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| Credit: Blahaaaaaaaa69420 (sic) |
Har inte läst deras bok, men okej, den kan ju vara intressant. Har ett ganska starkt minne av att Jutta Rabe blev inbjuden av den svenska regeringen att lägga fram sina bevis, men att hon drog sig ur i sista minuten. Vilket kan tolkas som att hon inte hade några...
Who were the last pagans of Europe? Very interesting (and scholarly) discussion about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Principally Estonia.
Flashback to my own peregrinations over 20 years ago at the Religious Studies department of a certain Swedish university, where we learned about Uralic religions from all over northern Eurasia.
Interesting detail: it seems scholars have rescued the term "animism", which was considered very problematic during my student days. And the curious term "creolization" is really what used to be called syncretism. Who knows, maybe we can save "paganism" next? ;-)
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| - Yeah, I know, the trans-atlantic link isn´t what is used to be... |
This is pretty damn rich coming from Britain´s main ally during the 18th century, the Napoleonic Wars, World War I and World War II. Who is *really* in league with Perfidious Albion, I wonder?
I assume the Russian propaganda turn has something to do with the British being heavily invested in both NATO and the trans-atlantic link, so heavily that Russia see them as their main enemy at a time when Trump-Vance are gyrating back and forth over Ukraine, threatening NATO allies with war, and so on.
Note Breitbart´s strangely subliminal choice of illustration: a contemporary cartoon from the late 19th century of how Britain managed to obtain a disputed territory from Venezuela. Perhaps by corrupting or tricking Uncle Sam? Subliminal, but in the wrong way, since this act of Western imperialism could be seen as a legitimate causus belli for *Venezuela*!
Or was the article penned and illustrated by an isolationist who secretely agrees with Moscow (and Caracas)? LOL.
Britain is secret power controlling European geopolitics, Russia says
Vilken sida står Fria Tider på egentligen? Man får ju något slags (o)frivilliga sympatier för "al-Qaida-veteranen" här...
Since I blogged about this character before, I might as well link to these videos. Yes, it´s Tommy Cash from Estonia performing in the recent Eurovision finale from Basel, Switzerland. "Espresso Macchiato" ended third.
Already in February, Cash´s song (performed in faux Italian) provoked the vice president of the Senate of Italy, one Marco Centinaio, to demand his expulsion from the contest. Well, Marco, those of us who are old enough to remember Berlusconi didn´t precisely appreciate his "ironic humor" either, so I say you just have to suffer it! LOL.
The name "Cash" for a coffee-drinking fanatico is actually very apt, due to the recent spike in coffee prices...
Make of this insanity whatever you wish.
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| - Ja, tågen går i tid här. No stresso! |
Under tiden i nöjesbubblan...
Visst är det bra att någon tar tag i de *verkligt* viktiga frågorna i en stund som denna. Eller?
OK, help me out here. So the ship recently boarded in the Gulf of Finland by the Finnish police has a flag of convenience from the Cook Islands, an obsure quasi-independent territory somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The ship is believed to be part of a "shadow fleet" controlled by Russia, the main purpose of which is to export Russian oil and hence break the Western sanctions. Finland suspects that the ship also sabotaged two underwater cabels connecting Finland and Estonia.
But the most interesting part of the equation here is surely the flag of convenience. So by not banning such anti-labor practices, the Western nations (including New Zealand, the actual overlord of the Cook Islands) have enabled Russia to bypass the sanctions.
Capitalist greed makes it more difficult to fight Russian imperialism. How ironic!
Fria Tider är alltså pro-ryska. Trots karolinen i sajtens "tidningshuvud". Så varför bryr *de* sig om huruvida Sverige försvaras i Baltikum eller i Norrland? I båda fallen kommer lede fi att vara Gårdarike, eller hur? Fast FT kanske är rädda för att Amerikatt tänker ockupera malmgruvorna i händelse av nytt nordiskt storkrig...
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| - You have to come back, old man, the Russians have a nuclear-powered cruise missile! We need your vast scientific knowledge to stop it! - Not a chance, I´m going to attain Rainbow Body instead... |
A breaking story. Most of the GOP don´t seem willing to spend more money on Ukraine. Is this another faction trying to put pressure on the quasi-isolationist House Republicans?
According to Wiki, Mike Turner (also GOP) has connections to the US military and NATO. He is also a de facto lobbyist in Congress for the Baltic republics! I had no idea there was a bipartisan House Baltic Caucus?!
So the answer seems to be "yes": Turner is absolutely attempting to influence the other GOP Congressmen in a more pro-Ukrainian direction.
What´s much less clear is what the Russian threat could be. Could it be some kind of AI capability? My guess would be nuclear-powered cruise missiles, since even a certain Mr Trump considered them a threat, even to the point of bragging that the US might have something similar...
Developing.
Russia shows who may be next in line in their Drang nach Abendlandes. Of course it´s the Baltic republics. Russia recently declared the Prime Minister of Estonia and some other Baltic officials "wanted persons". Note that all three Baltic states are members of NATO.
A warning from the United Kingdom. Somehow, I doubt these guys can LARP as Winston Churchill, but sure, I hear you man!
A little report from the trenches. I haven´t found my ishta-devata yet. So I´ve been reading about Martinism (all three versions) and now I´m preparing to devour a book about the Ismailites. I´m also trying to re-read Valentin Tomberg´s "Lazarus, Come Forth". Wish me luck, guys. And no, I haven´t asked Ganapati yet, I prefer to eat my sweets myself, thank you!
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| Credit: Nordisk Film |
“The Eternal Road” is a somewhat peculiar film produced in Finland and Estonia, with dialogue in both Finnish and English. It´s supposedly based on a true story, but that seems highly unlikely. According to all-knowing Wiki, it´s based on a novel, and I suspect the story is “generic”.
The main character, Jussi Ketola, is a Finnish socialist who manages to escape a fascist death squad by running across the border to the Soviet Union, at the time governed by Stalin´s increasingly repressive regime. Since Ketola (against his will) worked for the anti-Communist Whites during the Finnish Civil War, the exiled Finnish Communists in the Soviet Union suspect him of being a capitalist spy…or at least pretend to think so. Ketola is forced to spy for the Soviet GPU instead, who wants to keep tabs on a Christian utopian commune established by American immigrants somewhere in Soviet Karelia.
The Finnish socialist (who speaks good English after working for a period in the United States) rather opts to become a member of the commune. It´s even implied that he converts to the weird Mennonite-type Christianity practiced by the expatriates. Naturally, the Americans are accused of being foreign agents during Stalin´s great purges, and many are executed at the hands of the GPU. For unclear reasons, Ketola is saved at the last moment by Kallonen (his GPU “control”) and later manages to escape back to Finland. The story ends with Ketola´s step daughter, who somehow managed to survive the Stalin years, telling his story.
The first part of “The Eternal Road” comes across almost as an absurd comedy, with the Finnish Communists in Petrozavodsk turning out to be dandified and more interested in partying with the ladies than in class struggle. As already noted, the American Christian socialists (how did they end up in Stalin´s Russia?) look like the Amish, while Ketola jokes with Kallonen, telling him that he is indeed surveilling the local hog, who looks distinctly suspicious. The second part is more tragic, but it´s hardly a surprise that most of the idealist socialists are deported or shot. Indeed, what *is* strange is that Ketola manages to escape through the border zone!
During the Stalin years, tens of thousands of foreign workers did immigrate to the Soviet Union to escape the Great Depression at home, or in some cases to help the Soviet peoples “build socialism”. Many were caught up in the purges. That – and the conflicts between Communists and Whites in Finland – form the backdrops to “The Eternal Road”. I can´t say I was *that* thrilled by this production, but I suppose it could be of some interest to an extreme niche audience…
NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will ship US-made weapons to the Ukraine. Estonia also wants to send German arms, but needs the approval of both Germany and Finland (the latter being a non-NATO member).
This is probably as far as the Western alliance can go without actually sending troops to aid the Ukrainian government against a Russian invasion attempt. Will probably not be tolerated by Putin anyway.
Things are getting dangerously close to a war....
Russia is in effect demanding that the United States dissolve NATO. Note the (probably deliberate) ambiguity concerning Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It´s good to know that the US administration and military are in such capable hands. Absolutely no need to worry!
Russian draft proposal for treaty on security guarantees with the United States
