MI6, Western Intelligence, Ukraine, and The Russian People

The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

Today, I watched a Youtube interview with the English intelligence chief (MI6, Sir Richard Moore,…the ghost thusly spake) who commented on "his" service's view about the current Russian invasion of Ukraine…and on the resultant backfires in Russia itself…and on Sir Richard’s ‘faith’ in an eventual Russian people's public non-support of Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. 

But, IMO, the Russian people are not the yet-to-arise heroes the West (and their intel groups, MI6 prominently) put hope in.  Rather, the Russian ‘people though perhaps ‘heroic’ inside, are in day-to-day reality totally and ruthlessly controlled to a state of numb paralysis. That is the reality the West must constantly keep in mind and deal with, and never let Russia’s siren song to seduce our people.

I’ve written about the Russian people before and stated my perspective on the Russian ‘State’ (a history of total state control), and on the Russian people (nihilistic, born to the yoke of servitude, number one globally alcoholic,…but yet human underneath.)

One can only hope about the Russian peoples' desire for a better government, but theirs is a terribly high hill to climb. (For the Russian people to be heard, many hundreds of thousands might have to die by their own ‘leaders’ hands.)

Trump Is Probably Not Afraid After His August 1 ('23) Indictment. (Fear’s a Different World to a Shark Driven by Bad Instincts)

 The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

American ‘democracy’ can’t handle a ‘Trump’…because we are trying to put on trial a 21st century political megalomaniac according to 18th century codes for ‘gentleman’-class-behavior…our Trump is not a gentleman and this is definitely not the 18th century (regardless of what SCOTUS Justice Alito says.) America needs to grow up, shape up, get educated. 

Further -America found out that Trump is not a leader, and not a good business manager…Trump is just a larger version of the corner ‘Mom-and-Pop general store operator operating on a an ad hoc budget and struggling to stay alive day-by-day…but in Trump’s case, grifting and living large with gold faucets, by any and all means, legal and illegal. America discovered that “Grift” is Trump’s pathway.

 — — — — 

I have a repeating mantra running in my brain about Donald Trump and America’s continual surprise and shock at his dodges and twists that catch us off guard every time he acts out… even though we should know by now to expect the unexpected. The reason, IMO, is that Trump is not human-normal, but is a ‘Force’ which America, as an immature, uneducated, unsophisticated culture, can’t handle.

A significant question, after August 1’s indictment of Trump for his inciting the ‘Jan6(‘21)’ attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, is…’is Donald Trump now afraid?’ (In other words, ‘is Donald Trump experiencing remorse?’ Most likely not, or at best fleetingly because he is too busy planning chortling over how he is going to gum up the works of America’s naive and corrupt legal works.)

So, I say ‘No!’ Trump is not afraid…Trump has no time for ’fear’. Trump is like a shark constantly swimming to ‘breathe’, i.e., to make money to sustain his errors and extravagant lifestyle (*which he can’t afford.)

Trump’s life awash in real or self-manufactured crises and tension. While he has largely mastered keeping totally focus on money, which IMO, Trump seems very good at (i.e., being 100% focused on money.) But Trump is not actually earning big money — Trump is not actually (net assets-wise) worth the billions that he claims. Rather, Trump, if not owning billions, at least ‘controls’ billions... and lives large off the ‘vig’ like a billionaire (like a real mob-boss, the gold faucets and hookers, etc are apparently all that matters …to him.)

Trump, the ‘Force’, doesn’t feel fear, only heightened aggression….like cornered animal. We thought Trump was a true ‘businessman’ (who nearly half of Americans either wanted, or wanted to try out as President.) But instead, America learned the difference between a corporate leader and an entrepeneur. America found out that Trump is not a leader, and not a good business manager…Trump is just a larger version of the corner ‘Mom-and-Pop general store operator operating on a an ad hoc budget and struggling to stay alive day by day.

The corporate leader knows how to work with a board (governance), but the enrepeneur is a wild-card cowboy who has learned to survive at on the open range, unfettered by fences and rules… except for rules of survival.

The entrepeneur champions ‘laissez-faire’ capitalism; …not of any scholarly, philosophical enlightenment…but because the entrepeneur can only be free to operate in an environment that is unbounded from all behavior chains — ‘ethics’, honesty, fair practcies, consumer safety (meaningless in that fishpond,…etc.

The entrepeneur is not someone who belongs as President. And Trump is an entrepeneur…whether he knows it or not!

Indict, Try and even convict Trump…then ban Trump from ever-again(!) standing for, being elected to, and occupying any future office of any kind — — America’s cultural-democratic structures can’t handle a ‘Trump’…because America asks its leaders to operate by the unwritten rules of 18th century class-based behavior. (America needs to grow up.)

Should Donald Trump Be Seen (And Legally Investigated, and Potentially Punished), As a ‘Force’ (a Psych-Spectrum Case)? Does America Have Precedent in It’s Laws

 The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

Donald Trump might (/should) be viewed as a ‘force’ (a psych-spectrum case), not simply as just a person. But how can an unembodied ‘something’ be punished by a legal system whose underlying origin, purpose, and intent are focused on organic, living things? Can America’s legal system put a ‘force’ on trial? It seems difficult to do …as America is experiencing.

It seems we’re just now realizing that Trump and Trumpism are forces — the former a psych-spectrum ‘case,’ and the latter ‘-ism’ a belief movement intent (by real past actions) on destroying American democratic operations. 

Therefore, at the least to deter future ‘Jan 6’s (2021)’, the punishment for the ‘Jan6’ attempted overthrow of the American government is left with increasing the legal weight of the crime, i’e’, the sentence term. Hence, the DOJ's move to increase sentences for sedition appears logical and perhaps the only recourse to handling cases like Donald Trump’s seditious actions and planning to lead to Jan 6 (and obstructions thereafter.)

One can get lost in legalese ‘entanglements’, but lengthier sentences can serve to prevent future seditious acts, as well as punish the current conspirators whose intent was to overthrow the elected American government. 

(Remember Germany’s experience with Hitler, who was convicted of conspiracy and sedition to overthrow Germany’s 1920s Weimar Republic, but only served 9 months of a 5-year term, then went on to gain total power…with the aid of MAGA-like ultra-right wing thugs and para-military elements, Hitler’s Brown Shirt supporters.) Don’t doubt that America saw the same elements (pro-Hitler thugs and legitimate congresspersons) assembled here to forcibly gain total power for Trump, who openly stated his intentions to serve as many terms as he wanted, and destroy his enemies. Trump’s plans for regaining the ‘throne’ were (are/should be) scary. 

Let’s trust in the American legal process — the simplest route to prevent future ‘Jan6’s is to increase the incarceration terms for sedition. (Otherwise, we will have to wait maybe 4–5 years, or more, for the current Supreme Court to even hear the Jan6 case against Trump-the-person.

BORN TO FOLLOW?: CURRENT MAGA GOP'ers - AMERICA'S LOST, WANDERING AND FLOUNDERING, OTHER-DIRECTED PERSONA

 The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

Classical sociological psychology has a descriptor for a personality type that seems to characterize Donald Trump’s MAGA wildly, often destructive, anti-democratic supporters (as was Hitler’s Nazi Germany adepts).

This ‘’type’ is the “Other Directed Persona” (ODP, aka “Outer-Directed”), (The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character, 1950, Riesman, Denny, and Glazer. (A portion of every population is from birth, Other Directed, now an acknowledged psychological type (APA) …and propensity.)

The Other Directed Person seeks life direction from an external, especially a charismatic source, as contrasted to the Inner Directed Persona (IDP), who has an inner, independent core of ethics and guiding principles.

In the words of David Brooks (The Crowd Pleaser, NYTimes, Feb 9, 2012):

“The other-directed person is attuned to what other people want him to be. The other-directed person is …pliable and yearns for acceptance. [In other words, vulnerable perhaps to a fault of being too easily influenced…so desperate is the need to feel less lonely]

The other-directed personality type emerges in a service or information age economy. In this sort of economy, most workers are not working with physical things; they are manipulating people. The other-directed person becomes adept at pleasing others, at selling him or herself. The other-directed personality type emerges in a service or information age economy. In this sort of economy, most workers are not working with physical things; they are manipulating people. The other-directed person becomes adept at pleasing others, at selling him or herself."

Trumpists are, deep down, easily manipulated, easily led…even to purposes not in their real interests, and eager to follow…even to self-harm and disaster for them and theirs. For these reasons, the ODP represents an immense danger to their object of worship as well as to themselves.

The Other Directed Persona is a problem for society, especially for a society that claims it is democratic…because the Other Directed lacks independent thought, preferring to have a pre-packaged path of thinking to be followed without having to go through the effort of figuring out ones own truth.

America’s respecters of democracy need to carefully watch Donald Trump and his Other Directed minions, the MAGAs!

Trump’s followers did not spring up spontaneously with his arrival on the political scene. Nor did they appear just in the past 50 years. ‘Trumpists’ are of a ‘type’ who have existed probably since humans climbed down from the trees.

The ODP seems to have been born just to wait in the wings for a leader to appear who is willing, and able, to hoist a flag and wave a carrot in front of them, the Other Directed horde.

The Other Directed Persona is like a dumb Mule blindly trudging after the proverbial ‘dangling carrot.’

The MAGA supporters of Donald Trump are ODP ‘mules’, and Trump is aptly both the orange carrot and the false leader.

The pre-packaged ‘carrot’ is usually, and most effectively, an appeal to the base emotions of the ODP in the form of a set of slogans anchored by a written ‘screed’, often a book or a set of written down recollections of a leaders declarations during an afterward sacredly-held pilgrimage (‘jihad’).

Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” (1925–26, Munich, Bavaria, Germany) is perhaps the most notorious such ODP Carrot, ‘mule captivating’, screed in the past several centuries.

Earlier examples of such mass-movement tomes are the “Qur’an” (‘Koran’, eng.), the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (610–632 CE, Mecca and Medina, West Arabian Penninsula).

And, of equal significance to the Qur-an are the much earlier Christian and Gnostic“Gospels” attributed to Jesus of Nazareth by his disciples (Holy Bible, 1st-3rd c. CE Gospels, Greek-Hebrew origin canonical and apocryphal texts;) and then as later translated, the 1610–1617 King James Bible. (Also meriting mention are the recovered Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi texts containing both canonical and apocryphal content.)

In the last millennium, the Christian Bible has guided perhaps the most influential and militarily powerful mass movement in history — but it has been both a positive and often a not-so-positive factor…as it has also provided rationales for political oppression, wars of aggression, and punitive atrocities.

Notably, the Trumpist mass movement currently claims the Christian Bible as its guiding light to ‘make America great again’ (MAGA)’. (As it was claimed by Adolph Hitler for Nazi Germany’s right to expansion.)

Seemingly, a percentage of every randomly selected population group is from birth, Other Directed…America, be watchful!

Trump: The Little Boy Who Didn’t Grow Up

  The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

In the heart (even mine, somewhat), there is a modicum of sympathy for Donald Trump. One senses that Trump lacks self-accountability, and as such, he somehow deserves our overlooking his many, repeated faults.

Trump doesn’t exhibit responsibility for his own actions. He is like a child who pretend-dresses in adult clothing, but, in most other respects he behaves like a child…eating fast foods to the fault of having to wear diapers, ignoring debts, and then chastising debtors for being credulous…of him and his known ways of cheating and welching. (This is a chimpanzee's proto-human game often observed in the wild.)

In other respects, Trump is like the neighborhood’s idiot-savant…virtually lost to understanding because of his unique kind of Tourette’s Syndrome, barely able to make sense when he speaks, and barfing all over the new clothes his parents, children and fellow con-grifter-opportunists put him into each day.

Trump loves luxury. BUT, does he really appreciate luxury — the gold-plated bathroom faucets and gold plating on just about every additional surface that is visible or touched? Or, in reality, is Trump automatically and obsessively reactive to shiny faux plating rather than have an appreciation for the object or utensil underneath…an attraction-response much as a Corvid Raven is irresistibly drawn to shiny paperclips? 

I think the Raven comparison sticks, except that Ravens are probably more clever than Trump.

It's likely that Trump will be convicted of an ‘act of treason’, but he will likely not be convicted of the act… his ‘condition’ may earn him leniency, even in the face of the act (and even if the evidence is found that actual money was exchanged for the American secrets Trump auctioned.)

Will Trump’s mental ‘propensities’ save his ass?

(From Medium, May 24, 2023)

Trump’s Fall: The Guy Just Can’t Help It

 The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

If Donald Trump had shown just a few instances of self-effacement, told a few jokes rather than viciously snarked and attacked, acted like a real manager by hiring people smarter than him to manage the details, really smiled rather than show that fake, crooked, crocodile smirk…then who knows, he’d probably, still, legitimately be President.

But, Trump is none of these and couldn’t bring himself to change his ways…EVEN THO’ HE LIKELY SENSED HIS INCALCITRANT, STUBBORN PATH WOULD LEAD TO HIS DOOM.

Trump is like a passenger on a runaway train, his train, with the brake in hand but unable to tear himself from being fascinated by the approaching end of the line.

Trump, the modern ‘Salesman’….tragic.

(From Medium, May 24, 2023)

THE GREAT AMERICAN-MEDIA SPRING CLEANING: TUCKER CARLSON IS VANISHED FROM CONSERVATIVE FOX NEWS

 

The Perched Eye blog is 14 years old,  from 2009 with President Obama's election. Our focus has been eclectic ...  the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. Our observations sometimes attract a critical eye, but the 'pen' remains unblunted.

OK. Tucker Carlson is gone from the media stage,... so far. (Gargle with vinegar and salt.)

For years I’ve wanted the too-contrived, over-practiced, Botox-job voice of Tucker Carlson to disappear from conservative media, specifically from Fox News (Tucker’s employer and Cuckoo’s nest for other MAGA-Republican mouthpieces such as Sean Hannity.)

And lo, Fox News apparently fired Tucker last Friday, April 21 (2023). ‘Apparently’ because Fox held it in close to the chest, then announced Tucker’s ‘leaving’ on Monday morning, April 24, 2023. This is the timeline of things according to media and Fox PR.  

Tucker was ‘evaporated’ from Fox News with such an expertly wielded fly-swat … a fingerprint of the behind-the-mirror Murdoch style (the Rupert Murdoch family own Fox News.), that it has left much of the media (right and left) in shock, e.g.,  Tom Boggioni's piece  in Raw Story  (‘Did he kill someone?’ Critics stunned by Tucker Carlson’s abrupt departure from Fox News”, April 24, 2023.)

Further, Tucker’s abrupt ‘disappearing’ has so far been marked by the absence of both a ‘lead-up’ fanfare and the ‘traditional’ send-off last show — the protocol that usually bookends the end-of-tenure for such media stars as Tucker Carlson. Instead here has been only a simple ‘thank’s for your service’ from the Fox network.

Without the guidance of a traditional ‘leaving protocol’, Fox News has dropped it in our laps to weave our own ‘splain‘n’… from fog and mirrors. The media has to do its best with ‘Nada’…consequently, it stands agape, ’strung out and tongue-hanging.’ ‘Marvelous,’ because we see now how desperately conservative media needs a lead mule.

(Carlson himself claims he had no clue that last Friday, April 24, was to be his final day employed by Fox News…certainly, we didn’t have a clue, we, the audience to the conservative media circus. 

The ‘hidden-meanings’ flavor of Carlson's departure is like the ‘wake and ripple’ of a submerging shark.)

But shark fins do reappear, and we best be ready to administer the harpoon when we see Tucker again at the mike spewing his poison. (Alternet surmises about potential scenarios for Carlson’s resurfacing... somewhere.)

In defense of Democracy, Tucker Carlson should never again be allowed to ‘poison and warp’ America’s minds with his ‘transmissible’ toxicity of hate, racism, fear, and misogyny… all combined, interestingly and like Donald Trump, with an abject bowing to Russia, America’s sworn and very palpable state enemy.

AlterNet reports that Russia Today is hinting at possibly swooping to invite Tucker to join their own ‘news’ staff (AlterNet: ”Russian state outlet RT reaches out to Tucker Carlson.”

Personally, it’s a mystery how Tucker has gotten away with his too-close support of Russia’s foreign policy and propaganda. In this respect, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him again 'at desk’ willingly 'punditing' as a RUSSIAN ASSET at Russia Today…because, well, Tucker is so well-trained in warping Truth without moral remorse…and with a deep, grudging, hate for America. Carlson, in sum, is a privileged, trust-fund, spoiled brat who suckingly bites the hand that feeds him.

(Note: Tucker’s vanishing act so far comes off as masterful Media Empire scripting designed to minimize audience fallout…and it appears this has been accomplished to some degree.)

However, Fox News’ stage crafting may be lost on Tucker’s support base, who are too used to being passively fed, with no thought required, to fill in the blanks. 

Second, Tucker’s base are mostly a self-selected bunch who are intellectually unequipped to deal with subtlety. (The Carlson base need direct, crude, dog-whistle ‘triggering’ to energize and send them howling in the desired direction.)

Fox News’ way of removing Tucker Carlson from American airways is like a neat surgical excision of a smelly tumor. Let’s hope Fox‘s surgery will last…although, knowing the greed of Fox News (i.e., the Murdochs), the return of the Murdochs' media cancer will always be possible.

Despite all this turmoil, Tucker’s bad seed might sprout anew from the dank murk of Fox News and siblings such as One America News (OAN).

A final thought: has Tucker Carlson forgotten how ‘Big Wheels’ turn? They have a habit of hitting the hubris-filled in the ass. Cocky Tucker might soon find himself in a ‘Gulag Resort’, sitting neck-deep in ‘it’ with no toilet paper but his left hand. Such would be fitting irony. Karma.

(From Medium, April 25, 2023)