I have often wondered whether Stalin was worse than Hitler. I have not been able to answer that because they were both so horrific. They were both so mentally ill. And neither would have been able to do what they did without the hundreds or thousands of people who enabled their reign's of terror. Not unlike the many GOP enablers.
I put them in the same class, Gail. Putin is just as dangerous, but interestingly, the people of Russia are providing pushback. They are speaking up for themselves more and more. Eventually they’ll get rid of this parasite. But they sure are dragging it out.
Yes, I agree. I find it interesting that I didn’t think to equate Putin with the others. But, he is doing the same sort of despicable things they did. I think it is because Hitler & Stalin are not in our present moment. Every day that Putin lives, he has another chance to do something worse than he did the day before. I’m holding my breath for the Russian people. I wonder if they will be treated as pariahs because of their government’s actions-the way the German people were treated after WWII.
It sure looks like the walls closing in on Vova. The Kremlin yesterday denied an assassination attempt took place, which denial typically means that yes, that happened.
Hunter/gathers resources were not scarce. Just hard to kill unless you were into berries.
Greg. In my watching of movies about Oil, scarcity of resources has becomes an issue today. Whether its Wheat or Lithium.
One of my favorite old films is Three Days of the Condor. In the ending the Evil CIA guy logically says, what do you think people will want when there is no fuel to grow food.
No heat in the winter.
" yes we play games and so does the other side."
A follow up film is Syriana.
And i think Degaulle today would keep Algeria.
Day of the Jackal (European version)
Although Putin is a evil guy.
Control of Resources and Sea Ports are logical, particularly to Paranoid Russians.
Sep 16, 2022·edited Sep 16, 2022Liked by Greg Olear
“Even the United States, a country with not much historical appetite for empire, planted its flag in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.”
… and a few other places, including Alaska, the only point of geographic contention between the U.S. Empire and Russian Empire until perhaps (arguably, probably not) Cuba.
Putin's ambitions are losing, and although he may remain a figurehead of his "Mother Russia," he will never be taken seriously again. But for his nukes, which I doubt have been cared for and are thus all but useless, he'd be a little paranoid, botoxed man, waiting for his number to be called. I think his greatest ambition was to reconstitute the Soviet Union, no matter how unrealistic that may be. He's losing a war against a small country, which he thinks, should have fallen and bowed to him back in February. Tin pot dictator.
Sep 16, 2022·edited Sep 16, 2022Liked by Greg Olear
Fascinating history lesson.
Greg is uniquely qualified to be telling this story, we learned in the past year, because of his Ukrainian heritage [does anyone have the reference to the precise article?] Before I learned, I was pronouncing his name as if Irish. It’s OH-lay-ar. (Right?)
The Soviet Union, and now the much smaller Russian Federation, are certainly relics of the old Russian Empire. Chechnya and Chechens, as just one example, are probably treated the way Ukraine was in the 1930s. If you ignore the native American cultures that have been overridden, suppressed, and eliminated, the lower 48 of the USA is not really an empire. But the Russian Federation and China are still very much empires: different provinces have very different languages and ethnicities, and could easily be their own nations.
So to maintain unity, it looks like you have to use drastic measures, like Putin’s dictatorship and the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party.
After whatever happens to Russia takes place over this Ukrainian war, China will be next.
Putin, during the development of his career, was stationed in East Germany and learned the culture and the language. So he was a student of power politics, being able to study close-hand what happened in Hitler’s time and also Stalin’s time. Many times he has demonstrated his love of czarist Russia, like during weddings. I think he loves the Russian orthodox church for its opulent displays of garish wealth, because it’s certainly not for anything spiritual or moral. The Soviet Union is his pride and joy. There is probably some glee and gloating in having participated in the Soviet occupation of East Germany. He prides himself on being a student of history, but the truth is that he is only a student of ancient history, obsolete history. He has a tremendous amount in common with Trump and the MAGA-t crowd of racism and sexism, because they all share the devoted attachment to the past. Some races are better than others. Men are dominant over women. It’s all about hierarchy, and that is the theme of the age of Pisces, which is the 2000 years now ending. The age of Aquarius is the future. These people are all still stuck in the past. Image. Wealth. Superior status, whether as an “in-power” Russian, or an “in-power” white, or any status which allows one to subjugate another class. Only morons get to the top in this society of cretins, because it takes a moron to have to rely on overt ultimately meaningless differences (race, gender, gender orientation, religious identity, political identity) in order to make value distinctions.
A little hard to overlook, I know. I’m not a political theorist or historian. What happened in the Americas is more like what happened in Africa and Australia. In Europe and Russia, they’re genociding themselves.
Of course you are correct. You misunderstand me. I was speaking of Europe and Russia, where people from their own country became leaders and killed members of their own society.
In the Americas, the Pacific, Australia, Africa, and much of Asia, it was genocide by European invasion. Manifest destiny. Treating the natives as subhuman. Genocidal maniacs like Spanish conquistadors. White colonial brutal kidnapping of Africans for the slave trade and wholesale murder of native Americans and many other natives.
We’re on the same page here, everyone in this community.
My last name was originally spelled Olejar, with a fancy accent on the "a." A Twitter acquaintance of the same last name told me it's Ruthenian, which is displaced Ukrainian, but 23 and Me says nah, Polish. My people were from a flyspeck town in what is now eastern Slovakia.
But that's just my dad's side, which is a Slavic mix. I'm fully half Italian.
23 and me’s 2nd analysis of my DNA said my Dad’s side originated in Poland but the third (and most recent) analysis puts our roots in Ukraine. My Paternal Grandmother had deep roots in Hungary (she would find Orban completely unacceptable). Interesting how this gives me evidence of the migratory lifestyle of my ancestors. Maybe this is one reason why I am so upset with the anti-immigration mentality.
A good book to read is "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" by Dmitri Volkogonov. Volkogonov was a Soviet General, in his own words "a committed hardliner," until as the head of the Soviet History Department he was allowed access to the real Soviet archives. What he discovered turned him 180 degrees.
The book is available at Amazon, and you can get used copies in good condition (as I did) from other book dealers.
It's "eye opening" as they say, even for someone who thought his eyes were already open. And it gives historical context to understand how and why contemportary history is as it is.
“The breakup of the Soviet Union was not a catastrophe. It was an inevitability.”
… making the break-up of the Russian Federation an inevitability as well.
After the democracy suppression that the Death Star (Kremlin) did on Khodorovsk, and also on Novosibirsk, not to mention the very recent suppression of the district leaders in Putin’s home of St. Petersburg, you have to wonder just how many different portions of “Russia” would become their own nations. I’d love to see that tally after the break-up. And what becomes of Kaliningrad? Another teeny tiny nation?
Here’s what I remember from reading it yesterday (can’t find the link)
Putin was returning home in a five car motorcade, date unspecified and location unspecified but probably Kremlin to somewhere in Moscow. There was an earlier dummy, deception 5-car motorcade that went first. So he was in the 2nd group of cars, in the third vehicle (the middle vehicle) out of 5.
An ambulance blocked the first vehicle, probably in order to stop the entire motorcade. The first car somehow managed to get around and evade the blocking ambulance, then a bomb exploded on the left front of Putin‘s car. Later everyone in that first car, who were part of his security team, was arrested and disappeared. The head of the security team was also arrested. The reason given for the arrests is that only an insider could know that Putin was in the second motorcade and which precise car in that motorcade was his. He arrived home unscathed. There was additional detail in the news report that I don’t recall.
Putin is not only making war in Ukraine but on Reality itself
World leaders are snubbing him now. All he has left is FPOTUS. They deserve each other.
Great interview, Greg. Also—the preface of “Empress” hooked me; I just bought the paperback. Good work!
Thanks, Chris! I'll be writing more about it tomorrow...
I have often wondered whether Stalin was worse than Hitler. I have not been able to answer that because they were both so horrific. They were both so mentally ill. And neither would have been able to do what they did without the hundreds or thousands of people who enabled their reign's of terror. Not unlike the many GOP enablers.
I put them in the same class, Gail. Putin is just as dangerous, but interestingly, the people of Russia are providing pushback. They are speaking up for themselves more and more. Eventually they’ll get rid of this parasite. But they sure are dragging it out.
Yes, I agree. I find it interesting that I didn’t think to equate Putin with the others. But, he is doing the same sort of despicable things they did. I think it is because Hitler & Stalin are not in our present moment. Every day that Putin lives, he has another chance to do something worse than he did the day before. I’m holding my breath for the Russian people. I wonder if they will be treated as pariahs because of their government’s actions-the way the German people were treated after WWII.
It sure looks like the walls closing in on Vova. The Kremlin yesterday denied an assassination attempt took place, which denial typically means that yes, that happened.
Both Bolsheviks and Nazis were the thugs of crime syndicates -- Stalin and Hitler being ultimate boss in each, respectively
Excellent point. Stalin robbed banks. Saddam was also a thief. These strongmen all are.
They are the Lennon and McCartney of pure evil. We can argue which is worse, but the truth is, they are both heinous.
Why my support for the return of nomadic Hunter/gatherers?
The first war, 2700 bc was likely for limited agriculture resources. Keep in mind Ukraine is considered the "bread basket" of Europe.
Putin follows the murderous path of historys war on the innocent by narcissist sociopaths in the name of "Mother Russia."
So not much new here.
Pequots 1637
I'm much too lazy to gather and hunt, Cal. Once the WiFi stops working, I'm done.
Hunter/gathers resources were not scarce. Just hard to kill unless you were into berries.
Greg. In my watching of movies about Oil, scarcity of resources has becomes an issue today. Whether its Wheat or Lithium.
One of my favorite old films is Three Days of the Condor. In the ending the Evil CIA guy logically says, what do you think people will want when there is no fuel to grow food.
No heat in the winter.
" yes we play games and so does the other side."
A follow up film is Syriana.
And i think Degaulle today would keep Algeria.
Day of the Jackal (European version)
Although Putin is a evil guy.
Control of Resources and Sea Ports are logical, particularly to Paranoid Russians.
Time to make a garden and grow your veggies.
Basically, Peter the Great and his successors put the “Roman” in “Romanov.”
…and quite appropriately usurped the word “czar,” a variant of “caesar.”
“Even the United States, a country with not much historical appetite for empire, planted its flag in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines.”
… and a few other places, including Alaska, the only point of geographic contention between the U.S. Empire and Russian Empire until perhaps (arguably, probably not) Cuba.
Alaska was purchased, though...not quite the same as the other places. It was a mistake not taking Cuba in 1898, I think, in hindsight.
Yes! Good point. Kaiser also, same root word.
👍
Putin's ambitions are losing, and although he may remain a figurehead of his "Mother Russia," he will never be taken seriously again. But for his nukes, which I doubt have been cared for and are thus all but useless, he'd be a little paranoid, botoxed man, waiting for his number to be called. I think his greatest ambition was to reconstitute the Soviet Union, no matter how unrealistic that may be. He's losing a war against a small country, which he thinks, should have fallen and bowed to him back in February. Tin pot dictator.
I was sort of hoping he'd no longer be around by the time the podcast dropped. Oh well. Patience.
Fascinating history lesson.
Greg is uniquely qualified to be telling this story, we learned in the past year, because of his Ukrainian heritage [does anyone have the reference to the precise article?] Before I learned, I was pronouncing his name as if Irish. It’s OH-lay-ar. (Right?)
The Soviet Union, and now the much smaller Russian Federation, are certainly relics of the old Russian Empire. Chechnya and Chechens, as just one example, are probably treated the way Ukraine was in the 1930s. If you ignore the native American cultures that have been overridden, suppressed, and eliminated, the lower 48 of the USA is not really an empire. But the Russian Federation and China are still very much empires: different provinces have very different languages and ethnicities, and could easily be their own nations.
So to maintain unity, it looks like you have to use drastic measures, like Putin’s dictatorship and the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party.
After whatever happens to Russia takes place over this Ukrainian war, China will be next.
Putin, during the development of his career, was stationed in East Germany and learned the culture and the language. So he was a student of power politics, being able to study close-hand what happened in Hitler’s time and also Stalin’s time. Many times he has demonstrated his love of czarist Russia, like during weddings. I think he loves the Russian orthodox church for its opulent displays of garish wealth, because it’s certainly not for anything spiritual or moral. The Soviet Union is his pride and joy. There is probably some glee and gloating in having participated in the Soviet occupation of East Germany. He prides himself on being a student of history, but the truth is that he is only a student of ancient history, obsolete history. He has a tremendous amount in common with Trump and the MAGA-t crowd of racism and sexism, because they all share the devoted attachment to the past. Some races are better than others. Men are dominant over women. It’s all about hierarchy, and that is the theme of the age of Pisces, which is the 2000 years now ending. The age of Aquarius is the future. These people are all still stuck in the past. Image. Wealth. Superior status, whether as an “in-power” Russian, or an “in-power” white, or any status which allows one to subjugate another class. Only morons get to the top in this society of cretins, because it takes a moron to have to rely on overt ultimately meaningless differences (race, gender, gender orientation, religious identity, political identity) in order to make value distinctions.
Okay, I'll ignore the European genocide of the Americas indeginous. Ha!
Geronimo
A little hard to overlook, I know. I’m not a political theorist or historian. What happened in the Americas is more like what happened in Africa and Australia. In Europe and Russia, they’re genociding themselves.
"GENOCIDING THEMSELVES "
AH, cum on Roland.
No revisionist jerking off about history.
80 percent of the indeginous in what we call the US were murdered in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Led by White Supremacists religious nut jobs.
The fucking tooth fairy never left even a wooden nickel under my pillow.
Of course you are correct. You misunderstand me. I was speaking of Europe and Russia, where people from their own country became leaders and killed members of their own society.
In the Americas, the Pacific, Australia, Africa, and much of Asia, it was genocide by European invasion. Manifest destiny. Treating the natives as subhuman. Genocidal maniacs like Spanish conquistadors. White colonial brutal kidnapping of Africans for the slave trade and wholesale murder of native Americans and many other natives.
We’re on the same page here, everyone in this community.
Ok
Excellent analysis, Roland! Yes, the “Morons” will not survive in this new time we are entering. The “Heartless” will melt away.
My last name was originally spelled Olejar, with a fancy accent on the "a." A Twitter acquaintance of the same last name told me it's Ruthenian, which is displaced Ukrainian, but 23 and Me says nah, Polish. My people were from a flyspeck town in what is now eastern Slovakia.
But that's just my dad's side, which is a Slavic mix. I'm fully half Italian.
Thank you for that clarification about your name 🙏
23 and me’s 2nd analysis of my DNA said my Dad’s side originated in Poland but the third (and most recent) analysis puts our roots in Ukraine. My Paternal Grandmother had deep roots in Hungary (she would find Orban completely unacceptable). Interesting how this gives me evidence of the migratory lifestyle of my ancestors. Maybe this is one reason why I am so upset with the anti-immigration mentality.
A good book to read is "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" by Dmitri Volkogonov. Volkogonov was a Soviet General, in his own words "a committed hardliner," until as the head of the Soviet History Department he was allowed access to the real Soviet archives. What he discovered turned him 180 degrees.
The book is available at Amazon, and you can get used copies in good condition (as I did) from other book dealers.
It's "eye opening" as they say, even for someone who thought his eyes were already open. And it gives historical context to understand how and why contemportary history is as it is.
Thanks for the rec!
“The breakup of the Soviet Union was not a catastrophe. It was an inevitability.”
… making the break-up of the Russian Federation an inevitability as well.
After the democracy suppression that the Death Star (Kremlin) did on Khodorovsk, and also on Novosibirsk, not to mention the very recent suppression of the district leaders in Putin’s home of St. Petersburg, you have to wonder just how many different portions of “Russia” would become their own nations. I’d love to see that tally after the break-up. And what becomes of Kaliningrad? Another teeny tiny nation?
Konigsberg and environs -- a city state
Liechtenstein. San Marino. Andorra.
I don't think the borders change much now, but we'll see...
Telegram reports of an attempted assassination of Putin. Russia denies it.
Here’s what I remember from reading it yesterday (can’t find the link)
Putin was returning home in a five car motorcade, date unspecified and location unspecified but probably Kremlin to somewhere in Moscow. There was an earlier dummy, deception 5-car motorcade that went first. So he was in the 2nd group of cars, in the third vehicle (the middle vehicle) out of 5.
An ambulance blocked the first vehicle, probably in order to stop the entire motorcade. The first car somehow managed to get around and evade the blocking ambulance, then a bomb exploded on the left front of Putin‘s car. Later everyone in that first car, who were part of his security team, was arrested and disappeared. The head of the security team was also arrested. The reason given for the arrests is that only an insider could know that Putin was in the second motorcade and which precise car in that motorcade was his. He arrived home unscathed. There was additional detail in the news report that I don’t recall.
Ah shoot !
Tanks
Or…maybe he’s already dead and Russia will delay admitting it for as long as possible.