We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 29, 2014

Propaganda and the lack thereof

Click here to access article by Dmitry Orlov from his blog ClubOrlof.

This morning after reading/watching my usual news sources including Western media regarding the situation in Ukraine, I felt really bewildered about the military situation in that war. Although I do not usually focus on specific events like this, but look at issues from more of a systems point of view, I decided to do the best I could to find out what was currently going on there. So I offer this piece by Orlov, an author and blogger, who, according to his publisher, immigrated from the Soviet Union in the 1970s to the United States. I followed his blog several years ago, and as I recall, he has traveled a lot to the Soviet Union and Russia since then. I regard him as an informed and reliable source of information on the situation in Ukraine.

I also highly recommend a report entitled "Ukraine Lost A Battle - West Escalates With More Russia Sanctions" from a blog entitled Moon of Alabama authored by Bernhard who I also regard as a very reliable and informed source of information.  

Contrast these reports with the latest one from Western oriented Reuters.