I Always Suspected...

 ... that Joe was a KGB asset--to demolish the United States so thoroughly one has to be an operations of influence virtuoso. Luckily, we can now disclose Joe's (Colonel Iosif Robertovich Bidenov) identity, since the operation is over and Iosif Robertovich is back home, in his apartment in the apartment block at Lenin's Street in the city of Syzran, recovering from a long work under deep cover. 

In all seriousness, however, neural networks today are capable of incredible emulations and I think that this is the case with this "Biden". Albeit, as strange as it may sound--Russians have several phenotypes some of which are indistinguishable from Scandinavian and even Anglo-Saxon types, which, BTW, often creates a cognitive dissonance in many Western first-time visitors to Russia who encounter these types, not Asiatic-looking people, albeit even among them, e.g. Tatars, you often can encounter incredibly European-looking men and women. Many of them could be down right beautiful if not drop dead gorgeous, enough to recall Alina Zagitova, Alina Kabaeva or Kamila Valieva. So, the point is--I will not be surprised if there is a Biden's doppelganger in Russia. After all, look what happened to Richard Gere after spending a week in Kazakh aul (village) on the All-inclusive package... This one, I can guarantee it--is not neural network.

But... after all we're only ordinary men...(c).

Well, Duh!

And then imbeciles from NYT and CNN wonder what is happening around them. Hey, half of the US voted for this. This is international embarrassment, but then again--for people who can not identify themselves as either man or a woman, they wanted it and they don't care.  

Feeling special yet, Rishi? Awkward moment Joe Biden appears to push Sunak aside as he lands in Belfast - before giving a very warm welcome to female US diplomat

Yes, sure. But you cannot blame this on good ol' Joe, he may have forgotten where he is and what for, so treating UK's PM with proper decorum is not high on his agenda. Moreover, despite Biden agreeing to answer a few questions from  press-pool, his security detail, ignoring Biden's decision to speak to press, simply pushed press out of the room. Read comments of British readers of the Daily Mail--very interesting, if you know what I mean.

From Indian Diplomat.

Doctor Bhadrakumar doesn't mince words when speaking about Washington's paranoia. In fact, it is one of his more aggressive pieces in a while. 

The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin can only be seen as a publicity stunt by the Anglo-Saxon clique, with the US leading from the rear. Ironically, though, the ICC acted on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to horrific war crimes but the “judges” at Hague slept over it. Both Washington and London admit today that the 2003 invasion was illegal — based on trumped up allegations against Saddam Hussein. There’s no chance, of course, that the ICC warrant will ever be taken seriously. ICC has no jurisdiction in Russia, which, like the US, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. But the intention here is something else.

The mud-throwing at Putin is yet another display of President Biden’s visceral hatred towards the Russian leader that goes back to a joust in Moscow well over a decade ago when Putin told him off brusquely, and is timed to distract attention from the state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow on Monday, an event that not only has spectacular optics but is sure to intensify the “no limit” partnership between the two superpowers. The Anglo-Saxon clique is watching with dismay the talks in Moscow tomorrow. To be sure, Moscow and Beijing have decided to stand together to bury the US hegemony.

Bhadrakumar finds a superb definition to American, or, in a large sense, Anglo-Saxon clique's foreign policy or what passes for it anyway in the deep recesses of Anglo-Saxon geopolitical misery--mud throwing. It is, and as my previous post about miserable lies of Senator Kelly states--this misery begins to manifest itself through a complete loss of always in deficit professional and human class. 

But Bhadrakumar goes further and concludes, as many of us also did, that the game for the West is up. 

Again, Biden would have thought he was putting Putin on the mat with the Reaper stunt and the ICC scam. But Putin is nonchalant, choosing today to make his first-ever visit to Donbass. Putin toured Mariupol, the port city that was bitterly contested by the NATO operatives in league with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi brigade, drove a vehicle along the city streets, making stops at several locations and surveying reconstruction works. It was a defiant signal to Biden that NATO has lost the war.

The desperation is palpable, and the anticipation for the results of tomorrow's summit in Moscow is filled with dread for a bunch of villainous amateurs who through electoral legerdemain occupied positions of power in Washington and not only drove through sheer malice and stupidity their (their??) own country into the ground but put the world at the precipice of a global war, without even understanding that they are completely exposed to a devastating response and those who will survive will be hunted down as war criminals.

As new Russian meme reads:

"If you don't understand what you are doing, neither does you enemy." (c) Joe Tzu.

Yet Another Success of the American Diplomacy.

Ah, wait. There is no American diplomacy as it is known around the world, none exists. But Chinese, sure as hell, have one. Eurasian space is forming. 

A cooperation deal between Iran and China covering a quarter of a century has been signed in Tehran, furthering Iran’s role in the Chinese global infrastructure initiative. Both nations are being targeted by US sanctions. The landmark document was signed during a televised ceremony by visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. The document was described by the Iranian side as “a complete roadmap with strategic political and economic clauses covering trade, economic and transportation cooperation.” The Chinese minister hailed Iran’s independence of foreign policy, according to Iranian media, saying that it “is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call.”

I can only imagine the wave of enthusiasm and approval descending on Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv...ah, wait. US magazine Foreign Policy (a well-established bullshitter on all things Russian, as an example) noted four months ago, in the piece titled China Won't Rescue Iran that:

Despite initial optimism, Chinese commercial interests met a lukewarm reception and the preferential treatment for which China hoped fell short of expectations. Shortly after the implementation of the nuclear deal, many foreign companies suddenly started exploring Iranian markets. With potentially a wide range of alternative products and services becoming available thanks to the relaxation of sanctions, Iran’s business community suddenly made increasing demands on Chinese businesses. Iranians have long had a clear preference for all things Western. They also tend to be prejudiced against Chinese products and services, even when they are comparable in quality and lower in price than Western equivalents. Even Iranian state media was known for subtly insinuating the inferiority of Chinese-made goods and promoting other cultural and political biases toward China.Chinese businessmen complained that, to their frustration, their Iranian partners often wanted a higher amount of Chinese investment but a lower proportion of Chinese products, services, and technologies in joint projects. Iran strongly prefers to partner with Western companies when possible, presumably due to a cultural reflex and a strategic consideration

On one of the rare occasions of sound assessment, this particular FP's point comes across as valid. Iran is extremely difficult country to deal with and she does gravitate towards EU as the Russians learned the hard way when sanctions were lifted, briefly, from Iran. The rest of the article, is a typical collection of tropes about US "dominated world" and other exceptionalist delusional BS which one would expect from Wang Xiyue, a Ph.D. candidate in history at Princeton University and an incoming Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He was imprisoned in Iran from Aug. 7, 2016, to Dec. 7, 2019.  

But the larger picture is what matters here, even as Xiyue tries to portray it as a Iranian PR ploy, and that one is of a constant shaping of the events, some may even call it a history, resultant vector away from the United States towards Eurasia. As I mentioned recently, when one reads news feeds nowadays, the only thing one finds is this:

Yes, Russia, Russia, Russia. They just cannot let it go:

        Russia is in no hurry to see the Suez Canal re-opened

Yes, start your stopwatches, ladies and gentlemen, and wait for the moment when Western journos and ever-vigilant "intelligence community" will find Russian hand in Suez Canal disaster. Come on, it has to be Russia...somehow...there is no way that Russians are not involved in this whole Suez ordeal. Just think about it--it took all might of US media, intelligence community and democracy to fight for four years against Russia's Manchurian Candidate Donald Trump, who was so artsy in hiding his real KGB rank, that he became most anti-Russian POTUS in modern history, while current one is also Russia's asset, because Joe Biden was obviously turned in 1979 by Andrei Gromyko when Joe visited Moscow. 

Now, you can easily see why Joe was chosen by KGB (probably personally by Putin) as an asset--the level of embarrassment and discrediting of the United States on the international arena accomplished by Biden in just four months of his presidency is unbelievable. He, pun is intended, already trumped Trump, who himself was an embarrassment. It has to be Russian operation of influence. But then again, I don't understand why FBI is not checking the backgrounds of people in the New York Times, WaPo, Politico or MSNBC--they all come across as Russian assets, because the damage they deal to the United States by turning it into the media equivalent of a soiled senior citizen diaper paraded around the world can only be measured in megatons, or terabytes, or petaflops, or...whatever. Unless, unless...oh, my--the whole country is a Russian asset. It has to be, and now those puppeteers in Kremlin just play one faction of its spies against the other one because it is...fun? Yes, yes, fun--that is a good explanation and I am sticking to this one. One never knows what to expect from those evil Russkies. 

Russia Recalls Ambassador...

to the United States back to Moscow "for consultations" (in Russian), after POTUS Joe Biden went on record: 

Of Putin, Biden said he does not think the Russian leader has a soul. Asked if he thought Putin was a killer, he told ABC: "I do."

Generally, this is everything one needs to know about current United States and its "elites".  Putin may not have a soul, but there is no doubt that there are all reasons to suspect that Joe Biden doesn't have a brain. As for the worn out tune of Russia's interference in the US elections--by now one knows everything there is to know about US "intelligence community", which definitely is good only for political machinations not for the business of collection of information and producing sound analysis. But then again, degradation of the American political institutions, top-bottom, and its speed are mind-boggling. As for the class and culture--US political elite and US media machine don't have any. Biden merely confirmed it today. Russians, diplomatic as ever, made a comment with an interesting subtext. 

"Мы заинтересованы в том, чтобы не допустить их необратимой деградации, если американцы осознают связанные с этим риски"

Translation: We are interested in not allowing degradation of (mutual) relations towards the point of no return, if Americans understand the risks associated with this point.   

One Russian saying posits that one can still negotiate with scoundrels, one cannot negotiate with idiots. When the opposite side is both, boy, talk about the United States turning into the third world country. Today this process has been well illustrated by the President of the United States of America. I don't think there are people capable of understanding anything Russia related left in the United States' political top, if there were any to start with and a strong case could be made for that. Oh, wait...    

The Fools Are On Display.

Have you heard the news? Well, a bunch of losers from "Republican" Administrations of both Bushes wrote a letter. Why losers? Because those people in normal governments wouldn't be allowed to run housekeeping in the mental ward, and yet they are expressing their "opinions" on Trump. Let's get this out of the way--I don't like Trump, he is full of shit narcissist but in comparison to utter lunatics from Democratic Party, such as Harris-Biden ticket, I would (I will) vote for Trump, because he is less dangerous to the world. As for the United States--they all are clear present danger. So, here it is, a bunch of "Republicans" calling on everyone to vote for... Biden. 

We are former national security officials who served during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump, or as Republican Members of Congress. We are profoundly concerned about the course of our nation under the leadership of Donald Trump. Through his actions and his rhetoric, Trump has demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as President. For the following reasons, we have concluded that Donald Trump has failed our country and that Vice President Joe Biden should be elected the next President of the United States.

Signatories are basically "who is who" on how not to govern, let alone run "national security", not to mention fight wars which no one, including military figures, in this list of signatories knows how to do. Those are losers who allowed 911, who lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and who are nothing more than representatives of the so called swamp. They have good skills in navigating D.C. bureaucracy and that is about the extent of their skills--excellent military leaders, outstanding diplomats, good scale geopolitical thinkers they are not and they ARE an embodiment of the American "elites", a euphemism for ignorance and incompetence.  You may read those 10 points those losers concocted but the summary of those points stands out: 

While we – like all Americans – had hoped that Donald Trump would govern wisely, he has disappointed millions of voters who put their faith in him and has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term. In contrast, we believe Joe Biden has the character, experience, and temperament to lead this nation. We believe he will restore the dignity of the presidency, bring Americans together, reassert America’s role as a global leader, and inspire our nation to live up to its ideals. While some of us hold policy positions that differ from those of Joe Biden and his party, the time to debate those policy differences will come later. For now, it is imperative that we stop Trump’s assault on our nation’s values and institutions and reinstate the moral foundations of our democracy.

Here is the point which needs separate elaboration. Biden's (not really his) national "security" team is a collection of dumb fanatical liberal interventionists, or, if one wishes, yet another issue of the neocons, whose defining characteristic is a complete ignorance on the issue of war. Enough to look at Kamala Harris who has zero qualifications in foreign, let alone military policies but who is an uber-hawk precisely because she has no idea. Same goes for mentally fading Biden, but he will be removed from the task of governing, let alone formulating any policies for the United States one way or another. But to give you a more focused insight into the "Biden's" foreign policy people, let's take a look at a possible Defense Secretary in Biden's Administration (should he win) and her name is Michelle Flournoy. 

Flournoy's career reads as an exemplary fanatical neocon's advancement along the path to the highest political offices in D.C. , not forgetting, of course, getting rich while taking a break after HRC's 2016 loss. Flournoys' qualifications for SecDef within American political setup seems to be enough--she graduated some "foreign relations" and "government" programs which in Anglo-Saxon world primarily prepare illiterate ideologues and military ignoramuses--and she knows how to use big words and speak Pentagonese. Here is where this lady has some peculiar ideas on war.  Even lunatic never-Trump Huffington Post had to point out to this:

Biden’s foreign policy circle also points to a potentially more hawkish approach. Michèle Flournoy, widely expected to be tapped by Biden as defense secretary, recently wrote that while conflict would not serve the interests of either the U.S. or China, the American military and its partners should consider developing capabilities to, for instance, sink the entire Chinese Navy within 72 hours to deter Beijing. Flournoy argued that China was becoming more confident because it perceives Washington as weak.

You may read the Flournoy's original here, in Foreign Affairs, if you want to read yet another empty collection of consonants and vowels from a person who obviously has no idea of what it would take to develop such a capability "to sink entire Chinese Navy in 72 hours" be my guest and enjoy syllables, words and sentences in English which carry no meaning. Such ignorance and idiocy IS EXPECTED from Anglo-American humanities (un)educated elites who have no idea, including on the policy-setting level, including on the level of even uniformed top bureaucracies, of what it takes to develop such a capability. I have news for them, while I am, unlike many others, do not view PLAN as a real ocean-going navy, because PLAN for now is not a competitor to US Navy, say, in the Indian Ocean, I can certainly see how China's armed forces can respond to attempts to "sink Chinese Navy in 72 hours" within First Island Chain.

1. US cannot develop such a capability because it lags dramatically behind China and, especially so, Russia in development of the main strike weapon of the modern naval war--anti-ship cruise missiles. China has an impressive arsenal of ASMs which is far more advanced than anything the US has. The US Navy, meanwhile, has no viable defense against salvo of modern high super-sonic ASMs launched from three domains and China, allegedly, has hype-sonic weapons;

2. Unlike Iraq or Yugoslavia, China has an impressive Air-Force and air-deference capable to mitigate attacks on her naval bases by the United States and respond, as the US learned the hard way with Iran, with variety of strikes on US Navy's bases in the region. US WILL NOT be able to intercept meaningful number of modern intermediate-range Chinese ballistic missiles. Simple as that;

3. Will Russia provide Chinese ASBMs with targeting and recon if push comes to shove? I am sure Russia will do more than that within the framework of what is already emerging as a serious military Russian-Chines alliance. Vietnam cough, cough.... But situation here is even more serious, the fact that Russia aids China in building Chinese own Missile Attack Early Warning System (SPRN) speaks volumes. If Russia does this, who said that China may not "suddenly" obtain the access to such things as S-500 or some other weapon systems (or Russia's domestic, not export, variety)? I don't see why this cannot be arranged. In fact, this is highly likely. After all Russians and Chinese now train in fully unified battle-space mode as single combat units. And those funny shipping containers with 3M54s and P-800s are coming. 3M22s?    


4. In the end, the United States simply has no resources to develop such a capability. China's shipbuilding capacity is monstrous and it dwarfs that of the United States and Chinese surely can "redistribute" resources, if need be, to produce more platforms. 

These are just some, very few, points Michelle Flournoy must consider and reflect on when she bloviates on the issues of which she, certainly, has zero understanding. Did Flournoy contemplate a possibility, in fact high probability, of a destruction of even single US Navy's CBG? Does she even have a clue on what can of worms this will open for mostly cowardly US politicians, who would rather bring the world to the edge of nuclear exchange, rather than have a courage to stop madness and admit a defeat. Yes, it takes sometime courage to do so. US didn't win a single war in its history against peer, if one discounts US WW II Pacific War.  But that is not what defines modern American "elites" who traditionally display themselves as delusional, ignorant and utterly dysfunctional and unprofessional. Flournoy is an embodiment of these "fine" qualities of modern American establishment and that should give us all a pause in a front of this display of America's utter failure to produce courageous and responsible statesman in many decades, only fools.  

I Understand Tucker.

But I am on record for many years that US "elites" are not only incompetent, most of them are cowards, across the board.

One of the items which really attracted my attention today was this. Oh, I know, it is Russian "propaganda", but still--this is Miami Police showing "solidarity": 

This is so reminiscent of one relatively recent event, that it is almost creepy. Remember, 2014, Kiev, Maidan, "Revolution". Here is Ukraine's riot police, being "politely" asked to kneel and ask for forgiveness. I, believe this particular event (among many similar ones) took place in Lvov. (or Lviv)

So, for Miami Police I have a message--you do not carry out your duties, choosing instead virtue signalling, like "solidarity" with domestic terrorists and thugs--you will get on the knees in the end, and not by your own volition. I know, I know, US political class being cowards and wussies that they are, most of them anyway, or, altogether being instigators of this outrage are not capable of normal governance. Of course, the jokes about Maria Zaharova and Ryabkov flying to US and beginning to distribute cookies and muffins for American "democracy movement", like Vikki Nuland did in 2014 in Kiev, are very popular currently in Russia:

Nuland at Maidan

But (bitter) jokes aside, as I stated many times, US is ungovernable and the root cause of this, all economic and other very important issues aside, for now, is in the policies of Democratic Party, DNC and most US Main Stream Media. GOP can create only revulsion in normal person and the percentage of truly decent people from this Party in US Congress is approaching zero, but, even considering a definite and constantly growing economic disparity and war-mongering modern GOP perpetuates, it is precisely Democratic Party Establishment which since 2016 and launching of the Anti-Trump campaign is directly involved in seditious and treasonous activity. 

This whole mayhem long ago stopped being about the killing of George Floyd, it is about de-stabilization of already barely standing country, undermining what's left (not much) of its political system, governance and state institutions. Recall, browse this blog, on many occasions I stressed--I have, as many of my peers from Soviet Union and from Soviet Armed Forces, some of them long dead, an experience in the collapse of the country. We were at the front lines, or rather running seams, then in late 1980s- early 1990s. The collapse could have been stopped, but Soviet "Party" elite, headed by coward and moron Gorbachev, was so incompetent that it couldn't even react properly and use force accordingly. This whole thing reminds me of that, in fact it is so reminiscent of those times, that it is getting very uncomfortable. I can tell you more--US political class is even stupider than Gorbachev and his cabal. US Main Stream Media is a human compost, which thinks that when shit will truly hit the fan they will be spared. They are wrong. During 911, NYC was a city united in tragedy and people were helping each-other, let editorial board of NYC, as an example, navigate city divided. Hopefully, this will not come to this.

The United States is done (it was for some time now) as a "shining city upon a hill", the main issue today is merely if this could be contained more or less, and how fast this country will turn into a third world shithole, a destination it is heading to with an impressive acceleration. Well, the country where cops and somebody's guilt-ridden imbeciles express solidarity or beg for forgiveness, while their country is burning--chances of such a country surviving are diminishing with each passing day. But in the good news, stock market is doing great! While great democratic hope and specialist in urban combat tactics, law enforcement, firearms and huge experience in the line of duty, Joe Biden suggests:

Joe Biden said Monday that police under attack in the line of duty should shoot their assailants “in the leg instead of the heart” as a way to avert the killing of civilians. “Instead of standing there and teaching a cop, when there’s an unarmed person coming at them with a knife or something, you shoot them in the leg instead of in the heart is a very different thing. There’s a lot of different things that could change,” Biden said in a meeting with community leaders at Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del.

Wait, Joe never served a day in any armed capacity in his life? He never faced a bogey with a weapon, especially shooting at him ever? So, he doesn't know the difference between safety of a firing range and the street? Yep, he doesn't and never did, so I guess Joe's advice is as good as his mental faculties. I may not like Trump, but he is right--The National Guard should be deployed en-force, Antifa--to be designated a domestic terrorist group, I wish some media were too, I know a couple who are into fomenting riots and troubles. Hey, FBI, here is a real interesting case for ya.  In the end, those bricks may turn out to be... Russian, right? And most importantly--the investigation into Russiagate must continue:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers Wednesday that he would not have approved an FBI surveillance application for a former Trump campaign aide during the Russia investigation had he known at the time about the problems that have since been revealed.

Aw, poor Rod. I wonder if all this mayhem has anything to do with exposing Democratic top as treasonous seditious organization? Hm. 

On a more serious note, beyond the campuses of US universities infested with white upper-middle class students who study there nothing of value and who are one of the major brainwashed segments cheering (and participating) on the breakdown of law and order, beyond the mostly black hoods where drugs, incest and violent crime rule, there is still out there a silent majority (for now), which is thinking while looking at all that--I know it is, arms sales and applications for Concealed Carry skyrocketed in May, even among those who otherwise would vote Democrat. As I said, the root cause of a present mayhem is with DNC and its media machine and if the whole thing blows up really--I wouldn't want to be the one with the record of calling on what amounts to destruction of this country. On a lighter note:

One of the overseen gems of a comedy.   

P.S. Meanwhile in a major addition to a circus that the United States has become, get this:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five U.S. senators are to announce legislation on Wednesday to expand sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline that would increase exports to Germany but is opposed by many in Washington who say it would tighten Moscow's political and economic grip on Europe. 

The question is not about sanctions on NS 2, that is clear that the US simply has no other instruments than blackmailing Europeans. The kicker is the title of the bill:
           Protecting Europe's Energy Security Clarification Act
This is truly, sincerely hilarious. But Europe deserved it. Russia will do just fine even without NS 2. 

P.S. Always loved Coeur D'alene. Love Idaho in general. Vacationed there many times. Love this town and inhabitants are not bad either;)

Everything One Needs To Know.

In many respects America's fate, even despite an economic calamity of a gigantic scale, was contingent upon bringing justice to those who unleashed unprecedented, historically, witch-hunt and mass-psychosis campaign. Anyone with an average IQ and even fleeting acquaintance with principles on which law operates knew and know where and who all those Russia, Ukraine and other "Gates" originated from. Well, it doesn't matter, evidently. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Monday he does not expect a Justice Department review of the FBI's handling of 2016 election interference to lead to criminal investigation of former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden. "As to President Obama and Vice President Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today, I don't expect Mr. Durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man," Barr said.

Sad, but totally expected, to be honest.  Barr, however, made some clarifications:

Barr did not rule out the possibility of others being criminally investigated, without offering specifics.

We'll see about that, which, I am a bit on a shaky ground here, since Barr's statement is not born out by the reality:

Barr added that the election should be decided strictly on policy debates, and that any investigation of a political candidate would need to be approved by him personally. "We cannot allow this process to be hijacked by efforts to drum up criminal investigations of either candidate," Barr said.

Well, sure, we all know that Biden sonny's, Hunter, tenure with Ukrainian Burisma had nothing to do, like really-really nothing, with the fact of his senile cretin-father being Ukraine's Gauleiter not only on Obama's orders (Obama always was an amateur in foreign relations, not that there are any professionals in them in D.C. nowadays, but still) but on his own volition, being also an architect of a bloody coup and war there, having blood of thousands of innocent people on his wandering hands. This is not to mention that this coward is now hiding from exposure for his sexual exploits and, once those 2020 "elections" begin to delve into, quoting Barr, "policy debate" (Good ol' Joe cannot, fvcking orient himself in space-time continuum, let alone have "policy debates") we all can be 100% sure that sexual history of Joe will hit the "printing presses" of partisan media. So much for the "policy debate". But, as we all know, the land of the "laws" doesn't really hold up that well under the closer scrutiny. Evidently prosecuting corruption (sedition and treason is also not biggy anymore, evidently) in the US nowadays is contingent merely on who holds and how much power and influence. As Larison reports:

The president announced on Friday that he was firing Steve Linick, the State Department’s Inspector General. One possible reason that Linick was removed may have been that he was conducting an investigation into the bogus emergency declaration that the administration used to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE last year. 

Say it ain't so! Come on, we all know that Mike Pompeo... oh, wait:

If Linick was investigating the bogus emergency declaration, he would have come across reporting that showed how a former Raytheon lobbyist serving at the department was instrumental in pushing through the plan to expedite arms sales that benefited his old employer. He would have discovered that there was no genuine emergency that justified going around Congress. Once his investigation was concluded, it would have found that the emergency declaration was made in bad faith and that the law was abused so that the administration could proceed with arms sales that Congress opposed. Another reason for the firing was to protect Mike Pompeo from an investigation into the Secretary’s abuses of government resources for personal purposes.

We all know that a person who openly states that he "lied, cheated and stole" for a living as CIA's big honcho, is being truthful. How can anyone doubt Pompeo's truthfulness? Reality of the American political discourse, however, is such that one cannot stop wondering if any normal, not damaged mentally, people are left in D.C. I am sure many people around the globe ask the same question. American political "elites" today represent a gruesome picture. All politics, everywhere is a dirty business, always was and often it did attract people with serious psychological, if not psychiatric, problems. There is an excellent work titled The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders: With Profiles of Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton. It is long and, at times, tedious read including delving into this proverbial psychobabble, but it is unequivocal in singling out narcissism as one of the main features of Western politicians. Lust for power and narcissism. It is in the foundation of the explanation to the phenomenon of American politics driven by non-stop lowbrow "election cycle" circus. 

Once "look good" triumphs over all other considerations, the political class and its subservient media are doomed and so is the nation this political class pretends to lead. I am on record for years, that the only things US political class knows how to do is to "look good", unless they are caught in corruption or sexual scandal. And that is the problem--they are not caught often enough and this is everything one needs to know about present moment.      

It Is Not Just Trump Admin.

I understand Daniel Larison's frustration with US actions abroad, with him, finally, starting to use proper terminology about US foreign policy, which includes such terms as lunatics, fanatics and now degenerates--about time:

No one has ever accused the Trump administration of being interested in history or logic, so we shouldn’t expect their policies to be informed by either one. It is nonetheless remarkable how heavily the administration continues to rely on “maximum pressure” tactics to achieve its goals in its three most high-profile foreign policy initiatives (i.e., Iran, Venezuela, North Korea) when there is absolutely no reason to think that such pressure tactics can force another government to make major concessions or capitulate. They have targeted three governments that define themselves in large part by their opposition and resistance to the U.S., and they think that they can squeeze them into surrender or collapse. Like a degenerate gambler at a slot machine, the administration thinks that all they need to win is just one more set of sanctions, and then another and another, and when the latest effort doesn’t get them the desired result they keep pulling on the same lever in the hope of a jackpot. 

But truth to be told, it is not just Trump Administration, this applies to  US political class as a whole, granted with few and notable exceptions. Can we start from the beginning and admit--US political class as a whole is utterly incompetent and aggressive. Replacing Bolton with someone else will make few, if any, differences. Even what passes in the US for so called realists is an amorphous group of good ol' American exceptionalists, who still think that US is "good". It is not--this whole, let's call it for what it is, US imperialism and militarism is a natural state of what came to be known as national security-warfare state which sits firmly on the foundation of a large financial capital, which in desperate attempts to save itself will go to any length to find something to consume. So, low life Bolton or Pompeo are merely material manifestations of the most sinister interests of globalist financial mafia, which will dispose of the remnants of the American Republic if need be. 

The transformation I observed in the US since 9/11 cannot be described in words other than an accelerating slide towards totalitarian society. And then you have, of course, moral freaks such as Maddow and HRC:

Clinton offered a hypothetical to Maddow: A Democratic candidate for the 2020 election comes on her show and says, "China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns? I'm sure our media would richly reward you." 

And here is my pitch--could it be that there are few, if any, simply decent human beings left in US political class? By decency, I, of course, do not mean nice on the surface people who pay taxes and attend church on Sunday--by that I mean not being a moral freak and lowlife scumbag in a larger metaphysical sense. I mean people who do the "right thing" and who are honest in the most fundamental way, under most difficult circumstances. Judging by the position United States finds itself today--no such people exist anymore. Just zombies, but that is precisely a social demand of a system--honest (and competent) people are simply filtered out. Look at the faces and behavior of Marco Rubio, Mike Pence or imbecile Joe Biden--little, fragile people who convinced themselves through ballot, which is to say through professional lying to people, that they are great. Indeed, it is not just the Ship of Fools, it is the Ship of Zombies. Zombies have no morality or decency and that is their defining characteristic which makes them not human and that can explain a lot. The system is IN the process of implosion and we observe it right in a front of our eyes and do not expect anyone to save it--there is simply no one decent out there. 

The Essense Of It All.

Actually, when this hit the news three weeks ago it barely registered with me and only then as some odd thing of an increasingly dysfunctional American political discourse, but several days ago I decided to re-visit this and it struck me today--here is all explanation one needs for US foreign policy or rather lack thereof. 

President Trump said Thursday that if he were to fight Joe Biden, the former vice president “would go down fast and hard.”

At an anti-sexual assault rally at the University of Miami earlier this week, Biden said that if he were in high school and heard Trump making lewd comments about women — like those captured on the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape — he would “take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.”Trump responded on Twitter, escalating the war of words between the two septuagenarians.

“Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy,” he wrote. “Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!” Biden first expressed a desire for a fisticuffs with Trump at a rally for Hillary Clinton in October 2016, after Trump’s hot-mic comments on “Access Hollywood” were made public.

Don't you recognize it? That is American foreign policy doctrine of the last 25 years, in fact, longer than that in a nutshell--a mix of trash talk, hubris mixed with all anxieties of ever crawling in the back of the mind complex of inferiority. This is not a talk of statesmen--this is the quarrel of two provincial  semi-literate plumbers (sorry, plumbers, my deepest respect to your  important profession) not capable to split the turf. Today US is run by plumbers, or rags to riches uncultured and uneducated variations of used car salesmen. No amount of glitter, or, for that matter, lip-stick can hide the ugly truth. Basically, this is it--Trump is not a hostage, he is the driver, together with his enthusiastic enemies within the beltway, behind unfolding insanity which sees the US unraveling both domestically and internationally. I, of course, am not talking about a village idiot Joe Biden but who knows, Democratic Party may yet surprise us all by either nominating Oprah or, well... Joe Biden. Mike Pompeo's testimony to Senate Foreign Relations Committee today was also profoundly revealing--the barely hidden insecurity runs deep in Washington. It should. As Clausewitz' dictum goes--it is legitimate to judge event by its outcome for it is the soundest criterion (c). I guess Donald Trump is about to learn, if not already, how many updates and revisions his magnum opus The Art of the Deal will require. There will be plenty. In fact, he may consider rewriting it altogether. 

Joe Biden's World.

I don't like Joe Biden. I don't like him not because of his Russophobia--I've seen worse. I don't like him as a human because he is a low life scumbag--an embodiment of everything what went wrong with America's so called "elites". Not only he is badly educated and has no business expressing his opinions on geopolitical issues, he has no business to be in politics because he is completely detached from geopolitical reality and has no qualifications to competently influence important geopolitical decisions. It is his militant stupidity which is awe-inspiring. If anyone wonders--Ukraine's "project" was to a large degree Joe Biden's brainchild. We all know how it turned out. It was on his watch, together with Barak Obama, that US-Russian relations have been destroyed almost completely. So, yes, Joe Biden is an idiot. Yet, this imbecile together with some help of yet another US "diplomat"--a euphemism for foreign policy headless-chickenry published a piece in Foreign Affairs with rather a telling title:

                     How to Stand Up to the Kremlin

Needless to say that neither Joe Biden nor his sidekick can have any sensible advice on how to "stand up to Kremlin" for two reasons:

1. US elites in general have zero knowledge of Russia or her intentions. In fact, if that would have been a zero it would have been better, since it would exclude a possibility of delusion the US lives in regards to Russia. But we all know that--this whole blog is dedicated to this specific issue; 

2. NO, I underscore, no current American politician and many in top military brass know what real military power is and what its application entails. American catastrophic military record and inability to win any war since  Korea is a great testimony to this. American civilian leadership in general is completely detached from any realities of warfare and is not qualified for developing any workable strategies.

So, here is the guy, a former VPOTUS, who, apart from having no clue about Russia, offers an advice on how to stand up against it. And his first "salvo" reveals a depth of his ignorance:

At its core, this assault is motivated by the Kremlin’s desire to protect its wealth and power. The Russian regime that emerged from the ashes of the Soviet collapse consolidated immense authority and privilege in the hands of a small cabal of former intelligence officials and oligarchs. They appear strong from the outside, but their power remains brittle at the core—a fact that Putin and the top members of his regime understand better than anyone.

This, folks, is an exhibit A of the reason for why the United States finds itself in the situation it is today--that is of a dramatic loss of its standing in the world and finding rather humiliating limitations of own military and economic power. 

1. The "passage" about consolidation of authority and privilege in the hands of oligarchs obviously completely ignores the fact that it was precisely this "cabal" of "former intelligence officials" which not only "concentrated" privileges but somehow, surprise, surprise, re-nationalized huge chunks of Russia's strategic natural resources and manufacturing resources from the hands of the US controlled and, often, supported fifth column of criminal banksters and real oligarchs, who are responsible for a calamity of 1990s. Obviously causality between this and Putin's genuine immense popularity is beyond the grasp of these two clowns. Biden simply doesn't know what is an overwhelming support of a nation.

2.  For Biden, who never worked any normal job a day in his life and prostituted himself to a Congressional politics and has a mentality of a provincial rag from Cranston, it is difficult to grasp the abyss which separates his, Biden's so called "knowledge" and the knowledge of said Vladimir Putin. What Putin understands is  beyond Biden's grasp--he simply has no background for that. He probably never heard that many in Putin's "cabal" are actual scientists and people who held very serious positions which required an incredible level of expertise across the whole spectrum of activities crucial for Russia's economy and security. 

As one example, Sergey Chemezov, who is currently a head of a monstrous Rostec Corporation which employs directly more than half-a-million people, not only has a Ph.D. in economics but completed his post-graduate degree in the Military Academy Of General Staff. The significance of the latter is difficult to overstate. In other words, very many people in this "cabal" (aka Siloviki) somehow have incredibly impressive academic credentials, not to speak of running structures of which our Cranston boy-lawyer have no clue, unless it was explained to him by Congressional Research Service. Biden is a professional in BS. What kind of "briefings" he and Obama were getting in the White House is a separate topic, since the impression one gets from their actions after that is that briefings were done not by intelligence professionals but by Larry, Curly and Moe. But never mind, Biden is still on the offensive, he gets another shot:

To safeguard its kleptocratic system, the Kremlin has decided to take the fight beyond Russia’s borders to attack what it perceives as the greatest external threat to its survival: Western democracy. By attacking the West, the Kremlin shifts attention away from corruption and economic malaise at home, activates nationalist passions to stifle internal dissent, and keeps Western democracies on the defensive and preoccupied with internal divisions. This allows Moscow to consolidate its power at home and exert untrammeled influence over its “near abroad.” 

Well, Russian system certainly still has kleptocratic elements in it but it sure as hell improved since early 2000s, US Congress, however, didn't--it was busy selling the United States to the left and to the right, from Israel to Saudi Arabia, to anyone who would pay more. As Phil Giraldi brilliantly observed today:

And Congress is to a certain extent the source of all evil, as its numerous committee meetings gorge on advice from experts who are frequently anything but, reflecting the hardline views of many of the legislators themselves with nary a contrary opinion in sight. A recent session of the Senate Armed Services Committee featured a statement by leading neocon Eric Edelman. His presentation is hawkish in the extreme, with particular focus on Iran and Russia. It can be summarized briefly by citing some of the section headings: “Adopt a post-ISIS Strategy for Syria and Iraq,” “Develop Credible Military Leverage Against Iran,” “Recognize Russia as an obstacle, not a partner,” “Increase internal pressure against the Iranian regime,” and “Enforce nuclear restrictions on Iran.”So it’s garbage-in and garbage-out on how much of the government gets a large percentage of its information.

So, the whole notion that current US legislators, AGAIN, most of whom never served a day in their life, can have any serious opinion on foreign policy or military-political issues is, frankly, preposterous. Overwhelming empirical evidence of utter corruption and stupidy is everywhere. So, the question then is this: what divisions? Wasn't Mr. Biden a VP to a President who, apart from being a pathetic mediocrity, left a legacy of a:

1. Acute crisis in racial relations in the US;

2. War in Syria, a crime against Libya;

3. Faux-recovery, which benefited mostly 1 percenters;

4. Destroyed Russian-American relations;

5. Reinforced suicidal cultural policies...

and many more. Wasn't Mr. Biden not only presiding but actively promoting this both homicidal and suicidal agenda? Sure he was. Now, when his totally corrupt and perverted Democratic Party and its candidate has been defeated in Presidential Elections of 2016, Biden finds nothing better than expound on a Russia-gate "theory" and continue to spew the whole article a certifiable delirium which has not a single evidence in real life to support outlandish claims. None, zilch, nada. By publishing this utter trash by frustrated ignoramuses Foreign Policy magazine, undoubtedly, didn't serve its reputation well. Yes, folks, it is worse than Soviet Union, it is Nineteen Eighty-Four all the way:

 And finally, as more news breaks each day about the extent of Russia’s disinformation campaign and the tactics that Moscow used to manipulate public opinion and exploit the fault lines within U.S. society, it falls on all Americans to be aware and informed citizens. We must collectively reject foreign influence over our democratic institutions and do more to address the challenges within our own communities, rather than allowing demagogues at home and tyrants abroad to drive us apart. Putin and his cronies do not understand that the greatest strength of American democracy is an engaged citizenry. Even if the president refuses to act, we can.    

I don't think that Biden and his ilk even understand that THEY are the main reason for those very serious fault lines in the American society and the only people they disinform are themselves. American elites are utterly corrupt, they are also responsible for wrecking the country to such a degree that one does concern himself with thoughts about the future of American Republic. With clowns like Biden it has none. America needs those treasonous, corrupt elites go. As Oliver Cromwell addressed Long Parliament in 1653:

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil'd this sacred place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

                   In the name of God, go!