The paradox of the Anti-Semitic Boulder attack; And Putin Is a Gambler, not a Grand Master

Hello Mega Orderers… Apparently Oscar Wilde said, ‘Imitation is the highest form of flattery. And that it is is the homage which mediocrity pays to that which is not mediocre.” There is a fascinating history to this quote… if you are interested you can read more here.

So I wrote an article in NewLines Magazine back in the very early days of the Full scale invasion in early 2022, ‘Why Putin Is Playing Poker, Not Chess’, as many of you will know I am a Grandmaster of Backgammon

you can imagine my shock to find the following article title written by another author:

Putin Is a Gambler, not a Grand Master

The Russian president has abandoned real strategy for a single goal.

June 3, 2025, 11:42 AM

By Anastasia Edel, a writer and social historian.

An illustration depicts Vladimir Putin holding up a hand of playing cards

Federico Yankelevich illustration for Foreign Policy

After centuries of trying to catch up with the West, Russia is now using its influence to reshape the politics of Western countries and erode their foundational commitment to the democratic order.

Nowhere is this more visible than the United States. For nearly 80 years—through the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the fragile new order that followed—the United States viewed Russia as a rival to be contained, not courted. But in the first few months of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, Washington has turned its back on its historic democratic allies and pivoted toward Moscow.

Read the full article here: https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/03/russia-putin-ukraine-war-trump-strategy-politics/

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Next I want to return my focus to anti-Semitism and its normalization in online discourse. I see the below images in my facebook feed from phd scholars of the middle east.

What is interesting to me is why the opponents of Bibi's actions need to make it about Judaism… or holocaust inversion. like why have Bibi with the yamlike and nazi arm band in the cartoon... or why make a parallels to the Nazis rather than saying Bibi is needlessly killing children as collateral damage and ben gvir is an evil idiot... Why not oppose the policy then framing the policies in Gaza as somehow holocaust inversion or a result of the Jewishness of the actors involved… This to me seems central to this recent outbreak of anti-Semitic attacks in the USA

So I tried to address this and other paradoxes in a YouTube video on the Colorado attack:

Below are some striking clips about the paradoxes of the incident:

Mohamed Sabry Soliman had 18 Molotov cocktails but threw just two during Sunday’s attack in which he yelled “Free Palestine,” police said. He didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit

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NOW TO TRY TO END ON A POSITIVE NOTE

If you find this kind of content interesting and like the YouTube approach… pls consider being a member of the paid substack as I need the financial support to make these types of videos and pls consider subscribing to the channel, by clicking on subscribe here.