Category Archives: FTAC – From The Awesome Conversation

If — in my own head — I hit a universal note just about right in Facebook or other conversation, I may simply wrench it from context and publish it here in this category as a mix of observation and, I hope, a writer’s wisdom.

FTAC: For Conflicts, Middle East and Others, a Day for Denying Intractability and Embracing Optimism for a Much Better Global Tomorrow

15 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Modern, A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, International Development, Islamic Small Wars, Philosophy, Political Psychology, Politics, Psychology

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Inspiration

My conversational partner, an Israeli, said, “Some problems don’t have solutions. That’s a concept that’s especially difficult for Americans to understand.”

From the Awesome Conversation

There are no intractable political challenges for any authentically modern and progressing democratic society and state.

Rawabi has been brought into existence by Palestinian wealth and is in business with western Fortune 500 companies, including Mellanox.

Here’s another project launched — i.e., off the draftsman’s board and under construction today — in an unlikely place:

https://www.neom.com/index.html

The world is neither hopeless nor helpless in light of its collective issues and future. It may be crime ridden, fractious, and violent, but the measurable qualities of evil may be diminished with time. We have not, thank God, had our World War III but while living perpetually in a state of competition or conflict with China and Russia — those may be considered the Orwellian two other powers — we have developed sustained lower-intensity conflicts and the transnational crime organizations that fuel their fires. Well, if we can develop greater conscience in some, temper greed, and deal with practical pressures, we might be able to draw those down.

If the Devil’s winning, Mark, it’s our own fault (for not understanding how the Damned Thing works).

For corrupt Palestinian leaders, the real primary incentive appears to be relationships with elites yielding money and personal security. Some at the top of that heap should try purchasing a less self-centered and parochial conscience.

From whence comes the broader consideration of others in the world by those who by way of their own wealthy and powerful circumstance have the wherewithal to lead it?

In casual talk, I’ve suggested evolution.

Why not?

Nature grows our minds.

In more serious psychology, altruism, caring, conscience, love, and the related apprehension of duties, obligations, and responsibilities toward others seem altogether healthier characteristics than fearful and compensating tendencies toward the meanest and smallest minded expressions of the will to survive as a will determined to destroy or dominate others.

For those with seriously Up There — Plutocratic — Clout, which is the better direction and why grind against it?

Why not formulate ideas and programs better fit for both a challenging global and personal future by simply enjoying what has characterized the past in dogma and politics — there’s no need to dishonor the past for anyone — while moving on to “well, we are all here on just this one marble of an island in space and time — and our first priority should be keeping our own conditions — environmental and broadly social — better than survivable”?

There are those with the power to drive forward of their own circumstances and life experiences, the present is always the place in time (and there is no better) where some cultural rivers and their ideas (and associated behaviors) needs must dissolve in their own delta while others — more fit for future time and space — flow from new wellsprings.

Related Online

Neom

Rawabi

Wherever we are in time — this moment! — we’re not going to be in the same place tomorrow. It may look that way on the outside — same writer here, same desktop: differently informed and perpetually gathering, recombining, reformulating ideas, information, plans.

Posted to YouTube by April 5, 2063, January 30, 2019.

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FTAC: Palestinian KGB: Another Remark

11 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Palestinia, Palestinian Territories, Russia

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From the Awesome Conversation

I harp on this point with the hope that it will lead to insight into the Palestinian role in more general and profound “east-west relations” — https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4874089,00.html As Moscow has remained “politically absolute” in relation to power, so it has supported corrupt dictatorships around the world and blocked the spread of western liberalism and democratic self-determination and inclusion. The Middle East Conflict remains but one of many now post-Soviet frozen conflicts energized by its defunct Soviet Era framing and covered by the “liberation movement” banner.

From Arafat to Abbas to whoever comes next, Palestinian leaders have been puppets with their string attached to the Russia’s political police services.

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FTAC: Yemen: Houthi: One Question

09 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation

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From the Awesome Conversation

— Subsidy backlash. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which had extended to Yemen a $550 million loan premised on promises of economic reforms, Hadi’s government lifted fuel subsidies in 2014. The Houthi movement, which had attracted support beyond its base with its criticisms of the UN transition, organized mass protests demanding lower fuel prices and a new government. Hadi’s supporters and the Muslim Brotherhood–affiliated party, al-Islah, held counterrallies.

Houthi takeover. The Houthis captured much of Sanaa by late 2014. Reneging on a UN peace deal, they consolidated control of the capital and continued their southward advance. Hadi’s government resigned under pressure in January 2015 and Hadi later fled to Saudi Arabia. —

The Houthi act like post-Soviet Communists and appear aligned with the theocratic and thieving regime in Tehran.

Why President Biden would de-list the organization from the designated terrorist roster . . . please, tell me.

Related Online

Robinson, Kali. “Yemen’s Tragedy: War, Stalemate, and Suffering.” Council on Foreign Relations, last updated February 5, 2021.

Swofford, Tammy. “Yemen Revolution, September 21.” The Last English Prince, September 17, 2017.

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FTAC: Change: Medieval –> Modern

06 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, A Little Wisdom, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Political Psychology, Psychology, Religion

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From the Awesome Conversation

One theme is change and has to do with outgrowing old ways and adopting new ones . . . but on a civilizational level rather than personal; and the other may involved Moscow’s perfidy, if that, in efforts to encourage and sustain the feudal and tribal political and social arrangements and identities that account for the brutality and corruption of dictatorships attached to cultures left behind in geopolitical time. The 9/11 crews, for example, were still fighting the “crusader west”.

Related Online: Anachronisms, Rivers in Time, and Time Bubbles

If Time were a Surface, one where cultures and religions, among other things, have their wellsprings — and boisterous young years — and their deltas — with years fading into abandonment, one could map multiple lines, start to finish, for the gods, tribes, kingdoms, and states — and the attitudes, beliefs, and prayers and rituals once embraced.

The three pieces cited below may at first seem disconnected, but each has to do with recovering or sustaining something installed — conflicts, ideas, relationships — in the past and no longer quite so necessary to the stewardship of Earth and the survival of our species (with the exception of diminishing our numbers with fire).

Harrod, Andrew. “Craig Considine: Islam’s Muhammad Shall Overcome Racism.” Jihad Watch, February 2, 2021.

Schindler, John. “Exploring Al Qaeda’s Murky Connection to Russian Intelligence.” Business Insider, June 10, 2014.

Sheth, Sonam, Skye Gould, and Grace Panetta. “What we know about Paul Manafort’s connections to Russia.” Business Insider, August 1, 2018.

Above and in the order presented: a contemporary Constantine despoils the syncretic pablum that would diminish a long-standing rivalry with Muhammad’s troops; an explorer on the East-West Sea (a place in Time) suggests Zawahiri’s strings have been pulled by Moscow; and, yes, there was collusion but to be found in relationships and activities beneath them, not in deals.

So, for the future, how may Christian zealots and Islamist fanatics reach their deltas?

Well, they might wear themselves out while having made careers of their conversation — why stop today or tomorrow or in the next 35 years? The quests of each have become institutions — for as long as each may open wallets — and there’s money to be made defending and passing along dogma irregardless of its relevance to other than itself.

As for “authoritarians” or “political absolutists” — the criminals of politics past and future — they’re snagging money in their maneuvers — and most ruin their surrounds while aggrandizing and prettying themselves.

“Anachronisms” would seem things no longer fit to contemporary circumstance and concern.

“Rivers in Time”, as suggested, would be the channels carved by something young at one time — energetic, full, and moving heaven and earth — and later no longer strong but diminished and dispersed.

“Time Bubbles”?

In such Regions in Time we collectively but separately sustain and replay old battles, stubbornly stick to our guns, and confidently believe we’re getting somewhere while going nowhere until one party or the other — or both — find ruin and leave their children or others to find them in history a page or a footnote or not vanquished but vanished.

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FTAC: Craziest American Times?

05 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, American Domestic Affairs, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, Political Psychology, Political Spychology, Politics, South America

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Q: Do you think this is the craziest time we have ever known?

From the Awesome Conversation

I’d suggest the Vietnam Era worse.

Keep in mind that the Soviet Union spent $1 billion seeding our Anti-War and Environmental movementsAndr and channeled its efforts toward our bipolar radicalism — about the same as today with its “Active Measures” held over from Yuri Andropov’s day.

With a one-term Trump Presidency, we have dodged a powerful bullet, and we should keep in mind that it took crossover Republicans to do it.

Biden’s now relying on outdated postures and needs to be shaken out of the still near past with Obama.

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I’ll go a little further here with the note that our own decadence drives large foreign affairs, financial, and social issues. We’ve overdone it with the coke, dope, and sex (for starters), and the same have launched mass migrations toward us as well as funded our enemies through their control of Transnational Crime Organizations (TCOs). As “Children of the ’60s”, we should own up to some of the less immediately visible consequences of our own appetites.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cassandra

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-guns/iron-river-of-guns-flows-from-u-s-to-mexico-idUSN1223853620070713 (2007) | https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/us-mexico-border-hemorrhaging-weapons/ (2020) |

In the western hemisphere, insecurity related to black market operations — cartels, gangs — literally drives people out of their homes; the same, of course, sends the “entrepreneurs” toward The North for business — or deliveries.

Posted to YouTube by Sheriff Reynolds, June 18, 2013.

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FTAC: Endemic Russian Anti-Semitism — A Note

01 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Europe, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Middle East, Northern Europe, Politics, Religion, Russia, Saudi Arabia

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Nazism inflicted history’s most horrendous crimes against Jews. But Germany has by no means been history’s top purveyor of global antisemitism.

That distinction goes to Russia, which spread antisemitism more widely and durably.

Heinze, Eric. “Russia is the global leader in Jew-hate.” The JC. February 24, 2017.

Emphasis added to the above quotation from Eric Heinze’s analysis in The JC.

“Rise of the Rus” — and the End of the Khazar Kingdom: Excerpt with Reference

Rise of Rus

Originally the Khazars were probably allied with various Norse factions who controlled the region around Novgorod. The Rus’ Khaganate, an early Rus polity in northwestern Russia, was probably heavily influenced by the Khazars. The Rus’ regularly travelled through Khazar-held territory to attack territories around the Black and Caspian Seas; in one such raid, the Khagan is said to have given his assent on the condition that the Rus’ give him half of the booty. In addition, the Khazars allowed the Rus to use the trade route along the Volga River. This alliance was apparently fostered by the hostility between the Khazars and Arabs. At a certain point, however, the Khazar connivance to the sacking of the Muslim lands by the Varangians led to a backlash against the Norsemen from the Muslim population of the Khaganate. The Khazar rulers closed the passage down the Volga for the Rus’, sparking a war. In the early 960s, Khazar ruler Joseph wrote to Hasdai ibn Shaprut about the deterioration of Khazar relations with the Rus: “I have to wage war with them, for if I would give them any chance at all they would lay waste the whole land of the Muslims as far as Baghdad.”

The Rus warlords Oleg of Novgorod and Sviatoslav I of Kiev launched several wars against the Khazar khaganate, often with Byzantine connivance. The Schechter Letter relates the story of a campaign against Khazaria by HLGW (Oleg) around 941 (in which Oleg was defeated by the Khazar general Pesakh; this calls into question the timeline of the Primary Chronicle and other related works on the history of the Eastern Slavs.

Sviatoslav finally succeeded in destroying Khazar imperial power in the 960s. The Khazar fortresses of Sarkel and Tamatarkha fell to the Rus in 965, with the capital city of Atil following circa 967 or 969. A visitor to Atil wrote soon after the sacking of the city: “The Rus attacked, and no grape or raisin remained, not a leaf on a branch.”

“Khazars”. Wikispeedia.

The Roman Empire had never been Europe’s only organizing power.

The Germanic tribes, the Norse, the Mongols, and many others had been crossing that landscape for political community, trade, and war for centuries. However, it appears to have been the Varangians — descendants of the Vikings — who corrupted the Turkic Jewish Khazar, and when the protective kingdom thought better of looting some of its own villages (Muslim) in concert with the Varangians (and sharing the loot), the Varangians made war on the Khazar and destroyed the kingdom. Legends about that warfare — and the Jews — MAY have floated across northern, central, and eastern Europe for generations. Combined with Christian supersessionary ambitions for subscription and the elimination of Judaism as a contemporary religion, the seeds for Russian (and Greek Orthodox) anti-Semitism may have flourished.

Related Reading

Encyclopedia Britannica. “Khazar People”.

Kellogg, Michael. The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Emigres and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Nicholls, William. Christian Antisemitism: A History of Hate. Northvale, New Jersey, London: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1995.

When asked about admitting Jews into the Empire, Peter the Great stated “I prefer to see in our midst nations professing Mohammedanism and paganism rather than Jews. They are rogues and cheats. It is my endeavor to eradicate evil, not to multiply it.”

Wikipedia. “Antisemitism in the Russian Empire”.

Addendum, June 19, 2023 and Forward

From time to time, cogent reference crosses my desktop, and I may add the same to reference.

Motyl, Alexander J. “Why Russophobia Has Become a Moral Obligation.” The Messenger, June 19, 2023.

Orton, Kyle. “Jews and the Russian Orthodox Church: History of a Relationship.” It Can Always Get Worse, October 10, 2024.

Addendum to Addendum, September 28, 2023; Updated November 12, 2023

Link rot appears to have masked off references in the main body of this post. It looks like I’ll be building this fill-and-correct section for a short while. Note: I’ve removed out-of-service URLs, so this page and post now serves as a portal the Jewish presence in Byzantine Era Ukraine, the availability of Judaism as a choice for the Turkic Khazar tribes in their drive for independence and security against Constantinople, Mecca, and Rome. If Kyiv were not at the time Jewish, it had certainly the influence and presence of the Jews and Judaism within it. The period in history: approximately 6th to 10th Centuries.

The McGill University “Wikispedia” article “Khazars” has shown up on a mirror at this address: http://mirror2.polsri.ac.id/wiki/wp/k/Khazars.htm . Whether the “memory hole” was created by politics or technology remains to be found out (and I so don’t wish to pursue the matter down the proverbial rabbit hole), but as of the evening of this addendum’s date, it’s available online.

Related online->

ADL. “Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Abound Around Russian Assault on Ukraine.” March 9, 2022.

American Jewish Committee. “Khazars”.

Brook, Kevin Alan. “The Jews of Khazaria.” Northvale, New Jersey, 2003.

Brook, Kevin Alan. “The Khazar Fortress of Sarkel.” Last updated June 22, 2022.

Facts and Details (web site). “Vikings in Russia” and related sections, including “Rus and Varangians”.

Gerster, Lea. “An Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory is Being Shared on Telegram to Justify Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.” Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

Ludmer, Tara (AKA Tara Bognar). “Khazar Self-Perception: A Study of the Schechter Text.” December 9, 1998.

The Histories. “The Khazars – Jewish Turkic Nomads of The Eurasian Steppe.” YouTube Video, July 10, 2022.

The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. “Khazaria”.

Wikipedia. “Khazars”.

Addendum, October 11, 2023

The Turkic Khazar tribes and their protectorate have been framed as colonialists in Israel and wholly without relationship to “real Jews” as well as being denied historic existence by being dismissed as mythical. The first and antisemitic position belies the question of how the Khazar came to identify with Judaism sufficiently to call themselves Jews. For that, there must have already been Jews within the region they came to control. The dismissal as myth begs the origin of names, “Khazar” itself and “Jewish names” like Kagan. Here’s another video on the matter:

HUJI. “Shaul Stampfer: Khazar Myth and Jews of Eastern Europe.” YouTube Video, May 31, 2022. Note: According to the McGill Wikispedia entry, neither the Vikings nor the Varangians organized the region associated with the Khazar between the 6th and 10th Centuries.

If swayed by the dismissive simplicity of the above explanation, feel welcome to revisit the matter and have a look at the coin of the realm:

Mayim Achronim (blog). “The Surprising Story of Russia, Ukraine, and the Jews.” March 9, 2022.

For independent research, start with the “Schechter Letter” and “Khazar Coinage”. For another launch from this page:

Wikipedia. “Khazar coinage”.

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In the 830s, coins were minted in Khazaria bearing the Arabic text “There is no God but Allah, and Musa (Moses) is His messenger.” These coins can be seen as evidence that the Khazars—or some of them—had converted to Judaism. However, we should recall, that the first Polish coins, from the time of Mieszko I had Jewish references, too—they had Mieszko Krul Polski written in Hebrew characters. Still, these Polish coins tell nothing about the religious adherence of Mieszko or Polish peasantry or gentry. The same can be true for the Khazar coins with a Jewish-like text—in both cases, the coins were minted by Jews for their purposes, and that’s all we know.

Shapira, Dan. “So, Who Were the Khazars.” Tablet, January 29, 2021.

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The Cleveland Museum of Art. “Solidus with Leo IV the Khazar and His Father Constantine V Copronymus.”

While Dan Shapira dismisses Khazar Jewish identification as impossible to confirm on a racial basis, there being no genetic material from the past with which to compare with some present sample, one may remind that Judaism is an idea shared with a religious cohort that spans language cultures and races worldwide. In the near past, the 20th Century, Germany and Russia could boast the presence of millions of Jews worthy of defaming, corralling, harassing, herding, and murdering in similar numbers.

The Jews have been referred to as “a people apart” (and there is today a title, Vital, David. A People Apart: A Political History of the Jews in Europe 1789-1939. Oxford University Press, 2001) and perhaps the Jewish Diaspora of the Byzantine Era simply lived with power amicable or terrorizing by turns.

Judging by today’s Jews, however, I believe the Jewish communities and families of the Byzantine would have wielded an influence on Power in the region similar to today’s myriad halls of state, and that would make the same a rival to other power bent on expansion or greater and perhaps unquestionable authority. Perhaps the Khazar were lucky to have them aboard for so long.

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FTAC: JCPOA & Tehran – Morning Note to Joe Biden

30 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Iran, Middle East, North America, United States of America

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The Right x American-Israeli Right appears to be threatening the Left x American-Israeli Left with claims of a nuclear peace accord revival — return to Kerry’s pink tie escapade and a massive drug deal of a bribe — when, in BackChannels estimation, those days are gone forever. Russia has mumbled through its bullying in Crimea and destruction in Syria; Tehran has never done other than despoil its environment and disappoint its politically suffocated (and once modern) constituency.

From the Awesome Conversation

Given the Moscow-Tehran post-Soviet nexus and Tehran’s aggression via IRGC directly (Syria) and proxies (e.g., Houthi insurgents, Yemen; Hezbollah, worldwide), I’d suggest not doing the $1B drug deal again. Hold the west’s position in the ME; repair the Atlantic Alliance (!); and leverage China — Tehran’s oil buyer — off the extremist-supporting tack.

As if I ruled the world . . . .

The post’s a feel-good made possible by Biden’s page on FB – why not send a note across the virtual hall now that all has been reduced to plain text e- communications? So done although one may ask where such a “missive” really lands — is there a virtual cookie jar for FB or other e-notes to the President? 🙂

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FTAC: Russia for Modernity

24 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Russia

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From the Awesome Conversation

Russia’s in trouble today — https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/world/europe/photos-russia-navalny-protest.html — and partially for stubbornly clinging to its 19th Century political culture with its absolute and uncaring power. While the state has strongly supported its Defense and Energy businesses, and used the latter to pry Turkey from NATO (in spirit — the matter’s complicated but the Turkish Stream energy project plays strongly in Erdogan’s relationship with Putin) — it’s in trouble (as usual) for being backward. Sooner or later, it too will have to deal with modern issues, including democracy, environmental ethics, and human rights.

I repeat —

Inspiration for the post: Biden’s working of the Keystone Pipeline issue seemingly to Russia’s advantage as an energy competitor. Recall that the United States under Obama had become energy independent and energy exporting. However, underlying issues having to do with . . . human agency and responsibility may more determine the politics of the future — if we as a species are to have a future that more opens time than closes down in darkness within it.

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