Is There Any Chance...

 ... that the cast of The View competes in female boxing? I don't mention Rachel Maddow who should compete in paralympics as mentally retarded. So, eh, no chance. 

A women’s boxing match at the Paris Olympics has triggered international condemnation and questions about the fairness of letting a “biological male” compete in the ring. Italy’s Angela Carini faced off against Algeria’s Imani Khelif on Thursday, in the welterweight (66kg) category, but lasted just 45 seconds. After taking two big punches to the face, Carini threw down her helmet and forfeited the bout, crying “this is unjust!” Carini yanked her hand away as the referee declared Khelif the winner, then dropped to her knees and burst into tears. “I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it was impossible to continue,” she said after the match. Carini has faced an outpouring of solidarity from critics of transgenderism around the world, who denounced Khelif as a biological man and protested the bout as unfair. 

This is the triumph of post-modernism. As I stated not for once--remove all limitations on doping, proclaim transgenderism a virtue in sports and let the third wave feminists and their cuckold admirers with male genitalia enjoy the spectacle. Let the fires rise high and illuminate the remnants of the Western Civilization being consumed by insanity and perversion. For those who didn't get the news--Olympic Movement is dead, as are or nearing death most of the so called Western "institutions" ranging from financial to military. Hey, Vietnam was America's military triumph, after the "finest fighting force in history" almost single-handedly disposed of Nazism,  $35 trillion national debt is not biggy, America's economy is largest in the world and grows, Ukraine is about to enter Moscow, war is peace et al. In such a world it is normal to assume 2 x 2 = 5 or 6, God forbid you to insist on a correct answer--this so racist. Morality, ethics are all relative, so is sex. 

If there wouldn't have been Paris Olympics 2024, they should have been invented. 

Check the term mankurt--modern Europe is a civilization of mankurts. The US? It is nearing it. They do not even understand that they are mankurts because they are mankurts. Dunning-Kruger in action. Let it burn...

Very Pleasant, Very...

... to have what I say non-stop to be confirmed by Vladimir Vladimirovich. Last time I said it was three days ago in my video.   

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that Russia is an “independent” civilization that does not consider itself an enemy of the West. Instead, he sees the “aggressive” and “neo-colonial” liberal elite in charge of the West as a foe. “In the current conditions of a tough conflict, I will say some things directly,” Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. “Russia, being an independent, original civilization, has never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West.” Hatred for American, British, French or German people “are the same form of racism as Russophobia and anti-Semitism,” he added. Putin went on to describe the West as two entities. On one hand, the traditional, primarily Christian West “is close to us in some ways,” he said, noting that “we have in many respects common and ancient roots.”

One of the practical reasons why me and my family can and do live in the US is precisely because of the commonality of the roots. Also, in many respects--commonality of the values' system, which currently is being demolished. E.g. I do respect and even admire in many senses the cultures of China and India, but I couldn't live there--because culturally we are different. Not better or worse, just different. And Putin is absolutely correct, Russia is not West's enemy but Western elites, certainly, are enemies of Russia and Russian people. That is what this whole ordeal is about. And I mean culture not only in a material sense; although the Starbucks and McDonald's left Russia, Russians everywhere continue to drink lattes and eat cheeseburgers. Among many other things which are distinctly Western, not least of them being Russian heavy-metal, punks or what have you. For better or worse--it is Western culture but with now traditional Russian twist. Russians continue to read Shakespeare.

Enough to take a look at Foreign Literature section of the Literature Course for Russian public schools to recognize this (in Russian). You can easily find Moliere, Shakespeare, Hugo, Cervantes, Bradbury, Jules Verne, Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain among many others. It is all there, it always was and unlike it is the case in the West, especially Europe, Russia never cancelled Western culture. So, here we are today and this discussion is no less important than discussion on the strategic and operational issues of SMO. Especially since Putin himself today confirmed that losses ratios in SMO are reaching 1 to 7 or 1 to 8 in favor of Russian forces (in Russian). Sadly, 23 Chechen guys got killed today under the artillery barrage, Ramzan stated it today (in Russian). The revenge was dispatched immediately. R.I.P., guys. 

In related news, lapdogs start barking, sort of. Politico even called it: 

Scholz and Macron threaten trade retaliation against Biden. France and Germany want to negotiate with Washington about unfair competition — but they are ready to hit back if necessary.

Good luck trying this, because there are so many terrorists in France and Germany that they may strike, suddenly and unexpectedly, wink, wink;) Nevertheless, Politco concludes:

But even though their lunch came against an awkward backdrop, both leaders agreed that the EU cannot remain idle if Washington pushes ahead with its Inflation Reduction Act, which offers tax cuts and energy benefits for companies investing on U.S. soil, in its current form. Specifically, the recently signed U.S. legislation encourages consumers to “Buy American” when it comes to choosing an electric vehicle — a move particularly galling for major car industries in the likes of France and Germany.

The message from the Paris lunch is: If the U.S. doesn't scale back, then the EU will have to strike back. Similar incentive schemes for companies will be needed to avoid unfair competition or losing investments. That move would risk plunging transatlantic relations into a new trade war.

I am getting myself pop-corn...

James Kunstler Notes...

... astutely, that:

Well, for one thing, we appear to be in a close race between Klaus’s controlled demolition of the global economy and the US midterm elections this November, and perhaps the gang perceives that won’t go so well for them. Their key project in the 2022 offensive, the War in Ukraine, isn’t working out, either. The idea, it seems, was to bog down and humiliate the Russians so as to bring on the defenestration of Mr. Putin, who, believe it or not and despite the tsunamis of aspersion loosed on him by WEF-funded propagandists, is strangely and actually a defender of Western Civ. Yeah, I know, a stunner, right? (God works in mysterious ways — but the Davos Gangsters don’t believe in him / her / they.)

I have been on record for years that the best what Western Civilization gave to the world survives today in Russia. For all (justified) distancing of modern Russia from contemporary West, it is Russia who is genuinely Western in civilizational sense than modern day Europe or the United States. Especially when one gets to the definition of Western Civilization, such as given by late Roger Scruton, who, incidentally, was a Russophobe.                           

"The roots of Western civilization lie in the religion of Israel, the culture of Greece, and the law of Rome, and the resulting synthesis has flourished and decayed in a thousand ways during the two millennia which followed the death of Christ"

What passes today for modern "West" is hardly Western in any meaningful sense and loses last connections to what Western mind and ethos were in the last 500 years, which gave us not only wars and suffering--characteristic of ANY civilization--but greatest achievements of science, art, industry and human spirit. Most of it is gone today in the combined West. Which is post-Christian not in a sense of the dwindling number of people attending church services on Sunday but in losing Christian ethics substituting it with terrifying menagerie of human anomalies in moral and physiological sense. This becomes evident to many people nowadays, and while Russia is not without her own blemishes of national character and life, what she represents today for many people around the world, is what the combined West was supposed to become but never did.                            

It Was A Hard Year. Let's Relax, Somewhat.

Yet, I still can sense a rebel, in a good sense, spirit and some seeds of possible revival. No, not of the "Western Civilization" as they try to sell to us today--it has no relation to anything "Western"--but of humanity in general, granted that it is not easy to remain human nowadays. "Western Civilization" as it really is, is not what passes today for it. The Western Civilization which I love is not what it is today--there is nothing "Western" in it--but there was a time when a free spirit was almost free and not in a sense of "third wave feminism" finding "empowerment" in baring itself and behaving like sluts, or men becoming metrosexuals, but in a sense of freedom of thought which still had a very clear understanding between right and wrong, between tasteful and despicable, between beautiful and ugly. For some reason, on the eve of fvcking 2020 (and decade) departing I want to recall some really good, in aesthetic sense, things I personally consider to be those still glowing cinders of human free artistic spirit and goodness. You know that I am a rocker, so, you may as well enjoy (or otherwise) some things I enjoy, from the time it was good to be...well... free. Yes, it was that stunning and I was there, on ELO's 2019 American Tour, Hallelujah;)))

But, of course, they still delivered something special at Wembley in the country which, pretty much, doesn't exist anymore. But humanity still does.

In general, modern technology allows to deliver some truly stunning performances which have a profound impact. Russians, certainly, got the idea of live concert which provides an amazing delivery for a true talent. 

So, if anyone says it is "too commercial", well, too bad--the best music, actually, came through "commercial" performances which have been done by real professionals. So, let's enjoy something which is not flimsy but solid and enjoyable in this passing decade in terms of music. Here is Aria delivering a stunner in the same venue as Polina Gagarina in the clip above. 

Musically and performance-wise it rivals anything Iron Maiden or Judas Priest ever did, but that is the sign of times--it is all out there and anyone can enjoy it. Think about it--we couldn't even dream about access to such a treasure 20 years ago. We have it now, and not to music alone. Russians meanwhile do real power metal. 

So, enjoy the passing of this shitty year. We will not miss it.

June 22.

It is the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia today. It was on that day in 1941 that unified forces of Europe, led by Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Union. There is no necessity to remind what price USSR paid for ridding the world off Nazism. The debate still rages on on why Eastern Front became such a military and humanitarian horror in which two sides fought each-other with ferocity never recorded in history and why Nazis and their allies committed atrocities on an industrial scale. Russians and other Slavs were to be largely eliminated and those left alive were to be kept illiterate and serve as slaves to Third Reich. 

Remarkably Patric Armstrong posted today a very interesting piece on Europe and Russia. It is certainly worth reading and contemplating. 

I have been considering writing this essay for some years but have put off doing so because I know that for many readers “Europe” means “best” and to say Russia is not European is to say that it’s not good enough. But at last President Putin has given me the opening: “Россия – это не просто страна, это действительно отдельная цивилизация“. “Russia, it’s not simply a country it is certainly a separate civilisation”. And who would dare disagree with him?

I believe I already mentioned it before that it was EU Commissioner Barroso who coined the phrase (later rephrased by John McCain) that Russia is a civilization masquerading as a nation. Title of Patrick's article is telling--Russia is not European. I agree to a certain extent, but I think that the most important issue today is not that Russia is not European, but the fact that majority of Russians do not WANT to be European. I spoke on numerous occasions about what I never thought I would witness in my life time:

Thus, while sharing some important culturaltraits, including in relation to some critical behavioral matrices—and Russians in outlook are very Western—a fundamental, philosophical difference between Russia and West remains and will remain so, because Western project in general reached its natural limits with liberalism, which is in the foundation of modern West, being absolutely inapplicable to Russian historic, geographic and cultural realities. Russians, certainly, absorbed and adapted from the West what they liked, yes, including modernization which had much in common with the West, not least through Marxism—a strictly Western invention. And it seemed, ata time that historic Russia was simply West’s prodigal son (or daughter)—this was a wrong impression. The wind from the West blows and Russia goes as a separate civilization which increasingly is self-aware of own significance 

Overwhelming majority of Russians' condescending view of the West and now bewilderment with a cultural (and economic) suicide of the United States is a sign of not only West's obvious accelerating decline, if not to say implosion, but of Russians largely arriving to consensus in their self-perception and for Russians it is much superior in its outlook than that of the combined West. As Patrick posits:

Not inferior, not “Asiatic”, not uncivilised, not uncultured; different. A “civilisation state”. As is China.

One, looking today at the American and European cities turning into the Mogadishos can see clearly that modern West, that is to say combined Europe, cannot interest Russia at large other than market. The experiment with liberalism in Russia is over and it is combined West which will need to face and, maybe, I do not hold my breath, exorcise its demons. There are very many of those. 

In related news, my friend sent me this today, as he called it "America's premier university turning into Titanic". Here is new "diversity" officer for Harvard.

In her leadership roles at UW-Madison, Charleston has been responsible for assessing and evaluating progress toward the goals of a campus-wide strategic diversity plan. She also oversaw its Office of Affirmative Action Programming and Planning, Office of Employee Disability Resources, and several undergraduate scholarship programs aimed at recruiting and retaining students who are historically underrepresented there.

I am sure her "degree" in 'history" will help her to finish off Harvard as a reputable school. Read the whole thing--it is surreal and it is... so new normal.  

You see, Russians have had enough with the West and today's date is a good day for recollection of what West's real views on Russia and Russians are. That is why Russians develop state-of-the-art weapons and develop real economy as if there is no tomorrow. Or as they say--better safe than sorry. 

UPDATE: meanwhile in the nation of AmSoc and Air Strip-2 implosion continues:

NEW YORK (AP) — The American Museum of Natural History will remove a prominent statue of Theodore Roosevelt from its entrance after years of objections that it symbolizes colonial expansion and racial discrimination, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. The bronze statue that has stood at the museum's Central Park West entrance since 1940 depicts Roosevelt on horseback with a Native American man and an African man standing next to the horse. “The American Museum of Natural History has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior," de Blasio said in a written statement. "The City supports the Museum’s request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue.”

I do not particularly care about Teddy Roosevelt, but sure--how about Washington Monument and Statue of Liberty? 

Mathematical View.

An extremely interesting comment of professional Swiss (I believe) mathematician Paul Schmutz Schaller on my two books at Saker's blog. Paul starts with this intro: 

In some sense, this article is a comment on some aspects of Andrei Martyanov’s two books „Losing Military Supremacy: the Myopia of American Strategic Planning“ (2018) and „The (Real) Revolution in Military Affairs“ (2019). I am not aiming at discussing these excellent books...My interest here is the content of these books which is related to mathematics. In this regard, here is a try to condense some of Martyanov’s writing into simple theses:

1) The power of a nation very much depends on its military strength.

2) Military strength is a complex thing, depending on the strength of the whole society: its economy, its culture, its scientific level, its historical experiences.

3) Mathematics are crucial for the military strength, not only for the production of sophisticated weapons and military technology, but also for strategic planning and for warfare.

4) Western societies in general and the USA in particular suffer from a lack of education in mathematics and this is an important reason for their decline.

5) Without understanding mathematics in relation to military, one cannot understand military strength, nor geopolitical developments.

I agree with Paul's distillation, so to speak, of what I am writing about.  But Paul disagrees with me on the 5th point and, I agree, it is at least a debatable one--in a sense of being worthy of a separate discussion. But it is what Paul writes after this which is of a particular and great interest. He makes some extremely important observations, while giving a short retrospective of mathematics development throughout human history: 

Mathematics in the West are declining. This is may-be not yet visible when regarding some top Western universities; they still are quite attractive for mathematicians from other countries due to their prestige and their money. The decline concerns above all the Western societies as a whole. They have become quite hostile towards mathematics. Increasingly, mathematics are just seen as a necessary evil. Typically, in the film „Salt“ (USA, 2010), starring Angelina Jolie, the latter says: „I hate math.“ Could you imagine this in a Chinese, Iranian, Indian, or Russian film?

And Paul observes shift of mathematics to Asia. I agree--this, indeed, is taking place. Very little doubt that mathematics made the West, with Western society exploding with mathematics genius in the last few centuries, with the West, later, changing the whole world, but today balance changes. Oswald Spengler's famous The Decline of The West  takes a very close look at the mathematical thinking of civilizations and, in the words of one academic observer, defines Spengler's claim in the next words:

that similarities may be discerned in the style of mathematics, art and music developed by a particular High Culture – looking first at his discussions of the Ancient Greeks and how their thought-processes differed from that of Western Europeans,as well as from the Persians and Arabs. An attempt is then made to extend Spengler's theory to the Ancient Egyptians (referring to their Rhind Papyrus)and to the Sino-Japanese (by appealing to their 'Sangaku' mathematical art-forms). Finally, it is suggested that we may already be able to identify certain distinctive features and characteristics of the recently born Russian Culture.

Speaking of Russia. Already in Spengler's times (and that is almost a century ago), some feature of Russian high culture started to emerge, as David L. McNaughton continues, and I quote him in full:

Spengler (1922, pp. 192-196, and 1934) believes that a new High Culture has recently crystallized in Russia. He even attempted to discern and analyse the nature and character of its 'soul'. For example, he maintained that the Russian death-impulse "is an expressing and expanding of self (Sichentäussern) till 'it' in the man becomes identical with the boundless plain itself... That 'All are responsible for all' ... is the metaphysical fundament of all Dostoyevski's creation. Mystical Russian love is the love of brothers under equal pressure all along the earth., ever along and along" (Spengler, 1922, p.295 note 1). Spengler may not be completely correct in asserting that the 'prime symbol' of the new Russian Culture is the infinite plain. If so, he can perhaps be forgiven – because he made that assessment one hundred years ago. But if he is right that another 'Cultural organism' has indeed been born, then new discoveries and developments in mathematics, art and music will blossom there. On that assumption, can we try and guess what sort of mathematics might emerge?Without doubt, Russian mathematicians have already made prominent contributions in that field. In particular, Grigori Perelman should be highlighted for demonstrating the truth of the Poincaré Conjecture. In 2006, the world-renowned journal “Science” recognized his achievement as the scientific ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ – the first time such a tribute had ever been accorded in mathematics (Mackenzie, 2006). For his work, Perelman was also awarded the highly prestigious Fields Medal – but refused it. After interviewing him, John Ball (outgoing president of the International Mathematical Union) remarked: "He has a different psychological make-up, which causes him to see life differently" (BBC News, 2006). Earlier, Perelman had confirmed the Soul Conjecture with (what Wikipedia describes as) "an astonishingly concise proof". His two discoveries are important insights and landmarks in the development of mathematical topology (which may be defined as the study of spaces and their connectivity). So perhaps the new Russian mathematics will specialise in this topic? For example, eventually it might produce a comparatively simple proof of the Four Colour Theorem (explained by Appel and Haken, 1977). If the Spenglerian 'timetable' is correct, Russian art, music and mathematics will attain their zenith (after a few more centuries) during what he calls their 'summertime' – so it is probably too soon to know how exactly they will manifest themselves. Despite that, it is worth asking whether the Russian ability and love for the game of Chess is evidence that a new cultural soul is unfolding in that landscape. Each piece on the chessboard commands or controls only certain squares, i.e. a 'subspace' of the whole. And game-strategy assesses how the power or potential of each piece can best coordinate and interact with the others. In a different field, there might be grounds for arguing that it was no coincidence that the Periodic Table of the Elements was first conceived in a Russian mind – that of Dmitri Mendeleyev – rather than a Western one.

It is a very loaded but not incorrect conclusion. The article by McNaughton was written in 2016. You all know what happened in March, 2018. Since then, this is what has been dictating the logic of geopolitical shift on unprecedented scale and what is effectively keeps the world from sinking into one huge global conflict. Math had everything to do with it, math and physics, with physics being, in effect, a mathematical description of the natural world. Does math define a high culture? Absolutely: music is very mathematical, so is architecture and, of course, so is technology. But that is my main point--only nations with high culture can produce what Russia produces today. Far from military technology alone, breakthroughs in such field as aerospace, nuclear energy, new types of propulsion, new materials, among many, have already happened or are about to happen. This happened because of the way the world is viewed by Russians--in a very mathematical way. In the end, Russia awards degrees in Military Science which is same higher math projected at the stochastic world of the warfare.     

As Paul Schaller concludes:

Coming back to the question of the power of a nation, we have to refine. This power is not only related to the present level of mathematics, but also to the attitude with respect to mathematics. In this regard, two items are obvious for everybody. First: The Western empire(s) are fading away. Second: Asia in general and East Asia in particular have already a huge advantage over Western countries.  

Difficult to disagree: both in Russia and China mathematics is a secular religion of sorts, because there is clear understanding that mathematics and future are inseparable. Empirical evidence supporting this is overwhelming. But I wrote on this issue not for once myself, it is pleasant to read similar thoughts from a professional mathematician. 

In other news, meanwhile, Russian government is buying back all shares held by Russia's Central bank in Russia's main consumer bank SberBank (in Russian). Do you smell that smell(c)? Ahh, poor-poor dear German Gref, the CEO of SberBank, the boy always complained that Russia is a nation-downshifter  and, in general, is very backward. Well, I am sure Gref's "expertise" will be in demand among people attending Davos forums. But as Russian government stated--Russia's Central Bank having shares of SberBank is a, and I quote, conflict of interests. Take this news any way you want, but paraphrasing Mr. Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)--the reports of death of Russia's financial sovereignty have been greatly exaggerated.    

Wait A Minute!

Why distance oneself from Russiagate? No, this is not how it works. 

The Slippery James Comey Gets Nailed. Twenty years ago, Bill Clinton gave us “it depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” James Comey has now given us it depends what the meaning of “vindicated” is. The former FBI director sat down with Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday over the weekend, and it didn’t go well. Wallace repeatedly pressed Comey on critical findings in the Horowitz IG report, and Comey shimmied and dodged, in a master class in slipperiness and evasion. 

Honestly, what a tool.  Get this:

Off the bat, Wallace juxtaposed Comey’s claim that the IG report was a vindication with Michael Horowitz’s congressional testimony that no one who had anything to do with the FBI’s handling of the investigation should feel vindicated. Hence, Comey’s posture, “Well, maybe it turns upon how we understand the word.” He relied repeatedly on such mincing distinctions. Questioned how he can square his past statement that the Steele dossier was “part of a broader mosaic of facts” supporting the Carter Page FISA application with Horowitz’s finding that it was “central and essential” in deciding to seek the FISA order, Comey said there was no contradiction. This is absurd. It’s true that the application literally had other things in it. But Comey’s “mosaic” characterization clearly minimized the role of the dossier, whereas the Horowitz report finds that the FISA application “relied entirely” on information from the Steele reports regarding Carter Page’s alleged coordination with the Russians. The report also notes that Justice Department officials “accepted the FBI’s decision to move forward with the application, based substantially on the Steele information.” As for the Steele dossier itself, Comey rejected Wallace’s statement that the FBI had concluded early in 2017 that it was “bunk.” According to Comey, “they didn’t conclude the reporting from Steele was bunk; they concluded there were significant questions about the reliability of some of the sub-source reporting.”

But the main issue here, of course, is the fact that, apart from his enormously damaging for putschists report, Horowitz testified to the cameras and it didn't go well for Dems, to put it mildly.

The Horowitz report also staggered the monster lurching across America, though it took a few days to absorb the blow of countless incriminating details in the fine print. UkraineGate maestro Adam Schiff went on TV Sunday to declare that he had been “unaware” of abuses in the FISA warrant process. Gee, ya think? We are left to wonder who exactly pulled the wool over his goggle-eyes. In fact, his self-unawareness extends to virtually every utterance flying out of his pie-hole since 2016. The IG report left the FBI and DOJ in such a shambles of criminal odor that it dispelled all the narrative curses conjured by sorcerers in the news media for three years running. And as everyone in the country knows now, the IG report is hardly the end of the story. Mr. Horowitz labored under — as they say — an extremely narrow purview that will not constrain the legal audit to come.

My issue here is that throughout all this slow murdering of a due process in the United States not a single low life from US media resigned in shame for promoting not only entirely false narrative but in admitting the responsibility for undermining whatever is left of the Republic and, most importantly, through sabotaging the office of POTUS, destroying Russian-American relations and unleashing a Cold War 2.0. The damage is already done and it is massive. Until criminal clans of Obama and Clinton are not purged from US body politics, until the Democratic Party is not purged of psychotic "progressives", but in the end, until the United States finds new elites, I don't see how badly damaged, leaking and listing ship of the American statehood can be righted up. I don't see it, period. Neither neo-liberal nor so called "progressive" models are valid--both of them, while sticking different labels on themselves and against each-other, are dead ends of civilization because they go against human nature and the fact that the world is on fire today is just one of many proofs of the systemic crisis and, eventually, a complete implosion down the road of the system which was imposed on the world in the wake of WW II. Current Western "elites" have zero chance of producing people of vision, honor, integrity and courage who can save Western Civilization. 

Operation "Detachment".

This "operation" is combined West's crude attempt to woo Russia into useless Western "fold" by "detaching" her from China. Of course if one wanted this operation to fail, no better candidacy for this operation's handler could be found than Emmanuel  Macron, who would fit the bill perfectly. In a moment of, possible, sincerity Macron waxed Huntingtonian and concluded this: 

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says it's time for Europe to reach out to Russia — to keep it in the Western fold, check its global ambitions and avoid being caught in the middle of a new Cold War. Macron didn't say outright whether he wants to lift EU sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, the heart of East-West tensions for the past five years. But he said new sanctions "are not in our interest." In a sweeping diplomatic speech Tuesday after hosting the G-7 summit , Macron sketched out a role for France as a "balancing power" — between Russia and its rivals, between the U.S. and Iran, between rich and poor countries. "Pushing Russia from Europe is a profound strategic error," Macron said. Europe's "weaknesses and mistakes" have helped lead Russia to boost its alliance with China and revive its influence in Syria, Libya and around Africa.

Macron makes one mistake here. Well, several mistakes, actually. For starters "Pushing Russia from Europe" was not a "strategic mistake"--that was the plan and main objective of Washington, headed then by Obama and being continuously implemented now by Trump Administration. Moreover, "pushing Russia" out is not just about Russia, but by implication about Europe itself. Europe as it exists today is of no interest to Russia in any metaphysical sense, except for purely economic interest as a market, but majority of Russians are counting their blessings now because of this "pushing out" largely succeeding. Europe, meanwhile, is a sacrificial lamb for the United States, which, in a desperate attempt to save herself, will demolish Europe economically because European elites are a pathetic parody on a required political leadership, some of them are outright imbeciles, not to mention that vast swathes of them are effectively products of the American selection. So, no--let Europe deal with the US, or vice-versa, and keep Russia out of it. 

Then, the other question arises--and what is France? What's so "special" about France that Macron proclaims her a "balancing power"? France has none to balance anything. As pretty much any European nation France is ran by the cabal of globalists, of whom Macron is an exhibit A, and thus cannot operate in the world of serious geopolitical, economic, military and cultural realities. In the end, Europe is an American slap-bitch and will remain so until fully consumed by the United States which will take Europe down with herself. So, I don't think anyone in Russia, with the exception of few urban liberals and Western NGOs' grant-eaters, wants to be in the Western "fold" or in present day emasculated, multi-"cultured", gender-fluid post-modernist Europe. As the Russian proverb (from anecdote about resurrection of mother-in-law) goes--if it is dead, let it remain dead. The only negotiations between Russia and the West in geopolitical sense can be on the conditions of surrender. If not, the West can go to hell. Russia doesn't need any "balancing" intermediaries. Last time I checked, Sergei Lavrov's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the best diplomatic institutions in history. The deal is done and Europe, and combined West, must face what's coming for them and leave others be. Especially Russia, who saved Europe on few occasions in XIX-XX centuries.  Plus, please, French overwhelmingly do not even count Russia as European country and so be it. 

Double Whammy!

You can all recall this:

I wrote at UNZ about Putin's speech this:

The most important sign of this was Vladimir Putin’s rather startling revelation, during his October 2017 Valdai Forum conversation with youth, of his concern for the fate of white European Christian Civilization and his desire to preserve it. 

The importance of this statement is difficult to overstate—much more is at stake than mere economic issues, however important.

If someone thought that this Putin's revelation was a fluke, an accidental "heat of the moment" emotional response, they are wrong. He was talking about what now increasingly becomes a policy. If you have any doubts about it? Enter Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov--a man who doesn't need any introduction. Today, at opening of the XXVI International Christmas Readings in Moscow Lavrov destroyed the so called "liberal" values. This is what he said:

Очевидно, что пересмотр базовых норм морали, вседозволенность, доведенная до абсурда толерантность наносят непоправимый ущерб нравственному здоровью людей, лишают их культурно-цивилизационных корней...Например, в ряде стран-членов ЕС вводятся запреты на религиозную атрибутику, родителей лишают права воспитывать детей в духе христианской морали. Хочу напомнить, что в свое время ЕС отказался закрепить в своих уставных документах тезис о том, что европейская цивилизация имеет христианские корни. Тот, кто стыдится своих нравственных корней, не может уважать представителей других вероисповеданий

Translation: 

It is obvious that revision of the fundamental norms of morality, wholesale permissiveness, tolerance reduced to the absurdity, all that damages irrevocably a moral-ethical health of people, deny them cultural-civilizational roots... For example, in some EU member-nations they introduce bans of religious attributes, parents are forbidden from bringing their children in the spirit of Christian morality. I want to remind you that at some time EU refused to fix in its founding documents thesis about European Civilization having Christian roots. Those who are ashamed of their moral roots cannot respect representatives of other faiths.

So, I ask again a question: what is REAL Western Civilization? This:

Or this: 

Which one is a highway to hell and which one is the road to the future for Western Civilization? And I am not even a Christian but I sure can vouch for a very real hell which is unfolding in what used to be Western Civilization.

She is singing about Same-Sex Marriage.........Oh, Wait!!!

Dear Western Civilization, enjoy what's left of you while it lasts.............

 

The End Of the Fairy Tale.............