News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 15

 

 

Not unexpectedly, the news items this week have mostly to do with the war in Ukraine:

Can Distributism Rebuild Ukraine?

 

The quick and easy answer to the question as to whether distributism can be used to rebuild Ukraine is yes — if the current keepers of the flame can either be convinced that their understanding of distributism might be a little off (or others can see it for themselves), some of the flaws in distributism as it has often been presented are corrected, and the authentic vision of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc is implemented.  To do that, of course, we need to know what distributism really is, not what it was transformed into even before Chesterton’s death.

JTW Podcast: The Focusing Way, Part III

Today we present Part III of III of David Battistella’s interview on The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law from TAN Books, featuring co-authors Michael D. Greaney and Dawn K. Brohawn.  While the book was not written with Putin’s War in mind, the solution given in it to counter the “Great Reset” of Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum applies just as well — if not better — to the problems created by Putin’s insane lust for power:

News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 14

 

We think it might have something to do with the fact that we consistently give a Just Third Way perspective on the current situation in Ukraine — and advocate a proposal that would help resolve things in the immediate, short, mid, and long-term, viz., the Economic Democracy Act — but this blog has experienced an extreme rise in readership this past week, with the number of “visits” by separate individuals increasing by roughly 4,250% (yes, 4,250%) above our weekly average, and the number of different countries represented rising by roughly 250%, with Russia and Ukraine (more from Ukraine) being a significant chunk of that.

The Definition of Insanity

 

One rule-of-thumb definition of insanity people use is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.  In light of that, one has to question the sanity of what appears to be a new Russian offensive in Ukraine.  The Russian armed forces appear to be making the same mistakes they did in their drive for Kiev in the first offensive.  Now, with demoralized troops and an increasingly stiff resistance from Ukraine, they seem to be attempting the same thing all over again.

JTW Podcast: The Focusing Way, Part II

As David Battistella states in the subtitle of his podcast, The Focusing Way, “The Way is Love.”  Is love just a feel-good emotion, or is there something more involved?  Is there a way to turn economics from “the dismal science” into something that can deliver hope and a better life for all consistent with the demands of justice and charity?  Is this question answered in The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law from TAN Books.  Tune in and see the second part of the interview with Dawn K. Brohawn and Michael D. Greaney:

News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 13

To give you an idea of the sort of news we’ve been getting since Putin’s War started, the latest weirdity (to coin a term) is that Putin is threatening Finland and Sweden to deploy nuclear weapons in the region . . . which has already been done.  In other news:

“Why Are You Here?”

 

Watching the news reports and videos coming out of Ukraine, one thing that strikes the observer is the utterly baffled response of the people of Ukraine: “Why are you here?” they say to the Russians.  “What have we done to you?”  Our personal contacts in that country say the same thing: Why did the Russians invade?  What do they really want?  Why are they killing people indiscriminately?

JTW Podcast: The Focusing Way, Part I

 

As David Battistella states in the subtitle of his podcast, The Focusing Way, “The Way is Love.”  Is love just a feel-good emotion, or is there something more involved?  Is there a way to turn economics from “the dismal science” into something that can deliver hope and a better life for all consistent with the demands of justice and charity?  Is this question answered in The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law from TAN Books.  Tune in and see:

News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 12

 

It’s still too early to talk about financing the rebuilding of Ukraine (although plenty of other places in the world need it as well, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree . . . such as all of it), but it’s probably a good idea to get a place at the table before the usual thing starts to get discussed and then implemented.  With that in mind, here are this week’s news items:

Focusing on Ukraine

 

Just as individual sovereignty requires that someone have control over what he or she and his or her dependents needs to live in a manner befitting the demands of human dignity, each country needs to secure the means to secure national sovereignty.  In crude terms, as Henry C. Adams pointed out in 1898, that means not getting into debt to other countries, just as at the individual level indebtedness destroys personal sovereignty.

JTW Podcast: Reagan and Economic Justice

It seems that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine admires U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paull II . . . both of whom spoke very favorably of the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.  This is interesting, as the program is probably the very best proposal for how to rebuild Ukraine ·or anywhere else, including Russia) once Putin’s War has been brought to an end.  Today we feature President Reagan’s speech to the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice:

News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 11

 

At the top of this week’s news, of course, is Putin’s War, and how Just Third Way principles might have prevented it, and offer a better way of rebuilding Ukraine (and even Russia) once this “special military operation” is brought to a close: