Caleb: Dumb-bitch reporter: Caleb: "I'd love to see Ann Coulter... mud-wrestle, or something." me: wow Caleb: Wait. me: also Caleb: Whoops. Caleb: Sorry. me: you familiar with Operation Northwoods? Caleb: "I'd love to see Ann Coulter and Nancy Pelosi... mus-wrestle or something." Caleb: That's the full story. Caleb: A little more ???. Caleb: mud Caleb: Dammit. me: look up Northwoods me: blatant shit me: I'm using it as a foil against this Russia analyst I'm debating me: not the dumb one me: another gujy Caleb: Yeah, I remember seeing this back in the height of Roger's Alex Jones phase. me: who thinks it's totally crazy to suspect that members of the U.S. government might, like, kill people to achieve some end me: and who also thinks me: that it is crazy to suspect that the Kremlin might do such a thing me: you know me: kill Russians me: that thing that no Russian government has ever done between 1930 and 1955 Caleb: No Russian government has ever done, period. Caleb: Remember Ivan the Gentle Little Cuddly-Bug? me: St. Petersburg was built with union labor Caleb: The Polish aren't Russians, either. Caleb: So that doesn't count. Caleb: Don't forget. Caleb: Speaking of Russia. Caleb: I just finished reading that pictorial history hoo-hah I stole from you. me: good book Caleb: You ever go through it cover to cover? me: damn good book me: pretty much, was one of my eating-sandwiches-on-the-floor-books, like Byzantium me: also, just got off the skag withdrawals, gonna read Age of Reason Begins now that I'm capable of doing things me: oh, shit Caleb: Hurray! me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs me: fucking watch that Caleb: I'm at work. me: oh me: I didn't realize they paid you to keep me updated on stupid shit your reporters say me: just say it's research for a segment on ICP Caleb: It's one of the perks. Caleb: No. Caleb: But back to that Russia book. Caleb: So, I noticed that the first half of it seemed pretty reasonbly scholarly. me: ah, then it gets to modern times... Caleb: It documents the general brutality and incompetent autocracy of the tsardom and all that. Caleb: And it even approaches the Revolution and the early years of Lenin and Stalin all the way through 1945 with a touch of objectivity. Caleb: Then it becomes a crazy mess of _March of Time_ newsreel, anti-Red whackiness. Caleb: Then it tones down with Brezhnev and seems to end on an implicit tone of "These guys are alright after all. Better than those damn Yellow Chinee, at least." Caleb: Turns out the various copyrights read, "1945, 1950-something, and 1968." me: it talks about the Chinese? Caleb: Yeah. Caleb: How could it not? me: wait, Brezhnev? me: written last in 68? me: oh, he was in for a while, huh? Caleb: Yeah. Caleb: From, like '64 to '82. me: till the early 80s me: word me: that's a tough position to hold me: well, maybe not me: it's tough to hold if you're Khruschev Caleb: Apparently, Brezhnev was the first Russian leader of Russia since the Revolution. Caleb: I did not know that. me: holy shit me: hadn't thought about that me: pretty amusing me: Russians were used to being ruled over by outsiders anyway me: like Tartars me: where was Lenin born again, territories Russia lost afterwards? me: or Austria-Hungary? me: ah, it's the former Caleb: And he apparently was part Chinee. Caleb: Which explains his ghoulish features. me: Brezhnev? Caleb: Lenin. me: oh, Lenin me: for some reason they had a biography of Lenin at Good Shepherd school library me: that thing from which I was the only student to check out books Caleb: Preston Hollow had that Hitler biography. Caleb: And a Stalin one, too, if memory serves.