tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post4727736533117746807..comments2024-03-19T15:09:40.728+07:00Comments on <b>Postcards from the End of [the] America[n Empire]</b>: Poland Looking WestLinh Dinhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-83544151804510369702016-02-01T18:21:10.452+07:002016-02-01T18:21:10.452+07:00Actually "pop culture" works better. I m...Actually "pop culture" works better. I must learn to trust my instincts!swindledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00035913786847702889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-65111746539289359662016-02-01T18:03:11.236+07:002016-02-01T18:03:11.236+07:00I meant to say pop music.I meant to say pop music.swindledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00035913786847702889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-89578258647912684882016-02-01T18:01:58.689+07:002016-02-01T18:01:58.689+07:00The world is looking to America for salvation--bec...The world is looking to America for salvation--because what else could this "infatuation" be about? Well then, the world must be in pretty piss-poor shape.<br /> Oh, I almost forgot, the world is in piss-poor shape!<br /> And only getting worse every minute with the spread of disinflationary growth (ebbing toward deflationary--when the shit truly hits the fan) and the Zika virus.<br /> Though in truth this is not a new phenomenon to me. The Filipinos I know imitate American cultural ways, our habits and styles and especially our pop culture, obsessively .. a guy I know in Cebu saying anything that happens in America gets here, if not instantaneously, then within 2 months. Even before the balikbayan box.<br /> swindledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00035913786847702889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-21494064686535467202016-01-28T01:30:52.390+07:002016-01-28T01:30:52.390+07:00The past and the future are only mutually exclusiv...The past and the future are only mutually exclusive for con men. Hence Bill and Hillary played Fleetwood Mac's "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow/ Yesterday's gone.." when they first accepted the party nomination.<br /><br />The Polish Solidarity movement, as much as it became a partial cause for Western triumphalism, was not a case of people being duped but an enlightened and effective uprising against Stalinist corruption, unattainable food prices, elitist decision-making and unsustainable import-exports and investments. Although the movement strove for unity over ideology, the program drafted October 1981 has been described as anarcho-syndicalist, calling for local authority, full rights of debate and democratic participation and provision of essentials for the poor.<br /><br />http://www.bolshevik.org/Pamphlets/Solidarnosc/solidarnosc_appendix.html<br /><br />Next month Linh you may visit a country where 2,687,246 people voted for the Communist Party in the 2012 parliamentary elections, but your ability to ascertain whether those Ukrainians were wealthy hipsters may be hindered by the fact that the US-backed Kiev leadership banned the party and expression of Communist ideas and symbols.Ian Keenanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06467875917624075568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-12405036466760781962016-01-27T05:13:54.878+07:002016-01-27T05:13:54.878+07:00P.S.S. As for nations, borders will be reinforced....P.S.S. As for nations, borders will be reinforced. The European Union will break up. The US itself will break up. Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-45875161411849442592016-01-27T05:09:09.916+07:002016-01-27T05:09:09.916+07:00P.S. Perhaps you can articulate your argument in a...P.S. Perhaps you can articulate your argument in an article, and have it published on webzines, like I do. That way, readers can debate the merits of your thinking.Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-37391295887294516752016-01-27T05:06:21.120+07:002016-01-27T05:06:21.120+07:00Hi Regular Poster,
Now that you're discussing...Hi Regular Poster,<br /><br />Now that you're discussing instead of sniping, we can talk. Think about you coming in here to mock a discussion between three people as "cute" and "bourgeois" with a bitchy "oooh" to precede it. No blog owner would put up with such an attitude REPEATEDLY. No one.<br /><br />I agree with you about these many countries being used by the American Empire. I've written many thousands of words about just that from my first political article, and I've written hundreds of articles. I'm against all countries being used as pawns, or being invaded or perverted. I've also argued relentlessly for local solutions as decided by the people of each country. That's why I reject any global system being imposed by above or from a distance. Since all nations are different, they need different solutions and arrangements.<br /><br />If you want to be a Communist or live in a Communist society, that's your decision, I don't care, but do not prescribe that as the only solution or hope for mankind. That is beyond arrogant and absurd.<br /><br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-10041765815438478532016-01-27T04:35:01.698+07:002016-01-27T04:35:01.698+07:00"You can disagree with their stance, of cours..."You can disagree with their stance, of course, but it's not your country." <br /><br />Concepts like countries, nationalities etc. are only useful to an extent. Poland has given up its sovereignity. There is no more Poland. There is no more Estonia, Norway, Lithuania, Bulgaria etc. They don't decide shit, they don't do anything if it goes against the interests of the empire that controls them. They are useful pawns. Today you are used for some purpose, tomorrow you will be thrown away because you have stopped being useful. There is no more Polish, Spanish, French, German culture. The culture you think of in the sense of food, some very insignificant superficial aspects like that is meaningless. Our culture is now money and commodity glorification. I think you will allow me to quote Marx on this one: "When money seeps into a community, it becomes the real community"<br />RegularPosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853703868306760338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-20312974909073097912016-01-27T04:34:46.799+07:002016-01-27T04:34:46.799+07:00Linh Dihn,
Ok, let's leave this bickering beh...Linh Dihn,<br /><br />Ok, let's leave this bickering behind, I'm sorry if my posts insulted you. Didn't mean to do it at all. Like I said - I like this blog but have been visiting it for only a couple months, therefore I'm not yet familiar with your conventions. However, I must say that when someone wants to keep an open public blog like this one he must be ready for all kinds of opinions and visitors. You wrote "even people who say my poems are shit or that I should go back to Vietnam, whatever". What did you expect? Is everyone you meet in real life a nice person? No. Neither are the people on the internet. In fact, the internet allows people to let off a little steam, that's why assholish behavior is more prevalent on it. <br /><br /> "I don't dictate anything to anybody"<br /><br />You are doing that. You are dictating not to support Stalin or communism on this blog (not that I was doing that, I was only critiquing the current system). Like it or not, but you are overlooking your own contradictions. <br /><br />Ok, now that I have slightly more time on my hands, I will try to expand on what I was trying to imply earlier.<br /><br />First of all, let's start with the claim that communism has caused great suffering. You claim to have encountered it. Yet, you don't even seem to understand that communism has never existed on this planet in any way, shape or form. All we had was a very rudimentary, nascent form of socialism with all of its contradictions and still existing class consciousness for a very short period of time. Communism is the highest stage of socialism, with absence of markets, labor exploitation and money-commodity exchange. You can follow the path of the US empire that you so despise and call everything you don't like communism but it doesn't make it that.<br />I wonder why you are so adamant about despising communism. Have you ever read Das Kapital or the Poverty of Philosophy by Marx? Give them a chance, those books might give you a better clue on how the system we live in necessitates oppression, exploitation and inequality. <br /><br />"Poles reject the Russian imperialism they suffered for nearly half a century"<br /><br />Poland is one of those countries that is bound to live off blaming others for its misfortunes. Be it Germans, Russians and soon it will be the EU. Remember - the advanced, civilized and enlightened German nation once became enamored with the idea of racial superiority and fascist-capitalist economy. Sometimes some serious propaganda takes decades to develop. Sometimes a few years is enough. The Poles have had a quarter of a century (think about it again, that is a quarter of a century) now to prove that it wasn't the USSR that was pulling them back. Instead they have been moving to wealthier EU countries to wash toilets there and cook for their new overlords. Meanwhile, the social welfare system they had has been slowly withering away. No one (I mean the leading imperialist countries) is gonna let another large and densely populated area like Poland to get a piece of the ever shrinking pie that is the global markets. Poland is slowly descending into more and more poverty, inequality and dissatisfaction. Mark my words. You can show me all kinds of figures, GDP, bourgeous statistics, salary increases, blah blah blah. We all know what the deal is. We all know how fucking difficult it is getting for the average person out there. The Poles were given some hope and even monetary help and belief in the benevolence of their new rulers (Too bad they have such short historical memory) but now they are seeing the reality for what it is. They have been duped.<br /><br />RegularPosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853703868306760338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-41693230011139208622016-01-26T19:55:13.849+07:002016-01-26T19:55:13.849+07:00I'm only responding to your mocking tone. I...I'm only responding to your mocking tone. I've tolerated all kinds of comments here, even people who say my poems are shit or that I should go back to Vietnam, whatever. What I don't appreciate is the sneering sarcasm you've displayed on several occasions. I've stated my stance against state terror repeatedly, and I know many people who suffered terribly from Communism. You're free to yearn for that, but count me and billions of people out of it. I don't dictate anything to anybody.<br /><br />Poles reject the Russian imperialism they suffered for nearly half a century. You can disagree with their stance, of course, but it's not your country. It's not mine either, and in this article, I'm merely trying to give a brief overview of what's going on there. Transnistria, on the other hand, is a little breakaway region of Moldova that's clinging to their Communist heritage (but without living as Communists!). That's their business. Should I get a chance to visit it one day, I'll try my best to give a respectful account of it also.<br /><br />When I was in Turkey, you teed off on me and apparently got a big kick out of it. Perhaps you don't even hear yourself.<br /><br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-9450124046468102502016-01-26T19:11:57.601+07:002016-01-26T19:11:57.601+07:00Linh Din,
Ok. Yes, I guess I'm that "Sta...Linh Din,<br /><br />Ok. Yes, I guess I'm that "Stalinist freak". I don't know what this phrase is supposed to mean? Can you explain it more thoroughly please? Could I also venture a guess?<br /><br />Is it enough to simply have a differing opinion on Stalin as opposed to the one established by the bourgeois elite over the decades? Or perhaps it is enough to claim that Stalin wasn't the evil dictator he is made out to be and the USSR during those years wasn't the imperialist dictatorship that you probably think of?<br /><br />That's quite hypocritical of you to call someone that when by looking at your responses to my comments you seem to be more insulting and oppressive (just because I seem to have a differing opinion) than I have ever been on here.<br /><br />I will try to give a long response to the topic at hand a bit later today. You can ban me if you want (for being the "Stalinist dictatorial state loving freak"), I will still visit this blog because I like many of the observations and pictures you make.RegularPosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853703868306760338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-68927502858510196262016-01-26T16:24:26.847+07:002016-01-26T16:24:26.847+07:00And speaking of the bourgeoisie, 99% of the Commun...And speaking of the bourgeoisie, 99% of the Communist freaks I've encountered are spoiled, middle class or upper middle class brats. They have no familiarity with working class values and opinions. Else, they dismiss them from afar. These brats are about as elitist as they come. Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-65317328792745211732016-01-26T16:12:41.716+07:002016-01-26T16:12:41.716+07:00People who hanker for an all powerful state are an...People who hanker for an all powerful state are angry infants. They're even sillier than those who think the Pope can solve everything.Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-11586736035550939662016-01-26T16:09:23.329+07:002016-01-26T16:09:23.329+07:00Now, I'm convinced it's the same asshole S...Now, I'm convinced it's the same asshole Stalinist freak from a month ago. The same sneering sarcasm that enlightens nothing. Here we are talking about an actual situation in a country, and a Stalinist freak jumps in to sneeringly dismiss it. I'm sure he's very offended by my characterization of the evil Communists. I'm sure he thinks Milosz and Kundera are fools too. Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-77343310130044293482016-01-26T16:05:32.325+07:002016-01-26T16:05:32.325+07:00P.S.S. I just changed the setting. From now on, no...P.S.S. I just changed the setting. From now on, no hit and run "Anonymous" sniping. Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-17187904837561832072016-01-26T16:02:02.904+07:002016-01-26T16:02:02.904+07:00P.S. There was an asshole Stalinist freak "an...P.S. There was an asshole Stalinist freak "anonymous" who vandalized this blog about a month ago. I don't want to confuse you with him.Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-4494795277640161192016-01-26T16:00:25.998+07:002016-01-26T16:00:25.998+07:00Hi Anonymous,
To avoid confusion, please sign in ...Hi Anonymous,<br /><br />To avoid confusion, please sign in with some sort of name next time. I don't want to confuse you with other "Anonymouses." Thanks.<br /><br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-76051639445064474992016-01-26T15:51:38.738+07:002016-01-26T15:51:38.738+07:00Ooooh, the famous cute bourgeois debates abut parl...Ooooh, the famous cute bourgeois debates abut parlimentarism. I wish it mattered that much to be worth discussing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-40436022271454168742016-01-26T11:11:39.453+07:002016-01-26T11:11:39.453+07:00A comment at Smirking Chimp:
as a Pole, I feel ob...<i>A comment at <a href="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/linh-dinh/65673/poland-looking-west" rel="nofollow">Smirking Chimp</a>:</i><br /><br /><b>as a Pole, I feel obligated to put in my two cents -</b><br /><br />I found the article very insightful and measured, although this enthusiasm about USA is fading fast... and there is quite a bit of disenchantment about "democracy" in a form of corporate democracy, and the moral values of the West. Poland is now, interestingly, going through a political equivalent of Americans electing a GOP president, just to show the Dems that bringing up the boogieman is not enough to get elected forever. In an election a month ago, voters gave a boot to a Platforma Obywatelska (Citizen Platform) party, akin to Dems in US, and elected (those who bothered to cast a vote, that is) nationalistic and religious party led by the people who belong in a lunatic asylum (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, or Law and Justice). What those people accomplished in a month, is impressive, if one can be impressed by attempts to demolish the state, media, administration, relations with the EU, and the like. There is a healthy resistance, though, and a newly formed nation-wide committee for Defense of Democracy, with tens of thousands showing for demonstrations week after week. Poles are somewhat difficult to tame...<br />_______<br /><br />polack in idaho<br />Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-68938506761444804812016-01-26T00:01:16.949+07:002016-01-26T00:01:16.949+07:00Linh, US may or may not be playing both ends with ...Linh, US may or may not be playing both ends with the EU and Law and Order. These kinds of governments tend to attract grassroots opposition in any case.Ian Keenanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16596558654735506132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-4259907366368514452016-01-25T23:07:01.830+07:002016-01-25T23:07:01.830+07:00Yo Ian,
And I don't mean to belittle legitima...Yo Ian,<br /><br />And I don't mean to belittle legitimate criticisms against Law and Order. I just find strange that this party, barely in power, has received such close scrutiny. Foreign Policy is even suggesting that Obama should boycott the NATO summit in Warsaw this July.<br /><br />Linh<br /><br />Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-57682405419970858142016-01-25T22:57:49.865+07:002016-01-25T22:57:49.865+07:00LJansen, Wonderful interview find.. Prashad in Ara...LJansen, Wonderful interview find.. Prashad in Arab Spring, Libyan Winter identified Khalifa Haftar as the CIA's point man in Libya, who currently leads the military in Eastern faction of the civil war. After working for Qaddafi he was allowed to immigrate to the US and settled in Vienna, Virginia.<br /><br />For whatever reason, the Law and Order party in Poland seeks stronger ties with the US, increased military spending and participation in US military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, with fewer ties to the EU. You're aware of the CIA role in the Maidan movement in the Ukraine.<br /><br />Within the Obama administration, Hillary had a particular zeal for subversion in Honduras, Haiti, Libya, etc but even Bernie supported the Libyan war.Ian Keenanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16596558654735506132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-29906067870575750922016-01-25T18:40:52.975+07:002016-01-25T18:40:52.975+07:00Hi Ian and LJansen,
Law and Justice just got vote...Hi Ian and LJansen,<br /><br />Law and Justice just got voted in by a very large margin. I suspect that the street demonstrations and bad publicity may be triggered by their modest resistance against Brussels. Our CIA goons may be behind it.<br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-90043061314371640302016-01-25T13:09:13.330+07:002016-01-25T13:09:13.330+07:00The might CIA Wurlitzer keeps playing. In this EM...The might CIA Wurlitzer keeps playing. In this EMPIRE FILES episode, Vijay Prashad explains that the U.S. is still executing coups and regime change almost at will. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_5p2Gwq42k<br /><br />The people of Poland will hopefully be noticing that alliance with the U.S. does nothing for them except cause trouble with their neighbors. <br /><br />Thanks, Linh. Love potato pillows too.LJansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15841902184663361182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-25882864026458612142016-01-25T05:25:42.691+07:002016-01-25T05:25:42.691+07:00"Thousands of citizens marched through city s..."Thousands of citizens marched through city streets across Poland on Saturday to protest the right-wing government's encroaching authoritarianism, including a new plan to enact sweeping surveillance measures.<br /><br />""Our privacy, intimacy is under threat, we can be followed, watched over both in our homes, and online," Mateusz Kijowski, founder of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD) party and one of the protest organizers, told a large crowd in Warsaw as people held signs and stood in frigid temperatures to voice their opposition to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that took control in November following parliamentary elections....<br /><br />"...In a national poll taken in December, more than half of Poland's people (56%) said that Kaczynski and the PiS were a direct threat to the nation's democracy...<br /><br />"...One protester held up a sign that said "Happy New Year 1984" and explained to the Associated Press her fears that life in Poland could begin to resemble the authoritarian state depicted in George Orwell's famous novel...<br /><br />"...Amid the growing concerns of the Polish government's behavior, the EU's investigation seeks to determine if any of the newly-enact reforms violate the bloc's democratic standards. As Agence France Presse reports:<br /><br />" Brussels introduced the "rule of law" mechanism in 2014, giving the 28-nation bloc the right to investigate and if necessary punish any member state which violates key EU democratic and rights norms.<br /><br />" If found at fault, a country can be stripped of its EU voting rights—the so-called "nuclear option"—but the procedure has not been used before and officials say they hope it does not come to that.<br /><br />"Said demonstrator Anna Straszewska, a 42-year-old art historian marching in Warsaw, "We are afraid that things could get that bad if we don't protest now. I remember communism. When democracy came I thought we would be part of the West forever. Now I am even afraid this could end up in us leaving the EU." "<br /><br /><br />http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/23/against-growing-authoritarian-threat-far-right-massive-marches-polandIan Keenanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16596558654735506132noreply@blogger.com