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What We Think PreviewInfo | HQ VideoPODCASTSTennent H. Bagley InterviewplayClaire Belinski Interview 1playAndrei Navrozov InterviewplayJoe Douglass InterviewplayBuchar, Pompowski InterviewplayRyan Mauro InterviewplayGreg Nyquist InterviewplayMicheal Panzner Interview 2playJeff MonologueplayClaire Belinski Interview 2playJan Lamprecht Interviewcoming soon
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JEFF NYQUIST RADIO SHOWHomayoun Interviewon WIBG 1020 AMTue, 6 May 2008 23:00:00 GMTOn Sunday, May 11 at 6 PM Eastern, 3 PM Pacific, Jeff Nyquist interviews Dr. Assad Homayoun, a former Iranian diplomat from the era of the Shah regime and head of the Azadegan Foundation, an umbrella organization which supports democratic change in Iran. Dr. Homayoun, who is one of the most prominent spokesmen of Iran's exiled nationalist opposition, discusses the current political situation in Iran. BOOK REVIEWBuchanan's Day of Reckoning, Part 4by Jeff NyquistFri, 9 May 2008 15:00:00 GMTThe problem with Steele's scholarly rebuke of Western whites is, first and foremost, the suggestion that their racial identity is uniquely evil. This is because, as he says, white Europeans joined "great power to an atavistic sense of superiority and destiny." But does Steele allow that other races, attaining the same global power and sense of destiny, may also prove dangerous? Here is his error, and the racism of his anti-racist position. If we're going to say that all races are equal, then all are equally susceptible to the temptations of power and the delusions of destiny. BOOK REVIEWBuchanan's Day of Reckoning, Part 3by Jeff NyquistFri, 2 May 2008 15:00:00 GMTIn the first installment of this series, I mentioned Daniel McCarthy's ideology selector which rated me as a paleoconservative. According to McCarthy, a paleoconservative is someone "who wants less involvement in foreign affairs than other conservatives and opposes mass immigration." On close examination, Patrick Buchanan's ideas agree with McCarthy's definition. To my way of thinking, however, McCarthy's definition misses the mark. BOOK REVIEWBuchanan's Day of Reckoning, Part 2by Jeff NyquistFri, 25 April 2008 15:00:00 GMTThe key to understanding Patrick Buchanan's message is found in his patriotism, which differs from that of President Bush. Buchanan's argument is simple: the nation's leaders have embraced ideals at variance with American national interests. According to Buchanan, patriotism has been overtaken by ideology which has led us astray. In fact, the current administration's foreign policy derives more from ideology than it does from patriotism. BOOK REVIEWBuchanan's Day of Reckoning, Part 1by Jeff NyquistFri, 18 April 2008 15:00:00 GMTIn the French Revolution Louis XVI became hated, so he was guillotined. Then the man most credited with the monarch's downfall, Danton, became hated; so Danton was guillotined at the instigation of Robespierre who was also hated and guillotined. In the end, the promise of freedom brought forth the reality of Bonaparte, who killed even more people. When the French Revolution began, at its outset, one man accurately predicted how it would end. That man was Edmund Burke, considered by some to be the founding father of "conservatism" (i.e., a type of liberalism). He argued against the elimination of rank order. He argued in favor of chivalry and nobility. He defended all "the pleasing illusions, which made power gentle, and obedience liberal, which harmonized the different shades of life, and which, by bland assimilation, incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and soften private society." TRAGEDY OF RUSSIAFighting for Freedomby Jeff NyquistFri, 11 April 2008 15:00:00 GMTAt the end of Pete Earley's book, Comrade J, Russian master spy Sergei Tretyakov tells why he defected to the United States seven years ago. It had to do with his "growing disgust and contempt for what has happened and is happening in Russia." According to Tretyakov, he and his wife were not naive about the "immorality, cruelty, repression, and ineffectiveness" of the former Soviet regime. "Yet it was our motherland," he said, "which, like your parents, you cannot choose.” He was hopeful when Gorbachev arrived on the scene. “I believed that Gorbachev would start a new era of democratization in the Soviet Union." The outcome of Gorbachev's reforms, however, was hardly encouraging. "The economy collapsed, and people became desperate and miserable," Tretyakov explained. "Since then Russia has been repeatedly raped and looted by its leadership. I call this process GENOCIDE of the Russian people performed by a group of immoral criminals." DOMINATIONS AND POWERSThe ABCs of Global Powerby Jeff NyquistFri, 4 April 2008 15:00:00 GMTRussia and the United States have the world's largest nuclear arsenals. Both countries have powerful armies, fleets and air forces. The same can be said for China, as well, which stands as the world's third most powerful country. The three countries are large, in land area and population. Together they possess a quarter of the world's surface land area, almost a third of the world's population and over 90 percent of the world's most powerful and advanced weapons. As the greatest of these three powers, the United States is dominant. If this domination suddenly came to an end (due to a financial crash) the current alliance between Russia and China would quickly fill the vacuum left by the collapse of American power. BALANCE OF TRADEAutarky and Ancient Wisdomby Jeff NyquistFri, 26 March 2008 15:00:00 GMTIn 1892 Congressman William McKinley warned that abandoning American protectionism and adopting free trade would "revolutionize" the country's values. Today America is flooded with foreign manufactures and our values have indeed been revolutionized. The influence of foreign money, of indebtedness to foreigners, of dependence on foreign oil, hangs over Washington D.C. like a gallows. In 1892 the protective tariff was a mainstay principle of the Republican Party. Congressman McKinley believed that tariffs should be higher, that America needed to maintain its independence; that America would be ruined by free trade. It may be said that McKinley held a classical rather than an economic position. He looked back to ancient wisdom, ignoring the modern economists. It is not that economics is wrong in its principles of efficiency. Merely, economics is one-sided. Economic efficiency is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. And yet, today's politics would leave you with this very impression. Today's political thinking, with its emphasis on globalization, free trade and permeable borders would shock a man like McKinley. The ongoing debasement of America's currency would illicit, from him, groans of disapproval. He would ask: What do the Americans of 2008 think they are doing? CURSE OF IDEOLOGYTolerance and National Unityby Jeff NyquistMon, 24 March 2008 15:00:00 GMTWriting a column is always educational. Readers chastise your grammar, they challenge your facts. You also learn about every shade of opinion — usually in reaction to your own. You discover, in this process, that some people are stuck in ideological goo. For example, in a column in which I never mentioned President Bush or the war in Iraq, I am assailed for supporting both. Or I am attacked for being a "shill" of neoconservatives, though I have never considered myself neo-conservative. The explanation for certain misunderstandings is obvious. Intelligent discourse in this country has been hampered by the brain-damaging effects of ideological presupposition, by the demonization of those who disagree, by an appalling eagerness for sweeping condemnation. OMINOUS PARALLELSAncient Athens and Modern Americaby Jeff NyquistFri, 29 Feb 2008 15:00:00 GMTMore than 25 centuries ago a book began with these famous words: "Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians..." Here is a history of arrogance, empire and violence. In the fifth century B.C. Athens had become the most powerful city in the Greek world, energized by a new form of liberty. Every great power makes enemies, and Athens made plenty. Her wealth was envied. Her policy of freedom and shared power for male citizens was feared by conservative leaders in Corinth, Thebes and Sparta. MOVIE REVIEWFilming the Great Deceptionby Jeff NyquistFri, 14 Sep 2007 15:00:00 GMTCinematographer Robert Buchar is attempting to put together a documentary feature film about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism in Europe. Its working title is "The Grand Deception — Uncertain History." Based on interviews with former Communist Bloc intelligence officers, CIA officials and scholars, the documentary shows that Communism did not collapse spontaneously. The directive for change came from Moscow. "People power" had nothing to do with it. According to Buchar, "For the last three years I couldn't find any media interested in this topic." Pundits and news anchors told us, again and again, that the revolutions in Eastern Europe were caused by popular discontent. According to conservative partisans, the Soviet Union fell because Ronald Reagan pushed it over. Not so, says Buchar: "The version of events presented to the public is very different from what actually happened." STATE OF ECONOMYThe Perfect Oil Stormby Gordon FrischWed, 09 May 2007 23:00:00 GMTIn the face of rising oil prices the world’s largest oil consumer and its biggest economy, is whistling past the economic graveyard. Although latest figures indicate the US economy is growing at a brisk rate, the sheer weight of financial and economic realities can no longer be ignored. The OPEC pipers must be paid. COMMENTARYWhy Nobody Bombs Downtown Pyongyangby Andrei NavrozovWed, 09 May 2007 21:00:00 GMTThe geopolitical history of the last century, in the course of which totalitarianism emerged, developed, and evolved to become the ineluctable lot of mankind that it is today, may be encapsulated in three short sentences. One: Stalin created Hitler. Two: Stalin sicked Hitler on the West. Three: Stalin got the West to become his ally in order to defeat Hitler. TOURING AMERICA 6Yellowstone National Parkby Greg NyquistThu, 6 Dec 2007 23:00:00 GMTThere may exist, somewhere in the world, a more stunning individual mountain or peak, as there may exist more stunning mountain scenery, but there is no single mountain range that can equal, let alone surpass, the magnificence of the Teton Range.This chain of lofty granite clad peaks rises nearly 7,000 feet from the surrounding plains on the east side of the range, providing a jagged grayish-purple backdrop against the western horizon of awe-inspiring dimensions.The highest peak in the rage, Grand Teton, its summit reaching the lofty elevation of 13,770 feet in elevation, ascends into the heavens like an immense spire or obelisk. TOURING AMERICA 5Grand Teton National Parkby Greg NyquistTue, 8 Oct 2007 23:00:00 GMTThere may exist, somewhere in the world, a more stunning individual mountain or peak, as there may exist more stunning mountain scenery, but there is no single mountain range that can equal, let alone surpass, the magnificence of the Teton Range.This chain of lofty granite clad peaks rises nearly 7,000 feet from the surrounding plains on the east side of the range, providing a jagged grayish-purple backdrop against the western horizon of awe-inspiring dimensions.The highest peak in the rage, Grand Teton, its summit reaching the lofty elevation of 13,770 feet in elevation, ascends into the heavens like an immense spire or obelisk. TOURING AMERICA 4Idahoby Greg NyquistTue, 11 Sep 2007 23:00:00 GMTAlthough rather hot in the summer and cold in the winter, Idaho can nonetheless be described, in terms of the look of the place, as, in the main, a rather lukewarm state, neither especially beautiful nor especially ugly, but somewhere in between; pleasant, though hardly awe-inspiring. Oh, to be sure, in this corner or that, the landscape may veer off into the striking. Those mountain ranges in the middle of the state, the Sawtooth Range and what not, are rumored to have their share of the picturesque. TOURING AMERICA 3Nevadaby Greg NyquistSun, 26 Aug 2007 20:00:00 GMTFor most people heading east out of central or northern California, Reno becomes the inevitable portal through which they must pass. Not a bad city, as cities go, is Reno; not particularly a great city, either: more of a middling metropolis, to tell the truth about it. As Nevada's second largest city, Reno enjoys some distinction as a casino-orientated tourist trap. Between Second and Sixth streets in the downtown area there are ten casinos featuring some 4,000 rooms. For the yokels of northern California, Oregon, Idaho, and northern Nevada, Reno makes sense as the place to go to gamble away one's earnings. What other compelling reason could possibly exist to come to Reno, unless as a stopover on the way to someplace else, I couldn't say. TOURING AMERICA 2Northeastern Californiaby Greg NyquistFri, 17 Aug 2007 20:00:00 GMTThe southern Cascades have a trick of sneaking up on you. The terrain gradually and unobtrusively sneaks up toward them. You hardly notice the rise in elevation. One moment, you are passing miles of grassland; the next moment, you find yourself ensconced in an immense forest. TOURING AMERICA 1Northwestern Californiaby Greg NyquistSun, 5 Aug 2007 17:30:00 GMTA tour of the Northwest America's most splendid National Parks provides an opportunity to get a glimpse of some of the less travelled areas of the country, and take stock at what they may happen to suggest to the passing tourist. In a series of articles, Greg Nyquist provides a series of random, impressionistic observations of what is to be found in the northwestern portion of the lower 48, beginning along California's northcoast. THE RUSSIAN MENACEOffice Politicsby Jeff NyquistFri, 13 Jul 2007 23:00:00 GMTIt is 1999. You work in an office. It is the office of Russia's FSB (KGB). Your co-workers share a special comradeship, and a special history. Some of the agency's top bosses are linked to organized crime, kidnapping and murder. The kidnappings are a means for siphoning money from Westerners in order to finance Russian-speaking Arab terrorists in Chechnya. The kidnappings are also used to keep certain political players in line. The murders have to do with maintaining the position of hidden structures that supersede the Russian legislature, the national executive and the armed forces. There is nothing unusual in this, because conspiracy is a matter of FSB tradition. Back in 1917, when the organization was first formed, it was called the Cheka, deriving its name from the acronym VChK (Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage). The Cheka was founded by a communist ideologue named Felix Dzerzinsky shortly after the Bolshevik coup of Lenin and Trotsky. In those days, the office had two assignments: (1) to investigate counterrevolutionary elements, (2) to liquidate counterrevolutionaries and saboteurs. In 1917 this mission was out in the open. In 1999 this mission was hidden behind a democratic government headed by an ailing alcoholic named Boris Yeltsin. |
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