There was a whiff of Thomas Mann’s ‘The Magic Mountain’ at the 20th Valdai annual meeting this week at a hotel over the gorgeous heights of the Krasnaya Polyana. north-west of the picturesque resort Sochi.

Dear Readers: First something just for fun. A few days we talked about the “official” Ukrainian assertion (coming from an “official” spokesperson for the Ukrainian army) that Russians = Mongols = Subhumans. It’s old news now, but I just happened to see Pam Ho’s hilarious take on this same topic:

Today, it’s hard to be surprised by new manifestations in the degradation of political institutions and their leaders. However, a scandal in the Canadian parliament has surpassed all expectations. In this event, the elected representatives, Prime Minister, and the Ukrainian President stood up to applaud a Nazi criminal. This incident goes beyond even the most mind-boggling news from the realm of political absurdity that we call liberal democracy.

New uncertainty over the future of US funding for the Ukraine war underscores that Kyiv has become “hostage” to Washington.

The greatest collateral damage from last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine has been to various Western European members of NATO, which suddenly find their national interests subordinated to those of their strongest ally.

GUEST: Lev Golinkin. Ukrainian American journalist who has reported extensively on the Ukraine crisis, Russia and the far right.

The New York Times has published another CIA press release disguised as news, this time aimed at whipping up paranoia toward anyone who criticizes the US proxy war in Ukraine.

The recent dissolution of Nagorno Karabakh and the Armenia embrace of a US-led world order represent something much larger than either small country and have everything to do with destabilizing the largest, and arguably most strategic, mega-project in Eurasia connecting the Russian Arctic to Iran and India.

The people of the United States are bathed daily in the propaganda of what former CIA official and peace activist Ray McGovern has termed the MICIMATT (Military-Industrical-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academic-Think Tank) complex. One of the most important campaigns of this complex is to spread Cold War thinking amongst the populace in order that it will support US war efforts.

Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix