[Kracheh, 10/10/23] Only men drink at the bus station cafe. Again, I’m the only non regular, but it’s OK. Next to me is a regal old man in a well-tailored white shirt without collar and black pants, both neatly ironed. Hearing a joke from the next table, he laughs.
Good day Linh! I'm extremely proud to be one of your supporters, one of the “wing nuts and other assorted loonies.” Robert Jefferson, The Kamakura Gardener (Japan 🇯🇵).
It is impossible for me to believe Isreal inteligence didn't see the Hamas attack coming and thus let it happen. Will this be the end of Palistine in Gaza? Or the start of WWIII with an attack on Iran and the provocation of her allies.
After the Jewjab will be the Jewgrab. None of this bodes well for the world.
Aggressive land grabbing first by the U.S. and then by Isreal amounts to evil wearing the cloak of virtue. The West (including Isreal) is a kakastocracy; rule by the worst. We just don't know it yet.
A couple of weeks ago there was an experiment that Israel and Azerbaijan conducted - a total ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh - to see what reaction there will be worldwide. For a couple of months there were massive weapons transfers to Azerbaijan from Tel Aviv and the military phase was just one day. And when the Russian peacekeepers went to stop the rapes and executions of the Armenian villagers, they were executed as well.
One thinks that what is being done now is to cleanse Gaza of its Arab population. No Palestinians, no Palestinian problem.
As you mentioned, Ashwell starts his article with the Weisel quotation:
"Someone who hates one group will end up hating everyone – and, ultimately, hating himself or herself."
and then you note that Wiesel also said:
“Every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate—healthy, virile hate—for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German.”
Thereby indicating that, according to one of the more revered Jews, every Jew should effectively become self hating. Nicely done! You win that exchange.
Good morning. I read the Counterpunch article, and found it to be sophmoric at best. It's an example of "This person espouses a view on a single subject that is so obviously repugnant to the average person, so that anything stated by that person must be ignored rather than being logically examined and judged on its own merit.".
As a painter of images with words, your color choices, subject matter, and refusing to paint within the lines are upsetting to 'small mind's. Unfortunately, those small minds are self-appointed gatekeepers of the media and therefore public discourse. Dissent, original thoughts and opinions - especially those not vetted by TPTB - are dangerous. Only state approved dissent is allowed.
A logical question people should be asking themselves about the latest conflagration in Israel is "Who Benefits?". An interesting bit of trivia is the current exploration rights for the Gaza marine offshore natural gas field expires in 2024. The opportunity is just too good to pass up: America gets its collective righteous indignation whipped up into a frenzy - diverting attention away from its accelerating decline, and also giving a huge boost to military industrial complex; Israel gets an excuse to 'settle' the Palestinian problem; and, control of the Gaza offshore marine offshore natural gas field goes up for grabs when the current exploration contract expires.
I have been thinking for a while to write you, and now I offer my deepfelt apology to you, because of this: couple of years ago, before Covid mass psychosis i was still reading Unz rewiev, not anymore...i found you there and read your articles on macedonia and Egypt, and as i lived in egypt and in Yugoslavia both for the biggest chunk of my life, i stupidly commented that you highlight only the ugly things in the countries you visit.
I was so stupid, a moron... That time I did not understand you and did not know that you are the citizen of the world, a traveler through the humanity minds and hearts, and that the physical ruins around you did not matter, sometimes it was ugliness and sometimes it was beauty, but you mostly found good. Because Linh you are good. You have an old understanding soul, of people, animals, kids.
I apologize with all my heart to you.
Meanwhile, after I quit Unz, after you did I have found you here, and read everything I could find, everything you wrote about everything, and found i agree about everything you say.
Please forgive me, and I will manage to become a paid subscriber.
I wish you all the health and happiness and eagerly await the next installment from your peripatetic adventures. Do not pay attention to paid imbeciles on the wrong side, we have a proverb here: after a good feisty horse- a lot of dust...
Sorry about grammar, difficult to type on my new huawai....
The comments at Unz could be so toxic and abusive, I had to be aggressive occasionally, but I'm an easy going guy who gets along with just about everybody. I'm very happy you've found my SubStack.
When you're constantly in alien environments among strangers, you can't be some difficult asshole, or evil shit will happen...
Apol;ogies, whether you forgive me or not, i will still manage to become a follower, paid subscriber. Sentence was clumsy and me becoming a paid subscriber for the first time ever in my life for anything has no connection with your forgiveness. or otherwise.
Heaven forbid that any judgement of you should be based on the "wing nuts and other assorted loonies" such as myself who are your followers. (And if so, it's easy to see why you wouldn't want to be on Unz Review any more...)
I would suggest that it's not all bad, Linh. Obviously you are still worth writing about, despite attempts to disappear you that have been going on for some time now. I never expect to see myself the title subject in an article of any kind unless I write it myself.
In any case, if this is typical of Ashwill's writing, I'd say he's just another Taylor Lorenz but without the name recognition. I read way too much, yet I never even heard of this guy until today.
It is okay to perform "relentless and merciless chronicling of the decline of the USA" but don't subject taboo topics to the same treatment lest you be labeled a hater.
Mark sat down and engaged with this turn in your thought from his point of view. I told him it’s a mitzvah. We all need to be taken seriously. Since he doesn’t know you personally it is understandable that he doesn’t report that your being-in-the-world, your presence, is accepting and good-natured, not hateful. That nature also is evident in the shelf full of books you have made in recognition and support of others. It seems to me that Mark was instead a fan of your online work this century, then was startled to find himself reading speech against the Jews. Startled me too but I am French, a redneck, an ethnic white Yankee, and a WASP elite as well as a Jew so I have frames of reference for your thought. Mark is fitting you into his own head. I think he did a good job. I would rather see it somewhere else than Counterpunch. They have a record of tone-deaf publications on Viet Nam. I don’t think Mark is but his readers there may well be. Hey in this post you touch on “Jewish thought” in concrete terms. You report the Jew threatening the evangelist with death. That is low-rent. We especially train particular tabbies to argue with Christians, as Baptists here in North Carolina train youngsters to argue with their anthropology, biology, and geology professors. Everyone gets a workout. But the man you show simply threatens. He is right, the Sanhedrin could issue a death sentence. They never did, hamstrung by endless rules the rabbis came up with. Jewish lawyers. Love the photos -
There's something about the Palestine question that takes people on paroxysms of apoplectic rage. I might be the only person who doesn't care and equally dislikes both sides. Sure, I wish they could find an agreement that leads to less murders -- one-state solution, two-state solution, three state solution, whatever -- but I don't think it's possible. Maybe the ancient prophecies are right, and it will only end with the end of the world.
Second, be an empathy-devoid sociopath. Since you say stuff like "I might be the only person who doesn't care and equally dislikes both sides" you have evidently noticed you're different than other people. Have you considered the possibility that you are a sociopath? Sadly, I suppose that *would* qualify you as an "assorted looney".
Maybe that's ungenerous, though, and you're simply an amoral ignoramus.
I recently had to explain good "fuck it" versus bad " fuck it" to a young co worker.
In the Army "Hooah" can mean a positive, enthusiastic response to an order if expressed positively and enthusiastically. On the other hand, it can translate into "Fuck you." if expressed with a tone of disgust or rebellion.
Same with "fuck it". Applied callously, it can indicate a lack of empathy, responsibility for basic human virtues and general nastiness. A bad "fuck it."
Then there's the "fuck it" of total exasperation with the hypocrisy, cruelty and madness of the world and the debased human condition which plagues us all (Unless Chosen of course). The survival "fuck it." What I call a good "fuck it.'
Fuck it, sometimes you just gotta let it all go. It feels better that way.
That's what I meant when I said "paroxysms of apoplectic rage." I just made a very mild comment about my impartiality and you accuse me of all kinds of things, including being a "sociopath". Look, whatever, silly woman. You're the one who looks insane to me. But I wonder, why no one cared about Nagorno-Kabarakh, when supposedly also thousands died in atrocities, and recently millions were displaced. I guess it may have something to do with the media, or perhaps with the religious/historical questions associated with the Holy Land. Anyway, thanks for your virtue-signaling. Good bye.
Heh? I said it was enviable that you didn't care. Sure wish I didn't. As for the rest of your psychotic spew, talk about "paroxysms of apoplectic rage". Look in the mirror you dingbat.
I'm not angry, you're the one calling me names, for no reason, as I said nothing offensive to you and don't even know you. Maybe you should just stop reading the news for a while?
Yes, true, I think they supplied weapons to the Azeris, which are Muslim, but Turkic, not Arabs (Khazars!?), while the Armenians are Christian (although, to my mind, they are very similar to Jews in some ways). But, like most people on Earth, I lack almost any knowledge about that conflict, and don't particularly want to learn much either, and no one called me a "sociopath" because of that. Funny how things go. Anyway, I understand people's concern, World War III is here, I'm worried too. That's why I'm avoiding reading much news.
"That's what I meant when I said "paroxysms of apoplectic rage."
And that's how it feels.
I must say, that after reading more of your comments I get your point of view and feel you deserve an apology for my expressing the "spirit if the moment."
Good article, even if I sort of disagree with Linh on the Jewish Question. While I see his point, I do not think it has anything to do with "Jewish thinking" or even the "Old Testament". Perhaps EMJ talking about the "Revolutionary Spirit" is closer to the mark. But in any case, agreeing or not, we should be allowed to openly discuss about Jews as a group, like any other group of people, without it being taboo. Why not?
Many Jews sincerely converted to Christianity and are good, righteous people. One of the political writers I most admired, Lawrence Auster, was born Jewish (although he converted and died a Catholic, sadly too soon. He criticized Jews are purveyors of multiculturalism, but I think he was still pro-Israel). Others did not convert, but are righteous too (i.e. Henry Makow, among others). Also, while some Jews hate lots of people, and their Talmud seems to have a particular hate for Christianity, there's a lot of people who hate Jews too. Many times for a reason, sure, but sometimes unreasonably too. I know, I frequent the Unz Review, and the level of discourse of some commenters would make Hitler blush. Or perhaps I'm just a "sociopath" for trying not to hate any particular group of people too much and trying to be neutral, or, at least, moderate. Not always easy, of course. https://contrarium.substack.com/p/blessed-are-the-peace-makers
"I responded to his concern in an article, without any insult. These are public issues, not a private matter between him and me, and we're not friends."
Fair enough.
"If you subtract other people's words from his article, then his use of "hate" is even more pronounced.
What is your point, exactly?"
My point is that I feel it is intellectually lazy - and rather vapid - to pack an article with a large collection of other people's words. I also apply this to anyone who dare speak of "spiritual" topics and their supposed virtues. Ashwill managed to do both.
For what it is worth, I feel you are clear about your position on "jewish thinking" as you are quick and clear to point it out every time I hear you present your position.
It is not just intellectually lazy, but dishonest and immoral to charge anyone who criticizes Jewish criminality as an "anti-Semite" or Nazi, and yet it's done over and over. That's why we're starting WWIII, with many countries already well on their way to being destroyed.
P.S. When Ashwill wrote in his email that he would not let me off with being an "anti-Semite," I knew any discussion with him would go nowhere, and he proved me right with his indignant yet "rather vapid," as you put it, article.
I appreciate your follow-up, and I apologize for not being more clear in my initial comment.
You are right, this is well-beyond being intellectually lazy, and yet, I feel like the people that offer perspectives like Ashwill gave up anything beyond "intellect" long ago. In reading his personal bio, he is quite the academic, which actually explains his over-confident view of things.
Being labeled an anti semite just means Jews don't like you. Anti Semitism is just stuff Jews don't like.
Jews do not believe anyone has the right to point out their behavior, hypocrisy or their hatred of others. You are even Anti Semitic if you don't support their narratives
Good day Linh! I'm extremely proud to be one of your supporters, one of the “wing nuts and other assorted loonies.” Robert Jefferson, The Kamakura Gardener (Japan 🇯🇵).
Subscribed to your YT channel. Very serene videos.
Welcome to my world. Thanks for stopping by. 👍🏾🤩🐶
Funny that Ashwill started his article with a quote from Elie Wiesel. Here is my favourite article about that conman:
https://www.eliewieseltattoo.com/elie-admits-his-true-stories-never-happened/
Off I go now, to ponder whether I am a "wing-nut" or an "assorted looney."
Good morning,Mr. Dinh.
It is impossible for me to believe Isreal inteligence didn't see the Hamas attack coming and thus let it happen. Will this be the end of Palistine in Gaza? Or the start of WWIII with an attack on Iran and the provocation of her allies.
After the Jewjab will be the Jewgrab. None of this bodes well for the world.
Aggressive land grabbing first by the U.S. and then by Isreal amounts to evil wearing the cloak of virtue. The West (including Isreal) is a kakastocracy; rule by the worst. We just don't know it yet.
A couple of weeks ago there was an experiment that Israel and Azerbaijan conducted - a total ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh - to see what reaction there will be worldwide. For a couple of months there were massive weapons transfers to Azerbaijan from Tel Aviv and the military phase was just one day. And when the Russian peacekeepers went to stop the rapes and executions of the Armenian villagers, they were executed as well.
One thinks that what is being done now is to cleanse Gaza of its Arab population. No Palestinians, no Palestinian problem.
As you mentioned, Ashwell starts his article with the Weisel quotation:
"Someone who hates one group will end up hating everyone – and, ultimately, hating himself or herself."
and then you note that Wiesel also said:
“Every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate—healthy, virile hate—for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German.”
Thereby indicating that, according to one of the more revered Jews, every Jew should effectively become self hating. Nicely done! You win that exchange.
Good morning. I read the Counterpunch article, and found it to be sophmoric at best. It's an example of "This person espouses a view on a single subject that is so obviously repugnant to the average person, so that anything stated by that person must be ignored rather than being logically examined and judged on its own merit.".
As a painter of images with words, your color choices, subject matter, and refusing to paint within the lines are upsetting to 'small mind's. Unfortunately, those small minds are self-appointed gatekeepers of the media and therefore public discourse. Dissent, original thoughts and opinions - especially those not vetted by TPTB - are dangerous. Only state approved dissent is allowed.
A logical question people should be asking themselves about the latest conflagration in Israel is "Who Benefits?". An interesting bit of trivia is the current exploration rights for the Gaza marine offshore natural gas field expires in 2024. The opportunity is just too good to pass up: America gets its collective righteous indignation whipped up into a frenzy - diverting attention away from its accelerating decline, and also giving a huge boost to military industrial complex; Israel gets an excuse to 'settle' the Palestinian problem; and, control of the Gaza offshore marine offshore natural gas field goes up for grabs when the current exploration contract expires.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/natural-gas-palestinian-authority-potential-gaza-marine-offshore-field
Dear Linh,
I have been thinking for a while to write you, and now I offer my deepfelt apology to you, because of this: couple of years ago, before Covid mass psychosis i was still reading Unz rewiev, not anymore...i found you there and read your articles on macedonia and Egypt, and as i lived in egypt and in Yugoslavia both for the biggest chunk of my life, i stupidly commented that you highlight only the ugly things in the countries you visit.
I was so stupid, a moron... That time I did not understand you and did not know that you are the citizen of the world, a traveler through the humanity minds and hearts, and that the physical ruins around you did not matter, sometimes it was ugliness and sometimes it was beauty, but you mostly found good. Because Linh you are good. You have an old understanding soul, of people, animals, kids.
I apologize with all my heart to you.
Meanwhile, after I quit Unz, after you did I have found you here, and read everything I could find, everything you wrote about everything, and found i agree about everything you say.
Please forgive me, and I will manage to become a paid subscriber.
I wish you all the health and happiness and eagerly await the next installment from your peripatetic adventures. Do not pay attention to paid imbeciles on the wrong side, we have a proverb here: after a good feisty horse- a lot of dust...
Sorry about grammar, difficult to type on my new huawai....
With my love
azra * ex asshole on unz
Hi agnaby,
The comments at Unz could be so toxic and abusive, I had to be aggressive occasionally, but I'm an easy going guy who gets along with just about everybody. I'm very happy you've found my SubStack.
When you're constantly in alien environments among strangers, you can't be some difficult asshole, or evil shit will happen...
Linh
Apol;ogies, whether you forgive me or not, i will still manage to become a follower, paid subscriber. Sentence was clumsy and me becoming a paid subscriber for the first time ever in my life for anything has no connection with your forgiveness. or otherwise.
You have forgiven yourself.
That is most important, and especially when you have humbly expressed what you have learned.
Heaven forbid that any judgement of you should be based on the "wing nuts and other assorted loonies" such as myself who are your followers. (And if so, it's easy to see why you wouldn't want to be on Unz Review any more...)
I would suggest that it's not all bad, Linh. Obviously you are still worth writing about, despite attempts to disappear you that have been going on for some time now. I never expect to see myself the title subject in an article of any kind unless I write it myself.
In any case, if this is typical of Ashwill's writing, I'd say he's just another Taylor Lorenz but without the name recognition. I read way too much, yet I never even heard of this guy until today.
It is okay to perform "relentless and merciless chronicling of the decline of the USA" but don't subject taboo topics to the same treatment lest you be labeled a hater.
Good piece. Love the dialog from Israel.
Mark sat down and engaged with this turn in your thought from his point of view. I told him it’s a mitzvah. We all need to be taken seriously. Since he doesn’t know you personally it is understandable that he doesn’t report that your being-in-the-world, your presence, is accepting and good-natured, not hateful. That nature also is evident in the shelf full of books you have made in recognition and support of others. It seems to me that Mark was instead a fan of your online work this century, then was startled to find himself reading speech against the Jews. Startled me too but I am French, a redneck, an ethnic white Yankee, and a WASP elite as well as a Jew so I have frames of reference for your thought. Mark is fitting you into his own head. I think he did a good job. I would rather see it somewhere else than Counterpunch. They have a record of tone-deaf publications on Viet Nam. I don’t think Mark is but his readers there may well be. Hey in this post you touch on “Jewish thought” in concrete terms. You report the Jew threatening the evangelist with death. That is low-rent. We especially train particular tabbies to argue with Christians, as Baptists here in North Carolina train youngsters to argue with their anthropology, biology, and geology professors. Everyone gets a workout. But the man you show simply threatens. He is right, the Sanhedrin could issue a death sentence. They never did, hamstrung by endless rules the rabbis came up with. Jewish lawyers. Love the photos -
Beautiful photographs, Linh. Such a peaceful country. Here in Sacramento there is beauty and peace, too. It's a lovely fall day.
Sacramento?!
I thought all California cities were "public toilets"?
There's something about the Palestine question that takes people on paroxysms of apoplectic rage. I might be the only person who doesn't care and equally dislikes both sides. Sure, I wish they could find an agreement that leads to less murders -- one-state solution, two-state solution, three state solution, whatever -- but I don't think it's possible. Maybe the ancient prophecies are right, and it will only end with the end of the world.
It must be nice to not care. I can think of only two ways to not care: first, ignore the gargantuan scale of the injustice unfolding across the past 75 years right up to the present day, as well as the bloody consequences (https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-blood-gaza-west-hands-much-israel).
Second, be an empathy-devoid sociopath. Since you say stuff like "I might be the only person who doesn't care and equally dislikes both sides" you have evidently noticed you're different than other people. Have you considered the possibility that you are a sociopath? Sadly, I suppose that *would* qualify you as an "assorted looney".
Maybe that's ungenerous, though, and you're simply an amoral ignoramus.
I recently had to explain good "fuck it" versus bad " fuck it" to a young co worker.
In the Army "Hooah" can mean a positive, enthusiastic response to an order if expressed positively and enthusiastically. On the other hand, it can translate into "Fuck you." if expressed with a tone of disgust or rebellion.
Same with "fuck it". Applied callously, it can indicate a lack of empathy, responsibility for basic human virtues and general nastiness. A bad "fuck it."
Then there's the "fuck it" of total exasperation with the hypocrisy, cruelty and madness of the world and the debased human condition which plagues us all (Unless Chosen of course). The survival "fuck it." What I call a good "fuck it.'
Fuck it, sometimes you just gotta let it all go. It feels better that way.
That's what I meant when I said "paroxysms of apoplectic rage." I just made a very mild comment about my impartiality and you accuse me of all kinds of things, including being a "sociopath". Look, whatever, silly woman. You're the one who looks insane to me. But I wonder, why no one cared about Nagorno-Kabarakh, when supposedly also thousands died in atrocities, and recently millions were displaced. I guess it may have something to do with the media, or perhaps with the religious/historical questions associated with the Holy Land. Anyway, thanks for your virtue-signaling. Good bye.
Heh? I said it was enviable that you didn't care. Sure wish I didn't. As for the rest of your psychotic spew, talk about "paroxysms of apoplectic rage". Look in the mirror you dingbat.
I'm not angry, you're the one calling me names, for no reason, as I said nothing offensive to you and don't even know you. Maybe you should just stop reading the news for a while?
Nagorno-Kabarakh?
Israel is involved in that too.
Yes, true, I think they supplied weapons to the Azeris, which are Muslim, but Turkic, not Arabs (Khazars!?), while the Armenians are Christian (although, to my mind, they are very similar to Jews in some ways). But, like most people on Earth, I lack almost any knowledge about that conflict, and don't particularly want to learn much either, and no one called me a "sociopath" because of that. Funny how things go. Anyway, I understand people's concern, World War III is here, I'm worried too. That's why I'm avoiding reading much news.
"That's what I meant when I said "paroxysms of apoplectic rage."
And that's how it feels.
I must say, that after reading more of your comments I get your point of view and feel you deserve an apology for my expressing the "spirit if the moment."
No problem. Well, I understand. I'm rather trying to avoid the news these days, and fear the worst is yet to come. Best.
Love your work, Mr. Dinh. Don't let the bullies and the creeps get you down.
Good article, even if I sort of disagree with Linh on the Jewish Question. While I see his point, I do not think it has anything to do with "Jewish thinking" or even the "Old Testament". Perhaps EMJ talking about the "Revolutionary Spirit" is closer to the mark. But in any case, agreeing or not, we should be allowed to openly discuss about Jews as a group, like any other group of people, without it being taboo. Why not?
Many Jews sincerely converted to Christianity and are good, righteous people. One of the political writers I most admired, Lawrence Auster, was born Jewish (although he converted and died a Catholic, sadly too soon. He criticized Jews are purveyors of multiculturalism, but I think he was still pro-Israel). Others did not convert, but are righteous too (i.e. Henry Makow, among others). Also, while some Jews hate lots of people, and their Talmud seems to have a particular hate for Christianity, there's a lot of people who hate Jews too. Many times for a reason, sure, but sometimes unreasonably too. I know, I frequent the Unz Review, and the level of discourse of some commenters would make Hitler blush. Or perhaps I'm just a "sociopath" for trying not to hate any particular group of people too much and trying to be neutral, or, at least, moderate. Not always easy, of course. https://contrarium.substack.com/p/blessed-are-the-peace-makers
I don't think other people's words should add to a word count of an article...
Why didn't you email him back?
I responded to his concern in an article, without any insult. These are public issues, not a private matter between him and me, and we're not friends.
If you subtract other people's words from his article, then his use of "hate" is even more pronounced.
What is your point, exactly?
"I responded to his concern in an article, without any insult. These are public issues, not a private matter between him and me, and we're not friends."
Fair enough.
"If you subtract other people's words from his article, then his use of "hate" is even more pronounced.
What is your point, exactly?"
My point is that I feel it is intellectually lazy - and rather vapid - to pack an article with a large collection of other people's words. I also apply this to anyone who dare speak of "spiritual" topics and their supposed virtues. Ashwill managed to do both.
For what it is worth, I feel you are clear about your position on "jewish thinking" as you are quick and clear to point it out every time I hear you present your position.
Hi LC,
It is not just intellectually lazy, but dishonest and immoral to charge anyone who criticizes Jewish criminality as an "anti-Semite" or Nazi, and yet it's done over and over. That's why we're starting WWIII, with many countries already well on their way to being destroyed.
Linh
P.S. When Ashwill wrote in his email that he would not let me off with being an "anti-Semite," I knew any discussion with him would go nowhere, and he proved me right with his indignant yet "rather vapid," as you put it, article.
I appreciate your follow-up, and I apologize for not being more clear in my initial comment.
You are right, this is well-beyond being intellectually lazy, and yet, I feel like the people that offer perspectives like Ashwill gave up anything beyond "intellect" long ago. In reading his personal bio, he is quite the academic, which actually explains his over-confident view of things.
Being labeled an anti semite just means Jews don't like you. Anti Semitism is just stuff Jews don't like.
Jews do not believe anyone has the right to point out their behavior, hypocrisy or their hatred of others. You are even Anti Semitic if you don't support their narratives