Thomas_More
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The Ukraine war is clearly not coming to a close, in spite of the views of many here that it is more or less over. NATO and the EU are not prepared to yield.
” Ukraine’s full accession to the European Union will trigger Article 42(7) TEU, the bloc’s binding mutual defense clause, which requires all EU member states to provide “aid and assistance by all the means in their power” if a member becomes the victim of armed aggression.”
So, it’ll be war with Russia!
https://tass.com/politics/2144597
Well, the US is not going to agree to that!
Google: ” French state centralization was spearheaded by Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin because their roles as unelected Chief Ministers granted them the supreme executive authority, ruthless neutrality, and institutional independence necessary to crush entrenched feudal privileges and consolidate royal absolutism.As clergymen, the Cardinals answered ultimately to the Crown and the Pope, allowing them to bypass traditional noble factions and navigate existential crises without fearing dynastic ruin or partisan backlash. Their historical centralization project was driven by a few key factors:Weakening the Feudal Aristocracy: Local nobles controlled regional territories and possessed their own private armies. The Cardinals stripped them of this military power, demolished fortified castles not needed for border defense, and replaced localized noble control with institutional administrators (the intendants) who reported directly to the Crown.Neutralizing Protestant Political Autonomy: To unify the state, Cardinal Richelieu curtailed the military and political privileges granted to the Huguenots (such as the heavily fortified city of La Rochelle), subordinating all factions to the absolute rule of the state.Fiscal and Military Survival: Frequent conflicts, particularly against the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, demanded massive state revenues. Centralization allowed the Crown to bypass obstructionist regional parliaments and efficiently levy taxes (like the taille) to sustain a modernized military and compete on the European stage.Building a Bureaucracy: They established a loyal administrative class (the noblesse de robe) that managed the state apparatus based on merit and loyalty rather than inherited noble bloodlines.**Preserving the Minority: ** Following Richelieu’s groundwork, Cardinal Mazarin successfully navigated the volatile regency of Anne of Austria and the young Louis XIV. He steered the monarchy through the aristocratic rebellions of the Fronde, securing the absolute system that the Sun King would later inherit and define.”
US still backing Ukraine. Issues more sanctions and provides funding for Kiev.
And so much for those of us who thought Scandinavia was less militaristic and oppressive, and for those Reichians who believed that more sexual emancipation and openness would turn people against militarism and capitalism.
A pipe dream indeed.
The French state kept control of the Church in its own hands until the Concordat of 1801 formally ended the Gallican structure (which the Revolution had already smashed) and returned the Church to the Pope, on condition that the French head of state would nominate bishops for Rome to confirm. Church and state were officially separated in 1905, barring Alsace & Lorraine, where bishops are still nominated by the President.
The Spanish state continued to control Church affairs, lands, and choose its clergy until the death of Franco returned the Church to Papal control.
Monastic lands were seized in both countries during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Crow and friend.
The bogus “scientist”, Descartes the creep, did his utmost to get materialists into serious trouble with the authorities.
He also petitioned the Sorbonne to have Montaigne posthumously excommunicated as a heretic for being compassionate to other animals.(Google): “Descartes used his published works and private influence to publicly discredit and endanger materialist opponents. He felt that materialist philosophies (like those of Thomas Hobbes) and naturalistic interpretations (like those of his former disciple Henricus Regius) threatened his metaphysics and bordered on atheism. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
René Descartes, c. 1641
Descartes took direct aim at his materialist adversaries using a few specific tactics:
Attacking Thomas Hobbes: After Hobbes submitted a materialist critique of Descartes’ Meditations, Descartes publicly retaliated. He wrote to Marin Mersenne describing Hobbes as dishonest and attempting to make a reputation at his expense. In his subsequent published replies, Descartes sought to make Hobbes look foolish by framing his materialist arguments as uncharitable or incoherent.
Discrediting Henricus Regius: Regius was a professor of medicine at Utrecht who adopted some of Descartes’ mechanical philosophy but pushed it toward materialism. When Regius began making unorthodox, quasi-materialist claims about the nature of man, Descartes published Notes on a Program in 1642, publicly refuting his former disciple and distancing himself to avoid guilt-by-association with church authorities.
Appealing to the Church: Because 17th-century materialism inherently denied the existence of an immaterial soul (a severe heresy), Descartes intentionally positioned his dualism as the ultimate defense of religion. By clearly contrasting his own philosophy with the atheistic and materialistic trends of the era, he subtly but effectively painted his opponents as dangerous subversives whose ideas risked the same church censorship that Galileo had recently faced. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
While Descartes welcomed rigorous objections, he aggressively countered anyone whose materialist views undermined his carefully constructed philosophical framework. [1]”I would therefore suggest he did NOT welcome rigorous objections to his hypocrisy, but was even prepared to get opponents in debate executed.
” Thomas Hobbes: A strict materialist. He argued that everything in the universe—including human thoughts, emotions, and the soul—is just physical matter in motion. To Hobbes, the “mind” is simply physical processes in the brain.”
Voilà! The 17th century in France produced philosophical debate largely thanks to the “Cavendish Circle” consisting of English exiles. Free from the strictures of fanaticism, Margaret Cavendish, Thomas Hobbes and Pierre Gassendi lay the foundations of later, 18th century, materialist thought and expression which was impossible in theocratic Puritan England.
