They Begin To Suspect Something.

In no less than Financial Times which specialized for the least 5-6 years in burying Russia on a monthly bases and in anticipation of Putler Regime's (low on wokeness, LGBTQINSBD rights, and high on anthropogenic climate change denial) collapse due to its undemocratic practices which insult modern West's sensibilities--you know, like identifying only two genders. Yet, even Financial Times begins to suspect something in its latest about Russia. Remember, for years I, among very many people of different walks of life, stated that Western sanctions are very good for Russia and Russians are terrified by possible lifting of those. Well, what do you know: 

Russia: adapting to sanctions leaves economy in robust health. Analysts say Moscow now has more to fear from a removal of restrictions than additional ones

Now Russia's main strategic secret is out and some more-or-less competent observations are being made. About time. Of course people in Financial Times do not understand the real size and scale of Russian economy and repeat same ol' monetarist BS (accidentally, responsible for driving US and UK's economies into the ground) that Russian economy's size is $1.7 trillion, but let's forgive victims of Wall Street make believe world of virtual, zero value added, FIRE economics, and concentrate on what this establishment rag got right about Russia. Here is what they got right:

Russia’s response to the sanctions focused on three key areas. First, it tightened its belt, cutting public spending and forcing its banks and major corporates to clean up their balance sheets. That was partly due to the slump in foreign credit caused by sanctions and investor sentiment, and partly due to a sense that the economy needed a safety net. Second, it spent trillions of Rubles on programmes to create domestic substitutes for imported goods, while food imports from the EU were banned in order to stimulate local production....  And third, it overhauled how Russia spends the vast proceeds from selling oil and gas. Income from energy exports above a certain level was diverted into a national wealth fund, which ended a pattern of boom-and-bust caused by government spending linked to the oil price. It also, almost overnight, severed the bond that had seen the Ruble move in tandem with energy markets. The results have been impressive. All three levels of Russia’s government ran a budget surplus in 2018 and 2019, and its total public debt is about 15 per cent of GDP. The EU average is 80 per cent.

The main thing, of course, are not just financial indicators, however important, the main one is what author numbers as a second one, because the real value and national security is in the field of real industries. While doing so, Russia very fast re-oriented herself to Asia and decreased dramatically reliance on Europe (US is not even a factor here, with Russian-American trade being minuscule). As our perceptive,  and wonderfully prescient and consistently, over the years, spot on, friends from Awara Group state: 

Due to Russia’s globally by far lowest debt levels across the economy and strong government finances, the ruble should remain stable. Indeed, the ruble seems to have successfully decoupled from the dollar domination as it has shown remarkable strength through the financial upheavals and global tensions of the past few years. This in turn, in addition to the weakening global economy, should keep inflation pressure in check, notwithstanding all the growth-boosting stuff on the domestic front. It is possible that emerging market currencies, and the ruble with them, would come under attack in connection with a potential global financial market hysteria (including a drop in oil price) connected with the coronavirus outbreak. Even so, the fundamentals for the ruble are so strong, that it should recover soon again.

Russia’s expected to grow faster than the West

Potentially, this all could translate into 2-2.5% GDP growth or even 3% at best. But with all the global uncertainties there is no firm basis for making those forecasts. The IMF’s forecasts for 2020 GDP growth are for the global economy 3.3%, the US 2.3%,  and the Euro Area 1.3%, among which Germany 1.1%. The forecast for Russia is 1.9%. Considering that Russia will reach 1.4% growth in 2019 against IMF forecast of 1.1%, they are probably underestimating 2020, too.

Of course, we should keep global economic risks in mind, but here is this funny little fact: as Patrick Armstrong likes to characterize Russian economy--it is a "full service economy". It is also inward oriented. There are 146 million Russians (plus around 60+ more from former Soviet republics) and this market is far from having its full potential realized. The synergy is obvious: even Maternal Capital alone creates circumstances which will see construction industry grow, which, in itself, creates momentum for a variety of industries, such as building of the Crimean Bridge spurred the growth of metal structures production, together with a lot of other adjacent industries. The rate of "domesticating" industrial production in Russia is impressive. Consider this seemingly "insignificant" news which, naturally, were drowned in the information noise the global chaos produces: Russia now produces satellites completely on Russian-made electronic components (in Russian). For those in the know, that speaks volumes. Big-big volumes.

This piece in FT came out within a month of this piece by Center for Naval Analysis. Same as very fresh CFR's "22 prescriptions". What is going on? That is a higher density of more-or-less common sense than usual? Especially considering a prominence of institutions which demonstrated this rudimentary common sense. Do they begin to suspect something? Maybe, that the real world is a bit different from fantasies and operates on a different premises, than was assumed before? Could this be first signs of at least some sobering among the "elites"? Difficult to say, but the geopolitical shift is so massive that it can neither be described nor judged by means of beaten to death and false, always stillborn, models. Maybe Financial Times' analysts would not mind taking some lessons from Awara Group or Michael Hudson? I know they need them.     

One Of The Most Stunning Proofs...

Of why Putin already is in Russian history together with Peter, Katherine, Lenin, Stalin. This video, of  the city of Krasnoyarsk is made in the mode "What was then--What is now" shows an absolutely mind-boggling progress of Russia of 2002 to Russia of 2019. It is a superb video, authors did an extraordinary job and it shows, dramatically, what hole Putin and his people dug Russia from when came to power in 2000. What was done in 17 years is stunning. Russian people, with the exception of some young and stupid urbanites and hipsters, and, of course, liberda, know this. They also feel pride for their country. Immense pride, I know, I saw and experienced it myself when visiting Russia. Enjoy. 

Oh, What A Surprise! Nah...

I am just being facetious. Barbara Boland of TAC published the piece about foreign governments influencing D.C. "Think-tanks". Here is what she describes:

The top 50 think tanks that shape policy direction and legislation in Washington received over $174 million in foreign money from 2014 to 2018, according to a new analysis conducted by the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the  Center for International Policy. That’s more than double the foreign funding discovered by the New York Times in 2014. The top recipients of foreign funding from 2014 to 2018 were the World Resources Institute ($63 million), the Center for Global Development ($37.5 million), and the Brookings Institution ($27.3 million). Nearly 900 different foreign donations went to these three think tanks from over 80 different countries and international organizations. The top donor countries were Norway ($27.6 million), the United Kingdom ($27.1 million), and the United Arab Emirates ($15.4 million), according to the report.

We, of course, will humbly avoid mentioning such country as Israel which wields a lot of influence in D.C. but as I always say, let's not forget Gulfies. As Boland continues:

What does all this money buy? Think tanks contribute to the Washington ecosystem in a variety of ways: their writers and influence-peddlers appear as experts on news shows and pen op-eds, they conduct in-depth research on policy, they draft legislation, and they write talking points, memos and Congressional scorecards. Think tanks are homes for former and future government officials: they employ former former senators, representatives, executive branch officials, and their staff. The Brookings Institution is headed by retired four-star General John Allen and they employ two former Chairs of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, among over 300 experts. Think tanks also cultivate scholars and bureaucrats for future administrations. When Ronald Reagan was elected president, the Heritage Foundation provided his administration with over 1,000 pages of policy prescriptions. According to Heritage, Reagan’s administration eventually adopted or attempted to adopt over two-thirds of them. Think tank experts even appear as witnesses on important policy matters during congressional hearings. And they do all this without disclosing the powerful countries that are paying their bills.

For starters, let's recall that, as an example, it was namely on Reagan's watch that neocons infested US government structures and we know how the story goes after that. I always laugh when Ariel Cohen, a clown from The Heritage Foundation who passes for "Russia expert" in it and is sometimes invited to Solovyev's Show to have floors wiped with himself, on a number of occasions tried to correct different interpretations of this Foundation as being specifically "conservative". If one wants to see one of the manifestations of their serious cognitive dissonance, it is enough to get a load of pseudo-academic BS on the Middle East, as an example. I do not provide the link to their Russia tanked "thinking"--feel free to explore a number of laughable pretenses to scholarship on your own. 

But that is the whole point, I just finished a brief review of CFR's wet dreams aptly named "grand strategy", trying to underscore the inability of even the creme de la creme of what US foreign policy establishment can offer to operate within the confines of reality-based community. Now, in her piece, Boland, correctly states:

Americans deserve to know what countries are spending millions of dollars to influence policy discussions in Washington, as well as how much is being spent. Funding transparency would allow the media and the American public to more accurately assess think tanks’ policy prescriptions. If think tanks are recommending certain policy outcomes, we deserve to know who is paying them to make those recommendations and whether there are conflicts of interest.

But Boland, while implicitly confirming total corruption of US "intellectual political elite", forgets the most important issue. The question is not that whole D.C. subsists on donations from all over the world and politicians (and their media whores) are bought and sold wholesale by foreign money which fuel America's existential crisis in the 21st Century. No, this is not anymore an issue. Americans, of course, deserve to know all that--it is just that nobody will tell them. Are you kidding me? No, the issue now is this: are there ANY truly competent people in this swamp-gassing D.C. think-tankdom left to have ANY idea on how to, no, not to avoid an inevitable disaster, but at least do something for mitigating catastrophic consequences which are not just coming but are already here? That is the main issue. I can accept a corrupt, epiphany-stricken, competent leader who at least is driven by self-preservation, but having corrupt lunatics who cannot run anything right, from military, to economy, to foreign policy, leaving after themselves only a trail of destruction--I don't think that even naming those who pay them will change the outcome that much. These are the only ones who run D.C. In the end, no matter how much one pays to a plumber (nothing personal against this fine and highly important trade), we still would go for our triple-bypass surgery to a top notch medical professional, not to even highly paid plumber.

In related news: we finally learned that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the US Army. US Embassy in Denmark, certainly, thought so. As one user put it:

Hard to believe a former real estate agent given an ambassadorship for cash with a penchant for kicking subject-matter experts out of conferences would’ve made a mistake like this

Yep, sums it pretty well for D.C. think-tankdom too. Anyone wants to pay me a million dollars to prove that black is white? Hey, I am open for business, just issue cashier's check first. Cash will be even better....

It Is Not PR.

It is as real as it gets, albeit, in our world full of recording devices it inevitably becomes a food for speculation. A 96 year old veteran of breaking the Siege of Leningrad, in the city of Smolensk can barely walk anymore. But as they say: if the Veteran cannot come to the parade, parade comes to the Veteran. And they did it for a single veteran (Six time wounded during the war) near his apartment block. 

Comments under the video speak for themselves, including, of course, bile-spewing liberda, svidomy and Baltic trolls. You don't even need to know Russian to understand what is going on.  But when even anti-establishment and immature popular Russian entertainment site Fishki gets that many upvotes on this event--that speaks volumes. 

And this is the site which has a very heavy "liberal" and Ukrainian presence. 

Geopolitcal Dreams.

I am in the open for years with my position on the American geopolitical "school of thought" as being extremely weak, if not outright delusional in the last 20 years or so. It is not surprising, once one considers what kind of "scholars" from Kissinger to Fukuyama, to late Brzezinski shaped it in the last decades. US geopolitical "scholars" suffer from serious ailment which remains treatment-resistant since Vietnam and has two major traits:

1. A severe lack of awareness of own country, United States that is, its dynamics, real state of its power and its economy;

2. Chronic inability to account for military power element in shaping geopolitical reality;

Now, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) issued, yet another, grand strategy vision on how the United States needs to deal with China and, in this document, provides 22 "prescriptions" of sorts on how to handle China's rise. Ironically (I deliberately start with Conclusion) in document's Conclusion author(s) of this vision admit(s):

Some of these suggested policy proposals are familiar and have been debated in recent public discourse. Thus, prescriptive familiarity is increasingly not the problem with respect to U.S. policies toward China and Asia writ large. Rather, it is that most such efforts have seen too little connection to U.S. grand strategy, too little conceptual integration, too little policy intensity, and too little policy follow-through. As Leonardo da Vinci supposedly stressed, “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

Hey, how about putting this not into the Conclusion but in the Preface section. This immediately brought back Admiral Sergei Gorshkov's sardonic quote:"The main problem with Americans is that they do not follow their own doctrines." It applies fully here. Before any usage of terms such as "diplomacy", "agreements" or "policy" among many others it has to be admitted that US has no competent diplomacy as such, any agreement with United States is not worth the paper it is printed on and policy, as in sane and implementable, is not something current US "elites" are capable of developing, no matter number of allegedly serious "academic" papers on any of these issues. But since CFR IS a part of the so called "Deep State" and passes in the US as a main brain behind US so called foreign policy, it is worth the effort of looking into the "prescriptions" CFR offers to place in the foundation of the US "grand strategy" towards China. 

I neither have time nor, frankly, desire to go over all 22 of those prescriptions, so I choose only ones which are notable. Before I start, however, I need to congratulate the US "grand strategy" of 1970s through 2010s which succeeded in the largest technology and industry transfer from one country (USA) to another (PRC) in history. So, the United States has only itself to blame for building China's industrial might, while destroying own one, and turning China into global manufacturing superpower. Now, let's go. 

1. The United States should mobilize all instruments of its national power to skillfully manage its economy; modernize its basic infra-structure; reform its immigration system; reduce its entitlement spending; rehabilitate the structure and quality of its education system; and address the serious political, economic, and societal divisions within the country. The U.S. contest with China over Implementing Grand Strategy Toward China international power and influence is likely to be decades long; a prosperous and well-functioning United States is the first requirement to ensure that Washington is well positioned not to lose that competition. Nevertheless, there is no need for strategic defeatism. The United States certainly has the resources to seriously deal with its domestic weaknesses, if it has the political and societal will.

My Comment. First, I do not only not believe, I know for a fact that US public education, especially on a public school level, is done. It cannot be "reformed" because it is primarily an indoctrination tool for increasingly dysfunctional American culture with STEM education being in a state of a permanent disaster. These are not just my ideas, no. This is clearly stated here:

Some of the most challenging aspects in the manufacturing sector are recruitment and retention. In a recent manufacturing skills gap study conducted by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte, only one third of respondents indicated they would encourage their children to pursue a career in manufacturing.Gen Y (ages 19-33 years) respondents ranked manufacturing as their least preferred career destination. Yet once a candidate is hired, the struggle continues. 79% of executives surveyed stated it is moderate to extremely challenging to find candidates to pass screening and/or the probationary period, leaving them with employees unable to perform the work for which they were hired.While the total number of bachelor’s degrees in the U.S. has increased steadily in the last two decades, the number of STEM degrees conferred in the U.S. still pales compared to China.123In addition, the U.S. has seen an increase in students on temporary visas, many of whom would be unable to gain the security clearances needed to work in the defense ecosystem. Growth in advanced science and engineering degrees shows the U.S. graduating the largest number of doctorate recipients of any individual country, but 37% were earned by temporary visa holders125with as many 25% of STEM graduates in the U.S. being Chinese nationals      

We discussed this before. STEM is hard, drama, poetry and hi-school football are fun and easy. As I repeat ad nauseam, it is not just some basic PISA rankings which matter (US is last there among most developed nations), it is a volume and complexity of knowledge in school which student receives, which matters. And here is what Forbes writes:

How bad is the shortage of American students? According to the non-partisan National Foundation for American Policy, in 2017 foreign nationals accounted for 81% of electrical engineering majors and grad students in this country. Foreign students make up three quarters of the majors and grad students in industrial engineering; 62% in mechanical engineering; 55%, or more than half, of those studying materials and metallurgic engineering. As for computer science, the vital crucible for America’s future in areas such as cyber and AI, American students make up barely 21% of the student body.

The United States either fixes its schools, which by now is almost impossible without tearing the whole system down, or, well--no amount of money can save a system which is wound up to produce politically correct mediocrities who will find jobs only in non-productive sectors, unless they go into some trade or do try (fewer and fewer of them) to get themselves into STEM programs in the colleges and universities. I simply cannot see this happening, especially in the nation increasingly legalizing pot. Education catastrophe alone, even without considering a catastrophic de-industrialization of the United States, is serious enough argument for doubting such a wishful thinking having any base in the reality. Once REAL economies of the United States and China are compared, one gets a good feel of the abyss which separates two nations, with China's real economy dwarfing that of the United States. 

2. The United States should protect the integrity of its democratic institutions, both for the good of the nation and to offer a powerful alternative model to China’s authoritarian archetype.

My Comment. This one is easy to comment on and it shows CFR's people complete lack of contact with the reality, a global one. Should they have been decent analysts who study the world, they would have noticed by now, that using term "democratic institutions" and the United States in the same sentence is akin to using "moral" while describing a pedophile or a serial murderer. Funny, but I can see many in China still exercising some illusions on the issue of "democratic institutions", but in very many other nations of the world the United States is viewed mostly as a rogue nation and a corrupt oligarchy in the process of tearing itself apart in public. US political elites are corrupted to the core and the world at large can see proofs of that everyday in the news. I am sorry to break the news, but the United States cannot provide any "alternative model" at all. I guess if "impeachment spectacle" and elites which produce specimens such as Adam Schiff or Mike Pompeo are capable of offering "alternative models", these are not the models which will sell. 

3. The United States, in coordination with allies, should attempt to initiate an extended conversation with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government on world order and the security of Europe and Asia. Zbigniew Brzezinski, in analyzing threats to the United States, warned that “the most dangerous scenario [would be] a grand coalition of China and Russia . . . united not by ideology but by complementary grievances.” In particular, Russia would surely consider moving further into Ukraine in the event of a full-blown U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan.

My Comment. LOL! No, really, LOL. They do not even understand that their problem IS Brzezinski and his ideas, but let's be specific here. The United States has NO geopolitical currency or resources for "extended conversation" with Vladimir Putin because Russians have an extraordinarily good idea about US actual, very limited, real power and resources, and militarily Russia is not really in the mood to discuss anything unless the United States is ready to give back what Russia wants. The US is not ready and, in fact, it is non-agreement capable. Moreover, if people from CFR didn't notice yet, Russia not only doesn't need Ukraine, Russia doesn't want it--who needs millions of freeloaders may of who, in addition, hate you? Ukraine was EU-US "operation", so let them deal and pay for this bloody mess. I know, all those US "plans" to get Russia involved directly and make Russia spend valuable strategic resources on a shithole of a country, such as Ukraine, I can only imagine when the reality started to dawn on the students of Brzezinski that all those plans were, as always, wishful thinking detached from the reality. Ukraine is a toxic asset and Russia is not going to pay for it. Plus, Russians have a good memory and Gorbachev who sought, by means of betraying historic Russia national interests, integration into West is universally hated and despised person in Russia. As they say: take a hint. Donbas, that is a separate matter.

The rest of the document is same ol', same ol' wishful thinking par excellence but also a good indicator of a profound crisis of ideas and knowledge US foreign "policy" elite finds itself in, because of arrogance, ignorance and inability to learn. In this respect, though, the fact that they try to formulate something not overtly militarily aggressive is already some progress. But, in the end, all this "grand strategy" is a classic example of too little, too late for the world in which the United States is not anymore an unquestionable (self-proclaimed) hegemon but just another great power (for now) which will have to find its peaceful place in the new world order or face further decline and fading into irrelevance. For finding itself in this position, the United States has only itself and its geopolitical dreams to blame.         

Reproduction...

For survival. In Europe they decided that in order to ensure productivity they need to import people from places where they don't care about European culture and, in fact, view it as hostile (often correctly). Yet, they still come, then they steal, riot, rape, abuse government subsidies and do not even try to integrate--the outcome so obvious that any person with even a moderate intelligence can figure this out. This, however, remains beyond the grasp of European political "elite" which looks for those who will fill the gap in the labor market where native Europeans do not try to realize themselves anywhere but in Europe. Hence creeping Islamization and Afrikanization of Europe with non-reproductive native European folk being too busy with earthly pleasures European standard of living affords them still. Not for long, though. Russia looks on demography issue differently.

To procreate, the nation needs very strongly pronounced cultures of masculinity and femininity--a complete no-no in the Western world where the number of genders continues to grow, while masculinity is being purged. I will omit here Western feminism which is a globalist suicidal ideology on the service of either deranged celebrities or mostly unfvckable radicals who are incapable to create a family. Russia is different in this respect, radically different and majority of Russian women do what Russian men like--they try to attract men for creation of family. They try, with the exception of some from female urban office plankton who follows Western "trends" and, obvious cohort of representatives of the oldest profession both from the streets and from glossy vogue magazines and TV shows, to be primarily feminine. There is a huge difference between what generally is defined as female beauty and femininity--the latter is much harder to gain and to develop. It is also a pass of sorts for what normal men seek in their life--future mother of their kids and a true lover and partner for life. Femininity is a woman's contract with her own weakness with which she spellbinds her man. 

So, Russians are given an "order" (and means) to procreate--this means, in a long run, a return to conservative culture, for which there is a social demand, and eventual removal of most of a filth which still is present in Russian arts and entertainment. It will be back (already is) with extolling a love between man and woman, and a family. Native Russian (and Tatar, and Bashkir, and Mordvin, and Karel, and you name it) family. There is no other way and it is really heartwarming to see that there is this understanding at the very top of Russia's elite. 

At Least This Is Not A Lie.

It finally happened and, actually, I agree with this "conclusion", sort of. In yet another act of an American insanity circus known as US politics, the culprit and Putin's "real" agent finally had his cover blown, LOL.  

Adam Schiff is the one helping Vladimir Putin destabilize US democracy

I have to agree. The author continues:

"The President's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won," Schiff thundered this week, arguing for President Donald Trump's removal. That comment stopped me in my tracks (and rankled many in the Senate GOP conference) because the conclusion of the US intelligence community was that Russia's interference in the 2016 election was designed "to undermine public faith in the US democratic process," an assessment backed up by the Senate Intelligence Committee.What could possibly be more fulfilling of Putin's desire to sow discord and mistrust than for a senior member of Congress to stand in the well of the Senate and declare the 2020 election is already illegitimate before a single ballot has been cast? Putin himself couldn't have scripted a better finale for his operation.

But this is not what is significant in this piece--children in kindergartens in normal countries are taught how not to behave using examples of Russiagate and Ukrainegate. No, the significance is in the fact that this is CNN. Yes, this cabal of low level, low IQ "analysts" who are in the business of goebbelsonian propaganda and (false) narrative-mongering. But, however note-worthy this fact is, nothing can be undone or saved anymore in the world of newspeak and thought-crime, where everything loses any meaning and can become whatever one wants it to be. Yet, it has to be stated that pointing to Adam Schiff (and what he represents) as a real danger to whatever is left of the American Republic and alleged "democracy" is worth paying attention to, since, even if by accident and wrong reasons, the definition is correct. CNN published at least some truth--that is big news. 

Mishustin As...

So, you make your own conclusions (you don't need to know Russian to get it), LOL. This is some good stuff. Have a nice Friday. That explains it. 

 

We Didn't Do Fun Fridays In A Long Time.

Maybe it is a good idea to relax today--my first real relax since New Year, honestly. 

And yes, today:

And no, Wiser is not "my good buddy", I prefer Stella...LOL. 

Bernhard Of Moon Of Alabama Nails It.

Here is German whose opinion on Boeing I, being Russian myself, share completely. 

It is sad to see a once great company going down over the incompetence of such men.

My sentiment exactly. Has been such for many years. Boeing is more than just American company, for decades it was a symbol of great quality and great airliners. Yet, Bernhard is spot on when he writes:

Boeing had stopped the final assembly line of the 737 MAX because there was no more room to store the more than 400 produced but grounded new planes. It will take more than a year to clear that inventory. But Calhoun now wants to restart production even before the MAX is allowed back into the air. This is beyond silly:

He said Boeing plans to restart the 737 assembly lines in Renton months before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approves a return to service to ensure that production can be restarted with maximum efficiency.“We’ll start it slow so we can practice and practice. That’s a bit of a silver lining in the [production] pause.”

That is an insult to Boeing workers. They do know how to build planes. They do not need more 'practice' but a management that is aware that pressuring workers will not produce better planes. But Calhoun is not interested the gritty details of manufacturing good airplanes. It is all about the shareholders, the only group that counts:

Calhoun said Boeing is not planning to cut or suspend the dividend because Boeing has the “financial capacity and capability to do the things we need to do.” Calhoun said he “will stay on that path unless something dramatic changes.”

So Boeing will take on $10 billion of additional debt to pay dividends and will hike is lobbying spending even while it does not have the cashflow to develop new airplanes.

Get it? It is all about dividends. But then again, who IS Mr. Calhoun? There is precious little about his REAL background except that his education is in accounting. Why I am not surprised with Boeing's not only current pathetic state but also a very dangerous one? The guy who is a bookkeeper (and yes, spare me this BS general title of "businessman") running the place which requires an enormous amount of STEM education and expertise. What the fvck are they doing to more than just national treasure but to an international symbol of air travel? They are literally killing the company. Here is another note-worthy point:

It takes at least 7 years and some $10 to $15 billions to create and certify an all new airplane. Airbus already has some 60% of the large jet market share with Boeing having some 40%. Pushing back the launch of the New Midsize Airplane (NMA) means that Boeing will have nothing new to offer throughout the next ten years. Without a new plane Boeing's market share will slip to 30% which is less than the minimum one third it needs to survive in the duopoly.

The MAX, though, is here to stay. Calhoun said he expects it to eventually reach parity with the Airbus A320neo. He dismissed a suggestion that the MAX may never fly again, or will be renamed to disguise its history, and said passengers’ confidence in the airplane will be restored.“I believe in this airplane,” he said. “I’m all in on it and the company’s all in on it.”

Well, here are some news for him: it is not just Airbus which is laughing all the way to the bank, B-737Max is not a competitor to Russian MC-21, which will inevitably replace ALL B-737s flying inside Russia (which also explains Irkut planning ramped-up production) and already has many firm contracts from Aeroflot, Red Wings and others but, as news have it (for admirers of China's progress it will be a very cold shower), other things come into play here. As rumor has it, Chinese, who already pushed own certification of their COMAC-919 back to 2021, may, actually, face a cold hard reality that this aircraft may have bigger problems than delay of certification. As Aviation Expert reports: 

Задержки при создании новых образцов авиатехники — это вполне распространенное явление. Ещё ни одна конструкция самолета не получилась с первого захода идеальной, без необходимости доработок. Однако неспособность реализовать такие доработки в течение уже длительного срока — серьезный удар по репутации Китая, как возможного нового игрока на мировом рынке производства воздушных судов, который вложил немалые средства в свою первую серьезную попытку составить конкуренцию Boeing и Airbus.  

Translation: Delays during creation of new samples of aviation technology are nothing new--it is a widespread phenomenon. Never in history new design ever achieved ideal from the first attempt, without necessity for improvements. However, inability to implement such improvements over such a long time--delivers a serious  blow to China's reputation as a new player on the global market of commercial aircraft, especially after investing such a massive effort into its first attempt to be competitive with Boeing and Airbus. 

Evidently some serious mistakes in calculations have been made, which affected data required to be sent to engine manufacturer CFM, plus, at this stage all COMAC 919 prototypes spent less than 20% of required 4, 200 hours in the air required for certification. As you may remember, I was skeptical about COMAC from the get go. COMAC's only competitive advantage is its allegedly lower cost, which, most likely, if this aircraft ever to enter large-scale production, will be "financed" by government. Meanwhile, Russia's MC-21 already has a preliminary certification from EASA and, what is very important, has a certified PD-14 own engine. So, you get my drift, do you? I'll give you a hint: SU-35, S-400 and now Russia helping China to develop Missile Attack Warning System. Well, after all, what is CR-929 with PD-35? 

Now, ask yourself a question what Airbus and UAC (United Aircraft Corporation) think about not only Russian market, but gigantic Chinese one, especially with Boeing being taken down by its incompetent management in the most important and profitable segment of narrow-body middle-range aircraft? Russia, sure as hell, knows that she will have some, initially small, share at Middle Eastern market, larger, most likely, at African one and she has a shot at a good slice of Chinese one once MC-21 goes on-line in 2021. Boeing, I think, doesn't have those 7+ years to develop something completely new instead of good but dated B-737 design. So, make your own calculations, including an increase of sanctions on Russia in a desperate attempt to delay a full russification of SSJ-100 and the launch of MC-21 into full-scale production. Russians do not really care anymore, plus, unlike Boeing, UAC features not only competent management, but extremely competent engineering corps and it really caters mostly to Russia's State as the most important shareholder. UAC doesn't see itself as a direct competitor on a global market, after all, here is the UAC's forecast, but it was in 2017--things changed since then dramatically. 

In 2017 nobody could have predicted, let's call it what it is, a catastrophe with Boeing which more and more looks to me as some deliberate attempts to sink a legendary and trusted aerospace giant. But then again, someone, it seems, wouldn't mind splitting the United States into few statelets. All this, as bizarre as it seems, feels like an invisible, behind the scenes, Liquidation Committee or is it just the logical conclusion to a short era of collapsing financial capitalism which cares only about "bottom line" and poor-poor fat cats shareholders who cannot afford another Ferrari (or Maserati) for their harem. I guess, we'll know the answer soon.      

A Bit On Iranian Boeing And Other Business.

I. Going back to the unfortunate (tragic, really) downing of Iranian commercial B-737 in the wake of Iran's missile strike at US bases in Iraq in response to murder of General Soleimani. I maintain and will continue to maintain my position that Iranian missile from Tor-1 which downed this Boeing was launched due to:

a) Mounting pressure on combat crews of AD complexes around Tehran in anticipation of the American response which never came;

b) Possibly not a very good training of crews and failure to follow procedures (which procedures, that matters). 

And here is a clue that Iran was correct in anticipating of some sort of US response after missile strikes. Let's Russia's Sergei Lavrov speak.

Российские системы ПВО-ПРО контролируют воздушно-космическое пространство вокруг России на тысячи километров. Об этом заявил Сергей Лавров, сказавший о том, российские средства ПВО смогли обнаружить у границ Ирана шесть истребителей F-35 через несколько часов после ракетного удара по американским базам. По словам и.о. главы МИД РФ, "в это время в воздухе на границе с воздушным пространством Ирана было минимум шесть F-35. Эта информация еще требует перепроверки, но подчеркивает всю нервозность ситуации".

Translation: Russia's air-defense-anti-missile systems control air and space around Russia for thousands of kilometer. This was stated by Sergei Lavrov, who also stated that Russia's air-defense systems detected six F-35 fighters near Iran's border several hours after Iran's strike on US bases. In his words:"this time, in the air, near Iran's air border, there were minimum six F-35s. This information needs more clarification but it underscores the nervousness of this situation." 

Cannot get any clearer than that. But this also brings fourth couple of important issues: 

1. Trump, as POTUS, needs, ahem, just teeny-weeny bit better explanation on how things can and DO go wrong when people make stupid and irresponsible decisions;

2. Russia's tracked "invisible" F-35s thousands kilometers away using latest radar Container.  

While Russia's ability to detect, track and develop firing solution on VLO targets is news mostly for flag-waving fanboys, one thing which is noted by establishment Rossiskay Gazeta where the article originated is this:

А если говорить по Ирану, то у нас просто нет соглашения об обмене данных по противовоздушной обороне. Возможно, придется их заключать.

Translation: If to speak about Iran, we (Russia) do not have an agreement on the air-defense data exchange. Possibly, we need to have one.

Now the question, could Russia's NTSUO (National Defense Control Center) have at least tipped Iranians about incoming F-35s? Not only it is possible, it is very-very likely. Iranians, most likely, being under stress over anticipation of American attack, simply overreacted. Which, indeed, brings up the issue of Russia covering Iran's air space by early warning umbrella, thus allowing Iran to have track and targeting on any type of targets. That means, making Iran's aerospace largely impenetrable. But that is a whole other story in itself. This also shows that present and upcoming air-defense technologies not only are capable of detecting all those "super-invisible" targets, but able to track them and provide targeting. I do not need to comment on that anymore. 

II. One of the traits of Putin's leadership, which also manifests itself increasingly as time goes by, is his principle of making Russophobia an extremely expensive luxury for anyone who exercises it. Poland fits the bill perfectly. I will omit writing too much on this issue but as you may recall--I state non-stop that Holocaust, that is deliberate annihilation of Jews did happen, it is just that some numbers should be adjusted for Jews who actually died fighting and that Jewish Holocaust was not the only one. Slavs were deemed untermensch also and were murdered on an industrial scale. Read this piece by Israel Shamir to get a scoop on what really is going on.

President Putin is aware of the Polish controversy, and he decided to show the Poles that their relentless hostility to Russia just does not pay. A few weeks ago on December 24, at the meeting of the Russian Ministry of Defence, Putin presented certain documents of the World War Two period, attesting to the rabidly anti-Jewish attitude of the pre-war Polish leadership. For instance, Jozef Lipsky, the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany until 1939, told the Germans that the Poles would erect a monument to the Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler in Warsaw if he were to rid Poland of its Jews. “Such an anti-Semitic pig!” – exclaimed Putin indignantly.

BTW, Israel DOES have now monument to people of Leningrad (this is not to mention May 9 being Israel's national holiday). 

Poland, meanwhile, equates USSR to Nazi Germany and desecrated monuments to Red Army soldiers who died liberating Poland from Nazism. Plus, of course, there is this "teeny-weeny" fact of Poles taking a very active part in murdering Jews and Russia is declassifying those archive documents as there is no tomorrow.  You see, and that is the whole point, Russians tried not to "disturb" memories in Soviet times in order to preserve a degree of harmony between various nationalities populating USSR. Such as trying to downplay a huge role of Ukrainian nationalists not only in helping Hitler, but excelling at murdering civilian population such as they did to Khatyn, among many other places. They repeated it in 2014 in Odessa. Now it is Poland's turn to face her own REAL history. 

In the end, it was the Red Army which liberated Auschwitz and many other places where horrendous atrocities had been committed against civilian population. Somebody tries to rewrite history. Not so fast. In the end, many world leaders will attend Moscow on May 9, 2020. Even Trump is considering a trip, granted he will not be betrayed by his "own" party. If he survives impeachment, he may find trip to Moscow to be most desirable. Where will Polish delegation be on May 9, 2020? In reality, nobody cares. After all, Russians and Nazis, in accordance to Polish "historiography", are the same. So, let it stay this way in Poland. Just expect few more skeletons being taken out of Warsaw's closet. And then there is Ukraine, but that shithole of a country requires a separate post (not that I want to do it) dedicated to it and pro-Polish agenda of US former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski who fvcked it royally up for the United Sates on so many fronts that it may require a separate Ph.D level study of this "American" allegedly "scholar" contribution to a current American crisis. Not to mention a complete destruction of Russian-American relations.      

Reasonably Satisfied.

Ah, hell with it, I am pretty satisfied with a new Russian Government of Mishustin (in Russian).  It is a good government. 

1. Remember Andrei Belousov? Now he is in government as First Deputy PM. Do I need to go deeper into importance of this man? Excellent.

2. As was expected, brilliant Yuri Borisov retained his post as Vice-Premier responsible for Military-Industrial Complex. Top, absolute top. 

3. Mishustin brought with him a number of his own people from his remarkably effective Federal Tax Service. Very good decision, excellent specialists in uncovering all kinds of fraud and squeezing fat cats into proper sharing of benefits or ending up behind bars. Good news.  

4. Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, retained his post. Those who followed Russia's industrial development will understand why. Very good news.

5. Siluanov, he is liberal but he is a very good financial specialist and I totally expected him back to this post.  

Ah, yes, Shoigu and Lavrov retained their posts. Anybody expected a different outcome? I did exercise for a second a possibility of Masha Zakharova being offered this job ahead of Ryabkov, purely out of stunning femininity and brains factor, but she is still young and she will need to get through Russia's Rep. at the United Nations before being offered this post. Hey, few more years of Lavrov's memes and trolling, who would decline that? It is a very good government, overwhelming majority of it are what can be defined as Gosudarstvenniki (Statehoodniks) and people with excellent pedigrees in their respective fields. It is a COMPETENT government. It is a government which is charged with unprecedented plan of Russia's development, not seen since Stalin's Industrialization, and hysterical screams and depressed whining (in Russian) from both "left" and "liberal" wings because they understand that if this plan succeeds, they will be permanently removed to the most remote fringes of Russia's political life, where they truly belong, only confirm the correctness of choice. Will this plan succeed? I guess we'll see, but preparation for these events started few years back, when it became obvious that integration with the West is not only not-possible but highly undesirable. Russia did reasonably well (nah, I am being facetious--she did incredible job) against the background of actual and economic warfare the combined West unleashed against her. Keeping this in mind, one can totally conceive that new objectives will be attained, because Russia can either exist as a superpower or not at all. The social demand for this change of country's course has formed in Russia long time ago, now it is being satisfied.  

BTW, useless Oreshkin got kicked out. Good riddance. He may serve yet as Putin's errand boy, he may do well at this position;))   

Collapse?

I want to forestall any speculations from the start--US Dollar-based system IS IN the state of collapse. We are just within this process which has some less acute or more acute phases, but it is ongoing. I will repeat myself--the main pillar on which US Dollar based system rests, US military might, turned out to be made from rotten wood, not hardest granite. Latest events with Iran merely marked yet another key point in this pillar's slow collapse. Once "power element" behind US Dollar is completely discredited, the more acute phase will start with world as a whole dropping US Dollar as a currency of choice. So, RT's report on that caught my eye today in terms of the time frame for such a collapse. Judge for yourself:

Central banks have been buying massive amounts of gold over the last 50 years, purchasing a historic high of 374.1 tons in 2019. The unprecedented shift has been seen by many as a move away from the US dollar. The interesting thing, according to Egon von Greyerz of GoldSwitzerland.com, is that not every country is buying gold. He told RT’s Keiser Report that mainly Eastern central banks have been piling up the shiny metal. “We are talking about Russia and China, Turkey, Poland, and Hungary.”Russia and China are the ones that are “really seeing what’s happening,” he says. “They know that the dollar is going to collapse.”  According to Greyerz, China, which didn’t reveal its true position of gold holdings, “might… have 20,000 tons that they have gathered over a long period of time.”“Russia and China see that the dollar days are counted, and I agree with that totally. At some point it [dollar collapse] should happen this year and I think it will. We are going to see the dollar collapse and that would be very serious for the world and of course very serious for the United States,” he says.

I write about it non-stop: Russian intelligence and analytical institutions are arguably the best in the world, and Putin's (as head of Russia), and Xi's, I may add, actions and words can be better understood when one considers to what degree Putin is aware of the global processes. I think he has arguably the best picture of the shifting geopolitical balance in the world. I have all reasons to believe so and he is extremely well aware on the future fate of the US political, financial and military institutions. To a very large degree an insane tempo of Russia's political, economic and military re-institutionalizing ( I hate this tired stale term "reform") varies directly with the tempo of US internal political, economic and military degradation. 

There is very little doubt about the fact Iran's response to the murder of General Soleimani sent a shock to the system and, undeniably, changed the mood on the streets of Middle East. Another factor, which testifies to a rather poor situation is the fact that some reports talk about severe lack of the American resources to deal with China and concentrating those limited resources back on the Middle East. In the end, it is not just the lack of the resources, increasingly visible with the passage of time, it is gross ineffectiveness of those since, as recent Conference on Libya in Berlin demonstrated, it used to be that if one wanted something done in the Middle East, one called Washington, today one must call Moscow. Something to this effect. This is not an environment which is conducive to maintaining the reputation of main reserve currency, when the main pillar of military might (from which all other "mights" derive) on which this reputation rested is not exactly what it was thought before, politely speaking. The question is not even in financial institutions that the United States maintains still around the globe, as Phil Giraldi noted today, it is the fact that even smaller regional players, such as Iran, not to speak of superpowers such as China or Russia, can play around the system without the danger of the American "rules-based order" being forcefully imposed on them. 

I warned about this for years. Now, it seems, US Dollar's departure is not even a subject for discussion, it is a cold hard fact of life, fait accompli, but merely a subject for speculation on WHEN this departure will be finally formalized, be that through the internal economic collapse in the United States, the event similar to Suez Crisis (and Moment), or through combination of both. Difficult to say. Remarkably, nobody (I underscore it) wants US economic and financial collapse--in the end, everyone gets hurt one way or another, it is just the matter of economic strength--but current American political class is completely incapable to right the ship of the American statehood, not to mention stopping avalanche processes within American economy, so we are all treated to a mad circus of Impeachment which will finish US statehood off for good, unless, in the last moment (yeah, good luck with that) AG Barr decides to indict a bunch of treasonous lowlifes thus giving us at least some hope. So far, doesn't look like it is going to happen. But, I guess, as long as the stock market is doing great, we all should be fine, right?   

Alex Jones Is Not Wrong On This One.

Yes, there was a rally in Richmond, VA in defense of the 2nd Amendment. I am with rallying guys, law abiding citizens have ALL rights for defense of personal safety and property. It is one of those purely American things which sets the United States apart and is attractive to very many people around the globe. 

Thousands of people entered the security perimeter around the state capitol, where Northam had banned guns in an executive order, fearing violence. But thousands of others rallied on nearby streets that didn’t fall under the emergency order, many of them carrying assault rifles and wearing tactical gear. Members of the Three Percenter and Oath Keepers militias marched in the streets with their weapons, while other rally-goers cheered one man carrying a large sniper rifle with an orange “Guns Save Lives” sticker affixed to its magazine... Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cruised the streets of Richmond with a megaphone and an armored truck. Shouting from his vehicle, deemed his “battle tank,” the radio host reportedly declared: “We are here in Virginia at the capital in defiance of the globalist tyranny and their attempts to trigger a civil war.”

I agree with Alex on this one: while both US nominal "parties" are globalist, it is Democratic Party which pushes for openly globalist, anti-white, anti-male agenda. Their version of "gun control" is designed to defang any kind of resistance which remaining native (and by native I mean also traditional white Christian America) Americans may mount. Democratic party and their top political operatives are a party of a national treason. They know it, and that is why they are afraid of armed law abiding citizens. As much as GOP is a despicable cesspool of Neo-liberal and neocon creatures, the party, such as Democratic one, which contains internally influential people of a radical and nationally suicidal political views such as AOC or Ilhan Omar can not be viewed other than the Liquidation Commission for the United States. I have issues with such a party.    

Here is just a small part of rally "within" the security perimeter.

UPDATE:


Ahh, "truthful" US media and hysterical Hollywood types (useless freeloaders pretending to be other people):

MSNBC correspondent Gabe Gutierrez found himself in hot water when he tweeted a video of a large group of protesters saying the pledge of allegiance and captioned the video with: “Chants of ‘we will not comply’ from gun rights protesters in Richmond.” Since the audio in the video did not match what Gutierrez was saying, commentators like Ben Shapiro and Dana Loesch immediately descended on the man.

You think anyone will get fired? Nah, masculinity in the US is a forbidden trait.   

MSNBC reporter Ben Collins deleted a tweet where he called the rally a “white nationalist rally.”

Sure he did, there were plenty of hard-working, Second Amendment enthusiasts black folks. So, this thing also didn't work out for race hustlers in US media.