It Really DOES NOT Need Any Comments, Except...

That it is always pleasant to feel oneself (me, that is) vindicated when for years I am on record that Western GDP measure is a fake economy and absolutely DOES NOT reflect both size and complexity of national economies. In fact, GDP was invented by US so called "economists" for ideological reasons in order to perpetuate a myth of American economy as the largest and most super-pooper  in the wolrd. But now...

All the hand-wringing this week over whether or not the U.S. economy has fallen into recession lacked an important consideration: What if the measure of GDP we're all focused on is itself massively flawed? It’s a heretical question, because there’s a 'GDP complex' at work here. There's an entire apparatus — economists, bankers, government officials, and prognosticators — of folks whose livelihoods are predicated on measuring GDP, maintained as the be-all and end-all method for measuring a country’s economic, or even societal, health. And, of course, GDP growth is never quite 'right.' It’s either too fast or slow, and these parties are always ready to help fix things. Leaving aside the experts’ deficiencies in predicting or fixing, by fixating on GDP this august group often misses items like sustainability and quality of life.

Same as US Military-Industrial Complex, GDP "complex" is primarily a ponzi scheme for blowing bubbles and "reputation" of something that "grows" only fictional money at the Wall Street, period. Same as failed Javelins, Stingers, HIMARS, M-777 what have you, US economic "statistics", unless it is counted in normal tangible things is complete smoke and mirrors. 

In related news. Per why Europe is different from the US and why they always hated Russians. Norwegian diplomat launched a Russophobic tirade in Murmansk, not about the "dirty" room in hotel, which hotel immediately said will clean and set, but because she hates Russians. 

Norway’s Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over an incident involving its consul, and said the diplomat’s words do not reflect the country’s attitude towards the Russian people, the ministry said in a statement sent to RT on Saturday. A video posted by news outlet Mash shows Elisabeth Ellingsen, a Norwegian consul stationed in the northern Russian city of Murmansk, being rude with the staff at a Russian hotel and swearing. “I hate Russians,” Ellingsen says in English. “You know, I’m used to [staying in] clean rooms. I’m from Scandinavia, not some Russian woman.” According to Mash, Russian police are investigating the incident. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs deeply regrets this incident. The sentiments expressed in no way reflect Norwegian policy or Norwegian attitudes towards Russia and Russian people,” the ministry said.

Western elites always hated Russians. As does a significant majority of European population, unlike it is in the US where everyday attitude towards Russians is absolutely normal, and that is why new Iron Curtain is needed. Here is this Norwegian "diplomat" 

You can see the video of the whole thing and details at this link. Or see it here.

She, obviously, couldn't wait for 10 minutes while room was being cleaned.

Introspective on Clausewitz by Bernhard and Other Business.

Bernhard of MoA did a good write-up on Clausewitz and Kool Aid where he absolutely justifiably points out... well, the Kool Aid many of those military "experts" in the West are drinking. 

The numbers and other claims that the British defense ministry puts out get repeated in the U.S. by the neo-conservative Institute for the Study of War. Nearly every U.S. media quotes one of those two sources. They are serving the Kool-Aid Pat Lang, TTG and other around them have been drinking since the beginning of Russian operation.

Read the whole thing, and keep in mind that from the get go numbers and ratios US and UK military "experts" from establishment media to all kinds of fraudulent neocon think-tanks such as ISW "used" (meaning, made up) have been a complete BS. Made up numbers of force correlations and losses which created a completely false narrative and picture of SMO. Now the time of reckoning has come and I will lie if I say that I don't enjoy this massive egg on faces of Petraeus, Keane and others, who are going now through a profoundly painful phase of a butt-hurt when facing reality, especially from the fact of parading themselves as not military professionals but media buffoons. Speaking of which. 

Another "product" of America's "military thought" is having an excruciating date with reality and unable to contain himself begins to fantasize about real war. I get it, he was the USAF big honcho and even SACUER, but something tells me that in Philip Breedlove we have not just acute case of Russophobia but a serious lack of grasp of how modern wars are conducted. 

The bridge linking Crimea to the rest of Russia is a “legitimate target” for Ukraine, the former supreme NATO commander for Europe, General Philip Breedlove, believes. Kiev now has the ability to try and attack the bridge across the Kerch Strait with Western-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Breedlove told The Times in an interview published on Thursday. “Kerch bridge is a legitimate target,” Breedlove stated. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that the Russians are concerned about Kerch bridge. It’s incredibly important to them.” Now that the West has given Ukraine Harpoon missiles, I think the Russians have every reason to be worried about Ukraine launching an attack on the bridge.  

Somebody, please, give Mr. Breedlove a hint, politely, not in a forceful manner, to take a look at the map and at the capabilities of Harpoon anti-shipping missiles. Being a former pilot himself, it is only natural for him to think about combat aviation to face such enemy as... Taliban or other weddings and civilian gatherings which USAF was bombing to smithereens for the last 20 years not facing any air defense systems, let alone serious enemy air forces. So, when he suggests to "attack" Crimean Bridge by Harpoons, he has to ask himself a question on HOW such an operation would look like. Will the attack be carried out by Ukie Air Force, or, rather, what's left of it? Will they want to meet Mr. Su-35 or Mr. MiG-31BM (in Russian) or such gentlemen as S-400, S-300V4 and S1 Pantsir which are present in industrial quantities inside Crimea and around Crimean Bridge? Evidently this idea never visited Breedlove. Including this teeny-weeny detail, the problem really, on how to integrate AGM-84 Harpoon with old Soviet Su-27s and MiG-29s

Or, maybe, Breedlove thinks about somehow sticking those Harpoons on some Ukie fishing boat and secretly moving it into the launch position in the middle of the Black Sea and hope and pray that the targeting provided by S-3 Sentry from international airspace will succeed in guiding those few (what 2-3?) Harpoons towards Crimean Bridge? Good luck fooling Russia's Black Sea Fleet and, again, Air Defense. But maybe, one tries to conclude, Mr. Breedlove thinks about launching Harpoons from some truck from Ukie controlled territory? Possible? Sure. There is one teeny-weeny issue here, though. The maximum range of Harpoon is around 220 kilometers--so good luck finding the territory from which such a salvo can reach Crimean Bridge. FYI--the distance between Ukie-controlled Nikolaev (for how long?) and the bridge is 390 kilometers--good luck reaching it. And I don't even start here any discussion on the issue of what "linear targets" are and what it will take, what salvo--remember, наряд сил, the number of Harpoons--of 200 kilogram warheads, to even take the section of the bridge out for a short period of time? 

Mr. Breedlove, certainly, graduated Air Command and Staff College, I am 100% positive that they taught there such issues as probabilities, "leakers", required force and operational planning, based on good grasp of own and enemy's capabilities, especially in terms of opposing air force and air defense. I am sure they teach that there. But somehow, as many other US top brass, Philip Breedlove decided to drink (or maybe excrete?) a Kool Aid and continue to embarrass not only himself but the whole America's top brass which has an astounding record of military failure, incompetence and BSing in the last 20 years, which is beginning to culminate in a much worse outcome than Afghanistan 1.0.   

As some sources (German Welt) report, the US and Europe are in secret negotiations trying to find a diplomatic resolution and to stop SMO (in Russian). Good luck with that--too little, too late. As in that famous Russian anecdote about two bear hunters. One of them finds the bear and shouts to his buddy:"Hey, I caught the bear!" His buddy responds:"Then, bring him here." The response is:"I can't, he doesn't let me." In related news:

WASHINGTON – A retired three-star general has been suspended from a $92-an-hour contract consulting the Army and is under investigation after posting a tweet that appeared to mock first lady Jill Biden on a hot-button social issue, according to the Army. Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, the Army's former top spokesman and recipient of the Silver Star for gallantry in Iraq, had been a "senior mentor," advising senior military officers, staff and students participating in war games and other military activities. Lt. Gen. Theodore Martin, commander of the Combined Arms Center, suspended Volesky pending the outcome of the inquiry, Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman, told USA TODAY. On June 24, the first lady posted a tweet condemning the Supreme Court's decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, which read in part: "For nearly 50 years, women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies. Today, that right was stolen." Volesky replied with his own tweet: "Glad to see you finally know what a woman is". His response represents a breach of decorum for a retired military officer and a foray into partisan politics by an official on the payroll of the Pentagon, which is supposed to steer clear of such matters, experts say. His tweet has been deleted.

Really? Breach of decorum? His comment was spot on and funny, because it was true. But what about Philip Breedlove, who suggests to bomb the object of civilian infrastructure (not to mention his ignorance of alternative through Kherson) and parades himself as a buffoon? I though that qualifies. But then again, we live in a strange world in which the combined West is run by petulant teenagers, who long ago lost any connection to strategic, operational and tactical reality and there is no way they can restore this contact.

Are You (Fvcking) Kidding Me?

Russians have proverb: impudence is a second happiness (naglost'--vtoroe schast'ye). And when you think that you saw it all, bang! And it is Ukraine. Rada's (Ukraine's parliament) MP with a typical Ukrainian name Vadim Rabinovich, speaking to Ukrainian outlet NewsOne proposed to ask for help... from Russia. Here is video (in Ukrainian/Russian):

And in Russian from Ria.

I am still in shock and am trying to lift my jaw from the floor. But before I proceed, Rabinovich proposes to Ukraine, after, by his own admission, listening to Putin's "Covid-19" Address to Russia, simply to copy this program and... apply it to Ukraine. He says that if ever-sanctioned Russia can do this, then Ukraine, and I quote, "supported by half-the-world" certainly can do this too." You know what follows: 

One comment from the Rabinovich's video summarizes it really well: 

пусть вам помогает Америга и Европа....дармоеды вы и предатели 

Translation: let AmeriGa and Europe help you...freeloaders and traitors. 

This is precisely the attitude of overwhelming majority of Russians both in Russia and around the world towards...no, not to the shithole of a country which Ukraine is...but towards Ukrainians. I was going to do a separate write-up on Ukraine, but this whole thing is so surreal, that I had to comment on it. Rabinovich is, obviously, delusional, which is a normal state of not only Ukrainian "elites" but majority of "Ukrainians", who, in addition overwhelmingly consider Russia to be a hostile state (in Russian), while large parts of their society still think that Ukro Army fights Russian Army in Donbass. I will omit here the description of Ukrainian media as an asylum run by patients, but I have to state a thing which I repeat ad nauseam: Ukraine is anti-Russia. It cannot exist in ANY other form for a number of major historic, geopolitical, economic, cultural and other reasons. I do, however, give Ukrainian "nation" the right for metaphysical existence, because this nation did coagulate around central idea as a political nation. This central idea is primarily a combination of kindergarten-level fantasies, down right delirium and and of radical Russophobia. 

And here is Ukrainian problem: nation built on those ideas cannot create a viable state in principle, unless such a "state" is a failed state and Ukraine is more than a failed state, Ukrainian nation is a failed nation. Because it needs to constantly prove to themselves that they are not Russians and this has to be done against the measure of Russia as a country. Truth is, Russia is economic and military superpower, Ukraine is a decrepit, backward, dirty place, populated with increasingly irrational population, which still dreams about "integration" into EU and NATO, not understanding that it is needed there only as a ram against Russia to be eventually used and thrown out as used condom after intercourse. This time has arrived. First, EU as a whole is a joke and it is on its way out, the US is facing existential crisis which makes 2008 crisis look like a Nerf gun against 152-mm howitzer. Most importantly, Russians DO NOT want to help Ukraine. In fact, majority of Russians do not want to hear anything about the country which hates Russian guts due to this nation being a loser on a historical scale, getting in 30 years since its independence, from one of the most economically developed former Soviet Republics to a main provider of toilet cleaners and strawberry pickers to Poland and a variety of prostitutes both to Russia and EU. 

Most insulting for Ukrainian mentality, moreover, is the fact that Russians live better than them, much-much better. Russia's per capita GDP is 3 times that of Ukraine, in reality even higher. Much higher.  I would offer you all to do a little bit of comparison of two respective capitals of Russia (Moscow) and Ukraine (Kiev), their transport and street infrastructure,  done in Autumn of 2019. No knowledge of Russian language is necessary, except for knowing the fact that many Russians (justly so) were incensed with this comparison of Kiev to Moscow, stating that comparison should be with smaller Russian cities in provinces, granted that even those would make Kiev still look as the capital of the third world shithole. So, enjoy (who wants) the video and pay attention to the faces of people in respective cities. 

So, now they want Russia, after they are still hard at work in D.C. lobbying for more sanctions on Russia and trying to sell the only product they have which has value in the West--Russophobia--to help them? Nope. Let them deal with all that completely on their own--not a single Ruble should ever be spent on this country and its people. They wanted independence and European "integration"--let them have it. Russia needs to get busy building cordon sanitaire around this shithole, and close borders for most of those lunatics. They have their own "government", Rada, President and EU with the United States. Let them ask Lieutenant-Colonel Vindman to lobby Ukraine's interests in D.C. (this American "hero" knows how to do it) and ask DNC to provide help.  After all, there is always Canada with its massive Ukrainian diaspora. As Rabinovich stated--half-the-world supports Ukraine, so let it, leave Russia out of it. Build A WALL, Russia.