[Don Sang, 4/4/23] Getting up at 3:30AM, I opened my door to find a black animal sleeping just outside. This turned out to be Toto, a dog from Datta Banana Leaf, about seven yards from my room. When I called him by name, Toto ignored me. At dawn around 5:30AM, he finally got up.
<blockquote>It’s about antagonizing Russia no matter how many dead Ukrainians it takes, because US officials developed a delusional psychosis about Russia after years of using it to mind-fuck American citizens, and our folks-in-charge have to justify that antagonism by pretending we have vested interests in Ukraine, which we don’t, by the way.</blockquote>
<blockquote>As smart as Kunstler is, he’s missing at least two key factors. To prevent itself from becoming irrelevant in an emerging world dominated by China and Russia, the US must subvert its main rivals, and so what if millions of Ukrainians, Taiwanese, South Koreans or Japanese must die? Germans, Brits, and Frenchmen can also watch their societies crumble.</blockquote>
Excellent article and points, Linh! And glad you said he’s missing ‘at least‘ your two points which I definitely agree with, but what I also think he also gets very wrong is when he describes “US officials developed a delusional psychosis about Russia.“ This type of characterization hides the deliberate nature of the plan to destroy Russia and steal their incredible natural resources. It makes it all sound like a spontaneous action based on uncontrollable emotions when in fact it’s the exact opposite.
It’s much less a crime of passion than one of premeditation. And even though the media and its acolytes are driving the hysteria based on emotions, the real planners are calmly and deliberately criminal.
I might also add that the BRIC trade bloc now emerging as a threat to U.S. 75 years of economic hegemony will not be tolerated by the U.S. establishment. (That's Brazil, Russia, India, and China with several other less dominate countries seeking membership.)
Russia is also a "backdoor" toward antagonizing China. Russia's vast natural resources teamed up with China's controlled, hyper-capitalist, growth oriented economy is a threat to the U.S. establishment perhaps like they've never seen the likes of before. I'd venture that even Nazi Germany in 1940 was just an annoying mosquito compared to the combined economic power of Russia-China.
I wonder about the two years tourists could not get into Laos. Were the Laotians forced to take the dangerous injections? Have they suffered the consequences if so?
Given all the hell to which they have been subjected during my lifetime and yours, I hope Budda and karma have protected them at least from the latest horrors.
As always, thank you especially for the wonderful photos of children. Stay safe and well during your travels.
The US donated to Laos a million doses of Johnson and Johnson and 1.7 million doses of Pfizer "vaccines," but I have not talked to anyone who's been harmed.
Thank you for the information. Here's hoping that no news is good news. I would be interested to know whether the 'donations' came with mandates. I hope not.
There is an "infomercial" type show on at least one channel 24 hrs a day...seven days a week, asking all good Christians & Jews to give money to the Jews suffering in the Ukraine. It is usually accompanied by scenes of old women in scarves shuffling about or children with longing looks. The Propaganda Machine never sleeps.
There was a show on American TV about some Israeli basketball team. Since its pro league is not even in the top 15 or so worldwide, why should Americans care? It's pure propaganda, of course. An episode might have Jewish and black players having a great time at an Arab restaurant. Another has Jews showing foreign players some landmark. There's no hint of any political or social tension, just a multicultural bunch of guys working and playing together in a gorgeous and cosmopolitan society.
No doubt you know this, but others may not - that infomercial has played for several years, but after the war in the Ukraine began the infomercial was retconned as a "special message from the Ukraine", rather than simply a plea to help "elderly Holocaust survivors". The infomercial used to claim that there "are THOUSANDS of elderly Holocaust survivors". Ex-Gov Mike Huckabee was at one time one of their shills, now I do not know. I watched it once because, even for "Holocaust" claims, the statements made were simply astounding in their mendacity.
The lady sleeping in the van, should be entitled ‘Lady Buddha Reclines in the Supply Van’. Thanks for another illustration of Laos. As a youth I was obsessed with understanding the Vietnam war. I was raised to dumbly believe that Americans were the good guys, and Vietnam just didn’t fit. Well, it was dumb policy. Abandoning our ally was worse. Amazing that any other country would believe us after 1975. Sorry, Afghanistan.
USSA has or had allies? When was that? Everything the demons in the Washing town sewer touch inevitably turns to shit and the tax cattle that fund it all go along with it now more than ever.
Your post reminds me of a book I read decades ago about classical/ancient Greek society. The elite/educated class of that culture considered labor of any sort barbaric and an insufferable imposition. Their time was spent in reading, writing and in the pursuit of arts. The downside of this was that slaves and women did all the mundane, dirty work.
By way of explanation, but not excuse, I wonder if any population could resist the comprehensive and multi generational mind-rape the US population has been subjected to without developing Stockholm Syndrome.
Right! For me the main point about "MK-Ultra" is not to learn that this was a twisted psychological program run by the CIA many moons ago. The goddamn point is the documents that were released, what we know about MK Ultra, is just a window in time, of a general mind control effort that NEVER CEASED. The code names change. The programs run on and on. And the most effective evil of such federally funded research programs, is that the lessons and technology learned, then flows into private industry and the academic institutions. Social media, journalistic trickery, computer edited and created imagery, and whatever else I am forgetting, that runs people, that distracts and directs people, it all owes a legacy to things like MK Ultra, and to assholes like Bernays, the evil nephew of Sigmund Freud. Just start with Dr. Suess's Lorax. He comes along, and CREATES a NEED. Think about that shit. It's not a NEED, until some assholes create it. Then they hypnotize and influence you, you chase them NEEDS. Not even addressing the "education" institutions.
thanks again Linh Dinh, for easing the crushing reality of this Stupidest Timeline. Things are getting so bizarre in usausa, it seems it won't be long before my 'liberal' neighbors and family members start screaming "I love Big Brother!"
Try to tell most Americans that Russia is a.) the moral agent in this conflict and b.) is not to be fucked with, it's outlasted the 90's, Nazis, Bolsheviks on down the line and will most likely emerge from this stronger minus the possibility of U.S. instigated nuclear holocaust, and you'll get an earful of bullshit. Television here is a plague.
the way i recall the story, as told by or about kurt vonnegut, two american novelists were at a party at a mansion in the hamptons at the wealthy eastern end of long island
vonnegut - "slaughterhouse five" - said to joseph heller - "catch 22" - "you and i have something that our host will never have"
"The Plain of Jars has many more secrets, not least the CIA’s Secret War. Initiated by Eisenhower, it would be clandestinely sanctioned and escalated by Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. It was here that the “intelligence” agency became a rogue fighting force, accountable to neither the Pentagon nor Congress, much less the eternally clueless American public. Using unprecedented airpower and a proxy army, the Hmong, the CIA’s Secret War in Laos provided the template for other American interventions, down to our days. Instead of using troops to conquer an enemy, America would just bomb the targeted society into submission. It would be machine against flesh, often civilian. Drones have no conscience, never cower and cannot be mourned."
My stepfather was head of drug enforcement for South Vietnam. It was a joke since he couldn't arrest top Vietnamese or American officials. After the Fall of Saigon, he worked for the FBI in DC and was sent to Turkey, Brazil and Thailand. At the last, he found a replacement for my mother.
Since we weren't close and I was too young, I never got a chance to ask, "Are you, like, really a drug dealer?"
Have you written your biography somewhere? I would love to read it. What happened to your mother? I took Vietnamese, Hanoi dialect for the US Army in 1998. My instructors were all veterans of South Vietnamese military, or the wives of. They knew I was interested, so they introduced me to other former officers. I met the last commander of the ARVN's Airborne unit. When I met him he was working in a prison near San Jose. During the collapse he got his family out, but, unlike many senior officers, he stayed with his men, fighting a rear guard action to the southernmost tip of Vietnam. Then many years in the "re-education" camps. His family thought he was dead. His wife re-married in the US. Somehow word got to them that he was still alive, during the first (elder) Bush administration. Bush WH got involved and got him out, in time to attend the graduation of one of his sons from one of the US military academies. When I interviewed him (my notes are somewhere) he was re-married. A very decent man. He served his whole career in the same unit, worked at every level as an officer in that unit. For me it was a revelation, because the PBS documentary on the Vietnam war told us that the ARVN was just corrupt and incompetent. "The Cong were the heroes, Uncle Ho was a Democratic Nationalist, not a Communist Dictator!" I realize things aren't black and white, but Stanley Karnow and PBS left out a lot of context and did not make an honest effort at objectivity.
omg....I can't believe I didn't know this. Truly horrible. and yet the people are Laos are laid back and self sufficient. Sounds like an excellent place to ride out the Apocalypse.
The Vietnamese did bring war to Laos by using it for their Ho Chi Minh Trails. Uncle Sam responded with an unprecedented bombing campaign, but no ground troops, none but CIA guys there to train and encourage Hmongs to fight Vietnamese, whom they hated anyway.
That's why there are Hmongs in Minnesota, Montana and California. It was hell, though, for them to reach safety after Uncle Sam cut and ran. That's how America rolls, though.
P.P.S. In the 1980's, the US trained Vietnamese refugees in Thailand to fight Communist Vietnam. Of course, Uncle Sam wasn't serious. Trying to enter Vietnam via Laos, these refugee fighters were all killed or captured in Laos. Their leader, Hoang Co Minh, was my great uncle. When I was 17 or so, he asked me in Virginia if I was interested in joining his movement. Had I been crazier, I would have died in Laos!
Vang Pao and the U.S. Hmong "Secret Army" is quite a rabbithole to dig into about Laos during those times. A US VN war vet friend of mine goes apeshit just hearing that name. Laos during that war is a very little known part of modern history. Many bodies in the closet.
Yeah Linh, CIA activity in Laos surely was even more covered-up than in Cambodia during the war, main reason being the closer proximity with North Viêt-Nam, allowing cross-border operations right into NVN territory. To this day not much is known exactly.
When I worked in Sacramento City College in California I met a young woman whose father had been exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Although she herself was not exposed to it her eyesight had been badly affected. Her father had passed on his exposure to his as yet unborn (and not yet conceived) daughter. She had to wear sunglasses indoors.
Some years after this I lost my job and found myself homeless. No income, no savings, no apartment. An acquaintance let me stay in his garage for 13 months. While I was there a family of very kind Hmong who lived across the street provided me with a warm sleeping bag. As well as some emotional support.
That was the worst time of my life. Please don't let anyone tell you all homeless people are alcoholics, drug addicts and deserving of what they get. In America if your very down on your luck, you are out of luck. Nobody cares. Nobody will help you. It is, at its core, a very cruel society of dog eat dog. Just don't find yourself on the bottom as I did.
Your essay here brings to mind the "Potlatch" cultures of the Pacific North West native Americans. I am by no means an expert on the subject but apparently the privileged, wealthy and well-to-do in these societies would periodically put on or stage a festival, the Potlatch, in which much prestige and respect was gained by the wealthy for distributing their accumulated wealth to the less fortunate (or perhaps less fortunate or enterprising) members of the tribe.
Perhaps this is somewhat like Karl Marx's axiom, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Better than the American goal of, "I've got mine, Jack. So screw you."
Hard to read about Jews as you write! Are you in the cause of a new round of crematory stoves? Are you in the counterinformation business? Doing a mixed salad about who are the n-a-z-y-es in Ua,... may i call you Adolf?
Another mistake (?!) , combating vaccines put you in the select squad of Apocalipse cavaliers, working hard for the death. (Only in my country, more than half a million, and no argument can change this.) But, the defensable position -- patents crack of all sorts of vaccines, in all cvountries -- puts you against Moneygod, against the big farma interests not as rethoric manner, but as an effective combat. Easyest is negationism, a stupid one, but extremely coerent with the stoves you admire in your wet, secret dreams.
I spent new years eve 2005-2006 at a rich commies house in Vientiane. He was a big wig at the university i think. Had lived in Cuba. I was there as a guest of his son and daugther. Cool people. Some old grandpa showed up out of nowhere in the middle of the night to catch a snake in the kitchen. Picked it up with his bare hands,, that was already missing some fingers from prior snake bites.
I don't think socialism changed Laos much at all, as Norman Lewis also tells in a dragon apparent they already lived under a form of theocratic communism.
Pathet Lao showed some real gusto though when they built the arc the triomph in Vientiane out of American concrete intended for a CIA (I assume) landing strip.
Hi Linh - your comparison of Laos and Vietnam reminds me that in one of the late P.J. O'Rourke's books from the mid-90s, he stated that all over 'Nam there was capitalism - people buying, selling, doing business, etc., all pursuing the almighty dollar. He presented it as a VERY good development.
Laos is a landlocked, mostly mountainous country with 7.5 million people. Vietnam has 100 million people with a long coastline. Throughout its history, it has had encounters with many foreigners. Geography alone explains why Vietnamese are more commercial minded, and with such a population density, the competition for survival is much fiercer than in Laos.
Laos reminds me a bit of Namibia, where I stayed for five months. Namibians are also laid back and not too commercial minded. Their country is very thinly populated, with much of it desert. It's so infertile, few people can live there, so there's less of a competition for anything. One of Namibia's main tribes is the San, or Bushmen. Unlike the Bantus or Zulus, Bushmen are much smaller and much less aggressive.
In Windhoek, I met an Angolan who bragged about how he could bag so many pussies in Namibia because he had a bigger dick:
P.S. Vietnamese may be commercial minded, but they can't touch the Chinese, for the fight for survival in China has been fierce for millennia, with its harsher climate also a key factor.
Steve Kirsch seems to skirt this subject bc he has J-ish friends, Eric and Brett Weinstein. Eric seemed to be a puppet of sorts bc he is linked to Peter Thiel who owns Pay Pal, Palantir, and he is a huge facebook chair. Thiel is not to be trusted. Eric and Brett likewise.
<blockquote>It’s about antagonizing Russia no matter how many dead Ukrainians it takes, because US officials developed a delusional psychosis about Russia after years of using it to mind-fuck American citizens, and our folks-in-charge have to justify that antagonism by pretending we have vested interests in Ukraine, which we don’t, by the way.</blockquote>
<blockquote>As smart as Kunstler is, he’s missing at least two key factors. To prevent itself from becoming irrelevant in an emerging world dominated by China and Russia, the US must subvert its main rivals, and so what if millions of Ukrainians, Taiwanese, South Koreans or Japanese must die? Germans, Brits, and Frenchmen can also watch their societies crumble.</blockquote>
Excellent article and points, Linh! And glad you said he’s missing ‘at least‘ your two points which I definitely agree with, but what I also think he also gets very wrong is when he describes “US officials developed a delusional psychosis about Russia.“ This type of characterization hides the deliberate nature of the plan to destroy Russia and steal their incredible natural resources. It makes it all sound like a spontaneous action based on uncontrollable emotions when in fact it’s the exact opposite.
It’s much less a crime of passion than one of premeditation. And even though the media and its acolytes are driving the hysteria based on emotions, the real planners are calmly and deliberately criminal.
Thanks for that insightful comment.
I might also add that the BRIC trade bloc now emerging as a threat to U.S. 75 years of economic hegemony will not be tolerated by the U.S. establishment. (That's Brazil, Russia, India, and China with several other less dominate countries seeking membership.)
Russia is also a "backdoor" toward antagonizing China. Russia's vast natural resources teamed up with China's controlled, hyper-capitalist, growth oriented economy is a threat to the U.S. establishment perhaps like they've never seen the likes of before. I'd venture that even Nazi Germany in 1940 was just an annoying mosquito compared to the combined economic power of Russia-China.
Honorable Linh,
I wonder about the two years tourists could not get into Laos. Were the Laotians forced to take the dangerous injections? Have they suffered the consequences if so?
Given all the hell to which they have been subjected during my lifetime and yours, I hope Budda and karma have protected them at least from the latest horrors.
As always, thank you especially for the wonderful photos of children. Stay safe and well during your travels.
Hi LinhDinhFan,
The US donated to Laos a million doses of Johnson and Johnson and 1.7 million doses of Pfizer "vaccines," but I have not talked to anyone who's been harmed.
Linh
Thank you for the information. Here's hoping that no news is good news. I would be interested to know whether the 'donations' came with mandates. I hope not.
Linh
There is an "infomercial" type show on at least one channel 24 hrs a day...seven days a week, asking all good Christians & Jews to give money to the Jews suffering in the Ukraine. It is usually accompanied by scenes of old women in scarves shuffling about or children with longing looks. The Propaganda Machine never sleeps.
ps....great article....Toto knows you love him.
Bill
Hi Bill,
There was a show on American TV about some Israeli basketball team. Since its pro league is not even in the top 15 or so worldwide, why should Americans care? It's pure propaganda, of course. An episode might have Jewish and black players having a great time at an Arab restaurant. Another has Jews showing foreign players some landmark. There's no hint of any political or social tension, just a multicultural bunch of guys working and playing together in a gorgeous and cosmopolitan society.
Linh
No doubt you know this, but others may not - that infomercial has played for several years, but after the war in the Ukraine began the infomercial was retconned as a "special message from the Ukraine", rather than simply a plea to help "elderly Holocaust survivors". The infomercial used to claim that there "are THOUSANDS of elderly Holocaust survivors". Ex-Gov Mike Huckabee was at one time one of their shills, now I do not know. I watched it once because, even for "Holocaust" claims, the statements made were simply astounding in their mendacity.
The lady sleeping in the van, should be entitled ‘Lady Buddha Reclines in the Supply Van’. Thanks for another illustration of Laos. As a youth I was obsessed with understanding the Vietnam war. I was raised to dumbly believe that Americans were the good guys, and Vietnam just didn’t fit. Well, it was dumb policy. Abandoning our ally was worse. Amazing that any other country would believe us after 1975. Sorry, Afghanistan.
"Abandoning our ally was worse"
USSA has or had allies? When was that? Everything the demons in the Washing town sewer touch inevitably turns to shit and the tax cattle that fund it all go along with it now more than ever.
How about "Sorry" Ukraine?
"It is considered ill-bred and irreligious in Laos to work more than is necessary."
I've never been to Laos, but it sounds like my kind of place. :D Loved the picture of the woman taking a nap in the back of the van.
Your post reminds me of a book I read decades ago about classical/ancient Greek society. The elite/educated class of that culture considered labor of any sort barbaric and an insufferable imposition. Their time was spent in reading, writing and in the pursuit of arts. The downside of this was that slaves and women did all the mundane, dirty work.
By way of explanation, but not excuse, I wonder if any population could resist the comprehensive and multi generational mind-rape the US population has been subjected to without developing Stockholm Syndrome.
Right! For me the main point about "MK-Ultra" is not to learn that this was a twisted psychological program run by the CIA many moons ago. The goddamn point is the documents that were released, what we know about MK Ultra, is just a window in time, of a general mind control effort that NEVER CEASED. The code names change. The programs run on and on. And the most effective evil of such federally funded research programs, is that the lessons and technology learned, then flows into private industry and the academic institutions. Social media, journalistic trickery, computer edited and created imagery, and whatever else I am forgetting, that runs people, that distracts and directs people, it all owes a legacy to things like MK Ultra, and to assholes like Bernays, the evil nephew of Sigmund Freud. Just start with Dr. Suess's Lorax. He comes along, and CREATES a NEED. Think about that shit. It's not a NEED, until some assholes create it. Then they hypnotize and influence you, you chase them NEEDS. Not even addressing the "education" institutions.
thanks again Linh Dinh, for easing the crushing reality of this Stupidest Timeline. Things are getting so bizarre in usausa, it seems it won't be long before my 'liberal' neighbors and family members start screaming "I love Big Brother!"
Try to tell most Americans that Russia is a.) the moral agent in this conflict and b.) is not to be fucked with, it's outlasted the 90's, Nazis, Bolsheviks on down the line and will most likely emerge from this stronger minus the possibility of U.S. instigated nuclear holocaust, and you'll get an earful of bullshit. Television here is a plague.
the way i recall the story, as told by or about kurt vonnegut, two american novelists were at a party at a mansion in the hamptons at the wealthy eastern end of long island
vonnegut - "slaughterhouse five" - said to joseph heller - "catch 22" - "you and i have something that our host will never have"
"?"
"enough"
I didn't know Laos was the most bombed country. I didn't even know the US fought there. Thanks for the education.
Hi Peggy,
Laos are still being killed today by American bombs. Here are some photos I took in Phonsavan:
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2020/01/bomb-shells-on-route-7-just-past.html
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2020/01/bomb-shells-outside-wedding-banquet.html
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2020/01/bombs-and-artillery-shells-outside.html
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2020/01/bomb-crater-at-plain-of-jars-site-1.html
On 2/3/20, I wrote:
"The Plain of Jars has many more secrets, not least the CIA’s Secret War. Initiated by Eisenhower, it would be clandestinely sanctioned and escalated by Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. It was here that the “intelligence” agency became a rogue fighting force, accountable to neither the Pentagon nor Congress, much less the eternally clueless American public. Using unprecedented airpower and a proxy army, the Hmong, the CIA’s Secret War in Laos provided the template for other American interventions, down to our days. Instead of using troops to conquer an enemy, America would just bomb the targeted society into submission. It would be machine against flesh, often civilian. Drones have no conscience, never cower and cannot be mourned."
https://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2020/02/plain-of-jars-university.html
Linh
Air America was CIA air assets in Laos, and they engaged in transporting opium and weapons.
Hi Ben,
My stepfather was head of drug enforcement for South Vietnam. It was a joke since he couldn't arrest top Vietnamese or American officials. After the Fall of Saigon, he worked for the FBI in DC and was sent to Turkey, Brazil and Thailand. At the last, he found a replacement for my mother.
Since we weren't close and I was too young, I never got a chance to ask, "Are you, like, really a drug dealer?"
Linh
Have you written your biography somewhere? I would love to read it. What happened to your mother? I took Vietnamese, Hanoi dialect for the US Army in 1998. My instructors were all veterans of South Vietnamese military, or the wives of. They knew I was interested, so they introduced me to other former officers. I met the last commander of the ARVN's Airborne unit. When I met him he was working in a prison near San Jose. During the collapse he got his family out, but, unlike many senior officers, he stayed with his men, fighting a rear guard action to the southernmost tip of Vietnam. Then many years in the "re-education" camps. His family thought he was dead. His wife re-married in the US. Somehow word got to them that he was still alive, during the first (elder) Bush administration. Bush WH got involved and got him out, in time to attend the graduation of one of his sons from one of the US military academies. When I interviewed him (my notes are somewhere) he was re-married. A very decent man. He served his whole career in the same unit, worked at every level as an officer in that unit. For me it was a revelation, because the PBS documentary on the Vietnam war told us that the ARVN was just corrupt and incompetent. "The Cong were the heroes, Uncle Ho was a Democratic Nationalist, not a Communist Dictator!" I realize things aren't black and white, but Stanley Karnow and PBS left out a lot of context and did not make an honest effort at objectivity.
omg....I can't believe I didn't know this. Truly horrible. and yet the people are Laos are laid back and self sufficient. Sounds like an excellent place to ride out the Apocalypse.
Hi Peggy,
The Vietnamese did bring war to Laos by using it for their Ho Chi Minh Trails. Uncle Sam responded with an unprecedented bombing campaign, but no ground troops, none but CIA guys there to train and encourage Hmongs to fight Vietnamese, whom they hated anyway.
That's why there are Hmongs in Minnesota, Montana and California. It was hell, though, for them to reach safety after Uncle Sam cut and ran. That's how America rolls, though.
Linh
P.S. Laos was also used by the CIA for its drug running.
P.P.S. In the 1980's, the US trained Vietnamese refugees in Thailand to fight Communist Vietnam. Of course, Uncle Sam wasn't serious. Trying to enter Vietnam via Laos, these refugee fighters were all killed or captured in Laos. Their leader, Hoang Co Minh, was my great uncle. When I was 17 or so, he asked me in Virginia if I was interested in joining his movement. Had I been crazier, I would have died in Laos!
Vang Pao and the U.S. Hmong "Secret Army" is quite a rabbithole to dig into about Laos during those times. A US VN war vet friend of mine goes apeshit just hearing that name. Laos during that war is a very little known part of modern history. Many bodies in the closet.
Yeah Linh, CIA activity in Laos surely was even more covered-up than in Cambodia during the war, main reason being the closer proximity with North Viêt-Nam, allowing cross-border operations right into NVN territory. To this day not much is known exactly.
When I worked in Sacramento City College in California I met a young woman whose father had been exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Although she herself was not exposed to it her eyesight had been badly affected. Her father had passed on his exposure to his as yet unborn (and not yet conceived) daughter. She had to wear sunglasses indoors.
Some years after this I lost my job and found myself homeless. No income, no savings, no apartment. An acquaintance let me stay in his garage for 13 months. While I was there a family of very kind Hmong who lived across the street provided me with a warm sleeping bag. As well as some emotional support.
That was the worst time of my life. Please don't let anyone tell you all homeless people are alcoholics, drug addicts and deserving of what they get. In America if your very down on your luck, you are out of luck. Nobody cares. Nobody will help you. It is, at its core, a very cruel society of dog eat dog. Just don't find yourself on the bottom as I did.
"I didn't even know the US fought there"
They didn't, they slaughtered wantonly as USSA is wont to do.
Your essay here brings to mind the "Potlatch" cultures of the Pacific North West native Americans. I am by no means an expert on the subject but apparently the privileged, wealthy and well-to-do in these societies would periodically put on or stage a festival, the Potlatch, in which much prestige and respect was gained by the wealthy for distributing their accumulated wealth to the less fortunate (or perhaps less fortunate or enterprising) members of the tribe.
Perhaps this is somewhat like Karl Marx's axiom, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Better than the American goal of, "I've got mine, Jack. So screw you."
Hard to read about Jews as you write! Are you in the cause of a new round of crematory stoves? Are you in the counterinformation business? Doing a mixed salad about who are the n-a-z-y-es in Ua,... may i call you Adolf?
Another mistake (?!) , combating vaccines put you in the select squad of Apocalipse cavaliers, working hard for the death. (Only in my country, more than half a million, and no argument can change this.) But, the defensable position -- patents crack of all sorts of vaccines, in all cvountries -- puts you against Moneygod, against the big farma interests not as rethoric manner, but as an effective combat. Easyest is negationism, a stupid one, but extremely coerent with the stoves you admire in your wet, secret dreams.
Keep hanging on those Jews Linh. We got them on the run
I spent new years eve 2005-2006 at a rich commies house in Vientiane. He was a big wig at the university i think. Had lived in Cuba. I was there as a guest of his son and daugther. Cool people. Some old grandpa showed up out of nowhere in the middle of the night to catch a snake in the kitchen. Picked it up with his bare hands,, that was already missing some fingers from prior snake bites.
I don't think socialism changed Laos much at all, as Norman Lewis also tells in a dragon apparent they already lived under a form of theocratic communism.
Pathet Lao showed some real gusto though when they built the arc the triomph in Vientiane out of American concrete intended for a CIA (I assume) landing strip.
I'm envious of you. Laos is a truly great place.
Hi Linh - your comparison of Laos and Vietnam reminds me that in one of the late P.J. O'Rourke's books from the mid-90s, he stated that all over 'Nam there was capitalism - people buying, selling, doing business, etc., all pursuing the almighty dollar. He presented it as a VERY good development.
Hi Charles,
Laos is a landlocked, mostly mountainous country with 7.5 million people. Vietnam has 100 million people with a long coastline. Throughout its history, it has had encounters with many foreigners. Geography alone explains why Vietnamese are more commercial minded, and with such a population density, the competition for survival is much fiercer than in Laos.
Laos reminds me a bit of Namibia, where I stayed for five months. Namibians are also laid back and not too commercial minded. Their country is very thinly populated, with much of it desert. It's so infertile, few people can live there, so there's less of a competition for anything. One of Namibia's main tribes is the San, or Bushmen. Unlike the Bantus or Zulus, Bushmen are much smaller and much less aggressive.
In Windhoek, I met an Angolan who bragged about how he could bag so many pussies in Namibia because he had a bigger dick:
https://linhdinh.substack.com/p/everything-organic-is-unique-thus?
Linh
P.S. Vietnamese may be commercial minded, but they can't touch the Chinese, for the fight for survival in China has been fierce for millennia, with its harsher climate also a key factor.
Steve Kirsch seems to skirt this subject bc he has J-ish friends, Eric and Brett Weinstein. Eric seemed to be a puppet of sorts bc he is linked to Peter Thiel who owns Pay Pal, Palantir, and he is a huge facebook chair. Thiel is not to be trusted. Eric and Brett likewise.