist. Why on earth would Russia want the failed state of Ukraine as a burden around their necks? For that matter, why would the EU or NATO? Ukraine played what few cards it had very badly, and having lost, they keep gambling hoping their luck will change. It won’t.

    2. Cal Lawrence Avatar
      Cal Lawrence

      Brilliant predictions here, genius.

  17. Laurie De Marco Avatar
    Laurie De Marco

    while your sidelined with propaganda to look one way what is Klaus Schwab and the Wef up too its all smoke and mirrors even the Rothschilds know that and he is one …..look up his family tree if you want whats really going on why dont you people read the article on the latest new eastern outlook site titled davos and the purloined letter conspiracy enjoy be informed

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      Wasn’t Klaus Schwab’s’ mother a Rothschild? I think that’s the link.
      All those graduates infiltrated around the globe looks like a global conspiracy to me.

  18. Christoph Avatar
    Christoph

    I didn’t get the “Jordan Peterson fan on Valentines day” reference. Could someone briefly explain what that was about?
    Regarding the “cyber attack” – i hope everyone remebers how the US declared, that they would regard cyber attacks the same way as physical attacks and an act of war.
    Also i suggest a “Always coming but never arriving” list, like “Ricin attacks by terrorists”, “electronic Pearl Harbor”, “EMP attacks on the electric grid” as opposed to the things that obviously DO arrive, but are denied like ecocide, climate change, increasing totalitarianism…

    1. svay Avatar
      svay

      I’m not at all well up on it, but I think Jordan Peterson has become a sort of mascot for the ‘incels’, men without women who think women owe them sex as a duty.

      1. Christoph Avatar
        Christoph

        Thank you for that information. I had been (blissfully) unaware of this matter.

  19. JEFF EMSHOFF Avatar
    JEFF EMSHOFF

    “….as unfulfilled as the wishes of a Jordan Peterson fan on Valentine’s day.”
    Best.
    Line.
    Ever.

  20. BeliTsari Avatar
    BeliTsari

    What’s the sound of tin cups, rattling the same prison bars, from opposite sides… when we’re ALL simply annoying each other with the same old lies, rattling our cages over and over again?

  21. Inna Avatar
    Inna

    Yesterday Yahoo News had an article with the title that Biden said a Ukraine war would be bad for stock market. Today I tried to find it, and could not.
    Anyways, I wonder if they are trying to keep the Russian invasion in the news to distract from economic issues.

    1. thorsjackhammer Avatar
      thorsjackhammer

      I get the feeling ‘the Russian invasion’ is a false flag by both the west and Russia for some global strategy.

      1. svay Avatar
        svay

        Scott Ritter and others reckon Russia’s happy for the issue to keep simmering as it makes the cracks in NATO clear, even to its members.
        https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/11/the-ultimate-end-of-nato/

  22. L8917 Avatar
    L8917

    1) I’m changing my name to Schmo Random, legally, and then re-reading the Kabbalah.

    2) I’m going to re-introduce, or attempt to popularize the phrase ‘at least s/he’s honest’, hopefully encouraging some skepticism in others.

    3) I want to start asking anyone spewing someone else’s nonsense for a “confirmation ratio” [she must have a really high confirmation ratio-what other current events has she nailed before they’ve happened? or Sounds interesting; what think tank is s/he with? or ‘Is that a government-funded entity that helps explain these events to you?’ or something] because it sounds formal/educated and we’ve been coaxed, goaded or outright driven into context-free phrasing, emotional inferences and unbalanced presentation combined with percentages lacking raw numbers, ie meaninglessness, or more appropriately the abyss.

    4) CJ makes me think too much, encouraging my tendency to type, and offers me a space to do it, which is not something I enjoy anymore. In the interest of togetherness I think anyone that reads this should also agree it’s a problem.

    5) Before the full-on ‘WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, when did the phone-fondling Pokemon chasers decide currents events was something they could understand after three WaPo articles and a CNN clip?’ era picks up speed and leads us all into chaos, I want some consistency—does anyone know the Yiddish word for random?

  23. svay Avatar
    svay

    It just goes to show you can’t trust those dastardly, devious, deceitful Russians an inch. They plainly indicated – in fact, they as good as promised – they’d invade Ukraine on Wednesday, even keeping their borders actually adjacent to Ukraine’s, and refusing point-blank to surrender. We all knew it was a matter of days, maybe hours, before Russian tanks would be rolling through the streets of London and Lisbon. And that malevolent mendacious warmonger Putin’s gone and changed the schedule at the last minute. Well, that’s exactly why Russia is known as treaty incapable. Its word simply can’t be trusted. NATO should have launched a pre-emptive strike on Russia at the very start, saving itself all this embarrassment.

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      They were just having exercises with their mates the Belarussians, and now they’ve gone back to barracks. As they said they would. They’re no fun at all.

  24. Newton E. Finn Avatar
    Newton E. Finn

    “Just dismiss 100 percent of everything (the mainstream media) say, because any random schmoe’s best guess would be better than theirs.” So wouldn’t it be preferable not to listen to them in the first place? Every time someone deconstructs their false narratives, those narratives get repeated. And repeated enough, even via deconstruction, they seep into the mind…perhaps even the mind doing the deconstructing. You can’t win an argument with relentless mass propaganda. You can only ignore it. Even laughing at it means you’ve listened to it, and that, in a sense, means they’ve won.

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      But it’s all pervasive, inescapable BS. Even the person one thought had a brain repeats it, to my eternal exasperation. I turn on my phone and up flashes Google News chocka with MSM BS. I sneer and scroll past the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Megan Markle’s latest exploits and then to a reporter’s dismay at the thoughtlessness of anti-vaxxers who don’t care about their grandmothers. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhh. Thank God for Caitlin.

    2. svay Avatar
      svay

      The false narratives would be repeated anyway, with or without anyone deconstructing them, and millions would imbibe them. If we paid no attention, we’d get asked “Aren’t you worried about the latest evil Russia/China/Iran/whoever is up to?” And our reply would be “What?” Which might cause others to doubt whatever propaganda they’ve been fed, or it might lead them to conclude we know nothing about important world events, and our rejection of official Western narratives is based purely on ignorance and prejudice.

      1. Newton E. Finn Avatar
        Newton E. Finn

        And thus the response of those who have wisely IMHO totally tuned out should not be “What?” but rather “I don’t waste time on that BS.” On some level, most people know that the MSM are liars. So why spend endless time and effort deconstructing this lie and that, having to repeat the false narratives in the process? Reminds me of the Myth of Sisyphus…except he was supposed to be happy.

    3. VF Avatar
      VF

      Reminds me of something I used to say years ago re the “Question authority” meme circulating everywhere then. No, “Ignore authority.” Questioning them only legitimates their propaganda and serial lies.

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