My Woman From Tokyo ...

 ... and Made in Japan--one of the greatest albums of all time. Let's make a pleasant non-political music pause. Seeing Ian Paice, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover (of legendary Deep Purple Mk.2), sadly without Ritchie and with John playing keyboards in Heaven, it is so gratifying seeing these legends being treated with such reverence by Japan's Prime minister. 

Not taking anything away from Led Zeppelin, but technically they were not even in the same universe as Deep Purple. John Bonham's stupid untimely death solidified his myth as the greatest drummer. The problem for him, of course, is the fact that Paicy did it as good if not better, including bringing into Purple's hard rock almost a jazzy, swinging virtuoso element. And yes, in the USSR Deep Purple were so much bigger than LZ. 

It is so gratifying to see legends being recognized for what they are on the highest state level--legends. Ah yes, 

Enjoy, if you will. 

On A Lighter Note.

Especially after war and healthcare "news". Here is the best of humanity. Absolutely incredible and marvelous. Creating, not destroying. Artistry of the best kind. 

About Russia As An Arc...

I wrote for years about it. Russia IS Western Civilization, because she transplanted the best of it to her soil, but still remains her own civilization. Yet, Germans, Dutch, Italians, Americans, Aussies suddenly find this call, recognizing that it is their civilization and they move. They will continue to move to Russia. Third Rome, turned out to be not a joke at all. But, then you have Japanese, especially ballet dancers. You do not have to be Bolshoi Prima. You can dance for excellent companies in Voronezh, Novosibirsk or Perm with her superb dancing school. 

Here is another adorable Japanese ballet dancer, Marishka)) It is in Russian but Marishka tours Russia and goes to... grocery stores, LOL)) 

I know, ballet dancers need to maintain diet but, boy, so many temptations, in this case in some average store in Kazan, LOL))) 

Remember, I once posted it--incomparable Komaki Kurihara in Moscow, My Love 1974 flick. 

A Hiroshima girl goes to dance for Bolshoi. Not a single dry eye in movie theaters in USSR... But, here we are in 2023.

In Related...

 ... developments. 

Japan and the US are in discussions on joining forces to develop interceptors capable of shooting down hypersonic weapons, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has said. Hamada made the announcement at a press conference after talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Tokyo on Thursday. “Regarding defense equipment and technology cooperation, we’ve agreed to deepen cooperation and to advance discussions on unmanned aerial vehicles as well as the possibility of joint development in the future of an interceptor to counter hypersonic technology,” he said.

Or, as Derek Zoolander would say...

... continuing talking about this conversation will, certainly, ensure the advancement in this field as long as it suits US military contractors. Japan, for all her magnificent robotics, cars and other consumer technology is not big on military rocketry, being a recipient of the American air defense systems for decades. While Congo-class Aegis equipped DDGs of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are good ships, they still are the carriers of same ol' SPY-1D radar and a variety of SM-3 missiles honed (allegedly) for anti-ballistic missile defense. Considering a dismal performance of US made air defense complexes in the last decade one can easily conclude a very low level one has to start from in order to create something capable of going full Monty against straight flying hypersonic weapons. Against violently maneuvering ones? Good luck with that...

Meanwhile, the never-ending story...

May 30—WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin's F-35 engines are being overworked and could lead to an extra $38 billion in overhauls in the next few decades to help cool radar and other components of the fighter jets, according to government auditors. "The cooling system is overtasked, requiring the engine to operate beyond its design parameters," the Government Accountability Office wrote in its 91-page annual report released Tuesday. "The extra heat is increasing the wear on the engine, reducing its life, and adding $38 billion in maintenance costs." Unless there is an effective fix, engine overhauls might come sooner than expected and add another item to the Pentagon's $1.7 trillion estimate to operate and maintain the fleet until its operational end in the late 2080s. 

Boy, this (barely) flying embarrassment of a combat aircraft just cannot get out of a forest of problems. I am sure NATO countries and America's lapdogs in Asia will be happy to get this lemon. After all, as "sources" continue to report:

The GAO's report disclosed that the cost of the Block 4 upgrade has grown by an additional $1 billion to $16.5 billion, and half of Lockheed's 2022 aircraft deliveries were late. However, the demand for F-35s has grown internationally. Global interest in the fighter jet has increased since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and tensions with China have increased. 

Ah, yes, F-35 is a good match against SU-35 or SU-57, wink, wink. I wonder what will Turkiye decide on her indigenous fighter and what may become a stop-gap measure for Turkish Air Force in coming years. Something tells me it will not be F-35. At this stage combat proven packages such as SU-35 with R-37 or same for SU-57 look extremely attractive for many. F-16 is nearing a complete obsolescence in the modern battlefield with supersonic speed and now that Erdogan secured his Presidential tenure things may start happening pretty fast.

Oh, No! Not That!;)) Not Sinking.

Western "economists" and "analysts" are a very interesting breed--they carry worthless pieces of paper called degrees in "economics" from universities where people who never worked a day in life on real job teach them how real economy works, and they love hyperbole. Like this:

The ruble sank early Monday as Russia allowed so-called "friendly" countries to re-enter Moscow's bond market. Moscow's fiat currency fell as much as 1.5% to 61 against the US dollar, while also pulling back roughly 0.2% against the euro. The Kremlin announced plans last week for investors haling from countries that haven't taken part in sanctions against Russia to trade in debt securities. Russia will also convert global depository receipts, or GDR's, into shares to be traded on the Moscow Exchange. Russia's central bank said on Monday that it planned to write off the GDR's from account holders and then credit the shares. Moscow closed off its markets in February to keep a tighter seal on outflows of capital, after President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. And the ruble's latest fall adds to the wild swings the currency has seen after notching all-time highs and record lows this year.

As you all know I don't deal with this voodoo which Western economics is because I don't deal in magic, occult and magic spells, aka Wall Street. But as always, for anyone who wants to glimpse at economic reality of the world it is worth noting that Ruble was revolving around 60-61 (Hey, Joe, where is those promised 200 for a dollar) for a duration of the last week or so and today it closed at:

Of course, the piece above reports in a proforma manner this piece of news:

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Several major Wall Street banks have begun offering to facilitate trades in Russian debt in recent days, according to bank documents seen by Reuters, giving investors another chance to dispose of assets widely seen in the West as toxic. Most U.S. and European banks had pulled back from the market in June after the Treasury Department banned U.S. investors from purchasing any Russian security as part of economic sanctions to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine, according to an investor who holds Russian securities and two banking sources.

Allegedly it is all about divestment and ridding off the "toxic" Russian assets. Sure. But something tells me that there is a lot more to this story than Reuters puts on, and the issue here is very simple: in the long run real economy on which the financial system rests, not the stock market, wins. And while I am no specialist in securities--I am simply not that interested in speculation in general--I give you one example to illustrate the issue. 

Japan has revealed it will keep hold of its stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia, despite Western energy giants abandoning projects in the country. Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda argued the project was key to diversifying Japan’s energy supply. He said: “Sakhalin-1 is a valuable non-Middle East source for Japan, which depends on the Middle East for 90 per cent of its crude oil imports. There is no change in maintaining the interests of Japanese companies in it.” Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development, a Japanese consortium, owns 30 per cent of Sakhalin-1. Russia has banned investors from so-called unfriendly countries from selling shares in banks and key energy projects, including Sakhalin-1, until the end of the year. This is despite firms such as Shell and BP unilaterally ditching stakes in projects situated in the country following the invasion of Ukraine. 

You try to kick them out, but no--they just don't want to. You see, when one's life is dependent on real, tangible things, not some funny papers--sanctions or not--try to kick them out. And mind you, Russia is imposing her own sanctions on the "unfriendly" countries. But, getting back to Ruble, it is absolutely not a secret that Russia since June went public stressing that:

Russia Doesn’t Want Stronger Ruble, Seeks to Avoid ‘Sharp’ Gains

And that Russia is now in the process of "weakening" the Ruble and tries to find a "golden middle" which will be both good for revenues and budget. The discussion is on now about what is this rate comfortable for Russian economy. Some say it is 65, others go as high as 70. But under no condition all those changes are "sinking" as some try to portray a normal work of the government, which is in a full control of national economy and works with it as a unified organism, unlike it is the case in Western world where suicidal economic and ideological concepts got a stronghold on the West's future which is bleak. But then again, what do you expect from people who cannot find the definition of recession. I am on record, most of those people cannot find their own ass with their own two hands in a brightly lit room, so it is all good. Somebody, tell me where can I buy Tesla or Apple stock, I need to make a good investment before electricity rationing and food shortages start, wink, wink... 

P.S. Something tells me that there are many people in D.C. who would love to lift many more additional sanctions from Russia while making sure that EU imposes new ones. Just a wild thought. But what do I know.