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Stephen's avatar

Making a career in this way within “think tanks” feels a very odd thing to do, for anyone “normal”.

I was just on a plane flying to an Eastern European city from London. A number of people near me seemed to be associated with Chatham House, the British semi official think tank. These are people I would normally go a long way to avoid. One of them was brandishing a paper from June 2023: “How to end Russia’s War on Ukraine: Safeguarding Europes future and the dangers of a false peace”. It is worth checking out on their website but seems to be saying that only total Ukrainian victory over Russia is acceptable and anything else is a sell out. It has multiple authors who clearly make money by fomenting war, one of whom happens to have been a tutor of mine in Soviet Studies many years ago at Oxford. At that time I thought he was sensible but he is now funded to work for some Baltic States think tank (as well as Chatham House, it seems) and spouting pro war, anti Russia propaganda is presumably part of the deal.

These people were quite open in their conversation. At one point they discussed the Ukraine counter offensive and the “dangers” of peace negotiations. One of them then said that it needs to be seen as a series of offensives! That could go on for months, They also expressed indignation that Russia has any valid security concerns with respect to Ukraine and one of them said that nobody has ever articulated what they are. Clearly, these people want never ending war. It pays them and let’s them feel relevant, I guess.

I think they were traveling to a conference. It is nice work if you can get it. What tickled me most was that at one point we had minor turbulence. One of those people shrieked when it happened. Clearly, she has never been under artillery fire and has no idea what real war means. Richard Haas and all of these characters seem to live in an unreal bubble where they just write reports and exchange intellectual ideas with zero understanding of reality. Sorry for the rant but their conversation was appalling. Obviously, on a plane one does not choose to tell them their fortune but in a bar I would have seriously let fly. Of course, our taxes pay for this nonsense too. They also ought to be more discreet and professional on planes.

Richard Haas may in some ways now have seen the light but there is still plenty of delusion about amongst his ilk.

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ASensibleMan's avatar

And just who is this globalist snake who has slithered around the planet promoting the Worst of All Possible Worlds?

"Haass was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Marcella (née Rosenthal) and Irving B. Haass."

I mean, it's just a joke at this point. An ever-returning joke. And obviously, his replacement is from the Our Gang crowd as well, because what else?

"Froman grew up in a Jewish family in San Rafael and graduated from the Branson School."

But Simplicius, I assure you, Froman does not consider himself an "old white man" at all.

Anyway, what is this obsession with "democracy"? Why do I give two flips if Nation A is a democracy or not? Are they reasonable? Can I engage with their leadership in a sensible and mutually beneficial way? Then who cares! Though of course, "democracy" is just a cover word for all the joys of GloboHomo moral degeneracy they seek to impose everywhere. Because really, nobody cares if you're a dictator, as long as you're a PRO GAY dictator.

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