Two eyes or one?

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https://cairnsnews.org/2026/03/16/harry-palmer-and-mike-holt-two-up-podcast-monica-smit-video-hits-home/

OK, Monica, but……

The horrible Labor Party of the horrible system?

Dear Monica,

I guess if I were still living in Australia and could vote in Australia, I might vote One Nation too. I probably would, though it goes against my ideological life trajectory.

Your critique of the unacceptability of mindlessness in relation to terrorism is right, but if you leave your right flank uncovered you are not doing a good job of defending Australia.

Note this summary of a coming public speech that is on the drawing board for us in Aegina (I have shown you around Aegina and I think it is OK for me to say this). 

This is from Vice Admiral Heraklis Kalogerakis https://main.cse-initiative.eu/?p=1442
And note the link to this article on “deterrence”. 

https://halva.proboards.com/post/3231

The right is generally speaking as oblivious to the wrongness of believing in “nuclear deterrence” as the left is oblivious to the wrongness of defending terrorists who can represent themselves as patriots.

Let’s look at “our” world with two eyes, not with one.

Virtue signaling

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https://cairnsnews.org/2026/03/14/indigenous-virtue-signalling-reaches-absurd-heights-as-sa-hospital-given-bizarre-new-name/

To judge by Cory Bernardi’s name he is of Italian origin, which may give a hint to his evident sensitivity to considerations that escape certain dangerous unfortunates who almost certainly know no other language than English.

This is speculation, but even the term “virtue signaling” becomes less opaque if one knows Latin or Italian and know that “vir” is Latin for “man”. Australia is now importing population from almost everywhere and if everyone starts insisting on their “native language rights” we are back at the Tower of Babel.

Portuguese and Spanish imperialists had no qualms about conflating linguistic and religious considerations. It is only since the French got involved in the colonial (and enslaving) project that the idea gained ground that colonialists should be “on the side of the natives”. A knowledge of Latin (or indeed Italian) helps one understand the English language but if one really wants to go “back to the roots” one will learn Greek, modern Greek preferably because one cannot speak with the dead. There are good reasons for Australians to know something about the origins of human habitation on the Australian continent, but for the purposes of politics, going back to the roots means going back to the foundation of the New South Wales Legislative Council https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb5kT5XdEKE&t=1s, from shortly after the defeat of Napoleon (1823), and not long before the founding of the modern Greek state on 26th January (!) 1828. That, in conjunction with the introduction of modern Greek as compulsory second language in Australian schools will help to counteract the dangers of Islamization of Australia, without encouraging bigotry. https://cairnsnews.org/2017/02/12/exit-right-cory-bernardi/

Postscript: Cory Bernardi wins a South Australian parliamentary seat.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/i-assume-youre-a-bleeding-heart-lefty-cory-bernardi-clashes-with-reporter-over-one-nations-immigration-policy/news-story/3ad44dadd36c820f276b6a6294b96313

Ioannis Capodistrias: The governor who preferred deterrence to war

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Heraklis Kalogerakis

https://cairnsnews.org/2026/03/12/new-iranian-leader-wounded-in-hiding-from-us-missiles/

https://halva.proboards.com/post/3231

The history of nations is often recorded through wars, campaigns, conflicts. In the case of the Greek Revolution, our historical memory is filled with such images: the fire ships of Kanaris, the battles of Kolokotronis, the resistance of Karaiskakis.

But states are not created only on the battlefield. They are born also in the sessions of diplomacy. They are brought into existence by people who understand that the force of arms is not enough in itself. Political discernment is equally necessary, as is international strategy and – above all – the ability to avert war when this is possible.

Such a person was Ioannis Capodistrias. In an age of revolutions and confrontations Capodistrias was the embodiment of a different approach to power. He did not believe that nations are saved by means of war alone. He believed that they are saved when politics and diplomacy create the conditions that render warfare either superfluous or impossible.

In other words he believed in what today is called strategic deterrence. Perhaps this is what is most up-to-date about Capodistrias. Because his thinking was not applicable only for 1821. It applies for every age. In every historical period states are faced with the same dilemma: to resort to war or try to avert it.

Capodistrias opted for the latter. And his choice was not the product of weakness. It was the result of profound knowledge of international politics.

As Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire he had found himself at the epicenter of European diplomacy. He understood his age’s mechanisms of power better than any other Greek. He also understood something else: that revolutions can win battles but only diplomacy can create states,

This conviction underlay his entire stance on the Greek Revolution. And it is this stance that we examine today. Not Capodistrias as governor. Not Capodistrias as politician. But Capodistrias as strategic mind of diplomacy, a person very much aware that the greatest victory of a state is not always to win a war but rather to deter a war.