Something Happened In Qatar ...

... I mean Ras Laffan. Qatar says it was a "technical accident". Qatar's residents describe it as a powerful earthquake. 

Hm, I wonder why? No, not really)

Yes, There Is A School In Russia ...

 ... since today named after American hero, the son of CIA's Deputy Director. 

Командующий ВДВ Михаил Теплинский назвал погибшего в зоне специальной военной операции на Украине сына заместителя директора ЦРУ Майкла Александра Глосса героем. На церемонии присвоения имен кавалеров ордена Мужества Ивана Коковина и Глосса донецкой школе №115 Теплинский подчеркнул, что Глосс погиб как герой, передает ТАСС. «То, что погиб, погиб он как герой, действительно. И, как многие другие, он стремился освободить Донбасс», – заявил он, отметив, что что Глосс ничем не отличался от других десантников и выполнял боевые задачи наравне со всеми. Теплинский добавил, что родители Глосса могут гордиться сыном, который проявил мужество. «Мы уже все передали и родителям. Действительно, они могут гордиться своим сыном, потому что он вырос достойным гражданином и Соединенных Штатов Америкии, можно сказать, и Российской Федерации», – сказал он.

Translation: Airborne Forces Commander Mikhail Teplinsky called the son of CIA Deputy Director Michael Alexander Gloss, who died in the special military operation zone in Ukraine, a hero. At the ceremony of naming the Knights of the Order of Courage Ivan Kokovin and Gloss at Donetsk School No. 115, Teplinsky emphasized that Gloss died as a hero, TASS reports. "He died as a hero, indeed. And, like many others, he sought to liberate Donbass," he said, noting that Gloss was no different from other paratroopers and carried out combat missions on an equal basis with everyone else. Teplinsky added that Gloss's parents can be proud of their son, who showed courage. "We have already conveyed everything to his parents. Indeed, they can be proud of their son, because he grew up as a worthy citizen of both the United States of America and, one might say, the Russian Federation," he said.

An interesting detail. If you may recall cretins who infest US media under the title of "journalists" reported (CBS, no less) that:

Spokespeople for the White House, the CIA and Witkoff didn't respond with comment for this article. A Russian embassy spokesman contacted by CBS News said there was no official comment, and no acknowledgement of the award has been publicly disclosed by the Kremlin or Russian Foreign Ministry. Putin's move comes at a sensitive time, as Mr. Trump has expressed increasing frustration with the Kremlin and has vowed secondary tariffs starting on Friday, even as negotiations are underway for a possible summit. The Order of Lenin is a Soviet-era award meant to highlight outstanding civilian service. It has been given to high-level spies, including the U.K.'s Kim Philby, a double agent for the Soviet Union. Gallina's son was never an employee of the CIA, according to a person familiar with the matter.

You cannot explain to an average degenerate with Ivy League "degree in journalism", that Order of Lenin doesn't exist in Russia as an award. Michael was awarded Order of Courage posthumously, the same order Valery Gerasimov was bestowed upon yesterday. 

So, what can I say. They ARE "critically uneducated". 

Now to Qatar--I am not going to discuss here the rabid terrorist state of Israel and its cocksuckers in the US--from the White House down to CUFI (Cuckolds United For Israel), the US is very good at administering wholesale blowjob to AIPAC and Netanyahu, but, frankly, Qatar played a critical role in financing and supporting ISIS, so I merely enjoy my bucket of pop-corn. Let them go at it. Bombs away! After all, this is the only thing Israel can do--fight those who cannot shoot back, like Qatari Air Force which took off but did nothing, on orders, of course. 

LOL))

 No comment))

A New Product.

B (Bernhard) of Moon Of Alabama posted today a good review of the situation between Qatar and KSA (and others) and this point by him should be explained:

  

It has friendly relations with Russia. Yesterday the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani talked with President Putin:

Russian-Qatari cooperation, primarily in the trade, economic and investment areas, was discussed, and the results of the meeting of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission in April 2017 were highly praised.

International issues were also discussed. Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russia’s principled position in favor of settling crises by political and diplomatic means, through dialogue.

Translation: Qatar offered additional money for Russia's support. A preliminary deal was made but there was no promise (yet) of full Russian support in a military conflict.

B makes an excellent point here in a sense that, far from being damaging, say for Russia, this Saudi-Qatari conflict may present yet another opportunity for marketing of one of the most potent, if not THE most potent, Russia's export products--geopolitical stabilization. One may ask, what is that. Well, you can see this product now on full display in Syria. Consider now where was Syria and Assad's government two years ago and where it is now. In 2015, despite efforts by Iran and Hizbullah, Syria still struggled with ISIS and the calls to attack Assad were getting louder in Washington. This all changed with Russia Air-Space Forces and Forces of Special Operations (SSO) being deployed to Syria. As Assad himself admitted two days ago: the worst is behind us. 

Nobody with even rudimentary sense of reality would debate the fact of Bashar Assad being a pivotal figure for Syria not only for now, but for the future. While thesis (a popular one), that Russia doesn't abandon her allies (which is not entirely true--remember Najibullah), may be used as currently valid explanation for Russia sticking with Assad, there is no denial of the fact here that current Russia is not Soviet Union and she pursues objectives in her foreign policy which are different from those of the USSR. Apart from fostering relations with other nations, Russia, using Corben Dallas' dictum "you play soft, we play soft, you play hard, we play hard", likes not only to be flexible but also to be compensated for what she does, or sells, if one wishes. Russia sells stability and this commodity is hot-hot-hot. Forget about Libya where Russia is already establishing relations with General Haftar, looks like, considering the speed with which Qatari Foreign Minister called Lavrov, Russia is in for the big time and money because Qatar, which is more "competitive" than Russia, surely would love to have this very Russia on her side for a simple reason--Qatar wants to preserve herself (which is only natural) and Russia already has a pretty impressive record of propping up governments which are due for a "regime change". 

Cynical? You bet, but can one imagine what price an enormously rich Qatar would be willing to pay to Russia for her making some moves which would stabilize Qatari ruling elite and provide some guarantees? Mind you, there will be more than money involved but a lot, and I mean a lot, of geopolitical favors, including some things related to terrorism, of which Qatar is a big supporter. Corben Dallas stratagem in action--chose you own play, soft or hard. This is how big geopolitical realism is practiced. This is also how nations are stabilized, the contracts and money follow. It is also a great lesson in transition between hard power to a soft one and vice-versa. In the world which is increasingly destabilized due to wholesale crisis of the Pax Americana "system" such an ability is a truly hot commodity. 

Some Other Thought On Qatar Crisis.

The ongoing crisis between (mostly) KSA and Qatar, which now Kuwait tries to mediate, presents another opportunity to set one very wrong right. I mean, of course, a Soccer World Cup 2022 which is supposed to be held in that shithole--a decision by FIFA which can only be explained by Qatar bribing decision-making body of FIFA. You may recall, that Qatar, which is not fit by any metric to host the most important global sports event, was preferred over Unites States, which not only has a world class soccer infrastructure but also has an experience with hosting World Cup 1994. Yes, the booze and partying (and rowdiness) which accompany every major soccer event are also as American as they are German, Russian, British or Italian. How the hell, Sharia-ridden  hell-hole ended hosting the event which, apart from a wonderful game, is a global party is beyond me.

I was stunned when learned that US, which was a natural choice for WC 2022, was bypassed in favor of Qatar. Now, it is as good of a time as any to bring up political instability in the Middle East as a huge argument and return hosting of the World Cup 2022 to a country which gets top grades on any world cup metric. Apart from the world-class stadiums, the United States has an excellent experience in safety and security for such massive events. Good infrastructure, good (and bad) booze, partying, vast numbers of relatively affordable hotels, motels and hostels. In the end, inevitable atmosphere of celebration--those are qualities which Qatar can not possibly have, even if they try. So, time to start a petition, maybe? 

        RETURN WORLD CUP 2022 BACK TO THE USA 

P.S. Do I have personal vested interest in it? Hell yeah. If I live through 2022 I would love to attend;) And no, I am not going to Qatar.         

A "Competitiveness" Fraud.

Two very recent, and seemingly unrelated, events caught my attention.  

1. Publication of IMD 2017 World  Competitiveness Ranking;

2. Qatar being thrown under the bus by his Arab neighbors led by the ever anti-terrorism and human rights vigilant Saudi Arabia. 

Frankly, I will enjoy the show of two terrorists states, of KSA and Qatar, spitting at each other--both richly deserved to be declared terrorists states and be put under severe international sanctions. But since this is not going to happen, the next best thing is to observe two medieval, albeit rich, satrapies going at it. But while anticipating those two shitholes trying to outdo each-other in terrorism accusations (it is, actually, funny), the pp.1 is more important. 

This Swiss, supposedly very authoritative and internationally renown, business-school's "competitiveness" rating should be something really-really solid, very "scientific" and very revealing. Well, guess what, it is not. It is the same contrived crap which has no relation with reality and here is why: 

Food lines in Qatari supermarkets

Qatar today rushed into supermarkets to grab whatever food is available since, in accordance to this Swiss outlet (which prides itself on being a NASA of competitiveness rankings), Qatar in 2017 ranks higher than:  

   

And:   

Let's list which nations Qatar, which produces nothing, "leads" and, in accordance to numerous sources:

 In 2012, Qatar was ranked third from the bottom of the 65 OECD countries participating in the PISA test of maths, reading and skills for 15- and 16-year-olds, comparable to Colombia or Albania, despite having the highest per capita income in the world

So, those nations are: China, Australia, Republic Of Korea, Japan, Austria, Russia (but then again, Saudi Arabia and Lithuania are higher than Russia), just to name a few. Get it, boys and girls? In modern Western "economics" the fact that one builds space stations, leads the world in education, builds best cars in the world, builds best airplanes, best weapon systems, produces best engineers and scientists--all that doesn't matter. Even the food rush in Qatari stores will not prove to those Swiss morons who came up with this POS "rankings" that truly competitive economies do not rush food stores unless directly attacked. They do not do this for a simple reason--because they are self-sufficient and are able to feed themselves, apart from doing other serious things. But for IDM it really is not an argument. Apart from Qatar, as well as most ME satrapies, being, using good ole' John McCain's parlance, merely gas stations camouflaging as countries, IDM, it seems, doesn't mind looking like a bunch of imbeciles who are ready to come up with any nonsense as long as it pays for pseudo-academic sinecures. 

As Correlli Barnett wrote 40+ years ago:

"As Adam Smith, the founder of liberal economics, put in 1776:"By pursuing his own interest (an individual) frequently promotes that of society the more effectually than when he really intends to promote it." It was Adam Smith who formulated the doctrine of Free Trade, the keystone of liberalism, which was to exercise a long-lived and as baneful effect on British power as Wesley and Whitefield's preaching. Adam Smith attacked the traditional "mercantilist" belief that a nation should be generally self-supporting.... According to liberal thinking, a nation was no more than so many human atoms who happened to live under the same set of laws.."

And while a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other Arab states is important and may have some bearing on prices of oil and gas, it is Western economic "science" which is an unmitigated disaster and which, to a large degree, is responsible for unending economic crisis which engulfed Europe and the United States. It is not surprising then that we are where we are in the world where virtual money buy virtual services and "products" without benefiting overwhelming majority of people, because they are... virtual, unreal. The same world in which Qatar is more competitive than Japan or Russia, and where Saudi Arabia fights Islamic terrorism. So, who is bigger fool then, semi-literate medieval terrorist states which produce nothing but oil and gas, and even then--thanks to Western science and technology, or people who try to use pseudo-science to convince others that black is white? In the end, I can come up with a very well justified ranking of academic fraud and this one will be way more precise than any "competitiveness" trash IMD provides. In fact, in this academic fraud ranking, IMD will be very close to the top, together with Qatar's only top competitive position--in terrorism sponsoring ranking. No statistics is needed for that.