Can NATO...

 ... handle defeat? 

The answer is simple--NO, it cannot. I understand that Tony Shaffer is "against corruption", against this "stupid war" et al, we all are, but it is too late now to step away from the precipice of what can only be defined as America's realistic view of herself in the last 80 years. As I repeat ad nauseam--the roots of the chaos we live through today are on the battlefields of WW II and the insane speed with which the history of WW II has been rewritten in the West to fit its "democracy" narrative. The ideological imperatives of the Cold War 1.0 played a cruel joke on the United States and eventually THE narrative became a reality for the US ruling class. And now we all see not only American military power myth dissipate, but we see clearly the nature of the West's ruling class as... if you expect me to use terms like incompetent, evil et al, no, we knew this already--they are children who decided to play games adults play. And play they did and now they see their toys thrown away and as mischievous children being pointed by adults towards corner--for punishment.  

I want to remind you Michael Brenner's precise diagnosis:

Americanism provides a Unified Field Theory of self-identity, collective enterprise, and the Republic’s enduring meaning. When one element is felt to be in jeopardy, the integrity of the whole edifice becomes vulnerable. In the past, American mythology energized the country in ways that helped it to thrive. Today, it is a dangerous hallucinogen that traps Americans in a time warp more and more distant from reality. There is a muted reflection of this strained condition in the evident truth that Americans have become an insecure people. They grow increasingly anxious about who they are, what they are worth and what life will be like down the road.

There was good in America and it did thrive until... it bought into own narrative. And here is a contrast.

A young marine, Hero of Russia, answering the question what did he get the highest honor the Motherland can give for, simply answers: for the love to Motherland and moving paperwork in the staff. No bravado, no chest thumping. You cannot defeat these people, as I warned for many years--these are adults because they know what they are fighting for and what price to be paid. I can only repeat, I lost the count how many times, what is being said from highest podiums to among simple people in the streets--Russia cannot be defeated on the battlefield, period. Historic Russia, certainly, lost some battles but inevitably she proved Clausewitz' dictum that the result in the war is never final better than anyone in history, because in the end, she won her wars. 

Meanwhile, no matter how evil, children will be children. 

The whole world is to blame for Ukraine’s failure to stop Russia’s recent advances in Kharkov Region and must now help Kiev to change the situation, President Vladimir Zelensky told ABC News in an interview on Thursday. It comes after Russian forces managed to capture several settlements near Ukraine’s second-largest city over the past week. Top military officials in Kiev have admitted that the situation is now “extremely difficult,” and that Ukrainian troops are struggling to hold ground due to being outgunned and outnumbered. Asked if he believes Ukraine’s failures on the battlefield to be the fault of the US, Zelensky told ABC reporters that “it’s the world’s fault,” and accused the international community of giving “the opportunity for Putin to occupy.”

I will share with you a secret of sorts--how I wish Tom Clancy was still alive.