I was held for ransom in Belarus by the military. Eventually they let me go. I speak English, German and Spanish completely fluently, and also Catalan and French at B2/C1, and if you're generous, Italian. Maybe I don't fit your cookie-cutter comic-book preconception.

I also crossed Checkpoint Charlie maybe a dozen times, with and without a diplomatic pass, sometimes carrying contraband currency, and spent in all about a half year behind the Iron Curtain, in East Germany, Czech Republic, Belarus under Lukaschenko, as well as living in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

I learnt to say "don't shoot" in Russian at the age of 10. I've been around this since before 1976, when I went with my mom to buy sandwiches for Jimmy Carter's visit to Berlin, where I lived for a decade. Tanks in the streets were an everyday sight. I can haggle and give taxi directions in Russian.

Isn't part of doublethink denying reality, repeating the mantra until it becomes your faith, your truth, your identity? They'll never admit it to themselves. It would be ego suicide.

Add "Russians" to the bullshit you're being fed by the media. To paraphrase Noam Chomsky, their influence is negligible compared to the influence of the US's plutocrats and big business interests. It's a squirt gun in a torrential downpour.

When I come home to the US from Europe, it's always a shock to see the absolute tripe that passes for news there, no matter how many times I experience it. Otherwise intelligent, educated people I know get sucked up into their narratives that lead nowhere and actually make you less knowledgeable.

Settlers throwing rocks at Palestinians near Hebron in the West Bank.
Of all the things they're doing, this is the least newsworthy. They're systematically committing ethnic cleansing, which involves a mot more than throwing rocks: destroying homes and places of work, detaining and murdering people.

Jeder Narzisst, Egomane, Soziopath, Arschloch liest dies und denkt sich: „Ja! Endlich versteht mich jemand.“

Mass graves found in 3... 2... 1...

This is the centrists' version of pizzagate.

One thing the witless shitgibbon got right was naming it the Department of War. That's what it is. That's what it's always been. Defense was a misnomer.

Isn't being a hypocrite central to Christianity? The whole thing where you sin (harm others) and then do the magic mental washing clean (repent). Sin. Repent. Rinse. Repeat.

Putin doesn't really have a reason to stop. If things continue as they have been, Russia will take over all of Ukraine. Unless there's a massive change, it's only a matter of time.

American liberty? Is that like American democracy?

"Second breakfast's third dessert is the fouteenth most important meal of the day." - A. Hobbitses

That's just pre-emptive acquiescence, going along and not making waves. Resist at every step, in every way. Don't expect someone to step in and do it for you because that's not going to happen. There are no checks or balances.