Putin, the West, and the two Captain Kirks

[Robert Urbanek]

In the 1966 Star Trek episode, The Enemy Within, a transporter malfunction creates two different Captain Kirks: one decent but meek and indecisive, the other aggressive and domineering. It’s a model of sorts for the two different Europes of the 21st century: a liberal but vacillating West and Putin’s aggressive and decisive Russia.

The liberal West has, at least for now, mustered the resolve to support Ukraine but Putin will persist as a bully until he either dies or outlasts the West, which will face increasing strains from culture wars, political divisions, and climate chaos.

Alas, there is no political “transporter” fix that can create a balanced Europe.

 

[xyz]

Or the bearded Spock. He was very cunning.

I don't remember the episode with 2 Kirks.

 

[mudwhistle]

Or the bearded Spock. He was very cunning.

I don't remember the episode with 2 Kirks.

First season. I think it was the 3rd or 4th episode.
Leonard Nimoy (Mr Spock) was supposed to hit Kirk in the head.....but Nimoy wanted to do something less violent....so he suggested a nerve pinch. It was the first time it was used in the series.
This also was the episode the Sulu almost froze to death on the planet because the transporter wasn't working. I guess they didn't have shuttles then.

 

[toobfreak]

Or the bearded Spock. He was very cunning.
I don't remember the episode with 2 Kirks.

The bad Kirk ends up actually raping yeoman Rand.

 

[toobfreak]

because the transporter wasn't working. I guess they didn't have shuttles then.

Nope. Apparently they hadn't thought that far ahead yet for the need for nor designed and built shuttles and a shuttle bay for about another ten episodes.

 

[BothWings]

The bad Kirk ends up actually raping yeoman Rand.

Did he go around sniffing little girls' hair a lot, too?

 

[mudwhistle]

Did he go around sniffing little girls' hair a lot, too?

Sniffing hair and other things.

 

[theHawk]

The liberal West has, at least for now, mustered the resolve to support Ukraine but Putin will persist as a bully until he either dies or outlasts the West, which will face increasing strains from culture wars, political divisions, and climate chaos.

The liberal West is in fast decline. Rampant immigration, self destructive policies, insane fiscal policies. The West does not have “the resolve” to force Russians out of lands they’ve been in for hundreds of years. Ukraine is a civil war dispute over Russian land that was granted to the Ukraine SSR by Soviet dictators. The West has no desire to die for such land, but Russia does.

 

[MisterBeale]

The Darkness Ahead: Where The Ukraine War Is Headed​

The Darkness Ahead: Where The Ukraine War Is Headed

This paper examines the likely trajectory of the Ukraine war moving forward. I will address two main questions. First, is a meaningful peace agreement possible? My answer is no. We are now in a war where both sides – Ukraine and the West on one side and Russia on the other – see each other as an...

mearsheimer.substack.com

John Mearsheimer Ukraine Salon​

3 months ago

John Mearsheimer: Ukraine war is a long-term danger​

Jul 30, 2023

Mirrors here if this interview gets pulled.

John Mearsheimer: Ukraine war is a long-term danger - The Grayzone

The scholar who famously warned in 2014 that NATO was provoking Russia in Ukraine on the state of the war and the troubles ahead. John Mearsheimer, the eminent political scientist who has warned for years that NATO's Ukraine policy would lead to disaster, joins Aaron Maté to assess the state of...

thegrayzone.com

 

[frigidweirdo]

In the 1966 Star Trek episode, The Enemy Within, a transporter malfunction creates two different Captain Kirks: one decent but meek and indecisive, the other aggressive and domineering. It’s a model of sorts for the two different Europes of the 21st century: a liberal but vacillating West and Putin’s aggressive and decisive Russia.

The liberal West has, at least for now, mustered the resolve to support Ukraine but Putin will persist as a bully until he either dies or outlasts the West, which will face increasing strains from culture wars, political divisions, and climate chaos.

Alas, there is no political “transporter” fix that can create a balanced Europe.

Two countries have started wars in Europe since WW2, they happen to both be close friends, both Slavic countries... Serbia and Russia.

Clearly there's a problem.

Both countries went to war, not from a position of strength, both weren't rich countries when they did it, both suffered because they came up again "a liberal but vacillating West" they thought they wouldn't have to deal with.

Clearly "a liberal but vacillating West" is better for economic growth, better for freedoms, better for just about anything and everything. Russia, no matter how the war in the Ukraine fairs, will suffer because of this war. Serbia suffered massively from their wars.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

In the 1966 Star Trek episode, The Enemy Within, a transporter malfunction creates two different Captain Kirks: one decent but meek and indecisive, the other aggressive and domineering. It’s a model of sorts for the two different Europes of the 21st century: a liberal but vacillating West and Putin’s aggressive and decisive Russia.

The liberal West has, at least for now, mustered the resolve to support Ukraine but Putin will persist as a bully until he either dies or outlasts the West, which will face increasing strains from culture wars, political divisions, and climate chaos.

Alas, there is no political “transporter” fix that can create a balanced Europe.

Putin wasn't the bully

Guess who the real bully is

 

[themirrorthief]

The bad Kirk ends up actually raping yeoman Rand.

he may have been bad but he had damn good taste in women

 

[themirrorthief]

Sniffing hair and other things.

leave the guy alone he lost that great bag of blo

 

[zaangalewa]

It’s a model of sorts for the two different Europes of the 21st century: a liberal but vacillating West and Putin’s aggressive and decisive Russia.

What a nonsense. No Enterprise film has anything to do with the history of Europe and not all Enterprise films have really something to do with science fiction. Most of them are only Wild West films. But all Enterprise films are propagating an antidemocratic miltary imperial command structure "top -> down" and propagate the use of weapons and violence under a strict federal law which continously will be broken under the doctrine "right or wrong - my country".

 

[zaangalewa]

Two countries have started wars in Europe since WW2, they happen to both be close friends, both Slavic countries... Serbia and Russia.

Serbia and Russia also started world war 1 and Russia (Stalin) started together with Hitler in the secret part of the Molotow-Ribbentrop pact world war 2 by deciding to eliminate Poland again.

(On the other side: All Europeans including the European nation USA started world war 1 - and specially also all allies and winners of world war 1 started also world war 2. But this complex cause factors are not so easy to see).

 

[zaangalewa]

The liberal West is in fast decline. Rampant immigration, self destructive policies, insane fiscal policies. The West does not have “the resolve” to force Russians out of lands they’ve been in for hundreds of years. Ukraine is a civil war dispute over Russian land that was granted to the Ukraine SSR by Soviet dictators. The West has no desire to die for such land, but Russia does.

You do not understand that Putin is Captain 007 - the man with the right to kill - doing war against his own federation by "defending" Russia in the Ukraine against Europe and the USA. Tyrants need enemies - this unites the own people. A short time ago someone was arrested for 2 weeks up to 6 month when he opposed Putin - meanwhile you will be arrested for 20 years and longer when you will oppose Putin in Russia.

 

[mudwhistle]

leave the guy alone he lost that great bag of blo

He can get more. All he needs to do is send another $23 billion to Ukraine.

 

[xyz]

What a nonsense. No Enterprise film has anything to do with the history of Europe and not all Enterprise films have really something to do with science fiction. Most of them are only Wild West films. But all Enterprise films are propagating an antidemocratic miltary imperial command structure "top -> down" and propagate the use of weapons and violence under a strict federal law which continously will be broken under the doctrine "right or wrong - my country".

I disagree. The Federation in the films is democratic, the Klingons are a military dictatorship, the Romulans too. The latter were clearly based on the Romans.


Although to be fair, Star Trek did not take as much from the real world as did Star Wars, which is much more influenced by American history especially.

 

[zaangalewa]

I disagree. The Federation in the films is democratic,

The federation in the films is the USA. And the Enterprise is a kind of weaponed submarine.

the Klingons are a military dictatorship, the Romulans too. The latter were clearly based on the Romans.

On what? The USA has about four times as many soldiers per 100,000 inhabitants than had the Romans. And the Roman empire was full of conquered nations and their legions often had been used in inner conflicts of the Roman Empire.

Although to be fair, Star Trek did not take as much from the real world as did Star Wars, which is much more influenced by American history especially.

In nearly all of your science fiction films you use a military structure. But research and developement do not follow such structures. In principle help such films everyone who propagates a "wise" government in the background. "If the leader would know then he would help" and no one thinks about that "wise " and "criminal" are sometimes not far from each other as for example in the sentence "right or wrong - my country". But right is right and wrong is wrong - independent from any love to the own country.

 

[zaangalewa]

The liberal West is in fast decline. Rampant immigration, self destructive policies, insane fiscal policies. The West does not have “the resolve” to force Russians out of lands they’ve been in for hundreds of years. Ukraine is a civil war dispute over Russian land that was granted to the Ukraine SSR by Soviet dictators. The West has no desire to die for such land, but Russia does.

Keeps one problem: Putin is a tyrant and Russia a tryranny - a nearly uninhabited wide tyranny.