There Is A Lot Of Wrong...

... with parallels he tries to draw. It is expected from artsy types, especially from ones who are venerated (I personally do not give a shit about God Father) in the low culture environment like Hollywood, but there are very few if any parallels between the US and Rome, other than some superficial similarities politically. 

The US is not even in the same league militarily or culturally as Rome was. There is no Marcus Aurelius nor are there any phalanx which could crush first rate enemies. He should concentrate on what he did best--making movies about Italian Mafia and not go where no Hollywood screenwriter or director ever could due to primitive education. But, what do I know... This is POTUS today.

Members of the Greatest Generation, who 80 years ago next week, took to the beaches of Normandy and liberated a continent and literally saved the world. Others who stood against communism in Korea and Vietnam.

Of course, Red Army crushing Axis doesn't count, as long as there are Coppolas and Spilbergs in this world confabulating US history which, with the exception of Ike and King with Nimitz, produced about a zero strategists and military leaders of  a historical scale, unlike it was with Rome. Hey, as long as we have Hollywood and stolen valor being a MO... 

Let me give you a definition of the press, which extends by definition to US intellectual and cultural "elite" by a person who actually invented gonzo-journalism Hunter S. Thompson. Feel free to substitute term press for whatever "creative" class you want...

The press is a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage

That's Western "intellectual" elite for ya... press is not even there, because it is below this rather obsolete definition. 

Alastair Crooke Says What Needs To Be Said.

Yes, in the eyes of the Washington Establishment I am a subhuman. I am Russian, Slav etc. Most people in the US Congress view me as subhuman, James Clapper views me as subhuman, so do many Pentagon and CIA people. Here are the words of one of the America's most celebrated heroes, who substituted his rather very average military abilities with a very outstanding ambitions, big mouth and a proper attitude:

The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all-out son of a bitch, a barbarian, and a chronic drunk.

So, it comes naturally in the West to very many in "establishment" and it is, certainly, a driving attitude for neocons. 

Russians are, certainly, viewed as subhumans by 404 inhabitants. But don't just attribute it to neocon fanatics and uncultured hacks, much of the American "elite" always viewed Russians as subhumans, it was also a defensive reaction of which I write constantly--US "elites" have been always subpar lacking centuries of cultural conditioning and nourishment. What is the defense then against 1,000+ years of history of Russia, her immense military history and a high art which makes NYC look like a local county antique store across the... well, yes, Hermitage? Of course, it is suppressed jealousy and, as a consequence, hate and the traditional West's rationale for that is the race, subhumanity of the hated other. Patton was a military mediocrity, naturally extolled in the US as a military genius, one tends to do so when having no clue about WW II, but it was him who stated that "we fought the wrong enemy". And here we are today. 

In reality, Patton knew that he was a junior student of a modern combined arms warfare of scale he couldn't even grasp looking at people of the statue of Katukov who had behind his belt with his brigade and then army defeats of Guderian, battle of Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk, taking of Berlin--the accomplishments Patton could only dream about. In his diary Patton wrote about Marshal Tolbukhin as "inferior man", not willing to accept the fact that he was simply out of this league of military leaders the scale of Tolbukhin. In this respect, Patton is a pattern and representative of MO of the US "elites" who, with some notable exceptions, for the most part never had and do not have class. This explains a lot in terms of attitudes, whatever racial, ethnic or cultural factors are at play for modern Washington and Europe. I am on record--the US does not produce statesmen, it can't.

What A Load Of Contrived BS.

I repeat--you cannot explain to 99.99% of people within the Beltway what real war is, how military strategy is subordinated to the strategy of the state (meaning geopolitics in a larger sense). Lastly, you cannot explain it to the average US MSM journo or "analysts" (or "expert") which is a euphemism for the general lack of culture and ignorance.  

The war in Ukraine is reaching a new phase, and US strategy is undergoing an important shift. Fears of Russian nuclear escalation are receding as fears of a long war featuring unrelenting attrition are increasing. So President Joe Biden’s administration is ramping up support for Ukraine now in hopes of producing an eventual diplomatic resolution — an “escalate to de-escalate” strategy that may prove very difficult to execute. Nearly a year into the war, uncertainty about its course is greater than ever. For the first six months, Russia had the initiative: The major questions were when, where and with what success it would attack. Over the following five months, Ukraine had the initiative, and analysts tried to divine the location and prospects of its counteroffensives.

Hal Brands, read my lips--the United States can not do "strategy", it never could after WW II. It took SMO to expose utter incompetence of the US "elites" with all their military, diplomatic and academic institutions. It is a parade of the ambitious amateurs who are no good for any serious task of statesmanship, despite all their hefty fraudulent degrees. US "diplomacy" is a butt of jokes among the rest of the world, US military cannot fight a serious combined arms conflict with peer, without sustaining catastrophic losses, and now even NYT--this propaganda sewer is forced to admit:

KYIV, Ukraine — Andrew Milburn, a former American Marine colonel and leader of the Mozart Group, stood in a chilly meeting room on the second floor of an apartment building in Kyiv about to deliver some bad news. In front of him sat half a dozen men who had traveled to Ukraine on their own dime to work for him.

“Guys, I’m gutted,” he said. “The Mozart Group is dead.”

The men stared back at him with blank faces.

One asked as he walked toward the door, “What should I do with my helmet?”

The Mozart Group, one of the most prominent, private American military organizations in Ukraine, has collapsed under a cloud of accusations ranging from financial improprieties to alcohol-addled misjudgments. Its struggles provide a revealing window into the world of foreign volunteer groups that have flocked to Ukraine with noble intentions only to be tripped up by the stresses of managing a complicated enterprise in a war zone.

Aw, what a drama. Did anybody tell those guys high on kicking doors of the Iraqi and Afghani villagers' houses that their "skills" and "experiences" are not applicable in the REAL war combat zone, against the enemy which is armed to the hilt and, quoting ZZ Top, "knows how to use it." In fact is very good at fighting at any tactical and operational levels, while in terms of strategy... That is really something else when speaking on the 80th Anniversary of the conclusion of the Stalingrad Battle.  

Ukraine’s plans to seize Crimea from Russia are unlikely to succeed in the near future, lawmakers in the US House Armed Services Committee were told at a classified meeting with the Defense Department, according to Politico. The outlet reports that it spoke to four people who disclosed details from the meeting but wished to remain anonymous. Although the sources did not explain what had led defense officials to their assessment, they stated that the main assertion was that Ukraine does not have the capability to drive Russian forces out of the peninsula. Nor do they expect that situation to change anytime soon. If Kiev attempts such an operation, its success cannot be guaranteed, one of the sources noted. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh declined to comment on the classified briefing or discuss “hypotheticals or speculate on potential future operations.” However, Singh claimed that Ukraine’s “ability to fight and take back sovereign territory… speaks for itself.” 

There is a famous Lenin's slogan: Study warfare in the most genuine way (Учиться военному делу настоящим образом). They never learned shit, evidently, in Washington.

Upcoming Finalization.

For the Eastern Cauldron of VSU and remaining Nazi elements. Eduard Basurin is eloquent:  for VSU artillery people it is better not to surrender and commit suicide while they can (in Russian). 

He also added that now any 404 military in Mariupol who have been "pocketed" into the Azov Steel plant no humanitarian corridors will be offered out of Mariupol and that means physical annihilation and war crimes tribunal for those who will survive (in Russian). Most will not. Increasing number of reports from different sources confirm the fact that remaining "forces" of Azov and VSU are constantly high and under the influence of hard drugs, including heroin and other "cocktails" one shoots into veins. So, it is just the matter of method of how to finish those remnants off and if anything is worth saving at Azov Steel plant. We'll know soon enough. 

Now to Tucker.
 

The issue he raises is not that it is, indeed, insulting for a country which loves to present itself as the best thing ever, but is that of a paralysis of the American governance due to a complete degeneracy of the elites. As I am on record, getting elected (and re-elected) has nothing to do with real governance on the national level--I assert this for years and the record of the so called Western (and American) "governance" supports my assertions. The most disturbing in all that is the fact apart from purging the best and most capable from government structures, it is a complete inability to process and internalize whatever the last bits of reliable data are provided. 

Some may say (and many do) that, oh, but providing "good data" isn't it "empowering" the enemy? Sure, but this does not apply in the US case since in normal governing bodies, should, what I write about (which, BTW, is not intel, it is all in the open) Russia and modern geopolitics, have been internalized, the only course the United States would have had in this case would be to tone down a BS, seek good accommodation with Russia and see how the US can benefit from it. This is what normal governing bodies do, but not in the US whose "elites", as I already stated not for once, cannot find their own ass with both hands in a brightly lit room. They just do not have faculties to get it, and they double-down with suicidal so called "policies", while having no situational awareness whatsoever. Those who do, they are purged and silenced, otherwise--you get General Keane and ISW, or Jake Sullivan and Tony Blinken as an Exhibit A. So, it is not "insulting", it is suicidal and, in some cases, homicidal. Albeit the media shitstorm, after Biden calling for regime change in Russia, in the US MSM gives at least some hope that those cretins didn't lose the self-preservation instinct completely, and this is a good thing. 

Now the "thing" is coming:

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated on Wednesday that all of the nation's energy and commodity exports could be priced in rubles. Moscow has already demanded that gas exports to hostile countries should be paid for in the Russian currency. Peskov was asked about the comments by parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who earlier in the day called for pricing all of Russian commodity exports in domestic currency. “This is an idea that should definitely be worked on,” the Kremlin spokesman said. According to Peskov, the US dollar’s role as a global reserve currency had already taken a hit and a move to pricing Russia’s biggest exports in rubles would be “in our interests and the interests of our partners.”

I am not going to wax "economical" here, not exactly my shtick anyway, but  even ever critical of Kremlin Paul Craig Roberts had to admit:

These are major developments with many large implications.  The World Economic Forum’s “reset” has likely been replaced by a Russian-Chinese reset. 

This is what real physical economy of enclosed technological cycles and real military power give you--you can always reset the "resetters". I need to write something on Russian commercial aviation, some really interesting and cool developments are taking place there. It is especially important against the background of a terrifying tragedy of the China Eastern Boeing 737-800 crash. Can it be the case of the repeat of 737s known problem of the rudder being stuck? Remember Pittsburgh US Air flight 427?  And while at it, wait for revelations regarding MH17 Flight which are coming. Wonder why the US wanted to blame LDNR for that? War Crimes Tribunal will provide a real investigation and results. Where US and UK supplied Stingers and Starstreaks, in what hands, will they end up? Questions, questions...

Inevitable Question.

I wrote about it in my second book, about "elites" who are lying because they are ignorant and some of them lying because they are afraid to let the truth out. Here is a clown from California admitting (at the start of his interview) that what they hear at "secret briefings" is that President Ze is done. You can listen to this verbal diarrhea here:

But if they know that 404 is done, why what we hear everywhere is that Russia is about to collapse and is losing there? It is a cognitive dissonance of sorts. The question is not just warranted, it is inevitable. Yes, this is called lying and that is what they do. 

I am on record on the issue of the American "elites" being very sensitive to exposing own weakness and crudeness, which are their defining characteristics, they talked themselves up so much that they are absolutely at loss when they have to admit own failures, which are numerous and massive in scope. Issa, with his vitriol is classic case of a thug (read his bio) who is desperate. Not to be outdone is yet another dude with "economics" degree, now from The American Conservative. He is in a full cognitive dissonance and goes fully psychotic because of that.

With an economy smaller than the state of Texas, Russia has built strategic weapons superior to many in the American arsenal. These include land as well as submarine-launched hypersonic weapons that can carry nuclear missiles past any American defense, as well as the world’s best air defense system, the S-500. The October 4, 2021, test of Russia’s submarine-launched “Zircon” hypersonic missile was the first-ever underwater firing of a low-altitude weapon that flies at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russian claims. A Russian sub lurking a hundred miles off the American coast could nuke Washington in a flat minute.  

Then he continues to lament:  

A day later Russia test-launched its S-500 air defense system, designed to destroy aircraft and missiles in a 600-kilometer radius, including targets in close space. And last December, Russia claimed to have tested the S-550 upgrade, which allegedly can destroy ICBMs as well as satellites. Russia has sold the earlier S-400 system to India, China, and Turkey; India may be the first foreign customer for an S-500.

For Goldman (read his bio), countries with the economies "smaller than that of the state of Texas" do not produce what he just described. In fact, Texas on its own, unplugged from the larger economy of the United States, will decline into the third world economy extremely fast and even AS a part of the US will have it economic bottom falling off when trying to R&D and mass produce any weapon system listed by the author. Texas is a wonderful state with good people, but its economy will implode if it tries to build a single SSBN of Borey-class or Air Force such as that of Russia. I will omit here present US education which IS that of the third world and Mr. Goldman, as well as Mr. Issa or any other product of "economic" and "humanities" programs demonstrate fully by parading their ignorance. With "elites" like that the US has no future. 

In related news, Sergei Ryabkov went on record today when warned that Russia will destroy any convoys delivering weapons from NATO countries and that the game changed, Russia is changing her original demands on security and they will be modified (in Russian). The year of 1997 and European security configuration, as in good old Windows with Restore Point. You just roll back changes to a previous state with the Restore Point in this particular case being 1997.  Macron already declared new sanctions on Russia. Poor-poor dear, he wants to feel important. In related news, Russian tanks are already deep in Mariupol.

And we all know what that means. Neonazi SOBs from Azov are trying to escape through humanitarian corridors but many are caught and already have Russian (LDNR) security services working with them. I cannot wait for War Crimes Tribunal to start working. As Ryabkov stated, the big reformatting is taking place and it is global in nature. Russians are very open about it, this war is not with 404, it is the war against US proxy in 404 and the scale and scope of it is unprecedented. That is why Russia already opened criminal investigation (Article 280 of Russia's Criminal Code) against Meta and US Embassy received a Note from Russian Foreign Ministry (in Russian). There will be criminal charges leveled against a number of big honchos and that is why you can hear now appeals of excluding Russia from Interpol. Boy, those people are stupid. Here is your weekend primer.

There Is Very Little Intelligence In House Intelligence Committee.

Especially when we are talking about its chair Adam Schiff who in normal country would have been removed and prosecuted for his role in Russiagate. I know, I know, he is still hard at work trying to finish his "investigation" into Russia "subverting" US democracy. 

Russia is “very likely” to invade Ukraine and might only be deterred by “enormous sanctions”, the chair of the US House intelligence committee said on Sunday. Adam Schiff also said an invasion could backfire on Moscow, by drawing more countries into the NATO military alliance. “I also think that a powerful deterrent is the understanding that if they do invade, it is going to bring NATO closer to Russia, not push it farther away,” he said.

It is obvious by now that US politicking is conducted only in PR space and for the "benefit" of the gullible public, especially when dealing with foreign relations, but in case of Adam Schiff there is no denial that his only claim to anything related to "intelligence" is his persecution of some FBI guy, or, following famous layman's analogy--he understands music because his father was a piano mover. In other words, apart from useless degree in political "science" and him, more useful, being a lawyer, Adam Schiff wouldn't know the difference between, as I often say, LGBT and BTG. So, at this stage he is nothing more than a purveyor of the rumors and a peddler of utter strategic and operational BS for the benefit of a larger agenda rooted in partizan politics in D.C. and which has no relation to the actual national interest of the United States nor the majority of the Americans. 

In other words, apart from being a person of a lowest moral character, a fanatical neocon, he is also a pathological liar, which factors greatly in his "character". While Schiff's traits are the dominant traits of America's elites as a whole and I am on record that many of those people are sociopaths and some are outright psychopaths. So, this creature now "expects" Russia "invading" Ukraine. Under the "very likely" (rings the bell?) term it means that, if to assume that he, indeed, conveys some rumors percolating inside the US "intelligence community",  I have to admit that there is very little intelligence in this community. Judging by the "stellar" results of actions of this "community" ranging from Iraq, to Afghanistan to Syria, among many other places, one has to start questioning not just competence, of which is very little there, but sanity of people who continue to destroy the country. Adam Schiff is an Exhibit A of a complete degeneration in human and professional terms of the American political class.

But in the end, the United States is so desperate to both unload 404 on Russia and use any pretext to unleash "sanction of death", which for Russia will be nothing more than temporary inconvenience at the worst, that any means are used to make Russia invade the territory Russia has no use for nor desire to take on her balance. At least not now, or in a foreseeable future. In related news:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is hoping to turn a page in relations with Moscow, and expects to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by the end of the month, according to a report from Berlin's top tabloid. On Monday, Bild claimed that Scholz sees relations with Moscow as a top-tier foreign affairs priority in spite of calls from some members of his governing coalition for a more confrontational approach to Russia. The newspaper said that the 63-year-old is aiming for a "qualified fresh start." However, Berlin has officially yet to confirm any top-level meeting of this type, with the German Embassy in Moscow also unable to verify the report. What is known, however, is that the chancellor’s foreign policy adviser will meet his Russian and French counterparts this week. Scholz’s reported attempts at a new détente with Moscow may prove unpopular with his coalition partners, particularly the Green party, which is strongly pro-US/NATO and hostile to Russia. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economy Minister Robert Habeck are known to want Berlin to adopt a more hardline anti-Russian stance.

My personal opinion is that the new Germany's government is nonfunctional from the outset and some people in it are downright insane and utterly incompetent, but that is the trend across the whole combined West and it is very pronounced. 

P.S. I am currently sick as a dog, initial thought was that it is Covid, but my daughter tested negative twice. I think it is a very nasty cold and today I felt slightly better to type this post. 

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;)

Doctrines?

Andrew Bacevich writes about Carter Doctrine. Good for Bacevich. 

Writing in Foreign Policy, three distinguished members of the foreign policy establishment—Hal Brands of Johns Hopkins, Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Ken Pollack of the American Enterprise Institute—have issued a warning: Don’t look now, but President Trump appears intent on repudiating the Carter Doctrine. If he does, all the great successes achieved by U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf over the past several decades will be lost. This, they want you to believe, would be a terrible thing.

There is only one problem, designating US produced "doctrines" by the names of US Presidents with which one or another "doctrine" originated--it is the same as designating rigid and inflexible US military "doctrines" of expeditionary warfare following throwing an ungodly number of stand-off weapons at a victim with different titles ranging from "From The Sea" to "Air Sea Battle" to whatever else. In other words it is "Same Shit-Different Angle". The only noticeable correction of the course in the US doctrinal thinking happened in early 1970s with Nixon's (forced, mind you) Detente with the Soviet Union and with eventual "opening" of China, which, as we all know today, ended up with the greatest transfer of industries from the United States to other country in history. So, discussing US foreign policy "doctrines", especially by ignoring huge political inputs (in favors, dollars, blackmail or exploitation of Christian Zionism of many in US power circles) by such actors as Israel and Saudi Arabia is a fool's errand.

I do not believe that Bacevich doesn't know that. I am positive he does. Yet, as in that process of running in circles, everything ends up with discussing a minutiae of American neocons' flaming insanity and utter military incompetence and trying to pigeonhole it into one or another US geopolitical delusion, which, for some reason, pass for "doctrines" . I looked up biographies of people whose "ideas" Bacevich discusses and concludes that:

Brands, Cook, and Pollack correctly note that various initiatives undertaken under the aegis of the Carter Doctrine have ultimately redounded to the benefit of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But if Iran is a problem, they have a solution. Kick some ass.

I don't know, last time I checked if any ass kicking was happening it was definitely not by the United States. Among those three stooges who abuse their sinecures in all those rabidly neocon "think-tanks: such as American Enterprise Institute, or CFR, only Pollack has some "intelligence" background as former CIA "analysts" with degree.... and you guessed it--political "science". Pollack is known for his active calls to invade Iraq and even wrote grossly untimely book on Arabs' military effectiveness, or, rather lack thereof. Untimely, because this issue was debated so much in the last 50 years, from Soviet military advisors to all kinds of "Strategic Studies"  courses in the Wests, to famous  Atkine's primer Why Arabs Lose Wars that, after brief acquaintance with Pollack's 2018 book about Arab military history from 1948 to 1991 one is forced to ask a question--Why? What's the purpose of re-narrating same ol', same ol'? But, my friends, this is the current level of the American or, rather, neocon "Strategic Studies". 1991 is also a cut out date for the last noticeable victory of the US Armed Forces against what was, as usual falsely, touted as the "fourth largest army in the word", implying that it was powerful, while in reality it was a backward, badly led, typical third world military.

Numbers provide a good foundation, albeit by far not all of it, of viewing modern war. In this case, Bacevich fails to disclose the real meaning of the "kicking some ass", Iranian ass that is, since this is the heart of the matter. The issue is not that impossibility of kicking some ass without receiving a lot of it back was discussed, by me included, on a number of occasions. I would love to see ass-kicking plan developed by those three--no secrets--just general idea of this plan, required forces, logistics, general strategy, operational tempos etc. Why not, I am sure these three stooges can provide a fascination expose of utter military strategic and operational ignorance and will cause many laughs along the way. Reason being that these people do not grasp modern warfare beyond experiences of massive salvos of stand-off weapons in Desert Storm at whatever targets Pentagon may identify and then... Yes, about this "then", I am always in a full attention mode waiting for some magical plan to appear explaining how the United States Armed Forces will fight war in Iran. I am all eyes and ears. But even this is beyond the point--don't expect anything which makes sense geopolitically, militarily or economically. Here is an example of this type of people's "expertise", this is from 2016. 

So, Bacevich gets it very wrong, especially when he begins with "distinguished members"--distinguished by who or what, against what background or under what circumstances? If American geopolitical collapse and US being exposed as nothing more than a dangerous declining power--a process which is ongoing since 2000s--are reasons to tout human stupidity and lack of any serious background in achieving any kind of tangible "success" in anything are the reasons to be "distinguished", then--sure. Modern American political and pseudo-intellectual elite, as I stated many times, is staggering in its incompetence matched only by its arrogance--a first sign of lacking serious intellect. The aggressiveness of types like Pollack is dictated by anything but serving true American national interests and by suppressing a horrendous complex of inferiority because they know deep inside that they are losers who have nothing to show for their pseudo "academic" backgrounds and activity which is based around thinking up all kinds of military strategic nonsense. But, sadly, Bacevich doesn't write about this. Even Le Monde--a globalist French rag begins to suspect that: 

les Etats-Unis n’exercent plus le rôle qu’ils s’étaient attribué au XXe siècle, celui du leadership mondial. Ils y étaient de plus en plus réticents depuis quelques années ; ils s’en sont, dans cette crise qui les affaiblit, totalement extraits. Il a fallu prier le président Donald Trump pour qu’il accepte de participer, par visioconférence, à des réunions internationales qu’il aurait dû présider. Lorsqu’elles ont pu se tenir, ces réunions n’ont donné aucun résultat. A l’ONU, le Conseil de sécurité est, de fait, paralysé.

Western in general, and American in particular, current "elites" are totally inadequate intellectually, academically, humanly and professionally to challenges which their societies face and it is them who, being products of a dysfunctional system, exacerbate already a violent process of a departure of the Western liberalism from the world stage. Having some "distinguished" swamp creatures suggesting to "kick some ass" at this time should be viewed as a distinguished idiocy, not as a valid matter to discuss--unless, of course, we are talking about orderlies in psychiatric ward, where modern American neocons belong wholesale, I mean those who will avoid standing War Crimes Tribunal.  

Some Insight Into The Minds of Russiagate Movers And Shakers.

Yvonne Lorenzo sent me the link to The Nation article about this whole Russiagate debacle. I wrote many times that West has larger issue with Russia than merely difference of policies. It is racial at the political top. So, here is summary, of sorts, of the "ideas" about Russia and Russians many exercise in the US. 

Key US officials behind the Russia investigation have made no secret of their animus towards Russia. “I do always hate the Russians,” Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer on the Russia probe, testified to Congress in July 2018. “It is my opinion that with respect to Western ideals and who it is and what it is west and for as Americans, Russia poses the most dangerous threat to that way of life.” As he opened the FBI’s probe of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russians in July 2016, FBI agent Peter Strzok texted Page: “fuck the cheating motherfucking Russians… Bastards. I hate them… I think they’re probably the worst. Fucking conniving cheating savages.” Speaking to NBC News in May 2017, former director of national intelligence James Clapper explained why US officials saw interactions between the Trump camp and Russian nationals as a cause for alarm: “The Russians,” Clapper said, “almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical Russian technique. So we were concerned.” In a May interview with Lawfare,former FBI general counsel Jim Baker, who helped oversee the Russia probe, explained the origins of the investigation as follows: “It was about Russia, period, full stop.… When the [George] Papadopoulos information comes across our radar screen, it’s coming across in the sense that we were always looking at Russia.… we’ve been thinking about Russia as a threat actor for decades and decades.”  

It is always funny to read about "values" and "ideals"--if that "way of life" continues, the end-result will be precisely total elimination of everything of true value combined West ever produced with the US Constitution being shredded to pieces. Ah, wait, I forgot--these are the thoughts of people who are directly involved in criminal coup attempt, which by definition is anti-constitutional and violates this very same "way of life" these people allegedly try to protect. One has to have, of course, appreciation of their fever-pitch hatred of Russians and, what matters here, this is not a private, an exception that is, attitude. It is not a secret that very large strata of US policy-makers is afflicted by Russophobia. A large part of this Russophobia, apart from being racial--you know, dirty Slavs and all that jazz--is very much a suppressed complex of inferiority. Throughout all 20th and 21st century not only Russia presented itself as an inconvenient impediment to America-the-savior-of-humanity narrative, but Russia remains the only nation which can remove the United States from the map and can conventionally defeat any combination of forces the United States can assemble. This simple fact makes many in US "elite", which is largely ignorant on the issues of real war, very uncomfortable. 

As Graham Allison, a political "scientist" (that is to say a man who has no real scientific education), the author of stupid in its triviality "concept" of Thucydides Gap,  formulated it:

Technology, in effect, made Russia America’s insufferable but inescapable Siamese twin. The strategic reality is even more horrific. However demonic, however destructive, however devious, however deserving of being strangled Russia is, the brute fact is that we cannot kill this bastard without committing suicide.

There is, of course, a very funny point in this Allison's lament, which really makes his bloviation on this Thucydides Gap nothing more than incomprehensible and self-contradictory demagoguery, so characteristic of current American "intellectual" class. But it merely adds to a spectrum of high class, cultured and incisive thoughts on Russia produced in the deep recesses of American political "science" parallel universe. Nah, I am being facetious--most of this class doesn't have the mastery of the subjects involved: be that Russia, warfare, power or history. Speaking of which--Russia celebrates today Navy Day. "Cheating savages" rolled out some hardware which already packs a very good salvo of high-supersonic missiles and, in the nearest future, will be carrying 3M22 Zircons, which basically add to the flame of Russia hatred among exceptionalist crowd in D.C. 

Nowadays, participation of PLANs, Indian or Vietnamese Navy's ships in Russian Naval parades has become a routine and a good demonstration of increasing consolidation of Eurasian security architecture. Like this latest joint air patrol by Russia and China, with China buying yet another batch of S-400s  and, rumor has it, another batch of SU-35s (this one--SU-35--is yet to be confirmed). Obviously, Turkey willing to take part in commercial aircraft programs of Russia (in Russian) will only add to the Russia-related anxiety of the American "elites". So, to ease this anxiety Russia kicked Atlantic Council out of Russia--a long overdue decision. Those creeps do not operate in reality anyway and are good only for collection of information (aka spying) from Russia's "dissidents" (a euphemism for Russophobes) and for writing stupid amateurish narratives, none of which is ever based in...well...reality. 

Meanwhile In The News.

I keep an eye on that constantly. 

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - A draft motion likely to be passed by South African lawmakers would give a new parliamentary committee until March 2020 to report back on proposed constitutional changes that would allow expropriation of land without compensation.The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has pledged to accelerate land reform, an emotive issue in South Africa and a source of frustration for many voters. Twenty-five years after the end of apartheid, when millions among the black majority were dispossessed of their land by the white minority, housing conditions and land ownership remain vastly unequal.Last year, the ANC proposed a controversial constitutional amendment that would allow the government to seize land without compensation, but the process has stalled. 

Of course, keep in mind that narrative (by Reuters, no less) about "dispossession" is good ol' British liberal BS, but that is expected from the media of the country, which is an exhibit A of a catastrophe that multiculturalism (euphemism for emasculation and disenfranchising of native white population) brings. Yet, the problem persists in South Africa and the white genocide is in the air. 

Here is the video of how Boers are being welcomed in Russia (it is mostly in Russian) and given tours of mostly abandoned or barely alive villages, no, not in fertile Stavropol or Krasnodar Regions or paradise of Crimea, but in truly historic and geographic center of Russia--Ivanovo Region (my late father was from one of those villages--not shown in this video). The Administration of Ivanovo Region helped with presentation for this particular family, where all charming (all ginger) kids learned to speak Russian on their own. 

There is a lot of land in Russia which needs loving care, especially in such areas as Central Russia (Central Strip of Russia). Will Boers take this offer too? Will rich Boers help their less fortunate brothers and sisters move too? They are the most vulnerable ones. South Africa is going to descend into chaos one way or another (actually it is happening as I type this) and the danger to whites there will only grow. Latest news only confirm that. 

Back to the US. James Kunstler today pointed out what I also wrote about not for once, whenever commenting on current US "elites", including in relation to a disgusting spectacle of Russiagate, which culminated two days ago in Muller's performance which was painful to watch and listen. But here is Kunstler verbatim:

In all this long and excruciating public playing-out of dark schemes, Mr. Trump, first candidate and now president, seems to have acted as little more than a tackling dummy for the Mueller Team and its backstage Clinton confederates. He tweeted childishly about the deeply partisan composition of the Mueller Team when he should have mounted a forceful legal opposition to the effrontery of their selection in the first place.

It resonates well with yesterday Tucker's rant. Is it all that bad, really, among these American "elites"? Yes, it is and it is terrifying. The incompetence level is simply off the scale, as well as a complete paralysis of the government. A bunch of high-school spoiled brats, like in this photo with doctored Seal of the President of the United States. Pathetic and yet another sign of immaturity and lack of any values and respect to the Office among those who contributed mightily to the downfall of the Republic. American "elites" are revolting. They are unfit to run the country.

President Trump walked, beaming, onto the stage at Turning Point USA’s student summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to loud applause from the attendees, as a huge image of the “Seal of the President of the United States” was projected on a screen behind him. But there was something different about this seal. The national symbol was replaced by a two-headed eagle, and instead of arrows, in its claw was a clutch of golf clubs. The national motto — “E pluribus unum,” meaning “out of many, one” — was replaced by the Spanish phrase “45 es un títere”: “45 [designating Trump, as the 45th president] is a puppet.”

Disgusting... all of them.  

The Hell You Say!

Finally, even steadily degenerating Vzglyad gets it. In today's article about spying, by the West, inside Russia's "elites"--I assume that to be the case, everybody spies on everybody--the author comes to the conclusion: 

Не менее актуальна сейчас и проблема чисто политического шпионажа. В Вашингтоне даже не пытаются скрывать, что практически все оценки и прогнозы в отношении России строятся на 90% из информации, полученной из конфиденциальных источников. Это университетские think-tank опираются на тенденциозные оценки политэмигрантов и представителей «внутренней эмиграции», отчего все эти доклады порой так весело выглядят.   

Translation: No less acute now is the problem of purely political espionage. Washington does not even try to hide the fact that practically all assessments and forecasts about Russia are 90% based on information from confidential sources. These university think-tanks use biased assessments by political immigrants and the representatives of the so called "internal immigration" (euphemism for Russia's liberasts, people with fair faces and so called "nationalists") , that is why those reports are often look so funny. 

No, they are not "funny" in the end, despite hilarious stupidity and ignorance of people who write those. Well, I am screaming about the danger of this BS about Russia in the West for years now. It has nothing to do with political espionage, but everything with a permanent Chalabi moment for US elites whose lack of education, culture and awareness of the outside world, especially of Russia is clear and present danger for the world for a reason that many those people in D.C. have no clue about what they are dealing with and may run, due to their ignorance, into a very sorry situation for everybody. Here is one such example--the guy is a certified ignoramus, yet, look at him:

            Russia is weak, contrary to popular belief

You may google "credentials" of this amateur easily and yes, degree in political "science", what else. This is the level of "expertise" of modern US "elites" and it is down right terrifying that modern Russia Studies field in the West is dominated with grievances and huge egos afflicted Russian (and Western) nobodies who convinced many in the US that Russia still resides in 1990s. While at it, my second book, which comes along fairly nicely, tries to finally deal with these "analysts" and other political "scientists" by providing a very real, tangible numerical tools for understanding the depth of ignorance and detachment from military and geopolitical reality by those self-proclaimed "experts". Either Washington begins to live in reality or it may end up really bad for everyone involved. Good that even such increasingly reminiscent of the sewer Vzglyad at least gets it.  

UPDATE: Lavrov is explicit about "quality" of American "elite". I know, I am writing about this for years now.