Plus, the main generator of Russia's hatred cannot be removed in Europe--it is majority of population. And that is why Western Europe and Russia go their separate ways.
How can one possibly start trying to extricate oneself from own pile of shit such as that created by the US Department of State in 404? Tony Blinken--the strategists' strategist, the geopolitical thinker of the scale of Bismark... nah, I am screwing with you--some mediocrity with "soft degree" in some BS from Ivy League, but well versed in obfuscation, double meaning and gaslighting, in other words newspeak, tries. Here is his PBS interview:
Boy, they really do think that nobody remembers what was this all about? Those who matter in this world know what is this all about--it is all well documented and, as was predicted from the get go, is clearly understood for what it is--a rush to remove oneself from a whopper of geopolitical defeat which is unfolding before our eyes. No, it is not Afghanistan 2.0, not even close--Afghanistan is just a hiccup on the way to a convulsing end to Pax Americana, as was envisioned by the same "experts" in foreign affairs as Tony Blinken, Francis Fukuyama or Zbig. Now is the time to put a lipstick on the pig and try to look stately and smart. Like this, yet another Ph.D in "political science" from Pentagon.
They don't teach combined arms operations' planning and attrition rates in real wars in think-tanks in D.C. They simply have no clue what it is and how real wars look like, but, as Larch correctly stated today, they are shell-shocked and try to emulate brain activity in feeble attempts to save the face, which they never had. Looks like Blinken already understood something, this Kahl guy is still in the Bargaining stage of Kubler-Ross, but he will get there where Blinken is today, eventually. He just has to learn some standard "democracy" tropes from the lexicon of amateurs and sociopaths who are not only wrecking havoc with Europe but are killing own (own??) country with ruthless efficiency only madmen are capable of.
In related news today, Vladimir Putin approved in principle the urgent delivery of wheat to Afghanistan if the "necessity arises" per report of inter-agency commission from Russia which returned from Afghanistan recently (in Russian). In my latest duet on PolitWera with Colonel Trukhan we touched upon this remarkable fact of Chechen guys (Kadyrovtsy) fighting heroically shoulder to shoulder with their brothers from LDNR and Russia. The fact that Ramzan Kadyrov has become not only an excellent counter-propaganda force in dispelling Ukie and West's BS, but a focal point of so many in Islamic World who look upon Russia not only in sympathy but with hope--I cannot emphasize enough the importance of that. The implications are enormous. And strategic. Do Blinken or Kahl understand that? Don't hold your breath.
In sad news, Larry's mom has died today. I already expressed my profound condolences privately, I want you, those who believe in God, keep Larry's mom in your prayers. On behalf of all us our condolences to Larry and his family, let his mom Rest in Peace.
As I repeat ad nauseam--the root of the mythology of modern combined West is in WW II, where it was effectively saved from itself by primarily Red Army, and this fact completely messes up this whole idea of the United States exceptional "liberation" of Europe from the evils of Nazism, a strictly European invention, by those Stalin's dirty Asiatic hordes. Like in 1814 with Russian Army triumphantly entering Paris, Red Flag over Reichstag in May of 1945 doesn't allow many in the West to sleep and face the reality of the XX century, in which the West decided to commit a suicide. Removal of those Soviet/Russian "hordes" and those who led them in liberation of the death camps and Europe from the history, or re-framing their role in this process of liberation, is a task which Western historiography and propaganda machine got engaged with immediately after the WW II. This revisionism is vital for the existence of Pax Americana, because modern world of ours was born in the crucible of WW II in which America was a second, however important, fiddle in ridding world of Nazism.
There are several ways of how Western revisionists--a euphemism for barely literate people with agenda (a defining characteristic of Russia Study field in the West)--do their job.
1. They completely exonerate Nazi Germany and Axis from its crimes (e.g. visit Unz Review and see one of a highest concentrations of crypto-nazis dominating discussion boards there), often it goes hand-in-hand with Holocaust issue and total ignoring of Axis being responsible for 27 million lives of Soviet citizens and millions upon millions of other lives. These are the most insane and illiterate people and they are incapable of tracing basic causalities.
2. They equate the responsibility of Nazi Germany with that of the USSR for unleashing the WW II. This cohort, including "professional historians" has a lot in common with those mentioned in p. 1. They also are on the position of stressing that even if Nazis were guilty, Stalin's USSR was so horrible and so Mordor that "hell with them, they had it coming". These people also are not strong in history, nor do they have a military background which would allow them to grasp technical, operational, strategic and economic realities of WW II, and as in p.1 in circle they place guilt on Stalin and Soviet Union.
3. Russian "voices" such as Rezun, Solzhenitsyn, adjacent to them Western voices, such as "mass rape specialist" (a euphemism for falsifier) Antony Beavor, other "Russian" dissidents who have an army of followers in the West, despite their sophomoric writing and open falsification of the history and who go for the jugular and deny Soviet/Russian people any agency and ability to distinguish right from wrong, which is wholesale attributed to "communist" ideology and Stalin is singled out as a main culprit.
4. Pursuers of "Jewish-centric" version of Russian history, in which Russian October 1917 Revolution was a Jewish conspiracy and because of that Russians, as in p.2 "had it coming" and too bad Nazis didn't wipe Russians out.
All this is a result of a combination of factors of both very low and constantly declining intellectual level of Western societies in general, and of ideological imperatives of a Cold War which disregards actual, still available but shrinking, scholarship in favor of pure propaganda. Plus, of course, a visceral hatred of Western "elites" of Russians as an obstacle to West's delusional dreams of domination. This is a very brief review of this phenomenon and I dedicated two thirds of my first book to this issue.
Rewriting History for the New Cold War. A Bard College professor has produced a sweeping, revisionist history of the Second World War that places the blame at Russia's doorstep.
Stalin’s War fits comfortably into a world where it is now fashionable to hate Russia. Earlier this summer, Nick Carter, Britain’s top military commander, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Putin’s Russia was “an acute threat” to European peace. The CBC’s coverage of Carter’s comment was the latest in a series of media stories in recent years about Putin’s foreign policy, his clampdown on dissent in Russia, and his alleged “meddling” in the domestic affairs of other countries. Last March, President Joe Biden even called Putin a “killer.” The twist on anti-Russianism today is that, unlike during the anti-communist years of the 1950s, it’s now the Soros-backed progressive left that demonizes Moscow.Russians are keenly aware of that and here is a coincidence. Sergei Lavrov, speaking to veterans of Great Patriotic War in Volgograd (Stalingrad) today stated:
Translation: VOLGOGRAD, August 30. / TASS /. Attempts to portray Joseph Stalin as the main villain of his era are part of an attack on our country's past, on the results of World War II. This was stated on Monday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with veterans of the Great Patriotic War in Volgograd. He stressed that outside attacks on Russia's historical past are aimed not only at rewriting history, but also politically weakening the Russian Federation. "[You mentioned] Joseph Stalin, who <...> was supposed to lead all the processes. I absolutely agree that history should not be touched. By the way, attacks on Stalin as the main villain, lumping together everything he did in the pre-war period, during, after the war - this is also part of that very attack on our past, on the results of World War II, "the minister said.
Lavrov's statement is not going to change anything in the West, least of all in the United States which as a society has no concept of a war as such nor is capable to think outside America-centric world, including its elites and most of "scholarship". This gap is unbridgeable and it will continue to grow. I guess the West needs new Solzhenitsyn, which is not easy to find in times of internet and social networks. Lavrov's statement is for Russians primarily, new generation, that is, which increasingly wants and demands to see the history of their country as a continuous process in which Soviet period, with all of its failures and achievements, is just another step in Russia achieving her greatness. Plus, can we cut the crap? Few westerners have any idea what Soviet period was and how it played out in the past and plays out in present day Russia. They just don't get it. They will not get it. But even registered foreign agent Levada Center and a cloaca of The Moscow Times cannot hide the fact:
Why this happens is beyond the grasp of people described above in this post (pp. 1-4), as per "Western history", I am on record--the whole clusterfuck which modern West is today is a direct result of a complete lack of self-awareness and of operational knowledge of the outside world across the whole spectrum of activity from economics, warfare, politics, culture and history. With "historians" like Sean McMeekien West as we know it doesn't have much time left anyway.
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.Out of those 14 points, highlighted 11, that is 78.6%, are directly connected to a very serious manufacturing or, in modern lingo, "real economy". If one throws away BS about "considerable moral leadership" (a delusion still propagated by Huntington's founded Foreign Policy magazine) and the point about control of all hard currencies, this share increases to 11 out of 12, that is roughly 92%. It is also what makes one a military power. And even this list is still incomplete....
Russia is continuing to diversify state reserves away from US debt. The latest data from the US Treasury shows that Russia's share hit an 11-year minimum and totaled only $14.9 billion.The share of US sovereign debt bonds in Russia's portfolio has been reduced dramatically in recent months. Russia held $96.1 billion in US Treasuries in March before selling half its holdings in April, dropping to 22nd place among major foreign holders of American treasury securities at $48.7 billion.In 2010, Russia was among the top 10 holders of US Treasuries at $176.3 billion. With its holdings falling to $14.9 billion in May, the country is now below the $30 billion threshold for inclusion on the Treasury Department’s monthly report of major holders. On Tuesday, the Treasury released a list of 33 countries which includes the biggest holder China to the smallest Chile. Russia is no longer on the list.
Under the impact of a stupendous spending binge peppered with juicy tax cuts, the Treasury Department has had to issue a flood of Treasury securities to fund the cash outflow. So, over the past 12 months, the US gross national debt has ballooned by $1.5 trillion to $22 trillion as of January 30, according to Treasury Department data. And these are the good times when the economy is hopping. At the next recession, this is going to get cute.But who the heck is buying all this debt? That question will grow increasingly important and worrisome as we move forward with this gigantic ballooning debt, fueled by deficits that Fed chairman Jerome Powell calls “unsustainable” at every chance he getsThe answer is simple:
American banks (very large holders), hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and other institutions along with individual investors in their brokerage accounts or at their accounts with the US Treasury were huge net buyers, while nearly everyone else was selling, increasing their holdings by $1.36 trillion over the 12-month period. These American entities combined owned the remainder of the US gross national debt, $7.5 trillion, or 34.4% of the total!The United States literally turns itself into the self-licking ice-cream cone and, eventually, she will lick herself into the empty cone, with no ice-cream left. Moreover, the United States has been denied her post WW II myth of military omnipotence thus showing very clear signs of weakness, like recent events with Iran, which indicate to many foreign US treasuries' holders that at some point of time they may submit those obligations for cashing without serious consequences for themselves and that is the big game and plan for them--big players, such as China, already doing this, however slowly (but then again, China holds more than a trillion worth of US treasuries) and the whole thing is already in progress and pass the point of no return.
Speaking today at London's Royal United Services Institute, Esper said the political and economic leverage wielded by the Chinese is already eroding the sovereignty of some nations. And Russian invasion of Georgia, annexation of Crimea and violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, as it continued to build up its inventory of strategic arms, shows that Russia is unwilling to be a responsible international actor, he said. "[We] cannot stand idly by while authoritarian nations attempt to reshape the global security environment to their favor at the expense of others," Esper said. "Doing so would invite continued aggression and diminish our ability to deter future conflicts. As such, America's National Defense Strategy makes it clear that great power competition is once again the primary concern of U.S. national security."Mark Esper and many people in Pentagon are not stupid, they can calculate and do operational planning, they know that the US military today is capable to fight only third world militaries, and even there success is not guaranteed. And yes, in Esper's definition of Russia "not willing to be a responsible international actor" is correct, precisely because she knows what kind of rogue state she is dealing with and that is why she was in a separation mode non-stop since 2014. But Russia is still in business with the US, as she should be, because Russians finally learned a good ol' capitalist truism--money doesn't smell, only business--nothing personal. Only hard cold cash--no treasuries. What a funny world we all live in.
“We have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD," he tweeted. His Twitter message caught administration officials off-guard and prompted an immediate outcry from legal scholars, national security experts and Democratic lawmakers. But the president stood by his threat the following day. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people,” he told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One. “And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way.” By international law, however, it does.
What lessons can be drawn from this history? As much as anything else, the rise and fall of major powers determines the viability of the prevailing order, since changes in economic strength, political cohesion, and military power shape what states can and are willing to do beyond their borders.
Although Russia has avoided any direct military challenge to NATO, it has nonetheless shown a growing willingness to disrupt the status quo: through its use of force in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine since 2014, its often indiscriminate military intervention in Syria, and its aggressive use of cyberwarfare to attempt to affect political outcomes in the United States and Europe.
