The Saker: So the much advertised NATO summit in Warsaw finally took place. It was a total success, at least if the criterion is that the outcome matched the expectations:
- Poroshenko and Nadezhda Savchenko were invited and treated like a respected guest
- Russia was condemned for her “aggressions” in Georgia, Crimea and the Ukraine
- The Poles plastered Warsaw with posters saying “ACHTUNG RUϟϟIA”
- The Balts each got one NATO battalion to deter the Russian Bear
- Russia was condemned for not abiding by the Minks2 Agreement
- Enough hot air was released to worsen global warming by at least 10 degrees
Frankly, I don’t feel like commenting on all this idiocy. Besides, all these pseudo-decisions never were the true purpose of this summit. This summit had a totally different objective and that objective too was fully achieved.
The real purpose of the summit was to force each western political leader to chose between reality and ideology. And they all made the correct choice, of course. They categorically rejected reality and enthusiastically embraced ideology.
This is why Russia was accused of not complying with an agreement she is not even a part to.
By : I recently attended a screening of How to Marry a Millionaire, a 1953 movie in which three of the era’s renowned screen sirens, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall, go on the prowl for rich husbands. It’s arguably the most straightforward depiction of gold-digging in cinema history. Yet during the pre- and post-film Q and A, no one made any objections (granted, it was an older crowd) to the film’s merciless portrayal of mercenary females or even mentioned it. Though central to the film’s plot and theme, hypergamy was not worthy of comment. Apparently, the concept is as entrenched in the modern cultural woodwork as it was in 1953. Well, what can you say except the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The ICJ’s ruling helps to underscore the prejudicial nature of the discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Western mainstream media—and particularly in the US. The media never fail to elevate Israel’s policy aims to the same level of legitimacy as international law. For example, we can frequently read in the New York Times, the Washington Post, et al, that East Jerusalem or areas where Israeli settlements are located are “disputed” territory—thus placing equal weight to Israel’s position as the entire rest of the planet, which recognizes Israel’s settlements as illegal and East Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory.
