Thank you Michael for the useful warning about Ganser. Nevertheless I am left from your intervention with two curiosities.
First - and let me preface the I am in totally favour of vaccination and with any no vax sympathy - how the (absurd and offensive) suggestion that the unvaccinated are like the jews in Germany in the 1930 would be “anti-semite”. Second, to what extent being D’Eramo formulation that "Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine doesn’t absolve NATO of its responsibility in producing the conflict” contaminated by the agreement of a notorious conspiracy theorist and anti vaxxer makes it indeed false. I wonder how much of what Giorgio Agamben (just to name one of many) has produced should be now scraped out of meritorious opinions given the circumstances… Lorenzo Tripodi > On 14 Feb 2023, at 10:48, Michael Guggenheim <mi...@bluewin.ch> wrote: > > Dear Nettimers and Hans-Christian, > > D’Eramo’s NLR sidecar article indeed contained a reference to Daniele Ganser, > but it was a little bit more than a reference (I copy the whole passage into > the email further down below). As you can see from the passage, D’Eramo does > not just cite Ganser, but really advertise Ganser, and seems to be well aware > of who he is: “Swiss Historian”, book available in x-languages but “not yet > in English”. > > For those outside the German speaking world: Ganser is a notorious conspiracy > theorist, anti-semite (The unvaccinated are like the jews in Germany in the > 1930s), anti-vaxxer etc. He indeed used to be a “historian” or rather a > security analyst at ETH Zurich, and lost his job there over his conspiracy > theories. Since then, he has built an online business model, selling > “courses” on “inner peace” “content: Denigration, Digital Detox, Forest, > Hope” or “Consciousness creates Peace” “content: Values, Deception, Corona, > Awareness”. You get it. > If you want more info, begin with his German wikipedia page here: > https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniele_Ganser > Or read this article in a respected Swiss left weekly (before he went > completely off rail during COVID): > https://www.woz.ch/1703/wahrheit-und-verschwoerung/das-ganser-phaenomen > > The book that D’Eramo is referring to indeed contains a mixture of left hits: > Everything is NATO’s fault, combined with highlights of the right behind all > of this, maybe, are the, you know, Bilderbergs. > > There would obviously have been plenty of better serious historical sources > that D’Eramo could advertise that critically discuss the role of NATO, the > US, and the CIA during the Cold War. > > I sent an email to NLR alerting them to this quote. Maybe I was not the only > one. I was hoping, and suggesting, they would add a comment to D’Eramo’s > text, explaining who Ganser is, and maybe asking D’Eramo to explain to the > reader why he included the passage. Instead they deleted it, without leaving > a note as to the alteration of the text. > > I understand that the editors of NLR may not know who Ganser is, and that > they cannot be expected to check every reference in every text. > > Given the passage in the text, I doubt that D’Eramo does not know who Ganser > is. > > I would have hoped that the editorial standards of NLR go beyond simply > deleting the passage. > > best > Michael > > > Deleted from: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/sleepwalking-elites > > And Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine doesn’t absolve NATO of its > responsibility in producing the conflict. (To get an idea of the Atlantic > Alliance’s ‘pacifist’ vocation, it’s worth reading Swiss historian Daniele > Ganser’s 2022 book NATO’s Illegal Wars, available in German, French and > Italian, not yet in English). In today’s world, we rely on elites – > technocrats, the ‘cognitive aristocracy’ > <https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/iron-musk> – to pilot us through > perilous waters with their superior wisdom. > > Passage now reads: > > And Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine doesn’t absolve NATO of its > responsibility in producing the conflict. In today’s world, we rely on elites > – technocrats, the ‘cognitive aristocracy’ > <https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/iron-musk> – to pilot us through > perilous waters with their superior wisdom. > > > > > > nettime-l@mail.kein.org > > On 14 Feb 2023, at 00:25, hans christian voigt <sozw...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Dear Brian, weapons, munition and tools are coming from NATO states _and_ non > NATO states. > > Since you shared this weird opinion piece of D’Eramo just for the list of > equipment which the US alone has sent, I would think it makes sense to keep > in mind that this amount is just a fraction of what the US sent to the Soviet > Union from 1941 on after Hitler Germany assaulted the up to this point ally > in Stalin. I doubt you’d argue this made the UdSSR's war against Hitler > Germany a proxy war. > > After being raided the Ukraine to my knowledge had to buy lot of equipment > from arms dealer for months for inflated prices. On the, I suppose, free > market for weapons. This is to a good extend because before the Ukraine was > not allowed to buy equipment from "the western". > > Besides weapons, if we are talking involvement of the US, I presume the > intelligence provided by the US is probably as significant as the now not > anymore totally refused weapons delivery. Does the sharing of information > that another regime is amassing troops, that an echelon is coming from these > coordinates and one from there, does that, as it is vital for the course of > the war and for defeating Russian troops, does that qualify the term of a > proxy war or is that fair warning and vital help. > > I see Putin's Russia very much as an imperial death cult the likes that > Theweleit was analyzing so ingeniously. Yes, a defeat of Russia certainly > will change the global security system. On the one hand I wonder why that is > viewed as something bad and something one can intervene with and something > that we can influence with anti-americanism while thousands die in the > trenches and civilians get attacked constantly. Anyway, a defeat of Russia > comes with huge risks for sure. As well as a defeat of the Ukraine. And > there's all the other undeniable factors whose spillovers affect most people, > as you wrote. At least there seems to be a larger-than-zero chance that one > very powerful imperial death cult in our world might discontinue. May this > cult crumble soon and it’s followers be forced to face it’s life-hostile > <https://www.dict.cc/?s=life-hostile> ugliness. > > On the other hand, no, I don’t think it’s so easy as to extrapolate from what > was the NATO up until a while ago and expect uncontested Western military > superiority. Even less so in the form as US superiority and the means to > enforce the neoliberal capitalism the way it was enforced till f.e. the > punishment of Greece (by Germany). > > There are more countries joining NATO (Sweden and Finnland, possibly Ukraine > and Georgia) and in the last year already it was the baltic states and Poland > beside Scandinavia that were pushing "the west". The power structure inside > NATO, inside "the west" seems to have changed quite a bit and where will it > go from there? The same "west" has not just one but many countries that are > on track of their own fascisms (imperial death cults included). As far as we > experienced, fascism might be chaperoned with isolationism and even with > strong opposition to NATO. > > So, while NATO might grow in number it looks to me as it could get weaker and > might disintegrate from within. Then there’s China that emerged clearly as > more powerful than Russia. Russia as an empire might dissolve. But it’s not a > given whose colonies the parts of the remains with all those resources will > become. BRICS seems broken and the change from Lula to Bolsonaro back to Lula > should be another reminder of the volatility of this world. Modi in India > seems just as damn scary to me as the Arabic powers. Pakistan is huge, has > nuclear weapons as well and faces a near future where most of the country > will be to hot to survive is. Speaking of petro power, as an example, > Austria’s chancellor looks to have opposed a gas-price brake (even on EU > level) only because the emirates wealth funds have a big enough stake in the > Austrian energy providers that his alliance lies with the emirates. Even > against his voters. > > Certainly dangerous time with immense future consequences. Feels like this is > building up decade over decade honestly. A foreseeable future with huge areas > of the planet made uninhabitable. Fascism permeating everywhere. A few times > already made me cower in fear. > > I remember specifically a period from 2007 to 2009 where I was struggling a > lot with this paralyzing vista and it’s influence on my psyche. I same time > found that immensely dangerous in itself. Dangerous and honestly very self > centered. Since then I believe that this chilling effect is very dangerous > for the individual psyche and our collective thinking. (Like D’Eramo who > seems to argue that criminals with atom bombs should be allowed free terror > reign because, well, they have the nuclear threat and look how stressed they > are. I mean, it’s clearly not going the way he dreamed it up. Now that is > making D'Eramo afraid and wouldn’t that be understandable? Poor fellow. Fuck > real victims, I have my own problems, I am shitting myself.) > > Sorry. Well, I absolutely second that it is important to analyze the new > security systems emerging. Even more so as I guess they will not be very > stable. In analyzing I hope we are wary of carrying forward outdated > projections, bogeymen and conceptualities … and emotions. That, btw, in my > world certainly does not come with amnesties for past crimes or historical > misrepresentation of what NATO, the US and the likes did. > > > sry for my English > > > ps: pretty sure there was a positive reference to Daniel Ganser in D’Eramo’s > text when I read it first that is not there anymore. Talking about dangerous. > These men and women who make big bucks and a wealthy living in the business > of conspiracy theories. They are thriving. > > > >> Am 13.02.2023 um 21:28 schrieb Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldr...@gmail.com>: >> >> Felix, I understand what you're reacting to, and to be clear, I support the >> Ukrainians in their war against Russian aggression. I think it's a necessary >> war for NATO to engage in, as I've said before. I also agree the term >> "liberal fascism" is meaningless, btw. >> >> But this is also a great power war, fought with NATO weapons in Ukrainian >> hands. Up to now that's been called a proxy war, but if there's a better >> term, I'll take it. The point is definitely not to wallow in outdated >> concepts, but to grasp what's happening now. >> >> I think this war is perceived by US and other Western strategists as the >> means for the installation of a new global security system in the face of >> increasing challenges to the post-WWII order. That order, originally defined >> by the US and cemented by NATO, is now fundamentally threatened by climate >> change and by the rise of East Asia. The intense bellicose signalling >> between China and the US reveals the larger stakes. Putin attempted to take >> advantage of this situation by establishing a partnership with China, but he >> failed. >> >> Victory in Ukraine would reestablish uncontested Western military >> superiority at the global level, and allow the NATO countries to organize >> the next phase of capitalist development, just as the Gulf War did at the >> outset of neoliberalism in the 90s. But the world is now far more unstable >> than in the 90s. The Ukrainians are pushing for total victory, which is >> hard to imagine without Putin's fall. I doubt it is possible to achieve >> regime change in Russia without NATO troops on the ground. >> >> My point is that this is a dangerous time with immense future consequences. >> It would be important to analyze the new security system as it emerges. >> Support for the Ukrainians does not mean turning a blind eye to what the >> most powerful countries are doing. The international system that emerges >> from this war will be the one that deals with the existential challenge of >> climate change. >> >> Thoughtfully, Brian >> >> On Mon, Feb 13, 2023, 11:41 Felix Stalder <fe...@openflows.com >> <mailto:fe...@openflows.com>> wrote: >>> >>> On 12.02.23 20:50, Brian Holmes wrote: >>> > -- There's a war on in Europe, which is a proxy war that pits NATO >>> > against Russia, via the fighting force of Ukraine. Definitely check >>> > out the list of equipment which the US alone has sent: >>> > https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/sleepwalking-elites >>> > <https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/sleepwalking-elites> (list >>> > begins in paragraph 3) >>> >>> >>> I know this is not your point here, but to see this only as a proxy >>> war really reductive and reeks of a "great powers" analysis in which >>> some countries/people are just have to accept the fact that they are >>> subordinate. >>> >>> The author of the NLR article comes right out with this world view: >>> >>> > Ten years ago, nobody could have imagined that Europe would risk >>> > such a catastrophe for the sake of the Donbass – a region that few of >>> > us would have been able to locate on a map. >>> >>> I'm sure most Ukrainians knew already 10 years ago where the Donbas was, >>> but why bother with their view. Also, the war in the Donbas started >>> 2008, so not to know where the Donbas was in 2012 is really an act >>> of metropolitan ignorance. It happens, nothing to be proud of. >>> >>> So, this war is primarily one of Ukrainian survival. I'm sure that many >>> in the US security apparatus see it also as a proxy-war, but I think >>> also Biden's theme of democracy-vs-authoritarianism plays a role. I >>> don't think it's a given that a republican administration under Trump >>> would have done the same (even if some in the military would still have >>> liked to fight a proxy war). >>> >>> >>> On 13.02.23 08:45, Stefan Heidenreich wrote: >>> >>> > - the defeat of NATO could lead to a "decolonization" of Western >>> > Europe (not that this by itself leads to positive results. Repressive >>> > "liberal" fascism remains as likely an outcome as some sort of >>> > independence.) >>> >>> Oh my, what this is supposed to mean, only chatGPT can explain. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> | |||||||||||||||| http://felix.openflows.com <http://felix.openflows.com/> >>> | >>> | for secure communication, please use signal | >>> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >>> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >>> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >>> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >>> # archive: http://www.nettime.org <http://www.nettime.org/> contact: >>> nett...@kein.org <mailto:nett...@kein.org> >>> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: >> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org >> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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