Inaugural: Trump, Foreign Policy & free eBooks!

Real fake media: ‘Ship? FREE EBOOKS THEN THE NEWS

Why Trump Won, Why Clinton Lost: How to Win an Election:

Civil Procedure Law Flashcards Quiz Questions

Criminal Law (no picture)

U.S. Contract Law for German Jurists

Ukraine's War: Strategies & Tactics for Victory

China's Future in Focus

Taming Dragons with Chinese Political Ideology

Multistate Bar Review:

Like I said, I am starting a substack about artificial intelligence.

LLM AI at CIA in NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/us/politics/cia-chatbot-technology.html

https://artificialint.substack.com

Typical: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/17/former-cia-employee-pleads-guilty-to-leaking-files-on-israels-iran-strikes

Trump & Foreign Policy

Trump, whether others say it aloud or admit it, is seeking to fundamentally retrench US foreign policy from an integrated world economy back to a nation state model; possibly as an isolationist or semi-isolationist.

Marxists think capitalism does this inevitably due to the decline of super-profits. Liberals think it happens because of over-extension (see Kennedy, Rise and Fall). Marxists also believe this retrenchment coincides with fascism, the rise of overt exploitative militarism and thus also to inter-imperialist wars.

The problem with the Marxist view is that Marxists seriously over-estimate economic cyclicity's tendency to unleash great-power wars and domestic revolutions. Marxists mistakenly believe economic exploitation inevitably burns out, no one left to exploit, and thus crashes and burns. This, alongside a controlled oppposition which co-opts and isolates serious critique (infra) explain the failure of the "far" left in the USA to resist oligarchy.

Capitalism successfully reformed itself out of wars for conquest and exploitation, despite Putin's efforts to turn the clock back to the 1800s. This is partly because of the continuous technological innovation capitalism unleashed. Marx believed the rise of ever improving technology would lead to a world of peace and prosperity for all. That more-or-less happened, but not as Marx predicted. The world did not follow Marx's predicted path of ever greater class polarization leading to global revolution as a consequence of ever greater economic cyclicity and ever more intense inter-imperiaist wars leading inevitably to a global proletarian dictatorship as an intermediate stage to communism.

Marx's flawed prediction of the course of capitalism is exactly the ideological axkle that shall drive movements that out-maneuver the Chinese Communist Party, unless the CCP continues to reform itself ideologically. However, Wang Huning is brilliant. Consequently, it is entirely likely China will in fact continue reforming its ideology, further adapting Marxism to serve the actual material conditions of the world as it is, and not as we imagine it to be.

Political Partisanship and Political Violence

The Democrats are a controlled opposition. What is a controlled opposition? Why, it’s a political party that puts up fake resistance. Controlled opposition parties are used to co-opt and identify those who cannot be co-opted. Those who cannot be co-opted are destroyed, economically, through imprisonment, or outright killing. Liberals who wonder why the democrats are a fundamentally incompetent party are unable to grasp this basic fact. However, they are also only too happy to imagine ultra-left political actors who embrace policies they reject are thereby shunted out of power and, again, into death, prison, or economic ruin. The U.S. controlled opposition party is intended to preserve oligarchic crapitalism. It does so quite effectively. At best, you are politically naive, however well-intentioned. The USA was always intended to be an oligarchy, with democratic legitimation, Hamilton and others are quite clear about that. This is why e.g. there is a serious rural bias, e.g. senate. So the failure of the USA to form a party-political state, with well established cohesive and coherent political parties isn’t such a problem: political party states are heavily factionalized, which undercuts production, because of redistributive policies, not to mention selective taxation, punitive zoning, and all the ways state power can ruin an economy. Since the USA was never intended to have institutionalized parties, which are a relic of the civil war, the fact it is de facto a single party state is only disturbing if, like me, you think we should not in fact be exclusively governed be elite oligarchic crapitalists all of whom went to Harvard, Yale, and maybe Princeton, because as noted their political isolation of those who cannot be co-opted does include things like economic ruin, imprisonment, or outright killing. State power is the monopoly of legal violence, not cupcakes and unicorns. However, because state power is never perfectly effective, and because internationally at least states are not monopolists but cartels of political violence, various violent private actors can and do exist. Most do not recognize any of what I just wrote and so, again, are easily ruined economically, jailed, or killed even though such groups and people can, at specific times and for a certain duration be very useful.

Trump and Putin

We can be certain 1) Putin wants Ukraine. All of it. Yesterday. And will do Anything to get it. Consequently 2) Negotiation is impossible (Putin lies, doesn't keep his word, is a criminal) 3) Trump's desire to impose peace will fail 4) Putin will stab Trump in the back 5) Trump will not like that and will react accordingly...

“not one bit”.

Rewritten to put it more nicely and less directly:

The Truth About Controlled Opposition

Imagine you're playing a game where one team seems to be opposing the other, but in reality, they're working together to achieve a common goal. This is similar to what's happening in politics with something called "controlled opposition."

What is Controlled Opposition?

• A political party that pretends to oppose the other party, but is actually working with them to maintain power and control.

• The goal is to identify and co-opt (or buy out) those who disagree with the status quo, and eliminate those who can't be controlled.

How Does it Work?

• The controlled opposition party (in this case, the Democrats) puts up a fake fight against the other party, making it seem like they're working for the people.

• Meanwhile, they're actually helping to maintain the power of the wealthy elite (oligarchs) who control the country.

• Those who can't be co-opted (bought out or silenced) are targeted and destroyed through economic means, imprisonment, or even violence.

The US: An Oligarchy in Disguise

• The US was designed to be an oligarchy (a system where power is held by a small group of wealthy individuals) with a democratic facade.

• The founding fathers, like Hamilton, made it clear that the country was meant to be controlled by the wealthy elite.

• The system is designed to preserve the power of the oligarchs, and the controlled opposition party helps to maintain this system.

Why is This a Problem?

• The US is supposed to be a democracy, where power is held by the people, not a small group of wealthy individuals.

• The controlled opposition party is preventing real change from happening, and is instead helping to maintain the status quo.

• This means that those who are not part of the wealthy elite are being held back, and are often targeted and destroyed if they try to speak out or challenge the system.

The Reality of State Power

• State power is not about helping people or making the world a better place. It's about maintaining control and power.

• Those who are in power will stop at nothing to maintain their control, including using violence and economic means to silence their opponents.

• However, there are still ways for individuals and groups to challenge the system and work towards real change.

Yeah? What are You gonna do about it?

• Educate yourself about the system and how it works.

• Support organizations and individuals who are working towards real change.

• Use your voice to speak out against injustice and challenge the status quo.

• Remember that even small actions can make a difference, and that collective action can lead to real change.

Ukraine's survival hinges on resistance.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has sparked a global debate about the effectiveness of military intervention, economic sanctions, and diplomatic efforts in resolving the crisis. We must consider the historical context of Ukrainian-Russian relations, including the annexation of Crimea and Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and consequent Russian war crimes. The Ukrainian people have faced unimaginable hardships, from widespread destruction of infrastructure to significant human losses, yet their determination to resist Russian aggression remains unwavering. A negotiated peace unlikely to succeed due to the deep-seated mistrust and competing interests between the parties involved.

Ukraine's fate will be decided by its people's unrelenting resolve to fight for their sovereignty

A negotiated peace is unlikely to take hold in the face of Russian expansionism.

Украинские беспилотники снова подожгли нефтебазу в Энгельсе на следующий день после того, как губернатор отчитался, что спасатели потушили предыдущий пожар. https://www.svoboda.org/a/neftyanka-vygoraet-/33275382.html

Word of the Day: Bad faith.

Sample sentences: Russian peace overtures are always in bad faith because Russia wants all of Ukraine, yesterday, at any price, and lies are comparatively cheap.

Here are the translations for the word "bad faith" and the sample sentence in the requested languages:

Translations for "bad faith":

1. French: mauvaise foi

2. Spanish: mala fe

3. German: böser Glaube or schlechte Treue

4. Estonian: halb usk

5. Ukrainian: зла віра (zla vira)

6. Russian: недобросовестность (nedobrosovestnost') or злая вера (zlaya vera)

7. Chinese: 不诚信 (bù chéng xìn) or 恶意 (è yì)

Sample sentence translations:

1. French: Les ouvertures de paix russes sont toujours de mauvaise foi, car la Russie veut toute l'Ukraine, hier, à n'importe quel prix, et les mensonges sont relativement bon marché.

2. Spanish: Las iniciativas de paz rusas siempre son de mala fe, porque Rusia quiere toda Ucrania, ayer, a cualquier precio, y las mentiras son relativamente baratas.

3. German: Die russischen Friedensangebote sind immer im bösen Glauben, weil Russland die ganze Ukraine will, gestern, um jeden Preis, und Lügen sind vergleichsweise billig.

4. Estonian: Vene rahupüüdlused on alati halbas usus, sest Venemaa tahab kogu Ukrainat, eile, iga hinna eest, ja valetused on suhteliselt odavad.

5. Ukrainian: Російські мирні ініціативи завжди в злій вірі, бо Росія хоче всю Україну, вчора, будь-якою ціною, а брехня відносно дешева.

6. Russian: Российские мирные инициативы всегда в недобросовестности, потому что Россия хочет всю Украину, вчера, любой ценой, а ложь относительно дешёва.

7. Chinese (Simplified): 俄罗斯的和平倡议总是出于不诚信，因为俄罗斯想要整个乌克兰，昨天，任何代价，谎言相对便宜。 (bù chéng xìn) Chinese (Traditional): 俄羅斯的和平倡議總是出於不誠信，因為俄羅斯想要整個烏克蘭，昨天，任何代價，謊言相對便宜。

Note: The Chinese translations use Simplified and Traditional characters, as the language is written differently in mainland China (Simplified) and Taiwan (Traditional).