Hi, my name is Bob Greenyer and welcome to RemoteView.ICU
Objectivity
I learned at a very early age that humans can lie to defend their interests, both to themselves, and to each other. It taught me to not accept what I am told at face value, but to take it on advisement and do my own research and come to my own conclusions.
This sense of the nature of human fraud was only accentuated, when I learned that a major industries prizes were based, at least in part, on the amount the contenders would pay for the tables they sat at during the awards event.
Later when I saw one of my brothers for the first time after nearly two decades, who had been living in Israel, I realised the sheer potency of media to shape someones view of the world. This was reinforced when I moved myself to India and experienced events firsthand, only to watch them be reported in highly biased ways, in the country of my origin.
I find it hard to believe that there is anyone alive and capable of rational thought who would not have seen over the last two, or maybe even five years, many counts of totally fraudulent news narratives, being perpetrated on national and even international scales. With family living in Australia, the UK, Europe, Asia and trusted colleagues in many other regions, I have marvelled at how people I thought I knew well, had their minds and their behaviours modified by rampant indoctrination. It is surely not their fault, humans can’t know everything and it is efficient, in a persons short life, to take on board views from those that are meant to know a subject, or, to do what is needed to fit in socially.
I'm not pretending that I haven't said things in my past which have been biased, though I have tried to be objective in all that I do. Anyone that knows anyone that has been through a divorce will recognise when one party is being objective or subjective with respect to events and persons they are very familiar with. People can see that things are not as they are being portrayed, or, at the very least, that it is not black and white and there are grey areas. Ask yourself, have you always been fully objective in everything you have done or said? Is that even possible?
So, if we know that ourselves, our friends and our family cannot always be objective and may just be a product of commerce and the media, which, is itself, very likely biased - How is it that we so readily accept narratives when we often know almost nothing about the considered topic or situation?
As I demonstrated above, there are times when you know all of the facts and so you can recognise where things are wrong. So, just to take an opinion from a party on faith especially from a person you know to have got things so monumentally wrong in the past makes no sense. This believing a party or information source despite knowing they have got things wrong in the past has a name - “Gell-Mann Amnesia effect”, and it was recently discussed on Dr. Robert W. Malone MD, MS substack.
In the words of Michael Crichton, MD who coined the phrase…
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
– Michael Crichton (1942-2008)
Change
It is amazing how things can change so fast, as the saying goes – if you are going to panic, panic first.
Thursday 24th February 2022
I decided to advance royalties for the book SPACE. EARTH. HUMAN. to its Russian scientist and author Dr. Alexander Parkhomov, as I felt there may be a disruption in international bank transfers to Russia. If you did not already know, I produced the book with the help of a Ukrainian philologist called Larisa Dumenko. Around the city where I live, yellow and blue flags appeared on public buildings, which I told Alexander about when I alerted him of the transfer.
I also wrote to Dr. Vladimir Vysotskii in Kiev, another prolific scientist in our field, who I have had a very good relationship with, saying,
“Dear Vladimir,
I am sorry to hear what your country is going through.
If you need some refuge, I can offer your family space here in the east of Czech Republic.
We are a 14 hour drive west from Kiev.
Bob”
8 minutes later Vladimir wrote,
Dear Bob,
Thank you very much for your support and suggestion to go. Our friends
are known in grief!But for now, our plans are to stick to our native country, help it,
teach our students and hope for the best. Ukraine now really needs the
military support of Europe and the United States to fight the aggressor.
Yours
Vladimir”
Friday 25th February 2022
My solicitors wrote to me in the morning saying,
"Dear client,
I would like to inform you about the change of bank account used for payments of legal services.
Based on the current situation, we are forced to change the bank account.”
They were banking with the Russian Bank – Sberbank
Saturday 26th February 2022
A family in front of me at the supermarket had their Sberbank debit card rejected. They were forced to find the cash to pay for their groceries. That afternoon, we attended a childrens birthday party where one of the Russian mothers was uncharacteristically subdued and apologetic about the situation, as if she felt somehow responsible. She spoke of how many of the people she knew in the Russian community were cut of from their savings and, having been trapped for 2 years because of the paranoia over Covid, they now would be stranded because of this situation for an indefinite time with no access to their funds.
Sunday 27th February 2022
After our usual post lunch walk, I focussed on my 369 presentation, I knew it wouldn’t be perfect or even good, but I realised that I had to get out the basics, as no one could be sure of what may happen next.
Monday 28th February 2022
A lot of things that make one think happened this day.
As I picked up my 6-year-old daughter from her pre school, she handed me a peace dove. It was decorated with spirals and hearts, or as I like to call them cardioids, in the colours of the Czech and Ukrainian flags.
She spoke to me about how there had been a lot of talk at her school about the situation in Ukraine and she recounted that one of her friends called Lilly, was very much distressed because her father, who is not a soldier, but was Ukrainian, had left the previous day, to go and fight in Ukraine. She told me about how her friend was worried that her father was going to die. I never thought I would hear such a thing coming from my daughter.
Later that day I got a summary from Dr. Alexander Parkhomov, who is no fan of the Russian administration, about the situation from his point of view as a mid 70s rational thinker, living in Moscow, with ties to Ukraine. He gave me permission to publish his account, which he sent to me in English, which I have done so below. I have not made any corrections at all, so, there are some translation issues, though I trust you are capable of working out what he meant to say.
I also got an account from one Andrew Shpagin, a Ukrainian living in Kiev. Back in 2007-2010, I worked with this brilliant programmer as he branched out on his own, to beta test and define the 3D retopology and painting engine he wanted to build into his nascent visual content application, now called 3D-Coat. He got a free resource from me and I got the 3D tool I wanted, for the business I planned to build in India. His product is a leader in the field now and he employs many people.
I purchased and maintained 5 licences and used them with my employees to create, amongst other things a 3D visualisation of the world heratage site – the Villa Tugendhat. Here you can see what we made running on an iPad Air 1.
Andrew’s company is called Pilgway short for “pilgrim’s way” where pilgrim means “one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee.”
It is a fully Christian based business and is the most deeply ethical company I have ever had a relationship with and if you are into computer art, I highly recommend his software which is often on special offer around Easter or Christmas. I have also published Andrew’s statement, from his company, in full below.
I encourage you to read both positions and factor them into your thinking.
Tuesday 1st February 2022
We have been asked by my daughters school, if we can provide accommodation for a Ukrainian family of four. We have access to a ‘forest house’ which we have offerred, but it has no running water, though it does have electricity and water harvesting and it is shelter, it will need some work to get it functional, we will do what we can if called upon.
Thank you for listening to RemoteView.ICU
Thoughts on the events in Ukraine
Alexander Parkhomov, Scientist and Author, February 28th, 2022
My father is Ukrainian, from the Poltava region. This is the very center of Ukraine. My wife has close relatives living in Donbass, and we know what is really happening there. It is clear that I cannot be indifferent to the recent events in Ukraine. I have been interested in history since childhood and closely follow political events, so I can claim to be objective.
It is amazing how the current mass media can distort the public consciousness! "There are flags of Ukraine on all public buildings in the Czech Republic." Well, how not to support Ukraine - "the last line of defense of the democratic world from the autocratic and aggressive Putin regime in Russia."
In fact, as a result of the violent overthrow of the legitimate government in Ukraine in February 2014, anti-Russian nationalists came to power, brutally suppressing any dissent. This is by no means "Putin's propaganda." This is the tragedy of Ukraine. And not only Ukraine, but also Russia and Europe. The first decree abolished the law on "regional languages", which allowed the official use of the Russian language at least at the local level. Now in institutions, schools, even shops, it was allowed to communicate only in Ukrainian. Education in any languages other than Ukrainian and English is prohibited. And this is despite the fact that almost half of people in Ukraine consider Russian to be their native language. Many people calls their native Ukrainian, but in order to speak Ukrainian, they have to translate from Russian in their minds. This is a gross outrage on the deep essence of people.
I like the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian songs are especially good. But nothing comparable to the works of Пушкин, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov was created in this language. The Ukrainian language is in no way adapted for scientific publications.
Russian language people are now being forced to abandon the Russian language and Russian culture. Is it any wonder that the people rebelled in the east, south of Ukraine and in the Crimea, where Russian-speaking people live. The reason for this was, of course, not Putin, but the actions of the regime in Kiev. Putin and Russia need, if not a friendly, then at least a neutral Ukraine. But it became extremely hostile after the coup d'etat.
I have been to Crimea many times and I know well that Crimeans have never considered themselves Ukrainians, and Crimea's belonging to Ukraine was considered a misunderstanding. It was immaterial in the time of the unified Soviet Union. But after the collapse of the Union, when the policy of forced ukrainization began, discontent became universal. After the nationalist coup, the situation became critical, a referendum was held in Crimea, and the dream of Crimeans to reunite with Russia finally came true. The unanimity of the Crimeans and the support of Russia allowed this revolution to be carried out bloodlessly. Such is the annexation and occupation. Now Crimea is actively developing. The Crimean Bridge, a new airport, high-quality roads have been built. The most difficult problem of fresh water shortage has been solved. This problem arose due to the fact that the Kiev regime, shortly after the separation of Crimea, blocked the North Crimean Canal, which provided 85% of the water needed by Crimea. It is very important that now the city of Russian glory Sevastopol will not become a NATO naval base.
The situation in the South-east of Ukraine is much more complicated . Not only Donbass, but Kharkiv and Odessa were ready to secede from Ukraine and even become part of Russia, like Crimea. But the problem was that there was no such unanimity as in Crimea. And most importantly, there was no decisive support for Russia. Russia does not seek to increase its territory. It is already the biggest country.. Russia does not need coal - the main wealth of Donbass. Coal is already plentiful in Russia. At the same time, in the case of the separation of the South-East in the authorities in Ukraine, there would be no counterweight to anti-Russian nationalists. The protests against the Kiev authorities did not find active support and were brutally suppressed in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Odessa. But in Donbass, on May 11, 2014, local activists managed to hold a referendum on independence, and the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics were proclaimed the next day. There was a hope that they would be recognized by Russia and receive support. But that didn't happen. I assume that Putin hoped that as a result of the presidential elections on May 25, a prudent politician who would be able to solve the problems that arose would be in power. Poroshenko, who promised to establish peace in a few days, won. He is a wealthy businessman and an experienced politician who held leading positions in the government of Ukraine before the coup. After winning the election, he began "peacemaking" using tanks and aircrafts. But unexpectedly met with resistance from the militia, mainly miners. The fighting was especially fierce in the summer of 2014 and in January- February 2015. Under the threat of the complete defeat of the Ukrainian troops, Poroshenko agreed to sign documents with representatives of the People's republics providing for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and the granting of the status of autonomy to the People's republics within Ukraine (the "Minsk agreements"). These documents were adopted as the basis for a peaceful settlement and were approved by a UN Security Council resolution.
However, it turned out that Poroshenko signed the Minsk Agreements only in order to stop the fighting, which threatened the Ukrainian army with complete defeat. In fact, for many years, no real actions have been taken by the Ukrainian side to implement the Minsk agreements. The most terrible thing that the shelling, including heavy equipment, continued almost daily for many years, and the targets in the people's republics were mainly residential buildings, schools and civilian infrastructure facilities. As a result, 14,000 people were killed, mostly civilians, including many children. Such actions belong to the category of crimes against humanity. These and many other crimes of the Kiev regime will undoubtedly be investigated and the perpetrators will be severely punished.
In April 2019, Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine, promising peace in the Donbass, curbing corruption and infringing on oligarchs. A talented comic actor and film producer, he turned out to be a helpless politician. Implementation of the Minsk agreements was finally blocked due to categorical disagreement to negotiate with representatives of the people's republics. The terrible shelling of civilians in Donbass has not stopped.
The Kiev regime was given a chance to stop the war and return Donbass into Ukraine. It was only necessary to follow the path indicated in the Minsk agreements. Therapy was offered. Now it is clear that only a surgical operation can cure the patient.
Let's try to understand how this Ukrainian ulcer was formed. Let's turn to history. In the IX century, a Russian state was formed with two centers: in Kiev and in Novgorod. This state has adopted Christianity. The Russian principalities stretched from the Black Sea in the south to the White Sea in the north. Their prosperous existence was interrupted by the invasion of Batu's hordes in 1238. The Russian principalities in the north, although they suffered greatly, were preserved. Kiev was destroyed to the ground, and for almost 700 years there was no independent state on this territory at all. The "Zaporozhye Cossacks" mastered this space - militant detachments of surviving Russians who continuously fought with the Turks, then with the Crimean Tatars, then with the Poles. This continued until the Cossacks, led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky, asked the Russian tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to take the territory, which they began to call "Ukraine" (i.e., the outskirts), under their patronage. After much hesitation (as it threatened a severe war with Poland), the decision was made. In 1654, Ukraine became part of Russia.
For the first time, the independence of Ukraine was proclaimed in early 1918 after the revolution in Russia, but before the end of 1918 it was occupied by German-Austrian troops. Then the civil war began, and in 1920 the western part of Ukraine, including Kiev, was occupied by Poland. In December 1922, Ukraine became part of the USSR, and the territories with the Russian population (Donbass, Odessa) were included in the east and south of Ukraine. This was done on Lenin's instructions in order to increase the industrial potential of Ukraine and provide access to the sea. In 1939 the territory of Ukraine, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, expanded to the west, on the territories of the former Russian Empire, conquered by Poland in 1920. In 1945, the TransCarpathian region was added to Ukraine. And finally, in 1954, on the initiative of Khrushchev, Crimea was transferred to Ukraine. It is paradoxical that the current Ukrainian nationalists have destroyed monuments to Lenin, curse Stalin, and call the USSR an evil empire. But without these "gifts" the territory of Ukraine would be several times smaller. Most likely, a country with such a name would not exist at all.
So, Ukraine, similar to a patchwork quilt, was artificially created in the first half of the 20th century as part of the USSR. It had many attributes of a sovereign state: parliament, government, even representation in the UN. It had a developed agriculture, a powerful industry, including high-tech (of which now there is little left) and a high standard of living.
After Ukraine gained full independence in 1991, there was a problem of retaining several regions with very different traditions and mentality in a single country. It would be logical in this case to build a country on a federal principle, such as, for example, the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Russia. But the ideological vacuum after the destruction of the USSR was filled by revived nationalism, which practically disappeared in Soviet times. Under the influence of nationalists (mainly from western Ukraine) the country has taken the path of creating a unitary state. To implement such a path, they began to get rid of everything that is not Ukrainian. Forced ukrainization was succeeding badly. After all, Ukraine had no history of its own, except as part of the USSR. The nationalists had to invent it. It turned out something like this.
There was a great people "Ukry", the progenitors of all peoples. It was they who created Kievan Rus, which later received the name "Ukraine". Wild tribes in the north stole the name "Rus". But in fact they are Ugro-Fino-Tatar "moskals". They enslaved and robbed real Russians in Ukraine. They staged a "Holodomor" and the best Ukrainians were exiled to Siberia. But Ukrainians have always fought against the damned moskals . The heroes of this struggle are Bandera and Shukhevych (leaders of Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War, who killed tens of thousands of civilian Poles and Jews). A happy life will come when we finally drive out the moskals, re-educate those who sympathize with them, destroy those who do not obey. In Europe, too, they do not like moskals. Europe will help us. We will join the EU and NATO, we will live richly, and no moskals will dare to touch us. Surprisingly, there are some people who believe in this nonsense. As Goebbels said, "the more monstrous the lie, the easier it is to believe in it".
Of course, there are few such primitive-minded people, but they are fanatically active, do not disdain to use any dirty means. They intimidated the people and took control of the government and Parliament.
It is absurd, but NATO countries and the European Union support this disgusting Nazi Kiev regime. Why is this occur? I think it's like this.
During the Cold War, NATO emerged. The reason for the existence of this organization was to contain the military threat from the USSR. But now this threat has disappeared. By this time, NATO had turned into a gigantic military-bureaucratic monster. The meaning of existence of this monster has not become, but its elimination would have left millions of people without means of subsistence. To make sense, you need an enemy. And if it really does not exist, it is necessary to appoint. China is far away, Iran is weak, but Russia is just right. We'll throw mud at her, we'll set up a fake industry. And then such a trump card fell out: the "annexation" of the Crimea, the war in the Donbass. Well, of course, all this is the work of Putin, because he wants to recreate the empire in order to oppress peoples striving for democracy. In the end, the inventors of these slanderous slanders themselves began to sincerely believe in them.
Alexander Parkhomov, February 28th, 2022
Thoughts on the events in Ukraine
Andrew Shpagin, CEO Pilgway, February 28th, 2022
Not everything is black and white