PSA: If you share a YouTube video using the native share feature it now attaches your user ID (?si=xxxxxx) to the URL automatically.

YT likely does this to growth-hack DMs. When someone clicks on the link, YT can start a DM thread between you two automatically with this ID even if they found the link outside of the YT app.

If you post links publicly, I strongly recommend deleting the ID unless you want to post your user profile.

@OSINTIntuit

*#JDVance Assists Euro-#MAGA in ReelectionEffort*

"#Orbán is #Russia’s most valuable asset inside both #NATO and the #EU, blocking #Ukraine aid, obstructing sanctions, and, on this recording, offering to function as #Putin’s instrument inside Western institutions. [He's the #Kremlin's #FifthColumn, in other words.]

And #Vance is in #Budapest to help keep him there.

#OSINT #OperationEpicFury"

#WarInUkraine

Orbán offers Budapest as a venue for a Trump-Putin summit and positions Hungary as an active facilitator of Russian diplomatic interests inside NATO and the EU. Putin praises Hungary’s “independent and flexible” position on Ukraine.

The recording was published five days before Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election. Orbán’s Fidesz party currently trails Péter Magyar’s Tisza party by approximately 19 points.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Budapest today.
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🇭🇺🇷🇺🇺🇸 𝗢𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗡 | 𝗩𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 | 𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗧

Bloomberg today published a recording of a phone call between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin dated October 17, 2025.

In the call, Orbán invokes Aesop’s fable of the lion and the mouse, casting himself in the subordinate role:

“Our friendship has grown to such a level that I can help you in any way. Wherever you need my help, I'm at your service.”
1/4

The White House framed the visit as a meeting with a close ally.

The timing is brutal.

The sitting U.S. Vice President is in an EU and NATO country backing a leader who, on record, just described himself as personally at Putin’s service days after that recording surfaces.

Keeping Orbán in power is a stated strategic objective of the Trump administration.
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@orionkidder

Sounds interesting.
I need to see when I can get around to this.

Ancient #Greece is also "my thing". 😉

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/115435083918302839

@HistoPol Yeah, Dune and Star Wars are just very different narratives. Herbert, for all that I do find his books problematic in various ways, set out to say something about the trope of the all-powerful sci-fi hero. Lucas set out, as far as I can tell, to make a really compelling adventure narrative that also kinda had a message, but such a simple and abstract one that anyone can identify with it, which is a strategy for success, to be sure.

@orionkidder

Thank you.

#Dune and the other original sequels are one of the limited number of books 📚 I have been coming across time and again.

The story is just so way above anything #StarWars (which I also like, but rather for entertainment reasons only has to offer with regard to outer and inner insights, it is really a pitty #FrankHerbert is no longer among us.

But maybe for the better? --Humanity is really--knowingly--pushing Earth 🌍 's climate towards Dune's.

@HistoPol So. A thought.

The context of the Litany of Fear is that it's a Bene Gesserit mantra, and the Bene Gesserit are *bad guys*. They've manipulated galactic events, including implanting fake religions, in order to pave the way for their eugenics project to make the "perfect man," who himself turns out to be a terrifying warlord. By the second book, it turns out Paul is a fan of Hitler.

Yes, that Hitler.

opposite intentions, produces opposite outcomes. Herbert's Dune saga asks us to examine not just what tools we use, but *why* we use them and *whom* we serve. Whether a practice transforms fear into wisdom or weaponizes it depends entirely on whether the user seeks domination or genuine understanding. That distinction—between technique and purpose—is where morality actually lives. @orionkidder

discovered: fear and respect are not opposites, but *choices*. The Mapuche transform fear into respect—a deliberate, thoughtful response that recognizes the intrinsic value of others rather than treating them as threats to be managed. Fear is reactive and paralyzing; respect is intentional and connective. The Bene Gesserit teach fear-management to create obedience; the Mapuche teach respect-cultivation to foster interconnection. The *same psychological tool*, deployed with @orionkidder

intentions* produce terrible outcomes—a more sophisticated critique than simple villainy.

Ultimately, the Litany of Fear itself exemplifies Herbert's central insight: **a tool is only as ethical as its wielder.** The Bene Gesserit developed this mantra as a discipline for mastering fear and maintaining mental clarity—ostensibly a worthy goal. But in their hands, it becomes a mechanism for control and manipulation. This mirrors what researchers studying the Mapuche have @orionkidder

and their Imperial backers exhibit clear Nazi-like brutality and genocide against the Fremen. Paul's leadership emerges as self-determination against alien oppression—which actually *strengthens* your larger point. Herbert was warning us about how authoritarianism corrupts even justified resistance movements. The tragedy isn't that Paul is evil; it's that fighting monsters can turn you into one.

Context matters enormously, as you say. But Herbert's genius was showing how *good @orionkidder

@orionkidder

#HPs Commentary #SciFI

*A Critique of #FrankHerbert's #Dune Saga*

You've raised important points about context, and you're right that the Bene Gesserit are morally compromised manipulators whose eugenic project deserves scrutiny. Your reminder that Paul and the Bene Gesserit aren't simple heroes is genuinely valuable—Herbert absolutely subverts the "chosen one" trope.

However, I'd gently push back on a few specifics. Paul isn't presented as a Hitler admirer; rather, his

prescient visions *horrify* him by showing catastrophic futures he wants to prevent. Herbert seems to be critiquing how messianic figures *enable* atrocities, not celebrating them. Similarly, the Bene Gesserit aren't painted as straightforward villains—they're morally complex, and Lady Jessica embodies genuine care alongside institutional manipulation.

Here's what's crucial: **Paul's rise is fundamentally a story of resistance against a fascistic occupying force.** The Harkonnen @orionkidder

7/7
...converted this insight into one of the fundamental concepts of his epic #Dune saga.

Even though he probably never heard of the #Mapuche, he seems to have been onto something else.

/END

#AppliedPsychology #Psychology
#FearManagement

3/n

"...#Mapuche culture, respect seems to alleviate, and even replace, fear.

👉The Mapuche believe that all elements of the universe are interconnected and deserve respect.👈 They teach children to give reverence to the air, water and land, along with all the living creatures..."

6/7
...“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”

Late bestselling author and researcher #FrankHerbert...

5/n
"...in the late 1400s, they also held off #Spanish rule for more than 300 years. It took the dual efforts of the #Chilean and #Argentinian militaries to finally defeat them in the late-19th century."

#Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, said

4/n
"...that inhabit these spaces.

It’s important to note that the Mapuche don’t try to suppress their children’s fear, but to transform it into respect...

#Mapuche have a long warrior history; one of the very few cultures able to stop the advancement of the #Inka empire..."