A Reminder.

Especially for people who still do not understand what civilization is. Civilization is a culture writ large (c). Obviously, any recognition by me of myself and majority of Russians as related to Western Civilization and being European people, with all that it entails is always met with consternation. But then again, most of those people watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypto as merely an adventure, not a profoundly important cultural reference. So, in order for me not to explain, again, what Civilization is, here is, again, and again, Russian Patriarch Kirill from the last year. 

But what does he know, you know, this Patriarch, when describing the essence of the conflict between Russia and what Europe has become in the XX century, right? I will repeat again--contemporary Europe has nothing to do with the European Civilization which by default IS Western Civilization, it is, in the end, the succession of nominal Romes, of which Vladimir Putin hinted--he couldn't say it openly, it would have given aneurism to DNC, Brussels and all kinds of cucks, who populate Europe today. Listen attentively, again starting at 35 minutes, to what is being said and what is being strongly implied:

If anyone have issues understanding WHAT the concern is here, I may only expand on the grand-strategic tasks for Russia and this is preservation of civilization. European one, Western Europe betrayed it. 

Per Подсвинки (literally Sub pigs)))--it is a young pig between 4 to 9 months old. That's what contemporary European "elites" are. Larry gives some good spread on that:

And again, Russians are European people and that is why Civilization is a culture writ large. 

I guess you can immediately see in this video behavioral patterns of people from Thailand or Saudi Arabia. Right? I guess Russians have a "complex of inferiority" celebrating Christmas. 

Irina Alksnis Beat Me To It.

When, two days ago, I was writing my post on obvious failure of the combined West in Afghanistan I stressed the point of this war having a serious religious, that is civilizational, aspect which people in D.C. and Europe are incapable of grasping. I also wrote a number of times about Noblesse Oblige between superpowers, which, in effect, should keep interactions, including a conflict, within superpowerdom elite "framework", because delegating own victories to proxies is a very bad business when Islam is involved. Well, Irina Alksnis expanded on this idea in today's piece in Ria. 

Безусловно, тут играет свою роль понимание того, кто приходит на место американцев, и страшных последствий, что связаны с этим. Несмотря на обещание талибов не проводить репрессии в отношении тех, кто служил прежним властям, и их заявление по смягчению позиции о месте женщин в обществе, без сомнения, впереди Афганистан ждут расправы и казни. А судьбе афганских женщин по-прежнему не позавидуешь.Архаика победила современную цивилизацию — и как бы ни относился к Западу, радоваться данному факту невозможно.Впрочем, дело не только в суровых и кровавых афганских реалиях и не в сочувствии к гражданам несчастной страны, возвращающейся в глухое средневековье.События воскресенья оказались столь ошеломляющими еще и потому, что они дали миру очень наглядное представление о том, каким может быть — и каким, скорее всего, будет — окончательный крах глобальной гегемонии США.

Translation: Of course, understanding who comes to the place of the Americans and the dire consequences that are associated with this plays a role here. Despite the promise of the Taliban not to repress those who served the previous government, and their statement to soften the position on the place of women in society, there is no doubt that Afghanistan will face reprisals and executions. And the fate of Afghan women is still not to be envied. The archaic defeated modern civilization - and no matter how you relate to the West, it is impossible to rejoice at this fact. However, the point is not only in the harsh and bloody Afghan realities and not in sympathy for the citizens of the unfortunate country returning to the remote Middle Ages. Sunday's events were also so overwhelming because they gave the world a very clear idea of ​​what the ultimate collapse of US global hegemony could be - and is likely to be.

As I stated not for once, the United States was to a large degree an accidental superpower. Superpower by default, which never understood a complex relation between domestic and foreign policies, nor, overwhelmingly, developed any coherent view on military power and its application. Today it all came to a head. I am not talking about the defeat of the combined West--that it was in a precipitous decline was clear since mid-2000s. I am talking about the West and its leader the United States being incapable to maintain a civilization as, in the words of late Huntington (he quotes also somebody else), "a culture writ large". While today's headlines are filled with this: 

The world took notice and the United States handed the victory to Islamic fanatics and thus emboldened them, the same way the United States fanned the flames of Political Islam in 1980s and helped to form the force which is radically anti-civilizational in its essence. This IS the main failure of the combined West and it will be, yet again, up to someone else to clean this fucking mess after the US, whose political and military "elites" not only did not learn shit from anything but are incapable of learning. In that, when combined with a myriad of other economic, scientific, cultural and moral failures, modern West, headed by the United States, declared itself a failure. Events in Kabul today demonstrate perfectly and are the epitome of the modern West. I write about this for many years, but I am not enjoying my "I told you so" moment. Neither does Irina Alksnis. 

 

Against this background of yet another America's lost war, this news should be taken into account:

The Tehran Times reported on Wednesday that Moscow has conveyed to Tehran that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has reached a consensus on Iran’s admission as a full member of the grouping. The Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev conveyed this momentous news in a call with his Iranian counterpart, Admiral Ali Shamkhani. Later, Shamkhani tweeted that he and Patrushev also discussed Afghanistan, Syria and the Persian Gulf. The SCO is finally decoupling Iran’s membership from the nuclear talks and the US sanctions. Significantly, Patrushev’s phone call also marks the first high-level strategic communication between Moscow and Tehran after Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as Iran’s new president. Patrushev is a very senior figure in the Kremlin ‘Politburo’. The SCO consensus — quintessentially a Sino-Russian move — speeds up Iran’s admission, notwithstanding the uncertainties appearing on the Biden administration’s political will to press ahead with the nuclear deal in the face of robust ‘bipartisan’ opposition on the Hill and from other interest groups.

There are no uncertainties here, I may add, combined West failed as a civilization and is spiraling into the military and, by definition, geopolitical second league if not irrelevance with an astonishing speed. Unlike with post-Vietnam syndrome, however, US loss in Afghanistan is not to capable and supported by other superpower fairly advanced Vietnamese military and Vietnamese people, the United States lost to a primitive force driven by the most retrograde ideology which stands against everything most of the world recognizes as essential for its existence. Meanwhile American idiots, a euphemism for US "journos" and media still discuss percentages and a political psychobabble which in the US, for some reason, is called "strategy". 

Morons, in order to make a brothel profitable, try to change not beds, but whores. See what happens. But don't hold your breath, and those who feel like it--mark today's date as the official end of US self-proclaimed hegemony. We will discuss consequences of this clusterfuck later. I am not celebrating because I know what is coming. 

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? 

Practical Geopolitcs.

We are already living in a new reality and while everyone's attention is concentrated on Covid-19 or, in many cases, at stock market, life goes on and events no less, if not more, important than coronavirus pandemic, continue to unfold. Russia-Saudi "oil war" is one of those events and there are many POVs on that. Does Russia want to break Saudis? Possible, but most likely Russia's objectives are larger than that and the main target is OPEC as a whole. Behind OPEC is an American shale oil industry and, as Scott Ritter arrived to the conclusion today, could be Trump's Administration itself. Russians have had enough with the United States for a while now and, unless one is a paid operative of US Department of State or numerous US NGOs in Russia, no one exercises any illusions on the subject of the United States being a radical anti-Russian force. Ritter, correctly (almost), notes:

While President Trump entered office fully intending to “get along with Russia,”  including the possibility of relaxing the Obama-era sanctions, the reality of U.S.-Russian relations, especially as viewed from Congress, has been the strengthening of the Obama sanctions regime. These sanctions, strengthened over time by new measures signed off by Trump, have had a negative impact on the Russian economy, slowing growth and driving away foreign investment. While Putin continued to show constraint in the face of these mounting sanctions, the recent targeting of Russia’s energy sector represented a bridge too far. When Saudi pressure to cut oil production rates coincided with a global reduction in the demand for oil brought on by the Coronavirus crisis, Russia struck.

Trump, in the end, turned out to be more hostile anti-Russia POTUS than even Obama. In fact, from the get go Trump surrounded himself with a cabal of professional Russophobes and continued to slap sanctions on Russia non-stop. This is not the way to deal with another superpower, especially when your hand of cards is weak and the only weapon, blunt and inefficient at that, one has is sanctions. I disagree with Ritter here in terms of "negative impact", I said it many times and I can repeat it again--sanctions are good for Russia. Now, this my, and many others', POV is confirmed by none other than Putin himself:

As I warn non-stop: Russians DO NOT count their economy in terms of "capitalization", "foreign investments" and "stock market", in fact, all this Western monetarism is not economic science at all and cannot be applied to Russia. Russians count their economy in terms of what and how was produced, how much did it affect wages, pensions, what are the demographic trends, how to deal with them, how many kindergartens were built, how many new schools etc. Russians count in tangibles. And while Russia IS making Saudi Arabia's life a living hell, pushing it towards insolvency, there is no doubt that doing so Russia keeps US in mind. As Ritter concludes:

Russia is unlikely to fold anytime soon. As Admiral Josh Painter, a character in Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October,” famously said, “Russians don’t take a dump without a plan.” Russia didn’t enter its current course of action on a whim. Its goals are clearly stated—to defeat U.S. shale oil—and the costs of this effort, both economically and politically (up to and including having Trump lose the 2020 Presidential election) have all been calculated and considered in advance. The Russian Bear can only be toyed with for so long without generating a response. We now know what that response is; when the Empire strikes back, it hits hard.

The reason Russia can do that is because there is no military or, in general, "power" solution for that, because Russia controls escalation as it usually does in military sphere. As Putin was mistranslated in his interview (I posted above), he didn't say "to hell with sanctions", he said "we spit on them". This is exactly Russian attitude today towards the United States. This is the pinnacle of disregard which would give aneurysm to a vast majority of a corps of US Russia "experts" who get paid to develop the most risible narratives about Russia, which even US court system wouldn't be able to take it anymore. US-Russian relations have been damaged beyond repair and Russians, correctly, view the United States as a main culprit. But if the United States also got itself into the fight with China, there are some other news which may give the United States a shiver--it is practical implementation of the transport corridor North-South, with Azerbaijan "spooling up" (in Russian) its cargo transfers, while  Russian view this corridor not only as an alternative to Turkish Straits but as the main trade artery in trade between Russia and India (in Russian). Port Olya near Astrakhan seems to be operating on steroids, increasing it's cargo operations by 145% in 2019. 

But here is another thing. here is the map of this corridor: 

Looking at this map, do any of you ask what is conspicuously absent from this map? Right, China is not there and she is not supposed to be. In fact, this route must have nothing, zero, to do with China and it is rightly so. As I repeat ad nauseam--for all my sincere respect to China--Russia and China are neighbors, they are not strategic allies, in fact, in the future which is emerging as I type this, Russia and China will be competitors. No, I am not against cooperation: CR-929 promises to be a wonderful project, possible Moon Station? Sure, I am all for, but the logic of economic development and emerging new alternative model for the European (whatever will be left of them by then) people comes from Russia, not China--it is a hard, cold fact of culture which cannot be changed. Russia IS creating alternatives as I type this, and those are for facing China, not even hostile West, in the long run. I will refer all of you to Putin's sensational speech at Valdai in 2017--just listen what he is talking about, attentively. West is corrupt and decadent, and is in steep decline, but does it mean that white Christian-root population does not have the right to live? Or to have its own historic realm? West was betrayed and sold out by its elites in a complicated game which is now almost 80 years long. But many European people will, and already do, look to Russia as their last hope. We are at the historic nexus beyond which the future looks fuzzy, hidden in the fog of uncertainties and I am not Third Stage Guild Navigator to see that far, but as often is the case, it seems that the real task of saving European people, not the degenerate and corrupt political and economic systems of the West will fall to Russia. This is 2013, Russian Marines in Greece. People are civilization. Not governments.

Different Software.

Recall Vladislav Surkov's excellent piece on Russia being lonely and half-blooded nation couple of years ago. I think, this article was one of the most important geopolitical statement of the 21st century, so far. Akin to  Mackinder's The Geographical Pivot of History. Let's recall some Surkov's conclusions. 

Despite outward appearance of a similarity between Russian and European cultural models, they have different software and ports. These models cannot constitute a common system. Today, when this ancient suspicion turned into the obvious fact, new suggestions are beginning to be heard—why don't we rush to the other side, to Asia, to Orient. No, this is not necessary and here is why—Russia has been there already....   Our cultural and geopolitical affiliation is reminiscent of a wandering identity of a human born into the mixed wedlock.This human is a relative to everyone but is not dear to anyone either. He is his own among strangers, a stranger among his own. He understands everyone but is not understood by anyone. Half-blooded, metis, a very strange one. Russia is a Western-Eastern half-blooded country. With her two-headed statehood, hybrid mentality, intercontinental territory, bi-polar history, she, as it is predetermined for half-blooded, is charismatic, talented, beautiful and lonely.  

The discussion on Russia's civilizational affinity never stopped for centuries, but new emerging facts confirm Surkov's, albeit not his alone, his is just laid out in the best style, diagnosis being absolutely correct. I know it is not fair to many non-Russian speakers of this blog to post here yesterday's discussion on Solovyov's Show precisely on this matter because it is in Russian and I am not sure when Russia Insight will close caption this piece in English (hopefully) but Karen Shahnazarov's thoughts are important, even if I do not agree with them completely. 

The point is simple, new amendment to Russia's Constitution, which proclaims priority of Russian Laws over International Law is one among several indicators of Russia settling in her, desired by the overwhelming majority of Russians, "loneliness". But Karen, interestingly, arrives to a conclusion to which I arrived long time ago--China is not the main concern or enemy to the United States, it is Russia which is. I write about this for years. Karen also makes this important point--the United States is in the full departure mode, especially militarily, which determines the rest of it, but American "elites" are very slow in accepting this fact and many still reside in their "exceptionalist" bubble, not understanding that they are nothing more than an entertainment for those who, like viewers outside cages in the zoo, remain outside this bubble. Of course, the analogy of a violent patient in the psychiatric ward placed in the padded room while being observed through the small window in the door will be more apt at describing the situation, but it still has to account for a still very significant danger such a patient, if not restrained, represents for himself and those around him. 

So, what's the balance, so to speak, or the hand, using card games' term, Russia is dealt. What many in the West overlooked (not surprisingly), is the fact that the new Cold War finally ignited in the realm of essences: metaphysics and history. Putin's public rise, unprecedented throughout his term at the helm of Russia, in defense of Soviet/Russian WWII history and the role Soviet Union and the Red Army played in stopping Nazi evil created a stir, to put it mildly. And here is the deal: Poland and her version of WW II "history" (supplemented with Ukrainian "take" on it) which is gladly being disseminated in the West was shut down abruptly and in the most dramatic fashion. But Poland, let alone Ukraine, are merely America's lap dogs, granted with large and influential diasporas in the United States and Canada, such as one of their representatives from Canada, a granddaughter of Nazi collaborator, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, not to mention Ukrainian American "hero" Lt.Colonel Vindman, who turned out to be one of the key figures (together with his brother) in the Ukrainegate affair having committed no less than a state treason. Now get this--this kind of people are not exceptions, they are the rule in the Western in general, and American in particular, "elites". They, quoting Mike Pompeo's definition of their MO (not just CIA's), will "lie, cheat, steal". This is what they do, this is how they live, they hate Russian guts by definition, because  world history unfolded in the last 80 years not to their liking. 

Historic Russia defeated combined West in 1945, it is also the WW II which spurred the United States' rise from the ashes of the two (not just one) Great Depressions to emerge as a superpower amidst the world which laid in ruins by the end of the WWII. The only thing which stood in the way of the United States' rule over the whole world was Soviet Union, today it is Russia. Russia's emergence of the superpower is also rooted in the WW II, but the path to superpowerdom was opposite to that of the United States--it was through enormous sacrifice while bearing the brunt of the war. This CAN NOT stand for the American "elites", because this removes the key component of the American mythology and, with it, a key tenet of the Western version of 20 and 21st centuries' history, in the worlds of Fukuyama, the end of it, with West sitting on top of the world. Thus, the history of WW II, a crucible of modern world, MUST be rewritten and it is being rewritten non-stop. But it is also for the first time in 30 years when Russia, at the highest political level, said that she had enough. It was Soviet/Russian collectivism which stopped Hitler's combined Western hordes, not  liberal democracy which took the credit for that immense historic achievement. It was not Soviet Union which unleashed that war. Combined West was. This is what at the root of West's hostility to Russia. This is this metaphysical never-ending chicken-and-egg problem in relation to the modern world. And that is why Russia will always remain the enemy for the West. Because she beat it many times before, China, incidentally, didn't.

Putin declared the creation of the, opened to general public, on-line archive of the WW II. Finally! Better late than never. It is an enormously significant effort which, hopefully, will send many Western "military historians" packing and their academic "careers" in falsification destroyed, which they fully deserve. Putin, of course, knows that his call for what amounts to new Yalta Conference will be sabotaged by the West, as were calls of Maxim Litvinov (and Stalin) for Collective Security 85 years before. But he still calls:

“I am convinced that it is high time for a serious and direct discussion about the basic principles of a stable world order and the most acute problems that humanity is facing. It is necessary to show political will, wisdom and courage. The time demands an awareness of our shared responsibility and real actions.”

In the world of post-truth and non-stop media manipulation such calls matter, even if for the sake of the principle that forms must be obeyed. The 75th Anniversary of the Victory is coming. I can only imagine what will be the scale of festivities and remembrance in Russia. If 2015 celebration is any indication--it will be huge. Important still, however, will be the list, no doubt impressive, of luminaries who will attend Parade on the Red Square and the March of Immortal Regiment. Invitations have been issued already. Emmanuel Macron and French Delegation will be present, so will be Serbia's leadership with Serbian troops participating in the parade. India's leadership will attend too, among others. United States was invited, including troops for the march at the Red Square. Trump expressed desire to attend. It is only proper to see British and American troops marching there. Putin understands the immense symbolism and importance of such an event. Many in Washington and London do too. The point will be not just to go back in time when British Empire, United States and USSR were allies but also to stake out the historic truth for which, it seems, for the first time in 30 years Russia began a truly serious fight.

It was Tolstoy through Pierre in War and Piece who conveyed this idea:

and then my idea is so clear and simple. You see, I don't say that we ought to oppose this and that. We may be mistaken. What I say is: 'Join hands, you who love the right, and let there be but one banner- that of active virtue.' 

Russia is trying that, for all her flaws and failures, therein grows a new social model, and that model represents clear and present danger for the modern combined West because it is THE alternative to a chaos and withering--the only future modern liberalism can offer. Russia understands that she will always be alone, outside any meaningful alliances, but recent events inside Russia speak clearly that for the first time in many years Russia introduces a very strong moral element to her foreign policy and will defend it with everything she has got. Active virtue is what draws people around the world towards Russia. This is not an empty bluster, already in 2020, RT (formerly known as Russia Today) hit an immense 10 billion views, putting it way ahead of any MSM in the US and UK. As jack Nicholson once famously said:

No Shit, Pardon My French.

It seems that self-evident things take time for a modern crop of Western economists to dawn. 

The author of 'Planet Ponzi' and blogs at PlanetPonzi.com talks to Max Keiser about the euphoria in the markets. He says that he is very bullish about commodities, which are the ‘real assets.’  “The commodities’ space is not up nearly as much in a bubble as everything else,” says Feierstein. According to the banker, who worked on Wall Street in the 1980s, commodities are “a real value” while “you can actually exchange them for something that somebody needs.” Feierstein says that in the next decade paper money, fiat currency is going to lose its luster. “US dollar hegemony will end in the next decade,” he says, as part of his “big prediction.” The analyst explains how right now fiat currency, particularly the US dollar, is overvalued.

No way! Actual things are "real assets". How could this be? I always thought that commercial and combat aircraft were growing on the trees, and that gas, oil, nuclear and other types of energy were appearing out of nothing due to quantum instability of the vacuum not as the result of human labor, creativity, education  and, often, sacrifice. Wait a minute, Wall Street is on-line with me... what do you say? Ahh, phew, now I can sleep calmly--it is all BS, real assets are papers produced on the Wall Street and TV, Radio and Internet entertainment. Facebook, too, with Twitter and other social networks being a real deal. Virtual economy, you know, like the insurance or real estate speculation and their "paper" derivatives--that is the real deal. Not mining, computing, processing, manufacturing technologies. Nah, indeed, cannot be right. Facebook stock, on the other hand... You get me being sardonic here, I hope.  

In related news, about US Dollar: everything what made US Dollar at some point of time a desired (and reserve) currency--America's immense manufacturing capacity and an illusion of global military power--are all gone. Long time ago. Since 2000s it was a mythology of US military power which served as a foundation of US Dollars' reserve currency status, meaning that anyone without nuclear weapons, who would decide to use anything but USD in its trade would get thrashed by US military might. Like Libya. Remove military power aura from USD and suddenly things begin to look rather shaky. As I continue to say ad nauseam (I know, I sound as a parrot)--Eurasia, which is a main, by a gigantic margin, global production and consumer market, increasingly understands that she will be protected. Militarily. It is not one day process, of course, but it is fully in motion and once Eurasia is protected, the need for US Dollar will evaporate, in fact, it is already evaporating. Iran's strikes on US bases in Iraq is yet another tick in the last minutes of US Dollar's existence as a reserve currency. Indeed, what is a currency if it is not defended or, as is the case of Pax Americana, cannot be forcefully imposed? Not much really. Facebook's "capitalization" may be in hundreds of billions of US Dollars, but it takes merely a couple salvos of cruise missiles to make it zero. 

Gazprom's capitalization maybe down (due to mostly PR manipulations), but its real WORTH is orders of magnitude more than that of the few buildings with computers and routers of Facebook. People WILL survive without Facebook, in fact another iteration of a platform for exhibitionism and reports on bowel movements and Botox injections will emerge immediately, but without gas and heating, production will stop and people will begin to die from cold. Obviously, Gazprom, as is Rosatom, among many, are defended by actual military power, which CAN and WILL defend them in particular, and Russia in general. I can go on forever with those analogies, but, I guess, you got my drift. Five years ago, yes, I repeat it again, and, no, not for self-praise, I stated that American criminal coup in Ukraine was the start of the count-down to US demise. I based my, as it turned out correct, conclusion only on things which  "are the real assets", ranging from real economy and manufacturing capacity, real resources and real military power, not some ethereal BS of electronic transactions in imagination and air. So, I have a bit of disagreement with Mr. Feierstein--we are down to few years (less than decade) before the whole thing becomes irrelevant and, as much as I hate all those silly predictions, the amount of time left for US Dollar as premier global currency depends not even on successful completion of China's massive BRI project, with China's economy already dwarfing that of the US. No, this will depend on a progress of National Projects of Russia of which we will see first results by 2024. Why? Because of Russian culture and its ability to generate civilization models from which anyone can draw most attractive features. But here we are entering the issue of metaphysics, granted supported by Russia's massive "commodities", increasing manufacturing capacity and state-of-the-art military machine. 

Back To My Cryptic Post--Why Russia Is A Clear And Present Danger to The US-I

You remember my recent cryptic post and how Arctic Fox blew my cover. 

From the cited article (Google Translate): "Vladimir Putin’s thesis that the real reason for the trade war between the USA and China is not at all a distortion of the trade balance or an artificially low yuan exchange rate (as they like about this) say our American partners, but the fact that China has found an effective way to combine state planning and a market economy, and the Americans understand this." 

OK, Putin is spot on here defining the principle, not just a nation, which represents clear and present danger to the neo-liberal world (dis)order. Yes, China is certainly a big threat to the current West in economic sense, but, apart from this principle, metaphysically China is not a threat. Russia is, and for a simple reason--average Chinese and average Westerners have few things in common and many differences which, effectively separate them civilizationally. Average Russians and average Westerners (those who are still sane, of course), on the other hand, are virtually indistinguishable in their outlook, not to mention visually. I know Germans and Americans who look like a god damn bums and drunks from some backwater Russian village, while I know many Russians who are constantly mistaken for Germans, Scandinavians (Duh!)  or look like your typical American. Granted, I still can recognize Slavic features in the crowd of Westerners most of the time. 

It is one thing when a profoundly "alien" culture such as China achieves economic success and, indeed, shows a working combination of the state planning and market economy. I will omit here, of course, some serious structural problems Chinese economy and especially its military power have--on the surface it is still an amazing achievement. But realistically, few White European stock people will immediately rush to learn Chinese (Mandarin) language or will start listening to Chinese music or read Chinese literature en-masse. They will continue to buy relatively cheap consumer goods produced in China, but few will really get into Confucianism or start quoting Sun Tzu at the New Year's party. Russians are different. Many Americans still think (wrongly, of course, but still good example) that Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, played every 4th of July pretty much everywhere in the US, is related directly to America's 1812 War. In other words, it is as much American as it is Russian. It is easy to re-appropriate such things--they are effectively from the same cultural root of Classic Western Civilization.  In the end, the number of Tolstoy's War and Peace TV and movie versions in the West (all of them subpar) is impressive, not to mention Soviet Sergei Bondarchuk's masterpiece, which IS in many respects a Western movie, despite being so Russian. Soviet sci-fi movies by Klushantsev, especially his Planet of the Storms which influenced so many in the Hollywood  sci-fi genre, including none other than George Lucas. 

Soviet education in STEM, some of its key principles and even text books, were adopted in the West. All that and much-much more was possible only between peoples who communicated in the same cultural code, had many similarities in their idiosyncrasies. For the West China is NOT that, Russia, including Wests pathological Russophobia IS. Even hatred of Russians and Russia is profound because West recognizes in Russia its OWN OTHER. China's economic success is bad enough for a Western neo-liberal establishment, which, let's be clear about it, is by far not just those omnipotent Jews, but a serious combination of moneyed and aristocratic strata which is as European in its whiteness and culture as is humanly possible. Russia's success in fusing state planning and market economy and free enterprise--this can have catastrophic consequences for the West as it exists today. In the end--do not forget the most important thing for which Russians have a proverb: once every century combined West goes to Russia to get its ass handed to it. So true, since 1242 Alexander Nevsky's remarkable defeat of Teutonic Knights at lake Peipus (Chudskoe), Russia was in a constant fight with the West for own survival. This is the image, the archetype of the West forever ingrained in Russian psyche by efforts of two geniuses of Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Prokofiev (probably the first ever modern heavy-metal music ever) in 1938:

After all, even Emerson, Lake and Palmer didn't hesitate to base their and rock music's one of the greatest albums on Mussorgsky's music. So, you see--cultural roots of Russia and West have a lot in common, but most importantly: Russian Marxism was Marxism, after all, and Marxism is a strictly Western invention. Well, guess what, the biggest West's handing of its ass on the platter in history, was done by historic Russia, known then as the Soviet Union, under the banners of this very Marxism, based entirely on Marxist view on technological, social and industrial progress. Boy, those Russian T-34s and Katyushas with Lavochkin and Yakovlev's fighters were a pain in the ass for Axis. And once the Banner of Victory was raised at Reichstag in May, 1945, the combined West literally shat its pants precisely for the reasons of those pesky Russian commies having a bit different view of the human rights and distribution of GDP, than it was viewed in D.C. and London, or Paris. And here comes this most important issue, Russians kicked Western ass so many times, granted, losing sometimes here and there, that through this rather consistent ass-kicking they made their views on the social order known--the whole 20th and 21st centuries are about these views. And while China cannot present a record of power accomplishments against combined West, Russian one looks extremely impressive. 

So, here is the deal: Russians, on average, even within new generation, which was not subjected to any kind of Marxist/Soviet indoctrination today still maintain a very "progressive" outlook on life. No, not progressive in modern Western sense, quite the opposite, this outlook is largely "conservative" and nationalistic, but it contains within itself a fundamental social difference of which many Russians wrote and continue to write:

Thirty years passed by since the Soviet project faded in historywhen failed the test of time. But majority of Russians still does not acceptsociety which stratifies into “elites” and “outcasts” as a just one. Russiansstill thinks that all people, regardless of birth, have equal rights to theriches of native land. That preservation of people is more important thanpreservation of wealth. That one cannot live better at the expense of others.  

Here is the trick, in Russia you cannot preserve people within liberal economic paradise. You simply cannot. In fact, you cannot do it anywhere. Russians tried to do the "libertarian" thing in 1990s--it ended with a national catastrophe and de facto economic genocide of population, in millions. Eat this, Stalin, right? So that "experiment" is over, but what is emerging and is clearly visible now in Russia is truly threatening to the world order ran by whiteboard economists, lawyers, journos, political pseudo-scientists, Wall Street swindlers and other people who do not know what real work is and how and what should be produced to keep the country running. Call it whatever you want: a deindustrialization, financialization, neo-liberalism or laissez-faire', it is all pure distilled moon-shine capitalism built around the myth of a "free market" and "free trade"--two of the greatest simulacra ever invented (after America's defeat of Nazism almost alone) because none of those things exist anymore, if they ever existed to start with. Russians, both through theory and tragedy, learned it the hard way and now are doing things which are anathema to Western snake-oil peddlers. Would you believe it, Russians not only want their strategic resources (increasingly being returned back under state control) NOT controlled by financiers, but, oh the horror, they insist that basic health care must be free (or for a symbolic pay, yes, yes MRIs and CatScans included) and no state support for gender-changing operations or plastic surgery. Kids entering universities on a "budget" (free) still constitute a huge share of Russian students. And these are but a few things West have, or don't as in the US, and all of this is dispensed through Russian state's policies. Russians hate their state, they also love it deeply and cannot live without it, because they know without it they will not survive--that's the difference and it is a strategic one....

To Be Continued...   

Putin's Gastrobar And The Mystery Of NATO Waffle.

Never ending dispute about Russia's civilizational affiliation is, indeed, never ending--one gets this idea whenever one visits any serious Russian urban center. Come to think about it, even not so much urban centers increasingly do exhibit this Russian dilemma of the state of being torn between Asia and Europe. I have to go with Limonov's assessment here, again--Russia is Europe now. Not current Europe, obviously, despite Russia as a whole exhibiting all attributes of "western" modernity from Wi-Fi even in the underground (Metro) to public restrooms, to a lines in the hip joints, to shopping malls, to whatever else makes place look like a European, that is Western, place. 

Getting into St.Petersburg and encountering gigantic crowds of West Europeans, from Portuguese and Italians to armies of Germans and Spaniards doing their touristy osmosis (or diffusion, if you will) into St.Pete's environments (see, I do not write about ever-present Chinese and Indians--half of our Sapsan to and from St.Petersburg was occupied by them, BTW) makes you think why these people flock to Russia in general and St.Petersburg in particular thus making it for a number of years in a row the number one destination in Europe? Then it occurred to me, observing German family with children standing in a front of Eliseevsky and watching figurines of old Russian bakers and merchants moving around (up and down too) in the front window--it is a typical nonchalant, no excuses required, Russian contemporary attitude towards all those Westerners who visit Mother-Russia which makes it click and is so attractive, granted one appreciates both scale and immense cultural significance of both Moscow and St.Petersburg. It is an easy attitude of a very confident nation and civilization--it is absolutely not afraid nor gives a damn about showing its both bright and dark sides. Yet, as my son noted, a huge number of pairs of young men and women walking together, hugging and kissing--it is a sight to behold today. The same as a bunch of bands setting up on Nevsky and delivering some good rock-n-roll and blues--Dostoevsky would have loved that. 

Me and my dear friend were sitting in one of the pubs and he confessed--he said he couldn't believe himself a miracle of this revival. It is a miracle--from a new wealth to an absolute confidence on the streets. Yes, Russians always are bitching and whining--it is a Russian thing--but each time I get to the country I see something special. This time in Leningrad it was SPIEF with France's Macron, Japan's Abe and other luminaries (with American business delegation being by far the largest) arriving to Putin's favorite city to talk and do business and... you should have seen those girls from MVD University being deployed for additional security. Russians are keenly aware of themselves being now a global player of immense significance. They are also very aware of Washington and NATO. 

Yet, similar to St.Petersburg's warnings about parking in the wrong places, promising the cars in the wrong being towed away and owners eaten, there is always a good deal of fun to be had at the expense of NATO. Novyi Arbat in Moscow featured Putin's Gastrobar and a mysterious dish called NATO Waffle. One can only guess what that is--we didn't have time for this joint, being attracted to gastronomical riches of Obed-Buffet (the best A La Carte place in the world--yes, they even serve Scotch and Jack) but the next time... 

Moscow, certainly, has her own version of hip (me and Israel Shamir had a lovely rendezvous there), but the joint with the title Funny Kabany (Kaban being a Boar in Russian) decided to treat the title literally--they do have funny and lovely boar hanging around visitors and one can not resist feeding this lovely thing cucumbers. 

So, this is Russia today where hope springs eternal as is the discussion on what Russia really is. My answer comes from a magnificent Tretyakov Gallery when looking at Russian art and recognizing Russia's history and aspirations as universal, as a spring from which anyone can quench their thirst. 

The Loneliness of a Half-Blooded Nation

Yesterday, Vladislav Surkov, a person of a profound influence on Russian political discourse (he is the author of famous and, as life proved, profoundly meaningful term for Russia as Sovereign Democracy) wrote a piece of vast geopolitical importance, which signifies and summarizes many things geopolitical and cultural for Russia today. The piece (in Russian) is called The Loneliness of a Half-Blooded Nation. Surkov, who also plays a great role in preventing an all-out war in Donbas by doggedly keeping EU and US State Department's "representatives" at bay, said nothing new per se in his piece—Vyacheslav Nikonov (Molotov's grandson, if anyone wonders, and a prominent Russia's politician), speaking couple of years ago at Vladimir Solovyov's Show was explicit when stating that it was enough for Russia with having any kind of "allied" relations with anyone and that it was when Russia was not involved in any kind of alliances that she prospered. Surkov supports this thesis and, justifiably, uses an enormously popular quote by Tsar Alexander III that: "Russia has only two allies—her Army and her Navy". 

Surkov makes many good points. One of them, where he uses computer analogy, is:

При внешнем подобии русской и европейской культурных моделей, у них несхожие софты и неодинаковые разъемы. Составиться в общую систему им не дано. Сегодня, когда это старинное подозрение превратилось в очевидный факт, зазвучали предложения, а не шарахнуться ли нам в другую сторону, в Азию, на Восток. Не нужно. И вот почему: потому что Россия там уже была. 

Translation: Despite outward appearance of a similarity between Russian and European cultural models, they have different software and ports. These models cannot constitute a common system. Today, when this ancient suspicion turned into the obvious fact, new suggestions are beginning to be heard—why don't we rush to the other side, to Asia, to Orient. No, this is not necessary and here is why—Russia has been there already.     

He introduces a half-blooded thesis. 

Наша культурная и геополитическая принадлежность напоминает блуждающую идентичность человека, рожденного в смешанном браке. Он везде родственник и нигде не родной. Свой среди чужих, чужой среди своих. Всех понимающий, никем не понятый. Полукровка, метис, странный какой-то. Россия это западно-восточная страна-полукровка. С ее двуглавой государственностью, гибридной ментальностью, межконтинентальной территорией, биполярной историей она, как положено полукровке, харизматична, талантлива, красива и одинока. 

Translation: Our cultural and geopolitical affiliation is reminiscent of a wandering identity of a human born into the mixed wedlock. This human is a relative to everyone but is not dear to anyone either. He is his own among strangers, a stranger among his own. He understands everyone but is not understood by anyone. Half-blooded, metis, a very strange one. Russia is a Western-Eastern half-blooded country. With her two-headed statehood, hybrid mentality, intercontinental territory, bi-polar history, she, as it is predetermined for half-blooded, is charismatic, talented, beautiful and lonely.  

Yes, Russia is a third way. She is her own civilization (no, not in Huntington's sense) and one can observe today a crystallization of this vision on a daily basis. It is everywhere, in young, old, active, passive, it is in dawning understanding and, actually, desire to be self-sufficient, not to depend on anyone. I never experienced anything like this. Considering Surkov's unique position in Russia's power structure and him being very close to Vladimir Putin one can see this final and so needed healthy detachment from the illusions of the past. Yes, there will be trade, some Western people will have positive attitude towards Russia but Russia's move to the West is over and it is all good. Let the combined West deal with its own demons—and there are plenty of those and they are coming out from all holes.  

News of Surkov's piece even made it to Associated Press. So we are already in the new geopolitical reality and, if we live through this Syria insanity without major damage to human civilization, I, personally, see no reason for Russia having any serious relations with Europe and US. MAD, some trade—that's about it. I agree with Surkov entirely—it is over. Fact is, I warned about combined West committing cultural suicide in Russia from the inception of this blog and that was in 2014. There could be no meaningful relations with the corpse.