I know that the political cultural of the UK has not changes for decades apart from subtle PR strategy changes. It is the emergence of technology of the world wide web that is exposing the true nature of how western politics works.
Au contraire. I'm British and I'm pretty certain that the political culture here in Britain has deteriorated significantly. Time was that even mildly embarrassed or disgraced politicians would consider their positions. Now our politicians, left and right, engage in outright corruption or exercise dreadful judgement, and they hang on to power regardless. Just look at the PPE corruption. No heads rolled despite the outlandish theft of public money by the already obscenely wealthy parasite class.
NATO is not a defensive alliance. They illegally bombed Yugoslavia (direct violation of the UN Charter). We must never forget what they did to Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria etc. NATO needs to understand that playing Russian roulette with a nuclear superpower is never a good idea.
@@wilhelmsvideon9206 The problem is not(only) the west or US as most of the people here write . I know that it is more complex but what the russian are doing now and how their TV reacts is out of proportions.We were living in peace but russia wants other things.We reduced our weapons and russia saw it as an opportunity to attack.
I hear this argument a lot now. As if it was any valid as common sense. It tells how trivial wars has become to the US, UK and EU. . The argument shouldn't be about taxpayers money, but the death and destruction of the proxy wars. Sure a poorly maintained road, bridge or hospital is a nuseance, but it's still dwarfs the mass slaughter of innocent people thousands of miles away.
I have been to China though am no expert have seen progress, and I have seen videos of transportation systems in both Moscow and China. The US looks like a failed state in comparison. Serving the needs of the people is not the purpose of West. It serves a small, transnational ruling and corporate/financial elite. But we seem too propagandized to unite and to upset the gravy train the elite drive. I hope that is changing and remain tentatively optimistic. Neutrality Studies is helping in this change.
On the Dreyfus affair, it should be added that the writer Émile Zola, who defended Dreyfus' innocence in his novel ''J'ACCUSE'', died prematurely from carbon monoxide poisoning in his Parisian apartment. The investigation concluded that it was an accident, claiming that his chimney had become blocked, but there were those who accused the army services of murder because the army knew the culprit of this act of espionage and preferred to accuse Dreyfus and carry out a cover-up.
Working poor and unemployed in US do have it rough but even they can gain access to food stamps and social security payments if nothing else. Child laborers in africa and countries that have to cut down thier rainforests to make charcoal for lack of having anything else the empire desires definitely have it infinitely worse.
@@vasilispatsalidis5683 the USA controls the middle-East, the population of the USA is the labour aristocracy, and the least likely population to rise up in the world. They are exploited by the system of world capitalism too, but I can't really feel much sympathy compared to the other peoples of this world.
As the "Belle Epoque" of the previous century ended with the collapse of the cruel decadent culture of the European empires, the current "Belle Epoque" will end with the collapse of the cruel decadent culture of the U.S. empire. Empires do fall and decadence is not sustainable.
I really want to agree with you, but it is not easy at this stage, with the small reaction from the societies to see the difference !. I think it is the corruption in our own minds (as members of a society) that allows such actions by governments!.
@@georgeantonopoulos545 Most societies don't have time for in depth analysis of world affairs. Most people are busy raring families and working most of the available hours to keep a roof over their heads. As a result of this mortgage trap they are left relying on their respective televised news and/or printed news. This is what shapes their opinions on events. The media are to blame not societies.
Pascal, this is incredibly interesting. I will read the piece by Dennis and Johan. I have been working on this same issue myself but from a slightly different disciplinary angle. The missing piece in all of this are the Reformation, industrial revolutions and the consequent "mass psychogenic illness" aka MPI. One of the main reasons these things are intensifying, just like the 19th century, is because we are on the verge of the 4th industrial revolution. The same patterns are showing up. Even in similar sequences down to the "eugenic religion", fascism and Gnosticism. The terms "appearance of strange behaviour", "Anomie", "dancing plaques" and "mass hysteria" are fair descriptions. It will be nice to stay in touch with what Johan and Dennis are doing in this field. The "invisible hand" in all of this is of course "para political" and that is the area I am looking at specifically. Regards to you guys. It must be sushi 😂😂.
Greetings from Mexico! A huge explosion occurs in Toropets, a Russian town that recently celebrated 950 years since it was founded, and the western mass media can hardly resist the temptation to celebrate the event, even collecting the opinions of european citizens, in the sense that it is a good time to uncork a bottle of champagne. This time we do not bother to talk about the carbon footprint associated with an event not linked to natural causes, perhaps because there are feverish minds that imagine that the attack, clearly planned and carried out by NATO, will have the collateral effect of ruining the digestion of the maximum Kremlin hierarch. It is on days like this that one fully understands why it is common to talk about political actors and an international scenario. The development of events seems to adhere to a predetermined script. The problem is that many of the people involved are criminals with acting talent, in the style of the Joker and Harley Quinn, who have at their disposal weapons of mass destruction, whose lethality far exceeds the ghostly Iraqi arsenal. The world is in danger, while the scavengers (under the banner of BlackRock) anxiously await the start of the feast. Our only hope is that these beasts and their successors can thrive on a devastated planet, but not on a completely annihilated one.
Black Rock remind me about Agri Joint . During 1920 and 1941 ,the soviet jews ,with massive support from Jewish American organisation ,,Agri Joint " were on they way in creating a Jewish Socialist Soviet Republic in an area covering Southern Ukraine ,Crimea and all Black Sea shore till Abhazia. The process has been paused by the arrival of the brave Romanian troops . After the end of the war ,the Jewish lobby from USSR tried to resume and finish the process but Stalin ,suspecting the fact that the jews want to create a Jewish State and to secede from USSR stopped the process ,executing part of this jewish lobby ,or deporting the others ( Molotov's wife ,for exemple) on the supposition they are part of USA's plot to take over Crimea . Unfortunately,accidents happens and Zelensky's family survived. Years after,we have a strong jewish lobby in USA and the jews still dream in transforming Crimea and parts of Ukraine in a Black Sea located Jewish State. That explain the involvement of Nuland ,Blinken and other US Jews in the ,,russo"- ukrainian conflict ,starting with the Orange Revolution and Maidan which were massively sponsorised by USA ( 5 billions dollars) following the american jews pressure ,and ending with this war ,also massively sponsored by USA .
One of the few positive things about this new society is that, compared to 1914, a large part of the European population is much more disenchanted and aware of the fact that the ruling class doesn't care about them. Great channel,and great guests as always. ❤
It is strange that in the early 1900s that the czar was trying to work out agreements with Europeans and Putin was trying to do similar things with the Europeans in the early 2000s
Hell on Earth podcast series is relevant to this topic. They explore similar parallels surrounding the outbreak of the 30 Years War in 1618. To oversimplify: printing technology lead to mass literacy, fueling a crisis in faith of the hegemonic Papal authority-- which had affirmed it's own legitimacy, and began liquidating it's icons and institutions for personal profit grabs. The hegemonic order had allowed the reign of weak, petty, hubristic leaders. In collapse of the church mono-pole, the power grabs were reckless, rapacious, personalized, and often driven by ideological fervor. Rulers who were satisfied in their approaches began to run into realities they didn't understand, and pushing their machines of state far past their carrying capacity. It's a compelling series, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Vox populi! After decades of striving to illuminate the bigger picture for my fellow humans, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to withdraw to my island-quite literally-and observe as events play out. Perhaps there truly is an invisible hand at work, guiding it all.
I was thinking about this too, although I don’t have an island. Homo sapiens named himself a little prematurely. There’s no sapiens in the average Homo.
This was a very interesting interview. I am no intellectual or academic so I was especially pleased when Dennis mentioned Season 1 of True Detective. A decade later, I still agree that was some of the best television I have ever seen!
"The primordial interest of the United States - over which for a century we have fought wars (the first, second, and Cold War) - has been the relationship between Germany and Russia. Because united they are the only force that could threaten us. And to make sure that that doesn't happen ... For the United States: The primordial fear is German technology, German capital, and Russian natural resources, Russian manpower as the only combination that has for centuries scared the hell out of the United States." - George Friedman, Stratfor, Feb 2015 Yes, that has always been the aim of the naval powers, Great Britain and the USA. That includes this current war in the Ukraine" which was not avoided (grand strategy) by the USA/NATO even if it could have been avoided by very simple diplomatic means around the year 2000 (with a signed comprehensive European security agreement which incl. Russia). Several historians like Richard Overy (GB) and Daniele Ganser (Switzerland) have come to conclusion that imperialism were the root causes of all European wars, as based on the study of historical data. Here are the critical questions. If that is the realization, then HOW were the naval powers going to implement such continental Eurasian/European division? How were, both currently and historically, London and Washington DC going to (quote) "make sure that that doesn't happen"? Answer: Proactively implement the "divide and rule"-technique of power. That is the "divide and rule"-strategy of politics (or the associated divide then gain/control technique of power). It is to create confusion, which can be exploited. We should never forget that Mearsheimer famously "predicted" the war in the Ukraine, not _only_ because it was clear how the "encirled" REact (Russia), but also because it is clear how the "encirclers" (the "buck passers" USA/EU/NATO) PROact in strategy.
Typical american exceptionalism that won't acknowledge Russian technology, only resources!!! Remember Yuri Gagarin went to Space first. The Periodic Table of Elements and many other scientific discoveries where discovered by Russians.
I discovered a very interesting thing about the Ukrainian-Russian conflict: I posed ChatGPT the question: What would Otto von Bismarck have said about the quarrel and the lack of diplomacy between the west and Russia in the case of Ukraine? The answer was very relevant.
I thought that too initially but, on second thoughts, it’s definitely Bridgerton. Whilst you could describe Downton as nostalgia for “the good old days” of the British empire…at least it has some social commentary. Bridgerton is just aesthetics and s$x.
Think if it. Imagine you are 75 yrs old in Europe or North American and look back over that period of 3/4s of a century. The region was at peace, not withstanding the nuclear balance of terror, or more accurately because of it. A period of great prosperiity developed, a panoply of scientific developments occurred and rapidly found their way into giant strides of improvement of daily life, secondary and tertiary education became increasingly generalised, steady and significant increases in productivity, barriers to trade dropped, vast improvements in infrastructure occurred, personal freedoms expanded as pressures for conformism diminished, the pill permit a great sexual liberation, travel became effortless, public welfare systems became steadily broader and were easily funded from increase growth. The entry into this new belle epoque extended to Japan and S. Korea by the mid 1950s, to China from the mid 1980s, and to Russia say 2000. Indeed a new Belle Epoque is how some one 75 yrs of age in in the West lived this period. Obviously over the past years the world has entered a period of vast and profound change. Some of the changes are born from forces unleashed during thus recnt Belle epoque, some are more deep seated and historic. The Belle Epique was followed. y the roaring 20's, revolution, financial and economic calamity, and world war. To what will this more recent Belle Epoque lead???
This is an absolut great discussion on an important topic! Belle Epoque is a great concept of understanding our popular culture and mainstream ideology!
The narrowing of the public discourse has given many to leave msm, question the pr and further participation with something that they have no say in, or even feel is attacking them. the agenda ... instills both fear and anger.
I find watching American TV shows glorify military, authority focused. Also, the topics are always a mental guidance to what we should feel. Great discussion. 👍
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Fascinating discussion. There are some other parallels between now and the decades before WW1. One is the role of numerous deep-seated inter-ethnic feuds, mainly but not only across Europe, coupled with imperial decay, which created a diplomatic environment that ultimately proved unmanageable. This is one of the major themes in Christopher Clark's book, The Sleepwalkers. A second parallel is a sense of accelerating technological change coupled with energy system transition. Then, from coal to oil, now from fossil fuels to renewables or perhaps nuclear. British coal production peaked around 1910 and has declined, almost continuously, ever since. This both destabilised Britain and intensified its efforts to secure access to oil in Iran. More broadly, it reshuffled the global pecking order with implications that are working themselves out still.
I've never visited your channel before. I did so when I saw the thumbnail. I was just watching a talk on current Sino - Japanese relations. My mind went to the beginning of WW1.
WW1 was a disaster for Europe, but it was a call to liberation for the colonized enslaved world. Revolutionaries in Russia, China, Vietnam, etc all look to it for hope for independence.
David Simon's work, Homicide Life on the Street and The Wire is about working class and does not show Police as heroic or propagandize. Chris Haddock in Canada makes this type of work too. His series Da Vinci's Inquest and Intelligence are really.
Seems pretty clear to me that where we are shows just how pathetic societies and structure can be when it is left entirely to men to sort out, and Colonial Capitalist ones at that: misogyny, bigotry, ego, sexual predation, organised crime ~ all this is evidence of the worst members of human society being heralded as the best, and the obvious inevitability that these traits are destructive to the responsible and nurturing spirit of parenting, and raising competent, capable, stable, and engaged human beings. (I am sure intelligent people could explain my view far better than me, but I am impatient now that we are where we are and these disastrous people cannot be taken down in international law or by public protest.
Excellent discussion, thank you so much. You might watch the South Korean show, Happiness, to get a glimpse of what life in a post-pandemic - and pandemic prone society, might be. Exceedingly thought-provoking series. Cheers!
@@IJ72 I really used my ability to debate on the net and to see the responses to my well researched comments but mine ow absent really.akes me unhappy.
Y2K and 9/11 were very powerful pivot points which ushered in the apocalyptic sense of urgency and uncertainty with mass propaganda and the loss of rights. Here in the USA, they even went so far as to put Zombies on emergency preparedness poster for the general public in 2011.
Great to discuss the broader cultural dimensions of the historic changes of the moment. Thanks Pascal. PS the anthropologist (whose name Prof Riches mislaid) who predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union was Emmanuel Todd - of course. But his view was quite an outlier and not the typical view of Western elites in the 70's. USSR appeared strong, including to Mao.
I always thought about the phenomenas you mentioned especially about the nudging via Netflix etc.. and social media. I knew there were similarities with the run up to WW1 and 2 for that matter (persecution of minorities and hanging all the issues on them rather than the system itself). But did not have the facts and resources. Thanks for this work.
I agree with the parallels you are making but to a large extent back then there was more intelligence and morality , that's what really sets this apart. There is something very dark about what is happening now. Not least a massive and deliberate k. U..l.l. ? ?
Very interesting discussion. I must however point out that is unlikely that Conrad hated Solzhenitsyn (I guess you mean his work)- Conrad died in 1924 and Solzhenitsyn was born in 1918.
You are referring to Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Decline of an Empire: The Soviet Socialist Republics in Revolt: Russia Between Two Worlds. She published in 1978: L'Empire éclaté : la révolte des nations en URSS [fr] (Flammarion), in English: Decline of an Empire: The Soviet Socialist Republics in Revolt. (Newsweek Books, New York 1979) She was a descendant of pre-Revolutionary of Georgia. During World War 2, her father collaborated ewith the French Vichy government and directly with the Nazi occupation forces.
Every period in history is unique so one has to be careful in seeing similarities, it can diminish one's focus on the differences. And by that skew an understanding one which to reach.
Yeah Nato is just another version of League of Nations. It is just a group a countries changing. Look at the Korean war. WW1 was League of Nations. WW2 the UN. Never really changed.
The building of all the U.S. Nimitz class carriers with all the stupid neocon names on them is very reminiscent of Britain's Admiral Jackie Welch's Battleships at beginning of 20th Century. Happy International Peace Day 21, Sep. 2024.
While the US and Russia have an understanding and war is good for both their industrial sectors, the British political class is proving dangerous. Post-imperial hubris could prove fatal if nuclear control slips on the Washington-Moscow axis.
M. Lottaz, vous faites un travail d'utilite publique au niveau de l'occident, particulierement avec cette nouvelle video ou vous interrogez vos invites sur les causes reelles et profondes qui ont conduit le monde au bord de l'abime ou nous nous trouvons tous aujourd'hui. Les occidentaux, pris au sens large, n'ont l'air de ne s'etre jamais pose de questions sur leur traitement du reste du monde; comment et pourquoi ils en sont arrives a ce point. Merci de leur tendre ce miroir.
Imagine if the US, instead of investing in the Israel or Ukraine debacle, instead chose to use their financial resources to upgrade the water delivery systems for Flint Michigan and Jackson Mississippi. 😅one can only wish i guess. Maybe in a hundred years?
I am still working out whether the comparison between now and pre ww1 has more similarities or disimilarities. It is not straightforward. 1: the US and EU leaders seem to be of one mind. Contrast that w Europe before ww1.2: the total West is failing but is not yet resulting in internal conflict between nations, just leads to more antagonism against Russia and China w basically a dichotomy. Etc..
