Let's Try Q & A And Whatever Else Sticky Post

Here is the post which I will try to keep sticky for people to ask questions and share their thoughts which are not on topic. This, I think is known as Open Thread. Fire away.

Why Are They That Stupid?

23 years ago when I was teaching kids actual physics and math, including earlier introduction into the math analysis--and most of those kids did just fine, when properly taught--Wall Street Journal published this piece. 

I have this piece saved because it was about that time that I was getting active in homeschooling movement and some actual math advocacy groups trying to prevent a catastrophe which was already on the horizon for the American kids, who since 1980s have been subjected to an insane and inhuman experimentation by denying them a world class education in natural and precise sciences. STEM and natural science influence on people is more than just the ability to operate with complex concepts, it is here that the formal logic and ability to build causality are instilled from the early childhood. But, as always, there are exceptions, even on the level which otherwise would be considered a top one.

Nowadays, with "scientific" opinions like one below, one has to admit that the experimentation in indoctrination certainly succeeded and even plethora of STEM degrees is no guarantee against people being stupid in a broader human sense, nor, for that matter being just plain simple ass-holes. (Pseudo) Scientific American already publishes things of this nature:

Physicists Need to Be More Careful with How They Name Things. The popular term “quantum supremacy,” which refers to quantum computers outperforming classical ones, is uncomfortably reminiscent of “white supremacy”. 

Mind you, out of three cretins who wrote this sappy piece of shit, this one

has an impressive C.V. which reads like that: Ph.D., Mathematics, University of St. Andrews MSc, Applied Physics, The Johns Hopkins University BSc, Mechanical Engineering (Minor: Philosophy), University at Buffalo. 

The other two authors are altogether some cuck non-entities and you would expect this from the guy above:

These kinds of linguistic hotfixes do not reach even a bare minimum for diversifying science; the most important work involves hiring and retention and actual material changes to the scientific community to make it less white and male. But if opposition to improving the language of science is any indication about broader obstacles to diversifying it, this is a conversation we must have. 

I think, this dude is an embodiment of a tragedy which befell America's science field, nor is he good as a physicist, because the person with male genitalia who harbors these kind of thoughts has to seek a psychological help immediately. I would suggest to forego that altogether, and go directly to a good psychiatrist. This guy's signature, among many others, also appears in a letter to SCOTUS supporting the affirmative action--so the guy is a classic American cuck and, despite numerous degrees, is a product of the American system of public education which provides next to zero value (I would argue, it is negative) when teaching humanities' subjects and which is responsible for the murder of the American meritocracy and F-35 and Boeing-737 Max among many other disasters it co-authored with the Modern Monetary Theory, Free Trade and Stock Buybacks, courtesy of FIRE economy.

But, if despite the unfolding wholesale idiocy in the US academic STEM realm some islands of the top-notch scholarship in math-physics-chemistry still remain and try to fight off ideologization and politicization of the natural sciences, the humanities field, by the virtue of not being really scientific and primarily opinion-driven, is altogether--a house of madness, or a cesspool in the US. Make your own choice of wording. But there is very little difference between Critical Race Theory and, say, whatever the so called Political (Pseudo)Science produces nowadays in the West because all of it is a plain simple demagoguery and compilation of random economic, historic, pop-science and current events' "facts" which are good only for fitting prevailing narratives. That is why the loony so called American (or European) Left and nominal Right are close relatives, a connection both will deny, since they are both an embodiment of a systemic crisis which is self-perpetuating because it is based on false premises. 

Here is one such example of a hallmark of the American academe lack of awareness of the outside word, lucidly noted by Paul Gottfried who, being a man of a conservative calling, evidently had it with this BS about "Cultural Marxism" and other primitive sloganeering intrinsic in a tawdry American political discourse. 

The swear words “Marxist” and “revolutionary” are now thrown around by conservatives, such as those at Heritage, the New York Post, and Fox News, with the same abandon with which the left speaks about “human rights” or “marriage,” particularly in relation to the concept of Critical Race Theory (CRT). But as someone who has studied Marxism extensively, I believe it’s necessary to state that CRT is most definitely not Marxist, nor is it in any sense revolutionary. Instead, it is an instrument of repression brandished by those in power against those whom it is feared might resist them, and those labeling this instrument as Marxist misdiagnose the problem to their detriment.    

You see, at least somebody tries to keep a head above the putrid surface of the Western political BS, passing for "science" and tries to establish the actual causality. But, this is the exception, not the rule in the United States and the reason I write about systemic crisis all the time, is because this is not a mechanism, across the board, from economy and military, to academe, which would work just fine if you can tweak it and tune it up and things will go as planned after that. This is not the case at all. It is the whole machine whose design is unworkable and no amount of small fixes can save it anymore. It is a runaway train. 

And here I come to the matter of this meandering piece of mine. Few days ago Politico published an opinion piece by Matthew Rojansky who passes in the US for "realist" in US-Russian relations and was effectively blocked by the establishment from getting a position of a chief adviser on Russia in Biden's Administration. Yet, Rojansky's "reputation" as a "realist" (quotation marks are intentional) did not prevent him from producing this whopper of a middle-school essay writing and a complete unawareness of the world outside in general, and Russia, in which Rojansky is allegedly a specialist, in particular. Writing about cheering US troops when hearing Biden promising to be "tough" on Russia, Rojansky writes: 

Yet the fact is, the cheering troops are right: Biden is being tough on Putin, but not just because he’s saying the right things. When it comes to the difficult, high-stakes U.S.-Russia relationship, toughness doesn’t mean refusing to talk to the other side, even when they’ve engaged in bad behavior. American presidents over the years have shown that successfully managing this relationship demands three different kinds of toughness: talking tough, toughing it out, and hanging tough. Though they can be easily overshadowed by the political theater of U.S.-Russia conflict, these three kinds of toughness are essential foundations for any communication between Washington and Moscow to bear fruit.

It took me a good five minutes to understand (after few readings) what Rojansky is trying to say here about "three kinds of toughness". And then it occurred to me--no matter how I try to understand in any practical sense what Rojansky is trying to convey here, it will not do any good because when one has no substance, as Rojansky does, the only thing which is left is to go into the Humpty Dumpty mode and do what I describe in my last book, and I quote:

In the post-modernist world of sheer emoting and of the alleged validity of all and any narrative, the whole notion of right and wrong, and the whole notion of truth which is knowable become irrelevant. The epistemological closure comes by the way of informational noise where everything is true and valid—and is not, at the same time. It is truly a contemporary iteration reminiscent of the Orwellian world of double-speak or even of an earlier version of that, the world of Humpty-Dumpty in which words mean “just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” By now the puzzle of who is the real master in choosing the meaning of words, thus determining what is real, has been solved—a financial oligarchy and a self-proclaimed intellectual class from both “left” and “right” which finally failed to predict just about anything, since objectivity is not only impossible but irrelevant, and therefore, as Hitchens noted, whatever is put forward as truth is necessarily “ideology.”

Rojansky is an Exhibit A of this epistemic closure of the American "academe" which either is not capable to view the outside world through objective lens, or is afraid to, or both. If you look at Rojansky's biography it becomes patently clear that huge swaths of the American diplomatic-national security establishment are utterly unqualified to be in or around any political body responsible for a development of sound policy, the emphasis on "sound". The reasons for that are numerous and I will go over, again, some of them.  

1. History of modern Russia, including, especially, her Soviet period, does not exist in the US in any operational sense because majority of it is either a political caricature or outright solzhenitsified lie, provided primarily through Russian/Soviet dissidents or, primarily, not exclusively, Jewish immigration with well-defined agenda and scores to settle--this is the main source of information about Russia in the US. Bar some few important exceptions, modern Russia history is served in the US only within the Cold War 1.0 propaganda framework and has very little to zero value in any practical sense. Most of it exists not to study Russia but to support American exceptionalism.

2. The United States and its "intellectual" class are extremely inefficient not only in studying outside world in general and Russia in particular, but the systemic flaw of the US foreign policy establishment is its gross failure in internalizing even what little precious they learn about any subject, which is the first sign of a systemic dysfunction. Empirical evidence of that is overwhelming and reads like: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan among many other things, including America's military policies and doctrine-mongering. Few exceptions merely confirm and underscore the rule. 

3. The tawdriness of the American political discourse and its elections' expedience-driven nature dictate its grandiosity of statements which is an obverse side of primitivization of media sloganeering and shallowness of "expertise" required to serve this discourse much of which is a show for plebes. Hence a specific and well established verbiage most of which is designed to avoid substance and obfuscate any unpleasant facts.

4. You cannot teach an average American political "scientist", lawyer or "diplomat" anything on the power balance and what actual "tough" means in the real world. Most people in the US establishment never served a day in uniform and have zero military and intelligence background. It is one of the major factors, together with being in the pockets of ethnic and military-industrial lobbies, driving their aggressiveness and militarism. It is a desperate desire to look "tough" and macho. Having no background in military-intelligence service they cannot produce realistic assessment of alleged America's "enemies" and of the state of the United States itself, whose propensity for self-aggrandizing and gross overestimation of own power and importance became legendary and is in the foundation of the current existential American crisis.

There are many other points, but Rojansky's piece confirms these four points above perfectly and if Rojansky passes in the United States as "Russia realist" and makes these conclusions:       

Biden impressed his audience in the United Kingdom with his tough talk and his willingness to take on Putin. But the full measure of Biden’s toughness will be whether he can bring clarity, credibility and persistence to the enormous challenge of managing U.S.-Russia relations. Biden will need that same arsenal of toughness on the home front, too, to help Americans “build back better.” If he is up to that challenge, then he will have more than earned those service members’ applause.

It becomes absolutely clear that Rojansky, let alone US establishment both on the "left" and "right" which is overwhelmingly ignorant on Russia, her history and her people, are not fit to conduct foreign policy under current circumstances and Rojansky should understand that:

1. Russia will talk with the devil himself if need be and Russians' opinion of the modern American establishment is very close to a definition of the devil. If it reduces some tensions, sure. But...

2. Russia knows that the United States is non-agreement capable and effectively ungovernable and any word or document signed with the US is worthless, as are any US promises. If  Rojansky, and Biden Admin, think otherwise--they are in for a surprise.

3. Russia knows that this summit is primarily for the internal US consumption and for consumption of the US vassals in Europe, to show that the US "is back" and can talk "tough". Russia knows that the US doesn't know what real tough is. So, Putin and Co all take this whole premise with a smile, while understanding clearly that anti-Russian activities both clandestine and in the open will continue on the America's (and West's) part.

4. Rojansky needs and update on the main component of the global balance of power which is a military power. The United States lost the arms race both conventionally and, especially, in strategic weapons and this is the MAIN driving force behind US stalking Russians with the idea for this "summit" because the United States will do everything possible trying to put Russia's new strategic and operational-strategic weapons under some kind of treaty. Not to mention the fact of a very serious scare in D.C. after Zelensky's trying to play a game of chicken with Russia's Armed Forces--wrong plan. Rojansky rubbed shoulders with many US top brass, maybe he should inquire there about what systems such as 3M22 Zircon or Petrel (Burevestnik), or new iterations of 3M14 Kalibr mean for the US and NATO. They will explain to him, maybe, why Putin will be smiling at Biden's "tough talk". 

5. China, China, China. Russia, Russia, Russia. Yeah, right, last desperate attempt to peel off Russians from Chinese. Don't tell me that they are not delusional in D.C. 

But since the main thrust of Rojansky's piece is the necessity to be "tough" with Russia, what can I say, some lawyer from Scranton, who barely finished his law school at the bottom of the class, plagiarized the article, dodged the draft and accidentally became POTUS, and now is having serious mental issues, will be talking to not just a great lawyer himself but to a graduate of two serious KGB schools, including legendary KAI, former FSB Director, an intelligence professional, who, incidentally, survived number of attempts on his life, and now the President of the only country which can literally wipe the United States off the map, if Rojansky doesn't understand the meaning of mismatch, that only confirms everything I wrote in this piece. They ARE that stupid. Especially since they believe their own BS both about Russia and the United States, which by providence was given a chance after the collapse of the Soviet Union to build a better world--the task at which it failed miserably due to hubris, low intellectual and cultural level of its "elites", grossly flawed American mythology and inability to learn. 

In this case the title of the WSJ's piece from 23 years ago should be rephrased: Why America Has the World's Dimmest Elites? Looking at the parade of mediocrities starting from the very top of the US governing class and its "intellectual elite" one can only conclude that the system cannot produce anyone else, at least for now, and the death, in reality the murder, of the American meritocracy promises nothing good to both United States itself and the world at large. If Putin and his people will find (I doubt it, but hope dies last) anyone in the US to talk to and build a dialogue in hopes of a new generation of the American political class emerging, at some point in the future, with which one can discuss serious issues of new, multipolar world, I would view this as a miracle.  

In related news: 

Beijing has dismissed the notion that G7 nations can chart the trajectory of global affairs, arguing that decision-making by small clubs has been replaced by genuine multilateralism.

Meanwhile Russia's Pacific Fleet (some of it) went to the Pacific to do whatever they usually do, you know. 

Just in case. After all, those Kalibrs and P-800s (Oniks) need to be taken out to the ocean once in a while, wink, wink.

I Always Loved Them... (Friday)

Styx. Even at their worst they were still great but Dennis DeYoung leaving was bad. Luckily, Dennis continues to produce simply great music. 

But this one simply nailed it. 

 

 

Last guitar hero... never coming back....maybe.         

Lavrov, Help.

You all know the meaning of this by now, now with a simple crossword, wink, wink. 

Wall Street Journal unleashed on unsuspecting "investors" (meaning a speculative capital which destroyed US economy) a marvel of an "analysis" which should be filed under the "No Shit, Duh!" title. 

The U.S. is barreling toward one of the greatest self-inflicted wounds in its history. This came into sharper focus last week when President Biden suspended oil leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), even as Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced production increases.Mr. Biden’s anti-carbon fusillade will have no effect on the climate as global demand for fossil fuels will continue to increase for decades no matter what the U.S. does. Meantime, Russia, China and Iran will take advantage of America’s astonishing fossil-fuel retreat.

I have news for WSJ's editorial board which, evidently, is packed with Captains, Majors and Generals Obvious--the United States couldn't compete with Russia in this field to start with. I clearly remember all these business "analysts" from all US MSM outlets, more than a year ago, having an acute and irrational outburst of schadenfreude expecting Russia's economy to collapse because of the oil war and oil prices being driven into the ground. I was flabbergasted by a complete lack of self-awareness of those "analysts", because it was clear from the git go that Russia will be just fine and it was the United States which would experience, which it did, a very rough awakening and facing a reality of energy markets where the US had a very weak hand. 

U.S. producers reduced investment during the pandemic as demand plunged. While prices have since recovered to a two-year high, a larger U.S. retrenchment driven by government and progressive investors is on the way. 

Let's start with two simple facts which were known since... forever:

1. US fracking was never economically viable. But "fossil" energy will be needed for a long time because "alternative energy" cannot provide even a small fraction of the growing demand. It simply can't in this technological paradigm, period. 

2. US "anthropogenic climate change" hoax is as American as baseball and apple pie--it is a result of the US being always vulnerable to paranoia and most radical anti-scientific ideas. 

It was very easy to predict where the US will progress under these circumstances as well as geopolitical consequences. Yes, guys, this is how competition works: I have what you need, you don't. It was always like that. I know, it is unpleasant to be on the receiving end but we all live with our own limitations and vulnerabilities and we make do as much as we can. Same applies to the nation-states. If those nation-states go bananas and become irrational like the EU which wants to turn "green" by 2050 and plunge hundreds of millions of people into economic misery--let them, let's see how long those cretins will survive before a raging hungry mob with pitch-forks (or AK-47s) will start hunting their asses. You can bet your ass on the fact that Russia and China will be watching this clusterfuck from a distance in total amusement. 

So, WSJ laments now that Putin is happy? Well, why not? Russians know how high a price is paid for ideological orthodoxies. West's ideological orthodoxies from institutionalizing a sodomy, sexual deviancy, obverse racism, cultural and moral relativism to pseudo sciences of gender, MMT and MMGW--hey, all ingredients are in place to see the whole goddamn thing implode with catastrophic consequences for Western people. Remarkably, WSJ helped to further this agenda, which, of course, its editorial board would deny. But facts are stubborn thing--WSJ is an utterly globalist rag on the service of the same cabal which for decades promoted crazy economic, geopolitical and moral ideas. So what's the problem? I don't see any. After all let's recall the name of this rag--Wall Street (mind you, not the Main Street) Journal.  And that in itself speaks volumes. 

About The Eggs, I Mean Balls....

In Russian language words "eggs" and "balls" are interchangeable. E.g. during the WW II, the United States supplied through Lend-Lease huge volumes of egg-powder to Soviet Union and this powder, which saved countless lives from famine, became known on the street as Roosevelt's Eggs, but in Russian language it had a direct alternative interpretation as Roosevelt's Balls. It was tongue in cheek and warm joke but in Russia this eggs-balls interchange makes often for funny interpretations. Masha Zakharova knows this and her response to EU's foreign policy big honcho Josep Borrell about "breaking eggs" to make an omelette already became epic. 

And, yes, Zakharova has damn beautiful legs, I am sure she knows it and "she knows how to use them", quoting immortal rock classics by ZZ Top, diplomacy-wise.

Lie Down With Dogs, Get Up With...

Well, you all know how it goes. Already in 2015, when ukranization of the US foreign policy started in earnest (I wonder how much competition is there between Israel and Ukraine at this stage) one US Senator got himself a flea infestation, when:

The 'exclusive' photos of 'Russian invasion in Ukraine' in 2014 turned out to be easily found in the Web, with at least one of them dating back to 2008. Now, US senator James Inhofe is furious with the Ukrainian delegation for setting him up with the 'evidence'. Questions have been raised about the veracity of reports that claim Russian troops have invaded Ukraine after US Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe confessed that several photos of Russian convoys he obtained from a Ukrainian parliamentary group were taken during the 2008 Georgia conflict, the Washington Free Beacon said. On Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon ran a story that unveiled "exclusive" photos of victims of militia bombs and Russian armed vehicles seemingly rolling into Ukraine. The photos were provided to Inhofe's office in print by an obscure Ukrainian delegation, led by a Georgetown professor, who said the images were taken at the height of Russia's alleged military incursion between August 24 and September 5, 2014.  

Now America's Ukie "friends" have their own ideas on how the whole NATO proceedings should be conducted and they simply do this:

The White House and the Ukrainian government initially sent out conflicting official accounts of Monday's phone call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Why it matters: Ukraine's government initially reported on its official website that Biden had "highlighted... the importance of providing the Ukrainian state with a NATO Membership Action Plan," which would put Ukraine on course for membership in the alliance. The White House denied Biden expressed support for such a step on the call.

• "The Ukrainians mischaracterized the statement and corrected the record," a National Security Council spokesperson told Axios.
• By Monday evening, the Ukrainian government's readout had been changed to remove the reference to NATO membership for Ukraine.

Oh come on, guys. Give poor Ukraine a break, they want to matter so much that "little" lie here, "little" lie there shouldn't matter, really. Why don't the US give Ukraine codes from the US nuclear weapons, that is a swell idea. But in the game who will pay for this shithole of a country one very important step has been made. Not that the promise from D.C. worth anything but Anthony Blinken stated:

....что США намерены "возместить" Украине возможную потерю трансферных платежей и обеспечить, чтобы Россия "не могла использовать газ как инструмент принуждения".

Translation:  The United States have all intentions to "compensate" Ukraine for the possible loss of payments (due to Nord Stream 2) and provide for "Russia not using gas as the instrument of coercion".  

 

That's more like it, after all (don't forget to turn on English subs) this was stated just couple of days ago.

Generally, chutzpah is the MO of Ukraine (also known in Russia as Country 404 or simply 404), so financing killing people of LDNR and alleged "war with Russia" should rest, as 404's thinking goes, on Russia financing 404's armed forces by means of paying for the transit of gas. This is so...Israel-like, who gets free US money to occupy territories, which do not belong to Israel. Well, Russia is no US and is independent from anyone in formulation of her foreign policy and follows this good ol' principle--you broke it, you bought it. The US broke 404 (together with EU), so the US must pay, simple as that. Putin, ever relaxed, meanwhile trolled the new MI-6 boss who insists that Russia is a "declining power". 

I have to admit, the pool of imbeciles ready to spew any kind of propaganda BS in the West is limitless. The decline is not just visible, it is dramatic, if not shocking. As Matt Purple noted (correctly): 

Our Elites Couldn’t ‘Reset’ a Wall Outlet, Let Alone the Global Economy  

So, make your own conclusions. 

The Summit Thing.

Russians soon will have to really hide under the bed in order to avoid being stalked by the US and NATO and being subjected to incessant requests to hold summits of one form or another. If stalking Russians to get the Geneva summit out of them hasn't been enough, now Mr. Stoltenberg wants to hold a meeting of a de facto defunct (since 2014) NATO-Russia Council. 

BRUSSELS, June 7. /TASS/. NATO is currently holding contacts with Russia in order to convene the Russia-NATO Council at the ambassadorial level, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, speaking at the Atlantic Council Monday. "We have a standing invitation for Russia to participate in a meeting, to convene the Russia-NATO Council again. So far, they have not answered," Stoltenberg noted. "We are now in contact with Russia to convene the Russia-NATO Council," he said.

As I always state: to discuss exactly WHAT? NATO, which is the United States and a bunch of its vassals is not going to change and playing a willing side changes absolutely nothing because NATO lied to Russia and its word is worthless. As if giving Stoltenberg a bit of a cold shower, Russia's Foreign Ministry stated today:

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/. Sanctions against Russia have been enshrined in the legal acts of Western states and will last forever, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma (lower house) on Monday."The sanctions regime has always been in place. And it will remain so forever, let us be realistic. Sanctions have been enshrined in many legal acts, in the US and other states, and it is impossible to roll them back," the diplomat stated."All of them are illegitimate, they were slapped under very shaky pretexts, without any proof, but those facts, which are deemed as committed, cannot be rolled back," Pankin noted.The diplomat stressed that Russia would not ask anyone to lift sanctions and would not say sorry for what it is not doing.

So, Mr. Stoltenberg, it is what it is and Russia also will not miraculously stop her both military and economic development and transitioning into the new economic paradigm and increasing her massive military advantage over NATO. All what Russia does, she does in her territory and Russia's red lines will be articulated at Biden-Putin summit (if it goes ahead) and the opinion of some vassals doesn't really count. Plus, Stoltenberg better attend to a much more urgent NATO problems such as this one, because this is the level of military problems NATO is still capable to solve. 

BERLIN (AP) — The German military says it has found a solution for an unusual logistics problem its troops in Afghanistan face: a glut of beer. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Christina Routsi said Monday that a recent decision by the German commander in Afghanistan to ban the consumption of alcohol for security reasons had resulted in a pileup of beer, wine and mixed drinks at Camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif. German soldiers are usually entitled to two cans of beer — or equivalent — per day. Routsi said the military had found a civilian contractor who will take the alcohol back out of the country ahead of the German troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan as the NATO mission in the country ends in the coming months. The German army said the 22,600 liters (almost 6,000 gallons) of alcohol — including almost 60,000 cans of beer — couldn't be sold in Afghanistan due to local religious restrictions, or destroyed for environmental reasons. Proceeds from the German contractor's sale of the beer elsewhere should cover the cost of transporting it out of the country, the army said.

I have to admit, though, that this is a very very German problem. It cannot get any more German than that. 

So, here we are, everyone wants Russia. It is Russia, Russia, Russia all day long and even booboo Zelensky is so hurt and confused because of Biden...well, ignoring him. I don't know what it takes to explain to Ze that his country is a third world shithole which tried to do the most stupid thing in geopolitics--to interject itself into the game of superpowers. The result was totally expected, just ask Poland which now begins to feel a bit of Germany's wrath. One doesn't play (with) big boys and expect to be treated as equal. 

Denmark's environmental and food appeals board has repealed a construction permit for the Baltic Pipe, which will connect Poland's gas market with fields offshore Norway. 

This is how it always worked and will continue to work because in geopolitics some are MORE equal than others. Those who do not like it--they can go and fuck themselves. Now, for some of my readers who love a tough talk and tough actions and want to see Russia going around smashing everyone's heads and thumping her chest with the triumphant screams. This is NOT how power-balance works. Listen to Alexander Mercouris about Turkey and listen attentively. That may explain to some how the political power and influence work. Especially when superpowers are involved. 

So, apart from steady stream of news from Russia regarding the development of a cutting edge weaponry and very interesting economic data, after listening to Alexander, ask yourself a question why Erdogan does what he does and why Stoltenberg wants to talk to Russians, like really-really bad. No, it is not because Russians want to "invade" Europe. Why? The reason is different.