In Fiddler on the Roof, someone asks the village Rabbi if there is a proper blessing for the Tzar. He replies, “Of course . . . ‘May God bless and keep the Tzar . . . far away from us!’” Many people, and not just Russians, are no doubt invoking a similar blessing for Putin. An old prayer goes, “Savior of the world, save Russia!” to which we might add, “and everyone else from Russia.”
• Help Joe Walk Again for Economic Justice. Just a reminder, if you haven’t already done so, to visit the GoFundMe campaign and consider making a contribution and spreading word out among your social media networks. It’s off to a good start, but it’s still just a start.
• The Greater Reset. We are pleased to announce the release of a new book by members of CESJ’s core group, The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law. The book is, of course, available from the publisher, TAN Books, an imprint of Saint Benedict Press, and has already gotten a top review on that website. It can also be obtained from Barnes and Noble, as well as Amazon, or by special order from your local “bricks and mortar” bookstore. The Greater Reset is the only book of which we’re aware on “the Great Reset” that actually presents an alternative instead of simply warning of the dangers inherent in a proposal that is contrary to natural law. It describes reality, rather than a Keynesian fantasy world. Please note that The Greater Reset is NOT a CESJ publication as such, and enquiries about quantity discounts and wholesale orders for resale must be sent to the publisher, Saint Benedict Press, NOT to CESJ.
• Global Harmony Association. On Monday, the CESJ board will consider a resolution to withdraw from any affiliation with or relation to the Global Harmony Association, a group supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and to disavow the use of any of CESJ’s writings or other publications, and the use of CESJ’s name or that of any member of CESJ by the GHA.
• Putin’s Accusations Against the United States. Prior to invading Ukraine, Putin made a number of accusations against the country, such as the separatist movements he created and funded properly belong to Russia, just like Crimea were being subjected to genocide, NATO is a threat to Russia, and the country headed by an ethnic Jew is riddled with Neo-Nazis. Now Putin is making accusations against the United States along similar lines. Interestingly, Putin is on record as claiming that Alaska properly belongs to Russia, even though the United States purchased it for cash from Russia in 1867. Russia also guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty when it separated from the Soviet Union. One wonders if Putin is again seeking a pretext for his own suicidal behavior.
• The Yes-Man Syndrome. Russian president Vladimir Putin has reportedly placed two of his closest advisors under house arrest for allegedly giving him bad intelligence about the war in Ukraine that has cost Russia more losses in three weeks than in five years in Afghanistan. This is interesting, in that Putin himself told his advisors what he wanted to hear, and those same advisors would probably have been arrested if they had said anything different.
• Russia’s Military Suicide. In addition to Putin’s self-created yes-man dilemma, there is also the problem of Russia’s military losses. Of the twenty or so generals assigned to the invasion, four have reportedly been killed in action and eight dismissed, a 60% attrition. In addition, at least half a dozen colonels and lieutenant colonels have been killed in action. U.S. Intelligence estimates conservatively that 7,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, while Ukraine reports more than 14,000 Russians killed. The numbers of Russian wounded are believed to be anywhere from 15,000 to 35,000 or total casualties of between 10-25% of the original invasion force in three weeks, while the Russians have lost hundreds of tanks (a possible 400 of 12,400, or nearly 4% of their estimated total in all of Russia’s military) and more than a thousand other armored vehicles (1,200 of 35,000, estimated, or nearly 4%), as well as aircraft and ships. It is rumored that mobile crematoria have been moved into Ukraine to collect the Russian dead and dispose of them to avoid the embarrassment of coffins being shipped back to Russia in massive numbers. It is not known if families are being informed of the loss of family members. In military terms, the cost of Putin’s War to Russia is catastrophic, to say nothing of the cost to Ukraine. Putin’s response has been to sack generals, arrest advisors, imprison dissenters and protestors, and call anyone opposing his will “scum and traitors.” There is no way to rebuild after this idiocy except the Economic Democracy Act. The EDA would take power away from politicians like Putin and vest it in the people directly.
• A Sanctimonious Silence? We haven’t decided who disgusts us more, those who remain silent about Putin’s War, those who are silent after openly toadying to Putin, or those who put all or part of the blame on Ukraine. Given what is being done to the civilian population, especially women and children, by Putin’s Russian “liberators,” it is fair to say that the standard maxim of the law applies: qui tacet consentire videtur, “silence implies consent.” By remaining silent when they are able to speak, they are equally guilty with Putin. One wonders if they have any shame at all.
• Russia Avoids Default . . . for Now. Contrary to the expectations of many, Russia paid US $117 million in interest, avoiding a potential default on its sovereign debt. Soon after, Russia began making accusations against the United States. No self-interest there . . .
• SOME Legitimate Concerns . . . and What To Do About Them. A number of Republican Representatives voted against increased sanctions, but some of their concerns may be legitimate, such as vesting too much power in the president to act unilaterally in the future (as if he didn’t have too much already). We propose that the Economic Democracy Act would dispel their concerns and allow holdouts to give their full support to opposing Putin’s War by all possible means.
• Hortense and Her Whos. In case you’ve been wondering how you might advance the Just Third Way by introducing it to legislators at any and all levels of government, we’ve made it easy for you, with the “Hortense Hears Three Whos“ initiative. Visit the explanatory website, and consider downloading the postcard to send to people in government. Don’t worry if you think they won’t be open to it, as the postcard is intended to get them to open their eyes.
• Economic Personalism Landing Page. A landing page for CESJ’s latest publication, Economic Personalism: Property, Power and Justice for Every Person, has been created and can be accessed by clicking on this link. Everyone is encouraged to visit the page and send the link out to their networks.
• Economic Personalism. When you purchase a copy of Economic Personalism: Property, Power and Justice for Every Person, be sure you post a review after you’ve read it. It is available on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble at the cover price of $10 per copy. You can also download the free copy in .pdf available from the CESJ website. If you’d like to order in bulk (i.e., ten or more copies) at the wholesale price, send an email to publications@cesj.org for details. CESJ members get a $2 rebate per copy on submission of proof of purchase. Wholesale case lots of 52 copies are available at $350, plus shipping (whole case lots ONLY). Prices are in U.S. dollars.
• Sensus Fidelium Videos, Update. CESJ’s series of videos for Sensus Fidelium are doing very well, with over 155,000 total views. The latest Sensus Fidelium video is “The Five Levers of Change.” The video is part of the series on the book, Economic Personalism. The latest completed series on “the Great Reset” can be found on the “Playlist” for the series. The previous series of sixteen videos on socialism is available by clicking on the link: “Socialism, Modernism, and the New Age,” along with some book reviews and other selected topics. For “interfaith” presentations to a Catholic audience they’ve proved to be popular, edging up to 150,000 views to date. They aren’t really “Just Third Way videos,” but they do incorporate a Just Third Way perspective. You can access the playlist for the entire series The point of the videos is to explain how socialism and socialist assumptions got such a stranglehold on the understanding of the role of the State and thus the interpretation of Catholic social teaching, and even the way non-Catholics and even non-Christians understand the roles of Church, State, and Family, and the human person’s place in society.
• Shop online and support CESJ’s work! Did you know that by making your purchases through the Amazon Smile program, Amazon will make a contribution to CESJ? Here’s how: First, go to https://smile.amazon.com/. Next, sign in to your Amazon account. (If you don’t have an account with Amazon, you can create one by clicking on the tiny little link below the “Sign in using our secure server” button.) Once you have signed into your account, you need to select CESJ as your charity — and you have to be careful to do it exactly this way: in the space provided for “Or select your own charitable organization” type “Center for Economic and Social Justice Arlington.” If you type anything else, you will either get no results or more than you want to sift through. Once you’ve typed (or copied and pasted) “Center for Economic and Social Justice Arlington” into the space provided, hit “Select” — and you will be taken to the Amazon shopping site, all ready to go.
• Blog Readership. We have had visitors from 37 different countries and 37 states, provinces, and territories in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Philippines. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Before and After,” “Russian Moral and Financial Default,” “JTW Podcast: The Chinese Bubble,” “News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 8,” and “The Truth About the Great Reset.”
Those are the happenings for this week, at least those that we know about. If you have an accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we’ll see that it gets into the next “issue.” Due to imprudent language on the part of some commentators, we removed temptation and disabled comments.
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