Before It All Went Down.

There was (still is) magnificent Mike Oldfield and ever stunning Anita Hegerland (until certain point, hey--I am not exactly what I used to be either;))). And there was this incredible music. Of course Mike wrote a theme to Exorcist but he wrote so much more. 

But, but things changed after that, somehow. Yet, Moonlight Shadow still stirs emotions....

It is Friday....

And of course this.....

A Tiny Piece Of News.

Behind all the chaos of modern world and a wall of BS by the so called "legacy" media, one piece of news is of a particular interest. While MAKS-2019 proceeds as planned, with MC-21 making a flying (public) debut, news of CR-929 getting to fly in 2023 are a huge deal. As Izvestiya reports two days ago (in Russian), Chief Designer of CR-929 program Maxim Litvinov (I wonder if he is related to Stalin's 1930s Peoples' Commissar of Foreign Affairs) stated that the first flight of CR-929 will happen in 2023 while serial production will start in 2025. This is fast, folks, for a project of such a scale, it is really fast. Russia, in this joint venture, is responsible for a design of the wing and center section of aircraft (in Russian) and, drum roll, for PD-35 engine, which will power this machine. 

As you know, PD-14 already received the certificate of a type and is in serial production for MC-21. Here is what was stated about PD-35 in 2017:

Russia’s new bypass turbofan engine, dubbed PD-35, will be developed in the next six years, Alexander Inozemtsev, chief designer of Aviadvigatel (a subsidiary of the United Engine Corporation), has told TASS news wire. The engine is intended to power future wide body aircraft, including the Russo-Chinese C929. Inozemtsev said the powerplant program is currently in the scientific research phase. Total investment in the project will amount to almost 180 billion rubles (approximately $3 billion). Of this sum, 60 billion rubles will be spent on test benches and laboratory equipment. The PD-35 is a turbofan engine projected to develop 35 tons of thrust. The program was launched in the summer of 2016 as a joint effort by Russia’s largest powerplant specialists, Perm-based Aviadvigatel and NPO Saturn, which is located in Rybinsk (both are part of the United Engine Corporation). The plan is to scale up the core of the PD-14 engine, which is currently being developed for the Irkut MC-21 narrow body airliner, and add a stage to its high-pressure compressor. There will be nine stages in the compressor and two stages in the turbine.

So, these latest news about CR-929 taking to the skies in 2023, then, could be viewed as a confirmation that PD-35 development is on schedule (give and take a year). This is also a confirmation of Russian civil aviation not just taking off--we knew that it was taking off years ago--but getting to the cruise echelon. As Yvonne Lorenzo reports (in her wonderful review of my new book):

Russian-based MAKS 2019 aviation exposition, Boeing was an exhibitor, and the news was reported on the site included, “Boeing Company will announce new strategic initiatives and sign agreements with Russian partners at the International Aviation and Space Salon, according to the press service of the American aerospace manufacturer. Boeing will sign a number of agreements with Russian companies at MAKS-2019. ‘Agreements will be signed with Russian partners and will strengthen long-term obligations within the framework of the company’s partnership with the Russian aerospace industry,’ the statement says.” Thus, sanctions notwithstanding, Russian companies continue to buy—or at least have an interest—in Boeing products and “god-emperor” Trump, “grand and glorious” though he may think himself has—as of now—not prohibited any such sales to Russia by a vital member of the Military-Industrial complex.

What do ya know. Of course, one should remember that a lot of things, including a wing for B-787, were designed at Boeing's engineering facility in Moscow. So, while the United States sanctions Russia non-stop and insists, especially, on Europe doing the same (those morons evidently took it too far for their own comfort now), somehow Boeing continues to operate in Russia and even, well look at that, hosts Russian school kids, the winners of the contest Aviation From A to Z in 2018 (in Russian). Indeed, and why would Boeing do such a thing (wink, wink). 

But all this brings us back to a purely geopolitical question. Whose side is Russia on?  The answer is very simple: Russia is on Russia's side, period. Moreover, pushing on with the development of the MC-21 and CR-929 and the line of their power-plants such as PD-14 and PD-35 Russia not only returns to own domestic civil aviation market with a vengeance, she made sure she will have a huge share of a Chinese one. While public at MAKS 2019, traditionally, was treated to a dizzying display by Russian combat aviation, it was this bird which stole the show for people who look at the world not just through the aiming device. 

In related news, Europe (the United States is not far behind, but there is still a hope, maybe) continues her descend into madness and totalitarianism with Thought Crimes exposed now by Thought Police non-stop. 

PHP Central Europe would have gathered hundreds of users of PHP, a popular programing language, together in Dresden in October, if not for one seemingly innocuous tweet that sowed the seed of destruction coated in a shell of positive verbiage. “This year's PHP CE conference seems to have gone with the ‘White Males Only’ conference lineup. Shame. It's 2019, we can do better,” wrote Karl L Hughes, an obscure tech industry figure and “concerned citizen”, who had no plans to travel to Germany himself. The tweet went viral....  after the brouhaha, “ticket sales stopped.” This week, organizers published a notice saying that the event in Dresden was canceled, citing the tweets and articles as the reason. They say that there will be no PHP CE conference next year or ever again.

I am not sure in 20 years Europe will be able to produce a decent kitchen combine, let alone aircraft, because it will be too busy developing mechanisms of upholding gender, race and religious quotas, lest there be a dominance of smart white males in manufacturing of the technologies for the XXI century.    

Operation "Detachment".

This "operation" is combined West's crude attempt to woo Russia into useless Western "fold" by "detaching" her from China. Of course if one wanted this operation to fail, no better candidacy for this operation's handler could be found than Emmanuel  Macron, who would fit the bill perfectly. In a moment of, possible, sincerity Macron waxed Huntingtonian and concluded this: 

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says it's time for Europe to reach out to Russia — to keep it in the Western fold, check its global ambitions and avoid being caught in the middle of a new Cold War. Macron didn't say outright whether he wants to lift EU sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, the heart of East-West tensions for the past five years. But he said new sanctions "are not in our interest." In a sweeping diplomatic speech Tuesday after hosting the G-7 summit , Macron sketched out a role for France as a "balancing power" — between Russia and its rivals, between the U.S. and Iran, between rich and poor countries. "Pushing Russia from Europe is a profound strategic error," Macron said. Europe's "weaknesses and mistakes" have helped lead Russia to boost its alliance with China and revive its influence in Syria, Libya and around Africa.

Macron makes one mistake here. Well, several mistakes, actually. For starters "Pushing Russia from Europe" was not a "strategic mistake"--that was the plan and main objective of Washington, headed then by Obama and being continuously implemented now by Trump Administration. Moreover, "pushing Russia" out is not just about Russia, but by implication about Europe itself. Europe as it exists today is of no interest to Russia in any metaphysical sense, except for purely economic interest as a market, but majority of Russians are counting their blessings now because of this "pushing out" largely succeeding. Europe, meanwhile, is a sacrificial lamb for the United States, which, in a desperate attempt to save herself, will demolish Europe economically because European elites are a pathetic parody on a required political leadership, some of them are outright imbeciles, not to mention that vast swathes of them are effectively products of the American selection. So, no--let Europe deal with the US, or vice-versa, and keep Russia out of it. 

Then, the other question arises--and what is France? What's so "special" about France that Macron proclaims her a "balancing power"? France has none to balance anything. As pretty much any European nation France is ran by the cabal of globalists, of whom Macron is an exhibit A, and thus cannot operate in the world of serious geopolitical, economic, military and cultural realities. In the end, Europe is an American slap-bitch and will remain so until fully consumed by the United States which will take Europe down with herself. So, I don't think anyone in Russia, with the exception of few urban liberals and Western NGOs' grant-eaters, wants to be in the Western "fold" or in present day emasculated, multi-"cultured", gender-fluid post-modernist Europe. As the Russian proverb (from anecdote about resurrection of mother-in-law) goes--if it is dead, let it remain dead. The only negotiations between Russia and the West in geopolitical sense can be on the conditions of surrender. If not, the West can go to hell. Russia doesn't need any "balancing" intermediaries. Last time I checked, Sergei Lavrov's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the best diplomatic institutions in history. The deal is done and Europe, and combined West, must face what's coming for them and leave others be. Especially Russia, who saved Europe on few occasions in XIX-XX centuries.  Plus, please, French overwhelmingly do not even count Russia as European country and so be it. 

Picture Speaks Louder Than Words.

This is Putin and Erdogan viewing SU-57 at MAKS-2019 (in Russian). It was announced yesterday that consultations on export version of SU-57s are already in progress. 

Courtesy of TASS.

Together with announcement of the start of the production of the mysterious PAK DA (new generation strategic bomber)--it all fits quite well into "revelation" mode by Russia regarding new weapon systems. I don't know what will the "export" version of SU-57 be, but I assume it will have "reduced" hyper-sonic package compared to domestic version, some "downgrades" to avionics and, possibly, will not have the ability to operate drones, such as the latest Okhotnik (Hunter). As was predicted before, Turkey will be afforded, apart from S-400, the access to export versions of Russia's advanced technologies. Implications and ramifications of this are immense, especially in geopolitical sense. 

UPDATE: don't forget to turn on English CCs. 

What's Next In Arms Race? Or, The Forms Must Be Obeyed.

Daniel Larison arrived three days ago to a conclusion that Donald Trump Doesn't Know How to Negotiate. Well, we have known that for quite some time now. As Larison notes:

As we have seen, Trump’s bullying, maximalist approach does not work with other governments, and this approach cannot work because the president sees everything as a zero-sum game and winning requires the other side’s capitulation. The result is that no government gives Trump anything and instead all of them retaliate in whatever way is available to them. He can’t agree to a mutually beneficial compromise because he rejects the idea that the other side might come away with something. Because every existing agreement negotiated in the past has required some compromise on our government’s part, he condemns all of them as “terrible” because they did not result in the other party’s surrender.  

Of course, the foundation of this lack of negotiating skills--yeah, let's say it is just that, for now--is common for pretty much majority of US power elite--it is a malignant belief in own exceptionalism. Trump is flesh and blood of this culture, it is just that not having any serious scholarly nourishment or life experiences beyond the NYC real estate hustling, he delivers the message in the most crude and risible form. So, Trump is merely a cruder, less sophisticated form of US elites. He, most likely after brainwashing by his very own so called national security team, simply finished off INF Treaty. He, quite naturally, blamed Russia for violating this Treaty and, in two weeks after INF Treaty's demise, the United States launched the missile outlawed by this very treaty, thus creating a variety, of mostly sarcastic, reactions in Moscow, who, as we all know from the ever truthful US media, was blatantly violating the said treaty. The whole situation could have been really comedic, if not for it being very serious and that was precisely the mood with which Vladimir Putin responded to, what we all knew for years now, inevitable deployment of American TLAMs in the Aegis Ashore installations and other places in Europe. 

Russia says it won’t sit idle after the US tested a missile that was banned by the INF. As a response, Moscow has an ace up its sleeves and it won’t need to enter into a Cold War-style arms race, military analysts have told RT.No longer bound by the milestone Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) – which the US unilaterally scrapped – Washington recently tested a ground-launched version of its Tomahawk cruise missile.On Friday, Russian president Vladimir Putin said he is not up for an all-out arms race, but ordered the military to evaluate and find reciprocal answers. So, what is Russia likely to have in store to counter the emerging threat?

First, let's recall what the INF Treaty was about and why the United States decided to kill it. As was stated not for once, INF Treaty was extremely favorable to the United States for a while because it didn't cover sea-launched intermediate range weapons--a precise domain in which in the end of 1980s the United States had a vast advantage over Soviet Union, whose main intermediate-range strike capabilities were land-based. Cretin Gorbachev and his "team", in the moment of utter insanity, unilaterally threw in, for a good measure, Operational-Tactical Missile complex (OTR-23) Oka to be eliminated. Then, the USSR collapsed and Russia has unilaterally, again, this time through the will of alcoholic Boris and his team of thieves and robber-barons turned herself into the door mat for the combined West. In fact, by the end of 1990s it was difficult to see how Russia's military could recover at all, granted it was sabotaged every step of the way by Russia's "liberal" political top. Yet, here we are in 2019 and one has to wonder if Russia is realistically sorry because of INF Treaty demise. I don't think she is. 

I kept my focus on this issue for years now. Recall my series of posts  titled The Perils of Mosquito. Or, for that matter, my prediction (even before Putin's historic speech to Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018) that, at that time (2017), Russia's existing cruise missile arsenal was more than enough to provide for what Russian Military Doctrine of 2014 called a "power (as in force) strategic containment by conventional high-precision stand-off weapons".  Remember this? 

Iran knows for sure that should the unthinkable but not improbable happen, such as an American attack on the Russian forces in Syria, Iran will not be left standing on the side—she gets immediately “involved” whether she wants it or not. So, the logic goes, why not make the best of it when all bets, other than nuclear, will be off. Iran may as well have Russian forces on her side and in her airspace, which, obviously helps significantly. But that also opens another serious operational possibility in case of a real conventional conflict in the area between Russia and the US—a scenario Neocons, due to their military illiteracy and overall detachment from the strategic reality, are dreaming about. Putting inevitable emotions aside and looking at the factual side of things, Russia’s Military Doctrine since 2010, reaffirmed in 2014 Edition, views the use of stand-off High Precision as a key in strategic force containment, as Article 26 of a doctrine clearly states. Russia doesn’t want war with the US, but if push comes to shove Russia is totally capable of not only reaching US ground assets, such as CENTCOM’s Qatar forward installation but, what is even more significant, also the naval ones in the Persian Gulf.  

Then came the Speech and a tectonic shift in the warfare which pushed warfare beyond present capabilities of the American military-industrial complex. One of many hints that (real) professionals in the US understand what they are facing now was this, four days ago:  

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is pulling the plug on a billion-dollar, technically troubled project to build a better weapon that would destroy incoming missiles. The move is aimed in part at considering new approaches to missile defense at a time of rapid technological change. The announced reason for canceling the Boeing contract, effective Thursday, was that the project’s design problems were so significant as to be either insurmountable or too costly to correct. Beyond those immediate concerns, the Pentagon is considering whether it needs to start over with designing a defense against intercontinental-range ballistic missiles, such as those North Korea aspires to build, as well as newly emerging types of missiles.

Pay attention to text highlighted in yellow. Those "newly emerging types of the missiles" are precisely those hyper-sonic maneuvering quasi-ballistic and cruise missiles which Russia developed for all three domains (land, air, sea) for her armed forces and those are already deployed. The only "response" the United States has at its disposal is to go for quantity of good ol' subsonic iterations of venerable Tomahawk and all kinds of other slow variations of TLAMs such as JASSM or allegedly super-pooper "magical" weapon such as CHAMP. All this is fine and dandy, but the issue for the United States is two fold:

1. She doesn't have hyper-sonic weapons and is years, if not decades, away from fielding a working prototype, forget IOC or fully deployed weapon system. 

2. Unlike Russia, American anti-missile systems are....well...let's recall what Publius Tacitus wrote about that:

A friend of mine who has expertise in these matters wrote me: Any air defense engineer with a security clearance that isn't lying through his teeth will admit that Russia's air defense technology surpassed us in the 1950's and we've never been able to catch up. The systems thy have in place surrounding Moscow make our Patriot 3's look like fucking nerf guns.

S-500 is already in serial production. What's coming next is simply a matter of speculation but it has to be understood that Russia not only is capable to match and then over-match greatly any strike capability of NATO in Europe or in US proper, Russia has means to blunt if not to completely repulse a massive strike of slow subsonic or theater ballistic missiles on her territory.  Numbers should help. 


Putin and his advisers continue to express concern with TLAMs being loaded into the MK-41 cells of Aegis Ashore in Deveselu, Romania, and Redzikowo, Poland. Even the brief glance on the map allows to conclude that Polish site will be primarily a threat to Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, due to a relatively short flight time of about 15 minutes (140 miles between Redzikowo and Kaliningrad), while missiles launched from Deveselu would have to be airborne for at least 40 minutes, including half of a path over water, to strike Sevastopol. 40 minutes is a very good time to not only have anti-missile complexes completely engaged (well, 15 minutes is also fairly generous) but to have response delivered to European facilities and to launch at North America. Strategically, in military terms, for Russia very little changes in terms of ratio of forces. In fact, as I write non-stop for years, Russia has qualitative edge over the United States in missile technologies for at least a decade, if not more. Russia's protestations, expected as they are, and having in them a very sincere component of traditional Russian aversion towards any kind of hostilities and arms races, are, nevertheless, primarily of the Frank Herbert's Dune Landsraad's tradition of "The Forms Must be Obeyed". 

But, diplomatic and media-PR posturing apart, military balance sheet between Russia and NATO in Europe in case, God forbids, of the serious escalation is very clear. NATO (US that is) has a salvo and has no defense against the response to put it in layman's lingo. NATO can launch at Russia and hope that some of it's salvo, most of it subsonic and fairly easily defended against, will leak through multilayered state-of-the-art anti-missile defense. What comes in response against Europe and US cannot be defended against--US has nothing in its arsenal that can meet and blunt dramatically the salvo of supersonic weapons, against hyper-sonic weapons--zero defenses and this will stay such for a long while in this strategic tic-tac-toe game in Europe. Of course, this is European contingency, there is also a Chinese, of Far East, one, but Russian response will be about the same--new anti-missile complexes and new strike weapons on the Far East. 

Meanwhile, Russia continues to evolve as Eurasian primary military power pole and new massive military exercises Center-2019 are yet another proof of that:

Russia and seven of its allies, including China and India, will send 128,000 soldiers to train in mass anti-terrorism drills next month, the country’s Defense Ministry has announced. The upcoming maneuvers will take place a year after Russia and China staged 300,000-strong anti-missile exercises near the Chinese border. Those exercises, which were Russia's largest war games since the Cold War, took place amid heightened tension between the West and Moscow over NATO’s expansion in eastern Europe.Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that 20,000 pieces of equipment, 600 aircraft and up to 15 warships will be rolled out across eight Russian training grounds for the Tsentr-2019 (Center-2019) exercises in September.

These maneuvers will involve a wide use of Russian Armed Forces' combat internet and all those gizmos and gadgets of what came to be known as Net-centric Warfare. I guess Russia is getting ready to defend subcontinent after Mr. Trump declared that US defeated ISIS and it is now up to...well...read for yourself:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that other countries will need to take up the fight against Islamic State militants, citing Russia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran as examples.Earlier this year, U.S.-backed forces reclaimed the last remaining territory once held by Islamic State militants in Syria. Since then, however, there has been concern about the militant group gaining new strength in Iraq and Syria."At a certain point Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, they're going to have to fight their battles," Trump told reporters at the White House, later saying India should also get involved."All of these other countries where ISIS is around ... all of these are going to have to fight," he said, adding that the United States did not want to spend "another 19 years" fighting the Afghan war.

Sure. United States wouldn't have spent those 19 years in Afghanistan if it wouldn't have aided those very mujaheddin in 1980s who, together with the remnants of a demolished Iraqi Army and other jihad-minded humanitarians, constituted the core of both Taliban and ISIS. But we all know that hindsight is a 20/20 vision and one has to think now how the new "arms race" initiated by the United States will be viewed in the hindsight twenty or so years down the road, granted we all survive Mr. Trump's lack of negotiating skills, including skills in recognizing that he surrounded himself with militarily incompetent neocon fanatics and Israeli-firsters who, together with Wall Street Neo-liberal economic fundamentalists, are behind America's demise in military, economic and geopolitical senses. One may add a mental one, too.

Leningrad-St. Petersburg, Your Scarlet Sails Always......

Stun.... in 2019. It is Friday....

 

Why Faking A Surprise?

I wrote couple of times about Max Boot. Now people in TAC recalled him and all for the wrong reason of Boot's party affiliation. Hint: Boot's party affiliation is Israel and, generally, with settling whatever accounts he has with his place of birth, Russia that is. But while paying attention to Boot's party affiliation's ambiguity, which, under present circumstances, is absolutely irrelevant (it was GOP which gave birth and brought up fanatics of neocon variety), the author of the piece makes a good observation:

Max Boot first came to public notice, or at least to mine, during the run-up to the Iraq war. He had persuaded a television producer somewhere to label him a “Defense Expert,” which, in the natural order of things, caused some people to mistake him for a defense expert. He had never been involved in even minor military operations himself, but he seemed uncontained in his enthusiasm for military operations involving other people. As the country debated the merits of an expedition to Iraq, Max Boot seemed to be everywhere. He was in every room. While he was rarely the most influential voice in any of those rooms, he was almost always the loudest. Among his several asseverations, all of them unburdened by either evidence or experience, were these: an American invasion would rid Iraq of nuclear weapons. (Iraq had no nuclear weapons.) An American invasion would cause the Iraqis to rise up and greet us as liberators. (They rose up and fought us as invaders.) An American invasion would bring democratic stability to a troubled region. (It brought chaos.) An American military victory would be quick and decisive. (After 16 years and incalculable losses in blood, treasure, prestige, and morale, the American military is still in Iraq.)

Ah, that's warmer. But it is distinction without a difference--I am talking about highlighted in yellow. I have a question to ask: and how is GOP different in respect to evidence or experience in anything real war related? Max Boot may be vomit inducing neocon, but the armies of "military experts" in GOP are the same breed of humanities "educated" ignoramuses from Ivy League degree mills and who wouldn't be allowed in any serious armed forces, despite their numerous Ph.Ds in God knows what useless for real war and foreign policy degrees, to be in charge of toilets in the company's barracks or on the frigate size ship. 

I don't understand what is so important about Boot's affiliation when decision, as an example, to attack Iraq (just for the sake of argument) was made inside Republican Administration and its courtier of "military experts" who can easily be called clones of Max Boot. Max Boot, the same as people who pushed through the invasion of Iraq both in the government and media are to warfare what I am to Chinese choreography or quantum mechanics. How about the author of the piece in TAC admits that for all Boot's despicable incompetence, things stated about him in the article equally apply to most of American "elites" their party affiliation notwithstanding. Incompetence and dual loyalties is what defines them and it, in this case, becomes merely an exercise in futility trying to sort out different sorts of shit.  

Running Out Of Heroes, Really Fast.

I am still waiting from Hollywood a fair treatment, considering new CGI technologies, of American very real heroes and people of highest human qualities, who should serve as role models for new generations. I am waiting for years now for a movie about heroism of USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) in the Battle off Samar. Hell, the whole Taffy-3 group is worthy of an incredible movie-epic. I never saw the movie about Truman Kimbro. There never was any screenplay written for this man's actions. Let me think, do we have any movies about specifically 2nd and 99th Divisions and their actions at Ardennes? Nope. Hell, how about what could be an epic movie--Red and US Army meeting on Elbe in 1945? No? Ok, how about a movie about incredible Joseph Beyrle who served in both US and Red Army during WW II, met Georgi Zhukov. Beyrle was awarded medal For Liberation of Warsaw and Order of Combat Red Banner. This is the material the greatest heroic adventures books are written about. No, again? Hey, at least we got movie with Tom Hanks on Sully and his crew and Miracle on Hudson. 

But, but, those little petty people are of no interest to Hollywood and American media machine. They have a bigger fish to fry--they are making movies about one clueless bimbo (Megyn Kelly) who was "sexually assaulted" (make no mistake--I am categorically against sexual harassment), played by another clueless bitch, Charlize Theron, who should be charged with the child abuse, when stating that her 3 years old son decided to become a girl. That's what I am talking about! These are America's modern day "heroes". 

The first teaser trailer for “Bombshell” shows Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron playing Megyn Kelly. The new movie, originally titled “Fair and Balanced,” chronicles the Roger Ailes sexual misconduct scandal with Theron as Kelly opposite John Lithgow as Ailes, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, and Margot Robbie as a fictional Fox News producer. Jay Roach (“Austin Powers,” “Game Change”) directs the film with a cast that includes Alice Eve, Stephen Root, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Allison Janney and Ashley Greene.

You see, that is what really matters in today's America--a steaming pile of shit dressed up as a civic virtue by people who exercise an illusion that they matter. The depth of Hollywood's depravity is unprecedented, so is its evaporating talent across the board. Few true pieces of art here and there, and far and between the parade columns of second-third rate politically correct so called "lefty" virtue signalling crap merely underscore this depth. I, personally, long ago tuned out of this nauseating fodder which passes for an art. Hell, most of it is not even good entertainment. Last movies I watched on DVD were exquisite Bad Times at the El Royal and Blade Runner 2049 masterpiece. The rest? I do not watch anything on TV unless it is a soccer game I have a time for, or it is Smithsonian, or Science, or Travel channels. I confess, I do watch ID Discovery once in a while and the Family Guy with Turner Classic Movies channel being staples of my entertainment diet. One, in order to stay sane, simply must tune out, otherwise the psychological damage is profound. 

Do I want to see a show about normal humans living and doing normal things? I sure do. I got tired of movies and shows about gangs, drug dealers and degenerate 1 percenters. I want to see movies about real heroes, who most of the time are simply normal everyday people who rise to the occasion to do incredible things.  I am sick and tired of plastic vomit-inducing fake superheroes' industry. Vladimir Lenin was spot on when stated that ‘Film for us is the most important of the arts’. He was prescient. But as it is always the case in money-making business, Hollywood turned this art into shitty entertainment, a chewing gum for the brains of sensory overload hungry crowd. There is no place for good humans and real heroes in this business anymore. Do not expect anything topping Forest Gump or WALL-E in their perfection, profundity, kindness and humanity--this height is beyond the reach of modern Hollywood. They are too busy pushing perverted agendas and that is why they are running out of real heroes really fast.  

P.S. A disclaimer--I am eagerly awaiting for new Dune to come out, I hope I will not be disappointed as it happened with much anticipated Prometheus. But then again, Sci-Fi is a bit more complex genre and successes in it do happen still.  

Some Strategic Generalities.

Paul Craig Roberts wrote today a passionate and bitter in its truthfulness piece about US economy. It is titled What Globalism Did Was to Transfer the US Economy to China. Roberts writes:

How does a country recover when it has given its economy away to a foreign country that it now demonizes as an enemy? What better example is there of a ruling class that is totally incompetent than one that gives its economy bound and gagged to an enemy so that its corporate friends can pocket short-term riches? We can’t blame this on Trump. He inherited the problem, and he has no advisers who can help him understand the problem and find a solution. No such advisers exist among neoliberal economists. I can only think of four economists who could help Trump, and one of them is a Russian.

This excellent piece by PCR brings to the attention a contemporary balance of power and this whole tempest in a teacup re: Russia's "return" to G-8 and such useless European structures as Council of Europe. As Putin said today: "if they (Europe) do not want to see us in the Council of Europe, it is fine with Russia, she is not really desiring to get into it in the first place." (In Russian). And here is what I think about all that.

1. I am not original, I will repeat what many observers arrived to in the last few days: all these clumsy and unprofessional PR moves on combined West's part, from Macron's exercises in Russian language on Twitter, to Trump's G-8 thoughts are nothing more than dawning realization that Russia and China do have serious plans which are not "Western" in the nature. So, the combined West started the "detach Russia from China" play. It failed even before it started. Modern West has no enough geopolitical currency to buy Russia--as I said many times--she is simply out of West's price range. Europe will continue to buy Russia's hydrocarbons and, increasingly, some quirky high technologies, but that is as far as it should go. But, at least, some attempts at changing current geopolitical configuration on West's part are duly noticed. This, however, brings us to a very interesting question:

2. US is in "decoupling from China" mode big-big time, Europe is irrelevant here. So, what's the spread, so to speak in all that. The spread is very simple: Russia has few degrees of freedom of actions more than US alone or West as a combination. Truth of the matter is, as I wrote not for once, that China needs Russia big time. But, as of today, August 21, 2019, Russia can (she will not, but still) "decouple" from China and be able to withstand anything combined West would try to throw at her. In 2013-14 that proposition would have sounded dubious, now--it is not. Combined West has very little in the tank and in purse left to realistically hurt Russia without hurting itself even more. The force, so to speak, is simply not there anymore: be it moral or physical, especially military one. China knows this. Now, evidently, the West begins to understand, however late, this too. But the West missed the "starting gun". China did not.

3. Now, with the United States trying to coerce China (good luck with that) by economic and military-political means, Chinese may acquire additional taste for more things Russian and, with all my respect to Chinese culture and, undeniably impressive, achievements economically (not least through the United States and its corrupt elite being suicidal, or homicidal, depends on POV--that  what PRC's article is about) and scientifically--pay attention to these recent news, I already posted that once, I believe:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) aims to obtain Chinese certification for its C919 jet in 2021, the company said, marking a delay from a previous timetable for the jet which aims to challenge Airbus SE (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) planes. State-owned China News Service first reported on Wednesday the latest certification target for the homegrown plane, citing a speech made by the chief designer Wu Guanghui for the C919 program at a recent industry event.A COMAC spokesman confirmed the report to Reuters, but said the date was subject to regulatory approval and the aircraft’s safety remains a top priority.

Recall how I constantly, ad nauseam, talk about aerospace industry and cutting edge engine-manufacturing. Now compare the news (in Russian): MS-21 confirmed maximum (extreme) characteristics during test flights. PD-14 already received certificate of a type and has operational FADEC. That's the difference. It is also the difference at the starting gun. China's civil aviation future to an important degree rests with what Russia accomplishes as a Eurasian R&D powerhouse in aerospace and military technologies. Well, that and resources, of course. Russian-Chinese "marriage" is a marriage of convenience, but the West can not even afford anymore to utter engagement proposal for Russia. 

Trump maybe, deep down, has some less hostile intentions towards Russia, however misplaced and delusional they are, but Russia will talk only to those who keep their word and can talk rationally--this is not the case with US elites for a long time now. So, if you are Putin and you have a say in all that, granted you are briefed daily on the true state of the affairs in EU, USA and China, what would you choose as your not forced (I stress it--NOT FORCED, that is done without any duress) big geopolitical play?

A. You decide against the "marriage of convenience", a difficult but totally doable, that is endurable, one, in favor of someone who constantly lies, hates you and, in general, good only for doing some (very limited) business with. This one will betray you in the end;

B. You decide to go it alone, granted you can do that, but that increases risks, albeit rewards in case of win could be immense, but so could be the difficulty of adaptation period in case of a triumph. It is a truism--it is easier to get to the top than to stay there;

C. You agree to the "marriage of convenience" and continue to triangulate knowing for sure that numerous opportunities to exit the arrangement will present themselves along the way. 

What would you choose? The choice is rather obvious, especially for the nation which only wants to be left alone, especially after a nightmarish for her XX Century. Some people simply cannot conceive that to be happy it is possible to be content with 2nd or 3rd place in something, it is still an elite position, that it is normal not to desire to hear constant praises, however false, in own address. It is normal not to have any desire to convert anyone, especially by force of arms, into own beliefs. This is what emerges today in Russia as a national idea and it is becoming attractive to more and more people--being oneself, not betraying own nature, by means of non-stop Kafkaesque metamorphosis. This is real conservatism, not its fake neoliberal version practiced in the US or virtual eradication of such in Europe. People, all people on Earth, sense that. Why do you think this continues to happen almost every year, now in 2019, again?

The finest travel brands in Europe were unveiled at a star-studded gala ceremony in Madeira. The elite of the travel industry assembled for the World Travel Awards (WTA) Europe Gala Ceremony on the Atlantic island to find out who amongst them would be crowned best of the best. Winners at the red carpet reception included the enchanting city of St. Petersburg, Russia, voted ‘Europe’s Leading City Destination’

There are things more important than money, however nice it is to have enough of them. Recall my remark more than a year ago:

Getting into St.Petersburg and encountering gigantic crowds of West Europeans, from Portuguese and Italians to armies of Germans and Spaniards doing their touristy osmosis (or diffusion, if you will) into St.Pete's environments (see, I do not write about ever-present Chinese and Indians--half of our Sapsan to and from St.Petersburg was occupied by them, BTW) makes you think why these people flock to Russia in general and St.Petersburg in particular thus making it for a number of years in a row the number one destination in Europe? Then it occurred to me, observing German family with children standing in a front of Eliseevsky and watching figurines of old Russian bakers and merchants moving around (up and down too) in the front window--it is a typical nonchalant, no excuses required, Russian contemporary attitude towards all those Westerners who visit Mother-Russia which makes it click and is so attractive, granted one appreciates both scale and immense cultural significance of both Moscow and St.Petersburg. It is an easy attitude of a very confident nation and civilization--it is absolutely not afraid nor gives a damn about showing its both bright and dark sides. Yet, as my son noted, a huge number of pairs of young men and women walking together, hugging and kissing--it is a sight to behold today. The same as a bunch of bands setting up on Nevsky and delivering some good rock-n-roll and blues--Dostoevsky would have loved that.