Facepalm Of The Week.

By now you probably all know my "shtick", or, if anyone wishes, they may call it a foundation for a Ph.D. thesis on a complete delusion of the United States' so called "think-tanks" (more like think-carts and buggies) and military and political top which resides in a permanent Chalabi moment. The distinction of being a moron of the week goes to this guy:

Courtney, the RAND analyst, said despite Putin's successes in the region, Russia will remain a limited great power that serves mainly as a military supplier because it lacks the resources and capability that the West has for nation building or reconstruction. "The challenge for Putin is to turn the use of his military force and military weapons supplies in the Middle East to something that is a lasting success, and we don't yet see how Russia is going to get there," he said.

I understand that humanities and economics graduate and post-graduate degrees from US universities may have some weight in the circles of people who attend some soirees where they drink good Scotch and discuss capitalization of some snake oil trading corporation, but it is obviously quite  worthless in a real world which moves on tangibles. It is especially so, when speaking about tangibles in warfare and all major geopolitical and economic consequences which follow. I understand that RAND is some institution of high standings in the United States but against the background of non-stop failures as a result of the American military adventurism one has to ask a question--does this William Courtney guy is even coherent when he delivers  this utter nonsense? If this is the intellectual level of RAND's fellows then there should be no surprise of this unmitigated foreign policy and military disaster of the last 20+ years for the US. 

I. highlighted in yellow: can esteemed Mr. Courtney remind me when and how did the United States build or reconstruct anything lately? Judging by Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya--not much reconstruction, let alone "nation-building" is going on there. In Syria, where the United States supported Al Qaeda and interfered for the interests of Israel, one of the supporters of ISIS, Russia had to fight and defeat all those wonderful jihadists, which, evidently, the United States hasn't been able to defeat (did it even try?). But I have some news for Courtney:

a) Nation-building or reconstruction starts with the defeat of utterly destructive and evil forces of Islamic jihad. Russia did just that and in doing so (together with the SAA and Iranian forces) provided a foundation for the reconstruction of Syria;

b) That multifaceted victory (there is still some fighting and mopping up remains to be done), including massive humanitarian aid Russia provided for Syrian people, of course is already being credited... to the United States.  But hey, didn't we see this before, you know, after WW I, or WW II.   

II. This point, however, is even more important--the Polichinelle secret of this whole "nation-building" thing is that both the US Military and US Economy are stretched to the breaking point and are simply in no shape, by the virtue of extremely limited actual resources, to do any "nation-building". Of course, the American record in this undertaking in the last 25 years is one of unmitigated disaster and failure. 

So, in what world does Mr. Courtney reside? Certainly not of this planet. I clearly understand that Americans are proud, often justifiably, people but I would be lying not only to myself but to the cold hard facts of our moment in space and time if I wouldn't address this pseudo-intellectual circus, slowly translating into a certifiable mad-house, which is taking place now inside the United States.  These are symptoms of a serious illness and they either will get addressed or the country, as in normal country, will be completely lost--it is already half-way there. A massive reality intervention is in order but current "intellectual" elites in the United States are not capable to do it, they are simply... stupid. Now I said it.  

Mission Is NOT Accomplished, But It Is Getting There.