When the COVID thing first started I gradually started following some different publications. More right-aligned than I had read much of before, often labeled as "heterodox." The thing was, I sensed my previous sources were leaving out inconvenient bits of the story and perhaps couldn't be trusted, so I had to look outside of them.
What has become apparent since then is that a lot of the "heterodox" media aren't, really. They're not really independent, and their editorial stance is oriented to currying favor with power just as their rivals do.
Generally I still do at least look at Spiked, Tablet and Quillette, but don't expect to find much of interest most days. UnHerd has a higher success rate, and Compact is interesting because it was founded by Trump fans who actually do favor a non-interventionist foreign policy (which for the most part The Donald himself doesn't.) But the ultimate lesson is that you need to continue taking things with a big grain of salt.
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One of the factors for us when the 'pandemic' began was that some of the websites we'd previously enjoyed reading suddenly developed strong biases toward the disease and all the ways to combat it from masks and social distancing all the way to being vaccine cheerleaders. It wasn't long before we were sceptical about all of it. Naked Capitalism was and continues to be reliable, but not about Covid - where they continue to promote untrustworthy stories. But NC just seems to be genuinely paranoid about the subject rather than acting to curry favor with powerful interests.
We were already seeing the conflict in Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia and added to that the financial skirmishes with China that could lead to war over Taiwan. Then came Israel. What can one say? There are a number of journalists who seem to be more concerned about their financial safety than informing us.
We're more likely to read an article on Spiked, Tablet and Quillette if you recommend them but Unherd and Compact are sites we do check out. Strength in numbers, eh?
We've found a few other places and writers who aren't so caught up in western propaganda - it's good to get out to see the world. You might like Strategic Culture, in particular Alaistair Crooke's article today was educational. As you say, it's wise to take information with a grain of salt but salt can be useful on a nice piece of meat.
It's funny. From their name you can gather that the people at Naked Capitalism are wary of the capitalist system. Fair enough, there's plenty to criticize there. But a lot of anti-capitalists seemed to believe that locking down in response to COVID was a great way to stick it to malefactors of great wealth. Which in the 21st century seems like a bizarre belief. Mark Zuckerberg? Jeff Bezos? They're going to be stymied by having people isolated at home? Really?
During the original Cold War we had savvy people in the diplomatic corps. People who had an idea of the long game. That didn't prevent tragic miscalculations, as the Vietnam War demonstrates. But they were smart about playing their opposite numbers in the USSR and China. Now the whole establishment seems to be filled with grandstanders. And someone like Netanyahu can completely play them.
And I might still recommend/link to something from any of those sites, but in some cases the good stuff is rare indeed. But I guess insight is rare in general.
At first I was confused. Alistair Cooke? The Masterpiece Theatre chap? Didn't he...? Different guy. And he's certainly right that the West is trying to provoke Russia, as shown by the escalating attacks within their country. Provoking Russia is as foolhardy as it sounds, but there you go. Interesting background on the Club of Rome, too.
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