Anticlimactic.

No really. Is it even a news anymore for anyone with a half-brain and an attention span longer than the length of a hemorrhoid cream commercial? I don't think so. Recall what I wrote 5 days ago: 

I cannot describe, I have no descriptive powers, the whole Gogol-Kafkaesque nature of this all, I am sure they are rolling on the floors right now in Moscow from Homeric laughter. Here is a whole thing by AG William Barr. It is delightful in the extreme in a sense that, with all my revulsion toward GOP, it shows utter incompetence, malfeasance and infantilism of DNC and of Obama Administration's operatives and moles residing in the nooks and crannies of D.C. putrid swamp. A bunch of narcissists, talent-less empty suits, headed by a modern, and very real, iteration of a Wicked Witch of the East couldn't take it, that they lost in 2016 because they are all, without exception, are full of shit and most are seditious traitors driven by a sense of entitlement.

But before Durham releases his findings, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified a wonderfully telling letter:

My question remains the same--will we see anyone going, finally, behind bars? I would love to see a few Pulitzer Prize winners, who abuse life-giving remuneration springs in all kind of shitty US propaganda rags like NYT, or WaPo, or NBC, or whatever else is out there which took part in de facto coup, to be stripped of their mostly crappy credentials and spend some time in solitary confinement contemplating the fact that words, which constitute malicious lies, do have consequences. But then again, American main-stream journalism being a euphemism for whoring, usually destroys psychological mechanisms responsible for a sense of honor, duty and honesty, pretty fast. I would love to see it, even more so than seeing HRC's and Obama's cabal getting persecuted for treason. Never mind, those ass-holes destroying relations with Russia--the only country on Earth capable to wipe the United States off the map completely. All of that in order to hide the fact that they are incompetent crooks. Is what remains of the Republic even salvageable? As Captain Ed Hocken (played by incomparable George Kennedy) from The Naked Gun would say:

Doctors say that it has a 50/50 chance of living, though there's only a 10 percent chance of that.

Phantom Pains.

Thanks to Colonel Lang's diligence my attention was directed toward Syria--I am not going to comment on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflagration until I have a reliable data--and the role UK plays in trying to influence this conflict. Colonel's comments are on target when he states that:

Using really basic intelligence analytic tools; Occam's Razor, Walks like a duck, Smileyesque back azimuth's, etc. it has been clear that the UK government has been deeply involved in sponsoring and influencing the Syrian/ jihadi opposition in that miserable country.  The wide spread British Old Boys network of aspirants to the tradition of imperial manipulation has been visible just below the surface if you had eyes to look and a brain to think. A lot of the money for this folly came right out of USAID.

In fact, British "fingerprints" were all over the place since the git go in Syria and as the Greyzone reports, based on allegedly leaked UK government's 2014 document:

In other words, the UK Foreign Office and military crafted plans to wage a comprehensive media war on Syria. To establish an infrastructure capable of managing the propaganda blitz, Britain paid a series of government contractors, including ARK, The Global Strategy Network (TGSN), Innovative Communication & Strategies (InCoStrat), and Albany. The work of these firms overlapped, and some collaborated in their projects to cultivate the Syrian opposition.

There are absolutely no news in the fact that Al Jazeera, as one example among many, is a propaganda front for Qatar (accidentally, a big friend and enabler of ISIS, Daesh etc.)  and intelligence organizations with a "specific" agenda in the region, nor is it really news that good ol' boys, as Colonel calls them, from all kinds of primarily UK and US funny outlets find all kinds of applications to their "intelligence" skills in fomenting troubles--obviously all for the greater good of democracy and human rights--even up to training and equipping moderate terrorists, humanitarian jihadists and all other kinds of people who love to cut heads, disembowel people, rape women and in general maintain a highest standard of democratic values. 

America's involvement into  this bloody mess in the Middle East is understandable--it is wrong, often criminal, but it is understandable. Superpower's rah-rah, "best friend" Israel and shit of this nature, but UK in this whole thing is a comical entity, trying to address its phantom pains of Great Empire of the past so desperately that it is comical. Make no mistake, London City, banks, all this glory of the sun never setting on the empire, in the end--English Premiere League--try to counter this. The best, undeniably, league in the world, way better than La Liga or Bundesliga, and there is no denial of that. London still retains its Victorian grandeur in some places, where they are still able to maintain at least some acceptable norms of public safety and sanitation, but writing is on the wall. No matter how legendary and beloved Manchester United, or Liverpool, or Chelsea are for many around the globe, UK is a basket case economically, culturally and militarily. 

London may have some money, for now, it has no real international subjectivity and is in a perpetual search for this dopamine-laced feeling of self-importance and if it is by pretending that UK matters by means of support for all kinds of human trash, I am sure heirs to James Bond's glory will do it maintaining their stiff upper lip. I don't know if they know at the 10 Downing Street that they are pathetic, but the reality of UK is simply sad--it becomes fast a totalitarian state which is drowning in political correctness, UK's economy is in tatters (wink, wink, if you know what I mean):

London (CNN Business)UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy. This crash in GDP in the April-June period, compared with the first quarter, is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955. Industries most exposed to government lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic — services, production and construction — saw record drops. 

If one discards some famous UK manufacturing brands such as still relevant Rolls-Royce or some other aerospace elements tied into BAE Systems, there is very little, frankly, to talk about what UK produces anymore and what has any global trade impact by being competitive. The times of British glorious and highly relevant and viable national aerospace industry are gone forever, UK cannot anymore out of own resources and talent produce world-class combat jet, nor can she do it for a commercial aircraft, being fully integrated into Airbus "family" owning 20% stake with other 80% belonging to EADS. What else, what else... Ah, British Armed Forces are a joke. Today British Army numbers a whopping 79,000 of regular personnel and is getting ready to abandon tanks as a viable combined arms element altogether. Once glorious and legendary Royal Navy has enough ships and subs to demonstrate flag and, maybe, win another Falkland campaign against grossly inferior power, granted its two aircraft carriers will be able to deploy enough F-35Bs to the theater, but that is about it. In other words, UK is a military and economic backwater and I say this with a degree of sorrow. I, as many of my peers, grew up with great British literature, indeed, unique and massive British contribution in science, culture and other fields of human activity. Come on, we grew up with Beatles, Deep Purple and some quirky, and wonderful, British movies. In the end, Great Britain was our second most important ally in WW II. That Britain is no more. 

UK's trade balance is a negative 130 billion Pounds, the most popular boy's name in London is Mohamed, and in general things look so...promising for this once prosperous Kingdom that desperation is in the air. So, what's left? Right, try to play games adults play, get into chihuahua mode and get into the middle of the fight of mastiffs. How? Easy, you just read about it--make a stink that everyone notices you, that you are relevant, that you still can influence the events in the world and this may make a phantom pain of a gone greatness less acute. As for hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced--no price is too high, because it is for the bloody greater good.

Even More Military Porn.

In Russian, but even without knowing Russian, Gerasimov stresses that Caucasus-2020 deliberately were removed away from NATO, while NATO still behaves like it shouldn't. Then the French Military Attache Ivan (you have got to be kidding me, LOL) Martin (guy in beret) thanks Russian MoD for invitation. But, couple of points--Russians and Chinese operate as a single unit (together with Armenians), while ... drum roll... Pakistan takes part also. Obviously, Belorussians are organic to all that and things, I think, from now on will only tighten up defensively between Belarus and Russia. So, all in all--a cool command-staff strategic exercise. And yes, S-300V4 was used. 

Terminator does look like...well..terminator. Enjoy excellent visuals. 

But get this--LOL. Zvezda loves its correspondents having a fvcking PTSD, LOL. 

This is hilarious and... dangerous. But what a shot.

So, Russians Have Colluded With...

Russians? OK, let's get this straights. Russians, it looks like, after all, were colluding against Trump, since, as news has it:

The FBI was aware of a counterintelligence investigation into the man Christopher Steele relied on for his Trump-Russia dossier, but kept renewing the FISA warrant to spy on the president anyway, according to a damning new letter. The dossier compiled by British spy Christopher Steele, paid through the firm Fusion GPS by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was used by the FBI to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page in October 2016, prior to the presidential election. The warrant was renewed after Donald Trump got elected president and finally expired sometime in late 2017.

LOL. As the saying goes, and when we thought we hit the bottom, somebody knocked from below. I cannot describe, I have no descriptive powers, the whole Gogol-Kafkaesque nature of this all, I am sure they are rolling on the floors right now in Moscow from Homeric laughter. Here is a whole thing by AG William Barr. It is delightful in the extreme in a sense that, with all my revulsion toward GOP, it shows utter incompetence, malfeasance and infantilism of DNC and of Obama Administration's operatives and moles residing in the nooks and crannies of D.C. putrid swamp. A bunch of narcissists, talent-less empty suits, headed by a modern, and very real, iteration of a Wicked Witch of the East couldn't take it, that they lost in 2016 because they are all, without exception, are full of shit and most are seditious traitors driven by a sense of entitlement. 

 

Are Durham's, long overdue, revelations next? Just think about it, HRC, DNC, Obama's stooges hired some washed out second rate BSer from MI-6 whose main source was the guy who was considered a national security threat and was in contacts with Russia's intelligence. This is rich, LOL. Remarkably, I do not look at HRC, Obama, or their really pathetic minions such as Clapper or Brennan, or Komey as merely political figures. Nope, I view them primarily as  ass-holes in human terms (professionally they all are zeros). Human trash with no morality, ethics or honor--just one highly concentrated case of excrement. US media pundits do not qualify even for excrement, they are below it in ratings of human depravity. This Barr's memo, obviously, opens many doors into such matters as, say, current BLM-ANTIFA-US media driven domestic terrorism and puts some DNC operatives under scrutiny.

 

This memo is way more important than whatever will be a publicity re: Biden family cottage industry in Ukraine, albeit this too adds to what becomes increasingly desperate situation for Democrats. Dems'  "ticket" with both parties on it, a senile pervert and an over-ambitious nobody, utterly unqualified to run local convenience store, is an Exhibit A of America's "elites" corruption and contempt towards law, order and, in the end, people of the United States. Mike Whitney gave it a good write up and want to quote him here:

Here’s your political puzzler for the day: Which of these two things poses a greater threat to the country:

1. An incompetent and boastful president who has no previous government experience and who is rash and impulsive in his dealings with the media, foreign leaders and his critics?
2. Or a political party that collaborates with senior-level officials in the Intel agencies, the FBI, the DOJ, the media, and former members of the White House to spy on the new administration with the intention of gathering damaging information that can be used to overthrow the elected government?

The answer is “2”, the greater threat to the country is a political party that engages in subversive activity aimed at toppling the government and seizing power. In fact, that’s the greatest danger that any country can face, an enemy from within. Foreign adversaries can be countered by diplomatic engagement and shoring up the nation’s military defenses, but traitors–who conduct their activities below the radar using a secret network of contacts and connections to inflict maximum damage on the government– are nearly unstoppable.

That pretty much describes it. I hope Barr's memo is just the start of a process of dismantling of the Democratic Party as we know it, with reconstitution of it at some point of time (maybe) as a center-left, labor-oriented political party which may even be called something else altogether. What will be left should be removed to the political margins--never to be considered a nation-wide political force. Only after that one may start looking at what should be done with the party of Neo-liberalism and of Wall Street, you know, GOP. Maybe there are still some juices left in it for formation of genuinely conservative nationalist party rooted in humble foreign policy and economic nationalism. 

But, as you know--hope dies last. But still, I had such an awesome profoundly good laugh today that I let my imagination fly a bit over this present day American Circus.

This Is Really Cool.

The work of Air Defense units of S-400, Buk and S-1s against, I think, target missiles (shown in the beginning) RM-75, Mach=4 capable targets. Caucasus-2020 exercises commenced and first videos are being released by Russia's MoD. Military porn at its best.   

I also liked P-800 Oniks (inert, without explosives) of one of Bastions approach to the target, you need to slow video down to appreciate what M=2.5+ on terminal looks like;) 

Enjoy. An innocent fun. 

UPDATE: Arktika is on her way to Arctic Ocean and its ice-cap. (In Russian, but visuals are awesome). 

She is big. The largest ice-breaker in history.

Anyone Thought Otherwise?

 As I pointed out yesterday, Russians will yawn. They did. 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia sees minimal chances of extending the New START treaty with the United States - their last major nuclear arms pact - as it does not accept conditions set out by Washington, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday. He spoke came after Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control, told a Russian newspaper that Moscow must accept a joint agreement with Washington on extending the treaty before the U.S. presidential election in November. "I suspect that after President Trump wins re-election, if Russia has not taken up our offer, that the price of admission, as we would say in the U.S., goes up," Billingslea told Kommersant newspaper in an interview. Ryabkov said that position constituted an ultimatum and lowered the chances of reaching any kind of agreement to extend the deal, which expires in February next year. "We cannot talk in this manner," TASS news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. Another news agency, RIA, quoted him as saying the chances of a treaty extension were "minimal".

As I say non-stop, unless one rehearses to go out on the stage of the Saturday Night Life for some absurd, and long ago stopped being funny, skit, this whole START "business" doesn't even qualify for a minimally amusing routine. One doesn't talk in ultimatums to the only power on Earth which can turn D.C. into parking lot even without nuclear weapons but these simple skills are beyond the grasp of American "diplomacy". Lack of culture and sophistication in D.C. prevents them from understanding a simple principle which is: ultimatums tell more about the side which issues them, much more and are the first sign of desperation and weakness in a dyadic relations between US and Russia. Russia is not compromising on her arsenal, in fact, something tells me she is holding something back. To be revealed when the time comes.  

Pompeo, in his interview to Bild (in German), declared the creation of anti Nord Stream 2 "coalition". This is not news and Russia is pretty nonchalant about it. Obviously it is all about US LNG, which MUST go to Europe, both to finance US ailing economy and kill any prospects for already barely competitive EU products. It is between Germany and the US. It is all boring. And, really, did anyone think that Russians will react otherwise to ultimatums? I know, I know, history is not a strong point in D.C. but they should really refresh it once in a while. I mean real history, not narratives.

Russia Steals Everything.

And Jesus Christ was an American and was born in Kalamazoo, MI. It is a well-known fact. So Donald Trump, evidently briefed by his utterly competent and crushingly precise aids, knows now that:

“We have a super duper rocket. I call it super duper because it is 5 times faster than conventional rockets. But Russia got this information from the Obama administration, it kidnapped it, and built its own rocket. But now we have such a (rocket) that is much, much faster.”

Absolutely, and, in fact, Yuri Gagarin was American too as are 3M22 Zircon and Avangard hypersonic system. Here is a video of Vladimir Putin congratulating and honoring a Chief Designer of Avangard system Gerbert Efremov. 

And it was this man, Efremov, revealed to the public for the first time, who responded to Trump's claims. Speaking to Rossiyskaya Gazeta he was straight to the point (in Russian): "We experimented with hypersonic weapons in Soviet times, when Obama was still in his adolescence."

But as we all know, mathematics and physics were also invented in the United States and I am sure Trump will be briefed on this crucial fact shortly. But jokes aside, one can cut US desperation with the knife, this how dense and tense this desperation is. Spinning Bullshit, the only skill US pundits have, can go only so far, then cognitive dissonances, some of them extremely severe, begin their onset and people start experiencing all kinds of psychological and psychiatric disorders. 

There are fields in which the United States will never have advantage over Russia, in the best case scenario for the US, plus there are many fields in which the United States is not a competitor for Russia. Here is one such field:

WASHINGTON — Over recent days, officials from the newly minted U.S. Space Force and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed multiple congressional committees on an “uptick” in Russian military activity in space targeting U.S. defense and intelligence satellites, according to two sources familiar with the matter. While the sources declined to comment on the specifics of recent incidents, which follow general increases in Chinese and Russian aggression in space, these recent actions were deemed “serious enough” to merit briefings on Capitol Hill, said one of the sources. Officials also briefed committees on plans to counter the Russian aggression, the source said.

Obviously a use of such terms as "aggression" is one such sign of a hysteria in the top echelons of American power and soon, even commercial space launches by Russians, including missions to ISS will also be termed as "aggression". We all know, that any loss in any field by the US is always a result of Russia's aggression. Remember B-737 Max and Boeing fvcking things up in the worst possible way? All was a result of Russia aggression. Do you know that commercial aircraft MC-21 is an exhibit A of Russian aggression. Russians are especially aggressive in energy or in Russia's education (that is altogether--a crime against humanity) which in STEM is a direct competitor to the US and even phony university "ratings" do not work anymore. Russian cities are extremely aggressive, because Moscow's and St. Pete's art and culture scene makes NYC look like a fvcking Wanker County fair. Everything is Russian aggression, including, of course, Russian aggression being responsible for US losing every single war in the last 25 years, having no functioning political system, and American elites being represented primarily by morons. 

But the field where Russian aggression reached its peak is the field of weapons, because, in act of criminal Russian aggression, Russia's military history and experience dwarf that of the United States and Russians simply produce better weapons than the US. They have to. As a result the United States is not even a viable competitor in few key military fields ranging from Air Defense Systems to high supersonic and hypersonic missile technologies. They never were for the last 50 years and the lag in these main strike weapons of modern and future war is not just huge--generational, really--it grows. US is desperate to stop advanced weapons' development in Russia, and, in his interview to Russia's ultra-liberal Kommersant (in Russian), Marshall Billingslea wasted 10 minutes of my valuable life time bloviating on the matters of START treaty extension, threatening Russia with new....whatever, and speaking in pseudo-strategic platitudes, which Russia, most likely, will ignore. Why shouldn't she, especially knowing that no discussion on serious matters is possible with the US. Non-agreement-capable, period. BTW, one of the funny features about Billingslea--his original Bachelor's Degree is in...History of Arts.  Get it, boys and girls? His formative humanly and academically years he spent studying useless crap, which provides zero background for any productive activity. 

US desperately needs all Russia's hypersonic weapons to be put under the umbrella of the US "inspections" and a treaty which will afford the US at least hypothetical chance at countering them. This is not going to happen since Russia is not the USSR and Putin is not Gorbachev.  Plus, what is most important, and I already mentioned it--US lag in modern weapon systems is generational. Yes, the United States can still create some advanced enabler technologies such as satellite constellations, advanced combat networks, proceed with advancement of Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), may still build advanced state-of-the-art platforms such as US submarines, but these are platforms and enablers. They mean little without weapon systems they enable and carry. Some American military porn internet resources already count SM-6 AD missile as a "standard anti-shipping missile" on US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class DDGs. Really? Introduction of yet another "wave" of US and Norwegian subsonic anti-shipping missiles is hailed as some kind of a milestone, which it is not. So what that LRASM/JASSM is capable of EECM? Good ol' P-700 Granit already carried ECCM suites in 1970s.  Every Soviet (forget modern Russian) AD complex starting from Osa-M always had anti-surface attack mode as its reserve function. For lay people this may not sound important, but during 080808 war with Georgia, one of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's small missile ships sunk Georgian missile boat not by its main missile but by salvo from its Air Defense Complex Osa-M. 

As I am on record non-stop for years, US "defense" (in reality military aggression) issues are not just in technological field, some of the US technology is good. It is in understanding a war for what it is. NO US serviceman even fought in defense of his country, town, family. This is the main, metaphysical, reason why US top brass, once a generation which saw serious war departed, could never grasp an essence of the warfare, because they have no grasp what would happen if they lose not just the war, the US has a great record of that, but what they treasure in life. This is the obstacle which cannot be overcome by inventing some new fighting doctrine or by regurgitating same ol' and beaten to death strategic and operational truisms. One has to start thinking differently but that is precisely what is lacking in the decision-making circles in the US today, where reality and fantasy long ago lost a clear demarcation line between the two. Well, it is inevitable in the country where one of the main voices in defining military policy include such people as a graduate of a History of Arts program or a comic and con-artist. I guess, in the world of fantasy and fakes those skills are sufficient.  

Sad, Sad News.

One of the last representatives of America's true intellect and knowledge, a gentleman and a real scholar. Stephen Cohen, RIP. I can only refer you all to a profound eulogy by Andrei Raevsky at his blog. 2020 continues with its deadly harvest. 

Dear friends,

It is with immense sadness that I have to report that Stephen F. Cohen passed away yesterday in his home in Manhattan at the age of 81. There are a few media outlets who have already reported this.  Most of them discuss Stephen F. Cohen’s political ideas and his books, which is normal since he was a historian of the Soviet Union.  But I won’t do that here. What I want to say about Cohen is something very different. First, he was a man of immense kindness and humility.  Second, he was a man of total intellectual honesty.  I can’t say that Cohen and I had the same ideas or the same reading of history, though in many cases we did, but here is what I found so beautiful in this man: unlike most of his contemporaries, Cohen was not an ideologue, he did not expect everybody to agree with him, and he himself did not vet people for ideological purity before offering them his friendship. Even though it is impossible to squeeze a man of such immense intellect and honesty into any one single ideological category, I would say that Stephen Cohen was a REAL liberal, in the original, and noble, meaning of this word.

I agree with Andrei (The Saker), we lost a giant. Sad day.

Practical Geoeconomics.

Short news, huge consequences. Ria.Ru reports (in Russian) that largest, gigantic, actually, Venezuelan tanker (320,000 tons) Ayacucho since June 1st is not really Ayacucho nor is Venezuelan anymore. It is now a bearer of Russian flag and is named... (cough, cough) Maxim Gorky. What do ya know! 

As you may expect, stopping and arresting Venezuelan (or, drum roll, Iranian) vessel is easy, the Russian one--there are some practical problems with that, because the whole "arrest" thing may end up at the UN Security Council level plus Russia can arrest something back, because Russia does have an actual navy which feels itself fairly comfortable around some choke points. If shit hits the fan, hopefully not, Russians may even sink a thing or two to make the point clear. 

This is a classic example of practical geoeconomics conducted by a superpower. It is also a material manifestation of Russia's main export which is political, and, by default, economic stability. Nothing really new about it, it is the nature of international relations in which everyone is free to choose a horse to bet on. Smaller, weaker nations look for bigger powerful suitors. As I said, security is an extremely hot commodity nowadays and only very few countries can offer it on the market. Only one will do it in good faith and compromise on price to make it affordable. Simple as that. Nothing personal, just business.

Well, Well, Well.

 Evidently, something IS being done about it. About time. 

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr told federal prosecutors in a call last week that they should consider charging rioters and others who committed violent crimes at protests in recent months with sedition, according to two people familiar with the call. The highly unusual suggestion to charge people with insurrection against lawful authority alarmed some on the call, which included U.S. attorneys around the country, said the people, who described Barr’s comments on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Evidently, among such people are not just foot "soldiers" of anarchy controlled by DNC and people who are closely allied with them, but some "elite" members of the club, such as Seattle's mayor Durkan (Russians smile at her second name). I see no reason for sedition charges not to be brought against Washington State's governor Jay Inslee, not to mention a whole political top of the state of Oregon. While at it, looking at DNC and many Democrats of high profile at Capitol Hill could also be a good idea. How about starting with Pelosi? 

I abhor GOP, but at this stage they are situational allies and I will vote for Trump this elections. Yes, I'll hold my nose, but it is a necessary evil. Something tells me that Trump may win in a landslide and I long ago stopped paying attention to any "polls" produced by US "pollsters". It is akin to believing economic news from Wall Street. So, here it is, some movement has started on part of forces of at least some order. Trump also found time to deal with "critical race theory"--a pseudo-scientific BS concocted at humanities and law departments in Ivy League schools for giving a corrupt grievance industry an ideological rationale for milking America's white population for money and turning them into the cowardly faceless mass of cucks. But that should be a separate post on this issue--death of America's cognitive faculties and collapse of the American education across the board. Hell, my new book touches on this topic. The only question now is IF, or when, will we hear anything from Durham's investigation into the coup perpetrated by Obama and HRC's operatives and if anyone of consequence goes behind bars. It is a finish stretch before elections--that's the best time to reveal some facts. But as I said not for once--don't hold your breath.

I Couldn't Resist;))

I simply couldn't, no matter how I tried. Russians are pretty good with memes and here is one about Navalny and his "tests". I know it is crude but it is so true. 

The text reads: I am asking you, is it Navalny's morning or evening stool? 

As you all know, Bundeswehr which is dealing with Navalny's testing now (LOL) classified his tests, that means it classified Navalny's urine and stool. Russians are having a field day, as you might expect. Germany looks utterly idiotic, to put it politely.   

Gas Station Masquerading As A Country (c).

Obviously, John McCain could never eat his words since he is dead (like really-really dead), but among some things Russia produces which are absolutely without equals in the world are nuclear ice-breakers. These are extremely complex ships and if that hasn't been bad enough (for some), Russia is simply in a league of her own when it comes to Arctic research and maintaining a unique, unrivaled fleet of ice-breakers, especially nuclear ones. Here is a "Test Drive" (a remote Russian analogue of the Top Gear) which gets to "test-drive" Russia's newest nuclear ice-breaker of pr. 22220 Arktika. This 35,000 tons of displacement (full) mastodon is shown in some (only some, a lot of it is classified) detail by two rowdy Russian nerds. And, although, whole 35 minutes of this show are in Russian, even non-Russian speakers may appreciate what was shown. Hint: reactor compartment is not shown (for obvious reasons) as are not shown some control rooms. And even those which are shown are allowed to be shown from some specific angle. So, here it is: 81,000 horsepower floating Arctic wonder. 

But I want to live to see, of course, a giant Lider-class nuclear ice-breaker. If Arktika is huge (and she is huge), Lider will simply dwarf already gigantic Arktika and her sister-ships. This, guys, is real hi-tech and a machinery requiring highest possible, as in the very top, industrial, engineering and manufacturing expertise. Not bad for a gas-station. So, disregard Russian language and enjoy the show.  

WTF, WTF!!

Thanks to Arioch, who pointed this piece of news out, I am still trying to get my jaw off the floor. There are many instances of Russians being extremely industrious and creative when designing weapons but this one is close to the very top when describing Russian, how to put it politely, unconventional approach to defense. As the Co-Director of Russian-Indian Joint Venture Brahmos Alexander Maksichev told Ria today (in Russian) the plan for turning Brahmos cruise missile, known primarily for its anti-shipping role, into air-to-air missile to specifically shoot down enemy's AWACS aircraft has been adopted. The first reaction, of course, to this is WTF. Brahmos missile is an export version of P-800 Oniks (aka Yakhont) stand-off high supersonic weapon, with some bells and whistles for some specific India's requirements added to it and it is also a foundation for India's hypersonic program. 

Recently, India tested Brahmos  to 800-kilometer range and that may give us some clue on what is going on here. 400 kilometer range air-to-air missiles are nothing new such as Russian KS-172 which is in serial production and is called anti-AWACS missile for a reason. But since Indian SU-30s are designed specifically to carry Brahmos missiles, one can totally see a possibly 600-800 kilometer range M=3.5 missile to be used against AWACS when proper targeting is provided. Notable, on these distances AWACS wouldn't even know what his it. Moreover, a smaller version of such Brahmos doesn't need a rather massive 300 kilogram warhead of its anti-shipping variant which automatically avails an additional volume for fuel. Also, a complex electronics required for control of anti-shipping version of Brahmos, including its very complex flight profile, especially on terminal, should also reduce missile's weight in air-to-air version. Finally, the drag at the heights of few kilometers at which most AWACS operate is radically reduced when compared to a low (sea-skimming) profile for anti-ship versions. 

The question, thus, is next--who, or, rather, what will provide such a targeting. Well, it is 2020, folks, not 1980 and things changed rather dramatically and a variety of means exists today to make such targeting possible especially since most air-to-air missiles are shoot-and-forget systems which need only initial position of target, plus different variants of CEC (Cooperative Engagement Capability) exist in advanced militaries. It is also obvious that such a Brahmos will have an active radar seeker with a good range which allows missile to conduct final (terminal) refined search and lock on a target. I'm telling ya, this whole thing is getting out of control, next thing you know--hypersonic missiles with the ranges in thousands kilometers... oh, wait! Wink, wink. It is jungle out there, folks, I'm telling you.   

Lavrov Verbatim.

Here is he in Russian:

"К санкциям мы привыкли. Принципиальная геополитическая реакция заключается в том, что мы убедились за эти годы в ненадежности наших западных партнеров, включая, к сожалению, членов Европейского Союза."

Translation:  We are used to sanctions. A principle geopolitical reaction is that we develop a conviction that our Western partners are unreliable, including, sadly, members of European Union."

He elaborated further on Russia using "safety net" when dealing with Europe and this safety net, as one might have expected, includes but is not limited to, is tying Russia's European gas pipe-lines to her East-bound pipe-line systems. I mentioned it already several times before--Russia now views Europe as a secondary energy market and Lavrov's statements today are pretty explicit in terms of saying to Europe to go and fvck itself. Russia today can afford that. In fact, come to think about it, US devouring EU plays into Russia's hands. Many in the West still cannot grasp a simple fact that pipelines such as NS2 are not crucial for Russia anymore. They are, however, crucial to Europe, but EU is on a straight path to economic suicide and one does not negotiate with a patient of asylum. 

After that Lavrov delivered a knockout blow:

"Без реакции это оставлять нельзя. Это, во-первых, неправильно, с точки зрения законов дипломатии. Во-вторых, мы хотим просто ограничить негативное влияние различных западных структур и государств и многочисленных так называемых                                     неправительственных организаций на те планы, которые существуют в нашей стране, которые существуют у наших союзников"  

Translation: We cannot leave this (sanctions) without reaction. First, it is incorrect from the point of view of diplomacy. Secondly, we simply want to limit a negative influence of various western structures and states, and numerous NGOs on those plans which exist in our country and our allies. 

What are those plans, you may ask? Look at Russia, from aviation, to space, to high power gas turbines, to shipbuilding--Russia was in import-substitution and localization (re-industrialization) mode for years now and she does it as if there is no tomorrow. Rightly so. I guess, many NGOs, companies and other "structures" will be thrown out of Russia now--long overdue. I know reaction among majority of Russians was "finally". Russia is parting her ways with EU. All this is for:

«То есть обеспечить себе все возможности, чтобы, если ЕС останется на своих негативных, деструктивных позициях, мы не зависели от его прихотей и могли обеспечивать свое собственное развитие самостоятельно и в партнерстве с теми, кто готов к сотрудничеству на равноправной, взаимоуважительной основе»

Translation: In other words, to provide for ourselves for all possibilities, if the EU remains on its negative destructive positions, to be independent from its whims and that we can ensure our own autonomous development, as well as in partnership with those who are ready to cooperate on equal basis and mutual respect.   

I am on record for years that talking to Europeans is useless, Europe has no real international subjectivity and is in full blown decline mode which is irreversible. Something "clicked" in Kremlin and I have an idea what. The preparation for this "click" was happening for years now and only blind couldn't see the end result of it. Strategic ramifications for statements made on this level are gigantic and it all comes down to Russia having enough wherewithal to abandon EU to the US, which will make sure that it is not competitive with its suicidal energy policies. But we don't see the whole game yet, what is clear is that some new chapter is being written in Russia. Germany should prepare now for giving some explanations about Navalny and those better be a really damn good ones, which Russia knows with absolute guarantee Germany doesn't have.What a lovely Sunday. In related news, wink, wink...

General Electric Company’s GE unit GE Power recently clinched a contract to deliver power generation equipment for the Zainskaya State District Power Plant’s expansionary project in Zainsk, Tatarstan, in Russia.  Financial terms of the deal were kept under wraps. For the new 858 MW power plant, General Electric will be responsible for providing its state of the art gas turbine 9HA.02 and a STF-D650 steam turbine. Apart from these, the company will deliver H78 and A78 generators as well as RH Heat Recovery Steam Generator.

Why this news are important? Well, because not only Russia now herself produces high powered gas turbines completely on her own, but because localization of 100% was agreed upon by GE (in Russian) and, as Russians point out, Siemens suddenly (yes, in the last two days) gets not only extremely stiff competition from Russians themselves but from GE, which is only happy to work with Russia (in Russian).  I told ya, Russia is a hot commodity and is not cheap, not at all. Miss a step and you are gone. But then again, it is EU's business what they decide to do, Russia is too busy developing herself. 

Red Stratocasters.

Somehow it takes you back almost too realistically, because of the immensely powerful sound stamp which was and is absolutely unique and unmistakable . When music was really good. 

Hank Marvin of The Shadows had the first EVER American Stratocaster in Great Britain--I believe it was Cliff Richard who paid something like 250 Pounds in 1958 for this red Strat (huge sum of money then). Boy, are we glad he did. 

Music of Shadows. It reached everywhere...

Russians Are Insulted, LOL.

They even reported that in Ria.ru (in Russian). I would be offended too. It is one thing when USAF paints its F-15 or F-16 of "aggressor squadrons" in RuAF colors, but painting F-35 and calling it a Russian Air Force combat aircraft? This is insulting. 

What kind of Russian aircraft should this F-35 imitate? SU-30SM, SU-35C? More like Il-2 or Yak-9, maybe MiG-15? Russians are livid, at least F-15 or F-16 are good aircraft. But the worst is, of course, sticking SU-57 livery on F-35 flying brick. That is an absolute no-no. 

On the other hand, it is, probably, the only chance for F-35 to realize its dream to be a world-class combat aircraft and turn and burn with the best of them--to pretend to be the one. In related news, all modern Russian combat aircraft ranging from SU-30 to SU-57 are netcentric capable machines, incorporating latest in data-sensor fusion and advanced sensor suite. Russians do it differently. Russian Air Force light attack--fighter--trainer Yak-130 has, literally, presets for emulating very closely type of flying by F-16, F-18 etc. 

I don't know if it has presets for F-35.  I am not sure it will be happy with those, wink-wink.

Hm, What Does It Look Like.

I seem unable to put my finger on it. China moved her strategic intercontinental deterrent close to Russia's borders, under the umbrella of Russia's own Missile Attack Early warning System (SPRN), while Russia helps China build her own. China constantly trains with Russian Armed Forces, including massive military exercise such as Vostok-2018. Now, China just confirmed her participation in the Caucuses (Kavkaz) 2020 Strategic Command-Staff exercises (in Russian). That looks awfully like a serious strategic military alliance, if one asks me. Altogether, nine foreign countries will take part in this exercise. India and Azerbaijan have declined, while Russia's General Staff will conduct exercises far from Western borders, not to worry "neighbors" too much. You know, aggressive Russkies, bunch of Ivans just dreaming to invade Baltic shit... I mean highly developed EU nations (wink, wink). So, you get my drift. 

So, expect a lot of shit to be blown up, many missiles, aircraft, tanks, helos--the works. I guess, that will provide, yet again, a good number of excellent visuals and, as you know, nowadays those visuals play a huge propaganda and even deterrent role. Chinese, obviously, like these exercises very much. Who wouldn't.

Remember This Guy;)

 You know, Star Wars emotional soy-boy? 

Of course, that was me today, LOL! And you know why, because they finally released the trailer today. Hollywood is 95% shit, but even slightly "woked" Dune--Dr. Kynes, played in Lynch's Dune by incomparable late Max von Sydow, is played by a black female actress--comes across well, from what I saw. So, here it comes:

The most anticipated movie probably in a decade. Looks good, so far. Reference to Pink Floyd is also good. At least something to look forward to.

Story, Never-Ending Story (c).

Ah, so now we hear... the same ol' song. 

The new U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff is warning his service it faces stiff competition in a future war, involving aircraft and personnel losses not seen for 80 years. General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. believes the Air Force must work to accelerate change, adapting to new technologies faster than its potential adversaries. Brown warns that “good enough today will fail tomorrow,” with grave implications for the entire country. 

He also goes as far as to predict WW II level loses for USAF against peers. This is really a classic "cry wolf" situation because Pentagon inflated threats so many times that when, actually, the statement has a ring of truth to it, few will publicly aknowledge its merit. USAF, of course, still blows the smoke up out asses because what the USAF wants is to fight some third-tier opponent with grossly inferior air-force in order to make such statements (famous "analyst" Mizokami does it for them):

The Air Force has essentially been the supreme air force on the planet since 1991. The destruction of the Yugoslav Air Force in 1999 marked the beginning of more than 20 years of virtually uncontested air operations for the service lasting to this day. Since then, combat operations over Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere have largely been uncontested. 

For starters, Mizokami mixed two different things. "Uncontested" merely meant that the US was and is bombing the shit out of countries which didn't have viable air forces to start with. Yugoslav Air Force was barely a factor in NATO's gang-rape of Serbia, which didn't prevent the US from threatening Russia trying to ensure that no S-300 AD complexes ever made it to Serbia. Moreover, in Syria the USAF is contested in a sense that Russia's VKS guard vast territories of Syria from the US control. Russia closes her eyes mostly on Israel's operations against Iranian assets there. The decision is purely political and underscores an immense complexity of politics in the Middle East. Lastly, the USAF met a proper peer in a proper, classic, air-to-air combat only in Korean War against Soviet 64th Fighter Corps and it was an unpleasant account for USAF. I do not include Vietnam here, but even there Vietnamese gave a good account of themselves in the air, while making sure that Air Defense becomes a more complex affair than merely AAA and dogfights. They, with the help of the USSR, surely succeeded. 

Today we are deep inside Real Revolution in Military Affairs where the USAF faces insurmountable barrier of advanced technologies and operational concepts which make all, grossly backward, views on the air-war as merely a contest between two opposing air forces as relevant to reality on the ground, or in the air, for that matter, as having a crank-shaft for 2020 Toyota Camry or Chevrolet Camaro as means of starting the engine. It is good that Charles Brown acknowledges possible losses for USAF in the modern peer-to-peer war, but as Russians say--best air defense is our tanks at enemy's airfields. Russia is not going to be sending tanks to take Rammstein or whatever forward jump air strips may be chosen in case the US and NATO want to commit physical suicide, but modern air war, even before any aircraft reaches the edges of weapons' release, which in itself a dubious proposition, will pretty much have no airfields to come back to, nor, very possible, countries from which any attempts may be made against Russia or, for that matter, China. 

Reality of modern air war is such that every single NATO aircraft will be tracked the moment it takes off from any field in Europe, in fact, many will be tracked while at the runway getting ready to take off, the first wave of counter-strike will be in the air shortly after that and even before those aircraft are properly airborne things will start happening which USAF never encountered before, ranging from great degrading, or complete shut-down, of communications to long-range EW, to disabling GPS and the list is too long to continue. And this is before anything happens at all. USAF never in its history operated in the environment like that and the remedy it suggests is, oh, boy...

How will the Air Force do this? Drones, drones, and more drones. Manned military aviation has been in a death spiral for some time. Technological complexity leads to increasingly sophisticated aircraft that require more time and money to develop. As a result, planes like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter require two decades to develop, cost $90 million each, and require months to build. The result is a smaller air force where even brand-new fighter jets feature 20-year-old technology, which isn't capable of making up for World War II-style losses.

I am having a... facepalm. A real drone, capable of any real military impact while carrying out whatever mission: strike, recon, air-to-air etc. will still be subjected, in the war against peer (Russia and China), to the same set of threats and counter-measures, which will either mitigate their impact or derail drones' mission altogether, unless it is a drone which is...well..expensive and extremely valuable, which brings us all back to the square one. The United States, as Andrei Raevsky once succinctly observed, can not fight wars on cheap, period. In fact, the ratios of US military technology costs relative to the same by peers continue to grow across the board for the United States. This is not a good indicator at all, for ANY military technology the United States procures or is about to. Same applies to drones. The world changed and any most "advanced" technologies the US tries to develop and procure are already obsolete the moment they leave manufacturing floor. 

Without understanding of modern peer-to-peer conflict as a whole, as a vertical engagement from a strategic down to tactical levels, with all forces involved in it and interacting constantly across modern battle-space, all this silly talk is just...well, silly. At least RAND's big air operations honcho understands that:

We lose a lot of people. We lose a lot of equipment. We usually fail to achieve our objective of preventing aggression by the adversary,” RAND analyst David Ochmanek told a security conference on Thursday. “In our games, when we fight Russia and China, blue gets its ass handed to it.”

Well, good that he at least understands that. As per "aggression" tropes, as I say non-stop: it so tired, it is so contrived and its really so rich coming from people whose actual combat score against peaceful weddings exceeds that against competent and determined air forces as of lately, that one has to simply dismiss this BS and admit that at this stage US military simply cannot adapt and develop a viable fighting doctrine and technology to fight serious adversary capable of rearranging stones, even without any nuclear weapons, anywhere in the world. In related news, Boeing wants at least 20% of its labor force to be black, while Hollywood issued new guide-lines for Oscars on inclusion (wokeness, that is). What can possibly go wrong? s/ 

It Is A Tired Routine....

 It is also ultimately contrived and, inevitably, false. Here is the deal: 

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville pushed back Tuesday on the assertion — most recently voiced by President Trump — that the military’s senior leaders are eager to fight wars because doing so benefits defense contractors. “Many of these leaders have sons and daughters that serve in the military,” McConville said, in reference to the military’s flag officers and senior enlisted advisers. “Many of these leaders have sons and daughters that have gone to combat and may be in combat right now. I can assure the American people that the senior leaders would only recommend sending our troops to combat when it’s required for national security and in a last resort.”

This routine is tired, and if McConville thinks that score-cards aren't being filled, he better refer to his  West Point's history class to refresh when was the last time the United States really "gone to combat" to defend Chicago from being overtaken by hordes of barbarians, or what was that deal with famous Battle of Phoenix, Arizona where hundreds of thousands of "sons and daughters" of this land died defending this large urban center in a desert from bombardments and attacks by enemy aviation and tank armies. Hm. I am on record: NO American soldier fought in defense of the United States in modern history--zero, all American military deaths happened in the lands which, when mentioned as a clear and present danger to the American "security", would incite (and they did) a Homeric laughter in any company where one didn't spend last 50 years sleeping under the stone and has at least a half-year of basic military training. 

Yet, they continue to appeal to this simulacrum of America's "national security", most of which is built around a whole host, not just one, of false premises, delusions and sheer economic interest and greed. I am sure the officer of McConville's rank and billet heard about geoeconomics. I, somewhat, empathize with him--after all, he is just a grunt, very high-positioned, but grunt nonetheless and he has to follow orders. In fact, he may be even a very decent man, who knows. But he also has to rationalize, somehow, America's rampage which saw millions upon millions of civilians killed, maimed, displaced, countries devastated and all in a time span of some shitty half-a-century--an instant in historic terms. All in the name of America's "national security", or democracy, or human rights or whatever is the fad. At least 50 years ago one could BS others about Soviet "menace", today it is China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia and the list goes on, and on, and on. And yes, one can lie to oneself and remain in denial for only so long, until cold hard facts of history, geopolitics and warfare begin to catch with one. I do not envy those who will face them and will have enough courage to judge things on the merit--that will be hard, very hard. But for now, the circus must go on and all hollow meaningless invocations delivered with proper conviction and pathos. And yes, there is a shitload of "military leaders" who want to fight wars, preferably not with peer, since it may interfere with their plans on having hefty sinecures on boards of all kinds military-industrial corporations and think-tanks which prompt those. 

My new book is literally writing itself. I also was browsing few days ago Youtube and stumbled on this conversation by Stephen Walt, a notable "defensive realist" in US foreign policy academe.

What is remarkable about this video, though, is the fact of how, while Walt narrates, correctly, the events, he avoids almost completely a serious review of the causes of what he himself defines as failures by "US Foreign Policy Elite". Yes, "elite"; somebody somewhere (and we know many of their names and ranks) were moved by way more than mere "national interests" of the United States--do they even know what those are--and those motives and impetuses had a lot to do with greed, corruption, malfeasance and sheer ambition of mediocrities across the board--from political leadership, to intelligence, to military--who long ago betrayed not only their own country, but even the sense of self-preservation. No amount of emotional appeals can hide this truth. Especially when Trump plans to withdraw more troops from Iraq but, BUT...  

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said he believes the Iraqis welcome the U.S. and coalition troops, especially in the ongoing fight to keep IS fighters from taking hold of the country again.

Goodness, gracious...

Worth Thousand Words.

It it sad, but it is also hilarious. A video is worth a thousand words. Serbia's President Vucic is being had (together with Serbia) in every hole. This video is already making rounds and poor Masha Zaharova was forced (Russians usually keep their cool under most circumstances) to clarify after she posted this in her Facebook. Serbs were incensed, probably because of this being true, and video is hilarious and proves that it is true. 

Well, as I say non-stop, you cannot save people from themselves. In the end, one is ultimately responsible for choices one makes. Saker posted a good write up on this whole bizarre affair at his blog and I suggest you acquaint yourself with this excellent guest analysis.

In related news, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba concluded that this was Ukraine which brought civilization to Russia. We know that Ukraine is run from D.C. and Brussels (in different proportions, I don't care to calculate) and that Ukrainian "elites", while cruder and dumber are still a reflection of say, America's "elites", which are also crude and dumb and installed own likeness, but the point is that huge percentage of Ukrainian population, including Russian-speakers shares this point of view. That explains, yet again, why not only Russia didn't go into Ukraine in 2014 but why iron curtain between Russia and Ukraine is ultimately required, including removal of many seasonal Ukrainian workers from Russia and blocking their return. The issue is not only of some of them being SBU assets, for that there is FSB, but with the overall virus of Ukrainian insanity and perfidy which needs to be contained outside Russia's borders. As I repeat ad nauseam--Ukraine did happen as a political nation and nothing could, or should, be done about it. Russians and Ukrainians are, indeed, different and that is all for the better. Europe has plenty of strawberry farms and toilet bowls needing tending to and Ukraine fits perfectly to this function. In the end, there is always Canada, where they love svidomys. 

Meanwhile, Pentagon issued a report to US Congress on China's military capability. You all know my attitude to Pentagon's "analysis", plus you know that I am not a Sinophile by any stretch of imagination--I do not even pretend to be a specialist in China--but something tells me that D.C. long ago lost any touch with the reality and as historic record shows, as Patrick Armstrong observed, the US is a slower learner in matters of real war. I will have to endure digging into all those pages of data to have my opinion on the issue Interesting still to read between the lines in such kind of reports.

US Public "Education".

Quotation marks are on purpose and don't expect me to say anything new what hasn't been said before. James Kunstler wrote today a piece on the "decline" (it is actually an implosion) of US education. He writes, justifiably, sarcastically about the while scam of US university (higher that is) ed. 

I have news for you: the colleges and universities are going down hard and hardly just because Covid-19 has interrupted their business plan. Rather, because of the stupendous and gross dishonesty that higher ed has fallen into. The racketeering around college loans was bad enough but the intellectual racketeering around fake fields of study, thought-crime persecutions, and an epic sexual hysteria has disgraced the very mission of higher ed, turned it into something no better than a sick cult, and infected the rest of the culture by seeding many institutions and business enterprises with cultist graduates bent on subjecting the whole of American society to a never-ending Maoist struggle session.

Well, most modern "fields of study" in the humanities field are a complete scam and have a negative (not just zero) academic value which subtracts from already feeble set of skills of psychologically unstable but sanctimonious, nonetheless, legions of young people with applicable professional skills of a birthday party pony for a kindergarten girl, let's not go into the evaluating the number of prefabricated ass-holes among them who will never become anything but losers incapable of self-reflection. And here is THE issue: yes, one needs to be broadly educated and language and literature are an absolute must, but whatever one thinks on localism and getting back to roots, which I support wholeheartedly, let's be honest--one needs people who know how to build machines. No machines, no survival, period. 

I am not going to dwell too much on the "level" of STEM in American public schools. Unless we are talk about some fairly exclusive schools, real STEM education on the level of K-12 in the US is basically non-existent. I am not talking about Khan Academy which could be a good primer for kids who actually want to learn, but the issue is much deeper--it is the whole structure, approach to those crucial years, usually between 7th and 12th grades which lay down the foundation for any true talent to emerge and be ready to progress to become truly productive in the field which provides for true national competitiveness. One needs an environment saturated with sounds and symbols of classic math, physics and chemistry. US public school couldn't provide that for the last 40 years, now--it is over. Key interaction in those subjects both between students and competent teacher and students are already being removed, and this is just the tip of an iceberg.  

Here is an example from Khan Academy on simplest trig. identities. 

They are filthy simple and are not a nightmare for any student who actually, unknowingly, should have been ready for that in 7-8th grade when studying (that's the point--if they studied) basic forms of factoring which simply has to be, in the end, memorized, such as square of the difference/sum and difference of squares etc. But this is not how factoring is taught in the US. And then kids, even a well performing kids, encounter this (which is a regular fodder for entrance exams in Russia for any decent STEM) and implode:

These are really easy things, but they are easy when they are taught:

1) systematically with ramping up complexity;

2) when students constantly are reminded on WHY they need this both for:

  a) future professional activity;

  b) for development of synapses which are crucial. 

This has never been done on a systematic level in the US and instead of generation of people who know that knowledge is a hard labor and who want to create, we all have got the armies of "free thinkers" and poets, and Queer Studies majors, who constitute the core of (stealing from Kunstler) Maoist crowds attacking, on DNC buck and with its guidance, every single pillar on which civilization rests. You say trigonometric equations and ANTIFA debauchery are not connected? Think twice: differential equations or theoretical mechanics are hard, Queer Studies and Feminism are easy--hence the free time for rioting. Of course, Mohamed Atta example could be used as an exception, after all the dude was an excellent engineer, but we are talking about trends, not narrow particulars or separate data points. 

 

So, here is my point--what is happening in the US today is, of course, a manifestation of a critical phase of liberalism's collapse and, with it, of the economic and ideological structure on which it relied. But let's not forget, that the change is being moved by people and, in American case, very ignorant and badly educated people. Moreover, American BLM-ANTIFA cabal is an uprising of Kreakls. Recall who those are. It is a "revolution" of lumpen masses who are "not essential" and, in fact, dangerous. Looks like taking out of trash started, with federal agents disposing of an ass-hole who murdered Trump supporter in Portland. Bypassing corrupt DAs is also a great idea. Finally, something is being done. In related news, however, good public schools mean this: 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's "Sputnik-V" COVID-19 vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published on Friday by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics. The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed 100% of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said. Russia licensed the two-shot jab for domestic use in August, the first country to do so and before any data had been published or a large-scale trial begun.

You see, very simple--stay in school, study hard and Lancet will write about you. Develop your synapses and see the purpose in life. Just some thoughts for Friday evening. I will try to finish a large chapter for my new book tomorrow.