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There’s no way to say things nicely. And while I want you all to remain calm, the situation is devolving. It’s horrible to see. I am sorry to announce this. Here, we present some developing events.
The collective West is on a runaway train. They are galloping towards a bridge that no longer exists, and they are carrying carloads of mad, angry, frustrated people whao are starting to kill each other in abject frustration of their hopeless condition.
But…
It’s not random.
This entire reaction from Russia was planned years ago. Yes. It was planned by people now long dead, and being carried out by idiots who have no concept about what REAL life and death are all about.
Planned yes.
But not as they think.
The Asian nations are merit driven, desperate and angry. There will not be any mercy. They are ready to kill the “mad dogs” once and for all.
And they have a counter-plan.
Keep in mind, that every situation that we are witnessing has been planned out and war-gamed to every detail. The Asian nations know what they are doing. And I just hope that the Domain Commander can maintain “little bads instead of big bads”. Because the picture, as I see it, is truly frightening.
I will not spend too much on the details on what is going on in the Ukraine. Just a little bit. That has and is being covered by others in various ways. Much of it is disinformation. This article concerns itself with NATO deciding to get involved, and thus the United States getting involved as well.
Keep in mind that Asia is fighting for their very existence; they are very, very serious. ANd when they try to communicate theri concerns they are treated horribly and ignored by appatent imbeciles.
As a result, the country was not prepared to counter the invasion by Nazi Germany, which attacked our Motherland on June 22, 1941, without declaring war.
The country stopped the enemy and went on to defeat it, but this came at a tremendous cost.
The attempt to appease the aggressor ahead of the Great Patriotic War proved to be a mistake which came at a high cost for our people.
In the first months after the hostilities broke out, we lost vast territories of strategic importance, as well as millions of lives.
We will not make this mistake the second time.
We have no right to do so.Those who aspire to global dominance have publicly designated Russia as their enemy.
They did so with impunity.
Make no mistake, they had no reason to act this way.
It is true that they have considerable financial, scientific, technological, and military capabilities.
We are aware of this and have an objective view of the economic threats we have been hearing, just as our ability to counter this brash and never-ending blackmail.
Let me reiterate that we have no illusions in this regard and are extremely realistic in our assessments.
-Putin 26FEB22
It’s pretty obvious, as long as you trun off those screeching propaganda shrills. When you do, things become crystal clear.
We start with a review of what is going on…
Today, and throughout the Western press are articles about what is going on in the Ukraine. Most are treating it like some kind of spectator sport. With much Rah! Rah! for their side. However, the lethality and devastation of war must not be downplayed as a game.
On top of it all, there is a massive psyops going on that has convinced everyone that old grandmothers are shooting down Russian jets and Russia will surrender any day now. Sheech!
The latest political maneuver by Russian president Vladimir Putin was a game-changing masterstroke to avoid the American war trap. At every step in the build-up of tensions surrounding Ukraine, Russia has foiled US enticements to attack. To understand it all, one needs to start further back in time.
9 February 1990 — US secretary-of-state James Baker promised USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would “not [move] one inch eastward” in exchange for allowing German unification.
1999 — Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join NATO and move several inches nearer the dissolved USSR.
February 2014 — A US-backed coup in Ukraine results in a Nazi-friendly government coming to power.
March 2014 — Crimeans vote overwhelmingly in a referendum to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia.
September 2014 — The Minsk I Agreement is signed by Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) calling for an immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons, and prisoner exchanges.
February 2015 — The Minsk II Agreement calls again for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of weapons, ceasefire monitoring by the OSCE, and the holding of local elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics on their future status in Ukraine. Differing interpretations have led to major disagreements over Minsk II.
2017 — Montenegro joins NATO.
2020 — North Macedonia joins NATO. It is apparent that there is an increasing eastward crawl, and Ukraine is also seeking membership.
18 November 2021 — Russia reiterates its red lines.
17 December 2021 — Russia presents its concerns about security in proposals to the US.
16 January 2022 — Putin identifies Ukraine’s membership in NATO as a red line in Russia-NATO relations that impinge upon Russian security. US secretary-of-state Antony Blinken dismissed Russian security concerns: “I can’t be more clear — NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment.”
26 January 2022 — Russia received a written response from the US to its security proposals. Russia would not be pleased.
16 February 2022 — According to national-security adviser Jake Sullivan, based on credible US intelligence, this was the date that Russia would invade Ukraine. The date came and went without any invasion.
17 February 2022 — Russia responds to US and NATO proposals about Ukraine and European security.
There have been many provocations leading up to the Russian recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Among them are NATO expansion, not taking Russian security concerns seriously, the arming of Ukraine, and demonizing Russia via the western monopoly media. The final nail was the shelling from Ukraine into Donbass causing the evacuation of its civilians into Russia.
It appears to be a foolhardy act by Ukraine. If Ukraine had adhered to the Minsk Agreements, Donetsk and Luhansk would still be a part of Ukraine, autonomous though they may be. Autonomy is not uncommon within countries. Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet, Xinjiang are autonomous provinces in China. Russia also has one autonomous region and 10 autonomous areas. Nonetheless, the lure of war and playing with fire has caused Ukraine to shrink a little bit more.
As I have repeatedly stated, Russia (and China) are NOT being reactionary, no matter what anyone thinks. They are following a master grand plan, just like the United States is. It’s just that the United States plan is obsolete, easily replicated, and there no longer are leaders to set a new direction.
So don’t worry too much.
Today, I am including some minor reports that I have acquired regarding some key events inside the Ukraine.
[Item 0] Why Russia is acting this way
President Putin said so very clearly in his speech on 26FEB22;
For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends.
For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation.This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact.
It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty.
It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions.
They have crossed it.
[Item 1] US to impose sanctions on Putin personally
The immediate reaction from Scott Ritter on this development does not bode well.
[Item 2] Reaction from Moscow on this development
Russia will fully break diplomatic relations with all countries that are going to sanction president Putin or members of the Russian govt. Breaking diplomatic relations with a nation is equivalent to declaring war.
Russian Foreign Ministry on new Personal sanctions on assets of Putin and Lavrov: “Neither Putin nor Lavrov have accounts either in Britain or anywhere else abroad.”
The United Arab Emerates will now fly Chiense trainers
The UAE will purchase a dozen of advanced Chinese jet trainers, a move that reflects a significant strategic shift in the country’s long-standing policy of obtaining solely Western military aircraft.
The UAE Defense Ministry will sign a contract with China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) to procure the L15 training and light combat aircraft, with the possibility of purchasing another 36 planes later, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
For the first time in history, the NATO RAPID REACTION FORCE has been activated and deployed. 40,000 NATO troops now moving into NATO member countries along the eastern border of Russia. It certainly is a clear signal that NATO is going to engage Russia
These IDIOTS are simply verifying Putin's greatest fears and cementing why he had to attack Ukraine in order to at least try to maintain peace.
NATO and the US are ramping things up in both rhetoric and deed.
They are mobilizing 40,000 troops to the Eastern bloc of NATO countries...in other words, WE are massing troops on RUSSIA'S Border just as we witnessed Russia do to Ukraine.
WE saw that as a provocation, why the HELL wouldn't Russia see OUR movements in the same way?)
-Hal Turner
Worse, “NATO” has just sent it’s first convoy of what they call “LETHAL AID” across the Ukraine border from Poland. Poland’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak shared this picture.
This is staggeringly bad on every level. Look, Putin has said something, which was very clear. He said, to not get involved, or else you and us will regret it in the end.
It was a simple message . . .
…and they managed to ignore it.
Out of their stupidity and ego.
By doing this, they are forcing Putin to stand up for what was said, otherwise he will look weak.
This just dragged the United States into a direct, hot kinetic shooting war with Russia. Now, none of us is safe. Honestly, I think this is the spark that sets the world on fire.
If we look at the history of all this, the real problem is actually NATO.
It was NATO”s broken promise of “not expanding one inch to the east” that set this in motion decades ago.
"I have felt for 30 years ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall that we have made a huge geopolitical error. We absolutely promised the Russians that we would not extend NATO to the east. But we did,"
-Nigel_Farage.
After all, it was NATO trying to bring Ukraine into itself, to position US missiles on Ukraine soil.
And now it is NATO doing precisely what Putin warned EVERYONE not to do: interfere.
How to separate and herd your cats.
You know it’s really difficult to herd cats and get them to do anything. But, you know, the Chinese have a solution to this problem.
[Item 5] Russian seizure of the Ukraine CIA / SBU building
Shootings inside a building in Melitopol, Ukraine after being captured by Russian forces.
Some report of executions taking place.
FURTHER INFORMATION: This building is the Ukraine SBU Intelligence Building and yes, there is torture and execution of Ukraine Intelligence officers taking place inside this building.
War is an ugly business.
Enjoy our differences
We have been ramrodded the idea that in a “democracy” that everyone must accept diversity, but that once accepted you must conform to the approved norm. I disagree. You should embrace the differences in the world. Like this fella (bloke?) from Australia. Yeah. This video is so Australian that it drips with Aussie.
[Item 6] Central Banks Risk Being Hit With Missiles if they Cut Russia from SWIFT Banking System
Central Banks around the world risk having their main banking offices hit with Russian missiles if they cut Russia off from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) Banking system, as some countries are endeavoring to do.
Such is information LEAKING out of Russia Saturday and is NOT yet “official.”
Says one Russian,
"If the Banks want to wage war against Russia, they should expect war to be waged back upon them - personally - in the buildings where they work."
Russia has plans to make war as personal and “in your face” as possible. All those people sitting behind their safe borders, and seas are going to experience real, FUCKING, war!
Cutting Russia off from SWIFT is a “matter of days”, according to a central bank within the eurozone according to a report from Reuters.
Inside Russia, plans are being reviewed as to what response the nation might make if the West “attacks” Russia economically.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was explicitly clear during his speech wherein he announced Russia would be moving to de-militarize and de-nazify Ukraine:
"Anyone who interferes will have consequences the likes of which they have never seen in history."
Hitting central bank buildings with precision missiles would likely fit that description.
President Putin’s exact quote was
“I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside.
No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.
No matter how the events unfold, we are ready.
All the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken.
I hope that my words will be heard.”
Such action by Russia would, of course, be considered an act of war by the nations wherein the banks are actually hit.
However, a war breaking out between NATO and Russia has been a foregone conclusion since the Russian operation began.
Putin, in an earlier speech after a 6-hour meeting with French President Macron made clear:
"The military capability of Russia to NATO is incomparable. (Meaning NATO is superior)
We know that.
But Russia is also a nuclear power.
And our capability is superior to many others in this area.
If the West engages Article 5 (NATO mutual defense), you will be drawn into a war with Russia without your consent.
It will be a war that no one will win (Meaning an actual nuclear war, which is the only war that most everyone agrees "cannot be won and must never be fought.").
President Macron doesn't want that.
I don't want that."
So Putin has already laid out the cards for the whole world to see. If the West persists in interfering with what Russia is doing, it not only may trigger a direct response with missile strikes against the Banks, it may unleash actual nuclear war.
MM tries to improve the readership’s overall health
Well, at least according to this video, anyway. video 1.5MB
Last night, Russian TOPOL-M intercontinental ballistic missiles – nuclear missiles – were moving on Truck Launchers around Moscow and on highways moving toward Europe.
Terrifying new photos and video have came out of interior Russia showing road-launchable TOPOL-M intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s). The TOPOL-M is a nuclear missile with a single warhead of 800 kilotons (800kt) and a range of about ten thousand kilometers (10,000km)
This is not what you deploy inside of a city, or near a city. It’s something that is deployed in the countryside. Something is up.
The fact that these missiles are OUT IN PUBLIC, and moving, should be all you need to know about where this Ukraine/NATO trouble is actually heading.
As we saw with the Russian troop build-up around Ukraine, Russia does not bluff. When they move military gear, they intend to use it.
The entire world is now in grave danger from the shenanigans our governments are pulling with Ukraine.
I also want to remind everyone that both Russia and China have anti-missile systems that can shoot the ICBMs down. The West, including the United States does not.
Meanwhile, night life in Japan
Yeah. This is sort of what it can be like in ceratin areas at certain times.
From the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday night:Russia is approaching the point in its relations with the US beyond which there is no return.
Whether this converts into Russia firing missiles into the Central Banks that ban it from SWIFT, remains to be seen. Clearly they wouldn’t have to do that to ALL central banks, just to enough of them that the rest decide living is more important to them.
And if they start to see their Banker pals blown up, many people think the rest would choose life rather than choose making economic war on Russia. It’s just a matter of how many Bankers have to get killed before the rest stop their economic war.
There is no question in my mind that the complete financial “house of cards” that has artificially existed is going to be destroyed and eventually rebuilt into something different after this period of climax occurs. How it will collapse, is unknown.
[Item 9] The United States is busy deleting all information about it’s bioweapons operations in the Ukraine
The US Embassy in Ukraine has just deleted from its website all documents about 11 Pentagon-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine. They are retained on the internet by bloogers, and published all them (now deleted by the Embassy) here;
The US Embassy in #Ukraine has just deleted from its website all documents about 11 Pentagon-funded biolaboratories in Ukraine. I have published all these documents (now deleted by the Embassy) here https://t.co/Odc0ermmZe and in the thread below pic.twitter.com/benFmDwguI
SF: The Russian military special operation in Ukraine coincided with the planned launch of U.S. military biolaboratories in Kiev and Odessa. On February 26, the US Embassy in Ukraine rushed to delete all documents about 11 Pentagon-funded bio-laboratories in Ukraine from its website. All these documents (now deleted by the Embassy), you can read HERE.
In October 2021, the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the U.S. Department of Defense published on the U.S. government procurement website an additional agreement on “combating highly dangerous pathogens. The document concerns the final stage of work on the launch of two bio-laboratories in Ukraine: in Kiev and Odessa.
The additional agreement covers the equipping and training of personnel and commissioning of the facilities. The cost of the work is 3.6 million dollars, but some figures in the document are hidden for reasons of secrecy. According to the document, the laboratories were more than 90 per cent ready. However, the projects’ completion was delayed up to seven months from the date of signing the document (July 2021), thus to the end of February 2022:
The laboratories in Ukraine were built within the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which was launched in 1991 and was aimed against Russia and the former Soviet Union. They were funded in frame of the Biological Threat Reduction Program. Cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in this field intensified after the first Maidan revolution in Ukraine in 2005.
You can read more on the U.S. bio-laboratories, including in Ukraine: HERE, HERE, HERE.
Two new laboratories are being created on the basis of the Kiev State Research Institute for Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise and the Odessa division of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. The main part of the Ukrainian collection of endemic strains of dangerous disease agents is stored in Odessa. The buildings of the new biolaboratories in Kiev and Odessa were built back in 2019, but were not put into operation.
The document above notice makes it clear that this project is important and urgent for the U.S. government: further potential delays are called unacceptable, and “DTRA requires the urgent completion and surrender of both laboratories to ensure the active and safe execution of the DTRA mission.”
Both facilities are owned and secured by the Government of Ukraine, but neither facility is currently performing active biological work because DTRA has asked the Ukrainian authorities not to begin work until acceptance and completion is complete, the procurement materials said.
Moscow has claimed its concern over the developing biological weapons near Russia’s borders. Russian President Vladimir Putin worried about the “purposeful and professional” collection of biomaterials of Russians by foreigners.
The on-going Russian military operation in Ukraine may stop the DTRA program in Ukraine. Anyway, the projects in Kiev and Odessa will be postponed if not cancelled. The U.S. has already spent over 2 billion dollars on such programs in Ukraine alone, and there are more in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
Now, as Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine, Kiev seems to be in a rush to hide the evidence that the USA violates the convention on non-proliferation of biological weapons. The end of the Russian operation will show.
…
Ok. Let’s chat a little about the Ukraine operation…
[Item 10] Day 3 of the Russian operation in the Ukraine
I found pretty decent maps on the YouTube channel of Iurii Podoliaka and I will do something ugly but, I hope, effective: add a few things to his maps with my thick black marker.
But first, this: it appears that yesterday Putin had ordered a temporary stop to the Russian offensive while talking with “Ze” but when the latter stop talking, Putin gave a “full ahead” order.
I will begin with an older (by a few hours) map of this:
The ugly think black lines are from me.
Starting at the top left and going clockwise here is what is important:
Kiev will soon be encircled
The Ukie forces in the Donbass are fleeing hoping to avoid being surrounded, or “cauldroned” if you wish, (look how long and narrow the red lines are around the Ukies!)
Mariupol is almost surrounded
Nikolaev is under attack
Now, another of these maps, but updated.
Again, going clockwise can clearly see the race between the evacuating Ukie forces from the Donbass and the attempt by Russian forces to envelop them in an “operational cauldron”, exactly as predicted.
Next, Nikolaev is either fully surrounded or will be very soon.
So, what does all that mean?
It means that we are coming to some kind of informational climax here. So far, in the West, that information is suppressed (even Sputnik and RT are under regular DDoS attack). I won’t even bother on the 500 foot high wave of disinformation produced by western PSYOPs in the social media. The bottom line is this, pretty soon I expect
The operational cauldron in the Donbass to lock in the Ukie forces which did not have time to evacuate
The entire coast from roughly Nikolaev to Mariupol will be liberated
Kiev will be if not physically surrounded, then at least “surrounded by fire”, which means that main axes of evacuation will come under steady Russian fire control
Notice something else. In the 2nd map, some cities in the Russian rear are circled in blue: Chernigov, Konotop, Sumy, Kharkov and Kherson. I would add Mariupol to that list. These are all cities which were cut of from the rest of the Ukie forces, but which still have pockets of resistance inside, that is especially true of Mariupol where a large Nazi contingent appears to be ready to take its last stand.
All this is to say that the mopping up operations inside bigger cities might take a while. That is normal and won’t affect any outcome.
So right now the western PYSOPs can still throw out as many claims as it wants, but pretty soon the entire narrative will collapse, at which point the Russia-hating-and-bashing hysteria will reach a new feverish pitch.
Be mentally prepared for that.
I will conclude with something quite typical: remember how yesteryear tons of weapons were distributed in Kiev? Well, overnight, various gangs have been engaged in firefights, but not against Russians (who have still not entered the city), but against each other. Some of the wannabe Ukie Volkssturm even took a group of SBU officers prisoners. Some rumors report 60 dead or so just overnight.
Let’s hope that this crazy nonsense stops and that some Ukrainian commanders will restore law and order before their entire country turns into a “Mad Max Zone”. If such commanders are found, I am sure that the Russians will not only not engage them, but will even offer some degree of collaboration.
Putin tried to reason with Ze. Predictably, this did not work.
Now the Russians badly need to find somebody to talk to on the other side. If they don’t, Russia will have to continue to take unilateral actions and turn up the pain dial on both Banderastan and the West.
I hope to be back with a summary of the day later.
Andrei
Brutal Honesty
Well, yeah. I think all of us have been there at one stage of our life or the other. video
[Item 11] Intel Drop
Great Stuff from one of my must-read blogs. HERE.
Putin, Ukraine and the Perfect Burger, an Intel Drop (updating)
VT Senior Editor Gordon Duff drops mad truth on the world about Putin and Ukraine; a must-read.
Grass fed ground beef looks like this. Smell it. .
VT: We have taken the bull by the horns here. We have entered a bitter controversy over ‘the burger’…Our suggestion…as to our ‘burger hack’… Try it. We have and have run it against the best. We used a mix of ‘Triple D’ experiences, a touch of Gordon Ramsey and apply it to available materials which can be done by anyone…in ten minutes. The results will stand against anything but a Houston based Fuddrucker…..as their meat is beyond anything in the Midwest
We should have called this ‘The Burger War in Ukraine’
…by the Senior Editor
With so much talk about Ukraine, time an expert speaks out. In the absence of an expert…I will do my best.
.
Listen to no one…the bullshit is drowning us all. Some facts:
.
– Russia was promised secure borders. I was privy to what is in the agreement that paid $365 million to Gorby. The accords have been gone over dozens of times for other reasons.
– Among those reasons was the coup in Georgia, replacing the government there, and the immediate move against South Ossetia. Our CIA director and his chief of staff explained it all to me while they were getting a flight for Tbilisi. I remember every word of it…which is a warning to some.
– The overthrow of the Russian puppet government in Ukraine was not unexpected. Russia really got blindsided there. The move, used as cover facilities in Poland for torturing innocent kidnapped fake terrorists is also a major training facility for Gladio, alive and well.
– Ah…Gladio. The new version was sold to the Bush administration…with tons of Gulf Cartel cash paid out to sweeten the pot, banked from Cuba, secret accounts in the Caymans. It is all in the recording of that FBI agent that came to us in 2012…laundering the cash…though banks tied to major US families….like those who own all those stores. We have it all…every single word.
– Running Gladio this time is “Ukrainians” and “Turks.” All are Israeli citizens. They used Gladio/Freemason trained snipers, part of the teams that trained Breivik, same place.
– Then they got their lists…and began hunting down not only Russian speakers but anyone who threatened totalitarian rule. This means eliminating media, killing off political rivals, and destroying trade unions. Remember Odessa…this was about wiping out trade unions.
– Then they stole everything in the country…and turned it over to Israelis…like the one who ran the TV network that had a show about a mindless clown.
– Then they made him Prime Minister.
– Russia was always going to move into Donbass…and the reason is simple. Ukraine has totally ignored the Minsk accords…and the US has been silent. Silence by the Israel lobby that seeks both Ukraine and Crimea as homelands and plays both…Russia and Ukraine against one another…a game they are teaching to the Turks and Saudis as well.
– There is nothing whatsoever wrong with the Ukrainian people. That they have been victimized here…by everyone…including the Soviet Union and Russia is very real. Putin lost Ukraine because he was lazy and distracted…
– Then Ukraine was used as a power base by the Kosher Nostra to put Donald Trump into office. The Russians were able to gain 100 percent control over Trump through in-place agents around him…dozens…many of whom are still working for Russia and safe to a degree under Trump pardons.
– But are they really working for Russia or are Kosher Nostra oligarchs vying for power against Putin? Spent a couple of days going over this with our intelligence officials. This is a top concern but…never spoken of.
– Russia didn’t need this and Putin doesn’t want Ukraine. He wants to stop Erdogan. Erdogan and Netanyahu first tried to go after Iran…setting up bases in Azerbaijan together, bringing in weapons through Georgia…where they make bio-weapons and poison gas for the White Helmets.
– Then they destroyed Armenia.
– What Zelensky did with the Minsk accords, Erdogan is going with Russia over his agreements to end terrorism in Idlib and to leave Syria. Instead…he has cut deals with key families in Kurdish Iraq (all people I know personally…).
– One of those deals, going back a few years, was to set ISIS on Iraq with full Turkish backing…full Kurdish backing…and the full backing of the key Sunni families in Baghdad.
– In January 2014, I led a team to Baghdad to discuss ISIS and the defense of Iraq. I met the leaders working with ISIS and told them they were making a mistake. By June, with the fall of Mosul, 9 of the Sunni leaders I met with had been executed by ISIS. ‘Told ya so.’
I could go on forever…but time to discuss something more important. I have always been displeased at the burgers I make at home. Going to local restaurants, and burgers are a $45 lunch now with tip and NO drinks…An important thing with VT…several of us are foodies.
Burgers are about prep. If you want…list any favorite food and I will do the prep to make it. If I don’t know…Mike Chester will. Mike and I have been cooking together since…well since Kennedy was still alive.
Meat Selection
When cooking at home fat can be a problem. It spatters…and though fat might make a burger…pass.
Look for a small meat store that accesses local grass-fed cattle. Use a chuck or ground beef. Hold off on those briskety (I just invented that word) blends.
If you are frying…make sure you have tons of ventilation. I have a 1200 CFM Italian thing that can lift the paper off a counter. It helps.
Tools
I use one of two things…based on factors…mostly laziness…the only real factor.
One is a 12 inch…large…even 14 Silverstone frying pan with lid. I also use a cast iron grill…which sits on two burners. I have a built-in grill…I have never used it…it confuses me. (commercial range)
Prep work
Everything is about prep.
Decide how big burgers need to be…how hungry? How old? How messy?
Lots of choices.
Prep begins with bacon…I fry 4 pieces to medium crisp for 3 burgers.
Campari tomatoes…they sell them everywhere…pricey…buy them. Use two …they are small…slice them carefully and set them aside.
Onions…if you only have cooking onions, consider frying them down with a bit of sugar….like with a “slider.”
But..currently available are Peruvian sweet onions. Pick the flattest ones. Slice half of one of these…carefully…and set aside.
Velveeta. Yes….about 3/4ths of a cup microwaved to melt…and this is VERY DIFFICULT to Time. Get someone to help you..lots of stirring.
Buns are vital. To put us on common ground here, pick up a package of Pepperidge Farm buns…Sour Dough or similar. They are pricey but hold up.
I suggest steaming the buns…and that has to be done carefully…not too much…just to “release.” No toasting. No microwaves.
Or you can use fresh and go from there.
Pickle slices are optional.
Sauce
Ah..secret sauce. A trick from Smokey Bones.
Make some BBQ sauce…
Small saucepan. Add vinegar…half a cup. Use malt vinegar if you have it. Then 1/4th cup molasses. Then one tablespoon Wrights smoke. I buy the quarts…but you can get a small bottle for about a buck.
You will need about a third of a cup of catsup/ketchup for the body. Sorry.
Oh…brown sugar…about 2/3rds of a cup. heat on low…set aside…it lasts forever…
Technique
Ah…now you are playing restaurant…but “good” restaurant.
Go to about a third of a pound for burgers…using the PF buns. Get the steamer going.
You can make a fake steamer with a medium saucepan, crumpled foil…a lid…water, and heat. YouTube probably shows you how. Buy a real one at the Salvation Army.
Make someone else do the side dishes…or buy them in cans.
High heat…season burgers with McCormick’s Montreal Steak seasoning…my choice.
Put bacon in the pan on medium heat…10 minutes there remove and set aside. Retain some fat in the pan. Heat to smoking…the put-in burgers…
Two flips and a minute or two with the lid…then check to see if they are done.
While this is going down…steam the buns…and watch them very carefully.
Don’t forget the Velveeta.
Hot buns out of the steamer on plates…then spoon hot Velveeta on each…generously
place burger on top…
drizzle a small amount of bbq sauce on the burger….you will see why
slice on onion..optional
mustard on the top bun…spoon it over the cheese.
Tomato slices…4 small ones usually.
Hold off on hot peppers and other stuff.
Now the bacon.
The final step
Eat immediately.
Compare to the best restaurant burger. Note that these cost about $4 each to make at home.
Forget about Ukraine.
How you act defines your sentience
Scenes from ambulences inside of China. AI records all videos, and license plates and knows who contributes to society and who does not. video. 117MB
[Item 11] My most popular article on MM right now
I wonder why?
Percentage drop in population in 2025. The USA has a 70% drop in population. Australia has a 35% drop. Japan has an 18% drop. While Russia and China have no significant losses.
Here’s the article for all the great juicy details…
There’s obviously a bunch of idiots running the West right now, and they have opened up a Pandora’s box that is going to change everything that we know and have come accustomed to.
Yet, how it might influence us on a personal level will vary greatly from person to person.
I will tell you that there is no doubt in my mind that all of this has been “gamed out” and planned to every detail. Things are NOT unwinding to an elaborate plan concocted inside Washington DC. Instead, a counter operation is in play. And I will never forget that feeling that I got when Xi Peng and Putin signed the joint memorandum last January during the Winter Olympics 2022.
Look at them.
Looks like both cats ate the canary.
Putin and Xi Peng in Beijing during the WInter Olympics 2022.
They completely know what they have been doing and are doing now.
Now, let’s have a look at who is leading the West right now…
Now look at who is running the EU right now…
God, they both look like gouls.
I suggest…
If you all want to be safe, and have your families safe, move to either Russia or China. They know what they are up against and how to deal with it. Look at the Deagal Forecast.
Europe is not safe.
The United States is not safe.
In general, whether it’s nuclear missiles flying, more bioweapons released, or a financial collapse, the West is going to have a hard time of it. Seriously.
Have you seen America lately?
And I will advise good prudent measures that you all must do and conduct religiously.
Be part of your community. Meet people. Talk to people. Be helpful. Volunteer.
Stock up your larder. Have supplies.
Stock up on some cheap trade goods.
Disposible cigarette lighters.
Small bottles of very cheap hard alcohol.
Duck-tape.
Antibiotics.
Vitamins.
Learn to fish.
No. Your lives will NOT be destroyed.
But everything will change around you. You will need to be firmly grounded. You will need to take up a kind, quiet strength while all the rest of the world completely goes down the toilet. Be the strength that reinforces confidence.
You will need to start eating better. That’s a start.
There’s nothing so satisfying than eating a good home-cooked delicious meal and then relaxing with freinds and family. May I suggest…
Chili Con Carne Bread Pie
Chili Con Carne was an exciting twist on classic chili taste that fell to the wayside years ago. This recipe unearths the classic and finds a way to serve it up as a casserole that leaves you stuffed. Smokey paprika, peppers, and cumin all combine to make this a knockout recipe that both you and your grandparents can get behind.
What are you waiting for? It goes great with beer (wink. wink.)
Now, being happy and well fed, let’s look at some reminders that life is not all doom and gloom. You all can omit these next few videos and entries if you want to really get all wrapped up in the “news”.
Chinese traditional clothing
This woman dons the Han Clothing fashion that is so popular in China these days, and walks around Europe and the United States wearing it. The looks on other peoples faces are precious. Now, THIS is what real “diversity” is all about.
Rufus stands up for the cleaning woman from a troll
Internet trolls are no different from cronic malcreants, litters or evil psychopaths. It’s up to the community to work together to protect ourselves from the bad behaviors of others who only desire to hurt, harm and cause grief. video
It’s programmed into humans on this eath. SO you have to ride it out. I can tell you that when the radioactive dust settles, and people crawl out of their habitats that the new world will be a much better one.
Remember; A Rufus is always there when you need help
Here, the staffing at a hospital runs to setup a testing clinic for Coronavirus when an outbreak was discovered. video 3MB
One last thing
Don’t over think.
If the SHTF goes down, the first thing that you might notice is no internet. Do not freak out. If that happens, things might be dark for a while. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. And if the very worst happens, well… I’ll see you all on the other side.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Ok, so the Russians make a move that they were forced into by the United States. Of course the USA knew what it was doing. Every American knows about the “Cuban Missile Crisis”.
To pretend that it doesn’t is ridiculous.
If you place, or threaten to place, nuclear weapons on the border of a major nation, you can expect CERTAINLY a series of responses.
This is exactly what happened, but of course, it’s not being reported this way in the American / British “news”. According to that “news”, the Russians are taking a beating by the proud and brave Ukranians.
So, I go on LinkedIN, and other other mainstream media, and Lordy! It’s all about the brave Ukranians fighting the evil communists. Sheech! Talk about spinning a narrative! So here, we are going to put some perspectives in place and then resume business as usual.
This is a fine meandering article hosting a wide selection of rambling thoughts and interests. Remember, don’t look at one singular issue and study it. Look at the big picture, as that is how everything is actually connected.
First, a look at a map…
Did you know that the Ukraine is the fourth-largest recipient of American equipment and weapons in the world? Imagine that.
Why? Why in Good God’s name, why?
Now, we begin with a statement that The Domain Commander made; “We are striving for little bads, so we can avoid the Big Bads”…
Andrew Korybko One World
Thu, 24 Feb 2022 20:56 UTC
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A much larger war that could dangerously escalate into World War III was averted by Russia’s preemptive special operation in Ukraine aimed at neutralizing the US and NATO’s latent, imminent, and hot threats emanating from that country. This makes Moscow’s military mission truly a peacemaking one since the Eurasian Great Power responsibly sought to prevent World War III, not spark it. Russia truly had no choice but to act now.
In short, the US and its anti-Russian NATO allies were secretly establishing military facilities in Ukraine for launching their own impending war against that neighboring nuclear power. First, however, Washington wanted to neutralize Moscow’s nuclear second-strike capabilities through the regional deployment of “anti-missile systems” and strike weapons, including one day hypersonic missiles and even eventually to Ukraine itself too. This coincided with the US’ withdrawal from strategic arms pacts such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and the Open Skies Treaty, all of which destabilized European security by making America’s military intentions all the more ambiguous to Russia.
President Putin’s speech from Monday evening when he announced his country’s recognition oftheDonbassRepublics saw him meticulously detail the existential nature of the threat that the US and NATO’s secret military infrastructure in Ukraine poses to Russia. He described their airfields, bases, and ports in the country that he warned will soon be used to strike his own, albeit after first presumably neutralizing its nuclear second-strike capabilities. Thursday morning’s speech compared post-Soviet Russia’s three-decade-long appeasement of US-led NATO to Stalin’s pre-World War II appeasement of Nazi Germany, declaring that “We will not make this mistake the second time. We have no right to do so. Those who aspire to global dominance have publicly designated Russia as their enemy.”
According to Russian intelligence, “If we look at the sequence of events and the incoming reports, the showdown between Russia and these forces cannot be avoided. It is only a matter of time. They are getting ready and waiting for the right moment.” “They did not leave us any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today”, President Putin revealed, which is why “In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action.” He then issued what’s widely interpreted as a nuclear warning to NATO: “No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”
It’s for all of these reasons that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova clarified that “It’s not a beginning of war, it is prevention of a situation that could lead to global military confrontation.” What she meant was exactly what President Putin himself had said, namely that a much larger war that could dangerously escalate into World War III was averted by Russia’s preemptive special operation in Ukraine aimed at neutralizing the US and NATO’s latent, imminent, and hot threats emanating from that country. This makes Moscow’s military mission truly a peacemaking one since the Eurasian Great Power responsibly sought to prevent World War III, not spark it. Russia truly had no choice but to act now.
That’s because President Putin also revealed on Thursday morning that “Even now, with NATO’s eastward expansion the situation for Russia has been becoming worse and more dangerous by the year.” As he put it, “It is a fact that over the past 30 years we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with the leading NATO countries regarding the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we invariably faced either cynical deception and lies or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns. Its military machine is moving and, as I said, is approaching our very border.” It’s therefore understandable why Russia finally had to act.
After all, President Putin already made his back-up plan known on 21 December when speaking at an “Expanded Meeting Of The Defense Ministry Board“. At that time, he said that “what they are doing, or trying or planning to do in Ukraine, is not happening thousands of kilometres away from our national border. It is on the doorstep of our house. They must understand that we simply have nowhere further to retreat to.” That event coincided with Russia’s publication of its security guarantee requests to the US and NATO for ensuring the integrity of its national security red lines. Moscow asked for legal guarantees halting the bloc’s continual eastward expansion, the removal of strike weapons from Russia’s borders, and a return to the continental military status quo enshrined in the now-defunct 1997 Russian-NATO Founding Act. Regrettably, the US-led West rebuffed the last chance for a diplomatic solution.
Had Russia not acted when it did on Thursday, it’s very likely that the US would have used the pretext of the third round of civil war hostilities that it encouraged Kiev to provoke last weekend in Eastern Ukraine to deploy strikes to that country on an emergency basis under the false pretext of “defending” it when in reality it would all be about clandestinely seeking to worsen Russia’s security as explained. President Putin therefore had no choice but to commence his military’s special operation in Ukraine on Thursday morning, which arguably averted the Third World War that would have inevitably followed with time had Russia continued to appease the US, seeing as how that nuclear superpower was never sincere about respecting its counterpart’s national security red lines.
And now time for a pretty girl
I really like her top with the chain metal fringes on the sleeves. Pretty hot.
The threat of expulsion from SWIFT as a deterrent to war is a “paper tiger” and fintech helped.
The nightmare of another European war is upon us and the non-military deterrent of being cut off from the SWIFT currency transfer system seems toothless. A paper tiger.
Ever since Iran’s SWIFT cut-off in 2012 US and EU policymakers have wielded the threat of a SWIFT cut-off like a sword. Now it seems throwing Russia’s 1.7% of global GDP off of SWIFT is unpalatable.
Let’s look at why. The biggest reason is energy but the others are tech-based:
1️⃣ G7 officials made it clear that they were reluctant to expel Russia because it would make it impossible to pay for Russian energy, leaving Europe in the dark and paying more. This is the clearest and most compelling reason not to cut off Russia.
2️⃣ SWIFT expulsion is not guaranteed to stop cash flows. SWIFT is merely a messaging system, it doesn’t move money. Anyone following China-Iran trade can attest that a cut-off doesn’t stop trade, so much as make it more expensive. Iran has perfected barter and international digital goods trading off of SWIFT.
3️⃣ China’s “Cross-Border International Payment System (CIPS) started in 2015 as a SWIFT alternative. It now has 1,186 financial institutions in 100 countries signed up. Russia has access to CIPS and while not ideal there is nothing preventing Russia from using the system and RMB in lieu of dollars. China built CIPS, following Iran’s cut-off for exactly this purpose. Russia’s equivalent SPFS system is simply too small.
4️⃣ Crypto is not yet ready to take over a meaningful amount of Russia’s $670+ bn in combined imports and exports but it doesn’t have to. If CIPS and other options above are put to use crypto can likely help small businesses move money across borders to keep things running.
Stablecoin tether was already illegally used in trade between China and Russia in 2019 with flows of up to $10-30mn a day. This is new territory, but I think we should not underestimate crypto’s capabilities. They may surprise us.
5️⃣ The digital Ruble, is in testing and perhaps within a few months, it could be rushed into production. Digital yuan-ruble trade is already in discussion. Russia may convince other countries to accept a digital ruble in trade. The recipients won’t need a CBDC themselves, just a digital ledger at the central bank to avoid SWIFT.
War causes change at a shocking pace. All of these SWIFT alternatives shift money out of dollars. De-dollarization is a trend the US doesn’t want to accelerate and why the US will not push in earnest for a SWIFT cut-off.
Fintech is now a pawn in the great geopolitical game. Its role in turning the SWIFT deterrent into a paper tiger is no small feat.
A great discussion about the Ukraine on You-tube…
It’s pretty good, and it goes in great deal about the history about what is going on.
Yeah. I get it. Too many cute and beautiful girls. Well, I am in China. I can’t help it. I am surrounded by them. To understand China, is to understand beauty.
Social media users will be given new powers to control who can interact with them under a major crackdown on hate-filled internet trolls.
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter will by law have to give users the tools to block anonymous unverified accounts.
Users will also be given the option to verify themselves. The onus will be on the firms to find a suitable verification method, but it could range from taking a selfie to providing proof of a passport or driving licence.
The new measures have been added to the upcoming Online Safety Bill, which will impose a duty of care on tech companies to protect users.
However, individuals will be allowed to choose whether to join the verification process – despite calls from some campaigners to make it a requirement.
Ministers were concerned it could jeopardise the safety of vulnerable users. Online anonymity can be crucial for domestic abuse victims, activists living in authoritarian countries and young people exploring their sexuality.
The Government has also announced a measure that will force platforms to provide adult users with tools to block ‘legal but harmful content’ such as racist abuse and Covid disinformation.
This could include allowing users to turn on settings that would stop them receiving recommendations on certain topics or place sensitivity screens over that content.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the new measures would ‘put more power in the hands’ of social media users by giving them more choice over who they communicate with.
Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: ‘Tech firms have a responsibility to stop anonymous trolls polluting their platforms.
‘We have listened to calls for us to strengthen our new online safety laws and are announcing new measures to put greater power in the hands of social media users themselves.
‘People will now have more control over who can contact them and be able to stop the tidal wave of hate served up to them by rogue algorithms.’
It comes after calls from MPs, footballers and celebrities to take action on internet trolls after highlighting the horrific abuse they suffered.
The Government has already announced tougher punishments for trolls, with those found guilty of the worst abuse facing up to five years in prison under the new Bill.
The latest measures will only apply to the biggest social media platforms deemed ‘category one’ such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as they pose the severest risk.
Watchdog Ofcom will be given the power to fine them up to 10 per cent of annual global turnover for any breach or even block the sites from being used in the UK.
A DCMS spokesman said of the new measures: ‘While this will not prevent anonymous trolls posting abusive content in the first place – providing it is legal and does not contravene the platform’s terms and conditions – it will stop victims being exposed to it and give them more control over their online experience.’
The Bill will also force social media giants to remove illegal content such as child sexual abuse imagery, the promotion of suicide, hate crimes and incitement to terrorism.
But there is a growing list of toxic content and behaviour on social media which falls below the threshold of a criminal offence which still causes significant harm.
The spokesman added: ‘Much of this is already expressly forbidden in social networks’ terms and conditions, but too often it is allowed to stay up.’ Firms will have to make tools available that will allow users to block this on news feeds.
Three ways to crack down on hate
New measures added to the Online Safety Bill today will force social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to ensure users can:
VERIFY THEMSELVES
Users must be given the option of verification. It will be up to the platforms what methods they use, but this could range from uploading a selfie to match their profile picture or providing proof of Government-issued ID like a passport.
BAR ANONYMOUS TROLLS
Tools must be provided to enable individuals to block other users who choose to remain anonymous. These could include ticking a box within settings that allows direct messages or replies to posts to be sent only by verified accounts.
FILTER HARMFUL CONTENT
Users must also be given a way to block content that falls below the criminal threshold but still causes significant harm, such as racist abuse. Tools could include allowing users to alter settings so the site does not recommend certain topics or placing sensitivity screens over such content.
And for MM here…
I am SERIOUSLY considering making everyone apply to comment. I have to verify their email, and I am considering interviewing everyone via skype as well. This should seriously, seriously CUT down on trolls.
And don’t give me that “free speech” speil. There is no “free speech” in MM land. You join a community, and we police that community. If you disfunctional, or sociopathic, we kill you off.
It’s really simple.
Here, we operate like the social clubs of yore. Like the “Polish Falcons”, “The Elks”, “The grand woodsmen”, and others. You apply to join, and you pay membership dues. And the community polices itself.
You are NOT alone. This is a community. And as members of that community, we all work together as one. Like they do in China. As this video clearly shows what happens to sociopaths and other people with strange mental illnesses.
Participation in your community is what a Rufus is all about. It is the heart beat a thumping that makes the community, safe, calm, kind, happy and secure. As this next video clearly shows…
A Rufus is not a spectator. It is not a bystander. It is not a passive consumer. A Rufus is a participant in the community. Watch how this Rufus leave the pack of bystanders and actually does something. What a Rufus!
I know this mall. It’s Coco park in Shenzhen. Some great restrurants, bars, and clothings shops. She’s nice. One of my favorites. She’s wearing a nice sweater. You can be very sexy and attractive without showing skin, don’t you know. All you need to do is feel relaxed and comfortable, and wear a big massive smile on your face.
This is war, and it is in flux. There are going to be losses on all sides. Whether one side recaptures this, or shoots down that, has no meaning. The end result is what happens when the dust settles.
However, there are those that are trying to keep score. As if war is a tabulated war game. Here is a decent enough site in a flood of websites.
Keep in mind, though, that much of the digital evidence you see online is faked by amateurs. From Gizmodo:
Gizmodo has found at least ten viral photos and videos currently being spread on social media that are completely fake. In some cases, the videos and photos are years old. In others, the images are clearly not from Ukraine. There are even two examples of videos on Twitter today that are actually from war-themed video games.
But it hilariously lists Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council’s cut-out to the Intertubes, which is a lot like putting the American Council of Pork Producers in charge of censoring fact-checking information on swine fever.
This is a community. If you are a Rufus, then you participate in it. You just cannot sit by and do nothing. We take action. For we are part of something greater. And for those who have volunteered to the Domain, know exactly what I am talking about.
Today was only day two of the Russian military operation. And yet, what a day it was!!!
First, a quick update on the progress of Russian forces. Here is a bulletpoint summary for today:
Kherson: liberated
Nikolaev: fighting taking pace in outskirts
Konotop: taken by Russians
Chernigov: blocked by all sides by Russian forces
Melitopol: surrounded
Mariupol: is under attack, street fighting
Severodonetsk: under attack
Kharkov: very heavy mopping up operation
Suma: mopping up operations
Kiev: blocked from the West and under attack, the authorities are distributing weapons
Gostomel airport has been captured by Russian forces
Zaporozhie: Russian forces expected there tomorrow
A land corridor from Crimea to Russia should be opened by tomorrow.
Odessa: big question mark – so far, not Russian attacks reported (that I know of!)
Now about Donetsk and Lugansk:
Both cities are still under fire, and that goes to show that the advance of the LDNR forces has been slow, which is hardly surprising considering that the Ukronazis had 7 years to prepare their defenses. Still, things ARE getting better. Not only that, but the LDNR air defenses shot down a Ukie Tochka-U missile aimed at Donetsk. So it sure looks like the long awaited A2/AA “protective cupola” is being extended over the LDNR.
That being said, the LDNR forces did break through in at least two directions today, which means that the life left for the Ukie artillery shelling the LDNR will soon come to an end.
But that does not really tell the full story. So I will try to clarify things a little.
A typical battalion has about 400-600 men, depending on the type. Let’s also assume that that battalion has 3-4 companies with APCs, a mortar battery, an air defense platoon, an automatic grenade launcher platoon, a signal platoon, supply platoon, and a few smaller more specialized subunits. If that battalion loses its APCs it has basically lost its most important source of firepower. If its communications are down (destroyed or jammed), then that battalion cannot operate as part of a bigger force and if its supply routes are cut, then its ability to operate (more or fire) will rapidly dwindle down. So, on paper this battalion will remain combat capable, but in reality it will have broken up and cannot be considered a truly combat capable battalion anymore.
So, to destroy/incapacitate a battalion only a few precision strikes are needed. Such strikes though, will leave most of the soldiers alive and quite capable of resistance, but not as a battalion anymore, but more like a typical infantry company or even squads armed with small arms, machine guns, PRG, mines, etc.. They cannot maneuver very much, but they can conduct small hit and run operations against the enemy force. Which means that specialized infantry/police forces must now be send to find these small forces and deal with them in potentially bloody mopping up operations.
Of course, rather than a few precision strikes, it is much more effective to strike the entire battalion with, say, MLRS strikes which will not only destroy most of the hardware, but which will kill most of the soldiers, especially if they did not prepare and seek cover. But that means 400-500 dead in one single strike. That is if this battalion is somewhere in the steppe. But if it is in downtown Mariupol such a strike will inevitably result in even more scores of dead civilians, especially since the Ukies are very careful to always position their artillery near or even on top of buildings.
Does Russia want that?
Not if there is ANY other option left.
Please keep in mind that Russia has the reconnaissance-fire complexes needed obliterate an entire battalion anywhere in the eastern Ukraine in one single salvo. They have deliberately NOT done so today (with one possible exception during the very heavy battle for the Gostomel airport, which was taken by Russian special forces and is now secured as a safe bridgehead for Russian Military-Transport aviation right next to Kiev).
Something similar can be seen in urban offensive operations. It is one thing to get to a city or town’s outskirts, and quite another to penetrate inside the city or town. If the city is lightly defended by small arms fire, that is one thing, but if the city is well defended, in specially engineered defensive circles, with minefield, IEDs, very strong building used as command posts and if the city’s houses and basements have been prepared by combat engineers, then it is much harder to take. Again, one option is to send it dedicated urban combat groups while the other is flatten any building which is used by the defenders as a fortress.
The Russian forces have the means to flatten any building anywhere in the Ukraine, including by cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, MLRS with cluster or fuel-air munition or by using howitzers, heavy mortars and even the TOS-1/TOS-1A heavy flamethrower multi-barrel rocket launch systems.
But, again, that can only be done at a major cost in human lives. Russians won’t hesitate to obliterate some Nazi deathsquads, but to massacre hundreds of regular Ukrainians, irrespective of their personal views, is only and truly a last resort option.
There is a lot of evidence that the Russian forces have moved into the outskirts of many Ukrainian towns, including Kiev, Mariupol and others. Here is how Russian military practice works:
First, approach and try to block or surrender the city
Second, suppress the main enemy firing positions
Third, make sure that the city is truly blocked (except for a few special corridors, see below)
Fourth, hold your position and reconnoiter the outermost enemy lines (by fire when appropriate)
Fifth, send in special reconnaissance groups inside the city to observe and coordinate attacks
Sixth, once the city is surrounded/blocked and once you get a pretty decent picture of what is inside you take the next decisions which might include any of the following: open corridors for civilians to flee and for military personnel to surrender and cross over, determine the main axes of attack and begin slowly grinding down the opposition with heavy firepower (artillery, air, missiles).
Seventh, once the city’s defenses have been sufficiently disorganized, begin a house to house mopping up operation by specialized forces.
Before I go further, I want to remind you that during WWII the Soviet Military freed a whopping 1’200 (one thousand two hundred!) cities from the Nazi forces. Russians know how to do this better than anybody else.
Furthermore, during both Chechen wars, the Russians always managed to take Grozny, which was extremely heavily fortified and defended by some of the toughest fighters on the planet in spite of the fact that at that time the Russian army was it its lowest and badly disorganized, especially during the first Chechen war! But even in the first Chechen, the Russian did seize Grozny, twice, admittedly a huge cost (on both sides), but they did.
That was almost three decades ago.
Speaking of the Chechen war, in the first one the Russian military lost a big part of an entire brigade which had quickly entered the city, moved into the city center only to find itself surrounded and cut off, with terrible communications, quasi-non existing reconnaissance capabilities. That debacle left a very painful memory in the Russian collective memory and if somebody was expecting Russian APCs to reach the Mariupol or Kharkov at full speed with flags and screams of “hurrah!” – they don’t understand what is taking place: the (truly criminal) mistake made by Eltin’s generals during that first Chechen war will never be repeated by modern Russian commanders.
Any defeat is always a terrible tragedy, the only and best thing anybody can do after a defeat is to understand why and how it happened, and never repeat such a (criminal) mistake again.
That is the true reason why today Russians stopped on the outskirts of so many cities.
The bottom line is this. These are things which the Russians are trying to achieve
Destroy the Ukie armed forces but kill the absolute minimum number of Ukrainian soldiers (real Nazi will probably be destroyed no questions asked). Why? Because these surviving Ukrainian soldiers and officers are the ones who will play the main role in finally cleaning the Ukraine from the Nazi scum.
Get to the outskirts of as many major Ukrainian cities and gradually begin the steps I outlined above.
Convince civilians to flee and convince Ukrainian solders to lay down arms
Delay any Russian penetration inside the cities until the moment is “just right” (not too early, not too late)
Why?
Because Russia has ZERO intention of occupying or, even less so, rebuild or police the Ukraine, that’s why. The LDNR (in its legal borders) is as far as the Russians will go (with only a few possible exceptions).
The Kremlin decided that the goal of the operation was to 1) disarm and 2) to denazify the Ukraine. As soon as these goals are reached, the Russian want to get the hell out of the Ukraine and back into the LDNR and let the Ukrainians fight their own anti-Nazi civil war. That means that:
The Russians now must identify reasonable Ukrainian commanders and/or politicians to negotiate with
That Russia needs to offer the leftover Ukrainian ground forces the same deal which the Ukrainian forces which were tasked with the control of the Chernobyl nuclear planet were given today by the Russian forces: let’s secure this facility together and keep it secure together, with no combats of any kind. The Ukrainians gladly accepted, by the way, and now they are jointly patrolling area.
The Russian might also try something which worked well in Chechnia: tell the local town/city authorities that if they guarantee that not a single bullet will be fire from that town/city not a single Russian bullet will fly back and not a single Russian solider will enter the city, unless accompanied by locals and in order to ascertain the reality of the situation. But if a city is declared “open and peaceful” and then is used to attack Russian forces, it will be simply flattened with artillery. I call that the “Shamanov ultimatum” and, after a few false starts (and subsequently flattened towns) it worked very well.
The crucial factor is this: during the two Chechen wars or during 08.08.08 the Russians never saw the local people as their enemy and, if anything, they were hoping that the locals would start their own “housecleaning operation” which was a bad joke in the first Chechen war, but worked very well in the second Chechen war, and failed again during 08.08.08.
In military/combat terms the Ukies are much more similar to the Georgians than to the Chechens, so there is a good chance Russia might have to leave unconditionally and let the locals slug it at between each other for as much as they want (which is what Russia did in 08.08.08 even though Russia Airborne units were at the outskirts of Tbilissi).
Which brings me to THE QUESTION for tomorrow: how will the Ukrainian soldiers and civilians behave?
Right now, Ukrainian losses have been minimal (considering the undeniable fact that this is a fullscale strategic offensive), the Russian forces have reached their positions on the outskirts of many towns and tomorrow or the day after will be “decision time”.
I hope and pray that Russian and Ukrainian soldiers find a common language in as many locations as possible. Those who will chose a heroic stance (hardcore Nazis mostly) will be offered the possibility to die for their ideas.
In that context, “Ze” released a video in which he offered to negotiate directly and unconditionally, even about neutrality and any other topic. The Russian reply was simple and to the point:
Russia is immediately ready to start negotiations after the Armed Forces of Ukraine lay down their arms.
The Ukraine must be demilitarized and declared neutral.
The Ukraine must be denazified.
Russia will no longer allow the Nazis to rule in Ukraine. Ever.
After that reply, “Ze” and his aides stopped communicating.
I personally doubt that he has any control over anything. And the fact that a huge amount of weapons has been distributed to whomever wanted one today in Kiev shows that “Ze”‘s handlers have given him the order to make the biggest possible mess and bloodbath before he is evacuated.
This is very sad, and utterly immoral, but there is nothing Russia can do about that: the Ukraine will be flooded by well armed criminals gangs and Nazi insurgents for years to come.
Putin today made a speech in which he suggested that Russia’s beef was only with the Nazis and their deathsquads but that Russia would seek to cooperate with the Ukrainian armed forces (well, what’s left of them, really) should they overthrow the Nazis. See his full message here.
So, today was “we get to our staging positions” day.
So what did not happen (yet)?
The operational envelopment of the Ukrainian forces along the LOC with the LDNR forces has not happened yet, there is still a corridor by which these forces can withdraw. The Russian could have shut it down already “by maneuver by fire” but, apparently, they want to keep it open for a little longer.
The Russian Black Sea fleet has not engaged in any major combat activities (that I know off, so take that with a grain of salt).
Will that happen tomorrow? Maybe, it all really depends on whether the regular Ukrainian units will agree to surrender or whether they will fight to their last solider. It also depends on how the Ukrainian civilians will react at the sight of approaching Russian forces.
So what to look for tomorrow?
A further penetration of Russian forces deeper inside Ukie territory, with cities bypassed.
The gradual penetration of Russian forces into blocked/surrounded cities
The intervention of the Black Sea Fleet in combat operations (with maybe Odessa as a strategic target, not necessarily to take, but at least to threaten and weaken).
A western false flag (some “Russian atrocity” no doubt)
One more thing:
Western PSYOPs are in “max attack mode” and they are being helped by Russian 5th columnist websites. For example, I was trying to find a halfway decent map of the combat operations today, and ALL the Russian websites which offered such maps were hardcore 5th element. Okay, I get it – 5th columnists don’t need any real facts to make their maps, while the real patriots are afraid of both getting it wrong and leaking info. Still, I remember during the first two wars in the Donbass, there were some pretty decent maps available out there.
Today I see such zero. If anybody can recommend semi-decent military maps of the combat operations I would be most grateful.
The fact that the Russian 5th column is allowed to continue to operate the way it does really frustrates me. Could the Kremlin not tell them to “zip it” at least during active combat operations?
I did not even bother checking the output of the 6th column today, I fully expect it to be indistinguishable from the output of the 5th, and so I have no interest in it.
What is certain are two things: the joint efforts 5th and 6th column efforts have had some success, especially in locations where Putin his hated and pro-western views more common than in most of Russia. The best poll I have seen says “Three-quarters of the respondents rather support the decision of the President of Russia to recognize the independent Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (73%), rather do not support – 16%, and every tenth Russian found it difficult to answer (11%).The majority of Russians – 78% – expressed support for the President’s decision to sign an agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Russia and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.Rather, 14% of respondents do not support this decision“. Putin personal rating is at 67,2%.
My guesstimate that no more than 5% of Russian support the 5th column and not more than 15% support the 6th column. Toss in another 5-10% which is afraid and on the fence. This is only a guess following my readings of the Russian social media, not a precise figure or even one based on serious research!
Next, the main thesis of US PSYOPs today was “the Russian movement is very slow, much slower than expected” hinting at some formidable Ukrainian defense operations. I hope that while I did not post any maps today, the above will tell you all you need to know to identify this thesis for what it is: western information operations, nothing more. The problem is that there is no “smartphone confirmation” of any of that, and by tomorrow I expect the main western PSYOPs thesis to change from “no/slow advance” to “Russian atrocities” (the smartphone coverage for that will, of course, be provided by the western press corps).
So, in conclusion, and once more – the “fog of war” is real, and to read through it takes both time and experience. By tomorrow, I only expect this “fog of war” (powerfully augmented by PSYOPs) to drown us all in all sorts of nonsense, rumors and wild claims. Again, please don’t post panicked questions such as “is it true that the Ukrainian forces are already on the Red Square in Moscow” or something equally insipid.
Two quick ones just in, then I need to crash (sorry, I am exhausted).
The US decided to impose personal sanctions personally on Putin (and others) which will result in a full termination of any diplomatic relations (as Russians warned the US many times). Note: such sanctions are entirely symbolic but maximally offensive, so a full break with Russia is what the US wants.
Twelve thousand Chechens will be sent to the LDNR if needed, so promised Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnia. Actually, I think that this is a very good idea, like in Syria, the Chechens should get involved in policing and public security operations. FYI – when the “toughest” and “NATO trained and equipped” Georgian brigade heard that the Chechen battalion Vostok was approaching, they all ran abandoning all their fancy (and secret) equipment. Russia then organized exhibits of all that NATO kit.
Today, the LDNR authorities report the seizure of large Ukie weapons depots including the famous Javelins and NLAWs. This is all very good news.
MM video
I took this video from inside a DD (Chinese version of Uber). It depicts where I live in JiDa in Zhuhai, China. Sure it’s sideways, but well, not too much I can do about that now.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry says it wants to end the 8-year bloodbath in Donbass that both Ukraine and the West turned a blind eye to.
The West spent eight years ignoring the “sea of blood” in Donbass while arming Ukraine, and now claims Moscow is the aggressor when it stepped in to end the conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT on Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday, claiming it was necessary to “demilitarize and de-nazify” the neighbor. Kiev accused Russia of aggression, while the US, EU and NATO have called it an “unprovoked” invasion. Moscow insists this is not the case.
In announcing the operation, Putin said the “main objective is to stop the escalation of the war that’s been going on for eight years, and to stop the war,” Zakharova told RT in an exclusive interview.
“Russia did not commit aggression of any kind,” Zakharova insisted. “This did not start yesterday. There’s a sea of blood that’s appeared over the past 8 years,” she added, referring to the conflict in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which Russia on Monday recognized as independent states.
The main aim is to stop the escalation of the war that's been going on for eight years, to stop this war
Donetsk and Lugansk broke away from Ukraine in 2014, after the West-backed coup ousted the democratically elected government in Kiev. Zakharova noted that the two self-proclaimed republics held a referendum eight years ago, saying they did not want to remain in Ukraine, but both Moscow and the West rejected this and tried to put the “broken” country back together.
When asked about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that Ukraine wanted peace, Zakharova wondered why Ukraine was arming itself and refusing to negotiate with the Donbass.
“If Ukraine wanted peace, why did they get all these weapons” from all over the world, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told RT, adding, “It was clear that these were offensive weapons. Who were they fighting? Their own people in southeast Ukraine, and spoke often about seizing Crimea.”
The peninsula voted to rejoin Russia in March 2014, but Ukraine and its Western backers have refused to recognize this, calling it an “annexation.”
Zakharova also noted that the top Ukrainian officials have openly and publicly brought up the idea of obtaining nuclear weapons in recent weeks, pointing out this was a fact and not something claimed by Russian intelligence.
Divisions in Ukraine go beyond Donetsk and Lugansk, Zakharova added, accusing armed groups with Nazi-era symbols – such as the notorious Azov Battalion – of having influence over much of the country.
For years, she said, Western media so concerned over human rights in places like South Sudan and Myanmar kept silent on all this, ignoring that more than 13,000 people have died in the Donbass – many of them civilians. While Russia provided them with humanitarian aid, Kiev besieged them by cutting off trade, finance, and even utilities. Zakharova noted that the water canal towards Crimea is now once again operational after Ukraine “criminally” shut it off years ago.
Community
It’s not about individual “freedom” and allowing the sick, evil and malovent to hijack a forum. It’s about community. Community. You have a choice. you can sit behind your computer in a grey cubicle and shout your opinions anomously, or you can participate in a community as an accepted member. It your choice.
Not in his entire life has President Vladimir Putin made a speech like Monday’s Donbass address to the Russian people.
Nor has he ever named the Americans to be Russia’s national enemy in such unequivocal Russian terms – American promises worthless, American intentions deadly, American speeches lies, American actions intimidation, extortion, blackmail.
“So I want to ask”, Putin said: “why, why all this, for what? Okay, you don’t want to see us as a friend and ally, but why make us an enemy? There is only one answer: it’s not about our political regime, it’s not about anything else, they just don’t need such a large independent country as Russia. That’s the answer to all the questions. This is the source of traditional American policy towards Russia.”
“The pretext for another sanctions attack will always be found or simply fabricated, regardless of the situation in Ukraine. There is only one goal – to restrain the development of Russia. And they will do it as they did before, even without any formal pretext at all, just because we are and will never give up our sovereignty, national interests and our values.”
Unlike the most famous of English and American mobilization speeches against French, German and Confederate enemies – King Henry’s Agincourt, Winston Churchill’s Dunkirk, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg speeches – Putin didn’t wave his arms or move significantly his head, neck, shoulders, or right hand. Putin’s right hand is the operational one.
Watch and listen. The stillness of the body language, the pauses for breathing, the speech pitch, pace and modulation – these mean to all Russians: Do or die — now we do for ourselves or else the Americans will kill us.
Putin spoke for 55 minutes, 48 seconds – Shakespeare’s Henry V spoke for just over two minutes; Lincoln for less than that; Churchill for 20 minutes.
The Pentagon has been using body language and voice techniques to spy on Putin for years. Timothy Colton, the US Naval War College agent doubling as a Harvard professor, was exposed in 2015 after several years of paid secret work; read the details here.
Colton has also been the biographer of Boris Yeltsin, a work celebrated as a “masterpiece” by the US officials who once controlled Yeltsin. Yeltsin was unnamed in Putin’s speech, but all Russian listeners understand that he was meant in Putin’s accusations of “historic, strategic mistakes”, “pandering to the ambitions of the nationalist elites”; “injustices, lies and outright pillage.”
“Against the backdrop of the superficial and populist rhetoric about democracy and a bright future based either on a market or a planned economy, but amid a true impoverishment of people and widespread shortages, no one among the powers that be was thinking about the inevitable tragic consequences for the country… The collapse of the historical Russia known as the USSR is on their conscience.” For “market” Putin means the Yeltsin group, the two ranking officials who belong to it – Anatoly Chubais and Alexei Kudrin — are still alive, along with the oligarchs they created. For “planned economy” Putin refers to Mikhail Gorbachev whom he has condemned as well. For “conscience” Putin means hypocrisy.
The qualifier: “Of course, we cannot change past events, but we must at least admit them openly and honestly, without any reservations or politicking. Personally, I can add that no political factors, however impressive or profitable they may seem at any given moment, can or may be used as the fundamental principles of statehood. I am not trying to put the blame on anyone.”
Analysis of Putin’s body language and verbal cues on behalf of the secret services by Colton and his colleagues has not discouraged the hospitality which has been shown to Colton by the Valdai Club, the Kremlin-financed platform. The reason Putin has just announced openly. For the traditional American reason the Russian command believes Colton’s capacity to threaten is limited by his incapacity to comprehend.
Count Putin’s head, neck, and shoulder movements and measure them against the vertical and horizontal axes. Head movements left and right are restricted within 5 degrees of the vertical; there is almost no kinesis of the head forward or back; no neck rotation; and apart from a couple of left shrugs, Putin’s shoulders remain immobile and at rest on the horizontal for all 55 minutes. This is an unusually long time.
Movement psychologists diagnose these features as indicating on the one hand a combination of internal control and confidence in what is being said; on the other hand, the commitment to reassure the listener.
Putin does not stumble in speech, mispronounce or misread his teleprompter lines. Speaking without a glass of water for an hour, he clears his throat very rarely. His breathing intakes are short, regular, and without the diaphragmatic discipline of the Stanislavsky stage method; in short, natural. The pitch and modulation of his voice remain steady without many peaks of emphasis or emotion. But the president does something he has exhibited very rarely — he breathes out in audible sighs. This is a display of regret, sadness. For the Russian audience this is attractive because it is human.
For his emphases Putin employs as few of his moving parts as he can. This signifies a high degree of self-control without nervousness. Instead, he uses his hands, the right more than the left, to anchor his body. When he wants to underline a verbal point, there is no agitation of the arms nor tension in the fingers on the table. His gestures – either single-handed or double-handed – illustrate the military threats Putin is discussing from the US, the NATO alliance, and from Ukrainian territory.
Left: “a truly fatal document, the so-called ethnic policy of the party in modern conditions”. 2nd from left: “blackmailing the West to secure preferences by claiming that otherwise Russia would have a bigger influence in Ukraine”. 3rd from left: “we got five waves of NATO enlargement one after another….” 4th from left: “It’s called, rightly, ‘the knife to the throat’”. Right: “they are trying to blackmail us, again threatening us with sanctions, which, by the way, they will still introduce as Russia’s sovereignty strengthens”.
The last time the United States faced an enemy as calm, unmoving, disciplined, and confident was in the Vietnam War. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and deputy Victoria Nuland were less than eight years old at the time; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had not been born.
Oh, and speaking about Taiwan…
And about China’s defenses regarding Taiwan…
AI controlled Chinese Robotic bombs are swimming independently all over the South China Sea. Collecting info, and ready to detonate upon command. Video 6MB
Chinese Naval Aviation. I wonder if CNN, BBC, or FOX “news” would ever show these kinds of videos. Video 7MB
How community works
This is what happens inside of China. It is a nation that values community, and that does not tolerate social misfits. And Trolls are mentally ill social misfits. That’s WHY they hide their true names, faces, appearance, and location.
Then (supposedly) hidden they cause saddness, interruptions and sow disgust.
This is unaccceptable inside of China, and China is very strict about putting these misfits out of society. Instead they provide them with meaningful labor, in well structured environments where their social skills are allowed to gorw and mature until one day then can return back into that community.
Community. Without it, you are just a loney, solitary misfit.
When was the last time you ate this delicious dish?
My guess is that you must have eaten at least 300 buckets of KFC chicken since then. So much, that you (and the rest of society) has forgotten that there as so many ways to cook chicken, and deep frying it is only one such way.
Chicken a la King took the United States by storm in the middle of the 20th century. But if you try to find it on a dinner menu these days, you probably won’t have much luck.
By embracing this dish, featuring cubed chicken with a cream sauce served over your favorite grain (rice, noodles or bread), you’ll get to taste what made this chicken recipe such a classic and maybe even discover your next favorite meal.
Remember the onslaught of lies trying to pin Coronavirus on the Chinaese because of unhealthy habits, filth and dirt at a Wet Market. Yet, no one ever showed images of what a Wet Market looks like. Well, here is what it looks like.
Despite possible sanctions and their hard-hitting economic consequences, the hunted Russian bear has got out of the den and is going after the hunters. Until recently, Russians, Ukrainians, and Europeans believed that there would be no war.
What we see now, however, is a full-scale Russian intervention and quite a successful one too. Where are the Russian troops going, and most importantly, why? And where will they stop?
Strengthened since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia was quite content with its new status of a leading regional power, and only verbally recalled its glorious imperial past. During the early 2000s, Russia even mulled the possibility of integrating into NATO and the EU, only to see its natural and legitimate interests repeatedly and shamelessly ignored. Millions of Russian-speakers living in the post-Soviet republics were deprived of their right to use their native language, while the Baltic countries and Ukraine profited from the transit of gas, oil, and raw materials. There was even a new “policy of gas pipelines,” when Russia was pressured into make concessions in exchange for being allowed to build a gas pipeline or simply put a stop to the syphoning off of its pipeline gas.
In fact, a resurgent Russia was gradually being presented as a “potential enemy” for the sake of reiterating NATO’s role as a defender against the imagined Russian threat. All this resulted in the 2013 events in Ukraine where nationalists came to power not without outside help, flatly refusing to safeguard the interests of the country’s Russian-speaking population, primarily in eastern Ukraine. Facing the risk of losing its naval base in Sevastopol (existing there since the 18th century) and wishing to protect the Russian-speaking people living in Ukraine, Russia, with the full support of the local population, re-absorbed Crimea and supported the separatists of Donbass. This was followed by Kiev’s ban on the use of the Russian language in the country (not entirely successful, though, since it was the main spoken language of Ukraine) and police persecution of those who advocated a dialogue with Moscow. In its effort to support Ukraine, the West introduced a series of anti-Russian sanctions, which seriously damaged the Russian economy. Still, for the past eight years, Russia was ready for dialogue. In exchange for autonomy for Russian-speakers and guarantees of non-deployment of a NATO infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, Moscow was prepared to roll back its support for the separatists and, possibly, even hold a new referendum in Crimea on its reunification with Russia.
However, during all these eight years, people continued to die along the disengagement line in Donbass, separating Kiev’s armed forces and the separatists (at the rate of more than 100 a year). Meanwhile, Russia was officially branded by Kiev as an “aggressor,” and those in power in Ukraine started to busily prepare for a big war, demanding military and financial assistance from the EU and Washington. And while President Zelensky’s predecessor, the millionaire Petro Poroshenko, was still able to maintain a dialogue with Moscow with the help of the oligarchs, the current president, who came to power on the strength of promises to seek peace and reconciliation, was trying hard to enter NATO and was threatening Russia with missiles deployed near Chernigov (750 km from Moscow). As for the Kremlin, it has spent the past six months trying to negotiate with Brussels, Washington and Zelensky himself. All that Putin was asking for were security guarantees for Russia. In fact, Moscow never really threatened Ukraine but was still being systematically pushed towards a military solution.
It should be noted that prior to the intervention, Putin explained in great detail to his compatriots what was going on, recalling how the borders of the Soviet republics had been cut and how Russian-speaking territories had been handed over to Ukraine. He also made it clear that one cannot talk about a violation of international law after the invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Serbia, the recognition of Kosovo and NATO’s move to the Russian borders.
Let’s be honest: a bear sleeping peacefully in its den was smoked out of there by being poked with a stick, and now they are wondering why it is chasing those who did that. Moscow has been pushed into a corner and is now demonstrating its strength and standing up for its interests. Now Putin will at best be satisfied with a change of guard in Kiev, and at worst, Ukraine as a state will disappear from the map of Europe. Is it possible to justify an aggression that has been provoked for a long time? This is a matter of a lengthy discussion. One thing is clear: 20 years ago, Russia could and wanted to join NATO and united Europe. However, the latter chose to make Russia an enemy…
Pick a side
I have recounted how various “experts” are advising Washington DC to sanction China along with Russia. They argue that since the USA controls the money supply and debt that countries would “of course” choose America over China. I argue otherwise. Where are people going to get things?
And concerning China…
A reminder that China DOES NOT PLAY
Like Russia, China has a ferocious military. Military training starts in first grade, however, certain kindergarden schools also start the tykes early as well. Marching, rules of organization are taught in first grade. Third grade you have field stripping of firearms, small arms training, and mortar fire.
China has a population of merit driven, determined soldiers of 1.6 billion people. Someone should slap the American neocons ont he side of the head and remind them that both China and Russia are decendents of Genghis Khan.
Today is a major day in the Russian military operation. Why?
Because Russian forces are now on the outskirts of many major Ukrainian cities. If yesterday was “standoff weapons” day, today is the first day when Russian forces can now begin to degrade Ukrainian artillery dispositions, engage Ukie armor and break through Ukrainian fortifications. Today is also the last day for US PSYOPs to try to present a counter-narrative (Ukies heroically resisting, Russian dying in huge numbers, effective counter-attacks, etc.).
Yet we live in the smartphone with camera era and picture like this one tell the full story:
What you see in this picture are immense traffic jams of folks fleeing not Mariupol or Kramatorsk, but Kiev, the capital.
Here is a quick machine translated news update from Col. Cassad:
1. LDNR – the positional nature of the fighting remains, with attempts by the LDNR armies to advance to the borders of the territories occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
2. The southern direction – the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation retained control over the bridge over the Dnieper at Kherson, repulsing attempts of counterattacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.. Fighting in the Antonovsky Bridge area continues.
A New Kakhovka is also being held. Melitopol was taken this morning and the advance towards Berdyansk began.
3. Kharkiv direction – fighting continues on the near approaches to Kharkov. Both sides are suffering losses in people and equipment.
4. Sumy direction – the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took Putivl and passing through Sumy (the battle at the airport continued there today), advanced to Konotop, surrounding the city. Today, attempts to take Akhtyrka continued in order to reach Kharkov from the west. There are Russian roadblocks on the Sumy-Kiev highway. There is an advance to Kiev and Chernihiv. (The APU repelled the attack of the Russian Armed Forces in the Chernihiv direction).
5. Kiev – Gostomel airfield is held by paratroopers. The APU could not dislodge them from there. This morning, tank columns of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation broke through to the near approaches to Kiev and are close to establishing direct communication with the landing. The AFU is preparing a counterattack, stating that another landing will be thrown out in the Gostomel area today. The Pentagon says that Kiev will fall in the coming days. After 10 o’clock shooting was heard in the city. Also, according to the statement of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the landing was thrown to the west of Zhytomyr. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively undermining bridges on the approaches, trying to slow down the advance of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,
6. In the morning, strikes continued on military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine throughout the territory of Ukraine. A Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down over Kiev – according to one version by the Russian air defense system, according to another – by the Ukrainian ones. The downed “Caliber” fell on a residential building in Kiev, but there were no casualties. During the shelling of Gorlovka, a school was hit – 2 teachers were killed.
7. The AFU launched a missile attack on the Millerovo airfield on the territory of the Russian Federation. Damage is reported at the airfield, but there are no losses in aircraft.
What a Chinese home is like
Yeah. It’s pretty much like this. Only, her house is not nearly as messy and cluttered up as mine. You know, having young kids is a real way to “decorate” your home. Video
And in Taiwan, a lesson for everyone
Ukraine’s crisis comic: note the flags, the texts, and the last picture : how US, UK, and EU farewell the stupid Ukraine president after giving him the weapons.
I love this Taiwan TV current affair channel. The current Taiwan regime ban them, so they go on social media.
It’s a tad too technical, on my side. You all can skim over the article if you want. Essentially, China’s AI systems detected the behavior of the USA’s NSA hacking tool. It mapped it out, and then algorithims figured it all out. The part that is NOT reported in this article is that the Chinese were able to do so as the enire system is transparent. It’s like trying to find a glass stature submerged in ice cube water.
Researchers from China’s Pangu Lab have disclosed details of a “top-tier” backdoor put to use by the Equation Group, an advanced persistent threat (APT) with alleged ties to the cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).
Dubbed “Bvp47” owing to numerous references to the string “Bvp” and the numerical value “0x47” used in the encryption algorithm, the backdoor was extracted from Linux systems “during an in-depth forensic investigation of a host in a key domestic department” in 2013.
The defense research group codenamed the attacks involving the deployment of Bvp47 “Operation Telescreen,” with the implant featuring an “advanced covert channel behavior based on TCP SYN packets, code obfuscation, system hiding, and self-destruction design.”
Bvp47 is said to have been used on more than 287 targets in the academia, economic development, military, science, and telecom sectors located in 45 countries, mainly in China, Korea, Japan, Germany, Spain, India, and Mexico, all the while going largely undetected for over a decade.
The elusive backdoor is also equipped with a remote control function that’s protected using an encryption algorithm, activating which requires the attacker’s private key – something the researchers said they found in the leaks published by the Shadow Brokers hacker group in 2016.
Pangu Lab is a research project of Pangu Team, which has a history of jailbreaking Apple iPhones dating all the way back to 2014. At the Tianfu Cup hacking contest last year, the white hat hacking team demonstrated several security flaws that allowed for remotely jailbreaking a fully patched iPhone 13 Pro running iOS 15.
The Shadow Brokers leaks
Equation Group, designated as the “crown creator of cyber espionage” by Russian security firm Kaspersky, is the name assigned to a sophisticated adversary that’s been active since at least 2001 and has used previously undisclosed zero-day exploits to “infect victims, retrieve data and hide activity in an outstandingly professional way,” some of which were later incorporated into Stuxnet.
The attacks have targeted a variety of sectors in no less than 42 countries, counting governments, telecom, aerospace, energy, nuclear research, oil and gas, military, nanotechnology, Islamic activists and scholars, media, transportation, financial institutions, and companies developing encryption technologies.
The group is believed to be linked to the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit, while intrusion activities pertaining to a second collective known as Longhorn (aka The Lamberts) have been attributed to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Equation Group’s malware toolset became public knowledge in 2016 when a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers leaked the entire tranche of exploits used by the elite hacking team, with Kaspersky uncovering code-level similarities between the stolen files and that of samples identified as used by the threat actor.
Bvp47 as a covert backdoor
The incident analyzed by Pangu Lab comprises two internally compromised servers, an email and an enterprise server named V1 and V2 respectively, and an external domain (identified as A), sporting a novel two-way communication mechanism to exfiltrate sensitive data from the systems.
“There is abnormal communication between external host A and the V1 server,” the researchers said. “Specifically, A first sends a SYN packet with a 264-byte payload to port 80 of the V1 server, and then the V1 server immediately initiates an external connection to the high-end port of the A machine and maintains a large amount of exchange data.”
Simultaneously, V1 connects to V2 via the SMB service to perform a number of operations, including logging in to the latter with an administrator account, trying to open terminal services, enumerating directories, and executing PowerShell scripts through scheduled tasks.
V2, for its part, also connects to V1 to retrieve a PowerShell script and an encrypted second-stage payload, the encrypted execution results of which are sent back to V1, which, according to the researchers, “acts as a data transfer between the A machine and the V2 server.”
The Bvp47 backdoor installed on the servers consists of two parts, a loader which is responsible for decoding and loading the actual payload into memory. “Bvp47 generally lives in the Linux operating system in the demilitarized zone that communicates with the Internet,” the researchers said. “It mainly assumes the core control bridge communication role in the overall attack.”
Links to the Equation Group
Pangu Lab’s attribution to Equation Group stems from overlaps with exploits contained in a GPG-encrypted archive file published by the Shadow Brokers – “eqgrp-auction-file.tar.xz.gpg” – as part of a failedauction of the cyber weapons in August 2016.
“In the process of analyzing the ‘eqgrp-auction-file.tar.xz.gpg’ file, it was found that Bvp47 and the attacking tools in the compressed package were technically deterministic, mainly including ‘dewdrops,’ ‘suctionchar_agents,’ ‘tipoffs,’ ‘StoicSurgeon,’ ‘incision’ and other directories,” the researchers explained.
“The ‘tipoffs’ directory contains the RSA asymmetric algorithm private key used in the Bvp47 covert channel [for] command execution and other operations. On this basis, it can be confirmed that Bvp47 is from [the] Equation group.”
The findings mark the second time hitherto undocumented malware developed by the Equation Group has come to light in as many months. In late December 2021, Check Point Research disclosed details of a diagnostic utility called “DoubleFeature” that’s used in conjunction with the DanderSpritz malware framework.
“Judging from the attack tools related to the organization, including Bvp47, Equation group is indeed a first-class hacking group,” the researchers concluded.
“The tool is well-designed, powerful, and widely adapted. Its network attack capability equipped by zero-day vulnerabilities was unstoppable, and its data acquisition under covert control was with little effort. The Equation Group is in a dominant position in national-level cyberspace confrontation.”
A most outstanding Interview
It truly is. Man, oh man. No holding back. This is THE Scott Ritter that was sent to Iraq to find WMD’s and got in all sorts of trouble by the Bush Administration when he couldn’t find any. Man, he lets loose!
This link with Scott Ritter just popped up on moa a little while ago.
I’ve had to listen twice — highly recommended.
I think he is correct — NATO is dead and gone, bar for the funeral.
The European defence process will need to rebuild a less costly, more effective framework for peaceful co-existance with the Slavic world.
And this is a key point about re-alignments at a higher level than simply nation state.
It is at Chinese; Slavic; European; Anglo-American scales — everything else is just “loose ends” from the 20th century past.
Time to wake up, folks, and smell the roses (or the rubbish in the streets) and blame our local political representitives — after all, they ARE our ‘leaders’ (so they keep saying).
Accountability is a bitch ….Lol.
“NATO Too Weak to Face Russia: Scott Ritter on Russian Offensive
17,097 views • Feb 25, 2022 ” [38min]
https://youtu.be/3GkmdCaBECs
This kind of scene is fairly common when you go to a Business KTV. The girls will dance, and feed your food like grapes, strawberries, and drinks. They will hold your arm and be playful with you. video
“We’ve seen this picture show before, ahem,” claimed Archduke Peter Von Fishburn-Waldrop III, of County Hampshire, as he took snuff. “Whenever a world war is about to break out, one of us is inevitably assassinated, ahem.”
Archdukes are contracting mercenaries, hirelings, sell-swords, adventurers-about-town, and various other soldiers of fortune to round out their security details.
“Aye, it be good for business, make no mistake. Surely none of us wish to see an Archduke what with his life-force pourin’ out of his noggin, but we got bills to pay too, mind you,” said Captain John Ninefingers, leader of the famed Free Company.
Students of history will remember that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand precipitated World War I, called The Great War at the time, fought by various European powers. Archdukes fear that with the Ukrainian crisis, it’s only a matter of time before history repeats itself.
“One day you’re collecting rent from peasants, ahem, or getting promoted in the military despite no accomplishments, and the next day, ahem, you get assassinated by a young upstart who wants freedom from your imperial empire,” muttered Archduke Yannis Belagrovstad, of the Gutenberg Province. “What nerve! What cheek!”
The motley collection of heirs-apparent is leaving nothing to chance. The finest technologies have been employed to ensure the safety of the Archduke corps throughout Europe.
“We attempted to develop a motorcar that was consistently surrounded by a moat as it traveled, ahem, but the peasants complained that it was too much digging,” mused Archduke Johannes Reberg, of the Kaiserschoten Kaserne. “And isn’t that just like a peasant?”
When asked for comment, Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, the current leader of the European Commission, said, “The safety of the Archdukes remains our number one priority. That’s why we’ve diverted troops from Ukraine to stand guard around their four-post beds throughout the night.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a press release Tuesday morning regarding the safety of the Archdukes.
“When it comes to the assassination of Archdukes, it appalls me to think that anyone could be considering such an action,” said Putin, “without me having first ordered it”.
Checkered sweater for the tropics
Here, in the tropics, it’s HOT. Then there’s the “rainy season” which is HOT and STEAMY. So how do these Chinese girls get around wearing sweaters? Is it becuase they stay inside the air conditioning all day? Well, maybe so, but also the clothes in China are designed for the environment. Here is a sweater for the tropics. Cool, eh?
The Russian operations in the Ukraine continue at a moderate pace. Some more troops were committed today. In all the Russian military may have now introduced some 20-40% of its prepared forces.
The Ukrainian military is not so much holding a line but concentrating in and around its bigger cities. It has destroyed some bridges north of Kiev to make an approach more difficult. That will slow down the Russian moves but will not prevent them. Russia’s military is famously good at setting up combat bridges.
So far the Russians have used their artillery sparsely. An exception was last night near Kharkiv in the northeast of Ukraine where a strike by multiple launcher artillery systems (MLRS) hit some area target with yet unknown results.
A 13 minutes long video from a highway drive near Kherson, a city north of Crimea, shows nearly 100 destroyed Ukrainian trucks and tanks. These are likely victims of air attacks.
If this map from a Turkish think tank source is correct the Russian troops did not attempt much deeper strikes today but mostly consolidated their frontline.
This map from Janes shows less progress. But it also has not marked the Donbas area in the southeast which is held by pro-Russian forces.
Russia’s President has called on the Ukrainian military to overthrow its government. I do not think he believes that will happen but it is a possibility so why not call for it.
Facebook now allows to praise Ukrainian Nazi groups like the Azov battalion. This was prohibited with Azov previously being in the same category as ISIS. Now these are ‘our guys’.
There are a lot of discussions of sanctions against Russia and every western country is trying to get as much exemptions for its industries as possible . The U.S. has for example exempted everything that has to do with hydrocarbons from its own sanction package. It will still buy Russian oil and will continue to sell drilling equipment to Russia.
The EU countries are still negotiating with themselves. They should be careful with what they do.
Britain has had the stupidity of sanctioning the Russian air carrier Aeroflot. In a counter move Russia prohibited British Airways from flying over Russian territory. Normally all flights from Britain to the Far East cross Russian airspace. These will now have to be redirected to other routes which will significantly increase their flight time and fuel burn.
Russia has threatened ‘inconvenient’ counter-sanctions to those who sanction it. Overflight rights are only one of the tools it can use.
NATO has said it will continue to deliver weapons, including air defenses, to the Ukraine. NATO does not have any weapons but some NATO countries seem to strive for a larger war. The U.S. seem willing to sacrifice the Ukraine to create a quagmire for Russia.
Syria was also supposed to become a quagmire for Russia when Russia came to its help. It didn’t turn out that way.
Finally, this is how we handle Trolls here on MM
"Once you cut through the bullshit and understand what's going on, it's easy to predict what will happen.
These people and countries acting as attack dogs for the empire must therefore be taught an unforgettable lesson. If you don't put down the rabid dogs, they will get up and bite you again.
Therefore, Russia will not take half measures.
They will not stop unless the surrender is total, and punishment for the miscreants dealt out accordingly. Otherwise, this operation will be for naught."
If you don’t understand this video, you must have a mental illness. Truth this.
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Yeah, if you go on to the Western “news” it’s all bullshit. I really cannot believe that anyone believe anything from these people anymore. They lie so much that their lies are lies of lies regarding lies.
The alternative sites, many of which are not the neocon conservative “gung ho! for ‘Merica” sites, show a great healthy respect for Russia, and some for China. Here’s we are going to throw out some stuff as the fluid situation unfolds.
Keep in mind that this is war. It’s chaotic and confusing, and there are all sorts of misinformation out there.
You can find many such websites that have collected blow-by-blow pictures, videos, and opinions / reports as they come in. I’m not going to do that except, maybe put a few interesting elements in place.
To quote DM…
"...the reposts I am hearing have me absolutely bewildred at the ruthless efficiency of the Russian army. I mean MM hinted at it, but its not until you see it in full swing you can really appreciate it."
In summary, in 24 hours, Russia took over the Ukraine. All the fancy and expensive munitions, weapons, ships, planes (supplied by the USA and NATO) were destroyed. There are some very interesting videos out there regarding this. Paratroop drops, jets blowing up the house that you are in, and the “leadership” scurrying away for safety under the great protective arms of the United States and NATO.
Right now, it’s a mop up operation, while the United States and NATO are still arguing what kind of “tough sanctions” that they will impose… or, more likely, what kind of emotionally driven (by manipulated polls) action that they could take.
My guess, could be a very BAD action, resulting in VERY BAD consequences.
But as it stands today, 25FEB22, most (but not all) of the Ukraine is under Russian control. The vast majority of American-trained (since 2014) Neo-Nazi troops laid down their arms and entered the protective corridors to their families to wait out the situation in peace. So now, we are talking about phase two…
We start with this…
Russia is ready to sit down and talk now that the Ukraine has been suppressed.
Objective and accurate report of the Russian objectives:
However, in the eyes of Putin and most Russians, the latest move serves as a counterstrike against the Western squeezing of Russia’s security room with extreme measures and a relatively large-scale showdown in wrestling with the US, a view that is also shared by the majority of Chinese.
“Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action,” Putin’s order read. In an address to the public, the Russian president said he wanted to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, Russia Today said. Putin further said, “We have no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”
“Demilitarize” could be understood to be putting down arms and surrendering, which can also be understood as incapacitating the opponent and rendering them unable to form a threat in a broader sense, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“As a result, Russia will completely destroy the heavy weapons of Ukrainian troops, including warplanes, tanks and armored troops as well as defense forces, such as air defense missile forces and the navy,” Song said.
Russia announced it has destroyed Ukraine’s airfields, air defenses and control systems just a few hours after it launched the military operations.
“And as we take the measures announced by the president to ensure the security of the country and the Russian people, we will certainly always be ready for a dialogue that will return us to justice and the principles of the UN Charter,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late on Thursday.
Yury Tavrovsky, head of the “Russian Dream-Chinese Dream” analytics center of the Izborsk Club, told the Global Times that Russia’s military operations in Ukraine are “completely legal.”
Both chambers of Russia’s Duma (parliament) had earlier approved recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk as “independent states.” The Upper Chamber (the Senate) later approved use of armed forces outside the national borders, Tavrovsky explained.
The military operation was launched just one day after the US and Europe unveiled what is believed to be just the first round of sanctions against Russian individuals and institutions in response to Putin’s signing of two decrees recognizing Lugansk and Donetskas independent and sovereign states.
As global markets tumbled steeply over the Ukraine-Russia crisis, some raised questions as to why Russia took this step, how the situation will evolve and whether the US will engage in a direct war with Russia.
Moscow’s motivation
In a phone call with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained the development of the Ukraine situation and Russia’s position, saying that the US and NATO violated their commitments by expanding east, refused to implement the new Minsk Agreements, and violated UN Security Council Resolution 2202, forcing Russia to take necessary measures to safeguard its own rights and interests.
Noting that China has always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, Wang said that China recognizes the complex and special historical context of the Ukraine issue and understands Russia’s legitimate security concerns.
China maintains that the Cold War mentality should be completely abandoned and a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism should be finally established through dialogue and negotiation, Wang said.
“China believes there should be mutual cooperation and sustainable security, and the reasonable security concerns of all parties concerned should be respected and solved,” Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference on Thursday.
Some Chinese observers said the US has continued its intensive containment of Russia, for example, by implementing more sanctions, finally forcing Russia to try to realize its security demands in this drastic way.
Russian elites such as Putin and Deputy Chairman of Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev believe that the Ukraine issue has reached the point where it must be resolved.
“I believe Russia’s military operation is a reaction by Moscow to Western countries’ exertion of pressure on Russia for a long time, showing that Moscow can’t tolerate it anymore,” Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“As to how the situation will evolve, I think we need to spend more time to observe it. First thing first, we need to focus on the attitude of the US, on whether Washington will launch a direct war against Russia,” he said, noting that everything depends on how NATO and the US will react.
If the entire military operation goes smoothly, Russia could reach its target of fully controlling Ukraine, and what worries NATO most is whether Russia will then carry out further operations again the three Baltic countries, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
The US and NATO are now observing how the situation evolves. The US and NATO have been training Ukraine troops since 2014, and it’s time to see if they will confront Russian troops and for how long they will fight them. “As long as Russia does not engage in military conflicts with NATO members, there won’t be direct confrontation between NATO and US [on one side] and Russia [on the other],” Li said.
Now, keep in mind that this is directly after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. You know, that one that the United States, the UK, and the Australians decided to sit out of for one concocted reason or the other…
The entire opening ceremony for the 2022 Winter Olympics
At 2:11:01 is the meaningful symbolic embrace performance that made all the Chinese and some Taiwanese get all emotional. It’s about community and family and inclusion.
Nice hyper-cute Chinese girl
I think that it would be a nice spot to include this fine Chinese lass. My oh my! Look at that terrible communist regime! Look how dirty and polluted it is! Look at how thin she is, it’s obvious that the regime starves her. She must be pining away for freedom™ and democracy™, don’t you know!
That is not all that unlike America in the early 1950s. Here’s a winter scene. It’s in front of a neighborhood gas station. I wonder if they still have these things back in the ‘states. Notice the smiling and happy woman, and the rag-top (or convertible) in the back. Calm. Easy. Fun.
Like China is today.
Calm and fun United States in the 1950s.
From the Black Sea to the East Med, do not poke The Russian Bear
This is what happens when a bunch of ragged hyenas, jackals and tiny rodents poke The Bear: a new geopolitical order is born in breathtaking speed.
From a dramatic meeting of the Russian Security Council to a history lesson delivered by President Putin and the subsequent birth of the Baby Twins – the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk – all the way to their appeal to President Putin to intervene militarily to expel the NATO-backed Ukrainian bombing-and-shelling forces from Donbass, it was a seamless process.
The (nuclear) straw that (nearly) broke the Bear’s back – and forced its paws to pounce – was Zelensky the Comedian, back from the Russophobia-drenched Munich Security Conference where he was hailed like a Messiah, saying that the 1994 Budapest memorandum should be revised and Ukraine should be nuclear-rearmed.
That would be the equivalent of a nuclear Mexico south of the Hegemon.
Putin immediately turned Responsibility to Protect (R2P) upside down: an American concept invented to launch wars in MENA (remember Libya?) was retrofitted to stop a slow-motion genocide in Donbass.
First came the recognition of the Baby Twins – Putin’s most important foreign policy decision since going to Syria in 2015.
That was the preamble for the next game-changer: a “special military operation (…) aimed at demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”, as Putin defined it.
Up to the last minute, the Kremlin was trying to rely on diplomacy, explaining to Kiev the necessary imperatives to prevent heavy metal thunder:
recognition of Crimea as Russian;
abandon any plans to join NATO;
negotiate directly with the Baby Twins – an anathema for the Americans since 2015;
finally, demilitarize and declare Ukraine as neutral.
Kiev’s handlers, predictably, would never accept the package – as they didn’t accept the Master Package that really matters: the Russian demand for “indivisible security”.
The sequence, then, became inevitable.
In a flash, all Ukrainian forces between the so-called line of contact and the original borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were boxed in as the occupying force of territories of two Russian allies that Moscow had just sworn to protect.
So it was Get Out – Or Else.
“Or else” came as rolling thunder: the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense were not bluffing.
Timed to the end of Putin’s speech announcing the operation, the Russians decapitated with precision missiles everything that mattered in terms of the Ukrainian military in just one hour: Air Force, Navy, airfields, bridges, command and control centers, the whole Turkish Bayraktar drone fleet.
And it was not only Russian raw power.
It was the artillery of one of the Baby Twins, the DPR, that hit the HQ of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass, which actually housed the entire Ukrainian military command.
This means that the Ukrainian General Staff instantly lost control of all its troops.
This was Shock and Awe against Iraq, 19 years ago, in reverse: not for conquest, not as a prelude for an invasion and occupation.
The political-military leadership in Kiev did not even have time to declare war.
They froze.
Demoralized troops started deserting.
Total defeat – in one hour.
The water supply to Crimea was instantly re-established.
Humanitarian corridors were set up for the deserters.
“Remnants” now include mostly surviving Azov batallion Nazis, mercenaries trained by the usual Blackwater/Academi suspects, and a bunch of Salafi-jihadis.
Predictably, Western corporate media has already gone totally berserk branding it as the much-awaited Russian “invasion”. (A reminder: when Israel routinely bombs Syria and when the House of One Saudi routinely bombs Yemeni civilians, there is never any peep in NATOstan media.)
As it stands, realpolitik spells out a possible endgame (see Donetsk’s head, Denis Pushilin: “The special operation in Donbass will soon be over and all the cities will be liberated.”)
We could soon witness the birth of an independent Novorossiya – east of the Dnieper, south along Sea of Azov/Black Sea, the way it was when attached to Ukraine by Lenin in 1922. But now totally aligned with Russia, and providing a land bridge to Transnistria.
Ukraine, of course, would lose any access to the Black Sea.
History loves playing tricks: what was a “gift” to Ukraine in 1922 may become a parting gift a hundred years later.
It’s creative destruction time
It will be fascinating to watch what Prof. Sergey Karaganov masterfully described, in detail, as the new Putin doctrine of constructive destruction , and how it will interconnect with West Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and further on down the Global South road.
President Erdogan, the ceremonial NATO Sultan, branded the recognition of the Baby Twins as “unacceptable”.
No wonder: that definitely smashed all his elaborate plans to pose as privileged mediator between Moscow and Kiev during Putin’s upcoming visit to Ankara. The Kremlin – as well as the Foreign Ministry – don’t waste time talking to NATO minions.
Lavrov, for his part, had a recent, very productive entente with Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad. Russia, this past weekend, has staged a spectacular strategic missile display, hypersonic and otherwise, featuring Khinzal, Zircon, Kalibr, Yars ICBMs, Iskander and Sineva – irony of ironies, in synch with the Russophobia-fest in Munich.
In parallel, Russian Navy ships of the Pacific, Northern and Black Sea fleets performed a series of submarine search drills in the Mediterranean.
The Putin doctrine privileges the asymmetrical – and that applies to the near abroad and beyond.
Putin’s body language, in his last two crucial interventions, spell out nearly maximum exasperation.
As in realizing, not auspiciously, but rather in resignation, that the only language those neo-con and “humanitarian” imperialist psychos in the Beltway understand is heavy meal thunder (they are definitely deaf, dumb and blind to History, Geography and Diplomacy, for that matter. Not to mention they never accepted their defeat in Syria.)
So we can always game the Russian military, for instance, imposing a no-fly zone in Syria to conduct a series of visits by Mr. Khinzal not only to the Turk-protected shady jihadist umbrella in Idlib but also the jihadists protected by the Americans in Al-Tanf base, near the Syria-Jordan border. After all these specimens are all NATO proxies.
The United States government barks non-stop about “territorial sovereignty”.
So let’s game the Kremlin asking the White House for a road map on getting out of Syria: after all the Americans are illegally occupying a section of Syrian territory and most of all adding extra disaster to the Syrian economy by stealing their oil.
NATO’s stultifying Stoltenberg has announced the alliance is dusting off its “defense plans”: that may include little more than hide behind their expensive Brussels desks. They are as inconsequential in the Black Sea as in the East Med – as the Empire remains quite vulnerable in Syria.
There are now four Russian TU-22M3 strategic bombers in Hymeimim base, each capable of carrying three S-32 anti-ship missiles that fly at supersonic Mach 4.3 with a range of 1,000 km. No Aegis system is able to handle them.
Russian TU-22M3 strategic bomber.
Russia in Syria also has stationed a few Mig-31Ks in Latakia equipped with hypersonic Khinzals – more than enough to sink any kind of US surface group, including aircraft carriers, in the East Med. The US has no air defense mechanism whatsoever with even a minimal chance of intercepting them.
Mig-31K equipped with hypersonic Khinzal missile.
So the rules have changed.
Drastically.
The Hegemon is naked.
The new deal starts with turning the post-Cold War set-up in Eastern Europe completely upside down.
The East Med will be next.
The Bear is back, baby.
Hear him roar.
Well, what about the ruthless, moronic, idiots running the “West”?
And how will the USA respond?
The Americans are obviously in a state of apoplectic rage and anxiety right now.
The American Overlord will likely descend further into insanity and violence, as its sense of imperial entitlement to rule the world just got pimp slapped by the Russian bear.
Oh, no. You can be sure that they do not like what is going on, and you can be sure that they are ready to just toss the boardgame up in the air in defiant frustration.
What is next is anyones guess, but it just cannot be good.
The collective West will be seething – no Black Sea base near Crimea – their dreams up in smoke again.
So impotent with rage – they get out their sanctions manuals and try and find the worst they can possibly find to hurt Russia and have a fleeting feeling of satisfaction and power until they realise inflation is going through the roof, they have no energy to make anything, their industries start failing, can’t grow anything and they can’t heat their homes. And the glutinous fat cats in the EU have nothing to do and wonder how long their jobs will be around as it was their so clever idea to sanction their main energy supplier and now have no fertilizer to grow anything. The peasants will be bellowing outside wanting their pound of flesh.
You would think that they would just do their pontificating, but I would think that the evil “it’s time for the rapture! Let’s bring on MAD nuclear engagement now!” neocon crowd is pressing for a full scale nuclear “response”.
If that happens, the USA will be completely destroyed.
Bad news. You bet.
But, you know, the Commander did say “little bads, not big bads”. So we will see. One thing is for certain; Imperial hubris meets Karma. And it’s a bitch.
I didn’t copy the whole thing. I just shake my head. Can they actually BELIEVE what they write? Or is their opinion of American people so so that they think that they will believe it?
"...unprovoked invasion."
Nice small cute and adorable girl
Somehow, she reminds me of a very cute little mouse. Maybe it’s the outfit. Anyways, it’s pretty awesome and what a nice tight little outfit she is wearing. I’ll get that she has all the boys chasing her!
A classic of 1950s Americana, Cheeseburger Pie is the most comforting of weeknight casseroles: sautéed onion and ground beef, baked under a simple batter of flour, baking powder, eggs, and milk and a rich topping of cheddar cheese. Serve it in thick wedges with an easy celery and romaine heart salad.
Cheeseburger pie. Why not?
Cheeseburger pie slice.
US Foreign Policy Is a Cruel Sport
Bear baiting was long ago banned as inhumane. Yet today, a version is being practiced every day against whole nations on a gigantic international scale.
From HERE at the Greenville Post. Another excellent article.
In the time of the first Queen Elizabeth, British royal circles enjoyed watching fierce dogs torment a captive bear for the fun of it. The bear had done no harm to anyone, but the dogs were trained to provoke the imprisoned beast and goad it into fighting back. Blood flowing from the excited animals delighted the spectators.
This cruel practice has long since been banned as inhumane.
And yet today, a version of bear baiting is being practiced every day against whole nations on a gigantic international scale. It is called United States foreign policy. It has become the regular practice of the absurd international sports club called NATO.
United States leaders, secure in their arrogance as “the indispensable nation,” have no more respect for other countries than the Elizabethans had for the animals they tormented. The list is long of targets of U.S. bear baiting, but Russia stands out as prime example of constant harassment. And this is no accident. The baiting is deliberately and elaborately planned.
As evidence, I call attention to a 2019 report by the RAND corporation to the U.S. Army chief of staff entitled “Extending Russia.” Actually, the RAND study itself is fairly cautious in its recommendations and warns that many perfidious tricks might not work. However, I consider the very existence of this report scandalous, not so much for its content as for the fact that this is what the Pentagon pays its top intellectuals to do: figure out ways to lure other nations into troubles U.S. leaders hope to exploit.
The official U.S. line is that the Kremlin threatens Europe by its aggressive expansionism, but when the strategists talk among themselves the story is very different. Their goal is to use sanctions, propaganda and other measures to provoke Russia into taking the very sort of negative measures (“over-extension”) that the U.S. can exploit to Russia’s detriment.
The RAND study explains its goals:
“We examine a range of nonviolent measures that could exploit Russia’s actual vulnerabilities and anxieties as a way of stressing Russia’s military and economy and the regime’s political standing at home and abroad.
The steps we examine would not have either defense or deterrence as their prime purpose, although they might contribute to both.
Rather, these steps are conceived of as elements in a campaign designed to unbalance the adversary, leading Russia to compete in domains or regions where the United States has a competitive advantage, and causing Russia to overextend itself militarily or economically or causing the regime to lose domestic and/or international prestige and influence.”
Clearly, in U.S. ruling circles, this is considered “normal” behavior, just as teasing is normal behavior for the schoolyard bully, and sting operations are normal for corrupt FBI agents.
This description perfectly fits U.S. operations in Ukraine, intended to “exploit Russia’s vulnerabilities and anxieties” by advancing a hostile military alliance onto its doorstep, while describing Russia’s totally predictable reactions as gratuitous aggression.
Diplomacy involves understanding the position of the other party.
But verbal bear baiting requires total refusal to understand the other, and constant deliberate misinterpretation of whatever the other party says or does.
What is truly diabolical is that, while constantly accusing the Russian bear of plotting to expand, the whole policy is directed at goading it into expanding!
Because then we can issue punishing sanctions, raise the Pentagon budget a few notches higher and tighten the NATO Protection Racket noose tighter around our precious European “allies.”
For a generation, Russian leaders have made extraordinary efforts to build a peaceful partnership with “the West,” institutionalized as the European Union and above all, NATO.
They truly believed that the end of the artificial Cold War could produce a peace-loving European neighborhood.
But arrogant United States leaders, despite contrary advice from their best experts, rejected treating Russia as the great nation it is, and preferred to treat it as the harassed bear in a circus.
The expansion of NATO was a form of bear-baiting, the clear way to transform a potential friend into an enemy. That was the way chosen by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and following administrations. Moscow had accepted the independence of former members of the Soviet Union. Bear-baiting involved constantly accusing Moscow of plotting to take them back by force.
Russia’s Borderland
Ukraine is a word meaning borderlands, essentially the borderlands between Russia and the territories to the West that were sometimes part of Poland, or Lithuania, or Habsburg lands.
As a part of the U.S.S.R., Ukraine was expanded to include large swaths of both. History had created very contrasting identities on the two extremities, with the result that the independent nation of Ukraine, which came into existence only in 1991, was deeply divided from the start.
And from the start, Washington strategies, in cahoots with a large, hyperactive anti-communist anti-Russian diaspora in the U.S. and Canada, contrived to use the bitterness of Ukraine’s divisions to weaken first the U.S.S.R. and then Russia. Billions of dollars were invested in order to “strengthen democracy” – meaning the pro-Western west of Ukraine against its semi-Russian east.
The 2014 U.S.-backed coup that overthrew President Viktor Yukanovych, solidly supported by the east of the country, brought to power pro-West forces determined to bring Ukraine into NATO, whose designation of Russia as prime enemy had become ever more blatant.
This caused the prospect of an eventual NATO capture of Russia’s major naval base at Sebastopol, on the Crimean peninsula.
Since the Crimean population had never wanted to be part of Ukraine, the peril was averted by organizing a referendum in which an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to return to Russia, from which they had been severed by an autocratic Khrushchev ruling in 1954.
Western propagandists relentlessly denounced this act of self-determination as a “Russian invasion” foreshadowing a program of Russian military conquest of its Western neighbors – a fantasy supported by neither facts nor motivation.
Appalled by the coup overthrowing the president they had voted for, by nationalists threatening to outlaw the Russian language they spoke, the people of the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk declared their independence.
Russia did not support this move, but instead supported the Minsk agreement, signed in February 2015 and endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution.
The gist of the accord was to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine by a federalization process that would return the breakaway republics in return for their local autonomy.
The Minsk agreement set out a few steps to end the internal Ukrainian crisis.
First, Ukraine was supposed to immediately adopt a law granting self-government to eastern regions (in March 2015).
Next, Kiev would negotiate with eastern territories over guidelines for local elections to be held that year under OSCE supervision.
Then Kiev would implement a constitutional reform guaranteeing eastern right.
After the elections, Kiev would take full control of Donetsk and Lugansk, including border with Russia. A general amnesty would cover soldiers on both sides.
However, although it signed the agreement, Kiev has never implemented any of these points and refuses to negotiate with the eastern rebels.
Under the so-called Normandy agreement, France and Germany were expected to put pressure on Kiev to accept this peaceful settlement, but nothing happened.
Instead, the West has accused Russia of failing to implement the agreement, which makes no sense inasmuch as the obligations to implement fall on Kiev, not on Moscow.
Kiev officials regularly reiterate their refusal to negotiate with the rebels, while demanding more and more weaponry from NATO powers in order to deal with the problem in their own way.
Meanwhile, major parties in the Russian Duma and public opinion have long expressed concern for the Russian-speaking population of the eastern provinces, suffering from privations and military attack from the central government for eight years.
This concern is naturally interpreted in the West as a remake of Hitler’s drive to conquest neighboring countries.
However, as usual the inevitable Hitler analogy is baseless. For one thing, Russia is too large to need to conquer Lebensraum.
You Want an Enemy? Now You’ve Got One
Germany has found the perfect formula for Western relations with Russia: Are you or are you not a “Putinversteher,” a “Putin understander?” By Putin they mean Russia, since the standard Western propaganda ploy is to personify the targeted country with the name of its president, Vladimir Putin, necessarily a dictatorial autocrat. If you “understand” Putin, or Russia, then you are under deep suspicion of disloyalty to the West. So, all together now, let us make sure that we DO NOT UNDERSTAND Russia!
Russian leaders claim to feel threatened by members of a huge hostile alliance, holding regular military manoeuvers on their doorstep? They feel uneasy about nuclear missiles aimed at their territory from nearby NATO member states? Why, that’s just paranoia, or a sign of sly, aggressive intentions. There is nothing to understand.
So, the West has treated Russia like a baited bear.
And what it’s getting is a nuclear-armed, militarily powerful adversary nation led by people vastly more thoughtful and intelligent than the mediocre politicians in office in Washington, London and a few other places.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his Deep State never wanted a peaceful solution in Ukraine, because troubled Ukraine acts as a permanent barrier between Russia and Western Europe, ensuring U.S. control over the latter.
They have spent years treating Russia as an adversary, and Russia is now drawing the inevitable conclusion that the West will accept it only as an adversary.
The patience is at an end. And this is a game changer.
First reaction: the West will punish the bear with sanctions! Germany is stopping certification of the Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline. Germany thus refuses to buy the Russian gas it needs in order to make sure Russia won’t be able to cut off the gas it needs sometime in the future. Now that’s a clever trick, isn’t it! And meanwhile, with a growing gas shortage and rising prices, Russia will have no trouble selling its gas somewhere else in Asia.
When “our values” include refusal to understand, there is no limit to how much we can fail to understand.
The Fall Of Utopia: Absolutely Amazing Digital Art Works Of Quin Wu
This brutalist interpretation of a McDonald’s in Russia forms part of architect Quin Wu’s artwork series “Big Mac in Snow”, which bridges the gap between two confrontational ideologies—Soviet Russia and the ultra-capitalist fast food franchise.
In his work, Quin Wu gives us a clear understanding of how fragile the balance is in today’s society. And how easy it is today to fall into the abyss between good and evil.
“All images posted here are my personal work. They are computer generated renderings. The architectural themes range from house designs to environment scenes to social critiques.
During the peak of Covid-19 on 2020, I gave it a try to learn some programs that are commonly used in the game industry.
I am a believer that tools are extension of the mind. Gradually polishing skills in modeling, texturing, compositing, rendering etc., I am able to materialize some of my thoughts into actual images. It has been a very fun journey,” he writes.
Here’s another.
And yet another.
Some nonsense from the Western Press
China has lifted restrictions on Russian wheat and barley as of yesterday, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is criticising the move
.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Peter Dutton says China could persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion
RUSSIAN economic sanctions in response to the “Sanctions from Hell” from Biden / NATO
The United States imposed a series of economic sanctions upon Russia this week (last week of February 2022) in response to the recognition by Russia of Luhansk and Donetsk as “Independent states.”
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said today “new US sanctions will be met by a ‘strong response’, ‘sensitive for the American side.’
NATO / US sanctions:
The EU imposed sanctions against 351 State Duma deputies who voted for the recognition of the DPR and LPR, as well as against 27 individuals and organizations. Then, EU EXEC. VP DOMBROVSKIS ANNOUNCED: “IF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ENTER UKRAINE BEYOND SEPARATIST-CONTROLLED, SELF-PROCLAIMED REPUBLICS, THE EU IS PREPARED TO IMPOSE A SECOND SET OF SANCTIONS ON MOSCOW.”
RUSSIAN retalitory sanctions;
Secretary of the General Council of United Russia and Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Andrey Turchak said that Russia is indifferent to the sanctions imposed by the West and their consequences.
When asked what options the Russians might employ against such Sanctions, an Intelligence Analyst source responded in a general manner…
Russia could close airspace to civil airlines of the countries that sanction Russia. That would be hugely disruptive to international flights.
Russia could declare that Russian exports must now be paid for in Rubles, gold, etc.
Russia could stop all sales of anything to USA (space rocket motors and oil especially).
Russia could break all contracts with countries that sanction Russia on the grounds that a state of hostility exists. That is, all oil and gas deliveries stop immediately.
Russia could announce that no more gas will be shipped to or through Ukraine on the grounds that a state of hostility exists. Russia won’t sanction anyone. They don’t play with gloves. They will stop the natural gas deliveries to Europe, and the entire world economy collapses.
Assuming a fantasy best case scenario (fantasy, because it will NEVER happen), Europe’s LNG terminal unloading capacity, even working 100%, 24/7, assuming a non-stop stream of tankers, can only match under 17% of what Russia delivers. Needless to say, European economy goes belly up the next day, and the WESTERN world will follow.
And when that happens, countries automatically pivot direct to war. A lot, including the US, get granted war powers that allow the state…
to seize the means of production and distribution,
set price controls,
require civilians to operate and maintain critical infrastructure
being drafted/forced into service,
set curfew and movement restrictions,
suspend constitutions and civil rights,, etc.
It can get very draconian very quickly. But will not change the outcome : full economical collapse.
Add to that the pure mad-max SHTF when the is no food in the cities. There isn’t much a government can do, TODAY, that can avoid the worst case scenario.
We’re NOT in 1916 or 1940, when most of the world lived on country-side, and produced food.
We’re not in 1916 or 1940, when the supply chains were extremely short (hell, you could use carriages then to supply the economy and the people).
We’re in 2022, after 2 years of constant economic decline, millions of companies that went bankrupt, an inflation that needs just a nudge to go up faster then an hyper-sonic missile, and supply chains that are thousands of miles long. Maters not what government do, it’s going to be the biggest SHTF ever. Most likely the last SHTF.
Russia and China would roll out their counter-SWIFT. It’s already in prototype stage, and ready to “turnkey” into operation.
They could abandon the “petrodollar” too. That would FUCK everyone in the WEST. Most especially those in Europe and the Untied States because they don’t have any gold. All they have is paper.
Nice Chinese girl with a filter
I guess it is a generational thing, but a lot of the Chiense girls like to use these “filters” and decorate their videos with them. They are really quite awesome, and some are jsut silly while others are funny. Check out the filters on this woman. Watch how they follow her face and movment. The tracting and positioning are exceptional!
I am getting emails from all types of sources about Ukrainian cities already being liberated. The problem is that there are, as predicted, A LOT of fakes out there, including from anti-Putin Russian interests. So rather than risk getting it wrong and list those cities, I will just offer a few comments and then take a break.
Enormous Operation
I was expecting an operational-level Russian operation, but what I see today this is clearly a strategic operation. This is way bigger than what I expected.
In the eary phases
We are in the very early phases of the operation, but I see all the usual signs of a Ukrainian strategic collapse. By tomorrow morning we should know a lot more.
The initial strke was very successful
The first strike phase of the operation has been extremely successful and the Ukrainian ground forces are now not only without any kind of cover or support (the Ukie Air Force and Navy passed away today), they are also without orders: not only has the Ukronazi HQ in the Donbass been totally destroyed, the Russians are, no doubt, putting down their EW blanket on the full area of operations.
Operational envelopment to be completed soon
I think that by tomorrow evening the operational envelopment of the Ukie forces in the eastern Ukraine will be completed. After that, only two types of Ukie soldiers will be left: those who surrendered and the dead.
Major cities are secured
The Russians have either approached or even surrounded several major Ukrainian cities. I won’t list them now. Why? Because by tomorrow we will have that list confirmed.
Belarus
Belarus is fully backing Russia (Lukashenko was very emphatic about that today), as does Iran. Our Chinese friends have been rather restrained and proffered only well-intended generalities, let’s see if that changes in the future.
Narrative is out of control
I also suspect that tomorrow will be the last day for the US PSYOPs to try to control the narrative, after that there will be too many cellphones with cameras to conceal the magnitude of the disaster.
For this reason, I still expect a major false flag.
Refugees
The Poles and Hungarians have declared that they fear a massive influx of refugees and that they are therefore deploying more forces to the border to “control the situation”. These forces could be easily and quickly moved inside the Western Ukraine to seize the Lvov and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. Best of all (for them) is that they can be pretty sure that the Russians won’t object. And with all the NATO facilities in the Ukraine being destroyed right now, the Russians can toss this (mostly Nazi) and faraway bone to whoever in the EU who wants it (The Hungarians are probably too smart for that, but the Poles???). Whatever may be the case, I expect a minor NATO operation into the western Ukraine in the next couple of days. Frankly, I couldn’t care less.
Major Risks
Another MAJOR risk is the presence in the Ukraine of A LOT of very dangerous part of the civilian infrastructure (including 15 nuclear reactors which barely function) The Ukies have already blown up at least one (pretty small) damn near Lugansk. I hope that the Russian and Belarusian special forces will secure these facilities as soon as humanely possible.
Russian Black Sea fleet
Next: watch the Russian Black Sea fleet. Something tells me that tomorrow we will see it A LOT and, probably, along the entire Ukie coast.
No long-term occupancy
Last but not least. Iraq has shown that it is one thing to destroy an army, and quite another to deal with an insurgency, even one armed with only small arms and RPGs. I remain categorically opposed to any Russian mid/long occupation of the Ukraine. I am confident that Putin will soon declare the end of major combat operations (if only because there won’t be many enemies left) and that many Russian forces will begin a pullback.
But the nightmare of having hundreds of thousands of assault rifles distributed to “the population” but which, in reality, armed what NATO will want to see as a “stay behind insurgency” will begin. And I want the Ukrainians to fight that battle by themselves, with some Russian help if needed, but not by hiding behind Russian forces.
So A LOT really depends on the people of the Ukraine: the coming days will show us who and what they are. Now is the time for them to do the right thing.
That’s it. I wish we had more info, but here we need to stop and wait.
By tomorrow we will know A LOT more.
Goodnight everybody
Andrei
A new American political party…
Here is the statement from the newest political party in the States – The National Justice Party:
The National Justice Party hopes that the situation can be resolved with as little bloodshed as possible on all sides and considers the spilling of any Russian or Ukrainian blood a tragedy. We reject the false and childish narratives about the conflict that are being promoted in Western media and place the lion’s share of blame for the escalation on the shoulders of the US and NATO, who have instigated this crisis from the beginning and cynically lied to their own citizens.President Biden has vowed to make Russia pay a steep price, but the only people he is capable of making pay anything are Americans and European citizens. Oil and natural gas prices are expected to spike even further as a result of the conflict, placing the burden for US/NATO geopolitical games on ordinary Americans and Europeans who have no interest in a hostile relationship with Russia. On February 22nd the German government, under orders from NATO, revoked the certification for the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, thus putting the project that would alleviate the energy bills of millions of Germans in further jeopardy.
Nice Chinese girl in her home
And she is nice. Why not enjoy a fine cup of coffee while sitting down and listening to mellow jazz?
China has blamed the US for creating the tensions which led to Thursday’s Russian attack on Ukraine. Beijing further called on the international community to avoid “stoking panic” over the situation.
During a press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the key question was the role played by the Americans, whom she branded “the [main] culprit of current tensions.”
“If someone keeps pouring oil on the flames while accusing others of not doing their best to put out the fire, such kind of behavior is clearly irresponsible and immoral,” Hua said. China objects to “any action that hypes up war,” she added.
Chunying accused the US of hypocrisy, asking whether Washington had respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Afghanistan, where she said it had “wantonly killed innocent people.” She called on the US to “take these questions seriously and abandon double standards.”
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Describing the unfolding events as “complex,” the spokeswoman confirmed that Beijing was not providing military support to Russia, and said China was not “jumping to any conclusions” over the situation.
She called on all sides to “work for peace instead of increasing tensions” or “stoking panic.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military attack on Ukraine on Thursday, which he said was aimed at demilitarizing and “denazifying” the country. He accused the West of flooding Ukraine with advanced weaponry and ramping up the NATO presence in the country, arguing that the Russian “special operation” was necessary to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which Moscow has recognized as sovereign states.
Russia’s military action has prompted an international outcry and threats of new, large-scale sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Thursday that Kiev had cut diplomatic ties with Moscow.
Nice Caddy
Now, this is one dream car that I would be just proud to drive about in. I love everything about this scene. From the burgandy color of the car, to the fine slacks on that cute blonde next to that lucky man.
Washington, DC
Nice Chinese girl
Well, here in China, you won’t see too many natural blondes, but you will see a lot of fine attractive women. Like this gal, for instance…
I parsed some info source and I can offer a few quick reactions to what is taking place. The operation is bigger than what I had predicted. However, I STILL don’t believe that Russia wants to invade the Ukraine.
Let’s first see what Russia has already done using ONLY HER STANDOFF WEAPONS:
The Ukrainian air defenses have ceased to exist
The Ukrainian air force has ceased to exist
The Ukrainian navy has ceased to exist
The Ukrainian command and control are severely disrupted with many command posts destroyed
All the military airfields in the Ukraine are now not operational
Numerous supply dumps of ammo, petroleum and lubricants have been destroyed.
Russia controls the entire Ukie airspace and all the Ukie coastal waters in the Black and Azov seas.
Next, let’s see what LDNR and Russian forces are, apparently, doing right now:
The LDNR forces have broken through the Ukie defenses in two locations and have penetrated 7-10km behind the LOC.
These forces advanced with fire support from Russia
The Ukie forces have built fortifications for 8 years, so the progress against the bulk of the Ukie ground forces is slow. HOWEVER
It appears that the Russian have decided to encircle the entire Ukronazi force on the Donbass by a pincer movement from the north and south
It is my opinion that Russia will encircle the Ukie forces, the entire Ukrainian force along the LOC and then wait for them to surrender thereby minimizing losses on both sides. In other words, the Russians are trying to lock the Ukies in an operational cauldron and basically remove these forces from the equation.
Second, Putin has clearly stated the Russian goals: demilitarize and denazify the Ukraine.
The first element, disarmament, is already well under way.
The denazification implies some kind of regime change. There are reports of Russian forces near Kiev and I believe that a “hunt for Nazis” will be conducted in one way or another.
Interestingly, the Russians have totally surrounded the city of Kharkov, but have not moved in (yet). This makes perfect military sense, but it also signals, or so it seems to me, that Russia wants to avoid as much as can be to get involved in offensive combat operations in big cities and also wants to avoid killing civilians. Mind you, the military which could take Grozny in 2000 can *easily* and *quickly* storm any Ukie city (if only because Ukies and Chechens are almost polar opposites in terms of their combat abilities). But why do through the bother?
When possible, the Russian will surround the Ukie cities, blockade them and wait for the white flags to appear.
Whether that is possible or not I can’t tell, and what will happen to Mariupol next will be interesting: this time, yes, the city shall be liberated, but it will be interesting to see how much resistance the LDNR/Russian forces will encounter.
BTW – does anybody now about any webcams/geocams for Mariupol?
Intermediate conclusions:
Basically, this 08.08.08 on a much larger scale: move in, disarm, withdraw.
My guesses (not more, it is waaaay too early to tell!) is that:
The Ukie forces along the LOC will be surrounded and neutralized. Once that goal in achieved, most of the Ukrainian ground threat will simply disappear. True Nazis will be shot, the rest disarmed and sent home. Their weapons will go to the LDNR.
LDNR and Russia forces will advance deep inside the Ukraine, but only to execute specific missions, after which they will be pulled back to the legal border of the LDNR (with a few exception possible for specific, local reasons).
The Ukronazi leadership will run away and Kabul like scenes are possible. Some will be caught.
The Nazi regime in Kiev will be regime changed to some other regime which will accept a Russian ceasefire and the opening of direct negotiations with both the LDNR and Russia. Eventually, a general ceasefire will be proclaimed.
I still think that a NATO (Polish?) ground operation into the Lvov and Ivano-Frankovsk regions is likely. Officially to “protect our allies and friends” but in reality with two goals:
Save face
Establish a mini-Banderastan under Polish control in western Ukraine
Feed the hyena of Europe
The Kremlin might think otherwise, but I don’t have a problem with that as long as a semi-civilized and semi-sane regime is put in power in Kiev.
There will be elections, of course, which nobody in the West will initially recognize. That’s fine. Nobody in Russia cares about Uncle Shmuel or his Euro-rodents.
Now Biden (I forced myself to listen to him, again!) is aping Obama and promises that sanctions from hell will cripple Russia. Bernhard, at Moon of Alabama, made an interesting comment today: “The Russian stock market is down but gold, oil and gas are up and Russia has so far lost zero money“. I am sure that he is correct.
And, yes, in the short to mid term, sanctions will also have some negative effects on some sectors of the Russian economy. However, in the mid to long term I think that energy costs will provide Russia with a real windfall of money. At the Russian SC meeting, Mishustin appeared to be fully relaxed, focused and calm.
Besides, as I mentioned yesterday, the recent surge in energy prices over the past month have already refunded Russia all the money invested into NS2, and that is BEFORE the (inevitably upcoming) lawsuits against Germany 🙂
In a recent post I “recognized” both President Biden and Chancellor Scholtz for doing everything in their power to force Russia to intervene.
Today I want to recognize the truly immense contribution of “Ze” himself, and the Nazi nutcases around him. He was the first to mention that Banderastan wanted to acquire nuclear weapons. The Nazi nutcases in the Ukie regime and social media immediately picked up this truly “brilliant” idea.
I want to sincerely thank “Ze” specifically for:
Forcing the Russian to intervene (Nazi and nukes are a bad combo in any Russian’s mind!)
Frankly, “Ze” did a lot for Russia, and I think that Putin should let him flee to the West. But the one guy I want to see in handcuffs and tried in Odessa is Aleksei Goncharenko.
Yeah, I did say in Odessa, didn’t I?
Which brings me to one more possibility: Russia cannot leave the Ukie Black Sea coast under any kind of Nazi or pro-NATO control. Hopefully, the next regime in power in Kiev can deal with that, and Russia can help if needed. But if not, I think that the Black Sea Fleet might have to conduct the operations needed to make sure that no part of the Black Sea coast is ever used to threaten Russia again.
I would MUCH prefer if the Ukrainian people themselves cleaned their own house. But if they can’t, then, okay, Russia can help as long as her intervention is temporary.
In fact, I would categorically oppose any longterm Russian intervention in the Ukraine beyond the LDNR. I don’t think that it will happen anyway. But a short term denazification operation might be unavoidable and I accept that.
Putin had no good option left. Russia, as a nation, had no good options left. So they chose the “least bad option” possible. So far, I like what I see very much.
But while the initial standoff strikes are now mostly over, it will take time to liberate, disarm and stabilize the LDNR and the Ukrainian territories adjacent to it.
Also, I can’t imagine the CIA/MI6/Bellincat/CNN and the rest of them not executing at least ONE major false flag of some kind. Not because that will change anything, but because that is what they are (kinda) good at.
Last, and very deliberately least, its over for the EU. The EU was always a US colony, but now it will sink to a new low with Europeans losing any remnants, however tiny, of self-respect they might have retained. From now on, the EU is Uncle Shmuel’s punkass bitch (forgive the profanity, but that is what fits best in my opinion). All I can say about that is this: those who have no self-respect cannot expect to be respected by others.
That’s it on my end.
Your turn now.
Cheers
Andrei
American Biolabs in the Ukraine
The US biowarfare labs have been i the back of my mind for a while now. Since they (mostly) seem to be located next to Russian borders (I wonder why?), would it be better to use standoff weapons to incinerate these labs and all the materials inside of them, or capture them and remove or destroy the biowarfare agents very carefully? No easy answers.
Other info was provided.
Apparently Putin is targeting all the bioweapons sites with direct missile hits and destruction.
And now, the Chinese are stepping up to the plate with their own warnings for the out-of-control moronic United States…
PLA general warn US over Taiwan… With the words “or else… “
“The special military operation in Donbass will soon be over and all the cities will be liberated.”
Russian Defense Ministry
“According to intelligence, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ troops and service members are leaving their positions in large numbers, dropping their weapons. No strikes are being carried out on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ units that have laid down their arms.”
China FM spox accuses US of ‘inciting war’ in Ukraine
Hua Chunying has said the Russia-Ukraine situation reflects a “complex historical background,” after Moscow implemented a “military operation” in Donbass.The FM spox accused Western media of using the word “invasion” but did not when US military decided to initiate ‘armed actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.’She continued to lambast Washington for its role – condemning America for ‘hyping up tensions and inciting war, while selling over $1.5BN worth of weapons.’
Peskov
The demilitarization of Ukraine, which is one of the goals of the Russian military operation, means the neutralization of its military potential
Nice Chinese girl
Let’s wrap this all up on a positive note…
Some fine “eye candy”. Keep in mind that according to the American and UK press “news” that the Chinese are terribly malnourshed, starving waif in need of freedom™ and democracy™. They jsut cannot wait to adopt the “American way of life”, become a transexual and shart a showing some enormous booty!
Wrapping everything up in my concluding statements
This is a time of enormous change. The balance has recentered and the fulcrum is now in the favor of Asia. The Western “leaders” are scrambling, and theya re in Check Mate. No matter what they do will cause hardship for them. All they can do is quite limited.
Flip the table and destroy the world in a MAD nuclear senario.
Try to minimize the damage as much as possible.
My guess is the idiots will do something terribly irrational, erratic, and dangerous. (As if they haven’t already.)
Buckle up.
Remain calm.
It’s like jumping into a pool of icy cold water. Once you get over the shock, it becomes rather nice there.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
This is a topical subject. It is something that is going on right now, and the outcome is not determined. The situation is indeterminate.
It is “funny” how the evil regime / military empire operates. Five months of “A war in Taiwan, A war in Taiwan”, followed by three months of non-stop “A war in the Ukraine, A war in the Ukraine”. China didn’t do anything. Russia didn’t do anything. But the facts don’t matter.
Today, the Ukraine started to attack it’s “breakaway” Eastern provinces. The United States fully expects that Russia will get involved, and they are so Hell Bent that Russia would do something, that they can then slap their “sanctions” on Russia and force Germany to abandon the Nordstrom Gas pipeline from Russia.
Why am I so confident that this is what the plan is?
Well, the CIA mouthpiece said so…
Yeah. So this one little article says…
USA LP gas exports will increase in 2022…
Due to the Northstrom gas pipeline from Russia stopped…
Because Germany will adhere to American sanctions…
Against Russia …
Because Russia invaded the Ukraine.
And that Russia will invade because TODAY the Ukranians started to kill their separatist groups in the LDR.
Except that…
Russia is not budging. It’s not making any military moves.
The Ukrainians must sort out their own issues.
Thus, there’s no excuse to sanction Russia.
And thus the entire American plot to seize control of energy into Europe has (so far) failed. I’m sure that they have a “trick or two up their sleeve“, so you cannot say that the situation is fixed in place. It isn’t. The United States evil empire is pushing and pushing and pushing for control of the world. It is flailing and failing everywhere. But it’s still in the ring fighting.
Just after I published my first long article on the likely origins of the Covid outbreak in April 2020, our alternative media website was suddenly deplatformed, being banned from Facebook and with all our pages completely deranked by Google. For almost a decade, my article The Myth of Hispanic Crime had regularly been ranked #2 of some 200 million Google search results on that topic, but it now suddenly disappeared from the public discussion, a development that deeply rankled me.
Being blocked by the two primary gatekeepers of the global Internet has obviously had a serious impact upon our ability to reach potential readers, especially new ones. Nonetheless, our articles do still occasionally strike a spark and go viral, racking up many tens of thousands of pageviews, an encouraging situation. But the massive current media propaganda-bubble promoting an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, which seems to be a ridiculous hoax, has apparently shifted that landscape, creating a huge demand for contrary perspectives.
Last weekend I published Mike Whitney’s piece arguing that the motive behind the sudden war-hysteria was actually to prevent the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, which would have fostered their mutually-beneficial economic cooperation. Such peaceful Eurasian integration might be viewed as a major geopolitical threat by some American strategists, who thereby provoked the sudden war-scare.
The Ukrainian crisis has nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s about Germany and, in particular, a pipeline that connects Germany to Russia called Nord Stream 2.
Washington sees the pipeline as a threat to its primacy in Europe and has tried to sabotage the project at every turn.
Even so, Nord Stream has pushed ahead and is now fully-operational and ready-to-go.
Once German regulators provide the final certification, the gas deliveries will begin.
German homeowners and businesses will have a reliable source of clean and inexpensive energy while Russia will see a significant boost to their gas revenues.
It’s a win-win situation for both parties.The US Foreign Policy establishment is not happy about these developments.
They don’t want Germany to become more dependent on Russian gas because commerce builds trust and trust leads to the expansion of trade.
As relations grow warmer, more trade barriers are lifted, regulations are eased, travel and tourism increase, and a new security architecture evolves.
In a world where Germany and Russia are friends and trading partners, there is no need for US military bases, no need for expensive US-made weapons and missile systems, and no need for NATO.
There’s also no need to transact energy deals in US Dollars or to stockpile US Treasuries to balance accounts.
Transactions between business partners can be conducted in their own currencies which is bound to precipitate a sharp decline in the value of the dollar and a dramatic shift in economic power.
This is why the Biden administration opposes Nord Stream.
It’s not just a pipeline, it’s a window into the future; a future in which Europe and Asia are drawn closer together into a massive free trade zone that increases their mutual power and prosperity while leaving the US on the outside looking in.
Warmer relations between Germany and Russia signal an end to the “unipolar” world order the US has overseen for the last 75 years.
A German-Russo alliance threatens to hasten the decline of the Superpower that is presently inching closer to the abyss.
This is why Washington is determined to do everything it can to sabotage Nord Stream and keep Germany within its orbit. It’s a matter of survival
Strange American actions
It seems so straight forward, right?
Not so fast.
Biden cancelled the US pipeline his first week in office.
Now he’s cancelled the Israeli pipeline.
But he approved the Russia pipeline, through the Ukraine (no less).
Biden Abandons Israeli Pipeline In Favor Of Russian Gas Via Ukraine
President Biden is withdrawing U.S. support for the EastMed pipeline that would bring natural gas from Israel to the European continent.
Europe is currently in an energy crisis with record prices for natural gas and electricity, potential rolling blackouts, low supplies of natural gas, millions of citizens in energy poverty and increasing coal consumption, which the continent has wanted to end.
Increasing reliance on intermittent renewable sources that have not produced to their potential has put pressure on other sources the Europeans have discouraged.
The result of Biden’s most recent decision is making Europe even more dependent on Russia for its natural gas.
Currently, Western Europe gets over 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia via a pipeline that runs through Ukraine.
Russia wants to activate its Nord Stream 2 pipeline that runs under the Baltic so that it can avoid the current route through Ukraine.
Biden gave Russia the go-ahead in July 2021 for the continued construction of Nord Stream 2, which Russia predicted could go on-line by the end of the year. It is now completed.
Rather than helping an ally, Biden is helping Russia dominate Europe’s energy system and gain economic strength in doing so.
The only explanation that Biden’s administration has given to withdrawing support is: “Washington’s interest is now switching to renewable energy sources.”
While the White House is using its dogged support for the switch to renewable energy to justify its decision, the European Commission drafted legal text that pronounces natural gas and nuclear power as “transitional” green energy sources to be used to bridge countries away from coal toward technologies like wind and solar.
EastMed Gas Pipeline
The EastMed Gas pipeline is a 1,180-mile undersea pipeline project from Israel to southern Europe, set to be completed by 2025, which, when completed will ease Europe’s dependence on Russia and Turkey, which serves as a hub for oil and natural gas.
Construction of the pipeline is expected to cost approximately €6 billion ($6.86 billion).
The pipeline is being developed by IGI Poseidon S.A., a 50-50 joint venture between the Greek gas utility DEPA and the Italian gas utility Edison.
The EastMed Pipeline accord was signed in Athens by the leaders of Greece, Cyprus, and Israel on January 2, 2020.
Biden’s Political Decision
Biden is not only catering to Russia regarding the EastMed pipeline decision but also to Turkey, who is offended that it was left out of the EastMed pipeline accord.
Turkey believes that it should be part of the pipeline project amid claims over natural gas in the east Mediterranean.
This business cannot be done without Turkey. Because if [gas] is to be transferred to Europe from here, it will only happen through Turkey.”
According to an expert, the Biden administration is “attributing huge significance to Turkey,” and its future after Erdogan.
Biden’s Inconsistencies
MedEast is the second major pipeline that the Biden administration has put a damper on: the first being the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring oil from Canada and North Dakota to the Gulf States.
Canadian oil is heavy oil needed for U.S. refineries that retooled decades ago when U.S. light oil production was declining.
Keystone XL would also provide more oil to the United States from an ally rather than being dependent on OPEC and Russia for oil.
For several months since the pandemic began, Russia was the number 2 supplier of oil to the United States, competing with Mexico for that distinction.
When Biden blocked the Keystone XL pipeline by canceling its Presidential permit, he blocked a project that went over and above existing standards to address issues such as carbon emissions, safety standards, and cooperation with indigenous people impacted by the pipeline.
Biden’s Keystone XL and MedEast pronouncements both overturn decisions made by President Trump.
When Joe Biden agreed to set aside U.S. objections to the controversial Russian undersea Nord Stream 2 pipeline, he reversed former President Trump’s policy of opposing the project due to security concerns.
The 760-mile Baltic Sea pipeline allows direct Russian natural gas supply to Germany and other western European countries and allows Russia to dominate the European energy market, making Putin a power player in continental Europe, where Russia already supplies over 40 percent of its natural gas.
Conclusion
President Biden continues to overturn decisions made by President Trump regarding energy policy.
In the most recent case, he has withdrawn U.S. support for the EastMed gas pipeline project, which would transport natural gas from Israel to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea when completed in 2025.
The project would remove some of the continent’s dependency on Russia for natural gas supplies that Russia has used as a geopolitical tool at times in the past. Biden’s announced reasoning is that the focus in Washington is now on renewable energy, despite the European Commission seeing the necessity to allow natural gas to be deemed a “transitional green energy source”.
Biden has shown huge inconsistency on his pipeline decisions, with one major exception—they all overturn decisions made by President Trump.
What’s going on
It appears that Geo-political concerns and domestic green energy concerns are at odds. Alliances are at odds, and there are competing interests all backed by powerful corportations and individuals with competing interests. Thus making the United States a schizophrenic entity.
Oh, Great! A schizophrenic bully with the largest arsenal of nuclear and bioweapons in the world. What could go wrong?
It seems, to me at least, that the United States is desparately trying to control Europe, and Israel by energy. If you control access to energy, you can control them, and by dishing out access in measured doses, you can use them as pawns to do your bidding.
And that is what I think is going on.
An Evil Empire
Though it does seem rather mish-mash. Does the hand on the left know what the hand on the right is doing?
Do you want to know why the rest of the world calls it an evil empire?
The big fear right now is that sanctions against Russia will be ineffective. You slap sanctions on Russia and they will not work. Russia is pretty much autonomus.
So what are the American / UK “experts” saying?
Check out this horror…
Argument
An expert's point of view on a current event.
If Russia Invades Ukraine, Sanction China
Putin has found an economic lifeline in Beijing that only Washington can destroy.
By Aaron Arnold, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.
.
Faced with the threat of further Western sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been seeking shelter in China.
On Feb. 4, the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a new strategic partnership between their two countries.
A joint statement described the Chinese-Russian relationship as a “friendship” with “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”
Putin expressed support for China’s opposition to Taiwanese independence, and Xi seconded Russia’s demand that NATO end its eastward expansion.
They also unveiled plans for broader economic cooperation, particularly in the oil and gas sectors.
The timing is no coincidence: At least in the short term, strengthened Chinese-Russian ties provide Putin an opportunity to lessen the blow from potential Western sanctions.
This puts the United States in a serious bind.
If Washington expects to convey a credible deterrent against a Russian invasion of Ukraine using financial and economic sanctions, it will need to signal its resolve to impose secondary sanctions against China in the same breath.
The problem is that the United Kingdom and the European Union, key U.S. allies, do not have the same legal or regulatory frameworks to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese banks or state-owned enterprises.
U.S. secondary sanctions, which target a third-party entity or country for conducting business with the primary subject of sanctions, rely on broad interpretations of jurisdiction.
To put it nicely; a very broad and liberal interpetation of the law; or to put it better; to make up the rules as you see fit. -MM
Most countries adopt some form of a territorial or nationality standard, meaning that its national borders define its jurisdictional reach.
The United States, however, considers its citizens, companies, and property as falling under its jurisdiction even if located abroad.
The United States considers the world to be it's territory. Not its borders. -MM
Because the U.K. and EU lack this framework to apply secondary sanctions, it leaves Washington alone to flex its extraterritorial muscle against China.
And though the United States is unlikely to suffer any significant domestic economic blowback from imposing broad financial and economic sanctions against Russia, it is a different story with China.
At a Feb. 7 press conference following his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States was coordinating “a strong package of sanctions that are going to clearly demonstrate international resolve and impose swift and severe consequences if Russia violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a key architect of the U.S. sanctions regime against Iran, is also working on a bipartisan bill that would apply what he described as the “mother of all sanctions” on Russia.
There are still significant disagreements in Washington on when to apply sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany.
Well, you must realize that this is a project between Russia and Germany. The USA is not involved in it in any way, shape or means. -MM
The pipeline is owned by the Russian state-backed energy corporation Gazprom and has become a focal point among NATO allies because of its role in increasing Germany’s energy dependence on Russia.
Democrats, including Menendez and Biden, prefer to wait for Russia to invade Ukraine before putting sanctions in place, while Republicans are in favor of imposing sanctions on the pipeline immediately.
Republicans want to sanction Russia without reason. The Democrats are waiting for an excuse. -MM
Nevertheless, Menendez’s proposed legislation is sweeping and includes options to target Russia’s energy and finance sectors as well as key Russian government officials and even to boot Russia from SWIFT, the global financial messaging system that connects banks around the world.
The pieces for a broader, multilateral approach to sanctions are finally coming together.
This should scare Putin.
Responding to criticism that Germany was not doing enough to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, Scholz provided reassurances during his visit to Washington that Berlin is committed to imposing costs on Russia if it invades Ukraine.
It remains to be seen, however, whether that includes ditching Nord Stream 2.
That is the plan. Do not fool yourselves. -MM
Although Scholz has been vague about the pipeline’s fate if push comes to shove, he did note that Germany was prepared to take “all necessary steps” in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, noting the need for strategic ambiguity to head off an attempt by Russia to preemptively fortify itself against Western sanctions.
European leaders are fearful that an all-out barrage of sanctions against Russia could result in severe economic pain for their own economies.
Sanctions against Russia, whether with Russia alone or with China, will REALLY harm the EU. But the insane psychopaths in Washington DC do not care. -MM
Unlike the United States, many large European banks have close ties to Russia.
Europe’s energy sector is particularly at risk—relying on Russia for more than 40 percent of its imported natural gas.
The United States is trying to prevent a potential energy crisis in Europe should Putin weaponize Russia’s oil and gas exports. Amid already rising energy prices, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been working to assure European leaders that the Biden administration is committed to easing “any disruptions to Europe’s energy supply.”
And so they believe him? -MM
Specifically, he pointed to discussions with governments and major global suppliers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to shore up supply.
The United States has ramped up its LNG exports to Europe as an alternative to Russian gas.
As of January, some 75 percent of U.S. LNG exports were bound for Europe. Last year, that figure stood at only 23 percent.
The terms of the 30-year contract call for Russia to supply an additional 10 billion cubic meters of gas to China per year via a new pipeline.
The implication is that deepening economic cooperation with China would help Russia absorb some of the shock if the West did impose severe sanctions against its banking and energy sectors. Russia is one of China’s largest oil and gas suppliers.
Russia is nearly and firmly isolated and sanctions of any types will not really affect it. -MM
But although these deepening economic ties might dampen the blow of U.S. sanctions, they are not completely out of reach of secondary U.S. sanctions.
To ensure its threats of sanctions remain credible, Washington needs to pressure Putin’s emerging economic lifelines by signaling that it is prepared to go beyond its standard sanctions package to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and state-owned enterprises if Russia invades Ukraine.
There is precedent for such a move, but times have changed. China has become wise to the reach of U.S. extraterritorial sanctions and developed its own legal frameworks to push back.
In July 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department levied secondary sanctions against China’s Bank of Kunlun for knowingly facilitating transactions on behalf of designated Iranian banks.
This designation caught many experts and industry insiders by surprise, as it was an unprecedented escalation in the use of extraterritorial sanctions against a third party.
Under international UN laws, this action is ILLEGAL. Trust me, the Chinese will not forgive and forget. -MM
A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson chided the United States for “invoking its domestic laws to impose sanctions against the Chinese financial institution” and urged the United States to reverse the sanctions.
The argument is valid. Chinese businesses, citizens, and entities do not full under United States law. Further, neither does their trading partners. -MM
While the designation ruffled Beijing, the two countries avoided any substantial political or economic fallout, with China opting to isolate the small bank from broader financial markets.
Later, in 2017, the United States imposed a $1.19 billion fine against another Chinese entity for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran: China’s largest telecommunications company, ZTE.
In addition to paying the fine, ZTE would also be required to develop internal policies to avoid future sanctions violations and undergo a corporate restructuring, according to a settlement reached with company.
The company settled out of court, even though the pressure was illegally applied. -MM
To force ZTE to comply with the settlement terms, the U.S. Commerce Department threatened to place the company on its Entity List—effectively shutting the company out of U.S. markets.
When ZTE did violate the terms of its settlement, though, the Trump administration opted to issue a waiver despite objections from senior advisors, thereby tossing the company a lifeline and preventing it from going under.
Senior officials means John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. -MM
Although there are differing theories as to why then-President Donald Trump reversed the designation—whether for personal political gain or to entice China to remain engaged in trade negotiations—the cases show the reach of U.S. extraterritorial sanctions policy.
The U.S. dollar accounts for nearly 60 percent of global foreign currency reserves—and the Chinese renminbi does not.
That is true for NOW. And the Chinese realize that. But, as I have reported elsewhere, one day they are going to flick a switch and suddenly a staged withdrawl from the USD will occur and the USD will collapse in value. Like I said, the Chinese do not forget. -MM
China, however, has started to push back against foreign extraterritorial sanctions.
Last year, the country established an anti-sanctions law—similar to the EU’s “blocking statute,” which attempts to curb the extraterritorial application of third-party sanctions by prohibiting compliance with extraterritorial laws.
China’s law notes that the country explicitly opposes “hegemonism and power politics” and “opposes any country’s interference in China’s internal affairs under any pretext and by any means,” giving authorities broad powers to impose penalties against Chinese businesses that adhere to U.S. sanctions policies.
These penalties could include fines and even confiscation of assets.
The Chinese do not play. They could single handly destory the American automotive industry by sanctioning all of their factories inside of China and nationalizing them. Flick of a switch. -MM
Many see the law as putting multinational banks in a quagmire: caught in a legal limbo between violating U.S. sanctions and being held liable for adhering to them.
Large multinational banks comply with U.S. sanctions due to the hegemony of the U.S. dollar in the global financial system.
But that's the only reason. -MM
In 2014, for example, U.S. authorities levied a record $9 billion fine against the French bank BNP Paribas for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, among others.
Although China has yet to use its new anti-sanctions laws against U.S. interests, the opportunity will undoubtedly arise if Washington aims secondary sanctions at China.
In this case, banks may be forced to choose between U.S. fines for violating sanctions and Chinese fines for adhering to them.
So, if Washington is going to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese institutions, it must be prepared for retaliation.
In addition to the potential for putting scores of multinational entities in legal limbo, perhaps even forcing them to choose sides, more than $615 billion worth of bilateral trade will also be put in jeopardy. (China accounts for nearly 19 percent of all U.S. imports.)
By VALUE. Not by volume.
90 - 95% of all medicines come from CHina. Are you ready to live without aspirin or antibiotics? How do you think your parents and grandparents will do when their blood pressure medicine and heart medicine is no longer available? -MM
Thus far, there have been no indications that Washington is considering specific secondary sanctions against China, beyond mere posturing.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price recently told reporters: “We have an array of tools that we can deploy if we see foreign companies, including those in China, doing their best to backfill U.S. export control actions, to evade them, to get around them.”
Deploying these tools against China will have repercussions for U.S. businesses and economic interests—a burden Washington has thus far not had to grapple with and has instead asked its European allies to bear.
Nonetheless, the United States must be prepared to cut off all avenues for Russia to escape Western sanctions.
This includes preparing to wield secondary sanctions against Chinese institutions as well as working to limit blowback to U.S. interests.
The simple truth is that the U.S. dollar accounts for nearly 60 percent of global foreign currency reserves—and the Chinese renminbi does not. That is a big stick to wield.
So what is this “expert” saying?
Well, the USA has its tenticles in just about every country. They are all in debt to the USA.
That gives the United States power.
Just like in prison. If you owe another inmate something, you must pay it back of become indentured. This technique has been used with great effect by the United States in controlling the world.
If the USA sanctions China, the nations will be forced to choose between [1] China or [2] their debt owed to the United States.
Of course, he argues, they would choose the United States over the “Worlds factory”. Right?
Ah.
Don’t be so sure.
The USA is dependent upon China for everything. And what it does not get directly out of China, it gets from countries that are / do.
90% of medicines come from China. What happens when there are no antibiodics? What about heart medicine? Pain killers?
99% of computers come from China. This includes monitors, IC chips (don’t let the Korean / Taiwan medi fool you otherwise), and all preferials.
80% of the world cellphones and much of their inner workings come from China.
95% of all household items, goods, and appliances come from China.
95% of automotive parts come from China. It doesn’t matter what car you are driving. All the spare parts are made in China.
Sanctioning China would be the most stupid blunder, of all the many stupid blunders to choose from, in all of history.
So let’s talk about China.
Now, China is really not like anyone in the “West” thinks. It’s really something different, and as time moves forward, it looks more and more like a sompletely different society that comes from another galaxy.
Let’s start with a few girls.
Chinese girl in a gym
Take a look at the screens on the wall behind her. Yes, this is normal. You can watch media while you exerise and your exercise stats are projected onto the screens as you exercise.
No wonder that the Chinese women are healthy, thin and free of ugly tattoos.
You know, I come from the United States.
Seriously, today, the ideas of beauty in the United States are different than from that inside of China. Darker skin, chubbier and shorter build, bigger asses, and tattoo decorations make for an attractive American woman…
An American beauty.
…or so I have been told.
Personally, I like all women. Short, tall, robust, cute, athletic, big and small. But the ones that I favor all are [1] great talkers with [2] interesting thoughts and opinions, a [3] strong personality, and [4] great personal confidence and a [5] real pride in their actions and apperance.
Which is why, perhaps, I love China so much.
Robust Chinese girl in brown
I do admire a fine “robust” woman. That’s me, and I don’t expect anyone to share my tastes. Here we have a fine woman. This gal is a real “head turner”, and I find her very aluring. Most especially in this dress.
Here’s a clip from the violent anti-China “news” network FOX. They are so very anti-China that they have to preface this report with a disclaimer that they are going to say something positive about China, and that people should not think bad about them for doing so.
The segment is spot on. And yes, China is doing the right thing. Don’t you know.
Women do not realize just how attractive they are when they are calm, comfortable and confident. Look at the expression on this woman. See the confidence? Man, oh man. What a sexy girl.
In many of the upper-class Business KTVs the girls are expected to buy their display uniforms. Many of which are traditional such as what this woman is wearing.
There’s no question about this. She is a stunner. Actually, I really love her neck and shoulders. I almost want to get a pencil and a sketch pad and start sketching it out with a light orange wash and some white inking overlay.
This video shows the front common area / yard in front of the housing complex individual buildings. Many areas a paved like this, while others are manicured trees, shrubs and flowers.
Note how the Huawei camera negates the handheld jitter while jogging and keeps the face and eyes absolutely centered throughout the video. Pretty cool technology.
In the cities, one of the fashion items is to wear a light topper sweater that fits over the tops of the boobies so that when you walk it accentuates the jiggle movement of the breasts. Personally I like it, but it does look a little bit strange to my older gentlemen sensibilities. Check out the style…
Russian FM site inaccessible, hacked or truly overwhelmed by the fact that the reply to the US reply has been published? In any case Cassad has it in Russian.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7446905.html
Posted by: Paco | Feb 17 2022 17:27 utc | 82
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Yandex translation:
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February 17, 17:46
The Russian Foreign Ministry has published a written response to the American written response to Russian claims on security guarantees in Europe.
Response to response
On February 17, 2022, US Ambassador John Sullivan, invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry, was given the following reaction to the previously received American response on the Russian draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security guarantees.
TASS publishes the full text of the statement.
General characteristics
We state that the American side did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the draft security guarantees agreement prepared by the Russian side with the United States.
We are talking about [1] the rejection of further expansion of NATO, [2] the withdrawal of the “Bucharest formula” that [3] “Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO”, and [4] the refusal to create military bases on the territory of states that were previously part of the USSR and are not members of the alliance, including [5] the use of their infrastructure for conducting any military activity, as well as [6] the return of military capabilities, including shock, and NATO infrastructure to the state of 1997, when the Founding Act of Russia — NATO was signed.
These provisions are of fundamental importance for the Russian Federation.
The package nature of Russian proposals has been ignored, from which “convenient” topics have been deliberately chosen, which, in turn, are “twisted” in the direction of creating advantages for the United States and its allies.
This approach, as well as the accompanying rhetoric of American officials, reinforces reasonable doubts that Washington is really committed to correcting the situation in the field of Euro-security.
The growing military activity of the United States and NATO directly at the Russian borders is alarming, while our “red lines” and fundamental security interests, as well as Russia’s sovereign right to protect them, continue to be ignored.
Ultimatum demands to withdraw troops from certain areas on Russian territory, accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects of reaching real agreements.
In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees of ensuring our security by the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures.
In Ukraine
There is no “Russian invasion” of Ukraine, as the United States and its allies have been officially declaring since last autumn, and there are no plans, therefore, statements about “Russia’s responsibility for escalation” cannot be regarded otherwise than as an attempt to exert pressure and devalue Russia’s proposals for security guarantees.
The mention in this context of Russian obligations under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 has nothing to do with the internal Ukrainian conflict and does not apply to the circumstances resulting from the actions of internal factors there.
The loss of territorial integrity by the Ukrainian state is the result of the processes that took place inside it.
The accusations of Russia contained in the American response that it “occupied Crimea” also do not stand up to any criticism.
In 2014, a coup took place in Kiev, the initiators of which, with the support of the United States and their allies, set a course for the creation of a nationalist state that infringes on the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population, as well as other “non-titular” ethnic groups.
It is not surprising that in such a situation, Crimeans voted for reunification with Russia.
The decision of the people of Crimea and Sevastopol to return to the Russian Federation was made by free expression of will in the exercise of the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter.
Force or threat of force was not used. The question of Crimea’s ownership is closed.
If Ukraine is accepted into NATO, there will be a real threat that the regime in Kiev will try to “return” Crimea by force, dragging the United States and its allies, in accordance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, into a direct armed conflict with Russia with all the ensuing consequences.
The thesis repeated in the US response that Russia allegedly “ignited the conflict in the Donbas” is untenable.
Its reasons are purely intra-Ukrainian in nature.
The settlement is possible only through the implementation of the Minsk agreements and a set of measures, the priority and responsibility for the implementation of which are clearly spelled out and unanimously confirmed by UN Security Council resolution 2202, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
In paragraph 2 of this resolution, Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk are named as parties.
None of these documents mention Russia’s responsibility for the conflict in the Donbas.
Russia, together with the OSCE, plays the role of mediator in the main negotiating format – the contact group – and together with Berlin and Paris – in the “Normandy format”, which formulates recommendations to the parties to the conflict and monitors their implementation.
To de-escalate the situation around Ukraine, it is fundamentally important to take the following steps.
This is forcing Kiev to implement a set of measures, stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine, withdrawing all Western advisers and instructors from there, the refusal of NATO countries from any joint exercises with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the withdrawal of all foreign weapons previously supplied to Kiev outside Ukrainian territory.
In this regard, we draw attention to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a press conference following talks in Moscow with French President Emmanuel Macron on February 7, 2022, stressed that we are open to dialogue and urge “to think about stable security conditions for everyone, equal for all participants in international life.”
Force configuration
We note that in their response to the Russian proposals, the United States insists that progress in improving the situation in the field of European security “can only be achieved in terms of de-escalation in relation to Russia’s threatening actions directed against Ukraine,” which, as we understand, implies the requirement to withdraw Russian troops from the borders of Ukraine.
At the same time, the United States is ready to talk only about “mutual obligations … to refrain from deploying permanent-based forces with combat missions on the territory of Ukraine” and “consider discussing the problem of conventional armed forces.”
For the rest, the American side remains silent about our proposals contained in paragraphs 2 of Article 4 and paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the draft bilateral treaty and declares that “the current configuration of the US and NATO forces is limited, proportional and fully complies with the obligations under the NATO-Russia Founding Act.”
We proceed from the fact that the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on its territory does not and cannot affect the fundamental interests of the United States. We would like to remind you that there are no our forces on the territory of Ukraine.
At the same time, the United States and its allies were advancing their military infrastructure to the east, deploying contingents in the territories of new members.
They circumvented the limitations of the CFE Treaty and interpreted very loosely the provisions of the Russia—NATO Founding Act on the rejection of “additional permanent deployment of substantial combat forces.”
The situation that has developed as a result of these actions is unacceptable.
We insist on the withdrawal of all US armed forces and weapons stationed in CEE, SEE and the Baltic States.
We are convinced that there are quite enough national potentials in these zones.
We are ready to discuss this topic on the basis of art. 4 and 5 of the Russian draft agreement.
The principle of indivisibility of security
We did not see any evidence in the US response that the American side is fully committed to observing the immutable principle of indivisibility of security.
The general statements about the consideration of this postulate by the American side are in direct contradiction with Washington’s unwillingness to abandon a counterproductive and destabilizing course to create advantages for itself and its allies at the expense of Russia’s security interests.
This is precisely what is happening as a result of the unrestrained implementation by the North Atlantic Alliance, with the leading role of the United States, of the policy of unlimited geostrategic and military development of the post-Soviet space, including the territory of Ukraine, which is particularly sensitive for us.
All this is happening directly on the Russian borders.
Thus, our “red lines” and fundamental security interests are ignored, and Russia’s inalienable right to ensure them is rejected.
For us, of course, this is unacceptable.
Additionally, we remind you that this principle is enshrined in the [1] preamble of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on [2] “Measures for Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms of 2011”, the [3] extension of which for five years [4] without any exceptions was [5] agreed by the parties in February last year, as well as [6] in a number of OSCE and Russia—[7] NATO basic documents adopted at the highest level: [8] in the preamble of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, [9] in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe of 1990, [10] the Founding Act of Russia — [11] NATO of 1997, [12] the Istanbul Charter for European Security of the OSCE of 1999, [13] the Rome Declaration of Russia-[14] NATO of 2002 and the Astana Declaration of the OSCE Summit of 2010.
We note that the response received mentions Washington’s commitment to the concept of indivisibility of security.
But in the text, it boils down to the right of states “to freely choose or change ways to ensure their security, including union treaties.”
This freedom is not absolute and is only half of the well-known formula fixed in the Charter of European Security.
Its second part requires that, when exercising this right, not “… strengthen one’s security at the expense of the security of other States.”
We cannot consider the letter received from NATO dated February 10, 2022 as a response to the message sent by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on January 28, 2022 to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on this issue.
We asked for an answer in a national capacity.
Conclusion
The United States is playing a very dangerous game, and using everything in its power to wrest control of the energy through Europe. The battlefield is the Ukraine, and they are sponsoring the entire fighting and trying and forcing the blame upon Russia.
Russia will not have any of this.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday endorsed Russia’s nuclear deterrent policy, which allows him to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike targeting the nation’s critical government and military infrastructure.By including a non-nuclear attack as a possible trigger for Russian nuclear retaliation, the document appears to send a warning signal to the United States.
The new expanded wording reflects Russian concerns about the development of prospective weapons that could give Washington the capability to knock out key military assets and government facilities without resorting to atomic weapons.In line with Russian military doctrine, the new document reaffirms that the country could use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or an aggression involving conventional weapons that “threatens the very existence of the state.”But the policy document now also offers a detailed description of situations that could trigger the use of nuclear weapons. They include the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction against Russia or its allies and an enemy attack with conventional weapons that threatens the country's existence.In addition to that, the document now states that Russia could use its nuclear arsenals if it gets “reliable information” about the launch of ballistic missiles targeting its territory or its allies and also in the case of ”enemy impact on critically important government or military facilities of the Russian Federation, the incapacitation of which could result in the failure of retaliatory action of nuclear forces."
-Defense News
As a justification, the minions and toadies, and appratus inside the United States “news” are busily justifying their militaristic actions in order to gain popular and military advantage thought the region and now there are “experts” that are arguing that the United States seize the initative that this time, and take out both Russia and China at the same time.
China has warned the United States that it would “strike back” in response to any “reckless” actions, urging Washington to withdraw its recent passing of sanctions targeting people and entities tied to human rights abuses committed by Beijing.
-MSN
This is extraordinarily DANGEROUS.
All sorts of bad things can come of it. As I have stated earlier, of all the blunder-headed, stupid, ignorant, and dangerous foolhardy actions that the American dying empire could perform, this single action could be it’s worst.
But turhtfully, the “leadership” are so ignorant and stupid that they have no idea what the fuck they are doing nor dealing with.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Well, I have covered this issue on all sorts of articles, each one highly detailed and laid out clearly. What makes this (particular) article different is that we are now watching and observing overt actions, as opposed to covert actions.
Yes, The USA has been carpet bombing China with bioweapons since 2017, but the American mainstream media turned that war effort hidden. It turned it covert.
Now, with each overt action, we see an increase of pressure of a retaliatory nature. This response is against the enormous United States military empire, and its surrogates.
So here, in this article, we are going to cover the first dramatic weapon exchanges in February 2022.
It's biological weapons vs Scalar / directed energy weapons.
No. I’m not going to cover the (supposed) any day now… “war in the Ukraine”. LOL. That’s for the mindless sheeple to believe.
No. We are instead going to talk about real covert and overt activities. Not the manufactured narrative that is there for the sole purposes of population control / fear manipulation and entertainment.
But first a review of the American war plan arrangements using biological weapons.
America’s Bioweapon grand strategy
Here’s the grand scheme…
Suppress foe-nations.
Then take advantage of seeded discord using NED assets.
Generate “regime change”.
Absorb the nations into the unipolar arrangement by proxy.
Functionally, it works like this…
Spread out an array of bioweapons of different classes, globally. While the individual nations are busy trying to develop vaccines, inoculate friendly-nations with mRNA injections.
The advantage of an mRNA injection is that it can be easily and quickly configured “on the fly” for whatever biological entity that is thrown at it.
However, it’s not working as planned…
Back-up military actions are put into place.
Trade delay tactics. These include an ad hoc arrangment of various “incidents” to create a “perfect storm” or situation whereas trade comes to a standstill. Strikes, blockages in canals, pricing, inflation, pandemic rules, price of gas, all of these manipulations are intentionally trying to slow down the American economy (and the economies of its serrogates) to stretch out and lengthen the time to fully implement the grand strategy.
Military encirclement tactics. These include nuclear weapons placed all around the Russian/China landmass. Everything related to American foreign “diplomacy” has been related to this effort in one form or the other.
Suppression tactics. This goes by the terms “friendly hybrid-war”. It’s not. It’s just a full on economic, legal, economic, and social war.
And now, who actually is running this shit-show?
The impression that I have is that Biden and the media are just following a script, and the writers (of the script) are either dead or in a nursing home. It’s on autopilot.
Everything is on auto-piolt. No one, sitting at the helm of any organization would behave like what we are witnessing in Western politics.
It’s all bullshit. Whether it is true or not, or whether it is yet another person trying to jump onto the “war with the Ukraine”, “war over Taiwan”, “war to save Hong Kong democracy”, a “religious war over Tibet”, or a “war to free the oppressed Uighur Muslims” bandwagon, is unknown.
Here we are going to look at an interview with the exact people who are in control of the mess that America is today. This is the person who has orchistrated all this on-going warfare. While not the only individual, his role in it cannot be denied.
He even admits to it on video. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He doesn’t give a fuck.
George Soros
Maybe not an “American”, though he sure as fuck controls most American l”leadership”, as well as British, and European “leaders”.
This guy truly would have been the *ideal* actor to play the role of Satan in any movie. Instead, he chose to play the role of Satan in real life. Check him out, this is truly priceless!
Now Israel has been warned. They have been sternly advised, and every warning was presented to them. But like the arrogant fucking son-of-bitches that they are, they decided (after their Beirut detonation of the port on the Southern tier of the BRI) to bomb some Russian bases. Bad move.
We don’t know all the details. As this is not only a war event, but the “news” media is completely silent about this. You have to read Russian media.
Prior history suggests a well planned strike by Israel, and if they followed standing operating protocol, then multiple aircraft were involved.
Prior history, and examples with both China and Russia, suggest a complete disabling of all missiles, avionics, and engine systems of all planes hit by the directed energy beam weaponry.
At the least we can expect the loss of multiple aircraft, munitions and lives by Israel.
[2] American submarine disabled and trapped undersea
Well, I guess the warning wasn’t adequate. I covered that warning HERE.
Oh, you don’t know what I am talking about? Well, I am talking about that well reported covert recovery of an F-35C that crashed in the South China Sea, don’t you know.
You all do realize that “covert” actions are NEVER “well reported” in all the media.
So here’s the cover story…
A Naval Aviator launches from a carrier and suddenly ejects. “Leaked” stories, and “leaked” photos, support the narrative that the “top secret” plane must be recovered as quickly as possible.
Which is a cover story for all those submarine rescue craft that were hurriedly steaming to the “crash zone”.
We don’t know which submarine it is, or what the damage is. My guess is that it’s a complete write-off. The Chinese gave one warning shot. And then, they play “hard ball”.
Obviously, this cannot be reported to Americans. It will have negative political ramifications.
[3] Third time Elon Musk tries to ram the Chinese space station
Well, I guess he didn’t heed the warning from China. I covered that warning HERE. Well, China placed formal complaints, and they also warned SpaceX and the United States government that this kind of behavior was dangerous and threatening, and they will no longer tolerate it.
And the arrogant sons-of-bitches ignored the warning. And tried a third time.
Whoops!
Look at how pretty all those Musk SpaceX satellites fall to the ground. Like hundreds of tiny falling stars.
From HERE. Translated by machine and cleaned up and edited by MM.
49 new satellites and 40 scrapped, Musk throws garbage into space?
It has influenced the Chinese space station! The Foreign Ministry responded, and NASA also spoke out…
2022-02-11 08:02 Daily economic news
Recently, Musk’s “Starlink Satellite” stall has been in trouble.
According to CCTV News, on February 10, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian presided over a regular press conference.
A reporter asked:
According to reports, in a note sent to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs on January 28, the US side denied China's claim that the Starlink satellites had twice endangered the safety of the Chinese space station.
They said that the activities of the Starlink satellites did not meet the threshold of the established emergency collision avoidance standards.
Thus, no emergency notice was required.
The US note also said that before sending a note to the United Nations, China did not contact the relevant US departments to express concerns about the danger caused by the Starlink satellite.
What is China's response?
Zhao Lijian said:
China followed the treaty as prescribed.
China's notification to the United Nations of the dangerous approach of the Starlink satellite to the Chinese space station and the threat to the safety of astronauts in orbit is to fulfill its international obligations under article 5 of the Outer Space Treaty.
In the relevant collision avoidance incident, the US Starlink satellites are in a continuous orbital maneuvering state, and the maneuvering strategy and intention are unknown.
Chinese astronauts in orbit face real and urgent security threats.
China has had to adopt preventive collision avoidance controls.
After the collision avoidance incident, the Chinese authorities repeatedly tried to contact the US side by email, but they did not receive any replies.
Presently, the US side uses the so-called "lower limit of the emergency collision standard" to shirk responsibility and divert attention.
This is not a responsible attitude that a space power should have.
Additionally, the US side has no right to unilaterally set a "lower limit of the emergency collision standard" outside of any UN approved international treaty.
Zhao Lijian then pointed out…
That article 9 of the Outer Space Treaty stipulates that the exploration and use of outer space by all States parties shall be based on the principle of cooperation and mutual assistance.
That all activities of the State parties in outer space shall properly accommodate the equal interests of other States parties.
China has registered the relevant information on the space station with the United Nations and published the number of orbital roots of the Chinese space station on its website.
Proceeding from safeguarding the safety of Chinese astronauts and space stations, China is willing to establish a long-term communication mechanism with the United States and hopes that the United States will take practical measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents.
China also hopes that all countries will jointly respect the international system of outer space based on international law and work together to safeguard the life safety of astronauts in orbit and the safe and stable operation of space facilities.
Ok, then.
So what is going on?
Well, the public narrative is that;
A statement on its official website on the evening of the 8th local time, saying that due to the impact of the geomagnetic storm, as many as 40 of the company's latest deployment of 49 "Starlink" satellites will be scrapped.
SpaceX said in a statement that on Feb. 3, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 49 Starchain satellites at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket sends the satellites into a predetermined orbit, with a perigee altitude of about 210 kilometers, and each satellite achieves a controlled flight.
However, the satellites were severely affected by geomagnetic storms the day after launch. The storm caused an increase in the density of the atmosphere at the low deployment altitude where the satellite was located. Airborne GPS shows that atmospheric resistance at this altitude is 50% higher than when launched. SpaceX said in a statement that the StarLink team controlled the satellite into safe mode, taking "flanking flight" to minimize drag and avoid the storm. Preliminary analysis shows that up to 40 satellites "will re-enter or have re-entered" the Earth's atmosphere due to increased resistance during low-altitude flights, which prevent satellites from deviating from safe mode for orbital lifting operations.
Geomagnetic storms took out 49 satellites. Yes. 49 satellites suddenly became inoperable all at once, and tumbled out of control and fell to the earth in a firey mess.
Hum.
Really?
Humans have been putting up satellites into space since sputnik in 1957. And this is the FIRST time any of them fell from orbit due to Geomagnetic storms.
According to reference news, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics physicist Jonathan McDowell said on the 9th (February 2022) local time that this event is considered to be the largest satellite collective loss caused by a single geomagnetic event.
I would add that it is the ONLY event. Ever.
…
Coincidences?
According to Wikipedia, Acoincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events orcircumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. The perception of remarkable coincidences may lead to supernatural, occult, or paranormal claims. Or it may lead to belief in fatalism, which is a doctrine that events will happen in the exact manner of a predetermined plan. In general, the perception of coincidence, for lack of more sophisticatedexplanations, can serve as link to folk psychology and philosophy.
But if you spent any time even remotely connected to the ONI or MAJ, or perhaps the CIA, you would realize that there is NO SUCH THING as coincidence.
Period.
So, you don’t have to believe me. You can believe the “news”. A war in the Ukraine is going to happen any day now, and it is going to be a long drawn out conventional battle over the ruins of the Ukraine.
Or you can believe me.
World War III is not being televised. It is not being reported, and what is reported is not what is actually going on.
Buckle up. More is in the making.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
This is part 2 of my orgy of James Bond movies. This time it’s with a classic movie titled “Goldfinger”.
Usually during Christmas I spend extra time to make the holiday a little bit special. One way that I do this is with rituals, and pomp. That means a Christmas tree, some decorations and music. I also like to wear a special Santa hat. Another way is with food. KFC, and hot ham and tomatoes on fresh bread. Mustard with sausages, and lots of cold cuts. And a third way is with movies. Not just Christmas movies, but some older movies just for the fun of it. Today, we will chat a little about a nice fine James Bond movie “Goldfinger” (1964).
So you sit down with your favorite beverage. You gather your friends, family and pets. Or if it is late at night, you gather a bowl of potato chips alone, and sit down to enjoy this movie.
Today I would like to promote the idea of enjoying some delicious chocolate moose, on a nice tray, while you enjoy the movie.
A delicious chocolate moose.
Doesn’t that look tasty…?
And here is our hero;
James Bond fighting the powers of evil during the Cold War. He does look good in suits, and I really do like how he is able to keep his hair all nice and tidy when he gets involved in a tussle.
James Bond in Goldfinger
This movie differs from Dr No in that it is more action / adventure. There is more fighting. More science. More gadgets. and really only one girl that James Bond cavorts with.
Just one. Or maybe two.
Perhaps three.
But that’s it.
Tops.
It’s treated as a top 007 Bond movie because of that, but you know, I think that it fails in that regard as much as it is praised.
Certainly the laser beam that going to cut bond in two is enticing for the six year old boy inside of me, and the idea of scientific geniuses taking over the world has merit, but really, where’s the interesting chit-chat and the fine bed-side manner?
It’s all cavort and plunder. Cavort and plunder.
Hum…
James Bond in Goldfinger
She’s a feisty vixen. Eh?
I’ll bet you that she (removes the snarl and fierce expression) would be a blast to go out with. Maybe go for some nice dessert. And in my mind, a nice dessert is a strawberry shortcake. No question about it at all. hands down.
I know. I know. I know.
Strawberry shortcake is for Springtime dates, and Summer outings. Oh don’t fall for that disinformation. It’s just perfect anytime of the year. Look at just how Christmassy festive it is.
A nice strawberry shortcake.
So imagine that you are out with this chick (girl). Her name is Pussy Galore…
Which in American slang means “always open for copus quantities of indiscriminate sex”. Which is kind of an “inside joke” if you are an American.
And then after a fine delicious strawberry shortcake, a nice walk down the boardwalk (well, I am imagining a seaside stroll after all). Then a stroll to the hotel, or bungalow.
Maybe a passionate embrace and wet sexy kiss once the door is closed.
I wonder what is going to happen in their relationship? Well, knowing what I know about James Bond movies I can extrapolate. Let’s see how accurate I am…
Adventures in bed.
Oh my!
By their expressions it does seem like they are having some fun. I’ll bet that about twenty to forty minutes later, Bond is smoking a cigarette, and she’s just purring while looking at herself in the mirror, and primping a bit.
And I am not complaining. I think that women look their best while they are getting pretty. Not afterwards. Life is a journey. Not a destination. Which is why I wrote my article on why it is critically important for a woman to have her own very special vanity, with a HUGE circular mirror. HERE.
But you know, being a secret agent is difficult business…
James Bond in Goldfinger
You never know when a car passes you by and shreds up your tires! Yikes.
I’m not sure, but I believe that this movie was the one that set the trend for automobile gadgets in the James Bond vehicles. When I was younger I had a Corgi version of the James Bond car. It had a escape passenger seat, a rear shield that would cover the rear window, machine guns in the front, shredding do-hickeys in the wheels, and a jet engine exhaust in the trunk. It was pretty cool, I’ll tell you what.
Toy James Bond Car.
Here we see Jame Bond in a well appointed private jet, and a very attractive Chinese stewardess. You know, I could never figure out why the costume would expose her cute belly, but not show her bellybutton. That belly button is the most erotic part of a woman’s belly, don’t you know.
But that’s life.
Hollywood has distinct rules on what can and cannot be shown on the “big movie screen”. And belly buttons are absolutely verboten! (Sounds of marching, goose-stepping Nazi Germans in the background. No. I’m not insulting Germans. I’m just playing with mental images of World War II movies.)
I see all the classics are on the shelves, as well as a quaintly dated telephone on the desk.
That “wood trim” is obviously cheep vinyl wall-paper. Sheech! You would think that evil scientists would appreciate the natural hues and textures of real wood in their private jet aircraft.
Vinyl is just…
…tacky.
Well, it is.
It’s sort of like giving a starving dog a rubber bone. It looks like the real things, but it isn’t and once you taste the bitterness of vacuum, the nightmare memories of what you thought you were getting ring like a hollow bell in a deep dark cavern.
Anyways, James Bond is a man of many talents.
Here’s James Bond tackling with some kind of a bomb. I’ll bet you that there a count-down going on and that he only has seconds left before every thing goes kablooey! How nice that the bomb has these red and yellow indicator lights and wires that you can rip out to render the bomb inert.
James Bond in Goldfinger
And here we have the “bad guys” trying to use a laser to break into Fort Knox to get all the gold there. Good luck with that! That place has been looted and sitting empty for decades.
Is it me, or does that laser look like a giant syringe?
The uniforms are curious. They are wearing battleship greys, and Chinese 19th century Boxer slipper. Though, I have yet to figure out what the black and yellow thing-a-min-jib around their waists are. Maybe it’s some kind of henchmen life preserver. Eh?
Why does the door to the vault look like a suburban garage door?
James Bond in Goldfinger
This movie has lots and lots of twists and turns. We’ve got James Bond fighting with landing a plane, laser beams, lots and lots of gold, henchmen, pretty girls with some fine charms and incredibly strong vixen capabilities.
The movie starts off with a bomb.
Seriously. There a bomb that has to be dealt with. And you know, it’s a job that only James Bond can handle.
James Bond bomb.
That’s where things start to get interesting.
After a quick tussle, some fighting and the bathtub electrocution, we are introduced to the always calm and confident James Bond. I do love him in the white tux, and I have to admit that the red carnation is a nice touch. Don’t you all think so?
You will note that a white tux is formal, while a deep blue tux is for semi-formal events. Nice lapels, but I think a shawl collar would have been a slightly better touch. Look at those nice shoulders. A nice cut suit for certain.
Too bad he’s in what appears to be a garbage-variety boat garage. I can just smell the rotting fish, the stale dried sea moss, and hear the waves lap up against the bollards.
James Bond in top style.
So many cool things in the movie don’t you know.
There’s all sorts of cool adventures. All done and carried out in a span under five minutes. Bombs, killings, good guys, bad guys. Nice fancy and swanky venues.
Even a few cats.
Somehow Bond finds his way into a room with an attractive nude woman taking a bubble bath in the tub. Of course, this is the 1960’s and since he is wearing a tux, and he is (after all) James Bond, he seduces her which his devilish good looks…
…and well, you can guess the rest.
James Bond getting some “nooky”
After the credits finish rolling, we find James Bond by the pool.
Certainly the fashions have changed, but a beautiful girl is a beautiful girl, and I for one would not throw her into the pool. I’ll tell you what.
I do like her cleavage. I wonder whats down there. Maybe some money, a set of keys, or a venomous poison spider to attack 007 with. Being a secret agent is a risky business, don’t you know.
Nice cleavage.
Boy!
James bond is hairy. Don’t you think?
Ah. But the ladies don’t mind. They think it is sexy.
Of course, my chest hair is all white, and sometimes my wife absentmindedly plucks a chest hair away. Ouch! Come on girls. It’s sensitive!
Oh, and by the way, I do like how all the maids fall into the arms of James Bond. He’s quite the “Ladies Man” don’t you know.
Look at his legs. So very hairy as well. No wonder he is rarely shown rearing shorts.
Ladies man.
He really is, however, quite the ladies man.
Here’s James Bond “copping a feel” with the fine girl that massaged the oil on his back. I note that the evil villain NPC smiles in approval.
Copping a feel.
There’s many half-clad girls in James Bond movies.
Here’s a chick that will feature predominately later on. Shes busy on the VHF, or is it a UHF, or maybe just a CB radio. She’s got a fine backside. Nice and oiled up and toasty from the hot sun. She’s really just eye candy for the audience, though, don’t you know.
She’s a lure to take James Bond on an adventure.
Nice backside.
Of course, we know that shes a spy.
Gasp!
And James Bond is going to use her… well, he thinks anyways. Here she is spying away. And James is very interested in her technique. And she, obviously, is very interested in his manly chin.
Spycraft. Always a tense moment.
The movie has all sorts of interesting adventures and situations.
And some of the most interesting occur in, on, and beside, the beds. But you know, for some reason there’s always telephones near and on the beds. I mean… really. You want to rest on a bed, or you want to have sex on a bed. But the telephone is just a distraction. You really don’t want to be interrupted when you are in a dream, or having sex. I mean, that’s just not fun. How can you concentrate?
Right?
Nothing quite breaks up the mood as a ringing telephone when you are in the middle of something interesting.
Telephones and beds so not match.
Oh, and by the way, she’s a pretend blonde. You can tell by her eyebrows. She’s intentionally dyed her hair a harlot platinum blonde. Not that it’s bad, mind you. I happen to enjoy harlots. It’s a personal favorite activity of mine, don’t you know. But I do like women to be themselves.
I am so turned on by a woman wearing pajamas, in the house, or a tee shit and jeans outside rather than get all dressed up. Of course, I do enjoy when a woman gets dressed up, but on the sexiness scale, a “real” woman being herself just oozes sex. It’s like when they cook food. OMG.
There is few things sexier than a woman cooking.
Well, aside from coming out of the shower.
Anyways…
Anyways, having sex with James bond can be dangerous. As is shown in this scene here…
…Yikes!
Yikes!
For you all who are unawares, this chick didn’t get a chance to read the “Time magazine” on the table, nor flick though those stacks of phone books. Poor girl. She has missed on on so much.
Well…
Life goes on.
Here he is flirting with his bosses secretary…
Flirting for fun and advantage.
Ah, there’s a lot of things happening…
And I don’t want to give away the plot.
But, I can give you a hint of things to come. There’s guns, sex, difficult situations, lasers, plans, evil, and airplanes.
Oh my goodness!
A lot of things happen from here to there.
There’s a guy , Asian no doubt, that has this decapitating hat, and he’s a sight to behold. The evil genus is a pug-like portly fellow.
However, things aren’t always tea and crumpets. Sometimes you can get hit on the head and wake up on a slab with a evil laser ready to cut you into two.
Not that I ever had THAT particular experience, don’t you know.
Things aren’t always tea and crumpets.
And on and on.
Oh! By the way. Do you all put up stockings for Christmas? We do. And we fill it with these little Japanese (actually Chinese, sold under a Japanese brand name) little figurines, and some healthy candy.
You do not have to spend a lot of money on Christmas. All you need to do is make it special for the ones you love.
And that, of course means left over turkey sandwiches…
Left over hot turkey sandwich.
This one looks like it uses English muffins, or grilled crumpets, potato bread with coleslaw, cranberries, stuffing, and turkey to make the delicious dish. I would add hot turkey gravy, myself.
Or, turkey soup..
A nice bowl of hot turkey soup.
And what is soup without some nice crusty bread and butter / cheese. Eh?
Here we see Bond and his latest newly acquired vixen friend trying to land a dangerously out of control airplane.
James Bond in Goldfinger
Of course, everyone is concerned.
You can tell that they are by looking at their expressions in the airport control tower. It’s all a matter of high international importance!
James Bond in Goldfinger
But you know all ends well.
James Bond lands safely using a parachute, and he and his vixen friend decide to celebrate! You know, in ways that are relaxing, strenuous, and enjoyable.
Twenty minutes later, Bond is smoking a cigarette, and the Vixen (whose name is Pussy Galore – wonder if she lives up to the name) is adjusting her hair so the next great adventure.
A happy ending
James Bond in Goldfinger
Now wasn’t that nice?
If I were to host a movie party…
Obviously I don’t. My idea of a movie is a rare thing that I do as a special family time. But in the past I would host a movie “party”. But I used to do it. And if I were to do it again, I would project the movie big on the wall. (I used to do this, but the projector remains stolen. Sigh.)
And I would play some vintage “Let’s go to the movie” cartoons, and about three or four vintage movie trailers. To get the entire scene going. Not to mention popping some popcorn for the proper smells of a movie theater.
If you are going to do something, why not go all out and make it special? Hum?
Usually during Christmas I spend extra time to make the holiday a little bit special. One way that I do this is with rituals, and pomp. That means a Christmas tree, some decorations and music. I also like to wear a special Santa hat. Another way is with food. KFC, and hot ham and tomatoes on fresh bread. Mustard with sausages, and lots of cold cuts. And a third way is with movies. Not just Christmas movies, but some older movies just for the fun of it. Today, we will chat a little about a nice fine James Bond movie “Dr No” (1963).
It’s a classic, and I love it. Guys wearing tuxes, nice suit jackets, cavorting with pretty ladies who are wearing gowns, bikinis, or just a simple towel. And the gambling, alcohol and the cigarettes. Not to mention the occasional fist fight and small arms fire. Classic. It speaks to the man in me.
No CGI here. It’s mostly dialog and chatting.
I can really relate to this scene. Can’t you?
Why do women look so tasty when their hair is disheveled? And my oh my, why aren’t men wearing blazers any more. Look at now nice it fit him.
Simple blazer. Simple black tie. Simple blue-white shirt. All alone in a tropical bungalow. You can almost smell the tropical lushness, hear the ocean waves, and listen to the tropical birds out the window.
Oh, and my she does have nice shoulders. Doesn’t she?
Nice tux. With a nice thin bow tie. He looks good, don’t you think?
When a man wears a tux, all eyes should be on the lady that accompanies him. In this case she is wearing an eye-popping red dress with one shoulder exposed. It’s her best shoulder, I believe. Nice lips. Look at her lips. And by the way, those earrings are nice match for the dress. Lips, fingernails, dress all nicely coordinated.
She’s carrying a gold purse and lots and lots of gambling chips. My goodness!
Here’s a great shot showing all the cool gadgets 007 has. In this scene he is off picnicking and cavorting with a beautiful gal in a nice pattern bikini, while talking on a telephone in his car! Imagine that! A phone in the convertible. WOW!
Love those James Bond gadgets.
The phone plays a big role in this particular James Bond flick. You have phones in cars. Phones in hotel rooms. Phones in the rooms of the beautiful girls. Phones with the bad guys. Phones with the evil doctor. Phones in the 007 office and phones on the bed.
Nothing like making a quick call while you are discussing important matters in bed with the girl you just met.
Pack of cigarettes, and a notepad by the bed. Oh, how charming!
I once read that by wearing a tux, the perceived attractiveness of a man increase three points. (On a scale of zero to ten.) There’s something about a well made, well fitting, tux, with the clean lines and appearance that speaks to me. Too bad I never have any opportunities to wear my tuxes any more. The last time I wore it was at my father funeral.
I think that a tux is better reserved for seduction, personal enjoyments and pleasures. Who doesn’t want to look their best? And besides, any (American) policeman would think twice before pulling over or arresting anyone in a tux.
Doesn’t he look good?
The room decor seems a bit dated. For a while in the 1960’s everyone seemed to have paintings / pictures of clowns, cats with big eyes, and old fashioned cars. Don’t ask me why. It was a “thing” back then.
Like this…
Big eyed kids.
Yeah. I guess that you would need to have lived through that area to appreciate it.
I do love this next picture. He thinks he’s in control, but it’s really the woman who is controlling the entire scene.
This interplay is just great.
Hey! Do you all know what goes great with a nice James Bond classic movie? Aside from beer or wine?
That’s right.
Cheese, crackers, bread and cold cuts. My father used to make up a platter of these kinds of cheeses, sardines, olives, pickles, and crackers when he would watch a movie. It sort of looked a little bit like this…
Cold cut spread.
I suppose everyone is different. I hear that the preferred snack food in the States these days are Doritos, or Lays potato chips. I can understand why, but you all know that you need to have a decent dip with them to fully appreciate and savor the enjoyment of the food.
Now, when I was growing up, one thing that my father liked to do was eat Limburger cheese sandwiches with a big thick slice of tomato. Yeah, I guess it’s sort of a generational thing don’t you know. He also liked liverwurst. I ended up getting a taste for it myself, but only on sandwiches.
Liverwurst sandwich.
Anyways, Christmas is a time of many things. For me I really enjoy the movies, the food, the friends and the general atmosphere. It’s a chance to eat well, and to eat things that you enjoy. You know, most of the time people don’t give pickles a second thought, but at Christmas time, well that’s when all the dill pickles, the baby gherkins, and the Grandma’s butter chip pickles come out. Yum!
This next picture show some lousy bread, but some pickles and good selection of cheese. Personally I think that the ingredients are enough for one or two sandwiches max. Kinda skimpy if you ask me. But it looks good. Oh, yeah. Don’t forget the horseradish, the wasabi, the kielbasa, and the various kinds of relishes that can be bought and found everywhere.
Sometimes you don’t always have the right ingredients on hand, so you make do.
i think that it’s really a great thing to do, don’t you know, to sit down with a glass of wine. Some fine cheeses, and watch an older movie. I really enjoy the older movies. they are not so adrenaline-rush run-run-run action packed CGI affairs. It’s full of personal interactions, gestures, and movements. It’s more intellectually stimulating.
And more so with wine, cheese, and olives.
Did I ever mention that olives go great with wine? I really think so. A fine green or black olive dip is just wonderful. You heat up some olive oil with some thin cut up olives and mushrooms. A little Italian spices, and then spread the olives and mushrooms on the french bread. Oh so tasty.
The you sit down and watch the interesting interplay on the movie.
I do love that phone. It was state of the art back then. See the nice rattan chairs on the balcony on the porch, and the Chinese themed dangling red ornamental lantern. Curious eh? I most especially love the shadow of the phone cord on her soft chest. Sexy but not overt.
Of course, I am an old man, and this lass was my mothers age. So I’m looking back in time. When this movie was made, we had Robert Kennedy in office, and he was talking about getting out of Vietnam and shutting down the military-industrial complex. As it was getting too powerful.
Well, we do know what happened to him, don’t we?
Here’s some lox and bagels. You see the salmon to the left, and a fine cream cheese spread. You put the cream cheese on the bagel. Then lox, then lemon, then tomatoes and onions. Don’t forget the olives. (I note some sliced hard boiled eggs. What an interesting turn of events!) The wine is not shown, but no matter. Maybe a fine glass of orange juice is near by.
A good movie serves as a perfect excuse to eat.
And speaking about Christmas, James Bond, food and movies… I will bet you all that the most festive places to spend Christmas at must be in a pub or a brasserie. I remember one Christmas (When I say Christmas, I actually mean the entire month of December, and into January.) I went to an Irish Pub. Wow! So very festive. Drinking pints. Singing songs. Eating bangers and mash.
Bangers and mash served with a good stout. Yum!
I think that there is something really magical and special about the pub environment. It’s something that never was present in the Untied States. Pretty soon, America will probably ban bars completely. You know follow in the footsteps of NZ in banning everything. You know. “For the children”. Sigh.
I can only imagine what it must be like in Scotland, Ireland or in the UK today. Chilly and damp, but warm inside the pubs. I tell youse guys that you are so fortunate to be where you are. Don’t take what you have for granted. It’s special.
Here’s the interior of a typical British pub. People are hanging out. Talking, chatting. Drinking beer. Not too much in the way of electronic media, eh? Nope. Just companionship, friendship and acceptance. I really love that.
British pub.
I hear that some pubs really get festive and decorate everything up. I have no first hand knowledge about that. What I do know is what I have seen on the internet, and some places do more than just put up a tree. They make it special.
Christmas themed pub.
There are pubs in Hong Kong, and some are very nice. I can imagine that there would be pubs all over the former British territories. I haven’t gone to the pubs in Hong Kong in years, even though I can see Hong Kong from my living room. It’s the Coronavirus thing don’t you know.
British pub in Hong Kong.
Now in Australia, they have these things called a brasserie. They are not found in the USA because one reason or the other. It’s hard to tell why. I happen to like them.
In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word brasserie is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brewing business". A brasserie can be expected to have professional service, printed menus, and, traditionally, white linen—unlike a bistro whichmayhave none of these. Typically, a brasserie is open Wednesday to Sunday andservesthe same menu all day. A good example of a brasserie dish is steak frites.
-Wikipedia
The last time that I was in Sydney, Australia it was near Christmas time, and I truly enjoyed the Brasserie’s there. Again, like a pub, it was cheery and festive and warm. It was a very comfortable atmosphere to hang out in and enjoy the time with friends or family.
Sydney Australia, Brasserie.
Anyways, one of the things about Christmas is that you can socialize and spend time at home too relaxing. Good food. Being around those that you care about. Talking. Chatting. Exploring. Listening. Man, I need to do more listening, I’ll tell you what.
And watching good movies that relaxes and stimulates. Like 007 James Bond.
James on the beach being warned by the locals of hidden dangers and adventure.
In Dr. No, James Bond travels to the Caribbean. Being well attired, he meets interesting and colorful people. He embarks on a mission to save the world from evil and their evil influences. All the time enjoying the company of the attractive lasses whom he meets along the way.
Typically, as I would watch this kind of movie, I would set a platter or a plate of food nearby to smunch and nibble with. During Christmas, I’m trying to assign special foods like French breads, chocolate, and peanut-butter. Not to mention the aromas wafting from the kitchen of fresh bead in the bread making machine (fun fact, I helped design bread makers for Sunbeam-Oster) and simmering sauces on the stove with garlic, onions, spices and peppers.
Here’s a lox and bagel platter.
Salmon snack tray.
Or course, my household always has alcohol.
You know, I never drank as much as I do now prior to my “retirement”. After I was retired, I pretty much said “Fuck this”. And stopped worrying about what other people thought. If I wanted to smoke, I smoked. If I wanted to drink, I’d drink. If i wanted to to spend some time in a bedroom with a new friend, I would. You know, the USA has so many restrictions on you, that you have to tear them off and say STOP!
Live life on your terms.
Like James Bond.
Jame Bond talking with his bosses secretary. I do love the tea set on the filing cabinet.
Most men like to imagine ourselves like James Bond. Wearing a tux. Going to interesting places. Eating good food, and drinking. Being the master of our world. Cavorting with pretty women, and making new friends every night.
Alas, most of us is something else. We are actually more like Bruce Willis in “Die Hard”. That movie resonated to me on all sorts of areas and for all sorts of reasons. Of course, one is simply because of my MAJestic role. But another is because I am really just a normal guy; a regular man.
That’s John McClane. (Bruce Willis).
Die Hard
It’s neither good or bad. It’s just that being Bruce Willis in “Die Hard” is far more painful than being James Bond in “Dr No”. It’s something that us men can relate to. It’s about life, and being thrown into situations that aren’t really what you ever intended to happen.
Which is why movies are great. All movies, if they are well done, can become something that you not only enjoy, but something that you can relate to on some level.
The beginning of the super-successful franchise, this remains one of the most satisfying Bond films. Connery, with only a hint of irony, is the suave secret agent, introduced at a gaming table while lighting an expensive fag, enjoying an expense account Caribbean holiday that must have seemed like unparalleled hedonism to British audiences who’d only just got over rationing.
The license to kill gets several endorsements as Bond efficiently and brutally sees off dastardly baddies who are threatening world peace, and – in another fantastical touch – Britain holds the key to the balance of power.
Dr No, a German-Japanese genius with metal hands, is about as credible as Fu Manchu, but Joseph Wiseman mints all the Bond villain clichés, from the gorgeously-designed island lair (courtesy art director Ken Adam) with built-in nuclear power plant (and a then-famously-stolen portrait of the Duke of Wellington hung on the wall) through to purred threats and attempts to convince 007 to sell out and join his evil organization (‘I thought you had some style, Mr Bond, but I see you’re just a stupid policeman’). And, of course, there’s Ursula Andress as prototypical Bond girl Honey Ryder, emerging from the seas in a bikini with a knife strapped to her thigh, with her own reasons for wanting to see Dr No’s scheme for world conquest thwarted.
That twangy guitar theme and the gunsight-iris titles sequence are in place already. Series regulars Bernard Lee (M) and Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) make their debuts, but Peter Burton plays Q (to be replaced by Desmond Llewellyn) and Jack Lord is CIA agent Felix Leiter (to be replaced by a succession of stooges).
Here’s James Bond deep inside the secret lair…
I do love how the attractive woman gathers near to him. You know, I like her better in this dress than the bikini (with the knife strapped to her thigh). Notice that she has her top button unbuttoned. That’s not how you wear a qupao. But it is erotic.
What do you think of her hair?
In those days all the ladies wore their hair “bee hive” style. I think that she started the trend for flowing lions manes like Raquel Welch in “one million years BC.”
Jame Bond rides the elevator.
You know, as much as I love this movie, you have to admit that the women of the 1960’s were all stunners.
Here’s Raquel Welch. I personally think that she would have made a fine, fine Bond girl. Don’t you?
Raquel Welch
Well, the point here is that Christmas is a time of togetherness. And that means making friends, spending time with the friends and family that you do have, and that you spend the time eating, drinking and talking. Emoting and sharing.
Whether it is in a pub, or at home in a restaurant. It does not matter.
Now, I do have to admit that my little daughter is not so interested in these kinds of “grown up” movies. She is more apt to watch “Peppa Pig”, or some kid-oriented Christmas movie. So you have to take that into account.
Though, she really enjoys “Two Broke Girls”. Who figures?
But she also really likes to sit by me (MM) – her daddy, and taste what I am eating, and be next to me. As a two year old she has a short attention span, so it’s still a trial. But it’s a precious trial. it’s family. It’s togetherness. It’s special.
I believe that a good movie is best shared with friends, family, alcohol and lots of delicious food. Oh, and a cat or two as well.
Oh yes. Did I fail to mention that cats love snack trays as well.
What would your cats do to a snack tray with thin sliced meats, salmon, and sausages? Well, I can tell you that they would jup up, snag a tasty morsel and then scamper away with it. Especially the ham. My goodness!
James Bond eating with Dr. No, and enjoying a fine smoke. Not much on the table though. Fruit and wine.
I love that view of the underwater ocean behind Dr. No. Not only does he have a secret lair built inside a volcano, but it reaches deep down underground and has windows so that the staff can enjoy the ocean view. How thoughtful of him. You see, bad guys aren’t all that terrible!
Here’s another scene. I love the newspaper on the bed, and the rotary dial phone nearby. What’s with her wearing high heels to bed? Are those her house slippers? If so, where the fur lining? Oh, sometimes the 1960’s can be so very confusing to me, don’t you know.
I have always loved the simple white robe on a woman.
You know, eating all the foods while you watch these olde timey movies can put some weight on, and make your belly grow. You don’t want to look nine months pregnant with twins, do you?
The way to control this is to add some nice fruit. Pay the extra money and buy some fruits that you normally don’t buy. Like cherries, or duran, or grapes. Don’t let the cost dissuade you. Let Christmas be the time for “outrageous” purchases.
Notice the generous quantities of cheese and meats.
Of course, with James Bond, you will always have the guns and the violence. But in Dr. No it’s rather tame. Less than 50 people were killed, and the karate chops were all rather quick and simple. No matrix-style events, or Chinese flying warriors walking on tree tops here.
It’s all rather calm and relatable.
Hot gun action!
Nice grey suit. I do like the black tie with the grey suit. It fits him nicely. It’s a nice color combination, and the cut of the suit fits him. It’s well cut, nice thin material, it’s the tropics after all, and his hair is always in place. Must be the Brill-creme hair tonic.
Here’s another view. You know it must be sweltering on the beach, but James Bond is calm and composed. His nice jacket sways in the slight breeze, while the boat captain is sweating in his red tee shirt.
James Bond on the beach.
When you make up a food spread choose your foods carefully.
Don’t go for processed cheese spread. Use real cheese instead. Do not use cheap inexpensive margarine. Use real salted bread instead. Do not use cheap chocolate with fillers. Use real chocolate. Pay the extra money to make the holiday special.
And presentation is everything.
Ok, so you aren’t going to drink wine. You are going to drink coke instead. Well then, crush up the ice and fill a tall glass with crushed ice, then pour the coke into the hyper iced glass. Presentation is everything. Wine uses wine glasses. Whiskey uses thick glass base tumblers, and beer, well… an iced mug is precious.
We should all appreciate cheese.
And when you are enjoying the movie, taking the savory bites, and chatting with friends and loved ones observe. Observe what they are doing, and saying and what is going on in the movie. All sorts of little details will “pop out” at you if you just are mindful…
Evil villain in anti-radiation attire.
And enjoy yourself.
Smile, say only good things. Listen to what others want and GIVE IT TO THEM. No need to argue. SO what? Make their day special. It’s a good feeling. And if someone wants to sing Christmas carols, then sing along. Get the dog a barking, and the cats following with you all as your all parade around the house to “Frosty the Snowman”.
Live life.
Food done right. Live life on your terms.
Live life on your terms.
Live like James Bond.
James Bond.
And be your best.
Smile, be kind, be helpful and do what you can to make the season special for all those around you.
Christmas is not about buying gifts, but you know, if you have gifts to wrap up, go overboard. Like @old-wine has. My goodness!
Making Christmas special .
And if you are not so talented, like MM here, perhaps something simpler like a bunch of aluminum foil wrapped ham and cheese sandwiches that toast comfortably in the oven.
Have a great time with your loved ones.
Show your appreciation, and share a good 007 James Bond movie. You will enjoy it. I promise you.
Ham and cheese sliders.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Movie Index here…
Oh my goodness! Trillions of dollars in rebuilding America. That means roads, bridges, trains, infrastructure, and factories. Trillions of dollars in spending. There is no doubt that with this enormous outlay of spending that American can catch up and overtake China. The inflation will be worth it. Right? Don’t be so sure.
There’s not much in the way of actual STEM budgeting. It’s all FIRE nonsense. Here we talk about it.
The White House’s official press release announcing the Build Back Better Act (BBB) pitches it as a “PLAN TO REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS.” It rhapsodizes about “working families” squeezed by the economy, and reminds voters that “Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country — the middle class.”
A cartoon illustrates the sort of person who would benefit from Biden’s Build Back Better programs: “Linda,” a white woman, who works at a manufacturing plant but struggles to raise her son, “Leo.”
One thing the White House’s official press release did not mention is that almost all of the $2 trillion doled out under BBB is expressly designated for Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and non-English speaking individuals. White Americans will get nothing and like it.
“Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites.”
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Over and over again, the bill is written expressly NOT to help the hardworking Linda, apparently because she is white.
Here are just a few examples:
— $1 billion to Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities for housing “needs.”
— $500 million for minority-serving schools of medicine.
— $112 million for teacher preparation programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).
— $75 million for culturally appropriate care management and services for older individuals who are racial and ethnic minorities or are underserved due to sexual orientation or gender identity.
— $75 million to study maternal health for pregnant and postpartum minority individuals.
— $50 million study maternal mortality among minorities.
— $50 million to improve behavioral health outcomes for communities of color with substance abuse.
— $75 million to increase research capacity at minority-serving institutions.
And on and on and on.
The very first item in Title II of the bill, titled “ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION,” is a program to distribute more than $100 million in grants to address “low diversity within the teacher and school leader workforce.”
To be eligible for a grant, the recipient must have a plan “to increase the diversity of qualified individuals entering into the teacher, principal, or other school leader workforce.”
Similarly, the first provision of BBB’s “ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT” section is: “Minority Business Development Agency.”
But wait — here’s a plot twist!
This part also includes something for rural America! (So Democrats have heard of Appalachia.)
Twenty-one percent of the country is rural. Twenty-four percent is non-white. Guess how the money is divvied up?
One billion dollars for minorities and $200 million for “rural business centers.”
Even provisions that don’t explicitly exclude whites, turn out, on closer examination, to exclude whites. I’ve never seen so many synonyms for “non-white,” such as “persistent poverty communities,” “historically economically distressed,” “historical injustice” and “underserved communities.”
Hang on, Ann — what makes you think “underserved” means “non-white”?
I refer you to page 111 of the bill:
“This section also defines an ‘underserved community’ as a group of people who have been systematically denied the full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life. Underserved communities include Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, [etc.].”
How about changes to our environmental laws?
White people love the environment!
Sorry, out of luck, again, white boy. BBB allocates almost $7 billion for …
“national service programs to carry out projects related to climate resilience and mitigation.”
Unfortunately, however, all those billions have to go to
“entities that serve and have representation from low-income communities …; utilize culturally competent and multilingual strategies; … implemented by diverse participants from communities being served.”
One billion dollars of the “Climate Resilience and Mitigation” loot is specifically directed to “individuals who were formally incarcerated.” [Sic.]
Sure, climate change is important — but not as important as giving money to convicted felons!
What the hell happened to Linda?
Linda is wearing a hardhat, so her job has probably been outsourced. Maybe she’ll be helped by BBB’s humongous expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA).
That’s the law passed in the 1960s to compensate American workers whose jobs have been shipped abroad by globalist swine who couldn’t care less about their fellow Americans and don’t mind that every single thing we need, including masks and medicine, is made in China.
Surely, some white people will qualify for that — steelworkers, autoworkers, glass, plastic and paper manufacturing employees.
In fact, the BBB hijacks the whole idea of compensating globalism’s losers and turns the TAA into just another massive welfare scheme.
Both the eligibility requirements and payment amounts are expanded beyond all reason, entitling “workers” to years and years of payouts, with no minimum employment period required, and no stipulation that trade has anything to do with the loss of their jobs.
Thus, for example, a program that is — again — meant to remunerate workers whose jobs were shipped abroad will now offer assistance to public sector employees.
How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)
Naturally, states will be required to work with “training providers” that have a proven track record serving “Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, other persons of color, members of other minority communities” and so on.
Republicans seem to think that if they just talk about how much Biden’s BBB plan costs, their job is done. They ought to read the bill. It might prompt them to finally say something about the Democrats’ clear animus against white Americans.
Conclusion
Imagine. Imagine trillions of dollars going into these urban enclaves to serve the 13% of society. What will be the result? Will it be many bright and shining cities full of impressive skyscrapers, fast high speed trains, and more parks and infrastructure?
Where will the money go to, and who will have it, and what will they use it on? Because you KNOW that there is going to be a lot of holes in those massive sacks of money. So who is going to really benefit?
The under-employed and under-privileged?
Or the very wealthy that runs the cities like the mob bosses of old?
And of the money that flows to these areas, and those that flow out, what about the rest of the nation? Like Trump’s budget that make the Wall Street Bankers fantastically wealthy, this is poised to make the city mob bosses fantastically wealthy as well.
Who will not get wealthy?
I see the makings of a massive and colossal storm, and I do not want to be at ground zero when it hits. Look I am not being racist, I am being real. You just cannot exclude people from a budget by their race, upbringing or social standing on a whim and NOT expect consequences.
I am worried about those consequences.
And you should be as well.
It wouldn’t be so bad if there was some balance in the budget, but there isn’t any. It’s all a lopsided manifestation of corruption.
I have no answers, but I see no real changes anywhere in government structure. Just more of the same race baiting, underhand dealings and crime and corruption. For a nation that is supposed to be color-blind to race, this bill is the most racist document I have ever heard and read about. And that is disturbing. Because, knowing what I do know about the see-saw of American politics, that when the tide of public opinion flows in the other direction…
…things are going to get really, really bad. video 26MB
Ann said
How does a government employee lose a job at all — much less to trade? (I only wish we had Chinese people running our grade schools.)
Well, it would American schools look like then? Well they would look like this…
Here’s a video about the roll call in first grade. video 25MB
Here’s a video on school food discipline, and eating everything that is on your plate. video 40MB
America really needs to up it’s game instead of playing the blame game and pointing fingers. It needs to accept that the government is a travesty, the society is fucked up, and it is in it’s death thrall.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my New Beginnings 2 index here… New Beginnings 2 .
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Contrary to the bullshit “news” out of the “West” China is great friends with it’s neighbors. Here’s a brief interview worthy of review. video 8MB
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Sitrep: Here Comes China – Taking the lead – a dialogue on democracy in China
By Amarynth for the Saker Blog including a number of data points from Godfree Roberts
Did you know that a huge International Forum on Democracy is ongoing in China right now? This is before the supposed Biden “Summit on Democracy” which is an attempt to divide the world into Democracies and Autocracies, according to the wishes of the rules-based international order.
As we have seen so often from China, they acted with incredible speed and presented their own high-quality International Forum. They also published a Chinese White Paper on Democracy and it outlines how their Whole Process People’s Democracy functions for their people: http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/1204/c312369-9928374.html
China has learned over the past three years how to defend itself against accusations coming from the combined Western influence sphere. Although we know that the media in general still balances toward the combined Western Sphere, there is now a serious contender in the room with the ability, incredible speed of implementation, track record, education, and creative expressive talent to gain media supremacy in getting their message to the world.
Oh, the poor ‘partners’ …
Australia
The ‘partners’ are being led by their noses. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the US and its allies are the “biggest beneficiaries” of Australia’s trade row with China. Washington is in bed with Canberra, at the same time, it points the finger at Beijing and in the background, it picks up Australia’s lost Chinese trade. So, simply stated, all the trade that Australia lost in their trade row with China, from coal to iron ore to meat, the US quietly picked up.
Taiwan
From Taiwan, I hear a similar activity is taking place but this is not yet confirmed by the needed 3 sources. The idea of keeping the issues with Taiwan hot, is that the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company (TSMC), the biggest employer in Taiwan with a raft of supporting industries around it, is being moved lock, stock, barrel, and existence to new facilities in Arizona. We will wait for more confirmation, but this is a very dangerous move to make, as TSMC is not only the biggest semiconductor company in the world, the industry itself depends on a highly educated and trained workforce. The Taiwanese workforce will lose its lunch.
But…
Following the US sanctions, China’s government stood up and took notice, and, being China, it wasn’t long before they developed a long term plan: Build from the ground up an entirely China developed chip manufacturing system that is 100% free from foreign companies and intellectual property.
Beijing hired over 100 TSMC specialists to help build their own semi-conductor industry and has been diligently building its own chips so it is not reliant on Taiwan:
To that end, a couple of years ago China set up several institutes of technology dedicated to training the physicists, engineers and workers needed to develop chip manufacturing techniques and technology that is free of western IP. The timetable is to be able to bulk manufacture 14nm chips (think PC desktops from two years ago) by 2024, to manufacture the current generation of chips by 2028 and to be equal with the best in the world by 2030.
The Chinese know that the “silicon tech route” is nearing its end and so they know that they can’t win the competition following that route. So their investments in the silicon route will remain limited.
The thinking in China is now focused on what comes after “Moore’s Law”. They know that the West is invested in the silicon route and needs to recuperate its huge investments by generating profits in that route. This means that the West will not be able to focus its investments on newer routes for the foreseeable future. Such a situation is seen as an opportunity : few competitors and the potential to being first to master these new technological routes.
Chinese technology institutes are fully immersed in these new routes. And huge investments are now being realized to try to leapfrog the Western Silicon Route by focusing on carbon chips or photonic-chips that seem to promise far higher speeds and far lower energy consumption…
China’s New Hypersonic Aircraft Is Based on a Rejected NASA Design
And it can go faster than five times the speed of sound.
A team of researchers in China has built and tested a prototype hypersonic flight engine that is allegedly based on a design that was scrapped by NASA over 20 years ago, according to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The prototype itself might not lead to a production version of hypersonic aircraft. Still, in a paper in the Journal of Propulsion Technology, the team behind the machine said “understanding its work mechanism can provide important guidance to hypersonic plane and engine development.”
NASA’s scrapped X-47C program is revived
The original design was proposed by Ming Han Tang, a former chief engineer of NASA’s hypersonic program in the late 1990s. Tang’s Two-Stage Vehicle (TSV) X-plane design was at the center of the Boeing Manta X-47C program, as per the SCMP report. However, before the program could verify the viability of the design, it was terminated by the U.S. government due to its high costs as well as a series of technical issues.
Unlike the majority of hypersonic aircraft proposals, which feature an engine on the underside, the TSV X-plane design by Tang has two separate engines on each side. At lower speeds, the engines work as normal turbine jet engines. With no moving parts, the configuration then allows the aircraft to quickly switch to high-speed mode to accelerate to more than five times the speed of sound.
Now, Professor Tan Huijun and colleagues at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu, China, have constructed a prototype based on Tang’s original specifications. They were able to do this due to the fact that the blueprints for the Boeing Manta X-47C program were declassified in 2011. Huijun and his team tested the prototype in a wind tunnel that allows testing in conditions resembling flight at Mach 4 to Mach 8. The tests revealed that Tang’s proposed engine design works in these conditions, meaning they should be able to conduct further tests and build new iterations of their prototype.
The race to go hypersonic
The U.S. and China are in the midst of a space and aviation race. According to the SCMP article, a number of high-profile Chinese scientists quit NASA and other government engineering firms in the U.S. in the late 90s due to strained relations between the two countries. This reportedly coincided with the start of China’s hypersonic weapons program in the early 2000s.
China’s space agency recently announced that it is building a fission reactor for the Moon that will reportedly be 100 times more powerful than one in development by NASA. China’s government also announced earlier this year that it will collaborate with Russia on a lunar space station, which will directly rival NASA’s lunar Gateway program. In October, China also launched a hypersonic missile with “an advanced space capability” that took U.S. officials by surprise.
In July, meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force granted a hypersonic aircraft startup called Hermeus a $60 million contract to develop a prototype aircraft within three years that could travel at speeds of Mach 5 using only one engine. The race to go hypersonic is in full force.
China facts tell it all.
Seriously. When you see what the United States is, how it operates, and what it is doing you cannot help but come to the most obvious of obvious conclusions. video 60MB
What most people seem not to know is that this internal process of representation in the party is mirrored at the level of state institutions :
— direct public elections take place at the local level of rural villages (since the nineties if my memory serves me well). Everyone can decide to be a candidate and all villagers can vote for the candidate of their choice. Cities rely on voluntary participation in local “quarters” (sorry I don’t know the right English word). The same goes on in the lowest party structure which is the local cell.
— the elected officials of the multiple villages then elect their representatives at the district level by choosing among themselves who they think is the most qualified to have authority over themselves in the future.
— and this representation mechanism is repeated at the higher institutional levels till the top echelon the Political Bureau.
The West calls democracy the fact of voting for representatives every 4 or 5 years. But in the meantime the citizens have no say over any decisions at the different institutional levels of state power.
In China things are quite different.
Representatives, elected directly by the people or elected among themselves, have to implement the will of the people. This is done through various consultation mechanisms.
Direct consultation means asking for the citizens’ opinions about the texts of a legislation before it is being voted upon… Some legislation texts come for public consultation then are reworked by the Congress and the reworked version comes back for further consultation…
Indirect consultation means various polling techniques. The implement of the will of the people necessarily implies that congress members know what the people want. Polling in China is not about getting someone elected. It is about legislating according to the will of the people…
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A taste of China
Dancing at the gateway to the Tibetan plateau. video 4MB
They they can. In a nation that is not for-profit, that cares about the well being of it’s people, of course families can save, strive and grow. video 6MB
BeiDou conducted the first inter-satellite and ground station communication using using lasers instead of radio signals, transmitting data a million times faster than radio and increasing satnav accuracy 4000%. Read full article →
A high-speed railway linking China to landlocked Laos opened Friday. The 660-mile, 160 km/h line runs through mountains and ravines from Kunming to Vientiane. Read full article →
Premier Li Keqiang says the establishment of a centre in Hong Kong to handle Asia – Africa trade and investment disputes will strengthen the city’s role as an arbitration hub and “provide more convenient and efficient dispute resolution services” for parties in both regions. [It also bypasses the WTO–Ed.] Read full article →
China’s service trade rose 13% YoY to $659 billion in the first ten months of the year. Service exports rose 29% YoY, and service imports rose 1%. In October alone, the country’s service trade hit 414 billion yuan, up 24% YoY. Read full article →
China now leads the world in trade of both goods and services and its trading partners now cover 230 countries and regions. China contributed 35% of the growth in global imports in the past five years. Read full article →
Meeting its carbon goals could save China trillions:China could dodge $134 trillion in climate-related losses by meeting carbon neutrality targe. China is predicted to see an 81% reduction in its accumulative climate-related losses by 2100 if it achieves its carbon neutrality target, according to a new study from think tanks in Beijing and London. Read full article →
And extreme ethics violation in my view: In 2018, Dr. He Jiankui shocked the world by announcing that he had used the CRISPR genome-editing technique to alter embryos that were implanted and led to the birth of two children. Today, the children are healthy toddlers and Western researchers want to get their hands on their DNA. Read full article →
China has doubled installed renewable energy capacity since 2015, to one billion kW, or 43% of total installation: Wind power generation increased 30% year-on-year (299 million kWs), solar power generation grew 24% (282 million kWs), and hydropower remains at 385 million kWs; Cost inflation delays solar energy expansion. Read full article →
New groundwater regulations tackle overuse and contamination of 16 billion m³/year of water. Fines could reach $783,000 daily. Right now 44% of groundwater monitoring stations record Grade V, the lowest water quality. Read full article →
China is scouring the countryside to find native seed, animal and fish genetic resources in a national germplasm census to protect “family property” and gain self-reliance in crop and animal breeding. “Excellent” plant and animal resources will be protected on company-run farms if they are in danger of extinction or turned over to Chinese breeding companies to exploit their commercial potential to propel Chinese seed companies as global competitors. Read full article →
Guinea-Bissau and Eritrea join the Belt And Road Initiative. Guinea-Bissau covers 36,125 square kilometres, with a population of 1,874,303, and like China’s Macau, was once part of the Portuguese Empire. Eritrea also signed an MoU with China to join the BRI and is expected to cement China’s presence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, with interests ranging from a military base to protect shipping, in addition to infrastructure projects in ports and railways. China has been investing in the country for some time. Read full article →
To conclude, China developed its policies to deal with its national issues. But in so doing it has created both practical and theoretical achievements which are the world’s most advanced. China has never asked other countries to learn from its example, but neither can if forbid them to do so. Given the gigantic scale of China’s achievements anyone with sense in the world will study these intently. The “Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century” is therefore not only key for China, it is a document of crucial importance for the entire world. Learning from China.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
This article is all about what America is today, and how it compares to the rest of the world. And for centuries there has been this non-stop promotion of the idea that “Americans have a far better life than anyone else in the world”. And Americans believe this. It is at best an exaggeration, and at worst a violent canard. As all the rest of the world is kept hidden from them.
My first exposure to this reality occurred when I started work related international travel back in the late 1980’s.
I was amazed that my colleagues in Australia were doing far, far, FAR better than I was. They had better medical, better housing, lived in a better city, had a better salary, free company car, much, much better employee perks and so on and so forth.
At that time I was living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I loved it. I loved the deep South, and the local foods were just wonderful.
Mississippi
I was living in a mobile home, as I didn’t have enough money to afford a proper brick and mortar home.
And when I met my colleagues from across the world I was astounded.I was working in Sydney, Australia at the time. And Australia is indeed very beautiful.
Residential Australia.
Not one of them had experienced a layoff, a company restructuring, or a slash and fire “resizing”. They never had to scramble to earn money, only to be unemployed without notice. And so they saved their money. It was easy to do since they weren’t taxed as severely as us Americans were.
Not to mention that they had a kind of lifestyle that I couldn’t even dream about. Like company beer in the office refrigerators. Nude pictures of girlfriends on their desks. Girlie calendars on the walls, the ability to wear tee-shits and jeans to work instead of the shirt and tie ensemble that I had grown accustomed to.
Sydney, Australia.
They could smoke at their desks, drink alcohol during lunch, got free coffee and snacks at their office, and were permitted to speak without having to use politically correct language.
I had to beg to take my yearly one week vacation, and it had to be justified in a form, with approvals from my boss and the group VP. While my equivalent; a project design engineer named Richard got an eight week vacation every year, that accrues over time. He (at that time) now was planning a trip around the world with his five months of accrued vacation.
You know, I would tell my colleagues back in the States about what it was like, and they would give me a “knowing look”, nod their heads politely and tell me “well you know the grass is always greener somewhere else“.
They didn’t “get it”. Things were not just different. They were BETTER. And not just a little bit better, either, but a heck of a lot better.
If an Australian was laid off, something that rarely happened, they got like 80% of their salary for (potentially) years afterwards. Which made a $98 / week Mississippi unemployment allotment for 36 weeks look like “spare change”.
But you would never hear about that in America don’t you know. Everybody “knows” that America is free™, exceptional™, and has democracy™.
Woo woo!
I will tell you that the rest of the world has changed since the 1980's. My understanding of Australia is that during the Bill Clinton and the Barrack Obama years, the Australians embraced American culture. And has since adopted a zero tolerance for cigarettes, a new "woke" society, and all sorts of restrictions on lifestyle and behavior. No where is that more evident than with the current Morrison regime. Australia has turned into a "mini" America.
And since no one is aware of what the world is like outside of America, you end up seeing remarks like this yahoo from my morning feed…
Curious how his job title is “institutional skeptic” instead of “unemployed loser troll”.
Ah. I am so sure that he is doing well, and so very happy to be living in the “land of the free” with all of his delicious and scrumptious democracy™.
What irritates me is his absolute ignorance.
But one day, when he reaches his mid 40’s he’s going to wake up and realize that he’s been living a lie.
There are truths and then there are truths.
The truth about the United States.
The truth is there, but unless you LEAVE the United States you will never see it. Because Americans are trapped in a prison; a cage full of fear of the dark, dark world outside.
And you cannot rely on the internet. All American internet is enraptured with painting the forever picture and image of America is the greatest! And (put the current villainized nation name here) is the absolute worst and they must be destroyed ruthlessly!
(Sigh)
Now for centuries the United States has changed into the corrupted, mess of a monster that it is today. And it is a monster.
When it was first created back in 1776, it was a Republic for freedom! That lasted about 18 years. The wealthy at that time seized control of the nation and changed it into a democracy so that it would be mob rule where their manipulations would be able to control the mobs.
That’s a fact Jack.
And of course, just as Mr. Hamilton, and other other founders warned, it became an oligarchy. Which is the historical norm.
Republics tend to turn into democracies as that the only way that the wealthy can control the society, and it is in the very nature of man to do so.
And America, which somehow managed to pass by the pitchforks and lynching stage became a full-on military empire. It is the largest military empire in history. Not just in destructive ability, but in spending, global reach, technology, active participative wars, and casualty figures.
And as a military empire, it converted the American population into debt serfs to service the oligarchy. As it is the nature of all military empires.
All of them.
Don’t believe me? Name one military empire that didn’t abuse their civilian population in this manner.
The entire structure of the United States was revamped into a zillion tiny, tiny hands in your wallets, zero legal protections, or Rights, and a two tied justice system. One which served the oligarchy and their minions, while the other, a very harsh and fierce one that served their slave serfs.
The oligarchy spent the time and resources necessary to try to expand their influence and their accumulation of wealth. They set up wealth generation activities everywhere, and became near God-like in their fantastic accumulations of power. And they performed scorched earth activities on those that served them.
They addicted the entire nation of China in the start of the last century where everyone was addicted to opium. This persisted until the Boxer rebellion where China put it’s collective feet down and threw the bastards out.
America today now resembles the shambles of what China was once the oligarchy looted, raped and abused it. And what you see in America today is all the evidence that you need to see that CHANGE must occur. Because America is in the toilet right now and it is getting worse.
America needs…
…requires…
…CHANGE.
And here we take a look at the massive decay inside of America today. There is nothing outside of America that resembles this. The closest, perhaps, is 1950’s Calcutta.
You should watch some of the videos on YouTube showing what life is like now in various American cities. It’s really much worse than anything that has ever happened in the entire history of the world.
It’s definitely much worse than anything that is going on in the third world.
Here’s a recent drive through Philadelphia.
It’s a rough scene. Worse than anything we saw in San Francisco, pre-covid.
CharlieBo313 is a black guy on YouTube who goes through various black hoods and projects across the country and talks to people.
Here’s a video compilation of all the blacks that pulled out guns on camera when he was in Chicago.
That one is just short. You watch that video and you get nervous, like them niggas about to jump out the screen at you.
That is some straight up hardcore jungle stuff right there.
Not one of them was worried about being on video, and if you watch these videos, you’ll see a bunch of them shouting out their links. They are not afraid of anything. There is no law that can contain them. No police that they need to answer to. No leaders of government that can restrain them.
This is utter and complete lawlessness, right in the middle of all of our cities, and the media just isn’t talking about any of it.
Here’s a hood in Birmingham, Alabama. Short video. They’re all shouting out their Facebooks and Instagrams.
Just watch these blacks. These blacks are hardcore.
Now, imagine that they were unleashed from these areas onto white-collar suburbia.
Just this week, CharlieBo went to Ohio and posted a video from Toledo. I’m excited to see his videos in Columbus hoods, and maybe I can show some people from where I’m from what is about to be unleashed on them.
This is literally a situation like in The Lord of the Rings, where Sauron gathers his hordes in Mordor and prepares to unleash them. They have taken any restraints off of these urban ethnic blacks, and now they’re pumping them up. Enough of these youths just want to loot and burn and kill and rape that if they get unleashed on the rest of society, there is going to be no ability to contain the mayhem.
(Of course, the military will probably come in and contain it, then you’ll end up permanently occupied by the military.)
Obviously, it’s easy to say something like “Iraq is safer than Chicago,” or some other slogan. But I think people don’t understand really just how bad these American cities are getting, primarily because it isn’t really on the media.
The media sometimes gives statistics about shootings or violent crimes, but they very rarely show the actual footage. This stuff is just unbelievable. Truly.
The really unbelievable part is that most of this has developed since the beginning of the pandemic. Before that, it was mostly isolated to violent areas of Chicago, or drug-riddled areas of California. But with the pandemic taking over the economy and putting many people on drugs, and the cops pulling out of black neighborhoods as a result of BLM, it’s now just completely outrageous all across the country.
No serious country would allow this to happen, and no other country on earth allows this to happen. You can think of third world countries as being poor and dangerous, but the reality is, if you went there, you would mostly feel safe, and you absolutely would not see scenes of drug addicts shooting up and walking around naked on main throughways.
If a third world country had a scene of these blacks with their guns out like this, they would have them isolated by cops, to ensure the safety of the rest of the population.
The United States has already descended into hell, and they are hiding this fact from normal, middle class people by pumping them with fear about leaving their homes, restricting their movement, and refusing to show what is happening on TV.
You literally have no idea how bad things really are.
None.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s everywhere. It’s not confined to the cities. Here’s some of the rural sections of America….
No jobs. No careers. No hope.
Living off drugs, both illegal and prescribed.
Getting by. Some robbing others. Some bartering. Some just making do.
This society is NOT one worth preserving. It needs to be destroyed and replaced with something better. Anything better. And it needs to happen soon.
And yet, some decry… “that’s not MY America. It’s not all THAT bad.”
So for fair balance, here’s some further pictures of what America is for the 85% of the bulk of Americans…
Typical American highway.
Closed box stores.
Shut down malls…
More deserted malls…
Malls took over from the downtowns all over America. Then they were left abandoned.
Yes. Many small towns collapsed as the local stores couldn’t compete against the malls. And thus not only did the small towns die, but when the malls died, there was nothing left. People stayed in their homes.
The remains of America’s small towns.
Of course, there would be hope if there was some industry. But industry in America is few and far between. Most left the Untied States and “off shored” for larger profits.
American factory.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden both promised to “revise” American industry. But you know, it’s not as easy a flicking a switch.
Another great example of American exceptionalism.
The fact is that America; The United States is dying and it is in it’s last death throes. It is collapsing from many many ills, and the leadership are like the band playing happy music as the ship Titanic sinks into the cold wet sea.
It is almost at the point where the death rattles and the death spasms will occur.
That’s the frightening part.
That’s when the urban youth start to get hungry and leave their urban enclaves. That’s when supply lines and retail stores break down. That’s when the military desperately lashes out to other nations. That’s when unpredictable events start to occur with regularity.
That’s when you and yours have best be prepared.
Be part of your community.
Be a helpful understanding Rufus.
Have a skill that makes you useful.
Have a supply of food, a garden, and wood / coal.
Know and be part of a community watch / militia / police.
Have a bicycle.
Take care. Do your affirmations. And control your life.
Do not be afraid of what MIGHT occur. You are in control of what is going on right NOW. Make it worth while, and if you handle your life well now, then any problems that MIGHT occur in the future can be well taken cared for.
Oh, and what do I mean about being a Rufus? I mean this…
For those nations that want to grow and be prosperous, successful and maintain healthy happy families… be like China. Don’t follow the evil, greedy, selfish model that the United States presents. It will take you in, and strangle you until you are just a crusty old hulk.
Be the Rufus.
Make a difference.
Think on your own personal lives, friends, and community. Together we are STRONG.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Yes. There is something “big” in the works on the USA side. I am getting multiple confirmations from my resources. No one is saying anything tangible. And when you are in the “black world” (American special access programs – being a “spook”), this absence of Intel speaks volumes. Something “big” is planned. And the components and pieces are moving into place.
Head’s up everyone.
This is coming from numerous sources.
Including my own brother.
Scooby Doo
Today I was pleasantly surprised by an email from my brother. I was surprised because I haven’t heard from him in about a year, and he never answered my emails, skype messages or anything like that. It was just “dead air”. After a while, you know, you just stop and think “well, he’s lying low key” and let him be.
He’s gone “X ray”.
His email was interesting. He said that the reason why he wasn’t writing or answering any of my “pings” was because he was “too busy”.
People(!) no one is more busier than I am, and look at all that I churn out.
Anyways, I just let that all roll off my shoulders and read the content of the email.
He just came back from a visit with a mutual boyhood friend of ours. Who is now in San Diego and while he works in civilian government he is still directly tied to the US Navy and the submarine basing forces there.
Right after he chatted, and came back home, he told me that he had to send me an email.
He just “had” to send me an email.
The content reads…
It’s not “safe” in China.
I should get the next flight to the USA where it is “safe”.
Leave immediately, he said. Do not put it off. Leave THIS week.
Oh my!
Well, seeing that I have businesses, homes, not to mention a family with wife and children, and friends, and all of that, it seems rather strange for him to insist that I “bug out”. Leave my wife, and my children behind. Abandon my homes. My jobs. My lifestyle and my society for what ever the hell the United States is collapsing towards.
Especially since his ideas and impressions of what is safe and what isn’t doesn’t resemble anything that I experience. So maybe he is talking about world war III. Ah. If America cannot be number one, then no one can.
Anyways, there’s nothing in the USA for me. But it’s worse than that, the USA is collapsing head over heels.
Now, I don’t know what kind of “news” is popular in the United States today, I pretty must assume that it’s the same old repackaged lies of “China is collapsing”, “war is any moment now”, and all of that horse rot. But I am not falling for it, though it seems that everyone inside the United States is.
I don’t know what they all discussed on their visit, but I’ll be willing to wager that it is based on some absurd impressions from the “news”, and some observations from talking with other all of the same mindset. Like maybe this…
Anyways, I replied. I told him…
China is doing good. All is great here.
China and Russia are aligned militarily, and war against China will include Russia. And it will be nuclear.
Were a war to happen, the USA would be completely devastated. It would lose, and lose very badly.
Now, I am sure that he doesn’t want to hear that, but that’s the way it is.
He did say that he is now locked inside of the USA because the State Department sill not issue him a new replacement passport because the IRS has alerted the government that he is a “Tax Protestor”.
Funny that a person that is stuck inside the USA gulag wants me to join him. Misery loves company, perhaps?
This article
We all know this; the USA is pushing, pushing, and pushing in all levels of provocation to force a war with China. The American people are primed for this war. The military is ready, and the Washington DC folk are as excited as young children on Christmas eve. War is gonna happen, and the USA has special “tricks” that will make it happen.
Hoyeru says:
October 28, 2021 at 4:52 am GMT • 9.3 hours ago
(This is a) strange column that somehow manages to miss the obvious.
So i will add it: The US is so pissed and upset about china winning, they are willing to destroy the whole earth including themselves.
If they can't control the world, nobody else will.
It's pure spite.
We will start off with this great article I pulled from Ron’s operation…
Bumbling Menace Blinken Says Taiwan Should Join the UN
After the US secretary of state claimed Taipei’s accession to the UN would be pragmatic, Beijing hit back, reiterating that Taiwan should not be granted permission to join the body because the island was part of China.Speaking on Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing told reporters the UN was an international governmental organization made up of sovereign states – and Taiwan wasn’t one.“Taiwan is a part of China,” Ma stated, adding, “Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations.”The spokesman’s comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday marking 50 years since the UN General Assembly voted to replace Taipei’s seat with Beijing’s that he regretted Taiwan’s absence.Blinken said the reason the island’s participation in the UN would be welcomed was not political but pragmatic. “As the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex and global issues, it is critical for all stakeholders to help address these problems. This includes the 24 million people who live in Taiwan.”
The statement is not political or pragmatic – it’s a provocation.
This is what the plan is, apparently: the Biden plan to “contain China” is a bullying harassment campaign.
Instead of just declaring war, they do things to attempt to publicly humiliate China.
The concept of “face”
It’s worth noting that decades ago, the West was trying to understand China and became fixated on the concept of “face.” They talked so much about it that we actually have the loan idiom from the Chinese language – “saving face.”
The Chinese – and general Asian – concept of “face” is similar to honor, but more complicated. It is also related to what we would call “prestige.”
It includes honor, just like our idea of honor: being a good member of the community and nation, who is respected and viewed as being morally righteous, and willing to sacrifice for others and the good of the community or nation.
But ” building face” also includes wearing certain clothing styles (now associated with brands), driving certain cars, living in certain areas, going on vacations, and other things we associate with prestige.
Another aspect, which I guess we would just call “power” or “authority,” is the ability of an individual to exercise his will in society, and to make things happen. (Just for example, if you ask someone to get you tickets to a sold out event and they deliver, that person would be “building face” as someone capable of making things happen.) All of this is combined to create a person’s “face,” which is his persona as seen by the world.
(For the record, the concept of “face” is also the basis of the social credit system, which is why virtually all Chinese people support the social credit system – it’s built on a foundational element of their society.)
Anyway, this is what the boomers who analyzed Chinese culture in the 1970s determined was the driving force behind Chinese psychology.
I think that is more or less true.
The United States is following a plan that is no longer viable, but doing so blindly out of ignorance.
As I explained in my very long piece about China a couple weeks ago, the current regime in America is clearly acting on plans laid by more competent men who are mostly dead.
So, when I see something like Blinken coming out and saying “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Taiwan joined the UN?”, I am able to see that this is part of a very shoddy attempt to cause the Chinese authorities to “lose face.”
It’s very vulgar behavior, and it is intended to appear vulgar. What Blinken is attempting to do – more likely, what his advisors are attempting to do – is insult the Chinese authorities and make them look inept and incapable.
What isn’t clear is what exactly the goal of this is. It would make sense in the context of attempting to:
Humiliate the Chinese leadership to the point that the regime collapses (this isn’t possible, and the US authorities really should understand that by now), or
Try to bait the Chinese into doing something stupid to “save face” (Xi is not ever going to do anything he doesn’t mean to do, so this also doesn’t make sense)
Really, all I’m able to do personally is just observe.
America has no goals with China
I do not understand the goals of the US State Department and Department of Defense with regards to China, beyond the fact that they are fixated on regime change.
I’m not an expert on military strategy, and I’m highly skeptical of anyone who claims to understand how a war would unfold in this third decade of this third millennium after Christ.
However, given what I understand about the current social situation inside China, I am quite certain that there is no possibility of doing a Ukraine-style color revolution. It’s just not happening.
The Chinese people love Xi like they loved Mao, and just do a little bit of research on what the Chinese people tolerated from Mao.
I am completely unclear on how well the Washington establishment understands China, but having seen their actions, I would say not very well.
That’s why it looks to me as if Blinken’s team simply read some book talking about “face” and decided to attempt to humiliate them.
Mike Pompeo and the Deep State
We should also note that Mike Pompeo took a very similar approach, and that he is still planning State Department strategy at the Hudson Institute, where he is billed as an expert on foreign policy and China.
The State Department is one organization in the US government that is very obviously “deep state” in that it never changes from administration to administration. Whether officials are appointed by Republicans or Democrats, they move in and out of these same think tanks, which active government officials consult with so habitually that they are effectively extensions of the state.
Pompeo’s big play was to incite an Antifa revolution in Hong Kong.
I still do not understand what the purpose of that was, exactly. In theory, it would have been to cause Xi Jinping to lose face, to make it look like he was unable to control the city, and maybe to attempt to stir up discontent in the mainland.
Again, this shows a total lack of understanding of the situation.
The end result of the violence in Hong Kong was that Beijing closed the city down, and started banning all of the State Department’s schools for indoctrinating youth into revolutionary liberal ideology. If I had planned the strategy, I would not have wanted to have sacrificed the ability to influence Hong Kong so recklessly.
By fomenting those strange riots, the State Department gain literally nothing, and in fact they severely damaged their own image, and hardened the Chinese in all territories against the US.
Hilariously, the right-wing in Taiwan now cites the Hong Kong riots as a reason not to trust the West.
Chinese people are all very aware that these riots were incited by the West, and this is viewed as distasteful in the extreme, and also mystifying.
(In general, there is an overwhelming sense of confusion among the Chinese as to the intentions of the United States, but there is a certain amount of natural good will based on a positive perception of Hollywood and certain American companies, such as Apple. Instead of using that good will for definite ends, the State Department has pissed it away recklessly, and continues to do so.)
Clueless America
Obviously, the average American has literally no idea what is going on.
Even Americans who are semi-engaged with politics think that Taiwan is somehow a real country, that it is independent from China, and that China is planning to invade it.
In fact, Taiwan is not a country. It is a part of China.
Because it is an island, a separate revolutionary entity opposed to the CCP fled there during the 1940s. The Kuomintang had failed as China’s government and been overthrown by Mao’s forces, but the West protected them as they fled to the island. To this day, the “Republic of China” still claims to be the real government of China, despite the fact that it is nearly a century since they lost control of China in the 1930s.
At the end of World War II, just as the US quickly turned against their war ally the USSR, and established West Berlin, they also turned against their former ally the CCP, and established Taiwan. Modern Taiwan is as much of a relic of the post-war era as East Germany, it is simply that Taiwan still exists, because unlike the USSR, China was well-managed and did not collapse.
Illogical American leadership
The logical conclusion of any thinking person would be that the conflict between the East and West is over, and we should all just move on with our lives.
The US should negotiate a peaceful Chinese reunification, get a lot out of the deal in terms of reasonable Chinese concessions, and be done with it.
But that obvious thing cannot happen, because the regime that controls the United States – which, for a lack of a better term, can be referred to as “ZOG” (Zionist Occupation Government), is hellbent on creating a global government, and it is impossible to do that while China remains standing as an independent, traditionalist, nationalistic state.
So at this point, the purpose of Taiwan is to use it as a battering ram against the government of mainland China.
But there is no clear chink in the Chinese armor wherein to jam that battering ram. Thus, the State Department is instead opting for irate harassment and bullying.
Real Options
This is obviously not a long-term strategy, and given that the CIA has completely failed to create any significant fifth column inside of China, their only real option is to start a full on war with the Chinese and I guess just hope it works out.
If you understand all of this, it is really crazy to watch.
Apparently, they want to manipulate China into drawing first blood.
But then what happens?
What is step two?
The United States is going to have a nuclear war with China?
A nuclear war?
It’s unlikely that the US could win that war.
Frankly, the mere suggestion that people like Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin are going to successfully manage a war against China is both laughable and viscerally offensive.
It could be massively destructive, resulting in hundreds of millions of dead.
But a decisive victory by the US just doesn’t seem possible.
What’s more, there is no possibility of negotiation, given that the Chinese are so nationalistic, and have more or less zero interest in being part of the “international community” beyond selling people high quality products at reasonable prices.
What’s more, they are basically holding all the cards.
If you game out any potential outcome of this conflict, China wins.
Maybe the US could land a few nukes and wipe out some people, but if there’s one thing China has a lot of, it’s people. And unlike the US, the Chinese would be able to deal with being nuked.
The destruction of one or more major US cities, on the other hand, would completely obliterate the psyche of the American population.
You also have the fact that funding the war machine would be virtually impossible. The dollar as global reserve currency could not survive very much war, and it would come down to sheer raw productivity.
All previous wars have been won based on who had the bigger production output capacity, and the Chinese beat the US on that front, probably by an order of magnitude in real terms.
If the American leadership were smart…
If the people in Washington were smart, they would back off, and try to regroup. The problem is, they don’t have anything to regroup.
They’ve already gone all in on “diversity and inclusion,” putting what should be their most capable human capital on fentanyl or labeling them domestic terrorists.
If I was running this show, I would have skipped this moronic virus hoax and allowed Trump to remain in office on the condition that he start a war with the Chinese.
It still would have been a long shot, but it would have been within the realm of possibility. You could have stirred up the competent segments of American society with patriotic war energy, and used that to reestablish a production base in the United States.
But they didn’t do that.
They did something totally insane.
They stole the election for Joe Biden, who is probably the single least popular leader the country has ever had, with a plan to replace him with the much less popular Kamala Harris.
Then they effectively declared war on the native population of the country, labeling them domestic terrorists.
They are now attempting to force vaccinate the entire population, and they are willing to cripple the country’s productivity in order to force through this inexplicable gene therapy agenda.
Complete cluster fuck
If I had to guess, I would say that you have very little communication and possibly even very little awareness between whoever is running this plan for a war against China and whoever is running this domestic war against the domestic population.
The whole thing just looks totally chaotic and demented.
The bottom line is this: I do not think there is any possible way that the World Economic Forum’s “Agenda 2030” is going to come to fruition in 2030, or ever.
If the US were to back off of this push for conflict with Russia and China, they would simply end up totally crushed economically by China as they put their own population into extreme austerity using bizarre technological tyranny.
What is likely going to happen is that the US (and to various extents the rest of the West) is going to get increasingly brutal and weird, while China continues to advance economically, technologically and militarily.
You’re going to have a situation where the United States is just an utter mess, where no one really even understands what the goals or agendas are, and eventually the dollar is going to collapse, and that will be the end of the American Empire.
The end of the American Empire will be the beginning of the end of our tribulations.
For the American people, I do not think there is any solution to what is happening now, political or otherwise.
The only logical thing for an individual to do is try to stay out of the way while this lumbering beast staggers and eventually collapses.
After it collapses, we can reassess, and figure out how to build something new from the ashes.
The exciting part is that those of us who make it through this time of such trouble alive will probably live to see the other side. I’m as optimistic about the mid-to-late 2030s as I am pessimistic about the next decade.
So says one person
The truth is that no one really knows what lies in store in all of our futures. But we do know a couple of things. These are as obvious as the keyboard in front of my hands.
The USA “leadership” are following a script mindlessly.
The script is out of date.
The USA has numerous “bubbles” that are about to pop.
In a move that reeks of desperation, the USA is aggressively pushing and pushing and pushing for war.
The only way for these trends to be mitigated is for the USA to get on with it, and collapse already.
Now, there are many, many aspects of issues all tied in in regards to this. The next article looks at the IC, AI and supercomputing realms…
US is trying to kneecap China AI and Supercomputing by hitting it at the lower stacks (semiconductor fabs) but its in Chinese interest to reclaim its rogue provinence sooner than later…
Right now US is forcing Taiwan TSMC to cut ties with mainland Chinese firms yet prioritizing chip making for US origin firms like Intel, Apple, GM, Boeing etc…
The conflict between US and China is an economic conflict, not a political one.
The economic conflict arises exlusively from the the unnatural and unsustainable state and position of the US economy which operates as a global rent-seeker.
The US’ primary export good is the US dollar which is sold globally with the threat of force backing the sale. Officially the arrangement operates as follows: the US provides security – typically against a third party – and the “protected” countries in turn buy dollars. Unofficially the US uses direct threat – typically in an an indirect attack against the country’s economy and destabilization of its security – to facilitate USD sales.
This is in particular true of the so called “allies” – most importantly Germany and Japan in the 80s and 90s.
Though it might seem as a “security arrangement with a subscription fee payable in USD” in reality it is the exact opposite – and arguably always has been for any money producer throughout history.
The military establishment rarely seeks to expand its power as numerous examples of military dictatorships demonstrate. Military dictatorships tend to expand only as means of reinforcing their internal power structure. Consistently throughout history the primary driving force for war and imperialistic expansion are the banks.
Not the industry – as the industry has ways to compete for foreign markets through innovation or currency devaluation.
The banks however have only one product – money – and its value is entirely dependent on its unit of account and its purchasing power. What is also important it is the banks and fiat currencies that operate exactly on the principle of economic exploitation.
Marx was wrong about this being a general principle of “capitalist” mode of production and the 20th century provided evidence for that.
However when applied to the description of for profit production of money it necessarily works along the principles of exploitation since the nature of the good/product (money) makes it extremely inflexible in terms of deriving profits.
They can only be achieved through devaluation of purchasing power – which leads the users to abandon currency – or through increased demand. Money is literally a “unit of account”. There is no room for optimization. You either take it as it is or leave it as it is.
The only way to enhance money as a product is to package it with another basket of goods. Germany and the EU package the Euro with the access to highly valuable markets or export goods.
The US used to do so early in the history of the global dollar system (early after WW2) when the US had 40% of world’s industrial production, 60% o the world’s oil, a majority of the world’s food production and the world’s most potent military.
However this position was ruined by predatory behavior of American ruling class and currently the US offers very little in terms of voluntary transaction. Even the most dynamic industry – IT – operates on the basis of the theft of value (data) rather than the provision of it.
The problem arises from the mutually supporting structures of US global financial cartel and its military machine.
The financial cartel finances the military machine and the military machine enables the financial cartel.
One can’t exist without each other and the weakening of each will result in the necessary weakening of the other.
Here’s a short run-down of US vulnerability.
In nominal terms the US economy currently constitutes approximately 24,5% of world’s GDP. In comparison the Euro area constitutes approximately 15% of the world’s GDP. China in nominal terms, measured at the current artificially lowered exchange rate, has approximately 17,5% of world’s GDP.
In PPP terms the US economy is actually slightly smaller (due to the overvaluation of the USD), while Eurozone is slightly larger, and China is substantially larger.
Now compare it to the share of global currency reserves – the USD constitutes 59% of global reserves, the EUR constitutes 21% of reserves and the RMB constitutes 2% of reserves having been listed only since 2016.
This is crucial to understand American vulnerability.
The Euro
If Euro takes a hit on international markets it retains its natural ability to resist since its loss of value will improve the attractiveness of Eurozone exports which are the main source of demand for Euro. Even if Euro loses some of its demand it can be absorbed internally by the Eurozone.
In fact, this has been precisely the case since the Eurozone crisis which started a few years after 2008.
The vulnerability of the Euro is political (hence America’s attempts to destabilize the EU) and not economic.
Furthermore if the Eurozone was dissolved it would lead to the creation of a stronger currency – since Euro is the German Mark weighed down by various weak currencies like the Franc, Lira, Peso etc – that could take comparatively greater share of world reserves just like it was the case in the 80s.
The Chinese RMB
If Renminbi takes a hit on international markets it has almost no consequence at this point.
The US Dollar
If the US takes a hit on international markets then this hit will be translated through the magnitude of the global dollar reserves which are circa 140% greater than America’s share of the global economy at present moment.
The dollar reserves are helping to increase the nominal size of the US economy so any loss of demand will necessarily lead to smaller economy i.e. a death spiral since the US has largely deindustrialized and its industry is incapable of supporting its currency.
Therefore the dollar depends on the US military power and its ability to continue enabling forcible sales of USD.
The moment American “security” no longer is has value it results in loss of demand for USD.
How does American “security” loses value?
It has to be credibly challenged and made impotent.
This applies anywhere on the globe so if US is engaged in a protracted large conflict with China it means it can’t provide “security” anywhere else.
Remember that the UK won the WW2 and still lost the empire simply because they were not able to match supply of Sterling with the demand for it since they no longer provided global security for trade.
This means two things:
Any conflict over Taiwan is advantageous to China in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.
Any conflict over Taiwan is disadvantageous to America in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.
And this means that the conflict over Taiwan is not a real conflict in its own right, but a tool for something greater.
It is a tool for America’s attempt to physical separate its rent-generating properties from the globalized world which no longer allows them to retain their advantage in perpetuity.
America established a global economy under its hegemony because it was the global American empire with USD as its currency.
Now that the position of USD and the hegemon is vulnerable it wants to dissolve the empire and establish a new one, which will be then followed by inflationary escape from external debt (Weimar solution) and establishing of a “new dollar” backed by American military power.
In other words the US wants to return to the days of the cold war where “1st world is American sphere of influence” , “2nd world is China sphere of influence” and “3rd world” is the contested area.
Taiwan does not matter.
The US wants to change the rules of capital movement through state action so that the new rules continue to benefit its ruling class.
This is why
This is why they instigate tensions in Europe with Russia and push their European vassals to recognize Taiwan. It is all about decoupling the Eurozone from Russia and China and reinstating American military power as solution to “Russian threat” and “Chinese threat” as the foundation of its money production and rent-seeking.
And this explains also the psyop relating to Hongkong, Xinjiang and attacks at Chinese investments and commercial activities.
Not to mention Covid the covert CIA biovirus that carpet bombed the economies of the developing world.
It is not about attacking China since the US knows it is impossible.
It is about tearing the current global economy apart to protect its position.
American ruling class is attempting to secede from the international system to protect its position much in the same way as the ruling class of the American South seceded from the Union it created to protect its position.
Similarly the ruling class of United Kingdom seceded from the EU to protect its money-laundering and tax-evading industry.
An interesting perspective…
Both of these perspectives show reasons and observations. And they all seem to be pretty “spot on”.
Both argues that the USA is collapsing, and it is thrashing out of an ignorant leadership to pull back and regain or maintain some of it’s control. This is true whether it is military or economic, or social. I can understand that.
Taiwan has long been the rationale for meddling in China’s affairs but the latest interference poses great danger for “paper tiger” nation.
Mao Zedong often referred to U.S. imperialism as a paper tiger. This is truer today than it was in the mid-20th century when Mao frequently employed the phrase. No matter how bellicose the American empire becomes, its strength is more appearance than fact. Brutal violence and exploitation are thus signs of weakness, not legitimacy or credibility. The U.S.’s recent military maneuvers around the issue of Taiwan clearly signal a growth in the decay of the American Empire.
Taiwan has been a topic of conversation in the U.S. corporate media throughout the month of October. Headlines have circulated that claim China has escalated military tensions by flying military aircraft over Taiwan’s so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The ADIZ was created by the United States after World War II and isn’t recognized by international law. In fact, Taiwan’s so-called ADIZ includes large portions of mainland China. This hasn’t stopped the U.S. media from beating the drums of war with China.
The U.S. Department of Defense under Joe Biden has affirmed its commitment to threatening war with China over Taiwan. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has warned China that its so-called “pressure campaign” on Taiwan requires the United States to step up efforts to “protect” the island from “danger.” Just days after Kirby’s speech, U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of joint military force not seen since the U.S. normalized relations with China in 1979. This blatant intensification of military aggression came just a week after reports surfaced that the U.S. had spent the last year secretly deploying special forces to Taiwan.
The American empire has a long history of using Taiwan to meddle in China’s affairs. After pouring heavy financial and military support into the Kuomintang’s (KMT) brutal war against the Communist-led revolution of 1949, the U.S. supported the KMT’s exile to Taiwan. The U.S. heavily militarized Taiwan and even threatened to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to undermine the Chinese revolution. More than two decades would pass before the U.S. cease the prevention of the People’s Republic of China to gain full recognition at the United Nations in place of the “Republic of China” government located in Taiwan. In 1972, the U.S. signed the Shanghai Communiqué —a document that stipulates U.S. recognition of Taiwan as part of China and clearly articulates that the U.S. will cease all attempts to military intervene in its affairs.
That Taiwan is part of China is not controversial outside of the parasitic lens of U.S. and Western imperialism. Taiwan has experienced centuries of colonial incursions. This includes a half-century of Japanese colonialism that ended only after Chinese resistance forces sacrificed more than fifteen million people to win historic victories against fascism in World War II. The return of Taiwan to China is thus an important victory for the anti-colonial movement. And it is this victory that the United States is currently working hard to reverse.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden have provided staunch support to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the separatist political party ruling in Taiwan. In 2019, Trump signed the TAIPEI Act into law which encourages the U.S. to facilitate deeper ties between international organizations and Taiwan’s separatist-led government. This blatant violation of the One-China policy has been followed up with billions worth in military arms deals to Taiwan. After Trump approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan to end his administration, Biden signed off on $750 million more in military weapons transfers to Taiwan which included 40 M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems. These maneuvers bolster the Western-oriented government in Taiwan led by President Tsai Ing-wen, a devout separatist who has openly called Taiwan “vibrantly democratic and Western.”
U.S. interference in China’s relations with Taiwan has made a profound impact on U.S. public opinion. More than half of Americans now support U.S. military intervention in Taiwan . Of course, the poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs added “if China invades” to the question for added anti-China effect. That the poll would promote the propaganda that China could invade its own province should come as no surprise. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is funded in large part by the Pritzker Foundation . The Pritzker family’s enormous wealth derives not only the from the Hyatt hotel but also from its deep connections to war profiteering and the CIA.
Taiwan is the clearest expression of the U.S.’s agenda to reassert neocolonialism in the Asia Pacific as a means to counter China’s rise. However, attempts to bully China over Taiwan have no legitimate end goal. China will not bow down to the claims that Taiwan is an “independent country” since no such thing is acknowledged by international law. The United States must think long and hard about escalating militarily with China. Despite an enormous shift of U.S. military resources to the Indo-Pacific Command, war strategists and profiteers alike would face heavy casualties in a direct conflict with China’s high-tech military armed with a nuclear deterrence.
Unlike the first Cold War, the American Empire is in precipitous decline. Economic immiseration is all the American Empire has to offer the vast majority of humanity. U.S. military policy only facilitates death, destruction, and displacement. U.S. domestic politics are mired in stagnation and lack the capacity to address any fundamental problem facing working class and oppressed people. The paper tiger of American Empire is being ripped apart by its own contradictions. Crisis is the only stable feature left remaining of the American Empire’s so-called dominance.
China does not possess such problems. China’s government has shown consistent respect for international law with regard to Taiwan. China’s stable, prospering socialist economy has eliminated extreme poverty and contained COVID-19. These achievements alone have gained China’s socialist model immense prestige both with the Chinese people and the people of the Global South. Still, the American Empire remains dangerous precisely because its desperation requires the escalation of a New Cold War that threatens to bring about a confrontation between two nuclear powers.
Taiwan is but one piece on a chessboard designed by the United States to undermine China and thus the world from charting a course of history free of imperialist domination.
Anyone who calls themselves “the Left” would be foolish to follow the imperialist paper tiger into a trap of its own making with regard to Taiwan or any other feature of the U.S.’s New Cold War against China.
Yet this is exactly what has happened.
Most of the “left” has abdicated its responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism and therefore shares responsibility with the right for the U.S.’s hostilities toward China.
U.S. interference in China’s affairs regarding Taiwan should thus be seen as an opportunity to reverse this dangerous course and place the demand for the U.S. to respect international law at the forefront of the movement.
Now, for my point…
I think all of these points are valid. But, I want to throw something else (a “monkey wrench”) into the mix.
Suppose that those who “lead” the United States, whether it is President Biden, political factions, the military or the oligarchy, are actually crazy psychopathic personalities. Perhaps they did not get to their positions through merit, but some other means, and they have a view of the world that we “normals” have a difficult time understanding.
American “leadership”.
And while we can point at the various strange actions of the United States leadership with our ideas, our historical or economic references, they do not address the frightening possibility that irrational people are in control of a very large and powerful nation with lots of nuclear bombs.
The entire globalist elite having devolved into a decadent and dumb state is the single explanation that explains everything that is going on right now, and does not require any kind of ridiculous leap in logic to mush everything together in a coherent way.
Now, I argue that the deafening silence on my black world contacts are screaming “Big Event” is on the way.
Heads down, alert up.
I hope to hell that I am wrong, but for all practical purposes, it appears that the USA is planning a first strike action against China and IT WILL be nuclear.
There is some degree of confidence in their ability to carry it though. Whether or not it is really well thought out or not is immaterial.
The fact is that the USA is going to do something very bad, very big, and it will change the global social economic calculus for centuries hence.
I believe that the USA is planning a first-strike nuclear sneak-attack against China.
From a MM contributor who is also a spook like myself…
Let’s see what happens. Remember that seriously mentally deficient people are running the US government today. They do not “have all their marbles.”
Here’s a thing which is happening: people – probably most of you reading this – are confusing the total power of the current US government for competence.
This is very natural, psychologically – it makes fundamental sense that people with absurd amounts of power would have to have competence.
But, if we break down the fact that these people inherited this power structure, then you might look at it like the logic of assuming a guy driving a Lamborghini must be rich, before you find out it was stolen.
It took me a long while to process it myself, and I definitely didn’t have a full understanding of it until Joe Biden took over as our overlord, but these people are not competent.
Upon closer inspection, we realize they are actual morons.As a thought experiment: try to think of one single thing that the Democrats have done since assuming total domination of America that is indicative of competence.
The only thing you will likely be able to think of is the fact that they’ve managed to keep this virus hoax rolling, but that is obviously virtually entirely managed by the media. And the success of the project is entirely dependent on the docility of the American people.
Prolog – Why I say that this might as well be the case.
For two decades I was married to a woman with a severe mental illness. It’s schizoaffective. And one of the things you learn, as a caregiver, is that they think and believe that they are making valid and good decisions, but in reality their decisions were terrible, based on all sorts of things, and off the wall.
I once asked her what the idiom “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” meant. She, in all seriousness, told me that the idiom meant that glass breaks and has sharp edges.
...people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Those who themselves are open to criticism or vulnerable to attack should not attack others.
This proverb dates from the time of Chaucer, who used a version of it in Troilus and Criseyde (ca. 1374).
-People who live in glass houses - Idiom
I am convinced that the American leadership, no matter who it is, is wildly dysfunctional and dangerous. They do not know that they are ill, and they have surrounded themselves with similar people who are equally crazy.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
I think that is important to address the issue of Taiwan and China. I believe that I need to do so because the USA is trying to start a war there. The drums for war are beating loudly. Really, really loudly. What the HELL is going on?
America is a military empire and it needs a war to exist. It’s always wanted one, two or three, as well well know. Right now the USA is involved in eight simultaneous wars, which could be reduced to seven if the (so called Afghanistan pull out) actually occurs.
But yeah. All evidence is that the United States is “throwing it’s weight around” trying to provoke a mighty World War.
(To) throw one's weightaround, to To use one’s wealth or standing to manipulateothers; to act officiously.
This expression dates from the early twentiethcenturyand uses weight in the sense of “authority.” John P. Marquand had it in H. M. Pulham, Esquire (1941): “Bo-jo was a bastard, a big bastard.
-Throwweightaround - Idiomsby The FreeDictionary
All you need to do is read the slant of the “news” out of America. Such as this piece of reprehensible trash…
I will admit that the anti-China articles have improved in their “sneakiness”. All you need to do is read the text to pull out the “boiler plate” anti-China screeds. Like this one from my Tech channels…
And the source for all this information? Why it’s the “United States Government”. That’s it. No other information on names or actual validation channels. Jeeze!
So the USA is busily running their anti-China screed, and they are still poking the Panda. But will it result in a hot war over Taiwan?
We should look into this. Here we tie together some most excellent articles and then weave them together for a better, more comprehensive picture about what is going on, why and who the culprits are.
We will start with this, it is one of the better articles on the subject. Edited to fit in this venue and all credit to the author.
We are witnessing the fourth Cross-Strait Crises. Chinese and American armed forces are undertaking dangerous, spectacular and threatening show of military might. What makes the present crisis different from the previous ones is the fact that it happened during and after the mutual cold-war declaration by Washington and Beijing in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18-19, 2021
The world is wondering how far this military show will go. Many are afraid of a shooting war involving China, Taiwan and the U.S. Indeed, many are even afraid of the possibility of the third world war which will kill us all.
However, I do not share such pessimistic views. My view is that the inter-China cold war is likely to remain cold, not hot, because none of the three actors involved in the conflict – two Chinas and the U.S.- will gain from the shooting war.
The Sino-American shooting war – if there will be one – will be ignited somewhere else.
Summary
My argument may be summarized as follows.
First, the U.S. does not want the inter-China hot war, because through its ambiguous Taiwan policy, it can continue to sell weapons to Taiwan and, at the same time, keep Taiwan as the primary outpost of its China containment policy.
Second, China is not eager to declare a hot war with Taiwan, because Taiwan has not provided the reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion.
What would force an invasion of Taiwan by China?
There are four reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion including [1] the declaration of Taiwan independence, [2] internal turmoil inside of Taiwan, [2] military alliance with another country, [3] acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and [4] negotiations under the violation of the 1992 Consensus for “one-China”.
None of these conditions are present.
Therefore, China has no reason to invade Taiwan.
Taiwan does not want a war with China
Third, Taiwan does not want the hot war with China for the reason that it will be most likely defeated. As well as the cost of such defeat will be too high in terms of economic development and the loss of its identity. In fact, if and when China wins, it is extremely likely that both of the two China’s will be united under the banner of PRC.
The U.S. does not want inter-China hot War
To understand Washington’s role in the inter-China conflict, it is important to understand its Taiwan policy.
Washington’s Taiwan policy is based on [1] the three joint communiqués, [2] the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 (TRA) and [3] the Six Assurances imposed by Ronald Reagan in 1982.
The followings are the contents of the three Communiqués, TRA and the Six Assurances.
The First China-U.S. Communiqué (28 February 1972)
The U.S. Government acknowledges (not accept or recognize) that all Chinese in either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but One China
Taiwan is a part of China
The U.S. Government does not challenge this position
. It reaffirms its interest in peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by Chinese themselves
With this prospect in mind, it affirms its ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all the U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan.
The Second China-U.S. Communiqué (January 1, 1979)
Neither should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or any other region of the world.
Each is opposed to efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony
The government of the USA acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China
PRC is the sole legal government of China
Third China-U.S. Communiqué (August 17, 1982)
The U.S. Government attaches great importance to its relation with China.
It has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity or interfering in China’s internal affairs or pursuing a policy of ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan.’
The U.S. Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan
Its arms sale to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms the level of those supplied in recent years
It intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final solution.
The U.S. Taiwan policy cannot be changed by the president and requires the consent of the Congress.
The Taiwan Relations Act (enacted by the U.S. Congress on April 10, 1979)
The principal contents of the Act is in Section 2 of the Act
Taiwan is treated as a country, a nation or a state as sub sovereign nation
Informal diplomatic relations are carried out by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
The U.S. Government normalizes its diplomatic relations with PRC (Beijing) under the condition that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.
Any efforts to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means including by boycotts, or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific are grave concern to the U.S.
The Sino (Taiwan)-U.S. Mutual Defence Treaty is terminated.
The U.S. Government does not intervene in case of invasion by People’s Republic of China (PRC)
The U.S. Government provides arms of defensive character and maintains the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan
The decision related to the quantity and the quality of defence articles and services is determined by the Congress and the president.
The Six Assurances
The administration of Ronald Reagan unilaterally added in 1982 “Six Assurances” to the TRA and this has become the mains part of the U.S. Taiwan policy
The U.S. Government has not agreed to set a date of the termination of its arms sale to Taiwan.
The U.S. Government has not agreed to consult with PRC (China) or ROC (Taiwan) for arms sales to Taiwan.
The U.S. Government does not perform the mediation role between ROC and PRC
The U.S. Government has not agreed to revise the TRA
The U.S. Government has not revised its position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan
The U.S. Government will not exercise pressure on Taiwan to enter into negotiation with PRC.
The positive aspect of Washington’s Taiwan policy is the termination of the bloody civil war between ROC and PRC which caused the two cross-strait crises (1954 and 1958); the civil war lasted until 1979.
But, the end of the inter-China civil war was also desirable for Washington as well, because Washington badly needed China to counter the aggressive assertiveness of the Soviet Union in Asia.
So, Washington and Beijing were strange bed fellows with different dreams. Another possible reason for the U.S. initiative to end the inter-China civil war was the fear of Beijing’s victory over Taipei, which means the loss of a lucrative American arms market and reliable outpost of China containment strategy.
On the other hand, Washington’s Taiwan policy is characterized by the amazing ambiguity of Washington’s perception of the cross-strait problems and tactics which was most likely designed to maximize the American interests at the expense of China’s interests.
What comes out of the three communiqués, the TRA and the six assurances may be summarized in terms of the issue of regional hegemony, the legal status of Taiwan and the American arms sales.
Regional ambiguity
In the second communiqué of 1979, there are items preventing China from becoming a hegemonic power in the region. Neither the U.S. nor China should seek for hegemonic power in Asia. But the U.S was already the hegemonic power there.
The second feature of Washington’s Taiwan policy is its contradictory and ambiguous position regarding the legal status of Taiwan.
In the joint communiqués, the U.S. acknowledges that China is one and Taiwan is a part of China and that Beijing is the sole legal government of China. But this should mean that since Taiwan is a part of China, Beijing should also govern Taiwan.
But, in the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan is given the status of a de facto sovereign country.
China can argue that Washington did not respect the contents of the joint communiqués. But Washington can say this: “We have never accepted one-China regime, we said we acknowledged the regime”. Here, we see the strategic political ambiguity of Washington.
In fact, in the TRA, it says that Taiwan is treated as a nation of sub sovereignty. The U.S. has established de facto diplomatic relations with Taiwan conducted through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Here, Washington’s position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan is not clear. The hidden purpose of the U.S. could be to make the sovereignty issue ambiguous so that it can change its position in function of needs.
Washington’s Arms Sales to Taiwan
Now, as for the issues of arms sales to Taiwan, the U. S. is even more ambiguous.
In the third communiqué, the U.S. says that it has no long-run plan of arms sales to Taiwan.
Yet in the same communiqué, the U.S. says that it will reduce arms sales, which contradicts each other.
In the TRA, the Sino (ROC)-U.S. defence Treaty is terminated.
This is a very, very important point. One that is purposely being left out of all media communication originating out of the United States. The TRA ended Taiwan as a US Protectorate.
Therefore, Washington should not intervene militarily if and when Taiwan is in armed conflict with Beijing.
But, already, in media, the US intervention in case of PRC’s Taiwan invasion is openly discussed.
One wonders what the reliability of the joint communiqués, the TRA and the Six Assurances is. It’s as if the United States simply ignores inconvenient rules, treaties, and agreements that it has signed.
Now, in the Six Assurances, it is written that the U.S. has no date for the ending of its arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not obliged to consult PRC or ROC for its arms sales to Taiwan. So, Washington has absolute freehand in handling the arms sales to Taiwan.
In short, the U.S. Taiwan policy is so confusing and so ambiguous that it has useful flexibility for the sales of arms to Taiwan. The following table shows the pattern of American arms sales to Taiwan.
Table: Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan by U.S. Presidents
The table above allows these observations.
Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan has increased over the years, which is contrary to what the U.S. Government had promised.
The Trump administration spent as much as US$ 4.45 billion per year which represents as much as 30% of Taiwan’s annual defense budget of $15 billion
By and large, the Republican Party sells more than the Democrats.
Washington sells more when the anti-Beijing liberal party of Taiwan, the Democratic and Progressive Parry (DPP) is in power, that is, under the DPP government of Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) and under the DPP government of Tsai Ying-wen (2016-2021)
This has an important meaning.
Remember that the DPP is the party which seeks independence of Taiwan.
Hence, the data can be interpreted as Washington’s strategy of encouraging the independence movement leading to ROC-PRC tension and more U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
So the United States is actively encouraging an armed conflict between Taiwan and China. Though everyone realizes that ultimately Taiwan would be absorbed into China as a result of the conflict.
So, Does the USA want a Hot War over the Taiwan strait?
Now, coming back to the question of whether the U.S. wishes hot war over the Taiwan Strait, the answer is that it will not want the hot war.
The USA does not really want a Hot War, even though it is provoking one.
The reason is because, the hot war means the unification of China and Taiwan will no longer be able to play the role of Washington’s primary China-containment outpost and its function of being the lucrative market of American military equipment’s.
Neither PRC (People’s Republic of China) nor ROC (Republic of China-Taiwan) wants the hot War.
Are Taiwan and China enemies as described in the Western media?
When we discuss Taiwan and China, it is important to remember that they once were enemies. This was around fifty years ago.
The army of the ROC was defeated in 1949 and Chiang Kai-sek fled to Taiwan and continued the Republic of China which was created in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen. The civil war between ROC and PRC continued until 1979.
Even though the civil war was terminated, the ROC and PRC relations have not been smooth partly because of the past history and partly because of different political and economic regimes. In other words, there are always the possibilities of hostility in the cross-strait relations.
However, they have established viable relations which have been beneficial to both through political and economic cooperation.
The Risk of full Taiwan Independence from China
Aside from the American and British media harping on the desire for Taiwan to be free of the “oppressive yoke” of the “brutal Communist Dictatorship”, the real truth is something else entirely.
The evolution of the Taiwanese political orientation may be measured in terms of the way in which its presidents consider the legal status of Taiwan vis-à-vis PRC.
The evolution of Taiwanese political leaders’ perceptions of Taipei-Beijing political relations is shown below. By and large, such relations have evolved by the following periods.
The civil war period (1949-1979)
The period of good relations (1979-1998)
The period of hostility (1998-2008)
The resumption of high level dialogue period (2008-2016)
The frozen relation period (2016-2021)
The period of civil war (1949-1979) was characterized by two cross-strait crises and never ending armed conflict between two Chinas.
During the friendly relation period (1979-1998), Deng Xiaoping met frequently the head of the Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT) in order to develop cooperative relations.
President Chiang Ching-kuo (1980-1988) of KMT, son of Chiang Kai-shek, declared the three NOs:
No declaration of independence,
No unification of Chinas and
No use of force between the two Chinas.
On July 9, 1999, President Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) of KMT defined the ROC-PRC relation as “country to country relations.” So, there is no need for the independence declaration.
However, Lee’s visit to the Cornel University Alumni in 1995 alarmed Beijing and it led to the 1996 show of military might of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of PRC.
This was, in fact, the third Taiwan Strait crisis.
During the period of hostility (1998-2008), President Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) of the anti-PRC party, DPP, changed the name of “Chunghwa Post Co.” to “Taiwan Post Co.” He changed also the name of “China Petroleum Corporation” to “Taiwan Petroleum Corporation.”
But, under KMT president Ma Yong-Jeou (2008-2016), the old names came back. This episode shows how Taiwanese people are sensitive about the identity of Taiwan vis-à-vis China of main land.
In 2008, Ma Ying-Jeou of KMT (2008-2016) took over the power and the friendly relations across the Strait were resumed.
The year 2008 was marked by the efforts of PRCs president Hu Jintao to improve the bilateral relations across the Taiwan Strait. On March 26, 2008, he talked to President G.W. Bush, who endorsed the 1992 consensus on “One China”..
President Hu Jintao also met the Chairman of the KMT, Wu Po-hsing, who also accepted the 1992 Consensus.
As for President Ma, he defined the bilateral relations as “One Country on each side” or “two states in the same nation.”
In 2016 began the current period of contention. The power went back to DPP and Tsai Ying-wen became President. Tsai’s perception of Taiwan’s legal status was not more certain than those of other Taiwan presidents.
Her victory has put Beijing in even uncomfortable position. In 2016, Beijing cut all communications with ROC.
But, in the same year, some leaders in Taiwan being aware of the deteriorating cross-strait relations formed a Taiwanese delegation composed of eight magistrates and city mayors went to Beijing to improve the relations.
However, the cross-strait relations were not peaceful. In 2018, PLA conducted military exercises which surely alarmed Taiwan.
In 2019, Xi Jinping reaffirmed his position in favor of “one China, two systems.”
President Tsai Ying-wen refused Xi Jinping’s idea.
To the surprise of the world, in 2020 Tsai Ying-wen won the election again; the world was expecting that she would take more radical position regarding Taiwan’s independence.
True, her victory has encouraged the independence movement in Taiwan and pro-independence political parties and civic organizations asked for a referendum on independence.
However, Tsai maintained her position that since Taiwan is already independent country, there is no need for the declaration of independence.”
To sum up, none of the presidents of the major parties, the KMT and the DPP, opted for the declaration of Taiwan’s independence.
True, there are some pro-independence parties such as The Taiwan Independence Party, the Taiwan Solidarity and the Formosa Alliance, but they have no electoral support.
Thus, the danger of Taiwan’s declaration of independence seems nonexistent and therefore, Beijing has no reason to invade for now.
Taiwan People’s Perception
What has intrigued me is the Taiwanese people’s perceptions regarding Taiwan’s legal or political status. There are four public opinion polls which are meaningful.
In the poll of 2008 by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) no less than76% of the respondents rejected the idea of “one China, two systems.”
In the 2017 poll by MAC, 85% of the respondents said that the future of Taiwan should be determined by the Taiwanese themselves.
In the 2019 poll by MAC, 75% of the respondents rejected the 1992 Consensus (There is only one China which should be governed by PRC).
In the 2020 poll by the Academia Sinica, one finds very interesting phenomena.
73% of the respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese.
27.5% of them identified themselves as Chinese-Taiwanese
2.4% of them identified themselves as Chinese
52.3% of them would prefer the postponement of the question of Taiwan independence and keep the status quo
35.1% of them prefer immediate independence
5.5% of them would prefer immediate or eventual unification of China.
In the Poll of MAC, 90% of the respondents refused PLA’s military threats.
To sum up, the Taiwanese are eager to greater autonomy, even independence, but they seem to avoid military confrontation by postponing the solution of the independence issue.
In short, Taiwan does not want a shooting war with China.
Economic Cooperation
There is another reason why the ROC-PRC hot war will not take place. It is the cross-strait economic cooperation.
Taiwan has achieved a remarkable success in economic development.
In the 1960s, the per capita GDP was as low as $60. Now, in 2020, its GDP (nominal) was $730 billion USD and the per capita GDP was $32,000. This is, in fact, the miraculous achievements of the Taiwanese people.
The information industries account for 35 % of the country’s industrial production. The semi-conductor producers such as Taiwan Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and the United Microelectronic Corporation (UMC) are world leaders. Taiwan is the 13th largest producer of steel; its steel products are exported to 130 countries. The most spectacular entrepreneurial performance has been shown by the SMEs accounting for 85% of industrial outputs.
Such achievement has been possible because of the courage, the innovative entrepreneurial spirit, the productivity and, especially the hard work of the Taiwanese.
However, Washington’s economic aid, its imports of Taiwanese products and technology transfer have all contributed. In addition, we should not forget the cooperation between Mainland China and Taiwan.
Under President Chiang Ching-kuo (1978-1988), two important semi-official organizations were was established: the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) under ROC’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Association of Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) under PRCs Taiwanese Affairs Office.
These two organizations have been the center of bilateral political and economic cooperation. They have initiated the three links: postal services, transportation and trade.
The Taiwan’s Investment Guidelines and similar measures taken by ROC have led to mutual business investments.
In fact, 40 % of Taiwan’s outbound FDI stock went to Mainland China. Chinese tourists contribute to more than 40% of ROCs tourist industry. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement of 2010 is another mechanism of the bilateral economic relations.
Above all, Taiwan depends heavily on China for trade. In 2020, the value of Taiwan’s total exports was $ 345 billion of which 29.7% went to China. In the same year, the value of Taiwan’s total imports was $ 286 billion of which 22% came from China.
It is true that the RCO-PRC relations are not peaceful. But these economic relations are beneficial enough to keep the status quo as long as possible.
The conclusion of my analysis is that none of the three actors involved in the cross-strait drama wants shooting war.
China doesn’t
Taiwan doesn’t
The United States doesn’t.
The United States. The U.S. does not want the hot war because it will mean [1] the unification of China, [2] the loss of Taiwan as the primary China-containment outpost and [3] the loss of the lucrative arms market.
Taiwan. Taiwan does not want the shooting war, because it will mean the complete destruction of its economy, and the loss of its autonomy becoming one of the Chinese provinces.
China. China does not risk the hot war because [1] Taiwan prefers the status quo; [2] it has no intention of getting weapons of mass destruction; [3] there is no internal turmoil; [4] it does not seek military alliances.
But the United States wants high stress and tension
However, even without the shooting war, as long as the Sino-U.S. cold war continues, the cross-strait tension will continue.
Washington will sell more military equipment and services and Taiwan will have to play the dangerous role of Washington’s the primary outpost of China containment strategy and that of main buyer of American military weapons.
I wish to add this.
The bilateral conflict between two Chinas like all other major bilateral conflicts is an integral part of Washington’s strategy of global hegemony. One of the most productive components of the American global hegemony is the proxy war, that is, some member country of Washington’s alliances will fight for the U.S.
Japan might be asked to play this role, because Japan is the best qualified for such task; it is a world class military power and it has the ambition of dominating Asia again; to do so, Japan has to destroy China. I hope I am wrong in thinking such an awful thing.
Finally, I would like add this too…
Taiwan is a country which has achieved an amazing economic miracle of which all Chinese should be proud. Taiwan has established viable democracy under very challenging conditions; this is a regime which will surely contribute to the further advancement of China’s socio-political system.
…
Well, perhaps it is the Taiwan oligarchy that is pushing this issue. Not the Taiwanese government, and not the American government. Perhaps it is the oligarchy inside of Taiwan, and the greedy evil neocons in America that is driving up the stress levels in the Taiwan strait.
Because if Taiwan, China and the USA doesn’t want a war, then why are we talking about this?
Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks staffed with many of the same experts and funded by Taiwanese money is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.
At MintPress, we have been at the forefront of exposing how Middle Easterndictatorships and weapons contractors have been funneling money into think tanks and political action committees, keeping up a steady drumbeat for more war and conflict around the world.
Yet one little-discussed nation that punches well above its weight in spending cash in Washington is Taiwan.
By studying Taiwan’s financial reports, MintPress has ascertained that the semi-autonomous island of 23 million people has, in recent years, given out millions of dollars to many of the largest and most influential think tanks in the United States.
This has coincided with a strong upsurge in anti-China rhetoric in Washington, with report after report warning of China’s economic rise and demanding that the U.S. intervene more in China-Taiwan disputes.
These think tanks are filled with prominent figures from both parties and have the ears of the most powerful politicians in Washington.
It is in their offices that specialists draw up papers and incubate ideas that become tomorrow’s policies.
They also churn out experts who appear in agenda-setting media, helping to shape and control the public debate on political and economic issues.
Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, funded by foreign governments and weapons manufacturers, used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East.
Now, a new set of think tanks, staffed with many of those same experts who provided the intellectual basis for those invasions, is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.
The Brookings Institute
In 2019, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) — for all intents and purposes, the Taiwanese embassy — donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Brookings Institute, commonly identified as the world’s most influential think tank.
Taiwanese tech companies have also given large sums to the organization.
In turn, Brookings Institute staff like Richard C. Bush (a former member of the National Intelligence Council and a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia) vociferously champion the cause of Taiwanese nationalists and routinelycondemn Beijing’s attempts to bring the island more closely under control.
TECRO featured prominently among myriad defense interests on the donor rolls for both the Atlantic Council, left, and Brookings Institute
In mid-April 2021, Brookings held an event called “Taiwan’s quest for security and the good life,” which began with the statement that…
“Taiwan is rightly praised for its democracy. Elections are free, fair, and competitive; civil and political rights are protected.”
...
“most consequential” challenge to the island’s liberty and prosperity is “China’s ambition to end Taiwan’s separate existence.”
According to another organization’s latest financial disclosure, TECRO also gave a six-figure sum to the Atlantic Council, a think tank closely associated with NATO.
The Atlantic Council
It is unclear what the Atlantic Council did with that money, but what is certain is that they gave a senior fellowship to Chang-Ching Tu, an academic employed by the Taiwanese military to teach at the country’s National Defense University.
In turn, Tu authored Atlantic Council reports describing his country as a “champion [of] global democracy,” and stating that “democracy, freedom and human rights are Taiwan’s core values.”
A menacing China, however, is increasing its military threats, so Taiwan must “accelerate its deterrence forces and strengthen its self-defense capabilities.”
Thus he advises that the U.S. must work far more closely with Taiwan’s military, conducting joint exercises and moving towards a more formal military alliance.
In 2020, the U.S. sold $5.9 billion worth of arms to the island, making it the fifth-largest recipient of American weaponry last year.
Other Taiwan-employed academics have chided the West on the pages of the Council’s website for its insufficient zeal in “deter[ring] Chinese aggression” against the island. “A decision by the United States to back down” — wrote Philip Anstrén, a Swedish recipient of a fellowship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — “could damage the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees and signal that Washington’s will to defend its allies is weak.”
Anstrén also insisted that “Europe’s future is on the line in the Taiwan Strait.” “Western democratic nations have moral obligations vis-à-vis Taiwan,” he added on his blog, “and Western democracies have a duty to ensure that [Taiwan] not only survives but also thrives.”
The reason this is important is that the Atlantic Council is an enormously influential think tank.
Its board of directors is a who’s-who in foreign policy statecraft, featuring no fewer than seven former CIA directors.
Also on the board are many of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and James Baker. When organizations like this begin beating the war drums, everybody should take note.
…
The Hudson Institute
Perhaps the most strongly anti-Beijing think tank in Washington is the conservative Hudson Institute, an organization frequented by many of the Republican Party’s most influential figures, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice-President Mike Pence and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.
The words “China” or “Chinese” appear 137 times in Hudson’s latest annual report, so focused on the Asian nation are they. Indeed, reading their output, it often appears they care about little else but ramping up tensions with Beijing, condemning it for its treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Uyghur Muslims, and warning of the economic and military threat of a rising China.
Over the years, Hudson’s efforts have been sustained by huge donations from TECRO.
The Hudson Institute does not disclose the exact donations any sources give, but their annual reports show that TECRO has been on the highest tier of donors ($100,000+) every year since they began divulging their sponsors in 2015. In February, Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas J. Duesterberg wrote an op-ed for Forbes entitled “The Economic Case for Prioritizing a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement,” in which he extolled Taiwan’s economy as modern and dynamic and portrayed securing closer economic ties with it as a no-brainer. Hudson employees have also traveled to Taiwan to meet and hold events with leading foreign ministry officials there.
The Hudson Institute also recently partnered with the more liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) to host an event with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took the opportunity to make a great number of inflammatory statements about the “ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies” China poses; applaud the U.S.’ actions on Hong Kong; and talk about how Taiwan honors and celebrates those who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre. TECRO gave the CAP between $50,000 and $100,000 last year.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
It is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), however, that appears to receive the most Taiwanese money.
According to its donor list, Taiwan gives as much money to it as the United States does — at least $500,000 last year alone.
Yet all of the Taiwanese government money is put into CSIS’s regional studies (i.e., Asia) program. Like Hudson employees, the CSIS calls for a free trade agreement with Taiwan and has lavished praise on the nation for its approach to tackling disinformation, describing it as a “thriving democracy and a cultural powerhouse.”
Although acknowledging that the reports were paid for by TECRO, CSIS insists that “all opinions expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the authors and are not influenced in any way by any donation.”
In December, the CSIS also held a debatesuggesting that “[w]ithin the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery,” exploring what the U.S. response to such an action should be.
Like the Atlantic Council, the CSIS organization is stacked with senior officials from the national security state. Its president and CEO is former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, while Henry Kissinger — former secretary of state and the architect of the Vietnam War — also serves on its council.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD)
The CSIS accepts money from the Global Taiwan Institute and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) as well. The former is a rather shadowy pro-Taiwanese group that appears not to disclose its funding sources.
The latter is a government-funded organization headed by former Taiwanese President You Si-kun.
Every year, the TFD publishes a human rights report on China, the latest of which claims that “the Chinese Communist Party knows no bounds when it comes to committing serious human rights violations” — accusing it of “taking the initiative” in “promoting a new Cold War over the issue of human rights” and trying to “replace the universal standing of human rights values around the world.”
Ultimately, the report concludes, China “constitutes a major challenge to democracy and freedom in the world.”
Joseph Hwang of The War College in Taiwan speaks at a CSIS about how Taiwan acts a buffer to protect US data infrastructure from China
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The TFD has also been a major funder of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a far-right pressure group that insists that Communism has killed over 100 million people worldwide.
Last year, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation added all global COVID-19 fatalities to the list of Communist-caused deaths on the basis that the virus started in China.
The Foundation also employs Adrian Zenz, a German evangelical theologian who is the unlikely source of many of the most controversialandcontested claims about Chinese repression in Xinjiang province.
Other funded anti-China Think-Tanks
In the past 12 months, TECRO has also donated six-figure sums to many other prominent think tanks, including…
MintPress reached out to a number of these think tanks for comment but has not received any response.
“It would be naive to believe that Taiwan’s funding of think tanks is not pushing them to take pro-Taiwan or anti-China positions,” Ben Freeman, the director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, told MintPress, adding:
After all, why would Taiwan keep funding think tanks that are critical of Taiwan? There’s a Darwinian element to foreign funding of think tanks that pushes foreign government funding to think tanks that write what that foreign government wants them to write. Taiwan is no exception to this rule.”
TECRO is not just sponsoring American think tanks, however.
the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
It has also given funds to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a hawkish and controversial group described as “the think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China.” The country’s former ambassador in Beijing described ASPI as “the architect of the China threat theory in Australia” while Senator Kim Carr of Victoria denounced them as working hand-in-hand with Washington to push “a new Cold War with China.”
ASPI was behind Twitter’s decision last year to purge more than 170,000 accounts sympathetic to Beijing from its platform.
“We must be ready to fight our corner as Taiwan tensions rise,” ASPI wrote in January, having previously castigated the West for being “no longer willing to defend Taiwan.”
Who is behind all this money, ultimately?
ASPI — like Brookings, the Atlantic Council and others — are directly funded by weapons manufacturers, all of whom also have a direct interest in promoting more wars around the world.
Thus, if the public is not careful, certain special interests might be helping move the United States towards yet another international conflict.
While the situation outlined above is concerning enough, the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative’s research has shown that around one-third of think tanks still do not provide any information whatsoever about their funding, and very few are completely open about their finances.
Freeman maintains that, while there is nothing inherently wrong with foreign governments funding Western think tanks, the lack of transparency is seriously problematic, explaining:
This raises a lot of questions about the work they’re doing. Are their secret funders saying what the think tank can do in a pay-for-play scheme? Are the funders buying the think tanks silence on sensitive issues? Without knowing the think tank’s funders, policymakers and the public have no idea if the think tank’s work is objective research or simply the talking points of a foreign government.”
Freeman’s study of the Taiwanese lobby found that seven organizations registered as Taiwan’s foreign agents in the U.S.
Those organizations, in turn, contacted 476 Members of Congress (including almost 90% of the House), as well as five congressional committees.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was their most frequent contact, the Californian being contacted 34 times by Taiwanese agents. Pelosi has been a great supporter of Taiwanese nationalists, successfully promoting pro-Taiwan legislation and proudly announcing that the U.S. “stands with Taiwan.”
Foreign agents working on behalf of Taiwan also made 143 political contributions to U.S. politicians, with former Alabama Senator Doug Jones the lead recipient (Pelosi was third).
Losing China, regaining Taiwan?
The reports listed above understand the dispute as purely a matter of Chinese belligerence against Taiwan and certainly do not consider U.S. military actions in the South China Sea as aggressive in themselves.
That is because the world of think tanks and war planners sees the United States as owning the planet.
America has the right to go and do anything that it desires anywhere on the globe at any time.
To this day, U.S. planners bemoan the “loss of China” in 1949 (a phrase that presupposes the United States owned the country).
After a long and bloody Second World War, Communist resistance forces under Mao Tse-tung managed to both expel the Japanese occupation and overcome the U.S.-backed Kuomintang (nationalist) force led by Chang Kai-shek. The United States actually invaded China in 1945, with 50,000 troops working with the Kuomintang and even Japanese forces in an attempt to suppress the Communists. However, by 1949, Mao’s army was victorious; the United States evacuated and Chang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan.
The Kuomintang ruled the island for 40 years as a one-party state and remains one of the two major political groups to this day.
The war between the Communists and the Kuomintang never formally ended, and Taiwan has now lived through 70 years of estrangement from the mainland. Polls show a majority of Taiwanese now favor full independence, although a large majority still personally identify as Chinese.
While many Taiwanese welcome an increased U.S. presence in the region, Beijing certainly does not.
American military is getting ready for a war
In 2012, President Barack Obama announced the U.S.’ new “Pivot to Asia” strategy, moving forces from the Middle East towards China. Today, over 400 American military bases encircle China.
In recent months, the United States has also taken a number of provocative military actions on China’s doorstep.
In July, it conducted naval exercises in the South China Sea, with warships and naval aircraft spotted just 41 nautical miles from the coastal megacity of Shanghai, intent on probing China’s coastal defenses.
And in December, it flew nuclear bombers over Chinese vessels close to Hainan Island.
Earlier this year, the head of Strategic Command made his intentions clear, stating that there was a “very real possibility” of war against China over a regional conflict like Taiwan.
China, for its part, has also increased its forces in the region, carrying out military exercises and staking claims to a number of disputed islands.
A new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) report notes that China is the U.S.’ “unparalleled priority,” claiming that Beijing is making a “push for global power.” “We expect that friction will grow as Beijing steps up attempts to portray Taipei as internationally isolated and dependent on the mainland for economic prosperity, and as China continues to increase military activity around the island,” it concludes.
In an effort to stop this, Washington has recruited allies into the conflict. Australian media are reporting that their military is currently readying for war in an effort to force China to back down, while in late April 2021 President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to shore up a united front against Beijing vis-a-vis Taiwan.
In February, the Atlantic Council penned an anonymous 26,000-word report advising Biden to draw a number of red lines around China, beyond which a response — presumably military — is necessary. These included any military action or even a cyber attack against Taiwan. Any backing down from this stance, the council states, would result in national “humiliation” for the United States.
American fantasy dreams
Perhaps most notably, however, the report also envisages what a successful American China policy would look like by 2050:
[T]he United States and its major allies continue to dominate the regional and global balance of power across all the major indices of power;… [and head of state Xi Jinping] has been replaced by a more moderate party leadership; and … the Chinese people themselves have come to question and challenge the Communist Party’s century-long proposition that China’s ancient civilization is forever destined to an authoritarian future.”
In other words, that China has been broken and that some sort of regime change has occurred.
Forked tongue speak
Throughout all this, the United States has been careful to stress that it still does not recognize Taiwan and that their relationship is entirely “unofficial,” despite claiming that its commitment to the island remains “rock solid.”
Indeed, only 14 countries formally recognize Taiwan, the largest and most powerful of which is Paraguay.
Along with a military conflict brewing, Washington has also been prosecuting an information and trade war against China on the world stage.
Attempts to block the rise of major Chinese companies like Huawei, TikTok and Xiaomi are examples of this.
Others in Washington have advised the Pentagon to carry out an under-the-table culture war against Beijing.
This would include commissioning “Taiwanese Tom Clancy” novels that would “weaponize” China’s one-child policy against it.
And, bombarding citizens with stories about how their only children will die in a war over Taiwan.
Republicans and Democrats constantly accuse each other of being in President Xi’s pocket, attempting to outdo each other in their jingoistic fervor.
Last year, in 2020, Florida Senator Rick Scottwent so far as to announce that every Chinese national in the U.S. was a Communist spy and should be treated with extreme suspicion.
As a result, the American public’s view of China has crashed to an all-time low.
Only three years ago, the majority of Americans held a positive opinion of China. But today, that number is only 20%. Asian-Americans of all backgrounds have reported a rise in hate crimes against them.
Cash rules everything around me
How much of the United States’ aggressive stance towards China can be attributed to Taiwanese money influencing politics?
It is difficult to say.
Certainly, the United States has its own policy goals in East Asia outside of Taiwan.
But Freeman believes that the answer is not zero. The Taiwan lobby “absolutely has an impact on U.S. foreign policy,” he said, adding:
At one level, it creates an echo-chamber in D.C. that makes it taboo to question U.S. military ties with Taiwan.
While I, personally, think there are good strategic reasons for the U.S. to support this democratic ally — and it’s clearly in Taiwan’s interest to keep the U.S. fully entangled in their security — it’s troubling that the D.C. policy community can’t have an honest conversation about what U.S. interests are.
But, Taiwan’s lobby in D.C. and their funding of think tanks both work to stifle this conversation and, frankly, they’ve been highly effective.”
Other national lobbies affect U.S. policy.
The Cuban lobby helps ensure that the American stance towards its southern neighbor remains as antagonistic as possible.
Meanwhile, the Israel lobby helps ensure continuing U.S. support for Israeli actions in the Middle East.
Yet more ominously with Taiwan, its representatives are helping push the U.S. closer towards a confrontation with a nuclear power.
While Taiwanese money appears to have convinced many in Washington, it is doubtful that ordinary Americans will be willing to risk a war over an island barely larger than Hawaii, only 80 miles off the coast of mainland China.
Despite hopes by some that with Joe Biden a new US foreign policy will follow – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reaffirmed Washington’s committment to seeking conflict in the South China Sea under the guise of “standing with Southeast Asian claimants.”
Reuters in their article, “US stands with SE Asian countries against China pressure, Blinken say” would claim:
.
Secretary Blinken pledged to stand with Southeast Asian claimants in the face of PRC pressure,” it said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which is also a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The United States has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to advance its presence in the South China Sea.
The US announcement confirms that a confrontational posture toward China will continue regardless of who occupies the White House – as US tensions with China are rooted in unelected Western special interests and their desire to remove China as a competitor and potential usurper in what US policy papers themselves call “US primacy in Asia.”
US Primacy in Asia
One such paper titled, “Revising US Grand Strategy Toward China,”…
…published by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2015…
…not only spelled out the US desire to maintain that primacy in Asia vis-a-vis China…
… but also how it would use overlapping claims in the South China Sea as a pretext to justify….
…an expanded military presence in the region and as a common cause to pressure China’s neighbors into a united front against Beijing.
The paper would note specific US goals of militarizing Southeast Asia and integrating the region into a common US-led defense architecture against China.
It is a policy built upon the US “pivot to Asia” unveiled as early as 2011 and a policy that has been built upon in turn during the last four years under the Trump administration – demonstrating the continuity of agenda that permeates US foreign policy.
Turning Disputes into Conflict
Maritime disputes are common throughout the world – even in the West.
Just at the end of last year, the Guardian in an article titled, “Four navy ships to help protect fishing waters in case of no-deal Brexit,” would report:
Four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from 1 January to help the UK protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a deployment evoking memories of the “cod wars” in the 1970s.The 80-metre-long armed vessels would have the power to halt, inspect and impound all EU fishing boats operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 200 miles from shore.
In terms of such disputes, the waters of the South China Sea are no exception.
Not only does China have overlapping claims with the nations mentioned in the Reuters article – each nation listed has overlapping claims with one another.
This results in sporadic disputes between all of these nations – occasionally resulting in the seizing of vessels and the temporary detaining of boat crews.
However – these disputes are regularly settled through bilateral methods – including disputes between Southeast Asian nations and China itself.
A high-profile example of this unfolded in 2015 where a US-led legal case was brought to the Hague on behalf of the Philippines regarding Chinese claims over the South China Sea.
While the Hague ruled in the Philippines’ favor – Manila declined to use the ruling as leverage against Beijing or to seek Washington’s assistance – and instead pursued bilateral talks with Beijing directly on its own.
It is a case that demonstrates the desire by Washington to escalate what are ordinary maritime disputes, into a regional or even international crisis – not unlike the US’ strategy in the Middle East which it uses to justify its perpetual military occupation there.
More recently the issue of the South China Sea has come up at ASEAN Summits.
Al Jazeera in its article, “ASEAN summit: South China Sea, coronavirus pandemic cast a shadow,” would cite Malaysia’s take on the issue, noting:
“The South China Sea issue must be managed and resolved in a rational manner,” Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the meeting. “We must all refrain from undertaking activities that would complicate matters in the South China Sea. We have to look at all avenues, all approaches to ensure our region is not complicated further by other powers.”
While the US poses a champion for Southeast Asia – it is clear that its efforts are unwelcome and viewed instead as a source of instability – not a path toward resolution.
It is almost certain that it is Washington the Malaysian foreign minister was referring to when he mentioned “other powers.”
Just as the US nominated itself as protector of European “energy security” in its bid to obstruct the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline – the US has inserted itself into relatively routine maritime disputes in the South China Sea – not to “stand with” the nations of the region, but to serve as an excuse to impose its “primacy” over them.
The nations of Southeast Asia count China among their largest trade partners, sources of tourism, and for several – a key military and infrastructure partner.
The prospect of a regionally destabilizing conflict originating over long-standing disputes in the South China Sea benefits no one actually located in Asia – and only serves the interests of those beyond Asia seeking to divide and reassert their rule over it.
Who are these people?
Who are these Taiwan Oligarchs that want to start World War III? Most are old men. The youngest is in their 60’s. Most are in their mid to late 70’s and much older. What are they trying to do, and why? Are they so fixated in what happened fifty years ago that they cannot see what is going on right now, and what a bright future lies ahead for them?
MM is providing their names right here for you all to see.
Yeah. I wonder how much of a shame it would be for these people to suddenly stop provoking a war beacause of other issues that they need to deal with.
Conclusion to all of this
The governments do not want wars or conflict in the South China Sea, but the oligarchs do.
They are pushing, and pushing, and pushing for a war.
And “red lines” have been established.
For China to invade Taiwan.
For China to attack American cities.
For Taiwan to get involved with the United States.
And the wealthy oligarchy are pushing these limits.
And this is what is going on right now.
How successful will the oligarchy be? It’s a matter up to the government leadership.
A final word…
It’s propaganda that is pushing the world towards world war III. And this propaganda is very devious and very destructive.
The following is from the US defense department. It shows the nuclear delivery systems of American, China and Russia compared. Imagine that, the only nuclear delivery systems that America has according to the media are airborne!
From the US Department of Defense Nuclear Posture Review.
Do you believe it?
You shouldn’t. It’s false; it’s a lie.
But many do believe it. And that why there is an inherent danger in all these oligarchs pushing the world towards world war III.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
It's true, and as time goes on it appears that America is just the big bad neighborhood bully that everyone is afraid of, and that no one ever stands up to. That is until one day...
This is a pretty damning and frightening title, don’t you think? Well, it’s true and it’s accurate. But you won’t ever see anyone be so absolutely blunt as MM here. This isn’t salacious and eye catching as some kind of “click bait” for “doom porn”. Never the less, it’s a real and serous issue. And we are talking about it here, simply because the “drums of war” are beating loudly inside of America.
American war drums are beating loudly.
#7 ·
It's a shame that everyone is China bashing these days, and all of that is based on the USA government controlled press.
If anyone were to do some research on the subject of China's claim to sovereignty over these South China Sea Islands, then they would quickly agree with China's stance.
However, almost all are like "LindaLou" who watched "some" of a morning program "Inside China" and immediately made up his/her mind that China was bad and should be condemned for standing up for their rights.
If this were the USA, making these claims, then ALL of the pandering USA citizens would be following the government press and saying "YES, YES, YES".
The citizens of the USA should be very mindful of the fact that you're being manipulated to believe whatever the government wants you to believe.
Ever watched "1984" ?
Listen to me.
.
Please.
.
America is not able, and is not capable, of fighting either Russia, or China on their territory. And would suffer catastrophic losses at a horrific level. Probably one that would result in the absolute collapse of the country (the entire United States as a nation) to a point where it is completely unrecognizable afterwards.
And you know, many, many people are starting to wake up to this fact. Even the most deluded sheeple. Some Americans. Maybe in numbers as high as 1% are scratching their heads and asking… what? You want to fight?
Why?
You're not suggesting that taking out China would be as easy, are you?
I guarantee you that the US cannot defeat China. We are no longer the world's leading super power and, in fact, we're on the verge of becoming #3.
China is #1 and we're close to coming in behind Russia.
#18 ·
Any of the following areas of American provocation would result in the nuclear detonation upon American cities…
China over Taiwan.
China over Tibet.
China over Hong Kong.
China over Xinjiang.
China over the South China Sea.
Russia over the Ukraine.
The American military planners are aware of this fact. And so they have been conducting all sorts of studies, and war games, to find solutions where America would win a war again either Russia, China or both simultaneously.
They can’t find ANY.
Many in the know, believe America has two options when it comes to winning a world war against China and Russia. Also, what most agree on is the fact that America cannot win a conventional war against either power, or both.
- Can America Win World War III? A Critical Analysis
Of course, because everyone is “dancing around it” and refuses to look at the issue “face to face” the actual study results (studies… many) are coded in euphemisms. Instead of saying that the United States military was wiped off the face of the globe, the studies say…
"...there were challenges and difficulties that were encountered..."
Instead of saying that all the United States carriers were non-functional after three days, the reports read…
"...the Navy needs to invest money to improve defensive capabilities in a new and contentious environment...".
Instead of saying that half of the expensive and elaborate high cost weapons and equipment were no longer operable, the reports stated…
"...challenges in training must be addressed..."
These euphemisms have become the “New Speak” of American Imperial Policy. As this quote outlays…
"Question: So you think that the United States can no longer be called a democracy?"Answer: Democratic countries do not engage in blackmail and threats against other sovereign states, do not interfere in their internal affairs. They do not violate international law, do not use military force and economic sanctions bypassing the UN. They do not trample on human rights or restrict freedom of speech on their territory and abroad. They do not try to use racism of all stripes to solve internal problems, nor do they lure extremists and terrorists to their side for geopolitical purposes. They do not allow transnational corporations to interfere in the work of the government, imposing their own interests on the country and society, much less block the legitimate head of state in social networks and mass media. In democratic countries, the administration that came to power does not disavow the decisions of its predecessors simply because there has been a personal antagonism between them."
But a "democratic country" is whatever America defines it as--at any given moment!
America is just like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland: “When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
Torture is Enhanced Interrogation.
Coup D'etats are Regime Change.
Kill Lists are a Disposition Threat Matrix.
Wars of Aggression are Wars of Choice (or Pre-emptive kinetic military action).
Ignorance is Strength....
As a former high-level Bush Regime official boasted, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
Welcome to the American Rules-Based Order.
-Posted by: ak74 | May 4 2021 23:21 utc | 30
And this use of euphemisms has been seriously misinterpreted by the American leadership elite who mistakenly believe that they can fight either or both Russia and China simultaneously and win in any conflict. And here you have Metallicman saying that this is simply not true.
Fifty years of fighting small, lightly armed military, in under-developed nations that rely on obsolete technology and who, at best engage in GuerillaWarfareshould not be considered the same thing as fighting a determined, skilled, peer capable military in Asia.
Well, this is well understood.
But whether or not American military is able to fight a war is not a concern to the bureaucracy in Washington DC. Whether they are able to profit from the threat of war is. And thus we have this curious article…
Warships sink. Bases burn. F-35s die on the runway. Can $24 billion a year — 3.3 % of the Pentagon budget — fix the problem?
WASHINGTON: The US keeps losing, hard, in simulated wars with Russia and China. Bases burn. Warships sink. But we could fix the problem for about $24 billion a year, one well-connected expert said, less than four percent of the Pentagon budget.
“In our games, when we fight Russia and China,” RAND analyst David Ochmanek said this afternoon, “blue gets its ass handed to it.”
In other words, in RAND’s wargames, which are often sponsored by the Pentagon, the US forces — colored blue on wargame maps — suffer heavy losses in one scenario after another and still can’t stop Russia or China — red — from achieving their objectives, like overrunning US allies.
No, it’s not a Red Dawn nightmare scenario where the Commies conquer Colorado.
But losing the Baltics or Taiwan would shatter American alliances, shock the global economy, and topple the world order the US has led since World War II.
Hey! Boys and Girls! I've got news for you all. The US no longer leads the world. It just thinks it does. The American Leadership shill haven't read the reports yet. -MM
Body Blows & Head Hits
How could this happen, when we spend over $700 billion a year on everything from thousand-foot-long nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to supersonic stealth fighters?
Well, it turns out US superweapons have a little too much Achilles in their heels.
“In every case I know of,” said Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense with decades of wargaming experience, “the F-35 rules the sky when it’s in the sky, but it gets killed on the ground in large numbers.”
Even the hottest jet has to land somewhere.
But big airbases on land and big aircraft carriers on the water turn out to be big targets for long-range precision-guided missiles.
Once an American monopoly, such smart weapons are now a rapidly growing part of Russian and Chinese arsenals — as are the long-range sensors, communications networks, and command systems required to aim them.
So, as potential adversaries improve their technology, “things that rely on sophisticated base infrastructure like runways and fuel tanks are going to have a hard time,” Ochmanek said. “Things that sail on the surface of the sea are going to have a hard time.”
That’s why the 2020 budget retires the carrier USS Truman decades early and cuts two amphibious landing ships, as we’ve reported.
It’s also why the Marine Corps is buying the jump-jet version of the F-35, which can take off and land from tiny, ad hoc airstrips, but how well they can maintain a high-tech aircraft in low-tech surroundings is an open question.
While the Air Force and Navy took most of the flak today at this afternoon’s Center for a New American Security panel on the need for “A New American Way of War.” the Army doesn’t look too great, either.
Its huge supply bases go up in smoke as well, Work and Ochmanek said. Its tank brigades get shot up by cruise missiles, drones, and helicopters because the Army largely got rid of its mobile anti-aircraft troops, a shortfall it’s now hastening to correct.
And its missile defense units get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incoming fire.
“I think it’s unanimous from all the soldiers involved that we got this one right,” said the Army’s project manager for the Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial System. Manned aircraft, FARA and FLRAA, are also moving out sharply.
- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“If we went to war in Europe, there would be one Patriot battery moving, and it would go to Ramstein. And that’s it,” Work growled. “We have 58 Brigade Combat Teams, but we don’t have anything to protect our bases, so what different does it make?”
Worst of all, Work and Ochmanek said, the US doesn’t just take body blows, it takes a hard hit to the head as well.
Its communications satellites, wireless networks, and other command-and-control systems suffer such heavy hacking and jamming that they are, in Ochmanek’s words, “suppressed, if not completely shattered.”
The US has wargamed cyber and electronic warfare in field exercises, Work said, but the simulated enemy forces tend to shut down US networks so effectively that nothing works and nobody else gets any training done.
“Whenever we have an exercise and the red force really destroys our command and control, we stop the exercise,” Work said, instead of trying to figure out how to keep fighting when your command post gives you nothing but blank screens and radio static.
The Chinese call this “system destruction warfare,” Work said: They plan to “attack the American battle network at all levels, relentlessly, and they practice it all the time.”
In short, if Biden rashly sends the military to Taiwan’s defense, he could be sending us to our greatest naval defeat in our history.
If the president’s military advisers convince him to attack military targets on the mainland, the results would be mushroom clouds over U.S. cities.
-1945
The $24 Billion Fix — And Cuts
So how do you fix such glaring problems?
The Air Force asked RAND to come up with a plan two years ago, and, surprisingly, Ochmanek said, “we found it impossible to spend more than $8 billion a year.”
That’s $8 billion for the Air Force. Triple that to cover for the Army and the Navy Department (which includes the US Marines), Ochmanek said, and you get $24 billion.
Yes, these are very broad strokes, but that’s only 3.3 percent of the $750 billion defense budget President Trump will propose for the 2020 fiscal year.
Work was less worried about the near-term risk — he thinks China and Russia aren’t eager to try anything right now — and more about what happens 10 to 20 years from now. But, he said, “sure, $24 billion a year for the next five years would be a good expenditure.
So what does that $24 billion buy?
To start with, missiles. Lots and lots of missiles. The US and its allies notoriously keep underestimating how many smart weapons they’ll need for a shooting war, then start to run out against enemies as weak as the Serbs or Libyans. Against a Russia or China, which can match not only our technology but our mass, you run out of munitions fast.
Specifically, you want lots of long-range offensive missiles. Ochmanek mentioned Army artillery brigades, which use MLRS missile launchers, and the Air Force’s JAGM-ER smart bomb, while Work touted the Navy’s LRASM ship-killer. You also want lots of defensive missiles to shoot down the enemy‘s offensive missiles, aircraft, and drones. One short-term fix there is the Army’s new Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (MSHORAD) batteries, Stinger missiles mounted on 8×8 Stryker armored vehicles. In the longer term, lasers, railguns, and high-powered microwaves could shoot down incoming missiles much less expensively.
The other big fix: toughening up our command, control, and communications networks. That includes everything from jam-proof datalinks to electronic warfare gear on combat aircraft and warships. The services are fond of cutting corners on electronics to get as many planes in the air and hulls in the water as possible, Ochmanek said, but a multi-billion dollar ship that dies for lack of a million-dollar decoy is a lousy return on investment.
In the longer run, Work added, you want to invest heavily in artificial intelligence: not killer robots, he said, but “loyal wingmen” drones to support manned aircraft and big-data crunchers to help humans analyze intelligence and plan. Of course, you have to find the money for new stuff somewhere, which means either raising the defense budget even further — unlikely — or cutting existing programs. Ochmanek was unsurprisingly shy about specifics, saying only that the services could certainly squeeze out $8 billion each for new technologies.
Work was a little harder-edged. He said cutting a carrier and two amphibious ships over the forthcoming 2020-2024 budget “seems right to me.” He argued the US Army has way too many brigade combat teams — tanks and infantry — and way too little missile defense to protect them. And he bemoaned reports the US Air Force will retire the B-1 bomber, one of its few long-range strike aircraft: If the Air Force doesn’t want them, he said, give them to the Navy, revive the old VPB “Patrol Bomber” squadrons, and load them with Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles to sink the Chinese navy. Pentagon leaders should challenge the armed services to solve very hard, very specific problems.
Work said: Sink 350 Chinese navy and coast guard vessels in the first 72 hours of a war, or destroy 2,400 Russian armored vehicles. Whoever has the best solution gets the most money. Those are hardly easy goals, Work said, but they’re also doable with technology now in development.
Easy Solution. The immediate problems could be fixed with technology already in production, Ochmanek said. For $24 billion, “I can buy the whole kit,” he said. “It’s all mature technologies and it would scare the crap out of adversaries, in a good way.”
It’s all about the money…
According to Washington DC K-Street neocons, the solution is more money. Not, instead, to rethink the value of conducting war against a peer-capable enemy. Especially one that has no intention on invading America. And they should think about the consequences…
No matter how one calculates it, fighting China over Taiwan would harm American interests and security without even holding the potential for benefit.
We must resist the temptation to act on the presumption that we can always choose to fight because we will always win.
The future of our country might hinge on getting this right.
-1945
The only threat to America these days is domestic. Internally, America is collapsing and the rest of the world isn’t. But… Let’s suppose that the money-grabbing Washington “think tanks” have made the necessary Power Point PPT presentations and convinced, actually convinced, those that control the utilization of the military that it is indeed possible to win a war. What then? Well let’s look at the situation from this point of view…
Biden Can’t Assume America Beats China in a Taiwan War
Joe Biden will face a host of difficulties and challenges when he assumes office on January 20, but perhaps none more consequential than deteriorating China-U.S. relations.
It is the potential flashpoint of Taiwan that will have the greatest urgency. Many in Washington are advocating a shedding of the decades’ old policy of “strategic ambiguity,” in favor of an overt declaration that we would come to the defense of Taiwan if China ever seeks to reunify the island by force.
Well. According to the UN, and both China and Taiwan, Taiwan is Han Chinese and part of China. It operates independently like Hong Kong does. But in no way is it an American territory. Which is something that the United States media and the neocons in Washington DC wants everyone to believe.
Assumed in such advocacy is the presumption the U.S. Armed Forces would be able to successfully accomplish that mission. For at least three major reasons, those assumptions are badly misplaced.
First, the risk is high that on purely military fundamentals, the United States would fail to successfully prevent a resolute and committed Chinese assault. As the most recent Department of Defense annual report to Congress on China details, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – remains on a multi-decade modernization push that has seen them develop a substantial defensive capability, known as anti-access, area-denial (A2/AD).
China’s A2/AD strategy, the Pentagon report explains, is designed to “dissuade, deter, or, if ordered, defeat third-party intervention during a large-scale, theater campaign such as a Taiwan contingency.”
Their strategy includes the use of modern weaponry including warships, new fighters, increasingly lethal missile forces, heavy armor, and cyberattack capability.
When comparing the armed forces of the United States and China, we are still substantially more capable than China. Our ability to project power, for example, remains ahead of China.
Critically, however, the balance of power near China’s shores would give them virtually EVERY military advantage.
Repeated wargames conducted in the United States pitting the U.S. against China in a Taiwan scenario reveal the ugly truth.
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense and current RAND analyst David A. Ochmanek revealed earlier this year that simulation exercises have exposed troubling results when the U.S. intervenes in war between China and Taiwan.
The American side, Ochmanek admitted, has “had its ass handed to it for years.”
The reasons for the simulated combat losses aren’t hard to understand.
Over the past few decades, the Chinese have developed modern weapons of war and have improved the quality of their fighting force substantially above where they were when the U.S. dismantled Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army in 1991.
Though our military is globally superior any fight within the so-called “first island chain” near China’s coast would play to Beijing’s tactical advantage.
As if 2020, this is now obsolete. According to the United States military, and the Trump White House the "first island chain" delimitation line is no longer an American advantage.
It is an area of Chinese military advantage.
Our conventional and nuclear power deter China from ever attacking the U.S. mainland or Armed Forces – but if we choose to intervene in their back yard, they would have the advantage.
Second, in the event of war, Taiwan may defend itself not merely by targeting the attacking Chinese forces, but by hitting military bases on the Chinese mainland.
If the U.S. joins the fight against China, it is unlikely China would differentiate whether an attack against its mainland came from a Taiwanese or American source and may well prompt a Chinese retaliation against U.S. targets either in the region (such as in Japan, South Korea, Guam, or Hawaii) or directly on our continental homeland. The risk would then rise precipitously of a nuclear response against American Cities on American soil.
Third, even if we overcame all the difficulties and imposed an outright defeat on the Chinese, there’s no guarantee China wouldn’t try again and we would be saddled with permanently garrisoning Taiwan, indefinitely making its security our responsibility. It would also all but guarantee a new war with China, as an American military presence across the Strait would entice Beijing to prepare for the next round. Taiwan is a core interest of China and they would never quit fighting.
As China has repeatedly warned the brain-dead American leadership, that Taiwan is Chinese territory.
Any American killing of Chinese people on Chinese soil would result in American deaths on American soil.
Of course, the idea that China would stick to a conventional strategy and isolate Taiwan and allow it to work with the United States unencumbered is another major illusion.
There is a much higher chance of San Fransisco turned to a flat, glassed over radioactive plain than this scenario coming into being. The Chinese leadership does not think like an American oligarch.
We would have to spend scores of billions annually to perpetually defend Taiwan, placing severe strain on our economy, diverting military forces and resources from everywhere else in the world, and require a major increase in the size of our military and thus base defense budget.
Undertaking such a burden as the “prize” for successfully preventing China from taking Taiwan could literally bankrupt our country and leave us more vulnerable than we’ve been since before World War I.
If you thought that Afghanistan's trillions of dollars was a waste, you ain't seen nothing yet.
China would make that look like play-money.
China could turn Taiwan into Verdun if it wanted to. And America would be trapped in throwing trillions of dollars into that sink hole, all to the glee of the neocons on K-street.
It should be beyond clear that it is not in America’s interests to take such an enormous risk. Naturally, the United States is a genuine advocate for freedom and self-determination across the globe.
It is not, however, our responsibility to be the global guarantor of every land and peoples’ freedom on the planet.
It would be a tragedy beyond compare if in trying to defend one country’s freedom, we put at risk our ability to guarantee our own.
Why are we even talking about this?
Well? Why?
Like him or hate him. Bernie Sanders made a great point thirty years ago (30 years!) that is even more pointed now. And it describes exactly what is going on right now. It describes the WHY everyone in Washington DC is talking about war with China, or War with Russia…
This video was made exactly 30 years ago.
Now, China at that time was truly third world. Over 90% of it’s people lived in poverty. But the government did exactly what Bernie Sanders proposes in this video, and now look at China today.
Now we have America looking to start a major war.
Idiots!
The next war will reduce all of America to slag. All of it. And the nations… nations… fractured remains that rise up, will be fourth world nations working hard to become more than just a radioactive banana republic.
How a War Against China Could Cripple the United States
Once China has decided to use military force to reunify Taiwan, their first actions will be covert actions designed to quietly set the stage for the assault of their main combat forces.
The assumption is...
The first action that will signal a full-on war has begun will be an initial, major barrage of ballistic missiles screaming across the strait at multiple civilian and military targets.
Once that happens, everything happens at warp speed.
The first barrage of missiles will target critical infrastructure and seek to destroy Taiwan’s ability to respond to the Chinese onslaught.
They will target military airfields to make them unusable, seek to destroy aircraft on the ground, especially those with the ability to conduct command and control and to direct other weapons (like AWACs-type craft); missile boats and Aegis-type destroyers in their births; anti-air and missile batteries on the ground.
“We warn those ‘Taiwan independence’ elements – those who play with fire will burn themselves, and Taiwan independence means war.”
— Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian
In the early hours of the battle, Taiwanese troops are shocked, confused, lack clear communications, and are fighting in the rear and from the front at the beaches.
Also an assumption.
China’s initial objectives will be to secure at least one of the three airfields and capture one or more beach landing sites by the end of the first day of fighting.
If they do, they will have a chance to open an airbridge and beach landing site through which they can pour more and more material with limited opposition. Like at the Normandy beach landings in 1944, once the invading force breaks through at the beach, it is almost impossible for the defenders to win.
The defenders’ primary objective is to identify and destroy all Chinese efforts on the island as quickly as possible, retain control of all airfields, and keep the beaches impregnable.
If China is not successful in landing the knock-out blow within the first 48 hours, it will likely have to switch its efforts to dramatically increasing its use of ballistic and cruise missiles, fighter and bomber sorties, and ship-to-shore missiles to try and force an opening at one or more beach landing zones.
They will try to overwhelm the island through brute force. If Taiwan is successful at preventing any large scale incursions either on the beach or via airborne or air-assault operations, their chances of thwarting the invasion increase dramatically. But they still won’t be out of the woods.
If China cannot penetrate the beach after two weeks of fighting, they may shift to a siege mentality, in which they will continue sustained bombing of the island, but at a reduced rate while putting into effect a naval blockade.
If things broke well for Taiwan, it is entirely possible that they could prevent China from opening any beachheads against their defenses. A naval blockade, however, will be more difficult to overcome.
Without any ability to replace the missiles and other ammunition they expend, no way to medically evacuate their wounded, or to import oil to power their warships, fuel their armored vehicles, and generate electricity – not to mention feed the population.
Though Taiwan can inflict serious damage to the PLA military, China’s capacity to absorb the damage and replace losses – while maintaining a blockade – is unlikely to be enough to stave off eventual defeat.
Taipei’s hope that by holding out long enough the U.S. will come riding to a the rescue will, one way or another, be dashed.
Constraints on U.S. Response
As Admiral Philip Davidson said in recent Congressional testimony, it would take American ships based in Alaska 17 days to reach Taiwan; 21 days from the U.S. West Coast.
Which is the entire idea behind the QUAD. To have massive military forces within close proximity of China. And thus American military would stream from Australia into the South Pacific Sea.
Beijing’s attack will require a no-notice launch to minimize the Taiwanese defender’s ability to man their positions, but possibly the greater purpose will be to ensure the U.S. Navy and Air Force are caught flat-footed and unable to mount an effective response.
To even have a chance at success, U.S. Forces in the Pacific region would have to have months to prepare.
They would have to bring personnel strength up near 100%, make all their ships and aircraft combat ready and fully supplied with wartime ammunition and fuel stocks.
That will never happen. At best American equipment is at 35% readiness, with a goal of some day reaching 50% readiness.
Any shortfalls in personnel, ships, and planes would have to be redeployed from other theaters to bring the Pacific naval and air fleets up to full capacity. None of those will be possible with a no-notice surprise attack by Beijing – and that vulnerability will put the U.S. president in a real bind.
Crisis in the White House Situation Room
The instant the first report reaches the Situation Room, the White House will assemble a crisis response team of senior advisors to begin analyzing the situation and debating potential responses.
Some will suggest the president order immediate long-range missile attacks against Chinese invasion air and naval forces in an attempt to aid the defenders.
Others may advocate hitting the Chinese bases supporting the invasion.
China will likely warn Biden that any attack on China-proper will result in missile strikes on American cities with conventional warheads* (still very lethal).
Word is that America HAS been warned. And the type of weapon used has not be specified.
*One of the biggest problems that Americans make is assuming that everyone else thinks like them.
As Mike Sweeny recently wrote for Defense Priorities, such attacks against targets on the Chinese mainland will inflame the Chinese domestic audience against the United States in increase the pressure for a nuclear response.
Again. There is a serious fundamental difference between China and America. In China, day to day public option does not matter. Decisions are not made by mob rule. They are made by merit-appointed true experts and the decisions are always sound. If China believes that the advantage would be to eviscerate New York City with a cluster of six nuclear war heads, then it will do so, and what the newspaper reader on the street thinks will not factor into the equation.
The risk of a war between Washington and Beijing escalating to nuclear is higher than many understand.
Duh!
But the president will face enormous pressures to act militarily in the face of Chinese aggression.
Taiwanese officials will certainly be pleading for the U.S. to intervene. Those in the United States who are already China hawks will almost certainly advocate “limited” military retaliation.
They will argue that Washington cannot stand passively by while China swallows a leading democratic country in Asia.
To refuse to act would be tantamount to Neville Chamberlain’s infamous appeasement at Munich and encourage China to try and conquer other nations militarily. In all fairness, such concerns would not be without merit.
But Biden’s ability to respond militarily would be far more limited than would be commonly understood.
If Congress declared war on China or gave Biden authority to launch a military strike, the best he could do would be to unleash a relatively few cruise missiles and order some long-range bombing sorties from regional bases.
Those would have some impact but be insufficient to stop China’s invasion.
“China’s navy is viewed as posing a major challenge to the U.S. Navy’s ability to achieve and maintain wartime control of blue-water ocean areas in the Western Pacific.”
—Congressional Research Service analysis
To engage in sustained operations in support of Taiwan’s defenses, it would take the U.S. Navy and Air Force months to properly enter the war theater.
Trying to rush our military into a fight as soon as it can reach Taiwan would be near suicidal, as we would be arriving to the fight in sub-optimal condition, not fully resourced – and would face the full brunt of the Chinese air and naval forces (which are about double the size of the U.S. Pacific fleets). As importantly, PRC air and naval forces have long had existing plans to fight a U.S. force sent to aid Taiwan and have conducted countless computer simulations and field exercises.
We would be outnumbered, out-prepared, and out-gunned while fighting a motivated enemy engaged in what it considers an existential battle.
Duh! If Texas was Attacked how would American react? The same kind of visceral reaction should be expected of China.
All of the recent U.S.-based computer simulations reach similar conclusions.
In short, if Biden rashly sends the military to Taiwan’s defense, he could be sending us to our greatest naval defeat in our history.
If the president’s military advisers convince him to attack military targets on the mainland, the results could be mushroom clouds over U.S. cities.
The leaders in Washington DC believe that the loss of a city like Los Angles would be acceptable “collateral losses” in the quest to maintain Democracy off the coast of China.
Fortunately, however, there are superior options for Biden to choose that don’t involve dead Americans.
Preserving U.S. Military Power, Maintaining Security and Freedom
If China bull-headedly turns to violence to take Taiwan by force, the U.S. Government’s overriding priority will be to safeguard American security, freedom, and prosperity.
America's "freedom", and "prosperity"? Americans are so used to repeating the narrative that they no longer know what the words mean.
If Biden resists the temptation to respond immediately, he can dramatically shift the balance of power back in America’s favor by adopting realistic and attainable diplomatic and military strategy that features isolating, resisting, and containing China.
LOL. As if that is going to happen. Did you see any reasoning or strategy in the Alaskan meeting in April 2021 between Washington and China?
If China is foolish enough to gamble its future by attacking Taiwan – and America is smart enough to stay out of the war – the PRC will be severely weakened from its current status.
I disagree.
The entire world relies on Chinese manufacturing. And factories do not grow on trees. There are no quality alternatives for precision manufacturing, high technology products or innovation. Everything has been outsourced to China, and that includes Japanese products and design, German products and design, Korean products and design and all the rest.
The United States has, for some time, championed Taipei building a defensive fortress that would make any Chinese attempt to invade prohibitively expensive.
If anything, (America) should encourage Taiwan to expand further their defenses.
Even if China were successful in catching Taiwan unprepared, the surprise would not be complete, and Taipei would still have the ability to launch retaliatory strikes against the Chinese.
Unlike the United States, Taiwan would have no incentive to resist attacking mainland targets and would attack mainland airfields, naval bases, rocket and missile launch sites, and Chinese defense industry targets.
It would be very difficult seeing that the Chinese can render all missiles inactive by energy beam weapons.
They would also successfully sink some Chinese warships, knock out some fighter jets, and destroy thousands of their troops.
Maybe.
But China does not think like that.
Let me tell you what is more probable.
Nothing happens. Then one day the news says that Taiwan has embraced China as a co-family member. And has decided to get closer to the mainland.
That is the kind of level of strategy that we are dealing with here. Not the crude "blow 'em up" Rambo style of neocon warfare.
The net result of even a successful attack would gouge the PLA, severely weakening their ability to wage war; if Taiwan somehow held out and prevented an island takeover, the PLA would be set back decades and the PRC itself at risk of falling internally.
Um. Not even remotely realistic.
Any nation that can build two (x2) 4000 bed hospitals in ten days, or a 80 story skyscraper in a week, would have no problem replenishing military forces.
In either event, America’s advantage over China would be significantly increased, our ability to protect U.S. interests global continue to be unmatched, and our people continue in complete freedom.
Americans living in "freedom"? Obviously he was doing drugs when he wrote this. I think that he is just rolling off some trite sayings without thinking, rather than adding constructive dialog to make his points with.
Moreover, we would then have decades to increase our defenses from Guam to Hawaii to the West Coast – should that be deemed necessary – to ensure China could never, even decades into the future, successfully mount a cross-Pacific attack.
With what money? When it would take a wheel-barrel full of $100 bills to buy a hamburger?
What Americans think China’s military is like…
This is exactly what Americans think that the Chinese military is today. It’s what most people think. It’s a group of peasant, illiterate, with little training using 1980’s era hand-me-down old Soviet Union weapons. Where, their only strength is in their enormous numbers of people.
What China’s military is actually like…
This has rapidly become my favorite video. This is what the Chinese military is actually like.
This is a singular unit in XinJiang, you know the place; where the gateway to the BRI is, and where America must stop at nothing to disrupt it.
You probably know of it though the propaganda campaign about Uighur Muslims in Concentration Camps and other bullshit. You know. That America “must do something to help those poor oppressed Muslims”. As if the American oligarchy ever cared about Muslims at all, ever.
And some of the technologies that China has. Their quads operate and behave quite differently than what the American units do. And it’s very interesting. You have to keep in mind that all, and every Chinese person is a member of the irregulars. They all have military training, and the enormous size of the Chinese military is only the active “professional” warrior class. Not the irregulars.
And every squad has one of these curious weapons. They also have this other “neato” gun which is sort of a pocket howitzer that is the size of a rifle.
Chinese knives are sure cool, eh?
A personal mortar. Also standard with all squads…
The jeep howitzers are pretty cool too…
And aside from the regular training, and the mandatory of all military train for every single 14 year old boy and girl in China, you have elements of training that is simply not present in the United States, such as being able to shoot, and load a weapon with one hand. As in this movie…
And of course, since all the parts and engines, and subsystems of all the latest military hardware is contracted out to China, it should be no surprise that their home-gown, home-design, and home-manufactured weapons systems would be equal or better than the American ones that spawned them…
All the videos
If you cannot access all or some of the videos you can get them all HERE. Some good stuff, especially if you are a military buff.
Conclusion
In sum, by staying out of a China vs. Taiwan war, not only would America maintain our current strength, our national security would be stronger.
Conversely, if we foolishly insert ourselves into their fight, we will suffer severe damage to our Armed Forces at a minimum, placing our national security around the world at higher risk; in a worst-case, American cities could smolder in radioactive waste for years to come.
No matter how one calculates it, fighting China over Taiwan would harm American interests and security without even holding the potential for benefit.
We must resist the temptation to act on the presumption that we can always choose to fight because we will always win.
The future of our country might hinge on getting this right.
MM Comments
Ah. Perhaps. I can parse though many of his comments and poke holes through them.
(Taiwan) "...would attack mainland airfields, naval bases, rocket and missile launch sites, and Chinese defense industry targets."
Perhaps if he looked at a map he would see how ridiculous this statement is.
Taiwan would try.
And the planes wouldn’t be able to fly with directed energy beam weapons causing them to fall out of the sky.
And even if they could make it back, where would they land.
All the airfields would be cratered.
Ok. You can never predict the outcome of a military operation.
Certainly [1] the failure of the Trump administration to cause starvation in China by using drone launched bio-weapons against livestock didn’t work. The [2] aggressive “color revolution” in Hong Kong didn’t work. The [3] attempt at destabilizing Xinjiang didn’t work, and most certainly [4] the COVID bio-weapon attack against China on CNY with the lethal B-strain did not work.
Any military action in defense of Taiwan… … has a very small likelihood of working.
Chances are that it would not be successful.
And the participation of the American military against China WILL LAUNCH a hot war against America. Which would have at least a few of the following characteristics.
Destruction of Guam
Destruction of Diego Garcia
End of all trade with China… resulting in a collapse of many American industries as they still rely on Chinese trade to operate.
Probable war with Australia and the destruction of Australian Cities.
Russian involvement for certain as an ally of China.
Destruction of the cities in Hawaii.
And a high chance of nuclear destruction of American cities.
I would suggest the destruction of every city over a population of 750,000 in America. That would include all the “big names”. Perhaps the capital of the United States could relocate to Salina , Kansas.
All of these potential issues have an over 65% chance of happening if the USA gets involved and tries to provoke a war regarding China.
So the question really is… …just how out of touch, insane and crazy is the United States leadership? Would they be that foolish to tangle with Russia and China over some South China Sea incident?
Well…
Maybe this next article will provide the answer…
CIA Wokeness
Michael Tracey writes about a weird CIA video that is making the rounds (emphasis added):
In a mind-blowing marketing video first published on March 25, but which had escaped widespread notice until recent days, the CIA enthusiastically endorsed several key tenets of what has now indisputably become a hegemonic left/liberal ideological and rhetorical construct:
“I am a woman of color,” the video’s protagonist, an unnamed CIA officer, triumphantly proclaims. “I am a cisgender millennial who’s been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise.”
She continues, “I used to struggle with imposter syndrome. But at 36, I refuse to internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be. I am tired of feeling like I’m supposed to apologize for the space I occupy.”
I have to admit that I do not know what the words are supposed to mean. (Nor does my Firefox spellchecker. It flags them.) I also do not understand the phrases. To me they sounds like utter bullshit. But if the CIA wants to hire more such people I am all for it. Folks who can not leave their personal issues at the door typically muck up their workplace and create productivity problems. A less effective CIA will be a plus for the rest of the world.
But it will certainly enable the already insane leadership to go blindly towards a very dangerous path.
And that path looks, more and more everyday, like a high-speed rail straight to Hell.
It’s all over the chat rooms. America has the best training, the most capable leaders, the strongest military, and the best manufacturing in the world. While China is what? “A third world, has been nation, that has stolen more than it contributes”, right? That’s the narrative. This is typical…
(This article is) Complete BS. You don't understand how military power and capability works.
China doesn't have any Carrier groups, not one. That is a BIG deal.
They can't project any significant sea / air power.
They also don't have any significant amphibious assault capabilities such as the USMC.
Their air-force isn't close in capability.
The majority of their service members have very rudimentary training at best. There is much more to "staff" a military than just hand a rifle to a 16 year old peasant. A 155mm artillery shell or 1000 lb air delivered bomb takes care of numbers.
#34 ·
But the interesting retort is here…
I completely understand how military power and capability works. I didn’t say they could or would invade the US. I said we couldn’t defeat them in a context of their island building in the South Pacific. They’ve been testing and demonstrating anti-satellite weapons for over a decade. They don’t have a lot of carriers but they have a lot of submarines to take out carriers. They don’t have the capability to deliver an invasion force on the US but they definitely have that capacity throughout the South Pacific.They have massive manufacturing capacity and we have dwindled ours to virtual non-existence. In WWII, our fleet was decimated in short order but we had massive manufacturing capacity and we cranked out ships and carriers in droves. Where are we going to do that today? Where are we going to make the electronic components to drive a modern fleet?
Read that carefully. We get our legitimate Mil-Spec electronic parts from China and we get fake parts from China. Where are we going to get them when we go to war with China and have to rebuild a fleet?What about training? We’re training them on how to defeat us:
If you think of China as a backwards country where the soldiers would be 16-year-old peasants, I think you’re wrong.Then you have to consider the likelihood of China using a tactical nuke. Are they crazy enough? They don’t have to be; they need only convince our President that they might be.
But it doesn’t matter. Decades of anti-China propaganda and an onslaught in the belief that America is a nation of Rambo’s has created a situation where everyone is living in this fantasy world…
They would not stand a chance vs the US today.
China has never won a war. They are defensive by nature, they are not an offensive power. historically they build walls. Their "islands" are an example of that. They don't plan on projecting force, they plan on defending what they see as their's.
China can't build a jet engine worth a poop. China can't come up with their own ideas and relies on stealing to make their military products - so how do you conclude they can figure out how to out-think the west?
China has virtually NO access to oil/gas/coal should a war happen. Sounds like a short war.
Their navy would have a fair fight with japan.
If I recall correctly, Japan was beaten without any foot troops...
Ah. A bunch of “arm chair” warriors debating some war that is on the other side of the world. A place where they never visited, and a society and culture that they know nothing about. It’s 2021. China has been very clear about what would happen;
Taiwan, and the SCS islands are all Chinese territory.
Kill one Chinese person on Chinese land, and China will retaliate in an equal measured manner.
They have already demonstrated this…
April 2020 China’s first Type-075 amphibious assault carrier, designed for launching helicopters, caught fire. It was mysterious how it happened. The Chinese Navy put out the fire, and repaired the damage and launched the ship as scheduled.
Then…
July 2020 The Navy’s USS Bonhomme Richard burned for days at its pier in San Diego. After the fire was put out, the Navy registered the destruction as “total” and wrote off the vessel as a total loss.
The Chinese Do Not Play.
A fine reminder…
Here’s a fine reminder for all the jack-asses that believe that American could shoot and kill Chinese people, on Chinese land, and somehow go unscathed…
And let’s continue…
We need to look at the full scope about what it going on…
The full scope
American leadership are clueless psychopaths.
Their toadies are sociopaths that run the levels of government.
The bureaucracy that serves them has been politically and socially corrupted beyond usefulness.
Never the less, all studies point to catastrophic consequences if the United States tries to get involved in a war with either Russia or China.
And Russia and China have signed mutual military treaties so that they will work together if the USA tries to instigate a war.
The public is not aware of this. And because of that, we have a situation where American and their leadership wants a war. And this was made obvious in the April 2021 meeting in Anchorage Alaska.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are not FOOLS. They know exactly what the stakes are, and they will absolutely not permit any “wars of democracy” to land anywhere near them. And if they do… oh, Lordy. God help the American citizenry. There will not be any mercy.
Why?
Because the Chinese know history…
.
Make no mistake.
The Chinese will fight to the death to guarantee that they will not be exterminated like vermin by the psychopaths in Washington DC. They will guarantee it.
Like it or not, but Trump has a real chance of winning the 2024 elections. This in fact will be the best thing ever because the whole world will immediately turn their backs on USA the way they did.
Personally I can't wait for him to f*ck USA up and try to start a war with either China or/and Iran. About time USA get its ass whipped.
Do not worry, the “new and improved” military forces are more than ready to deal with 16 year old goat-herders with malfunctioning cheapo Chinese AK-47 clones…
Check out what the fuck happened to the enormous Armada that steamed to China in 2020. Nope, it did not go as planned. It was a fiasco, and President Trump sacked the top military brass for not following through on his wishes.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please note that this article has a large number of videos. It is important for you to watch them to get the full impact of the message. None of the videos are longer than four minutes, but they might take some time to download depending on your service provider.
There’s a bunch of dunder-head idiots inside the United States that wants to get involved in a war. Whether it is with Russia, or Iran, or China. They want a war. And they are justifying war like they are some middle-school boys planning on a swing set in the playground. It’s dangerous, but it’s all there in black and white.
Right up front in our faces….
Rep Ted Yoho had a PR nightmare this week after reportedly calling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez some ungentlemanly terms. Though this is the controversy du jour, we should not lose sight that actual policy is more important than sound bites. Yoho recently announced plans to submit legislation this week for the “Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act” that would commit the United States to war against China if Beijing attacks Taiwan. Such a proposition has long been popular in the Beltway. Before tying the United States to Taipei’s fate, however, a closer analysis is warranted.
-Should the United States Go to War with China if Taiwan is Attacked?
But, you know, this time is really different. Oh, now. The “boys” won’t be a marching off to war. It will pretty much be “game over” for the Old US of A.
They don’t seem to understand just how meager and vulnerable the United States actually is.
The truth is that America is so weak and disorganized right now, that the slightest “event” could have everyone fighting each other like a scene out of a Hollywood movie.
And to make this point, just how absolutely RIPE America is ready for social upheaval and tearing other Americans apart, I have to show a clip from a movie. It’s one that most non-Americans are confused by. But here, now that you understand the real context behind the deeper meaning of the scene, you can well appreciate it.
America is ripe and ready for this…
Exactly… THIS…
Sorry that the quality is on the poor side. But the point is there. Listen to it, and embrace it.
American against American. Black against white. Urban against rural. Rich against poor. Spanish against Anglos.
Notice how the wealthy oligarchy observes and knows what is going on, but they either [1] divert their eyes because they don't want to see, or [2] watch the events with glee. Others also watching look up it with horror, disgust, and a state of trying to monitor the situation reasonably. This piece of video art is a masterpiece.
And I'm not saying that solely because they use Lynyrd Skynyrd music as the backdrop.
I am not the only one saying this. It’s pretty much well-established inside of America today.
The church fight scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service is hands down one of the most memorable action sequences in recent history. But there are actually layers to what makes it so great – layers beyond the primal gratification we collectively derive from seeing someone (rightfully) get the shit kicked out of them.
-Bosshunting
People are angry. They’re angry about the Covid lockdowns. They’re angry because they are losing their jobs and can’t pay the rent and feed their families. They’re angry because the stores are all out of the food and supplies they need to survive.
They are angry because they get beaten up by the cops if they don’t keep a certain distance from each other in public. They’re angry at the politicians who pretend to be helping but in truth are making things worse with partisan, self-serving bullshit. And African-Americans are angry because they find themselves — yet again — in the crosshairs of deadly racism.
In short, Americans are as mad as hell.
America is on the verge of an explosion. I can feel its rumblings already. My guess is it’s already started happening in a small way, and within the next year or two it is going to spread like wildfire.
…
Right now, virtually the entire country is in a really bad mood, and unfortunately some people will choose to resort to violence.And it can happen in places that you might not expect. For instance, an argument over social distancing rules at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma resulted in three people getting shot…But as our world gets even crazier, more people than ever are going to be going off the deep end.Our nation is so deeply divided, and explosions of anger and hatred are becoming increasingly common. So many Americans are willing to “shoot first and ask questions later”, and the shooting of a 25-year-old African-American man in Georgia is causing a national uproar…
-End of the American Dream
Rage
Take this…
People are screaming at each other a lot these days. The most recent example is a viral video, seen by millions of people since last week, of a woman who went ballistic because a service dog was sitting near her in a Delaware restaurant.The dog in question belonged to a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. But that didn't stop the woman from unleashing a three-minute, profanity-laced tirade. I'm sure all the diners at Kathy's Crab House lost their appetite that evening."It is disgusting to have an animal in a public restaurant ... I think it's gross!" the woman screams. (This is a family-friendly publication, so I can't print much more of what she said.)It seems everybody is furious today. We've created a culture of outrage. People are offended, and if you aren't offended by what offends them, they are offended by your lack of offense.We are addicts. We crave a daily fix of rage. We rant on Facebook and Twitter because we need a regular dose of vitriol to fuel our habit. Then we turn on a newscast to watch agitated political commentators throw more gasoline on the flames.The rage burns on both sides of our political divide. White supremacists march with tiki torches to spread hate. Black Lives Matter activists loot stores and smash windows. Former NFL fans burn football jerseys on barbecue grills. Campus lectures require police protection because leftists have threatened right-wing speakers. Madonna drops expletives and threatens to blow up the White House because she's so mad President Trump won the election.Is there anything we don't get angry about these days? Depending on which side of an issue Americans stand, we are offended by Starbucks coffee, Chick-fil-A sandwiches, Target restrooms, CNN, Fox, Nike shoes, the real cause of hurricanes or whatever the actress Jennifer Lawrence said yesterday.Our rage has become so absurd that a shopper at a Hobby Lobby craft store was offended by cotton stalks (yes, cotton stalks!) in the fall décor aisle. She took her protest online and demanded that the store stop selling dried cotton bouquets for $12.99 because slaves were used in the 1800s to harvest the plants.Honestly, it makes me wonder if the real cause of global warming is the alarming increase in human anger. We're going to burn up this planet with our rage if we aren't careful.
- Is America About to Explode?
Ok, to America isn’t just being led by psychopathic madmen with an IQ of a sixth grader, but that the American people are all worked up in a lather; in a frenzy. And the pressure is ON.
Now, couple this environment with the wealthy aristocratic and oligarchy inside the Washington Beltway that want to start a war with China. You know for “democracy”, and “freedom”!…
Back to China
But back to the subject at hand…
… if the fucking morons in Washington DC really want to engage in a Hot War with China…
… they will be doing it with Russia as well.
As they both; Russia and China, share self-defense interests.
Here’s how a neocon journal characterizes going to a hot war with china. Here’s one of the precious few “con” points of view. As most view points are “we can fight the world and win! Rah! Rah!” So I was greatly relieved to read this contrary article from the K-street in Washington DC.
Well…
…sort of at least.
There would likely be no dispute from any American that we affirm and endorse the prospect that the people of Taiwan ought to be free, deserve to determine their own form of government, and above all to decide whether it is in their interests to unify with China. But what price should America be asked to pay to underwrite the freedom aspirations of another country?Any conflict against China over Taiwan would result in American service men and women being killed, likely in large numbers. China’s military has been built over the past two decades specifically to deter the U.S. from attacking them–via anti-access, area denial (A2/AD)–but if deterrence fails, to build a defense force that would be able to sink our ships, knock out our satellites, and shoot down our fighters from great distances; if it ever came to a ground war, they have more than 375 million military-aged males from which to draw for their Army.
And keep in mind that the TOTAL population of the USA is less than that. That’s right. There are more Chinese military males than Americans in total.
United States Population (2021) - Worldometerhttps://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-populationThe current population of the United States of America is 332,526,757 as of Thursday, April 15, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. the United States 2020 population is estimated at 331,002,651 people at mid year according to UN data.
And they are not some idiotic, uneducated simpletons either. They are not “cannon fodder”.
But even he “get’s it” and understands the risks. Well, some of them at least…
Though Yoho was initially hailed as a more libertarian member of Congress, and even introduced a resolution in 2015 that would have reined in the president’s warmaking powers, the proposal to use U.S. troops for Taiwan’s defense is not characteristic of outside-the-box thinking championed by political renegades, but instead comes from the worst pages of the establishment’s playbook.
Instead, the best way for America to help Taiwan would be to enable them to build an A2/AD defensive bubble of their own to deter China.
But we must ensure our security first and foremost. Committing ourselves to a war against China for the benefit of another government would be a tremendous mistake because the cost to us could be a lost war, or a victory so expensive it bankrupts us and puts our own security in peril.
However you look at it, extending security guarantees to Taiwan is not in America’s interests.
-Daniel L. Davis
But he really doesn’t fully understand the risks. In his mind, and you read it for yourself, he has identified two possible outcomes of a war with China. Which are;
America could lose the war, and have to return home. (Vietnam, Afghanistan)
A victory so expensive it bankrupts the nation.
To which I must posit the most OBVIOUS outcome that for some reason the fucking idiots on K-street in Washington DC are somehow missing…
That World War III could erupt, all cities in America are destroyed, and the rest of the work sacks what remains, and America becomes a footnote in the history books. While a united-Asia administers a radioactive North America as a “backwater: for slave labor.
Here’s some video clips from various history/war movies. Let them serve as a reminder that any conflict with China, Russia, Iran or any combination will be up-front, personal, and on American soil.
Sierra Leon
This is about Sierra Leon. Rich oligarchy in the UK used the people of Sierra Leon to create a war of distraction so that they could mine diamonds. Here we see the one faction, the “rebels” enter a town and create havoc.
Shooting an RPG during the Sierra Leon civil war.
Do not be under the impression that this cannot happen inside of America. America is terribly balkanized, and this is EXACTLY what the oligarchy needs to further their plans.
In Blood Diamond, the sinner ripe for enlightenment is Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a native of Zimbabwe who makes a point of referring to the country by its old colonial name, Rhodesia. A former Angolan mercenary, Danny now (the film is set in the late nineties) smuggles Sierra Leone diamonds into Liberia in return for guns and rocket-launchers, which go to the rebel army (the RUF)—the army we’ve seen mowing down women and children, training young boys to be rapists and mass murderers, and conscripting hardier men to work in the diamond fields.
-NYMag
The difficulties in the country were compounded in March 1991 when conflict in neighbouring Liberia spilled over the border into Sierra Leone. Momoh responded by deploying troops to the border region to repel the incursion of Liberian rebels known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor. Sierra Leone’s army came under attack not only from the NPFL but also from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by former Sierra Leone army corporal Foday Sankoh, who was collaborating with the Liberian rebels; this was the beginning of what would be a long and brutal civil war.
In April 1992 Momoh was deposed in a coup led by Capt. Valentine E.M. Strasser, who cited the poor conditions endured by the troops engaged in fighting the rebels as one of the reasons for ousting Momoh. A National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) was established with Strasser as the head of state. During Strasser’s administration the civil war escalated, with the RUF increasing the amount of territory under its control, including lucrative diamond mines—the source of the “blood” or “conflict” diamonds used to fund its activities. There were disturbing reports of atrocities committed against the civilian population not only by rebel forces but also by some government troops. Civilians were subject to horrific acts of mutilation, including having their limbs, ears, and lips cut off. Incidents of rape and forced labour were widespread, and many civilians were used as unwilling human shields or held in captivity and subjected to repeated acts of sexual violence by the combatants. Forced conscription was pervasive and made many civilians, including children, unwilling participants in the conflict.
And here’s the most important statement;
Still, in the years after the war, Sierra Leone was consistently rated as one of the world’s poorest countries.
Any civil war in America will not be one that can be easily mended. A war will have long-term damage to what America is, and the fantasies that it stands upon.
Wealthy oligarchs treat the world as their property and use people and citizens as pawns to do their bidding.
And make no mistake, a Civil War is result during any global internal war. this time, the nation will not be unified against a common enemy. It will remain balkanized where every “man for himself” will carve out their existence.
Of course, the scene is not from Blood Diamond, but it could be. The situation in Sierra Leon was very awful.
As I watched the senseless brutality, the shooting of mothers and children as they fled, I was torn up, divided. I thought, Why do I need to see this? Then I thought, This happened in Sierra Leone and is still happening in parts of Africa—I need to see it. Then I thought, If I need to see it, I need to see more than a sneering villain with an eye patch. I need to understand how this man—and the people under him—become the monsters they are.
-NYMag
But enough of the fiction.
.
TheSierra Leone Civil War was an armed conflict in theWest African country of Sierra Leone from 1991 t0 2002. The war began on March 23, 1991, when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under Foday Sankoh, with support of Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor andhis group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NFPL), attempted to overthrow the government of Sierra Leonean President JosephMomah.TheSierraLeone Civil War (1991-2002)
Or, anywhere in Africa or South America
The story line is identical. It’s just the climate, the societies, and the people that are different. Do you think that because America considers itself a First-Class nation that it is somehow immune to these kinds of conflicts?
Do you believe that this would NEVER happen in the United States, simply because the wealthy people in the Untied States are kind, caring, compassionate and religious?
This is what happens when the government of a country becomes big, bloated and terribly corrupt…
The situation was further complicated when Siaka Stevens, the third prime minister, took office in 1968. He served for 17 years and during his term, created a one-party political system which led to the further dismantling of public administrative offices and extreme levels of corruption. In 1985, the fourth prime minister, Joseph Momoh, proved to be one and the same. Under his watch, Sierra Leone suffered an absolute economic crisis. Public officials were left unpaid and, in retaliation, many looted and destroyed government property and offices. This included public school teachers which led to the complete collapse of the public educational system. By 1991, Sierra Leone was one of the most impoverished countries in the world, and its citizens were dissatisfied with their living conditions.
-World Atlas
A very important review. Does it sound somewhat familiar; like it might actually happen in America…
In 1982, as Sierra Leone’s government and economy worsened, a group of Sierra Leone University, Fourah Bay College students set up a paramilitary organization.
They were led by their group leader Alie Kabbah.
They fled to eastern Sierra Leone to form a political organization to rebel against the Temne tribe's All People’s Congress (APC). This was the governing party of the time.
Their organization became the RUF.
Its objectives were to [1] overthrow of the Sierra Leonean government, [2] oust corrupt officials, and [3] re-allocate Sierra Leone’s wealth to benefit the general population
And you do not think that it could happen in the United States?
America is RIPE for war. But on in a far away land, but rather back on US soil, up front and personal.
Wealthy oligarchs have plans for America.
Meanwhile oligarchs (working behind the scenes) tried to recruit people to do their bidding.
In Sierra Leon, throughout the 1980s, neighboring Libyans infiltrated into Sierra Leone with the intention of recruiting rebels.
This was part of Libyan President, Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s Pan-African initiatives to recruit dissidents against western influence in Africa. He wanted to create a "new Africa" where American influences would be removed completely.
Now, while training in Libya, Foday Sankoh from Sierra Leone met Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.
The two decided to form a pact, or an agreement. After establishing a relationship, Sankoh and Taylor agreed to support guerilla wars in their respective countries.
Both had hopes of overthrowing their country’s governments and creating political change.
And so it started.
In 1989, the Civil War in Liberia began.
Under the leadership of Charles Taylor, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launched a guerilla war against the Liberian government. This led to Liberia’s civil war.
He won the war, and came to power.
Once Taylor was in power in Liberia, he supported Sankoh’s invasion and guerilla war in Sierra Leone. For after all, they were close buddies and shared the same vision and objectives.
Or maybe you don’t think that these kinds of political alignments cannot happen. Like the Antifa, or the BLM, or the Marxists, or the Far-Right.
Civil war broke out in Sierra Leon in 1990 under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Sankoh.
He launched his first attack in villages in Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone on March 23, 1991.
This small band of men who called themselves the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
After that he began to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone on the Liberian border.
The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to put up significant resistance.
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone the RUF controlled much of the Eastern Province.
And so it begins…
Fighting continued in the ensuing months, with the RUF gaining control of the diamond mines in the Kono district.
Then, they were successful in pushing the Sierra Leone army back towards Freetown.
On April 29, 1992, a group of young soldiers led by Capt. Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by the Sierra Leon government's failure to deal with rebels, launched a military coup.
This ended up sending President Momoh into exile in Guinea.
They established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Yahya Kanu as its chairman.
But Kanu was assassinated by fellow NPRC members, who accused him of trying to negotiate with the toppled APC administration.
And so after a period of bloodletting, on May 4, 1992,Captain Valentine Strasser took over as chairman of the NPRC.
As well as thend Head of State of Sierra Leone.
And did it change anything?
No.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh government in repelling the RUF.
More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters.
By 1995 the RUF held much of the countryside.
They were also near the major populated cities, and were on the doorstep of Freetown.
To retrieve the situation, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm Executive Outcomes.
Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders.
So now that the new “reformed” government was able to suppress the RUF rebels, is that the end of the story?
No.
In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a coup by fellow NPRC members.
This was led by his trusted deputy Maada Bio.
The new(est) government took immediate actions to change the course of Sierra Leon.
As a result of popular demand and mounting international pressure, the NPRC agreed to hand over power to a civilian government.
Bio reinstated the Constitution and called for presidential and parliamentary elections. A a "democracy" was reconstituted.
Elections were held in April 1996.
In the second round of presidential elections in early 1996, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) defeated John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP). Kabbah was a diplomat who had worked at the UN for more than 20 years.
So an internationalist took power of the democratic Sierra Leon.
And eventually, after nearly a solid six years of bloody fighting, parliamentary elections were conducted. And this time, under the system of proportional representation.
South Vietnam
Let’s look at Vietnam.
Ah, most MM readers won’t even remember the daily newscasts about the “proud American soldiers who died”.
But let’s not look at the American side of the involvement. Instead, let’s look at the actions of the American puppet government set up in South Vietnam…
Corruption played a signficant role in thwarting American objectives in Vietnam by contributing to the South Vietnam government’s lack of legitimacy. The heavy handed and corrupt government of South Vietnam actually made the countryside fertile for the insurgency of the Viet Cong and the communist. Successive governments left much to be desired and too readily turned a blind eye to corruption and incompetence.
An important cause for dissension among the ARVN soldiers was the widespread corruption and war profiteering that prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition. It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
ARVN soldiers of South Vietnam.
The Republic of Vietnam, headed from 1954 to 1963 by Ngo Dinh Diem, was venal, reactionary, inefficient, and corrupt. Although Diem inherited a functional administration from the French, he failed to pursue judicial, economic, and administrative reforms, empower subordinates to exercise government authority, or create a system of oversight to curb corruption. Consequently, corruption abounded in all forms. In spite of Diem’s personal revulsion of corruption, the Ngo family was the biggest practitioner of nepotism. His close relatives filled the top ambassadorial, cabinet, and civil service posts.
In 1960, the Groupe Caravelliste, comprising 18 senior Vietnamese politicians, publicly condemned regime oppression and corruption in detail. Weeks later, a poorly planned military coup provided the regime withthe opportunity to crack down even more, including the imprisonment of the Groupe Caravelliste. At this point, Diem began to withdraw into himself, reducing his circle of confidants, and isolating himself even further from the public view. Nhu began to step up his persecution of “subversives,” as well as factionalizing the officer corps through corruption, extortion, and espionage.
The United States attempted to “fix” the incompetence, corruption, and oppression of the Diem administration by having him removed from office by a military coup. However, the problem remained. Like the Catholic Diem, who failed to connect with the predominantly Buddhist population, the military leaders who took control after the coup complicated matters by perpetuating corruption and failing to take the war to the Viet Cong insurgents.
The effectiveness of the gradually professionalizing South Vietnamese Army deteriorated rapidly as soldiers in the field lost confidence in their leaders and the government. In a matter of months, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam lost credibility with the population it was supposed to defend and with its American advisors.
Within the government of South Vietnam corruption, nepotism, extortion, and incompetence remained the norm afterwards with various leaders all the way through to President Thieu in the 1970s. A province chief might be removed here or there and replaced with a more competent and honest leader; however, the same problems would continue.
ARVN soldiers at rest.
The top leadership of the government and army remained as dependent as ever on the United States. The Saigon government remained a network of cliques, held together by American subsidies, a group of people without a coherent political orientation, bent on their own survival. Free-flowing aid lined the pockets of South Vietnamese generals and bureaucrats, deepening the corruption problem, not solving it.
Corruption was (and is) endemic throughout the developing world and even, at times, in much of the developed world. To have expected South Vietnam to be an exception was perhaps unrealistic. In fact, corruption was widespread in North Vietnam as well as in the South, giving lie to a common assumption that there was something morally pristine about the highly disciplined North. In fact, the problem of corruption had become so acute in the North that, in 1967, Ho Chi Minh himself felt compelled to go on the radio and inveigh against this troublesome plague.
More ARVN soldiers.
In the 1970s widespread corruption and war profiteering prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. For example, there were reports that the wounded had to pay helicopter pilots to fly medical evacuation missions.
President Thieu did make efforts to remove some of the more corrupt senior officials from office, but his actions proved to be a mere drop in the bucket. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition.
It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
United States supplied tank used by the ARVN military in South Vietnam.
Syria
And of course, we could look at Syria.
Do you all think that it is any different? Aside from the new vehicles, the different weapons and drone systems, and the kinds of “news” reporting, do you actually think that somehow the United States is immune from all this boomeranging back?
All you need to so is read some history.
And China…
…well China has a long and horrible history of invasions and abuse. They KNOW what it is like to be hurt, destroyed and sacked. They know.
And if you all think that they are going to allow some pot-bellied neocon from the state of Kansas or Arkansas cheer on a war against them without consequence, then you are very, very, VERY mistaken.
China – Nanjing
Most Americans have absolutely no idea what the Chinese went through and why they are the way they are today.
A person who goes though a divorce is far more understanding of someone in the throes of marital troubles than say an unmarried 20-year old. And this is true about nations as well. Perhaps the American leadership would be very hesitant on poking Russia or China if they knew what it was like to see your beloved homeland reduced to rubble.
The Nanjing Massacre refers to the 40-day slaughter committed by the Japanese army in the early stages of their invasion of China, which cruelly claimed the lives of more than 300,000 civilians and captured soldiers. One third of the city was razed and property losses were beyond count.Some believe that the Nanjing Massacre, along with Auschwitz Concentration Camp and bombing of Hiroshima (the first use of atomic weapons in combat) were the three greatest tragedies of WWII. Some refer to the massacre as the “Asian Auschwitz.”
-ChinaToday
Nah…
It would never happen in America. You see, America is “exceptional“.
On December 13, 1937, after seizing Nanjing, the Japanese army carried out a bloody slaughter of unparalleled savagery in violation of international law. As stated in the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, "Estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanjing and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000....
These figures do not take into account those persons whose bodies were destroyed by burning, or by being thrown into the Yangtze River, or were otherwise disposed of by the Japanese Army." The Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing stated in a verdict that "during the period from December 12 to 21, 1937, it was estimated that more than 190,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were shot with machine guns in large groups by the Japanese Army and their bodies were incinerated…
In addition, more than 150,000 people were killed in small or scattered groups, and their bodies were collected and buried by charity organizations. Altogether, more than 300,000 people were murdered." After capturing the city, Japanese troops employed all kinds of brutal methods in their killing, such as decapitation, skull splitting, slicing open the stomach, pulling out the heart, drowning, burning, cutting off reproductive organs, dismemberment, and piercing the vulva or anus. Equally unthinkable, there was a killing contest between two second lieutenants, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, to see who could win by being the first to kill 100 Chinese. When they met on December 12, Mukai had killed 106 and Noda 105. John Rabe, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin, and John Magee recorded the incidents of rape carried out by Japanese soldiers after the fall of Nanjing in their diaries, photographs, and films. It is roughly estimated that more than 80,000 women were violated in Nanjing, of whom more than 65,000 were killed. The Japanese army also committed frenzied acts of arson and looting. According to incomplete statistics calculated after the war, Japanese soldiers looted 2,406 sets and more than 309,000 pieces of appliances or utensils, 5,920 boxes and more than 5.9 million articles of clothing, 710 kilograms of gold and silver, plus 6,345 pieces of jewelry, 1,815 boxes, 2,859 sets, and 148,600 volumes of books, more than 28,400 ancient calligraphy scrolls and paintings, more than 7,300 antiques, more than 6,200 animals bred as livestock, and more than 720 million kilograms of grain.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing, after collecting a large amount of evidence and confirming all the findings, pronounced death sentences for the principal culprits of the massacre, Iwane Matsui, Akira Muto, and Tadayuki Furumi.
The crimes of the Japanese aggressors will forever be recorded in the history of the Chinese war of resistance against Japan.
-CRI
Or Germany…
Germany
Let’s not forget what happens to “scapegoats” when they are targeted for their “privilege”…
And not just in Germany. all the rest of Europe had to deal with the actions of a handful of crazed fanatics in Germany…
Europe
I suppose that I could go on and on.
And you all would turn off my MM and go watch cute and funny kitty videos, check out the latest vehicles out of Detroit, or look up TenderPotRoastRecipe.
But all that you are reading…right now… in real time sounds AWFULLY familiar. Throw away the details and the names. Look at what is going on. It sounds like the kind of nonsense out of Sierra Leon in the 1980’s, or the bullshit in Saigon in the 1960’s in South Vietnam. It sounds like the bullshit leading up to “the war on terror” in the Middle East, or the crap nonsense made by Hitler as he demonized the Jews, or the Japanese demonized the Chinese.
Yet somehow…
Somehow, America can have another war with China, or Russia, or Iran or all three, and you know that magically it will happen in far away lands that Americans never herd of before.
China wants to fight the USA? It’s a nation of leadership by merit. They are not a military Empire like the USA. They just want for Chinese people to live in China free of foreign (namely USA) interference.
This idea that China wants war is ludicrous. It’s just political posturing.
Political Posturing
When someone pretends to have a particular opinion or attitude. This is done so that they can achieve their objectives without discussing the real reasons behind them.
It’s clear as day that the people who are running this (supposedly) Progressive Liberal Democrat administration, are actually war-mongering neocons.
If you don’t think this is really happening, then you probably need to rethink that:
StratCom just issued a warning to Americans that we might be nuked as a result of the Biden Regime escalating tensions with these two nuclear powers.
#USSTRATCOM Posture Statement Preview: The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable.
We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.
pic.twitter.com/4Oe7xkl05L
— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) April 20, 2021
Yes, they are that crazy.
But is there anyone, anyone at all inside the Pentagon that is really aware of what the stakes are today? Well, read this great article by Pepe…
Yes, and the regular disclaimers abound. All credit to the author. Formatted to fit this venue, etc.
What you are about to read is part of an internal report by one of my top business/intel sources in the Beltway for the past decade and a half. Readers who received it include JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Evelyn de Rothschild and wife Lynn, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, Michael Bloomberg – who would never hire me as a Bloomberg columnist… – Blackstone’s Stephen Schwartzman, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other assorted Masters of the Universe. I received a copy with all their addresses – which for obvious reasons I cannot make public.
This is a MAJOR bombshell – in the sense that the financial Masters of the Universe are now fully aware of sensitive intel not shared with non-military players. The question is what they’re gonna do about it.
The section of the reports starts HERE:
“While Rome burns which I use as an extended metaphor about the hundreds of US cities that burned last summer, and the US faces internal disintegration, the Pentagon admits that the US cannot face a two front war.
The US cannot face a one front war in Europe alone and would be defeated in five to ten minutes. It is not widely known that the key means that the US has chosen conventionally to defend Europe was by its superior airpower which outguns the Russians. However, what also is not widely known is that the US will be defeated in Europe by the Russians in five to ten minutes by the Russian hypersonic missiles destroying all NATO and European commercial airfields including those in England as it merrily sends its warships towards the Kerch Peninsula.
Whether all of our F-35 trillion dollar aircraft will be blown up too in five minutes depends on how fast the US can fly them out of harm’s way to some foreign shore. The remaining key question then is whether the US can evacuate Europe fast enough via a Dunkirk exit to escape to England or whether all the US forces will join their NATO comrades in a Russian prisoners of war camp.
The answer is that it cannot escape as it would take more than the two weeks time to evacuate. This has been confirmed to me by the highest US military authorities.
The US use of recent sanctions on Russia was to send the message that the nation killer that they call SWIFT-CHIPS is in the US toolkit as the US reply to an invasion of the Ukraine. (It goes without saying that Nord Stream Two would be over and the pipeline presently in operation from Russia to Europe would be shut down.) The US thus is sitting back in this poker game in smug self-confidence that the Russians would not dare to invade the Ukraine, causing the US to pull the trigger on throwing Russia out of SWIFT-CHIPS payment system to their Iranian-style doom.
But the US has not seen the Russian cards in their hand yet, which would be to exercise their super financial weapon of closing the Strait of Hormuz with their ally Iran which is willing to cooperate, according to our best intelligence sources.
We have discussed this scenario with the Goldman Sachs derivative specialists in oil who predict the oil price would rise to $500.00 to a $1,000.00 a barrel on such a closing. This would result in a triggering and the implosion of the 600 trillion to 2.5 quadrillion derivative market. In effect, it would end up destroying the entire world financial system.
The cataclysm that would hit the US would lead (as in Germany did in 1933) to a 50% unemployment rate or more. This would automatically begin the instigation of the complete overthrow of the US government. A government right now. which is barely hanging on by a thread (after last summer’s riots when the US military refused to intervene out of fear that its forces, as in Russia in 1918, would disintegrate along racial lines).
The defeat of the US in Europe would constitute the death knell of the US Empire as when Rome was sacked by Alaric. And make no mistake, there would be cheering all over the world.
[Now comes the killer part, which left me, well, speechless]
The myth of fissures between Russia and China should be dispelled by the following article in the Asia Times. There, where is sitting on Putin’s desk a major offer by a major company to finance the redirection of all oil and natural gas now going to Europe. Instead it would be redirected to China via pipeline.
It would constitute the largest commercial transaction in world history.
China could then depend on receiving from Russia the natural resources that presently come by sea. And Russia can replace all European imports to Russia by substitution and where that is not possible from China.
This very deep article should be read very carefully. The hundreds of billions of dollars for this project are available today according to the highest intelligence sources.
Here is an important quote from the article:
“A closely guarded secret in Moscow is that right after German sanctions imposed in relation to Ukraine, a major global energy operator approached Russia with an offer to divert to China no less than 7 million barrels a day of oil plus natural gas. Whatever happens, the stunning proposal is still sitting on the table of Shmal Gannadiy, a top oil/gas advisor to President Putin.”
[And then the report links to my story]:
Definitive Eurasian alliance is closer than you think. And things are proceeding well in advance than anyone actually realizes. And America is in no state to take on any major global power as it currently stands. It’s a foolish exercise in futility, and a death sentence for the participants.
Modern America 2021.
So what is going to happen?
I hold no “magic crystal ball”. No one does.
If I could characterize the state of affairs inside the Untied States government today, numerous examples come to mind…
A Train Wreck
A bunch a crazed maniacalmegalomaniacs are all crammed in the tiny engine of a locomotive, and everyone is trying to grab the controls to wheel and right this big, long enormous train back onto the tracks safely. Some are just there to stop the others. Some are earnestly trying to put the brakes on. Some are trying to increase the speed. Some are fighting among themselves, and some are lighting firecrackers at everyone's feet to see what will happen next. All are evil, out of control and running amok.
An Alien Monster trying to get out
The United States today is like the Alien monster that has incubated inside the host human (from the Alien movie). It is starting to get out, and the poor host is in a state of panic and fear.
I wrote an article on this theme. It is HERE.
Evil psychopath child playing with live dynamite
This is what it looks like. Especially after the "Long Telegram", and the Alaska meeting between China and the USA.
A suicidal man trying to get killed intentionally
It's almost that the people inside of Washington DC have no scruples, no idea of what reality is, and believe that they are somehow sitting on thrones in the clouds somewhere in their magical city of Olympus. Do they have a "death wish"? It most certainly seems that way, doesn't it?
What will happen, I don’t know. But keep your eyes open. Realize that the only idiots are in Washington DC and their colonies in the UK, and Australia. The rest of the world are watching from the spectator stands with popcorn in their right hand, and a Civil-Defense helmet in their left hand.
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Lately I have been really driven to throw things out. It’s almost like a real crush. I feel that I must send out as much as I possibly can, for some strange compulsion. It’s darn strange and tiring me out.
Seriously.
You all would be surprised at the rate my fingers are typing and the pace that these darn articles are coming out.
It’s a good thing that I have to go to a couple of factories and give my typing fingers a rest. It’s wearing me out. I’m set up for some fun in my near future. Some great friends, some fantastic food. A goodly amount of booze, and some friendly environments from where I can make some new friends in. I’m trembling in anticipation, I’ll tell you what.
I think that it’s a fair time to go play with some dice, make some new friends, and sing a song or two.
Anyways, I would suggest that all of you all also take the time to spend with some friends and play some games. Talk a little bit, chat some and have a good time. Don’t forget the food. And don’t buy cheap booze. Life is too short to waste on cheap booze.
And if you have the means, go ahead and make some new friends. There’s an entire world of interesting and colorful people to meet.
The world is filled with all kinds of interesting and colorful people. Everyone has a story, and everyone likes food. So what is stopping you?
Anyways…
The thing that I have been trying to underline all week is a very simple point.
Which is…
Make no mistake. A war with a major military power will result in the complete annihilation of America.
I’ve really been somewhat fixated in driving this point home. I don’t understand why. I don’t think that I have tapped into any kind of non-physical data stream or anything like that. But never the less, I am driven. Who’d figure.
So…
Don’t poke the Panda, or kick the bear.
Not that anyone will listen to me. It seems that either the United States leadership has a death wish, or that they are seriously retarded morons without a lick of sense.
…
Consider just how dangerous the “deep state” has become.
Now… imagine that a serious REAL war takes place. Missiles are flying back and forth. Entire cites are blasted out of existence, and evil people at the local level take up arms to defend their little patches of land and territory. Here and there.
What do you think the “deep state” would do?
You just cannot assume that they would all disappear, or slink under a rock, or go a hiding in the bushes. they will still exist, and given their (former) levers of power… what do you think they would be capable of? And how far do you think that they would go to exert full regional control in a nation that is in the process of going absolutely mad?
…
It’s bad enough that they are poking the bear and panda…
…but they will utilize what ever happens to their own personal benefit.
Military, Deep State and the American Naivety
While only 11% of Americans trust Congress, a whopping 74% have a “great deal or quite a lot of” trust in the military, which also vastly outperforms newspapers (23%) and even the US Supreme Court (37%).
Similarly, the CIA and the FBI get an “excellent” rating from 58% of Americans.
While reverence to military is quite common all over the world — perhaps related to evolutionary fear — it behooves us to be a bit more critical and objective.
Like the Old Testament characters who never asked Moses for evidence regarding the burning bush, Americans blindly accept all verdicts from the intelligence agencies.
The rise of the colossal military and the “Deep State” are new phenomenons in American history, and a dispassionate scrutiny underscores the need for more vigilance on our part.
Military-Industrial Complex – Eisenhower
While many Americans consider it heretical to question the US military, none other than a five-star military general and US president did just that.
“we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Such a speech would now be derided as a conspiracy theory and even labeled as treasonous.
CIA – Truman
Guess who thought that the CIA had turned into an American Gestapo?
Harry Truman, the US president who created the CIA.
“Those fellows in the CIA don’t just report on wars, they go out and make their own (wars), and there’s nobody to keep track of what they’re up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble. The CIA has become a government all of its own.”
Former Director of the CIA, William Colby, described CIA’s culture in his memoir as follows:
“cult of intelligence … that held itself to be above the normal processes of society, with its own rationale and justification, beyond the restraints of the Constitution …”
Election Meddling and Coups by the CIA
Since World War II, the CIA has meddled in more than 80 foreign elections around the world (doesn’t include coups and regime changes!).
And the RAND corp has the nerve to refer to Russia as a "rogue state". I discussed this HERE.
The US Senate’s Church Committee in 1975 documented several instances of US meddling in other nations.
The operations included suitcases of cash to bribe politicians and voters, manuals for psychological warfare, sensational fake news, organized mass protests, armed violent oppositions etc.
Starting in the 1980’s, the Deep State refined its plans for regime changes, resorting to the use of sophisticated NGO’s such as the USAID, NED and Open Society Foundations of George Soros, which all specialize in mass propaganda and color revolutions.
When asked a few months ago, if we still meddle in other countries’ elections, CIA director James Woolsey grinned and responded, “myum, myum, myum.”
There are incontrovertible proofs for some of the coups, thanks to declassified CIA documents – for example, the overthrow of democratically elected leaders in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in 1954.
Assassinations
Recently released “JFK Files” from the CIA archives show detailed plans to assassinate Fidel Castro that included exploding cigars and tuberculosis-laced diving suit.
Other leaders targeted in these documents include General Trujillo of Dominican Republic and Patrice Lumumba of Congo.
William Blum has done extensive research and documented numerous foreign assassinations – successful and attempted – by the CIA and/or the US military.
Theoretically, nothing stops the killing machine in operating within the US.
Even intellectuals like David Talbot — founder of Salon magazine and editor of Time magazine — are convinced that some from the top echelons of the CIA assassinated JFK.
President Truman also seemed to suggest the same when he wrote an extraordinary op-ed in Washington Post one month after JFK’s assassination saying that CIA’s covert operations must be terminated.
By the way, the phrase “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA in 1967 to discredit anyone challenging the official narratives!
The US has supported and installed numerous brutal tyrants and authoritarians all over the world in the last century.
Suharto in Indonesia, for example, killed two million people, but was loved by the West, since he let western corporations exploit his people and plunder his country.
Nazis and Jihadists
After the defeat of Hitler, the US recruited more than 1000 Nazis, including high-ranking officials, to work against the Soviet Union.
Under Operation Paperclip, the CIA brought numerous Nazi scientists into the US.
As I explain in my book, Deconstructing the Syrian War, the US has trained, armed and funded Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Libya, Syria etc. to wage proxy wars.
Drug Trafficking
From 1950 to 1975, the CIA — using a fleet of planes and helicopters known as Air America — was involved in massive heroin trafficking from the Golden Triangle area in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
After the Vietnam War, the Deep State in the 1980s used heroin in Afghanistan to fight the USSR and cocaine in Central America to fight leftist leaders. According to Gary Webb, the CIA also imported cocaine into the US.
In 1998, a Congressman entered into official records a shocking document called “A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking” that summarizes CIA’s nefarious drug activities from 1947 to 1996.
Since the US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, opium cultivation there has exploded. Correlation or causation? As a NY Times investigation revealed in 2009, the biggest Afghan drug dealer was on the CIA payroll.
Propaganda & Psy Ops
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
CIA’s Operation Mockingbird was an extensive operation to infiltrate and control all the major news organizations.
Over the decades, the CIA and the Pentagon have actively participated in over 800 major movies and 1000 TV shows to make sure that the right (propaganda) message reaches the audience!
Declassified documents on MK-Ultra and other mind-control and brainwashing programs and experiments –LSD and numerous other drugs, hypnosis, electric shock etc. – are right out of a sci-fi horror movie.
Wars and Lies
Remember all the deceit and fearmongering that convinced us to go to Iraq war after 9/11?
He could launch chemical weapons against Israel and British soldiers (in Cyprus) in just 45 minutes
Through innuendos and bold lies, the Establishment convinced 70% of Americans that Saddam was responsible for 9/11 and even the Anthrax attack that followed.
Go back in history, there are many such lies, including the Gulf of Tonkin claim that helped the US launch the Vietnam War.
Wars and Corporatism
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
Every American should read General Smedley Butler’s amazing testimony titled, “War is a Racket.”
John Perkins’ book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” is another must read to understand how banks and corporations drive geopolitics, coups, regime changes and wars in the 21st century.
False Flag Attacks
Somehow, it’s psychologically hard for people to think that their government might stage false flag attacks.
However, as recently declassified documents show, the CIA had many such ideas – killing boatloads of Cuban refugees or blowing up ships and then blaming Fidel Castro;
…carrying out “terror campaigns” – their own words – with bombs in Miami and Washington D.C. to frame Castro;
…and buying Russian planes to attack US soldiers to start a war with the Soviet Union.
Shockingly, these plans got approved all the way up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and only got stopped by JFK or his brother.
There are convincing evidence to prove the CIA carried out similar false flag attacks — Operation Gladio — in Europe in the 1950’s through the 1970’s to blame the communists and shift the political landscape to the right.
In recent years in Libya, Syria and Ukraine, false flag attacks were used to launch the regime change operations.
Wild accusations such as the Novichok poisoning in the UK by Russia also bear all the hallmarks of fake or false flag attacks.
Torture and Human Experiments
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
While our politicians are skilled at crying crocodile tears over human rights abuses by our geopolitical adversaries, the CIA runs secret torture prisons in many countries to avoid scrutiny.
Sometimes we do it ourselves, like in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
According to a 1994 government report, hundreds of thousands of Americans were subjected to unethical radiological, chemical, biological and medical experiments between 1940 and 1974.
The US military even conducted biological warfare testing on the entire city of San Francisco!
Nuking 1200 Cities
Another deeply held American belief is that our elites always hold high moral standards, value lives and are compassionate.
In September 1945, merely one month after Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the US military drew up plans to drop 204 atomic bombs on 66 cities in the USSR, who was our ally during World War II and still an ally at that time!
Then a decade later, in 1956, the US military had detailed plans to drop 2,000+ atom and hydrogen bombs on 1,200 cities in Russia, China and Eastern Europe.
This would have immediately killed 500 million people, 99% innocent civilians.
Think about what kind of evil monsters and sociopaths would come up with such genocidal ideas.
Also, if they had carried out their psychopathic plan, the nuclear fallout might have ended the entire human race.
Perpetual Wars
Since 9/11, the US/NATO wars have already cost $5.6 trillion and killed 5 to 7 million people, but clever propaganda hide or justify such atrocities.
In the 1990s, half a million Iraqi children died from US sanctions, which Sec. of State Madeleine Albright said was “worth it.”
Wars and conflicts are extremely profitable for the military-banking-intelligence complex, which uses the soldiers as pawns. 2.7 million Americans have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11; and more than 400,000 of them suffer from PTSD.
If diplomacy, free trade and fair wages become the norm, we wouldn’t need 800 military bases in 140 countries to prop up friendly dictators, bully competitors, and enforce the Ponzi scheme of the Petrodollar regime.
The unsustainable Empire thrives because we cannot question or challenge it.
Mass Surveillance
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
In the land of the free, Americans don’t mind NSA spying on them.
While many assume that it’s to protect us from terrorists, Edward Snowden revealed that the mass collection of phone calls has been going on since 1985.
If the spooks have dirt on every single American, it’s no wonder that no politician speaks out against the Orwellian nightmare.
The attacks on Wikileaks and Julian Assange also reveal how much the Deep State hates transparency and accountability.
Conclusion
The zeitgeist in America demands blind support for military, defense industry and the intelligence community.
Like fish in the water, Americans have lost the ability to notice the pervasive and omnipresent propaganda.
However, we owe it ourselves to be more knowledgeable and objective in processing and reacting to information.
We also need to be more cynical about our government and the mass media.
Freedom, liberty and prosperity are not achieved and maintained through willful ignorance, blind allegiance and naïve faith.
Now, when a full SHTF event occurs, these very same people will capitalize on the situation and turn it into their own personal benefit. You all need to be ready and aware of that. For this is what always happens after the dust settles and the war subsides.
Where will you be when that happens, and will you be ready to handle the new leaders that rise up out of the ashes? Are you ready?
I’m getting ready. I’m spending my time getting drunk and making all sorts of new friends. Because, as I have stated over and over again, it is your friends that will be able to help you when you need it the most. Nothing else.
I’m spending my time getting drunk and making all sorts of new friends.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
"... if they (the psychopaths) keep playing "chicken" with Russia & China, they'll get it-sooner, rather than later"
This is going to be a pretty harsh article. We are not going to “dance around” any of the issues. Instead we are going to spell (or spit) it out directly. If you aren’t ready for it you can leave.
First of all, the Untied States has spent a good portion of the last twelve years building up a narrative towards a major global-wide war with China. The last four years (2016 through 2020) has really placed the TargetingReticule on China, and you have to be delusional not to notice it.
And let’s be real about it, as well.
You can pretend that it’s a “cold war”, or it’s a “hybrid war”, or perhaps a simple “trade war”. But that’s just dancing around the raw and harsh facts. It’s a build up to a “hot shooting war” and you just simply cannot avoid that reality.
Most people avoid the harsh reality because [1] they don’t want to believe it, and [2] they are not given all the information of what if going on.
How many Americans know about the American drones spraying swine flu to devastate the pig industry in 2018? How many Americans know about the tit-for-tat attacks on the VTOL aircraft carriers in 2020? How many Americans are aware of the differences between the COVID-19A and the COVID-19B strains.
Very, very few.
It’s been exceptionally hot. And the only way that you can keep abreast of the latest run of attacks is to read the neocon publications out of the K-street military-industrial network in Washington DC.
Propaganda campaigns, and hybrid wars ALWAYS end up in a hot shooting war. There is not one single instance where it did not. Not once.
And people (!) all hot wars that America initiates requires an ignition event to launch. And if one cannot be found, then a fake event is created. These events are called “false flags”.
What is a “False Flag”?
Afalse flag operation is an act committedwith the intent of disguising the actualsource of responsibility and pinning blame onanother party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promotersinreferring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.
-Wikipedia
The following is from History.com, All credit to the author.
On the night of the 31st of August 1939, several covert Nazi operatives dressed as Polish soldiers stormed the Gleiwitz radio tower on the Germany-Poland border. They broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish before leaving. The soldiers left behind the bodies of a pro-Polish German farmer and several unidentifiable Dachau concentration camp prisoners. The farmer and the prisoners had been murdered and dressed up in German uniforms.
The attack was part of a series of covert actions along the Polish border that the Nazis would use to justify Germany’s attack on Poland the following day. Gleiwitz was a classic ‘false flag’ operation.
So, what is meant by the term ‘false flag’? Originally, the phrase was coined for the practice of pirate ships flying the colors of other nations to deceive merchant ships into thinking they were dealing with a friendly vessel. While the pirates would usually unfurl their true colors just before attacking, the wrong flag would sometimes continue to be flown throughout an attack, hence the term ‘attacking under a false flag’. Over time, the term ‘false flag’ came to be applied to any covert operation that sought to shift the responsibility on to a different party from the one carrying it out, as was the case with the Nazis at Gleiwitz.
One of the most famous incidents considered by many to be a false flag operation is the Reichstag fire, which took place on the night of the 27th of February 1933. A lone communist sympathizer called Marinus van de Lubbe was arrested and charged with setting fire to the German parliament building. This gave Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, the excuse they needed to purge Germany of opposition, especially the communists. The sweeping emergency powers Hitler and the Nazi Party grabbed for themselves after the fire are the reason many people think the Reichstag was burned not by a lone communist protesting Germany’s treatment of the working classes (as van de Lubbe himself claimed while in custody), but by the Nazis themselves.
Of course, it isn’t just the Americans and the Europeans who have been accused of participating in false flag operations over the years. Between 1979 and 1983, the Israeli secret services stand accused of instigating a series of car bomb attacks in Lebanon that killed hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians. Though the bombings were claimed by the terrorist organization, the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners, many believe the bombs were set off by the Israelis to sew dissent throughout the region and justify an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Though an Israeli general has admitted the attacks were carried out by his country, the official line is still that Israel was not involved.
In the modern era, things become a little murkier. Whether a modern-day false flag operation is real or not is now a matter to be bitterly fought over on the Internet.
To many online conspiracy theorists, the biggest false flag operation of all time was the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many believe that these attacks were deliberately carried out by the US government as a way to justify the subsequent attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, which they believe were carried out to install a gas pipeline across Afghanistan and to seize the oil wealth of Iraq.
Many ‘9/11 Truthers’ point out discrepancies in the official report into the destruction of the World Trade Center, focusing primarily on the collapse of the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center. They argue that the towers could not have been brought down by plane strike and fire alone, be must instead have been brought down by another means, such as by controlled demolition. The claims that 9/11 was an inside job have been vigorously disputed both by the US government and various experts many times, but it is highly unlikely the myriad of conspiracy theories swirling around 9/11 will ever go away.
Accusations of false flag operations have continued right up to the present day. One of the most widely-disputed and discussed is the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings of 2012, which has been laid at the door of the US Government.
People who refuse to believe the shootings were the act of a lone gunman allege twenty students and six staff were deliberately murdered so stricter gun controls could be imposed on the US population. Skeptics point to the attack coinciding with President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would sign restrictive small arms legislation. The convenient timing of the attack could then be used by the president as the excuse he needed to impose new restrictions, hence why it must have been a false flag operation. Again, like 9/11, it is highly unlikely that the theories surrounding the tragic attack will ever die down.
We now live in an age where, to some at least, nothing is as it seems, everything can be labelled a conspiracy and no amount of evidence to the contrary will change people’s minds.
There have been several documented false flag operations throughout history, and the existence of them goes some way to explaining why thousands upon thousands of people all around the world believe many more covert operations have been carried out regardless of government claims to the contrary.
Why does the United States want to start a war with China?
The following is from Global Research. Reprinted as found, all credit to the author and edited to fit this venue. The original title of the article is: "China-US Relations and Biden’s “Global Death Trap”: The World Is Facing Another Cold War Which May Become Hot, Even Very Hot" by Prof. Joseph H. Chung Global Research, April 09, 2021.
In Anchorage, Alaska, on 18-19 March 2021, top diplomats of China and the U.S. met and declared the new Cold War. The U.S. side was represented by Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, while China was represented, by Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister and Yang Jiechi, top diplomat of China.
Anthony Blinken said ” China’s actions pose a threat to a rule-based order designed to maintain global stability:”
Translation: “You unthankful China, listen carefully! Do not dare challenge the world in which Washington feels comfortable. Otherwise!” This is the declaration of the cold war.
On his part, Wang Yi said: “Beijing is firmly against US interference in domestic affairs. We will take firm actions in our response.” “Most countries in the world do not recognize US values as global values.”
Translation: “Listen You Washington,. China has done a lot for you. China has something to tell you! China has had enough of your bullying. If Washington wants to fight, well, China is ready!
Two days later…
On March 22, Wang Yi, foreign minister of China and Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia met to protest against Washington’s sanction imposed on Russia and China.
The very next day, on March 23, Xi Jinping, president of China and Kim Jong-un, president of North Korea exchanged letters for mutual cooperation. This is the beginning of China’s recruiting of cold war alliances.
All these events mean one thing. The Global Cold War has begun and the world will be divided once again between the West and the East and the Cold War is likely to become Global Hot War and we will be all dead.
Before I begin, I would like tell this to Beijing and Washington!
In 2020, the combined GDP of China and the U.S. was 35 trillion USD, or 42% of the global GDP of 84 trillion USD.
You China and the U.S. listen! You have become rich and powerful, because the world has worked hard for you. The world has provided low-cost labor, high quality raw materials and people’s precious savings; the world has bought your products.
Remember! The world belongs to every human being and every country.
Please behave like responsible global super powers. You have no right to ruin the world with your hegemonic fight.
So, China and the U.S. please stop the dreadful cold war and take responsibility of assuring global peace, safety and prosperity.
*
In this paper, I am asking these questions.
Why does Washington declare the new cold war now?
What are the American objectives of the cold war?
What are the cold war Strategies of the U.S. and China?
Can Washington win the cold war?
Can the hot war happen?
What will be the impact of the Sino-American war on the humanity?
Why does Washington declare the New Cold War Now?
When it comes to the economy, the language betrays the reality all too clearly. The Trump administration’s economic struggle with China is regularly described, openly and without qualification, as a “war.” And there’s no doubt that senior White House officials, beginning with the president and his chief trade representative, Robert Lighthizer (image on the right), see it just that way: as a means of pulverizing the Chinese economy and so curtailing that country’s ability to compete with the United States in all other measures of power.
-Global Research
There are two possible reasons for Washington’s decision to declare the Cold war against China, a war which actually began since Barack Obama’s Asia Pivot.
The first reason is that Joe Biden needs an enemy dangerous enough to unify the American people and to deal with [1] the impossible task of restoring the economy and [2] justify the raison d’être of the existence of the government.
The Pearl Harbor attack was devastating enough to wake up the sleeping Americans to unite and follow the Washington’s leadership. But I wonder if the Chinese challenge is grave enough to unify the Americans and trust Washington and cooperate for the policy of restoring the economy.
The second reason is more convincing. It is matter of coping with the Chinese economic threat when China’s military challenge is still manageable. The Chinese economy is catching up with the U.S. economy at a threatening rate, while the Chinese military capability is still far weaker than American military capacity. In other words, Washington has decided to hit hard Beijing when it is still a weak attacker and get rid of the economic threat.
I have done some calculations to see the evolution of economic and military power of the two super powers. I have assumed that the Chinese GDP will increase per year, at a compound growth rate of 5 %, from US$ 15.42 trillion in 2020 to $ 24.98 trillion in 2031, or a accumulated increase of 62%. As for the United States, it is assumed that its GDP will increase by 2% a year from $20.93 trillion in 2020 to $25.32 trillion in 2031, or accumulated increase of 21%.
This means that, in 2020, the Chinese GDP was 73.6% of the U.S. GDP to reach 98.7% in 2031. This is surely threatening to Washington.
Thus, the Chinese GDP is expected to catch up with the U.S. economy in ten years. But, we have a different picture as far as military strength is concerned.
We have examined the 10-year evolution of national defense budget of the two countries. It is assumed that the share of the defense budget in the GDP will remain the same throughout the 10 year period. The Chinese 2020 national defense share was 1.15% of GDP yielding $ 178 billion. In 2031.The Chinese defense budget will be $287 billion. Now, for the U.S. in 2020, the national defense budget was $730 billion, or 3.6% of GDP, this rate is applied for 2031 to get $911 billion.
This means that despite rapid rise, the Chinese catching up for the defense budget is much slower than the case of GDP. In fact, in 2020, the amount of Chinese national defense expenditures was 24.5% of that of the American national defense budget to increase only to 30.2% in 2031. This may allow Washington to feel safe as far as the Chinese military threat is concerned.
So, Washington’s strategy is to strike China before the Chinese economy catches up with the U.S. economy while Beijing’s is still “militarily weak”.
What are the Objectives of the U.S. initiated Cold War?
An examination of the demands submitted to Chinese negotiators by the U.S. trade delegation last May suggests, however, that Washington’s primary intent hasn’t been to rectify that trade imbalance but to impede China’s economic growth. Among the stipulations Beijing must acquiesce to before receiving tariff relief, according to leaked documents from U.S. negotiators that were spread on Chinese social media:
[1] halting all government subsidies to advanced manufacturing industries in its Made in China 2025 program, an endeavor that covers 10 key economic sectors, including aircraft manufacturing, electric cars, robotics, computer microchips, and artificial intelligence;
[2] accepting American restrictions on investments in sensitive technologies without retaliating;
[3] opening up its service and agricultural sectors — areas where Chinese firms have an inherent advantage — to full American competition.
In fact, this should be considered a straightforward declaration of economic war. Acquiescing to such demands would mean accepting a permanent subordinate status vis-à-vis the United States in hopes of continuing a profitable trade relationship with this country.
“The list reads like the terms for a surrender rather than a basis for negotiation,” was the way Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, accurately described these developments.
The principal objectives of the Cold War is to prevent China from becoming a Global Power threatening the accumulated interests of the U.S. and its allies.
-Global Resource
What are the Cold War Strategies of the U.S. and China?
The weapons of the New Cold War are likely to include the following:
Security Alliance War
Ideological War
Economic War
Security War
Security Alliance War
The security alliance is designed to maximize the “friendly supports” for the country’s war efforts. On this ground, the U.S. has a definite upper hand. Actually, China has only a few alliances; its potential alliances would include North Korea, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan. But, there is no guarantee that these potential alliances will help China in a Sino-American war. On the other hand, Washington has a lot of alliances.
The U.S. has many security alliances in the East Asian region: the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, the U.S.-South Korea Security Alliance, the U.S.-Australia Security Alliance, the U.S.-the Philippines Security Alliance. The U.S. has security partnership with Singapore and Taiwan.
The U.S. has the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) composed of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S.
Moreover, there was the TPP (Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership) led by Washington. It had 12 member countries. Since Trump withdrew, it has become CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership) with 11 member countries. But, Biden might rejoin it, because it is supposed to be a free-trade alliance, but, in reality, it is a part of China-containment alliance. It includes five East Asian countries: Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. In addition, most of the East Asian countries have some sorts of security cooperation with Washington. Thus, the U.S. has a lot of countries with which it has security related relations.
But, the question is whether these security alliances will join the U.S.-initiated anti-China war. They may cooperate with Washington as long as the cold war remains cold. However, what they should do is to persuade Washington to end the cold war, for it is the best way to keep their economy going in peace.
This is suggested by Graham Allison, the author of his famous book, “Destined for War: Can America and China escape Thucydides Trap?” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston-New York, 2017)
Ideological War
The purpose of the ideological war is to demonize the rival country in order to justify the country’s war on the one hand, and on the other, to maximize global support for the war.
The ideological war relies on the following weapons:
Human Right Violations
Freedom of the Press
Violation of law-Based Rules
Authoritarianism
Assertiveness
Violation of the UNCLOS
Human Right Violations:
The U.S. accuses China for violating minority groups’ rights to maintain autonomous values and political system. But, Beijing argues that it upholds the rights of minority groups. China would say that it has to intervene in order to prevent minority regions from becoming independent, thus threatening the sovereignty of China.
China may ask Washington how it would react, if the State of Alaska fights for its separation from the United States. Moreover, China openly criticises widespread human right violations in the U.S. against minority groups including the Black Africans, Native Indians and other minority groups.
The Canadian Human Right Commission defines human rights as the fundamental right of all human beings for a life of dignity, respect and equality. Hence, all human beings have rights to enjoy public goods such as health, education, housing, racial equality, physical safety on the street. These rights may be violated not only by the government but also by individuals and institutions. Any government which fails to protect these rights is violator of human rights.
In the mainstream media, the perception of human rights violation is limited to the harsh measures taken by the government. The human rights issue has become a political tool in international relations. The debate on human rights issue should, on the contrary, focus on a solution to human rights violations rather than political gain.
In regards to Washington’s policy of China’s human rights violations, I am quite puzzled by its lack of consistency. In fact, for decades since the time of Richard Nixon to the era of Barack Obama, human rights violations in China was not a major issue.
Joe Biden makes human right the key issues in Sino-American relations. Why? Is it because he considers China as a threat to U.S. hegemony?
Freedom of the Press:
The American media criticizes China for lack of the freedom of press. It is true that the press in China is closely managed by the State in order to minimize criticism of government policies. China may react by asking if there is freedom of press in the U.S. China may ask if the American press is free to criticize large corporations which finance the media.
Here, I may ask one question which may interest both China and the U.S.
Is the freedom of the press the raison d’être of the press? What happens, if the free press is biased and behaves in such a way that it is harmful to the welfare of the ordinary people? The Korean press is the freest press in the world, owing to the liberal policies of the government of Moon Jae-in.
Unfortunately 98% of the press present biased report, fabricate stories, publish lies in order to protect the corrupted vested interests of the conservatives accumulated for 70 years; the press is the integral part of the corruption; its sole purpose is to destroy the liberal government and retake the power so that it could enjoy the privileges and wealth provided by the corruption culture. The freedom of press is important, but without political neutrality, it can hurt the nation.
In fact, in the context of the Sino-U.S. cold war, one of the most dangerous weapons is the press. Unfortunately, the press gives itself the mission of demonizing the enemy through lies, biased reports, presenting prepared horror pictures. In a way, the outcome of the New Cold War depends largely on the “press war”. So, my humble wish is that the press in the U.S. and China give itself the mission of stopping the Sino-American cold war and not intensifying it.
Law-Based Rules:
If there is any universal consensus in the West, it is the belief that China does not respect law-based rules. But, we seldom find any concrete incidences where China violates such rules.
The trouble is that rules cannot cover all things and all behaviors. Besides, rules must evolve in function of the need of the time. There are hundreds of reports and research papers which give the impression that China does not respect the international rules. But seldom do they point out which laws are violated. If China is such a violator of international laws, how could it trade with other countries and how could it realize the economic miracle without respecting international laws? Have any international institutions including IMF, WTO, WHO and other international institutions complained about China’s not respecting international laws?
China would react. First, it may ask Washington to provide the actual cases of China’s rule violation. In addition, China may add that most of the international rules being conceived and imposed by the U.S., they may not be suitable for countries of different cultures and judicial traditions. Therefore, China might suggest a reform of the international laws more flexible and inclusive.
Authoritarianism:
Another favorite pass time topic in Washington elite circle and media is the sins of China’s authoritarian regime. This is rather amazing, because the U.S. is a lover of authoritarian regimes in numerous countries, provided these regimes are good boys obeying Washington’s command.
Washington loved General Park Chung-hee and General Jun Doo-hwan for their oppressive authoritarian regime, because they were obedient to Washington.
Chiang Kai-sek was a more than an authoritarian dictator in Taiwan, but he was an asset for America’s China policy.
China may tell the U.S. not to worry about the authoritarian character of the Chinese political regime. China may tell Americans that the authoritarianism has been the core of Chinese values and culture. Besides, as a country of 1.5 billion people with more than a hundred dialects and constant threats of [US supported] independence of minority regions, China needs a strong top-down authoritarian decision-making process.
China’s Assertiveness:
China is accused also for its being assertive with its BRI project, its relations with ASEAN countries and, especially, its militarization of the South China Sea.
China is accused for its assertiveness in connection with its Belt-Road Initiative (BRI). The often quoted incident of such assertiveness is the China’s debt-trap applied to Sri Lanka. However, according to studies by Sri Lankans, the story of debt trap is a lie or misunderstanding by so-called China haters. The project of the Hambantato Port was initiated by current prime minister (former president) in the early 2000s.
It was a purely commercial project and managed by a Chinese government-owned enterprise (GOE). Sri Lanka excessively borrowed money from Western financial institutions including the IMF. Sri Lanka’s debt was so high that the cost of servicing the debts represents 44% of government revenue; this is the debt trap which has nothing to do with the BRI. In fact, Chinese loans represent mere 9% of Sri Lankan government debt. The Hambantato Port is leased for 99 years managed by a Chinese enterprise, CMPort. Sri Lanka has to pay the debt to China for the loans. By the way, the port cannot be used by Chinese navy.
China is accused also for bullying South East Asian countries. This is contentious, according to several studies, these countries do not experience Chinese political assertiveness. On the contrary, Chinese soft business diplomacy is greatly appreciated.
Moreover, China’s productive participation in the activities of ASEAN, APT (ASEAN plus Three), ARF (Asia Regional Forum), EAS (East Asia Summits), RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Shangri-La Dialogue, and numerous FTAs is highly valued. Even those countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam which have security cooperation with Washington do not feel the pressure of apparent Chinese assertiveness.
Chinese assertiveness which is the most criticized is its alleged military assertiveness. To see more clearly the nature of China’s military assertiveness, we need to study its evolution, which shows that China’s assertiveness was the reaction to American assertiveness.
In 2008, The U.S. joined the TPSEP (Trans-pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) which became later the TPP (Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership) which was more a security alliances than FTA (Free Trade Agreement).
In March 2009, China was under surveillance by an American vessel’s surveillance activities near Hainan Island, the key Chinese navy port.
In September, 2009, the U.S. adopted the Air and Sea Battle (ASB) which was another threat to Chinese A2/AD (Anti-Air/Area-Denied) strategy.
In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that the U.S. had interests in the South China Sea, meaning the strong military presence in Asia.
In 2012, Barack Obama announced the Asia-Pivot or “Rebalancing” of American military might in favour of the Asia-Pacific region. It is important to point out here that this series of Washington’s assertive activities hostile to China inevitably invited China’s assertive actions.
In fact, in the period, 2013-2014, China extended its ADIZ (Air-Defence Identification Zone) to as far as the region of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island.
In September 2013, China started its Island-Building operations in the South China Sea.
In 2013, a Chinese navy vessel dangerously approached USS Cowpens, U.S. navy guided-missile destroyer.
Thus, Chinese assertiveness was, largely, the counter defensive actions to the American assertiveness. In short, so called, Chinese assertiveness, cannot not be used for China denunciation.
The building of the South China Sea islands and the militarization of these islands have been the principal object of China demonization. In fact, this operation started in 2013 and completed in 2016. Several reefs including the Mischief Reef, the Subi Reef and the Fiery Reef all became islands armed with missile launch facilities and airstrips for jet fighters. The reason behind this operation may be the fear of blockade of the South China Sea by the U.S. and its allies, a military operation which will make China to starve to death.
Unfortunately, the American assertive actions followed by Chinese counter actions have inevitably led to the deterioration of the Washington-Beijing relations.
In 2014, Barack Obama visited Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore in order to strengthen the China containment operations. What is disturbing is the fact that Barack Obama promised Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister, that the U.S. would be ready to intervene, if a Japan-China conflict took the form of military confrontation. Obama did not, however, commit himself to US military intervention. In contrast, Biden’s Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, promised, during his recent visit to Japan, US military intervention in case of China-Japan confrontation involving the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island. This is indeed a dangerous decision on the part of the U.S.
Violation of UNCCLOS:
Another item on the China demonization menu is the theory that China does not respect the UNCLOS (UN Convention of the Law of Sea) and that China prevents free maritime traffic in the South China Sea. But, there is no actual evidence of China’s violation of free maritime traffic in the South China Sea.
To sum up, the Sino-U.S. ideological war has failed to make China’s regime to deserve global suspicion and denunciation.
Washington has no assurance that the region’s neighbouring countries would rally behind the U.S. because of China’s regime and ideology. This does not mean, however, that China is the winner. .
Economic War
As suggested by America’s trade demands, Washington’s intent is not only to hobble China’s economy today and tomorrow but for decades to come. This has led to an intense, far-ranging campaign to deprive it of access to advanced technologies and to cripple its leading technology firms.
Chinese leaders have long realized that, for their country to achieve economic and military parity with the United States, they must master the cutting-edge technologies that will dominate the twenty-first-century global economy,
-Global Research
As I pointed out above, in ten years, Chinese economy will catch up with the U.S. economy assuming that the American GDP will increase by 2% per year, while the Chinese GDP will rise by 5% per year. My assumptions may be wrong, but one thing which is certain is that China’s GDP will soon catch up with that of the US.
There are several reasons:
First, the Chinese per capita is about $11,000 meaning that there is a lot of room for further growth, while in the U.S. where the per capita GDP is $63,000 the potential growth is approaching its limit.
Second, under the intensification of the trade war, the diversification of trade partners becomes strategic. The American trade partners being highly developed countries, the diversification of trade partners will not be a great help, whereas, China’s trade partners being Asian countries with high growth rate, its trade partner diversification will be an advantage.
Third, the U.S., the economy being dependent on high technology, economic growth is unable to create jobs and it creates unequal income distribution at the expense of ordinary Americans, which in the long run, it will slow down the growth of the American economy.
Fourth, the U.S. economy is excessively dependent on the domestic market, the strength of which is the consumer demand. Remember that, in the U.S., the consumer demand accounts for as much as 70% of GDP as against 50% in China. The consumer demand requires strong middle-income class. Unfortunately, in the U.S. the rising inequality of income distribution has almost destroyed the middle class, which will make it difficult to sustain the domestic market.
The COVID-19 crisis has worsened the problem. In short, it will be difficult to stop the Chinese economy from catching up with the American economy.
Security War
As we saw above, it is more than possible that by 2031, Chinese GDP will have caught up with the U.S. GDP. Moreover, if China allocates 3% of its GDP, instead of the present 1.15 %, its military spending will be $ 749 billion, or 82% of Washington’s military expenditures.
The U.S. may beef up its striking force by deploying its 3rd fleet to strengthen the power of its Sea Air Battle (ASB). China will be able to improve its 2A/AD strategy. So, there will be no clear cut winner.
Under such circumstance, God knows what will happen, if China and the U.S. start to “shoot one another”. The message is clear. The shooting war will bring the dooms day for us all. The dooms day will come, if bloody cold war continues.
Can Washington win the Cold War?
The answer is: “it cannot.”
There are several reasons for this.
First, it seems clear that none of the anti-China strategies will give clear upper hand to Washington. In fact, none of the China demonization tactics, the economic war and the military confrontation promises Washington’s victory.
Second, since the fall of the Berlin Wall of 1989, the ideological difference has been much diluted. Hence, the anti-China antagonism is much weaker than it was during the Soviet-U.S. cold war. The implication is that Washington will have difficulties in ganging up its supporters, which will make American offensive uncertain victory.
Third, China being the world’s factory and the world’s consumer market, most of the U.S. allies will be reluctant to support the cold war.
Fourth, the decadence of the U.S.-led neo-liberal economic system and the world wide corruption of the American version of democracy will make it difficult to attract U.S. sympathizers.
In short, neither the U.S. nor China can be the winner. In their cold war, there will be no winner. If there is one, it will be the suffering of all humanity.
If the U.S. cannot win the cold war, that is, if it cannot prevent China from catching up the U.S. economy and the U.S. power, it means that Washington has failed to attain its objectives.
Then, Washington might decide to declare a hot war.
But, American generals and admirals know very well that China is not the (former) Soviet Union and that China is much stronger and richer than the Soviet Union. Moreover, there will be few allies including the UK which will join Washington’s shooting war fight.
However, misguided political leaders might make dangerous decisions to venture into a “shooting war with China” to save the honor and the glory of the U.S. At any rate, we must all try to stop the shooting war, because it will destroy what the humanity has built so far.
Thus, neither the U.S. nor China can win the cold war.
The hot war will kill us all.
So, the only way out for Washington is to admit China as co-leader of the world and cooperate for the global security, safety, peace and prosperity.
There are so many areas where they should cooperate and lead including public health, climate change, natural disasters and terrorism. There are so many global enemies that we need the U.S. and China to deal with these enemies.
Can the Hot War happen?
As Admiral Davidson suggests, one possible outcome of the ongoing cold war with China could be armed conflict of the traditional sort. Such an encounter, in turn, could escalate to the nuclear level, resulting in mutual annihilation. A war involving only “conventional” forces would itself undoubtedly be devastating and lead to widespread suffering, not to mention the collapse of the global economy.
-Global Research
The hot war should not happen, but it can.
The possible flash points of shooting war are the South China Sea, the East China Sea, Taiwan, North Korea especially the Dioayu/Senkaku Island. But, none of these flashpoint countries is likely to lead to shooting war with one exception, namely the Dioayu/Senkaku Island.
Major wars are often sparked by allies of major powers. Graham Allison in his Book (pp 34-38) tells us that the Peloponnesian war between Athena and Sparta, started because of the conflict between Corinth, alley of Sparta and Megara, alley of Athena. In fact, for this reason, Allison is saying that Washington’s plan of expanding security alliances is a very risky game.
If there is any Washington’s ally which might ignite war with China, it will be Japan. (Graham Allison, pp.178-179) There are many reasons. But, I may point out two of them. First, Japan is a military might; its Self Defence Force (SDF) is the third most powerful military force in Asia and it will be much more strengthened by Washington, if the Cold War continues. Incidentally, despite the Peace Constitution, the SDF can go to war and assist the U.S. forces. That is, Japan can participate in the Sino-American war.
The second reason is Japan’s ambition to rule the world. For last 70 years, Japan has been ruled by far-right imperial nationalist conservatives who dream of reviving the Japan of the pre-WWII era.
This extreme right-wing of Japanese politics is inspired by the Japan Conference, led by imperialist symbolized by Shinzo Abe and encouraged by Washington, The Sino-American war provides a golden opportunity for Japan to rearm and realize its dream.
There are four psychic elements which might induce Japan to get into a war against China. These elements are the Hak-Ko-Ichi-U, the Tanaka Memorial of 1929, Shintoism and Bushido.
The Hak-ko-Ichi-U means that the single roof (Japan) should rule the eight corners (the world). This psychic was well represented by the Tanaka Memorial which argued that it was Japan’s sacred destiny to conquer Manchuria for raw materials using Korea as the royal high way to Manchuria, then conquer China for slave labour, then the rest of Asia, and then the U.S.(Pearl Harbour).
Shintoism is back and the Japanese accept the Emperor as God. Bushido has returned and the Japanese people seek redemption by dying for the Emperor. True, many of ordinary Japanese are free from such psychic, but they have no power to participate in Japan’s national policy.
What could happen is Japan’s provocation of military confrontation in the Dioayu/Senkaku Island. Japan could be tempted to provoke war against China just like it did in Manchuria in 1930 and Nanking in 1937.
Moreover, Washington might welcome the Sino-Japan war, not only because it can ruin China and but also the fight between Asian powers would weaken Asia facilitating Washington’s control of Asia. This is something the world should be concerned with. To avoid this, the U.S. should dissolve its security alliance with Japan. For that matter, to avoid shooting war, the U.S. should dissolve all its security alliances.
What we need is huge anti-war alliances including Japan, South Korea and other Washington’s alliances. The same goes for Chinese alliances, although it has few alliances. The ultimate mission of the anti-war alliances is to prevent the super powers from getting into war so that humanity can be saved from total annihilation.
What would be the Impact of the Sino-American War on humanity?
There is no point of talking about the consequences of a hot war, because it is bound to lead to nuclear war and the end of human civilization.
So we will not talk about it…
If Nuclear War is avoided…
Even if a shooting war doesn’t erupt, however, a long-term geopolitical war of attrition between the U.S. and China will, in the end, have debilitating and possibly catastrophic consequences for both sides. Take the trade war, for example. If that’s not resolved soon in a positive manner, continuing high U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports will severely curb Chinese economic growth and so weaken the world economy as a whole, punishing every nation on Earth, including this one. High tariffs will also increase costs for American consumers and endanger the prosperity and survival of manyfirms that rely on Chinese raw materials and components.
This new brand of war will also ensure that already sky-high defense expenditures will continue to rise, diverting funds from vital needs like education, health, infrastructure, and the environment. Meanwhile, preparations for a future war with China have already become the number one priority at the Pentagon, crowding out all other considerations. “While we’re focused on ongoing operations,” acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan reportedly told his senior staff on his first day in office this January, “remember China, China, China.”
Perhaps the greatest victim of this ongoing conflict will be planet Earth itself and all the creatures, humans included, who inhabit it. As the world’s top two emitters of climate-altering greenhouse gases, the U.S. and China must work together to halt global warming or all of us are doomed to a hellish future. With a war under way, even a non-shooting one, the chance for such collaboration is essentially zero. The only way to save civilization is for the U.S. and China to declare peace and focus together on human salvation.
-Global Research
What interests us is the consequence of the cold war. One thing sure is that the longer it lasts, greater become its negative impact. The cold war is likely to have the following impacts.
Globalization impact
Political and ideological Impact
Economic Impact
Globalization impact: the world will be de-globalized and decoupled. There will be Washington-led bloc and China-led bloc. There will be regional globalization led by Washington and Beijing.
Political and Ideological Impact: there will be emergence of two political and ideological blocs. The China bloc will have varying types of political regimes including hybrid regimes, while the U.S. bloc will maintain liberal democracy. Washington’s ambition of evangelical propagation of its democracy will be compromised.
Economic Impact: there will be China-led free trade bloc in which member countries’ sovereignty is respected and trade negotiations will allow accommodations for member countries specific needs. On the other hand, there will be Washington-led free trade bloc in which member countries sovereignty is minimized and the trade negotiations are likely to be controlled by large corporations.
It is difficult to estimate the cost of the cold war. The Rand Corporation is reported to suggest that the American GDP will fall by 30% because of the cold war. It could be more than that because of the pronounced interdependence of national economies. One thing sure is that the longer the cold war lasts, the greater will become the cost.
To conclude, we have to stop, at all costs, the Sino-American Cold War which will surely throw humanity into the deep and dark bottom of the Thucydides Trap.
It is not too late for academics, research centers, thin-tanks, social movements, decent media and, above all, people’s organizations at the grassroots to launch anti-cold war movements throughout the world.
So what is the ignition going to be?
Well, I do disagree with the author above. I believe that we NEED to discuss the very real and very strong possibility of a hot war between the USA and China / Russia. After all, that is what the neocon publications and the military-industrial think tanks on “K-street” and Washington DC beltway have all been chattering about these last few years.
We just cannot ignore it.
Pretend that it will go away if we don’t mention it. Like in the article above.
So, seriously, what kinds of “false flags” can we expect to get the American population all hot and bothered and ready to march off and attack China?
Nuclear Detonation on American soil.
No. China is not going to randomly launch a nuclear weapon on a “sacrificial” city in America. They are not idiots. But the American population might believe the narrative, and thus it is a real possibility of a pending false flag. All it takes is an American made nuke detonated on American soil, and then unleash the dogs of propaganda blaming China, then immediately gear-up Congress into a war footing.
Japan
This is the kind of thing that launched World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Middle East War on Terror
As well as the eight wars in the Middle East against terror by the plane attacks on the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Syria
Reasons forWar "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger." –George W. Bush,
Blaming China for the Global Pandemic and having a “smoking gun”.
You get Americans all upset about some aspect of their life, then you “prove” that it was caused by the Chinese. For instance the inconvenience of the Coronavirus pandemic, is a good target to direct anger towards.
Bosnia
This is one of the more complex reasons to start a war. An event, often beyond anyone's control sparks a breakup of society, and the changes are often uncomfortable. Such as the pandemic. Certain forces use this period of societal upset to initiate war. Such is the case with Bosnia.
In 1990, as Yugoslavia collapsed, the first multiparty elections were held. These elections created nationalist parties intent on perpetuating ethno-national identities and causes. By 1992, war was being imposed through Serbian and Croatian nationalists seeking to expanded into “greater”national territory.
In the coming years the perpetrators of “ethnic cleansing,”displacement, mass atrocity, and genocide, were rewarded by the international community at the Dayton Accords in 1995. Dayton ended the war, but then imposed an ethno-nationalistic portioned Bosnia. A “tycoon class”of nationalist leaders continues to enrich themselves through corruption supported by poverty, fear, insecurity, and the promotion of divisive ethnic identities.
"The hate didn’t exist before; it was artificially installed. It was all so unbelievable that at first, it seemed funny...The emphasis on ethnicity and exclusion was so strong that ethnic hatred became normalized...There is also the ideology of religion and nationality...Never has there been more religion and less faith...National and religious identities are openly used as weapons in the political arsenal.
–Vedran Grahovac, Prijedor"
An assassination of an American Politician inside Washington DC.
This is a very common technique, and there have been numerous Hollywood movies based on this theme.
World War I
This was the kind of event that started World War I. World War 1 started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on June 28, 1914. This was the immediate cause but there were a series of events which triggered the war.
Rwanda
It's also the kind of thing that started the civil war in Rwanda. Thegenocidewassparkedbythedeath of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airporton 6 April 1994.
The need to rescue or save people
Maybe the people in Xinjiang, those “poor Muslims”, or Tibet, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong. So many areas that the United States has been prepping for actionable “color revolution”.
Panama
TheUnited States invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted intheUnited States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracyinPanamaandendangering U.S. nationals. Noriegas Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) were promptly crushed, forcing the dictator to seek asylum with the Vatican anuncio in Panama City, where he surrendered on January 3, 1990.
When American is attacked by military forces
As unlikely as it appears, there is nothing to prevent the US government to stage a “false flag” to make it look like some military attacked America. That’s what it did to pull America into the war in Vietnam.
The American Civil War
The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern “insurrection.”
Vietnam WarThe false flag that started the Vietnam War There was notorpedo attack in the Gulf of TonkinHowLyndon Johnsonlied us into a catastrophe On this day in 1964, Congress passed the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” which began massive escalationof the US war and occupation of Viet Nam.Thefalseflagthatstarted the Vietnam War |
Conclusion
America has decided to wage a war against Asia. There are aspects of both China, Russia and Iran involved. Right now, it is considered to be “trade”, “Hybrid”, “ideological”, “propaganda”, and …
…it’s intended to go hot.
Whether or not it will be limited to conventional weapons is a silly argument. Of course it will go nuclear.
This article looks at the kinds of false flags that are being set in place for the ignition for the war. And while the planners in K-street and the Washington DC beltway are looking towards a very long generational war, I don’t see that their planning will come to fruition. Instead I picture an unholy terror unleashed upon the USA if any action is attempted. And the result will be a very, very bad and nasty war. And no matter what damage that America wrecks China with, the end result will be the complete and utter devastation of America by the combined forces of Russia and China acting in unison.
To pretend otherwise is foolish.
It’s and entirely uncomfortable subject, but fits exactly with the predictions for the Fiuth Turning generational theory.
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There’s a lot of talk in the United States these days. It’s all about how “evil” the Chinese are, and how “evil” the Russians are, and how “evil” the Iranians are. And along with this well publicized narrative is the flood of articles about “how strong” and “how invincible” the American military is. It’s almost like, well it’s exactly like, America is on a war-footing and is readying the population for a long drawn out, multi-generational war, with Asia.
It’s a big mistake.
I guess that the American “leadership” wasn’t paying attention in history class. Perhaps they should ask the ghosts of NapoleonBonaparte and Hitler how that all worked out.
But one of the unspoken realities is the illusion that Asia won’t fight back. That it is inconceivable. And that any far in far-away Russia, or far-away China, or far-away Iran will stay far away.
Far… far… away.
And that, even if it did somehow manage to “throw a few punches” back at the United States, that the (good ol’) USA will manage to absorb them, quickly recover, and continue living a great and exceptional life as the “leader of the free world”, and that “brilliant city on the hill”. America is “exceptional” don’t you know…
And I for one am going to tell you that this is delirious wishful thinking.
Back in the day
This attitude that “we are strong and invincible” and that “we can tell the world what to do, or else” is thuggish bullying. And it’s more than just irritating, it’s disgusting. But for historians (well, I am an amateur, but you all know what I mean) it’s frightening.
History is full of stores of the proud rulers of nations. They would live inside their huge stone forts. they would have these huge banners fluttering in the azure blue skies, and they would have gaggles of beautiful maidens attending to them. And they would have large armies of “Heavy Cavalry” and “Knights in singing armor” . They would have thousands of these armed knights.
And they would sit inside their castles, on their thrones, and eat their lamb, drink their mead, and cavort with their wenches. They would make proclamations. They would be delirious and drunk with power, and totally and completely unaware of true and real dangers elsewhere in the world.
I feel a lecture coming on…
Genghis Khan and the “Brilliant Cities on the hill”
Genghis Khan was the Emperor of the Mongol Empire. He must have been one of the most ferocious people ever to live on the planet Earth. Genghis marked his reign with blood, feasts, and love of different women. People like Napoleon, Hitler, or Stalin look like amateurs when we compare them to Genghis Khan.
This fierce Mongol knew how to rule, and he successfully did it for many years in the 13th century. There wasn’t a person back in the day, who would not be scared of Genghis Khan’s power.
But before he came to power, he was not all that well known. And, as such he was dismissed as a “uncouth”, “uncultured” barbarian. Which he pretty much was…
The knights at their tournaments, in their finery, armor and emblems of ancestry, believed they were the foremost warriors in the world, while Mongol warriors thought otherwise.
Mongol horses were small, but their riders were lightly clad and they moved with greater speed. These were hardy men who grew up on horses and hunting, making them better warriors than those who grew up in agricultural societies and cities.
Their main weapon was the bow and arrow. And the Mongols of the early 1200s were highly disciplined, superbly coordinated and brilliant in tactics.
The Mongols were illiterate, religiously shamanistic and perhaps no more than 700,000 in number. Their language today is described as Altaic, a language unrelated to Chinese, derived from inhabitants in the Altay mountain range in western Mongolia.
They were herdsmen on the grassy plains north of the Gobi Desert, south of Siberia's forests. Before the year 1200, the Mongols were fragmented, moving about in small bands headed by a chief, or khan, and living in portable felt dwellings.
The Mongols endured frequent deprivations and sparse areas for grazing their animals. They frequently fought over turf, and during hard times they occasionally raided, interested in goods rather than bloodshed. They did not collect heads or scalps as trophies.
-Genghis Khan
…but that is besides the point.
The Mongol Empire conquered all Asia, and no enemy could withstand Genghis Khan and his bloodthirsty army. Oh yes, even though Mongols loved to compromise, they were known for their brutal physical power.
But they were much more than that. The Mongols under Genghis Khan were fair, just and orderly. You just don’t get on their bad side.
Genghis Khan created a body of law that he was to work on throughout his life. This included outlawing the tradition of kidnapping women. The kidnapping of women had caused feuds among the Mongols, and, as a teenager he had suffered from the kidnapping of his young wife, Borte, and he had devoted himself to rescuing her.
In addition, Genghis Khan declared all children legitimate, whomever the mother. He made it law that no woman would be sold into marriage. The stealing of animals had caused dissension among the Mongols, and Temujin made it a capital offense. A lost animal was to be returned to its owner, and taking lost property as one's own was to be considered thievery and a capital offense. Temujin regulated hunting – a winter activity – improving the availability of meat for everyone. He introduced record keeping, taking advantage of his move years before to have his native language put into writing. He created official seals. He created a supreme officer of the law who was to collect and preserve all judicial decisions, to oversee the trials of all those charged with wrongdoing and to have the power to issue death sentences. He created order that strengthened his realm and improved his ability to expand its territory.
-Genghis Khan
People believed that one Mongolian man could defeat ten or more warriors of other culture. And that was true. Genghis Khan proved many times how strong his army was, defeating his enemies against all the odds.
Nowadays, the only news we can hear about Mongolia is that Russians are trying out their nuclear weapons in the steppes of this ancient empire. Or that the Chinese are placing farming robots to herd cattle in inner Mongolia.
We forget that modern Chinese, and modern Russians are the direct descendants of the Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan.
What about this “uncouth barbarian”…
Genghis Khan was one of the most deeply feared historical figures in the world for a good reason. Historians estimate that Genghis Khan is responsible for over 40 million deaths, and at that time it was equal to 11 percent of the world’s population. For comparison, we can look at World War II, which has put “only” around three percent of the world’s population, 60-80 million people, to the graveyard. What Genghis Khan did is downright scary when we put it in perspective, right?
Not bad for an “evil” uncouth barbarian.
Genghis Khan was the most feared human of the 13th century, who could destroy dynasties just by moving his little finger. He created the Mongol Empire all by himself and earned his eternal spot in the history books. However, a lot of people had to suffer for Genghis Khan to succeed.
In cities the Mongols were forced to conquer, Genghis Khan divided the civilians by profession. He drafted the few who were literate and those he could use as translators. Those who had been the city's most rich and powerful he wasted no time in killing, remembering that the rulers he had left behind after conquering the Tangut and the Jurchens had betrayed him soon after his army had withdrawn.
It is said that the Genghis Khan's military did not torture, mutilate or maim. But his enemies are reported as having done so. Captured Mongols were dragged through streets and killed for sport and to entertain city residents. Gruesome displays of stretching, emasculation, belly cutting and hacking to pieces were something European rulers were using to discourage potential enemies – as was soon to happen to William Wallace on orders from England's King Edward I. The Mongols merely slaughtered, and preferred doing so from a distance.
The city of Nishapur revolted against Mongol rule. The husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed, and, it is said, she asked that everyone in the city be put to death, and, according to the story, they were.
-Genghis Khan
Oh yes, the Mongolians were known for their horrendous torturing techniques. One of the most popular was pouring molten silver down the throat and ears of a victim.
Genghis Khan also liked bending his enemy’s back until the backbone snapped. If that sounds barbaric, skip this next part. So, the Mongols once celebrated victory over Russians in a very bizarre way. They picked all the Russian survivors, dropped them on the ground and put a heavy wooden gate on top of them. Then, Genghis Khan and the entire Mongol army had a huge banquet on that wooden gate. They ate, drank, and watched how Russians were dying one by one from the suffocation, pressure, and wounds.
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted. For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one. Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool. So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan’s women.
The rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants. It shows us once again how cruel and barbaric Mongols were. I suppose that it was a different time and a different place, but the fact remains that when you have lost, your cities destroyed, and sacked, the victor can do whatever they want. And they wanted sex.
Lots and lost of sex.
Genghis Khan was able to destroy entire “impenetrable” cities easily.
When we look at what Genghis Khan achieved with the Mongol Empire, we cannot help but appreciate his mastermind as a warlord. It surely looks like Genghis Khan had three dragons with him just like Khaleesi.
I cannot find any other explanation of Genghis Khan’s success.
I mean, he defeated Jin Dynasty’s one million troops with only 90,000 Mongolians by his side. Yes, Genghis Khan managed to win a war with ten times fewer troops than his opponent’s army.
Jin Dynasty.
On top of that, he was invading China, so he had to overcome all the “little” problems such as the Great Wall of China.
Genghis Khan with his army had destroyed over 500,000 of Chinese troop before getting control of Northern China and Beijing. The rest of the Chinese army had to surrender to the power of Genghis Khan.
Destroying Jin Dynasty is only one of many examples of how great of a warlord Genghis Khan was. Also, he had some brutal and loyal men by his side, so let’s not rule out the dragon theory.
Physical force is not enough to achieve something as great as Genghis Khan did.
Yes, there is no doubt that he is the greatest and most brutal warlord in history, but he was also a very wise man. In 1201, during a battle, Genghis Khan was shot by an enemy archer. Needless to say, he was not happy about it.
So, after the Mongolian army won the battle, Genghis Khan spent some time looking for the man that shot him. He even pretended that it was not him who got shot, but his horse, so the enemy archer would have the courage to confront Genghis.
An unbelievable thing happened when the archer finally stepped out of the crowd and confessed shooting Genghis Khan.
Instead of killing his enemy, Genghis Khan recognized his talent and asked him to join the Mongolian army. The archer became a great general and loyally served Genghis for many years. That is one of the reasons why Mongol Empire was such a success back in the 13th century.
It is not a secret that Genghis Khan loved to have some bedroom time with all the different women. Whenever Genghis would conquer new land (he did it more frequent than people scroll Facebook nowadays), he would also get himself a couple of new wives.
As well as a gaggle of some “playthings”.
Genghis did that because he liked beautiful women, but it was also a very convenient way to demonstrate his power. Spreading his blood line all over Asia ensured peace in the entire Mongol Empire.
So, how many children did Genghis Khan have? It is pretty much impossible to tell the number, but historians estimate that today, around eight percent of men from Asia are his descendants. I cannot even start to process this number, but apparently, Genghis Khan was a great lover. No one in the history is even close to having such a wide family tree. So, next time when you talk about Genghis Khan, remember that it is a great chance that he is your ancestor.
Torture time.
Genghis Khan was a man of reason. He let the people in the Mongol Empire live a happy life as long as they followed his rules.
However, Genghis Khan cruelly punished everyone who tried to break those rules.
In Hungary and Poland the Mongols were outnumbered but tactically superior. They defeated several Hungarian armies. In early April, 1241, at the Battle of Lenica (Liegnitz) in Poland, they defeated an army that is said to have included heavily armored Teutonic knights. Dying in the battle was the most powerful of Polish dukes, Henryk II (Henry II).
-Genghis Khan
For example, when the governor of one of the cities in the Khwarazmian Empire took over Genghis Khan’s trade caravan and killed all the traders, Genghis Khan went berserker.
He sent 100,000 Mongols to the Khwarazmian Empire and killed thousands of people, including the governor.
Genghis Khan poured molten silver into the governor’s eyes and mouth until the poor guy roasted from the inside. That was a clear sign that anyone, stupid enough to harm the Mongol Empire, would have to face devastating consequences.
While Genghis Khan was consolidating his conquests in what had been the Khwarezmian Empire, a force of 40,000 Mongol horsemen pushed through Azerbaijan and Armenia. Without Genghis Khan they defeated Georgia's Christian crusaders, captured a Genoese trade-fortress in the Crimea and spent the winter along the coast of the Black Sea. In 1223, as they were headed back home, they met 80,000 warriors led by Prince Mstislav of Kiev. The Battle of Kalka River (map location) commenced. Staying out of range of the crude weapons of peasant infantry, and with better bows than opposing archers, they devastated the prince's standing army. Facing the prince's cavalry, they faked a retreat and drew the prince's armored cavalry forward, taking advantage of the over-confidence of the mounted aristocrats. Lighter and more mobile, the Mongols strung out and tired the pursuers and then attacked, killed and routed them.
-Genghis Khan
History shows that spreading fear worked perfectly in Genghis Khan’s favor. He still needed to invade some rebellious places from time to time, but for the most of the time, people in The Mongol Empire behaved really well.
Genghis Khan could be as powerful and respected as he wanted, but he still had to surrender to the laws of nature. Genghis Khan died in 1227, at the age of 65.
And why is all this important?
History tells us that psychopathic personalities in charge of nations that possess science, technology, and modern works tend to be blinded to the realities of the world. They become drunk with power, and forget that there are “bigger fish in the sea” and that you should not discount them because they are different…
…or they look different…
…or that they are “book worms”…
…or are drunk on vodka all the time…
…or whatever bullshit reinforcements that you want to believe. Genghis Khan serves as a stark and frightening reminder that there is always someone bigger, and better, and stronger than you are. And you should mistake their polite actions, their calm words, their soft tone of voice for a sign of weakness.
The result could be lethal.
"Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs"
- Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Consider the reality
I could type until my fingers fall off, and no one is going to believe the statistics that pretty much show that a FIRE based economy isn’t capable of rebuilding, creating, or structuring anything. I can show you historical examples, you you all would ignore them. I can show you charts and graphs, but they will remain oblivious.
A FIRE economy is any economy based primarily on the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors. Finance, insurance, and real estate are United States Census Bureau classifications. Barry Popik describes some early uses as far back as 1982. Since 2008, the term has been commonly used by Michael Hudson and Eric Janszen. It is New York City's largest industryand a prominent part of the service industry in the United States overall economy and other Western developed countries.
-Wikipedia
I argue that strategically, a nation that makes, creates and builds things is far superior to that that talks about things, writes about things, and tabulates numbers on spreadsheets. And this superiority manifests in numerous ways.
The historical displacement of America’s industry for replacement by lawyers, economists, bankers and real estate tycoons.
But rather than get into all the charts and the graphs, it get’s tiresome don’t you know, instead we are going to greatly simplify things and look at the far simpler model.
So what we are going to so is simplify the equations.
An exercise in simplification
We are going to create an imaginary nation, roughly the the same size and structural organization of the United States. We are going to call it “Freedom United!”.
And…
We are also going to create another nation, this is going to be a unified Asia that includes Russia, China and Iran. We will call it “Asia First!”
And…
Does this map remind you of anything?
How about this…
Genghis Khans empire.
Comparisons
What we are going to do is compare the two collective communities. For each one is comprised of a group of separate states or independent nations, all brought together under a common banner.
And when we do compare them, we see this…
Ah…
And the first thing that should strike the reader is that there is a major “real estate difference” involved.
Asia First! is much larger, geographically, than Freedom United! is.
But it’s more than that…
"Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’."
- George Orwell, Looking back on the Spanish War, Chapter 4
The second thing that you must note it it is not only bigger, but it has more people, more factories, and more resources.
But let’s simplify things and note that while Freedom United! and Asia First! both have factories and R&D centers, the nature of them, and the location of them within the geographical territories are quite different.
Freedom United! has pretty much “offshored” it’s manufacturing capability to other nations and places, and what remains are “think tanks”, “conceptional Research” and “study centers”. They are staffed by bankers, accountants and highly paid diversity directors. Further, their location tends to be centralized to the major cities within the nation body.
Cities like Yorker City, San Chicago, and New Angles have their “industry” very close to the densely packed urban centers. And while there are certainly scattered factories and manufacturing center peppered throughout the nation, the vast bulk of them at located at the urban city centers.
Something like this…
Meanwhile, Asia First! not only has more factories, but they are scattered throughout the entire nation. Furthermore, they tend to make real physical things. Not spreadsheets, Power Point Presentations, and accounting evaluations. The owners and the executives are all merit driven as it is their culture. All the leadership can, if needed, go onto the factory floor and make the parts and equipment products themselves.
Like Freedom United!, they also tend to cluster, but instead of clustering with the major population centers, they cluster inside manufacturing communities that are widely separated and located in the vast tracks of the countryside.
Here’s a map of Guangdong. It is a collection of many, many, many smaller towns that host many, many, many factories. This area is a designated Tier 1 city in China and it is north of the principal city of Shenzhen. For your shit’s and giggles, MM used to live in one of these cities here in this region. It’s all factories, and hills. Factories and hills. Factories and hills.
Dongguang
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The Human bridge is really a hassle I will tell you what. That’s the icon at the far lower left of the picture. I go over it maybe once ever few months. It’s traffic as far as the eye can see!
Now for our purposes, we will consider ASIA FIRST! to be much like this. Which regions of scattered communities and factories all spread out over wide expansive terrain.
It looks something like this…
Now…
Let’s compare the two nation states
"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
When you compare the two nations you notice something very important to our calculus here. No matter how smart, how prosperous, how beautiful or how exceptional one nation is compared to the other… a nation with a bigger population, and more factories, and resource will be able to out-produce and out-survive a lesser nation.
It’s the “Risk” strategy.
IntheRiskgame, the goal is simple: playersaimto conquer their enemies’ territories by building an army, moving their troops in, andengaginginbattle. Depending on therollofthedice, a player will either defeat the enemy or be defeated. This exciting game isfilledwithbetrayal, alliances, and surprise attacks.
We saw that during World War II with the Nazi Germans. While their military weapons industry was top rate, and the quality of their equipment was the best in the world, it was the ill-trained, masses and hordes of soldiers from Russia that was able to overwhelm Germany.
This idea that huge quantities of “average” soldiers, and mediocre equipment can compensate for very specialized, and efficient, and expensive weapons systems is not new. It’s just not well reported as the Freedom United! military-industrial lobby is desirous of keeping this issue quiet and “under wraps”.
Let’s compare the two nations side by side…
All this is very interesting, but let’s get to the point.
A comparison with the events of the last few years leading up to today.
America takes on Asia…
Freedom United! is just getting “clobbered” on the international scene. It is a military empire that has few remaining exports of value. It exports aircraft, and wheat, and some very specialized machines, but that’s about it. It’s primary revenue generating venue is in the banking, finance and real estate venues.
This nation has been fighting numerous wars all over the globe, and it’s leadership are drunk with power, and oblivious to the true realities of the world.
So, where they got this idea is unknown, they get this idea that they can take on and fight with Asia First! And that they would win!
What’s more, they seriously believe that they could draw out the battle and fighting for a long, long time.
Not just years and decades, but generations…
Mike Pompeo in India working on the QUAD to fight against China.
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Now they know that it would be very difficult to fight on the geographical territory of Asia First! as it would result in a complete nuclear retaliation.
Asia First! combined has an enormous nuclear arsenal. It is far bigger, more technologically advanced, and with a larger military than what Freedom United! has.
Thus, they need to be able to fight Asia First! is such a way that Nuclear MAD doctrine is avoided.
They also know that they need to “bleed out” Asia First! in such a way as to give them time to overtake the nation through attrition. So they have established other areas by which the fighting can take place.
Create a MAJOR “false flag” event to ignite a war-footing.
Keep the fighting conventional. Avoid nuclear weapons.
Fight by proxies on predetermined proxy nation locations.
Bleed Asia First! through dominance on the oceans, and in Space.
Isolate Asia First! in all ways and means.
Prevent war from hitting the mainland Freedom United!
The battles are designed to occur on proxy locations.
The idea is to have wars and battles taking place in far-away lands, so that no one in Freedom United! is harmed, and a direct nuclear strike with Asia First! can be avoided. These proxy war locations (already decided upon by FREEDOM UNITED!) are shown in gold.
And of course, the idea is that Freedom United! would fight Asia First on these designated battlefields. These areas are known as the QUAD.
It’s a brilliant plan.
Except one thing.
Some of those QUAD areas are considered to be Asian First! territory. And pretending that they are not is a egregious mistake. And Asia First! has said so explicitly. These are “RED LINES” that one dare not cross.
But the leadership of Freedom United! just chucked, and pretended that they didn’t hear the statements.
A Battle Rages
So let’s go through the logical progression of things.
Logical.
Progression.
Of events as we know them.
Freedom United! creates a series of “false flags” to justify a war with Asia First!. There are a number of events stacked up that are ready to go. The question is which one will Freedom First! use to “get the ball rolling”?
And within a short period of time there are global military actions globally.
Initially, it looks like everything is going to plan. One or two QUAD members decide to “sit the conflict out”, but the rest support the effort in varying degrees.
Trade slows to a trickle and even stops.
The people of Freedom United! are all in gleeful patriotism, and conventional fighting is occurring all along the “doorsteps” of Asia First!. As planned! Off in far-away lands!
American media constantly pushes for war because they have no idea what real war is. To them, going to war is like spanking a child: possibly backfiring socially, but no real danger to their own lives. Most of the time, they just send bombers and take cool videos. When guys have to be sent on the ground, their deaths can be used to fuel the national hard-on America has for its military. I call it the "thank you for your service culture.
America has waged war on minor nations for so long that they can't even imagine that fighting another nation might result in aunt Nancy meeting her creator early. To them, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Russia, it's all the same.
Also, the infantile thinking in terms of good and bad doesn't help.
Posted by: Eeny | Apr 12 2021 18:32 utc | 12
They can sit down in front of their televisions set, and social media feeds and feel so proud and patriotic about how strong and powerful their military is, and finally doing something about all those evil dirty filthy Asia First! people.
But then something happens.
Those “neutral” QUAD nations are not all independent. Some of them are actually geographically part of Asia First! They are not considered to be “protectorates of Freedom United!” instead they are recognized by the UN as actual sovereign territory of Asia First!, and…
…when the military operations in support of the False Flag events start to occur, action starts to unfold very rapidly.
Asia First! decides that enough is enough, and that this bullshit must end. So it unleashes a combined military horror upon Freedom United!.
All Hell breaks loose.
The event was is brief and is over quickly. All in all an equal exchange of nuclear conflagration occurs to both nation states. No one is spared.
But…
The nuclear strike has been planned for decades. It’s not spontaneous.
And one nation decides to end it, and it remains the victor who lays the terms of surrender of the other nation.
Which nation would be the winner, and which would be the loser, do you suppose?
It looks like this…
Global Devastation
We can see what happens.
Not only are the designated battlefields (pre-established by Freedom United!) hit with crippling nuclear salvos, but the “untouchable” cities of Freedom United! are also targeted. In fact, ALL of the major urban ares of Freedom United! are erased from the globe.
All of the major cites of Freedom United are erased from the map. All of the military bases in support of the military empire of Freedom United! are turned into slag and glass. The capital, and all the leadership locations are craters surrounded by radioactive wasteland.
Freedom United! ceases to be a nation.
The world is in big trouble.
It did come at a price.
Asia First! also took some hits and they did not survive unscathed. But we can clearly see that even though there was an equal exchange of hostilities, the nation that suffered the worst was Freedom United! by the simple geography of it’s cities and manufacturing base.
The Aftermath
Now consider the years following this nuclear exchange.
How was the globe able to recover, and which nations recovered the best?
And…
Which nations are best able to recover?
Which nations would be able to recover within a decade?
Which nations would be able to recover within 50 years?
Let’s take a look at that…
Recovery Suggestions
Well, there are far too many variables at play to make any kind of reasonable determine what could happen. All we have are the numbers and the proportions. Asia First! could lose 75% of it’s population and still be better off than Freedom United! And then there is the destruction of factories and cities, and the ability to rebuild. In all aspects, Asia First! would be far better equipped to rebuild, stabilize the situation, and begin all over.
Not so with Freedom United!
Because of this, and the fact that Freedom United! is already balkanized, it seems logical that whatever the condition of Freedom United! would be after a major nuclear exchange, it would fracture into many different singular, independent cities, and independent nations. Some would be healthier than others. Some would be absolutely horrible and horrid places to live, while others might be generally unscathed.
We can also say that there would probably be some serious internal domestic conflict as a nation of “independence” (and high levels of gun ownership and decades of “race bating”) and government actions that pit one group against another…
… that there would be a relatively long period of adjustment to the new normal.
There might be efforts to maintain the original constitution, while there might be efforts to maintain the independence of the individual states. There might be efforts to carve out new states and new territories, as well as neighboring nations deciding to annex some of the lands that are now “up for grabs”.
No matter, how contentious, how difficult, how problematic, and how confused, one thing is certain, the Federal Government will no longer exist, and it would take a herculean effort to keep the Freedom United! national unity intact after a global nuclear exchange.
Conclusion
Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. Nuclear war has become a multi-billion dollar undertaking, which fills the pockets of US defense contractors. What is at stake is the outright “privatization of nuclear war”. Massive amounts of money have been allocated by the Joe Biden Administration to feed the weapons industry including the Pentagons’ 1.3 trillion dollar nuclear weapons program first launched under Obama, is ongoing under the Biden administration.Michel Chossudovsky, April 12, 2021
This post looks at the world like the simplified game of “Risk”. The nation with the bigger population and armies will be able to offset what ever technical advantage you might possess. This is not always true, of course. (Consider the Incas when they met the Spanish in search of gold.) But it is often true enough to say that perhaps 80% of modern conflict follows this rule.
We can wish that advantage can be mitigated by brilliant generals (Carl von Clausewitz, and Rommel), or exciting cutting edge technology (radar, sonar, stealth, cruse missile, hyper-glide technology, drones, nuclear weapons), and elite and specialized training (Seals, Green Berets) but for the most part these advantages are on the Tactical level, not on the Strategic level.
Avalon Hill’s game “Squad Leader” simulates tactical level military warfare on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia during World War II.
But we have to take into account something else. This is something that is rarely if ever addressed…
… incompetence at the leadership level.
The public faces change, but the stupidity remains because, like Rome, you can change the leadership… but the system is faulted and humans will abuse it.
When Germany ran over France in 1941 the French generals were ill prepared to deal with the Germans. When World War II broke out, Stalin was so incompetent, that he locked himself in the room and got drunk waiting for people to haul him away and arrest him.
When Genghis Khan attacked Europe, and the Silk Road, many nations and city state had an unrealistic understanding of the threat that was facing them, and they had an artificially inflated idea of what they were capable of.
Like the 20,000 armored knights that rode into battle to take on 4 million angry Huns... none survived.
In this overly simplified scenario we discount advantages on the tactical level.
Instead we compare geography and leadership (only). In this set of goggles it is quite obvious that Asia First! has a decided advantage over Freedom United!. Yet, as much fun as this very frightening scenario plays out, we do not know what to expect, and our guesses can be wildly inaccurate.
But, and yet, given the little what we know, and what we have learned from history, there is a case that the scenario presented here has a 60% likelihood of occurring. The Freedom Forever! nation will not easily recover at any pre-confligation level, and it is ridiculous to assume that it would. No matter what “secret weapon” the neocons in control of the nation might think.
We need only review the catastrophic mistakes of the Hungarians when they encountered the Huns of Genghis Khan to underline this point.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Theories of Collapse Index here…
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Hows’ that for a mouthful? Yeah, it’s a long title, but it has to be. You know with what “news” has actually become over the last few decades, most Americans are the most ignorant and uninformed people on the planet. Sure they have tons and tons of media outlets… but all the outlets originate from one or two main sources. And those are all controlled by the United States government.
Sad to say.
Anyways…
Grab a glass of wine and some delicious pizza and listen to a little story that I want to tell…
Pizza and wine go together nicely.
Firstly, for those of you that are unaware of the background, here’s a brief overview…
The Trump Administration was engaged in a hybrid war with China that included carpet-bombing of Chinese food and livestock with bio-weapons (8 strains). HERE.
It was planned to be a minimum of 8 years in duration, and 2020 was the year that was to “kick off” the “hot” (shooting) portion of the war. HERE.
The Coronavirus was a really devilish plot using and A-strain to inoculate four “friendly” nations, and the B-strain to attack four “enemy” nations. HERE.
Tin foil hat stuff, eh?
Nah.
Let me tell you all a nice little story…
When Donald Trump was elected there were some high hopes that a “businessman” would be able to conduct global and international trade and relationships from a business point of view with China. That is, as opposed to a political viewpoint as was displayed by the Obama administration when it was in Washington. Many nations, specifically China, believed that America would (finally) join the rest of the world in being a reasonable partner in trade and a steward for the planet.
That did not happen.
Instead, he staffed his administration with “hard Right” neocons and went on a ‘war footing” regarding China. Publicly, it was a series of “failed negotiations” and an increase in tariffs on Chinese made goods. Privately it was a complete “hybrid-war” gearing up for a “hot war” event that was to be “kicked off” in late 2019.
The idea was to to create all kind of stresses on the Chinese people, and then when the nation was at it’s weakest, America could invade under the pretext of saving “democracy” all “for the people”.
The public actions are well known. that included tariffs, censorship, attacks on Huawei, etc. This includes the “pro democracy” (NGO-sponsored) “color revolutions” in Hong Kong, and the military incursions to destabilize the Uighur population in Xinjiang.
The non-public actions are not that well known. These included carpet bombing of Chinese livestock with bio-weapons agents, the use of drones to hit remote villages, the destruction and suppression of chip-making equipment to China, interruption of precious mining operations, behind-the-scenes manipulations and black-mailing of “friendly” national leaders, and military probes into Chinese territory and systems.
Now, around 2019 China received word that a “big event” was planned to occur on or during CNY (Chinese New Year), and whether they knew exactly what it was, or how it would manifest, they knew something was up somehow. So once they received word, they immediate began reconnaissance efforts.
These reconnaissance efforts are just now coming to light…
The following article is from The Drive. Reprinted as found, and all credit to the author. Edited to fit this venue.
Mysterious Drone Incursions Have Occurred Over U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery In Guam
It's yet another reminder of just how vulnerable highly strategic assets, even air defense systems, are to low-end drones.
Earlier this year, it came to The War Zone‘s attention that a series of bizarre and highly concerning events took place in the late Winter of 2019 at Andersen Air Force Base on the Island of Guam.
Map of Guam.
As we understand it, between late February and early March of last year, the massive installation experienced repeated incursions by unmanned aircraft. The aircraft that appeared to be extremely interested in one highly sensitive area of the highly strategic base. This area of interest is the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery that is tasked with defending the island from ballistic missile attacks.
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The incursions, which were said to have occurred in late March and early April 2019, had been observed by personnel manning the guard towers that loom over the highly secure THAAD area. This area, situated towards the northern end of the air base, is often referred to as “North West Field.” Andersen itself takes up the northern and western reaches of the entire island.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery, showing the deployment of the radar module and the launcher tubes.
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The intruding craft were described as “quadcopter-like” vehicles with bright spotlights that flew from over the water and then across the North West Base area. They flew at not much higher than treetop level, about 20 to 30 feet above the ground. On a number of nights, the craft would make multiple incursions in the very early morning hours. They would show up, disappear, then come back a few hours later.
Quad rotor drone with camera.
The spotlight that shone down from the craft made it hard for personnel to make out a detailed description of the craft, although estimates range from being three to five feet in diameter largely based on the size of the spotlight.
The craft would maneuver dynamically, appearing with the spotlight on, then disappearing, just to reappear moments later over to one side or another with the spotlight on, which was unsettling to those that witnessed it.
Supposedly, there was a concerted effort to identify, track, and down the mysterious craft, but it doesn’t seem that those efforts were successful based on our understanding of events.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
This information was highly interesting if not downright alarming, but we had to find hard evidence that at least something similar did indeed happen during this timeframe.
We got just that straight from the U.S. Air Force.
The United States will compete, deter, and win in the #IndoPacific.
The #THAAD system I visited on Friday, is one of our most advanced missile defense systems. It enables the defense of #Guam against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
#TaskForceTalonpic.twitter.com/g8C2b602aT
— Archive: Dr. Mark T. Esper (@EsperDoD) August 31, 2020
The War Zone was able to confirm that at least one of the incidents described above did occur through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), by which we obtained a copy of the relevant entry from the Air Force’s 36th Security Forces Squadron’s internal crime blotter. The is unit is part of the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base.
The entry describes the “possible drone” as being of an
"unknown color and size, [with a] bright white light."
Army personnel at “THAAD Tower #2” had radioed in at
"2315," or 11:15 PM to report "a bright white light was seen from [their] LOCATION hovering over a field and quickly disappeared."
"Tower #2 personnel were unable to provide any further description,"
.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery. Showing the missiles in the pre-launch configuration.
The “JET PATROLS” that are referenced in the document are not aircraft, but are Jungle Enforcement Teams of the 36th Security Forces Squadron.
…the blotter entry continues.
"At 2318, JET PATROLS were in the vicinity conducting covert operations. None of the JET PATROLS were able to locate the suspicious white light."
The Air Force describes the teams as being
"tasked with preventing security breaches, apprehending poachers, and securing the perimeter around the jungle."
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing a launch.
The team’s personnel move silently through the jungle that permeates much of the base at night and have unique human tracking skills. You can read all about this specialized security force in this official media release.
Interestingly, the 36th Security Force Squadron’s blotter lists this incident as
which implied that there was at least one other similarly classified drone incident at Andersen Air Force Base before this one by that point in the early 2019 calendar or fiscal year.
Radar for a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Another FOIA request confirmed that there was a “2019-1” blotter entry, but the Air Force withheld information about that event citing privacy and law enforcement exemptions.
Agencies typically withhold records for law enforcement reasons because of a potential risk of exposing sensitive tactics, techniques, or procedures, or because of an ongoing investigation.
It is then doubly interesting that the March 2019 incident near the Army’s THAAD battery at North West Field was not also subject to the exemptions.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) forwarded a separate FOIA request regarding this incident, any other similar occurrences around the same timeframe, to the U.S. Army. The War Zone is still awaiting a response to that request, as well as another one to the Guam Police Department. We inquired directly to the 36th Wing and INDOPACOM, but never got a response.
A general diagram showing how a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery operates.
We found this information to be highly troubling for a number of reasons.
The most important is that this craft was able to penetrate its way over an air defense system that is tasked with defending the highly strategic island from ballistic missile attacks.
In other words, that THAAD battery is largely what stands in the way of a country like North Korea from holding the island at imminent risk.
The system is even capable of shielding against a lower volume barrage from a peer state competitor, such as China.
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Guam would be near the top of Beijing’s targeting list during a conflict with the United States and its growing ballistic missile arsenal has been developed largely to deny the U.S. the utility of its regional bases during the open stages of a conflict.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
The thing is that destruction of enemy air defenses (DEAD) is not defined by a platform, it is a mission.
Traditionally we associate the objective of destroying enemy air defenses with standoff cruise missile attacks and ‘wild weasel’ fighter jet operations, but DEAD can be carried out by a team of special operators with some well-placed explosives or via a barrage of naval gunfire.
Even carefully deployed malware that targets the software that an air defense system and its mechanical component run on could potentially be destructive enough to be considered a DEAD method.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing the inception stage.
With that said, America’s preeminent adversaries in the entire region would make taking out the THAAD battery on Guam a top priority during a conflict or even as part of a limited demonstration of force.
Why barrage it with ballistic missiles or attempt a cruise missile launch from a forward-deployed submarine or even a clandestine commando raid when you can just fly a drone loaded with explosives into it?
A diagram of an ICBM showing and indicating interception stages.
And no, you don’t need some high-end drone system to do this as real-world events have highlighted many times over.
Somewhat more sophisticated types can be launched from longer distances and can even home in on radar or other RF emissions sources, like THAAD’s powerful AN/TPY-2 Radar and data-links, autonomously, beyond just striking a certain point on a map.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Simply put, ‘shooting the archer,’ in this case an advanced anti-ballistic missile system that protects America’s most strategic base in the entire region, via a relatively cheap drone is both an absurdly obvious and terrifyingly ironic tactic—the U.S. can shoot down ballistic missiles, but the critical systems used to do so remain extremely vulnerable to the lowliest of airborne threats—cheap drones.
For those that follow our work, this is not news. The U.S. military was dangerously aloof when it came to the threat posed by low-end drones.
We spent years highlighting this threat while seeing the U.S. military do very little to actually counter it, that is until ISIS was constantly dropping bomblets from drones or just flying explosive-laden drones into allied positions during the Battle of Mosul, Iraq.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing the three points and opportunities for interception.
The radar unit of a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
In the meantime, it’s abundantly clear that even America’s most capable air defenses are vulnerable to the most meager of aerial capabilities—commercially available drones.
If anything else, this is yet another, but possibly the biggest example of just how misplaced the U.S. military’s priorities had become when it comes to investments in air defense over the last two decades or so.
The components of a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery minus the launcher truck module.
You can read how the Pentagon let its short-range air defense (SHORAD) capabilities wither on the vine to an appalling degree while concentrating on higher-profile, ‘sexier,’ and drastically more lucrative weapon systems in this past feature of ours.
The Pentagon’s appalling lack of vision regarding the emergence of this threat has made quickly ramping-up efforts to counter it that much more of a scramble, which is ongoing now.
The radar and command and power modules for a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Still, America’s potential enemies are already a step ahead, working on swarming low-end drone concepts that will overwhelm most countermeasures currently in the works.
A comparison of three anti-ballistic missile batteries deployed by the United States; the Patriot, Thaad, and Ages.
In the meantime, the events on Guam in 2019 serve as maybe the most outstanding reminder of how the Pentagon’s fixation on high-end threats, and the huge gold plated weapons programs that are put into play to counter them, have left even those very capabilities remarkably vulnerable to far less advanced attacks.
As to quote the character from “Laugh In”… “Very Interesting…”
So what does this mean?
Well, strangely…
…immediately before the bio-weapons attack on CNY 2020 there were incursions of a reconnaissance nature on Guam investigating the THAAD missile batteries. These incursions were visible. They intentionally turned on flood and spot lights and were not secretive. Which is a very UNUSUAL way to conduct reconnaissance operations.
One must wonder what was actually going on.
Who operated the drones? Was it the Chinese? Or an American operation that was testing the defenses? Was it someone else?
Where were the drones controlled from? Was it from a civilian located on the South end of the island, or was it from a submarine or some other vehicle?
Why did the drones turn on the lights? Was it to be noticed, or was it to take quick photographs?
Why isn’t the American military concerned? Perhaps this event is really nothing to worry about. You can trust the United States government, right?
The thing is, however, this is not the only event leading up to the 2020 CNY bio-weapon attack on China. Throughout 2019, American bases, and Naval ships were being probed.
Such as described in this article. Reprinted as found. All credit to the writer, and edited to fit this venue.
Navy’s Top Officer Says ‘Drones’ That Swarmed Destroyers Remain Unidentified
A series of bizarre events off Southern California in 2019 remain unexplained according to the Chief of Naval Operations.
At a roundtable with reporters today, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, the U.S. Navy’s top officer, was asked about a series of bizarre incidents that took place in July 2019 and involved what only have been described as ‘drones’ swarming American destroyers off the coast of Southern California.
American destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill
The War Zone was the first to report in detail on this series of mysterious events after the incident was originally uncovered by filmmaker Dave Beaty.
Asked by Jeff Schogol of Task & Purposeif the Navy had positively identified any of the aircraft involved, Gilday responded by saying:
“No, we have not. I am aware of those sightings and as it’s been reported there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships not only of the United States, but other nations – and of course other elements within the U.S. joint force.”“Those findings have been collected and they still are being analyzed," Gilday added. "I don’t have anything new to report, Jeff, on what those findings have revealed thus far. But I will tell you we do have a well-established process in place across the joint force to collect that data and to get it to a separate repository for analysis.”
At the time of writing, it is unclear if Admiral Gilday was referring to the Department of Defense’s Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), created last August to examine “incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace.”
A Senate-requested report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena is expected later this year. Representatives from the UAPTF could not be reached for comment.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85)
A preliminary response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiries indicates that the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) possesses documents about the incident and that they are intermingled with records from several other agencies. This would make sense as the UAPTF was established within ONI, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Schogol also asked if there was any suspicion that the aircraft described as drones were “extraterrestrial.” Gilday responded,
“No, I can’t speak to that - I have no indications at all of that.”
American destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill
The War Zone has reached out to the Navy, Coast Guard, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further details regarding the drones flying near Navy destroyers in 2019. Members of the intelligence and armed services committees in both the Senate and the House were asked for comment, as well. While at least some elected officials indicated they were aware of the issue, none were able to make a statement at this time regarding the encounters off the coast of Southern California two years ago.
So What is going on?
Well, you know that throughout the Pacific in 2019, drones were “buzzing” and observing United States military operations. They studied defense operations, ship capabilities, and base operations.
This all occurred simultaneously while the Trump Administration was ramping up a “war stance” towards China.
2010 – 2016 Obama setting up bases that surrounded China.
2017 – 2019 Trump media march for war, color revolutions, tariffs, and induce famine inside of China.
2020 was to be the year for actual military operations, kicked off by a full-scale bio-weapon attack with R0=20% lethal COVID-19B strain. (Not the “safe” American R0=0.01% COVID-19A strain.)
Also simultaneously during this time period was a complete restructuring of the American military…
Combined we see a picture that is quite disturbing.
A Washington DC establishment desirous of a “Hot War” with China. Not only one of the largest nations on the planet, but the home of most of the factories, technology, and and military on the planet.
A realization that China has Intel that indicates activities that might happen in the future. Somehow they found out about the CNY plans a year earlier.
Scanning and recon of American Naval forces, bases and defenses in the South Pacific right before the CNY 2020 Bio-weapon attack.
A politically focused restructuring of the military.
An over emphasis in American technical superiority, and a discounting of the basic physical standards of the military.
One cannot help to remember stories about similar events in the past and how they all turned out.
I am reminded of Babylon. Not the city written about in the Bible, but the much later incarnation. The Babylon of the Islamic Empire. It was the center of all society, technology, and manufacturing in the ancient world.
But it was ruled by self-absorbed fools.
And out from the East came a “rough and tumble” people that DID.NOT.PLAY. They wanted to align with the Islamic nation, they wanted to expand but incorporate the nation and peoples in with their society.
Nope!
Says the self-absorbed Babylon ruler drinking his wines. Singing his songs, dancing with his friends…
The following is from HERE. All credit to the author, and reprinted as found and edited to fit within this venue.
The Mongol conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate culminated in the horrific sack of Baghdad that effectively ended the Islamic Golden Age.
The Islamic Golden Age—from the 8th to the mid-13th century—was one of the greatest periods of human flourishment in knowledge and progress, with Baghdad as its focal point.
A truly global repository of human knowledge, this Arab-Muslim imperial capital also welcomed—indeed encouraged—scholars from across the known world. As its wealth and fame grew, more and more scholars and engineers were drawn to the city from all over civilization.
But in January 1258, a vast Mongol army reached the city’s perimeter and demanded that the caliph—al-Musta’sim, the nominal spiritual authority of the Islamic world—surrender.
History of Baghdad: The Greatest City in the World
If you can imagine the shock waves, were London razed to the ground tomorrow, you’d be getting close to the horror that was about to accompany the Sack of Baghdad in 1258.
Founded 500 years earlier, Baghdad’s population had reached one million within a century, making it the world’s largest, most prosperous, and celebrated city. If one thinks of London in 1897—the year when Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee—the English city on the Thames was by then the largest and most important city on earth. In 1897, London was peerless in the world, with nowhere else coming close to matching its power and influence. It was the capital, and the fulcrum, of the British Empire.
A Devastating Moment in History for Muslims in the Middle East
For many historians, the arrival of the Mongols into the heart of the Muslim faith and empire is the single most devastating moment in the history of the Muslim Middle East. It’s easy to see why—and hard to argue otherwise—because the Sack of Baghdad would mark the end of the Islamic Golden Age.
Rather than submit, the Abbasid caliph challenged the Mongols to attempt to storm his city, if they dared. The nomadic army from Asia—led by Hulagu Khan, one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons—did indeed dare. Doing what they are most famous for, the Mongols thrashed Baghdad. In 10 days of unremitting violence and destruction, Baghdad and its inhabitants were completely and utterly vanquished. Almost without exception, the population was either put to the sword or sold into slavery. The River Tigris ran red—to cite one of the most over-quoted, and overwrought phrases in history—with the blood of slaughtered men, women, and children.
After this, every building of note in Baghdad—including mosques, palaces, and markets—was utterly destroyed, among them the world-famous House of Wisdom. Hundreds of thousands of priceless manuscripts and books were tossed into the river, clogging the arterial waterway with so many texts, according to eyewitnesses, that soldiers could ride on horseback from one side to the other. Of course, the river turned from red to black with ink.
Who Were the Mongols?
The Sack of Baghdad fits, like a hinge, almost exactly in the middle of two defining dates in the history of Islam, from the founding of the faith in the year 622 to the end of the last caliphate in 1924. Even by the standards of the day, the destruction was shocking, and the results long-lasting, if not permanent. The Mongols’ name during this period in history was a byword for destruction. Who were they and where did they come from? Is there any reason to think that they were any more destructive than other peoples at the time?
The Mongols, an ethnic group, originating in north and central Asia, were typically pastoral peoples, whose nomadic lifestyle inevitably brought them into conflict with more settled populations. Probably the best example of how settled peoples tried to restrict their otherwise free movement is the Great Wall of China. The wall was essentially built to hold back incursions of their Mongolian neighbors to the north.
This preference for nomadism over a settled existence is central to the view of the Mongols as especially destructive. As one writer put it, while Muslims built cities—Baghdad and Cairo, for example—Mongols destroyed them. Does this mean that the Mongols were inherently more ruthless or violent than Muslims or crusading Christians? Not necessarily. Rather, it shows that their priority, in terms of conquest, was for land, for grazing—for space even—rather than for cities and confinement.
As one writer put it, while Muslims built cities—Baghdad and Cairo, for example—Mongols destroyed them.
One thing that came out of the Mongols’ lack of interest in seizing cities was their enhanced mobility. Often living on a diet of mare’s milk—or blood, if the mares were not lactating—Mongol custom meant that they never washed their clothes. This, along with a heavy fat diet—both milk and meat—no doubt accounted for the Mongols’ reputation as a very smelly, as well as scary, foe.
The Fierce Mongol Warriors
Contemporary chroniclers tell us that Mongol warriors were most comfortable in the saddle, literally, it seems. If they had to move more than a hundred yards, or so, they’d jump on a horse and ride. Also, all warriors owned numerous mounts, allowing them to cover larger distances than more traditional cavalry found in the Near East and Europe. While they rode light into battle, the Mongols used harnessed oxen to pull their heavier and more cumbersome possessions from place to place.
An important facet of the Mongol way of war and conquest was their use of terror as a tactic. The banging of metal pots and the rattling of bells was the usual way of announcing the start of a battle. This created such a din that defenders of a city under siege would find it almost impossible to hear their officers’ commands.
Whenever they entered new territory, the Mongols would offer the local rulers an opportunity to surrender. But in the language of many a salesman, this was a one-time offer. For those foolish enough not to surrender immediately, conquest and destruction without quarter would be their lot, and the people of Baghdad knew this.
Setting the Scene for Catastrophe Before the Sack of Baghdad
In 1206, just 52 years before the Sack of Baghdad, the Mongol Empire was formed and led by the legendary Genghis Khan. Khan is originally a Mongolian word that means military leader, or sovereign, a king, in English. Being accepted as the Great Khan effectively elevated Genghis to the status of an emperor. His grandsons now ruled the Mongolian Empire. In addition to Hulagu Khan, who led the attack against Baghdad, there was Kublai Khan, conqueror of China, and Mongke Khan, who became the Great Khan and sent his brother Hulagu to Baghdad.
Hulagu marched at the head of perhaps the largest Mongolian army ever assembled, consisting of as many as 150,000 troops, with Baghdad one of several goals for this mission. First, Hulagu was told to subdue southern Iran, which he did. Next, he was to destroy the infamous Assassins.
A breakaway Nizari-Ismaili-Shia sect, founded in the 11th century, the Assassins had achieved infamy for the political assassinations—hence, the term we use today—carried out by certain of their number. Although it was known that the Assassins were based at the castle of Alamut in northwestern Iran, many of their adversaries thought they were somehow invincible because of the stealth they typically employed. Hulagu Khan proved this was not the case. After destroying the Assassins and their castle fortress at Alamut, Baghdad was the next stop on his list.
The majority of Hulagu Khan’s men were Mongolian warriors, but the force also contained Christians, including soldiers led by the king of Armenia, Frankish Crusaders from the Principality of Antioch, and Georgians.
The majority of Hulagu Khan’s men were Mongolian warriors, but the force also contained Christians, including soldiers led by the king of Armenia, Frankish Crusaders from the Principality of Antioch, and Georgians. There were also Muslim soldiers from various Turkic and Persian tribes, and 1,000 Chinese engineers—artillery specialists, who were always in demand when the need arose to reduce walls to rubble.
The Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasids—the third Islamic caliphate to rule the Muslim Middle East since the death of Muhammad—had risen to power in 750, after overthrowing their rivals, the Damascus-based Umayyads. Taking their name from one of Muhammad’s uncles, Abbas, the Abbasids quickly took control of almost all Umayyad lands, and so found themselves ruling over an enormous empire that covered the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, Syria, Iraq, Persia and beyond to modern Afghanistan.
A new Abbasid caliphate deserved a new capital, which they established in Baghdad, in 762, and immediately built it into an imperial city worthy of their greatness.
A new Abbasid caliphate deserved a new capital, which they established in Baghdad, in 762, and immediately built it into an imperial city worthy of their greatness. Within a couple of generations, Baghdad had attracted some of the world’s greatest scholars. Alongside Persian scholarship and cultural traditions—and Arab authority—one saw people from other parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Numerous Jews and Christians also pursued studies there.
Baghdad: A City of Learning
Among the greatest of them all was founded by the early Abbasid caliphs. Called the Bayt al-Hikma—or House of Wisdom—this was the place that the best scholars and professors aspired to reach—not just Muslims from the Islamic world. Imagine if you will, all of America’s Ivy League Colleges rolled into one; add to those the science and technological power of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, and Berkley, then add Oxford and Cambridge to the mix, and the world’s great non-English-speaking universities. It comes close to what the House of Wisdom was like—except it was even more influential.
Imagine if you will all of America’s Ivy League Colleges rolled into one; add to those the science and technological power of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, and Berkley, then add Oxford and Cambridge to the mix, and the world’s great non-English-speaking universities. It comes close to what the House of Wisdom was like—except it was even more influential.
There were two distinct sides to scholarship in Baghdad. One was translation work, with texts from India, Persia, and Greece gathered in huge numbers. Texts originally composed in Persian, Sanskrit, Greek, Syriac, and Chinese were all eagerly rendered into Arabic. Combined with this extensive translation work, however, was a wealth of original scholarship, funded and encouraged by the caliphs. The arts and sciences alike were covered, so that advances were made in almost every imaginable subject, including mathematics, medicine, astronomy, physics, cartography, zoology, and poetry.
A Weak-Willed Caliph in Thirteenth-Century Baghdad
In the year 1242, al-Musta’sim became the 37th caliph in the Abbasid line. Baghdad’s glory days were behind it. By this stage, the Abbasid caliphs were largely figureheads, propped up by outside forces. If they were important at all, it was as the inheritors of Islamic orthodoxy and as beacons of cultural greatness, but not as a political power to be obeyed nor a military force to be feared. Indeed, the Abbasids already were in the habit of paying an annual tribute to the Mongols. Despite this, the city was still large and prosperous.
A weak-willed, even dissolute character, al-Musta’sim was happier hanging out with musicians and drinking wine than he was ruling…
Alas for Baghdad, the court of history doesn’t rate the caliph as the greatest of his line. A weak-willed, even dissolute character, al-Musta’sim was happier hanging out with musicians and drinking wine than he was ruling an already weakened empire. In 1251, the Abbasids sent a delegation to pay homage on the coronation of Hulagu’s brother, Mongke, when he became the Great Khan, but this was no longer considered enough.
Mongols Demand Submission by Abbasid Caliph al-Mustasim
Mongke insisted that the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim come in person to Karakorum, the 13th century capital of the Mongol Empire, in the north of modern Mongolia, to fully submit to Mongol rule. The Caliph al-Musta’sim refused to do so. The final showdown between the Mongols and the Abbasids was set. With the Mongol horde marching on Baghdad, a clash was inevitable, although this wouldn’t be the first encounter between the Abbasids and the Mongols.
In the recent past, the Abbasids had managed a couple of small-scale military victories against Mongol forces; however, these were soon overturned and weren’t part of any trend of a militarily resurgent Abbasid Empire. Their days of martial glory were long gone. Adding fuel to the fire, al-Musta’sim is said to have slighted Shia Muslims by various acts and decrees. He should have known better, as his grand vizier, or senior advisor, was himself a Shia Muslim. This vizier is said to have sided with the Mongols, encouraging their takeover of the city, perhaps imagining that he’d be given control of Baghdad by a grateful Hulagu. If this is what he thought, he didn’t know anything about Hulagu.
A Difficult Decision for the Caliph to Surrender to the Mongols
The caliph was faced with a choice between surrendering to the Mongol leader and presumably saving his city, or building up his army, and riding out to meet the invading warriors in combat. It likely never crossed the caliph’s mind that he should probably surrender rather than send threats to Hulagu. Al-Musta’sim discovered a third option: Doing nothing.
Baghdad was surrounded, and al-Musta’sim realized too late that the Mongol army was far larger and stronger than he’d been told. The rest of the Muslim world wasn’t about to rush to his rescue either. The siege of Baghdad began on January 29, 1258. The Mongols quickly built a palisade and ditch and brought siege engines, such as covered battering rams that protected their men from the defenders’ arrows and other missiles, and catapults to attack the city’s walls. At this stage, al-Musta’sim made a last-ditch attempt to negotiate with Hulagu and was rebuffed. Al-Musta’sim surrendered Baghdad to Hulagu five days later, on February 10. Adding to the distress of those inside the city, Hulagu and his horde didn’t make any attempt to enter the city for three days.
A Glimmer of Compassion for Baghdad Christians
Late in life, Hulagu became a Buddhist. At this moment, however, the only sign of compassion he showed was towards Baghdad’s Nestorian Christian community. Nestorianism was a form of Christianity that church authorities had declared heretical in the 5th century. It stressed that the divine and human aspects of Jesus’s nature were separate. Many Nestorians had moved to Persia, where they’d lived ever since. Hulagu, upon entering Baghdad, told the Nestorians to lock themselves in their church and ordered his men not to touch them. What was the reason for this act of kindness before the bloodbath that was to follow? Simply that Hulagu’s mother and his favorite wife were both Nestorian Christians.
Mongols Execute Baghdad Notables
About 3,000 of Baghdad’s notables—including officials, members of the Abbasid family, and the caliph himself—pleaded for clemency. But all 3,000 were put to death without compunction…
With the Nestorians secure, Hulagu allowed his army an unfettered week of rape, pillage, and murder to celebrate their victory. About 3,000 of Baghdad’s notables—including officials, members of the Abbasid family, and the caliph himself—pleaded for clemency. But all 3,000 were put to death without compunction; all, that is, except for the caliph. He was held prisoner for a little while longer, perhaps in part so that he could see the full extent of what befell his capital.
Estimates of the death toll range from 90,000 at the lowest end to one million at the other. Apart from being a conveniently round number, the population of Baghdad was around a million, and the historical record tells us not everyone was killed. Whatever the actual number, it included the army that had dared resist Hulagu’s advance, and the civilians, who had no choice either way. Men, women, and children down to babes in arms were put to the sword or clubbed to death. Little mercy was shown unless it was of a quick rather than a lingering death.
Death of a Caliph
The Caliph al-Musta’sim was forced to watch these murders and the plundering of his treasury and palaces. Hulagu taunted him that, with so much gold and so many jewels, he’d have been better off spending some of these riches on building up a bigger army. As for how the caliph met his end, one account says he was locked in his treasury, surrounded by his wealth, and left alone to starve to death. As colorful as this account is, it doesn’t sound likely, given the widespread looting that took place, nor is it corroborated by any sources.
A more plausible account, as reported by several chroniclers, goes like this: Hulagu had been warned by his astronomers that royal blood shouldn’t be spilled onto the earth. If it were, the earth would reject it, and earthquakes and natural destruction would follow. If we consider his record, one might not think Hulagu an especially cautious man. However, in this case, he plotted the safer course. The caliph was rolled in carpets, which would catch any blood spilled, and then he was trampled to death by his cavalry. For the first time since the death of Muhammad, 636 years earlier, Islam had no Caliph whose name could be quoted in Friday prayers.
Destruction of the City of Baghdad
If you’re looking for an example of a city razed to the ground, Baghdad in 1258 would be a good choice.
Apart from the human casualties, there was the destruction of the 500-year old city itself. Fires were set so that the fragrant scent of sandalwood and other aromatics was smelled up to 30 miles away. If you’re looking for an example of a city razed to the ground, Baghdad in 1258 would be a good choice. After a week, Hulagu ordered his camp out of the city, and moved upwind, away from the stench of rotting corpses.
Hulagu left Baghdad a broken and depopulated city. Even if those left alive had wanted to rebuild, they lacked the numbers, the resources, and the skills to do so. The death and destruction were such that it would be more than a decade before anyone from Baghdad performed the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. In attacking Baghdad, Hulagu also destroyed the network of canals that irrigated the arable land thereabouts. Famine and plague followed the Mongol horde to Baghdad as elsewhere. Their scorched-earth tactics make it easy to see why they’re often tagged with a reputation as the most destructive of all the great empires.
Conclusion
All things taken into account, and the knowledge that history tends to repeat itself…
…it seems that the entire United States is Hell-bent on duplicating the fall of the “Golden Age of Islam” and the destruction of Baghdad.
Which is a bitter-sweet thing. After all, there are many great people in the United States, and it is a beautiful land, with some wonderful cities, some great food, and basically decent culture. Taken a a whole.
But…
On the other hand…
Can you imagine what happens if the United States does NOT correct it’s posture. That it does not correct it’s desire to rule over the world. That it does not change it’s social structure, it’s ownership by corporations, and it’s basic inequalities. What if it implements “The Long Telegram” and it is successful in doing so; where the entire world becomes like Detroit or Baltimore and ruled by a 0.001% of psychopathic individuals under a global plutocracy?? Can you just imagine it?
Burrrr!
I get shivers just thinking about it.
Ugh!
It’s time to think about something else. If any one asks. I’ll be jammin’.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
America has been conducting warfare with military forces dressed in civilian attire for decades now. These forces use military tactics, training, and utilize military support structures to accomplish their objectives. They do everything that a normal and regular military does, except that they are not easily identified as combat forces. As they operate in secret and disguise.
Most well known of these assault troops are NGO’s.
What Is an NGO?
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit group that functions independently of any government.
Meaning that it operates as a separate entity where there are no obvious direct connections between the NGO and the parent government.
NGOs, sometimes called civil societies, are organized on community, national and international levels to serve a social or political goal such as humanitarian causes or the environment.
The largest and best funded NGO’s out of the United States are dedicated to “spreading democracy”, “advocating liberty”, and “promoting American values”.
But all NGOs are different and some are met with intense criticism for lack of transparency in budgeting or effectual action. When donating money or looking for work in the NGO world, it is always important to do your research about how much of the group’s budget goes to administrative costs and how much goes directly to the cause you care about. The website Charity Navigator is a useful resource for this.Another important critique of NGOs is that all too often organizations staffed with Americans and Europeans come into developing nations with action plans that don’t fit the local context and end up adversely affecting their target populations. This, however, is not an inherent flaw of NGOs but rather a symptom of failing to acknowledge the importance of local expertise within the NGO framework.Because NGO funding commonly comes from developed nations, a particularly effective model for NGOs includes using local in-country staff to plan and implement programs on the ground while working with an international board focused on fundraising, outreach, and strategic group planning.It would be untrue to claim that NGOs are immune to political influence simply because they are not directly connected to governments; NGOs’ funding and even daily operations are subject to political approval.For example, NGOs working to bring amnesty to political refugees will often face intense political adversity, and even violence during their in-country work. But unlike government organizations, NGOs typically have more flexibility to defy a political status quo to pursue what they believe to be important social change.– Shelly Grimaldi
Key Takeaways
NGOs, is an abbreviation for Non-Governmental Organizations.
NGO’s tend play a major role in international development, aid and philanthropy.
NGOs are non-profit by definition, but may run budgets of millions or up to billions of dollars each year. They are classified this way for tax reduction strategies.
NGOs rely on a variety of funding sources. This varies from private donations and membership dues to direct government contribution and training.
Many NGO’s, especially American ones, are almost entirely funded directly by the United States government. Either directly or though proxy in a “pass through” arrangement.
About NGOs
While “NGO” has various interpretations, the term is generally accepted to include non-profit, private organizations that operate outside of government control. Some NGOs rely primarily on volunteers, while others support a paid staff. The World Bank identifies two broad groups of NGOs:
Operational NGOs, which focus on the design and implementation of development projects.
Advocacy NGOs, which defend or promote a specific cause and seek to influence public policy.
Some NGOs may fall under both categories simultaneously. Examples of NGOs include those that support human rights, advocate for improved health or encourage political participation. The ones funded though by the United States all are involved in political participation at some level or the other.
How NGOs are Funded
As non-profits, NGOs rely on a variety of sources for funding, including:
Membership dues
Private donations
The sale of goods and services
Grants
Direct government grants
Hidden government funding though “pass through” arrangements
Despite their supposed independence from governments, many NGOs rely heavily on government funding. Large NGOs may have budgets in the millions or billions of dollars.
Types of NGOs
A number of variations of the NGO acronym exist, including:
INGO: An international NGO. For example, the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe is comprised of more than 300 participating INGOs.
GONGO: This means government-organized NGO, often derogatory. Foreign Policy describes GONGOs as a government-backed NGOs set up to advocate on the behalf of a repressive regime in the international arena.
QUANGO: Chiefly a British term, often derogatory. A quango is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization that relies on public funding. Its senior officials are appointed by the government. A Financial Times opinion piece writes that quangos are seen as useless and are often staffed by quangocrats.
ENGO: An environmental NGO, for example, Greenpeace or the World Wildlife Fund. Both groups operate internationally in addition to advocating for the environment. They are often simply referred to as NGOs.
NGO’s in China
The United States government uses NGO’s as the primary method to inject military personnel inside enemy nations. This injection of assault troops and CIA associated military forces for point-of-force disruption of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet primarily come from one singular NGO’s. Which is the NED.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 1,600 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries.
https://www.ned.org
Here is a very interesting work. It’s a complete book, reproduced here in in PDF format. It is titled “SOF Civil Affairs in Great Power Competition” and comes from the United States military; specifically the “Joint Special Operations University and the Department of Strategic Studies”.
The work describes how the United States uses military personnel to control civilian populations for military objectives. It discusses NGO’s and how to foment revolutions and turmoil, as well as how to control unruly populations such as within America.
It discusses among other things…
How the United States military is engaged in harming and causing turmoil within China. All without wearing military uniforms, or firing guns and automatic weapons.
Journalist, NGO, or CIA operative?
As well as the very interesting segment(s) on…
How the United States military is engaged in controlling the American population to prevent uprisings, armed resurrection and “torches and pitchfork” moments.
It’s an interesting read, though many of us within MM know about much of the techniques used. We watched them in “real time” as all of Hong Kong is on video camera, wired and recorded.
It is useful to keep in mind that these techniques are being employed inside of America against Americans today. Which pretty much explains the idea why the sheeple haven’t risen up against the oligarchy class yet…
…yet.
Rather than reproduce the work in HTML, it is reproduced in the PDF format. Just click on the link below and download it and read at your convenience.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Things are maturing and advancing steadily on plan. And like I have repeatedly stated, the events will not be reported. Or, if they are, they will not be well reported, or reported in context. Well, here at MM you are going to get a real situation report, a “Sit Rep”. No need to panic. Just be aware.
“The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood.
Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate.
Political and economic trust will implode.
Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire.
The very survival of the nation will feel at stake.
Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.”
– Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
The Fourth Turning
I read The Fourth Turning a while ago. I was astounded in their uncannily accurate assessment of American history based upon generational configurations which recur on eighty-year cycles, a long human life.
Strauss and Howe wrote the book in 1997 and used their generational theory to predict the Crisis that would begin in the mid-2000’s and come to an indeterminate climax in the mid-2020’s.
Strauss & Howe identified the core elements of this Crisis as debt, civic decay, and global disorder. No one can argue the severe distress engulfing the nation and the world traces its origins to these core elements, with the catalyst for this Crisis being the 2008 central banker manufactured financial collapse.
Nothing has been normal since 2008.
And 2008’s epic implosion was driven by the disastrous financial, political and military decisions implemented by the puppets of the Deep State from 2000 onward, with the Federal Reserve obligingly creating bubble after bubble as the “solution” to the previous bubble.
And now we are here again, in the midst of the greatest bubble in the history of mankind.
A bubble of willful ignorance.
The obliviousness of most Americans to the danger awaiting them is akin to the day before Fort Sumpter was bombed…
… the day before Pearl Harbor was attacked…
… or the dinosaurs unaware of a giant meteor rushing towards the planet and about to transform their future in a challenging way.
Real hardship has beset the land.
With the notable exception of the 0.1% who rule…
…or Deep State lackeys and toadies who are being rewarded for propagating mistruths, outright lies, fear, and propaganda on behalf of their oligarch benefactors.
These apparatchiks mainly consist of corrupt politicians, central bank lackeys, mainstream media hacks, neocon warmongers, surveillance state traitors, and big pharma captured health “experts”.
All of whom are driving the world towards the “great reset”.
The severe distress does involve class, race, nation and empire, but most of the distress has been artificially created by those pulling the strings – Bernays’ invisible government manipulating the masses.
The four years of the Trump administration set the stage for the rumblings that we hear today.
All over the world, the death shudders of a dying empire can be heard.
It advances towards us, like that of a deadly avalanche crashing down a mountainside towards an unsuspecting village below.
America is in deep trouble
Harvard professor Laurence Kotlikoff has been a lone voice telling the truth about the true level of unfunded promises hidden in the CBO numbers.
The unfunded social welfare liabilities in excess of $200 trillion for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are nothing but a massive future tax increase on younger and unborn generations. Kotlikoff explains what would be required to pay these obligations:
“To honor these obligations we could (a) raise all federal taxes, immediately and permanently, by 57%, (b) cut all federal spending, apart from interest on the debt, by 37%, immediately and permanently, or (c) do some combination of (a) and (b).”
Zero spending on health and social services?
Zero spending on the military?
It’s simply not going to happen.
The level of taxation and/or Federal Reserve created inflation necessary to honor these politician promises is too large to be considered feasible.
Therefore, these promises, made to get corrupt political hacks elected to public office, will be defaulted upon.
It’s all not going to happen.
Every legitimate valuation method used to assess stock market valuations for the last 100 years confirm the stock market being at least 100% overvalued.
There could not be a worse time for margin debt to also reach all-time highs.
The previous peaks in 2000 and 2007 preceded 50% collapses in stocks.
Consumer credit outstanding, despite the false media story-line of austerity, stands at $14.27 trillion in Q2 of 2020.1. I don’t know what it is today, one year later and after three “stimulus packages”, but it’s just got to be awful.
Feb 05, 2021 · Average consumer debt per capita is approximately $12,596 (total consumer debt as of September 2020/total US population as of September 30, 2020).
-2021 ConsumerDebtStatistics | LexingtonLaw
Indeed, it’s at an all-time high, as the Federal government took monopoly control of the student loan market in 2009.
(And proceeded to issue $600 billion of subprime loans to University of Phoenix wannabe graduates seeking degrees in Gender Studies.)
The Feds also used their five year control of Ally Financial (after their taxpayer bailout) to rejuvenate the subprime auto loan market…
…by doling out $35,000 seven year car loans to unemployed SNAP recipients.
After all everyone deserves to drive a brand new Cadillac Escalade.
The $250 billion increase in auto loan debt since 2009 has “created” the auto recovery. Loan delinquencies approaching 2009 levels will surely not cause a problem.
Right?
The level of local and state pension and healthcare unfunded liabilities to government workers exceeds $4 trillion.
State and local politicians would have to double real estate, sales, and income taxes in order to fund the gold plated benefits for state and local workers.
As government workers in Stockton, San Bernardino, Jefferson County and Detroit have experienced, these promises will be not be honored.
(Sigh.)
It’s all going down the drain
If you don’t feel the very survival of the nation hangs in the balance, then you are either delusional, willfully ignorant, or unwilling to recognize your own cognitive dissonance.
The next five to ten years will alter the course of history in a profound way.
Whether or not the outcome will be positive for average American citizens is very much in doubt.
At all levels, domestic and international, America is flailing about and it’s tremors, spasms and vomiting are noticed by all but the intentionally and willful blind.
I wish it were not so, but most human beings seem incapable of critical thought regarding how history follows a cyclical path due to human nature retaining its flaws, weaknesses, vulnerabilities and fortes throughout history.
We believe we have advanced because our inventions, discoveries, and technology, but the desire for wealth, power and control over others still consumes a sociopathic portion of mankind who tend to rise to the top through any means necessary.
As Huxley lamented in the 1950’s, technological progress has actually propelled mankind backwards in terms of its humanity and relationship with nature and other human beings.
The very technology we glorify as an example of our advancement is now being used by the totalitarians to imprison us Americans.
We're just victims of the telephone.
-Tin Lead Hat lyrics
And if that’s not bad enough…
…they demand the rest of the world to accept the chains and shackles that they have enslaved Americans with.
Accept or die!
This is unacceptable to the rest of the world
A "rule based" agreement is one that no longer follows the UN, and recognizes independence of nations with inherent sovereignty. No. Instead it demands that the United States is the leader of the world and that all other regions must bow to it in subservience.
It has happened slowly and methodically over decades as generation after generation have entered the government indoctrination centers (public schools) to be taught ignorance and obedience to the state.
This indoctrination has been reinforced by ceaseless propaganda injected into their brains by media conglomerates doing the bidding of the state.
The dystopian use of disinformation, false narratives, blatant lies and propaganda by the totalitarians constituting the Deep State, has aggravated the crisis situation that America finds itself in today.
An honest truth-seeking press with unbiased journalists would have uncovered this conspiracy and revealed the truthful facts to a concerned public.
Instead, a completely captured corporate media has turned a blind eye to the truth as they have acted as accomplices of the coup culprits.
Just as evil is the suppression of truth through censorship and keeping silent regarding the truth.
Huxley understood how totalitarian propagandists operated decades before the current batch of Silicon Valley authoritarians initiated their national truth repression scheme.
I’m amazed by the extreme level of ignorance exhibited by a vast swath of our population, as they glory in believing comforting mistruths which confirm their preordained belief structure.
They don’t know because they don’t want to know.
They are intoxicated by the endless stream of idiocy emanating from their iGadgets, as they willfully choose [1] ignorance over awareness, [2] servitude over freedom, and [3] captivity over liberty.
As Huxley predicted, the controlling oligarchy has used technology to convince people to love their servitude.
Meanwhile, the sheeple unthinkingly believe what they are told by their government and media mouthpieces.
5G causes cancer.
China is evil.
GMO’s are good.
The SPA killer was not a racist.
Trump is going to build a wall.
Hillary is going to jail.
Jeff Sessions is playing 54D chess.
Elections are not rigged.
Taxes are good for the economy.
Peeing in a cup to get a job is modern and useful.
Everyone must pay taxes, and American taxes are the lowest in the world.
Meanwhile, the sheeple blind to their manipulation , go on doing the bidding of the government and oligarchs who control the government.
The goal of the ruling class is to keep people from thinking,.
And therefore most Americans willingly oblige because thinking is hard and the uncomfortable truths are too much to bear for the satiated masses.
But there is a minority who want the truth and are willing and able to deal with the consequences. They realize facts don’t cease to exist because we ignore them. Facts don’t care about your beliefs or feelings.
Facts lead you to the truth.
And the immense coverup of facts boggles the mind of every critical thinking person on the planet.
So let’s look at the “facts” and the truths regarding the Fourth Turning.
“The Grey Champion”
Based on the Fourth Turning generational theory, there is no doubt Donald Trump was the prophet-generation Grey-Champion.
The term Grey Champion does not mean they are a great, noble, humane person. Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were not nice guys. They did whatever they thought necessary to achieve their means during our previous three Fourth Turnings. Millions of Americans hated Lincoln and Roosevelt, just as tens of millions hate Trump.
The Grey Champion’s appearance marks the arrival of a moment of “darkness, and adversity, and peril,” as the violent turmoil climax of the Fourth Turning approaches.
Trump and Pence are from the Prophet (Boomer) Generation, while Biden is from the Silent Generation and Harris is Generation X.
Trump is the lightning rod for a clash that must take place to sweep away the existing corrupted social order and replace it with something new.
And he was swept away…
Every four years we hear the same pablum about this being the most important election of our lifetime. It didn’t matter who won the election, the Deep State, Military Industrial Complex, Wall Street controlled Federal Reserve, Big Business, Big Pharma, Big Media, Silicon Valley Titans, and Billionaires like Soros, Bloomberg and Gates are still running the show.
One man has extraordinarily little chance of confronting these wealthy power-hungry sociopaths and winning.
And thus we see Biden and his cronies follow Trump and his cronies road-map for America.
Sorry to say.
The PTB has successfully convinced a willfully ignorant populace to love their servitude and acquiesce to allowing them unfettered control over their lives.
However, the tyrannical lockdowns, martial law like mandates from bureaucrats, compulsory masking as a requirement to be accepted in society, and the dehumanizing of our daily lives has created a Resistance, peaceful thus far, who are enraged by what is happening.
Domestic turmoil and dangerous International actions
If you read the Alt-Right or the Alt-Left there is little mention about the international chaos that America has created. It’s mostly a regurgitation of the anti-China, or anti-Russia, or anti-Iran narratives.
It’s not a balanced and accurate appraisal of the shit-storm that America has created.
Here’s a typical example from an Alt-Right website. Obviously the author has never visited China. Because his statements are simple regurgitation of the PTB narratives about China and so outlandish that real Chinese expats do more than shake our heads in disbelief, we actually laugh at him!
Check out this nonsense…
China, which has been the driving world economic force for the last decade, is in a precarious position.
They have been the slave labor manufacturer to the world as the worldwide debt fueled consumption orgy reached its 2008 climax.
Their level of Keynesian mal-investment since 2008 makes Obama, Bernanke, and Yellen look like pikers.
The level of corruption, deception, wealth inequality, pollution, censorship and phony economic data has been done on a majestic scale.
It is now unraveling in a slow motion crash as the global recession has crushed their industrial output and is rapidly deflating their real estate bubble. The 52 million unoccupied housing units in China may not turn out to be great investments after all.
The absurdity of Chinese economic reports makes the BLS look highly accurate and upstanding.
Their reported GDP of 7.4% was their slowest in 24 years, but the real figure is closer to 4%.
The proof of the dramatic slowing in Chinese growth is the collapse in oil prices, copper prices, iron ore prices, and the Baltic Dry Index.
The index measures world trade and has crashed to its lowest level ever. The potential for social unrest when their mal-investment debt bubbles implode will be great.
-Conspiracy Analysist
Like I said, it’s a regurgitation of the American PTB narrative.
And all FALSE.
And all LIES.
And sheeple believe it, because it makes their pathetic lives seem better.
They aren’t.
And you know Americans believe this, and since they believe everything the PTB tells them to believe, they will also go along with this John Bolton statement…
“A by-no-means-comprehensive list of Beijing’s transgressions that require U.S. attention would include: meddling, blatant and subtle, with U.S. public opinion;
Sure…
We can just tell how successful that interference has been right? How many Americans believe that China is doing better than the United States, eh?
Or check out this line that sheeple can repeat in their sleep…
"...and genocide against Uyghurs"
Gosh, the Chinese must be so fucking incompetent. After all the Uyghur population has grown by a factor of ten times plus over the last few years. Pretty hard to have a genocide where the population increases…
All the Chinese just can’t do anything right!
</sarcasm>
Just sheeple repeating what they have read. Not what they have experienced first hand. Just what they have read about fourth-hand.
Remember boys and girls, the definition of what a sheeple is.
Sheeple is a person who is very emotional about something they read about, not by something that they have personally experienced first-hand, up front, and personal.
Yuppur. Any day now… China is going to collapse. It’s just like the USA only far, far worse…
Sure….
I read all about it on FOX, Rush Limbaugh, the NYPost, CNN, and Alex Jones. So it must be the truth!
Look at China crumble before our very eyes!
Just Look!
According to the American media, China is going to collapse any day now. Communism will show it’s ugly face, and the Chinese people will rise up and yearn for “democracy” and the superior “American way of life!”. Do not hold your breath.
Sure…
It’s falling apart. People are starving, and they are rising up demanding “democracy” and Pepe the frog! And singing the Star Bangled Banner and American flags. They so desperately yearn for the American way of life!
Look at them!
According to the American media, China is going to collapse any day now. Communism will show it’s ugly face, and the Chinese people will rise up and yearn for “democracy” and the superior “American way of life!”. Do not hold your breath.
Sure…
Look at all those impoverished and miserable people!
According to the American media, China is going to collapse any day now. Communism will show it’s ugly face, and the Chinese people will rise up and yearn for “democracy” and the superior “American way of life!”. Do not hold your breath.
Sure…
China is terribly polluted, dirty, grimy, full of disease and germs. Terrible, terrible germs! Only a moron would want to live in that shit-hole!
According to the American media, China is going to collapse any day now. Communism will show it’s ugly face, and the Chinese people will rise up and yearn for “democracy” and the superior “American way of life!”. Do not hold your breath.
Sure…
America needs to put some “boots on the ground” and liberate the poor misguided and brainwashed Chinese. The government must be destroyed because after all, America loves the Chinese, it’s the government that it hates!
Right?
According to the American media, China is going to collapse any day now. Communism will show it’s ugly face, and the Chinese people will rise up and yearn for “democracy” and the superior “American way of life!”. Do not hold your breath.
Sure…
</sarcasm>
Ugh!
This is true in what ever form that the PTB controlled government is pushing at the moment. Whether it is COVID, or 5G, or Huawei, or Tiktok, it’s all a echo of what the government wants the sheeple to repeat.
And the sheeple does repeat it, with the worst offenders being those who read the alt-right outlets.
But it doesn’t really matter.
What we do know is Fourth Turnings always accelerate and intensify towards a bloody finale, with clear winners and losers.
There will be clear winners.
There will be clear losers.
Unconditional surrender will be demanded by those maintaining the upper hand. As was clearly articulated in the March 2021 Alaska meeting between the USA and China.
Whether this coming conflict remains domestic or spreads internationally, the “advancements” in the technology of destruction will endanger every human being on the planet.
You cannot escape the impact of Fourth Turnings, only survive and/or do your part in helping achieve a positive outcome.
There is no predetermined ending.
“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule.
If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war.
Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.”
– Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
When pondering the possible outcomes of this Fourth Turning, we tend to be drawn towards the negative, because a positive outcome seems so unlikely given the current animosity roiling the country.
If you step back and realize all the hate and conflict is being engineered and coordinated by a ruling class of powerful rich men, then average Americans could organize a new paradigm that honors the original intent of the U.S. Constitution, allowing citizens the liberty and freedom to create voluntary associations based upon common interests at a local level.
The ruling oligarchs find this unacceptable, so this freedom must be wrested away from them by any means necessary.
There is a civil war already underway, but only one side is fighting…
… the billionaire class who not only don’t want to relinquish some power, but want total control over every aspect of our lives. It appears that this action will turn this one-sided silent war into a hot war on both the domestic and international fronts.
The Enemy.
Everyone is fighting
The American Empire is clearly in rapid decline and may not survive the trials and tribulations over the coming decade.
The Fourth Turning is not a prophecy, but should be taken as a warning and call to action. Sitting this out and hoping for the best will not help achieve a positive outcome.
Tragedy or triumph – the choices we make will matter.
The climax of this Fourth Turning may be a few years off, but the battle for the soul of America has already engaged.
“History offers no guarantees.
Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship.
We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin.
Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse.
It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.”
– Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
Internationally speaking…
We have yet to see how long it will be before the Biden administration realizes its few victories will be unaffordably Pyrrhic.
Indeed, as simple as merely not responding to American provocation the Chinese/Russian partnership will emerge as the victors.
America is truly fucked.
Halford Mackinder’s century-old vision of a Eurasian superstate, based between the Volga and the Yangtse, is becoming reality.
Deal with it.
Embrace it.
Commentators usually fail to understand why; it is not due to military superiority, but down to simple economics.
While the US economy suffers a post-lockdown inflationary outcome and an existential crisis for the dollar, China’s economy will boom on the back of increasing domestic consumption.
This is an official Chinese government objective.
Meanwhile it is increasing exports, the consequence of America’s stimulation of consumer demand and a soaring budget deficit.
For America, it’s a lose – lose.
The Chinese-Russian partnership already dominates or controls Mackinder’s World Island, defined as Eurasia and all Africa.
South-east Asian nations notionally in the US’s sphere of influence are firmly tied to the partnership’s economy.
And the overland and sea silk roads similarly bind the EU and the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans’ states respectively.
Combined, it amounts to over half the world’s population no longer sharing the economic and currency interests of 328 million Americans.
Imagine that!
We are now equipped to ask an important question: the US status quo, with its dollar hegemony is seen by the new Biden administration as an unchallengeable right, and its position as the world’s hegemon is vital for… .
…what?
What it is “vital” for?
The benefit of the world, or the benefit of the US at the world’s expense?
Hum?
To answer this, we must consider it from the point of view of the US military and intelligence complex.
The problem facing us is that the Pentagon became fully institutionalised in managing America’s external security following the second world war.
When the Soviets extended their sphere of influence into the three great undeveloped continents, Asia, Africa and South America, there was a case for defending capitalism and freedom — or at least freedom in an American sense by keeping minor nations on side.
This was done by fair means and often foul for expediency’s sake.
But the fall of the Berlin Wall and the death of Mao Zedong made the American military and intelligence functions largely superfluous, other than matters more directly related to national defense.
But it is in the nature of government departments and their private sector contractors to do everything in their power to retain both influence and budgets, and the argument that new threats will arise is always hard for politicians to resist….
…especially for a military empire.
And what do the statists in a government department do when they have secured their survival?
Their retention of power without real purpose descends into alternative military objectives. And from the first Bush president, they were all firmly on-message.
As we see today with the American military empire.
President Trump was the first president for some time not to start military engagements abroad. His attempts to wind down foreign operations were strongly resisted by defense and intelligence services.
And his efforts to obtain a détente with North Korea were met with disdain — even horror at Langley.
But war-monger he did.
And he left a legacy of the most comprehensive non-hot-war attacks in history.
From the hybrid-wars, to carpet bombing livestock to produce famines inside of China, he was relentless.
And while no one WANTS to talk about the sorry truth, COVID-19 is an American bio-weapons attack upon China.
No.
Not the “inoculation strain” COVID-19A that all the “news” is hyping about. But the strain that was unleashed on China, Iran, North Korea and Russia; the lethal strain, the COVID-19B.
Whatever the truth in these matters, it is highly unlikely that the power conferred by the ability to initiate unchallengeable cover-ups, information management, subversion of foreign states and secret intelligence operations is not abused.
They are.
That’s a fact jack.
And we can see this through the proliferation and traction of “conspiracy theories”. Now, mostly and falsely attributed in their origin to Russian cyber-attacks and disinformation.
It’s all a consequence of one’s own government continually bending the truth to the point where large sections of the population begin to believe it is its own government’s propaganda.
We call them “sheeple.”
And no one is immune. Event the most vehement Alt-Right or alt-left media, who believes that they are independent thinkers, regurgitate the narratives pumped out for them to consume.
This brings us to the change in administration.
As a senator, Biden had interests in foreign affairs dating back to the late 1970s and was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1997 and subsequently became its chairman.
As such a long-standing politician in this field it is almost certain that the Pentagon establishment regards Biden as a safe pair of hands; in other words, a president who is likely to support Langley’s role in setting geopolitical and defence priorities.
Surely, for them this is a welcome change from the off-message President Trump.
Policies to contain the Russian threat
Despite the Navalny affair, Putin is still unchallengeable as Russian leader, having emerged from the post-Soviet turmoil where chaos and organized crime were the order of the day.
No western leader has had such a tough political background and Putin is a survivor, a strongman firmly in control.
Vladimir Putin
This matters for America and NATO with respect to policies in Ukraine, the Caucasus, Syria, Iran and Turkey.
Any attempt by America to complete unfinished business in Ukraine (a triparty scrap involving Russia, Germany/EU and the US over the Nord Stream pipelines depriving Ukraine of transition revenues is already brewing) is likely to lead to confrontations with Russia on the ground.
And Russia signed a military cooperation pact with Iran in 2015.
Like a cat with a mouse, Putin is playing with Turkey, interested in laying pipelines to southern Europe, and getting it to drift out of NATO. Russia’s interest in Syria is to keep it out of America’s sphere of influence, which with Turkey’s help it has managed to do.
For some time, military analysts have been telling us that we are now in a cyber war with Russia, accusing it of interfering in elections and promoting conspiracy theories …
… with the US presidential election last November being the most recent assertion.
As with all these allegations there is no proof offered, just statements from government sources which have a track record of being economical with the truth.
Erp. They lie.
Whatever the truth may be, cyber wars are closely intertwined with propaganda.
Attacks on Russia since the millennium have been by disrupting dollar payments, and less importantly, by sanctioning individuals close to Putin.
The monetary threat was originally justified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, leading to the collapse of the rouble and a hike in interest rates.
The new cold war had taken a financial turn. Russia’s response was to reduce the economy’s dependence on dollars as much as possible, with the central bank selling dollar reserves and adding gold in their place.
It also set up a new payments system to reduce its dependence on the SWIFT interbank payments system.
Russia has survived all financial attacks and is now better insulated against them for the future.
One-zero for the Russians.
But the cost has been hidden, with western investment restricted to being mainly from the EU (particularly directed at the oil and gas industries).
For these and other reasons being pushed by the United States, Russia has turned to China as both a partner and an economic protector. In return, Russia is resource-rich, an energy provider, and therefore of great value to China.
Not to mention militarily, as the demands made by the United States in Alaska clearly pointed to.
The Russian and Chinese geopolitical partnership
One of the first persons to identify the geopolitical importance of Russia’s resources was Halford Mackinder in a paper for the Royal Geographical Society in 1904. He later developed it into his Heartland theory.
Mackinder argued that control of the Heartland, which stretched from the Volga to the Yangtze, would control the “World-Island”, which was his term for all Europe, Asia and Africa. Over a century later, Mackinder’s theory resonates with the two leading nations behind the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and theRepublic of Uzbekistan.
-About SCO | SCO
The underlying point is that North and South America, Britain, Japan and Australasia in the final analysis are peripheral and less important than Mackinder’s World-Island.
And he was correct.
There was a time when British and then American primacy outweighed its importance, but this may no longer be true.
If Mackinder’s vision is valid about the overriding importance of undeveloped resources, Russia is positioned to become with China the most powerful national partnership on earth.
It has happened.
And the BRI is facilitating this.
Which is why there is such a stink about the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Which is the gateway to the Belt and Road Initiative.
The SCO is the greatest challenge yet mounted to American economic power and technological supremacy.
And Russia and China are clearly determined to ditch the dollar. We don’t yet know what will replace it – officially. Though, the e-yuan has been implemented throughout China, and is taking over Asia as we speak.
However, the fact that the Russian central bank and nearly all the other central banks and governments in the SCO have been increasing their gold reserves for some time could be an important clue as to how the representatives of three billion Euro-Asians — almost half the world’s population — see the future of trans-Asian money.
In terms of GDP per capita the United States is a long way ahead of the field.
But…
GDP is an artificial measure of national wealth. When there becomes a stratification of society, and the riches 0.001% of the population have a stratospheric control of the finances, they skew the measurement beyond useful utility.
As well as the United States is also the most indebted at the national level.
The difference with the SCO is at the purchasing power parity level, making market prices of secondary importance.
While prices regionally vary considerably the costs of goods in the SCO are as an average considerably less than in the US and EU, so that on a PPP basis the SCO’s GDP is significantly greater than that of the US or the EU.
The inclusion of the EU is a post-Brexit nod to the fact that the EU can no longer be automatically regarded as being within the US sphere of influence.And certainly the United States leadership does not like this one bit.
The commercial ties to the SCO, with both energy reliance from Russia and silk road (BRI) rail terminals in various EU states are clearly the trade future for the EU.
The EU is advanced in its plans to bring national forces under its combined flag, which by giving them an EU identity can only loosen NATO ties with America.
While not an active threat to America’s power, one can envisage the EU sitting on the fence in an intensifying cold war.
The SCO started life in 2001 as a security partnership between Russia and China, incorporating the ‘stans to the east of the Caspian Sea. Born out an earlier organization, the Shanghai Five Group, it was set up to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.
It is still a platform for joint military exercises, but none have taken place since 2007 and it has morphed into a loose economic partnership instead.
Since the founding Shanghai Five, the SCO now includes India and Pakistan.
Observer status includes Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. These nations can attend SCO conferences, but their participation is very limited.
Dialogue partners include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. These nations can participate actively in SCO conferences, and this status is seen as a preliminary to full membership.
Egypt and Syria have applied for observer status and Israel, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have applied to be dialog partners.
Apart from South East Asian nations, which are dominated by a Chinese diaspora anyway, SCO members and their influence covers almost all of Halford Mackinder’s World Island, with the exception of the European Union.
This is the reality that faces American hegemony; there are twenty-one nations across Asia in a non-American alliance, or on the cusp of joining it.
All the other European and Asian nations are within the SCO’s sphere of influence through trade, even if not politically affiliated.
It is getting more difficult to define the nations definitely in the US pocket, other than its five-eyes partners (Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand). This simple fact places severe limitations on US action against China, and to a lesser extent Russia.
…
Bet you didn’t know that.
It is an exaggeration to suggest that an attack on one member state is an attack on them all. Their cooperation is fundamentally economic rather than military; except…
… as stated above, the SCO’s original function remains to eliminate terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Indeed, India and Pakistan are at loggerheads over Kashmir, and China and India have border disputes in the Himalayas.
But attempts, by, say, the US to prize India away from the SCO is bound to generate wider issues, and perhaps a response, from the other members.
Who do you go with?
Other Nations around the world have a choice.
Broadly, it is to go with America, to go with China/Russia, or sit on the fence.
We have already concluded that the EU’s economic interests in the wake of Brexit are turning it into being a fence-sitter instead of continuing to be in the US sphere of influence. American cannot count on the WU to join in any partnership that opposes the unified Russian-Chinese-Iranian nexus.
Other nations all seem to have a seemingly insatiable demand for commodities and energy and infrastructure building. America is unable to provide this. Which means that local politicians have been bought through local prosperity and will stay bought. But if America offers more money in bales like in the past, these nations’ politicians will undoubtedly take it. As they have always done in the past.
But that is unlikely to lead to their political allegiance changing from being with China.
This form of American diplomacy was at its height in the fifties and sixties, and the US was able to outgun the Soviets and Chinese in providing “aid”, much of which was trousered by politicians.
This was particularly true of the oil money recycled by American banks into loans to South American governments in the late seventies.
The Chinese are not so careless with money: when they build a bridge on a Caribbean island, they are firmly hands-on providing money, management and some of the labor and local politicians are only rewarded with electoral kudos.
There are, therefore, fundamental differences between attempts to keep a country within a particular sphere of influence sixty years ago and today.
And there can be no doubt that the Chinese are winning the game.
America has no skills, no resources, and no abilities any longer. All America has are buckets of paper money that is rapidly losing value, and an enormous military war machine. It’s guns and money. Guns and money. Guns and money.
Guns and money.
Overland, across the China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the silk roads and associated projects are having a substantial impact on emerging nations in a way not seen before.
China has advanced Mackinder’s World Island concept by embracing most of Africa into its sphere of influence.
As well as the SCO’s control over Asia from Vladivostok to the Mediterranean, as the largest oil consumer China’s influence over the Middle East — which supplies little or no oil to the US — binds nations in that region into the SCO.
The contrast with America’s foreign policy under Trump could not have been greater.
America became autarkic, determined to repatriate production from abroad.
AutarkyAutarky is the characteristic of self-sufficiency, usually applied to societies, communities, states and their economic systems.
Autarky as an ideal or method has been embraced by a wide range of political ideologies and movements, especially left-wing ideologies like African socialism, mutualism, war communism, council communism, Communalism, Swadeshi, syndicalism and leftist populism, generally in an effort to build alternative economic structures or to control resources against structures a particular movement views as hostile.
Conservative, centrist and nationalist movements have also adopted autarky in an attempt to preserve part of an existing social order or to develop a particular industry.
Some fascist and far-right movements occasionally espoused autarky as a goal.-Wikipedia
It lacked a strategy to counter China’s rapidly growing spheres of influence.
Even the EU integrated major elements of its economy with China and Russia, and now that the US’s only five-eyes representative in the EU has left it, we can expect this integration to increase more rapidly.
Instead, Trump concentrated on attacking China, its technology and Hong Kong.
China faced tariffs, prompting her to respond partly in kind.
Meng Wanzhou, finance officer for Huawei, was detained in Vancouver on a US extradition request, on the pretext of payments involving Iran.
Her arrest was the start of a US campaign to exclude Huawei from G5 mobile contracts in the west, pressure that eventually led the UK to downgrade Huawei’s contracts.
It ended up uniting the five-eyes security partnership against China’s technology on a reds-under-the-bed argument: “Chinese technology embedded in western communications systems gives them the ability to spy on us.”
The UK’s GCHQ changed its position from there being no evidence of embedded spyware in Huawei equipment to it being vulnerable to being used for spying by the Chinese government.
Hong Kong
The build-up of riots against Hong Kong’s proposed extradition treaty with the Mainland started in 2019, supported and driven by anti-Chinese propaganda.
America finally emerged as China’s adversary, no longer just a trading partner worried by the trade imbalances.
And Hong Kong was the pressure point.
This had happened before, in 2014.
The Chinese leadership was certain the riots in Hong Kong at that time reflected the work of American intelligence agencies.
The following is an extract translated from a speech by Major-General Qiao Liang, a leading strategist for the Peoples’ Liberation Army, addressing the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee in 2015:
“Since the Diaoyu Islands conflict and the Huang-yan Island conflict, incidents have kept popping up around China, including the confrontation over China’s 981 oil rigs with Vietnam and Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” event.
"Can they still be viewed as simply accidental?“I accompanied General Liu Yazhou, the Political Commissar of the National Defence University, to visit Hong Kong in May 2014. At that time, we heard that the “Occupy Central” movement was being planned and could take place by end of the month. However, it didn’t happen in May, June, July, or August.“What happened? What were they waiting for?“Let’s look at another timetable: the U.S. Federal Reserve’s exit from the Quantitative Easing (QE) policy. The U.S. said it would stop QE at the beginning of 2014. But it stayed with the QE policy in April, May, June, July, and August. As long as it was in QE, it kept overprinting dollars, and the dollar‘s price couldn’t go up. Thus, Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” should not happen either.“At the end of September, the Federal Reserve announced the U.S. would exit from QE. The dollar started going up. Then Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” broke out in early October.“Actually, the Diaoyu Islands, Huang-yan Island, the 981 rigs, and Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” movement were all bombs. The successful explosion of any one of them would lead to a regional crisis or a worsened investment environment around China. That would force the withdrawal of a large amount of investment from this region, which would then return to the U.S.”
That America organized discontent anew in Hong Kong is still China’s view today.
It’s hard to dispute, as all of Hong Kong is wired with 5G and video. And the videos of American diplomats, and UK NGOS’ training the rioters, and supervising the destruction, and making agreements with the key leaders have been well publicized throughout Asia.
Not in America.
Of course.
Clearly, the Chinese believe America covertly managed “Occupy Central” and therefore were at it again.
Apart from what their spies told them, the protests were too well organized and planned to be spontaneous. This time, the attack appeared to have a better chance of success. The plan was coordinated with American pressure on Hong Kong’s dollar peg in an attempt to destabilize it, principally through the threat to extend tariffs against China to Hong Kong.
This second attempt to collapse Hong Kong was therefore more serious.
Hong Kong is critical, because it is the channel for foreign investment portfolio flows into China.
This was important to the Americans, because the US Treasury could not afford to see global portfolio flows attracted into China at a time when they were needed to invest in increasing quantities of US Treasury stock.
Understand that, and you will have grasped a large part of the urgency behind America’s attempt to destabilize Hong Kong.
Qiao Liang makes this point elsewhere in his aforementioned speech, claiming American tactics are the consequence of the ending of Bretton Woods:
“Without the restriction of gold, the US can print dollars at will.
If they keep a large amount of dollars inside the US, it will certainly create inflation.
If they export dollars to the world, the whole world is helping the US deal with its inflation.
That’s why inflation is not high in the US.”
While one can take some minor issues with his simplistic analysis, that is not the point.
What matters is what the Chinese believe.
It was after that second attempt by America to destabilize Hong Kong that the Chinese concluded they must take direct control of the region, isolate and remove the NGO’s and CIA agents involved in this effort, and secure the region to prevent any future disruptions.
China makes mistakes too
China’s strategy in dealing with America has generally been to be slow to respond, and never to provoke. This accords with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War on tactical dispositions:
“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
Generally, China’s strategy has been to refuse to be provoked.
A possible exception has been Hong Kong, where it was decided it was more important to secure the island against further attack, overriding the terms of the treaty with the UK.
But its greatest mistake was in imposing trade tariffs in a tit-for-tat response to US tariffs.
Economic factors
Before the pandemic and with America targeting Chinese exports, China’s leadership introduced policies to encourage domestic consumption.
For this to work required a drop in the savings rate.
In fact, it has been falling since 2010, when according to the World Bank it peaked at 51% of GDP, to just under 44% in 2019.
It was the difference between Chinese and American savings rates which was the driving factor behind their mutual trade imbalance.
China recognizes that it must move on from an export-driven economic model.
But while the American and other welfare-driven economies are running mounting budget deficits, China will continue to have a growing trade surplus.
While this will continue to be a problem for the Americans, without imported goods from China product shortages would simply fuel higher prices on top of unprecedented monetary expansion.
This is the reality behind the cold war for the next few years.
Unfortunately, being highly Keynesian the new Biden administration is unlikely to accept the twin deficits argument and will think that it can still call the shots on trade without cutting its own spending. But the above showed US government debt to GDP is already over $28 trillion and on Biden’s infrastructure and greening plans alone will likely rise significantly further by this fiscal year.
The combination of increasing consumer demand while exports to America boom gives China a window of economic expansion only enjoyed by its Asian neighbors.
The contrast between China’s prospects can hardly be greater than those for America.
The economics alone militate strongly against the US pursuing a geopolitical objective other than quietly backing off.
But senior US personnel are still acting as if the Chinese should kowtow to America, as evidenced in the proceedings in Alaska in March 2021.
The Chinese were robust and will have calculated their position as strong.
Sun Tzu again:
“Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him”.
What we are facing
The Biden presidency faces significant challenges in the ongoing cold war and America is unlikely to retain its hegemonic status.
During Trump’s presidency, attempts to curtail China’s trade and technological development did not succeed.
Instead it has brought China, Russia and Iran together, as well as emboldened both China and Russia to stand firm and as much as possible to do without America and its dollar.
The American senior advisors are, or should be, acutely aware of the debt and inflation traps facing the US and also the EU.
Following the Fed’s policies of accelerated monetary expansion announced last March, China increased her purchases of commodities and raw materials, in effect signalling she prefers them to dollar liquidity.
As a policy, it is likely to be extended further, given China’s existing stockpile of dollars and dollar-denominated debt.
Her dilemma is not just the fragile state of the US economy, but that of the EU which on any dispassionate analysis is a state failing economically and politically as well.
China will not want to be blamed for triggering a series of events which will get everyone reaching out for their forgotten copy of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.
F.A. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom is a true classic on political philosophy. Anyone keen on this field and in the practice of policy will be remiss to by-pass this magnum opus.Hayek is characteristically brilliant in his rendition of an Idea: he can easily walk you through the intricacies of logical and theoretical argument for a case yet combine it masterfully with practical examples in economics and history. He is balanced, impartial and frank.For classical liberals, this is a timeless jewel worthy of Locke, Acton, Tocqueville et al.Simply a masterpiece.
-Amazon
As events take their course, the risk of a dollar collapse and a matching crisis in the euro, though for different reasons, increases.
For Mackinder’s heartland theory to be proved and for the Russian and Chinese partnership to be in control of it, a mega-crisis facing the profligate money-printers must happen.
All history and a priori economic theory confirm it will happen.
The SCO’s Plan B will be a continuance of Plan A, hatched out of the Shanghai Five Group, making the World Island a self-contained unit not dependent on the peripherals — principally, the five eyes.
The Five EyesThe Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and theUnited States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
-Wikipedia
For money, China, Russia and the rest of Asia must give up western ways with unbacked state currencies.
Between them they have enough state-owned declared and undeclared gold to back the yuan, and the rouble.
Give these two currencies free convertibility into gold, and they will be accepted everywhere, so their old cold war enemies can trade their way back to prosperity.
The US has, or says it has, enough gold to put a failing dollar back on a gold standard, but for it to be credible it must [1] radically cut spending, [2] cut back its geopolitical ambitions, and [3] return its budget into balance.
All highly unlikely.
With luck, that is how the new cold war ends.
But don’t hold your breath.
America, and the rest of the nations that it is dragging along with it, are barrelling down towards a great and grand catastrophe.
Situation Report
The election of 2020 did nothing to change the leadership in Washington DC. They are just puppets for their handlers the oligarchy. While Biden is calmer and has swave, compared to Donald Trump, he is continuing all the polices that his predecessor implemented.
The election made no functional difference in anything.
You can read what ever you want in this realization, but I read it as exactly what it is. “Democracy” is dead. Voting whether actual, or corrupted, makes absolutely no difference in how the nation is run, governed or managed.
This knowledge, by itself is significant. It is one of those check boxes that you have on a sheet of paper when you get ready for a big event, gala or preparation for disaster.
I could go down the long list of alarm bells, flashing lights, elements of growing discontent all of which every single American is viewing in real time. These clamorous alarms have been banging away for decades, but their loudness has become so commonplace that most Americans just accept them as the “new reality”, and assume that things will just worsen in a gradual series of stages…
…not a big thunderous crash.
I beg to differ.
For there are things that most Americans have zero understanding of. And is the state of affairs outside the shores of the Untied States. And what passes for “American news” is anything but actual intel. Americans haven’t a clue as to what is going on “outside”.
Things are building up.
America, the large thrashing out of control elephant, is rampaging about and the rest of the world has armed themselves with tranquilizer guns, large nets, and heavy cages.
Russia, China and Iran are one solid block. They are now a close national entity. Surrounding these nations are allied nations. All working in their best interests, but will align with their large neighbors the sino-block.
Europe wants to sit on the fence, but the USA (through the five eyes) wants them to be pulled into the “us vs. them” USA against the world “rules based order”. They are not budging. Just trying to be as neutral as possible.
What is apparently happening is the isolation of the United States from the rest of the globe internationally.
USA/Canada plus the islands of UK, Australia, and NZ.
What we are watching (on the international scene) is the Asian block… the Sino-block … are holding off as long as possible in putting the thrashing elephant down. But they realize that doing so is a last resort. They do not want to do so, as there will be a backlash on the world.
America, the thrashing elephant has no idea how little it knows, is capable of, and what danger it is in. It is delusional.
…
I could get into the specific details like the strange blockage of all shipping in the Suez Canal, the Beirut explosion, the propaganda narratives, the Coronavirus, etc, etc…
These are just elements of a large game of chess that America is playing…
The timeline that they set up is still in play, though the attacks on China (that were planned) did not happen.
No starvation via bio-weapon carpet bombing of livestock.
No suppression of trade via propaganda and sanctions.
No incited revolutions in Hong Kong.
No unrest in Tibet, Xingjiang.
No “incident” in the South China Sea
None of that happened, and the attempt at war in the 2019 – 2020 time frame failed.
But we knew that that was would would happen.
Firstly, because China is not what the American (and Western media) thinks it is, and secondly because the date fro the crisis event has not yet hit.
If you can believe this; we are just building up to the event. There is still a couple of years to go yet.
The danger period is approaching; 2023 through 2026, centered around 2025.
Hold on to your britches boys and girls. Dicy times are a coming.
Taking note of “The Fourth Turning” and the Strauss and Howe generational theory of predictive behavior in America, we note that they predicted a Crisis Catalyst in 2005 and a Climax in 2020.
If the Crisis catalyst comes on schedule, around the year 2005, then the climax will be due around 2020, the resolution around 2026. What will America be like as it exits the Fourth Turning? History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong—the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Since Vietnam, many Americans suppose they know what it means to lose a war. Losing in the next Fourth Turning, however, could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence—and perhaps even our nation—might never recover. As many Americans know from their own ancestral backgrounds, history provides numerous examples of societies that have been wiped off the map, ground into submission, or beaten so badly they revert to barbarism.
Indeed, the dates are close but seem to be off by a few years.
In our case, it appears that the “Crisis catalyst” did not occur in 2005 as predicted. It occurred in 2008 with the Wall Street “too big to fail” debacle.
That is three years later.
What does Mr. Howe say?
Below is a brief essay originally published on 3/11/19 by Neil Howe discussing the typical progression of each “Turning”. It remains more relevant than ever amidst our current zeitgeist. It was written nearly a year before 2020 showed it’s ugly, ugly face.
NH: We live in a tumultuous time in American history.
The 2008 financial crisis and all its hardships, was the catalyst that tipped us into this age of uncertainty. It marked the start of a generation-long era of secular upheaval that will continue to run its course over the next decade or so. This is the generational theory I laid out in “The Fourth Turning,” a book I co-authored with William Strauss in 1997.
The Fourth Turning explains the rise of a figure like President Trump. In Trump’s Inauguration Day speech, he painted a bleak picture of “American carnage,” of “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation” with “mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities.”
Looking abroad, it’s unclear whether America will turn inward and fall prey to nativism or maintain it’s nearly seventy year role as leader of the Free World. Other countries are becoming similarly insular. Britain voted to exit the European Union and we’ve heard anti-E.U. rumblings echoed throughout Europe from France to the Netherlands.
Other nations and peoples around the world are looking to either fill the vacuum in global leadership or exploit it to advance their own ambitions. We’ve seen the thunderous rise of Chinese economic clout, the calculating geopolitical maneuvering of a resurgent Russia, and the barbarous chaos wrought by the so-called Islamic State.
In many ways, this era of uncertainty follows the natural order of things. Like Nature’s four seasons, the cycles of history follow a natural rhythm or pattern. Over the past five centuries, Anglo-American society has entered a new era – a new turning – every two decades or so.
At the start of each turning, people change how they feel about themselves, the culture, the nation, and the future. Turnings come in cycles of four. Each cycle spans the length of a long human life, roughly eighty to one hundred years, or a unit of time the ancients called the saeculum.
The First Turning is called a High.
This is an era when institutions are strong and individualism is weak. Society is confident about where it wants to go collectively, even if those outside the majoritarian center feel stifled by the conformity.
America’s most recent First Turning was the post-World War II American High, beginning in 1946 and ending with the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, a key lifecycle marker for today’s older Americans.
The Second Turningis an Awakening.
This is an era when institutions are attacked in the name of personal and spiritual autonomy. Just when society is reaching its high tide of public progress, people suddenly tire of social discipline and want to recapture a sense of personal authenticity. Young activists and spiritualists look back at the previous High as an era of cultural poverty.
America’s most recent Awakening was the “Consciousness Revolution,” which spanned from the campus and inner-city revolts of the mid 1960s to the tax revolts of the early ‘80s.
The Third Turning is an Unravelling.
The mood of this era is in many ways the opposite of a High. Institutions are weak and distrusted, while individualism is strong and flourishing. Highs follow Crises, which teach the lesson that society must coalesce and build. Unravelings follow Awakenings, which teach the lesson that society must atomize and enjoy.
America’s most recent Unraveling was the Long Boom and Culture Wars, beginning in the early 1980s and probably ending in 2008. The era opened with triumphant “Morning in America” individualism and drifted toward a pervasive distrust of institutions and leaders, an edgy popular culture, and the splitting of national consensus into competing “values” camps.
And finally we enter the Fourth Turning, which is a Crisis.
This is an era in which America’s institutional life is torn down and rebuilt from the ground up—always in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s very survival. Civic authority revives, cultural expression finds a community purpose, and people begin to locate themselves as members of a larger group.
In every instance, Fourth Turnings have eventually become new “founding moments” in America’s history, refreshing and redefining the national identity. Currently, this period began in 2008, with the Global Financial Crisis and the deepening of the War on Terror, and will extend to around 2030.
If the past is any prelude to what is to come, as we contend, consider the prior Fourth Turning which was kicked off by the stock market crash of 1929 and climaxed with World War II.
Just as a Second Turning reshapes our inner world (of values, culture and religion), a Fourth Turning reshapes our outer world (of politics, economy and empire).
To be clear, the road ahead for America will be rough. But I take comfort in the idea that history cycles back and that the past offers us a guide to what we can expect in the future. Like Nature’s four seasons, the cycles of history follow a natural rhythm or pattern.
Make no mistake. Winter is coming. How mild or harsh it will be is anyone’s guess but the basic progression is as natural as counting down the days, weeks and months until Spring.
Exerpts from the book The Fourth Turning
In 1860-1861 southern states took the Lincoln victory as a de-facto proof that the North would increasingly seek to impose its will upon the south (they were right, but losing the war actually made it happen faster and more completely).
What people generally forget is that all states had large militias that were beholden ONLY to the states, and people had much more belief and legal adherence to the individual states, than now.
Terrorist actions do not start a war, because you cannot really go to war conventionally against terrorism. What happened in the 1860's is that state governments formed a new nation in rebellion.
Personally I don't think the Left or the Right, as a whole, have the balls to do this today. But I guess we'll see. Eventually the threats become real enough that it's hard to ignore them and just hope everything goes back to normal.
-Aerindel, SoJ_51 and Observer
This is straight from the book …
“Something happened to America at that time,” recalled U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye on V-J Day in 1995, the last of the 50-year commemoratives of World War II. “I’m not wise enough to know what it was. But it was the strange, strange power that our founding fathers experienced in those early, uncertain days. Let’s call it the spirit of America, a spirit that united and galvanized our people.” Inouye went on to reflect wistfully on an era when the nation considered no obstacle too big, no challenge too great, no goal too distant, no sacrifice too deep. A half-century later, that old spirit had long since dissipated, and nobody under age 70 remembered what it felt like. When Joe Dawson reenacted his D-Day parachute drop over Normandy, he said he did it “to show our country that there was a time when our nation moved forward as one unit.”
The Eternal Return
On the earthen floors of their rounded hogans, Navajo artists sift colored sand to depict the four seasons of life and time. Their ancestors have been doing this for centuries. They draw these sand circles in a counter-clockwise progression, one quadrant at a time, with decorative icons for the challenges of each age and season. When they near the end of the fourth season, they stop the circle, leaving a small gap just to the right of its top. This signifies the moment of death and rebirth, what the Hellenics called ekpyrosis. By Navajo custom, this moment can be provided (and the circle closed) only by God, never by mortal man. All the artist can do is rub out the painting, in reverse seasonal order, after which a new circle can be begun. Thus, in the Navajo tradition, does seasonal time stage its eternal return.
Like most traditional peoples, the Navaho accept not just the circularity of life, but also its perpetuity. Each generation knows its ancestors have drawn similar circles in the sand—and each expects its heirs to keep drawing them. The Navaho ritually reenact the past while anticipating the future. Thus do they transcend time.
Modern societies too often reject circles for straight lines between starts and finishes. Believers in linear progress, we feel the need to keep moving forward. The more we endeavor to defeat nature, the more profoundly we land at the mercy of its deeper rhythms. Unlike the Navajo, we cannot withstand the temptation to try closing the circle ourselves and in the manner of our own liking. Yet we cannot avoid history’s last quadrant. We cannot avoid the Fourth Turning, nor its ekpyrosis. Whether we welcome him or not, the Gray Champion will command our duty and sacrifice at a moment of Crisis. Whether we prepare wisely or not, we will complete the Millennial Saeculum. The epoch that began with V.J.-Day will reach a natural climax—and come to an end.
An end of what?
The next Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. But this end, while possible, is not likely. Human life is not so easily extinguishable. One conceit of linear thinking is the confidence that we possess such godlike power that—at the mere push of a button—we can obliterate nature, destroy our own seed, and make ourselves the final generations of our species. Civilized (post-Neolithic) man has endured some 500 generations, prehistoric (fire-using) man perhaps 5,000 generations, Homo Erectus ten times that. For the next Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection, and bad luck. Only the worst pessimist can imagine that.
The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm—which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance—could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. The “Western Civilization” of Toynbee and the “Faustian Culture” of Spengler would come to the inexorable close their prophesiers foresaw. A new dark ages would settle in, until some new civilization could be cobbled together from the ruins. The cycle of generations would also end, replaced by an ancient cycle of tradition (and fixed social roles for each phase of life) that would not allow progress. As with an omnicide, such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.
The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. This nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, Etruria ten, the Soviet Union (perhaps) only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a threat in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most horrible war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.
Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same.
The new saeculum could find America a worse place. As Paul Kennedy has warned, it might no longer be a “great power.” Its global stature might be eclipsed by foreign rivals. Its geography might be smaller, its culture less dominant, its military less effective, its government less democratic, its Constitution less inspiring. Emerging from its millennial chrysalis, it might evoke nothing like the hope and respect of its “American Century” forbear. Abroad, people of goodwill and civilized taste might perceive this society as a newly dangerous place. Or they might see it as decayed, antiquated, an Old New World less central to human progress than we now are. All this is plausible, and possible, in the natural turning of saecular time.
Alternatively, the new saeculum could find America, and the world, a much better place. Like England in the Reformation Saeculum, the Superpower America of the Millennial Saeculum might merely be a prelude to a higher plane of civilization. Its new civic life might more nearly resemble that “shining city on a hill” to which its colonial ancestors aspired. Its ecology might be freshly repaired and newly sustainable, its economy rejuvenated, its politics functional and fair, its media elevated in tone, its culture creative and uplifting, its gender and race relations improved, its commonalities embraced and differences accepted, its institutions free of the corruptions that today seem entrenched beyond correction. People might enjoy new realms of personal, family, community, and national fulfillment. America’s borders might be redrawn around an altered but more cogent geography of public community. Its influence on world peace could be more potent, on world culture more uplifting. All this is achievable as well.
Conclusion
2020 was not the Climax; the Crisis of the Forth Turning in America. That still lies ahead of us.
I hope it never comes to this. In lieu, I can see the Balkinization of the country take place, sides would move to designated areas and set up permanent camp. There may be 2, 3 or more countries within the US before the dust settles.
-Survivalist Boards
A climax is a major event. It is typically marked by full-scale discord and absolute totality of full-scale war. That did not occur in 2020. That is not occurring now. 2020 was marked by a “pandemic”. Most Americans (through their media) believe that either [1] it is a hoax, or [2] it is a new strain of flu that is sweeping the globe. It is neither. It is a bio-weapon attack on China by the neocon Trump administration gone terribly wrong.
Xi Peng and Putin do not get their intel from Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and CNN. They get it from their Intel divisions. And both nations have a full picture of what is going on, has gone on and will go on further.
Both nations (China and Russia) filed a formal complaint against the United States for launching this bio-weapon (and all the others that it launched in late 2020). And while Americans ignored this complaint, pretending that it is meaningless, it did do something. It marked the start of Russia and China teaming up militarily against the United States.
…
United States. (With the UK, Canada, Israel, and Australia.) Today there is isolated America. Confused. Arrogant. Thrashing and moaning. Demanding all sorts of things.
The Rest of the World. And the rest of the world, lead by Russia, and China, that are very carefully and very precisely planning to stop all this nonsense once and for all.
Adjusting the dates
“It seems I always underestimate the ability of sociopathic central bankers and their willingness to destroy the lives of hundreds of millions to benefit their oligarch masters. I always underestimate the rampant corruption that permeates Washington DC and the executive suites in mega-corporations across the land. And I always overestimate the intelligence, civic mindedness, and ability to understand math of the ignorant masses that pass for citizens in this country. It seems that issuing trillions of new debt to pay off trillions of bad debt, government sanctioned accounting fraud, mainstream media propaganda, government data manipulation and a populace blinded by mass delusion can stave off the inevitable consequences of an unsustainable economic system.”
-The Burning Platform
Adjusting the Strauss and Howe dates to account for the delay in the catalyst, messes things up a bit. They predicted…
There is a nice graphic that I composed for your purposes of planning out the next few years. I hope that it is helpful. Adding three years, gives us…
“Crisis catalyst” in 2008.
Climax in 2023.
Resolution in 2029.
.
Of course, you could argue the 2020 was the “climax” simply because it was one Hell of a shitty year. But you all know, it was a shitty year for everyone on the globe. Not just Americans. I argue that it was just foreplay for bigger stuff to come.
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The world is moving ever forward. Such as this notice on MoA. This and these kinds of things are becoming more and more common in the West these days…
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/
Maintenance mode
Temporary Blog Closure
March 24, 2021 in Uncategorized by craig
In view of our understanding that the High Court has found some articles on this blog to be in contempt of court, and in view of the fact that the Crown Office had sought to censor such a large range of articles, this blog has no choice but to go dark from 15.00 today until some time after tomorrow’s court hearing, when it will be specified to us precisely how much of the truth we have to expunge before we can bring the blog back up.
This is a dark day for the entire team here. We will be looking to appeal this to the Supreme Court and if required (though we very much doubt it will be) to the European Court of Human Rights.
-Posted by: Bluedotterel | Mar 24 2021 16:46 utc | 1
Bang, bang, and then bang. One after another things have started to happen faster and faster. It began in Alaska with a stunning, just stunning insulting display of ignorance and rudeness from the United States. Followed quickly by the military, social, industrial, and cultural realignments between Russia and China. With then Iran getting on board, creating the combined enormous Asian block.
Belt and Road isn’t going away. China is making more rigorous lending decisions while focusing somewhat less on heavy-duty construction and more on digital technology, says a Council on Foreign Relations task force report released on March 23. The 190-page report, titled China’s Belt and Road: Implications for the United States, was written by Jennifer Hillman and David Sacks of the CFR based on the findings of an independent task force chaired by former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and retired Admiral Gary Roughead.For the U.S., calibrating an effective response to Belt and Road is tricky. The Obama administration pursued constructive engagement with China. As Belt and Road ramped up and became more of a threat, the Trump administration was more confrontational, but without allies’ support. The Biden administration aims to build more of a united front of nations to counter Chinese influence. Reflecting the difficulty of striking the right balance, the Council on Foreign Relations report says the U.S. response “has been too little, too late,” but also says “its blanket condemnation risks alienating partners.”
The American leviathan has set up the pieces, and is going full bore toward international global conflict. All stops have been pulled. All fail-safes have been removed. And now, it’s a matter of getting the minions and toadies in line so that the wars can be fought on their national geography instead of inside of America.
Um…
It’s not going to happen that way, but you just cannot reason with idiots.
I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the world.
-Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 24 2021 19:57 utc | 36
The Article
This is a great article. Just great.
As Patrice says…
It's clear from the tone of the author, which mirrors much of independent, assaulted and outraged humanity, that many observers are waiting with bated breath...
...for the emergence of a powerful and invincible countervailing alliance...
...(one that is) capable of finally stopping the reign of brutal violence and disgusting hypocrisy imposed by the US empire.
And that alliance, perforce, as to be the sinorussian alliance.
The blood-curdling hypocrisy of the West leaves truly decent and sovereign nations no choice.
As Pepe Escobar puts it in this remarkable and indispensable dispatch:
One has to applaud the gall of the “Western partners”. It’s 18 years since Shock and Awe – the start of the bombing, invasion and destruction of Iraq. It’s 10 years since the start of the total destruction of Libya by NATO and its GCC minions, with Obama-Biden “leading from behind”. It’s 10 years since the start of the savage destruction of Syria by proxy – complete with jihadis disguised as “moderate rebels”. Yet now the “Western partners” are so mortified by the plight of Muslims in Western China!
This is a complete reprint of a most excellent article from Pepe, and reproduced from HERE. All credit to the author. Please kindly note that it was reformatted to fit this venue but aside from that left intact in all of it’s glory.
With a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the hegemon, we now have a brand new geopolitical chessboard
It took 18 years after Shock and Awe unleashed on Iraq for the Hegemon to be mercilessly shocked and awed by a virtually simultaneous, diplomatic Russia-China one-two.
March 2021: The FMs of the two greatest powers defying Washington meet for close strategic consultation.
How this is a real game-changing moment cannot be emphasized enough; 21st century geopolitics will never be the same again.
Yet it was the Hegemon who first crossed the diplomatic Rubicon. The handlers behind hologram Joe “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Nance” Biden had whispered in his earpiece to brand Russian President Vladimir Putin as a soulless “killer” in the middle of a softball interview. [Conducted by ABC News maggot, George Stephanopoulos, although media stenographers and propagandists in the Western bloc are all fully interchangeable. —Ed]
Not even at the height of the Cold War the superpowers resorted to ad hominem attacks. The result of such an astonishing blunder was to regiment virtually the whole Russian population behind Putin – because that was perceived as an attack against the Russian state.
Then came Putin’s cool, calm, collected – and quite diplomatic – response, which needs to be carefully pondered. These sharp as a dagger words are arguably the most devastatingly powerful five minutes in the history of post-truth international relations.
In For Leviathan, it’s so cold in Alaska, we forecasted what could take place in the US-China 2+2 summit at a shabby hotel in Anchorage, with cheap bowls of instant noodles thrown in as extra bonus.
China’s millennial diplomatic protocol establishes that discussions start around common ground – which are then extolled as being more important than disagreements between negotiating parties. That’s at the heart of the concept of “no loss of face”. Only afterwards the parties discuss their differences.
Yet it was totally predictable that a bunch of amateurish, tactless and clueless Americans would smash those basic diplomatic rules to show “strength” to their home crowd, distilling the proverbial litany on Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, “genocide” of Uighurs.
Oh dear. There was not a single State Dept. hack with minimal knowledge of East Asia to warn the amateurs you don’t mess with the formidable head of the Foreign Affairs Commission at the CCP’s Central Committee, Yang Jiechi, with impunity.
Visibly startled, but controlling his exasperation, Yang Jiechi struck back. And the rhetorical shots were heard around the whole Global South.
They had to include a basic lesson in manners: “If you want to deal with us properly, let’s have some mutual respect and do things the right way”. But what stood out was a stinging, concise diagnostic blending history and politics:
The United States is not qualified to talk to China in a condescending manner. The Chinese people will not accept that. It must be based on mutual respect to deal with China, and history will prove that those who seek to strangle China will suffer in the end.
And all that translated in real time by young, attractive and ultra-skilled Zhang Jing – who inevitably became an overnight superstar in China, reaping an astonishing 400 million plus hits on Weibo.
The incompetence of the “diplomatic” arm of the Biden-Harris administration beggars belief. Using a basic Sun Tzu maneuver, Yang Jiechi turned the tables and voiced the predominant sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the planet.Stuff your unilateral “rules-based order”. We, the nations of the world, privilege the UN charter and the primacy of international law.
So this is what the Russia-China one-two achieved almost instantaneously: from now on, the Hegemon should be treated, all across the Global South with, at best, disdain.
An inevitable historical process
Pre-Alaska, the Americans went on a charming offensive in Japan and South Korea for “consultations”. That’s irrelevant. What matters is post-Alaska, and the crucial Sergey Lavrov-Wang Yi meeting of Foreign Ministers in Guilin.
Lavrov, always unflappable, clarified in an interview with Chinese media how the Russia-China strategic partnership sees the current US diplomatic train wreck:
As a matter of fact, they have largely lost the skill of classical diplomacy. Diplomacy is about relations between people, the ability to listen to each other, to hear one another and to strike a balance between competing interests. These are exactly the values that Russia and China are promoting in diplomacy.
The inevitable consequence is that Russia-China must “consolidate our independence: “The United States has declared limiting the advance of technology in Russia and China as its goal. So, we must reduce our exposure to sanctions by strengthening our technological independence and switching to settlements in national and international currencies other than the dollar. We need to move away from using Western-controlled international payment systems.”
Russia-China have clearly identified, as Lavrov pointed out, how the “Western partners” are “promoting their ideology-driven agenda aimed at preserving their dominance by holding back progress in other countries. Their policies run counter to the objective international developments and, as they used to say at some point, are on the wrong side of history. The historical process will come into its own, no matter what happens.”
As a stark presentation of an inevitable “historical process”, it doesn’t get more crystal clear than that. And predictably, it didn’t take time for the “Western partners” to fall back into – what else – their same old sanction bag of tricks.
Here we go again: a US, UK, EU, Canada “alliance” sanctioning selected Chinese officials because, in Blinken’s words, “the PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.” [sic]
The EU, UK, and Canada didn’t have the guts to sanction a key player: Xinjiang party chief Chen Quanguo, who’s a Politburo member. The Chinese response would have been – economically – devastating.
Still, Beijing counterpunched with its own sanctions – targeting, crucially, the German far-right evangelical nut posing as “scholar” who produced the bulk of the completely debunked “proof” of a million Uighurs held in concentration camps.
Once again, the “Western partners” are impermeable to logic. Adding to the already appalling state of EU-Russia relations, Brussels chooses to also antagonize China based on a single fake dossier, playing right into the Hegemon’s not exactly secret Divide and Rule agenda.
Mission (nearly) accomplished: Brussels diplomats tell me the EU Parliament is all but set to refuse to ratify the China-EU trade deal painstakingly negotiated by Merkel and Macron. The consequences will be immense.
So Blinken will have reasons to be cheerful when he meets assorted eurocrats and NATO bureaucrats this week, ahead of the NATO summit.
One has to applaud the gall of the “Western partners”. It’s 18 years since Shock and Awe – the start of the bombing, invasion and destruction of Iraq. It’s 10 years since the start of the total destruction of Libya by NATO and its GCC minions, with Obama-Biden “leading from behind”. It’s 10 years since the start of the savage destruction of Syria by proxy – complete with jihadis disguised as “moderate rebels”.
Yet now the “Western partners” are so mortified by the plight of Muslims in Western China.
At least there are some cracks within the EU illusionist circus. Last week, the French Armed Forces Joint Reflection Circle (CRI) – in fact an independent think tank of former high officers – wrote a startling open letter to cardboard NATO secretary-general Stoltenberg de facto accusing him of behaving as an American stooge with the implementation of NATO 2030 plan. The French officers drew the correct conclusion: the US/NATO combo is the main cause of appalling relations with Russia.
These Ides of March
Meanwhile, sanctions hysteria advance like a runaway train. Biden-Harris has already threatened to impose extra sanctions on Chinese oil imports from Iran. And there’s more in the pipeline – on manufacturing, technology, 5G, supply chains, semiconductors.
And yet nobody is trembling in their boots. Right on cue with Russia-China, Iran has stepped up the game, with Ayatollah Khamenei issuing the guidelines for Tehran’s return to the JCPOA.
1. The US regime is in no position to make new demands or changes regarding the nuclear deal.
2. The US is weaker today than when the JCPOA was signed.
3. Iran is in a stronger position now. If anyone can impose new demands it’s Iran and not the US.
And with that we have a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the Hegemon.
In our latest conversation/interview, to be released soon in a video + transcript package, Michael Hudson – arguably the world’s top economist – hit the heart of the matter:
The fight against China, the fear of China is that you can’t do to China, what you did to Russia. America would love for there to be a Yeltsin figure in China to say, let’s just give all of the railroads that you’ve built, the high-speed rail, let’s give the wealth, let’s give all the factories to individuals and let the individuals run everything and, then we’ll lend them the money, or we’ll buy them out and then we can control them financially. And China’s not letting that happen. And Russia stopped that from happening. And the fury in the West is that somehow, the American financial system is unable to take over foreign resources, foreign agriculture. It is left only with military means of grabbing them as we are seeing in the near East. And you’re seeing in the Ukraine right now.
To be continued. As it stands, we should all make sure that the Ides of March – the 2021 version – have already configured a brand new geopolitical chessboard. The Russia-China Double Helix on high-speed rail has left the station – and there’s no turning back.
Conclusion
Oh, Pepe said it so clearly and so wonderfully. Today there is a massive new Geo-political alignment, and it is the direct result of insanity and poor leadership from the West. And they are so very incompetent that they have no idea with the kind of “fire” that they are playing with.
Even with an enormous military, control of all media and communication, and some hidden ultra-powerful technology, the leadership is so seriously incompetent, the systems so hopelessly flawed, and the participants so absolutely corrupted that a catastrophic collapse of their government is imminent.
I hope and pray that I am wrong.
That all this will “blow over” and just go away, and I can fall into the “dust bin” with the rest of the “doom and gloom” predictors throughout history. Let’s hope the MM is wrong.
Meanwhile, the insanity of what the West is today is gearing up. It’s the same-old, same-old. Only on a bigger scale. So the carpet bombing of China by biological weapons dis not work. So the aggressive attacks on trade and technology did not work. So the enormous armada of ships to the South China Sea did not work. So the riots and revolution in Hong Kong did not work…
…and neither will “boots on the ground” in Xinjiang either.
…nor “saving” Taiwan from China.
…nor a strong QUAD.
But they still have dreams of conducting “the rape of Nanjing” in modern Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. They still have dreams of invading and seizing Chinese held islands. They still have the dreams of sinking all cargo ships on the high seas. They still believe that all this can be ignored…
…as long as they control the American media.
EXCEPT…
Only Americans read American media.
They do not control the thoughts of the world. And the world is getting mightily pissed. Gosh! It’s going to be one fuck of a year.
As a reminder. This is what a “double tap” looks like. As this video from Boston, Massachusetts clearly shows…
Be careful of your neighbors when you shovel your driveway.
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It’s 2021. The Trump neocon war-loving administration has been run out of Washington DC in a most spectacular fashion. And the new Bideon administration is left picking up the pieces left by the “wrecking balls” of Trump, Pompeo, Tom Cotton, and John Bolton. We are truly lucky the world is not engulfed in nuclear flames. Never the less the international damage they have created has been substantial, critical, long-lasting, and visceral.
The diplomats have returned to the negotiating tables, and have found them all broken, smashed, on fire, and in many cases damaged beyond repair. In some cases the entire rooms have been demolished, and a wrecking ball has dissembled the entire structure. All that remains is bare earth, with broken shards of pottery, a few tangled branches, and a heavily salted surface. No life can grow there ever again.
Here is a diplomat, Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.), the new incoming ambassador to China discussing the new world of China-USA relationships. He does so after the horrific damage of the Trump administration from 2017 through 2020.
It’s a great read.
It’s nice to see articulate diplomats talking instead of bullies, thugs, and religious ideological zealots trying to invoke the “second coming of Christ” through provoking global thermonuclear warfare.
In the belief mind you, that any war with China will be on American terms, American defined battle field, with the weapons that America would choose, and that everyone in the world would side with America. Because America is "exceptional", has "freedom" and "liberty" because of it's wonderful "democracy".
Now the ambassador is a diplomat, and he is talking to a group of policy planners in Washington DC. This is an important speech as it gives the policy planners direction. It is their “marching orders” (so to speak) telling them what areas that need to be worked on and how to go about it.
So, obviously, he can not talk about the “black” side of the Trump administration’s attacks upon China. Such as…
Bio-weapon, COVID-19 the plan to suppress China while keeping America intact.
“Tit for tat” destruction of aircraft carriers. First China then it’s retaliation on US soil.
Hong Kong riots, death, destruction and mayhem. “I want to see HK burn.“
Drones to spray biological weapons to kill all Chinese livestock.
Biological viruses to kill off grains and induce famine.
Assassinations and “Black operations” in Taiwan.
MIA of elite forces who attempted landings on Chinese territorial islands.
Destruction and rerouting of IC chip manufacturing equipment destined for China.
…For starters.
But this is a public forum, and the comments are not intended to be a complete review of all the actions by the Trump Administration to attack China. It is to present the publicly observed efforts, and put them into perspective relative to the new direction that the Biden Administration has undertaken.
This is necessary. After all, the American, UK, Australia, and Indian press has been swamped with a “fire-hose of disinformation” that basically stated that Biden will continue the same actions, paths, and behaviors regarding China as the Trump Administration…
But as I have repeatedly stated, this disinformation is all bullshit. That is the way democracies work. If you don’t like the policies of one President, you elect a different on, and the policies will change appropriately.
So ignore the idea that the Biden administration is going to continue the Trump / Pompeo / Cotton and John Bolton “hybrid-war” with China. This formal and public announcement says otherwise.
Remarks to the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs
Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.)
Visiting Scholar, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University. By video link, Washington, D.C. 11 February 2021
Fifty years ago, Richard Nixon decided to ignore Napoleon’s advice to “let [China] sleep, for when it wakes it will astonish the world.”[1] I was there when China opened its eyes. And I have watched it transform the various orders of the world and become an American obsession.
Every generation of Americans feels obliged to reinvent the China policies it inherits from its predecessor. We can be sure our country will eventually get its policies right – after we’ve exhausted all the alternatives. But we have not yet done so. And, for many reasons, our latest policies toward China are almost certain to prove self-defeating.
We have just exited the most bizarre presidency in our history. One of its distinguishing characteristics was the substitution in our foreign relations of unrestricted economic warfare for diplomacy. Bluster and bullying replaced dialogue and reason aimed at convincing the recalcitrant to see that it could be in their interest as well as ours for them to do things our way.
In the last half of the last century, we Americans made the rules. Others got into the habit of following us. To some extent, that habit – though fading – has outlasted our adherence to the principles we once stood for. So military posturing, economic intimidation, diatribe, and attempted regime change are becoming the norm in international relations. China is a case in point. Sino-American relations now exemplify Freeman’s third law of strategic dynamics: for every hostile act there is an even more hostile reaction.
Americans have an inbuilt missionary impulse. We enjoy protecting, tutoring, lecturing, and hectoring other peoples on how to correct their character to approximate our idealized image of ourselves. We are offended when others insist on independence from us and on preserving their own political culture. China has never wavered in its determination to do both, wishful thinking by American politicians and pundits notwithstanding.
In America’s pas de deux with China, we have consistently been the initiator of the dance and taken the lead. We developed some well-founded complaints about Chinese economic behavior, so we launched a trade war with it. We were alarmed about China’s potential to outcompete us internationally, so we decided to try to cripple it with an escalating campaign of “maximum pressure.” We saw China as a threat to our continued military primacy, so we sought to contain and encircle it. Cumulatively, we have:
declared China to be an adversary and called for regime change in Beijing;
launched an invective-filled global propaganda campaign against China, its ruling Communist Party, and its fumbled initial response to COVID-19;
sanctioned allies and partners for failing to curtail their own dealings with China;
replaced market-driven trade with China with government management of economic exchanges based on tariffs, quotas, sanctions, and export bans;
abandoned or attempted to sabotage international organizations in which we deemed Chinese influence to be greater than ours;
kneecapped the WTO, trashing the rule-bound order for international economic relations we had taken seven decades to elaborate;
attempted to block Chinese investment and lending in third countries;
blacklisted Chinese companies and delisted them on our stock markets;
curtailed visas, criminalized scientific exchanges, and banned technology exports to China;
closed a Chinese consulate (losing one of our own as a result) and initiated tit-for-tat reductions in reporting by journalists;
sought to terminate Chinese sponsorship of language teaching in our country, and discouraged in-country study by potential federal employees;
reidentified the United States with Beijing’s civil war adversary in Taipei and violated the Taiwan-related terms of U.S. normalization with Beijing;
stepped up provocative air and sea patrols along China’s borders; and
begun to reconfigure both our conventional and nuclear forces to fight a war with China in its near seas or on its claimed and established territory.
These actions have gotten China’s attention, much as they got Japan’s when we applied a range of considerably less hostile measures to it in 1941. Japan reacted by attacking Pearl Harbor. China has not yet lost its cool. But it has:
reciprocated U.S. tariffs and sanctions;
begun to diversify its sources of essential agricultural and industrial products to end dependence on the United States, which it now regards as its supplier of last resort;
broadened and accelerated its effort to become scientifically and technologically self-reliant and independently innovative;
courted countries and international organizations alienated by U.S. unilateralism;
created new international institutions to complement existing bodies, in which it is now increasingly assertive;
refocused its foreign policy toward the development of cooperative relationships with Europe, Southeast and West Asia, Africa, and Latin America;
joined other countries aggravated by unilateral U.S. sanctions based on dollar hegemony in seeking a new world monetary order in which the dollar is no longer the dominant medium of trade settlement;
adopted an obnoxiously uncivilized demeanor in its foreign relations while remaining risk averse on issues like Taiwan and U.S. naval harassment of its presence in the South China Sea; and
continued to modernize its military to fend off and defeat an American attack on its homeland or near seas.
If this were a game of chess, we’d be easy to spot. We’re the player with no plan beyond an aggressive opening move. That is not just not a winning strategy. It’s no strategy at all. The failure to think several moves ahead matters. The protracted struggle we have launched with China is not a board game, but something vastly more serious. It is not in any respect a repeat of our victorious competition with the sclerotic USSR. And the days when we could act internationally without incurring consequences are past.
So far in the contest with China, not so good.
Our farmers have lost most of their $24 billion market in China, perhaps permanently. Our companies have had “to accept lower profit margins, cut wages and jobs for U.S. workers, defer potential wage hikes or expansions, and raise prices for American consumers or companies.”[2] Our tariff increases and turn to government-managed trade have cost an estimated 245,000 American jobs,[3] while shaving something like $320 billion off our GDP.[4] On average, American families are paying as much as $1,277 more each year for everything from apparel and shoes to toys, electronic goods, and household appliances.[5]
In 2017, when we launched the first of our wave of economic attacks on China, our trade deficit with it was $375 billion. Last year, it appears to have fallen to about $295 billion. Over the same period, however, our global trade deficit rose from $566 billion to an estimated $916 billion. This reflects a shift of Chinese production to Taiwan, the EU, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and elsewhere. There has been almost no “reshoring” of the industrial jobs American companies originally outsourced to China. According to an Oxford Economics study, if the Biden administration leaves current policies in place, the United States can expect cumulative job losses of 320,000 by 2025, and our GDP will be $1.6 trillion less than it would otherwise be.[6]
As is normal in wars, whether economic or military, the other side has also taken some casualties, but they appear to have been considerably lighter than ours. China’s overall trade surplus last year rose to a new high of $535 billion. Beijing improved its international position by lowering tariff barriers to imports from sources other than the United States, striking free trade deals with other Asian countries and the EU, and helping to sponsor a trade dispute-settlement mechanism to replace the US-sabotaged WTO. China is expected to contribute one-third of global growth this year. It is becoming an innovation powerhouse. Forty percent of global venture capital investments are now Chinese – on a par with our own.
The U.S. focus has been on tripping up China rather than improving our own international competitiveness. This is an expression of complacent hubris rather than a plan. It is a sure way to lose ground, not gain it. The United States continues to disinvest in education, infrastructure, and science. We are making no effort to curtail the anti-competitive impact of domestic oligopolies or reform the corporate culture that drives companies to offshore work instead of retaining and retraining American workers to use more efficient technologies. Our country is more closed to foreign talent and ideas than ever before. The United States is still among the most innovative societies on the planet, but others are overtaking us. It does not help that we have come to value financial engineering more than the real thing.
Recent polling shows that most of the world now sees our political system as broken, our governance as incompetent, our economic and racial inequalities as perniciously debilitating, our policies as domineering, and our word as unreliable. Ranting and raving about China’s initial mishandling of the outbreak in Wuhan a bit over a year ago of a previously unknown coronavirus has not made the world less impressed by Beijing’s amazing ability to recover from a bungled start and counter and control the pandemic on its territory.[7] Nor has it obscured the contrast between China’s performance and the catastrophically incompetent U.S. response to the virus. Even our closest allies, partners, and friends now expect China to surpass us in wealth and power within the decade. Last year, in the culmination of a trend that preceded the pandemic, China passed the United States to become the world’s largest recipient of foreign companies’ investments. If we do not fix our domestic embarrassments, other countries may come to see us as a problem to be avoided rather than a partner to be courted.
Meanwhile, China has not broken stride. Its students’ performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is already among the best in the world. It is investing 8 percent more each year in education. China already accounts for one-fourth of the world’s STEM workforce and is widening its lead. Measured in purchasing power, its investment in science is now almost on a par with our own and rising at an annual rate of 10 percent, as ours continues to fall. China’s infrastructure is universally envied. It already accounts for 30 percent of the world’s manufactures, versus our 16 percent, and the gap is growing. Last year it became the world’s largest consumer market. Its economy is, for the most part, not dominated by monopolies or oligopolies, but fragmented and ferociously competitive.
In short, China has many problems, but it has its act together and appears, by and large, to be on top of them.
China’s principal challenge to us is not military but economic and technological. But our country is geared up to deal only with military threats. So, China has become both the antidote to our post-Cold War enemy deprivation syndrome and a gratifying driver of U.S. defense spending. If you think you’re St. George, everything looks like a dragon. We have been unable to tame China, so we now dream of slaying it. The dragon is alert to this. We are in China’s face. It is not in ours. Not yet anyway. But if you go abroad in search of dragons to arouse, they may eventually follow you home.
There are American aircraft and ships aggressively patrolling China’s borders, but no Chinese aircraft and ships off ours. American bases ring China. There are no Chinese bases near us. Still, we are upping our defense budget to make our ability to overwhelm China’s defenses more credible. We do so in the name of deterring Chinese aggression against China’s Asian neighbors. But military assault is not the threat from China that agitates its neighbors.
The countries of the Indo-Pacific are universally apprehensive about China’s increasingly bullying demands for deference, but none fears Chinese conquest. We are distraught that we can no longer breeze through China’s increasingly effective defenses to strike it. We have counted on being able to do so if the unfinished civil war with the newly democratized descendant of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime in Taiwan resumes. We seem to think that a war with China over Taiwan could be limited like Korea and Vietnam. But such a war would begin on Chinese territory and be fought directly with Chinese forces, not in third countries or by allies or proxies of either China or the United States.
It’s comforting to assume that we are so powerful that, if we strike another people’s homeland, they will refrain from retaliating against ours. We prefer not to think about China’s capacity to reach out and hurt us, including with nuclear weapons, if we hurt it. But this is delusional and it misses the point. We cannot hope to deal with China’s politico-economic, diplomatic, and technological challenge by engaging it in armed combat or threatening to do so. We cannot outspend it militarily. And we can no longer hope to beat it on its home ground.
Rivalry, in which each side competes to outdo another, can raise the competence of those engaged in it. So, it is potentially beneficial. But adversarial antagonism, in which competitors seek to win by hamstringing each other, is not. It entrenches hostility, justifies hatred, injures, and threatens to weaken both sides.
If we are to compete effectively with China and other rising and resurgent powers, we must upgrade many aspects of our performance. This will require a serious effort at domestic reform and self-strengthening. And it will take time. Trying to bring down foreign countries to prevent them from surpassing us is more likely to backfire than to succeed. We need to take a hard look at where we are falling behind and make the changes necessary to power ahead.
The United States is endowed with unexampled geopolitical, human, ideological, and physical advantages. With the right policies, we can outcompete any challenger, however formidable. But, if we seek to hamstring our competitors, we should expect them to respond in kind. If we treat China as our Nemesis, China has the capacity to become Her.
In the third decade of the 21st century, Americans can no longer reliably command international support for our preferred approaches to international issues. Others have come to doubt the wisdom, propriety, and constancy of our policies and suspect they are formulated without taking their interests into account.
Many countries are apprehensive about the growth of China’s wealth and power. But – without exception — they want multilateral or plurilateral backing to balance and cope with this challenge, not unilateral, confrontational American activism. They seek to expand trade with China, not contract it. They want to accommodate China on terms that maximize their own independent sovereignties, not make China an enemy or reinstate America as their overlord.
If the United States persists in defining our contest with China in confrontational bilateral terms, we will find ourselves increasingly isolated. Given the unconvincing state of our democracy at present, if we misdefine our China policy as an effort to combat authoritarianism, we will alienate, not attract most other nations. Only if we are willing to be a team player and can credibly claim to be serving the interests of partner powers as well as our own will they stand behind us in support of perceived common interests.
China is an increasingly formidable world power with interests that range from some that parallel ours to others that are antithetical, and still others that are of no consequence to us. We should treat China as the disparate bundle of challenges it is. There are many issues of concern to us that cannot be effectively addressed without Chinese participation. We need to leverage Chinese capacities that serve our interests and counter or immobilize those that don’t. Specifically, we should:
stop pushing China and Russia together in opposition to us;
let market forces – rather than paranoid plutocrats, xenophobic politicians, and ideological crackpots – play the major part in governing trade and investment;
create a predictable framework for trade with China in strategically sensitive sectors, like semiconductors, that safeguards U.S. defense interests while taking advantage of China’s contributions to global supply chains;
compete with China and other countries for influence in international organizations, rather than withdrawing from them because we can no longer dominate them;
seek to cooperate with China to address planetwide problems of common concern like:
the mitigation of climate and environmental degradation;
the reinforcement of global capacity to respond to pandemics and other public health challenges;
the inhibition and, if possible, reversal of nuclear proliferation;
the reconstruction of a globally agreed framework to manage the international transfer of goods, services, and capital;
the maintenance of global economic growth amid financial stability;
the healthy development of the world’s poorer countries;
the setting of standards for new technologies and competition in new strategic domains; and
the reform of global governance.
We should:
work with China and others to ease the now inevitable transition from dollar hegemony to a multilateral monetary order in ways that preserve maximum American influence and independence;
leverage, not boycott, China’s “Belt and Road Initiative,” to ensure that we benefit from the business opportunities and connectivities it creates;
promote cross-Strait negotiations and mutual accommodation rather than military confrontation between Beijing and Taipei;
expand consular relations, restore journalistic exchanges, and promote Chinese language and area studies to enhance both our presence and our understanding of China.
China and the United States began 2021 in different moods. This year, China will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its ruling Communist Party. Chinese associate the Party with the astonishingly rapid transformation of their country from a poor and beleaguered nation to a relatively well off and strong one. Most Chinese have set aside their traditional pessimism and are optimistic that the enormous progress they have experienced in their lifetimes will continue. China’s decisive handling of the pandemic has bolstered its citizens faith in its system. Morale is high. China is focused on the future.
By contrast, the United States entered this year in an unprecedented state of domestic disarray and demoralization. A plurality of Americans disputes the legitimacy of the newly installed Biden administration, which faces an uphill battle with a Congress well-practiced at gridlock and evading its constitutional responsibilities. Despite a booming stock market supported by cheap money and chronic deficit spending, we are in an economic depression. So far, our answer to this has been limited to subsidizing consumption rather than investing in the rejuvenation of our political economy through attention to infrastructure, education, and reindustrialization. We have our eyes fixed firmly on the immediate, rather than the long term. But, without serious repairs to restore a sound American political economy, our future is in jeopardy, and we will be in no condition to compete with the world’s rising and resurgent great powers, especially China.
Doubling down on military competition with Beijing just gives its military-industrial complex a reason to up the ante and call our bluff. An arms race with China leads not to victory but to mutual impoverishment. As President Eisenhower reminded us sixty years ago, “every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” And stoking China’s neighbors’ dependency on us rather than helping them become more self-reliant implicates them in our conflicts of interest with China without addressing their own. They need our diplomatic support even more than our military backing to work out a stable modus vivendi with China, which is not going away.
Our China policy should be part of a new and broader Asia strategy, not the main determinant of our relations with other Asian nations or the sole driver of our policies in the region. And to be able to hold our own with China, we must renew our competitive capacity and build a society that is demonstrably better governed, better educated, more egalitarian, more open, more innovative, and healthier as well as freer than all others.
To paraphrase Napoleon, let China take its own path while we take our own. We need to fix our own problems before we try to fix China’s. If we Americans get our priorities right, we can once again be the nation to rise and astonish the world
This fellow is a diplomat, and so his words must be of careful construction. However you can clearly see the angst that he has to deal with after the “wrecking ball” that was Trump / Pompeo.
One of the things that was carefully worded was the idea that any hot war with China WOULD NOT be confined to the South China Sea. That it would open up a Pandora’s Box that the USA is ill-equipped to deal with. What?
Yes. The war-hawks left the room. And a deep understanding is beginning to hit. If the USA attacks China, China would retaliate with nuclear detonations on American soil, and all the largest American cities would be destroyed.
Try to initiate a “brush war”, “police action”, or “drone event” upon China, and most of America will lie in rubble minutes afterwards. China. Does. Not. Play.
Not only that, but they would do so in partnership with Russia, and America would be lucky to withstand the resulting “double tap”, “triple taps” and subsequent bitch-slap into the stone-age.
Look.
It’s 2021. There is a new American administration. They are going to try to work with other nations, and hopefully (in some way) make the world a better place to live. This gives me hope.
But…
Don’t “count your chickens before your eggs hatch”. There are still many challenges that await all of us, and a large number of undefined futures that can still materialize. While it is possible that 2020 under Trump was the Fourth Turning crisis that we all feared, my guess is that this reckoning still lies ahead and we all must be guarded, cautious and open to the realistic possibilities that the future might still hold.
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The signs of decay and collapse of the American Empire are all around us. I have written about this in other posts. It’s not a popular subject. Americans take “greatness” and “exceptionalism” for granted. They don’t care if the garbage gets collected, just as long as it disappears. They don’t care who designs and make the cars as long as they are available. They don’t care about education, as long as the proper check boxes are checked off on your social scoring balance sheet.
America is collapsing everywhere.
And the lack of skilled talent, and collapse of the educational and support systems that use them, and the rampant corruption at all levels has created a very toxic environment. It is a place where things are breaking down, and there just isn’t anyone remaining who can fix and repair them.
You know it’s really bad when…
…fucking bridges fall down!
I mean, this is ancient technology. If pre-historic Romans and Egyptians could build bridges with their bare hands, what’s stopping modern American society?
Social progressivism.
What is the real cause behind this collapse?
What is behind all this; what is the root and reason for all this collapse? Is it a particular political party? Because that is what all the articles seem to point towards…
…it’s the “democrats” fault. It’s their damn social progressivism.
It’s OUR COLLECTIVE FAULT. We have allowed and permitted lazy and corrupt millionaires to let America fall apart and denigrate. We allowed them.
It’s our fault.
Own up to it.
Our fault?
This level of collapse, and destruction is not due to one person or a group of people. It is due to the structure and the very fabric of our society.
The American nation, and everything that it stands for, created this situation. You cannot deny it. No one president, no one group of people, and no one situation created it. America has evolved in a natural progression. It is natural. It is organic.
Deal with it.
This is the truth.
A Republic that allows other forms of governance does not last long.
Mob rule is a guaranteed path to an oligarchy.
Oligarchies always turn into military empires.
Military empires require dumbed-down, illiterate slaves/servants to operate.
And when you are standing around, take a good long hard look at your life. When you are paying $10 for a fucking simple cup of coffee. When everything you do is taxed and regulated, and any projects that are make “for the good of society” just spins around and around like some 5 GB movie that you are trying to download.
There are better ways.
There are more efficient ways.
But first you need to kill off all the slime-balls that have their hands in the till. All of them. Not punish. Kill. And make examples of them. Then you need to put new systems in place. Systems that will never allow a repeat of the past mistakes.
Until that day comes, the dysfunctional America will continue to stay dysfunctional. And all these plans for a railroad from Alaska to California, HST all over the nation, moon bases, walls on the borders, high technology transports, and college of the future are all just…
…wishful thinking.
For they will never come to fruition. Not until you start training and employing people who actually fucking make things. And the way the United States is today, that will NEVER happen.
Making things.
The future belongs to the nations that make things. Not to the nations that destroy things.
Which brings me to what America is today…
The following is a complete reprint of an article titled “2 + 2 = 5 means more bridges will collapse” and written on 4OCT20. It is reprinted as found with only minor editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author.
Reality is true even if you don’t want it to be. And it has certain characteristics, which include the fact that you need to do engineering right.
There has been a lot of talk about how Mathematics is racist, and that Math is sexist.
Well, math also describes the way the universe works, and if you want things like electric power, electric vehicles, better internet and computers, and bridges that don’t fall down, someone had better understand the math and the physics.
The FIU pedestrian bridge designed by FIGG Bridge Engineers collapsed in March of 2018 while it was still under construction. Six people died. Faulty design, due to incorrect calculations of load factors, was blamed.
Last month, the Federal Highway Administration placed FIGG on immediate suspension of any projects that involve federal funding. The FHWA also proposes that FIGG be debarred from any federally funded work for 10 years.
I am not an engineer, but clearly there was something wrong with either the design of the FIU bridge or the construction, or both.
The other thing wrong was that FIU spent something like 12 million dollars for a bridge that could have been built for less than 1 million.
There was a federal grant!
I don’t know how to gauge the quality of their designs, but when you get bridges designed incorrectly, they fall down.
They usually don’t fall down before they are in use.
Harris County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to change the engineer of record on the Sam Houston Tollway Ship Channel Bridge after a review found one portion that had not yet been built contained a potential design flaw.
The @HCTRA plans to temporarily stop construction on the Ship Channel Bridge replacement project. An independent consultant found a design issue with the curved portions of the pylon legs. (1/2) @KHOU#KHOU11 Photos courtesy: HCTRA pic.twitter.com/ICdRu0zVR0
— Chris Costa (@ChrisCostaTV) January 7, 2020
In removing FIGG from the project, TxDOT cited a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the 2018 Miami bridge collapse. The report released in October cited load and capacity calculation errors by FIGG for the pedestrian bridge’s design.
And no amount of bafflegab is going to change that.
Feminist bafflegab.
America is not supposed to be like this.
You have to understand that America, as founded, was the most amazing nation ever to grace this good earth. There are many reasons for this, but nothing can say it better than this…
America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.
-Footnote: "Our Ageless Constitution,"W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5
You see, America today in no way resembles what our Constitution says it is supposed to be. It has turned in to a huge enormous monstrosity.
"Allow me, just now old enough to apprehend the freak show for what it is, to put something radical to my conservative forbearers:
Little about the presentstate of American life is worth conserving. Nothing of what the Founders envisioned remains."
-Andrea Yung
We Americans, living in this mess, move along with the flow and ebb of the political and social winds. Often making the most absurd statements, and rationalizations. Thus this fellow that I was chatting with.
He then went on to say that “We need to police the world. We need to spread democracy... ...the rest of the world is one big shit-hole, seriously.” And then asked me, “Have you ever seen the Mexican side of the border?“
America is very beautiful once you leave many of the urban areas. The sky is often awesome, the roads are wide and often clear of traffic. Many of the houses are large and spacious. When compared to other nations, the United States appears to be (hands down) the most desirable place to live. So it is natural to assume every other place is a hell-hole.
Now this is coming from a guy who doesn’t even has a passport, has never tried to get a visa, and his only experience outside the borders of our country was by watching reruns of Baywatch.
Ah. that old “no one has it better than us Americans” argument. We are so fortunate. Eh. Well, it plays well in Peoria. And it’s a good conversation stopper. As we, as Americans, have all seen the “Save the Children” commercials. That money-generating venture brought images of poverty into the living-rooms of Americans for decades.
So the argument seems to have some validity.
Seems to.
Being older with some experiences…
But, you know, I am from a different generation. I grew up in the 1970’s, and at that time between all the smoking blue haze we came to appreciate the strengths of the American system. We did so cranking Jimmi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Yes, Jefro Tull, Alice Cooper, Boston, Manfred Mann, Traffic, Uriah Heep and Three Dog Night.
"I'd love to change the world... but I don't know what to do.
That 70s show was a television comedy that sort of reflected what it was like living and growing up in the 1970’s.
And…
We knew, since the Vietnam war was still fresh in our minds, that America should be for Americans. We did not need to be off throwing money, and wasting lives in some off-the-beaten track for some globalist oligarch.
We knew that America was wasting money in Vietnam. We knew that people were dying there, and many of them were friends, or relatives. We knew that what ever benefit would come of that war, none of us would ever see that benefit.
We knew that the war was just pissing away American resources.
Americans in Vietnam. We fought and died there for “democracy”. When the truth was that it was an effort with the wealthiest in America to game the situation for their very own personal advantage.
We, almost my entire generation, felt betrayed by those older than us. Those who ended up throwing away lives in far off rice paddy’s, and making laws against marijuana that everyone was obviously breaking. What was the matter with these people? We asked.
Why can’t they just let us be? Why do they have to take too much of our money, regulate too much of our lives, and go off fighting wars that are too far away? Why?
Things were so different the. We weren’t expected to apologize for being born. We weren’t ashamed of our nation. We were American gosh darn it!
Well, that was only the tip of the iceberg.
A few more years passed. Ronald Reagan did put the breaks down to some degree, but he made some other blunders that (sad to say, eventually) set the stage for what was to come…
President Bush Senior spent most of his Presidency trying to undo the good works of Ronald Reagan. In many ways he was very successful.
First, was President Gerald Ford Bush (Senior) who made it his life’s work to undo “Reaganomics”, and implement The New Global Order. Then came a succession of socialist criminals, such as Clinton, Bush Jr and finally Obama.
Each one, in their own way, contributed to the state of affairs that America is enduring today. Each one played a role. Each one created the situation leading to all the complaints that we Americans have about “our” government.
They snipped the brake-lines to the American Constitutional government, and it has been in free-fall ever since.
Free-fall.
Ahhhhhhhhhh.
Those of us, still trapped in a rapidly decaying world try to grasp for straws trying to make out some sense of reason to the hordes of pink-haired ignorance, the black-thugs of Antifa and the BLM that seem to want to put average Americans in concentration camps.
So we listen to the news. Many, well meaning of course, have no idea just how tainted it really is. They believe the news.
America is full of the manipulated, living inside an echo chamber created by the military oligarchy to control and subdue the “citizenry”. Meanwhile, as the military empire trudges on, the quality of life of the peasants (oh I mean “citizens”) falls dramatically.
Nothing works any longer.
When a nation can no longer build bridges and walls…
… homes, and houses won’t be far behind.
Conclusion
Should I bring up China? Yeah. That nation run on merit that is populated with engineers? That are building bridges and High Speed Rail at a breathtaking rate? Nah. It’s far too easy.
China is a merit based nation of hard workers.
And…
America is what?
A nation run by a corrupt Casino owner…
Is a $500 scoop of ice cream served to you by an unkempt and illiterate moron just as good as a $1 scoop served by an attractive cheerleader / honors student?
Not until you start training and employing people who actually fucking make things. Instead of accountants, stock brokers, bankers and bean-counters who can count and look at spreadsheets. The world needs people who make things. Not people who stand by and approve of what others say.
If you were trapped on a desert island, who would you want to share it with? A handyman with a set of tools, or a a stock broker who doesn't have electricity for his computer?
America is deep into decay. And you all know what?
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
Ambassador Fox:Your refusal to comply with my orders has endangered the entire success of this mission. I can have you sent to a penal colony for this.Mr Scott:That you can, sir, but I won’t lower the screens.Ambassador Fox:Your name will figure prominently in my report to the Federation Central.Doctor McCoy:Well, Scotty, now you’ve done it.Mr. Scott:Aye. The haggis is in the fire for sure, but I’ll not lower my defenses on the word of that mealy-mouthed gentleman down below. Not until I know what happened to the Captain.
-Star Trek, A Taste of Armageddon 1967
This is not your red vs. blue kind of conflict. This is not the SA fighting the SS. This is not the Northern “Boys in Blue” marching against “Johnny Reb” in grey. This is not the glorious Allied forces fighting the evil Nazi’s. This is something different and on a completely different level.
I anticipate the normal horrors of war, and mayhem. But only this time it will be up front, up close, and right in your face. It will be like the hand to hand, street to street conflicts going on in the Bosnia / Hertivogania conflict. Only this time, it will include all sorts of unexpected and dangerous “innovations”.
And for all of you who think that you and your trusty .303 will be able to fight back against under-educated hordes, you are woefully wrong. Both sides have no idea just how nasty things can be. And both sides are going to spill a lot of blood, and there will be great sadness and agony in the process. All the time, the oligarchy will sit away smug inside their bunkers isolated from the carnage that they set upon the world.
The following is an interesting article. Some military-trained conservatives decided to visit an Antifa riot, and they were wholly unprepared for what they encountered. It’s a good read whether or not you agree with their intent, or their politics. Just take note that war is never what you expect.
The smart man avoids war, and runs away from conflict.
The following article is titled “Antifa Reality Check”. It was posted by NC Scout on September 5, 2020. It is reproduced with minor editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author.
“Very basic background. My friend is a prior service 1st LAR 0311, 0351. (from Wiki: 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is a fast and mobilized armoredterrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps.) Multiple tours in the early to late 2000s, then DoE, then was put through selection and went to work for Colonel G____ as a team member. Since leaving, he has been doing contract work.
He is an experienced and capable meat eater and the furthest thing from a pussy or coward. Try to learn from his experiences.
“Me and three of my buddies were in Portland this weekend, got attacked by Antifa. There’s a Twitter video with millions of views on it. They ended up on Hannity and Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro etc., of us getting beaten with bats and rocks the size of cantaloupes thrown at us, getting spit on etc. We were all carrying pistols as well. Opportunity, ability and jeopardy, we were in a deadly force situation and we could easily articulate the use of deadly force, but they had pepper sprayed us. They were using industrial strobe lights on us, etc. We couldn’t PID our target and what lied beyond it, They did a great job of taking our situational awareness away, it was fucking incredible.
Bro my perspective on this changed so much.
The reason we were there wasn’t to counter protest or some shit, **** and *****, two of the guys with me, one of which is a bronze star and Purple Heart recipient. They’re both in the hiring process for the Portland Police Department. One is from Ohio and one is from Virginia. They both flew in that day just so they could come check out the city before they move their families across the nation.
Something else that I should make perfectly clear. We went to the Federal Courthouse first. There wasn’t a whole lot going on down there. We walked around and took some pictures. Bumped into a Sheriff at one point. Talked to him for a while. We asked him if the riots were over? He said fuck no, they’re trying to fuck a police station up right now on 47th and Burnside, We asked him if we could go, and he said yeah, it’s still a peaceful assembly, it hasn’t been declared a riot yet….
So, legit, we walked into this thing blind, in hindsight it was stupid on our part, I had no idea that they were like that. If it had been a full-blown riot we would not have gone. Bottom line, man, if you had ever given me a scenario like this and said hey, you’re sober, and you have a gun, and somebody is hitting you with a bat and throwing rocks at you that could kill you or put you in a coma, you try to get away but they cut you off with a convoy of vehicles and the assault starts again. They impede your movement and beat you with bats… Would you shoot?
I’d be like, yeah what fucking planet are you from?
But in all the training that I’ve been through my life, I’ve never been in one where in the first five seconds of the scenario you’re blinded with a strobe light and sprayed with pepper spray…. That changes everything. They were throwing these rocks from 15 feet back in the crowd, you couldn’t see who the fuck through it, etc. things like that…. It’s just a good talking point for guys that carry concealed, but you need to think through all these different scenarios.
It got way worse after that video ended, they chased us for 11 city blocks. They had a convoy of about 25 vehicles that cut us off at the next intersection, They had scouts on the corner with radios, they had a drone following us, they had a bull horn calling us Nazis, and the crowd was following a red strobe light that was up in the air on a stick, so they would announce Nazis and then people would follow the red strobe light, That video is just the beginning, I’ve got a fucking fractured hand from a baton, everyone of us has black and blue bruises up and down their legs and back, I had a guy spit in my face from 6 inches away, call me a pussy and a coward for not doing anything about it, and then tell me that he was going to find where I live, rape my mother, rape my children in front of me and then kill me.
I’ve never been more angry about something in my fucking life, the level of restraint that it took for us to not fight back in any capacity whether that was with a gun or fists is incredible. All of us have kids at home. The only thing going through all of our minds was we have to be able to justify deadly force if we’re going to go that route, there’s also hundreds of these people, we can’t see straight because of all the pepper spray, and it’s hard to PID exactly who is throwing these rocks and hitting us with batons, because they would hit you and fucking run and their buddy would run up and hit you. It was an incredibly stressful situation, they did a very good job tactically of taking away your situational awareness, and in my opinion complicating your legal defense when you split one of their faces open with a hollow point.
As we were running from the crowd after about the third block or so, we’re sprinting because the mob head caught back up to us and vehicles were trying to cut us off, I put my hand on the back strap on my appendix, And I heard somebody yell “Hey bro, whatever you’re reaching for, don’t reach, just keep running, they’re still 30 feet behind you. Keep running straight.”
We get 11 blocks down the road and this black Chevy Impala is ghosting us down the street, he’s kind of been in our shadow since block two or three He rolls his window down and starts asking us a bunch of questions. Why are we here, what are we doing, telling us we need to get the fuck out of here, asking us where our car is etc., we pretty much told him to get the fuck away from us because we didn’t know who he was. I finally asked him at one point, Who the fuck are you, man, you need to leave us alone, and he was like I’m the fucking police, bro, who are you?
So he pulled his car over and he and his partner talked to us. He was one of the special programs guys, either with SWAT or SRT or whatever. He was the one that yelled at me not to reach, and tried to help us out. He said he knew that we’ve been pepper sprayed and we’re having trouble seeing, I kind of snapped at him, Like hey motherfucker, You’ve been watching this whole thing fucking unfold and you didn’t intervene at all or light the crowd up or something? He started laughing and he was like, Man, if I got out and tried to help you guys, my fucking car would be on fire right now, and I’d be running next to you.
Bottom line: don’t go to an Antifa protest where you can put yourself in that situation. And if you find yourself in that situation, expect them to employ tactics that take away your situational awareness, and complicate the use of force continuum.”
Conclusion
War is something that should be considered as an option of last resort. It doesn’t matter if you are two people having a disagreement, or two nations involved in some kind of trade dispute. All war is ugly, crazy and unexpected.
Here, we have well trained soldiers going against militant civilians on their turf. They entered equipped, and read to go “hot” if need be. They had to be arrogant, for they were moving into an environment that was hostile and they were not concerned. In my “book”, it makes them cocky.
When I see Donald Trump sending Two complete assault carrier battle groups to the Chinese coastline, so close that you could see everyone with your own eyes. And then, expecting to threaten China in that action, I see the same kind of cocky invincibility as is written here.
Real war is not a Tom Clancy novel, it is not Rambo or Arnold Schwarzenegger killing hundreds of people with single shots to the forehead. It’s actually very uncomfortable, very horrible, and something that you don’t want to have any part of.
Expect to be surprised, tricked, betrayed, and killed.
Right now the United States is in the opening stages of Civil War, and the fact that the President is doing nothing (and don’t give me those excuses that he is powerless) tells me everything that I need to know about who is behind this, and what the objectives are.
Any president that can ban cat videos on cell phones, arrest foreign CEO’s by proxy, unleash a global bio-weapon the COVID-19, and blow up BRI shipping ports with a micro-nuke most certainly…
…most certainly…
…stop all the riots and unrest going on in the country today.
So. Everyone. Avoid all the conflict. Do not be under the impression that you will be able to fight off invading urban youth marching and screaming into bullhorns. It won’t be that way. You all won’t be playing cowboys and Indians inside a wooden stockade fort.
It will be black urban youth hyped up on drugs with kill-lust in their eyes. They will ride into your neighborhoods in brand new vehicles and pickup trucks mounting full automatic weapons. They will use drones, and fly bombs, and firebomb your community. They will attack, while flanking units go behind you and kidnap your family. They will leave raw earth, fire and blacked destruction in their wake.
Learn the lessons listed here in.
If you haven’t already, relocate to a quiet and boring place where you can ride out the up coming shit storm.
Do you want to see similar posts?
I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
Have you ever wondered why some people become filthy rich while others remain poor for their entire lives? Ah, well if you haven’t you should of. It pretty much explains the nature of the universe, don’t you know.
Here we are going to look at a a “successful” loser.
We are going to tear his life apart, dissect it and study it. For we want to know how a person who was such a terrible General, so much that everyone realized it, that he still continued and was able to maintain his position without troubles of demotion. Why do some absolutely awful people get into such powerful positions?
…
No. This isn’t a rehash of the “Peter Principle”.
In the 1969 book, "The Peter Principle," authors Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull wrote that workers in a hierarchical structure get promoted to the level at which they are incompetent and stay at that level for the rest of their careers.
Well, I don’t have the answer to that question. It’s a complex one and involved many factors, but we can look at certain people. We can study them. And they we can see what we would do different if we were in their shoes. We must realize that we are not perfect, and that we have faults.
And the true man (or woman) in control of their life is one that knows their faults and compensates for them.
Introduction
Why did the South lose the Civil War? That question has produced many books, lectures, and heated discussions from both historians and Civil War buffs. Now, it is my personal belief that all it takes is one bad leader to totally destroy a nation and lose a war. Indeed, the tales of all those cities that misjudged Genghis Khan can so very clearly illustrate this. Now, as far as the American Civil War goes, one of the many answers that could be given can be summarized in two words: Braxton Bragg.
Bragg achieved the rank of full general in the American Civil War.
With a military background, he quickly rose through the ranks after his adopted state of Louisiana seceded. (He was originally from North Carolina.) Early on, he led a group of volunteers in capturing a federal arsenal in Baton Rouge. During the first year of the war, he proved to be an apt troop trainer. He later became a corps commander under General Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh. After Johnston was killed at Shiloh, he was succeeded by P. G. T. Beauregard. When Beauregard left his command for health reasons, Bragg inherited the leadership of the Army of Tennessee, which would be the primary Confederate military force in the western theater of the war.
Most people will not turn down a promotion, especially if it comes with greater pay and prestige—even if they know they are unqualified for the position.
Skilled in training troops and having earned praise for his leadership in early battles, Bragg seemed worthy of his rise in the ranks.
A terrible General
Yet, despite the early signs of success, General Bragg became a strong contender for the title of “worst high-ranking Confederate general.”
There is certainly no shortage of grist for the mill when making the case against Bragg. Quite a few of his fellow commanders, most of whom served under him, were contemptuous of his leadership.
Artillery officer E.P. Alexander said that Bragg was “simply muddle headed.”
On several occasions generals in his army sent letters to President Jefferson Davis asking that Bragg be sacked.
General Frank Cheatham, after the Battle of Stones River, vowed never to serve under Bragg again.
After that same battle, General John C. Breckinridge, seething over a failed charge Bragg had forced him to make, challenged Bragg to a duel.
Even General Forrest was infurated
Nathan Bedford Forrest was never known as a commander easy to work alongside, but his greatest outburst against a commander came after the Battle of Chickamauga. Having won a great battle, arguably in spite of his own actions, Bragg refused to follow up his victory with further pursuit of the Union Army. This was too much for Forrest. After nearly begging Bragg for the chance to put his cavalry on the heels of the Union troops, Forrest turned from supplicant to accuser. Forrest said, “You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it.” He then told Bragg that he would never obey any orders from him.
Historians hated him…
Historians have not been gentle with Bragg either.
David Donald said Bragg was “tense, punctilious, arrogant, a martinet, and a dawdler.”
T. Harry Williams said Bragg “lacked the determination to carry through his purpose.”
Douglas Southall Freeman, after comparing Bragg with Robert E. Lee, pondered, “How different might have been the fate of Bragg and perhaps the Confederacy if that officer had learned . . . from Lee.”
James McPherson said that it was “bumblers like Bragg” who lost the war in the west.
Bruce Catton, with a little more balance in his observation, said, “Braxton Bragg was as baffling a mixture of ability and sheer incompetence as the Confederacy could produce.”
Biography
Even Bragg’s biographers were critical. Grady McWhiney said Bragg had “failed as a field commander,” that he had “no real taste for combat,” that he had no ability to inspire confidence in other commanders, that he was “notoriously inept at getting along with people he disliked,” and that he had failed to learn from his mistakes. To make matters worse, McWhiney noted that Bragg was “not lucky.”
The first volume of McWhiney’s biography, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat, was published in 1969.
It was 1991 before the second volume appeared, and it was authored by one of McWhiney’s graduate students, Judith Lee Hallock.
This prompted another historian to speculate that McWhiney had found his subject “so nauseous that he abandoned the project.” Hallock disagreed, but she had her own criticisms of Bragg. She thinks his worst problem was his inability to establish and maintain group solidarity within his army. After noting other such problems as Bragg’s not being able to distinguish friends from enemies, not recognizing the abilities of his subordinates, and being a poor judge of character, she summed up his faults with this: “He could manage everything but people.”
Private Sam Watkins, in his outstanding memoir of Confederate service titled Company Aytch, expressed continual grumbling from himself and others about his service under Bragg. He said…
“None of Bragg’s soldiers ever loved him. They had no faith in his ability as a general. He was looked upon as a merciless tyrant.”
What was Bragg’s problem?
The answers and speculations are many. His health didn’t help his leadership duties. Migraine headaches, boils, and dyspepsia plagued him, especially in times of overwork and stress. He also suffered from rheumatism and nervousness.
Besides the responsibilities of leadership, Bragg was personally prone to drive himself relentlessly in his work. One general said he was “the most laborious of commanders, devoting every moment to the discharge of his duties.”
Bragg likely had psychosomatic problems as well. McWhiney said that at times Bragg “lost touch with reality.”
Compounding all this was his use of calomel, a mercury-based purgative, which had severe side effects. It is also possible that his physicians prescribed opium to Bragg for his ailments. That might explain some of his tendencies to lose track of what he was doing in the midst of a battle.
Halleck said it might also explain his paranoia toward fellow officers.
Grady McWhiney also attributes Bragg’s failures to his penchant for frontal attacks.
This was a topic that McWhiney developed more fully in his book Attack and Die and then repeated in his biography. Southern commanders were obsessed with frontal attacks, which were based on military tactics from previous wars.
Civil War weaponry had made such attacks extremely costly in terms of casualty counts. But if this line of argument is taken, it begs the question of why Bragg was unsuccessful when the same tactics were used by almost every other general in both Northern and Southern armies.
The Theater of War
Since Bragg’s command was in the western theater of the war, most of his battles were in Tennessee. In contrast with Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia which spent much of the war in a confined region of Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, Bragg’s command, covered a wider area and suffered from greater hardships in terms of supply and support from the Confederate government. Bragg was given a near impossible task in defending Tennessee and the western Confederacy.
Consider also the size of the armies of the Civil War.
George Washington led about 15,000 men at the most during his years in the American War for Independence. Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans with less than 6000 men. Bragg and other full generals were commanding armies four times the size of Washington’s army and ten times the size of Jackson’s.
Bragg is usually given high marks by the historians for his ability to organize and supply his troops. His West Point education and experience in the Mexican-American War had equipped him for leadership. But the logistics and demands of leading an army of such size was beyond even most trained military officers.
Primarily, it was battlefield actions that unhinged Bragg.
Bragg tended to lose his grip on the reality of what was happening in the proverbial “fog of battle.” He judged victories as defeats and defeats as victories. He was indecisive when decisiveness was needed and was decisive when discretion was needed. He exasperated his commanders, lashed out at them at the wrong times, closed his ears to their counsel, and generally destroyed any chances of coherent, unified leadership.
Wins and Losses…
Bragg failed in the western campaign.
He lost Stones River and Perryville and abandoned Chattanooga.
He failed to follow the unexpected and decisive victory at Chickamauga and was not able to hold the seemingly unconquerable defensive position on Lookout Mountain. But then what commander in the west did succeed?
Albert Sidney Johnston lost his life and the Battle of Shiloh.
John Pemberton lost Vicksburg.
John B. Hood abandoned Atlanta and went on to destroy the Army of Tennessee in his epic failures at Franklin and Nashville.
Joseph E. Johnston was perhaps the best commander in the west, but his record was one of strong defenses followed by skilled retreats.
Was Bragg a total failure?
That question calls for a lot of reflection that goes beyond the complaints of his subordinates.
History has not been kind to him.
It is hard to imagine fans of the Confederacy decorating their walls with pictures of Bragg or naming their sons “Braxton” in his honor. To a large degree, McWhiney was on target when he said that Bragg was simply just not lucky.
Conclusion
It’s easy for us, sitting in our comfortable chairs, to judge a man for his deeds or misdeeds over a hundred years ago. But that is not what we are doing here. We are trying to learn from his mistakes, and in so doing, imagine what we would have done differently were we to be in his place.
Here is a man that was very good in military logistics, and was promoted over and over again for various reasons. Eventually reaching the rank of General.
And in that role, he was a failure.
This could happen to anyone, and everyone. Just because you can fix a race car engine, does not mean that you have the ability to be a race car driver. Or if you are a wonderful cook, that you can create and expand a large chain of fast food restaurants. Or, more contemporaneously, if you are quite adept at building casinos and golf courses, you might not be qualified to lead a nation as big as the United States.
Which is a law, I believe that is missing in Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power”, which should be “know your limits, and know your strengths”.
To be successful you need to build up, or compile a small group of people that have strengths to complement your weaknesses. If you are strong in organization, but weak in finance, you need to find a strong finance person to work with. And if you are and the finance person are weak in Sales, perhaps you should consider adding a strong and experienced salesman to your group.
This is what Ronald Regan did when he was President of the United States, he staffed competent people, and then managed them. This is what Xi Peng is doing today.
Do not believe that you know everything and that your decisions are always ideal. That is a fantasy.
The idea that one lone person can do it all, and be the ultimate best is a uniquely American fantasy. It is false. Don’t ever believe that you are in your role or position because you are somehow “special” or that “God granted you that position”. Instead look at what you need to make your situation a success, and realize too that your weakness can absolutely kill any prior “good” work that you have accomplished.
Do not fall into the narcissistic trap of self-superiority. Do not believe that you, and only you, knows how to do things. That is an illusion.
Work as part of a team toward well-defined and common goals. You will succeed.
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my SHTF Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
So as I am reading my news and opinion feeds, I am starting to see a trend. This COVID-19 is rally causing the worst of America to manifest. I mean all the sores, and the oozing puss is now becoming obvious to everyone. America is collapsing and this COVID-19 might be “the final stray that broke the camels back”, don’t you know.
Here we have another article.
In this article we see that the craziness of the COVID-19 event is acting to highlight all the many, many things that are terribly wrong with America at this moment in time. It’s an ugly scene and it’s only going to get uglier…
The following is an article titled “All The Craziest Things About America Are Being Highlighted By This Virus” by Caitlin Johnstone on Caitlinjohnstone.com. It was edited to fit this venue, and all credit to the editor.
All The Craziest Things About America Are Being Highlighted By This Virus
“Corona is a black light and America is a cum-stained hotel room,” comedian Megan Amram colorfully tweeted a couple of weeks ago. Her observation has only grown more accurate since.
America’s joke of a healthcare system is being highlighted as uninsured COVID-19 patients are racking up $35,000 medical bills and even insured COVID-19 patients are looking at out-of-pocket expenses in excess of $1,300.
Combine this with the millions of Americans getting thrown off of
employer-provided health insurance and you’re looking at a huge number
of people who will avoid getting tested and avoid treatment as much as
possible. Both heads of America’s two-headed one-party system have spent
decades forcefully creating this dynamic.
America’s income and wealth inequality is being highlighted in a nation suffering from all of the above problems while most Americans were already unable to afford a mere $1,000 emergency expense.
A one-time $1,200 payment to a population already stretched that thin
guarantees that millions will be plunged into crushing debt and
destitution in a nation with a historically unprecedented billionaire
class raking in even more unearned wealth.
America’s fake political system has been highlighted as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee completely vanished for a week and then returned to deliver an embarrassing string of befuddled interviews upon his return, reminding the nation once again that the Democrats are running an actual, literal dementia patient for the most powerful elected office in the world. Biden will of course be running against an incoherent reality TV star who only last week decided that the virus is indeed a real problem which needs to be seriously addressed, and who now already wants to begin rolling back
the inadequate measures his administration implemented far too late.
The debates between two men who don’t understand what they’re doing and
can’t string a sentence together between them will soon be broadcast
around the world for all of civilization to behold.
America’s lying mass media are being highlighted with propagandistic lines that would make Kim Jong Un blush, like The New York Timesclaiming today
that “the American medical system is unsurpassed and its public health
system has a reputation as one of the finest in the world”. We can
safely expect US media to get even more demented as they expands their
hysteria-inducing new cold war propaganda campaign against Russia to
China as well.
America’s murderous sanctions machine has been highlighted as the US continues ramping up its economic warfare against Iranian civilians, with thousands already dead and potentially millions to follow
due to Tehran’s inability to access necessary equipment, medicine and
resources during the pandemic. The Trump administration has not eased
the sanctions during the outbreak, and has in fact added to them, because killing Iranian civilians has always been the goal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has gone on record to say that the objective is to make Iranian civilians so miserable and desperate that they overthrow their own government.
So basically everything crazy about America is being amplified to absurd caricatures of its own insanity and highlighted for everyone to see. There’s a lot of ugliness coming out into the light as a result of this virus, which may end up being one of its few perks for everyone. As they say of both viruses and governments, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Conclusion
It will not be long now. Four years tops. Maybe as early as one year. Figure all Hell to unravel around 2023 or so.
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find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
No it’s not like television. It’s horrible, and nasty, and the rivers do actually flow red with blood.
I am fascinated by stories of the Mongol invasions and the stories of Genghis Khan. These excursions of empire relive the horror and nightmares of a time long ago, and well forgotten. They happened thousands of years ago, and no one can image the carnage and the horrors inflicted upon the citizenry who suffered through those invasions. All we can do is dig up some bones and try to interpret what it must have been like.
And while World War I and II were horrific, they were NOTHING like the in-your-face and up-close personal horror that the Mongol invasions were.
I argue that we need to be constantly reminded that war, real winner-take-all war, is a very ugly and nasty business. And it should be kept fore-front in our minds. Because every four generations or so, humanity forgets and resets itself in some kind of glorious bloodbath. A bloodbath with few survivors.
Someone should remind the American neocons of this fact.
Because I am constantly reminded of the stories (from this time period) where a city would send out 20,000 well equipped knights in shiny pristine armor to confront 500,000 aggressive, fierce, and battle-trained mongols on the field of battle.
It was always a slaughter.
It never went well. For them, and for their defenseless families back behind the massive city walls; walls that soon fell…
The following article is from the Vintage News. It is titled “Mass Family Graves Found in Russia a Grim Reminder of Mongol Invasions”. It was written on Sep 21, 2019 by Ian Harvey. All credit to the author. It was reformatted for this venue, but for the most part very little editing was required.
Mass Family Graves Found in Russia a Grim Reminder of Mongol Invasions
Many people feel we are witnessing grim times these days. But at least there are no Mongol invasions on horseback coming from the mysterious steppes of Central Asia like back in the 13th century.
What with civil wars, hurricanes, and other disasters, man-made or natural, dominating headlines around the world. Sometimes it seems we are living in a particularly violent time as social media carries bad news at an instantaneous speed with humanity’s inhumanity seeming to have no bounds.
But examining any period in history reminds us that, in relative terms at least, we are living in a more or less peaceful time.
Overall, with the exception of localized wars in various countries, we are enjoying global peace. At least we are not mired in world wars, as our forefathers were in the early and mid-20th century.
A Russian archaeological excavation is finding out just how violent and inhumane invasions could be.
Like, for example, the graves of three generations of one family recently uncovered in Yaroslavl, Russia.
Yaroslavl on a map of Russia.
Several burial pits have been found, and one of them contained a tangle of 15 bodies.
Researchers, upon examining these remains, realized they were looking at the skeletons of three generations of one family – a grandmother, a mother, and her son.
(Investigations identified their demise.) They were slaughtered by Mongol invaders in the area in the 13th century.
The remains of one entire family; three generations all slaughtered after torturing during the Mongolian invasion(s).
The Mongols invaded Russia in 1238, under the leadership of Batu Khan, grandson of the notorious leader Genghis Khan.
The Mongol invasions of Russia. Once they invaded, they destroyed everything. Then they remade it in their image… culturally, economically, and (yes) biologically as well (no women were spared).
Asya Engovatova, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology in Russia notes that the remains have indications of gruesome torture, including piercings and severe cuts and blows, giving the picture not only of the fall of a whole city, but the sad ending of one family.
The discovered remains all buried and unearthed for study. It is a horrible and tragic way to die.
Historians have known for some time that Yaroslavl fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century.
However, the level of violence inflicted upon civilians has not been as well known, or understood, until the last decade or so.
The city’s Assumption Cathedral was razed in 1937, but mass graves were not found beneath it until 2005; the graves contained the remains of more than 300 people.
This latest discovery is just more evidence of the brutality the town suffered.
Skulls from the mass grave in Yaroslavl show signs of extreme violence.
Engovatova stated,
“What we now know about those raids suggests that chronicle descriptions of ‘a city drowned in blood’ were not merely a figure of speech.”
Science is uncovering the grim reality about how this city fell to its invaders, and it is an ugly reminder of just how lawless and cruel those invaders were.
She continued,
“Batu Khan’s conquest of Russia was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing any other event in cruelty and destruction. It is not by chance that it is among the few events that made its way into the Russian folklore.”
Every child understands stories of the “boogeyman” and tales about dark forces that hide under the bed or in a closet.
Russia, perhaps more so than other nations in this respect, has good reason for dark tales about bad spirits; after all, historians estimate that over the course of its two-centuries long rule, the Mongol Empire invasions killed as many as one million civilians across Europe.
And while historical texts indicate that most people submitted to their rule without argument, this new evidence suggests that many atrocities were committed during their conquests.
This family, for example, recently uncovered: researchers say the bodies were first merely chucked into the snow. (After a spell during the Spring thaw…) They were buried for health reasons, finally, and likely because of the stench.
Evidence suggests that the Mongols sacked the city in the dead of winter. The people were pulled out of their warm homes and thrust into the brutal Russian winter where they were killed and left to rot in the snow.
And so, while it is easy to get carried away about the troubles facing our modern world, we must remember that, by and large, these days civility reigns supreme, at least in most countries.
What happened in Russia during that 13th century invasion puts the world’s current troubles into some kind of perspective.
Commentary
This is horrific, but there’s more. There are other digs and other discoveries of others who have also died during this sequence of events. It’s not just one of two families. It’s an entire regions of cities, towns, and culture. No one was spared. No one survived.
Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238″
More than 300 bodies were buried across nine death pits of 15 people each. One contained three generations of one family.
An archeologist examines the remains at the Yaroslavl massacre site.
When the Mongols invaded the Russian town of
Yaroslavl in 1238, almost nobody was spared. Hundreds were slaughtered
brutally and dumped into mass graves as the town was completely sacked.
Nearly 800 years later, researchers have given us a chilling glimpse of
the victims left behind.
After the slaughter, Mongol raiders buried the dead in pits by the dozens with no markers to distinguish who these poor victims even were, wrote LiveScience.
But one pit of the dead in particular stood out after scientists of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology began genetically analyzing three of its 15 corpses.
Researchers found that the three murdered townsfolk buried together in the dirt were a woman, her daughter, and her grandson. Moscow’s research team found that the eldest of the three corpses was at least 55 years old before she died.
Her daughter was between 30 and 40, while her grandson was younger than 20.
The young girls and women were missing. As were all the men.
One could imagine that the men were killed trying to repel the invaders.
As for the women, we can only speculate. If there is a son younger than 20, were are his 20-something sisters?
They were buried in one of nine pits found at Yaroslavl, which altogether held more than 300 bodies.
The biological relation between three of the bodies found at Yaroslavl first became apparent after researchers noticed similar features on the skulls. All three family members also showed signs of spina bifida, which is hereditary.
As for Yaroslavl as a whole, Mongols led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu Khan destroyed the town not long after advancing into Russia. Nonetheless, enough buildings and artifacts survived to tell us a little something about the area, namely that it was a wealthy one.
Paintings can only give us a small flavor of what it must have been like to approach your conquers and to beg to be killed swiftly.
Scientists determined this by noting the tooth decay present in the three bodies in question and noting that the honey and sugar that could cause this were only available to those with substantial means at the time.
Beyond the three generations of one family left slaughtered in a pit,
the scene at Yaroslavl showed just how brutal its conquest was. Batu
Khan invaded towns like Yaroslavl with utter indifference, ultimately
taking more than a dozen places in present-day Russia.
In just five years, he wiped out seven percent of Russia’s
population. When the Russian Grand Prince refused to submit to the
Mongols, Genghis Khan’s grandson simply burned the capital city to the
ground — with the royal family and every inhabitant inside.
Nearly 300 bodies were buried across nine pits. The son, mother, and grandmother were buried in a pit of 15 people.
For Asya Engovatova, deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology
at the Russian Academy of Sciences and head of the Yaroslavl excavation,
the evidence uncovered there clarifies why the story of its conquest
became common knowledge among Russians.
“Batu Khan’s conquest was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing
any other event in cruelty and destruction,” she said. “It is not by
chance that it is among the few such events that made its way into the
Russian folklore.”
The brutality that has made the conquest of Yaroslavl unforgettable
for many Russians was certainly on display in the way the victims’
bodies were treated after death.
Genrikh Semiradsky, ‘Alexander Nevsky in the Horde’. 1876. The Russian Museum.
Prior analysis suggested that the three family members, for example,
were buried in February 1238. But recent evidence in the form of
preserved maggots in their remains indicated otherwise. In fact, new
evidence shows that the bodies were probably decomposing in the open air
for months before they were buried.
“These people were killed, and their bodies remained lying in the snow for a fairly long time. In April or May, flies started to multiply on the remains, and in late May or early June, they were buried in a pit on the homestead, which is where they probably had lived.”
Fittingly, Engovatova described Yaroslavl after the attack as a “city drowned in blood.” The skeletons of the three family members as well as the remains of the other victims — including punctured, broken, and burned bones in the hundreds of buried bodies — certainly suggest that to be true.
Conclusion
We, as Americans, picture war from the lens of the television screen. We picture sleek state-of-the-art jet aircraft (or drones) firing high-technology missiles into mud huts, and an occasional Toyota pickup truck. We imagine well equipped soldiers with kelvar armored vests over their desert camo clothing. We see them firing assault guns and wearing high-technology wrap around black sunglasses.
We watch the news reports on Facebook and Google up some pictures on the Internet. Then we go through the drive through and get a number #3 with a large Coke at Burger King.
That’s not war.
That’s a police action by proxy being observed by disinterested spectators.
The most anyone is going to do is type up a snide comment in the comment section.
That is not war.
American soldiers in Afghanistan.
War, real war, is a deeply personal matter.
You and your family can lose everything, and very few people escape it without having family members killed, homes and livelihoods destroyed and your culture and society thrown into the dustbin.
War is not like a Hollywood Zombie movie. It is ugly and nasty. Everything is destroyed. Entire buildings burned up into charcoal and all vehicles inoperable. Stores looted, and women forced to choose between rape or death. When you are not picking the maggots off of a dead cat, you are trying to stop throwing up blood from your lungs. Real war is a nasty, nasty business. It is up front and personal. DO NOT BRING IT TO AMERICA.
The neocons of America are living a Hollywood constructed fairy tale. I warn everyone that you should not play around thinking that everyone else shares your views. They do not, and they are only getting pissed. Take heed.
America is not viewed as a white knight in shining armor. It is viewed as a corrupt bully that is completely out of control and needs a good slap-down.
Americans are just like those poor slobs in Russia that believed that their knights in shining armor would protect them. That those high city walls, and long-standing history of literature and culture somehow made them special. It didn’t. They were killed without mercy.
I hope that you found this post to be of interest. I have other posts in my SHTF Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Human history has been quite violent. From devastating pandemics to consistent war, our ancestors saw more action in a single week than most of us will see in our lifetimes.
We, living in our safe societies, has assumed that civilized safety is the norm. We are wrong. It isn’t. Violence is the norm.
Even if we have the numbers, it’s still difficult to imagine exactly how violent some of our history has been. Our most tumultuous times are now only remembered as statistics, even if they were a living nightmare for anyone unlucky enough to be there.
Consider the horrors during the collapse of society.
Here we discuss collapse scenarios and their stories. We look at historical events, and use them to predict future events. And, contrary to what we might want to believe, all nations eventually collapse. They do. This includes the largest empires on the face of the globe. Yes. This includes America.
Once they collapse, the survivors are either assimilated into other collectives, die off completely, or form new associations. Here, we look at the collapse of nations, empires and communities and what has happened during the events. These are just seemingly random reminders that the collapse of any society is possible and is often quite ugly.
This post…
This post is a compilation of musings that I have had for some time…
I have been wondering what it must have been for the people who were living in their nice stable societies when suddenly their entire world turned upside down. I wonder just how they felt when seemingly overnight, their entire life came crashing down.
America has NEVER experienced this.
Oh, some of the cities in the Southern States experienced this during the American Civil War, but they still were able to keep their English language, their history, and the deeds to their land. The people of Maine, for instance didn’t have the same experience that the citizens of Georgia or Alabama had to endure.
Nope. I’m talking about losing everything, and being grateful that you are still alive in a world that no longer speaks your language, where you are suddenly a third class slave, and every day is wracked with pain and agony.
America has never experienced THIS.
I say this because the collapse of the United States empire is probably going to be quite spectacular. It’s collapse will rival the fall of Asia before the great Mongol hordes.
The collapse of the United States is going to be spectacular.
I am going to concentrate on both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun for illustration. There are many examples that I can use, but rather than get involved in other places and times, we’re going to keep things simple. Perhaps I can compare collapses using other nations and other times such as the Soviet Union, or the Comanche nation later on.
Most of this discussion revolves around the changes made by Genghis Khan.
Disclaimer
I cannot read tea leaves and have no way to predict the future aside from paying attending to trends in human behaviors. I have no special abilities in this regard. What I know about the MWI provides me with very little insight on our apparent future. Just my own part within it.
My advice to everyone is simple.
Strengthen your relationships with your neighbors. Make yourself known. Know people in town by their first names and be welcoming to all your local neighbors.
Don't get too caught up with the news.
Observe prudence in stockpiling food, and basic necessities. Live in a rural area if possible. Keep positive thoughts for they will affect your surroundings.
I am not promoting anything, just simply discussing what happened in the past, and raising the alarm that it could very well happen again.
…
Oh good God, no!
…
Do not be under the impression that you and your children will always be able to get a Moca-frappe coffee at Starbucks. Times change. Sometimes they evolve peacefully and sometimes they collapse all together violently.
Destroyed Starbucks.
Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.
Let’s look at history.
Both of these rulers are similar in that they both seized well-established societies and communities. And those communities had become soft, complaisant and easy targets for a more aggressive society.
Genghis Khan (born Temüjin, c. 1162 – August 18, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia.After founding the Empire and being proclaimed Genghis Khan, he launched the Mongol invasions that conquered most of Eurasia.
- Genghis Khan - Wikipedia
Map of the Empire of Genghis Khan.
Both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun utilized superior military forces.
For the cities and cultivated places in the Mongols’ path, they were a natural disaster on the order of an asteroid collision.
Like the Huns and the Scythians before them, they came from the steppe grasslands of central Asia, which produced their great resource of horses and draft animals. After Genghis Khan united a number of Mongol tribes into a single horde under his command in the early thirteenth century, they descended on cities in China, India, Afghanistan, Persia, Turkestan, and Russia. Between 1211 and 1223, they wasted dozens of cities and wiped out more than 18.4 million people in China and environs alone.
-Brandon Christenson
These forces were trained and promoted through merit. They were lead by officers who obtained their positions through merit. In total these experts moved forward to conquer cities and nations. Nations, mind you, that had grown soft by a life of ease, internal political squabbling, and a digression away from meritorious behaviors.
Why is this important?
Attila the Hun = Russian Prototype = 450 AD
Ghenghis Khan = Chinese Prototype = 1200 AD
The time difference between the two is roughly 750 years.
So if you add 750 years to the time of Ghenghis Khan you end up with 1950. And in 1950 the largest nations in the world were China, Russia and the United States.
Using this rough calculation we can see that the decades following this date are significant for catastrophic changes in well-established nations.
China departure from pure communism to commercial socialism = 1970’s.
Russia departure from pure communism to democratic socialism = 1990’s.
American departure from oligarchical rule via democracy to a new form … 2020’s or so…
Every indicator is “red lining” and pointing to a massive reorganization of the United States. It may be voluntary, or it can be forced through catastrophic events. It might be initiated by the citizens themselves, or it can be aggravated through outside influences.
Though, reading the comments on social media, tells me that America is ripe for yet another fight. Ready to battle the world, Russia and China, for "democracy".
Totally oblivious to the consequences of global thermonuclear war.
What ever the cause, the developments, the reasoning, the mechanism or the intent… there WILL be changes coming to America in the 2020 decade. Here we discuss what it was like when the changes were brought forth suddenly to communities, cities and villages, in the past.
Please note all of these changes could have been prevented.
In every case it was the leadership of those cities, nation-states, and communities that “opened the door” for the rapid disintegration of their cultures, societies and lifestyles. In all cases, they misjudged the Huns, the Mongols, Attila, Ghenghis Khan, and their strengths. They viewed themselves technically, socially, spiritually, and culturally superior to the Asian horde.
They mistakenly believed that their previous national accomplishments, public structures, military campaigns, social importance, cultures and the arts were strong enough to withstand assault from outside threats.
They sat fat and comfortable in their capital cities, enjoying their concubines, eating lavish meals and trusting that things would forever continue on that path.
It was the national leadership that caused the destruction of their cities.
They mistakenly believed that their previous national accomplishments, public structures, military campaigns, social importance, cultures and the arts were strong enough to withstand assault from outside threats. They sat fat and comfortable in their capital cities, enjoying their concubines, eating lavish meals and trusting that things would forever continue on that path.
Leadership through merit
One of the most amazing things about the Mongols is that they had such exceptional leadership, even though they didn’t have much in the way of formal education.
The tactics and strategies employed by Genghis Khan and his greatest general, Subutai, were revolutionary, and at the time almost unstoppable.
One of the most amazing things about the Mongols is that they had such exceptional leadership.
Genghis created a meritocracy where the strongest and most talented rose to the top, and managed to unify the fighting Mongol tribes under his rule.
Leadership through merit creates a dangerous power.
General Subutai was able to simultaneously control two large armies, hundreds of miles away from each other. Pretty amazing in a time where communication was via horseback.
He was no slouch.
General Subutai won sixty five (65x) pitched battles, and masterminded over 20 military campaigns.
Leadership though merit will win over popularity or wealth every time.
US President Barack Obama has awarded the USA’s highest civilian honor to various actors, musicians and athletes during a ceremony at the White House.
The collapse of cities before Genghis Khan
We start our study by looking at some tales of cities that fell before the might of the Mongol hordes.
Now, empires, nations and civilizations don’t typically collapse due to war alone. It is often a combination of factors. Of which, war and violence is the most spectacular attribute.
Social collapse.
Political collapse.
Economic collapse.
Ethical collapse.
Physical collapse of infrastructure.
So, when Genghis Khan took over Asia, he did so not only with his superior forces, but through the knowledge that the cities were ripe for looting.
The cities were soft. Their people have become soft. Their rulers… soft.
President Obama showing his strength and leadership skills by riding a bicycle.
Their leadership was weak, and their military, while in numerous cases quite state-of-the-art, lost their ability to adequately assess threats, and dangers and take strategic action. They were led by weaklings, political appointees or nepotism.
They were not led through merit.
The cities started to adopt unhealthy behaviors and strange mannerisms. These in turn, isolated them from the surrounding communities. They began to get the reputation as a “loony bin” or place where people live “within their own bubble”. Today, even still, we refer to some of these cities such as Babylon, as a place of degradation.
The cities started to adopt unhealthy behaviors and strange mannerisms. These in turn, isolated them from the surrounding communities. They began to get the reputation as a “loony bin” or place where people live “within their own bubble”.
The collapse of a nation is caused by a combination of factors. Often, it is a superior culture or society confronts a stable but “soft” culture.
Most military historians judge that no European force could have stopped the disciplined and innovative Mongolian armies. “Employed against the Mongol invaders of Europe, knightly warfare failed even more disastrously for the Poles at Legnica and the Hungarians at Mohi in 1241”
-Stephen Hicks
You see the events around Genghis Khan are archetypal for the human condition.
Societies migrate from the K-reproductive strategy towards the r-reproductive strategy. Other societies do not, and then we have a situation where a K-reproductive strategy civilization encounters a r-reproductive society.
Blood is thus shed.
What happens when a society based on survival by merit encounters one of lazy sloth and unlimited sex?
Humans get comfortable, they get fat and lazy, and leaner, and meaner people confront them and take everything from them. The tough, the strong, and the aggressive takes from the weak and meek.
“The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.”
-Genghis Khan.
While this historical example (Genghis Khan) is actually referring to the physical seizure and physical destruction of people, place and things, we are referring to a far wider scope of assault.
A superior culture is one where everyone has a role, and works to the best of their ability. Leadership and success is determined by merit.
This can be military, as we have mentioned. It can be economic. It can be cultural. It can be sociological, and it can be ideological.
And, it can certainly be a combination of the above.
The Mongol were masterful at spreading fear and hate throughout Asia, people feared them, and therefore hated them.
They would rape and pillage entire villages, and torture their victims for fun.
Nobles would get it the worst.
Spilling noble blood was considered a crime, so they simply crushed them to death, which took many hours. Mongols would literally dine on top of them, making merry to the sounds of their screams from underneath. The sounds of bodies squelching, and bones snapping didn’t faze them.
But rumors of this execution method struck terror.
Fear made them even more powerful, and more feared, as people often chose to surrender and pay tribute rather than risk fighting them.
The tough, the strong, and the aggressive takes from the weak and meek.
They cultivated the illusion to sow fear into their enemies. And, you know, everyone who wasn’t a Mongol was their enemy.
Mongols also ate meat tenderized by being sat on beneath their saddles on long journeys; marmot steeped in sour milk; curds dried in the sun; roots, dogs, rats—almost anything, according to several observers. Marco Polo, who traveled among them in the years 1275-92, wrote that they ate hamsters, which were plentiful on the steppes.
A Franciscan friar who in 1245 went to seek out the Great Khan in the hope of persuading him to become a Christian reported that, during a siege of a Chinese city, a Mongol army ran out of food and ate one of every ten of its own soldiers.
Mediterranean people who knew the Mongols only by reputation believed they were creatures with dogs’ heads who lived on human flesh.
Other Mongol facts: On their treeless steppes, they tended to get hit by lightning a lot.
Thunder terrified them. They wore armor made of scales of iron sewn to garments of thick hide, and iron helmets that sometimes came to a point on top.
Their swords were short and sometimes curved.
The notches in their arrows were too narrow to fit the wider bowstrings of the Western people they fought, so that the arrows could not be picked up and shot back at them.
Mongol bows, made of layers of horn and sinew on a wooden frame, took two men to string. Warriors carried them strung, in holsterlike cases at their belts.
Mongols had no words for “right” and “left,” but called them “west” and “east,” respectively.
When anyone begged from them, they replied, “Go, with God’s curse, for if he loved you as he loves me, he would have provided for you.”
-The New Yorker
Human nature & Poland
Why do humans tend to get weak and soft? It’s in our nature. It’s called the r/K theory, and it’s worth a read. (Opens up in a separate tab.)
An anecdote from my most-recent visit there (Poland), which was three years ago. I was in the historic downtown of one of the smaller cities. My brother-in-law and I were at an outdoor table of a restaurant.
Next to us were two men, maybe mid-twenties. They discussed something. One of them was passionate about the subject and the other was listening.
For the first time ever in all of my visits to Poland, I felt that my SMV is behind the curve there. Age does its thing, of course, but that wasn’t it. Rather, after twenty years of my regular visits, I felt that… the young men there suddenly looked taller, better dressed, more intelligent, less awed by a shiny foreigner, more ready to give you that piercing look like they can make it hurt.
They are healthy people who see the same global war on Whites that I do, encircling their country.
The difference between me and them, is that I as a sort-of American represented a conquered people and they represented free men. What a difference that makes.
-PA "A Normal Country"
Best kinds of comments under Peter Sweden’s tweet are along the lines of “What a great example for the rest of us!” Exactly. The worst kinds of comments, and thankfully there were very few of those and I only saw them from European female posters: “I wish I could move to Poland.” Poland in the present moment is an example of a White Christian society that is free to be itself. This makes Peter Sweden’s statement “feels like a normal country” mean more than it does on its face.
“Normal country.” Ordinary people in a normal country aren’t going to be defensive or get in your face. Nor will they hem-and-haw like a normie-cuckservative who watches his words lest a non-lie slips out. What they will do, is patiently and politely tell you the simple truth because they are not ashamed of anything.
This is why Poland is so unusual to Western observers. It is a normal country in which men are masculine and women are feminine. Peter Sweden’s flattering comment about Poles should be as banal as an observation that the people there have two arms and two legs each. Yet it’s a startling observation because proper masculinity and femininity are under attack. Under these circumstances, Poland is paradoxically an extraordinary normal country. And so be it.
When people move away from “normal”, they become soft and easy prey for the rest of the wild dangerous world…
Here’s a shout out for Mr. Putin. You all might want to compare him to his American equivalent; Barrack Obama.
President Putin said, “It’s not just pounding your fists and making loud statements, I believe that strength has several dimensions: First, a person must be convinced of the truth in what he is doing, and secondly: he must be ready to go all the way to achieve the goals that he set.”
An important note
It is so very easy to get all caught up in history; dates, places and names. It can become so confusing if you are coming flush without any context to put the information into perspective.
Here, I am going to throw out some stories, history and details related to events and leaders of the past. This includes various generals, and leaders and the actions that they took. When names are given, it’s pretty much assumed that they are a ranking general.
There will be figures thrown about… 100,000 killed, 5000 ships sunk, 350,000 civilians slaughtered, etc. These are enormous figures and it is very difficult to put into perspective.
To keep things reasonable, consider that when figures such as these are mentioned, assume them to mean 95% of the people were killed, or 98% of the city was slaughtered. Or 100% of the ships were sunk.
Please do not get too caught up in the details.
It’s easy to get bogged down. Just read and learn that our past is a violent one, and enormous groups of people were caught up in very difficult times where survival was a rarity.
When a city was sacked our under siege, the surrounding environment was completely picked clean. The Mongols would forage for food, livestock and property. Homes, villages and communities were emptied. Roving band of marauders would attack individual communities and young boys would be set forth to learn how to sack a household on their own.
The Mongol area of influence during the battle of Mohi. When a city was attacked, the surrounding areas were emptied of everything. No one survived. Everything become the property and under the ownership of the Mongols.
The Mongols were like a plague of locusts eating and destroying everything in their path.
Speaking of Mohi…
Do not underestimate the dangerous
The Battle of Mohi was one of the most devastating battles in European history.
The Mongols attacked Hungary with three armies. One of them attacked through Poland in order to withhold possible Polish auxiliaries and defeated the army of Duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia at the Legnica. Duke Henry was slain (after trying to retreat) and “nine sacks of ears” collected by the victors “attested to the heavy losses of the defeated.” A southern army attacked Transylvania, defeated the Voivode (military commander) and crushed the Transylvanian Hungarian army. The main army led by Khan Batu and Subutai attacked Hungary through the fortified Verecke Pass and annihilated the army led by the count Palatine on March 12, 1241.
The Battle of Mohi, or Battle of the Sajó River, (on April 11, 1241) was the main battle between the Mongols under Subutai and the Kingdom of Hungary under Béla IV during the Mongol invasion of Europe.
It took place at Muhi or Mohi, southwest of the Sajó River.
Mongol use of heavy machinery demonstrated how military engineering could be put to effective and strategic use.
After the invasion, Hungary lay in ruins.
Nearly half of the inhabited places had been destroyed by the invading armies.
Around a quarter of the population was lost, mostly in lowland areas, especially in the Great Hungarian Plain, where there were hardly any survivors; in the southern reaches of the Hungarian plain in the area now called the Banat, and in southern Transylvania.
- Battle of Mohi - New World Encyclopedia
25% of Hungary’s population was wiped out by after the Mongol incursions.
Half of all livable places had crumbled, smashed to bits by hordes of Mongols. Losses were heavy on both sides, but the Europeans suffered most. This was the most important major battle of the war between Hungary and the Mongolians.
The Mongol invasion of Europe showing the battle of Mohi. This was the “Stalingrad” of the Hungarian Army. After the loss of this major battle, Europe fell to the Mongols.
After this major battle, Hungary was pretty much disarmed.
No armies remained to fight the Mongolians. Those few Hungarian survivors fled the area as fast as they could, leaving the cities. towns and villages undefended.
What followed was a tidal wave of death and destruction, as Mongol hordes rampaged through Hungary destroying cities, towns, communities, hamlets and habitations as they went.
What followed was a tidal wave of death and destruction, as Mongol hordes rampaged through Hungary destroying cities as they went.
It is terribly bad.
It made Hitler’s scorched earth policy look like a “walk in the park”.
Bela IV, the King of Hungary, actually had to run to his archenemy, Duke Frederick, for safety. Frederick extorted him for as much as possible, including three of his countries.
He was a coward, but he lived on…
And his nation was remade in the image of the conquering Mongol armies.
What must it have been like… I wonder…
Looting of a Gallo-Roman Villa, Painting by Georges Rochegrosse
We begin our study into this historical trend by looking at a fine painting by Georges Rochegrosse. It is titled “Looting of a Gallo-Roman Villa”, and it’s wonderful.
Let this painting tell the story of what to expect when a nation is ruled by the soft, corrupt and effeminate. Here we have a scene somewhere in the wealthy sections of the Roman empire.
Members of Genghis Khan’s armies have moved upon the villa. They killed the soft, fat and chubby wealthy owner, and took possession of his wives, sons, daughters and slaves.
Looting of a Gallo-Roman Villa, Painting Signed by the painter Georges Rochegrosse.Male servants / bodyguards are quickly killed and lie in front of the doorways, the walls and the stairs. Here, this male guard can be seen as such as determined by his pants and tunic / smock.The villa master / owner (fat, chubby, balding head, and fine white robes) lies dead in the flowers in his front yard. His fancy robes, and gold bracelets did not protect him.The military, with young restless males, kill their opposition and loot the household. They cart away what ever they desire.The owner’s wife / mistress / daughter is forcibly removed to be raped, and sold off into slavery. Judging from this painting, my guess would be that it was the mistress of the house. She is being removed along with the furnishings, carted away like the various possessions that the man had.The children, young daughters, sons, slaves, servants and elders are collected and stood in front of their news owners who will determine their individual fates. They are all resigned to their fates and await whatever lies in store for them.
The reader should never be under the impression that humanity has moved away from this reality. Technology has changed, but human nature has not.
Human nature has NOT changed.
The Nature of the society with advantage
In a nomadic society, you can’t afford to have slackers. There’s just too much work to be done. So that means it there’s no room for anyone who can’t make him or herself useful, women and children included.
This includes everyone, and if slaves cannot do what they are told, they are killed immediately.
Genghis Khan believed in being rewarded for hard work, and operated on a meritocracy over a nepotistic system. Many of his highest ranking officers and generals had earned their way to those positions, instead of simply being born to a particular family.
-Factinate
It’s not just the men folk. It’s everyone in the entire community.
According to the University of Victoria, Mongolian women were not only expected to shoulder a lot of the responsibility, they were also expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting.
This differs substantially from the lifestyle of the wives and women of the lands that they conquered.
While all women had to “earn their keep” in the households, the more “advanced the society”, the weaker and softer the women became.
While all women had to “earn their keep” in the households, the more “advanced the society”, the weaker and softer the women became. Rather than be tough, handling the daily chores, raising the children and supporting their men, they chose a life of ease and sloth.
Modern “woke” woman enjoying her “down time”. Self absorbed, selfish, and soft. They follow the historical norm for decadent cultures.
As such, when SHTF back “in the day”, there was little that they could do aside from submit to their conquerors. The women quickly learned their role in the new society or were killed. There were no other options.
Normalcy bias. The belief that things are never changing, that they have always been that way and will always continue to stay that way.
It must have been very difficult for the pampered women of the aristocratic classes…
Women who worked were not at all admired or esteemed.
Compared to their counterparts in ancient Greece, Roman wives of the upper classes were shocking in their visibility in public. Married women appeared in public, with their husbands, or with a retinue of attendants.
They went shopping, attended festivals, sacrifices, games, and entertainment. They acted as hostesses and dined out. They attended women-only social events.
Aristocratic women spent a great deal of time on personal grooming and beauty preparations.
- Women in Ancient Rome: Women's Daily Life and Work
A superior culture is one where everyone has a role, and works to the best of their ability. Leadership and success is determined by merit.
A superior culture is one where everyone has a role, and works to the best of their ability. Leadership and success is determined by merit.
Using Merit and Ability to control the weak and meek
Genghis Khan amassed the largest contiguous empire the world had yet seen. Only the British Empire, when it included both Canada and Australia, would be larger.
A superior culture is one where everyone has a role, and works to the best of their ability. Leadership and success is determined by merit.
Unlike Alexander the great, the Caesars or the Persian emperors, Genghis Khan’s idea of conquest was not to occupy and rule another people, but rather to rape, pillage and destroy everything in his path.
We was a warlord of destruction.
Genghis Khan was a man of reason. He let the people in the Mongol Empire live a happy life as long as they followed his rules. However, Genghis Khan cruelly punished everyone who tried to break those rules. For example, when the governor of one of the cities in the Khwarazmian Empire took over Genghis Khan's trade caravan and killed all the traders, Genghis Khan went berserker. He sent 100,000 Mongols to the Khwarazmian Empire and killed thousands of people, including the governor. Genghis Khan poured molten silver into the governor's eyes and mouth until the poor guy roasted from the inside. That was a clear sign that anyone, stupid enough to harm the Mongol Empire, would have to face devastating consequences. History shows that spreading fear worked perfectly in Genghis Khan's favor. He still needed to invade some rebellious places from time to time, but for the most of the time, people in The Mongol Empire behaved really well.
-The Richest
He purged the lands of all human opposition, all human constructions, all human education and learning, and all human influence.
Then he remade it in his own image.
Worse was to come in 1221 — ‘a year to live in infamy’. While Genghis’s other armies had been busy in the east, threatening Tbilisi in Georgia and terrifying the Christian world, Tolui, one of Genghis’s equally reprehensible sons, took Merv (in modern-day Turkmenistan), then one of the largest cities in the world.
Promised safety, the citizens surrendered and emerged from behind their walls.
Tolui looked at the mass of people placed in front of him.
He ‘surveyed the masses dolefully gathered with their possessions, mounted a golden chair and ordered mass executions to commence’. They took four days and nights to complete. Genghis’s rotten fruit did not fall far from the tree.
Terror — and the certainty of its visitation — was a major weapon in Genghis’s arsenal: decapitated women, children and even cats and dogs were reputedly displayed. But while the butchery was indeed immense, it is worth questioning its extent on occasion: a depopulated city had little economic value, and imported colonisers could make up only so much of the shortfall.
- Was Genghis Khan the cruellest man who ever lived?
Mongolia was a very difficult place to live, and thus the people that lived there become fierce and tough. Those in the West were no match for them. They became soft, and corrupt. They became easy prey for a tough warrior traditional conservative culture of warriors.
His total disregard for human life led to him being utterly feared throughout virtually the entire Eurasian land mass.
When George Curzon visited the ruined city of Merv in 1888, the vision of its decay overwhelmed him. “In the midst of an absolute wilderness of crumbling brick and clay,” the future viceroy of India wrote, “the spectacle of walls, towers, ramparts and domes, stretching in bewildering confusion to the horizon, reminds us that we are in the centre of bygone greatness.”
In its 12th-century pomp, Merv straddled the prosperous trade routes of the Silk Road. It was a capital of the Seljuk sultanate that extended from central Asia to the Mediterranean. According to some estimates, Merv was the biggest city in the world in AD1200, with a population of more than half a million people.
But only decades later, the city was effectively razed by the armies of Genghis Khan in a grisly conquest that resulted – if contemporary accounts are to be believed – in 700,000 deaths.
A trader arriving from Bukhara to the north-east or from Nishapur to the south-west would once have been relieved at the sight of Merv. Crisscrossed by canals and bridges, full of gardens and orchards, medieval Merv and its surrounding oasis were green and richly cultivated, a welcome reprieve from the bleakness of the Karakum desert.
The city’s enclosing walls ran in an oblong circuit of five miles, interrupted by strong towers and four main gates. Its streets were mostly narrow and winding, crowded with closely built houses and occasional larger structures: mosques, schools, libraries and bathhouses.
The citadel of the Seljuk sultans – replete with a palace, gardens and administrative buildings – loomed over the north-eastern part of Merv. Many different polities chose to make Merv the seat from which to rule Khurasan, a region that included eastern Iran and parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
“For its cleanliness, its good streets, the divisions of its buildings and quarters among the rivers … their city [Merv] is superior to the rest of the cities of Khurasan,” wrote the 10th-century Persian geographer and traveller al-Istakhri. “Its markets are good.”
Reaching Merv, the visiting trader might lead his pack-animals into the open courtyard of a two-storey caravanserai (an inn with a courtyard for travellers), where he would jostle for space with other merchants from as far as India, Iraq and western China. Or he could go straight to one of Merv’s large markets, convened outside the gates of the town or sometimes near its major mosques. The smoke of potters’ kilns and steel-making furnaces (Merv was famous for its crucible steel) would have hung over the surrounding industrial suburbs.
If the trader was feeling hot, he might step inside the icehouse on the city outskirts; a tall conical building where residents accumulated snow during the winter and which they used like a vast mud-brick fridge. Maybe he paid a visit to a member of the city’s elite who lived in a koshk (a fortress-like home outside the walls removed from the dust and noise of the city).
If he followed the route of the Majan canal, which ran up the middle of the city, past the workshops of embroiderers and weavers, he would reach both Merv’s central mosque and the adjacent monument, the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar. Built in AD1157 to honour the long-ruling Seljuk sultan, the mausoleum was a large, square-shaped building rung with fine arches, capped by a dome sheathed in turquoise-glazed tile. The dome was so intensely blue that according to the Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, who visited Merv in the 13th century, “It could be seen from a day’s journey away.”
The city was known as Marv-i-Shahijan or “Merv the Great”, the largest and most famous of a succession of towns in the Merv oasis. In fact, the city sat alongside an earlier incarnation of Merv just to the east, known as Gyaur-kala (“fortress of the pagans”).
Gyaur-kala flourished under the Sassanid kings of Persia from the third to the seventh centuries AD. Archaeologists have found evidence in this older Merv of a cosmopolitan urban society, boasting communities of Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Manicheans, Christians and Jews. Under Muslim rule from the seventh century onwards, the locus of urban activity shifted west across the Razik canal to what would become Marv-i-Shahijan (also known as Sultan-kala, “fortress of the sultan”). Many of Gyaur-kala’s structures were probably cannibalised for material in the construction of the new Merv, and industrial workshops, kilns and furnaces sprung up amid its ruins.
Merv was famous for its exports, especially its textiles. “From this country is derived much silk as well as cotton of a superior quality under the name of Merv cotton, which is extremely soft,” noted the 12th-century Arab geographer al-Idrisi. Robes and turbans made from Merv cloth were popular around the Islamic world.
So too were Merv’s much-loved melons. “The fruits of Merv are finer than those of any other place,” wrote Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century Arab chronicler, “and in no other city are to be seen such palaces and groves, and gardens and streams.”
Merv had such a strong reputation for commerce and the pursuit of wealth that the 14th-century Egyptian scribe al-Nuwayri described the city’s chief characteristic as “miserliness”.
But Merv under the Seljuks was also a city of learning and culture. It produced notable poets, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, musicians and physicists. The polymath Umar Khayyam is known to have spent several years working at the astronomical observatory in Merv. “Of all the countries of Iran,” al-Istakhri wrote of Merv, “these people were noted for their talents and education.” Yaqut al-Hamawi counted at least 10 significant libraries in the city, including one attached to a major mosque that contained 12,000 volumes.
No conquest was as traumatic as its pillage by the Mongols in 1221. Yaqut al-Hamawi was forced to flee the libraries of Merv as the armies of Genghis Khan’s son Tolui advanced upon the city.
“Verily, but for the Mongols I would have stayed and lived and died there, and hardly could I tear myself away,” he wrote sadly. The Mongols laid siege for six days before the city surrendered, prompting one of the worst massacres of the age.
According to the Arab historian Ibn al-Athir, who based his account on the reports of refugees from Merv: “Genghis Khan sat on a golden throne and ordered the troops who had been seized should be brought before him. When they were in front of him, they were executed and the people looked on and wept. When it came to the common people, they separated men, women, children and possessions. It was a memorable day for shrieking and weeping and wailing. They took the wealthy people and beat them and tortured them with all sorts of cruelties in the search for wealth … Then they set fire to the city and burned the tomb of Sultan Sanjar and dug up his grave looking for money. They said, ‘These people have resisted us’ so they killed them all. Then Genghis Khan ordered that the dead should be counted and there were around 700,000 corpses.”
- Lost cities #5: how the magnificent city of Merv was razed – and never recovered
The large walls of the city-fort of Merv today. You can clearly see the turreted towers, and the tall walls.
This level of fear is difficult to imagine. As we sit in our comfortable, well furnished homes, and our nice new iPhones and brand new pickup trucks. It seems so far away. Like that war that American are fight for off in west-bumfuck-istan. Something you read about, but don’t really get too concerned about.
The closest thing that approaches this level of fear is a full-scale global thermonuclear war with hyper-velocity MIRV’s targeting the cities within driving distance from your home.
Nothing quite ruins a day like global thermonuclear war.
Americans need to wake up to what REAL fear is like before it is too late.
On a personal level…
There have been many, many sad events associated with invasion, war and conflict. Let’s not forget that everything is on a personal level.
War is deeply personal.
It is on a visceral level, where once the society collapses, the military fails, and the rulers flee, it is the individual families that must confront their new fates.
Imagine that the menfolk are off in the local militia fighting off the Mongol horde. The ladies are at the farm. It’s quiet. The rooster is starting to crow, and then suddenly…
Let’s not forget that everything is on a personal level. It is on a visceral level, where once the society collapses, the military fails, and the rulers flee, it is the individual families that must confront their new fates…
About this picture…
It’s just a small story besides great catastrophes and tragedies, but the most memorable thing I have ever learned about is the small family that burned in their own oven while - probably - were trying to hide from Mongol invaders.
Their village - which was destroyed and burned - was dated to be from the 13. century which is the time of the Mongol invasion (1241–42 in Hungary).
Most people could probably escape their settlement as archaeologist only found one other body in a ditch, but they were not that lucky. In the burned house they found an 8–10 years old girl, a 10–11 years old boy, and a 20–30 years old young woman in the oven of the house.
Someone probably ignited their house and as they couldn’t escape they hid in the oven in desperation. They died with their hand protecting their face, probably from the smoke, the boy was holding onto a kitchen tool which he perhaps wanted to use earlier to protect themselves.
-Quora
These photos are really powerful as they tell the horrible, vivid story this family might have gone through, which is really rare in archaeology in general. We talk about invasions, wars, and catastrophes so easily and tend to dehumanize the people who suffered from them because it happened so long ago but looking at them… it just reminds me that these dehumanized masses were made of persons. On the oven baking surface, we opened the skeletons of two children who had been huddled together, in front of them, and at the mouth of the furnace, the remains of a young woman were found. The youngchild was an 8-10-year-old girl who, on her left side, curled up, holding her right hand in front of her face, behind her 10-11-year-old brother.
They used strategy, always doing something new and unexpected.
A single battle can be the turning point in a war, partly due to this psychological warfare.
Once stable societies with decades of peace, trade, gardens, and robust relationships can become ghost-towns overnight when an invasion occurs and the military is not able to repel it.
In the Batlle of Legnica the Mongolians are estimated to have been fighting a force twice its size with a variety of soldiers, including the famed Knights Templar.
A European coalition formed to try and stop the Mongols from entering Europe. The safety of Europe depended on this battle. Partway through the battle the Mongolian forces and began to retreat, and Polish forces charged in, reserves were also sent in to capitalize on this opportunity.
The Mongols used feigned retreats to separate the knights from the European infantry, and fight them separately.
Little did they know, they had fallen for one of Genghis Khan’s most famous tactics, the feigned retreat. The Mongols used feigned retreats to separate the knights from the European infantry, and fight them separately.
As a result the Polish forces were decimated.
Dead horses, men and blood were everywhere. The survivors fled. Leading vast areas of Poland undefended.
Dead horses, men and blood were everywhere. The survivors fled. Leading vast areas of Poland undefended.
The people outside of the cities, in the small towns and villages, often unaware of what was going on, were often surprised by local raiding parties of Mongols. The raids would happen unexpectedly and were often quite brutal and nasty.
They were often killed, or burned alive in their homes.
The mother cradles an infant in her arms as the the father tries to protect them both .
The Mongols Lied, and failed to keep agreements.
And, aside from that, they also were terrible at keeping promises…
Mstislave surrendered to Subutai with the agreement that neither he, nor any of his men would be harmed. They were all slaughtered upon leaving the camp.
Subutai led an army of 20,000 Mongols against a Russian army 4 times its size.
The Mongol rear guard was defeated early in the battle, and so the rest of the horde was forced to retreat. Mstislav the Bold chased down the retreating Mongols with victory in his eyes. His army spread out as they attempted to catch them, a chase which lasted many days. Mstislav spotted Mongols in formation along the Kalka River, and attacked without waiting for reinforcements. With his army in disarray, Mstislav was forced to retreat back to a fortified camp.
He had fallen for a feigned retreat.
Mstislave surrendered to Subutai with the agreement that neither he, nor any of his men would be harmed. They were all slaughtered upon leaving the camp. Luckily, Mstislav managed to escape. Mstislav the Bold, boldly ran away.
-ESKify
Entire communities were wiped off the face of the Earth. Their leadership, grown fat, complaisant and happy over the decades of a life of leisure, were not at all equipped to deal with fierce, aggressive humans.
The Mongols were responsible for their own provisions. So while they were not fighting the armies, individual raiding parties broke from the main group and attacked isolated villages, homes and hamlets. No one was spared.
Consider Hungary.
This was one of the most devastating battles in European history. 25% of Hungary’s population was wiped out by after the Mongol incursions.
Half of all liveable places had crumbled, smashed to bits by hordes of Mongols. Losses were heavy on both sides, but the Europeans suffered most. This was the most major battle of the war between Hungary and the Mongolians.
-ESKify
Lets look at what happened to some of the various cities that decided to stand up and defy the Mongol armies.
Kaifeng, 1232-33.
Kaifeng was the capital city of the Jurchen Jin dynasty of northern China.
Mongol Siege of Kaifeng, (1232–33). A Mongol army commanded by Subedei captured the northern Chinese Jin dynasty capital, Kaifeng, overcoming defenders equipped with gunpowder bombs. The Jin emperor committed suicide, handing control of Jin territories in northern China to the recently elected Mongol khan, Ogödei.
- Mongol Siege of Kaifeng | Summary | Britannica
At the time of the Mongol siege of Kaifeng, China was roughly divided between three empires, the Xi Xia, the Jurchen Jin, and the Song.
At the time of the Mongol siege of Kaifeng, China was roughly divided between three empires, the Xi Xia, the Jurchen Jin, and the Song.
The Jurchen Jin were the predecessors of the Manchus in northern China and they had been at war with the Mongols for about 20 years before Kaifeng actually became a target of Mongol ambitions.
One of the first major cities to be attacked by Mongol armies, Kaifeng was also one of the longest-lasting sieges, as its garrisons used firebombs, gunpowder, and the resources of the entire Jurchen Jin empire to fend off the assault.
Kaifeng was also one of the longest-lasting sieges, as its garrisons used firebombs, gunpowder, and the resources of the entire Jurchen Jin empire to fend off the assault.
The Mongols had learned well from their Chinese prisoners how to conduct sieges.
They built a 54-mile-long wooden wall of contravallation to hem in Kaifeng’s one million frightened inhabitants.
Contravallation definition, a more or less continuous chain of redoubts and breastworks raised by besiegers outside the line of circumvallation of a besieged place to protect the besiegers from attacks from the outside, as by a relieving force.
- Contravallation | Definition of Contravallation
In addition to the almost 150,000 Mongols conducting the siege, the Song sent 300,000 troops to help finish off their Jin enemies. For six days, the Mongol and Song armies assaulted Kaifeng’s wall but took thousands of casualties from a dreaded weapon called a ho pao, a long bamboo tube filled with incendiaries that could be lit with a fuse or thrown into siege engines from holes in the walls to explode with such force that it left craters in the ground and burned everyone in the immediate vicinity.
Thousands of Mongol and Song Chinese troops died in assaults against Kaifeng’s stout walls.
It was clear to Subedei that a long siege was needed to reduce the Jin capital. Plague soon broke out in Kaifeng, and Subedei withdrew his forces to let the disease destroy his enemies while the Mongol and Song armies remained plague-free.
Plague soon broke out in Kaifeng, and Subedei withdrew his forces to let the disease destroy his enemies while the Mongol and Song armies remained plague-free.
Within a month, the Jin emperor committed suicide. Soon afterwards the Mongol and Song armies broke into Kaifeng and began massacring the population.
Ogedei ordered the massacre to be stopped and aid brought to the suffering people. Subedei wanted to massacre the entire Jin population and turn the farmland into grazing fields for Mongol horses, but Ogedei overruled him.
Ogedei ordered the massacre to be stopped and aid brought to the suffering people. Subedei wanted to massacre the entire Jin population and turn the farmland into grazing fields for Mongol horses, but Ogedei overruled him.
Ogedei’s Chinese advisers had convinced him that the Jin population would provide lucrative taxes, craftsmen, and soldiers for future Mongol conquests. The Jin held out until 1234 before being overwhelmed by the combined Mongol and Song forces, ending the Jin dynasty forever.
XiXia, the capital of Zhongxing
The Xi Xia capital of Zhongxing presented a new problem for the Mongols, who had little experience in siege warfare.
In an earlier siege of the walled city of Volohai, the Mongols had attempted a series of suicidal assaults with scaling ladders that failed, and they suffered heavy casualties in the fighting.
Genghis offered to lift the siege of the city provided the residents gave the Mongols 1,000 cats and 10,000 swallows in cages. The puzzled citizens of Volohai quickly granted the request—and just as quickly lived to regret it when the animals fled back into the city with tufts of flaming wool tied to each of them by the Mongols.
Soon, the whole city was ablaze. While the defenders were occupied with putting out the fire, the Mongols scaled the now undefended walls and massacred the inhabitants.
Genghis did not want to face a similar costly assault of the walls of Zhongxing.
Instead, he decided to break the dikes on the Huang River and flood the city below.
The plan backfired, however, when the Mongol camp itself was flooded and hundreds of troops were swept away by the raging waters.
To make matters worse, the move left two feet of standing water for miles around the city, in effect creating a ready-made moat.
The Mongols retreated into the surrounding hills but returned in force in 1210. Xi Xia Emperor Li Anquan, not wishing to face another siege, agreed to give his daughter Chaka to Genghis Khan as a wife and to pay tribute to the Mongols as a vassal state.
Genghis demanded and received another 1,000 young men and women, 3,000 horses, and vast quantities of gold, jewelry, and silk.
The Xi Xia later rebelled in 1218 and 1223 because they tired of providing the Mongols with so many men to fight in their wars of conquest, but these rebellions were brutally put down.
-Warfare History Network
Hangzhou (Lin’an), 1276.
Lin’an, or Hangzhou, was the capital city of the Song dynasty, which ruled over the much wealthier, much more powerful southern part of China.
Thesiegelastedfiveyears, butafullblockadewasnotwonforthree. Afterthecity'ssurrenderin 1273, theSongcourtwasindisarrayanddecidedtosendoutaforceof 130,000 mentomeettheMongols, butlostdecisively. TheMongolstookHangzhouin 1276 andcleanedupSongloyalistsinthenextfewyears.
- How did the mighty China lose to Mongols? : AskHistorians
Map of the Song dynasty showing city locations.
The long campaign to conquer all of China went through Song lands, and the Mongols had an incredibly tough time making their way to Hangzhou.
The capital city of the wealthiest polity in China, Lin’an was also one of the largest in the world and housed merchants (and their religious sites) from all over Asia.
The public buildings of the Song dynasty were impressive.
In this international city, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism all competed for the hearts and minds (and money) of Hangzhou’s citizens.
The long campaign to conquer all of China went through Song lands, and the Mongols had an incredibly tough time making their way to Hangzhou.
The city of Hangzhou refused an offer to surrender peacefully and the Mongols had to fight their way in.
The siege of Hangzhou is less famous than many of the Mongols’ other sieges, despite the splendor of Hangzhou, because the royal family, headed by a child and run by a widowed empress – gave up and surrendered rather quickly.
Of course, once it was occupied it was burned to the ground. As usual, the Mongols massacred the city’s inhabitants.
The Mongols attacked the Jin Dynasty of northern China, whose ruler had made the mistake of demanding Genghis Khan’s submission. From 1211 to 1214, the outnumbered Mongols ravaged the countryside and sent refugees pouring into the cities. Food shortages became a problem, and the Jin army ended up killing tens of thousands of its own peasants. In 1214 the Mongols besieged the capital of Zhongdu (now Beijing), and the Jin ruler agreed to hand over large amounts of silk, silver, gold and horses. When the Jin ruler subsequently moved his court south to the city of Kaifeng, Genghis Khan took this as a breach of their agreement and, with the help of Jin deserters, sacked Zhongdu to the ground.
Xiangyang, 1267-73.
The Song dynasty was by far the most powerful enemy that the Mongols faced in their conquest of Eurasia. It was larger, wealthier, more populated, and had a better educated populace than any other polity in the world at the time.
OncetheMongolforcesoccupied Xiangyang, theycouldtravelbyshipsdowntheHanriverintotheYangtzeriver. AftertheBattleof Xiangyang, Chinacouldnotenjoytheprotectionofnaturalbarriersanymoreandsoitcollapsedinjustafewyears.
- Battle of Xiangyang - Wikipedia
The siege of Xiangyang, which lasted six years, was actually a siege of the twin cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng, which were both heavily fortified and served as the gateway to Song lands.
In battle, a historian wrote, “the Mongols made the fullest use of the terror inspired by their physique, their ugliness, and their stench.” Mongols were narrow-waisted and small-footed, with big heads. They shaved their hair short on the backs and tops of their heads and left it long at the sides. Custom forbade them from ever washing their clothes. Also contributing to their smell might have been their diet, which at certain times of the year was mainly mare’s milk. On marches when there wasn’t time to milk, Mongol riders would open a vein in their horses’ necks and drink the blood, either straight or from a pouch. Mongols were especially fond of fermented mare’s milk, called kumis. Many Mongol nobles died young from drunkenness. After victories, Mongols sometimes celebrated by drinking kumis while sitting on benches made of planks tied to the backs of their prisoners.
-The New Yorker
The Mongols had unsuccessfully laid siege to Xiangyang before, and gave up in order to conquer Russia and the entire Middle East instead.
The siege of Xiangyang, which lasted six years, was actually a siege of the twin cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng, which were both heavily fortified and served as the gateway to Song lands.
Mongol generals brought engineers from the Middle East to oversee the building and use of new trebuchets that eventually gave the invaders their victory over Xiangyang’s defenders.
With the fall of the twin cities, Mongols were free to overrun the rest of the Song dynasty’s territory. Most historians consider the sacking of Xiangyang to be the official end of the southern Song dynasty, and with it the cultural and economic power of old China.
Routing the Jin
In 1210, an emissary of the newly installed Jin emperor, Prince Wei, appeared before Genghis and demanded his submission and a tribute paid to the Jin.
An infuriated Genghis answered that it was the Jin who needed to pay tribute to him; he spat on the ground as a gesture of defiance. With his flank secured by the conquest of Xi Xia, Genghis was ready to attack the mighty Jin Dynasty.
After the Jin cavalry was defeated, the Jin pikemen, half of whom were militia conscripts, broke and ran. They were cut down by the Mongol cavalry or trampled by their own terrified horsemen.
In 1211, 30,000 Mongol troops under Genghis’s greatest general, Subedei, assaulted the Great Wall. The Mongols brought up groups of archers who cleared an area of wall while other Mongols scaled the wall with ladders and took possession of sections of it. The Jin rushed in reinforcements and recaptured the lost sections of the Great Wall. Thousands died on both sides as the fighting continued back and forth for several days.
The Jin brought most of their army to back up the forces defending the Great Wall. What the Jin didn’t know was that Subedei’s attack was merely a diversion.
Some 200 miles to the west, Genghis and a force of 90,000 Mongols were crossing the Great Wall at its end in the Gobi Desert. The Onguts, a tribe similar to the Mongols, were supposed to be guarding the western end of the Great Wall for the Chin, but they defected to Genghis and allowed the Mongols to cross into China unmolested.
After Genghis’s cavalry poured into China, Subedei’s force broke off its attack and crossed over into China from the end of the Great Wall as well.
The Jin forces were now out of position and moved to cut off the Mongols from Beijing. Genghis’s cavalry caught close to 200,000 Jin troops on open ground near Badger Pass, where the Jin hoped to block the Mongols from advancing any farther.
The Mongols would kill and acquire everything once they held a battle event. It was rare for there to be survivors, and the romantic notion of tending to wounded warriors was indeed a rarity.
The Jin formed for battle with the pike phalanxes and crossbowmen in the middle and armored heavy cavalry on the flanks. The outnumbered Mongol heavy cavalry engaged in a hotly contested battle on the flanks with the Jin cavalry as the densely packed Jin phalanxes and their crossbowmen held off the Mongol horse archers.
Suddenly, Subedei’s remaining 27,000 Mongols (3,000 had died at the Great Wall) showed up on the battlefield on the flanks and rear of the Jin army. The rout was on.
After the Jin cavalry was defeated, the Jin pikemen, half of whom were militia conscripts, broke and ran. They were cut down by the Mongol cavalry or trampled by their own terrified horsemen.
Bodies stacked “like rotten logs” littered the ground for more than 30 miles. Genghis then separated his army into three forces that burned, pillaged, raped, and murdered the populations of 90 cities over the next six months.
After the Jin cavalry was defeated, the Jin pikemen, half of whom were militia conscripts, broke and ran. They were cut down by the Mongol cavalry or trampled by their own terrified horsemen.
Despite the awful destruction, the Jin would not surrender. Genghis became frustrated by the enormous size and scope of a nation-state like the Jin.
He entered into negotiations with the emperor and agreed not to attack any more cities. The Mongols had already captured well over 100,000 Chinese prisoners; to make a negotiating point, Genghis had them executed.
Beijing
In response to the losses due to the invasion by Genghis Khan, the Jin moved their capital farther south, from Beijing to Kaifeng, and began rebuilding their armies.
Genghis was angered by the move, which he considered a betrayal of trust, and looked for an opportunity to attack the Jin again.
In the spring of 1213, the Jin attacked the Mongol-allied Khitan tribe in Manchuria.
Genghis came to the aid of his Khitan allies and attacked the Jin armies in Manchuria, which fell back to their fortifications at Nankuo Pass.
The Mongols were blocked from attacking Beijing by the well-fortified Jin positions at the pass and by the eastern sections of the Great Wall. The Mongols headed into the pass and then retreated. It was all a ruse.
Throughout history, Mongolia and China have had complicated relations. The Mongolian has the most robust environment; all the people are nomads who make their economy very poorly. The harsh environment makes it so tricky to survival, so the Mongolians always united to invade other countries.
The Jin forces hurried to trap the fleeing Mongols, recklessly leaving their fortified positions to pursue them.
The Mongols led the Jin forces into their own trap and destroyed most of the Jin army.
Those Jin troops that had not pursued the Mongols fled their fortified positions and retreated to the Great Wall, with the Mongols in hot pursuit.
A khanate was a political entity ruled by a khan. Historically speaking, the ruler of a Mongolian tribe was given the title ‘Khan’. Later on, this title was adopted by many Muslim societies. Although there were many khanates throughout history, the most famous ones are those that succeeded the Mongol Empire. During the 13th century, the Mongol Empire was established by Genghis Khan. To signify his position as the supreme ruler of the Mongols, Genghis Khan assumed the title ‘Khagan’, which may be translated to mean ‘Great Khan’. The successors of Genghis Khan continued to use the title ‘Khagan’, though it was not long before the empire began to fragment.
The Mongols caught and destroyed the remaining Jin troops as they tried frantically to retreat through the Great Wall. The Mongols then passed through the open gates of the Great Wall.
The Mongols began besieging the more than one million residents of Beijing. Beijing was a tough nut to crack, with walls and moats that extended more than nine miles around the city, and was watched over by 900 towers.
The city’s defenders had double and triple crossbow ballistae and trebuchet catapults that fired clay pots filled with naphtha-like incendiaries that exploded and set on fire whatever they hit.
Beijing was a tough nut to crack, with walls and moats that extended more than nine miles around the city, and was watched over by 900 towers.
The Jin also introduced one of the first poison gas weapons in history, firing projectiles bound in wax and paper of 70 pounds of dried human waste, ground-up poisonous herbs, roots, and beetles packed in gunpowder.
The projectiles were lit with a fuse and fired from a trebuchet, creating a deadly cloud of toxic fumes that killed or disabled anyone unfortunate enough to breathe in the poisonous dust.
The projectiles were lit with a fuse and fired from a trebuchet, creating a deadly cloud of toxic fumes that killed or disabled anyone unfortunate enough to breathe in the poisonous dust.
The Jin also had clay-pot firebombs filled with incendiaries to throw from the walls and hot oil to pour down on attackers.
The Mongols launched attacks against the walls with ladders, but lost dozens of men to the incendiaries and the hot oil.
The Mongols then forced Jin prisoners to build and push forward siege engines and serve as human shields for the attackers. Jin soldiers would recognize family and friends among the captives and hold their fire.
Many Jin prisoners were killed from missed crossbow fire aimed at the Mongols and from the bombs used to burn down the siege engines before they could get into the city.
Many Jin prisoners were killed from missed crossbow fire aimed at the Mongols and from the bombs used to burn down the siege engines before they could get into the city.
The Mongols and their Chinese human shields dug trenches covered by cowhide up to the walls to undermine them, but the Jin dropped firebombs from chains onto the trenches that exploded with such force that they left only smoldering craters and no intact human remains.
The siege dragged on for a year as starvation and disease began killing people on both sides of the walls, but the defenders, with more than a million people to feed, had the worst of it.
Two Jin relief columns loaded down with food were intercepted by the Mongols, and some defenders in Beijing turned to cannibalism to survive.
In June 1215, the Jin commander escaped to Kaifeng, where he was executed by the emperor for leaving his post.
The Jin also introduced one of the first poison gas weapons in history, firing projectiles bound in wax and paper of 70 pounds of dried human waste, ground-up poisonous herbs, roots, and beetles packed in gunpowder.
The desperate people of Beijing then opened the gates of the city to the Mongols, who ransacked the city and massacred thousands in revenge for their ordeal. The city was set on fire. Thousands of girls ran to the city’s steepest walls and threw themselves to their deaths to escape the flames and the unwanted amorous attention of the Mongols.
A year later, the ambassador of Khwarezm described seeing mountains of bones inside and outside of what had been the greatest city in the world.
Moscow, 1382.
By 1382, Mongol power in Russia had waned considerably.
So much so, in fact, that Moscow’s rulers felt confident enough to challenge the authority of the Golden Horde on the field of battle.
Russia around 1382.
After a string of light victories against Mongol cavalry earlier in the year, the Mongols showed up with a large force on the doorstep of Moscow, promising to spare its inhabitants if it surrendered.
The poor fools in Moscow believed the Mongols, and 24,000 people were slaughtered as the Mongols sacked the city once again.
Moscow believed the Mongols, and 24,000 people were slaughtered as the Mongols sacked the city once again.
The siege of Moscow (one of many) reasserted Mongol control over Russia for nearly 100 more years before the Russians were finally able throw off the infamous yoke of the Golden Horde.
When the Mongols invaded the Russian town of Yaroslavl in 1238, almost nobody was spared.
Hundreds were slaughtered brutally and dumped into mass graves as the town was completely sacked. Nearly 800 years later, researchers have given us a chilling glimpse of the victims left behind.
After the slaughter, Mongol raiders buried the dead in pits by the dozens with no markers to distinguish who these poor victims even were, wrote LiveScience.
But one pit of the dead in particular stood out after scientists of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology began genetically analyzing three of its 15 corpses.
Researchers found that the three murdered townsfolk buried together in the dirt were a woman, her daughter, and her grandson.
Moscow’s research team found that the eldest of the three corpses was at least 55 years old before she died. Her daughter was between 30 and 40, while her grandson was younger than 20.
They were buried in one of nine pits found at Yaroslavl, which altogether held more than 300 bodies.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
Nearly 300 bodies were buried across nine pits. The son, mother, and grandmother were buried in a pit of 15 people.
As for Yaroslavl as a whole, Mongols led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu Khan destroyed the town not long after advancing into Russia.
Nonetheless, enough buildings and artifacts survived to tell us a little something about the area, namely that it was a wealthy one. Scientists determined this by noting the tooth decay present in the three bodies in question and noting that the honey and sugar that could cause this were only available to those with substantial means at the time.
Beyond the three generations of one family left slaughtered in a pit, the scene at Yaroslavl showed just how brutal its conquest was. Batu Khan invaded towns like Yaroslavl with utter indifference, ultimately taking more than a dozen places in present-day Russia.
In just five years, he wiped out seven percent of Russia’s population.
When the Russian Grand Prince refused to submit to the Mongols, Genghis Khan’s grandson simply burned the capital city to the ground — with the royal family and every inhabitant inside.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
The skulls and bones all showed signs of violence. They were either punctured, broken, burned, or a combination of all three.
The brutality that has made the conquest of Yaroslavl unforgettable for many Russians was certainly on display in the way the victims’ bodies were treated after death.
Prior analysis suggested that the three family members, for example, were buried in February 1238. But recent evidence in the form of preserved maggots in their remains indicated otherwise. In fact, new evidence shows that the bodies were probably decomposing in the open air for months before they were buried.
“These people were killed, and their bodies remained lying in the snow for a fairly long time,” Engovatova said.
“In April or May, flies started to multiply on the remains, and in late May or early June, they were buried in a pit on the homestead, which is where they probably had lived.”
Fittingly, Engovatova described Yaroslavl after the attack as a “city drowned in blood.”
The skeletons of the three family members as well as the remains of the other victims — including punctured, broken, and burned bones in the hundreds of buried bodies — certainly suggest that to be true.
- Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238
Kiev, 1240.
There is a convincing argument to be made that during the medieval era in Europe, the Slavic world’s cultural, political, and economic epicenter was Kiev rather than Moscow or Warsaw.
The Mongols had so many oxen and cattle that they were able to carry all kinds of stuff with them—entire houses, and even temples—on giant carts. Observers said the number of Mongol horses was beyond counting, every warrior possessing many remounts.
Mongols spent so much time on horseback that they grew up bowlegged. If a Mongol had to move any distance farther than a hundred paces, he jumped on a horse and rode. A contemporary Russian annal describes the Mongol army approaching the walls of Kiev:
“The rattling of their innumerable carts, the bellowing of camels and cattle, the neighing of horses, and the wild battle-cry, were so overwhelming as to render inaudible the conversation of the people inside the city.”
Of necessity, the Mongols did most of their conquering and plundering during the warmer seasons, when there was sufficient grass for their herds.
-The New Yorker
Alexander and Frederick the Great brilliantly exploited the military foundations laid by their fathers. The genius of Julius Caesar and Napoleon was nourished by the might and wealth of Rome and France. Of the iconic conquerors, only Genghis built from scratch, spending over 20 years bringing the warring tribes of Mongolia under his rule, before exploding in campaigns of conquest at all points of the compass. The skill and mobility of Mongol horsemen was legendary; their archers and lancers were devastating. By his death in 1227, his armies had conquered as far west as the Caspian, annihilating the Khwarizm Empire, and crushed the Chin and Xi Xia kingdoms of northern China. Under his son, Ogedei, the Mongols advanced into China, India, and eastern Europe, where they routed Christian armies at Legnica and Mohi (1241). After destroying both the Abbasid and Ayyubid caliphates, the Mongols finally found their nemesis in the Mamluks at Ayn Jalut in Syria (1260).
When the Mongols invaded Europe and plundered Kiev in 1240, the collapse of Kiev indeed proved crucial to the invading army’s success in pillaging Europe’s surprisingly defenseless countryside.
Landscape of Podil. Fragment of ancient Kiev layout 10-13 centuries. Reconstruction Mazyukevich.
Unlike China, which had a densely populated countryside and a few well-fortified cities, or the Middle East, which had virtually no countryside and many well-fortified urban areas, Europe was comparatively rural, or semi-rural .
Map of the surrounding regions of Kiev prior to the Mongol invasion.
This meant that small urban areas like Kiev fell easily to the Mongol hordes, but it also made it harder for Mongol administrators to govern and tougher for the Mongol military to plunder, siege, and demoralize the populace.
None of this stopped the Mongols from wreaking havoc on eastern Europe, of course, but it does help to explain, in part, why khanates in Europe did not share the successes of their contemporaries in the Middle East, western India, and China.
Kiev has a moderately grid-like layout- much like the Greeks. It is probably like this because the Romans copied the Greek grid layout, and Ukraine was apart of the Roman Empire when it was established.
Oh, by the way, the Mongols slaughtered 48,000 of the 50,000 people living in Kiev when the city’s defenses collapsed.
Baghdad, 1258.
All is fine, peaceful, then all of a sudden all Hell breaks loose. It could happen to you, at any time, and at any place.
The fall of Baghdad was in a class of it’s own.
(General) Tamerlane’s thing was building pyramids out of heads.
When his forces took Baghdad, he spared almost no one, and ordered that each of his ninety thousand soldiers bring him a head (some sources say two) or lose his own life.
The thousands of heads were piled into towers.
Tamerlane also said not to destroy hospitals and mosques, a small concession by a Muslim to the former capital of his faith.
Nonetheless, thanks to him and to Hulagu, almost no architecture from the golden days of Harun al-Rashid has survived.
Baghdad would not be a city of any consequence for another five hundred years, until its strategic location and Iraq’s oil attracted the attention of world powers.
Many Muslims believe that the Mongol destruction of Baghdad and of the caliphate was the worst misfortune ever to befall Islam. With it, the faith’s first period of flowering came to a decisive close (though its actual decline had, of course, begun earlier).
Historical speculations about what might have been if the disaster had never occurred go in various directions, some tending toward the wild.
A book on Arab cultural identity published in the nineteen-fifties quoted a high official in the Syrian government who said that if the Mongols hadn’t destroyed the libraries of Baghdad, Arab science would have produced the atom bomb long before the West.
Recently, when TV stations everywhere were replaying the video of a U.S. marine shooting a wounded prisoner in a mosque in Falluja, a newspaper story about Arab reaction to the incident said that a retired army officer in Cairo said that the Americans were “acting like Genghis Khan.” He had the wrong Mongol, but his drift was ancient and familiar.
-The New Yorker
Baghdad was the technological, cultural, and societal center of the civilized world.
The walls of Bagdad.
As happens with most golden eras, Baghdad’s quickly ended.
A century after Harun al-Rashid, the city’s influence and glory had declined. Political changes made the caliph less powerful, limiting his temporal domain to Baghdad and nearest regions, though Sunni Muslims in other places still accepted his spiritual authority. The city remained a center of wealth and commerce, and an imposing sight architecturally.
A Spanish pilgrim, Ibn Jubayr, who visited Baghdad in 1184, wrote, “The Tigris . . . runs between its eastern and its western parts . . . like a string of pearls between two breasts.” He noted the beauty of the caliph’s palace reflected in the water.
Caliph Mustasim, the thirty-seventh in the Abbassid line, who became caliph in 1242, had confidence that his house would reign until Resurrection Day. Rumors of the approach of the Mongol army in 1257 did not worry him. During the reign of his father, the armies of the caliph had been among a very few opponents to defeat and turn back the Mongols.
From deep in Mongolia (General) Hulagu set out in 1253, marching westward at the head of a large force that included siege-engine experts of several nationalities.
His trebuchets could hurl huge rocks, and smaller stones covered in flaming naphtha, and his arbalesters could shoot bolts dipped in burning pitch a distance of twenty-five hundred paces.
Hulagu’s brother Mongke Khan told him to subdue the people he encountered as he continued all the way to Egypt, being kind to those who submitted and killing or enslaving the rest.
The Mongols took eighteen months crossing Asia as far as Afghanistan.
There and in the mountains of Persia they stopped to conquer the Assassins, an extreme Shiite sect that terrorized neighboring rulers by sending young men on suicide missions to kill them. The young men were drugged with hashish (source of the word “assassin”) and were told that when they died they would immediately go to Paradise, where women and other pleasures awaited.
In no-quarter sieges, Hulagu battered the Assassins out of their mountain fortresses with his heavy weapons, and then destroyed them root and branch.
Later historians agreed that in this, at least, he did the world a favor.
By 1257, Hulagu had reached western Persia.
From there he sent emissaries to the caliph telling him to raze the walls of Baghdad and fill in the moat and come in person to make obeisance to Hulagu.
The caliph replied that with all of Islam ready to defend him, he did not fear.
He advised Hulagu to go back where he came from.
The Mongol army had recently received reinforcements from other Mongol hordes, and a contingent of Christian cavalry from Georgia.
Perhaps the Mongols had eight hundred and fifty thousand soldiers; certainly they had more than a hundred thousand.
In November of 1257, they marched on toward Baghdad, dividing as they approached so that their forces would surround the city. The caliph sent an army to stop those approaching from the west, and repulsed them in an early battle.
In the next encounter, the Mongols broke some dikes and flooded the ground behind the caliph’s army, and slaughtered or drowned them all.
Mustasim, the caliph, was not of a character equal to such large problems. He is described as a weak, vacillating layabout who liked to drink sherbet and keep company with musicians and clowns.
Worse, from a strategic point of view, Mustasim had recently angered the Shiites by various insults and offenses, such as throwing the poem of a famous Shiite poet in the river.
Now vengeful Shiites volunteered help to the Mongols in Mosul and other places along their march.
The caliph’s vizier, or chief minister, was himself a Shiite of uncertain loyalty. Islamic opinion afterward held that the vizier, al-Alkamzi, vilely betrayed the caliph and conspired with the Mongols; an exhortation in Muslim school books used to say, “Let him be cursed of God who curses not al-Alkamzi.”
As fighting began, Hulagu, acknowledging the importance of Shiite support, prudently posted guard detachments of a hundred Mongol horsemen at the most sacred Shiite shrines in Najef and Karbala.
On January 29, 1258, Hulagu’s forces took up a position on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad and began a bombardment.
Soon they had breached the outer wall.
The caliph, who had been advised against escaping by his vizier, offered to negotiate. Hulagu, with the city practically in his hands, refused.
The upshot was that the caliph and his retinue came out of the city, the remainder of his army followed, they laid down their arms, and the Mongols killed almost everybody.
Hulagu told Baghdad’s Christians to stay in a church, which he put off-limits to his soldiers. Then, for a period of seven days, the Mongols sacked the city, killing (depending on the source) two hundred thousand, or eight hundred thousand, or more than a million.
The Mongols’ Georgian Christian allies were said to have particularly distinguished themselves in slaughter.
Plunderers threw away their swords and filled their scabbards with gold. Silver and jewels and gold piled up in great heaps around Hulagu’s tent.
Fire consumed the caliph’s palace, and the smoke from its beams of aloe wood, sandalwood, and ebony filled the air with fragrance for a distance of a hundred li. (A li equalled five hundred bow lengths—a hundred li was maybe thirty miles.)
So many books from Baghdad’s libraries were flung into the Tigris that a horse could walk across on them. The river ran black with scholars’ ink and red with the blood of martyrs.
The stories of what Hulagu did to the caliph vary.
One says that Hulagu toyed with him a while, dining with him and discussing theology and pretending to be his guest. A famous account describes how Hulagu imprisoned the caliph in a roomful of treasure and brought him gold on a tray instead of food. The caliph protested that he could not eat gold, and Hulagu asked him why he hadn’t used his money to strengthen his army and defend against the Mongols. The caliph said, “That was the will of God.” Hulagu replied, “What will happen to you is the will of God, also,” leaving him among the treasure to starve.
Many sources agree that there was fear of an earthquake or other shock to nature occurring if the caliph’s sacred blood was spilled. Learned Shiites advised Hulagu that no catastrophes had followed the bloody deaths of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, or the Shiite saint Hosein, so he should go ahead.
To be safe, Hulagu had the caliph wrapped in a carpet and then trodden to death by horses.
He also killed all the caliph’s family, except for his youngest son and a daughter. The daughter was shipped off to Mongolia to be a slave in the harem of Mongke Khan.
-The New Yorker
The Mongols took all of 12 days to destroy several centuries worth of cultural, political, and scientific achievements. All was left in ruin…
Hulagu left three thousand Mongols in Baghdad to rebuild it, but they did not accomplish much.
Decades later, it was still mostly a ruin.
Some irrigation systems that the Mongol army destroyed were not repaired until Iraq began to get money from its oil in the twentieth century. Mongols had no real talent for building, anyway.
Plague and famine and disintegration followed the Mongol incursion. Places they conquered sometimes had to be re-subdued.
The city of Mosul, which had submitted almost eagerly to Mongol rule at first, changed its attitude afterward, when a new malik, or prince, came to power there. Under his leadership the inhabitants of Mosul—Kurds, Arabs, and some tribal people—rebelled and forted themselves up behind the city walls, and the Mongols put them under siege.
During one attack, a number of Mongol soldiers climbed over Mosul’s walls, only to be surrounded and killed to a man. The defenders then cut off the Mongols’ heads, put the heads in a catapult, and fired them back at the Mongols outside.
This effrontery brought out Hulagu’s sternest side.
After his forces finally took the city, he ordered the malik to be brought to him. Then he had the malik fastened tightly inside a fresh sheepskin and left in the sun, where vermin ate him alive for a month until he died.
-The New Yorker
Aleppo, 1260.
In 1219 Genghis Khan went to war against the Khwarezm Empire in present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The sultan there had agreed to a trade treaty, but when the first caravan arrived its goods were stolen and its merchants were killed.
The sultan then murdered some of Genghis Khan’s ambassadors.
Despite once again being outnumbered, the Mongol horde swept through one Khwarezm city after another, including Bukhara, Samarkand and Urgench.
Skilled workers such as carpenters and jewelers were usually saved, while aristocrats and resisting soldiers were killed. Unskilled workers, meanwhile, were often used as human shields during the next assault.
No one knows with any certainty how many people died during Genghis Khan’s wars, in part because the Mongols propagated their vicious image as a way of spreading terror.
-History.com
The Mongol siege of Aleppo wasn’t all that noteworthy, and the city itself wasn’t all that important to any of the players involved in the Mongol conquest of the caliphate, but Aleppo is today a famous city (notwithstanding former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson’s famous gaffe) for all the wrong reasons.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Aleppo fell to the Mongols in six days, and like most of the Muslim cities that were conquered by the Mongol hordes, Aleppo’s citizens were callously slaughtered.
The Great Mosque of Aleppo, one of the few bright spots in the city’s long, mostly sad history, was also razed. (The Mongol general who led the siege, Hulagu Khan, executed some his local ally’s leaders, who were Christian, for this travesty.)
Bukhara, 1220.
Located along the Silk Road, Bukhara was at the time of the Mongol invasion of Persia a flourishing center of intellectual and commercial activity, and not just throughout Persia but the whole Muslim world.
Scholars, merchants, and mercenaries from Bukhara were famed as far away as China and Germany.
The walls of Bukhara are still standing today.
It is estimated that 30,000 people died after the Mongols conquered Bukhara, a result of most of the city surrendering but not the garrison.
Thirty thousand was a “moderate” number of people to be killed for Bukhara’s equally moderate resistance to the Mongol hordes.
Bukhara is a city found in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. It is located 39.77 latitude and 64.43 longitude and it is situated at elevation 229 meters above sea level.
The Mongol invasion of Persia, which was ruled by the Khwarazmian dynasty at the time, happened just as the empire was emerging from expansionary conquests of its own. This meant that the Khwarazmians, while technically governing Persia, had little actual power in the region, and the resistance to the marauding Mongols highlights Persian weakness well.
Samarkand, 1220.
... his armies moved west and targeted Persia in 1219, where the Sultan had, in an act of extreme foolhardiness, deliberately provoked Genghis by shaving off the beards of two of his ambassadors and killing a third.
Samarkand, that glorious city on the Silk Road, fell in 1220, despite the defenders’ super-weapon of two dozen war elephants.
McLynn dismisses the oft-quoted figure of 50,000 killed there in a single day (note the limited time span), but admits ‘it is clear that the death toll was terrific and unacceptable’.
-Spectator
Samarkand, the makeshift, emergency capital city of the Khwarazmian dynasty, was much larger than Bukhara and much better fortified. (Samarkand, was made a legitimate, non-emergency capital by Tamerlane 150 years after the Mongol siege and conquest.)
The Mongols used prisoners as body shields during the assault, and pulled off a brilliant tactical stunt when they collectively feigned retreat, drawing out the Persian garrison, only to turn on the careless attackers and slaughter them in the open field of battle.
Due to the fame of Samarkand far and wide, Genghis Khan spared the inhabitants of the city but did loot it and conscripted another estimated 60,000 for military service or craftsmanship. This left Samarkand, glorious from the time of Alexander the Great, empty of people and empty of riches.
Lahore, 1241.
Lahore is today the largest city in the Punjabi world, and one of the most important cities in all of Pakistan.
In 1241, when the Mongols laid siege to it for the first time, Lahore had already been abandoned for Delhi by elites who were worried about the unrest caused by the Mongol invasions in neighboring countries.
Lahore is a city found in Punjab, Pakistan. It is located 31.55 latitude and 74.34 longitude and it is situated at elevation 224 meters above sea level.
When Persia fell, for example, some of the Khwarazmian dynasty’s elite fled to Lahore, where they conquered the city and tried to establish a new dynasty.
The locals retook Lahore from the fleeing Persians, but this confusion only weakened the city and by the time the Mongol horde arrived in 1241, Lahore was ripe for the plucking.
The Mongols soon lost the city to yet another reconquest by the locals, but this back-and-forth between the marauding Mongols and the local elites rendered Lahore, once a prominent center of Islamic education and culture, a frontier urban area, fit only for fighting and brusque commerce with non-urban peoples.
Lahore’s frontier status, while bad for this once-prestigious city, enable the Indian subcontinent to largely avoid the fate of China, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
The Chinese were the most powerful and wealthiest country on the planet in the 1200s. China had the ability to put more soldiers in the field than many other countries had in total population! For a group of less than 70,000 horse archers to conquer such an enormous power without writing, sophisticated siege technology, or a concrete military system like the Chinese had is almost unimaginable. However, Chinese sources were stunned with the speed and efficiency with which the Mongols were able to sweep through their lands.
Genghis Khan Diverted A River Through An Enemy’s Birthplace To Erase It Off The Map
When Genghis Khan found the Muslim kingdom of Khwarezmia, he did
something unusual: He took the peaceful route. A group of diplomats were
sent to the city, hoping to establish a trade route and diplomatic
ties.
The governor of Khwarezmia, though, didn’t trust them. He thought the
diplomats were part of a Mongolian conspiracy and had them executed. He
killed the next group they sent, too.
Genghis Khan was furious. He had tried to be nice, and he’d been repaid with dead diplomats. He set up an army of 200,000 soldiers, attacked, and completely destroyed Khwarezmia.
Genghis Khan was furious. He had tried to be nice, and he’d been
repaid with dead diplomats. He set up an army of 200,000 soldiers,
attacked, and completely destroyed Khwarezmia.
Even after he’d won, Khan sent two armies to burn down every castle,
town, and farm they found to make sure that no hint of Khwarezmia
survived. According to one story, he even diverted a river to run
through the emperor’s birthplace, just to make sure it would never
appear on a map again.
Genghis Khan Erased A Kingdom From History For Not Helping Him
When Genghis Khan attacked Khwarezmia, he asked the conquered kingdom of Xi Xia to send him troops. They refused. Xi Xia tried to take a bold stand against their oppressor, and they quickly regretted it. The Mongolian army swarmed through Xi Xia, destroying everything that they found. They systematically exterminated every member of the population.
The Mongolian army swarmed through Xi Xia, destroying everything that they found. They systematically exterminated every member of the population.
They hadn’t written down their own stories, so the only records of their existence came from neighboring countries. Their language wasn’t recovered for more than 700 years. It took until the mid-20th century for archaeologists to unearth stones that had their writing on them. In the meantime, every word they had spoken was forgotten.
Genghis Khan died during the battle, most likely from being thrown from his horse. Still, the Mongolian army carried out his work. They slaughtered every person they found, even after their leader was dead and their enemy had surrendered.
The Yuan Dynasty
In 1251, Mongke was elected Great Khan and decided to intensify the war with the Song Dynasty.
In 1253, some 100,000 Mongols and their Chinese allies captured Dali and Yunnan and crossed through Laos to attack the Song Empire’s southern flank.
The Mongols clashed with more than 100,000 Song troops and 1,000 war elephants near the Laotian border.
The next year, the Mongols clashed with more than 100,000 Song troops and 1,000 war elephants near the Laotian border. The Mongol horses would not charge the elephants, so the Mongols dismounted and fired flaming arrows to kill or enrage the great animals, which became uncontrollable and randomly killed men on both sides.
The battle degenerated into a chaotic hand-to-hand battle.
Both armies virtually annihilated each other, and the Mongols withdrew into Laos with only 20,000 men.
In 1257, Mongke made the mistake of invading Da Viet (North Vietnam) and lost most of the rest of his men and horses to disease in the intense tropical conditions.
In 1258, Mongke pulled together 300,000 Mongol and Chinese soldiers to face a massive army of over 400,000 Song Chinese troops under General Wang Jian in Sichuan.
In 1259, the two sides met at the Battle of Diaoyucheng. During the battle, Mongke collapsed and died from cholera and dysentery. The battle ended in stalemate, with more than 100,000 dead on both sides, including Wang Jian.
In 1259, the two sides met at the Battle of Diaoyucheng. During the battle, Mongke collapsed and died from cholera and dysentery. The battle ended in stalemate, with more than 100,000 dead on both sides, including Wang Jian.
The new commanding Song general, Jia Sidao, collaborated with Genghis Khan’s grandson, Prince Kublai, and worked out a deal whereby the Song army would occupy Sichuan under Mongol authority.
The Death of Genghis, the Ascension of Ogedei
Despite the overwhelming victories, the Mongols were trapped in a long war of attrition in China.
Rather than finish the conquest of the Jin, Genghis became sidetracked in 1217 in the destruction of Khwarezm (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), an Islamic holocaust in which more than a million people were massacred by the Mongols.
During the campaign to conquer Khwarezm, the Mongols brought in thousands of Chinese engineers, siege engines, and crews to help reduce Islamic fortifications.
In 1223, Genghis turned his attention back on the Jin.
He sent a trusted general, Mukhulai, with 100,000 troops to attack Chang’an, which was defended by 200,000 Jin troops. Mukhulai became ill and died. As soon as this happened, the Xi Xia troops abandoned the Mongol army, which in turn caused the siege to be abandoned.
Genghis then hunted down and killed the Xi Xia troops who had deserted his army.
Genghis himself died in 1227, probably from typhus, while planning yet another massive invasion of Jin.
His son, Ogedei, ascended the throne and sent envoys to the Jin, who promptly had them executed. Meanwhile, Subedei was to conduct one last effort to conquer the Jin in 1231. The Jin armies all faced north to prevent Subedei’s 120,000 Mongols from crossing the Yellow River. Subudei sent a general named Tuli with 30,000 Mongols on an arduous journey across the western Chinese mountains of Sichuan and through Song territory into southern Jin territory.
The women of China fared poorly once the Mongol invaders captured a city.
The Jin panicked, thinking the Mongol force was much bigger than it was.
The Jin repositioned the majority of their troops to the south and began pursuing the Mongols with a massive force of over 300,000 men. The Mongols retreated as planned into the Sichuan Mountains as the huge Jin army followed them.
The Mongols fought a tenacious rearguard action with their archers in the rough mountain terrain, killing thousands of pursuing Jin. The Mongols led the Jin higher and deeper into the snow-covered mountains, where additional thousands froze to death or fell off the icy trails.
The Mongols circled back through the mountain passes and destroyed the Jin baggage trains, adding starvation to the woes the Jin troops were already enduring.
Once Subedei had the main Jin army trapped in the mountains of Sichuan, he moved his 120,000 Mongols across the Yellow River against the much smaller Jin forces.
The Jin belatedly realized their mistake and began desperately trying to get their main army out of the mountains to defend the capital.
The Jin retreat turned into a rout as Tuli’s and Subedei’s forces massacred the entire Jin army without mercy on the open ground within sight of Kaifeng.
A Five-Year Siege of the twin fortress cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng.
In 1265, a Chinese allied naval force destroyed 100 Song ships in a river battle, and Mongol troops defeated the isolated Song army to regain control of part of Sichuan.
The key to conquering the Song was capturing the twin fortress cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Both cities had thick walls with wide moats protecting the convergence of the Han and Yellow Rivers.
The city walls of Xiangyang today.
In 1268, the Mongols built fortifications downriver from Xiangyang on the Han River to cut off resupply of the city by ship. Never the less, most Song ships were able to run by the Mongol forts and resupply Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Chinese ships allied with the Mongols were brought in to block the passage between the Mongol forts. More than 20 miles of siege lines were built around Xiangyang and Fancheng on both sides of the Han River.
Tourists visit the Urn City which is fenced by old city walls in Xiangyang, central China’s Hubei Province, March 21, 2013. Xiangyang, a prefecture-level city in central China’s Hubei Province, has a history of over 2,000 years. It was the location of major battles during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.) and the Southern Song period (1127-1279 A.D.). The city is well-known for its city wall, which is very old but reserved well. To better develop its tourism as well as to protect its historical relics, the local government has poured hundreds of millions of yuan to restore the Three Kingdom remains since 2006.
The Mongols and their Chinese engineers set up trebuchets and began firing incendiary clay bombs and exploding biochemical projectiles they had learned from the Jin at the siege of Beijing in 1215.
The Song fired incendiary bombs and biochemical projectiles at the Mongols as well, causing great destruction and loss of life on both sides. The Mongols had to pull back after their wooden siege walls and trebuchets caught fire from the bombardments, leaving the Mongols with no cover, while the Song defenders took shelter behind the twin cities’ stout rock and masonry walls.
The fortification of the city of Xi’an, the ancient capital of Shaanxi province, in the center of the Guanzhong Plain, represents one of the oldest and best preserved Chinese city walls. The wall was built in the 14th century by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, under the advice of a hermit who told him to “built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,” so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), creating the modern Xian City Wall. It’s the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.
In 1269, Kublai Khan sent another 20,000 troops to replace those in the previous year’s fighting. More than 3,000 Song ships attacked the Mongol forts on the Han River in an effort to break the blockade, but 500 ships were sunk by Kublai Khan’s brilliant admiral Liu Cheng, who had defected to the Mongols.
Mongol and Chinese troops clambered aboard the Song vessels and beheaded hundreds of Song soldiers and sailors.
The besieged Song tried several unsuccessful attempts to break out but were defeated each time with thousands of casualties.
In 1271, 100 Song ships successfully broke through a boom across the Han River to bring 3,000 soldiers and much-needed supplies to reinforce Xiangyang.
The original Xi’an city wall was started in 194 BCE and took 4 years to finish. Upon completion, the wall measured 25.7 km in length and 12–16 m in thickness at the base, and enclosed an area of 36 square km. The first city wall was built of earth, quick lime, and glutinous rice extract, tamped together. Later, the wall was totally enclosed with bricks. Xi’an’s city wall, after its enlargement in the Ming Dynasty, stands 12 meters high. It is 12-14 meters across the top, 15-18 meters thick at bottom, and 13.7 kilometers in length and encircles an area of roughly 14 square kilometers within the city. There is a rampart every 120 meters that extend out from the main wall and allow soldiers to see enemies trying to climb the wall. The distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of arrow shot from either side.
The siege dragged on with no real advantage for either side until Kublai Khan decided to send a Muslim engineer captured during the siege of Baghdad to China to build a giant 40-ton trebuchet that could hurl 220-pound projectiles more than 600 feet to breach the cities’ walls.
After a few days, a breach was opened and Mongol troops stormed through to meet the Chinese defenders.
For days, men fought and died in the vicious battle at the breach.
There are four main gates on the wall, which were the only way to go into and out of town in ancient times. Each gate is overlooked by sentries on three towers. A wide moat ran around the city. Over the moat, there used to be huge drawbridges, which would cut off the way in and out of the city, once lifted.
The Song were able to throw more soldiers into Fancheng to defend the breach from a pontoon bridge that connected Xiangyang across the Han River.
The Mongols called off the assault on the breach and used their giant trebuchet to widen the breach and destroy the pontoon bridge. Incendiary bombs fired from the trebuchet struck the bridge and consumed it.
With Fancheng cut off from reinforcements, the Mongols assaulted the widened breach. The disheartened defenders held on for several hours before resistance broke and the Mongols poured into the city and began massacring the inhabitants.
The Mongols took the last 3,000 Song soldiers and 7,000 inhabitants to the walls facing Xiangyang and in full view slit the prisoners’ throats and threw them off the wall.
The Mongols took the last 3,000 Song soldiers and 7,000 inhabitants to the walls facing Xiangyang and in full view slit the prisoners’ throats and threw them off the wall.
The Mongols then dismantled their giant trebuchet and repositioned it across the river facing Xiangyang. The first shot from the trebuchet forced a tower to collapse in a great crash as the Song inhabitants screamed in terror.
Kublai Khan offered to spare the inhabitants and to reward the Song commander if he would surrender the city.
Xiangyang was surrendered and the Song heartland was open to the Mongols. The siege had lasted from 1268 to 1273.
The impregnable fortress of Yang-lo.
In 1274, the Mongols headed down the Han River, bypassing Song fortresses and emerging onto the flood plains of the Yangtze River. The Mongols now faced the impregnable fortress of Yang-lo.
The Mongols sacrificed several thousand Chinese troops on a frontal attack on Yang-lo while most of the Mongol army, carrying a number of ships, bypassed the fort and crossed the river upstream.
In 1274, the Mongols headed down the Han River, bypassing Song fortresses and emerging onto the flood plains of the Yangtze River. The Mongols now faced the impregnable fortress of Yang-lo.
Then the Mongol and Chinese fleet came down the Yangtze and attacked the Song fleet from both front and behind. The Song boats were packed so close together on the river that incendiary bombs fired from Mongol catapults set much of the Song fleet on fire.
Thousands perished in the flames.
Fortress Yang-lo and the 100,000 cut-off Song troops surrendered the next day.
Genghis Khan Exterminated 1.7 Million People To Avenge One Person
The marriages might have been strategic alliances, but that didn’t
mean there wasn’t any love involved. One of Genghis Khan’s daughters
loved her husband, a man name Toquchar. Genghis Khan loved him, too, as
his favorite son-in-law.
When Toquchar was killed by an archer from Nishapur, his wife demanded vengeance.
Genghis Khan’s troops attacked Nishapur and slaughtered every person
there. By some estimates, 1,748,000 people were killed. Other historians
dispute that number, but there’s no doubt that his armies killed
everyone they found.
Women, children, babies, and even dogs and cats were tracked down and murdered.
Then they were beheaded, and their skulls were piled into pyramids—a request by Genghis Khan’s daughter to ensure that no one got away with a simple wounding.
Acts of Desperation
In 1275, Jia Sidao set out from the capital of Hangzhou at the head of 100,000 Song troops and another fleet of 2,500 ships in a last-ditch effort to stop the Mongol juggernaut.
Jia Sidao quote.
A massive cavalry and infantry battle took place on both sides of the river. The Mongols and their Chinese allies pushed back the Song army and boarded their ships from both ends of the river, beheading thousands of Song troops and capturing 2,000 ships.
It was another overwhelming victory for the Mongols.
Jia Sidao quote.
Jia Sidao was later assassinated by a Song officer.
Jia Sidao quote.
On February 21, 1276, the boy emperor Zhao Xian came out of Hangzhou, bowed toward the north in obeisance to Kublai Khan, and turned over the capital and the rest of the Song Empire to the Mongols.
The Mongol conquest of China had taken 74 years and claimed the lives of as many as 25 million Chinese from war, plague, and famine.
As much as Mongolians love Genghis Khan, Iranians hate him. And there is a legit reason for that. The Khwarazmian Empire was located in the territory of Iran, and it was a very powerful dynasty up until the Mongol Empire invaded it.
In just a few years, the Mongols with Genghis Khan ahead of them, entirely destroyed and conquered the Khwarazmian Empire. Scholars estimate that during the wars, Genghis Khan butchered around 3/4 of the Iranians. That is one of the biggest genocides in history, and estimations show that the population of Iranians only reached its pre-Mongols level in the mid-20th century.
Oh yes, it took Iranians 700 years to heal their deep wounds left by Genghis Khan. Even today, Iranians have a saying "it's as if the Mongols have attacked," which means that something chaotic and brutal has happened. Thanks to Genghis Khan, Iranians will never forgive Mongols their crimes.
-The Richest
Ramifications
The ramifications of the Mongol conquest of China were felt for some time. The Ming, who overthrew the Mongols in 1368, became obsessed with improving and lengthening the Great Wall to close to 5,000 miles (including walls that backed up walls) to prevent another Mongol invasion of China.
This was the ancient version of The Maginot Line. A very costly and enormous albatross.
The Great Wall as it existed from the time of the Ming Dynasty was an expensive reaction to the Mongol conquest of China. In the end, the improved Great Wall did not save China.
In 1644, a Mongol-like nation, the Manchu, conquered China and ruled the unhappy nation until 1911.
Re-population of conquered lands.
The Mongols completely repopulated Asia in their own image.
Incursions into Southeast Asia were largely successful, most factions agreed to pay tribute, and only the Invasions into Vietnam and Java failed.
Europe was devastated by the Mongols. They destroyed near enough every major Russian city, and invaded Volga Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary. If rumours spread that the Mongols were coming, then it would cause a mass panic, and some would run to safety.
There was no guaranteed way to defeat the Mongol hordes, they continuously defeated much larger armies, so numerical strength couldn’t protect you.
Mongol conquests would leave once populous and flourishing areas as wastelands, with little to no people, those remaining would be slaves.
-ESKify
They used their abilities, and fear of the meek, to seize control.
The Mongol were masterful at spreading fear and hate throughout Asia, people feared them, and therefore hated them.
They would rape and pillage entire villages, and torture their victims for fun. Nobles would get it the worst. Spilling noble blood was considered a crime, so they simply crushed them to death, which took many hours.
Mongols would literally dine on top of them, making merry to the sounds of their screams from underneath. The sounds of bodies squelching, and bones snapping didn’t faze them.
But rumours of this execution method struck terror. Fear made them powerful, as people often chose to surrender and pay tribute rather than risk fighting them.
-ESKify
Women, gold, horses, and other objects were considered spoils of war, which meant soldiers got to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do with them. Now, you don’t have to stretch your imagination too much to figure out what that means.
Do you?
Women, gold, horses, and other objects were considered spoils of war, which meant soldiers got to do pretty much whatever they wanted to do with them.
Amassing large harems was an important occupation of the khans. Genghis Khan was said to have had five hundred wives and concubines. When the Mongols overran a place, their captains took some of the women and passed along the more beautiful ones to their superiors, who passed the more beautiful to their superiors, and so on all the way to the khan, who could choose among the pulchritude of a continent. Genghis Khan had scores of children, as did other khans and nobles descended from him for centuries in the Genghis Khanite line.
Recently, a geneticist at Oxford University, Dr. Chris Tyler-Smith, and geneticists from China and central Asia took blood samples from populations living in regions near the former Mongol empire, and they studied the Y chromosomes. These are useful in establishing lineage because Y chromosomes continue from father to son. Dr. Tyler-Smith and his colleagues found that an anomalously large number of the Y chromosomes carried a genetic signature indicating descent from a single common ancestor about a thousand years ago. The scientists theorized that the ancestor was Genghis Khan (or, more exactly, an eleventh-century ancestor of Genghis Khan). About eight per cent of all males in the region studied, or sixteen million men, possess this chromosome signature. That’s a half per cent of the world’s entire male population. It is possible, therefore, that more than thirty-two million people in the world today are descended from Genghis Khan.
-The New Yorker
On the other hand, if you were lucky enough to be super-extra
beautiful, you could be forcibly entered into one of Genghis Khan’s
weird beauty pageants.
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted. For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one. Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool.
So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan's women. Rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants.
-The Richest
According to Ancient Origins, once Genghis’ soldiers were done with the pillaging and the abusing, they brought Genghis himself the most beautiful women they’d encountered.
I’m sure that Genghis appreciated the sentiment.
Girls in Mongolia seem to be a mystery to all but those who have visited these rare lands. These unique girls offer Asian features with larger bodies than most expect.
I was baffled by the women I encountered in Mongolia.
I’d never seen such tall, curvy Asians (well, Indonesian girls are curvy) in all of my travels throughout the region. There was truly something different about the Mongolian girls.
After meeting, greeting, and mating with some of these fine specimens, it finally clicked – these gals were direct descendants of Genghis Khan. I was balls deep in warrior genes, and I can’t lie – the thought of having myself a warrior-blooded baby certainly went through my mind.
-Life around Asia
These women alone would be spared from the antics of the conquering
army so they could be paraded in front of the man himself. The winner
got the honor of becoming one of Genghis Khan’s many wives, which was
probably preferable to ending up as the loser, though Ancient Origins
doesn’t say what happened to them.
First and foremost, these girls were definitely Asian. Their features were dainty and stunning. However, Mongolian girls did not remind me of Thai girls or Indonesian girls much. They seemed to have a unique mixture to them.
I’d say many of the girls looked maybe 75% Asian with a mixture of Slavic genes, too.
It was incredibly unique and quite sexy. Some guys said they weren’t too into the look, but I loved it! Think a girl who is 2/3rds Asian and a third Russian. How could that not be sexy?!
-Life around Asia
Modern Mongolian beauty.
Evidently, though, women who Genghis deemed not to be up to his
standards of beauty were sent off with the soldiers to be abused and
then discarded. So yeah, great to be a woman in peacetime Mongolia but
when Genghis comes to town you might just want to emigrate to China.
0.5 Percent of all men alive today are believed to have a genetic relation with Genghis Khan. It is estimated that his descendants are 8 percent of men in Asia.
-My Interesting Facts
The fate of the civilians.
Although Genghis Khan restricted the use of torture, Mongol executions were often extremely grisly.
When Guyuk Khan suspected that the powerful courtier Fatima had poisoned his brother, Guyuk had her tortured into confessing before “her upper and lower orifices were sewn up and she was rolled up in a sheet of felt and thrown into the river.”
The Mongols traditionally had a taboo against shedding royal blood, so another favorite method of execution was crushing.
Although Genghis Khan restricted the use of torture, Mongol executions were often extremely grisly.
The Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim was rolled up in a carpet and trampled to death by stampeding horses.
After the Battle of the Kalka River, captured Russian princes were shoved under some floorboards and crushed as the Mongols held their victory feast on top of them.
Genghis himself ordered that a captured Tangut ruler be renamed Shidurqu (“Loyal”) before he was crushed, so that his spirit would be forced to serve the Mongols in the afterlife.
He was lucky compared to the Persian noble who was covered in sheep fat, wrapped in felt, and left tied up in the hot sun to meet his fate.
Genghis Khan’s Legacy
Perhaps the greatest legacy a conqueror can leave is his progeny.
Genghis Khan wasn’t an especially gracious winner — after he was
done with the conquering, he enjoyed abducting his enemies’ wives and
either romancing them or brutalizing them, depending on how cool they
were with being abducted by Genghis Khan.
Mongolian
girls are smart, beautiful, stacked, and feisty. They also can drink
you under the table. They are warriors from warrior stock.
In fact in one of his most famous quotes he waxed poetic about the joys of the post-conquering aftermath:
"The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."
Nice guy, that Genghis.
He wasn’t always content to romance just one woman at a time, either.
According to Ancient Origins, his army commanders were all super-impressed with his manliness because he frequently spent his evenings with multiple women. I mean, that was his role; to repopulate the conquered (now depopulated) lands in his image (literally).
While broad shoulders aren’t exactly a good trait on women, the women in Mongolia didn’t get the short end of the stick in other ways.
In fact, I found some of the biggest Asian tits in the world to be in Mongolia. It was fantastic for me, as I’m a boobs man!
There are a number of rain-thin Mongolian girls that have big, natural racks. I was thoroughly impressed. In fact, outside of Indonesia, I haven’t seen bigger tits in an Asian country. The asses here aren’t as amazing as the boobs, but there still above average for Asia.
-Life around Asia
If
you were the first wife, you basically inherited everything and became
head of the household. After that you got to live pretty much
autonomously and independently, which is not something that was
especially common around the world during that time period.
A stronger genetic pool…
He wasn’t that into birth control, either, in fact by modern estimates Genghis Khan has roughly 16 million descendants.
Now, the study that put forth this hypothesis can’t actually prove that
the individual they identified is Genghis Khan, since no one knows
where the Mongol leader is buried and therefore they can’t recover any
of his DNA.
But this person lived roughly 1,000 years ago in the Mongol Empire
and must have had access to a lot of women, and there really aren’t
that many people from history that fit that description, so the
assumption is pretty sound.
Modern
Mongolian women are quite amazing and if you fall in love with them, be
prepared to give them everything. They are traditional and conservative
and expect the man to give them 100% of what he has. They will accept
no less.
When we look at what Genghis Khan achieved with the Mongol Empire, we cannot help but appreciate his mastermind as a warlord. It surely looks like Genghis Khan had three dragons with him just like Khaleesi.
I cannot find any other explanation of Genghis Khan's success. I mean, he defeated Jin Dynasty's one million troops with only 90,000 Mongolians by his side.
Yes, Genghis Khan managed to win a war with ten times fewer troops than his opponent's army. On top of that, he was invading China, so he had to overcome all the "little" problems such as the Great Wall of China. Genghis Khan with his army had destroyed over 500,000 of Chinese troop before getting control of Northern China and Beijing.
The rest of the Chinese army had to surrender to the power of Genghis Khan. Destroying Jin Dynasty is only one of many examples of how great of a warlord Genghis Khan was. Also, he had some brutal and loyal men by his side, and let’s not rule out the dragon theory.
-The Richest
Anyways, ol’ Genghis Khan was quite the fellow, and he really wanted
to make good in the (now decimated) lands that he conquered. Because of
this, and the history of his people, the women of Mongolia are what they
are today.
I am an American Structural Engineer and spent approximately 1-1/2 years working in Mongolia, and living in UB. I have since moved on to another project in Cape Town, SA, however wanted to comment on perhaps the most accurate article I have read in relation to Mongolian women.
I have additionally worked in several other Asian counties to include Singapore, Hong Kong, China, etc. I hope that you will agree that you cannot even “basically” compare the contemporary Mongolian woman to any other Asians.
BTW, forget the “Asian Height Charts by Country” seen all over the internet – not even close. For example, China, S. Korean and even Japanese women are calculated taller in stature than Mongolian ladies – Not eve close!
When I strolled through Sukhbaatar Square on warm days, it was not uncommon for me to see several Mongolian women 5′7″, 5′8″ even up to 5′10″. What stands out just as much, is that these ladies have shapes and many pronounced bust-lines; mainly due to diet (meat/dairy).
They appear physically to be much stronger built than other Asians. The best way I can explain it, Mongolian women have physical shapes closer to Russian women than they do other Asians.
Another distinguishing factor, many Chinese, Japanese women have very small hands and feet – not Mongolian women who have larger hands/feet. Consider this, for a country of just over 3 million people, Nearly 50% of all top Asian fashion models are from Mongolia.
Battsetseg Turbat for example has been in many famous American commercials to include Budweiser and Apple. This is what surprised me most when I first stepped off the plane upon my arrival to UB. Mongolian women’s height can be deceiving when viewing online photos – the reason is that they have voluptuous shapes to accompany their height.
An additional quality is personality. Mongolian women have big personalities, laugh loudly and not afraid to approach someone they may wish to meet. Additionally, Mongolian women when affronted, do not shy away as do other Asians, however will meet the confrontation head-on 100%. What I have also noticed, when in other parts of Asia, women will almost always give way when an American woman is walking down the sidewalk toward them.
Not in UB – A Mongolian woman will expect the American woman to step aside most every time.
In relation to toughness, Mongolia are second to none.
In fact, Mongolian women have very little respect for American women, thinking them soft and spoiled (their words not mine).
All Mongolian women are excellent horsemen, whether raised in the Ger District or city. They are like the land they inhabit, resilient and everlasting.
I remember taking a walk around Sukhbaatar Square with a Mongolian lady I befriended to just enjoy the day . It was in November last year and nearly freezing. I remember she was wearing heels, barely covered up and seemed fine. I was layered to the hilt, still shivering although looked like the Michelin tire man with all my garb.
She must have noticed I was freezing as suggested we walk to Millie’s Espresso to have lunch, drink something warm and relax. These women impressed me as they were able to balance their hardiness with their femininity.
You are correct, there is a slight mix of Slav in most Mongolian ladies, however, does not distract from their Asian appearance. I do not know if I will ever return to Mongolia, however, the Mongolian ladies will have my respect and admiration for life.
-Life Around Asia
Conclusion
We can learn a lot from the terrors of the past.
Genghis Khan devastated urban areas, cities, towns and villages and laid waste to entire swaths of land. This mass devastation would continue in other ways at other times. Whether it is the plagues that devastated Europe, or the World Wars that followed afterwards, entire well-established civilizations completely collapsed and the survivors had to pick up the pieces and start all over again.
Genghis Khan devastated urban areas, cities, towns and villages and laid waste to entire swaths of land. This mass devastation would continue in other ways at other times.
In the case of many human-wrought changes, it is a situation where a strong and powerful person becomes a leader and assimilates (often violently) other weaker communities. It’s human nature.
It’s the human condition.
Human nature is such that communities form, thrive, expand, get lazy and then collapse. Other humans, often more skilled, with abilities, and positions through merit exploit the vulnerabilities of the older community.
Human nature is such that communities form, thrive, expand, get lazy and then collapse. Other humans, often more skilled, with abilities, and positions through merit exploit the vulnerabilities of the older community.
This event is often very uncomfortable and often results in open warfare, with the NEWEST and MOST DANGEROUS WEAPONS of the time.
America is not afraid of the consequences of using Nuclear Weapons. They do not think that any nation would use nuclear weapons in retaliation. Nor do they believe that American cities might be affected. They are living in a dangerous and crazy illusion.
They WILL be used.
This event is often very uncomfortable and often results in open warfare, with the NEWEST and MOST DANGEROUS WEAPONS of the time.
The strife might take different forms and last for a period of time, but in all cases… the human group managed through merit and ability will overcome the civilization that has become complaisant, lazy and slothful.
The human group managed through merit and ability will overcome the civilization that has become complaisant, lazy and slothful. They take over and use the strongest and most powerful weapons available.
I used the Mongol takeover of Asia as an example, but the fall of America will be on a similar scale. It will not be sudden. It will not be uniform and homogeneous. But it will eventually be complete and the changes will be stunning.
I used the Mongol takeover of Asia as an example, but the fall of America will be on a similar scale. It will not be sudden. It will not be uniform and homogeneous. But it will eventually be complete and the changes will be stunning.
The world of the weak, corrupted, and confused will be purged, and a new world will manifest.
It will be reshaped by the strong.
It will be reshaped using the modern technologies of the time.
Human nature is such that communities form, thrive, expand, get lazy and then collapse. Other humans, often more skilled, with abilities, and positions through merit exploit the vulnerabilities of the older community.
To understand our future, you must understand our past.
And NEVER, ever think that the unthinkable could never happen. You will often be surprised with how evil, out of touch, or selfish humans can become. It is our very nature.
And NEVER, ever think that the unthinkable could never happen. You will often be surprised with how evil, out of touch, or selfish humans can become. It is our very nature.
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I believe that it is time for all Americans to take a serious re-look at what America stands for; our “democracy”, and our way of life as it exists today. Is it really all that great?
Is America living up to the grand ideals set forth in the “Great Experiment of 1776”?
Or, it is just going to be yet another big mistake heading towards the “great collapse” of society?
I think that a serious reappraisal of [1] what America is, [2] what notions it is founded upon, and [3] how it is structured needs to be re-thought out. It is time to take a good long hard look at [4] what America has become, and [5] how we got here. And [6] what needs to change once [7] corrective measures have been put in place.
I ask this.
Really, is democracy; “rule by popularity” ideal for Americans?
A typical American, inappropriately dressed (obviously), shopping at Wal-Mart. Really, is democracy; “rule by popularity” ideal for Americans? Or should America be run by talented people who earned their role through merit rather than popularity? Think about it.
Can the Constitution be protected from “well meaning”, or “the greedy”, or “evil” such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends?
Well, can it?
Because if we cannot, using the current governmental structure, then we must change it into something different.
Indeed, simply hoping that our progeny will be “ever vigilant” is just wishful thinking, and history has proven, for certain, that it does not work. And at that, we must well understand that it will NEVER WORK in the future.
Can the Constitution be protected from “well meaning”, or “the greedy”, or “evil” such as President Wilson, or FDR, or Obama from rewriting and re-interpreting it to fit their various nefarious ends?
What’s going to stop another Wilson, another FDR, another Obama, another Bush from rewriting the Constitution, or reinterpreting it to fit their nefarious ends? What’s it going to take?
What is it going to take?
But my thoughts are this matter are perhaps a little too harsh to the general American public. No one wants to hear that a democracy is flawed, or rather so flawed that America will collapse upon itself within a decade. No one wants to hear this.
Americans have a Pavlovian response to the phrase “freedom and democracy,” and it’s no surprise that so many of them are rooting for the protesters in Hong Kong.
-World Affairs Blog
Well, others, better word-smiths than myself have some things to say about this subject. One of the best comes from Mr. Noonan in his article titled “A Clean Break“. He wrote this article on 29 September 2019, and I personally think that it is brilliant. He isn’t so prone to offending people as I am.
For I earnestly believe that America has neither "democracy" nor "freedom". We just parrot the words without talking a good look around us at what America has devolved into.
Here I present it for your viewing pleasure.
This article is copied as written without much editing aside from some paragraph formatting and the fonts used in this template.
I added some "pull away" text for highlighting and maybe interjected on or two personal comments along the way (though you will be able to easily see that they are from your's truly.)
I have added my own pictures to help illustrate some of his fine points.
After reading the article, I would suggest the reader go to his original article and read some of his other works. This fellow is brilliant and a word-smith.
All credit to the author Mr. Noonan writing in Blogs for Victory.
As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life.
To be sure, this reconsideration has been ongoing for about a decade, or maybe a little more, but it has really crystalized out recently. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward.
As the last few weeks have played out in politics, it has forced me to do a complete re-assessment of how I’ve looked at the world for my entire adult life. It is time for a complete, clean break with what went before and to chart a new path forward. Maybe the American Constitution is flawed in some very serious ways, and it is up to use to seek out those flaws and eliminate them completely.
What Hunter Biden did is nothing new; it isn’t in the least remarkable.
He was merely the recipient of what people in his position routinely receive: a special deal which allows him to be very rich for little or no effort.
Hunter Biden was merely the recipient of what people in his position routinely receive: a special deal which allows him to be very rich for little or no effort.
This way his life can be devoted to what really matters: hanging around with other rich people, attending conferences and galas and generally having a swell time.
And if he decided to follow in Daddy’s political footsteps, the way would be cleared for him in some safe (Congressional) seat.
If you start looking into it – as Matt and I did in our 2007 book, Caucus of Corruption – you just see that it is everywhere. In that book, for political reasons, we concentrated on the Democrat side of the aisle (given that our goal was to show the absurdity of the Democrats 2006 campaign against a so-called “GOP culture of corruption”), but we could easily have written it about politics, in general.
If you start looking into it – as Matt and I did in our 2007 book, Caucus of Corruption – you just see that it is everywhere. In that book, for political reasons, we concentrated on the Democrat side of the aisle (given that our goal was to show the absurdity of the Democrats 2006 campaign against a so-called “GOP culture of corruption”), but we could easily have written it about politics, in general.
Corruption is everywhere in the United States.
What it really shows is that people who go into politics – with a few very rare exceptions – are in it for themselves.
The advent of legalized corruption launched by the Supreme Court empowers the superrich to fund their own presidential and congressional campaigns as pet projects, to foster pet policies, and to represent pet political enclaves. You have a billion, or even several hundred million, then purchase a candidate from the endless reserve bench of minor politicians and make him or her a star, a mouthpiece for any cause or purpose however questionable, and that candidate will mouth your script in endless political debates and through as many television spots as you are willing to pay for. All legal now.To compound the political felony, much, if not most, campaign financing is now carried out in secret, so that everyday citizens have a decreasing ability to determine to whom their elected officials are beholden and to whom they must now give special access. As recently as the 2014 election, the facts documented this government of influence by secrecy: “More than half of the general election advertising aired by outside groups in the battle for control of Congress,” according to the New York Times, “has come from organizations that disclose little or nothing about their donors, a flood of secret money that is now at the center of a debate over the line between free speech and corruption.”Of this handful, the largest by far is WPP (originally called Wire and Plastic Products; is there a metaphor here?), which has its headquarters in London and more than 150,000 employees in 2,500 offices spread around 107 countries. It, together with one or two conglomerating competitors, represents a fourth branch of government, vacuuming up former senators and House members and their spouses and families, key committee staff, former senior administration officials of both parties and several administrations, and ambassadors, diplomats, and retired senior military officers.WPP has swallowed giant public relations, advertising, and lobbying outfits such as Hill & Knowlton and BursonMarsteller, along with dozens of smaller members of the highly lucrative special interest and influence-manipulation world. Close behind WPP is the Orwellian-named Omnicom Group and another converger vaguely called the Interpublic Group of Companies. According to Mr. Edsall, WPP had billings last year of $72.3 billion, larger than the budgets of quite a number of countries.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
Corruption is part of democracy.
They want power and money and attention and fame and praise and so they go into politics – and almost invariably, if they are even modestly successful at winning office, wind up richer than they did when they started.
And it has been going on for a long time, folks; throughout all the Western democracies.
When you study the motivations of those in politics, you discover what drives them. They want power and money and attention and fame and praise and so they go into politics – and almost invariably, if they are even modestly successful at winning office, wind up richer than they did when they started. And it has been going on for a long time, folks; throughout all the Western democracies.
There are, I believe, some who still deny that England is governed by an oligarchy.
It is quite enough for me to know that a man might have gone to sleep some thirty years ago over the day’s newspaper and woke up last week over the later newspaper, and fancied he was reading about the same people.
In one paper he would have found a Lord Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland.
In the other paper he would find a Lord Robert Cecil, a Mr. Gladstone, a Mr. Lyttleton, a Churchill, a Chamberlain, a Trevelyan, an Acland.
If this is not being governed by families I cannot imagine what it is. I suppose it is being governed by extraordinary democratic coincidences.
…extraordinary democratic coincidences.
Funny, huh? How people from the same family can keep winding up on top. Either they are families of geniuses, or someone is making things happen.
What are the odds that the son of an American Senator would be just the person an oil company needs to pay $50,000.00 a month to?
But, it just keeps happening and happening because, well, that’s just the way it is. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least any good at being an oligarchy!
But they aren’t.
After you study this issue, you discover that it just keeps happening and happening. And the reason why, is because, well, that’s just the way it is. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least any good at being an oligarchy!
Back in Chesterton’s day, there was the cold, hard reality that Winston Churchill was at least as talented as his father, Randolph. There was something there – there was, that is, a justification for Winston getting a leg up (and he did) to enter politics based on his father’s previous efforts.
These days, you get to benefit even if the previous person in line was a complete, rotten failure. And rotten failure is all we’ve gotten – and I’m getting very ecumenical in that, by the way. I’m not excusing anyone on partisan grounds any longer.
To be sure, the Republicans I voted for in the past were at least better than the Democrats I voted against (with the exception of McCain: knowing that I’m the co-author of Worst President, please understand that I believe McCain would have been even worse than Obama proved to be).
But they were only better in degree, not in kind.
Republicans are corrupt.
I mean, let’s face some cold, hard facts here: President Bush the Younger was re-elected with 51% of the vote in 2004 and came into his second term with high approval ratings and a Republican Congress.
With all this, he couldn’t even manage to de-fund Planned Parenthood or NPR!
I mean, let’s face some cold, hard facts here: President Bush the Younger was re-elected with 51% of the vote in 2004 and came into his second term with high approval ratings and a Republican Congress. With all this, he couldn’t even manage to de-fund Planned Parenthood or NPR! He did not care for the conservative cause(s), he only campaigned on them to hood-wink all of us for voting for him. He knew which levers to push, and which buttons to push.
It could have been done, easily, in a budget reconciliation between House and Senate and there would have been nothing the Democrats could have done about it.
On a more personal level, how can public service be promoted as an ideal to young people when this sewer corrupts our Republic? At this point in early twenty-first-century America, the greatest service our nation’s young people could provide is to lead an army of outraged young Americans armed with brooms on a crusade to sweep out the rascals and rid our capital of the money changers, rent seekers, revolving door dancers, and special interest deal makers and power brokers and send them back home to make an honest living, that is, if they still remember how to do so.Our ancestors did not depart Europe and elsewhere to seek freedom and self-government alone. They came to these shores to escape social and political systems that were corrosive and corrupt. Two and a quarter centuries later, we are returning to those European practices. We are in danger of becoming a different kind of nation, one our founders would not recognize and would deplore.In addition to the rise of the national security state, and the concentration of wealth and power in America, no development in modern times sets us apart more from the nation originally bequeathed to us than the rise of the special interest state.There is a Gresham’s law related to the republican ideal. Bad politics drives out good politics. Legalized corruption drives men and women of stature, honor, and dignity out of the halls of government. Self-respecting individuals cannot long tolerate a system of election and reelection so dependent on cultivating the favor of those known to expect access in return. Such a system is corrosive to the soul.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
This was “better” than a President Kerry who probably would have increased PP funding, but not really better in that the taxes of pro-life Americans were still going to fund something they consider abhorrent…and which Bush and the entire GOP campaigned on getting rid of.
I know some will say that this is just our GOP screwing it’s base and that the Democrats don’t do that. But, they do.
Both the republicans and the democrats are corrupt to the core. They only care about themselves and their little tribe of corrupt underlings. No one else.
Democrats are corrupt.
Obama was elected in 2008 with 53% of the vote and came into office with a Democrat Congress and a filibuster-proof Senate majority…and he couldn’t even get the single payer health system Democrats say they want.
It would have been easy.
The GOP could have done nothing to stop it. Enact a 10% payroll tax to fund it and just start passing out the cash to people who need health care.
A former senator from Colorado, Gary Hart, has written an extremely powerful and accurate critique of the unfathomably corrupt and crony state of the U.S. government in 2015. It covers several very important angles, including how appalled and disgusted our founders would be at the current state of affairs. How a once great republic has devolved into a thieving oligarchy in which the pursuit of money at power at the expense of the public good has been elevated into something that’s not just tolerated, but actually celebrated and encouraged amongst an ethics deprived status quo.
-Liberty Blitzkreig
That you and I know it would have been a disaster is neither here nor there – our side had lost the election and the Democrats won all the power they could possibly need to make all Democrat dreams come true…and they couldn’t do something like that.
Once you are in politics, it’s all on for party-on good times. You swindle and funnel money left and right and no one gives a damn about the American people. This includes both sides of the Congress, and all their cronies from the war-mongering generals to the intellectuals pushing climate change, and radical social change down our collective throats.
They instead wound up with the abomination known as Obamacare which even if it had worked as planned would still have left millions out in the cold and cost like the devil – but they couldn’t even write something that worked!
Meanwhile, not only did Obama not end the wars they campaigned against in 2008, he started new one’s…
droning the living sh** out of every poor, brown skinned person they could target (well, those they weren’t letting in as unvetted refugees, that is).
A public works bonanza that didn’t create any public works.
A slew of new spending which improved nothing.
This is what the Democrat voters get for investing their time and effort? Yep – in other words, nothing: but lots and lots for whomever is the crony. Democrat cronies made out like bandits. But your average purple-haired Democrat wanting more safe spaces? Not much.
This is what the Democrat voters get for investing their time and effort? Yep – in other words, nothing: but lots and lots for whomever is the crony. Democrat cronies made out like bandits. But your average purple-haired Democrat wanting more safe spaces? Not much.
By that standard, can anyone seriously doubt that our republic, our government, is corrupt? There have been Teapot Domes and financial scandals of one kind or another throughout our nation’s history. There has never been a time, however, when the government of the United States was so perversely and systematically dedicated to special interests, earmarks, side deals, log-rolling, vote-trading, and sweetheart deals of one kind or another.What brought us to this? A sinister system combining staggering campaign costs, political contributions, political action committees, special interest payments for access, and, most of all, the rise of the lobbying class.Worst of all, the army of lobbyists that started relatively small in the mid-twentieth century has now grown to big battalions of law firms and lobbying firms of the right, left, and an amalgam of both. And that gargantuan, if not reptilian, industry now takes on board former members of the House and the Senate and their personal and committee staffs. And they are all getting fabulously rich.Frustrated, irate discussions of this legalized corruption are met in the Washington media with a shrug. So what? Didn’t we just have dinner with that lobbyist for the banking industry, or the teachers’ union, or the airline industry at that well-known journalist’s house only two nights ago? Fine lady, and she used to be the chairman of one of those powerful committees. I gather she is using her Rolodex rather skillfully on behalf of her new clients. Illegal? Not at all. Just smart . . . and so charming.There is little wonder that Americans of the right and many in the middle are apoplectic at their government and absolutely, and rightly, convinced that the game of government is rigged in favor of the elite and the powerful. Occupiers see even more wealth rising to the top at the expense of the poor and the middle class. And Tea Partiers believe their tax dollars are going to well-organized welfare parasites and government bureaucrats.
– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
And as far as the social disintegration we’ve seen over the past 60 years – we’ve been blinded by the Democrats pushing the disintegration that we haven’t noticed the Republicans letting them do it.
And when they have power to roll it back, doing nothing of the sort.
And as far as the social disintegration we’ve seen over the past 60 years – we’ve been blinded by the Democrats pushing the disintegration that we haven’t noticed the Republicans letting them do it. And when they have power to roll it back, doing nothing of the sort. They just smile for the cameras, enjoy their high-priced meals in fancy restaurants, free hookers, and retire for their closed “boys clubs”.
The Administrative state and its regulators, a creation of previous congress’s, have grown into a bureaucracy so entrenched that worker’s can’t even be fired. They lurk in the darkness of their own regulations and use their powers to punish those who fail to comply. Regulators are great for making and executing rules and regulations, and taxing, but not so good at designing those regulations to advance unproven political theories, that most often come undone.
The unrealized dangers of delegating rules and regulations making, is that Congress removes itself from accountability. Legislators govern by theory, proposing ideas that are then delegated to an agency charged to “make” it work. To ensure their schemes work, Congress politicized the Federal judicial benches, including the Supreme Court, to support their legislative agenda regardless of the unconstitutionality, through judicial activism. Judges don’t make laws!
- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?
Their actions are disgusting.
And now we see in the Epstein case the reason why it might have all been allowed to happen: Lord only knows how many of the high and mighty are caught in that web…
…but what better way to get out from under that rock than by making the rock legal?
Hey, Paul Ryan, you’re the guy in charge of the House. You’re the Speaker of the House. [1] You had half a decade to figure out what to REPLACE Obamacare with and you came up with … bupkis? [2]. Hey, Paul Ryan, you had more than a hundred days to fashion a piece of legislation after you knew President Trump won — even with all the “budget resolution”, three tranche, inside baseball baloney and it came as a surprise that the Freedom Caucus wasn’t on board? [Pro tip: Check with your own caucus first. OK, that’s better.] Hello, America, Paul, babe — that was your job. We gave you one stinking job — to fashion a clean repeal and replacement of Obamacare — and you were surprised the Freedom Caucus wasn’t genuflecting and kissing your ring? A week out, you tell the President you “have the votes” and the day of the vote you come to the White House and say, “Uhhh, maybe not. Maybe not, Mr. President. Poorly played, Paulie. Very poorly played. [3]. Hey, Paul Ryan, this shit is on you not the President. You suck at your job.
By making you, a normal person, the bad guy if you point out some of the disgusting actions?
Illegal immigration to provide votes for Democrats and cheap labor for Republicans.
Wars which don’t end in victory or defeat.
Enforcing immorality against popular wishes.
Providing government sinecures to anyone who will toe the line – and who won’t be got rid of no matter how corrupt or stupid they prove.
Accepting money from foreign entities who want the United States destroyed.
Will you fucking Republicans stop criticizing President Trump for following through on his campaign promises?
He ran on them. He told you what they were. He won on them. He is delivering on them and you snowflakes act like you just discovered them.
Both sides, all the time – and on top of being this stupidly destructive, raking it in for themselves, their families and their friends. It is time to bring an end to all that. By peaceful means if possible but, ultimately, by any means necessary.
Our peaceful means are “President Trump”.
President Trump is the hero of the common man.
Trump isn’t part of the system, you see.
Dimwits look at his billions and go, “he must be one of them”. But, the bottom line is that he’s not.
He’ll hang out with them. Be friends with them. But he never was of them. He made his own way and got his pile of money…and then looked around and saw, from the 1980’s, what was happening to his country and started to wonder why, and if there were anything he could do about it?
He essentially first let Bill Clinton have his chance.
Then Bush the Younger.
Then even Obama.
But he found out something – it didn’t matter who was in charge, they were all in on it, together. That is, regardless of stated political philosophy, the primary goal of nearly everyone in politics was personal enrichment and making sure no outsider pushed his or her way in.
Trump found out something – it didn’t matter who was in charge, they were all in on it, together. That is, regardless of stated political philosophy, the primary goal of nearly everyone in politics was personal enrichment and making sure no outsider pushed his or her way in.
Trump decided to push his way in.
And now he’s there – and outside of a precious few (Cruz, Paul…and, oddly, McConnell), he’s nearly alone fighting for one thing: us.
The United States of America.
We, the people.
And everyone inside is furious and terrified and so are lashing back as much as they can hoping that something, anything will turn up to get rid of Trump.
And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.
And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.
And everyone inside is furious and terrified and so are lashing back as much as they can hoping that something, anything will turn up to get rid of Trump. And, make no mistake about it, they are already planning on punishing us for electing Trump. They don’t propose to allow this sort of thing to happen again.
The “big con game” is up.
I’ve mostly stopped arguing with liberals these days – first off, it is pointless but, secondly, I’m starting to pity them; nearly as much as I pity that shrinking number on the right who still stand aloof from Trump: they simply can’t shake free from the line they’ve been fed.
And none of us can get high and mighty about that: to one degree or another, all of us were suckered at one time or another.
No other government is as corrupt as the United States government.
All of us believed in some aspect of the con being used to keep us confused, frightened and divided while the Ruling Class stays fat and happy.
All of us. Including myself.
But for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.
We have learned all about the great con game, and we are fed up. We know know what is going on and we are pissed, and desire real, substantive change. Now, for those of us who have awakened from the con, it is time for a clean break – a refusal to accept that anything over the past 60 years was any good…a desire, that is, to move forward in an entirely new way, unshackled to whatever we might have said or done in the past.
We can see what happened; we can see what needs to be done – we can’t trip ourselves up (nor allow our opponents to slow us down) by fussing over what views we might have expressed previously.
Our desire is a Constitutional Republic of free people – our means of getting there must be “whatever works”, not adherence to a dogma which might, upon review, only have been a means whereby the con artists kept us in line in the past.
I, for one, will only defend what I find defensible and will attack whatever I see as wrong.
Republicans Are Terrified Because Their Candidates Are So Fucking Lazy. As a number of Democrats win high-profile special election victories in deep red districts, fewer and fewer safe Republican strongholds seem to be off limits.
We still have a magnificent window to win this thing and fix our nation – naturally, the first requirement is protecting President Trump.
We need a complete review of EVERYTHING and ask “is it good”
But the next step is just as important: a complete review of everything and asking the question, “Is this good?”.
We’ve already learned that so-called “Free Trade” wasn’t what many of us thought it was – take that as your template and ask yourself, “is this thing I’ve adhered to really in the interests of a free people? Or is it something which only serves the well-connected?”.
As Lincoln once said, it is time to think anew and act anew: not to create something different (nothing can be more magnificent than the United States, as far as human effort allows), but to recreate what we had, but even better than before.
It is time to think anew and act anew: not to create something different, but to recreate what we had, but even better than before.
And if that mission requires us to knock a few off their pedestals, then that’s just what will have to happen.
The problems of government are systemic. The reason for government should be a primary concern of anyone wanting a better government but this cannot be accomplished with people of socialist persuasion who scream, yell and interrupt other speakers in an effort to kill free speech.
Trump has thrown a wrench into the gears of socialisms advancement. Socialists are reeling in confusion but don’t count on them staying there. A revolution is coming. The question is, who’s going to lead it, them or us?
- Why Should We Accept Corrupt Government?
SHTF Related Index
This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory)
and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America
is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much
about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things
that really should be said.
Here are the posts.
SHTF and Related Index
Some prepper humor…
Articles & Links
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notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
As importantly, PRC air and naval forces have long had existing plans to fight a U.S. force sent to aid Taiwan and have conducted countless 
