About Tribunal.

The real one, which is already in a preoperational stage, because a bunch of Kiev Regime Nazis have been charged and sentenced for their crimes in Russia. I spoke about the issue of justice for war crimes of 404 and its curators today with Ania. And here we are today:

Repeatedly targeting civilians and first responders in Donetsk with US-made HIMARS missiles was a deliberate crime, for which both the Ukrainian government and its Western sponsors will be held accountable, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council on Wednesday. “Yesterday’s attacks killed 6 and injured 55 people, including three children,” Nebenzia said at the emergency session of the UN body, calling it “yet another flagrant violation by the Kiev regime of the norms of international humanitarian law and further evidence of its purposeful actions to destroy the civilian population of Donbas.”

What does it mean, then, "to be held accountable" in relation to "Western sponsors"? Very simply, many their names and positions either in West's military or intel orgs are well known. Their identities are also well known. Here Nebenzya elaborates:

“These are conscious and cynical crimes that have no statute of limitation,” the Russian diplomat said, adding that Moscow will hold responsible not just the “Kiev regime” but also “Western countries who flood Ukraine with weapons and – as we are well aware – also approve targets of the strikes.”

Cannot get any clearer than that--for starters they will be charged with war crimes in absentia. Unlike BS of ICC in Hague, the names, the identities of those charged will be announced and charge will be not just of being responsible for killing, torturing, abusing, ethnically cleansing of Russophone population of 404, including torture and execution of Russian POWs, but in crimes against humanity. Now, once one considers that Washington and London's "war planning" and "command and control" are directly responsible for the deaths of between half-a-million and a million of VSU personnel, with one million of them maimed--guess from three times, how many of those people and their relatives and friends would want to settle accounts with those who are directly responsible for this horror? 

Well, for starters those whose identities will be disclosed and charged, will have to tread very carefully beyond the borders of their respective countries. But, considering the fact that neither the US nor EU know the meaning of national borders and how to defend those, even confining oneself to a what seems as safe location will do very little when one will have a number people who will be after them and, remarkably, will require no additional stimuli to settle accounts. FSB or SVR with G(R)U wouldn't need to move a finger, disclosure of identities by Ukraine War Crimes Tribunal and charging in absentia will be enough. 

As I am on record, most of those who "advised" Kiev Nazis--primarily from UK and the US, but not exclusively--do not have an appropriate organ, the mental and moral tool kit--to grasp the scale and the gravity of their crimes. It is one thing to kill Skripal's cat and do the false flag with chemical weapons somewhere in Syria or Iraq, totally another to be responsible for the largest war in Europe since WW II with millions of casualties. It is one thing to ran from Afghanistan, totally another losing the largest war since WW II to a country which is a nuclear military and economic superpower with wherewithal to do what it considers necessary. Or as Mr. Lavrov conveyed it today:

The country is in no rush to resume engagements with the West anyway, according to Sergey Lavrov    

Do you get the picture yet? They chose very wrong people to fuck with, and compared to Wehrmacht and RSHA they all look like amateurs. 

Meanwhile, Larry reports:

While the world’s attention is focused on the war raging between Israel and Hamas, the military confrontation between the United States and Hezbollah is heating up. Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October and the subsequent retaliation by Israel, U.S. military bases and outposts in Syria and Iraq are facing daily attacks with rocket, missiles and mortars. I learned today from someone who regularly visits Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland that the wards are filling up with U.S. military personnel wounded in recent attacks on those bases. The White House and the Department of Defense are working actively to suppress this information, apparently out of fear that the American public will recoil at news of the losses and step up pressure for the United States to get out of Iraq and Syria.  

Some people in this blog asked if it is wise for Hezbollah to disclose that they have, unlike HAMAS, BTW, serious weapon systems such as anti-shipping missiles. There is no secret in it, just recall this:

INS Hanit which was struck in 2006 with C-701 AshM, while much heavier and deadlier C-802 failed to lock on Hanit and struck some other vessel. So, it is nothing new for Hezbollah to be armed with much heavier weapons, including unconfirmed full blown missile air-defense complexes, than HAMAS--after all, Iran has a very advanced military industry. So, it is getting curioser and curioser(c) out there.

My Heart Goes Out To Turkiye And Syria.

What a tragedy.

Russia is already rushing help with rescuers and field hospitals. Poor people...

Now Real Professionals Talk...

 On the go. 

A “miscalculation” in the cat and mouse game with Russia could lead to full blown war, the head of the Armed Forces has warned, after a tense confrontation in the Black Sea this week. General Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff, said the risk of an “unwarranted escalation” involving Britain was “the thing that keeps me awake in bed at night”. There was a standoff between Britain and Russia when a Royal Navy destroyer passed through a contested part of the Black Sea on Wednesday. Russia considers the waters to be its own after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but it is recognised by Britain as sovereign Ukrainian territory. HMS Defender provoked Russian forces into firing warning shots and dropping four bombs close to the ship, according to the Russian defence ministry, but this claim is disputed by Downing Street.

After that Carter elaborated on the advantages Russia (and China) have when compared to combined West. Russia's MoD and its very own Igor Konashenkov, responding to John Kirby's "comments" nonchalantly stated obvious:

.... подчеркнул, что бывшему контр-адмиралу Джону Кирби, назвавшему инцидент в Черном море дезинформацией, "хорошо известно, что для надежно охраняющих безопасность Крыма российских вооруженных сил эсминец Defender в любой точке Черного моря - всего лишь жирная цель для противокорабельных комплексов Черноморского флота".

Translation: (Konashenkov) underscored that for Kirby, a former rear-admiral, who called the incident in the Black Sea a disinformation it should be well known that for Russian Armed Forces defending Crimea HMS Defender is nothing more than a fat target in any part of the Black Sea for Russia's anti-shipping missiles.

Kirby, who launched his naval career as SuWa (Surface Warfare) officer, should know how detection, tracking and targeting are done by Russians and what are saturation thresholds of all NATO AD complexes against all types of missiles deployed by Russians. He also should know what it means "tracking by weapon" (Слежение Оружием) and how salvos are formed. So, it is all so cute when people try to deny obvious, thus exposing themselves as guilty and weak party. 

In related news, as I predicted for years, Russia started to deploy MiG-31Ks with Kinzhals to Syria and now conducts patrols over Mediterranean (in Russian). To give some idea what it all means--Kinzhal has a range of 2,000 kilometers (with the range of carrier-around 3,000 kilometers) at M=9+ velocity and maneuvers at terminal, making it impossible to intercept by any combination of existing AD means at NATO's disposal. To give an idea what it all means, here is some illustration.

Any Kinzhal launched from Latakia's airspace will reach a target in the Black Sea in about 5-7 minutes, while launched from the vicinity of Rostov even faster. When even Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov (forget Shoigu) states that " we are going to "bomb" them", one should take a note.  And yes, there is no "cat and mouse" game, because targeting any NATO asset is continuous and is in real time. Guys, this is not 1980s, this is 2021 and Russians are really good at sensor fusion plus whatever they have in space, and they have a lot. So, the forms have been obeyed and Kirby should know well that right now Russian Navy's task group sails in the vicinity of Hawaii (strictly in the international waters, mind you) and who knows how many 3M14s are currently loaded in VLS of what is on the surface, but more importantly--what is under it.

Turks Destroyed 8 Pantsirs.

Yes, yes, that is what Turkey declared in Brussels and I think they, out of traditional humbleness, lowered numbers of destroyed S1 Pantsir AD systems dramatically. I think there were at least 25-30 those systems destroyed together with those 3,500 SAA soldiers and, probably, couple battalions of Russian SSOs. In related news, before lunch I was Napoleon, after lunch I became Marcus Aurelius. Turkish baloney and butt-hurt from what they experienced in Idlib is such that they don't see anything wrong with simply making shit up. So much so, that Russia's Ministry of Defense was forced to flatly debunk those fairy tales. In its statement Russian MoD underscored:

"Представленные главе Турецкой Республики оценки боевой эффективности применения ударных БПЛА в провинции Идлиб, якобы сумевших уничтожить восемь сирийских зенитных ракетно-пушечных комплексов "Панцирь", не соответствуют действительности и являются более чем преувеличением"

Translation:  Assessments of combat effectiveness of strike UAVs in Idlib Province, presented to the head of Turkish Republic, alleging the destruction of eight Syrian gun-missile complexes "Pantsir" do not correspond to reality and are more than just exaggeration". 

Truth is, only four S1s have been deployed around Idlib, two were damaged and repaired. Most of SAA's S1s remained deployed around Damascus and didn't take part in operations in Idlib. But never mind, as long as it is stated that it happened, it DID happen in accordance to NATO's combat doctrine which is rigged towards media and brainwashing, not fighting the actual war against competent adversary. The butt-hurt in Turkey is understandable, but it wouldn't be completed without this S-400 soap opera.

ANKARA (Reuters) - The United States has offered to sell Turkey its Patriot missile defense system if Ankara promises not to operate a rival Russian system, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, in what he called a significant softening in Washington's position. Two Turkish officials told Reuters that Turkey was evaluating the U.S. offer but that Ankara had not changed its plans for the Russian S-400 systems, which it has said it will start to activate next month. In Washington, the Pentagon said that U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper had not changed his position on the issue, which was: "Turkey is not going to receive a Patriot battery unless it returns the S-400."

Erdogan was in Brussels to "report" on Turkey's great victory in Idlib. Meanwhile lunatic "Ambassador" Jeffrey was thinking on:

Jeffrey also said they had considered possible responses should Russia and the Syrian government break a ceasefire in Idlib, officials said. He suggested other NATO states could individually or as an alliance provide military support to help Turkey. But he ruled out sending ground troops and said there still needed to be a resolution to the S-400 issue for the security relationship to move forward. "You can forget ground troops. Turkey has demonstrated that it and its opposition forces are more than capable of holding ground on their own," Jeffrey said. "The issue is the situation in the air and it's what we are looking at," he said. Washington did not believe that Russia and Syrian had any interest in a permanent ceasefire in Idlib, he said. "They are out to get a military victory in Syria and our goal is to make it difficult for them to do that," Jeffrey said. "Our goal is...to make them think twice. If they ignore our warnings and preparations and move forward, then we will react as rapidly as possible in consultation with our NATO and European allies on what the package of sanctions and other reactions will be."

Jeffrey is delusional and is very butt-hurt, possibly because of his utter professional and human inadequacy, which is expected from a man with background in management and a member of "National Security" team of W (we all know how "well" that played out) and a burden of "victory" in Vietnam War with which utter irrational hatred of Russians comes naturally and, in fact, is a requirement;  enough to recall another American Vietnam War "hero", late John McCain. Obviously Jeffrey's deal with Syria is not to fight terrorism but to support Al Qaeda (and its many iterations) operations there. In general--anything to not allow Syria (and Russia) to defeat Islamic terrorism there. He even speaks openly about it. Jeffery, an infantry officer in Vietnam, then some CIA "spook", in addition to his "diplomatic" background, is a 74 year old and, obviously, cranky man who does not understand modern warfare and, as is expected from US "experts" in Russia, has no knowledge of real Russia. Nor, obviously, he knows his own country, the United States that is, since he still thinks that the United States is this unstoppable military juggernaut which....lost most of its wars. That is why this senior citizen is so eager to start the war with Russia. There are many like him in all kinds of D.C. institutions. 

Highlighted in yellow is a very good indicator of a depth of a delusion this whole cabal of US "strategists" resides in: sanctions are good for Russia. But as was demonstrated in the last 72 hours, Russia can also "sanction" back and that shakes the bejesus out of not only the US, but global economy. But here is the larger issue: how many still rational and competent people are left out there in the US governing institutions? How many of them have real strategic awareness and I am not talking about Mnuchin suddenly having an urge to talk to Russians on "investments" and "sanctions".  Mnuchin is a bankster who understands only debit and credit, black and red, and when he sees red he (and his ilk) react, in pain. I am talking about people who have any strategic vision based on reality. Whole American geopolitical thought in the last 30 years is a permanent record of one failure after another. US "diplomacy" is a laughing stock of the world, US military, ask Iran. Economically? You all know what is going on. How this all could have gone so wrong, so fast? I have a metaphysical answer for that--exceeding established limit on a number of ass-holes populating governing institutions.  It all comes down, in the end, to how many decent, honorable, honest that is, people are still out there and I'd say not many. In final analysis these are always human choices we make, which count most towards the final outcome. Or, as beloved by me Barnett stated: 

… swift decline in British vigor at home and the failure to exploit the empire were not owing to some inevitable senescent process of history....That cause was a political doctrine.... The doctrine was liberalism, which criticized and finally demolished the traditional conception of the nation-state as a collective organism, a community, and asserted instead the primacy of individual. According to liberal thinking a nation was no more than so many human atoms who happened to live under the same set of laws.... It was Adam Smith who formulated the doctrine of Free Trade, the keystone of liberalism, which was to exercise a long-live and baneful effect on British power.... Adam Smith attacked the traditional “mercantilist” belief that a nation should be generally self-supporting. 

We all will pay one way or another for an expected and predicted and ongoing as I type it collapse of liberalism, it is just that one cannot escape a desire to see some of the most ardent enablers of liberalism, who have their hands soaked in blood, be seen behind bars or in a front of a firing squad. Some of them know today that this is not anymore beyond the realm of possible and will try to light the world on fire, thinking that under the cover of ensuing chaos they can make an escape. But I know for sure now that there are those who keep the score. Just listen about "We can repeat":

How "Isolated" One Should Be To...

... produce something of the scale of Russia-Africa (as in whole continent, almost) Summit. Yes, just like that.

SOCHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia landed two nuclear-capable bombers in South Africa on a training mission on Wednesday, a flight apparently timed to coincide with President Vladimir Putin's opening of a flagship Russia-Africa summit designed to increase Russian influence. The two Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers touched down at Waterkloof air force base in Tshwane on Wednesday, the South African National Defence Force said. Russia's Ministry of Defence has said the mission is designed to nurture military ties with South Africa. Speaking before dozens of African heads of state at a two-day summit in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Putin called for trade with African countries to double over the next four to five years and said Moscow had written off African debts to the tune of over $20 billion.

Sochi is a spectacular city (with spectacular real estate prices),

but to get "dozens of African heads of state" at once into what increasingly becomes second state capital of Russia (with St.Petersburg being second one culturally) after Moscow--that is some statement. Obviously Russia is trying to get her influence in Africa "back" to where it was during Soviet times but not quite. USSR did many things in Africa which today wouldn't make much economic sense. This time is different--no support for revolutionary, pseudo-socialist, movements and political parties: nothing personal, just business. Business and capital, money and main capital funds that is, love stability and hate volatility. Russia also loves stability, and so do African countries and interests. Russia's main export product today is stability, which comes in many forms. Such as this, among many:

The rest follows, especially energy in forms ranging from hydroelectric to extremely sophisticated nuclear one, and to field exploration, and then machinery, and then chemical and then... did I mention weapons? Rosoboronexport African portfolio today is $15 billion, but that is just for the start. China, of course, is already well-positioned in Africa, but Russia has a lot to offer to African Continent which will require a very serious industrialization in order to lift itself from poverty. 

But the proof is in the pudding, as they say, out of 55 countries of African Union, 43 (forty three) are represented by heads of state, and 11 sent in government ministers or ambassadors. Isn't Russia's isolation wonderful? Well, not in Western media make-believe universe, in which Russia is "isolated" (from the West), but that is all echoes of merciless Kubler-Ross Model, which is known to lay people as an acute butt-hurt by Western, mostly stupid and badly educated, elites and media class. As recent events in Syria showed with Russian-Turkish driven plan giving everyone who needed it  a chance at saving face while developing an actually workable arrangement. What's next? Who knows, I, as I already stated not for once, expect continuation of the "revelation mode" in terms of global security--it is now official that new versions of 3M14 will have a range of 4, 500 kilometers, make your own conclusion of how far Russian cruise missiles can actually fly--and in terms of Russia's economic development, I mean actual economic growth, as in producing more and better, not cooking books. I learned one funny thing, though, about GDP--evidently effective public transportation drags GDP down because fewer cars are produced and bought. Hm. Hypersonic anti-shipping missiles with ranges of 1000 kilometers, then, make one's navy less powerful because they impede production of aircraft carriers. In general, let's face it--modern economic "science" is mostly a trash. Live and learn.  

First Order Of Business.

First. 

Putin, yesterday, while speaking to Valdai conference, explained what is correct nationalism in his view. You can read it (in Russian) here. But one phrase stood out and not for a good reason. Responding to one of the journalists Putin stated:

Это наша культура, наша история. Сохранение народа, о котором вы сказали, вспомнив Солженицына, – это не только физическое сохранение, хотя, наверное, прежде всего и это имел в виду Солженицын, но и нашу идентичность как народа, иначе мы будем размыты, перестанем существовать.

Translation: 

This is our culture, our history. Preservation of people (nation) about which you spoke mentioning Solzhenitsyn--this is not just physical preservation, albeit Solzhenitsyn most likely meant just that, but also preservation of our identity as a nation, otherwise we will dissolve and cease to exist. 

I generally agree with Putin's definition of real Russian nationalism, but here is some info for a dumbass who mentioned Solzhenitsyn in the question to Putin--Solzhenitsyn has nothing, zero to do with the concept of preservation of Russian people. To his credit, however, in one of his faux-historic fantasies about Russia he does refer to some, other than him, Russian historic personality offering just that--preservation of people. Solzhenitsyn stole many things, such as massive parts of his GULAG Archipelago being a direct steal from Varlam Shalamov's diaries, which Shalamov categorically forbade to be exposed to Solzhenitsyn--he knew already then what "Genius of the First Spit" would do. But the truth is, before a humanistic and noble idea of preservation of Russian people was, as always wrongly, attributed to Solzhenitsyn, just couple hundred years before him a true Russian genius Mikhailo Vasilievich Lomonosov wrote his famous treatise On Preservation and Procreation Of Russian People.

So, can we stop finally crediting a shallow mediocrity and plagiarizer as a writer and an ambitious falsifier of Russian history Solzhenitsyn with things which were simply beyond the grasp of his feeble mind? If the trend continues, who knows, somebody will credit him, in the end, with invention of the wheel and writing War and Peace.  

Second. 

Have you heard of Israeli attacks on Syria lately? Neither have I. Here is a bombshell explanation: Russia delivered three battalions (diviZions) of the S-300PM2 of full Russian version, with all netcentricity and modern signal processing. Take a seat not to fall to the floor--these are mid-2010 AD complexes with reliable range of intercept (shoot down) of targets of 250 kilometers. Any comments needed? Welcome to the no-fly zone over Syria (and, eventually, Lebanon), courtesy of the latest (hot, hot, hot) versions of S-300 which are vastly superior to what Iran received from Russia. For reference point: One diviZion (battalion) is somewhere between 8 and 12 launchers. If to take minimum of 8, then we have 8 x 4 =32 missiles per battalion. 32 x 3 = 96 missiles altogether. Per 12 launchers battalion size it grows to 144 missiles for 3 battalions.

Russia Loses Recce IL-20 In Syria...

Launches of the missiles from French Frigate Auvergne (FREMM-class) are detected while four IAF F-16 attacked Syria. These are red line news in Russia now (in Russian) and French better pray that it is just a coincidence. It is a fog of war now but if Auvergne launched her Asters we may be facing some major escalation. For now it is not clear what kind of missiles (TLAM--Scalp, or AD--Aster) were launched from French frigate. I'll keep updating the more info pours in. 

UPDATE: Israel refused to comment on IL-20s and its 14 crew members' disappearance. 

NOT UPDATE:  Just a thought--at this stage there is still NO info on WHICH kind of missiles Auvergne launched. If those were Asters, it becomes pretty much clear what is going on. It has been now more than two hours and still no clarity on this crucial issue. 

GOT TO GO NOW:  Got to go, so "in-progress" thought. If Israel is culprit--No Fly Zone. If, however, France is involved--that could be tricky but, depending on what Auvergne's maneuvers are right now (such as exiting launch zone full steam, as an example) and if her Asters were involved in shooting down IL-20, let's put it this way--Elysee Palace better find some really damn convincing explanations and actions to follow to make Putin's decision not to sink French naval assets more or less bearable. I am sure Russian military knows exactly what distance French frigate was from IL-20's loss of contact and what the ranges of Aster missiles are. It is not that difficult to figure it out and I am sure Putin by now has a good grasp of what has happened. 

INTERMITTENT SUMMARY:  So it is clear mow that IAF used the oldest trick in the book by shielding her aircraft by IL-20 which was descending for landing--so very Israeli--and then, of course, lied that it warned Russian side. Yes...one minute prior. I will return to Israel later, for now it is known that Bibi wants to speak with Putin and that Israel is engaged with Russia across a whole spectrum of diplomatic, military, what have you, activity trying to prevent what might be coming. 

Having said all that. The part of the blame rests with Syrian AD and specifically with those operators who launched S-200. There is very little doubt that IL-20s IFF (Interrogation Friend-Foe) system was on and that would have necessitate a much more stringent ROE. It didn't work. So, Russian AD specialists may want to introduce additional rules (or caveats) for the whole complex in Syria. After this event it will be easier to control Syrian part. Russian side also bears responsibility. Now back to Israel. 

The most important part in all that is that unlike previous statements from General Rudskoi, Defense Minister Shoigu's statement today carries much more weight and Shoigu directly made Israel responsible for the situation. So, what's in store now? For starters, I think, a lot depends on what Bibi will be willing to give Russia. If not much, the game changes and, indeed, all kinds of scenarios, from No-fly Zone to Syria getting S-300, or simply additional Russian-operated S-300 and S-400 appearing in Syria, to who knows what else. Israel is not in a very good situation right now and the only thing they may do is to place the blame on someone else (i.e. Syria). It is a sad day for Russia and, of course, I can only imagine what kind of agony relatives of IL-20 crew are going through right now but highly sensitive personal aspect of this unnecessary tragedy should not obscure a very obvious fact of Israel's treachery (what's new?) and the price it will pay one way or another. What price is it going to be? We'll see in time.

UPDATE: Putin's quote:

Russia will investigate the incident, Putin said, adding that Moscow will boost security of Russian troops in Syria following the incident. He said that these will be “the steps that everyone will notice.”

UPDATE: Some very important info. Really important which clarifies a lot (in Russian):

Syrian AD didn't have IFF codes, which Russia (understandably) didn't want to provide. So, that means the integration with SAA's AD is done by simpler protocols. 

Timber Sycamore No More.

Scott Ritter published today an outstanding piece in The American Conservative about CIA's dirty dealings with ME "clients" and their jihadist offsprings. Ritter's piece is an excellent illustration to the level of insanity (Operation Timber Sycamore) which afflicts majority of American political class and it fits extremely well (not to mention partially explains) Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement today. Lavrov, who served as the Russian envoy to the UN for 10 years, confessed he “could never imagine that US politicians may be exposed to this kind of mass hysteria.”

Well, neither could I, but here we are. But Lavrov's comments went much much further than merely describing the insanity. He openly accused outgoing Obama Administration of sabotaging Russian-American relations.

“We inherited a bulk of problems, ‘time bombs’ and simply undermining decisions from the Obama administration,” Lavrov said. He added that those decisions had been made “in the period of agony when the outgoing administration …chose to do nasty things to undermine US-Russia relations in the first place.”

American political class degenerated to a collection of egocentric, spiteful, narcissist  and incompetent hacks long ago but it was on Obama's watch when the very fabric of American society began to be literally shredded to pieces--from destroying already fragile interracial relations, to closing eyes on real danger from jihadism, to supporting Islamic militants to deliberately wrecking US-Russian relations. Obama and his circle, of which HRC was a direct political and ideological globalist off-spring, were stunned by real America's vote in 2016 Presidential Elections and as spineless and spiteful self-centered children (most of them are about this level of maturity) they took their revenge by further wrecking what's little was left of US foreign policy. In this respect, Obama was an ultra-liberal reincarnation of W. Moreover, he went even further. 

Looking today at a pathetic exhibit which US political class has become, one has to appreciate the fact that President Trump, for all his massive and easily-visible flaws, increasingly looks more and more as an American statesman whose feet are simply stuck in stinky, sticky rotten swamp of corrupt (and treasonous) American political establishment. This very swamp which can not produce anymore any real statesman, not speaking of simply decent human. US politics urgently needs adults--without them this nation is doomed.       

Glaziev And Colonel Wilkerson About The Same.

Famous Russian economist and one of the advisers to President Putin Sergei Glaziev gave today a large interview to a famous Russian portal Vzglyad . 

Russia For The United States Is Another Link In The Chain Of Chaos.  

While interview is in Russian, capabilities of Google Translate will be enough to give a good grasp of what Glaziev is saying.  I will limit myself only to one of his several theses:

  

Объективно Америка Китаю проигрывает конкуренцию. Я бы сказал, что экономическая схватка за лидерство уже состоялась. Китай уже победил в смысле формирования нового глобального центра экономического развития. Вместе с Индией, Индокитаем и, возможно, с Японией, которая тоже к этому ядру примкнет, новый центр уже сформирован.

Американцы проиграли войну экономическую, но не хотят смириться с тем, что мир изменился, их модель либеральной глобализации исчерпала себя. Мир заинтересован в модели сотрудничества с безусловным доминированием международного права и взаимных обязательств.

Translation: Objectively, America is losing competition to China. I would say that economic clash for leadership has happened already. China won in a sense of formation of a new global center of economic development. Together with India, Indochina and, possibly, Japan which will join this new core, the new center is already formed. Americans lost economic war but do not want to come to terms with the fact that the world has changed, American model of liberal globalization completely exhausted itself. The world is interested in the cooperation model with unconditional domination of the international law and mutual obligations.   

Glaziev is unequivocal in stating that missile attack on Syria was a message to Russia. I do agree with Glaziev. Now comes this very interesting interview of Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson on April 7th:

   

In which he makes a number of very interesting and well-informed statements, among which his statement (starting at 13:50) about the danger of McMaster and Mattis and his desire for "going out more slowly than precipitously" echo very much what Glaziev says. In the end, Wilkerson, being a smart and principled, and well-connected, man understands the trend very well. United  States is fading and here is a conundrum:

1. If United States fades "slowly" and in an organized fashion she will not lose the status of superpower and will remain an extremely influential actor of the real (not neocon contrived) new world order, just one among other superpowers;

2. Precipitous, as Colonel Wilkerson characterizes it, that is "power" scenario of "fading" may result:

a) In the worst case scenario: US unleashing a thermonuclear           war with all horrendous consequences globally and for the US herself.    

b) Conventional conflict, which, as Publius Tacitus observes at Colonel Lang's famous blog:

If Russia decides to call our bluff and escalate things Trump will likely preside over a public humiliation that will explode America's military delusions of grandeur.

The good news here, however, is the fact that Russia's MO is unchanged--Russia will always try to avoid war, that is until the war becomes inevitable. Russia will call bluff only when it warrants it. This position is also a position of strength but also of vulnerability, since the good ol' boys (and girls) from D.C. are not bound, as latest events show, by knowledge, understanding of the warfare, in the end, by simple human decency. I do not want to speculate now on the mindset of people such as McMaster or Mattis (I can, and fact is, I can back some of my conclusions with facts) but it is becoming exceedingly clear that Washington's obsession with power expressed through military means is a constant sublimation of internal weakness. This is apart from US being de facto an Israel's army.

I am intent on buying McMaster's "Dereliction Of Duty" just to get a "feel" of his mind (I am long past the point when Vietnam War interests me) but based on the totality of facts of the last several months it is absolutely clear that US does think that she can clear Russia away, including  from the path towards some form of confrontation with China. If McMaster, who seems now emerging as a big wig in terms of decisions on applications of  military power, thinks that he is ready to face a world drastically different from what he ever encountered, I think he will have to get ready at  some point of time write "Dereliction Of Duty-II"--a favorite "stab in the back" military cliche'. Meanwhile, Russia apparently continues on clearing jihadists from Syria and the last I heard "stick and carrots" doctrine of foreign policy so loved in D.C. is not only obsolete, it is dead. As for Trump himself, well, no better description is possible than in Greg Johnson's superb piece at Unz Review, to which yours truly was invited to contribute by Ron Unz.       

Well, It Is Official.

Syria has been attacked by US.

Two points immediately:

1. I see no reason for Rex Tillerson to go to Moscow, there is nothing to talk about there--US is not a treaty-worthy party, in fact US is run by (neocon) mafia and less and less resembles a normal state; 

2.  Litmus test for Putin, we'll see what he is made of. Recall what I stated when Murahovsky described the situation in September of 2016.

It is too early to make any conclusions but Trump is done as a populist US President, he is now officially at Israel's service. 

Facepalm Of The Year.

No, it is not about a complete disgrace of Russia's "hacking" of US elections story, which firmly identified CIA and US "intelligence" in general as political organizations which are in business of promoting preposterous agendas, not an intelligence outfits. There is very little of intelligence, in direct and figurative senses, left there. The facepalm of the year (let's attribute it to 2016) goes to Pentagon's chief Ash Carter. In his "confession" to Wall Street Journal he stated that: Russia has done nothing to help defeat Islamic State forces in Syria and has adopted a strategy of “explicitly thwarting the U.S.”

OK, I get it, the Beltway is a sore loser which lives in parallel universe and has loyalty only to its, often explicitly anti-American, interests, but the issue is simple: if you do not respect us all, which is fine, at least respect yourself. You have to live the rest of your life knowing (???) that most of what you say is a complete pile of steaming shit, which has been debunked time after time by the overwhelming empirical evidence. Or maybe, maybe I am too naive to assume that there is still a modicum of integrity and human decency left in Obama's Administration? Yes, I think so--I am being naive. What a stupid thought to even assume so. In the end, Administration which thinks about mountain resorts in Rostov-On-Don region is as viable as Zimbabwe's space program. Nothing personal against Zimbabwe.

Why? Oh, Why?

EU drops sanctions threat against Russia over Syria. Indeed, why? The answer is extremely simple, so, no use to read and listen to Euro-morons' justification of such a decision--in Syria Russia fights Islamic terrorism in all of its manifestations, from ISIS to Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups. Does any one want to impose sanctions on the only major power, which, together with Syrian Army, fights terrorism, thus exposing oneself as a supporter of terrorists? Even real supporters of terrorists such as France, who is culpable in creating a mayhem in the Middle East, and its pathetic President have enough brains not to do so. 

Reality of all those Western sanctions on Russia has been discussed in this blog on numerous occasions and it is safe to say that those sanctions really helped Russia to launch her re-industrialization program, granted that it still progresses not with the pace I, as one of Russia observers, would like to see. But still, it is ongoing. Truth is, Many European businesses hate anti-Russian sanctions and some are trying to find the way to bypass them, but, in general, these sanctions, together with widely spread anti-Russian (Russian "threat" et al) sentiment of Europeans is a reality on the ground in Europe and let Europeans deal with those. I see no tragedy, in fact, the opposite is true, in Russian manufacturers substituting European imports. Nor European public opinion matters as far as the historic geopolitical shift, which is occurring this very minute as I write it, goes. As I said, current "Europe" as a Europe is done. The facade is still there (in some places) but behind it--no life and no European culture is left. I thought it would have been very appropriate for Europe to slap another round of sanctions on Russia because of Syria--that would have been very entertaining. As General Gromov and Dmitry Rogozin summarized it in their "Russian Advice On Afghanistan" NYT article 6 years ago:

"In fact, we were the first to defend Western civilization against the attacks of Muslim fanatics. No one thanked us. On the contrary, everyone was impeding our actions: The United States, NATO, Iran, Pakistan, even China."

Europe can enjoy now the fruits of her policies. As per US, as of now, as I said many times before, it is a separate story. But as Russian proverb goes: Nasilno Mil Ne Budesh' (You can not make someone to like you), Europe chose her destinies herself. 

Sasha Prokhorenko, You Are The Hero

The name of the Russian Spetsnaz officer who heroically died near Palmyra, by drawing the friendly fire is now known. It is 25-years old young graduate of Air Defense Academy, officer (most likely of junior rank) Aleksandr Prokhorenko. He is from near the city of Orenburg. He leaves behind a pregnant wife. His child must know what his (or her) father did. He will remain in the hearts and memory of all decent people. He is immortal now. 

          

Link in Russian.

   Aleksandr Prokhorenko

Link to Daily Mail

  

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