I’m several years your senior and U.S. born/raised. As I read your words I realize just how severe my tunnel vision is. It rattles my memory of everything we were taught and reveals the ‘history’ I learned at home and school.
At this pivotal time in the world and my small personal ‘reality’ you’ve moved me to open my eyes to look beyond everything I was programmed to see and feel.
Motivating others stop, examine, evaluate, learn and actually listen is an art.
Thank you Mark, it means the world to me. I am writing a piece about how the privilege hidden under semblance of freedom is the trap we use to convince young men to die for their nation. And why when they come back now aware of this truth they feel cheated. This I believe is the major drama behind veteran suicide and mental health challenges.
Well, this makes no sense - this post is way over a year old and had only 23 Likes. This should be Day One of every History course. Adding to the tragedy is that "D-Day" was a rush attempt to get to Berlin when the "Allies" saw that Russia had actually beat the Nazis and could get to Berlin before them and claim the whole thing! Yet those young soldiers thought they were heroes with their huge sacrifice. Meanwhile, through banking and industry, were already plotting against Russia with assistance to the Nazis. Most history lies unread, while the unread lie about history.
well, i wrote this a year ago, just 3 month into my Substack journey, so I have learned since that I am mostly invisible here…I’ll keep doing what I am doing best: being me, and we will see where that goes. Last year the post was seen 1300 times, it almost felt like viral, but everything went back to invisible after that. Since then another 400 views and likes moved from 23 to 33… so not much but somehow it is still moving.
Oui, en m'aidant d'un traducteur de base (pas d'IA), mais j'étais bloquée parce que je refuse de souscrire à la version payante plus sophistiquée. J'ai essayé de m'appliquer d'autant plus dès la première phrase 🤣
Ah! This was just what I needed to start my day. Thank you for writing this honest piece to remind us of the history we were never allowed to learn. It made me reminisce of my days in school in Belgium and my largely a-political life until 9/11 finally helped me up. Everything was American. The Marshall Plan. Rebuilding Europe. The slow but steady adoption of American "culture" through fast food, movies and pop music. Of course all of it came with strings attached, strings we still haven't been able to detach ourselves from today. I read your piece right after reading about Ursula vd Leyen's 21st Russia sanctions package. She would do herself a huge favour by reading your article. But that may prove to be a bit of a challenge with the Rusdophobic blinders she wears. Happy birthday Gabriel!
There are so many cultural and historical narratives that are wrong or incomplete, that it makes my head spin. Thinking is hard. Thinking critically, even harder.
I understand, there is a way, and it is not in trying to solve or clarify. It to elevate ourselves above the narrative, feel into the human soul, seek the darkness that is hidden there and that is reflected in the world.
When we see ourselves , the dear, the doubt, the challenge, we also see that the only answer to this is Love. That is the true message of Christ.
I wonder if the author has been to the former Soviet Union?
If he knows the history in detail - of the Gulag; the Holomodor; the treatment of ethnic minorities (Crimean Tatars, the Indigenous people of Siberia, and all other people who, to this day, are treated as expendable, second class citizens to be sent to the front lines in Ukraine to the meat grinder)?
You don’t have to be a neocon to recognize that Stalin’s crimes, his sadism and brutality and paranoia, (including his late-ripening plans before his demise to eliminate Soviet Jewry) rank alongside those of Hitler and the Nazis in terms of their utter inhumanity.
You can believe in social justice, democratic socialism, and condemn Western colonialism and American imperialism, and still see Soviet and Russian imperialism for what it was and still is - imperialism at its worst.
Imperialism is evil, regardless of where it emanates from. We didn’t “cause” Putin to invade Ukraine, kidnap 20,000 children, and try to eradicate Ukraine, eliminate its culture and identity, and bring it back under Russia’s imperial control.
And indeed I cannot say I have seen the gulags and yet I am aware of the horrors of the USSR and that by many standard, suburban life in the US is a lot better than it is and was in many areas of Russia. I am certainly not contesting the brutality of the system. I am just saying the propaganda we get in the west is just that, propaganda. The US is responsible for millions of death throughout the world, through other means that are just as unjustifiable. They just do not happen on the US territory.
As always, I refer to William Blum "killing hope" for a complete list.
What I am saying is that the good guys / bad guys propaganda is not the truth. It's only bad guys on both side, may be with various degree of bad.
Everyone knew that the expansion of NATO towards the east would create conflict. We did it anyway. When Russia tried to join NATO, we refused. That is not peace keeping, that is war mongering. Everyone who really look knows that Zelensky is just another dictator with a better PR. The US as its own agenda in Ukraine. It serves to destabilize both Russia and Europe, double win for those who are trying to manipulate the scene to stay on top, not by being the best they could but by destroying things around them.
Imperialism is indeed evil as you say. And the US empire is not better than other empires. Just more efficient in their propaganda. And yet, you can throw Staline with Hitler and Mao and a few others in the same bag. yes You can say Putin is yet another of them. But a US president who wants to send a country back to the stone age is not better.
Only bad guys that' what I am saying. Don't listen to the propaganda that says otherwise.
It is the usual criticism made to the book, that it lacks historical context…
But the book objective was different. It just looked at one thing and does it well.
Does that mean the US is bad and others are good? Certainly not, but is does great job dismantling the propaganda people receive when they live in the US. I think it is an important view point.
I have spend decades studying conflict and mostly figuring out how to de-escalate a create peace.
I think in all honesty that no conflict de-escalate until people blame. Conflict shifts when people take responsibility for their actions.
Stalin was a murderous thug, but not bringing the Soviet Union into the fold was a huge mistake. You're correct, the Russian sacrifice of 27 million people — a mind-numbing number was not honored. I have to wonder if this was a cynical decision for creating a rift for the overwhelming and profitable military complex and NATO. As a US citizen I find our profitable vilification of Russia hypocritical. After all, genocide of Native Americans and enslavement of blacks laid the foundation for this country.
Indeed Stalin has a lot of responsibilities in the story. My point is not to make Russian the good guys, I know you understand that. Is to wake up that the good guys / bad guys is just propaganda. The list of US actions in international politics are certainly has heavy. Have you read the book from William Blum "killing Hope". People criticized him because he only looked at the US foreign policy, but the list a compile is accurate and proven.
I think more people in the US would benefit from reading it. It is humbling.
Yes, the US has a heavy responsibility for the state of world affairs. We have supported heinous governments from Banana Republics to Pol Pot in Cambodia. Obviously, there are more recent incursions and ones going on now. Since Vietnam the media here has become progressively worse, and I believe the majority of Americans don't do much serious reading. I have not read Blum, and like you writing here, can barely keep up with current events to produce my articles that revolve around overshoot and climate change. Talk about humbling, I can't do justice to all I would like. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is one of my favorites, a real eye-opener.
Zinn was an interesting man, historian and political scientist who served on a bomber in WWII. My guess is you would enjoy the unapologetic populist perspective of this book.
You left out some key points when it comes to understanding Moscow's role in WWII and since.
Before the Soviets fought the Nazis, the Soviets aided the Nazis. Hence the Russian emphasis on 1941 being the start of the "Great Patriotic War" and not 1939 with the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland.
It was 27 million Soviets who died, disproportionately Ukrainians and Belarusians. As now, Russians do love feeding their ethnic minorities into battle for them. In any case, the Soviets would have lost to the Nazis from incompetence and insufficient industry if not for the Americans.
Thank you for your contribution dear one. Of course I left many things out, this is a long history and I am no historian either.
I am by no mean conveying the message that current and past leadership of either USSR or Russia are nice people who cared for their population or the world at large. I hope you can see that.
I am trying to speak a voice that break the limiting narrative we hear way too much.
Surely you’d consider the facts like the CIA created / funded the Taliban before we fought them. That we carry responsibility being ISIS etc
And the USSR did they share of shit in exactly the same way.
I hope to wake up people out of the propaganda that see a good side and a bad side, from my perspective it is mostly two bad sides.
I have never a soldier killing a communist, I have only seen people killing others who are trying their best to make it through their daily lives the best they could.
Hope you can see my intention despite the necessary short cut I am making.
I’m several years your senior and U.S. born/raised. As I read your words I realize just how severe my tunnel vision is. It rattles my memory of everything we were taught and reveals the ‘history’ I learned at home and school.
At this pivotal time in the world and my small personal ‘reality’ you’ve moved me to open my eyes to look beyond everything I was programmed to see and feel.
Motivating others stop, examine, evaluate, learn and actually listen is an art.
thank you!
m a r c
Thank you Mark, it means the world to me. I am writing a piece about how the privilege hidden under semblance of freedom is the trap we use to convince young men to die for their nation. And why when they come back now aware of this truth they feel cheated. This I believe is the major drama behind veteran suicide and mental health challenges.
You might like it.
in the same direction...
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/some-thoughts-on-ukraine
Well, this makes no sense - this post is way over a year old and had only 23 Likes. This should be Day One of every History course. Adding to the tragedy is that "D-Day" was a rush attempt to get to Berlin when the "Allies" saw that Russia had actually beat the Nazis and could get to Berlin before them and claim the whole thing! Yet those young soldiers thought they were heroes with their huge sacrifice. Meanwhile, through banking and industry, were already plotting against Russia with assistance to the Nazis. Most history lies unread, while the unread lie about history.
well, i wrote this a year ago, just 3 month into my Substack journey, so I have learned since that I am mostly invisible here…I’ll keep doing what I am doing best: being me, and we will see where that goes. Last year the post was seen 1300 times, it almost felt like viral, but everything went back to invisible after that. Since then another 400 views and likes moved from 23 to 33… so not much but somehow it is still moving.
I am not going to fight over it … 🤷♂️
I've just discovered this brilliant piece, translated in French here : https://zanzibar.substack.com/p/le-prix-glacial-de-la-liberte-reflexions
thank you. Did you translate this?
funny because I am french but never thought of translating...
Oui, en m'aidant d'un traducteur de base (pas d'IA), mais j'étais bloquée parce que je refuse de souscrire à la version payante plus sophistiquée. J'ai essayé de m'appliquer d'autant plus dès la première phrase 🤣
c'est vraiment sweet (sorry mon français est plutôt rouillé).
You're welcome
Ah! This was just what I needed to start my day. Thank you for writing this honest piece to remind us of the history we were never allowed to learn. It made me reminisce of my days in school in Belgium and my largely a-political life until 9/11 finally helped me up. Everything was American. The Marshall Plan. Rebuilding Europe. The slow but steady adoption of American "culture" through fast food, movies and pop music. Of course all of it came with strings attached, strings we still haven't been able to detach ourselves from today. I read your piece right after reading about Ursula vd Leyen's 21st Russia sanctions package. She would do herself a huge favour by reading your article. But that may prove to be a bit of a challenge with the Rusdophobic blinders she wears. Happy birthday Gabriel!
There are so many cultural and historical narratives that are wrong or incomplete, that it makes my head spin. Thinking is hard. Thinking critically, even harder.
I understand, there is a way, and it is not in trying to solve or clarify. It to elevate ourselves above the narrative, feel into the human soul, seek the darkness that is hidden there and that is reflected in the world.
When we see ourselves , the dear, the doubt, the challenge, we also see that the only answer to this is Love. That is the true message of Christ.
Forgive them all, they know not what they do...
I wonder if the author has been to the former Soviet Union?
If he knows the history in detail - of the Gulag; the Holomodor; the treatment of ethnic minorities (Crimean Tatars, the Indigenous people of Siberia, and all other people who, to this day, are treated as expendable, second class citizens to be sent to the front lines in Ukraine to the meat grinder)?
You don’t have to be a neocon to recognize that Stalin’s crimes, his sadism and brutality and paranoia, (including his late-ripening plans before his demise to eliminate Soviet Jewry) rank alongside those of Hitler and the Nazis in terms of their utter inhumanity.
You can believe in social justice, democratic socialism, and condemn Western colonialism and American imperialism, and still see Soviet and Russian imperialism for what it was and still is - imperialism at its worst.
Imperialism is evil, regardless of where it emanates from. We didn’t “cause” Putin to invade Ukraine, kidnap 20,000 children, and try to eradicate Ukraine, eliminate its culture and identity, and bring it back under Russia’s imperial control.
Putin, the unreformed KGB thug, chose to do so.
Thank you for that thoughtful reply.
And indeed I cannot say I have seen the gulags and yet I am aware of the horrors of the USSR and that by many standard, suburban life in the US is a lot better than it is and was in many areas of Russia. I am certainly not contesting the brutality of the system. I am just saying the propaganda we get in the west is just that, propaganda. The US is responsible for millions of death throughout the world, through other means that are just as unjustifiable. They just do not happen on the US territory.
As always, I refer to William Blum "killing hope" for a complete list.
What I am saying is that the good guys / bad guys propaganda is not the truth. It's only bad guys on both side, may be with various degree of bad.
Everyone knew that the expansion of NATO towards the east would create conflict. We did it anyway. When Russia tried to join NATO, we refused. That is not peace keeping, that is war mongering. Everyone who really look knows that Zelensky is just another dictator with a better PR. The US as its own agenda in Ukraine. It serves to destabilize both Russia and Europe, double win for those who are trying to manipulate the scene to stay on top, not by being the best they could but by destroying things around them.
Imperialism is indeed evil as you say. And the US empire is not better than other empires. Just more efficient in their propaganda. And yet, you can throw Staline with Hitler and Mao and a few others in the same bag. yes You can say Putin is yet another of them. But a US president who wants to send a country back to the stone age is not better.
Only bad guys that' what I am saying. Don't listen to the propaganda that says otherwise.
Do you know anything about term of historical context? Sounds familiar at all?
You mean pretending all the bad things we do is because the others do bad things too? 😉
No, I don't say that but taking things into a proper sequential historical context. Like cause and effect basically which is not always justification
I am listening.
Are you talking about Blum’s book killing hope?
It is the usual criticism made to the book, that it lacks historical context…
But the book objective was different. It just looked at one thing and does it well.
Does that mean the US is bad and others are good? Certainly not, but is does great job dismantling the propaganda people receive when they live in the US. I think it is an important view point.
I have spend decades studying conflict and mostly figuring out how to de-escalate a create peace.
I think in all honesty that no conflict de-escalate until people blame. Conflict shifts when people take responsibility for their actions.
Stalin was a murderous thug, but not bringing the Soviet Union into the fold was a huge mistake. You're correct, the Russian sacrifice of 27 million people — a mind-numbing number was not honored. I have to wonder if this was a cynical decision for creating a rift for the overwhelming and profitable military complex and NATO. As a US citizen I find our profitable vilification of Russia hypocritical. After all, genocide of Native Americans and enslavement of blacks laid the foundation for this country.
Indeed Stalin has a lot of responsibilities in the story. My point is not to make Russian the good guys, I know you understand that. Is to wake up that the good guys / bad guys is just propaganda. The list of US actions in international politics are certainly has heavy. Have you read the book from William Blum "killing Hope". People criticized him because he only looked at the US foreign policy, but the list a compile is accurate and proven.
I think more people in the US would benefit from reading it. It is humbling.
Yes, the US has a heavy responsibility for the state of world affairs. We have supported heinous governments from Banana Republics to Pol Pot in Cambodia. Obviously, there are more recent incursions and ones going on now. Since Vietnam the media here has become progressively worse, and I believe the majority of Americans don't do much serious reading. I have not read Blum, and like you writing here, can barely keep up with current events to produce my articles that revolve around overshoot and climate change. Talk about humbling, I can't do justice to all I would like. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is one of my favorites, a real eye-opener.
Thank you for that. I'll have a look at Howard Zinn's book for sure.
Zinn was an interesting man, historian and political scientist who served on a bomber in WWII. My guess is you would enjoy the unapologetic populist perspective of this book.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?cm_sp=plpafe-_-all-_-soft&an=zinn%20howard&bi=s&sortby=17&tn=peoples%20history%20united%20states&ref_=ps_ms_267691761&cm_mmc=msn-_-comus_dsa-_-naa-_-naa&msclkid=626320d8dd9a1c1ec14f4af9525ca9cc
You left out some key points when it comes to understanding Moscow's role in WWII and since.
Before the Soviets fought the Nazis, the Soviets aided the Nazis. Hence the Russian emphasis on 1941 being the start of the "Great Patriotic War" and not 1939 with the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland.
https://igorsushko.substack.com/p/russias-recent-history-of-serial
https://polandatwartours.substack.com/p/the-soviet-invasion-from-the-east
https://marcusson.substack.com/p/russians-fighting-for-the-nazis-during
It was 27 million Soviets who died, disproportionately Ukrainians and Belarusians. As now, Russians do love feeding their ethnic minorities into battle for them. In any case, the Soviets would have lost to the Nazis from incompetence and insufficient industry if not for the Americans.
https://marcusson.substack.com/p/the-american-industries-defeated
The driving force behind NATO's existence is and has been Russian imperialism and hatred.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-kremlin-dictators-keep-nato-alive-putin-russia-ukraine
https://www.kyleorton.com/p/why-putins-regime-says-jews-are-the
Thank you for your contribution dear one. Of course I left many things out, this is a long history and I am no historian either.
I am by no mean conveying the message that current and past leadership of either USSR or Russia are nice people who cared for their population or the world at large. I hope you can see that.
I am trying to speak a voice that break the limiting narrative we hear way too much.
Surely you’d consider the facts like the CIA created / funded the Taliban before we fought them. That we carry responsibility being ISIS etc
And the USSR did they share of shit in exactly the same way.
I hope to wake up people out of the propaganda that see a good side and a bad side, from my perspective it is mostly two bad sides.
I have never a soldier killing a communist, I have only seen people killing others who are trying their best to make it through their daily lives the best they could.
Hope you can see my intention despite the necessary short cut I am making.
With Love