We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
We continue our stroll though this very strange and surreal period of time. Here we cover various “buried” news items, and mix it up with various other subjects used to shake off the troll armies, the robo-‘bots, and the SJW shrills. It works.
We start with some delicious food…
Beef & Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Just like your parents, and grandparents made. All completely awesome! It’s a fine taste of home. And it fills the house up with a most wonderful aroma.
Directions
In batches, cook cabbage in boiling water 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; cool slightly. Trim the thick vein from the bottom of each cabbage leaf, making a V-shaped cut.
In a large bowl, combine rice, onion, egg, milk, salt and pepper. Add beef; mix lightly but thoroughly. Place about 1/4 cup beef mixture on each cabbage leaf. Pull together cut edges of leaf to overlap; fold over filling. Fold in sides and roll up.
Place 6 rolls in a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker, seam side down. In a bowl, mix sauce ingredients; pour half of the sauce over cabbage rolls. Top with remaining rolls and sauce. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until a thermometer inserted in beef reads 160° and cabbage is tender.
Life as an American
If you are an American, you will understand this. However, if you are Chinese, where there are laws against this sort of thing, it NEVER happens, and so you will remain clueless…
China is almost ready with Fusion Energy
China has finished researching and developing more than 80 percent of the key technology in fusion energy, and is expected to use the fusion power in 30 to 50 years, a Chinese scientist told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.China is constructing a new grand research facility for fusion technology, the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT), which is expected to be completed by 2025. Based on the CRAFT and experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST), or the Chinese "artificial sun," we are planning to build a compact fusion energy experimental reactor to realize the burning of plasma and produce fusion energy, laying a solid foundation for future fusion reactor construction, Hu Jiansheng, deputy director of Institute of Plasma Physics at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, told the Global Times.After the compact experimental reactor, Hu said he hopes the construction of Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) could be started as soon as possible aiming at future fusion development and application."With all these years of development all over the world, the scientific feasibility of fusion power has been proved. So far China has finished more than 80 percent of the key technology research and development. If the construction of CFETR gets a 'green light,' it's expected that we could achieve the application of fusion energy in about 30 to 50 years," Hu said.
Yes, I know. The cat-callers will say “That’s what they’ve been saying about fusion for the last 50 years, that it will become available 30-50 years hence.” And while that’s true, there was never the experimental successes to back that prognosis; now there are. Just imagine the materials breakthroughs required that weren’t at all possible 10-30 years ago. And with CRAFT, their pace will increase.
With Russian, Chinese and South Korean scientists and engineers doing the primary work on the project, I know it will continue moving forward as the bankrupt and corrupt West can’t afford it nor does it have the technical expertise anymore.
Notice how everything is planned, and then China goes in with force. This is how the Chinese operates. There is no gradual build up of hostilities. They plan. Then they come in in FORCE…This is how it is done!
Information is leaking out of the United Kingdom that the US Navy used its new marine surveillance aircraft to provide accurate targeting data to Ukrainian forces to sink the Russian Black Sea flag ship Moskva on April 13.
Ukraine claimed it fired two Neptune missiles at the Russian warship which was patrolling south of Odesa.
Russia initially claimed the vessel, which had more than 500 crew on board had blown up after a fire onboard.
Later, the Kremlin was forced to admit the vessel – named in honour of the Russian capital – had been taken out by hostile action.
According to information coming out through the British press, a US surveillance P-8 “Poseidon” aircraft, was tracking Moskva in the hours before it was attacked before supplying its location to the Ukrainian military.
The Boeing-made aircraft is based upon the Boeing 737-800 jet – which is widely used by airlines such as Ryanair.
However, instead of passengers, the Poseidon is packed with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment which can track surface vessels and submarines at ranges of more than 100 miles.
According to the claims in British media outlets, the P-8 took off from Italy and took up station on the Romanian Black Sea coast where it attempted to locate the position of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
The P-8 left US Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily on April 13, hours before the attack.
Before reaching the Black Sea coastline, the Poseidon turned off its trackers, so it could no longer be followed online.
The aircraft was ‘hidden’ for almost three hours before it returned to Flight Radar 24.
Aviation data analysis Amelia Smith says there were slightly more US aircraft covering the Black Sea coast on the day of the attack.
However, the US Navy refused to confirm if they assisted Ukraine with the attack by providing intelligence data.
A Defense source added: ‘In keeping with our support to NATO’s eastern flank, we have been conducting some limited air patrols off the coast of Romania. But we will not speak to the details of operational matters.’
A fine watch
I really do like this wrist watch.
If You Can’t Take the Heat, Get Out of the Shower
Taking a shower together can be a very romantic end to the evening, but not everyone has the same water temperature preference. Women tend to prefer hotter showers or baths, and Maya is no exception. She invited Yehuda to join her for a romantic shower, but he didn’t find it as seductive as she did.
.
He felt like he was being boiled alive while Maya basked in the scorching water. It seems like women tend to have a higher threshold for pain.
Know your hand signals
Hallstatt, Austria
It certainly looks like a fine place to visit. Don’t you think?
After a preamble dealing with the Covid pandemic, Xi digs into the interrelated issues of security, peace and development:
We need to work together to maintain peace and stability in the world. An ancient Chinese philosopher observed, "Stability brings a country prosperity while instability leads a country to poverty." Security is the precondition for development. We humanity are living in an indivisible security community. It has been proven time and again that the Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework, that hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace and that bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century. To promote security for all in the world, China would like to propose a Global Security Initiative as follows:It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, and respect the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries; stay committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, reject the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation; stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one's own security at the cost of others' security; stay committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises, reject double standards, and oppose the wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction; stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains, and work together on regional disputes and global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity and biosecurity.We need to work together to tackle global governance challenges. Countries around the world are like passengers aboard the same ship who share the same destiny. For the ship to navigate the storm and sail toward a bright future, all passengers must pull together. The thought of throwing anyone overboard is simply not acceptable. In this day and age, the international community has evolved so much that it has become a sophisticated and integrated apparatus. Acts to remove any single part will cause serious problems to its operation. When that happens, both the victims and the initiators of such acts will stand to lose. In today's world, unilateralism and excessive pursuit of self-interest are doomed to fail, so are the practices of decoupling, supply disruption and maximum pressure and the attempts to forge "small circles" or to stoke conflict and confrontation along ideological lines. Instead, we need to embrace a global governance philosophy that emphasizes extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, promotes the common values of humanity, and advocates exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. We need to uphold true multilateralism and firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law. It is particularly important for major countries to lead by example in honoring equality, cooperation, good faith and the rule of law and act in a way befitting their status.
The rest of the speech is tailored to his audience and speaks of China’s development and how China will contribute to humanity’s progress. It’s only seven more paragraphs after the above passage, so it’s not nearly as long as the Joint Declaration.
IMO, the speech is very timely and needed, and ought to soothe the Global South and Eurasia’s mind. Of course, the Outlaw US Empire and its NATO vassals won’t like it since they’re called out as the main problem facing humanity–which of course is 100% correct.
I didn’t give it emphasis, but do take note that China’s security proposal for the world is based on Russia’s security proposal for Europe. And that global governance must be based on the primacy of the equal sovereignty of all nations, which is the primary UN Charter principle and foundation for International Law.
“Cancel culture is inbuilt in the techno-feudalist project: conform to the hegemonic narrative, or else. Journalism that does not conform must be taken down.”
He asks that it be made viral. Just this portion ought to be reason enough:
Every silicon fragment in the valley connects Facebook as a direct extension of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s LifeLog project, a Pentagon attempt to “build a database tracking a person’s entire existence.” Facebook launched its website exactly on the same day – Feb. 4, 2004 – that DARPA and the Pentagon shuttered LifeLog.No explanation by DARPA was ever provided. The MIT’s David Karger, at the time, remarked, “I am sure that such research will continue to be funded under some other title. I can’t imagine DARPA ‘dropping out’ of such a key research area.”Of course a smokin’ gun directly connecting Facebook to DARPA will never be allowed to surface. But occasionally some key players speak out, such as Douglas Gage, none other than LifeLog’s conceptualizer: “Facebook is the real face of pseudo-LifeLog at this point (…) We have ended up providing the same kind of detailed personal information to advertisers and data brokers and without arousing the kind of opposition that LifeLog provoked.”So Facebook has absolutely nothing to do with journalism. Not to mention pontificating over a journalist’s work, or assuming it’s entitled to cancel him or her. Facebook is an “ecosystem” built to sell private data at a huge profit, offering a public service as a private enterprise, but most of all sharing the accumulated data of its billions of users with the U.S. national security state.
IMO it’s safe to assume Twitter has similar genetics. And of course, there’s more. I don’t plug VK as much as I might, but I’ve found it helpful in my pursuit. Telegram now seems essential as Twitter’s usefulness implodes. Fear of other nations doing the same as the Outlaw US Empire used as reasons to not drop Meta or Twitter are stupifidic.
Secrets of various ketchups
USA targeting of Moskva ship is Russia’s “Pearl Harbor”, retaliation is next
It has now been revealed that the US military ran the entire operation to sink the Moskva, including running the tracking of the ship via a P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft, which then handed off fire solutions to the Ukrainians who were all trained by the US military as well. Thus, the United States provided the weapons, the training, the tracking and the fire solution to sink the Moskva.
By sinking the Moskva, the US just handed Putin something akin to “Russia’s Pearl Harbor moment,” in which Putin can claim to his people that the USA initiated an attack on the Russian Navy, sinking one of their ships and killing hundreds of their people. This news has, of course, been paraded all across Russian media, driving domestic support for Putin even higher than before.
Just like with Pearl Harbor in the United States, the people of Russia are now demanding “payback” from the aggressors, whom they see as the United States. In effect, the USA just handed Putin the final piece of the puzzle that he needs to launch retaliatory nuclear strikes against the West.
I remember watching this movie back in the 1960s. Now as a much older adult, it just is curiously charming. Check out these few minutes of colorful dialog.
Catalan
A view from a BnB. Everything shown is local and under $10 combined.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is electing new Chief of SAR on May 8, 2022 and there is only one candidate on the ballot. He is viewed as being pro-China. Sure enough his Twitter account was sanctioned right after he was nominated as a candidate.
The Empire acts in ways very petty these days. It reflects on the quality of their leadership.
Chinese-Australians and their influence
An excellent article that sums up the feelings of Chinese Australians, the China/Australia relationship and the current Australian elections. By Teow Loon Ti . (Teow Loon Ti was a researcher in aquaculture; and a teacher. Teow Loon Ti has a BSc.(Hon) in Zoology, an MA(Lit. & Comm.) and a PhD in Education. )
I noticed the many Asian and Chinese – Australian people at the massive anti Iraq war demonstrations in 2003. One really had to be there to appreciate the broad cross section of society represented and its size and scope. A member of parliament’s spouse told me the demonstrations were, “the largest gathering of people ever in Sydney, including the 2000 Sydney olympic games”. Of course the numbers were downplayed by the MSM.
People are sick of cynical and endless wars of choice then and more so now. Political parties ignore this at their peril.
There was a large Kaliber missile strike on Lyvov and we are now seeing confirmations from several places of what was struck:
“A stockpile of American, German and British anti-tank missiles was destroyed at a military depot in Lvov. According to our source in the SBU, the attack on the logistics base in Lvov was a complete surprise. Several tens of tons of various anti-tank weapons were destroyed at the facility, including German PanzerFausts, British NLAWs and American Javelins. It was expected that these funds should be enough for a month of active hostilities against Russian troops. According to our source, the plant was carried out secretly on commercial and civilian vehicles. Therefore, an investigation is now underway as to how the Russians were able to figure out all three storage sites.”
Poland
“Poland is secretly preparing a “liberation campaign” against Ukraine. For this purpose, a set of measures is being carried out – the supply of weapons, equipment and mercenaries across the Polish-Ukrainian border. Several formations of the Polish Army – the 18th motorized rifle division and the 6th airborne brigade – are preparing for a “peacekeeping mission”
BULLETIN — Russia Informs Citizens to Prepare for NATO Retaliatory Nuclear Attack, THIS SUNDAY
This content was previously for Subscribers only but is now UNLOCKED for the general public.
As of 7:00 AM Moscow time TODAY (Thursday), the Russian Ministry of Emergencies published information on their web site instructing Russian citizens to prepare for a NATO Retaliatory NUCLEAR Attack this Sunday, 24 April 2022.
As any thinking person is aware, the only way NATO would make a “RETALIATORY” nuclear strike, is if Russia launched a First Strike. So what does that tell you about this coming weekend?
The official notice placed on the Russian Ministry of Emergencies web site.
What it is like to be arrested in China
This is the real deal and what it is actually like. video 10MB
3-Ingredient Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake
“I have made this several times for potlucks or family dinners. It is always a hit. Like eating a brownie with cherries. Tastes almost like the cherry chocolates you buy around Christmas.”
From Betty Crocker, and so easy to make and so VERY delicious.
Our Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake brings together the dream team – sweet cherries and rich chocolate. This cherry dump cake recipe calls for only three ingredients and is best served warm with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla ice cream. While this cake is easy to make, the flavor is out-of-this-world and sure to become a family favorite. Whip up this cherry dump cake recipe for an ooey, gooey weekday dessert or for a special occasion!
Migratory birds of mass destruction and US bio labs around the globe, some nuggets:
“The UN Security Council held an extraordinary event on April 6 under the rubric Arria Formula Meeting on Biological Security regarding the biological activities in countries including Ukraine. Predictably, the US and UK representatives didn’t show up at the event and the western media also blacked out the proceeding.”“A mind-boggling “discovery” that Russian forces in Ukraine stumbled upon is the use of numbered birds by the Pentagon-funded labs. This almost falls out of science fiction and Sir Alfred Hitchcock could have made an epic movie out of it where deception mixes with innocence and man’s cruelty to nature becomes unbearably grotesque. The project works like this…”“…the US has so far point-blank refused to accept any supervision and verification of such incriminatory evidences and has stonewalled the demand for a verification mechanism. It is unlikely that the US will permit an international verification process that holds the potential to expose it as indulging in crimes against humanity…”
It would be a grand place to visit. But you know, it’s terribly expensive.
Volodimir Zelensky nominated for the Nobel Prize
The European Parliament has nominated the president for his heroic bravery in the face of unleashed evil agression.
Although we are aware that this is a break with procedure, we believe that this break is justified by the current unprecedented situation. It is our democratic duty to confront authoritarianism and support a people fighting for democracy and their right to self-government.The veneer of civilization is paper thin, we are its guardians and we can never rest."
Thirty year US treasury bond reached today the highest yield in last fifty years, indicating a huge sell off ahead of expected FEDs three quarter point increase. For me, this by itself is the most important news today.
What’s gonna happen with tens of trillions of printed fiat money?
Only applies to women
I suppose that men can try this technique as well.
Europe to deepen military ties with the US.
Duh.
“The pact would allow routine interactions between American and EU institutions on defense issues and open the door for U.S. defense contractors to participate in the bloc’s growing defense spending under certain conditions.”
Can anyone explain why absolutely massive fires just keep erupting again and again at critical facilities all over America? The tragic destruction by fire of the headquarters of Azure Standard in Oregon shocked millions of people, and since that news broke quite a few readers have been reaching out to me about the long string of unusual blazes that we have been witnessing from coast to coast in recent months.
I decided to look into this phenomenon for myself, and I am sharing what I have discovered so far in this article. Dr. Benjamin Braddock and others had already been digging into this, and their research proved quite valuable as I began my investigation. Some of the incidents that people have reported I was not able to independently verify, and others I felt were too minor to be put on this list. With all that being said, the following is a list of 16 major fires that have occurred at key food industry facilities in the U.S. since the start of 2022…
As the smoke settles near Taylor Farms, questions remain on the future of the business and the roughly 1,000 people employed at the Abbott Street facility.There is little to nothing left of the processing facility due to fire and smoke damages caused by Wednesday night’s blaze, according to Deputy Fire Chief Sam Klemek.“About 85% to 95% of the building is a total loss,” he said.
Multiple workers are hospitalized following an explosion at a food processing facility that has nearby residents on alert for possible evacuation.The explosion occurred Tuesday evening at Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston, a city in agriculturally rich eastern Oregon. No deaths have been reported from the blast, but the extent of the damage to the plant and its future were not clear. City officials are concerned what the fire could mean for the community and local economy.
Neighbors banded together to support crews as they battled a fire in Conway for about 16 hours Monday night.More than 12 departments and agencies worked together to put out the fire at East Conway Beef and Pork.
“The situation at our Jonesboro factory is under control and we are looking into the cause of the fire,” a Nestle spokesperson said. “Thankfully, no employees were injured and all are safe. We appreciate the quick response of the Jonesboro Fire Department and emergency response teams. The factory will remain closed as we assess the damage and return the factory to full operation. We plan to continue to support our employees financially during this time.”Nestle opened the plant in 2002 and in December 2020 the company unveiled plans to invest more than $100 million to expand the frozen foods plant, including the addition of 90,000 square feet and a new production line for Hot Pockets frozen sandwiches. In addition to Hot Pockets, Nestle makes products under the Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, DiGiorno, Tombstone and Sweet Earth brands at the plant.
A portion of Mauston’s Wisconsin River Meats burnt down during an overnight fire Feb. 2-3, with the cause of the fire still under investigation.“The old portion of the plant is a total loss,” Wisconsin River Meats said in a Facebook post about the fire. “We humbly ask that you be patient and please give us some time to sort out the cause of the fire and for us to transition some of our business and invoicing to our warehouse.”
Operating from what company officials referred to as the command center at Deli Star Corp.’s St. Louis Innovation Center, the Siegel family-led operations and executive team have spent the week scrambling to fulfill customers’ orders and work with local officials investigating a Jan. 11 fire that destroyed its 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville, about 40 miles southeast of them.
Fire crews from several towns have been battling a fire at the Penobscot McCrum potato processing plant in Belfast. Crews were called to the scene at 28 Pierce Street around 3:30 a.m., according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss.
A fire at a fertilizer company in western Kansas prompted evacuations Tuesday afternoon because hazardous materials were involved, officials said.The Ford County Regional Hazardous Materials Team deployed to Leoti for the fire and was fighting the blaze and removing hazardous material, Wichita County Clerk Lynda Goodrich said.
Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) said on Wednesday a fire had broken out in a bag house at its Claypool, Indiana, soybean processing and biodiesel plant on Tuesday and the affected systems had been suspended.No employees were injured and the fire was put out by 9:15 p.m. central time on Tuesday, LDC said in a statement. LDC’s website said soybean deliveries were suspended at the plant on Wednesday. LDC says Claypool is the largest fully integrated soybean processing and biodiesel plant in the United States.
An uncontrolled fire at a fertilizer plant in North Carolina forced thousands of people to evacuate as firefighters stood back Tuesday because of the danger of a large explosion.Authorities drove through neighborhoods and knocked on doors asking residents to leave within a one-mile radius (1.6 km) of the Winston Weaver Company fertilizer plant on the north side of Winston-Salem, where the fire started Monday night. Overnight, bright orange flames and thick plumes of smoke could be seen shooting into the sky. No injuries were reported.
A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire just after 1 p.m. Monday at Nutrien Ag Solutions, 1101 Midvale Road, Sunnyside Fire Chief Ken Anderson said.The fire destroyed one storage building on the southeast corner of the fertilizer storage facility in the Port of Sunnyside and damaged others, but adjacent Nutrien buildings and storage tanks containing hazardous chemicals were spared, Anderson said Monday evening.
A fire started at the Cargill-Nutrena feed mill in Lecompte, LA in the early hours of Thursday morning and burned for 12 hours, coverage by local television news station KALB said. An explosion reportedly occurred as firefighters were working the scene.
It’s a long road to recovery for Maricopa Food Pantry after a fire destroyed around 50,000 lb of food. The fire happened just 15 minutes after their food bank closed on Monday morning. Smoke was still coming from the rubble 24 hours later. “It had to be 40-50 feet in the air, just pure black smoke. It engulfed the entire neighborhood,” said Maricopa Food Pantry President Mike Connelly. “The heat we could feel down at the corner.”
The headquarters of Azure Standard, the nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire overnight. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. The loss of the facility and the impact on companywide operations is being assessed and expected to be limited and temporary. No other Azure Standard facilities were affected.
Investigators from the ATF’s National Response Team began its on-scene investigation on Friday into the massive fire at a Walmart facility in Plainfield.The team, led by Supervisor Christopher Forkner, is working with the Plainfield Fire Territory, Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Plainfield Police Department, according to a press release. ATF special agents from the Indianapolis Offices of the Columbus Field Division will also be assisting.
Of course it is not unusual for there to be fires at food industry facilities, and fire departments are accustomed to responding to such fires and putting them out.
But in many of these cases, we are talking about absolutely uncontrollable fires that seemed to erupt very suddenly.
And in many of these cases the firefighters that responded were not able to save the structures because the fires were so enormous.
Needless to say, the collective loss of all of these facilities will make the coming food shortages that I have extensively written about quite a bit worse.
MM Comment
Remember that the Trump administration, under the direction of John Bolton, was active in trying to create mind-numbing famine inside of China from 2017 through 2019. That is a full two to three years.
Chinese always respond “tit for tat”.
China different boxing technique
The Chinese have many differnt ways to box and fight. Here’s one. video 3MB
I like this picture. You got a cat, good food, pouring coffee and a killer view. I hardly think life could be any better than this.
Record-setting cold snap hits Europe, France
A historically intense April cold snap has descended on Europe, with temperatures plummeting to 20 to 30 degrees (11 to 18 degrees Celsius) below normal. The record-breaking cold has triggered harsh frosts, shocking early-blooming plants and crops in several countries.
Slovak minister says paying in roubles an option, country needs gas
PRAGUE, April 3 (Reuters) – The economy minister of Slovakia, which relies on Russian gas for around 85% of its demand, said the country could not be cut off from Russian gas flows and if it had to pay in roubles it would, although it backed taking a common European Union stance.
“That’s what makes mornings so tricky. Getting out of bed and ready for work is already a challenging task, but having to leave your significant other behind is much worse. So trying to squeeze in just 5 more minutes is totally worth being a little late for work.”
Blueberry Cobbler
“I love this recipe! I made a few changes such as using triple berry’s and so I had to add a little more auger over the top but Oh My God it’s delicious!”
Make the most of summer's fresh fruit and mix up an easy Blueberry Cobbler. With a tender topping and a berry filling, this easy Blueberry Cobbler with Bisquick™ Original Pancake & Baking Mix is a dessert you'll be asked to make again and again. If you don't have fresh blueberries on hand, frozen blueberries achieve the same, great taste. For this Blueberry Cobbler recipe, just make sure the total volume of fruit remains the same if using frozen blueberries. Spoons up and enjoy.
Pour melted butter into 8 or 9-inch square baking dish.
In medium bowl, whisk together Bisquick™ mix, sugar, and milk; pour over melted butter.
Sprinkle blueberries evenly over Bisquick™ batter.
Bake 42 to 47 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Kitty playing with an HO scale railroad
Kung Fu Clowns
Enjoy this old television commerical. It’s a hoot!
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.
The Ukraine invasion has set forth a domino effect; a chain of events that is reshaping the globe. And it is all to plan. It’s a plan made by China, Russia, India and Iran.
The (so called) petro-dollar; the USD is starting to fall apart, and with it, the economies of those that have been propped up by this fiat “currency”.
Whether or not Russia is “losing” or “winning” in the Ukraine is of no concern.
What is of concern, and what is actually happening is that a new world order has arisen from the ashes of the old. It’s an East and a West. And the West is collapsing in real time, while the East is rising.
Here, in this article we will cover a section of topics that cover these events in chunks. Not comprehensive, but enough to give you all an idea of what is actually going on.
Key Points
As you read this article, you need to keep in mind a few key points…
The world is undergoing a geopolitical realignment.
This alignment is dividing into two separate entities (East and West).
The two sides have a very different view of how the world should be.
The West is trying to maintain a uni-polar single world government ruled by the United States.
The East is trying to maintain a multi-polar world of equals of various unique social structures.
Key to this manifestation is the control of the currency of exchange.
The West is trying to maintain the USD, or an electronic version of it.
The East is trying to use commodity-based currency by labor, materials and products.
Issues about Ukraine or Taiwan are simply the desperate plans of the West in a plan to maintain a uni-polar world.
Do not get sidetracked from what is REALLY going on.
The technical definition of money is “something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment.”
For most people this has always meant the legal tender of their homeland.
Until fairly recently, this was a coin with the face of the king on it.
Thus, the better the reputation of the king, the more valuable his coin, because traders were more likely to accept it. A good king made sure his coins had a consistent amount of gold or silver in it.
The reason for that is precious metals like gold and silver were always the world’s reserve currency.
Everyone in the world would accept gold and silver for payment, even in places that restricted the use of the metals. You could always take the metal to the king’s mint and exchange it for his coins.
Granted, he took a fee for himself and you were charged the cost of minting the coins, but that was predictable.
In the end, all currency was measured in gold and silver.
…
But, we no longer use gold coin for money.
Every country in the world uses what the economist call fiat currency.
This is a government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver.
Instead, it is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the issuing government.
That dollar = faith in the government issuing the paper.
Money is now an expression of the government power behind it.
The US dollar is the reserve currency of the world largely due to the fact the American government was the most trusted.
…
Hard money enthusiasts assume this means the United States can print as much money as it needs, but this is not exactly true.
The international monetary system that evolved after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970’s is a framework that controls the exchange rate of the major currencies.
Every major currency is based on the dollar, just as oil and gas are priced in dollars.
The petrodollar was created in the 1970’s when the Bretton Woods system collapsed.
The dollar was replaced by the Petro-dollar.
What the current system does, in effect, is link currencies to the supply of crude oil through the dollar.
How much oil you can buy with your home currency is dependent upon how many dollars you can buy with it.
It is not a direct link, as oil production rises and falls and the supply of dollars rises and falls, relative to other major currencies like the Euro or Chinese Yuan.
In effect, America controls the world by controlling the price of commodities like crude oil and natural gas.
American dollar = global use of oil and gas commodities.
…
In the old days, minting coins was a profit center for the king.
A strong king would restrict the use of other coins in his domain.
His people had to take their foreign coins, gold and silver to his mint for conversion to his coin.
In addition to the cost of production, he tacked on a profit for himself. This is called seigniorage and it works the same for fiat money as it does hard money.
This profit from controlling the global currency is one way the United States has grown so rich.
The USA uses this petro-dollar as a mechanism to make debt.
One of the consequences of this system is the world has an insatiable appetite for US government debt.
Because it is denominated in dollars and considered the safest of financial bets, it makes the ideal collateral.
This has allowed the United States and other Western countries to run massive trade and spending deficits.
The world wants the debt and the world wants to sell the West their products.
US debt was 30% of GDP in 1980 and now it is 127% of GDP.
…
This is the subtext of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Russia and China, especially China, are tired of this arrangement.
They correctly see it as to the advantage of Washington at their expense.
This is (partially) why China is backing Russia’s play to demand rubles for its energy and agricultural products.
This would pave the way for China demanding yuan for its products and the right to pay for energy in yuan.
India is also quietly supporting what the Russians are doing for the same reasons.
…
This is (partially) why Washington is in no mood to strike a deal over Ukraine.
It is not the only reason, but it is a big part of the plan to protect the dollar.
It is believed that if Washington can break the Putin government through financial war, China and India will drop their plans to buck the dollar in the global economy.
A century after the Great War, the new global war is being mainly fought in finance.
The West, led by America, is now at war with the world over control of the global currency system.
…
…
It is probably a war that the West cannot win.
…
…
The reason is the same reason the king would put his face on his coins.
Money is the physical expression of power.
The strong king could enforce his monetary policy in his domain and his money had a predictable amount of gold and silver.
In effect, his money was the representation of his people and the cultural that defined them.
The legal tender of a country is the measure of that country’s wealth and power relative to the world.
…
The West no longer makes or invents anything useful.
The power of the West is the legacy power to control the financial system.
It is a system arranged by Mercurian people in order to control the Apollonians.
The former are the people who operate as middlemen and service providers, while the latter are the people who grow the food, make the goods and keep the gears properly lubricated.
The former operates in the West, while the latter exist in the East.
…
Reality is the thing that does not go away when you stop believing in it.
And reality says that growing and making things counts for more than thinking about things.
The reason Washington has not crushed the Russian economy is the world needs the stuff Russia pulled out of the earth.
In this economic war of attrition, Russian can feed itself and keep its homes warm, while Europe will have to hope America can provide the food and energy at a reasonable fee.
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The most likely outcome of this global conflict is something people have suspected for quite some time.
The global currency will become a basket of commodities like natural gas and crude oil.
Maybe agricultural products will be in the mix.
The reason for this is the world runs on energy and food.
Bretton Woods III, as some are calling it, will be a new set of currency arrangements whereby money is based on its purchasing power for the agreed upon basket of products.
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What this means in the short run is that the West is about to get poorer as governments are forced to cut spending and debase the currency to get out from under domestic debt obligations like pension payments.
It also means the end of globalism as has been defined by Washington for three decades.
Trade will continue, but between countries rather than independent global enterprises.
Thirty years after the Cold War the world is about to start healing and return to something close to normal.
The Emotions “Don’t Ask my Neighbor”
Yeah. By mixing up topics such as food, hobbies, movies and pretty girls in my articles I have completely ZEROED out all the trolls, ‘bots and DDos attacks. Man, I’m telling you. It friggin’ works!
About this song…
Throughout my Senior year in High School I fell in love with soul and funk. I added it alongside my love of hard rock, and it greatly shaped my absorption of the culture of the 1970s at that time.
One of my favorites (in regards to soul) at that time was this group that has passed into obscurity known as “The Emotions”. It’s a trio of three attractive ladies with real heart.
Here’s one of their classic songs.
What is a “Blue Blood”?
This term has come to define the ruling oligarchy that operate the United States from behind the veil. But from whence did this term originate?
The blue bloods... arises from eating from a silver spoon and drinking from a silver cup. Silver accumulates in the system and turns the skin blue. Literally. No doubt the blue blood class have moved to gold these days for their eating utensils though the Americans seem to like their grow light suntans.
Ukrainians to use American weapons, and American tactics.
It’s a core principle behind the RAND operational study.
"Since the US-engineered 2013-14 coup in Ukraine, American forces have taught Ukrainians, including neo-Nazi units, how to fight in urban and other civilian areas. Weaponizing Ukraine is part of Washington’s quest for what the Pentagon calls “full spectrum dominance.”
Chinese scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics have developed a fully functioning prototype of the “ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle.”
The 15mm caliber weapon is being compared to an AK-47 because of its similar 6.6-lb weight, but it’s firepower capabilities sound like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.
According to researchers who wish to remain anonymous, the ZKZM-500 fires an energy beam undetectable to the human eye that can pass through glass and cause the “instant carbonization” of human flesh from half a mile away.
“The pain will be beyond endurance,” one researcher said. “[It can] burn through clothes in a split second. If the fabric is flammable, the whole person will be set on fire”.
“Nobody will know where the attack came from,” another anonymous researcher added. “It will look like an accident.”
Each will cost $15,000 to manufacture at large-scale production and can fire 1,000 “shots” on a single charge from a lithium ion battery.
In the event of a hostage situation it could be used to fire through windows at targets and temporarily disable the kidnappers while other units move in to rescue their captives.It could also be used in covert military operations. The beam is powerful enough to burn through a gas tank and ignite the fuel storage facility in a military airport.The lasers cannot kill a target with a single shot, but if fired at a person for long enough the weapons would start to burn a hole in their body, cutting through them like a surgical knife.
Anti-terrorism squads in the Chinese Armed Police will likely be the first to test these laser guns in the field.
Frank Black – Headache
This is from sometime in the 1990s. I love it because the video is done in retro 1940s theme and the subject matter was meaningful to me back then. In those days, I worked in cubicle farms as engineering drones.
Do you remember this one?
Americans should budget an extra $5,200 this year to cover rising prices, Bloomberg economists estimate
“Americans haven’t had to worry too much about factoring inflation into their budget for the past four decades. That’s changing in 2022.
The red-hot inflation expected to last throughout the year will leave the average US household spending $5,200 more compared to the year prior, Bloomberg economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong said in a Tuesday article. That boils down to an extra $433 per month on the same goods and services as last year.”
The S.O.S. Band | Just Be Good To Me (1983) | Extended HQ version
Another of the songs that was big right after I joined MAJestic and was set loose on the world on my own. Actually, this song was very big in the dance club scene at that time. Not so much on the music charts then, but in the clubs, well yeah.
And this singer. Well, wow! So hot! Look at her smile. Her moves. Her hair. She’s so, so chocolate fudge on waffle topped with whipped creame. And brandy. In a glass with ice. Big cubes, not little ones.
She’s such a treat.
Events Like These Only Happen Once Every Century (Sergey Glazyev)
“Events like these only happen once every century”: Sergei Glazyev on the breaking of an epoch and the change of ways.
Is it possible to stabilize the ruble in three days? And why are the Ukrainian ‘zombies’ not giving up?
“After failing to weaken the People’s Republic of China head-on through a trade war, the Americans shifted the main blow to Russia, which they see as a weak link in world geopolitics and economics.
The Anglo-Saxons are striving to realize their age-old Russophobic ideas of destroying our country, and at the same time weakening China, because the strategic alliance of the Russian Federation and China is too tough for the United States.
They have neither the economic nor military power to destroy us together, and not separately,”
- Sergey Glazyev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, former adviser to the President of the Russian Federation.
About what opportunities are now opening up for the Russian economy, whether the Central Bank panders to the enemy and whether a new world currency will replace the dollar, Glazyev spoke in an interview with BUSINESS Online.
The new world economic order is socialist in ideology
“The new world economic order is socialist in ideology”
– Sergey Yuryevich, commenting on today’s tragic events.
Q: Sergey wrote in your Telegram channel that we should have read your book about the “last world war”, written about 6 years ago. How did you manage to predict everything so accurately?
A:The fact is that there are long-term patterns of economic development, the analysis and understanding of which makes it possible to predict the events that are taking place at the present time.
We are now experiencing a simultaneous change in the technological and world economic structures, while the technological basis of the economy is changing, there is a transition to fundamentally new technologies, and the management system is also changing.
Events like this happen about once a century.
However, technological structures change about once every 50 years, and their change is usually accompanied by a technological revolution, depression and an arms race.
And world economic structures change once every 100 years, and their change is accompanied by world wars and social revolutions.
This is due to the fact that the ruling elite of the countries of the core of the old world economic order impedes changes, does not take into account the emergence of more effective management systems, tries to block the development of new world leaders using them, and tries to maintain its hegemony and its monopoly position by any means, including military and revolutionary ones.
Say, 100 years ago, the British Empire was trying to maintain its hegemony in the world.
When it was already losing economically to the combined resources of the Russian Empire and Germany, the First World War, provoked by British intelligence, was unleashed, during which all three European empires self-liquidated.
I am talking about the collapse of tsarist Russia, the German and Austro-Hungarian empires, but here we can even put a fourth – the Ottoman Port.
As for Britain, for some time it retained global dominance and even became the largest empire on the planet. But due to the inexorable laws of socio-economic development, the colonial world economic structure, based in fact on slave labor, could no longer ensure economic growth.
The two fundamentally new political models that emerged – the Soviet and the American ones – demonstrated a much greater efficiency of production.
This is since they were already organized on other principles: not on private family capitalism.
They were organized on the strength of large transnational corporations with centralized structures for regulating the economy and with limitless monetary emission of credit through fiat money (paper or electronic means – ed. note).
They enabled the mass production of products much more efficiently than the administrative systems of the colonial empires of the XIX century.
The emergence of social states in the USSR and the USA with centralized control systems made it possible for a sharp jump in their economic development.
In Europe, the corporate governance system was formed, unfortunately, according to the Nazi model in Germany, and also not without the help of British intelligence.
Hitler, relying on the support of the British intelligence services and American capital, quite quickly deployed a centralized corporate management system in Germany, which allowed the Third Reich to very quickly capture the whole of Europe.
With God’s help, we defeated this German (more precisely, European – taking into account today’s realities) fascism.
After that, two models remained in the world.
Which I attribute to the imperial world economic structure: Soviet and Western (with the center in the USA).
Soviet model
Western model
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, (which could not withstand global competition due to the fact that the directive system of government was not flexible enough to meet the needs of technological progress), the United States seized global dominance for a while.
Better-Than-Ever Meatloaf
Meatloaf is an American favorite, right up there with Mom’s freshly baked apple pie. And while we know that everyone has a favorite way they like to make their meatloaf, we think our Better-than-Ever Meatloaf is sure worth a try.
What You’ll Need
2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup ketchup, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
What to Do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except 1/3 cup ketchup; mix well.
Place mixture into prepared baking pan and shape into a loaf. Spread remaining 1/3 cup ketchup over top.
Bake 1 hour or until done.
Notes
If you want to cook this in the microwave, simply combine the ingredients as above, then place the mixture in a 2-quart oblong microwaveable baking dish and shape into a loaf. Microwave, uncovered, on High (full power), turning the dish occasionally, for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from the baking dish and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes before serving.
Want to try a lighter version of this meatloaf recipe? You can use very lean ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef!
The end of the unipolar moment
Q:But now this period of “American unipolar loneliness” is already ending, and, probably, not only thanks to Russia, but primarily to China and the Asian regions as such. Is it not?
A:Indeed, the hierarchical vertical structures characteristic of the imperial world economy turned out to be too rigid to ensure continuous innovation processes.
They lost their comparative effectiveness in ensuring the growth of the world economy.
On its periphery, a new world economic order has been formed.
It was one, which is based on flexible management models.
As well as a network organization of production, where the state works as an integrator, uniting the interests of various social groups around achieving one goal – raising the public welfare.
The most impressive example of such an integral world economic structure today is China, which for more than 30 years has outpaced the growth rate of the American economy by three times.
At the moment, China is already surpassing the United States in terms of [1] output, [2] exports of high-tech goods, and [3] growth rates.
Another example of a model of a new world economic order, which we called integral (due to the fact that the state in it unites all social groups of different interests), is India.
It has a different political system, but it also has the primacy of public interests over private ones, and the state seeks to maximize growth rates in order to fight poverty.
In this sense, the new world economic order is socialist in ideology.
At the same time, it uses market mechanisms of competition, which makes it possible to provide the highest concentration of resources for making a technological revolution with goals to ensure economic leaps based on a new advanced technological order.
If we look at growth rates after 1995, we see that the Chinese economy has grown 10 times, while the US economy has grown by only 15 percent.
Thus, it is already obvious to everyone that at present the pace of world economic development is shifting to Asia: China, India and the countries of Southeast Asia already produce more products than the US and the EU.
If we add to them Japan or Korea, in which the management system is similar in its principles to the integration of society around the goal of increasing public welfare.
Then we can say that today this new world economic structure already dominates the world, and the center of reproduction of the world economy has moved to Southeast Asia.
Of course, the American ruling elite cannot agree with this.
Q:To come to terms with it, I would say…
A:Yes. They, like the British Empire once, seek to maintain their hegemony in the world.
The events taking place today are a manifestation of how the US financial and powerful oligarchic elite are trying to maintain world domination.
It can be said that for the past 15 years it has been waging a world hybrid war, seeking to chaoticize countries beyond its control and restrain the development of the People’s Republic of China.
But due to the already archaic system of governance, they cannot do this.
The financial crisis of 2008 was such a transitional moment when the life cycle of the outgoing technological order actually ended.
And the process of massive redistribution of capital into a new technological order began.
The core of which is a complex of nanobioengineering and information communication technologies.
All countries began to pump up their economies with money.
The simplest thing a modern government can do is to give all businesses access to cheap long-term money so they can adopt new technologies.
But, in America and Europe such funds went mainly into financial bubbles and covered the budget deficit.
While, in China this colossal money emission was completely directed to the growth of production and the development of new technologies.
There were no Chinese financial bubbles.
And the ultra-high monetization of the Chinese economy did not result in inflation either.
Instead, the growth of the money supply was accompanied by [1] an increase in the production of goods, [2] the introduction of new advanced technologies and [3] an increase in public welfare.
Today, economic competition has already led to the fact that the United States has lost its leadership.
If you remember, Donald Trump tried to contain the development of China through a trade war, but nothing came out of it.
Man-Eating Sex Queen of Great Neck, New York, Dorothea Matthews
This English Tudor house, located at 201 Clent Road, Great Neck, New York, may not look like much of a love nest. But in 1948, its chief female resident, Mrs. Dorothea Matthews turned this house into something approaching the Playboy Mansion, East. It wasn’t until Mrs. Matthews’ divorce proceedings from her husband Mark Matthews in 1948 that we began to see that wanton sexual escapades did not begin in the groovy Sixties. According to court documents, Mrs. Matthews racked up a large number of sexual partners.
As a slim, shapely 28 year-old woman with plenty of time on her hands, Dorothea had many sexual options beyond her husband Mark, and she took advantage of so many of them. Mrs. Matthews was a very forthright individual; or, to put it in the words of the New York Daily News , she was “socially minded.” Mrs. Matthews managed to bed down a good number of men and women in Great Neck, Upstate New York, trains in transit to Florida, Manhattan, and probably lots of other places.
Yet her taste in sexual partners was not indiscriminate. A doctor, art historian, student, actor, secretary, and her husband, who was a Ping-Pong champion and owned a messenger service, filled her sexual roster, and those are only the ones we know about. And of course, a murderer would be one of her conquests.
All in all, I would say that she lived a FULL life.
“The Americans have opened a biological front of war by launching the coronavirus in China”
Q:Why? Did Trump, accustomed to taking risks and going all-in, lack the determination?
A: And even Trump (of all people) couldn’t get (the United States) out (of it’s situation), because China has a more efficient management system that allows you to concentrate the available production resources to the fullest.
At the same time, effective money management keeps money emission in the contour of expanded reproduction of the real sector of the economy, focusing on financing investments in development.
China has the highest savings rate of any country, with about 45 percent of GDP invested, compared with 20 percent in the United States or Russia. This, in fact, ensures the ultra-high growth rates of the Chinese economy.
In short, the US was doomed to lose this trade war because China could produce more efficiently and finance development cheaper.
The entire banking system in China is state-owned, it works as a single development institution, directing cash flows to expand production and master new technologies.
In the United States, the emission of money goes to finance the budget deficit and is redistributed into financial bubbles.
As a result, the efficiency of the US financial and economic system is 20 percent – there only every fifth dollar reaches the real sector, and in China almost 90 percent (that is, almost all the yuan that is created by the Central Bank of the PRC) feeds the contours of the expansion of production and ensures ultra-high economic growth.
Trump’s attempts to limit China’s development through trade war methods have failed.
At the same time, they boomeranged at the United States itself.
Then the Americans opened a biological war front by launching the coronavirus in China, hoping that the Chinese leadership would not cope with this epidemic and chaos would arise in China.
However, the epidemic has demonstrated the low efficiency of healthcare and has created chaos in the United States itself.
The Chinese system of government has shown much greater efficiency here as well.
In the Celestial Empire, the mortality rate is significantly lower, and the pandemic was dealt with much faster there.
Already in 2020, they even reached economic growth of 2 percent, while in the United States there was a decline of 10 percent of GDP (analysts noted the largest drop since the Second World War – ed. note).
Now the Chinese have restored the growth rate of about 7 percent per year, and there is no doubt that the PRC will continue to develop confidently, expanding the production of a new technological order.
In parallel with the trade war against China, American intelligence services were preparing a war against Russia.
This was because the Anglo-Saxon geopolitical tradition considers our country the main obstacle to establishing world domination of the US and British power and financial elite.
It must be said that the war against the Russian Federation unfolded immediately after the annexation of Crimea and after the American special services organized a coup d’état in Ukraine.
It can be said that they tricked Russia into agreeing to the American occupation of Ukraine, considering it as a temporary phenomenon.
However, the Americans took root on ‘Ukrainian Independence’, created not only [1] strongholds, growing Nazis under their wing, but also [2] trained the Nazi armed forces.
This gave the Nazis the opportunity to receive a military education, trained them in their academies, ‘sewed together’ all the Armed Forces of Ukraine with them.
And for 8 years they have been preparing the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the fight against the only enemy – Russia.
While the mass media, which in Ukraine are also completely controlled by the Americans, formed the image of the enemy in the public mind.
In addition, the United States used the monetary and financial front of the hybrid war against the Russian Federation.
Already in 2014, they introduced the first financial sanctions and knocked out a significant part of Western loans from the Russian economy.
Now we are witnessing the next phase, when they have actually disconnected Russia from the world monetary and financial system, which they dominate.
However, I predicted all this 10 years ago.
I did so based on the theory of changing world economic structures and the specific logic of the US ruling elite.
A logic which was focused on world domination.
Anglo-Saxon geopolitics is traditionally oriented against the Russian Empire and its successors, the USSR and the Russian Federation.
This is because, since the days of the British Empire, Russia has been seen as the main opponent of the Anglo-Saxons.
All the so-called geopolitical science that was being written in London came down, in fact, to a set of recommendations on how to destroy Russia as the dominant force in Eurasia. I mean all sorts of speculative constructions like “countries of the sea against countries of the land” and so on.
Q: How did Russia get in the way of the ‘sea countries’ that much? After all, geographically with the UK, we have never bordered.
A: In this regard, a formula was invented: whoever controls Eurasia controls the whole world.
Actually, applied developments have already gone further.
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s theorem is known that in order to defeat Russia as a superpower, Ukraine must be torn off from it.
All this political dogma, which, it would seem, has long gone down in history, is nevertheless reproduced today in the thinking of the American political elite.
I must say that there are still courses in geopolitics of the past 19th century at Harvard and Yale University, sharpening the brains of future American politicians against Russia.
So they, in fact, jumped on this old and time-tested Russophobic stream, which has always been characteristic of Anglo-Saxon geopolitics.
And, considering Russia as the main opponent of their dominance in the world, in accordance with the proposal of Brzezinski.
Thus, they used Ukraine as an outpost, more precisely, as a tool to undermine Russia, weaken it and, in the long run, destroy it as a sovereign state.
So, what is happening today was easily predicted based on a combination of long-term patterns of economic development.
This, actually doomed the world to a hybrid war, and the traditional Russophobia of the Anglo-Saxon political elite.
After the weakening of the PRC did not work out through a trade war, the Americans transferred the main blow of their military and political power to Russia.
It was a logical step as they consider to be a weak link in world geopolitics and economics.
In addition, the Anglo-Saxons seek to establish dominance over Russia in order to realize their age-old Russophobic ideas of destroying our country, and at the same time weakening China, because the strategic alliance of the Russian Federation and China is too tough for the United States.
They have neither the economic nor the military power to destroy us together, neither separately, which is why the United States initially sought to quarrel us with China.
That didn’t work for them.
But they, using our, I would say, placidity, and seized control over Ukraine.
And thus today they are using our fraternal republic as a weapon of war to destroy Russia, and then to seize control of our resources in order.
I repeat, to strengthen their position and weaken China’s position.
In general, this is all obvious, like two plus two equals four.
Q: “The Americans will not be able to win, just as the British did not succeed in their time”
A: Probably, this is obvious, but not for everyone. Among the Russian elite there are many opponents of an alliance with China. At least, before the special operation in Ukraine, it seemed to these people that American and Western culture is more understandable and closer to us than hieroglyphic Chinese wisdom, and that we will always find a common language with our “Western partners”.
You know, back in 2015 I wrote the book “The Last World War. The USA is Starting and Losing”, which you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation everything was thought out and justified there.
The United States embarked on a worldwide hybrid war.
It started with the Orange Revolutions to disrupt regions of the world it did not control.
It did this in order to strengthen its position and weaken the position of geopolitical rivals.
After the famous Munich speech of President Putin (February 2007 – ed. Note), they realized that they had lost control over Yeltsin’s Russia, and this seriously worried them.
In 2008, the financial crisis broke out and it became clear that the transition to a new technological order was beginning.
And with this, the old world economic order and the previous management system no longer ensured sustainable economic development.
China was now leading the way.
Well, then afterwards the logic of deploying of a world war happens, only not in the forms that existed 100 years ago, but on three conditional fronts…
monetary-financial (where the United States still dominates the world),
trade-economic (where they have already lost superiority to China) and
information-cognitive (where the Americans also have technologies that are superior to ours).
They use all three of these fronts in an attempt to keep the initiative and maintain the hegemony of their corporations.
Well and finally, the fourth front is the biological one, which opened with the advent of the coronavirus from the US-Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
Today we see that a whole network of biological laboratories existed in Ukraine.
So the United States has long been preparing to open the biological front of the world war.
The fifth, and most obvious, front is, in fact, the front of combat fighting – as the last tool for forcing the states that they control into unquestioning obedience.
Today, the situation on this front is also escalating.
That is, active operations are underway on all five fronts of the world hybrid war, and the result can be predicted.
The Americans will not be able to win, just as the British did not succeed in their time.
Although Britain formally won World War II, they lost politically and economically.
The British lost their entire empire, losing more than 90 percent of the territory and 95 percent of the population.
Two years after World War II, where they were the winners, their empire collapsed like a house of cards, because the other two winners – the USSR and the USA – did not need this empire and viewed it as an anachronism.
Now today, the world will not need American transnational corporations.
They will not need the American dollar.
They will not need the American monetary and financial technologies and financial pyramids.
All this will be a thing of the past in the near future.
Southeast Asia will become the obvious leader in world economic development, and a new world economic order will be formed before our very eyes.
Q:To paraphrase [Erich] Remarque, we can say that changes have finally come on the western front. But what signs do you see of this powerful global system soon becoming a thing of the past?
A: After the Americans seized first [1] the Venezuelan foreign exchange reserves and handed them over to the opposition, then [2] the Afghan foreign exchange reserves, before that [3] the Iranian ones, and now [4] the Russian ones, it became completely clear that the dollar ceased to be the world currency.
Following the Americans, the Europeans also committed this stupidity – the euro and the pound ceased to be world currencies.
Therefore, the old monetary and financial system is living its last days.
After American dollars that no one needs are sent back to America from Asian countries, the collapse of the world monetary and financial system based on dollars and euros is inevitable.
Leading countries are switching to national currencies, and the euro and the dollar are ceasing to be foreign exchange reserves.
Q:How do you see the world after the disappearance of the dollar monopoly?
A: We are currently working on a project for an international treaty on the introduction of a new world settlement currency.
It will be pegged to the national currencies of the participating countries and to exchange commodities that determine real values.
We won’t need American and European banks.
A new payment system based on modern digital technologies with blockchain is developing in the world, where banks lose their importance.
Classical capitalism based on private banks is fading away.
International law is being restored.
All key international relations, including the issuance of world currency circulation, begin to form on the basis of agreements.
At the same time, the significance of national sovereignty is being restored, because sovereign countries are coming to an agreement.
The basis of global economic cooperation is joint investment in order to improve the well-being of peoples.
Trade liberalization ceases to be some kind of priority, national priorities are respected, each state builds such a system for protecting the internal market and its economic space that it considers necessary.
That is, the era of liberal globalization is over.
Before our eyes, a new world economic structure is being formed – an integral one, in which some states and private banks lose their private monopoly on the issue of money, on the use of military force, and so on.
Pretty Chinese girl
I just cannot let a post go without a pretty Chinese girl, don’t you know. video 4MB
Sergei Lavrov: Russian FM hails China as part of emerging ‘just world order’ – The Economic Times
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovon Wednesday said Moscow and Beijing are leading the way towards a fairer world order, as he makes his first visit to the key ally since Russialaunched its invasion of Ukraine last month.
“The third scenario is catastrophic. Destruction of mankind”
Q: Why did you call your book “The Last World War”? What feeds your hope that this global war is really the last one?
A: I called this world war the last one, because we see that there are several scenarios of movement out of today’s crisis.
The first scenario, which I have already talked about, is calm and prosperous.
It consists in overcoming the US monopoly.
In order to do this in the financial sector, you need to abandon the dollar.
In order to overcome the monopoly in the information and cognitive sphere, it is necessary to isolate our information space from the American one and switch to our own information technologies.
Creating their own contours of the reproduction of the economy, but without the US dollar and the euro and relying on their information technologies for managing money, the countries of the new world economic order ensure high rates of economic development.
They do this while the Western world is collapsing.
There they have a situation of collapse of financial pyramids, disorganization and a growing economic crisis, aggravated by growing inflation due to the uncontrolled issue of money over the past 12 years.
The second scenario of a possible development of events is similar to the one that Hitler wanted to realize during the period of the change of previous world economic structures.
This is an attempt to create a world government with a superhuman ideology.
If Hitler conceived the German nation as superhumans, then the current ideologists of world domination impose on humanity the transition to a post-humanoid state.
In contrast to the post-humanism of the West, the core countries of the new world economic order are characterized by a socialist ideology.
This means respect for private interests, protection of private property and the use of market mechanisms.
In China, India, Japan, and Korea, socialist ideology dominates.
Or rather, a mixture of socialist ideology, national interests, and market competition.
It is this mixture that forms a fundamentally new power-political elite, focused on economic development and the growth of the well-being of nations.
It is very different for Western politicians, intellectuals and businessmen.
What we see today in the West is an attempt to form a certain image of a new world order with a world government at the head.
And, where people are driven into an electronic concentration camp.
You can see by the example of restrictions during the pandemic how it happened: all people are given tags, access to public goods is regulated through QR codes, everyone is forced to walk in formation.
By the way, in the scenario of the Rockefeller Foundation back in 2009, the pandemic and, in fact, everything that happened in connection with it, was amazingly sorted into pieces – they actually predicted the future.
This scenario was called Lock Step, that is, “Walk in formation”, and the Western world followed it.
Sacrificing their own democratic values, they try to force people to obey commands.
International organizations, including the World Health Organization, are used as a kind of stronghold for assembling a world government that would be subordinate to private capital.
But, I must say, Donald Trump greatly interfered with these plans.
This is because he stopped the signing of agreements on Transatlantic and Trans-Pacific partnerships.
In those partnerships, where all countries participating in the agreements sacrificed national sovereignty in all disputes with big business.
And you need to understand that today any transnational corporation can act as a foreign investor, including in the United States.
According to these agreements, if there is foreign capital in the business, then in a dispute with the national government, some kind of international arbitration court is formed, it is not clear how and by whom it was drawn up.
And these unelected judges, appointed, in fact, by big international business, these disputes are resolved.
In fact, it was about the fact that the state was losing all sovereignty in regulating relations with big business.
However, Trump stopped the agreement – the United States never signed it.
Thus, the process of forming a world government was stopped.
This is the second alternative, and it is now in crisis due to the collapse of the idea of globalization and the gradual abandonment of ‘pandemic’ restrictions.
It must be understood that the option of a world government is incompatible with sovereign Russia, with our independence and role in the world.
Within the framework of the globalist scenario, the Russian Federation is viewed as a territory that is intended for exploitation by Western transnational corporations.
The “indigenous population” must serve their interests.
Under such a scenario, Russia disappears as an independent entity, just like China, by the way.
The Western world government may incorporate some of our oligarchs into its version of the future, but only in second and third-rate roles.
Another pretty Chinese Girl
They are everywhere in China, don’t you know. video 2MB
The third scenario is catastrophic. The destruction of humanity…
Q:That same apocalypse which everybody talks about?
A:Well, not everyone… But everyone, of course, is afraid.
By the way, about the American biological laboratories that are engaged in the synthesis of dangerous viruses, it was mentioned in my other book, which was published a little later: “Plague of the XXI century: how to avoid disaster and overcome the crisis?”
I remember back in 1996, when I had to work in the UN Security Council, I proposed to develop the concept of national biological security.
Because even then, almost 30 years ago, genetics was a sufficiently developed science to synthesize viruses directed against people of a certain race or a certain gender, a certain age.
This has been possible for a long time.
It is possible to make a virus that will only work against whites, or vice versa, only against blacks, only against men, or only against women.
Now the Americans are going further – you see that, data which agrees with our Ministry of Defense, they announced the day before, that American biological laboratories were developing viruses targeted against the Slavs.
Apparently, it is possible today – to make a virus against some ethnic group that has its own genetic code.
What is happening in Ukraine today is an echo of the agony of the US power elite, which cannot come to terms with the fact that they will no longer be a world leader.
This becomes clear to everyone – at least to those who are not connected with the Americans by their own interests and are not subject to their cognitive influence.
I’ll give you an example.
When the US imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014, I asked my Chinese colleagues: “Do you think the Americans can impose sanctions with regards to China?”
They were certain that they can’t.
They said that it was impossible, because the US depends on China just as strongly as China depends on the US.
That is, America will be more expensive for itself.
Two years had passed, and Trump launched a trade war against China.
And Beijing now understood that America is an enemy that will drown the Chinese economic miracle by any and all means.
Prior to this, my reasonings with my Chinese colleagues were not very convincing, just as, however, my book you mentioned did not greatly influence our political and economic elite.
My arguments were dismissed.
Although we have been saying for many, many years that the dollar should be refused.
Foreign exchange reserves should have been removed from dollar instruments, from the euros-to-gold.
It is necessary to switch to ones own monetary and financial systems.
Nations should have developed our own settlements in national currencies with partners.
We have been offering all this since the 2000s, when it was already clear what the world economic development was leading to. And now, finally, everyone has seen the light.
Another Pretty Chinese girl
Here we have yet another view inside of China. video 10MB
“The Americans zombified Ukrainians and turned 150-200 thousand people into a fighting machine that works without thinking”
Q: Judging by the heart-rending howl that comes from the camp of the liberals, as well as the events in Ukraine, not everyone has seen the light yet.
A: Yes, we are faced with the fact that in 8 years the Americans have managed to fool the Ukrainian people so much that the people who resist the Russian army, the so-called Armed Forces of Ukraine, look simply zombified.
They are manipulated like puppets.
It is not Zelensky who commands the Ukrainian Army, not even the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the General Staff – but the Pentagon.
It commands very effectively from the point of view in the fight of “to the last Ukrainian soldier”, because these zombie guys do not give up.
But they are in an absolutely hopeless situation.
All experts have already acknowledged that Russia won the military special operation, that the Ukraine has no chance of resistance, that the entire military infrastructure has been destroyed…
The Armed Forces of Ukraine is only left with surrendering in order to minimize human losses.
However, Ukrainian officers (and especially, of course, nationalists) act like zombies controlled from the outside – they follow instructions from the Pentagon that come to their personal computers and special tablets.
Moreover, the Americans command their marionettes from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, breaking them into the appropriate units.
Each unit is assigned a number, and every number is given artificial ‘military intelligence’ with tasks every day.
They really turned 150-200 thousand people into a fighting machine that works without thinking, only stupidly follows all their orders.
For 8 years, they have achieved that they forced a significant part of the youth of Ukraine not only to stand up against Russia, but through brainwashing made them their weak-willed tools.
Not just cannon fodder, but controlled cannon fodder.
Being in an absolutely hopeless situation, surrounded, deprived of any supply at all, they still continue the senseless war, dooming themselves to death, and dragging the surrounding civilians with them to the grave.
This is a clear example of how modern American technology works.
We must understand that in front of us, we have a very powerful force.
You know, before [the war], we have heard from Russian experts and politicians that the Ukrainians themselves will suffocate economically and then crawl to us, and in general where will Ukraine go without us?
After all, it will not be able to ensure the reproduction of the economy without our resources and cooperation with us.
Indeed, Ukraine has entered a state of economic catastrophe, as we expected, as we explained to our Ukrainian colleagues.
The Ukrainian republic has become the poorest state in Europe along with Moldova.
Due to the fact that Ukraine has terminated ties with Russia, its losses amount to more than 100 billion dollars.
Nevertheless, this did not prevent American and British political strategists and instructors from forming a 200,000-strong army of thugs and murderers who completely inadequately imagine reality and are an obedient instrument of American interests.
Q: Aren’t there equally obedient American marionettes in Russia? Is it only Ukrainians who were zombified?
A: Yes, and here it should be noted that practically the same thing is happening with the Central Bank, but only on other issues.
Q: Before we move on to the Central Bank, let me clarify. You said that you are working on introducing a new currency. And in what format and with what team?
A: We have been doing this for a long time as a group of scholars. 10 years ago, at the Astana Economic Forum.
We presented the report “Toward sustainable growth through a fair world economic order” with a project for the transition to a new world financial and monetary system.
There, we proposed to reform the IMF system based on the so-called special drawing rights, and on the basis of a modified IMF system – to create a worldwide accounting currency.
By the way, this idea aroused great interest then: our project was recognized as the best international economic project.
But in a practical sense, none of the states, represented by the official monetary authorities, was interested in this project.
Although it was followed by Nursultan Nazarbayev’s publications, which proposed a new currency. If I remember correctly, he offered Altyn.
Q: Altyn? That is interesting.
A: Yes, the publication of his article on this topic even took place in Izvestia.
But the matter did not come to negotiations and political decisions, and to this day it is rather a proposal of experts.
But I am sure that the current situation is forcing us to create new payment-settlement instruments very quickly.
This is because the dollar will practically be impossible to use.
And the ruble, due to the incompetent policy of the Central Bank, which, in fact, acts in the interests of international speculators, cannot find sustainability.
Objectively, the ruble could become a reserve currency along with the yuan and the rupee.
It would be possible to move to a multi-currency system based on national currencies.
But we still need some equivalent for pricing…
Now we are working on the concept of the exchange space of the Eurasian Economic Union, where one of the tasks is the formation of new pricing criteria.
That is, if we want metal prices to be formed not in London, but here in Russia, just like oil prices.
Then this implies the emergence of some other currency.
This is especially true if we want to act not only within the Eurasian Economic Union, and in Eurasia in a broad sense.
Were Eurasia would be at the center of a new world economic order, to which I include China, India, Indochina, Japan, Korea and Iran.
These are large countries, all of which have their own fundamental national interests.
After the current stories with the confiscation of [Russia’s] dollar reserves, I think no country will want to use another country’s currency as a reserve.
So a new tool is needed.
And from my point of view, such a tool, for a start, can become some kind of synthetic settlement currency, which would be built as such an aggregated index.
Q:Can I have some examples? What it is?
A: Well, let’s say, ECU ₠ (European Currency Unit) – there was such an experience in the European Union.
It was built like a basket of currencies.
All countries that participate in the creation of a new accounting currency should be entitled to the presence of their national currency in this basket.
And the common currency is formed as an index, as a weighted average component of these national currencies.
Well, to this we must add, from my point of view, commodities: not only gold, but also oil, and metal, and grain, and water.
Its a sort of commodity harness, which, according to our estimates, should include about 20 goods.
They, in fact, form world price proportions and therefore must participate in the basket for the formation of a new accounting currency.
And an international treaty is needed, which will determine the rules for the circulation of this currency and create an organization like the International Monetary Fund.
By the way, 15 years ago we proposed reforming the IMF, but now it is already obvious that a new monetary financial system will have to be built without the West.
Perhaps someday Europe will join it and the US will also be forced to admit it.
But so far it is clear that we will have to build without them.
For example, on the basis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
However, these are just expert developments, which we will submit to the authorities in the coming month.
Q: And at the level of the government or at the level of the president?
A: We will first send it to the departments that are responsible for these issues. We will hold discussions, develop some kind of common understanding, and then go to the political level.
Russia abandons the ISS space station
Without Russian rocket engines, there is no American/EU space station. No space X. So it really doesn’t matter. My guess is an earlier than planned retirement of the space station for “fiscal reasons” (wink. Wink.)
One of the many reasons why I love living inside of China. Beauty abounds. So sexy cooking food. video 4MB
“The Central Bank continues the policy of pandering to the enemy”
Q:In your Telegram channel, you write that all that remains is to nationalize the Bank of Russia. Why hasn’t it been done yet? For example, there is a point of view that Elvira Nabiullina remains at her post as a screen, but will no longer manages anything serious. Can you refute or confirm this?
A: You know, I don’t want to engage in conspiracy theories.
Q:This is a conspiracy theory?
A: Yes, we can talk about the American Deep State in conspiracy terms.
In this case, conspiracy theories are a very appropriate direction of thought, because in America, behind the screen of presidents and congressmen, there are some deep forces – special services.
And in our Fatherland, everything is simple.
We have a president, a head of state who has built a vertical form of power.
It is absolutely clear in our country how the parliament and the judiciary are formed.
Here, no conspiracy theory, in general, can be applied.
The same goes for the Central Bank.
Let me remind you that, according to the law on the Central Bank, all its property is federal property.
Therefore, the Central Bank is a state structure, there is not the slightest doubt about it.
Q:And they always said that the Central Bank was separated, as if on the sidelines.
A: The Board of Directors of the Central Bank is appointed by the State Duma on the proposal of the President.
I served for many years as its representative on the national banking board, which oversees the activities of the Central Bank.
I can say that there is no doubt that the Central Bank is the state body for regulating monetary circulation, and it is also the main financial regulator in the country.
But there are nuances.
The Constitution stipulates that the Central Bank conducts its policy independently, that is, it is independent of the government.
But this does not mean that it is independent of the state.
This is a state-owned agency.
Here the judicial system in our country is also officially independent of the government.
Therefore, being an independent body, the Central Bank is nevertheless formed as a state regulatory body and must perform the tasks that are necessary for the development of our economy.
To do this, it is necessary to involve the Central Bank in strategic planning.
The classics of monetary circulation stipulates that the main goal of the monetary authorities, that is, the Central Bank, should be to create conditions for maximizing investment.
That is what the banking system should be doing – maximizing investment.
Because the more investments, the more production, the higher the technical level, the lower the costs and the lower the inflation, the more stable the economy.
It is possible to achieve macroeconomic stabilization in the modern economy only on the basis of accelerated scientific and technological progress.
Attempts to target inflation (such a buzzword), which the Central Bank has been practically imitating for the past 10 years, by manipulating the key interest rate against the backdrop of a freely floating ruble, is short-sighted, primitive and counterproductive.
Usually these measures are recommended by the IMF for underdeveloped countries that themselves do not know how to think.
What is inflation targeting in practice?
This is an extremely primitive and internally contradictory set of measures, the application of which drives the economy into a stagflation trap.
The Central Bank threw the ruble into free float, which is absurd from the point of view of inflation targeting in an open economy, where the exchange rate directly affects prices.
And we see how the devaluation of the ruble periodically accelerates prices.
In addition, they reduced monetary policy to only one absolutely primitive tool – the manipulation of the key interest rate.
But the key rate is the percentage at which the Central Bank lends money to the economy and withdraws money from the economy.
Its attempts to suppress inflation by raising the interest rate cannot succeed in today’s economy, because the higher the interest rate, the less credit, the less investment, the lower the technical level and competitiveness.
The decrease in the latter entails the devaluation of the ruble in 3-4 years, after they raise the interest rate, supposedly to fight inflation.
Having let the ruble exchange rate float freely, they, in fact, gave it at the mercy of currency speculators.
The Americans really like these politics, so they praise the leadership of our Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance in every possible way.
After all, what is important to them?
So that everything is tied to the dollar, so that the ruble is a ‘junk’ currency that is unstable.
And this is a paradox, because the amount of foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation has recently been 3 times more than the ruble money supply!
This means that the Central Bank could have stabilized the exchange rate at any level. But it didn’t do that.
And who are the speculators to whom the Central Bank actually threw the ruble to be torn to pieces?
The main speculators are American hedge funds, which actually shape the ruble exchange rate by manipulating the market.
But the Central Bank does not notice this, or rather, pretends to not notice.
In order to keep them in the foreign exchange market by raising the interest rate, the Central Bank kills credit and makes our economy dependent on foreign sources of credit, and the foreign exchange financial system dependent on the interests of speculators.
This is in whose interests the Central Bank works, hiding behind cool buzzwords like ‘inflation targeting’, which has shamefully failed in these past years in terms of real price dynamics.
So in our country the weakest point of the entire national security system in general is the Central Bank.
Its leadership is hit by the enemy’s cognitive-weapon, in other words, zombified by it. In fact, our monetary authorities are doing what the enemy needs.
By the way, I proved mathematically and chronologically that the first wave of sanctions was imposed against Russia only after the Central Bank prepared the ground for this.
Namely, it let the ruble exchange rate float freely and announced that it would raise the interest rate, if inflation would start in the country.
As soon as the Central Bank moved to this strange policy, the Americans immediately imposed sanctions.
Their speculators ensured the collapse of the ruble exchange rate, this caused an inflationary wave, and the Central Bank, on the instructions of the IMF, raised the interest rate, which completely paralyzed our economy.
The total damage from this policy today has already reached 50 trillion rubles of non-produced products and about 20 trillion rubles of unfinished investments.
Now you have to add to this the 300 billion dollars invested in foreign assets, which are now frozen – that’s the damage.
Therefore, when we talk about the nationalization of the Central Bank, we are not talking about formally nationalizing it (it has already been nationalized), but about bringing it into a policy of conformity with national interests.
Right now, its policy is contrary to national interests.
And there is no conspiracy here.
We see in whose interests such a policy is pursued.
The Central Bank raised interest rates to 20 percent, giving the bankers a dominant position in the economy.
Possessing the most expensive and scarce resource, money, they determine which enterprise will survive, and which enterprise will die, go bankrupt, and so on.
Rising interest rates are holding the entire Russian economy hostage to a handful of bankers.
This is the first.
Secondly, the leadership of the Central Bank allowed another collapse of the ruble exchange rate and closed the currency exchange.
As a result, today banks have become the main currency speculators: they buy currency for about 90 rubles per dollar, and sell it for 125. The difference settles down for them as excess profit.
Q:But why, in your opinion, does the Central Bank of the Russian Federation pursue a policy in the interests of the enemy?
A:As I said, it does this on the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund.
But its interests are also shared by our large banks, which objectively like this policy, as well as our monetary and financial structures, which are also involved in manipulating the ruble exchange rate.
Therefore, an influential lobby is formed around this policy, which supports this policy based on its own private interests.
These interests run counter to the interests of the country, they are directly opposite to them.
And, if you look at what the Central Bank is doing today, I have no doubts that it continues the policy of actually pandering to the enemy.
It undermines macroeconomic stability by allowing international speculators to manipulate the ruble exchange rate and does not control the foreign exchange position of banks that have become currency speculators.
Although the Central Bank could easily withdraw banks from the foreign exchange market by fixing their foreign exchange position, forbidding banks to buy foreign currency.
And secondly – by raising the interest rate, the Central Bank actually killed investments in the development of the Russian economy.
Which are very much needed right now.
Primarily for import substitution and for the restoration of economic sovereignty.
While our leadership says that we should not be afraid of sanctions, because they create conditions for economic growth, for import substitutions…
Look, about a third of EU imports have left our market. These are huge opportunities for import substitution.
If we assume that our enterprises begin to develop these markets, then we will develop at a rate of 15 percent per year.
But this requires loans.
Import substitution cannot arise without loans.
We need loans to set up production facilities, to master new technologies, to load idle production capacities.
We have long developed such a strategy of advanced development at the Academy of Sciences, and we are promoting it.
But, unfortunately, the insane, from our point of view, policy of the Central Bank has quite specific influential structures which it likes and supports. That is why the policy is so stable.
Veteran diplomat warns against Australia being a US proxy in war against China
Watch “CITIZENS INSIGHT – Veteran Australian diplomat speaks out against war danger – John Lander” on YouTube
Here’s another fine Chinese girl. I think that pretty girls are everywhere, but you know, there are a lot of them inside of China. video 2MB
“It is possible to stabilize the ruble in three days”
Q: Sergey Yuryevich, if this is not conspiracy theory, then why does the Central Bank continue to pursue such a policy? Only based on the interests of lobbyists?
A: To whom is the war, and to whom is the mother dear.
Commercial banks earn a 40% profit on currency speculation.
You bought 90 rubles per dollar – sold it for 125. 35 rubles – nothing is easier!
As a result, we have inflation, imports are becoming more expensive, everyone sees this insane rate.
Prices for all goods are rising, but the banks are making super profits.
Again, a very influential lobby has formed around this policy, and admitting the failure of such a strategy for many people means, in fact, admitting their incompetence and even sabotage.
And speculators with large banks are quite influential structures in our country that influence decision-making.
Q:Well and what, does this information not reach the first person (Putin), is it blocked?
A: When I was an adviser, I communicated this information.
Q:Were you listened to?
A: Yes, there were discussions, discussed at the Economic Council, then it was closed so as not to irritate the officials.
Now I don’t want to comment on it.
We see today that if we do not change the monetary policy, then it will simply be impossible for us to survive in this hybrid war.
We now need to counter economic sanctions with a serious increase in domestic production.
There are production facilities for this, people, raw materials, brains – too, but there is no money.
Right now, the simplest thing that the state can give people is money.
Q:What is your feeling? Is there an understanding at the top?
A: I think that you need to directly address this question to them.
Q:But many people call you almost the Number 1 person in the current situation – a public figure who can save Russia.
A: Thank you for this review. I try my best.
Q: I just want to understand: if before there was no prophet in our Fatherland, now has he appeared? Is this a temporary situation with the Central Bank?
A: It is so protracted, I would say, for 30 years.
If we had carried out a competent monetary policy in accordance with the requirements of the new world economic order, the integral system, we would have developed like China – by 10 percent a year.
There were such possibilities.
And we basically been stomping in the same spot for these past 30 years.
So the point is not even whether they listen or not, you just need to look objectively and see how China and India are developing and how we are developing.
What prevented us from developing in exactly the same way?
Moreover, the control system of the new world economic order, which I describe in my books, is universal.
She worked successfully in Japan before the Americans broke the Japanese economic growth.
And even in Ethiopia, where they also began to form this management model (and achieved growth by several times).
That is, this universal management model of the modern economy, focused on the growth of social welfare through investment in a new technological order, needs to be implemented.
At the same time, of course, the targeted use of money implies a high responsibility.
Throwing money from a helicopter – is not our thing.
Q: It’s not our path.
A: We are talking about targeted credit emission based on modern digital tools with a strict control system focused on investments in new technologies.
We know how to do this, how to minimize the human factor through the introduction of digital technologies, including the digital ruble.
But this is disadvantageous for those who still adhere to the old strategies.
They made a cash cow out of Russia, they sucked out 100 billion dollars from it abroad to offshore companies.But now the Americans have closed offshorization for us. There is a real opportunity, we must use it.
Q: What would you advise people? Now the main query on the Internet search engines is where to invest money in an era of turbulence. What should people do?
A: First of all, do not make sudden movements, I would say that.
In any case, what certainly is not necessary – to run after dollars or euros.
Because we do not know what will happen next with these currencies.
If our system is disconnected from the Western system, then our banks cannot effectively invest dollars and euros anywhere except in currency speculation.
But I hope that our authorities will still curb the foreign exchange market.
In this context, what the banks did, raising the interest rate on foreign currency deposits sharply, turned out to be a clear overkill, which spurred panic.
I think the ruble will stabilize if, of course, speculators are removed from the foreign exchange market and foreign currency is sold only for importers and people who transfer money abroad within reasonable limits to relatives or are going on a business trip in accordance with the regulations.
The rest is to block the channels of currency leakage.
Then our foreign exchange inflow will normalize again.
You know, we have a very positive trade balance.
Mandatory sale of 80% of foreign exchange earnings has been introduced.
If this revenue is sold on the stock exchange, then the amount of currency will be more than what importers need.
We will have a surplus of currency.
This means that the ruble will strengthen, that is, it will return to the old indicators – 80 or even 70 rubles per dollar.
But until the Central Bank removes speculators from the market and allows commercial banks to become such, the ruble exchange rate will not stabilize.
So, unfortunately, the monetary authorities have not yet come to their senses and have not begun to implement the correct policy of macroeconomic stabilization, I can’t give any advice other than investing in gold if possible (especially since the government removed VAT from gold).
There are no other real assets and no safe haven.
Q:So, buy gold?
A: Buy the essentials.
Or invest in real estate, in something reliable.
As for investments in dollars and euros… They have ceased to be a currency for us.
This is no longer a currency, but some obligations of other countries that may or may not be fulfilled.
So we need to look for other possibilities.
But I would like to emphasize once again that with the right policies, we can very quickly stabilize the ruble and even restore its purchasing power.
Q: And in what perspective, after all?
A:It can be done even tomorrow, you understand? The Primakov government and [Viktor] Gerashchenko did it in one week.
Q:Is the government capable of doing this?
A: Of course it can.
To do this, in general, two decisions need to be made: to fix the currency position of commercial banks and introduce the norms for the sale of foreign currency for non-trading operations, to keep the freely convertible foreign exchange market only for trading operations.
That’s all.
This can be written in 15 minutes and announced within a day, introduced within three days – and the ruble will stabilize.
Now the USA is trying to “Strong Arm” Pakastan
After a recently failed NGO backed coup.
Statecraft | Pakistan PM Imran Khan Insists on Foreign Conspiracy With Alleged Threat Letter
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US seek to overthrown Pakistan PM:
Olivia Newton John – Magic (live on the midnight special)
After I left the Navy, but before I was sent a searching, I was in this “in-between” funk. I was between two worlds and perhaps a bit lost. It was a phase that I had to grow though. And I did, don’t you know.
I believe that everyone goes through this period of “void”. Where they feel out of sorts, and without aim, direction, purpose or meaning. For me, it was a new experience, and very uncomfortable.
I was, though events, able to regroup and seek out my next phase in life. We all do. But when you are in this funk, it’s a road and path that is difficult to define and impossible to get help with.
I will tell you that this is the song that was topping the radio tops at that time, and the song that I exercised to the most. I well remember doing arm curls and sit-ups to this song. To you readers it is just an old song. But to me… well, it represents that strange period of time that I went though; a time of great uncertainity and confusion about who I was, and what my purpose in life was.
Give the song a spin…
Blinken says Russia has already seen a ‘strategic defeat’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said Russia has already experienced a “strategic defeat” in its invasion of Ukraine.
“If you step back and look at this, this has already been a dramatic strategic setback for Russia, and I would say a strategic defeat,” Blinken told co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about additional sanctions the U.S. may impose on Russia.
Blinken said Russia has already failed in the three main goals it had at the start of its invasion of Ukraine.
“They had three aims going into this. One was to subjugate Ukraine to Russia’s will, to take away its sovereignty and independence. The second was to assert Russian power. The third was to divide the west and NATO. On all three fronts, its already lost,” Blinken said.
Actually, those three things were not the Russian objectives. The objectives were all clearly stated by Putin himself.
So either [1] Biden is lying, [2] he is being advised by idiots, or [3] he's confused Ukraine with another nation. -MM
Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding
Who doesn’t love making bread pudding in the slow cooker, and this Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding is no exception! Butterscotch chips and pecans add an extra-special touch that’s sure to please. It’s fast. It’s easy. It’s tasty. Just why aren’t you making it?
What You’ll Need
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (1-pound) cinnamon-raisin bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (see Note)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Sweetened whipped cream (optional)
What to Do
Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in milk and next 3 ingredients. Add bread cubes, stirring until moistened. Stir in butterscotch chips and pecans. Pour into a lightly greased 4-quart round slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW setting 2 hours or until center is set. Carefully remove slow cooker insert from heat element. Let stand, covered, 30 minutes. Serve pudding warm with whipped cream, if desired.
Notes
For more cinnamon flavor, you can substitute an equal amount of cinnamon chips for the butterscotch chips. Cinnamon chips tend to be a seasonal item — available only during the holiday months — so, if you love ’em, stock up.
20 Facts About The Emerging Global Food Shortage That Should Chill You To The Core
A very alarming global food shortage has already begun, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead. I realize that this is not good news, but I would encourage you to share the information in this article with everyone that you can. People deserve to understand what is happening, and they deserve an opportunity to get prepared. The pace at which things are changing around the globe right now is absolutely breathtaking, but most people assume that life will just continue to carry on as it normally does. Unfortunately, the truth is that a very real planetary emergency is developing right in front of our eyes. The following are 20 facts about the emerging global food shortage that should chill you to the core…
#1 One of France’s most important government officials is telling us that we should brace ourselves for an “extremely serious” global food crisis…
France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the EU must get to grips with the prospect that the war in Ukraine could prompt an “extremely serious” global food crisis.
#2 Joe Biden recently admitted that food shortages are “going to be real”, and his administration is now openly using the word “famine” to describe what is coming…
The Biden administration is worried Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will cause famine in parts of the world, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse told CNBC on Friday.
#3 It is being reported that food prices at German supermarkets will soon go up between 20 and 50 percent…
Just days after Germany reported the highest inflation in generation (with February headline CPI soaring at a 7.6% annual pace and blowing away all expectations), giving locals a distinctly unpleasant deja vu feeling even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke what few supply chains remained and sent prices even higher into the stratosphere…… on Monday, Germany will take one step toward a return of the dreaded Weimar hyperinflation, when according to the German Retail Association (HDE), consumers should prepare for another wave of price hikes for everyday goods and groceries with Reuters reporting that prices at German retail chains will explode between 20 and 50%
In Spain, the country started experiencing sporadic shortages of different products like eggs, milk and other dairy products almost immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In early March, major supermarkets like Mercadona and Makro began rationing sunflower oil.
In Greece, at least four national supermarket chains have started rationing food products like flour and sunflower oil due to critically low supplies caused by the crippled supply chains coming out of Russia and Ukraine.
On Tuesday, BlackRock Inc. President Rob Kapito told an audience in Austin, Texas, hosted by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, that an entire younger generation is quickly finding out what it means to suffer from shortages, according to Bloomberg.“For the first time, this generation is going to go into a store and not be able to get what they want,” Kapito said. “And we have a very entitled generation that has never had to sacrifice.”
#7 Since this time last year, some fertilizer prices have gone up by as much as 300 percent.
#8 Many farmers in Africa will not be able to afford fertilizer at all this year, and it is being projected that this will reduce agricultural production by an amount capable of feeding “100 million people”…
With prices tripling over the past 18 months, many farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers this year. That leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third, according to Sebastian Nduva, program manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org.That could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tons, enough to feed 100 million people, he said.
Russia is a key global player in natural gas, a major input to fertilizer production. Higher gas prices, and supply cuts, will further drive fertilizer prices higher. Russia is one of the biggest exporters of the three major groups of fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Physical supply cuts could further inflate fertilizer prices.
#10 In a typical year, Russia and Ukraine collectively account for approximately 30 percent of all global wheat exports.
Armenia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Eritrea have imported virtually all of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine and must find new sources. But they are competing against much larger buyers, including Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and Iran, which have obtained more than 60 percent of their wheat from the two warring countries.
#13 One Russian official is warning that his nation may soon only export food to “friendly nations”…
A Russian government official has threatened that Russia will limit its vital food exports to only nations it considers “friendly”.Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who previously served as the nation’s president, has threatened that Russia may soon cut off the West from food exports.
#15 The death toll from the bird flu in Iowa alone will be pushed beyond 13 million as a result of this latest incident.
#16 Overall, this is what the total national death toll from the bird flu currently looks like: “22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys”.
#17 China’s agricultural minister has announced that the winter wheat harvest in China could be “the worst in history”.
#18 We are being warned that the winter wheat harvest in the United States will be “disastrous” due to severe drought.
#20 The head of the UN World Food program says that what the planet is now facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II…
“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. “There is no precedent even close to this since World War II.”
Like I said at the beginning of this article, I hope that you will share this information with as many people as possible, because this crisis really is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.
In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this, and conditions are getting worse with each passing day.
Stomu Yamashta – Go (Full Album)
I came across this album in the discount bin at the local music store in Butler Pennsylvania when I was a Junior / Senior in High School. I think that I bought it for a dollar. Which was a good deal, as at that time a single album of maybe fifteen songs cost $20.
Crazh huh?
Aside from just loving the high quality artwork of the artists eating at a table with bread and wine, the music itself was haunting and melodic. It really stood apart from the funk, soul, rock, and country and western music that i was getting into at that period in my life.
I suggest you all give it a spin…
Stomu Yamashta’s supergroup Go, and their self titled album. This album shows such great musicianship and I wanted to share it with everyone. This album is legendary, and I believe it should be listened to in it’s entirety.
Good news for the world: the United States led Western DNA countries are beginning to feel the pain after bullying, threatening, and looting Russians foreign reserve, bank account, investment, and private assets.
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There are mass protests across Europe against inflation. Germany is just an example of how sanctioning of Putin the great affect food prices:
Paper models are cheap and fun. You pay perhaps a few dollars, and you down load a PDF file. Then you print out the PDF. Once printed, you cut out the patterns and glue or tape together.
There are all sorts of these operations on the internt. Some a just fun with silly little items, while others are quite serious and very detailed. How about a 440 automotive engine, perhaps?
This operation; AXM Paper Models, specializes in modern and contemporaneous spacecraft. They are serious with scale and detailed drawing and patterns. In this installment, I am just going to provide a gate way to their inexpensive models of Chinese space station components. It’s all pretty nice.
All in all, no matter what the “news” says, you need to keep in mind a few key points…
The world is undergoing a geopolitical realignment.
This alignment is dividing into two separate entities (East and West).
The two sides have a very different view of how the world should be. That should be quite clear by now, and everyone seems to agree on these points. Including the leadership of the two sides.
The West is trying to maintain a uni-polar single world government ruled by the United States. It wants the work to choose sides. You are either freinds or you are enemies. There is no in-between.
The East is trying to maintain a multi-polar world of equals of various unique social structures. They want to strengthen the UN charter, and empower it, and cut out and gut the legacy corruption that was built internally to it.
Some people, as the articles above state, consider a five point plan. WHile others jsut consider the plan to be some kind of “hybrid war”. I argue that a war is a war, irregardless as to what you call it.
But everything, right now, boils down to the purchase of energy and how that purchase comes about. Key to this manifestation is the control of the currency of exchange.
The West is trying to maintain the USD, or an electronic version of it.
The East is trying to use commodity-based currency by labor, materials and products.
Issues about Ukraine or Taiwan are simply the desperate plans of the West in a plan to maintain a uni-polar world. Sure they are important, but nto as important as the “news” would lead you to believe.
Do not get sidetracked from what is REALLY going on.
Keep clear headed. Keep focused. Keep frosty. I believe in you.
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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 remember when I was a little child. Would you believe that I would climb out of my crib and stand on the edge, and then stand there for a moment or two before I fell and landed on my head?
Yeah. Good times.
I was normal. Not an exception.
In this post we will continue with the onslaught of major global changes that are all in full swing RIGHT here and RIGHT now. Whoa! Things are moving hot heavy.
China to restrict visas for US officials
The tit-for-tat move comes after Washington placed similar restrictions on the Chinese, citing “human rights abuses”
China has decided to restrict visas for a number of US officials in response to similar measures introduced by Washington earlier this month over alleged human rights abuses.
"The Chinese side decided to impose retaliatory visa restrictions on certain US officials who spread lies on the issue of human rights, imposed sanctions against China and harmed China's interests," stated Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Thursday. Wang said the move was made "to protect the sovereignty, security and development interests of the PRC.
The spokesperson claims that the US used, what he called, the false pretext of human rights issues to [1] interfere in the internal affairs of China, [2] discredit Beijing, and [3] put pressure on Chinese officials. Wang stated that such actions are a serious violation of the basic principles of international law and international relations.
China’s foreign ministry has so far not confirmed which exact officials will fall under these new restrictions, but the spokesperson said that those who invented the “lies” surrounding the issue of human rights and harmed China’s national interests already know who they are themselves.
The announcement comes after The US State Department imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials who Washington claims are responsible for the intimidation and harassment of human rights activists and dissidents in China and around the world.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited the alleged “genocide” of Uighur muslims and repression of dissidents in Hong Kong and Tibet, saying the US …
“rejects efforts by [People’s Republic of China] officials to harass, intimidate, surveil and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and US citizens, who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations."
The US urged China to…
“end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, repressive policies in Tibet, crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Kong Kong,” and other abuses elsewhere.
Do you take ownership, and responsibility for your community? Or, are you going to stand by and do nothing? The future belongs to the unselfish, the members of a community that participate. video 3MB
Singapore appears to embrace the West
Remark by a Singapore friend :
Lee Hsien Loong is that piece of shit who betrayed his father and his siblings by colluding with the enemy — racist UMNO — which gleefully kicked Singapore (the little red dot on the map) out of the Malaysian Federation and caused LKY so much tears and grief!
When LKY was Singapore’s PM, he made it clear to Washington that US troops will never be allowed to make use of Singapore as a military base or a staging post in the event of a war between America and China.
Yet, the spineless HS Loong is now running head over heels to lick Yankee Joe Biden’s boots before the world press! How low and despicable can anybody get?
Poland wants to cut-up Ukraine and sever ties with Russia
Medvedev for more than the past week has leveled consistent criticism that Washington is a “puppeteer” behind modern Poland.
Earlier in the month The Washington Examiner related Medvedev’s words as posted in an essay to social media channels as follows:
The essay, posted on Medvedev's Telegram channel, claimed that Poland and Russia have a long and "common history" that destines them to work together but that the Poles had been led astray by the U.S., "their puppeteers from across the ocean with clear signs of senile insanity."
This had been followed by Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev just days ago saying it’s a possibility that Moscow might be forced to shutter its embassy in Warsaw in response to Polish authorities moving to expel 45 Russian diplomats who stand accused of spying, or are at least under suspicion, with the Ukraine war ongoing.
In particular Medvedev’s newest comments take aim at Poland’s reneging on crucial gas contracts…
“In 2020, Warsaw imported up to 10 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, but now it intends to abandon previous contracts. The volume of gas supplies from Russia to Poland this year has already decreased by 13% compared to last year,” Medvedev explained. “Reverse supplies of the same Russian gas have been proposed as a replacement from Germany, as well as imports of LNG from Qatar, Norway and the United States. Economic benefits have fallen victim to bad political decisions.”
They keep promising us that things will start getting better. When will that actually happen? Once winter was over, the supply chain crisis was supposed to be on the way out. Instead, as you will see below, even CNN is being forced to admit that it is getting even worse. The war in Ukraine and a new wave of COVID lockdowns in China are being blamed, but those are only two pieces of the puzzle. The truth is that we are now in the third year of this epic supply chain crisis, and there is no end in sight.
‘You go to a store, you don’t have bread. We’re like a third world country. They don’t have things. You go to buy something at Tiffany, you go to buy something at a hardware store — high, low — they don’t have product.’
Of course Trump is 100 percent correct.
Throughout our entire economy, there are shortages, delays and backlogs.
Trump himself has been personally affected by this. In fact, in the interview he appeared to refer to a wait of “nine months” for something that he had ordered…
‘They say — even me, when I order things, like for furnishings, for a building or something — they say it’s going to take nine months to get it,’ Trump said. ‘Used to be like, same day service.’
Prior to 2020, most Americans never would have imagined that this sort of supply chain crisis could be possible.
But here we are.
And according to CNN, experts are openly admitting that our supply chain problems are now “getting worse”…
Problems with global supply chains were supposed to be getting better by now. Instead, experts say they are getting worse.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which cut off exports from Ukraine and put Russian businesses under sanction, has set off a series of new supply-chain bottlenecks. So has a surge in Covid cases in China, which has led to temporary lockdowns in parts of the country.
So when will things finally start getting better?
When the war in Ukraine ends?
I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
When the COVID pandemic is over?
If you are waiting for that to happen, you are going to be waiting for an awfully long time.
And what is going to happen if another major “black swan event” comes along?
We are so vulnerable right now, and we should have never allowed ourselves to become so deeply dependent on other nations.
For example, once upon a time the U.S. had a dominant position in global computer chip manufacturing. But now the vast majority of our chips come from overseas, and the war in Ukraine is threatening to take the chip shortage to an entirely new level…
Ukraine and Russia don’t produce computer chips used by global automakers. But Ukraine is the world’s leading source of neon, a gas needed for the lasers used in the chip-making process. While some chipmakers have stockpiled neon ahead of the fighting, there are concerns about the long-term availability of the gas.“People expected the semiconductor shortage to continue. But nobody predicted Ukraine,” said Bernard Swiecki, director of research at the Center for Automotive Research, a Michigan think tank.
The chip shortage is already affecting almost every industry in America to at least a certain degree, and now we are being told that it could get a lot worse in the months ahead.
That is really bad news.
As shortages intensify, that is going to make our raging inflation crisis even more severe as well. There is way too much money chasing way too few goods and services, and that will remain the case for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, economists with Bloomberg are warning that the average American should budget an extra $5,200 this year for higher prices – or an extra $433 every month.Economists Andrew Husby and Anna Wong write that households can expect to pay thousands more in 2022 for the same basket of goods and services they used last year.
And with each passing month, money will just get tighter and tighter for hard working American families. In fact, one survey has found that 20 percent of all U.S. workers are now completely running out of money between paychecks…
Now, workers are running out of money faster, Salary Finance found.Roughly 20% of employees regularly run out of money between paychecks, up from 15% last year, according to the survey of more than 3,000 working adults in February.
Making ends meet is going to become increasingly painful, and the shortages and the price hikes are just going to intensify in the months ahead.
Some of the things that we will soon see will be absolutely unprecedented. For example, one of Steve Quayle’s readers says that the price of eggs is about to double at her local store…
I know I sent an email out to you both in regard to the warnings I was given by several different store managers. Well I have another one. Yesterday the store manager at Price Less Foods told me that the price of eggs will be doubling and there will be a massive shortage of eggs. I am lucky to live in an area where I can purchase fresh eggs from several different people who have chickens, not everyone can.
We are being hit by so many things at once, and the American people are becoming quite restless.
Just this week, a new survey found that just 33 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy.
In April 2021, 52 percent of Americans approved of his handling of the economy.
So much has changed over the past year, and a lot of people out there think that things can’t possibly get any worse than they are right now.
But they will, because the truth is that we are only in the very early chapters of this nightmare.
Vicki says…
The shooting war has been won by Russia.The economic war is reaching the same ending, at a bit slower pace.Not that any of this is apparent in the US news reporting.
China in Africa
Business, factories, labor and economy are far better than selling F-35 fighter jets and bombs to African dictators. Don’t you think? video 81MB
Sanctionistas go shopping for rubles
2022-03-26
As the situation stands today:
1. Russia has announced that since the US and the EU have defaulted on their US dollar and euro obligations, respectively, by freezing Russian reserves, Russia will now only sell natural gas for rubles.
2. There is no other source of sufficient quantities of natural gas available; thus, the EU has no choice but to continue importing natural gas from Russia.
3. The EU has to keep the gas flowing or it will be unable to make it through next winter without shutting down all industrial production or letting the housing stock go unheated.
How will the EU get the required quantities of rubles? Good question!
The following comprehensive analysis (credit: “adventurist”) answers it pretty well.
So cute, but true. Show some appreciation for all sides and help others as only you know how. Let others laugh and make fun. You are unique. Be the best that you can be and always be the Rufus. video 8MB
Lots of startling changes yesterday. Russia announced, apparently, a gold-backed or gold-related ruble. I haven’t had time to think about all the implications. Information is hard to come by, because the US blocks Russian news in order to control the Ukraine narrative and war propaganda. The Bretton Woods system collapsed when the West seized Russian central bank reserves, and it seems that the gold ruble adds to the end of the US dollar as world reserve currency under Bretton Woods. The implications could be vast, and the Washington idiots might very well wish they had left the Russians alone. I told them over and over that Russia had had enough of them, but the arrogant idiots didn’t listen. The sanctions, it seems, have brought about regime change in the West, reducing its power and influence.
Another big development is that apparently Ukraine has agreed to be a neutral country, no NATO, no foreign bases, no nuclear weapons, and accepts eastern Ukraine gong its own way. We will see if US puppet Zelensky is permitted to sign what Ukraine has agreed. Meanwhile, Russia has stopped its assault on Kiev, and is focused on clearing the remaining Nazi militias out of the Donbass region. I think the low-intelligence governments in Poland and Romania will get the message, and the US missile bases in those countries will be closed before too long.
These are major developments with many large implications. The World Economic Forum’s “reset” has likely been replaced by a Russian-Chinese reset.
The US ran on arrogance for so long that it has hollowed itself out. The Western world’s fate is unclear. It seems no one in intellectual, business, or political leadership positions believes in freedom and civil liberty. The US certainly is busy at work cancelling itself:
Present generations of Americans will not recognize their country. Rivers, mountains, streets, schools, public spaces, even towns are losing their names and acquiring new politically correct names. Normally, this is what outside conquerors do to a country, but we are doing it to ourselves. A country that destroys its own monuments and history is lost.
My conclusion is that the days of the West are over. The West is drowning in accumulated mistakes and degeneracy. The moral fiber in the leadership ranks is gone
MM describes a local BBQ / Seafood place
Good place for some cheap food. You can eat your fill for under $15 USD. I go though the show and tell here. Enjoy video 110MB
Ukraine: US Biowarfare Labs Developed Disease Delivering Drones (DDD?)
It’s not just used in China, apparently.
Documents and other evidence from US funded laboratories in Ukraine suggest that Kiev was planning to use drones to deploy pathogens against the Donbass as well as Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Moscow has also identified specific US officials involved in the development of bioweapons in Ukraine.
Of particular interest to Russian investigators are “documents testifying to the plans of the Kiev regime to use unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying and spraying deadly substances,” military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.
Facts in the possession of the Russian military “prove that the Kiev regime was seriously considering the possibility of using biological weapons against the population of the Donbass and the Russian Federation,” Konashenkov added.
Russia has also identified “specific officials who took part in the creation of components of biological weapons,” the general added. He did not name any of them, however, saying only they were “the heads of divisions and employees of the US Department of Defense, as well as its main contractors.”
Een US biolab met een vreemde verzameling, Rusisch DNA.Drones om muggen die besmet zijn los te laten.https://t.co/iEcQu7TrhG— Petr@ (@Nomediocre_P) March 1, 2022
These campaigns were “directly related to the son of the current US president, Hunter Biden,” Konashenkov added, citing investigations in the Western media. Last week, the Daily Mail published emails showing Biden’s ties to the Pentagon contractor Metabiota, which specialized in researching pandemic causing pathogens that could be used as bioweapons.
Among other things, 🧵reports Ukraine documents on drones transporting biolab substances:"Regarding biological weapons laboratories, the documents that reveal the plans of the Ukrainian regime to use drones to transport and disperse substances are particularly interesting."— Pipers Creek (@piperscreekway) March 30, 2022
Hunter Biden’s involvement in the US funding of Ukrainian biolabs was brought up by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, in a briefing last Thursday.
The results of the further analysis of documents and other evidence obtained from Ukrainian biolabs will be shared in more detail “in the near future at a special briefing,” Konashenkov promised.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu Detected In Five More US States
An outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu is quickly spreading across the U.S. The risk to humans is low, but bird flu could wreak havoc in the nation’s poultry industry ahead of Easter.
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on Wednesday that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in five new states.
A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Berkshire County, Massachusetts;
A non-commercial, mixed-species backyard flock (non-poultry) in Johnson County, Wyoming;
A commercial poultry flock in Johnston County, North Carolina;
A non-commercial, backyard chicken flock (non-poultry) in Franklin County, Ohio;
And a backyard chicken flock (poultry) in Kidder County, North Dakota.
According to Bloomberg, USDA data shows the bird flu has been found in 23 states in flocks totaling about 17 million birds up and down Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and across the Midwest.
Russia’s independent sociological research organization Levada Center’s poll conducted between March 24-30 showed that Russian public’s support for the actions of their president rose by more than 10% compared to the figures in January or February. It was 69% in January and 71% in February.
Poll details
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Discarded hopes and dreams.
Poor guy.
Don’t worry dude.
It happened to me also. But I did elict a ton load of sympathy from all the attractive chicks in the jewlery store when I returned the ring. Don’t you know.
Regime-ology is a new field of study so the practitioners are still working out the tools and methods for interpreting regime activity. Unlike Kremlinology, on which regime-ology is modeled, the focus is not on a hierarchical structure. The Soviet empire was run by a vertical organization that operated like a corporation. The American empire is a horizontal organization modeled on the Mafia. It is a collection of elite gangster organizations jostling for power within the elite.
With Kremlinology, events could be interpreted as either a signal from the party elite or representing internal party changes. If someone disappeared from the public eye, it meant he had fallen out of favor with the party leaders. If party media reported something hanky about a party member, it was assumed to have been done with the permission of the party leaders to prepare the public for a change. The target was being shaped as a scoundrel so he could be denounced.
Regime-ology is a bit more complicated. If someone disappears for a while, it could mean nothing more than he is having a blood transfusion at one of Google’s secret rejuvenation centers. On the other hand, disparaging information about an oligarch in regime media could simply mean that one mob family is unhappy with another mob family and this is how they are communicating it. Using the media promotes the interests of the gangster class and delivers the message.
That is probably how to interpret the sudden interest by regime media in the famous Hunter Biden laptop from two years ago. For those not interested, this was the laptop that President Biden’s drug-addled son abandoned at a Delaware computer shop, which contained a trove of embarrassing information about the family. In addition to thousands of naked selfies and pics of Hunter smoking crack and meth with prostitutes, it had details of the Biden family criminal dealings.
Regime media dutifully covered this up by declaring it Russian propaganda and going as far as to imply it was a Trump campaign dirty trick. The New York Post, which was the first to report the laptop story, came under withering assault from the Silicon Valley crime families until they dropped the story. Facebook started banning people from their site for mentioning the story. Like the people air brushed from official photos in the Soviet Union, this story was erased from public view.
This is nothing new. The power of regime media is in what they can make the public ignore and this was a typical example. They do this by framing the issue as good guys versus bad guys, which is catnip for the American moralizer. Then they declare the thing to be ignored as the black hat and let the moralizers do the rest. Anyone mentioning the laptop on-line or even in private conversation was declared a crazy QAnon conspiracy theorist by others in their circle.
For no reason at all, the laptop story is back. First the intel community told the New York Times to admit they lied two years ago about it being fake. They did not mention that it was the intel community that lied, of course. Then the Washington Post was told to write about the Biden family’s criminal dealings that were on the laptop. The Post is the official organ of the intelligence community. You will recall that the Post was instrumental in the Russian collusion hoax in 2016.
Even more interesting, the scandal ridden outlet CNN has been given the green light to unleash their nutters on the story. This is a story posted by Dean Obeidallah, a former circus clown and far-left conspiracy theorist. In addition to being a conspiracy hub, CNN is also a popular landing spot for disgraced members of the intel community. Andrew McCabe and Josh Campbell landed there after being forced out of their jobs. The FBI uses CNN to control the Antifa/BLM community.
Taken together, this new interest in the Hunter Biden laptop story suggests the intel community is unhappy with the Biden crime family. It could be a warning shot about the recent rantings by Biden in Poland. This has created huge problems for the foreign policy gangsters running the war with Russia. They have been forced to spend their time telling European leaders that Biden should be ignored. This is not a good look for the Global American Empire in the middle of a crisis.
One way to look at this is that they are preparing the way for Biden to be removed from office this year. The plan was for him to pretend to be in charge through the midterm then hand things off to strong diverse female. Team Biden has been making plans for him to run again in 2024, while he is clearly in rapid decline. The Hunter Biden story could be the leverage to force Team Biden to stick to the deal. He takes the blame for the midterms, retires for health reasons and the laptop disappears.
On the other hand, this could be the start of a plot to hang the Ukraine debacle on Biden and his crooked son. The regime media is being told to sell the Ukraine war as a smashing success, but that can only go on for another month. Reality in the ground says the Russians are slowly grinding up the Ukrainian army. In a month, there will be little of it left in the east. Whether it is by force or by negotiations, the Russians will get the terms they laid out last month.
Then there are the economic sanctions. This is proving to be a disaster for the Global American Empire. The Germans just cut a deal with the Russians to buy gas in rubles, even through both sides are pretending otherwise. The Germans will buy the gas in Euros from Gazprom, which will then convert them immediately into rubles at the agreed upon exchange rate. This is de facto acceptance by Germany that they will buy gas from Russia in rubles. The rest of Europe will now follow.
What we could be seeing here is Afghanistan 2.0. The military industrial complex, the intel community and the foreign policy establishment opposed the withdraw from Afghanistan, but team Biden insisted on it. They let Afghanistan collapse and then let Team Biden take the blame for it. Notice that no one actually responsible in the military, intelligence of foreign policy realm was fired. We could be seeing the same thing afoot with the looming Ukraine disaster.
Again, regime-ology is a new field. We do not know what we do not know, so we are left to our imaginations. Maybe Hunter Biden is so mobbed up that even the thoroughly corrupt FBI has to acknowledge it. Maybe this is a feint to distract from something much worse that is in the wind. All we can know is that Hunter Biden will never be charged and we will never know the truth about the Biden family corruption. In a gangster state like America, those things are handled internally.
Margaret Flowers: You’re listening to Clearing the FOG, speaking truth to expose the forces of greed, with Margaret Flowers. And now I turn to my guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is the president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term, Economic Trends, ISLET. He’s a Wall Street financial analyst and a distinguished research professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, in Kansas City. He’s also the author of numerous books and recently updated his book, “Super Imperialism: The economic strategy of American Empire.” Thank you for taking time to speak with me today, Michael.
Michael Hudson: Well, thanks for having me on Margaret.
MF: You’ve talked a lot and written a lot about dollar hegemony and what’s happening now with de-dollarization. Can you start out by explaining to my listeners what dollar hegemony is and how it has benefited the wealthy class in the United States?
MH: Dollar hegemony seems to be the position that has just ended as of this week very abruptly. Dollar hegemony was when America’s war in Vietnam and the military spending of the 1960s and 70s drove the United States off gold. The entire US balance of payments deficit was military spending, and it began to run down the gold supply. So, in 1971, President Nixon took the dollar off gold. Well, everybody thought America has been controlling the world economy since World War I by having most of the gold and by being the creditor to the world. And they thought what is going to happen now that the United States is running a deficit, instead of being a creditor.
Well, what happened was that, as I’ve described in Super Imperialism, when the United States went off gold, foreign central banks didn’t have anything to buy with their dollars that were flowing into their countries – again, mainly from the US military deficit but also from the investment takeovers. And they found that these dollars came in, the only thing they could do would be to recycle them to the United States. And what do central banks hold? They don’t buy property, usually, back then they didn’t. They buy Treasury bonds. And so, the United States would be spending dollars abroad and foreign central banks didn’t really have anything to do but send it right back to buy treasury bonds to finance not only the balance of payments deficit, but also the budget deficit that was largely military in character. So, dollar hegemony was the system where foreign central banks keep their monetary and international savings reserves in dollars and the dollars are used to finance the military bases around the world, almost eight hundred military bases surrounding them. So, basically central banks have to keep their savings by weaponizing them, by militarizing them, by lending them to the United States, to keep spending abroad.
This gave America a free ride. Imagine if you went to the grocery store and you just paid by giving them an IOU. And then the next week you want to buy more groceries and you give them another IOU. And they say, wait a minute, you have an IOU before and you say, well just use the IOU to pay the milk company that delivers, or the farmers that deliver. You can use this as your money and just you’ll as a customer, keep writing IOU’s and you never have to pay anything because your IOU is other people’s money. Well, that’s what dollar hegemony was, and it was a free ride. And it all ended last Wednesday when the United States grabbed Russia’s reserves having grabbed Afghanistan’s foreign reserves and Venezuela’s foreign reserves and those of other countries.
And all of a sudden, this means that other countries can no longer safely hold their reserves by sending their money back, depositing them in US banks or buying US Treasury Securities, or having other US investments because they could simply be grabbed as happened to Russia. So, all of a sudden this last week, you’re seeing the world economy fracture into two parts, a dollarized part and other countries that do not follow the neoliberal policies that the United States insists that its allies follow. We’re seeing the birth of a new dual World economy.
MF: Wow, there’s a lot to unpack there. So, are we seeing then other countries starting to disinvest in US dollars? You’ve written about how the treasury bonds that these central banks buy up have been basically funding our domestic economy. Are they starting to shed those bonds or what’s happening?
MH: No, they haven’t been funding our domestic economy because the Federal Reserve can create its own money to fund the domestic economy. We don’t need to borrow from foreign countries to fund our economy. We can print it ourselves. What the dollar hegemony does is fund the balance of payments deficit. It funds our spending in other economies, our spending abroad. It doesn’t help our economy, but it does help us get a free ride from other countries. The more dollars we spend in making a military base, all these military expenditures get turned over to the local Central Bank that turns and sends them back to the Federal Reserve or deposits them in US bank accounts. So, it’s the international free ride we get, not a domestic free ride.
MF: Okay. So are we seeing countries now, since this past week, starting to move their assets back to repatriate them because I know for Afghanistan, a big problem is that most of the government’s money was outside of the country and that has been used as a weapon against Afghanistan by seizing those assets and not allowing the Central Bank of Afghanistan to have them. Are we starting to see other countries repatriating their money and gold?
MH: Well, figures are only available at the end of each month, reported at the end of each month and then there’s a two-month delay, so we don’t have any idea what’s happening. But I’ve been talking to people all over the world in the last few days and the consensus is that everybody is now deciding the only place, certainly if you’re China or Russia or Kazakhstan or you’re in the Eurasian orbit, South Asia, East Asia, you realize, wait a minute, if all we have to do is something like Allende did in Chile or all we have to do is refuse to sell off our industry to American investors and they can treat us like they’ve treated Venezuela. So you can imagine that everybody’s watching this and there’s an expectation that as a result of the war in Ukraine, that’s really America’s NATO war, that this is going to create a balance-of-payments crisis throughout the whole Global South as their energy prices go up, oil prices soar, food prices are going to soar and this is going to make it impossible for them to pay their foreign debts unless they go without food and energy. Obviously, this is a political crisis. That is, the only result can be to split the world in two.
MF: You’ve been writing about this happening. You’ve written that the de-dollarization has been happening relatively quickly in recent years. So, are we now we’re now just seeing the end result of that? I mean, people said it could happen quickly. Is that exactly what we’re seeing right now?
MH: Yes, and nobody expected that it would happen this quickly. Nobody expected that it would be the United States itself that ends de-dollarization. People thought that, well, most of the sales of my book describing this super imperialism were bought by the Defense Department and they looked at it as a how -to-do-it book. And I was brought down to the White House and the Defense Department to explain to them how imperialism works.
I had expected that maybe China, Russia, and other countries would say, “We don’t want to give America free rides.” And yet it was the United States itself that broke all of this, by grabbing Russia’s reserves right after it grabbed Afghanistan’s and Venezuela’s reserves.
Nothing like this has happened in modern history, even in the 19th century wars. In the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, Russia, England and Germany, everybody kept paying the debts to the countries they were fighting against because the idea is that debts were sacrosanct. And now, all of a sudden, not only are debts are not sacrosanct, but countries can just grab foreign savings. I guess the problem began after the Shah of Iran fell and the United States grabbed Iran’s money and refused to let it pay its bond holders and started the whole war against Iran for trying to take control of its own oil resources. So, all of a sudden, the United States grabbing this has ended what everybody thought was an immutable morality.
MF: So that was in 1979 that the Shah fell in Iran and, and over the last number of decades, the United States has been increasingly using economic warfare against countries through what people call sanctions, but they’re actually, illegal unilateral coercive measures, has that been kind of driving and setting the stage for what is happening today?
MH: Yes, the International Monetary Fund has operated, basically, as an arm of the Defense Department. It’s been bailing out dictatorships, bailing out Ukraine, lending money to countries whose client oligarchies America wants to support, and not lending any money to countries that America doesn’t want to support, like Venezuela. So, its job is basically to promote neoliberal policies, and to insist that other countries balance their payments by undergoing a class war against labor.
The conditionality that the IMF insists upon for foreign borrowing is that countries devalue their currency and lower their wage rates and pass anti-labor legislation. Well, when you lower the currency’s exchange rate, what do you really lower? Food prices are set in dollars internationally, raw materials prices are, and prices for machinery and many goods. The only economic variable devalued is domestic labor (and domestic rents). The IMF has been using this kind of junk-economic free-trade policy as a means of keeping the wage rates in the Global South down. You could say it’s a financialization of an ultimately military conflict to promote neoliberal ideology.
MF: And you mentioned the lowering wages and things like that. And this is actually done because it’s favorable to US investors and US business, right? I mean, the World Bank actually has an index, the cost of doing business index, that helps inform large corporations about laws that countries pass that make them more favorable to businesses to come in.
MH: It’s even worse than that. The central aim of the World Bank is to prevent other countries from growing their own food. That is the prime directive. It will only make loans for countries to earn foreign currency and it has insisted ever since about 1950 that countries that borrow from it must shift their agriculture to plantation export crops to grow tropical crops that cannot be grown in the United States for environmental and weather reasons. And the countries must not grow their own food and must not undertake Land Reform or small family-based farming. So, it insisted on foreign-owned agribusiness in large plantation agriculture. And what that means is that countries that have borrowed for agricultural loans have not been loans to produce their own food. It’s been to compete with each other producing tropical export crops while being increasingly dependent on the United States for their food supplies, and for their grain. And that’s part of the corner they painted them into that is going to be creating such a world famine this summer.
MF: I definitely want to get into that as well as the energy situation and the climate crisis, but before we do that, I just want you to comment quickly on how this has also been driving countries to seek alternatives. The United States removed Russia from the SWIFT system, which is the international mechanism for doing trading and finance. It threatened China if they didn’t denounce what was happening with Russia and Ukraine to kick them out of the SWIFT system. So, this hubris of the United States is also kind of driving countries away to seek other alternatives, right?
MH: That’s the whole point. Well, fortunately they’ve been threatening to kick Russia out of SWIFT for the last two years. And so, Russia and China have been putting in place an alternative system. So, they almost pretty smoothly are shifting over to using their own currency with each other instead of using the dollar. And that’s part of what has ended the dollar standard and ended dollar hegemony.
If the way you have dollar hegemony is to have other countries deposit your money in your banks and handle their oil trade with each other by financing it in dollars, but all of a sudden you grab all their dollars and you don’t let them use US banks to pay for their oil and their trade with each other, then they’re going to shift to a different system. And that’s exactly what has ended the dollar hegemony, as you just pointed out.
MF: So, let’s get a little bit into where things are headed with this new situation, a rapidly changing situation. It may be hard to say what’s happening, but you talked about a food crisis this summer. Can you talk a little bit about more about that and does the conflict in Ukraine feed into that?
MH: Well, as President Putin and Lavrov have said, the fighting in Ukraine isn’t really over Ukraine at all. It’s a fight over what shape the world will take and whether the world will be unipolar or, as it now appears, multipolar. The US, for the last year before it began to escalate attacks on the Russian-speaking Ukraine, was trying to block Europe from, and especially Germany, from buying Russia gas and oil.
There are three pillars of American foreign policy that base American power. The first pillar is the oil industry. That’s the most powerful industry next to banking in the United States. And United States throughout the 20th century, along with Britain and France, have controlled the world oil trade.
That has benefited the United States in two ways. Number one, we are a major oil exporter because we have a big oil and gas industry. But, number two, our US companies control the foreign oil trade. So that if some country, say Chile or Venezuela, does something that the United States doesn’t like, like growing their own food or pursuing a socialist policy, the United States can simply cut off their oil and sanction them. Without oil, they don’t have energy to drive the cars or power their factories or drive their GDP.
So, the American war in Ukraine is really a war against Germany. Russia is not the enemy. Germany and Europe are the enemy and the United States made it very clear. This is a war to lock in our allies so they cannot trade with Russia. They cannot buy Russian oil. They must be dependent on American oil for which they will have to pay three or four times as much. They will have to be dependent on American liquefied natural gas for fertilizer. If they don’t buy American gas for fertilizer, and we don’t let them buy from Russia, then they cannot put fertilizer on the land and the crop yield will fall by about 50% without fertilizer.
So, the, the war in Ukraine was to make Russia look so bad by defending itself against the attacks by the Ukrainian right wing in the Russian-speaking areas that the US has said, look at how bad Russia is. You’ve got to forego buying oil and gas or grain or titanium or palladium or anything else from Russia.
And so, the effect of this war has been to lock the NATO countries into dependency on the United States because the great fear of the United States in the last few years is that as America is de-industrializing, these countries are looking to the part of the world that’s growing, China, Central Asia, Russia, South Asia. And the United States feared losing control of its satellites mainly in NATO, but also in South America. So, it sanctioned and blocked their ability to buy non-US energy. They’re blocking their ability to buy non-US food, blocking their ability to invest in or use their surplus to get prosperous by investing in China, Russia, or Eurasia.
So, this is basically a war of America to lock in its allies. Well, the result is that oil prices, now that you can’t get Russian oil, are going to go way, way up, and that is going to create a crisis for many of the Global South countries that are oil deficit countries. The fertilizer companies in Germany have already been closing down because they say, without Russian gas, we make our fertilizer out of gas, and if we can’t get Russian gas, we can’t produce the fertilizer that. So, world fertilizer prices are going way up.
Russia is the largest grain exporter. And now that grain exports are being blocked by the sanctions, the question is, what are North Africa and the Near East going to do that have been depending very largely on Russian grain exports? Their food prices are going to go way up.
You can imagine just from seeing what’s happening in the United States when gas prices go up here, food prices go up here, not only does it put a squeeze on individual family budgets, but throughout the world, it puts the squeeze on the balance of payments of other countries. And so, they’re desperate. How are they going to pay the higher prices unless they borrow even more money from US banks? And of course, that’s another arm of US policy. The US banks hope to make a killing in making loans at rising interest rates to third world countries.
And of course, arms exports. NATO in the last few days has agreed to make American arms exports to increase their purchase of arms. So, the stock market has been soaring in the last few days. They say this, the world famine, the world crisis is a bonanza for Wall Street. The oil company stocks are going way up, the military, industrial stocks, Boeing Raytheon way up, the bank stocks. This is America’s great power grab, and it realizes, when it can create a crisis and tell the Global South or poor countries your money or your life. This is how most of the great property grabs and conquests have been made throughout history.
MF: And just this week at the NATO meetings, President Biden basically said food prices are going to go up in the United States and Europe as a result of what’s happening. And that’s just the price we have to pay.
MH: Well, what he should have said, this is the price they have to pay us. That’s how the stock market took it. When he said this is the price we have to pay, this is the price consumers have to pay to the American oil companies, to the American Agricultural food distribution companies. It’s the price other countries have to pay to the United States.
This is to say to the rest of the world, you know, we’ve got you completely, I don’t know how to put it, what phrase to use, but you don’t have any choice, your money or your life. We’ve got you trapped. And he’s crowing over the fact that this resulting inflation is exactly what was intended by the war in Ukraine that has led to the isolation of Russia and other countries following a non-US policy.
MF: But more and more countries in Latin America, in Africa, are turning to countries like China for partnerships, for investment. Do you see a point coming where there is just this real shunning of the United States and turning to these alternatives?
MH: That is exactly what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is, China’s investment is very different from US investment. US and European investment will give financial investments to countries at interest that the whole country is liable for to repay. China’s investment is taking place by means of the Belt and Road Initiative and direct capital investment in developing ports, infrastructure and railways. And instead of having a general financial claim against these countries, China has an equity claim, a property claim backed by the physical means of production that it puts in place.
Well, this summer, when countries say they cannot afford to pay their foreign debts, the United States has as a backup plan, okay, let’s write down everybody’s debts, government debts, to each other so that governments can pay the private bond holders and the banks. And they’re going to try to, essentially the US will forgive its debts so that Latin America can pay Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank and the bondholders. And China is going to say, wait a minute, we don’t have any financial claim against these countries. We didn’t lend them dollars. We didn’t lend them our foreign currency at all. We built assets there and the assets are still in place. There’s no problem there.
So, the question is, whose debts are going to be written down to whom? And all of this is going to lead to, as you can imagine, destabilization. The United States is probably going to try to push regime change on countries that try to trade with China as it’s already threatened China with. And the more sanctions the United States imposes on Latin America, Africa and the Near East and South Asia, they will be creating a crisis, but the crisis will lead the rest of the world to treat the United States in the same way that Russia and China are treating the United States as just the enemy threatening the entire world with their neoliberal power grab. So, the United States in a way is isolating itself from the rest of the world by declaring war on it.
MF: And I think that’s not going to be good for us here at home in the United States. You’ve talked about the way that the current economy has been structured. You’ve also raised a lot of concern about the climate crisis. And of course, we have the recent IPCC report basically saying that we’re way behind in taking action to even adapt to the climate crisis or the warming that we’re going to be experiencing. So now in this new situation, how do you see that impacting the climate crisis?
MH: Here’s what Biden said, in effect: “We’re way behind in the pace of global warming.” American policy is based on increasing and accelerating global warming. That has been a central point of US policy ever since I joined the Hudson Institute in the 1970s. The United States is opposing any attempt at trying to prevent global warming because you can imagine what would happen if other countries go to solar energy and renewable energy. That will reduce their dependency on the US oil industry. If you look at American policy, it is being run basically by the oil industry to establish dependence of other countries on oil. Then obviously the last thing the United States is ever going to do is prevent global warming. So, if we’re behind in global warming, it’s that the sea level is not rising fast enough. The world is not getting hot fast enough not to lock in foreign reliance on America’s oil.
And I think you’ve seen what in the last few weeks, what President Biden has said, the fuel of the future is coal and oil. Right now, he’s in Poland. I think he’s suggesting that Polish coal, which is one of its major products, should be used in Europe instead of Russian gas. So, American foreign policy is based on the accelerated use of coal and oil, not renewable energy.
Now, that’s why I think the environmental movement should become an anti-war movement and the movement against this neoliberal dollar hegemony. You’re not going to avoid global warming unless you stop the dominance of American foreign policy by the oil industry.
MF: I think we’ve been seeing that shift over the last few years where the climate movement is starting to understand we can’t address this crisis without addressing the US military. So just in the last minutes that I have with you, what do you have to say to the listeners about where this is going for us materially as people living in the United States, a country that has been showing itself to be a failing state? The Covid-19 pandemic, I think, has really exposed that in so many ways, the financial insecurity that people are facing, housing, education, health care, all of the failures of the government to meet the basic needs of the people. How do you think that’s going to change with this new situation?
MH: Well, the United States has been getting a free ride internationally. So, much of the prosperity here has been the result of our not having to pay for our own military spending, not having to pay for many of the foreign investments that we’ve got that supply the US with low priced foreign raw materials. All that is being ended by President Biden’s policy, which, of course, the Republicans support just as much as the Democrats.
So, there’s really a political movement that is ending up impoverishing, I’d say, 99% of Americans. While the Federal Reserve saves the stock and bond market for the 1%, there’s going to be a huge squeeze that’s going to force, I think, most American families into debt leading to probably a close down of a lot of businesses just as you had the Covid crisis closing down a lot of businesses. You’re going to have the rising fuel prices, the rising food prices utterly force families into default and an inability to be self-supporting without either running into debt or selling their homes and becoming renters.
MF: And that’s a whole other problem with the buying up of the housing in the United States by these investment corporations so that they can then control those rent prices. It sounds like difficult days are ahead.
MH: Yes. Well, and nobody can really ,it’s really Uncharted Territory because nobody thought there was an alternative. The economic view was as Margaret Thatcher said, “There is no alternative.” Well, now, America’s forced the world to find its own alternative.
MF: Well, thank you for sharing that wisdom with me. I encourage people to continue to follow you and read your books and follow your writing. Where’s the best place to find you?
MH: I have a website: Michael-Hudson.com. And I’m on Patreon. I post my articles on the website and on Patreon.
MF: Well, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me today, and for the important work that you’re doing.
MH: Well, I’m awfully glad we had to talk about this, Margaret.
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Crushed ideas and hopes
It happens to the best made plans of mice and men.
The ISS Space Station
A highly anticipated change of command ceremony between the United States and Russia has taken place on the International Space Station.
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Despite mounting tensions between the two countries, NASA has repeatedly reaffirmed that it continues to work closely with Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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Eyes have been on the ISS since war broke out in Ukraine but tensions on the earth did not reach into space.
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Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov in his handover address affirmed those on the space station were “one crew”.
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“I think ISS is like (a) symbol of the friendship and cooperations and like symbol of future of exploration of space,” he said.
The Media Is The Number One Cause Of War Since 1898
In 1895, a 32-year old entrepreneur in New York City bought a failing newspaper and hatched a bold plan to turn it around.
The newspaper industry was cutthroat, especially in New York. There were at least 16 other daily newspapers in circulation, and there was fierce competition for readers’ attention.
But the young entrepreneur had an idea: thrill readers with tales of death, destruction, and brutality in the Cuban War for Independence against Spain.
Cuba was a Spanish colony at the time, but revolutionary forces had been fighting for independence for several years. Few people in the US really cared about Cuba. But the new publisher vowed to make them care.
His name was William Randolph Hearst. And his paper, the New York Morning Journal, constantly thrust Cuba in his readers’ faces.
Their stories were full-blown sensationalism. By early 1898, Hearst’s Journal was printing outright fabrications of atrocities committed by Spanish troops in Cuba, in an effort to whip up public support for the United States to join the war.
The government played along. While ‘war crimes’ did not yet exist, US President William McKinley escalated tensions by accusing Spain of atrocities, saying in a speech that “the civilized code of warfare has been disregarded.”
Then, on February 15, 1898, a US naval vessel known as the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor off the coast of Cuba. 268 sailors died.
Several investigations were conducted, and to this day there is still nothing conclusive explaining how the explosion took place. It’s entirely possible that the explosion was caused by the Maine’s on-board fuel.
But Hearst (along with many other papers) jumped to publish stories claiming the Maine was sunk by a Spanish torpedo, and they continued agitating for the US to join the war.
Thanks to the effective media propaganda, most Americans were in favor of war. The newspapers had cast Spain as the evil aggressor, and its commanding general, Valeriano Weyler, was routinely called a “butcher”.
The newspapers told Americans that the fight against Spain was a necessary one… that it was a matter of moral righteousness— a crusade of good against evil.
They finally got their wish in April 1898 when the Spanish-American War broke out.
There are a lot of similarities with the media today.
The level of trust in the media is already laughably low. There was the obvious Hunter Biden laptop coverup, which most mainstream media refused to even mention during the US Presidential election in 2020.
Then there were the outright lies in the Russia collusion hoax, for which the New York Times was even awarded the ‘esteemed’ Pulitzer Prize.
(Coincidentally, the Pulitzer is named after Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher who also fabricated lies in the late 1800s and agitated for war against Spain.)
Then there’s the case of Biden appointee Tracy Stone-Manning, who was nominated last year to head up the federal government’s Bureau of Land Management.
Stone-Manning is a former eco-terrorist who participated in violent campaigns against forestry workers in her youth.
This isn’t some wild conspiracy theory; Stone-Manning has admitted to wrongdoing, including sending violent threats to the US federal Forestry Service. She ultimately avoided prosecution and saved herself by ratting out her associates.
But a recent Freedom of Information Act request revealed that NBC News colluded with the Biden Administration to go easy on Tracy Stone-Manning during her confirmation hearing, and whitewash over her terrorist history.
This is pretty incredible…
Think about the media circus a few years ago when US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting someone when he was a teenager.
There was no promise from NBC News (and other mainstream propagandists) to go easy on the allegations against Justice Kavanaugh that went back 30+ years.
Instead, they smeared his name and deemed him guilty.
It’s also noteworthy that, during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, several protestors stormed the Capital and physically accosted United States Senators in order to prevent the Constitutional voting process from occurring.
Yet NBC News declined to label those protestors ‘domestic terrorists’, or to claim that democracy was ‘under attack’ because they had criminally trespassed into the Capitol.
This is the same media which acted as the government mouthpiece during COVID, justifying the public health dictatorship that took over the world.
This is the same media which watched cities burn in 2020 and said the protests were “mostly peaceful”.
And, yes, this is the same media that has routinely pushed America into war. It wasn’t just Spain in 1898.
The United States joined the Vietnam War based on a Gulf of Tonkin skirmish with the North Vietnamese which never actually occurred. But the Johnson administration and intelligence sources said it happened, so the media reported it as fact.
Then there were those supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, which the media dutifully reported without question and helped push the US into war back in 2003.
Today many in the media are calling for an escalation against Russia. They want a no-fly zone. They cheer the President’s dementia-ridden foreign policy and praise him for impromptu comments that only escalate tensions.
Most of all, they force feed the war in Ukraine, 24/7, as if that’s supposed to be our #1 priority.
Forget about the economy, rising prices, and supply chain dysfunction… and forget about conflict anywhere else in the world. We’re only allowed to care about Ukraine and Putin.
Historically speaking, it is not far-fetched to think the media could help push the world into a major war… and one with potential nuclear ramifications.
It’s not inevitable, but we are closer today than any other time since at least 1962— and certainly closer than even a week ago.
That’s why it is more important than ever to be prepared for whatever the world has in store for us.
And that means crafting a rock solid Plan B to make sure you can respond from a position of strength, whatever crisis comes next.
Washington’s top diplomat in Taipei attacks Beijing for “destabilizing” the region and threatening “all democracies”
The head of the de facto US embassy in Taiwan has accused China of “provocative” military moves near the island. Sandra Oudkirk claimed that Beijing has undermined regional peace while vowing to “strengthen” security ties with Taipei.
Oudkirk – who directs the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial US embassy – castigated Beijing during a speech at the local American Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday, singling out its policies toward Taipei.
“The [People’s Republic of China’s] increasingly aggressive behavior is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure,” she said, adding that “provocative military activities” near Taiwan are “destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability.”
Continued efforts by Beijing to choke Taiwan’s international space, pressure its friends, and interfere in Taiwan’s democratic system represent a threat to all democracies.
With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in attendance at the event, Oudkirk went on to voice “deep concerns” over “China’s alignment with Russia” following Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, appearing to draw parallels between the conflict in Eastern Europe and tensions between Taiwan and the mainland.
“China is already on the wrong side of history when it comes to Ukraine and the aggression being committed by Russia,” she said, echoing previous comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Though US officials have pressured Beijing to sever its ties with Russia and join a punitive sanctions campaign, China has so far refused to budge, maintaining a neutral stance toward the conflict while urging for diplomacy and an end to the fighting.
Oudkirk said Washington would continue to “strengthen Taiwan’s role as a regional security partner” – part of the Joe Biden administration’s increased outreach to the island. Late last year, the president declared that the US is “committed” to defending Taiwan from any potential Chinese attack, in what appeared to be a break with a long-standing policy of ‘strategic ambiguity.’ White House officials soon walked back his comments, however.
The United States has also approved a number of arms sales to Taiwan in recent months, and continues to sail warships through the contested Taiwan Strait on a near-monthly basis despite repeated warnings from Beijing to stay out of its “internal affairs.” China considers Taiwan to be its sovereign territory, though the island has long been self-governed and refers to itself as the Republic of China.
Founded as a non-profit corporation, the American Institute in Taiwan now serves as the informal US embassy and has received most of its funding from the State Department since the United States ended diplomatic recognition of Taipei with the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. Currently, only a handful of nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country, among them Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and the Vatican City.
How America is viewed by the rest of the world
pay attention. This is what the next 100 years will be like… video 6MB
TRAPPED!!! AMERICAN AND UK MILITARY “ADVISORS”, PLUS FRANCE INTEL OPERATIVES WITH AZOV NAZIS IN MARIUPOL – NOW TRAPPED BY RUSSIAN FORCES
At present, whatever remains of Ukrainian Army AZOV Regiment (the Actual NAZI Regiment) is holed-up inside the vast Azovstal Industrial Area in Mariupol, Ukraine. The group totaling 20 — of US andUK military advisors as well as several Ukrainian SBU (secret police) advisors—is holed up, together with Azov fighters.
Despite being offered several prior chances to evacuate Mariupol, they chose to stay. Now, they are too late to evacuate as Russian forces pummel that area to De-Nazify it.
Overnight, Ukraine sent two military helicopters to Mariupol to try to rescue the trapped US, UK, and Ukrainian Secret Police persons. Both those helicopters landed without incident, but when they took off, both were SHOT DOWN.
One of those helicopters had 17 aboard, 15 of whom died when the chopper was hit and crashed into the earth. The two survivors have been taken prisoner by Russian forces.
The second helicopter was hit several kilometers off the coast of Mariupol, and fell into the Sea of Azov. Rescue craft were sent, but no word yet on finding anything or anyone in the water.
One of the Mi-8 helicopters was shot down by . . . . . . . An American STINGER anti-aircraft, man-launched missile, supplied to Ukraine by the United States and later captured from the Ukrainian forces by Russian forces.
MORE!
From the helicopter that crashed into the earth, COVERT INTEL SOURCES now tell me, the bodies of two French Intelligence operatives, allegedly with DGSE credentials, were also said to have been recovered.
If true, this would explain French President Macron’s desperate attempts to have a French-led evacuation out of Mariupol last week! Macron’s requests to Putin were declined. If French Intelligence Agents were embedded with AZOV NAZI troops, then this is a massive PR problem for both France and for NATO.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
At some point, the presence of foreign military “Advisors” and foreign Intelligence “operatives” is going to transform this from a Ukraine-Russia conflict, to a NATO-Russia conflict. Once that threshold is officially crossed (and it is solely up to Russia to decide) then war is upon us all.
A bunch of US and British military men being present right on the front line would confirm not only how intricately involved with Azov the NATO countries are, but the fact that Ukraine is a US puppet state being used to wage a proxy war on Russia.
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Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls
No one knows good old-fashioned home cooking like Grandma, which is why this recipe for cabbage rolls is one of the best there is, period. Made with ground beef, onion, white rice and seasonings, Grandma’s Favorite Cabbage Rolls are sure to make your mouth water.
Top ’em off with a homemade sauce of tomato, brown sugar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and you’ll have yourself a winning dinner the whole family will love.
Even the pickiest of eaters will gobble up these delicious old fashioned cabbage rolls! Plus, this recipe is a favorite of Grandma’s because it only costs a few dollars to make. It’s one of our favorite budget-friendly recipes, and we think it will be one of yours, too.
Core head of cabbage by cutting around the core and removing as much as possible. Boil large pot of water (fill pot only 1/4 or 1/2 full — when boiling put cabbage into water and cover with top. Leave cabbage in water and every so often as leaves loosen up remove leaves and place in collander in sink to cool — when all leaves are removed turn off water and throw away — (if you have any little pieces of cabbage left at end of core, you can save them to place on top of leaves if you would like.
In a large bowl mix cooked rice, ground meat, onion, garlic, raw eggs 1/2 can tomato sauce and oregano and a little pinch of kosher salt. Mix well with your hands –.
Spray 9 X 13 inch pans with Pam. Take cabbage leaves and fill with 1/4 to 1/2 cup meat mixture (depending on how big hour leaves are). Place with seam side down in pans — Turn oven on 350 degrees. Make up sauce (depending on how many rolls you get from your cabbage and how much sauce you want,you can use between 4 to 6 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes for your sauce), if you like cabbage rolls to have more sauce, you can add a little tomato juice to your sauce. Pour sauce over top of rolls. Sprinkle with kosher salt over top of rolls.
Bake uncovered to 2 1/2 hours or until browned on top, you may need to add a tomato juice to them once in a while so they do not dry out –.
Freezes well.
Vaccine Schedule for the United States
Interesting.
Fine Chinese Girl
Here’s yet another fine Chinese woman. They are all over China, don’t you know. Of course, if you believe the Western narrative, China has no girls or women. They have been all killed as the result of the one-baby policy. LOL. Only an idiot would believe that bullshit. What bullshit are you believing out of the American / UK “news” today? Eh? Video 2MB
China warns of ‘worst consequences’ over Taiwan
Beijing says nothing will stand in the way of “national reunification” with Taipei
China has warned that no foreign powers or militaries will succeed in interfering with Taiwan, cautioning that any country attempting to offer military support to Taipei will face “consequences.”
“The Taiwan question is a purely internal affair of China,” Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Tan Kefei told reporters on Friday.
“No one and no force can stop” Beijing from a “complete national reunification” with Taiwan, Tan said, adding that anyone who tries to do so, “will suffer the worst consequences in the end.”
Tan said the Chinese military stood ready to thwart any outside interference on the matter. His statement came days after Australia’s defense minister, Peter Dutton, argued that it would be “inconceivable” for Canberra not to join with the US should Washington decide to defend Taiwan.
Kiev claims NATO will defend arms convoys to Ukraine against Russia
Dutton later softened his language, saying on Sunday that the Australian response would be based on “our country’s best interests.”
Last month, Australia accused a Chinese warship of pointing a laser at one of its surveillance planes. Beijing said the allegation was “false.”
While the government in Beijing insists Taiwan is part of China’s territory, the US has typically taken a non-committal position, unofficially supporting Taiwanese independence and supplying weapons to Taipei, while at the same time acknowledging China’s claim to the island.
Here’s the official U.S. narrative as echoed by the mainstream media: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, Putin’s three-day blitzkrieg of Kyiv has failed, Russian forces are bogged down and valiant Ukrainian troops are putting up a powerful defense and regaining lost ground with the help of weapons from NATO.
In this version, President Zelenskyy is the new Churchill rallying patriots against an evil dictator. All of that is either entirely or mostly false.
Here’s the real story: Russia’s invasion is the end result of 14 years of provocation by the West, including repeated declarations that Ukraine will join NATO and a U.S.-backed coup d’état in 2014 that displaced a pro-Russian president.
Russia never planned a blitzkrieg on Kyiv. That’s a Western invention intended to make Putin look like a failure. In fact, Russia is slowly and methodically taking territory in the south and east of Ukraine in order to control the seacoasts, eliminate pro-fascist elements in Mariupol and establish pro-Russian autonomous zones in Donbas.
1/ Big Arrow War—a primer. For all those scratching their heads in confusion, or dusting off their dress uniforms for the Ukrainian victory parade in Kiev, over the news about Russia’s “strategic shift”, you might want to re-familiarize yourself with basic military concepts.2/ Maneuver warfare is a good place to start. Understand Russia started its “special military operation” with a severe manpower deficit—200,000 attackers to some 600,000 defenders (or more). Classic attritional conflict was never an option. Russian victory required maneuver.
3/ Maneuver war is more psychological than physical and focuses more on the operational than on the tactical level. Maneuver is relational movement—how you deploy and move your forces in relation to your opponent. Russian maneuver in the first phase of its operation support this.4/ The Russians needed to shape the battlefield to their advantage. In order to do this, they needed to control how Ukraine employed it’s numerically superior forces, while distributing their own smaller combat power to best accomplish this objective.5/ Land Bridge. Strategically, to facilitate the ability to maneuver between the southern, central, and northern fronts, Russia needed to secure a land bridge between Crimea and Russia. The seizure of the coastal city of Mariupol was critical to this effort. Russia has accomplished this task.6/ Control. While this complex operation unfolded, Russia needed to keep Ukraine from maneuvering its numerically superior forces in a manner that disrupted the Mariupol operation. This entailed the use of several strategic supporting operations—feints, fixing operations, and deep attack.7/ Feint warfare. The concept of a feint is simple—a military force either is seen as preparing to attack a given location, or actually conducts an attack, for the purpose of deceiving an opponent into committing resources in response to the perceived or actual actions.8/ Example of use. The use of the feint played a major role in Desert Storm, where Marine Amphibious forces threatened the Kuwaiti coast, forcing Iraq to defend against an attack that never came, and where the 1st Cavalry Division actually attacked Wadi Al Batin to pin down the Republican Guard.9/ Ukraine use of a feint. The Russians made extensive use of the feint in Ukraine, with Amphibious forces off Odessa freezing Ukrainian forces there, and a major feint attack toward Kiev compelling Ukraine to reinforce their forces there. Ukraine was never able to reinforce their forces in the east.10/ Fixing operations were also critical. Ukraine had assembled some 60,000-100,000 troops in the east, opposite Donbas. Russia carried out a broad fixing attack designed to keep these forces fully engaged and unable to maneuver in respect to other Russian operations.11/ History. During Desert Storm, two Marine Divisions were ordered to carry out similar fixing attacks against Iraqi forces deployed along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border, tying down significant numbers of men and material that could not be used to counter the main US attack out west.12/ Pinned Down. The Russian fixing attack pinned the main Ukrainian concentration of forces in the east, and drove them away from Mariupol, which was invested and reduced. Supporting operations out of Crimea against Kherson expanded the Russian land bridge. This phase is now complete.13/ Strategic Deep Attacks. Russia also engaged in a campaign of strategic deep attack designed to disrupt and destroy Ukrainian logistics, command & control, and air power and long-range fire support. Ukraine is running out of fuel and ammo, cannot coordinate maneuver, and has no meaningful Air Force.14/ Redeployments. Russia is redeploying some of its premier units from where they had been engaged in feint operations in northern Kiev to where they can support the next phase of the operation, namely the liberation of the Donbas and the destruction of the main Ukrainian force in the east.15/ This is classic maneuver warfare. Russia will now hold Ukraine in the north and south while its main forces, reinforced by the northern units, Marines, and forces freed up by the capture of Mariupol, seek to envelope and destroy 60,000 Ukrainian forces in the east.16/ This is Big Arrow War at its finest, something Americans used to know but forgot in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq. It also explains how 200,000 Russians have been able to defeat 600,000 Ukrainians. Thus ends the primer on maneuver warfare, Russian style.
Rufus Kind action
When the time comes, what are you going to do? Be a spectator, or take action. Your actions determine your sentience. Service-to-yourself, or service-for-others. And please don’t be a NPC service-to-another. Your actions, in this life, are a reflection of who you are. It’s binary. White or black. There is no gray area. video 3MB
Chinese community in action
This would never happen in the United States. In the USA, most people whould be inside their cars watching on as spectators. Maybe taking videos. With some slamming on their horns making noises. video 3MB
Rufus Immediate action
You don’t know when there will be a calling, but it will happen. Are your ready for it? Or will you pretend that nothing is going on? Will you sit by passively and allow others to become service-to-others sentience, while you are firmly and affixed as a service-to-self selfish, alone, greedy and “independent” asshole? video 9MB
How a Rufus Community Operates
Everyone in the community works together as one organism. If they “feel” something is wrong, they talk to others, they investigate, and they get help. In this case, we have gas station attendents, bus drivers, and construction workers working with the polcie to prevent a child abduction. video 14MB
Rufus reminder
When the world is treating others unkindly, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to reset things. Do not wait for others to take action. Do not wait for the police, fire or medical care to come. Do not wait for others, or watch while doing nothing. You were not born to be a spectator. You were born to be a participant. So act the part. God damn it! video 13MB
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Scene From By Dawns Early Light – HBO – Nuclear War – World War 3 Movie
An end of the world movie that involves nuclear launches. This is a 30-minute segment, and it is chilling how much it matches what is going on RIGHT NOW.
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.
It’s all a “mop up” exercise at this point. Contrary to what the main stream “news” media has to say, nope… Russia is not running out of bullets. Nope, Russia is not stalled. Nope, the Ukrainians are not inflicting huge casualties. Nope, it’s not going to be a long drawn-out war. But, rather it’s all coming to a conclusion. It will probably be all wrapped up by May 2022. And a new reality will manifest on the Geo-Political landscape. Here, we talk about this for a spell.
I suppose that you, the reader, might be confused.
As all the Western media is all hot and bothered about the great fiasco that Russia has got itself involved with. Of course, it’s a fiction. But, man oh, man, it’s a mighty fiction. I’ve never seen such insane levels of lies and distortions.
I will not spend too much time on the lies.
If you are unaware of the lies, then this is not the place to be. Others have devoted all sorts of time and effort to unpack all the nonsense. Personally, I consider it a waste of time. It’s like trying to dig a hole in the sand. It just keeps getting filled in.
Russia had it’s “back to the wall”, and had to stop an encroaching nuclear armed power from being on it’s borders. It waited. It asked nicely. It laid out the consequences if NATO and the United States continued to violate their treaties, and then when they said “No!”, Russia took action.
It’s all pretty simple.
Ok. Let’s check out what’s going on with the final stages of the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine….
Larry C. Johnson: “The Ukrainian Army Has Been Defeated. What’s Left Is Mop-Up”
Question 1–Can you explain to me why you think Russia is winning the war in Ukraine?
Larry C. Johnson– Within the first 24 hours of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, all Ukrainian Ground Radar Intercept capabilities were wiped out. Without those radars, the Ukrainian Air Force lost its ability to do air to air intercept.
In the intervening three weeks, Russia has established a de facto No Fly Zone over Ukraine. While still vulnerable to shoulder fired Surface to Air Missiles supplied by the U.S. and NATO to the Ukrainians, there is no evidence that Russia has had to curtail Combat Air Operations.
Russia’s arrival in Kiev within three days of the invasion also caught my attention. I recalled that the Nazi’s in Operation Barbarossa took seven weeks to reach Kiev and the required 7 more weeks to subdue the city. The Nazis had the advantage of not pulling punches to avoid civilian casualties and were eager to destroy critical infrastructure. Yet many so-called American military experts claimed that Russia was bogged down.
When a 24 mile (or 40 mile, depends on the news source) was positioned north of Kiev for more than a week, it was clear that Ukraine’s ability to launch significant military operations had been eliminated. If their artillery was intact, then that column was easy pickings for massive destruction.
That did not happen.
Alternatively, if the Ukrainian’s had a viable fixed wing or rotary wing capability they should have destroyed that column from the air.
That did not happen.
Or, if they had a viable cruise missile capability they should have rained down hell on the supposedly stalled Russian column.
That did not happen.
The Ukrainians did not even mount a significant infantry ambush of the column with their newly supplied U.S. Javelins.
The scale and scope of the Russian attack is remarkable.
They captured territory in three weeks that is larger than the land mass of the United Kingdom. They then proceeded to carry out targeted attacks on key cities and military installations. We have not seen a single instance of a Ukrainian regiment or brigade size unit attacking and defeating a comparable Russian unit. Instead, the Russians have split the Ukrainian Army into fragments and cut their lines of communication.
The Russians are consolidating their control of Mariupol and have secured all approaches on the Black Sea. Ukraine is now cut off in the South and the North.
I would note that the U.S. had a tougher time capturing this much territory in Iraq in 2003 while fighting against a far inferior, less capable military force. If anything, this Russian operation should scare the hell out of U.S. military and political leaders.
The really big news came this week with the Russian missile strikes on what are de facto NATO bases in Yavoriv and Zhytomyr.
NATO conducted cyber security training at Zhytomyr in September 2018 and described Ukraine as a “NATO partner.”
Zhytomyr was destroyed with hypersonic missiles on Saturday.
Yavoriv suffered a similar fate last Sunday.
It was the primary training and logistics center that NATO and EUCOM used to supply fighters and weapons to Ukraine. A large number of the military and civilian personnel at that base became casualties.
Not only is Russia striking and destroying bases used by NATO regularly since 2015, but there was no air raid warning and there was no shutdown of the attacking missiles.
Question 2– Why is the media trying to convince the Ukrainian people that they can prevail in their war against Russia? If what you say is correct, then all the civilians that are being sent to fight the Russian army, are dying in a war they can’t win. I don’t understand why the media would want to mislead people on something so serious. What are your thoughts on the matter?
Larry C. Johnson– This is a combination of ignorance and laziness. Rather than do real reporting, the vast majority of the media (print and electronic) as well as Big Tech are supporting a massive propaganda campaign.
I remember when George W. Bush was Hitler.
I remember when Donald Trump was Hitler.
And now we have a new Hitler, Vladimir Putin.
This is a tired, failed playbook. Anyone who dares to raise legitimate questions about is immediately tarred as a Putin puppet or a Russia stooge. When you cannot argue facts the only recourse is name calling.
Question 3– Last week, Colonel Douglas MacGregor was a guest on the Tucker Carlson Show. His views on the war are strikingly similar to your own. Here’s what he said in the interview:
“The war is really over for the Ukrainians. They have been ground into bits, there is no question about that despite what we hear from our mainstream media. So, the real question for us at this stage is, Tucker, are we going to live with the Russian people and their government or we going to continue to pursue this sort of regime change dressed up as a Ukrainian war? Are we going to stop using Ukraine as a battering ram against Moscow, which is effectively what we’ve done.”
(Tucker Carlson– MacGregor Interview)
Do you agree with MacGregor that the real purpose of goading Russia into a war in Ukraine was “regime change”? Second, do you agree that Ukraine is being used as a staging ground for the US to carry out a proxy-war on Russia?
Larry C. Johnson– Doug is great analyst but I disagree with him—I don’t think there is anyone in the Biden Administration that is smart enough to think and plan in those strategic terms.
In my view the last 7 years have been the inertia of the NATO status quo. What I mean by that is that NATO and Washington, believed they could continue to creep east on Russia’s borders without provoking a reaction.
NATO and EUCOM regularly carried out exercises—including providing “offensive” training—and supplied equipment. I believe reports in the United States that the CIA was providing paramilitary training to Ukrainian units operating in the Donbass are credible. But I have trouble believing that after our debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, we suddenly have Sun Tzu level strategists pulling the strings in Washington.
There is an air of desperation in Washington.
Besides trying ban all things Russian, the Biden Administration is trying to bully China, India and Saudi Arabia. I do not see any of those countries falling into line. I believe the Biden crew made a fatal mistake by trying to demonize all things and all people Russian. If anything, this is uniting the Russian people behind Putin and they are ready to dig in for a long struggle.
I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees. The opposite is true. Russia is self-sufficient and is not dependent on imports. Its exports are critical to the economic well-being of the West.
If they withhold wheat, potash, gas, oil, palladium, finished nickel and other key minerals from the West, the European and U.S. economies will be savaged. And this attempt to coerce Russia with sanctions has now made it very likely that the U.S. dollar’s role as the international reserve currency will show up in the dustbin of history.
Question 4– Ever since he delivered his famous speech in Munich in 2007, Putin has been complaining about the “architecture of global security”. In Ukraine we can see how these nagging security issues can evolve into a full-blown war. As you know, in December Putin made a number of demands related to Russian security, but the Biden administration shrugged them off and never responded. Putin wanted written assurances that NATO expansion would not include Ukraine (membership) and that nuclear missile systems would not be deployed to Romania or Poland. Do you think Putin’s demands are unreasonable?
Larry C. Johnson– I think Putin’s demands are quite reasonable. The problem is that 99% of Americans have no idea of the kind of military provocation that NATO and the U.S. have carried out over the last 7 years.
The public was always told the military exercises were “defensive.”
That simply is not true.
Now we have news that DTRA was funding biolabs in Ukraine. I guess Putin could agree to allow U.S. nuclear missile systems in Poland and Romania if Biden agrees to allow comparable Russian systems to be deployed in Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico. When we look at it in those terms we can begin to understand that Putin’s demands are not crazy nor unreasonable.
Question 5– Russian media reports that Russian “high precision, air-launched” missiles struck a facility in west Ukraine “killing more than 100 local troops and foreign mercenaries.” Apparently, the Special Operations training center was located near the town of Ovruch which is just 15 miles from the Polish border. What can you tell us about this incident? Was Russia trying to send a message to NATO?
Larry C. Johnson– Short answer—YES!
Russian military strikes in Western Ukraine during the past week have shocked and alarmed NATO officials. The first blow came on Sunday, March 13 at Yavoriv, Ukraine. Russia hit the base with several missiles, some reportedly hypersonic. Over 200 personnel were killed, which included American and British military and intelligence personnel, and hundreds more wounded. Many suffered catastrophic wounds, such as amputations, and are in hospital.
Yet, NATO and the western media have shown little interest in reporting on this disaster.
Yavoriv was an important forward base for NATO (see here). Until February (prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), the U.S. 7th Army Training Command was operating from Yavoriv as late as mid-February.
Russia has not stopped there.
ASB Military news reports Russia hit another site, Delyatyn, which is 60 miles southeast of Yavoriv (on Thursday I believe).
Yesterday, Russia hit Zytomyr, another site where NATO previously had a presence. Putin has sent a very clear message—NATO forces in Ukraine will be viewed and treated as combatants. Period.
Question 6– Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lionized in the western media as a “wartime leader” and a modern-day “Winston Churchill”. What the media fails to tell its readers is that Zelensky has taken a number of steps to strengthen his grip on power while damaging fragile democratic institutions in Ukraine. For example, Zelensky has “banned eleven opposition-owned news organizations” and tried to bar the head of Ukraine’s largest opposition party, Viktor Medvedchuk, from running for office on a bogus “terrorist financing” charge. This is not the behavior of a leader that is seriously committed to democracy. What’s your take on Zelensky? Is he really the “patriotic leader” the media makes him out to be?
Larry C. Johnson– Zelensky is a comedian and an actor. Not a very good one at that in my view.
The West is cynically using the fact he is Jewish as a diversion from the size-able contingent of Neo-Nazis (and I mean genuine Nazis who still celebrate the Ukrainian Waffen SS unit’s accomplishments while fighting with the Nazis in WW II).
The facts are clear—he is banning opposition political parties and shutting down opposition media. I guess that is the new definition of “democracy.”
Question 7– How does this end? There’s an excellent post at the Moon of Alabama site titled “What Will Be The Geographic End State Of The War In Ukraine“. The author of the post, Bernard, seems to think that Ukraine will eventually be partitioned along the Dnieper River “and south along the coast that holds a majority ethnic Russian population.” He also says this:
“This would eliminate Ukrainian access to the Black Sea and create a land bridge towards the Moldavian breakaway Transnistria which is under Russian protection. The rest of the Ukraine would be a land confined, mostly agricultural state, disarmed and too poor to be build up to a new threat to Russia anytime soon. Politically it would be dominated by fascists from Galicia which would then become a major problem for the European Union.”
What do you think? Will Putin impose his own territorial settlement on Ukraine in order to reinforce Russian security and bring the hostilities to an end or is a different scenario more likely?
Larry C. Johnson– I agree with MoA. Putin’s primary objective is to secure Russia from foreign threats and effect a divorce with the West. Russia has the physical resources to be an independent sovereign and is in the process of making that vision come true.
Bio– Larry C Johnson is a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He is the founder and managing partner of BERG Associates, which was established in 1998. Larry provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. He has been vilified by the right and the left, which means he must be doing something right. His analysis and commentary can be found at his blog, https://sonar21.com/
Russian troops are being told that war has to be over by 9 May | Ukrayinska Pravda
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are being told that the war with Ukraine has to be over by 9 May 2022. [9 May – Victory Day – is culturally very significant in Russia and is celebrated every year with a military parade, which in recent years has become more and more imposing and grand.]
Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Whew! Yes, we are in a civilization war and one side has negative morals to the point of sociopathy.
I continue to be in awe of the China/Russia axis moves that are bringing this sick form of social organization we live under to a pause/stop/surrender/capitulation or some sort of change to the social structure/contract which I have been screaming about the need for over the past 50+ years.
I hope we get there.....
-psychohistorian
Some Likely Longterm Effects Of The War In Ukraine
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand - 4:44 UTC · Mar 26, 2022What are the biggest game-changers of the Ukraine war so far?I see three:1) The freezing of Russia's central bank assets2) China and India's rapprochement3) The cementation of the EU's vassalage to the U.S.Small 🧵
I agree with these but would add that it is also likely to lead to 4) the long term demise of NATO and 5) a shrinking role for the U.S. in the Middle East will also shrink as a consequence of the war.
1) The freezing of Russia’s (and Iran’s, Venezuela’s, Afghanistan’s) assets will have severe consequences for the U.S. dollar. The U.S. essentially defaulted by holding back Russian assets that it had the fiduciary duty to give back. China and everyone else will move its reserves to countries or into commodities that are not under U.S. control. See the Michael Hudson’s interviews here and here:
[T]hat means that other countries all of a sudden see what they thought was their flight to security, what they thought was their most secure savings, their holdings in U.S. banks, US treasury bill, all of a sudden, is holding them hostage and is a high risk. Even the Financial Times of London has been writing about this, saying, how can the United States that was getting a free ride off the dollar standard for the last 50 years, ever since 1971, when foreign countries held dollars instead of gold and basically holding dollars means you buy U.S. Treasury bonds to finance the US budget deficit and the balance of payments deficit. How can the United States kill the goose that’s giving it the free ride? Well, the answer is that other countries can only move into gold and there’s an alternative to the dollar because that’s something that all the countries of the world have agreed upon is an asset, not a liability. If you hold any foreign currency, that currency is a liability of a foreign country, and if you hold gold, it’s a pure asset.
2) China’s and India’s rapprochement has been coming for some time. The border squabble over a few thousand square meters of mountain rocks in recent years never made much sense. The Ukraine crisis has shown that India and China have common interests. Some solution for the border will be worked out and full cooperation will return. This means the end for the Quad, the U.S. made anti-China coalition of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. itself.
3) The cementation of the EU’s vassalage to the U.S. will only be temporarily. European companies have their own interests and they will press their politicians into more realist positions:
It is a long haul for Europe to dispense with Russian gas. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said yesterday: “There are gas shortages, and that is why we need to talk to Russians. Europe will move towards reducing its dependence on the Russian gas, but can this happen in the coming years? This is very difficult.”“Europe consumes 500 billion cubic meters of gas, while America and Qatar can offer 15 billion, up to the last molecule… That is why German and Austrian politicians told me: “We cannot just destroy ourselves. If we impose sanctions on Russia in the oil and gas domain, we will destroy ourselves. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot before rushing into a fight.” This is how certain rational people in the West see it today.”
4) As for NATO: As soon as Russia has finished its operation in the Ukraine it will become clear that it has absolutely no interest in attacking any NATO country.The coming period of high inflation will lead to shrinking defense budgets. A NATO that makes promises, like it did to Ukraine, but has neither will nor means to fulfill them has lost its way and serves no serious purpose. It will wither away.
5) In the Middle East the U.S. has proven to be an unreliably ally. The Saudis and others need someone else to protect their security:
The Russian intervention in the Ukraine took Gulf governments by surprise and caused a great deal of anxiety. Here were governments that have tried in recent years to balance their primary loyalty to the U.S. with a new attempt to improve relations with China and Russia.While Putin intervened in Syria against the wishes of Gulf regimes, which were trying to unseat the Syrian ruler, Bashar al-Asad, the Gulf acknowledged the resolve and determination of the Russian government. Brutality in Russian or American intervention in Syria is of no concern to Gulf despots. They value first and foremost the willingness of the Putin administration to stand by his ally in Damascus in comparison to what they see as a lack of resolve on the part of the U.S. towards its clients in the Gulf.The Gulf regimes feel Putin is more loyal than the U.S., and the mischievous behavior of UAE and Saudi Arabia in the last few weeks is an expression of their frustration with U.S. role in the region. (Riyadh, for instance, is in talks with China to trade some of its oil in yuan, which would deal a blow to the U.S. dollar that is used in 80 percent of world oil sales. Until now, the Saudis have exclusively used the dollar. And Emirati and Saudi leaders have refused to take Biden’s phone calls.)
China and Russia will likely cooperate to build some new security architecture in the Middle East.
As all the above plays out it may well turn out that the U.S. policy of overextending and unbalancing Russia did not work but has created a backlash that has severely damaged its own strategic position.
Posted by b on March 26, 2022 at 16:52 UTC | Permalink
A Robbery
"First off I am ok. . . I was a little shaken up this morning as I was robbed at the neighborhood gas station. After my hands stopped trembling I managed to call the police. They were quick to respond and calmed me down. My money is all gone. The police asked me if I knew who did it. I said yes...It was pump number 3."-Don Bacon
Plane Carrying President of Poland Makes EMERGENCY Landing
The airplane carrying Polish President Andrzej Duda to meet U.S. President Joe Biden in eastern Poland has made an emergency landing after returning to Warsaw, Duda’s advisor Jakub Kumoch was cited as saying by state-run news agency PAP on Friday.
The head of Duda’s office, Pawel Szrot, said that the Polish president did not face any danger; other than the fact the plane had to make an emergency landing . . . .
China and Solomon Islands Draft Secret Security Pact, Raising Alarm in the Pacific
A leaked document has revealed that China and the Solomon Islands are close to signing a security agreement that could open the door to Chinese troops and naval warships flowing into a Pacific Island nation that played a pivotal role in World War II.
The agreement, kept secret until now, was shared online Thursday night by opponents of the deal and verified as legitimate by the Australian government. Though it is marked as a draft and cites a need for “social order” as a justification for sending Chinese forces, it has set off alarms throughout the Pacific, where concerns about China’s intentions have been growing for years.
“This is deeply problematic for the United States and a real cause of concern for our allies and partners,” Charles Edel, the inaugural Australia chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Friday.
“The establishment of a base in the Solomon Islands by a strategic adversary would significantly degrade Australia and New Zealand’s security, increase the chances of local corruption and heighten the chances of resource exploitation.”
It is not clear which side initiated the agreement, but if signed, the deal would give Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of the Solomon Islands the ability to call on China for protection of his own government while granting China a base of operations between the United States and Australia that could be used to block shipping traffic across the South Pacific.
Five months ago, protesters unhappy with Beijing’s secretive influence (CIA began a color revolution on the islands) attacked the prime minister’s residence, burned businesses in the capital’s Chinatown and left three people dead. Now the worst-case scenario some Solomon Islanders envision would be a breakdown of democracy before or during next year’s election, with more unrest and the threat of China moving in to maintain the status quo.
Everyone gets military training. It all begins in Kindergarden. Little warriors. video 177MB
Do you think that it is wrong to cram so much military training to all the school children?
Mariupol, Kadyrovites and a pregnant cat
In general, it is not welcome to give interviews to the military during this special operation. But the SP correspondent, on condition of anonymity, wrote downstory by Marine Sergei S. Contractor Sergei, along with his company, works in the western part of the besieged Mariupol.
– The work is hard. Cleaning up a city is hard, exhausting work. You’re in a wild state of tension all day long. You perfectly understand that you can become an easy prey for a sniper, so you run between the houses, bending over and putting your head on your shoulders. Such is the cat-and-mouse game of death. And you are wearing a Kevlar helmet, armor, ammunition. Each of us is thin as a washboard. And everyone’s legs are like weightlifters. You feel more or less calm under the cover of a tank or other armor. Before you cross the street, you “scan” all the skyscrapers.
Everything is shot here. There is a constant counter-sniper war going on. They have a sniper climber. Works on the fifth or sixth floors. And then he quickly descends the rope and runs away until he is covered by a tank, mortar or artillery fire. Grenade launchers from the AGS got the hang of sending grenades directly into specific windows. Address.
We have guys who acted in the Middle East. Igilovtsev * were driven. There is a million-plus city in Iraq – Mosul. ISIS made it a fortified area. So the Americans pounded him into the asphalt with artillery fire. A hundred civilians could be put on one ISIS. We are working on a targeted basis. That’s why it’s so hard. Of the tanks, we only work on identified sniper points – if we don’t hit, then we’ll bury the shooter under the rubble.
Therefore, they change their beds constantly. Several groups of Buryats and Tuvinian snipers were attached to us. There was even one Khanty from the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug. Legacy hunters. Many have gone through Chechnya, Ossetia, Syria…
But they say that Mariupol is something special. It is extremely difficult to see a sniper in a window or attic of a destroyed high-rise building. They peer at houses for hours – both through binoculars, and through a thermal imager, and with their own eyes. After two or three days, the eyes become inflamed, the faces become red – as if from constant lack of sleep. They smear them with some kind of deer fat. SSO snipers work with them. Their rifles punch through walls. In the wall after the hit – a hole the size of a basin …
In general, a third of the boys in our platoon have Ukrainian surnames. They say that we clean our country from evil spirits. There are children of the Soviet Union – those who were born in Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan. The militias in general are completely international.
Russians, Ukrainians, Abkhazians, Dagestanis. There are many Caucasians. Fights are their element. During the war, we constantly cross paths with Kadyrov’s Chechens. Then they insure us, then we insure them. At first they showed a brave contempt for death.
Then they became more careful. The war is positional. There is no dagger fight here, dashing cavalry attacks do not work. You can become easy prey for snipers or mortars. Bandera, by the way, also have Chechens. But ours call them “Chechen-speaking shaitans.” Contacted them. Come out, they say, once at a time, we will not shoot – we will fight with daggers like men. They didn’t come out.
Among the highlanders there are age – those who fought in the first Chechen war. And now we are beating Bandera together with them. Brothers in Arms. Our hatred for Bandera is mutual and absolute. We would cover them all with artillery in an hour. But they hide behind the backs of civilians.
They do not let people out into the humanitarian corridors we have opened and scream to the whole world that civilians are suffering from the occupiers. There is no logic, no sense, no high idea in their actions. Everything is built on a lie – both for the clown Zelensky and for themselves. They constantly accuse us of doing things themselves. Lies, lies, lies.
The Chechens are also ready to break loose.
It was the Chechens who figured out the most Nazis who tried to leave the city along with the civilians along the gum corridor. They first checked the shoulders – there were bruises on them from the recoil of the butt. There could be traces of knee pads on the knees. And the helmet leaves a red stripe on the head. Some were even sniffed. If a person shoots a lot, he smells of gunpowder and gun oil. A military man who runs a lot on his feet has traces of berets. There may be a callus on the thumb from reloading the magazine with ammo. They are all, as a rule, slightly stooped.
Ammunition hangs constantly on the chest. And this is sometimes over a thousand rounds. And he rubs his shoulders too. There are many nuances. In general, the highlanders have some kind of bestial intuition for the enemy. They feel it with their skin. They glare at a person with their key and wait for him to look away. And the Bandera people do not look in the eyes. They generally do not like a direct look. And by the way he takes him away, they feel the enemy. Many were given tattoos on the shoulder. Or a trace of an acid-etched pattern.
When civilians were taken out of the city, they did not even have the strength to rejoice. Complete desolation. Almost like a zombie. The eyes of many are black, devastated. You look there, as in the abyss. It seems to me that the prisoners of the concentration camps did not have the strength when they were liberated by our people. Many are on the verge of insanity or a nervous breakdown. The old people, who had all sorts of sores, as soon as they leave the basements, die from stress. They are buried right in the city. Neighbors usually bury. Mariupol is dotted with these mass graves.
After continuous running around the city and shooting, you come to the unit just killed. You think that this bad dream is over for today. Tomorrow we will start to nightmare reptiles again.
And here we are waiting for whole flocks of abandoned dogs and cats. They will surround, sit and wait for the fighters to share their dry rations. We share. Still God’s creature.
One of these days one pregnant cat has appeared. It crawls, trembles, scratches the ground with its claws and screams. Cat food is desperately needed. I gave her stew. All the other dogs and cats who were nearby did not even budge. Though hungry no less than her. Even the beast understands that a pregnant woman cannot be offended. She “grind off” all the stew and began to lick my dusty boot. Thanks so. We made her a “prone” in a box of cartridges. The pea jacket was laid. Such is the field cat maternity hospital. Let her give birth to her kittens.
We really need support and understanding here that all of Russia is behind us. And when the guys sent us the song “We bite into Mariupol” – our wings just grew. Well done who wrote the song. This is about us. After it, a halo over my head shone right over my head. We are doing great work here. Together, with the whole world – Christians, Muslims, Buddhists. We save Russia. Only this thought keeps us in good shape and does not let us relax. The Lord respects us.
That’s how we do things here. I will die – I will remember how we took Mariupol.
* The Islamic State Movement (ISIS), by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014, was recognized as a terrorist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.
I just did our weekly shopping and whole chickens that were $1/lb are now $1.50/lb.
18 oz pack of 5 sausages that was $4 on sale and $5 regular is now $6.
Untrimmed tri-tip, a favorite meat cut here was $6/lb and is now $8/lb.
30oz jug of mayonnaise was $3 is now $5, but I got some on sale at $4.
Milk being subsidized remains cheap on sale at $.75/1/2 gal. I but my dry goods in bulk and make many staples myself and haven't needed to buy any recently.
Fresh produce remains about the same.
I paid $1.30/lb for broccoli and $1.47/lb for honeybee apples.
Overall, we're seeing some food inflation that I'm sure will rise going forward. Gasoline was $4.50/gal and diesel $5/.10. Currently its Spring Break and the traffic seems about the same as in previous years. (I live on the Oregon Coast, which is a tourist mecca.)
- karlof1
Chinese are SHOCKED at the homeless in the USA
This is a great video. Read the subtitles. You have to understand that there are NO homelss people inside of China. There are NO starving people in China, and everyone in China HAS a job. Nope, it’s not what the Untied States media says, but you all do know that it is just a lie generation mechanism with little semblence to reality. This video is great as it accurately reflects the feelings and thoughts of Chinese that I meet and talk with regarding America.
Pay attention to the last part of the video. She describes how homeless are taken cared for inside of China. It is no wonder why the Chinese wonder how Americans can be so hard-hearted, evil and selfish. video 100MB
What do you think about homeless people?
Tiki Culture. The Tiki Lifestyle. Island Living. Retro Life. What is it all about?
I suppose you all are probably wondering what this Tiki stuff is all about.
Well, it’s pretty simple.
It’s all about living the good life the way the cocktail set did back in the day; listening to the sounds of Exotica music and waves crashing on an island shore while sipping an exotic cocktail under a palm tree, and taking it nice and easy, even if you’re a thousand miles away from the nearest tropical island. That’s Tiki Culture.
People who are into Tiki Culture, or the “Tiki Lifestyle” crave an escape from the fast-paced lives we live. We want to know we have a special place, whether physical or in our minds, where we can go to get away from it all.
For many of us, it’s our own little Tiki Bar set somewhere in the corner of our home. For some of us, it’s the Tiki Bar down town or on the beach. For a lucky few, our entire lives (including our homes and businesses) are 100% Tiki with that distinct mid-century retro look and feel.
What is Tiki?
Historically and geographically, Tiki is defined by Polynesian culture – specifically, Tiki was the first man on Earth, according to most cultures. But that’s not what 20th & 21st Century Tiki Culture in America (and most of the world) is about now. (There are a lot of great websites that can give you the history of Tiki and Moai better than I can here).
As for Tiki Culture today, you’ll get different answers depending on who you talk to, and from what part of the states they hail. Tiki purists will tell you that Tiki is the genre inspired by 1930s to 1950s Hawaiian and Polynesian pop styles, blending these cultures with specific types of drinks, food and décor.
Dark woods, thatch, rattan and bamboo make up the basic building blocks of the décor and furniture. Tropical plants, waterfalls, hand-carved Tiki gods and Moai, along with nautical accents arranged in a somewhat mysterious display reminiscent of foreign lands make up an atmosphere of true Tiki.
Dancing Hula girls and fire-eating island men provide the exotic entertainment, set to jazz-influenced, drum-heavy island music. Food is an Americanized combination of South Pacific and Asian cuisine; drinks are mostly rum-based, complex, fairly strong and are not really supposed to be sweet.
Tropical Cocktails are at the center of the movement, and are served as a ritual – not just a drink – involving chunks of exotic fruits and even real flowers as garnish, exciting swizzle sticks, and occasionally even flames.
Very special drinks are served in large bowls with extra long straws for a party of four; at places like the world famous Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, FL they are served by a Mystery Girl dancing seductively to a gong.
Anything made of plastic, with the exception of swizzle sticks, is taboo.
If it wasn’t in a Tiki bar in the ’50s, it’s not authentic. However unless you are a true purist, a few fun plastic Tiki cups and paper cut outs from the party store can transform any room into your own Tiki haven without blowing the kids’ college fund on bamboo furniture and ceramic mugs.
Swing down to Key West and the “Tiki Bar” takes on a whole new meaning. One of the few places in the country that welcomed Tiki bars through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, Tiki bars in the Keys evolved with the times and took on an area-specific life of their own. Bright, vivid colors replaced the dark jungle themes.
Like everything else in the Keys, Tiki Bars became open-air, welcoming in the cool ocean breezes.
Shorts, bikinis and flip-flops replaced party dresses and tailored suits for the dress code, and the music swayed away from Poly pop to Caribbean Island sounds, incorporating Cuban, Reggae, Calypso, and South American styles.
Eventually a laid back kat named Jimmy Buffet made his way to Key West, and his music fit in perfectly with the Island’s philosophies. A Margarita or Cuba Libre are right at home next to the Mai Tai or Singapore Sling at the Tiki Bars in the Keys, and even though you won’t usually find a carved Tiki or a Polynesian show, they can still be a hell of a lot of fun.
Today, we have a wonderful bunch of krazy kats and kittens who refer to themselves as Tikiphiles. (Hell, you might be one of them yourself if you’re reading this!) These swingers love Tiki culture, in many forms. They might be purists, they might be Parrot Heads, or they might be into the Retro Scene where Tiki can be a big part. Some of the hard-core Tikiphiles follow Tiki events across the country – mainly the Big Three – Tiki Oasis in California, Ohana on the Lake in Lake George New York, and the Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They find each other on the internet, at Tiki bars and Tiki events. You won’t find a kooler bunch of kids. As the saying goes, they’re money, and they don’t even know it.
Tiki Culture 101: How it all started
There are some great books and a few other websites that can give you an in-depth history of Tiki Culture in America. I’m going to give it to you in a nutshell, so you can get the basics down before you finish your Mai Tai.
The common theory is that Tiki Bars started popping up in America after World War II, when soldiers returning from the South Pacific started spreading the word of how wonderful the beautiful tropical islands were with their hula girls and swaying palms. Well, that’s not really true; the first Tiki Bars in America, by most accounts, were started in the 1930s by a couple of guys who had spent time in the islands and thought it would be fun to theme their bars with a tropical flavor.
Don the Beachcomber (Donn Beach) is generally credited as the first swanky kat to open a specifically Tiki/Polynesian-themed restaurant and lounge in Hollywood, CA in 1934. About three years later Trader Vic’s (Vic Bergeron) opened in Oakland, CA with a similar theme, and Tikiness in America took off from there. Both proprietors got popular concocting strong but tasty cocktails, and soon became known for the exotic décor, laid back atmosphere and strong libations. Bamboo and wicker galore, hand-carved Tikis, palms, pretty girls in sarongs. Hawaiian music set the standard for the blossoming era.
As air travel helped bring the world closer in the ’30s and ’40s, Hawaiian and Polynesian music, food and décor became more popular in the states. WW2 brought these cultures to the forefront, and Americans – who were sick of the war – focused on the beauty of these worlds, the tropical flowers and orange sunsets, the magic, the exotic women, the cool breezes and sweet fruits.
MM meal
I filmed this video a few weeks ago. It’s some some great and delicious food. This is authentic Chinese sichuan food inside of China (duh!). The hot bubbling dish is eggplant, and man oh man, is it delicious. video 32MB
The Tiki formula
Main Tiki Bar Elements (around 50 %)
Carvings and art from Polynesia like Tiki statues, posters, mugs, weapons, masks, Tiki utensils, ashtrays, Tiki lighters, menus, matches, and other objects and art that depict Tiki (Polynesian ancestor figures). Also: Artefacts from Melanesia (Papua New Guinea) and Micronesia. Architecture like A-Frame meeting houses.
All these elements can show the influences of three additional stylistic forces. In the pie chart, you see three triangles that influence original mid-century Tiki art as well as today’s revival Tiki style.
They are: 1.) Original Pacific art 2.) Modernism & Picasso and 3.) Cartoons
Supporting Tiki Elements
(10 – 20 % each, depending on your preferences)
These are split into four categories. Exotica, Pre-Tiki, Nautical and Mid-Century Pop.
EXOTICA – Explorers, Headhunters, voodoo, African and Asian souvenirs.
PRE-TIKI – Hawaiiana, South Sea movies, Hula girls, Luau imagery, Palm trees, rattan, and tapa.
NAUTICAL – Trader and Beachcomber style, ship models, ship wheels, anchors, fishnet floats, shells, pufferfish, nets, travel, and adventure objects and Kon-Tiki related stuff.
MID-CENTURY POP – Surf, Beach, Lounge and Bar elements, Rumpus Room items.
The focus on the main elements is important, with a nice mix of the supporting ideas. On the borders, but outside of Tiki style, are personal preferences like Pirates, Shriners, Rock-a-billy, Monsters, or Star Wars décor. You find these things in modern Tiki bars, even if they are obviously not authentic. To each his own: The Tiki genre is very creative, open, and playful, yet it does have its heritage and history.
After the war, those returning soldiers did want forget the bloodshed, but they certainly wanted to remember the good times. Tiki Bars sprang up all over the states, moving from the California coast clear over to the Atlantic. New Tiki Bar owners combined elements of Hawaii, Tahiti, the Philippines and other Pacific cultures to decorate their lounges. Bamboo, thatch and carved hardwoods became the building materials of choice. Tiki idols and masks adorned the walls and bar.
Nautical props, from fishnets to lanterns made from blowfish, found their way into the design. Chinese and Japanese cuisine infiltrated the menus. Swinging Hawaiian music was combined with jazz and exotic sounds of the far east and south Pacific to create “Exotica”, the soundtrack to Tiki. Polynesian Pop was born.
The 1950s saw an explosion in pop culture that wouldn’t be matched until the advent of the World Wide Web. Tiki bars flourished in the ’50s, giving the cocktail set a new place to mingle as well as providing a nice, close-to-home adventure for the thriving middle class.
Visiting a Tiki Bar with a live Polynesian music and dance floorshow was like taking a mini vacation.
Drinks were served in coconuts, hollowed pineapples, and eventually artistically created ceramic Tiki mugs. Patrons could buy souvenirs to take home, just like on vacation, and soon these souvenirs became collectibles. Those who loved the themed lounges took it upon themselves to re-create the atmosphere at home, and the home Tiki Bar was born.
Although it had been hip for years with the cocktail set to have a home bar (usually anything from a hideaway bar to a corner set-up with all the frills), suddenly Tiki Bars in the home became the “in” thing.
Bachelor pads were re-worked with the Tiki Theme in mind, sporting curious Moai art sculptures and black velvet paintings of Tahitian women laying naked on the beach. Swingin’ couples transformed their mid-century modern apartments to include bamboo furniture, palm plants and floral wallpaper. Basement rec-rooms across the country were turned into little Tiki islands, with fishnets hanging from the rafters and rum-stocked bamboo bars as the focal point. America loved Tiki.
Then the 1960s came along. The happy days of the ’50s began to decay under the rebellion of the hippy generation (who of course had their own ideas of ‘cool’), the problems America faced with civil rights, assassinations, corrupt government and the Vietnam war.
Once again palm trees and thatch huts were shown on the 11 o’clock news as the center of war and death.
Even Gilligan’s Island couldn’t distract people from the darkness. America was beginning to focus more on what was “real” and less on the fantasy, and much of the fun stuff we enjoyed in the old days were abandoned, washed away by a tide of indifference.
By the 1970s, Tiki culture had been worn down to ‘kitsch’. It was no longer considered a fun, exciting escape; it was considered an old, out-dated and corny style that belonged to the old generation. Disco took over, and Tiki Bars around the country began closing their doors for good.
But something strange happened. Something wonderful. Tiki started popping up again in the strangest places.
TV shows like “Hawaii 5-0”, “Fantasy Island” and “Magnum P.I.” brought the tropics back into our homes, in a very groovy way.
A few of the old Tiki Bars continued to succeed, managing to push on in spite of the times. Places like Key West and San Francisco somehow managed to keep the culture quietly alive, adapting to new trends.
The Florida Keys branched out with its own Tiki culture, breaking from tradition and incorporating vivid colors, open-air bars and Parrot Head music with Jimmy Buffet at the musical wheel.
Pirate culture, which is a hairline away from Tiki Culture, gained popularity, and the two started to overlap in a wonderfully adventurous way. A couple of authentic, mid-century Tiki bars, such as the Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale, FL managed to maintain the original, traditional Tiki Culture with Polynesian shows and exotic drinks served in original-style Tiki mugs.
They pressed on, and by the early 1990s more and more Americans started opening their eyes to the wonders of Tiki. Tiki culture was rediscovered!
Where is Tiki?
You don’t have to live in the tropics to enjoy the Tiki life, but it helps. Having year-round warm temperatures, green grass and palm trees in your back yard is something I don’t ever want to give up. But some of the best Tiki Bars I’ve been to have been in places like Portland, Oregon – so it’s really a state of mind, more than a place. You can live in Alaska, as long as you have your bamboo and thatch setup and a good heater, you’re golden.
It was guys like me (and maybe you too) who kept the Tiki torches burning through the last few decades. My uncle loved the whole Tiki thing, and built his middle son a complete Tiki Hut to play in back in the ’70s, along with a Pirate Ship and a Tiki/Pirate-themed bedroom.
By that time, Tiki Culture was making its way back into the hearts of many Americans, not just us crazy few. Books on the allure of Tiki were published. Tropical themes became “in” again. More TV shows and movies were set in tropical settings. And the Internet helped propel the good word of the Tiki good life around the world. (That’s why you’re reading this, right? Dig it!)
Now, at the beginning of the new century, we’re realizing once again the fun of Tiki and the importance of preserving the original places, ideals and philosophies that make Tiki Culture so great. From hard-core traditionalists to new-wave Parrot heads, people all over the world are enjoying tropical drinks under indoor palm trees, swaying to music by Martin Denny and The Martini Kings. There are Tikiphiles who love and live everything Tiki, and everyday people who think it’s just kinda kool to have a Tiki mask hanging in their bedroom and bamboo furniture on the lanai.
Some people prefer to stick to one era and are true to it, and that is very kool. Others are all about original Tiki, basically Poly pop of the 1950s, and won’t stray from it. That is kool too because they are the kids who keep the traditional stuff going and that is very important. And many are all about back-yard Tiki, having a luau party with the fun, colorful decorations you can pick up cheap at the party store, lighting the Tiki torches and barbecuing sweet and sour chicken kabobs while the kids do the limbo.
To me, it’s all fantastic. Tiki culture is all about living the good life, having fun, and enjoying the tropical splendor it offers. So sit back in your bamboo chair, sip your Piña Colada with the little paper umbrella, and dig in to the fun of living Tiki!
Wait, there’s more! Here’s a fun little thing…What is NOT Tiki…
• Carribbean, South American, Mexican or African cultures. Although elements of these cultures make their way into the Tiki lifestyle occasionally, they are their own cultures and don’t really represent Tiki.
• Anything with folk music. Oof. If there’s a guy with a guitar singing Simon and Garfunkel tunes, no matter what the joint has hanging on the walls, it ain’t a Tiki Bar.
• Art Deco, palm tree & pastel decor, i.e. Miami Modern. Just because there are palm trees doesn’t make it Tiki. That’s a whole other thing. A very kool thing, but a whole other thing.
• Chinese or other oriental decor, although Tiki borrows from those styles (especially for the food!). Chinese and Japanese elements worked into the overall Tiki theme is good.
• Friday night Beef & Beer at the American Legion Hall (unless they decorate it with Tiki stuff, of course).
• Sears.
• “Idaho. I have never heard of a Tiki Bar in Idaho. If anyone knows of one, please send info right away.” Well guess what? I was just told about a Tiki Bar in Idaho! And that is amazing, and fantastic. The more Tiki bars, the better!
• People who wear Hawaiian shirts with shorts, black socks and sandals. No.
• Martini bars, even of they have a neon palm tree in the window.
• And for Tiki purists, anything made of cheap plastic and bought at the local party store, neon-colored Tiki stuff, smiling Tikis, and misuse of Tiki gods (like Ku holding up a cheese platter) are unacceptable.
America is a nation of Rulers not laws
Yet after COVID-19, it’s obvious our democratic system of lawmaking is, as Winston Churchill put it, “the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Given the choice between a system resembling a Rube Goldberg cartoon (with his bizarre and overly complex contraptions designed to complete simple tasks) and one that’s streamlined and efficient, I’ll take Goldberg’s vision any day.
As we saw throughout the country but in California in particular, governors were happy to dispense with the usual checks and balances and impose rules by executive order and fiat. Some initial rules were defensible during a public-health crisis, but it wasn’t long before elected officials operated like czars—imposing illogical and contradictory restrictions that made no rhyme or reason.
They kept moving the goalposts. One day, counties were on lockdown based on such and such infection rates, but the next day standards changed. In September 2020, for instance, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a re-opening blueprint based on COVID cases per 100,000 population, but then he refused to let counties that met the standard to loosen up their rules.
Do schools teach you to be independent thinkers, or cogs in a vast huge nameless machine?
Russian Roubles for gasoline
Yves Smith has a post up about Putin’s roubles-for-gas declaration. This is in her wheelhouse and worth a read. She also discusses the Dallas Fed’s new paper on the impacts of sanctions on the oil market. Conclusion: at least as severe an impact as OPEC in the 70s.
Roubles 4 gas
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The United States to establish “Red Lines” upon China
In the use of “Red Lines”, both Russia and China defined them as unalterable, and uncrossible events that violate their national sovereignty.
The United States is now set to define their “Red Lines”.
Only instead of American sovereignty, it is really a set of limitations placed upon China. And if China, instead, acts as an independent nation and refuses American demands, this will be considered “cossing the red lines”.
Silly and highly volatile.
These are not actual “Red Lines” on American sovereignty, but rather a list of demands and limits on what America allows China to do. If China crosses those limits, America will impose punishments.
Oh yes, China backing Russia is really pissing off Uncle Shmuel. How dare China! And the noise has been a daily ritual. Additionally, the Eurolemmings are very upset:
But guys, you all know that this is an expected reaction. It has been planned and expected a long, long time ago. China and Russia are playing a very advanced game of Chess, while the United States are just infants scribbling on the walls with crayons.
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The USA has to be told over and over…
China’s bank regulator says the nation will not join Western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine invasion – ABC News
Mainstream media drum-beat for war is frightening the DOD
Joe Lauria reports this morning there were two leaks by MoD providing facts to fight against the MSM hysteria.
There is currently a fight between DoD, the President, the Congress and the MSM over the next actions to take over Ukraine. Maybe I am exagerating a bit but they feel the dangers of escalating this any further.
SEOUL, March 24 (Reuters) - North Korea conducted what is thought to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test ever on Thursday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, marking a dramatic end to a self-imposed moratorium on long-range testing.It would be the first full-capability launch of the nuclear-armed state's largest missiles since 2017, and represents a major step in the North's development of weapons that might be able to deliver nuclear warheads anywhere in the United States.
Compare to how the people react when there is an accident. In America, everyone sits in their car. No one gets out. No one helps anyone, and they wait until the polic eand others come. At most, they might honk their horns or film the carnage.
Inside China, a nation of Rufus, everyone leaves their car and gets out to help. It’s all about community. It’s about responsibility, and it’s about purpose. video 22MB
A reminder to the maniacs and neo-con interventionists in the West
Head of Roskosmos:
"I want to confirm, knowing the technical side of the matter, that the Russian Federation is capable of physically destroying any aggressor or any group of aggressors at any distance, globally, in a matter of minutes,"
He said this on Channel One television.
The head of Roskosmos also expressed hope that Russia wouldn’t have to use the missiles that the state corporation builds because they are “the last resort.”
"Our machines are for the last resort, I think that’s what President [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin] was talking about when he warned the countries that would try to intervene in this special military operation, including NATO countries, that no one should forget that Russia has a very reliable nuclear strategic potential and means of its delivery.
The means of delivery are intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as operational-tactical missile systems, and so on,"
China Crash Mystery Deepens As Evidence Suggests Mid-Air Breakup
China Plane Crash: If investigators confirm that the part found 10 km away came from the jet, it could offer clues about what led to Monday's crash or at least shed light on the flight's final seconds.
At least one piece of the Boeing Co. 737-800 that crashed in China appears to have broken loose well before impact, a finding that adds mystery to the plane’s fatal dive.
The piece suspected to have come from the China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. jet was found about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the main wreckage area, Chinese officials said at a briefing Thursday.
If investigators confirm that the part came from the jet, it would indicate the plane suffered some kind of midair breakup, which could offer clues about what led to Monday’s crash or at least shed light on the flight’s final seconds.
“The questions are: exactly what piece was it and when did it come off?” said Jeff Guzzetti, the former chief of accident investigations at the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Flight 5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou went down without an emergency radio call from pilots, slamming into a forested hillside about 100 miles from its destination, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. There were 132 people aboard.
The highly unusual dive has baffled crash investigators and safety experts. Aircraft such as the 737-800 are designed not to dive so aggressively, so some kind of aircraft failure or pilot action would be required to keep its nose pointed down for so long.
A piece about 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) long and 10 centimeters (4 inches) wide believed to be from the plane was found on farmland, Zheng Xi, head of the Guangxi fire-fighting rescue team, said at a briefing.
It’s impossible to know at this early stage in the investigation whether the piece came loose as a result of stresses during the high-speed plunge or broke off before the sudden descent.
Guzzetti said it most likely occurred as the plane plummeted from a cruising altitude of about 29,000 feet in about 1 minute and 35 seconds.
“In my view, that’s the aircraft shedding parts as it’s coming down,” he said.
If that’s the case, it would provide clues about the plane’s speed and possible pilot maneuvers.
Still Transmitting
The aircraft didn’t break apart completely. It continued to transmit its position until it reached 3,225 feet, according to data collected by the Flightradar24 tracking service, suggesting the main structure remained intact.
A Bloomberg News review of Flightradar24 data showed the jet was flying well above normal speeds during the dive, possibly nearing the speed of sound.
Going that fast on a jetliner that’s not designed for such speeds could cause relatively light-weight components on wings and tail sections to break loose, according to an investigation into the Dec. 19, 1997 crash of a SilkAir 737-300 in Indonesia.
That jet was traveling close to the speed of sound as it dove into a river, investigators concluded. The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee said there wasn’t enough evidence to say what caused the crash, but the (The United States representative) NTSB dissented, saying that the captain most likely did it intentionally in a murder-suicide.
Almost 22,000 Feet in 72 Seconds: Plunge of China Eastern Plane Puzzles Experts
Boeing 737 crash in southern China was among the fastest jetliner descents ever recorded
It was one of the fastest descents of a commercial aviation jetliner in history.
China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 had been flying normally for just over an hour on Monday when it suddenly nosedived, plummeting more than 21,000 feet in 72 seconds. After the fall appeared to be briefly arrested, the plane stopped transmitting data, crashing into green mountains in southern China.
Video footage captured by a mining company’s surveillance camera showed the aircraft almost perpendicular to the ground in its final moments before it crashed, while attempts by air-traffic controllers and other nearby jetliners to contact the pilots after the aircraft started hurtling to the ground went unanswered.
It is “extremely unusual to see an aircraft in a full nose dive,” one industry safety official in the U.S. said. “Many of us are scratching our heads.”
The vertical speed of the descent reached almost 31,000 feet a minute at one point, according to data from tracking provider Flightradar24, mystifying experts. With very limited information available so far, it leaves open a range of possibilities as to how the Boeing 737-800 carrying 132 passengers and crew met its fate.
The Aviation Safety Network, operated by the independent safety advocacy group, the Flight Safety Foundation, and which maintains a flight accident database going back to 1919, said it identified eight examples of accidents since 1985 where a plane quickly descended in an abnormally steep way or fell out of the sky at high speed.
China Eastern Airlines has grounded its entire fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft – a move that came after the same widely-used plane model plummeted from the sky with 132 passengers on board earlier this week.An airline spokesperson said China Eastern and its subsidiaries have temporarily paused use of a total of 223 Boeing 737-800s. The planes will undergo safety checks and maintenance during the grounding.China Eastern Airlines is also planning an overhaul of its plane safety protocols following the incident, CNN reported.Authorities have yet to determine what caused China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 to crash with no apparent survivors. The plane appeared to nosedive from a cruising altitude of approximately 30,000 feet.Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 said the plane “started to lose altitude very fast,” with a vertical descent of 31,000 feet per minute. Authorities recovered the plane’s black box from the crash site on Wednesday, which could provide clues about what happened.
I filmed this in one of my local restaurants. Fine authentic Chinese pepper beef. It’s served on a hot platter right out of the oven. It goes great with alcohol, as that’s how all the Chinese eat it. Yum. video 23MB
Both China and Russia have declared Soros a “terrorist”.
“The Russian govt announces an arrest warrant against the billionaire Georges Soros, the main promoter of the war in Ukraine.
She’s got nice curves, and I really do like her dress. video 4MB
I think that she looks great in blue. Love the soft curves.
Germany Spokesperson: No big new sanctions package expected at EU summit on Russia
A spokesperson for the German government said on Wednesday that they were not expecting a “big new sanctions package” on Russia to be announced at the EU summit, as reported by Reuters.
Solomon Islands reportedly close to signing security partnership with China. My guess it is becuse of the NGO “color revolution” activities that the CIA has been sponsoring the last few years.
A draft white paper that surfaced on social media today sets out a framework that could allow Beijing to deploy forces to "protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in the Solomon Islands."
The agreement says that the Solomon Islands can "request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and military forces to the country."
It’s not only the boarded-up store fronts. It’s the office space throughout the urban areas.
Blackstone walks away from Midtown Manhattan building, CMBS holders left holding the bag. Yah. This is how it is going in the US.SF: 26% of total office space for lease. Occupancy rates still down 70%.
"The revolutionary technology, expected to be 10-100 times faster than 5G in terms of data transmission speed, will integrate with advanced computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, set to make up for desired applications that fall short of expectations in the 5G era...."In January, a high-tech lab in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, announced a major achievement related to 6G-oriented terahertz 100/200Gbps (gigabits per second) real-time wireless communication, which led to the world's fastest real-time transmission for terahertz real-time wireless communication that's been publicly reported...."China, the world's biggest internet and smartphone market, granted 5G licenses for commercial use and started 6G R&D in 2019. It has built the largest 5G mobile infrastructure in the industry, with 1.43 million 5G base stations rolled out as of the end of 2021, accounting for over 60 percent of the global total."
I laugh at US telecom 5G commercials touting their superiority when they’re so totally outclassed by China. China’s telecoms will dominate the Eurasian Bloc’s market and aid in the region’s rapid developmental transformation.
I think she has a really nice tummy and fine womanly hips. Do you think that she’s too thin, as some American friends have suggested to me?
Russians captured a Ukrainian Control Complex
LATEST NEWS FLASH YOU’LL NEVER HEAR IN THE MSM: On Monday night, Russian forces released news of their capture of a Soviet-era nuclear bunker near Kiev, which was being used by the Ukrainian army as a command complex. 60-some prisoners were taken, reportedly half of them being officers at the rank of Major or above.
When will Putin realize that Russian default on loans is the proper response to the seizure of Russian assets? Russia would have to be extremely foolish to borrow another cent from the West. Therefore, why protect access to foreign borrowing by continuing to service foreign debt? As the West has already stolen Russia’s money, Russia should walk away from the debt, which it was a strategic blunder of the highest order for Russia to have contracted. https://www.rt.com/business/552511-imf-us-dollar-reserve-currency
Lavrov is catching on
“This all is about removing the obstacle in the form of Russia on the way to building a unipolar world… This is not about Ukraine, this is about a world order in which the United States wants to be the sole sovereign and dominate.”
“Our Polish colleagues have already stated that there will be a NATO summit, and peacekeepers should be sent. I hope they understand what they are talking about. This will be the very direct clash between the Russian and NATO armed forces, which everyone wants to avoid.”
“The Americans proceed from the fact that it is unprofitable for them if this process is completed quickly. They expect to continue pumping weapons into Ukraine.”
Sanctions are destroying dollar as world currency
IMF says Washington’s illegal seizure of Russia’s reserves is causing “increasing fragmentation” in the global payments system, causing some countries to move away from the dollar.
Sanctions destroying influence of Washington’s Russian allies
Anatoly Chubais, Atlanticist Integrationist excrement, has resigned his position as presidential aide for sustainable development and fled Russia.
Good riddence says Russia.
Chubais is the Russian traitor who sold out Russia to the West during the Yeltsin years. He plunged millions into poverty while helping a few oligarchs and the West seize Russia’s assets. For reasons no one understands, Putin kept him on in lesser positions instead of having him shot.
The “Victorious Ukrainian Forces” sre trying to escape by dressing up as women
Here are the Ukrainian Nazis that, according to US Secretary of Defense, are on the verge of Defeating the Russian army. It doesn’t look that way. Not really.
The Supreme Court is already a joke. Now they want to make it a laughing stock. Discrediting the court is their way of removing judicial restraint on the executive branch. Another leap into tyranny.
US Secretary of Defense Sees Russian Defeat in Ukraine
The incompetent fool Biden appointed Secretary of Defense said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was stalled by valiant Ukrainian forces and that Russia was feeding its troops into a wood chipper and would soon run out of soldiers. The Defense Secretary’s statement is 100% fantasy.
Ukraine is a no-fly zone, one established by Russia. Before Russian troops arrived, Ukrainian radar, air fields, and military infrastructure was destroyed along with the navy and air force.
The remains of the Ukrainian army are isolated and surrounded. The units have no communication and are incapable of offensive action.
The US-supported and armed neo-Nazi militias are ensconced in population centers where they are using the civilians that Putin intended to spare as shields and are blowing up the towns and cities for the Western presstitutes to blame on Russia. As the population centers are being destroyed and civilians killed by the neo-Nazis , there is no reason for the Russians to keep to their policy of avoiding the risk to civilians of heavy weapon use.
Ukraine is cut off from the Black Sea. It remains to be seen whether Putin, in another of those fruitless Russian good will gestures, will give the territory back to Ukraine. Indeed, at this time no effective Ukraine government exists. Russia is wasting its time negotiating with a non-government.
NATO bases in Western Ukraine where Russian troops are not operating have been destroyed.by precision weapons. Among the casualties are US and UK military and intelligence personnel who were training Ukrainians in the use of the weapons supplied by the West. Russia has made it clear what awaits NATO members if they get involved in the conflict.
The real puzzle is what do Western government officials and presstitute media think they are accomplishing with fantasy news reports? Has the West reached the point in George Orwell’s 1984 where victories are claimed in a war that doesn’t exist?
Only a portion of the assembled Russian troops have been committed to the conflict. The rest are on hand to deal with any NATO intervention.
In recent years, many people have become accustomed to thinking about the term “deep state” as something that only applies to the United States. While it is certainly clear that a fifth column has become increasingly embedded across all levels of America’s military, intelligence, bureaucratic, corporate, media and academic influence- very few westerners have any clear idea how this same structure has expressed itself in the nations of Eurasia.
Most relevant for the topic of this present report, we can take as an example the vast western-leaning hive of vipers, oligarchs and liberal technocrats which rose to power under the direction of the CIA during the dark years of shock therapy of the 1990s. Of course, since taking over from Yeltsin in 1999, President Vladimir Putin has gone far to purging many of those treacherous agencies that looted Russia during Perestroika, regaining control of vital institutions, bringing Russia’s military, scientific and intelligence powers back into national hands.
“In the early 2000s, I’ve cleaned all of them out, but in mid-1990s, we had Central Intelligence Agency employees as advisors and even official employees of the government of the Russian Federation, as we learned later… There were American specialists sitting at our nuclear weapons complex sites, they went to work there, from morning to late night – they had a table and an American flag. They lived there and worked there. They did not need any fine instruments to interfere in our life, because they had control over everything already.”
Putin went on to describe the new CIA-run strategy of asymmetrical warfare utilizing foreign NGOs and rabble-rousing proxies (see: Navalny) within the vast “civil society” apparatus embedded within his nation:
“As soon as Russia started claiming its interests, started to raise its sovereignty, economy and armed forces’ capability, new instruments of influence on our internal political life became needed, including rather fine instruments via various organizations, funded from abroad.”
Of course while these operations have lit many weaker nations on fire in earlier days, the color revolutionary techniques used by the CIA-funded NED, or Open Society Foundations have resulted in very limited successes in Russia where saner heads have cut off many of these operations of funding while illegalizing Soros’ entire organization in 2015 declaring them to be “threats to state security”. Although Russia was 25 years behind schedule on this matter, banning Soros put them into the special club of nations that got their acts together led by China who had the wits to ban Soros in 1989, illegalizing his Open Society operations and arresting its agents (including CPC General Secretary and Soros agent extraordinaire Zhao Ziyang).
After recapturing key strategic interests from private clutches during his early years in power, Putin established a new set of ultimatums that he expected the liberal technocrats and oligarchs to adhere to: play by the rules set out by him or face the consequences. Some went to jail, and many went to London for sanctuary (often buying mansions with their ill-begotten gains in an area that came to be known as “Moscow on the Thames”). Still others stayed behind to play by the rules. Perhaps some did adapt to this new reality, but other forces continued to act as a fifth column- often keeping their claws firmly sunk into the levers of finance in Russia’s IMF-influenced central banking architecture and local regional power centers.
It was to these fifth columnists that Putin addressed his remarks on March 15 of this year saying:
“Yes, of course they [the West] will bet on the so-called Fifth Column. Our national traitors. On those who earn money here, with us, but live there. And they live not even in the geographical sense of the word but according to their thoughts. According to their slavish consciousness… many of these people, by their very nature, are mentally located exactly there, and not here. Not with our people. Not with Russia. This is, in their opinion, a sign of belonging to a higher caste, to a higher race. Such people are ready to sell their own mothers if only they were allowed to sit in the hallway of this very highest caste… They do not understand at all that if they are needed by this so-called “higher caste”, then they are needed only as expendable material in order to use them to inflict maximum damage on our people.”
The myopic habit of looking only at the USA or European fifth columnists undermining the sovereignty of nation states over the past decades while ignoring Eurasia, has caused many well-meaning people to presume falsely that nations like Russia or China can be treated as monolithic institutions with either a “good” or “bad” label attached to them. Such oversimplifications unfortunately result in minds susceptible to much misinformation, which there is no shortage to be found amidst our age of psychological warfare operations, media spin and narrative reframing.
Ignorance of the battle currently being waged between genuine nationalists surrounding Putin vs this other western-directed fifth column will ensure fatal errors in judgement and a misdiagnosis of our current crisis. Even worse, vital opportunities for broader policy solutions requisite to empower sovereign nation states will be lost and with this loss, any capacity to engage in proper combat with an emerging totalitarian world order will be destroyed.
Chubais Jumps Ship
One of the most blatant examples of leading Fifth Columnists who “sell their own mothers to sit in the hallway of this very highest caste” has been the figure of Anatoly Chubais who has recently announced his departure from Russia (hopefully permanently) in order to seek safer terrain in Turkey. In this leap into safer sanctuary, Chubais has abandoned his role as ‘Special Representative for Relations with International Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals’ at the UN.
Chubais played one of the most destructive roles of any living politician while working with the CIA-run Yeltsin government as a “Soros-young reformer” alongside Yegor Gaidar and other western tools who were recruited by the west to run the sacking and disintegration of Russia during the 1990s. Acting as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Policy between 1992-96, Chubais oversaw the privatization of all strategic sectors of the Russian economy alongside Harvard’s Jeffrey Sachs, Rhodes Scholar Strobe Talbott, a coterie of sociopathic oligarchs like Mikhail Khodorkovsy, Platon Lebedev and Boris Berezovsky (many of whom formed Chubais’ ‘Group of 7’ in 1996).
Chubais and Geidar pioneered the infamous “voucher system” which underpinned the multi-phased looting operation dubbed Operation Hammer by Bush Sr’s CIA starting in 1991. William Engdahl rigorously documented this dense period of privatizations which saw over 15,000 firms privatized between 1992-1994. New oligarchs like Berezovsky were able to use these vouchers purchased from starving Russians, to buy the oil giant Sibnet (worth $3 billion) for only $100 million and Khodorkovsky bought 78% of the shares in Yukos (a $5 billion value) for only $310 million. Soros himself bragged that he dropped over two billion dollars into Russia during this looting period.
Chubais had been an early founder of Perestroika clubs in St. Petersburg alongside such figures as Yegor Gaidar (future Prime Minister), Vladimir Kogan (future St Petersburg Bank President) and Alexei Kudrin (future Finance Minister). Upon Gaidar’s death in 2009, Chubais spearheaded the creation of the Gaidar Forum which was designed to take place one week prior to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos and served as a coordinating body of the deep state between the Schwabian technocrats and their Russian soulmates.
In 2013, Putin said of Chubais and his CIA handlers:
“We learned today that officers of the United States’ CIA operated as consultants to Anatoly Chubais. But it is even funnier that upon returning to the U.S., they were prosecuted for violating their country’s laws and illegally enriching themselves in the course of privatization in the Russian Federation.”
Despite Putin having clearly identified Chubais as a CIA asset, evidence of something very powerful protecting the financier was seen as he not only avoided being purged as so many others during Putin’s tenure, but even regained a large degree of influence as chairman of the executive board of the state-run technology company Rusnano from 2008 until 2020. During this time, Chubais also found himself serving as advisory council member of JP Morgan Chase, and the leading force behind decarbonization schemes in Russia driven by green alternative energy boondoggles which serve as a major component of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset.
During his 12 year tenure, Chubais used Rusnano as an instrument to fund and seed windmill and solar power development, provided $400 million to Hevek Solar (Russia’s biggest solar energy company) and created a $520 million Wind Energy Development Fund.
Although Chubais’ offices at Rusnano were raided the day following the arrest of Russian finance minister (and fellow swamp creature Alexei Ulyokaev on November 16, 2021), his protectors ensured that while his days at the company would come to an end, he would avoid arrest, and go onto new destructive endeavors. What was his next assignment?
By the end of December 2021, it was announced that Chubais was made Russian Presidential envoy to the United Nations to coordinate Sustainable Development Goals. In this position, Chubais had shamelessly called for adapting Russia’s economy to the UN’s climate market and fully submitting to the dictates of the IMF and World Bank saying on January 8, 2022:
“I am convinced that the Russian climate market will be extremely attractive for international investment. So it is necessary to facilitate the access of Russian entrepreneurs to receive funding from abroad for alternate projects. To do this, it is necessary to achieve harmonization of the basic rules of the Russian Market being created in this area with leading international organizations- the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development”.
Not only has Chubais spearheaded the “greening of Russian energy” according to the Great Reset Agenda (which unites the two-fold manufactured crises of climate change and covid-19 into one package), but Chubais also used Rusnano to fund the growth of a foreign directed pharmaceutical complex within the heart of Russia. One major scandal emerged recently as Russian pharmaceutical giant and COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Nanolek received billions of rubles from Rusnano in 2020 and 2021 enriching the husband-wife duo of Tatyana Golikova and Viktor Khristenko (whose son is a major shareholder in the company).
While much can be said about other fifth columnists still embedded within Russia’s civil service and private sector, the smell of new purges is certainly in the air.
A Sea Change Now Underway
Powerful western forces representing the “higher castes” have severed ties with Russia and with those lost ties goes lost protection for many figures who have slept soundly at night despite their treacherous hearts. The World Economic Forum broke off ties on March 8 along with a multitude of foreign WEF partner corporations like Goldman Sachs, Deutschebank, Amazon, Visa, Paypal, Mastercard, Apple, IBM, Unilever, and Pepsico (to name a few).
Moves are quickly being made to empower nationalist forces to take increased control over Russia’s economy led by Sergey Glaziev’s new project to create a China-EAEU alternative financial/monetary system with increased national controls over finance and long-term planning. Gaining control of the financial sector which has long been under the strong influence of western oligarchical interests is vital if Russia is going to be able to not only weather the coming storm but come out of it with the economic sovereignty and power to build those large-scale projects needed for Putin’s aspirations for a Far Eastern and Arctic civilizational growth paradigm.
Although Chubais only represents but one large rat who has chosen this current moment to jump ship, others will certainly follow, and perhaps a new fear of god might awaken in the hearts of others who chose this moment of crisis to walk a more noble path as patriots of Russia as the world enters a new more multipolar future.
I think it is here fitting to end with a few remarks by President Putin who stated …
“the Russian people will be able to distinguish true patriots frьфкьфеom scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a midge that accidentally flew into their mouths. I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, cohesion and readiness to respond to any challenges”.
Chinese girl bouncing down the street
I really do like how these boobies bounce. It’s hypnotic. video 21MB
I happen to like bouncy boobies. Most women think it’s simply distracting, maybe silly. What do you think?
Since the Russian action in Ukraine began, provoked by Washington’s cold shoulder to Russian security concerns, Washington, in addition to doing all possible to keep the conflict going, has also dumped three more provocations on the Kremlin: an attempted coup or “color revolution” in the former Russian province of Kazakhstan, NATO military maneuvers currently under way in the former Russian province of Georgia which is not a NATO member, and NATO maneuvers in Poland on the Border of Belarus, a former Russian province and current Russian ally. https://avia-pro.net/news/bronetehnika-nato-zamechena-v-3-kilometrah-ot-granicy-s-belorussiey
The signal Washington consistently sends to the Kremlin is aggression. Why has no member of any government in the Western world, no presstitute in the Western media pointed this out? It is difficult to fathom the irresponsibility of Washington adding to the Ukraine provocation three more provocations simultaneously. Why provoke a country already concerned with its security with more security concerns unless you are trying to widen the war?
The US Treasury is working with Congress to prevent Russia’s use of her gold reserves that she kept in her own hands, with the bulk of Russian reserves having been seized, a theft made easy by the stupid fool that Putin keeps as head of the Russian central bank. It is extraordinary that the Russian central bank kept Russia’s reserves in Western hands while Russia intervened militarily in Ukraine. The Russian central bank must have wanted Russia to lose her reserves.
Now the remaining reserves are to be targeted by Washington in this way. Sanctions will be applied to every country that permits or facilitates Russian payments in gold or the buying and selling of gold by Russia. This, the US senator, Angus King, said, will collapse the Russian economy, leaving Russia no means of payment.
Senator King and the US Treasury are overlooking that all acts of war are not military, and what the senator is sponsoring is an act of war. Putin recognizes it as such. He declared it to be “a total undisguised aggression” and “a war waged by economic, political, and informational means.”
So what is Russia doing in response to the declared intent of the West to destroy her? She is enabling her own destruction. She distributes her foreign exchange reserves among Western banks where they can be seized. She keeps the economies of her enemies alive by continuing to supply them with energy and minerals–all because her moronic central bank thinks Russia needs foreign exchange, which will be seized regardless.
She continues with a go-slow war that gives her enemies more time to demonize Russia and create permanent hatred of Russia in the Western populations, that gives Western idiots more time to blunder into a wider war, such as the Western plan to deploy NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine.
In short, the Kremlin’s response to the sanctions is mindless. Here for example is Germany’s own assessment of the impact on Germany if Russia stops sustaining Germany’s existence with Russian energy: “A 2018 stress test run by the German civil defense agency, the BBK, found that all crucial services will be impacted by a gas supply shortage.
The two-day crisis management exercise Lukex 18, which involved several states in southern Germany, found that the shortage of gas supply will have ‘a drastic effect on public life,’ including the closure of public and private facilities. The disruption of supply will also lead to ‘far-reaching, difficult-to-predict consequences for the service sector and the production of goods,’ according to the BBK.”
If Russia turned off the energy, Germany would force an end to the sanctions on Russia or Germany would leave NATO despite Germany’s occupation by US troops. But apparently the Kremlin would rather risk Russia’s destruction than to violate a contract or forego foreign exchange earnings that it cannot use. The Kremlin seems destined to forego the opportunity to crush the sanctions and continue selling energy to Germany until Germany has had time to locate and construct the facilities for an alternative means of supply.
The West’s naked aggression and the Kremlin’s insouciance guarantee a wider war ending in world destruction. Can no one in leadership position see it coming? Do Western politicians believe Russia will allow herself to be defeated by non-military means? Does the Kremlin believe that resolving the Ukrainian situation will end the West’s attacks on Russia? As always in human affairs, stupidity prevails.
That Washington and its despicable puppet states parade around like goody two shoes, shouting accusations at Russia when it is Washington and its puppets who are provoking war, and everyone falls for it tells me that Washington has the world on the road to nuclear armageddon.
Girl black dress and ice cream
Another cute Chiense girl outside eating ice cream. Looks delicious. I think I will neet to get a scoop later on. video 2MB
What do you think? Wouldn’t you like to share a cone with this lass? Or, even not her…just a nice ice cream cone outside on a nice weekend afternoon?
Russian Foreign Minister: “All-Out War Has Been Declared Against Russia”
An all-out war has been declared against Russia. The West does not conceal that the goals of its policy are aimed at suffocating and devastating the Russian economy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
“Today, a genuine hybrid war, a ‘total war’ has been declared against us. This term, which was exploited by Hitler’s Germany, is now pronounced by many European politicians when talking about what they want to do with Russia. The goals are not concealed, they are publicly announced, that is to destroy, devastate, ruin, and suffocate the Russian economy and Russia as a whole,” Lavrov stressed.
The foreign minister lashed out at this “sanctions spree”, pointing out that it is becoming clear that all values that those in the West have been preaching to Russia, like freedom of expression, a market economy, the sanctity of private property and the presumption of innocence, are not worth a red cent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the Donbass republics. He said Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukraine. After that the United States, the European Union and Britain, as well as a number of other countries said they were imposing sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities.
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
I have often told readers of this website and listeners to my radio show how much I admire Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his precise language, his level-headedness and maturity, his mental discipline, and his candor. He is a man, I think, worth listening to because in his words can be found the precise position of the Russian Federation.
Today, his words ought to send shivers down the spine. He spoke the words “All-out war has been declared against Russia.”
Lavrov is not some talk-show host, or news channel prognosticator; he is the Foreign Minister of the second most powerful nation on earth. Actually, based on their nuclear arsenal, Russia is THE most powerful nation on earth!
His words convey how Russia sees things. And right now, they see that “all-out war has been declared against Russia.”
Stop for a moment and think about the implications of what he just said.
When a country sees/believes that “all-out war” is being waged against it, what is that country then obligated by survival instinct, to do? It seems to me the logical answer is: Wage war back.
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is where this situation is heading. Right now. Today. This minute.
As we sit here at our computers, all snug and comfy at home, sipping our morning coffee, the economic sanctions imposed by the West are literally tearing Russia apart. We sit here reading the news, watching the morning TV shows, or listening to music on the radio, and Russia is being systematically wrecked.
The damage to Russia is real. The effects upon the Russian people, are real.
Yet we see and feel none of it because Russia has not chosen to attack back . . . yet.
I am of the opinion they will. Not just economically, but kinetically.
Now, some of you think “they can’t” — or worse, “they wouldn’t dare.” That judgment is in error.
I think Russia will attack back because Russia MUST. They are being killed. They must attack back to stop the ongoing attack against them.
So those of us in the West, would be well advised to get our heads out of our collective ass, and see things as they truly are. The west is attacking Russia in a way that is resulting in Russia’s destruction. Unless we cease what we’re doing, and begin negotiating with Russia for their security, (Which is what Russia sought Diplomatically in December and in January) I believe Russia will have no choice but to attack us back.
They are being destroyed. I truly believe they will destroy us in response.
Stop the Sanctions against Russia now, before it is too late. Return the Foreign Currency Reserves that were “seized/frozen.” Return the Gold Bullion which was seized. Return the assets of Russian citizens that have been (and are being) seized.
Stop this Sanctions madness before Russia comes to the decision to PUT a stop to it, by force.
Sure, a nuclear war is a war that no one can win. But Russia is already losing everything. Their only choice is to deprive us of everything as well.
Is that what we want? Over Ukraine???????
I say “no.” I say Ukraine is not worth it.
I also say, we in the West brought this trouble upon the world by breaking our promises in the 1990’s that NATO “would not move one inch east.” We violated that promise time after time until now, NATO countries are right at Russia’s front porch.
This mess is OUR doing. We ought to be honorable and undo it. Before it gets undone anyway, through nuclear horror.
About the Ukraine “Invasion”
Let’s keep things clear and simple.
The Ukraine “issue” was planned for decades and set in motion by the United States. It’s objective has been to engage Russia in war by proxie, suppress it, and then “pivot to Asia” where a similiar event will engage China.
Russia, as predicted, used “military technical” means to suppress a dangerous situation in Ukraine.
The United States expected war, but not like what is actually going on. They expected an American-style war; full devistation, with ground forces performing policing afterwards. Instead they have an elimination of their Nazi proxy forces, destruction of their equipment, and soon, complete capture of the nation by Russia.
At this stage, the Western propaganda is thick with painting an illusion that Russia is losing and desperate, and that it will make dangerous and irrational moves.
This is a tried, and true technique that launched American involvment in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the War in Panama, The war in Kwait, and so on…
What follows is some kind of “False Flag” event. It will probably involve something nasty. Perhaps a nuke, biological weapons or chemical weapons. Since the “news” media are already discussing “Russia and chemical weapons” we can expect that to be the trigger.
Since America already has 90,000 troops inside of Poland TODAY, we can expect a “false flag” event soon, followed by a NATO assault counter-invasion.
I can tell you that both Russia and China expect this senario to occur.
How it will play out and advance is unknown, except to say that the answer to this event has been war-gamed (by Asia) for years now, and it will be brutal, far-reaching, and will absolutely not go the way the United States / NATO believe; it will NOT be a “long drawn out” conventional war slug-fest. It will be something else.
Something surprising.
Remember, the Putin has admitted that [1] Russia is unable to fight NATO and the United States in a conventional war, and that [2] Russia has publically announced that it feels trapped, that it’s back is at the wall, and that the very existence of Russia and Russians are at stake.
Keep that in mind.
Maybe (and this is MM personal opinion) something that [1] hits American and Europeans directly, [2] silently, and quietly; [3] something not reported at all, and [4] something that won’t be noticed until months afterwards. Things are about to get really UGLY.
Let’s close with some 1960s images of Bachelor pads
I will wrap up all the “news” going on with a retro look at what was once very common. Men’s bachelor pads.
Some inspiration…
One part “Mad Men”, and one part bad Acid Trip.
I wonder, have you ever had a bachelor pad?
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.
Imagine that you died. And there, as you are leaving your body, you are welcomed with long dead friends, and relatives. They welcome you, and it is a joyous time. They take you by the hand and lead you towards the bright tunnel of light.
Would you go with them?
This is a story that ponders that question.
…
Without a doubt one of the Bradbury stories that has made the biggest impression on me. It’s about strategy.
And horror.
The story is taken from Bradbury’s amazing The Martian Chronicles, a collection of short stories strung together to tell the story of what happens when human beings try to colonize Mars.
In this particular tale, an expedition from Earth to Mars encounters a town that seems eerily, yet comfortingly, familiar to them. It’s even populated by long-lost relatives and family.
But, of course, it doesn’t have a happy ending.
The Third Expedition by Ray Bradbury
The ship came down from space. It came from the stars and
the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent
gulfs of space. It was a new ship; it had fire in its body and
men in its metal cells, and it moved with a clean silence,
fiery and warm. In it were seventeen men, induding a captain.
The crowd at the Ohio field had shouted and waved their hands
up into the sunlight, and the rocket had bloomed out great
flowers of heat and color and run away into space on the
_third_ voyage to Mars!
Now it was decelerating with metal efficiency in the
upper Martian atmospheres. It was still a thing of beauty
and strength. It had moved in the midnight waters of space like
a pale sea leviathan; it had passed the ancient moon and thrown
itself onward into one nothingness following another. The men
within it had been battered, thrown about, sickened, made well
again, each in his turn. One man had died, but now the
remaining sixteen, with their eyes clear in their heads and
their faces pressed to the thick glass ports, watched Mars
swing up under them.
“Mars!” cried Navigator Lustig.
“Good old Mars!” said Samuel Hinkston, archaeologist.
“Well,” said Captain John Black.
The rocket landed on a lawn of green grass. Outside, upon
this lawn, stood an iron deer. Further up on the green stood
a tall brown Victorian house, quiet in the sunlight, all
covered with scrolls and rococo, its windows made of blue and
pink and yellow and green colored glass. Upon the porch were
hairy geraniums and an old swing which was hooked into the
porch ceiling and which now swung back and forth, back and
forth, in a little breeze. At the summit of the house was a
cupola with diamond leaded-glass windows and a dunce-cap roof!
Through the front window you could see a piece of music
titled “Beautiful Ohio” sitting on the music rest.
Around the rocket in four directions spread the little
town, green and motionless in the Martian spring. There were
white houses and red brick ones, and tall elm trees blowing in
the wind, and tall maples and horse chestnuts. And church
steeples with golden bells silent in them.
The rocket men looked out and saw this. Then they looked
at one another and then they looked out again. They held to
each other’s elbows, suddenly unable to breathe, it seemed,
Their faces grew pale.
“I’ll be damned,” whispered Lustig, rubbing his face with
his numb fingers. “I’ll be damned.”
“It just can’t be,” said Samuel Hinkston.
“Lord,” said Captain John Black.
There was a call from the chemist. “Sir, the atmosphere
is thin for breathing. But there’s enough oxygen. It’s safe.”
“Then we’ll go out,” said Lustig.
“Hold on,” said Captain John Black. “How do we know what
this is?”
“It’s a small town with thin but breathable air in it,
sir.”
“And it’s a small town the like of Earth towns,” said
Hinkston, the archaeologist “Incredible. It can’t be, but it
_is_.”
Captain John Black looked at him idly. “Do you think that
the civilizations of two planets can progress at the same rate
and evolve in the same way, Hinkston?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, sir.”
Captain Black stood by the port. “Look out there.
The geraniums. A specialized plant. That specific variety has
only been known on Earth for fifty years. Think of the
thousands of years it takes to evolve plants. Then tell me if
it is logical that the Martians should have: one, leaded-glass
windows; two, cupolas; three, porch swings; four, an instrument
that looks like a piano and probably is a piano; and five, if
you look closely through this telescopic lens here, is it
logical that a Martian composer would have published a piece
of music titled, strangely enough, ‘Beautiful Ohio’? All of
which means that we have an Ohio River on Mars!”
“Captain Williams, of course!” cried Hinkston,
“What?”
“Captain Williams and his crew of three men! Or Nathaniel
York and his partner. That would explain it!”
“That would explain absolutely nothing. As far as we’ve
been able to figure, the York expedition exploded the day
it reached Mars, killing York and his partner. As for Williams
and his three men, their ship exploded the second day after
their arrival. At least the pulsations from their radios ceased
at that time, so we figure that if the men were alive after
that they’d have contacted us. And anyway, the York expedition
was only a year ago, while Captain Williams and his men landed
here some time during last August. Theorizing that they are
still alive, could they, even with the help of a brilliant
Martian race, have built such a town as this and _aged_ it in
so short a time? Look at that town out there; why, it’s been
standing here for the last seventy years. Look at the wood on
the porch newel; look at the trees, a century old, all of them!
No, this isn’t York’s work or Williams’. It’s something else.
I don’t like it. And I’m not leaving the ship until I know what
it is.”
“For that matter,” said Lustig, nodding, “Williams and his
men, as well as York, landed on the _opposite_ side of Mars.
We were very careful to land on _this_ side.”
“An excellent point. Just in case a hostile local tribe
of Martians killed off York and Williams, we have instructions
to land in a further region, to forestall a recurrence of such
a disaster. So here we are, as far as we know, in a land
that Williams and York never saw.”
“Damn it,” said Hinkston, “I want to get out into this
town, sir, with your permission. It may be there are similar
thought patterns, civilization graphs on every planet in our
sun system. We may be on the threshold of the greatest
psychological and metaphysical discovery of our age!”
“I’m willing to wait a moment,” said Captain John Black.
“It may be, sir, that we’re looking upon a phenomenon
that, for the first time, would absolutely prove the existence
of God, sir.”
“There are many people who are of good faith without such
proof, Mr. Hinkston.”
“I’m one myself, sir. But certainly a town like this could
not occur without divine intervention. The _detail_. It fills
me with such feelings that I don’t know whether to laugh or
cry.”
“Do neither, then, until we know what we’re up against.”
“Up against?” Lustig broke in. “Against nothing, Captain.
It’s a good, quiet green town, a lot like the old-fashioned one
I was born in. I like the looks of it.”
“When were you born, Lustig?”
“Nineteen-fifty, sir.”
“And you, Hinkston?”
“Nineteen fifty-five, sir. Grinnell, Iowa. And this looks
like home to me.”
“Hinkston, Lustig, I could be either of your fathers. I’m
just eighty years old. Born in 1920 in Illinois, and through
the grace of God and a science that, in the last fifty years,
knows how to make _some_ old men young again, here I am on
Mars, not any more tired than the rest of you, but infinitely
more suspicious. This town out here looks very peaceful and
cool, and so much like Green Bluff, Illinois, that it frightens
me. It’s too _much_ like Green Bluff.” He turned to the
radioman. “Radio Earth. Tell them we’ve landed. That’s all.
Tell them we’ll radio a full report tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
Captain Black looked out the rocket port with his face
that should have been the face of a man eighty but seemed like
the face of a man in his fortieth year. “Tell you what we’ll
do, Lustig; you and I and Hinkston’ll look the town over. The
other men’ll stay aboard. If anything happens they can get the
hell out. A loss of three men’s better than a whole ship.
If something bad happens, our crew can warn the next rocket.
That’s Captain Wilder’s rocket, I think, due to be ready to
take off next Christmas. if there’s something hostile about
Mars we certainly want the next rocket to be well armed.”
“So are we. We’ve got a regular arsenal with us.”
“Tell the men to stand by the guns then. Come on,
Lustig, Hinkston.”
The three men walked together down through the levels of
the ship.
It was a beautiful spring day. A robin sat on a blossoming
apple tree and sang continuously. Showers of petal snow sifted
down when the wind touched the green branches, and the blossom
scent drifted upon the air. Somewhere in the town someone
was playing the piano and the music came and went, came and
went, softly, drowsily. The song was “Beautiful Dreamer.”
Somewhere else a phonograph, scratchy and faded, was hissing
out a record of “Roamin’ in the Gloamin’,” sung by Harry
Lauder.
The three men stood outside the ship. They sucked and
gasped at the thin, thin air and moved slowly so as not to
tire themselves.
Now the phonograph record being played was:
“_Oh, give me a June night
The moonlight and you_ . . .”
Lustig began to tremble. Samuel Hinkston did likewise.
The sky was serene and quiet, and somewhere a stream of
water ran through the cool caverns and tree shadings of a
ravine. Somewhere a horse and wagon trotted and rolled by,
bumping.
“Sir,” said Samuel Hinkston, “it must be, it _has_ to be,
that rocket travel to Mars began in the years before the first
World War!”
“No.”
“How else can you explain these houses, the iron deer,
the pianos, the music?” Hinkston took the captain’s elbow
persuasively and looked into the captain’s face. “Say that
there were people in the year 1905 who hated war and got
together with some scientists in secret and built a rocket and
came out here to Mars–”
“No, no, Hinkston.”
“Why not? The world was a different world in 1905; they
could have kept it a secret much more easily.”
“But a complex thing like a rocket, no, you couldn’t keep
it secret.”
“And they came up here to live, and naturally the houses
they built were similar to Earth houses because they brought
the culture with them.”
“And they’ve lived here all these years?” said the
captain.
“In peace and quiet, yes. Maybe they made a few trips,
enough to bring enough people here for one small town, and
then stopped for fear of being discovered. That’s why this town
seems so old-fashioned. I don’t see a thing, myself, older than
the year 1927, do you? Or maybe, sir, rocket travel is older
than we think. Perhaps it started in some part of the world
centuries ago and was kept secret by the small number of men
who came to Mars with only occasional visits to Earth over
the centuries.”
“You make it sound almost reasonable.”
“It has to be. We’ve the proof here before us; all we have
to do is find some people and verify it.”
Their boots were deadened of all sound in the thick green
grass. It smelled from a fresh mowing. In spite of himself,
Captain John Black felt a great peace come over him. It had
been thirty years since he had been in a small town, and the
buzzing of spring bees on the air lulled and quieted him, and
the fresh look of things was a balm to the soul.
They set foot upon the porch. Hollow echoes sounded from
under the boards as they walked to the screen door. Inside they
could see a bead curtain hung across the hall entry, and a
crystal chandelier and a Maxfield Parrish painting framed on
one wall over a comfortable Morris chair. The house smelled
old, and of the attic, and infinitely comfortable. You could
hear the tinkle of ice in a lemonade pitcher. In a distant
kitchen, because of the heat of the day, someone was preparing
a cold lunch. Someone was humming under her breath, high and
sweet.
Captain John Black rang the bell.
Footsteps, dainty and thin, came along the hall, and
a kind-faced lady of some forty years, dressed in a sort of
dress you might expect in the year 1909, peered out at them.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Beg your pardon,” said Captain Black uncertainly. “But
we’re looking for–that is, could you help us–” He stopped.
She looked out at him with dark, wondering eyes.
“If you’re selling something–” she began.
“No, wait!” he cried. “What town is this?”
She looked him up and down. “What do you mean, what town
is it? How could you be in a town and not know the name?”
The captain looked as if he wanted to go sit under a shady
apple tree. “We’re strangers here. We want to know how this
town got here and how you got here.”
“Are you census takers?”
“No.”
“Everyone knows,” she said, “this town was built in 1868.
Is this a game?”
“No, not a game!” cried the captain. “We’re from Earth.”
“Out of the _ground_, do you mean?” she wondered.
“No, we came from the third planet, Earth, in a ship. And
we’ve landed here on the fourth planet, Mars–”
“This,” explained the woman, as if she were addressing
a child, “is Green Bluff, Illinois, on the continent of
America, surrounded by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, on a
place called the world, or, sometimes, the Earth. Go away
now. Goodby.”
She trotted down the hall, running her fingers through
the beaded curtains.
The three men looked at one another.
“Let’s knock the screen door in,” said Lustig.
“We can’t do that. This is private property. Good God!”
They went to sit down on the porch step.
“Did it ever strike you, Hinkston, that perhaps we
got ourselves somehow, in some way, off track, and by accident
came back and landed on Earth?”
“How could we have done that?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know. Oh God, let me think.”
Hinkston said, “But we checked every mile of the way.
Our chronometers said so many miles. We went past the Moon and
out into space, and here we are. I’m _positive_ we’re on Mars.”
Lustig said, “But suppose, by accident, in space, in time,
we got lost in the dimensions and landed on an Earth that is
thirty or forty years ago.”
“Oh, go away, Lustig!”
Lustig went to the door, rang the bell, and called into
the cool dim rooms: “What year is this?”
“Nineteen twenty-six, of course,” said the lady, sitting
in a rocking chair, taking a sip of her lemonade.
“Did you hear that?” Lustig turned wildly to the others.
“Nineteen twenty-six! We _have_ gone back in time! This _is_
Earth!”
Lustig sat down, and the three men let the wonder and
terror of the thought afflict them. Their hands stirred
fitfully on their knees. The captain said, “I didn’t ask for
a thing like this. It scares the hell out of me. How can a
thing like this happen? I wish we’d brought Einstein with us.”
“Will anyone in this town believe us?” said Hinkston. “Are
we playing with something dangerous? Time, I mean. Shouldn’t
we just take off and go home?”
“No. Not until we try another house.”
They walked three houses down to a little white cottage
under an oak tree. “I like to be as logical as I can be,” said
the captain. “And I don’t believe we’ve put our finger on it
yet. Suppose, Hinkston, as you originally suggested, that
rocket travel occurred years ago? And when the Earth people
lived here a number of years they began to get homesick for
Earth. First a mild neurosis about it, then a full-fledged
psychosis. Then threatened insanity. What would you do as
a psychiatrist if faced with such a problem?”
Hinkston thought “Well, I think I’d rearrange the
civilization on Mars so it resembled Earth more and more each
day. If there was any way of reproducing every plant, every
road, and every lake, and even an ocean, I’d do so. Then by
some vast crowd hypnosis I’d convince everyone in a town this
size that this really _was_ Earth, not Mars at all.”
“Good enough, Hinkston. I think we’re on the right track
now. That woman in that house back there just _thinks_ she’s
living on Earth. It protects her sanity. She and all the others
in this town are the patients of the greatest experiment
in migration and hypnosis you will ever lay eyes on in your
life.”
“That’s _it_, sir!” cried Lustig.
“Right!” said Hinkston.
“Well.” The captain sighed. “Now we’ve got somewhere. I
feel better. It’s all a bit more logical. That talk about time
and going back and forth and traveling through time turns
my stomach upside down. But _this_ way–” The captain smiled.
“Well, well, it looks as if we’ll be fairly popular here.”
“Or will we?” said Lustig. “After all, like the Pilgrims,
these people came here to escape Earth. Maybe they won’t be
too happy to see us. Maybe they’ll try to drive us out or kill
us.”
“We have superior weapons. This next house now. Up we go.”
But they had hardly crossed the lawn when Lustig stopped
and looked off across the town, down the quiet, dreaming
afternoon street. “Sir,” he said.
“What is it, Lustig?”
“Oh, sir, _sir_, what I _see_–” said Lustig, and he began
to cry. His fingers came up, twisting and shaking, and his face
was all wonder and joy and incredulity. He sounded as if at
any moment he might go quite insane with happiness. He looked
down the street and began to run, stumbling awkwardly, falling,
picking himself up, and running on. “Look, look!”
“Don’t let him get away!” The captain broke into a run.
Now Lustig was running swiftly, shouting. He turned into
a yard halfway down the shady street and leaped up upon the
porch of a large green house with an iron rooster on the roof.
He was beating at the door, hollering and crying, when
Hinkston and the captain ran up behind him. They were all
gasping and wheezing, exhausted from their run in the thin
air. “Grandma! Grandpa!” cried Lustig.
Two old people stood in the doorway.
“David!” their voices piped, and they rushed out to
embrace and pat him on the back and move around him. “David,
oh, David, it’s been so many years! How you’ve grown, boy; how
big you are, boy. Oh, David boy, how are you?”
“Grandma, Grandpa!” sobbed David Lustig. “You look fine,
fine!” He held them, turned them, kissed them, hugged them,
cried on them, held them out again, blinking at the little
old people. The sun was in the sky, the wind blew, the grass
was green, the screen door stood wide.
“Come in, boy, come in. There’s iced tea for you, fresh,
lots of it!”
“I’ve got friends here.” Lustig turned and waved at the
captain and Hinkston frantically, laughing. “Captain, come on
up.”
“Howdy,” said the old people. “Come in. Any friends of
David’s are our friends too. Don’t stand there!”
In the living room of the old house it was cool, and
a grandfather clock ticked high and long and bronzed in one
corner. There were soft pillows on large couches and walls
filled with books and a rug cut in a thick rose pattern, and
iced tea in the hand, sweating, and cool on the thirsty tongue.
“Here’s to our health.” Grandma tipped her glass to
her porcelain teeth.
“How long you been here, Grandma?” said Lustig.
“Ever since we died,” she said tartly.
“Ever since you what?” Captain John Black set down his
glass.
“Oh yes.” Lustig nodded. “They’ve been dead thirty years.”
“And you sit there calmly!” shouted the captain.
“Tush.” The old woman winked glitteringly. “Who are you
to question what happens? Here we are. What’s life, anyway? Who
does what for why and where? All we know is here we are, alive
again, and no questions asked. A second chance.” She toddled
over and held out her thin wrist. “Feel.” The captain felt.
“Solid, ain’t it?” she asked. He nodded. “Well, then,” she
said triumphantly, “why go around questioning?”
“Well,” said the captain, “it’s simply that we never
thought we’d find a thing like this on Mars.”
“And now you’ve found it. I dare say there’s lots on every
planet that’ll show you God’s infinite ways.”
“Is this Heaven?” asked Hinkston.
“Nonsense, no. It’s a world and we get a second chance.
Nobody told us why. But then nobody told us why we were on
Earth, either. That other Earth, I mean. The one you came from.
How do we know there wasn’t _another_ before _that_ one?”
“A good question,” said the captain.
Lustig kept smiling at his grandparents. “Gosh, it’s good
to see you. Gosh, it’s good.”
The captain stood up and slapped his hand on his leg in
a casual fashion. “We’ve got to be going. Thank you for the
drinks.”
“You’ll be back, of course,” said the old people. “For
supper tonight?”
“We’ll try to make it, thanks. There’s so much to be done.
My men are waiting for me back at the rocket and–”
He stopped. He looked toward the door, startled.
Far away in the sunlight there was a sound of voices,
a shouting and a great hello.
“What’s that?” asked Hinkston,
“We’ll soon find out.” And Captain John Black was out the
front door abruptly, running across the green lawn into the
street of the Martian town.
He stood looking at the rocket. The ports were open and
his crew was streaming out, waving their hands. A crowd of
people had gathered, and in and through and among these people
the members of the crew were hurrying, talking, laughing,
shaking hands. People did little dances. People swarmed. The
rocket lay empty and abandoned.
A brass band exploded in the sunlight, flinging off a gay
tune from upraised tubas and trumpets. There was a bang of
drums and a shrill of fifes. Little girls with golden hair
jumped up and down. Little boys shouted, “Hooray!” Fat men
passed around ten-cent cigars. The town mayor made a speech.
Then each member of the crew, with a mother on one arm, a
father or sister on the other, was spirited off down the street
into little cottages or big mansions.
“Stop!” cried Captain Black.
The doors slammed shut.
The heat rose in the clear spring sky, and all was silent.
The brass band banged off around a corner, leaving the rocket
to shine and dazzle alone in the sunlight
“Abandoned!” said the captain. “They abandoned the ship,
they did! I’ll have their skins, by God! They had orders!”
“Sir,” said Lustig, “don’t be too hard on them. Those were
all old relatives and friends.”
“That’s no exuse!”
“Think how they felt, Captain, seeing familiar faces
outside the ship!”
“They had their orders, damn it!”
“But how would you have felt, Captain?”
“I would have obeyed orders–” The captain’s mouth
remained open.
Striding along the sidewalk under the Martian sun, tall,
smiling, eyes amazingly clear and blue, came a young man of
some twenty-six years. “John!” the man called out, and broke
into a trot.
“What?” Captain John Black swayed.
“John, you old son of a bitch!”
The man ran up and gripped his hand and slapped him on
the back.
“It’s you,” said Captain Black.
“Of course, who’d you _think_ it was?”
“Edward!” The captain appealed now to Lustig and Hinkston,
holding the stranger’s hand. “This is my brother Edward. Ed,
meet my men, Lustig, Hinkston! My brother!”
They tugged at each other’s hands and arms and then
finally embraced.
“Ed!”
“John, you bum, you!”
“You’re looking fine, Ed, but, Ed, what _is_ this? You
haven’t changed over the years. You died, I remember, when you
were twenty-six and I was nineteen. Good God, so many years
ago, and here you are and, Lord, what goes on?”
“Mom’s waiting,” said Edward Black, grinning.
“Mom?”
“And Dad too.”
“Dad?” The captain almost fell as if he had been hit by
a mighty weapon. He walked stiffly and without co.ordination.
“Mom and Dad alive? Where?”
“At the old house on Oak Knoll Avenue.”
“The old house.” The captain stared in delighted amaze.
“Did you hear that, Lustig, Hinkston?”
Hinkston was gone. He had seen his own house down the
street and was running for it. Lustig was laughing. “You
see, Captain, what happened to everyone on the rocket? They
couldn’t help themselves.”
“Yes. Yes.” The captain shut his eyes. “When I open my
eyes you’ll be gone.” He blinked. “You’re still there. God, Ed,
but you look _fine!_”
“Come on, lunch’s waiting. I told Mom.”
Lustig said, “Sir, I’ll be with my grandfolks if you need
me.”
“What? Oh, fine, Lustig. Later, then.”
Edward seized his arm and marched him. “There’s the
house. Remember it?”
“Hell! Bet I can beat you to the front porch!”
They ran. The trees roared over Captain Black’s head; the
earth roared under his feet. He saw the golden figure of Edward
Black pull ahead of him in the amazing dream of reality. He saw
the house rush forward, the screen door swing wide. “Beat you!”
cried Edward. “I’m an old man,” panted the captain, “and you’re
still young. But then, you _always_ beat me, I remember!”
In the doorway, Mom, pink, plump, and bright. Behind
her, pepper-gray, Dad, his pipe in his hand.
“Mom, Dad!”
He ran up the steps like a child to meet them.
It was a fine long afternoon. They finished a late lunch
and they sat in the parlor and he told them all about his
rocket and they nodded and smiled upon him and Mother was just
the same and Dad bit the end off a cigar and lighted
it thoughtfully in his old fashion. There was a big turkey
dinner at night and time flowing on. When the drumsticks were
sucked clean and lay brittle upon the plates, the captain
leaned back and exhaled his deep satisfaction, Night was in all
the trees and coloring the sky, and the lamps were halos of
pink light in the gentle house. From all the other houses down
the street came sounds of music, pianos playing, doors slammng.
Mom put a record on the victrola, and she and Captain John
Black had a dance. She was wearing the same perfume he
remembered from the summer when she and Dad had been killed in
the train accident. She was very real in his arms as they
danced lightly to the music. “It’s not every day,” she said,
“you get a second chance to live.”
“I’ll wake in the morning,” said the captain. “And I’ll be
in my rocket, in space, and all this will be gone.”
“No, don’t think that,” she cried softly. “Don’t question.
God’s good to us. Let’s be happy.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
The record ended in a circular hissing.
“You’re tired, Son.” Dad pointed with his pipe. “Your
old bedroom’s waiting for you, brass bed and all.”
“But I should report my men in.”
“Why?”
“Why? Well, I don’t know. No reason, I guess. No, none at
all. They’re all eating or in bed. A good night’s sleep won’t
hurt them.”
“Good night, Son.” Mom kissed his cheek. “It’s good to
have you home.”
“It’s good to _be_ home.”
He left the land of cigar smoke and perfume and books
and gentle light and ascended the stairs, talking, talking
with Edward. Edward pushed a door open, and there was the
yellow brass bed and the old semaphore banners from college and
a very musty raccoon coat which he stroked with muted
affection. “It’s too much,” said the captain. “I’m numb and
I’m tired. Too much has happened today. I feel as if I’d been
out in a pounding rain for forty-eight hours without an
umbrella or a coat. I’m soaked to the skin with emotion.”
Edward slapped wide the snowy linens and flounced the
pillows. He slid the window up and let the night-blooming
jasmine float in. There was moonlight and the sound of distant
dancing and whispering.
“So this is Mars,” said the captain, undressing.
“This is it.” Edward undressed in idle, leisurely moves,
drawing his shirt off over his head, revealing golden shoulders
and the good muscular neck.
The lights were out; they were in bed, side by side, as in
the days how many decades ago? The captain lolled and was
flourished by the scent of jasmine pushing the lace curtains
out upon the dark air of the room. Among the trees, upon a
lawn, someone had cranked up a portable phonograph and now it
was playing softly, “Always.”
The thought of Marilyn came to his mind.
“Is Marilyn here?”
His brother, lying straight out in the moonlight from
the window, waited and then said, “Yes. She’s out of town.
But she’ll be here in the morning.”
The captain shut his eyes. “I want to see Marilyn very
much.”
The room was square and quiet except for their breathing.
“Good night, Ed.”
A pause. “Good night, John.”
He lay peacefully, letting his thoughts float. For the
first time the stress of the day was moved aside; he could
think logically now, It had all been emotion. The bands
playing, the familiar faces. But now . . .
How? he wondered. How was all this made? And why? For
what purpose? Out of the goodness of some divine intervention?
Was God, then, really that thoughtful of his children? How and
why and what for?
He considered the various theories advanced in the first
heat of the afternoon by Hinkston and Lustig. He let all kinds
of new theories drop in lazy pebbles down through his mind,
turning, throwing out dull flashes of light. Mom. Dad. Edward.
Mars. Earth. Mars. Martians.
Who had lived here a thousand years ago on Mars? Martians?
Or had this always been the way it was today?
Martians. He repeated the word idly, inwardly.
He laughed out loud almost. He had the most ridiculous
theory quite suddenly. It gave him a kind of chill. It was
really nothing to consider, of course. Highly improbable.
Silly. Forget it. Ridiculous.
But, he thought, just _suppose_ . . . Just suppose, now,
that there were Martians living on Mars and they saw our ship
coming and saw us inside our ship and hated us, Suppose, now,
just for the hell of it, that they wanted to destroy us,
as invaders, as unwanted ones, and they wanted to do it in a
very clever way, so that we would be taken off guard. Well,
what would the best weapon be that a Martian could use against
Earth Men with atomic weapons?
The answer was interesting. Telepathy, hypnosis, memory,
and imagination.
Suppose all of these houses aren’t real at all, this bed
not real, but only figments of my own imagination, given
substance by telepathy and hypnosis through the Martians,
thought Captain John Black. Suppose these houses are really
some _other_ shape, a Martian shape, but, by playing on my
desires and wants, these Martians have made this seem like my
old home town, my old house, to lull me out of my suspicions.
What better way to fool a man, using his own mother and father
as bait?
And this town, so old, from the year 1926, long before
_any_ of my men were born. From a year when I was six years old
and there _were_ records of Harry Lauder, and Maxfield Parrish
paintings _still_ hanging, and bead curtains, and “Beautiful
Ohio,” and turn-of-the-century architecture. What if the
Martians took the memories of a town _exclusively_ from _my_
mind? They say childhood memories are the clearest. And after
they built the town from my mind, they populated it with
the most-loved people from all the minds of the people on
the rocket!
And suppose those two people in the next room, asleep, are
not my mother and father at all, But two Martians, incredibly
brilliant, with the ability to keep me under this dreaming
hypnosis all of the time.
And that brass band today? What a startlingly wonderful
plan it would be. First, fool Lustig, then Hinkston, then
gather a crowd; and all the men in the rocket, seeing mothers,
aunts, uncles, sweethearts, dead ten, twenty wears ago,
naturally, disregarding orders, rush out and abandon ship. What
more natural? What more unsuspecting? What more simple? A
man doesn’t ask too many questions when his mother is soddenly
brought back to life; he’s much too happy. And here we all
are tonight, in various houses, in various beds, with no
weapons to protect us, and the rocket lies in the moonlight,
empty. And wouldn’t it be horrible and terrifying to discover
that all of this was part of some great clever plan by the
Martians to divide and conquer us, and kill us? Sometime during
the night, perhaps, my brother here on this bed will change
form, melt, shift, and become another thing, a terrible thing,
a Martian. It would be very simple for him just to turn over in
bed and put a knife into my heart. And in all those other
houses down the street, a dozen other brothers or fathers
suddenly melting away and taking knives and doing things to
the unsuspecting, sleeping men of Earth. . . .
His hands were shaking under the covers. His body was
cold. Suddenly it was not a theory. Suddenly he was very
afraid.
He lifted himself in bed and listened. The night was very
quiet The music had stopped. The wind had died. His brother
lay sleeping beside him.
Carefully he lifted the covers, rolled them back. He
slipped from bed and was walking softly across the room when
his brother’s voice said, “Where are you going?”
“What?”
His brother’s voice was quite cold. “I said, where do you
think you’re going?”
“For a drink of water.”
“But you’re not thirsty.”
“Yes, yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
Captain John Black broke and ran across the room. He
screamed. He screamed twice.
He never reached the door.
In the morning the brass band played a mournful dirge.
From every house in the street came little solemn processions
bearing long boxes, and along the sun-filled street, weeping,
came the grandmas and mothers and sisters and brothers and
uncles and fathers, walking to the churchyard, where there were
new holes freshly dug and new tombstones installed. Sixteen
holes in all, and sixteen tombstones.
The mayor made a little sad speech, his face sometimes
looking like the mayor, sometimes looking like something else.
Mother and Father Black were there, with Brother Edward,
and they cried, their faces melting now from a familiar face
into something else.
Grandpa and Grandma Lustig were there, weeping, their
faces shifting like wax, shimmering as all things shimmer on a
hot day.
The coffins were lowered. Someone murmured about “the
unexpected and sudden deaths of sixteen fine men during the
night–”
Earth pounded down on the coffin lids.
The brass band, playing “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean,”
marched and slammed back into town, and everyone took the day
off.
The End
Conclusion
And this is only the beginning.
Who knows what greatness, and strange mysteries lie in the future ahead of you?
The first part went out, and I was deluged by a bunch of gung-ho ‘Merica types accusing me of all sorts of things. Sheech! My thoughts are what is going on between Russia and the Ukraine / USA / NATO is very simple;
Obey the agreements that you signed.
If you don't, you risk war.
It’s not just me who believe this.
It’s EVERY FUCKING NATION on the planet except for the USA, UK, Australia, and NATO believes it.
And you cannot talk your way out of it, not matter how solidly you control the narrative. Your narrative is restricted to a very small “echo chamber” centered in the United States.
It is meaningless outside of it.
Ah.
Sigh. The sheeple have been vault 7 programmed to NPC status. Angry; very, VERY angry. Mindless. Devoid of the ability to understand fundamentals. Sigh.
About this article
Like the earlier article, we are going to go bullet point by bullet point in this one. Only the points will be a little better flushed out. But first; a map. This is day ten of the “invasion” (if you use the terminology of the United States), or the “special operation” (if you use the terminology of Asia.).
Now for the points…
[1] Ukraine / Russia conflict is a different kind of war
The "gloves are off". No playing nice. Fight Russia at your own risk.
The Russians are calling this a “special operation”. This is in opposition to the United States and Western termonology. They refer to it as an invasion.
I would argue that this is a type of operation which has never been seen before. Ever.
Andrei Martyanov coined a very good term, he called it a “combined arms police operation”.
The term “combined arms” is, in the Russian military terminology, the “the main form of combat of modern armies, in which the efforts of formations, units and units of various types of ground forces are combined and coordinated with the actions of other types of armed forces“.
This type of warfare can only be conducted by combined arms units and implies an operational-level dimension. In other words, a combined arms operation has nothing in common with a police operation.
In this case, Andrei Martyanov is right.
What we are seeing here is a police operation whose aim is to disarm and apprehend/neutralize a criminal force, which itself is so big that it is capable of operational-level warfare. But not strategic nor tactical level warfare.
Normally, police operations are always on the low end of the tactical level spectrum (division, brigade, regiment, battalion, company, platoon) and rarely involve more than maybe a few APCs. This is clearly not the case today in the Ukraine where combat operations are clearly reaching operational and even strategic levels.
The United States set up a puppet government in Ukraine with the CIA / NGO “color revolution” of 2014. They gained support from nationalists who adopted a fierce neo-Nazi stance, and who even reactivated the Asov SS Division. The official AZOV emblem is the ‘Wolfsangel‘.
During World War II, various units of the German Nazi army used this symbol, including the SS Panzer Division.
The USA then funded the Ukraine president lavishly with nearly 2 billion dollars in off-shore accounts. He, in return for that enormous wealth, allowed the USA to dictate his actions. NATO was set up operationally, and in every manner, bioweapons facilities and nuclear launch sites were all set in motion.
Ukraine became the fourth largest recipient of American military weapons and equipment. Russia found this unacceptable.
And, as such, demanded the expansion of NATO stop, and the removal of nuclear systems for its borders. Russia, after the resounding “no” from both NATO and the United States carried out it’s ultimatum.
Right now, what we are witnessing is a total gutting of the United States puppet government and neo-Nazi elements, and a return to Ukraine independence and sovereignty.
This differs from an invasion. Where one nation invades another to seize it’s cities, land, people and resources.
[2] Incorrigable Criminal Elements
Taking point [1] to heart, the Nazi elements wearing Ukrainian uniforms, and firing American produced heavy weapons are considered to be criminal elements.
Those that join and support this band of criminals will be considered incorrigible foreign proxies desirous of prolonging criminal activity and will be hunted and killed.
It's not just me pointing out this fact.
Any one helping these criminals will themselves be treated as criminals.
Russia warns pro-Ukraine foreign fighters will be treated as criminals, not prisoner of war. And are treated appropiately.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says that already 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for Ukraine against Russia. Websites are up to recruit, and the United States has set up training camps in Poland for them.
I hope that they made their peace with their families. This is not going to be a Yemen, Afganastan, Libya, or Syria.
The soldiers of the Chechen special forces have an order not to take mercenaries prisoner.
They WILL be killed after information is extracted.
You may disagree with their decision process, and operational orders, but you have to face reality. You must accept things as they are, not as you want them to be.
[3] NATO Planned to Launch a “first strike” Against Russia
The movement of nuclear forces on the Russian border was intended to zero out the advantage of Russia’s hyper-velocity nuclear arment. That’s what this entire conflict is all about.
And Russia said NO!
"The Russian government decided to stop this situation and restore order in Ukraine,” wrote Nikolai Azarov, who served as Ukrainian Prime Minister three times.
Through a message posted on Facebook on Friday, Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov claimed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) planned a nuclear attack against Russia, taking advantage of the existence of geopolitical problems with Ukraine. And that Russia was forced to preempt that attack.
This was necessitated as a means to offset the offensive nuclear hyper-missile and SAM capability of Russia.
Anyone who cannot see that Russia was forced to lay down their "red lines", and respond to them being crossed, is an ignorant fool.
[4] Offensive Nuclear Warfare So… why piss around using conventional warfare in Ukraine?
Russia and China have formidable nuclear, city destroying capabilities.
Both the Russians and the Chinese possess hyper-velocity weapons that are able to [1] fly independently using AI, [2] evade and change course, [3] fire projectiles and vehicles, [4] are undetectable by radar, and [5] carry nuclear weapons.
These are generations beyond anything that the United States (and the West) have. It will take decades for the United States to reach parity.
[5] Defensive Nuclear Warfare So what? The United States Military Empire is the largest in history, and armed with massive impressive weapons. There should be nothing to be afraid of.
Right?
America and its allies lie defenseless.
Both the Russians and the Chinese possess advanced ABM shields that are able to [1] track, [2] decloak, [3] intercept, and [4] render inert / destroy incoming missiles, systems, or aircraft.
These systems are perfected and generations in advance of anything that the United States possess.
[6] Bioweapons What about other forms of weapons? Such as bioweapons…
They were put in play in 2017 under John Bolton, and backfired.
The United States is the undisputed leader in the development and manufacture of biological weapons. This continues in defiance of UN treaties. In fact, all of the new and novel viruses that plagued the world since the 1970s have been patented by the United States.
[5.1] Further, both the Chinese and the Russians have accused the United States for unleashing the Coronavirus B in China, Iran and North Korea in 2020. While inoculating the US and it's allies with Coronavirus A.
[5.2] China has accused the United States of using drones to destroy food and livestock from 2017 though 2021.
[5.3] Russia has accused the United States of setting up 15 bioweapons facilities on the Ukraine to Russian border.
[5.4] "Fact Checker" Snopes says that Bioweapons in use is a lie, that the United States would never do such a thing. Of course, they have been proven to be a propiganda outlet for the US government.
[5.5] Russia has acquired documents and supporting evidence from the captured bioweapons labs inside of the Ukraine. It's all over Chiense and Russian media. Nothing in Western Media.
This discovery of a laptop “smoking gun”, coupled by the likely shipment of Turkish drones modified for the delivery of toxic aerosols or other bio-toxins (identical to those that spread the swine flu to devistate the Chinese pork industy in 2017) immediately prior to the launch of the Special Operation serves to explain the RF attack.
The modified drones are unconfirmed as of yet, but two Turkish Airbus freighters were tracked landing in Ukraine immediately prior to the attack.
The laptop is physical evidence of a close association between NATO and the Nazis. This association pre-dates the Special Operation and indicates NATO complicity in an attack on both Donbass and Crimea. Ref HERE.
[7] Russia is not isolated and alone
The full spectrum propaganda onslaught consists of article after article about how isolated Russia is becoming. The average ill-informed person would easily come to the conclusion that Russia is a pariah and isolated and alone.
This is the desired effect, but not what is actually happening.
There is NOT one single thing that Europe, or America, or any of its allies provide to Russia that cannot be acquired from China. And China and Russia are joined at the hip. They are, and act as one.
Or, haven't you all been paying attention. Remember the massive document that they both signed during the Beijing Olmpics last month? You know the one; where MSNBC, Politico, and FOX "news" refered to it as "wordy gibberish".
In the future months or years, the American war-machine will ontinue to try to separte the two nations. They will propigandize a "mistake" and "fractures in the alliance". It will fail. They will then steer directly towards China, and try to isolate a united Russia and China alliance.
[8] China
The USA (and it's Western pawns) are decoupling from a world that will not accept its leadership.
Decoupling is not the end goal. It is the first step in establishing a return to a unipolar status quo.
The interm goal (in this process) is to destroy the rest of the world and have the United States be the sole remaining power. In effect, the lone "superpower" once again.
It sounds really bad. That is becuase it is.
To this end, the plan is for China to be isolated, and then destroyed. Leaving only the United States and it's proxies remaining.
This is a pretty obvious plan. Again, it's only the ignorant who see otherwise. All the scattered "puzzle pieces" fit into a picture that describes this agenda.
[9] Chinese “Red Lines”
This action, to initiate a war with China, will necessitate that the Chinese "red lines" be crossed. China clearly defined those "red lines". Just like Russia did.
When that happens, there will be a short and very nasty war.
"Red Lines" are absolute.
When the smoke clears, Taiwan will be integrated with the mainland, all American naval bases in the Pacific will be gone, as will be any carrier flotillas as well. You can expect the Hawaiian islands, and all the stateside naval facilities erased.
I recon that it will probably be the "spark" that launches nuclear destruction of the United States mainland.
There will be mass casualties on both sides.
The magnitude of which will depend on the skills of the leadership of the nations involved. Biden and NATO vs. Xi Peng and Putin.
It is up to the reader to determine, for themselves, who are stronger and better leaders. Then come to your own opinions.
[10] The United States is NOT READY for a defeat
Most of the Western people; Americans, Europeans, Australians, and Japanese are of the strong belief that America (as the greatest military force in all history) can never be defeated.
Never, as in absolutely, positively inconceivable.
The loss of every carrier in the Navy, the nuclear destruction of the top thirty American cites, and the ensuing chaos will absolutely crush the United States psyche. It's so absoltuely weak now that a feather could push it over. Imagine what would happen when the largest remaining intact American city would be Des Moines, Iowa.
Both Russia or China could do it right now, and the United States could not stop it at all. The only thing that the USA can do is to try to launch it's SLBMs from the remaining active boomer submarines.
To quote a scene from the movie "The Princess Bride"; It's inconceivable.
[11] The anti-Russia narrative of “a big Russian mistake” will end
The current US PSYOP narrative about the Russians being defeated and on full retreat will not survive this weekend.
It will now change. It will now shift to “Putin’s rape camps and torture of poor suffering Ukraine”.
Remember all the accusations of genocide against the Serbs in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo? This is what will happen to Russia next – a massive wave of accusations of atrocities and genocide.
The (so-called) “free and democratic press” will now switch to the fabricated lies pushing the American people towards more War! War! War!
[12] The United States is running Ukraine
[11.1] Former UkrainePresident Volodymyr Zelensky is living in the United States embassy in Poland.
[11.2] The orders for the remaining Ukrainian military forces come out of the American Embassy in Ukraine.
These two points clearly show that the United States is "running the show" and is in charge of everything in the Ukraine right now.
[13] New Global Transaction System
Discussed earlier. SWIFT is obsolete. But what does that mean?
Gold is an alternative. Both Russia and China barter directly in raw materials, physical products or gold / precious metals.
Any nation not able to do so, whether they have no factories, no resources, or no valuable metals, will be forced to rely on coercion to manage their trade. Already, much of the world is unwilling to accept this state much longer.
Keep in mind that not only is China the manufacturer for the world, China’s $3.2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves is greater than the $2.3 trillion value of ALL the world’s central bank gold reserves.
The ability for nations to conduct trade will be polarized. Either [12.1] continue to use SWIFT backed with worthless paper, or [12.2] deal with a united Russia-China alliance backed by gold, material resources, and manufactured products.
There are no other options. The choice will depend on the level of independence over coercion by the United States.
It's not just CIPS. It's not just a switch from one system to the other. The exchange rate in the system is tied to the value of the monetary unit in use. If most of the world transacts in gold, and the remaining few transacts in American-backed paper, the exchange rate will reflect that.
Expect a plunge in the value of the USD globally, and with that will come geometric and even exponential increases in American (but not global) inflation.
The inflation will be directly tied to the nations that continue to use the USD.
So, in the future, inflation will NOT be a global experience, as all the alternative websites out of the USA are predicting. No. it will be a localized one based on the form of financial transfer.
[14] Putin’s popularity is not collapsing
The Western narrative is that the war in Ukraine is going to bring about the "fall of Putin". That's just PSYOPS.
The truth is that his popularity is soaring. Western readers will be unaware of that, as all news from Russia and China are banned.
I have tons of videos that refect this. All you need to do is crawl out from the isolation net of the West.
[15] First World vs. Third World
I have documented the severe disconnect between what the West (especially Americans) believe and what is actually occurring.
For instance, the term "First World" is used to describe the United States and Europe, while "Third World" is used to describe Russia, China and Africa.
That is wildly innacurate.
China is definitely, and certainly, First World.
This is not simply my personal opinion, it's backed by just every measurable statistic. While the United States has fallen way, way, WAY behind. It is approaching third class world.
No new parks, infrastructure, advanced crime control. No energy friendly infrastructure, nor merit driven initatives. No high-speed public transportation, and crime and homelessness abound. Heck! Americans still use paper money. I'm not at all exaggerating.
[16] Sweden and Finland
The idea that either Sweden or Finland would enter the fray by joining NATO should send shivers up everyone's spine.
Russia's "red lines" are fixed and immovable.
Thus, were Sweden or Finland opt to become members of NATO, they would be crossing the Russian "Red Lines". The Russian reaction to it will be harsh and direct.
From the point of view of Russia these are non-negotiable "red lines" and crossing them is an act of war.
If forced, Russia will take on any country, including any NATO member country, which will assist the Ukrainians militarily.
If forced, Russia will even fight all of NATO and the USA together and, if forced, she will use all her weapons, including nuclear ones.
And if that means that the entire planet is nuked then, as Putin said, “we have no need for a planet without Russia”.
All this is to say that Russia is not bluffing, Putin will not back down and that there is no price which Russia would not be willing to pay to prevail in this existential war.
Russia will not stop until her existence is made safe again.
[17] Nazi hardliners in Ukraine
You just cannot make this stuff up, but hard-line Ukraine nationalists have adopted the Nazi Germany regalia, systems, history and organization from the former Nazi Germany. And they are fanatic and radical in their beliefs.
HERE and HERE.
For instance, they killed one of their own negotiators with the Russians for not taking an absolute to-the-death stance.
[18] Why defend the United States?
My personal opinions. But sheech! people. When you live in a place where the streets are clean, radicals of every kind (SJW, BLM, and KKK) are put in mental hospitals, the people are happy, and parks are everywhere… the USA really, REALLY looks like a steaming pile of dog shit.
In watching all the "news" and opinions flying about, I am just stunned. The individuals all talk that it is necessary to defend the values and democracy-based freedoms of the United States and those of Western Europe.
What freedoms?
What democracy?
The mere fact that American and Western access to Russian and Chinese news is banned is a sign FOR CERTAIN that there is no freedom. In both China and RUssia you can easily get Western news. Not so, the other way around.
In fact, you cannot name one Right (in the Bill of Rights) that does not have exceptions.
For instance, the second amendment has an entire agency (the ATF) whose entire purpose is to infringe on it and limit its use and application. The ninth amendment has the FDA. The first amendment has the FCC, and technocrats. But I will stop here. I have written many an article on this.
The USA is an oligarchy-ruled Military Empire. It is not a "democracy".
[19] The Ukraine war has already resulted in thousands of money-making for-profit corportations
Wow. That was quick! Eh?
[20] The United States “approves” or “will …”
I read articles all of the world, and they are disturbing to me.
US Tells Germany To Stop Using Huawei Equipment OrUS allows S. KoreaUS allows NATO allies ...US has allowed Poland to supply jets...
Let me remind everyone, that in a true democratically led world, no one nation would be able to tell another what to do. All nations would be souvern. But that is not so under a unipolar global kingdom such as the United States demands.
People should really reflect on the reality.
The United States is a Military Empire and all those "Western democracies" are but proxy governments for use by the USA to do with as it pleases. And it chooses them to fight the wars it starts, while the war-mongering neocons sit safe and sound inside their plush mansions in the United States.
[21] Russia has already switched to Chinese banking
Instead of thinking that it "might happen", remember that you are dealing with a unified Russia / Chinese alliance. It "has happened".
Russian banks are fully on board with CIPS.
It has been confirmed that Russia is switching its whole system to China's UnionPay.
UnionPay, an international payment system founded in 2002, received international status in 2005. Headquartered in Shanghai, the company reportedly operates in more than 180 countries across the globe, including Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico, Cyprus, Thailand, India, Israel, Portugal, Croatia, Poland, Serbia, Hungary and Austria.
In the future, you will see more and more of these "well, it could, but..." things changed to "...is in place.".
[22] India has joined the Russian / China alliance.
It's not well publicized. But the alliance is really firming up. The majority of the world is sticking with Asia.
Andrei has a very good video on this subject HERE.
Aside from the casting of diplomatic votes, however, the response from Southeast Asian governments has been diverse — and, some say, muted. Singapore made the rare decision to impose sanctions on Russia, and Indonesia quickly criticized the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Philippines, a US treaty ally, flip-flopped and described itself as neutral. Meanwhile, Thailand and Malaysia have remained quiet.
[24] Gas to Europe has been cut
Sure you all know that. Right?
Westbound gas flows from Russia to Germany via the Yamal-Europe pipeline stopped on Thursday, while bids remained for supplies in both directions, according to data tracked by the pipeline operator Gascade. Russia covers nearly 40% of European gas demand with the Yamal-Europe route accounting for nearly 15% of the country’s westbound supply.
This will SUBSTANTIALLY affect the quality of life, and manufacturing inside of Europe. You cannot put a good spin on this. It will cause an increase in all prices for everything, as well as factory shutdowns and slow downs with will result in layoffs and unemployment.
[25] American and European PSYOPS have fled Russia
All the standard "news" media operations have fled Russia.
Why? Well, Russia passed a law that if you publish provable fake or false information, you WILL be held personally responsible and you WILL be treated as a military combatant, in disguise; fighting Russia.
All those desk-jockeys regurgitating NSA psyops informtion for the five-eyes are now looking at capture, torture and death. No wonder they are scared shitless and scurrying off like rats off a sinking ship.
Interesting, but I believe that this is a policy that is a copy of what Xi Peng implemented in China.
That Chinese policy sure as fuck cleaned out the various CIA and NGO "rats nests" and stopped all the color revolutions in HK, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Shanghai. I've got tons of vieos showing the CIA assets rounded up. It's impressive as all Hell.
On a somber note. Most of the captured were interrogated and then killed. China does not play.
[26] This is a REAL war
Listen up people!
This is not Vietnam, or Afganastan, or Syria. This is a serious war; being conducted by serious, serious people. They have serious objectives and are fighting for their very existence.
Russia is fighting against a United States backed, proxy, Nazi fanatical organization that is well armed, and who's role is to prolong the fighting until death.
This is not a sports event.
Russia is trying to avoid mass destruction and civilian casualities. However, if that is not possible, then cities will be absolutely and positively flattened to rubble.
[27] Outside of the United States and NATO, billions of people root for Russia
Not the impression that you would get from Western "news" eh?
Well it is true. China, and India are both cheering for Russia. Together that is 2 billion people.
As well as almost all of Africa. That's another 2 billion people.
All told, just by that rough estimation we are looking at 4 billion people in favor of Russians action, and perhaps a half a billion from the USA and Europe.
HERE and HERE.
.
And I might add the enormous Middle East. Who do you think that they are rooting for?
[28] Consequences of Sanctioning Russia
In the big scheme of things, everything will adjust to a "new normal". However, many Western corporations will be adversely affected.
.
For example, the EU demanded that all Russian leases on Airbus jets—over 500 of them—be cancelled. It also blocked the sale of Airbus parts to Russia and forbade Russian planes from being serviced. It also closed its airspace to Russian planes and Russia closed its airspace to EU planes in response. The EU also blocked the SWIFT payment system. This means the following things:
• The European leasing companies will have to pay Russia huge fines for canceling the leases but can’t because SWIFT isn’t working.
• The European leasing companies have to get their planes out of Russian territory but can’t because their flight crews can’t get into Russia and once they take possession of the planes the planes won’t be allowed to take off (airspace is closed).
• The planes can no longer be serviced according to the maintenance schedule, which means that in a couple of months they won’t be able to fly at all.
• Given that this is a force majeur circumstance, the Russian government can very easily nationalize these planes, including all of the intellectual property and patent rights contained therein, and start making their own parts and providing their own service.
• There are around 600 airplanes and helicopters stranded in Russia. Stock price of both Boing and Eurobus is not reflecting this fact. One leased plane makes between 50k to 100k per month. On top of that loss, these planes can be confiscated in case Russian property is taken.
• Given all of the above, the obvious choice for the European leasing companies to declare bankruptcy and cease operations. Company representatives have said as much.
[29] Numerous “War Hawk” American neocons want direct military conflict with Russia
A true “Death wish” fueled by ego and ignorance.
It's true, and very dangerous.
.
The Russians have the capability to launch an absolutely devastating first strike from their super quiet “black hole” nuclear submarines.
From positions just off the American coasts, those submarines could potentially reduce much of the United States defenses to ashes in just a matter of minutes.
Most Americans don’t understand how serious this threat is.
A nuclear war with Russia must be avoided, because the consequences would be unimaginable.
Thankfully, the federal government has issued some updated guidelines for how ordinary Americans should respond if a nuclear attack does actually happen…
Stay inside for 24 hours unless local authorities provide other instructions. Continue to practice social distancing by wearing a mask and by keeping a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who not part of your household.Family should stay where they are inside. Reunite later to avoid exposure to dangerous radiation.Keep your pets inside.
You may not last very long after such an attack happens, but at least you can help prevent the spread of COVID by practicing social distancing and by wearing a mask.
[30] Fertilizer catastrophie
Russia stopped all it's exports of fertilizer to the West. The West will now be forced to acquire it from secondary sources. Such as Bolivia.
Ollie Vargas reports from Bolivia:
Bolivia was exporting fertilizer (urea) for $300 per tonne until last week. International price is now $900 per tonne since sanctions on Russia started and Russia stopped loading fertilizer for export. Bolivia built its own nationalized fertilizer factory. Brazil closed theirs after the neoliberal turn. Now, the price of urea and ammonium is going through the roof due to Ukraine conflict. Those who import it will be hit with severe inflation on foodstuffs.
I argue that it might result in a combination of inflation plus scarcity.
[31] An interesting video on a Urkaine Military Base
The narrator walks around the hastily abandoned based. It was an obvious rout. They discuss that routs tend to happen when the operational leadership flees, leaving the rank and file soldiers to fend for themselves.
RT vid on abandon ukraine army camp. They left everything. .
[32] Nice summary about the Geo-political ramifications
Best Sitrep channel with on map analysis I have seen so far.
Frequent updates, and long impartial, detailed and accurate analyses of the situation. Definitely deserve much more publicity. Some gentleman from Singapore as I understand. Well worth it:
Defence Politics Asia .
[35] The goal is a long-duration war
This Video exposes the provocations of neo-Nazis who, by bombing and killing their own people, create a "pretty" picture for the Western media.
This is once again showing the fact that the main goal of the West in Ukraine is to turn it into a second Afghanistan.
https://youtu.be/yIS5Wik2r0E .
[36] British BBC instructs how everyone can attack Russan armor
BBC personnel now posting on Twitter how and where to throw a Molotov cocktail for Ukrainians who want to attack Russian vehicles. The BBC employee is telling them to throw the Molotov cocktails through the viewing hatches, and the air inlets of Russian military vehicles.
https://twitter.com/BowenBBC/status/1499668674940133378?cxt=HHwWhICzqdut8s8pAAAA .
[37] Pakastan
Pakistan actually has a real leader, not afraid to speak the truth. So refreshing... if I was a Pakistani, I would be very proud... HERE. .
Latvia citizens would see fines up to 700 EUR for "using illegal content services". "Not only rights of protected service providers [may be violated by use of illegal systems] but also customers might obtain services, which are illegal in Latvia". So, in other words, don't read any news out of Russia.
EuroUnion runs amok...HERE.
[40] NATO evidence seized
The Ukraine was acting as a NATO member and taking orders fromt he United States, even though not formally part of NATO. This came just in from a german journalist living in Donezk, needs verification. Quick translation via Deepl:
Premier of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin gives emergency press conference. Detailed explanation and translation will follow tonight by Thomas Röper. The content of the speech in brief:
🔺A laptop was found on a hastily abandoned military base in Ukraine - which is registered with NATO
🔺 On it are data of American reconnaissance flights carried out over the Donbass and Crimea with unmanned drones in recent years (officially confirmed)
🔺This means that the Americans have passed on their data to the Ukrainian army, i.e. they support them.
🔺 Military strategic objects of Russia and the Donbass were marked on the maps created with these data
🔺 AND THERE ARE SAID TO BE NATO ATTACK PLANS INTO RUSSIA FOR MARCH 8 ON THE LAPTOP.
If this is true, then this is proof that NATO is supporting Ukraine in taking back the Donbass and Crimea by force.
NATO Laptop is now on sputniknews.com
NATO-Labelled Laptop With Intelligence Found at Ukrainian Nationalists' HQ, DPR Head Says
[41] Ukraine was a de-facto NATO military state
Not officially, of course. But militairily yes.
The fact is that the Ukrainian army is already de facto NATO army in everything related to Command and Control.
[42] News machines creating an illusion
The illusions created by the American (Western “news”) are off the charts. And yet, you know, people believe these lies. Meanwhile the United States is going to shit. Check out these screen captures…
First one…
Putin continues with the deaths of many a Russion while the valiant Ukrainians hold on bravely. 1000 Russians dead per day! Russian victory is NOT INEVITABLE! Don’t you know. And of course, the Russians hate him. That’s why protests are everywhere. Uh huh…
Second one…
Russian mistakes. Ukraine is “decimating” the invading Russians! Russian officer pleads for mercy! Russia now faces a quagmire… Uh huh.
Third one…
“Shows Putin is on the way out…” Yah. The Russian Ruble is on the way out, it’s collapsing every which way… Uh huh.
If you read this post, Russia should be about finished and USA and NATO can just take a leisurely drive to Moscow to remove the current management and install new management.
I really don’t know who would believe this, because the actions the RF is currently undertaking does not even remotely match what is being said (i.e. not much escalation or change in plan of the RF nor new weapons systems coming on board at the moment)
.[43] Enemies of Russia The Russians have now officially declared all the following countries as “hostile”: from HERE.
All EU member States,
The USA
Australia
Albania
Andorra
Czech Republic
Great Britain (including Jersey, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar)
Iceland
Canada
Liechtenstein
Micronesia
Monaco
New Zealand
Norway
Republic of Korea
San Marino
North Macedonia
Singapore
Taiwan
Ukraine
Montenegro
Switzerland
Japan
What does this mean? At the time of writing (14:00 EST) all the Russians are saying is that there will be “financial and diplomatic consequences”.
I expect both diplomatic and economic sanctions to be announced in the coming days. And they will hurt like hell. The two geo-political blocs are shaping up. These nations seem to be all part of the “uni-polar, United States led, Western block”. Those highlighted in red are the most signifigant members.
[44] Andrei predictions Here is how I see it and PLEASE tell me I am wrong!
The Ukraine has lost the war, she will be disarmed and denazified
The West is waging total informational and economic war against Russia and believing much of its own propaganda (which is fantastically dangerous!)
The western public has been sold nonsense about the Ukies being at the gates of Moscow and Russia being ready to surrender. Which means that when the reality will become undeniable there will be A LOT of VERY butthurt folks out there pointing fingers.
Even much worse will be the folks who will try to still overturn this outcome. I am talking about the true nutcases in NATO (and in some sections of the USA ruling elites) which simply cannot even *imagine* that Russia holds all the cards, including the military one.
I can easily imagine, say, a Polish column with weapons and mercenaries crossing into the Ukraine and being wiped out by Russian missiles. I ask you this: what will NATO do next?
In fact, let me rephrase my question this way:
Is it at all possible that this war can end without a direct military confrontation between NATO and Russia, keeping in mind that NATO cannot win and NATO cannot accept defeat?
Sadly, I don’t think so anymore, that kind of folly is a direct consequence of the Western PSYOPs which have convinced the folks in the West of two crucial things:
1) Russia cannot win and
2) Putin is bluffing.
I think that the folks in the Pentagon are smart enough to know that this is all bull, but what of the Eurorodents inside NATO and the EU?
[45] Details on the fighting As a reminder…
The Ukronazi armed forces are down to less than 25% of its original size.
Almost all the remaining forces are in some type or another of cauldrons.
Russia has full air supremacy
The Ukronazi fleet does not exist anymore
In spite of all the propaganda, no help from abroad will affect the outcome of this war
It appears that Russia will surround Odessa and eventually take control of the entire Ukrainian Black Sea coast
In other words, what seems to be shaping up is that Russia will soon have control over the entire Ukraine except for the western provinces (west of Vinnitsa and Zhitomir). In other words, the war is over, at least militarily.
[46] The FINAL “nail in the coffin” of Russian use of the USD
[48] Australia formally demounces China and is building a military base to house forces to fight China
Australian PM denounces China and announces $10 billion nuclear submarine base
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday exploited the Russian invasion of Ukraine to launch another major military buildup, starting with building a $10 billion base for US, UK and Australian nuclear-powered submarines on Australia’s east coast, clearly directed at preparing for war against China.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/03/08/morr-m08.html
[49] No resistence from Bandera
According to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, the special forces of the republic, which are taking part in the operation on the territory of Ukraine, continue to move into the country without meeting resistance from Bandera.
Kadyrov explained that the fighters regularly send him video reports on the execution of the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
"The cleansing of the territory from the criminal elements of Bandera is proceeding according to the schedule. Our soldiers are not meeting fierce resistance from Bandera," Kadyrov said.
https://www.mk.ru/politics/2022/03/08/kadyrov-chechenskiy-specnaz-ne-vstrechaet-soprotivleniya-banderovcev.html?from=article_mi_b
[50] Italy seizes $156 million worth of yachts and villas belonging to Russian oligarchs
[52] Guidance on how to write Hit-Pieces against China
Global business journalism program in China open [Worldwide] | International Journalists' Network
Each and everyone of your are super qualify for the program, is an opportunity to experience first hand how this western propaganda machine operating inside China work,
https://ijnet.org/en/opportunity/global-business-journalism-program-china-open-worldwide
He told the Chinese deligation that the USA had talked with Taiwan. They had changed their position from "Go ahead and be independent, we will support you", to "No, do not even try to break away".
The Chinese reaction was "Thank you, but your words have zero value. You repeatedly lie and break treaties.".
[58] A captured “Russian Officer”
From MoA.
Russian soldiers are CLEAN SHAVEN.
[59] Others are finally starting to agree with MM…
Efforts to decimate Russia’s economy to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine could have serious and unpredictable implications at home for the U.S. and its allies….Energy and food prices are the quickest way Americans could feel shockwaves from Russia’s decline, particularly if Biden takes action against Russian oil imports.Crude oil prices are up roughly 20 percent over the past two weeks, enough to knock 0.2 percentage points from U.S. gross domestic product, according to economists at Goldman Sachs.They also expect inflation as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index to 0.2 percentage points thanks to “higher food prices, increased production costs due to rising commodity prices and increased transport costs due to shipping disruptions.”[Rachel] Ziemba [founder of macroeconomic advisory firm Ziemba Insights] said a ban on Russian oil imports would largely be “symbolic” and simply send barrels to other markets.“When we’re thinking of the cost-benefit analysis, it’s not clear to me that the pain here justifies the pain to Russia,” she said.
Michael Hudson gives an overview of the broader implications for the US.
By Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a research associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
Empires often follow the course of a Greek tragedy, bringing about precisely the fate that they sought to avoid. That certainly is the case with the American Empire as it dismantles itself in not-so-slow motion.
The basic of assumption of economic and diplomatic forecasting is that every country will act in its own self-interest.
Such reasoning is of no help in today’s world.
Observers across the political spectrum are using phrases like “shooting themselves in their own foot” to describe U.S. diplomatic confrontation with Russia and allies alike.
For more than a generation the most prominent U.S. diplomats have warned about what they thought would represent the ultimate external threat: an alliance of Russia and China dominating Eurasia.
America’s economic sanctions and military confrontation has driven them together, and is driving other countries into their emerging Eurasian orbit. American economic and financial power was expected to avert this fate.
During the half-century since the United States went off gold in 1971, the world’s central banks have operated on the dollar standard, holding their international monetary reserves in the form of U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. bank deposits and U.S. stocks and bonds.
The resulting Treasury-bill standard has enabled America to finance its foreign military spending and support its deindustrialization-driven chronic trade deficits by creating dollar IOUs that other countries accept. U.S. balance-of-payments deficits end up in the central banks of payments-surplus countries as their reserves, while Global South debtors need dollars to pay their bondholders and conduct their foreign trade.
This monetary privilege – dollar seignorage – has enabled U.S. diplomacy to impose neoliberal policies on the rest of the world, without having to use much military force of its own except to grab Middle Eastern oil.
The recent escalation of U.S. sanctions blocking Europe, Asia and other countries from trade and investment with Russia, Iran and China has imposed enormous opportunity costs – the cost of lost opportunities – on U.S. allies.
And the recent confiscation of the gold and foreign reserves of Venezuela, Afghanistan and now Russia, along the targeted grabbing of bank accounts of wealthy foreigners (hoping to win their hearts and minds, along with recovery of their sequestered accounts), has ended the idea that dollar holdings or those in its sterling and euro NATO satellites are a safe investment haven when world economic conditions become shaky.
So I am somewhat chagrined as I watch the speed at which this U.S.-centered financialized system has de-dollarized over the span of just a year or two.
The basic theme of my Super Imperialism has been how, for the past fifty years, the U.S. Treasury-bill standard has channeled foreign savings to U.S. financial markets and banks, giving dollar diplomacy a free ride.
I thought that de-dollarization would be led by China and Russia moving to take control of their economies to avoid the kind of financial polarization that is imposing austerity on the United States.
But U.S. officials are forcing them to overcome whatever hesitancy they had to de-dollarize.
I had expected that the end of the dollarized imperial economy would come about by other countries breaking away.
But that is not what has happened. U.S. diplomats themselves have chosen to end international dollarization themselves, while helping Russia build up its own means of self-reliant agricultural and industrial production.
This global fracture process actually has been going on for some years now, starting with the sanctions blocking America’s NATO allies and other economic satellites from trading with Russia.
For Russia, these sanctions had the same effect that protective tariffs would have had. Russia had remained too enthralled by free-market ideology to take steps to protect its own agriculture or industry.
The United States provided the help that was needed by imposing domestic self-reliance on Russia.
When the Baltic states lost the Russian market for cheese and other farm products, Russia quickly created its own cheese and dairy sector – while becoming the world’s leading grain exporter.
Russia is discovering (or is on the verge of discovering) that it does not need U.S. dollars as backing for the ruble’s exchange rate.
Its central bank can create the rubles needed to pay domestic wages and finance capital formation.
The U.S. confiscations thus may finally lead Russia to end of neoliberal monetary philosophy, as Sergei Glaziev has long been advocating in favor of MMT.
The same dynamic undercutting ostensible U.S aims has occurred with U.S. sanctions against the leading Russian billionaires.
The neoliberal shock therapy and privatizations of the 1990s left Russian kleptocrats with only one way to cash out on the assets they had grabbed from the public domain.
That was to incorporate their takings and sell their shares in London and New York. As a result, domestic savings had been wiped out, and U.S. advisors persuaded Russia’s central bank not to create its own ruble money.
The final result was that Russia’s national oil, gas and mineral patrimony was not used to finance a rationalization of Russian industry and housing.
Instead of the revenue from privatization being invested to create new Russian means of protection, it was burned up on nouveau-riche acquisitions of luxury British real estate, yachts and other global flight-capital assets.
But the effect of making Russian dollar, sterling and euro holdings hostage has been to make the City of London too risky a venue in which to hold their assets.
By imposing sanctions on richest Russians closest to Putin, U.S. officials hoped to induce them to oppose his breakaway from the West, and thus to serve effectively as NATO agents-of-influence.
But for the Russian billionaires, their own country is starting to look safest.
For many decades now, the Federal Reserve and Treasury have fought against gold recovering its role in international reserves.
But how will India and Saudi Arabia view their dollar holdings as Biden and Blinken try to strong-arm them into following the U.S. “rules-based order” instead of their own national self-interest?
The recent U.S. dictates have left little alternative but to start protecting their own political autonomy by converting dollar and euro holdings into gold as an asset free of political liability of being held hostage to the increasingly costly and disruptive U.S. demands.
U.S. diplomacy has rubbed Europe’s nose in its abject subservience by telling its governments to have their companies dump the Russian assets for pennies on the dollar after Russia’s foreign reserves were blocked and the ruble’s exchange rate plunged.
Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and other U.S. investors moved quickly to buy up what Shell Oil and other foreign companies were unloading.
Nobody thought that the postwar 1945-2020 world order would give way this fast. A truly new international economic order is emerging, although it is not yet clear just what form it will take.
But “prodding the Bear” with the U.S./NATO confrontation with Russia has passed critical-mass level.
It no longer is just about Ukraine.
That is merely the trigger, a catalyst for driving much of the world away from the US/NATO orbit.
The next showdown may come within Europe itself as nationalist politicians seek to lead a break-away from the over-reaching U.S. power-grab over its European and other Allies to keep them dependent on U.S.-based trade and investment.
The price of their continuing obedience is to impose cost-inflation on their industry while relinquishing their democratic electoral politics to subordination to America’s NATO proconsuls.
These consequences cannot really be deemed “unintended.” Too many observers have pointed out exactly what would happen – headed by President Putin and Foreign Secretary Lavrov explaining just what their response would be if NATO insisted in backing them into a corner while attacking Eastern Ukrainian Russian-speakers and moving heavy weaponry to Russia’s Western border.
The consequences were anticipated.
The neocons in control of U.S. foreign policy simply didn’t care.
Recognizing its concerns was deemed to make one a Putinversteher. What foreign countries have not done for themselves to replace the IMF, World Bank and other arms of U.S. diplomacy, American politicians are forcing them to do.
Instead of European, Near Eastern and Global South countries breaking away out of their own calculation of their long-term economic interests, America is driving them away, as it has done with Russia and China.
More politicians are seeking voter support by asking whether they would be better served by new monetary arrangements to replace dollarized trade, investment and even foreign debt service.
The energy and food price squeeze is hitting Global South countries especially hard, coinciding with their own Covid-19 problems and the looming dollarized debt service coming due. Something must give.
How long will these countries impose austerity to pay foreign bondholders? Well? How will the U.S. and European economies cope in the face of their sanctions against imports of Russian gas and oil, cobalt, aluminum, palladium and other basic materials?
Any ideas?
American diplomats have made a list of raw materials that their economy desperately needs and which therefore are exempt from the trade sanctions being imposed.
This provides Mr. Putin a handy list of our pressure points to use in reshaping world diplomacy and help European and other countries break away from the Iron Curtain that America has imposed to lock its satellites into dependence on high-priced U.S. supplies.
But the final breakaway from NATO’s adventurism must come from within the United States itself.
As this year’s midterm elections approach,
Republicans are likely to harp on price inflation led by gasoline and energy as a Biden failure.
It’s not clear if the pro-Ukraine propaganda will have lost its effectiveness due to over-exposure.
But if Russia wins the war in short order, the Republicans could hammer on Biden for relying on costly, arguably ill thought out, and ineffective economic sanctions America needs Russian oil and gas exports.
Gas is necessary not only for heating and energy production, but to make fertilizer, of which there already is a world shortage.
That has been exacerbated by blocking Russian and Ukrainian grain exports to send U.S. and European food prices soaring.
Trying to force Russia to respond militarily and thereby look bad to the rest of the world is turning out to be a stunt aimed simply at demonstrating Europe’s need to contribute more to NATO, buy more U.S. military hardware and lock itself deeper into trade and monetary dependence on the United States.
The instability that this has caused could have the effect of making the United States look as threatening as Russia used to be.
European officials did not feel uncomfortable in telling the world about their worries that Donald Trump was crazy and upsetting the apple cart of international diplomacy.
But they seem to have been blindsided at the Biden Administration’s resurgence of visceral Russia-hatred by Secretary of State Blinken and Victoria Nuland-Kagan.
Trump’s mode of expression and mannerisms may have been uncouth, but America’s neocon gang has much more globally threatening confrontation obsessions.
For them, it was a question of whose reality would emerge victorious:
The “reality” that they believed they could create,
or,
The actual economic reality that lies outside of U.S. control.
Conclusion
It’s what it is.
It’s the start of the big pivot to a new global order; one where the United States is a minor “player”, and it’s proxy nations (NATO, the QUAD), become third world, poverty stricken, cesspools.
More changes to come, however the end result will be the same. There is no fucking way in Hell that American can maintain a unipolar command status. No bloody way.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 Mongols invaded Russia in 1238, under the leadership of Batu Khan, grandson of the notorious leader Genghis Khan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I hope that you found this post to be of interest. I have other posts in my SHTF Index here…
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