Quote: "consumerism is an individual choice of what to buy whereas capitalism is the constriction of choices in how we can live"
Lovely definition that can only come from a creative mind :-)
Quote: "one percent is too broad. Really we're talking about a handful of people who are pulling the strings"
Exactly!
Quote: “Another example Sam gives of how different religions have different levels of morality is when he says Christian Palestinians are not suicide bombers.”
As a matter of fact the first Arab “suicide bomber”, Jules Jammal a Christian from the Levant 😊
It was during the 1956 war of UK, France and Israel on Egypt. The Egyptian army was helpless, it didn’t have weapons to face the battleships bombarding the coast. So, Jules came up with an idea of loading a small boat with explosives sailing it towards he biggest battleship and blew it up on contact. He is affectionately called the “Human Torpedo”.
I was thinking of how to phrase the pattern this morning: thousands of years ago, a power-crazed patriarch invented a mad little god and made metal into disks stamped with a ruler's head. Using daughters, divinity and taxation to seduce the rulers, he became the power behind the throne ... again and again. That's what we're living under now.
Very interesting about the Syrian Christian suicide bomber! As you know, I think the true Christ is the one who sees the Christ in others, not the one who says, "Worship me!" True Christianity was the Judean rebellion, imo, a word that may have meant 'follower of Judas,' the founder of the zealots--Hezbollah of their era. From my research, the true Christians went to Syria while the Shemites--descendants of the patriarch Shem--twisted their legacy into the Jesus story of god/ Caesar's son killed reluctantly by the Roman Empire at the insistence of the Judean rebels. The Syrian scriptures have different clues.
I came across another curious clue reading Oliver B-B: "It may force Jordan’s 11million Palestinians to boot the Hashemite plague out of the vicinity once and for all ..." https://oliverboydbarrett.substack.com/p/the-problems-of-restraint. I was noting that these corrupt vassal rulers over Jordan, Hejaz, Syria and Iraq share the same root name: Ha-Shemites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashemites. I realize it's the House of Hashim but it still seems curious.
Quote: "these corrupt vassal rulers over Jordan, Hejaz, Syria and Iraq share the same root name: Ha-Shemites."
Can't put much history in a comment, but briefly:
Prior to WWI Arabian Peninsula had 3 major powers. Ottomans who controlled west coast, Hijaz, Saud tribe in the desert center, Najd and Yemen.
Appointed governor of Hejaz was Hussein Al Hashim. He was bribed by the British to betray the Ottomans, which he did.
Simultaneously the British were providing much greater funding and weapons to the Saud tribe, and supported them in their military takeover of Hejaz, and the British declared it Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
So treachery runs in the veins of this family hence his sons were selected as British vassals. Mind you, although the Prophet was from the Al-Hashim tribe, many of this tribe were against him. So you can say millennial traitors. :-)
Quote: "I was thinking of how to phrase the pattern this morning: thousands of years ago, a power-crazed patriarch invented a mad little god and made metal into disks stamped with a ruler's head"
ICE-9 has a fascinating history and analysis of the church. Both in economy and religion he is pretty much on same wavelength as you
I wanted to comment on Oliver's article, but could not coz I am not a paid subscriber.
Anyhow here are my comments:
Quote: “even without adopting Israeli tactics of the mass murder of civilians, to take out many more military and airfield targets than it did yesterday”
This is “Western way of war”. Wise strategist do not throw all they have in an opening salvo, they move gradually to maintain escalatory dominance. War is multidimensional not only fireworks.
Quote: “for the immediate future Israeli retaliation may well cripple the speed of an adequate Iranian response”
Not at all. Resistance Axis has military supremacy in Southwest Asia. To have an idea, take note of the casualties the Israeli army has take into two futile incursion attempts at the border with South Lebanon.
Quote: “may yet force Turkey’s Erdogan to actually do something useful other than support Jihadis in Syria and murder Kurds”
Erdogan is NATO, Turkey and the Ottomans before it had historical ties that go back to the Venetian Empire. Since start of the genocide in Gaza, Turkey has been main supplier of food, steel and most importantly oil to Israel.
Quote: “It may force Jordan’s 11million Palestinians to boot the Hashemite plague out of the vicinity once and for all”
Possible, also possible that if all out war breaks out, then Resistance Axis forces from Iraq and Syria will support an insurrection in Jordan.
I have the same impediment to commenting. I think Oliver would not be as overwhelmed with comments as he thinks, if he opened it up, and it's clearly not inducing his readers to pay, since there are no comments. Forming a community of like minds would attract more paid subs, imo.
I was talking with my youngest daughter Cassandra about Iran's strategy. She took 3 yrs of Arabic in college and is fiercely pro-Palestinian. I have a huge spider web stretching from my garden to the second story by two gossamer threads, and I said that was the line Iran was walking. A very delicate balance to make sure they're not spun as the aggressor, but demonstrate their power. I've also come to appreciate the wisdom of their tactics, which Oliver is showing as placating.
thankfully I don't need money for writing.... if you noticed I remove all Substack's reference to payment on my publications.
WOW amazed by your daughter!!!!!!
I am aware of some bad stuff from Iran. Zarif who was minister of foreign affairs during the failed nuclear negotiations, comes from a very rich background, was educated in the US, and is very inclined to the West. My guess he was not appointed as minister because he is pro-West. Ministers have to be approved by parliament. So the new president who is a physician by trade and was mayor of Tehran with little foreign affairs experience, appointed Zarif as his consultant. But Zarif was effectively running the ministry. Zarif had been in secret negotiations with the US on stopping war on Gaza and withdrawing some sanctions, in return for Iran not responding to Haniyeh's assassination as Khamenei had requested. After assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, there were demonstrations in Iran asking for resignation of the president. The stupid president went on TV and apologized saying it was his mistake, saying "he was lied to by the US". What an idiot! Accordingly IRGC took the matter in its hands and launched the attack in Israel.
"We don’t question whether his job is evil. We see it as a perfectly rational means of caring about your own family, your neighbors and your country because it's motivated by a paycheck. Something motivated by a paycheck or profits isn't raised to scrutiny, only something that's motivated by religion."
I've always wondered at this particular brand of moral relativism myself. We despise prostitutes and fear serial killers, yet Hollywood stars who apparently must spend as much time on their backs as upright to "make it" are held on a pedestal and wealthy arms manufacturers are success stories.
A twist on this brand of moral relativism is, I think, also responsible for much of what occurred during the Covid years. Many in the health industry knew masks don't stop viruses, including every doctor who graduated med school. Yet they said nothing to hold onto their licenses and still retained their status as trusted professionals because that's seen as a perfectly rational means of caring for their families.
Since no one ever actually gets saved in these endeavors, don't you think maybe that's just the excuse used to persuade the public to go along with yet another profitable conflict?
Yes, I'm certain Neshma would agree with you, hence the quotes on 'save'. The oligarchs don't believe they're saving anyone. But this ruse works, so people in the West fall for it. I think that guilt is an even more potent manipulation than fear, and we've been made to feel so guilty because we "benefit" from what the oligarchs have done. Note the quotes ;-)
The two things bestowed on humanity by God Almighty are free will and the capacity to acquire knowledge. These are tremendous and powerful gifts. But from the beginning we have been engaged in a struggle with those who want humanity to fail. Faith and religion wield a lot of power and were hijacked first, initially manipulated to acquire wealth and power by manipulating the very characteristic God warns us not to submit to such as envy, greed, idol worship. Once religion was used up they introduced science and now they are busy hijacking science to continue this anti-God, anti-humanitarian project.
However both religion and science are Gods domain and work according to His laws. When those laws are violated we create chaos and our own ultimate destruction. If we understand Divine Law and live by its simple profound rules we are guaranteed a life of peace and prosperity.
I dunno, sjamil. Are you saying that all the people dead or dying in NC and Tennessee from Hurricane Helene just didn't understand Divine Law? Are those in the path of Hurricane Milton, who didn't make it out or didn't have anywhere to go, people who don't live by its simple profound rules?
If God gave us all free will, who created the capacity to make better or worse choices? If people are born with a better morality, they can't help the way they were born, yes? If people have equal morality, then their choices depend on circumstances after they were born. And therefore they can't be blamed again.
Free will is, imo, a theory made up so that some could claim to be morally superior to others. I think our will always tends towards the good and will choose good unless our circumstances interfere.
as per harari aka the prophet of the day in some circles)
That is definitely one outlook, but it is undeniable that when the laws of God are ignored humanity trends towards chaos and destruction.
If there is no free will, then why should any act be considered bad or good?
Are humans indistinguishable from other creatures that live out a guiltless cycle of predator/prey behavior?
In some ways animals instincts are better for survival than human intellect. In cases of natural disaster animals flee or migrate or hibernate and those that don't survive are just par for the course, but as humans we are not satisfied with this answer, we work to extend our life and the life of others, we empathize and sympathize with what we perceive as suffering of others, even those far removed from us, we choose to pass judgment on how others live and then act on that judgment, these characteristics make us distinct as a species and ultimately we cannot ignore the fact that humans make choices based on deliberation rather than pure instinct and base needs. If we are making choices than we have free will.
And the whole history of humanity is a battle of who owns our free will.
In a secular society freedom is placed on a pedestal but free will is always shackled.
Secularism leads to subjective morality which ultimately leads to rule of law based on a might is right paradigm.
In this world those with the greatest wealth and most powerful weapons dictate the moral codes and define justice based solely on their agendas.
Most of what is perceived as religion are cults created by shrewd scheming individuals who understand the power of God's teaching to completely destroy the kingdoms they have established for themselves.
Any one arguing that Islam is about burqas and Christianity is about the moral superiority of the white race is ignorant about the fundamental teachings of these religions or being intentionally malignant for self-gain.
Currently over 5 billion people identify as Jewish, Christians or Muslims. If you made a venn diagram and looked at the teachings in the overlapping circle, you would find the truth of God and His creations.
The overlapping concepts of these religions are simple yet profound.
Humanity, as creation is distinct and different from other creations; the characteristics that set us apart are free will and intellect and ability to acquire knowledge, free will without guidance will ultimately lead to bad choices, guidance exists in the form of objective morality.
The basis of objective morality is commitment to absolute truth and justice under the umbrella of compassion and mercy. Furthermore the foundation of all relationships and societies must be honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability. This is the core of piety and righteousness, the highest achievement for any individual, from any of these three religions, actually committed to the true teachings.
Quote: "consumerism is an individual choice of what to buy whereas capitalism is the constriction of choices in how we can live"
Lovely definition that can only come from a creative mind :-)
Quote: "one percent is too broad. Really we're talking about a handful of people who are pulling the strings"
Exactly!
Quote: “Another example Sam gives of how different religions have different levels of morality is when he says Christian Palestinians are not suicide bombers.”
As a matter of fact the first Arab “suicide bomber”, Jules Jammal a Christian from the Levant 😊
It was during the 1956 war of UK, France and Israel on Egypt. The Egyptian army was helpless, it didn’t have weapons to face the battleships bombarding the coast. So, Jules came up with an idea of loading a small boat with explosives sailing it towards he biggest battleship and blew it up on contact. He is affectionately called the “Human Torpedo”.
https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/the-first-arab-suicide-bomber-was-a-syrian-christian-1.1867542
https://prabook.com/web/jules.jammal/2288559
Thank you for those lovely compliments, Fadi!
I was thinking of how to phrase the pattern this morning: thousands of years ago, a power-crazed patriarch invented a mad little god and made metal into disks stamped with a ruler's head. Using daughters, divinity and taxation to seduce the rulers, he became the power behind the throne ... again and again. That's what we're living under now.
Very interesting about the Syrian Christian suicide bomber! As you know, I think the true Christ is the one who sees the Christ in others, not the one who says, "Worship me!" True Christianity was the Judean rebellion, imo, a word that may have meant 'follower of Judas,' the founder of the zealots--Hezbollah of their era. From my research, the true Christians went to Syria while the Shemites--descendants of the patriarch Shem--twisted their legacy into the Jesus story of god/ Caesar's son killed reluctantly by the Roman Empire at the insistence of the Judean rebels. The Syrian scriptures have different clues.
I came across another curious clue reading Oliver B-B: "It may force Jordan’s 11million Palestinians to boot the Hashemite plague out of the vicinity once and for all ..." https://oliverboydbarrett.substack.com/p/the-problems-of-restraint. I was noting that these corrupt vassal rulers over Jordan, Hejaz, Syria and Iraq share the same root name: Ha-Shemites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashemites. I realize it's the House of Hashim but it still seems curious.
Quote: "these corrupt vassal rulers over Jordan, Hejaz, Syria and Iraq share the same root name: Ha-Shemites."
Can't put much history in a comment, but briefly:
Prior to WWI Arabian Peninsula had 3 major powers. Ottomans who controlled west coast, Hijaz, Saud tribe in the desert center, Najd and Yemen.
Appointed governor of Hejaz was Hussein Al Hashim. He was bribed by the British to betray the Ottomans, which he did.
Simultaneously the British were providing much greater funding and weapons to the Saud tribe, and supported them in their military takeover of Hejaz, and the British declared it Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
So treachery runs in the veins of this family hence his sons were selected as British vassals. Mind you, although the Prophet was from the Al-Hashim tribe, many of this tribe were against him. So you can say millennial traitors. :-)
That's a lot of history I didn't know before in a nutshell. Thank you for that!
Quote: "I was thinking of how to phrase the pattern this morning: thousands of years ago, a power-crazed patriarch invented a mad little god and made metal into disks stamped with a ruler's head"
ICE-9 has a fascinating history and analysis of the church. Both in economy and religion he is pretty much on same wavelength as you
The False Prometheus - Part I
https://ice9.substack.com/p/the-false-prometheus
Thanks! I read some of his yesterday (I'm guessing it's a him) and he's very interesting. I'll read this with enthusiasm!
I wanted to comment on Oliver's article, but could not coz I am not a paid subscriber.
Anyhow here are my comments:
Quote: “even without adopting Israeli tactics of the mass murder of civilians, to take out many more military and airfield targets than it did yesterday”
This is “Western way of war”. Wise strategist do not throw all they have in an opening salvo, they move gradually to maintain escalatory dominance. War is multidimensional not only fireworks.
Quote: “for the immediate future Israeli retaliation may well cripple the speed of an adequate Iranian response”
Not at all. Resistance Axis has military supremacy in Southwest Asia. To have an idea, take note of the casualties the Israeli army has take into two futile incursion attempts at the border with South Lebanon.
Quote: “may yet force Turkey’s Erdogan to actually do something useful other than support Jihadis in Syria and murder Kurds”
Erdogan is NATO, Turkey and the Ottomans before it had historical ties that go back to the Venetian Empire. Since start of the genocide in Gaza, Turkey has been main supplier of food, steel and most importantly oil to Israel.
Quote: “It may force Jordan’s 11million Palestinians to boot the Hashemite plague out of the vicinity once and for all”
Possible, also possible that if all out war breaks out, then Resistance Axis forces from Iraq and Syria will support an insurrection in Jordan.
I have the same impediment to commenting. I think Oliver would not be as overwhelmed with comments as he thinks, if he opened it up, and it's clearly not inducing his readers to pay, since there are no comments. Forming a community of like minds would attract more paid subs, imo.
I was talking with my youngest daughter Cassandra about Iran's strategy. She took 3 yrs of Arabic in college and is fiercely pro-Palestinian. I have a huge spider web stretching from my garden to the second story by two gossamer threads, and I said that was the line Iran was walking. A very delicate balance to make sure they're not spun as the aggressor, but demonstrate their power. I've also come to appreciate the wisdom of their tactics, which Oliver is showing as placating.
And yes, I don't expect any good out of Erdogan.
thankfully I don't need money for writing.... if you noticed I remove all Substack's reference to payment on my publications.
WOW amazed by your daughter!!!!!!
I am aware of some bad stuff from Iran. Zarif who was minister of foreign affairs during the failed nuclear negotiations, comes from a very rich background, was educated in the US, and is very inclined to the West. My guess he was not appointed as minister because he is pro-West. Ministers have to be approved by parliament. So the new president who is a physician by trade and was mayor of Tehran with little foreign affairs experience, appointed Zarif as his consultant. But Zarif was effectively running the ministry. Zarif had been in secret negotiations with the US on stopping war on Gaza and withdrawing some sanctions, in return for Iran not responding to Haniyeh's assassination as Khamenei had requested. After assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, there were demonstrations in Iran asking for resignation of the president. The stupid president went on TV and apologized saying it was his mistake, saying "he was lied to by the US". What an idiot! Accordingly IRGC took the matter in its hands and launched the attack in Israel.
She's a fierce one, that daughter.
Thanks for that info on politics in Iran. We're certainly not getting any of the real scoop here.
Takes after her mom :-)
A must watch, Alastair Crooke with Judge Nap today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkkfGTcGQGo
Best overview of what's happening and will happen
Excellent analysis Tereza, thanks!
"We don’t question whether his job is evil. We see it as a perfectly rational means of caring about your own family, your neighbors and your country because it's motivated by a paycheck. Something motivated by a paycheck or profits isn't raised to scrutiny, only something that's motivated by religion."
I've always wondered at this particular brand of moral relativism myself. We despise prostitutes and fear serial killers, yet Hollywood stars who apparently must spend as much time on their backs as upright to "make it" are held on a pedestal and wealthy arms manufacturers are success stories.
A twist on this brand of moral relativism is, I think, also responsible for much of what occurred during the Covid years. Many in the health industry knew masks don't stop viruses, including every doctor who graduated med school. Yet they said nothing to hold onto their licenses and still retained their status as trusted professionals because that's seen as a perfectly rational means of caring for their families.
So fed up of people in the West thinking they should "save" everyone!
I often use the word "oligarchs." Actually I think I used that in my Navy Blue Venn diagram...
On another note, it's very interesting to see how far you've come in your delivery over the course of your videos!
Since no one ever actually gets saved in these endeavors, don't you think maybe that's just the excuse used to persuade the public to go along with yet another profitable conflict?
Yes, I'm certain Neshma would agree with you, hence the quotes on 'save'. The oligarchs don't believe they're saving anyone. But this ruse works, so people in the West fall for it. I think that guilt is an even more potent manipulation than fear, and we've been made to feel so guilty because we "benefit" from what the oligarchs have done. Note the quotes ;-)
Lovely discussion today, Tereza.
Certainly, it gives one lots to think about
ZOG always tries to inflict the most pain especially to women and children in the most inhumane way.
The two things bestowed on humanity by God Almighty are free will and the capacity to acquire knowledge. These are tremendous and powerful gifts. But from the beginning we have been engaged in a struggle with those who want humanity to fail. Faith and religion wield a lot of power and were hijacked first, initially manipulated to acquire wealth and power by manipulating the very characteristic God warns us not to submit to such as envy, greed, idol worship. Once religion was used up they introduced science and now they are busy hijacking science to continue this anti-God, anti-humanitarian project.
However both religion and science are Gods domain and work according to His laws. When those laws are violated we create chaos and our own ultimate destruction. If we understand Divine Law and live by its simple profound rules we are guaranteed a life of peace and prosperity.
https://open.substack.com/pub/hsog/p/what-is-islam-really?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1n48li
I dunno, sjamil. Are you saying that all the people dead or dying in NC and Tennessee from Hurricane Helene just didn't understand Divine Law? Are those in the path of Hurricane Milton, who didn't make it out or didn't have anywhere to go, people who don't live by its simple profound rules?
If God gave us all free will, who created the capacity to make better or worse choices? If people are born with a better morality, they can't help the way they were born, yes? If people have equal morality, then their choices depend on circumstances after they were born. And therefore they can't be blamed again.
Free will is, imo, a theory made up so that some could claim to be morally superior to others. I think our will always tends towards the good and will choose good unless our circumstances interfere.
🤔 It can be argued that the basis of all religions is nothing but a great narrative and people who fall for stories have been hoodwinked.
(https://open.substack.com/pub/hsog/p/god-v-man?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1n48li
as per harari aka the prophet of the day in some circles)
That is definitely one outlook, but it is undeniable that when the laws of God are ignored humanity trends towards chaos and destruction.
If there is no free will, then why should any act be considered bad or good?
Are humans indistinguishable from other creatures that live out a guiltless cycle of predator/prey behavior?
In some ways animals instincts are better for survival than human intellect. In cases of natural disaster animals flee or migrate or hibernate and those that don't survive are just par for the course, but as humans we are not satisfied with this answer, we work to extend our life and the life of others, we empathize and sympathize with what we perceive as suffering of others, even those far removed from us, we choose to pass judgment on how others live and then act on that judgment, these characteristics make us distinct as a species and ultimately we cannot ignore the fact that humans make choices based on deliberation rather than pure instinct and base needs. If we are making choices than we have free will.
And the whole history of humanity is a battle of who owns our free will.
In a secular society freedom is placed on a pedestal but free will is always shackled.
Secularism leads to subjective morality which ultimately leads to rule of law based on a might is right paradigm.
In this world those with the greatest wealth and most powerful weapons dictate the moral codes and define justice based solely on their agendas.
Most of what is perceived as religion are cults created by shrewd scheming individuals who understand the power of God's teaching to completely destroy the kingdoms they have established for themselves.
Any one arguing that Islam is about burqas and Christianity is about the moral superiority of the white race is ignorant about the fundamental teachings of these religions or being intentionally malignant for self-gain.
Currently over 5 billion people identify as Jewish, Christians or Muslims. If you made a venn diagram and looked at the teachings in the overlapping circle, you would find the truth of God and His creations.
The overlapping concepts of these religions are simple yet profound.
Humanity, as creation is distinct and different from other creations; the characteristics that set us apart are free will and intellect and ability to acquire knowledge, free will without guidance will ultimately lead to bad choices, guidance exists in the form of objective morality.
The basis of objective morality is commitment to absolute truth and justice under the umbrella of compassion and mercy. Furthermore the foundation of all relationships and societies must be honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability. This is the core of piety and righteousness, the highest achievement for any individual, from any of these three religions, actually committed to the true teachings.
What a charming bloke/bot.