On being wrong. Opinions all over on the JQ. A zoom reunion.
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Going through my Amazon reviews makes me realize that we all make errors at times. I updated the list from yesterday, adding the following reviews. My reviews of The Crucifixion of Russia and The Fourth Political Theory are still on Amazon’s website despite their having dropped the books.
It quite frequently occurs to me that there are books are reviewed that I can’t find. One that I located yesterday is Red Notice. Last week as I was searching for links, the search engine turned up something negative about author Bill Browder. Another search today came up with nothing. However, racking my brain I remembered seeing this piece on the Unz Review a couple of years ago to the effect that Browder was a fraud. I reread the book and concluded they were probably right, changing my reading of the book down from five stars to two.
With another year of retrospect I would suspect that Bill Browder’s manipulation of the United States political process to vilify Russia may have contributed to this war. Putin is certainly no angel, but then again neither is Bill Browder. An angel could not have conjured up a couple of billion dollars out of thin air in the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As with so many things, it is not worth my effort to chase the thread, to try to figure it out.
The story of The Crucifixion of Russia is easier. A certain ethnic group that wields a lot of power with regard to what gets printed and sold in the United States did not want Americans reading Solzhenitsyn’s version of Russian history.
The Fourth Political Theory became toxic when the war started. I am fortunate to have a soft copy. The review below remains the harshest I have ever given to any book. I may have been wrong about Bill Browder, but I certainly nailed Alexander Dugin. I only wish that the Russophiles on Unz’ website could find the courage to admit their errors. Nope. A look today reveals that they are only doubling down.
I edited yesterday’s post to add these three reviews.
The Crucifixion of Russia, Columbus Falco, 2017
The Fourth Political Theory, Alexander Dugin, 2014
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, Bill Browder, 2015
Masaki recently posted a comment.
When I'm in Japan, which is located at the eastern end of the Eurasian Continent, 300-1000km across the sea, it is difficult for me to intuitively understand the Jewish situation in the West. I only know Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Einstein.
I've just know Semite=Jew.Thanks for increasing my knowledge.
Japanese have long been curious about Jews. They are two of the most intelligent, and most singular societies on earth. I answered:
It is a very touchy subject. The Jews are unique. Uniquely intelligent, uniquely accomplished, and uniquely averse to being talked about. Almost anything I write will be interpreted as anti-Semitic by somebody.
I have reviewed quite a few books on the subjects of Israel and Judaism, about half by Jews. I think I'm fair-minded, but I am sure others will not. I'll post the links before too long.
Here is a list I have reviewed of books that touch on the subject of Jews, Judaism and Israel. Many of them are written by Jews. They of course do not agree.
The Invention of the Jewish Gaucho, Judith Freydenberg, 2006
IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black, 2016
A People That Shall Dwell Alone: Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy, with Diaspora Peoples, Kevin MacDonald, 2011
Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism, Kevin MacDonald, 2012
The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements, Kevin MacDonald, 2011
The Jewish Century, Yuri Slezkine, 2016
The Crucifixion of Russia, Columbus Falco, 2017
The Myth of German Villainy, Benton Bradberry, 2016
World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Amy Chua, 2003
Two Hundred Years Together, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 2018
The Crucifixion of Russia, Columbus Falco, 2017
Revolutionary Jews from Marx to Trotsky, Robert Wistrich, 2016
The Holocaust Industry, Norman Finkelstein, 2011
Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Norman Finkelstein, 2011
Against Our Better Judgment, Alison Weir, 2014
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, Bill Browder, 2015
As you readers of this blog know, I am fond of quoting Jewish bloggers: Celia Farber, Jessica Rose, Glenn Greenwald, David Cole, Ron Unz, Steve Kirsch, Naomi Wolf… this list could go on forever. Their intelligence, industry and self-confidence leads them to tremendous success. That self-confidence can be translated very loosely as chutzpah. I’m sure somebody will rush in to tell me that a goyish schlemiel such as me cannot fully understand what that word conveys, and they are probably right.
A case in point right now is that Steve Kirsch is talking about starting a hedge fund. What for? The guy is already a multimillionaire and he has his hands absolutely full with the Covid battle. Being a money manager is a full-time job. Matthew Crawford, a fellow Team Reality warrior, is calling him out on this. As you will see from my comments to Matthew’s post, I think it is not wise to get involved. When it’s a case of chutzpah versus chutzpah, my best course of action is to stay on the sidelines.
My closing remark on this affair is that being anti-Semitic would be impossible. They are so all-over-the-lot that you would never know what you were anti-.
I have finally sorted out my reviews, putting them in the following nonexclusive categories: The sexes , Business, Government, Covid, Climate, Science, Diet/food, Education, Finance , Language, History, International, the Jewish question, Kids, Literature, Medicine, Psychometric, Race, Society, Russia – Ukraine, Evolution, Warfare, Societal Collapse, and Politics. I am now in a position to get back to finishing my review of Women After All.
We set up a Skype call yesterday with my brother Duncan and my sister Stephanie. The kids climbed all over me as we held our conversation. Not that easy to do with a two and a five-year-old, but we enjoyed it. We talked about the how the geography of British Columbia and California differ from ours. More of everything over there: taller trees, more rain, more drought, more fires, more floods, more earthquakes, higher surf, more species diversity… Ukraine is a pretty tame place by comparison.
That’s the news from Lake WeBeGone, where the March winds of swept in to chase away the deep freeze. We are looking forward to the crocus. Oksana is still reliving the success of our dinner party and looking forward to the next one. The kids are talking about when they can travel to Portugal or Canada.
200 Years has very nearly been memory-holed. I was able to find an earlier translation, pdf version. Dugin's book is nearly as suppressed, although I found a pdf copy slightly easier. Browder's book is showing up on Amazon. Apparently, he fits the current narrative.
Neither 200 Years or Dugin were available on eBay, which is always a good source for used books.
I find this most interesting and a bit distressing. It fits in with a certain ideology that was supposed to have been defeated in 1945. I've been saying that I need new conspiracy theories because all of my old ones have come true, but day-um.
It also occurs to me that by searching for these books, I've probably succeeded in finally getting myself on all of the "lists" the old conspiracy theorists were so concerned about. Oh well. :-)
Browder is a crook through and through. He used the death of Magnitsky to hide his crimes. Idiots like McCain and Graham were totally duped. And so was Congress. Willing dupes, I might add.