Speaking Of Generations.

Give Babylon Bee credit where the credit is due. 

Most of humanities studies in the West today is academic fraud and nothing but indoctrination. And I am talking about legitimate studies such as diplomacy, international relations etc. I omit "journalism" here altogether because it is not a viable academic discipline. 

And here is a very good piece (in Russian, use Google to translate) about grown up children. This video delves into this issue. 

It is a cultural decease which always accompanies declining civilizations. That is why the Vzglyad article I linked to above is so critical for understanding a huge problem. But Russian piece ends with this: 

Сейчас у нас сложилась уникальная ситуация, когда часть мужиков воюет и приобретает ту самую «строгую маску лица». Когда они вернутся с войны, их встретят «большие дети» с требовательными светлыми лицами и дерзкими речами. Честно, без всякого злорадства, скажу, что, когда два этих мира войдут в соприкосновение, «миру детей» я не позавидую.

Translation: We have a unique situation now, when some men are fighting and acquiring that very "strict mask of face". When they return from the war, they will be met by "big children" with demanding bright faces and bold speeches. Honestly, without any malice, I will say that when these two worlds come into contact, I will not envy the "world of children".

It is already happening in Russia. The West? You all know the answer.

Ahem, I Am Taking My Bows ...

 ... and my curtain calls)) Here is from Maria herself, about West's elites and their edikeishn)) 

When I talk, ad nauseam, about these creeps being uneducated--this is not a figure of speech; whole Western "elite" and their "academe" in any serious field--from governance to military--would be considered failures in Russia. Practically whole (with some exception) "humanities" field in the West related to history, governance and economics is an academic fraud as are those Ph.Ds who abuse academic sinecures BSing their students who merely, upon graduation, boost already a shocking rate of intellectual decay in the combined West. 

Do Not Miss This...

While the whole (Western) world discusses "dying" and "stricken by cancer" and "dementia" Putin who looks mighty healthy and as sharp as ever, some very important messages shouldn't be missed. Of course, Russia suspending her START participation and getting ready for physical testing of nukes, once the US, inevitably, will also abrogate the ban on tests of nuclear weapons, are of immense import. This rings especially true in a view of the United States de facto losing strategic arms race to Russia. It is all very important, of course. But the same as was the case with Admiral Rickover who warned that Soviet Union's main weapon was system of public education, which already in the late 1950s made US education public school system look like a backwater, Putin's words yesterday in his Address to Federal Assembly have been finally spoken!

Первое – вернуться к традиционной для нашей страны базовойподготовке специалистов с высшим образованием.Срок обучения может составить от четырёх до шести лет. При этом даже в рамках одной специальности и одного вуза могут бытьпредложены программы, разные по срокуподготовки, в зависимости от конкретной профессии, отрасли и запроса рынка труда. Второе – если профессия требует дополнительной подготовки, узкой специализации, то в этом случае молодой человек сможет продолжить образование в магистратуре или ординатуре. Третье – в отдельный уровень профессиональногообразования будет выделена аспирантура, задача которой – готовить кадры для научной и преподавательской деятельности. 

Translation: The first is to return to the traditional for our country basic training of specialists with higher education. The term of study can be from four to six years. At the same time, even within the same specialty and one university, programs can be offered that differ in terms of training, depending on the specific profession, industry and labor market demand. Secondly, if the profession requires additional training, narrow specialization, then in this case the young person will be able to continue his education in a magistracy or residency. Thirdly, postgraduate studies will be allocated as a separate level of professional education, the task of which is to train personnel for scientific and teaching activities.

Finally! I am on record for many years--the Bologna Process, all those undergraduate and graduate "degrees" are crap, and often do not provide necessary professional competencies for a whole range of serious industrial and hi-tech professions. The title of specialist is a key in this classic Soviet education which finally returns. There is a reason Russia's military higher education largely retained old academic criteria by preparing SPECIALISTS, not some "graduates" with "majoring" in something. As an example, after full 5 calendar, 6 academic years we all graduated from naval academy with the title of Specialists. Nobody is interested in a Bachelor of Arts in... communications, as an example, on the position of a modern motor rifle platoon commander, CO of Combat Department on the ship or submarine, because modern military, modern industry, modern economy requires an extremely focused professional preparation in higher education, instead of somebody who just has some kind of degree. 

This is a strategic decision and I applaud it. I knew it was coming, because Bologna System is largely a fraud and provides an extremely low level of education and professional development. It is time for it to be removed and this decision has been made for Russia. I will talk about the rest of the Address later. But this was a huge development in itself, not to mention a proper reorientation of humanities field in both lower and higher education to traditional values, true humanism and tradition. Returning to START, judging by the news of a large modernization on the Novaya Zemlya testing range which was in progress for the last couple years, it is clear that Moscow knew about US intentions to resume nuclear testing and simply is getting ready once the US detonates the physical nuke. 

And then, of course, is this. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal claimed on Tuesday. Reports of the trip come as Beijing looks to take a leading role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine. The visit will take place sometime in April or early May, the American newspaper said, citing “people familiar with the plan.” The sources claimed that Xi will use the summit with Putin to push for multiparty peace talks aimed at ending the fighting in Ukraine. Successive rounds of peace talks failed last year, with Kiev abruptly withdrawing from negotiations in Istanbul in April. Russian officials and others elsewhere have claimed that Western powers pressured Ukraine into abandoning the talks, despite an agreement being close at hand.

For the imbeciles from WSJ I repeat, again, the simple fact--Beijing CAN NOT take any leading role in 404 for a simple reason of Beijing's long term security being ensured by Russia through the means of demilitarization of NATO and its big honcho--the US. Comrade Xi will be in Moscow not for promoting a "peace plan" or pushing anything. We are talking here about a completely different dynamics which is beyond the grasp of WSJ "sources" and analysts, who, as you may have guessed it, have been dumbed down through Bologna Process in the US Ivy League journo and communications departments. Ah, yes, in "the coming months" 404 will shrink even more. This is your primer on Putin's Address. 

P.S. The US now is "ready to talk" about START, that is what the representative of National Security Council told CNN. No shit, geniuses--back to school and learn real diplomacy, balance of power and warfare. Don't hold your breath though, they will fail, as usual.       

A Very Interesting Voice From Africa...

 ... at Saker's blog. Fẹmi Akọmọlafẹ from Ghana wrote an interesting piece on Western education and it is very much in concert with what I write for years. Some excerpts: 

Maybe it is time the Collective West does something about its educational system. Watching the performances of Russians and Western officials, one immediately notices that the much-touted and ultra-expensive “education “ provided in the West today is actually not up to par. The Russian actions in Ukraine revealed a West where leaders remain emotional juveniles who continue to REACT jerkily to Russia’s deft moves. That’s when they are not busy projecting their own values and behavior onto the Russians. Not only have the Russians vastly outplayed the West militarily, economically, and geopolitically, the actions/reactions of the West have boomeranged mightily to Russia’s advantage. The hyperinflation ravaging the West is just one example. 

Akomolafe also notes astutely:

In addition to always being on top of their game, Russian officials always come across as well-educated, well-informed, well-mannered, sophisticated, cultured, and respectful. Western officials, on the other hand, attack the world as haughty, naughty, ill-mannered, ill-educated, uncultured, provincial, and narcissistic imbeciles. They lack the elementary decorum necessary to engage peers in respectful manners. Ok, superciliousness, fueled by racist arrogance, might partly explain why they behave so, but we cannot discount the possibilities that they simply lack the education, the culture, and the home training required for civilized behavior, especially in encounters with other cultures. The question needs to be asked how the Collective West ended up with the current gaggle of clowns holding positions of responsibility?

Exactly. I love the term "provincial", because provincialism is oozing from the most US political establishment figures and diplomats who often do not even know countries they serve in. In general, read the whole piece which is well-written and insightful. It also gives some insight into a thinking of at least some African intellectuals and their attitudes. It is important, especially when considering the increasing role Africa plays in the world both as an economic entity and the arena for competition of many external interests. So, read the piece, it is worth it.

Peter Hitchens And Pepe Escobar Weigh In.

First is ever classy Peter Hitchens weighing in in a series of interviews on the state of the British society. He is not optimistic, especially when discussing the "education". I agree on many points with him and the tragedy with school education (including private ones) which unfolds in the combined West is already having a major geopolitical effect. 

Then, Pepe writes a superb piece on Germany and NS2 which symptomatically is titled Frozen Deutschland. As Pepe notes:

Translation: gas from Nord Stream 2 will be absent during the coming winter in Europe and the pipeline, at best, might start running only by mid-2022. And that certainly ties in with the politicking angle, as the German regulators are de facto waiting for the new German ruling coalition to emerge, including the neoliberal Greens who are viscerally anti-Nord Stream and anti-Russia. The European energy executive did not mince his words on a quite possible scenario: “If Germany does not obtain their oil and natural gas by land now they cannot fashion a fall back position, as there is not sufficient LNG capacity or oil for that matter to supply the EU this winter. They are going to freeze. Much of their economy will be forced to shut down. Unemployment will soar. It would take four years to build up LNG capacity for natural gas but who will build it for them?” Germany has zero margin of maneuver to dictate conditions to Gazprom and Russia. The gas that Gazprom won’t sell to northern Europe will be sold to eastern and southern Europe via Turk Stream, and most of all to Asian clients, which do not engage in blackmail and pay much better than the Europeans.

Russia IS already redirecting a lot of her resources to Asia and, in general, countries like Germany will be supplied on the "what's left" or "leftovers" bases. I wrote about it a year or so ago, during the oil crisis--those who are interested they may find it. It all, actually, ties extremely well with what Peter Hitchens says, because the products of this "education", which was in a downward spiral since 1990s, are beginning to reach important posts in EU nations and in the US. As Pepe duly notes:

It will be up to the “resolve of Poland and Lithuania” to “counter the Kremlin threat”. The ideal framework in this case should be the Lublin Triangle – which unites Poland and Lithuania with Ukraine. These are the lineaments of the new Iron Curtain, erected by the Atlanticists, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, to “isolate” Russia. Predictably, German Atlanticists are a crucial part of the package. Of course, to be successful, these actors should “also seek greater U.S. and UK engagement”, with every movement complementing “the role of NATO as the ultimate guarantor of peace in the region”. So behold, EU mortals: a “perfect storm of Russian aggression during the coming winter months” is all but inevitable. Watch it on your screens while you properly freeze.

It goes without saying that most of modern Atlanticists on both shores of the Atlantic are extremely incompetent and something tells me that Russia at this point is really indifferent to new Iron Curtain and, in fact, as I am on record constantly, this new Iron Curtain could be a blessing in disguise to Russia who seeks to preserve her culture, traditions and sanity.

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.

Creme de la Creme.

Whenever I stumble onto any "education rating" produced in the West I smile, ironically. Just look at this "ranking" for the fun of it. Good luck finding any Russia's university in the Top 100. Never mind the fact that "achievements", as an example, of #27, London School of Economics and Political Science, in advancing a wholesale ignorance of Western "elites" will take decades to address. But then again, meaning of education in Russia and in the West differ dramatically. And here is the proof. 

Here is the map of global competence in the programming and, by default, mathematics field. Here is a part related to technology, in terms of Data Science, Russia also leads the field of Cutting Edge, never mind other, less advanced, fields. You may ask, but how this could be, when there are no a single Russia's university in Top 100 in all those rankings. Agree, there are none. Russian universities and military academies do not teach tolerance, social justice and do not have programs on gender-studies. Most Western students taking entrance exams in mathematics and physics to any good Russia's STEM school of higher learning will not pass them. Large portions of required knowledge for math, physics and chemistry with other natural sciences are simply not taught in the West, and elsewhere where Bologna Process is followed and education is modeled after American K-12 and higher ones. 

Yet, somehow those backward Russians top the world of cutting edge IT and programming, same as the world of radar, signal processing, network centricity, and are direct and ONLY competitors to US Military-Industrial Complex. I would dare to state that a very successful competitor. Recall, ladies and gentlemen, as it is written in plain English in my first book, couple of chapters in fact are dedicated to it, that already by 1960 average Soviet high school graduate received three times more instructions in math, physics, biology than it was stipulated for the entrance to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Things didn't change since, in fact, what passes for mathematics and general "science" being "taught" in American schools today is pathetic, it is a third world level of "education" which, inevitably, translates into atrociously small numbers of American kids deciding to go into STEM fields in universities, not to mention the fact that those who go there, they start with a dramatically lower level than their Russian counterparts in those backward and low-rated Russia's universities. 

I guess that explains why, then, Russia leads the world and by a huge margin in nuclear energy, cutting edge weapon systems, continues to dominate piloted space flight, why she builds her own satellite constellations, commercial aircraft, top notch jet engines and super-computers. It is all because they teach mathematics and physics (and chemistry, I hate chemistry) in Russian public schools the way it is supposed to be taught. Hence, the results I presented here, but I write about this matter for years. Just to give you example. here is one of Russia school math teacher's way of introducing 7th or 8th grade kids to factoring  (squares of the sum and difference and operations with algebraic fractions). The end result of this simple problem is what comes down, when is factored properly, to I Love/You in Russian. 

I guess this is one of a good ways for introduction to factoring. It is also the only way to maintain national intellect in the top notch form--by challenging kids by means of serious and systemic math-physics-chemistry curriculum which develops proper synapses which, in the end, translate into new cutting edge technologies, ranging from space exploration to hyper-sonic weapons. It is also the only way to grow and educate real national elite, which is creme de la creme of nation's brightest and most capable, in numbers sufficient to feel oneself independent and free.  

Some Data.

Which needs some elaboration. Because it explains one of the major factors behind geopolitical realignment taking place since the United States and EU unleashed a bloody mayhem in Ukraine. I warned already then that Russians are wrong people to fvck with. Well, here we are today with the US accelerating towards economic abyss while simultaneously destroying everything it prided itself on for couple of centuries, namely the rule of law, freedom of speech and whatever is understood under "democracy" in the US.  But behind all this massive geopolitical shift the "fundamentals" which define nations' real power one thing seems to be often forgotten and not brought up in the discussion often enough. Here is demonstration: this is 2017 statistics:

Well, I guess by now you can easily calculate that population of Russia being 2.2 times smaller than that of the United States and 9.9 times smaller than that of China (and 9.5 times smaller than that of India) per capita Russia produces the highest number of STEM graduates in the world. Here is another angle for 2018. 

Here are some top countries with higher number of graduates as Russian Federation takes the top slot with 454,436 of annual engineering, manufacturing, and construction graduates, followed by the United States with 237,826. Meanwhile, those engineering graduates from Iran number 233,695 annually.  

China is not included in this count, neither is India, but this is not what matters here. What matters here is quality. Not only Russia produces, in absolute terms, twice as many engineers than the United States, but even if one considers that the United States has an access virtually for free to already educated engineering cadres from elsewhere, primarily India and China, through immigration programs, I can easily point out a number of Russia's engineering schools whose graduates will never move to the United States, thus providing the US with a top shelf engineering expertise. And I am not talking about programmers; in this field Russia does provide the US with an absolute top-notch software engineering talent. 

It goes without saying that the United States will never have access to the most graduates of industrial and weapons engineering schools such as Bauman MGTU. Especially those who went through classified courses, nor will Russian military academies, which are top engineering schools in their own right, provide any inflow to US engineering cadres. Don't count me, I am an old fart who completely forgot everything I ever knew (secrets wise), plus I have no ambitions to pursue specifically engineering career. And then, of course, comes this economic thingy which for many top notch Russian engineers stopped being a crucial factor in making their decision on where to employ themselves--top talent feels itself money-wise very well in Russia. As people who know, and are such talent, testify--Russia pretty much matches most of "economic" desires for such talents. No, really. Exchange Moscow, St. Petersburg or Novosibirsk for NYC or "silicon valley"? Really? Russians have an easy access to the internet, travel a lot and know about real state of the affairs in the US. The city on the hill doesn't shine anymore. 

Some, of course, still fall for the gimmick of American rivers of milk and honey, but increasingly even those begin to reconsider. Mind you, I am talking about STEM talent. The United States is free to remove from Russia most political "scientists", lawyers, journos, business "analysts" etc. Truth is, the demand for those basically evaporated in Russia, with the exception of good accountants--this profession will always be in demand. But, having said all that, one begins to understand how the country "with the economy the size of Texas"(c) continues to produce some mind-boggling technologies both in military and civilian fields. Very simple--by nurturing national STEM intellect, which is in the foundation of national security and survival. It is also in the foundation of making things. You know, cars, aircraft, buildings, railroads, medicine, submarines, computers and other things which are of low interest for Wall Street or Forbes' "analysts" who obviously never attended any school which gives a good handle on STEM.  

Please, don't misconstrue me as bragging. I am not bragging, I just state cold hard facts which are going into my third book which looks at issues of geoeconomics and how American "elites", most of who have no serious applicable productive skills, betrayed own people and doing so de facto demolished US standing in the world, granted many applaud such a development. Recall Lenin's sacramental from his "Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power"  

We are not utopians. We know that an unskilled labourer or a cook cannot immediately get on with the job of state administration. In this we agree with the Cadets, with Breshkovskaya, and with Tsereteli. We differ, however, from these citizens in that we demand an immediate break with the prejudiced view that only the rich, or officials chosen from rich families, are capable of administering the state, of performing the ordinary, everyday work of administration. We demand that training in the work of state administration be conducted by class-conscious workers and soldiers and that this training be begun at once, i.e., that a beginning be made at once in training all the working people, all the poor, for this work.   

Boy, how many in the West even today are able to grasp the fact that apart from own internal, and deadly, rot, modern degenerate West is being outplayed, outproduced, outgunned and outsmarted by the heirs of those very unskilled laborers and cooks (have anybody read Putin's biography, wink, wink) who instead of going to political "science" or journo school went into... well, you know. But I am sure American know-how in producing "elite" will be in a huge demand in the third world which is so desperate for oversupply of philosophers, political analysts, stock brokers, journalists, creative writers and Queer and ethnic studies majors. Meritocracy is so overrated...especially in the 21st century where iPhones grow on trees and Hollywood "stars" influence public opinion.

A Note-Worthy Admission.

An interesting piece on the US Navy's approach to education of personnel.  

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The U.S. Navy is overhauling its approach to education because the nation no longer has a massive economic and technological edge over potential adversaries, according to a strategy it is releasing Monday. The Education for Seapower Strategy 2020, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release, is the first unified, comprehensive education strategy for the Navy and Marine Corps, said John Kroger, who is implementing the strategy as the Navy's first chief learning officer.

I didn't see this document yet but the news is interesting and very symptomatic. As Kroeger comments on this approach he arrives to some notable conclusions, such as this:

“In a world where potential adversaries are peers economically and technologically, how do you win?" Kroger said in an interview. "We think we can out-fight potential opponents because we can out-think them. In order to do that, we must have, by far, the best military education program in the world."

But here is the catch, of which I write non-stop. Armed Forces in developed nations start from the student desk at the public schools--it is there where foundation for future personnel, be that lower rank or future officers is laid. But here one has to point out, again, that the key for the modern warfare, STEM that is, is non-existent in the American public schools as a well defined and rigorous physics-mathematics programs. To no service does this requirement applies more than to naval service, which operates the most complex technology there is embodied in modern state-of-the-art ships, submarines, their weapon systems and sensor suites. Running naval ship, as well as pretty much any modern military (air force, ground troops etc.) unit or formation requires more than just rigorous STEM training, which goes without saying, but a symbiosis of STEM and of military science (degrees not awarded in the United States) covering issues of not only operational art, strategy and history but, overall, military and general culture. As Kroger continues:

When the United States entered World War II, nearly all its admirals were Naval War College graduates. Now, less than a quarter of them are because the Navy hasn't stressed education as much, Kroger said.

Ah, that's warmer. In other words, it is more complex than just some, however brilliantly written, and implemented, manual but a requirement of having well-educated thinkers who lead modern militaries. Damn, I just betrayed foundations of military education and pedagogy as formulated in the Soviet Naval Academies in 1970-1980s, LOL. I am not kidding. But I can totally see where the US Navy is coming from, especially once one sees the world filled with peers. Anyhow, it is a note-worthy development as well as a admission--lacking the "edge". 

Upcoming "Elites", LOL!

Make no mistake, the United States is not unique here, there are all kinds of bimbos and good ol' boys getting their sorry asses into the most prestigious schools in Russia too. Well, I am sure this problem is not confined merely to the United States and Russia. The issue here is different--it is the fact that in accordance to narrative in good ol' USA, which, as we know, is the most democratic democracy, like, ever, the corruption in the higher education is non-existent. Well, as it turned out--it is not the case, like, at all. After busting the ring of a wealthy "celebrities", who never have time for bringing up their children into the decent, hard-working people, which was busy pushing their spoiled dumb-asses into the all kinds of prestigious schools, one has to ask the question--how about we all admit that celebrities, by definition, are dumb and rotten people, most of them anyway. They do represent, and many, in fact, drive this suicidal and superficial culture of feeling good about themselves for being complete ass-holes, without ever asking themselves a question if they are even qualified to be parents, because their children simply reproduce all rot their parents instill in them on a completely new level.

Here is one such bimbo, Olivia Jade Gianulli being sincere:

‘I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend. But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of like game days, partying… I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.’  

Well, what do you expect from the offspring of people who make living by pretending to be other people, or themselves, or who swindle others in such fields as fashion (a euphemism for ugly post-modernist belch of affluent urbanites). Mind you, there are many many more people like these good-for-nothing exhibitionists, who are already in school working "hard" on their "degrees" in useless fields and who, upon graduation, will start making their careers leading up to the positions of prominence in art (so called) and politics. Do you like present American "elites"? Well, there you go, much worse are coming and this is a sign of time, of which I wrote for years--modern liberal system eats itself from the inside, not least through giving prominence and reproducing people who do not satisfy even lowest of the low human, professional, ethical criteria to be anywhere close to the top, or the elite, which is required for the society to operate normally. Here who they are:

Ms. Giannulli is one of a number of celebrity offspring who have lived out their teenage years on social media. In the video for which she was criticized, she described how the dissolution of a romantic relationship had been particularly difficult because people would send her tweets, Instagram posts and Snapchats of her ex with other young women.   

Welcome to the brave new world.

Some Introspective Per ACM-ICPC World 2017 Finals.

Some people abroad sometimes ask: how come that Russia whose population is hovering slightly above 146 million mark still remains in a race in many truly hi-tech fields globally. Well, there is no secret here. Admiral Hyman Rickover knew it all along with his "Russian educational menace" as early as 1960.   

Obviously, many things go into the competitiveness, but one of the pillars of this competitiveness remains national educational level in STEM--Science, Technology, Engineering And Math. Mind you, not in journalism, music or political science. One of subdivisions of this STEM is the field of programming languages and software engineering. So, yesterday, the results of World Finals in International Collegiate Programming Contest 2017 have been published. Here is a screenshot of first 10 places.

Out of 10 first places, 4, that is 40%, are taken by Russia's colleges. Out of first 20, 7, that is 35%, are taken by Russians. This is what is called a preponderance. This absolutely doesn't mean that while traveling somewhere in Irkutsk (a lovely city, very sophisticated) or in Magadan (former capital of GULAG) and seeing Russian gopniks,    

This is a basic Russian model

 

These are Czech gopniks at their convention in Prague

you would expect them discussing peculiarities of formal logic going into program languages or methods of OOP (Object Oriented Programming). Not at all. But you may expect a very tough STEM curriculum in any Russian institution of higher learning in appropriate field and, also, in many public schools, including those in Magadan. Russians simply know how to prepare own elite. It is really very simple, basic statistics. As Clausewitz' dictum goes: the more nation is involved in war, the more numerous are the instances of military genius. The same applies pretty much to any field and it just happened so that it is STEM--always was, is and will remain so--that happens to be the most important of them. Humanities follow, in the end--the best philosophers are very often produced in the field of precise sciences. Be it Rene Descartes or one of the fathers of Russian Cosmism (and the father, one of, of spaceflight) Constantin Tsiolkovsky. So, technical nerds do have this knack for serious generalizations which transcend the world of pure numbers. Many of them wax philosophical and do it very often better than some Ph.Ds in philosophy. Indeed, who knows them other then some pretentious nerds, yet Doctor Michio Kaku is known globally and the whole world (yours truly included) reads his books and find them compelling not only in scientific but in a larger philosophical sense. 

So, there you go--some of the "secret" to Russians still being around in military, science, technology, economy, high art, what have you--teach them well, they will later pay it back by becoming excellent engineers, scientists, teachers, designers of technology....you name it. 

Can US Still Save Itself-II?

By now, the results of PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) should be known by anyone who has any investment in the future of the US.

Overall Results – Millennials 

The fact that US public education system is a sham is a secret only to a people who are sublime to the point of being idiots or to a very high, and I don't mean administrative position, dejects. Yes, many US schools are well-equipped, some of them are architectural masterpieces, and even some school lunches are not that bad, but that makes no difference. While politically correct, humanities-educated teachers are discussing the issue of creationism, they forget what is this all about and it is NOT about biology or high school football--it is about:

1. Precise sciences, which are Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry. Such "subject" as "science" doesn't exist, unless, of course, it is in some American high school. I don't mention here all those "computer" (aka "technology") things, since any person with good math and physics background can get the basics of programming fairly easily;

2. Linguistics--knowledge of a proper native language, its usage and preservation, including through own literary masterpieces;

3. Ahem....history. Well, here I would abstain, since US History is a subject which can only be described by Schrodinger's Equation and is good only for some predictions of what US History is going to be in the future. I am pretty sure that at some point of time all of the Renaissance and Enlightenment (its best part), that is European,  heritage will be demolished in US.  Of course, what Tolstoy or Bach have on Spike Lee. Oprah will take it from here. 

None of them, especially pp.1 are taught properly in US public schools anymore. Yet, those are the subjects which DEFINE national intellect and abilities. How do I know this? I spent many years teaching American kids (yes, if you are 23 year old, you are still a kid), and by American I mean kids with European background--90% of them wonderful, talented and ethical human beings. All of them are as good as their European or Asian peers, yet they are the subjects of indoctrination, which, at this stage, becomes a totalitarian system of "education", which deplores serious knowledge and ability to think critically--and it always starts with Mathematics. So, for now, no surprise that American hi-tech industries can not employ all those "free thinkers", who are at the bottom of the global skills pool and who are losing it to the kids from Eurasia. Yes, my last years in education were spent teaching the kids from India and China--they work their asses off to get Newtonian Mechanics and Partial Derivatives. Have it ever occurred to anyone that more and more US Physics Nobel Prize Winners (not that Nobel is anymore a defining award) have Chinese names?   

Since I am Russian, I have to, and, yes, I know Russian education system was destroyed by all kinds of liberal morons, but the truth is--it is real. Russian 10th Grade homework--simple trigonometric identities. US homework, of course, differs with the real estate. 

 To be continued............

   

Well, Duh....

I write about the utter incompetence of US foreign policy institutions constantly. Now, Britons enter the picture. This is not to say that it wasn't known--it was. But still....

The British government was left in the dark during the Ukraine crisis because its diplomats can’t understand Russian  

Well, it took The Independent  about a year to figure this out. We knew it all along. American foremost Russian "scholar", Ambassador Michael McFaul was so "good" in Russian language that he created one of the most memorable snafus in the history of diplomacy. Obviously it was difficult to use Google Translate for figuring out the translation of the word "Reset" into Russian. As Forest Gump used to say: "Stupid is as stupid does."(c)  

As noted in The Independent:

The revelations came to light in a report by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which has been scrutinising the Foreign Office’s performance. The committee's MPs found that only 27 per cent of Russian “speaker slots” at Britain’s foreign ministry were filled by someone who could speak the language to the specified level.

Well, Duh.... The situation in the State Department is hardly better. Long gone are the times of Ambassador Matlock, who, apart from being a compliment to the art of diplomacy, spoke an exquisite Russian, knows Russian culture in depth and still can recite the whole Evgenii Onegin by Pushkin--a feat very few Russians can accomplish. It is all gone. We all are treated to the parade of the Western foreign policy (and political) nomenclature, which, under normal conditions, wouldn't be allowed to clean toilets. Yet, those people are in charge of the Observation and Orientation parts of OODA Loop. Needless to say, the results are disastrous. They don't understand the subject, they don't speak subject's language, they cannot make even simple correct conclusions, they are forced to rely on the native clones of themselves (Russian "liberals" anyone) and then they wonder what went wrong.  They also begin to despise the culture of the subject because it reflects their own incompetence and lack of the abilities. 

Meanwhile, those "economic" rags begin to suspect something. I don't know who this Leonid Bershidsky is, but the person who considers Gaidar Institute to be "respected", definitely has some issues with the reality. Still, the fact that such piece appeared in Bloomberg is note-worthy. 

No, Obama, Russia's Economy Isn't 'in Tatters' 

Writes Bershidsky:

 

 It's time to bury the expectation that Russia will fall apart economically under pressure from falling oil prices and economic sanctions, and that Russians, angered by a drop in their living standards, will rise up and sweep Putin out of office. Western powers face a tough choice: Settle for a lengthy siege and ratchet up the sanctions despite the progress in Ukraine, or start looking for ways to restart dialogue with Russia, a country that just won't go away.

The realization, that Russia IS already inside the West's (and US in particular) OODA Loop (if it does have any at all--the conclusion to which I begin to lean) should settle in by now. Getting inside one's OODA Loop was a highest priority for Colonel Boyd. It did already happen. It is so simple, if to put in into famous (and correct)  slogan--You Are What You Know. And it goes without saying that combined West knows shit about Russia. It always did.   

 

Can US Still Save Itself?

                     

Late Samuel Huntington in Chapter 4 of his seminal The Clash Of Civilizations And The Remaking Of World Order, while describing the reasons for why West dominates (the book was published 20 years ago) global order, gave 14 reasons for this domination. Here they are:

1. Owns and operates the international banking system;

2. Controls all hard currencies;

3. Is the world's principal customer;

4. Provides the majority of the worlds finished goods;

5. Dominates international capital markets;

6. Exerts considerable moral leadership within many societies;

7. Is capable of massive military intervention;

8. Controls the sea lanes;

9. Conducts most advanced technical research and development;

10. Controls leading edge technical education;

11. Dominates access to space;

12. Dominates aerospace industry;

13. Dominates international communications;

14. Dominates the high-tech weapons industry.  

There is no denial by any common sense person that, with some possible minor additions to that lists, it is generally correct in identifying key positions which make civilization, or a specific nation, strong and, in many cases, dominant. Now let's fast rewind to 1960s and 70s. The term Post-Industrial Economy is coined by Daniel Bell or whomever else--makes no difference. The hell of sociological and economic theories  after that breaks loose and the world, throughout coming decades, is being swept with the avalanche of the social and economic views which have no....relation to the reality. With Post-Industrial Economy concept later came derivatives such as Information Society or Knowledge Economy and other totally chimeral concepts. So you get the drift. The whole school of social and economic thought emerged which, to put it crudely, did everything as to avoid looking at what really makes, say, a nation powerful--a manufacturing capacity.  That is real productive labor! 

Looking attentively at the pps. 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, from Huntington's list above, one can easily notice that all of them are the result and the consequence of manufacturing. We will push it even further--they are the result of a highly developed  machine-building complex. One needs machines to produce high-tech weaponry, machines also produce other machines, there is no modern agriculture without advanced machinery and, obviously, most modern consumer goods are impossible without machines. Some of those machines are immensely complex and require level of mathematical, physics, technological expertise to operate them which is simply beyond the level of expertise required from office manager or graduate with BA in, say, communications (public relations) to do their jobs.  Now, enter all those Free Trade fundamentalists, global-economy and post-industrialism (and knowledge economy) aficionados, who dominate and shape US  economic debate and policies and what do you get? You get a steady DE-industrialization of the United States. Obviously, most (not all)  people who promote those policies never spent a day on the production floor, never made anything useful in their life, but sure as hell most of them got their "economic" degrees from Ivy League madras and many went to work into the place of the uber-concentrated  economic wisdom and reputation--The Wall Street.   

Long story short, the DE-industrialization of the United States started not yesterday. It is still a long and arduous process of ridding off manufacturing and turning US labor force in that of the third world. Some results are already in. In 2011 none other than WSJ published a very remarkable piece. In the middle of the economic calamity this was revealing.

Help Wanted on Factory Floor 

There, WSJ makes a sad admission, that among several core causes for the lack of qualified labor force in US--that is the people who can actually operate complex machinery and make useful things--one, certainly, stood out:

Third, the U.S. education system isn't turning out enough people with the math and science skills needed to operate and repair sophisticated computer-controlled factory equipment, jobs that often pay $50,000 to $80,000 a year, plus benefits. Manufacturers say parents and guidance counselors discourage bright kids from even considering careers in manufacturing. "We get people coming in here all the time who say, 'I can weld,'" says Denis Gimbel, human-resources manager at Lehigh Heavy Forge Corp., of Bethlehem, Pa., whose products include parts for ships. "Well, my grandmother could weld." He needs people who understand the intricacies of $1 million lathes and other metal-shaping equipment.

A discrediting of the productive labor in US is complete. Average American kid would rather resort to life of "creative" labor--such as writing useless apps for iPhone or trying to break into the hordes of the mediocre "future" musicians, artists, photographers or, future social workers (who, actually, will be needed to provide for welfare checks once those hordes of the "creative" people and office plankton will be kicked out on the street), than seriously consider such jobs as specialists in composites, CNC operators or any other complex machinery specialists. And those jobs are available today. No, those kids  would rather smoke pot (a first no-no on the manufacturing floor) while complaining about how tough life is on their creative aspirations, than start learning actual skills which are in the foundation of  the pps. 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, from Huntington's list above and which constitute around 65 (in reality it is even more) percent of the power of the nation. 

There are no such things as Post-Industrial Economy or Information Society or Knowledge Economy--those are all figments of imagination of hacks who live in their own delusion while the geopolitical and economic reality of the world remains unchanged for centuries--only nations that produce and can provide a maximum number of the complete (enclosed) technological cycles are the real players in the global arena. It is very difficult to understand for all those banksters and financiers that (made in China) iPhones, which they consider a high-tech,  do not grow on the trees--they are the result of technological cycle which starts from extracting resources to producing parts and, eventually, assembling  their toys, be it their furniture or BMWs. 

I generally do not take an overly grim view of the American future for a number of reasons. Obviously, US global political and economic weight is diminishing--how about pp.6--but this is the objective process. American financial bubble or, rather, the set  of colossal parallel monetary universes is, of course, a very serious issue and we are facing a type A US Dollar supenova down the road.  But as of now, United States still retains a considerable manufacturing capacity across all Huntington's points and this, in the future, should play a crucial role in inevitable re-industrialization and reformatting of US economy away from service economy to a productive one. How this process will go I don't know and, as I mentioned before, I hate to speculate and give forecasts. Having said that--the US is steadily losing its lead and competence in a number of  crucial fields and it has a lot to do with what WSJ piece points out (follow the link above). A steady loss of the competence across the whole of the American society has everything to do with the process of DE-industrialization and turning US into the country of shopping malls and Walmarts, packed with products made NOT in USA, yoga studious, espresso stands, law offices and shiny office buildings where hip and young toil writing the code for a another virtual product which has no real value, no real serious applications for bettering of  human life and turns people into exhibitionist zombies. Facebook anyone? Or F-35, for that matter?

Meanwhile, the rest of the world begins to beat US at what used to be its game--manufacturing. And then there are weapons....

To be continued.....