This Is The ...

... ongoing process of delegitimization of political system and the end of a social contract in the US. GALLUP reports. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ perceptions of government corruption in the U.S. are at their highest level in 20 years, with 89% of U.S. adults saying it is widespread. That figure is up 10 percentage points from last year and well above readings in the 72% to 79% range between 2010 and 2025.

Does this "perception" correspond to reality? Undeniably so. As GALLUP concludes:

Perceptions of government corruption are now higher in the U.S. than at any point in the past two decades and outpace most other countries, including advanced economies. While perceptions of corruption in business are also elevated, government corruption is seen as significantly more widespread. In a country where many are polarized across a wide range of issues, this is one case where bipartisanship reflects shared alarm as much as shared consensus. In fact, it is the near convergence of U.S. partisans on the issue — with Democrats’ concern about government corruption now only marginally higher than Republicans’ — that has lifted the U.S. figure to its record high.

The alarm will not sound in Washington D.C. They are too busy with fleecing and selling the country out. We are not voting ourselves out of it. The reason I highlighted "advanced economies" is because Europeans (euphemism for "advanced economies") are utterly brainwashed and believe government propaganda. 

Poor, Poor Dear.

Bob is having a bad time this year already. It was Marjorie Taylor Greene who said to Tucker to the effect that if you think that US Congressman will sell his family for a free dinner, you are wrong--it is much worse than that.  

US Senator Bob Menendez, a key figure in Washington’s swath of Russia sanctions, has been accused of accepting bribes from Qatar in a new federal indictment. It’s the second foreign nation that the Democratic lawmaker is alleged to have illegally assisted. Manhattan federal prosecutors said on Tuesday that Menendez, who has held New Jersey’s US Senate seat since 2006, improperly used his position to help a property developer in securing financial assistance from a wealth fund run by a Qatari sheik. In return, Menendez is accused of receiving payoffs including cash, gold bars, and a range of other high-value items. The 70-year-old senator pleaded not guilty last year to corruption charges that alleged he had worked as an illegal agent of Egypt without registering his intent with the Justice Department as required by law. The document unveiled on Tuesday does not contain new charges against Menendez but broadens the scope of his alleged wrongdoing.

The fact that the US political system is corrupt top-bottom is nothing new, what is funny is how this illiterate shyster-lawyer with zero diplomatic pedigree ended up as a chair of Committee on Foreign Relations? One reason, of course, is that he is of Cuban descent and is most likely nothing more than a creep who, granted his background, obtained a position by psychotic Russophobic rhetoric--this thing is valued very high in Washington. And it came naturally, albeit do not generalize too much--I underscore this, do not, that being from poor family (the first guy in his family to attend college) he developed a desire to be "motivated" by additional income. Boy, look at Biden's laundromat.

You see--here is a Catch 22 of the American politics. You can come from big money and because of that not give a shit about own wealth, playing only with own delusions about nation-state realities, or you come from poor background and engage in graft. Or, both of the above. Normal people, with principles and decency are very rare in US politics. As one great comment stated, LOL.

It has been said that American politicians should dress like NASCAR drivers. That is wear gear plastered with the names of all of all of those who have 'sponsored' (or should I say bribed) them.

So, how do you right the ship of American politics? I don't have prescriptions other than a classic Lenin's one--of three signs of revolutionary situation. Specifically this:

When it is impossible for the ruling classes to maintain their rule without any change; when there is a crisis, in one form or another, among the “upper classes”, a crisis in the policy of the ruling class, leading to a fissure through which the discontent and indignation of the oppressed classes burst forth. For a revolution to take place, it is usually insufficient for “the lower classes not to want” to live in the old way; it is also necessary that “the upper classes should be unable” to rule in the old way.

Remarkably, this applies not only to socialist revolution, it applies to any revolution, and American political and media classes are so corrupt that they cannot govern, both due to corruption and wholesale incompetence adorned with humanities degrees from equally corrupt US Ivy League universities, which were supposed to be the elite-producing machine. They also failed at that. Hence, systemic failure at all levels, ranging from governing, to war, to education to what have you. And the economic crisis is upon us. Europe already is in the recession which is galloping towards depression and civil unrest. In Lenin's words--they are "unable to rule in the old way". Come to think about it--they never were.

Keeping What Matters In Focus.

Many already noted that "elite" forces of VSU (MI6 and SAS "trained", that is) undertook yet another attempt to kill themselves by means of attacking Zaporozhie NPP and kill they did. 

Russia’s defense ministry has confirmed that Ukraine has made yet another attempt to take over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant late on Friday, revealing some details of Kiev’s operation, which failed. Over 40 motor boats, divided into two groups and carrying over 250 Ukrainian special operations troops and foreign mercenaries, tried to land on the coast of the Kakhovka reservoir not far from Energodar, host city of the nuclear power plant, a ministry statement said on Saturday. The attackers were quickly spotted and struck by Russia’s Su-30 jets and Ka-52 attack helicopters. Those strikes sunk some 20 boats, while the rest turned around and retreated. The remaining Ukrainian troops were than targeted by the Russian artillery as they tried getting ashore in the Ukrainian-controlled territory, the ministry said. According to Moscow, the failed attack on the nuclear power plant saw 47 Ukrainian service personnel killed, including ten foreign mercenaries, with at least 20 others wounded.

But this was totally expected and everyone knows Einstein's definition of insanity. But behind those numbers of killed and sheer incompetence of West's "top" which is de facto in control of Kiev regime, one MUST NOT ignore one simple fact, which receives merely a pro-forma treatment, while in reality being a stunning revelation. 

In this case, the opinion of the head of Military-Civilian Administration of liberated part of Zaporozhie Oblast Vladimir Rogov is key. He states, correctly, that suicidal missions of VSU (in Russian) are tied to the upcoming meeting of the so called NATO's Rammstein Group on Ukraine on the 8th of September, and serves a PR purpose in order to convince puppet masters that VSU still can fight. And here is the issue, there is nothing sensational, on the surface, in what Rogov states--the regime in Kiev is suicidal and, as I stated in my latest video, I take this promoted in Western media conflict between Zaluzhny and Zelensky with a grain of salt. I will elaborate later why I do so--it has everything to do with Zaluzhny and VSU, not with the mad clown. On the surface, there is nothing sensational, but in reality--it is startling and very disturbing. 

Rammstein Format is effectively a Pentagon-driven affair and here is where we come to this startling part. If Pentagon, which is a premier United States military outfit, its military "brain", so to speak, needs convincing from the Kiev regime in the ability of the Kiev regime to conduct "offensive operations", while de facto having US (and British) military driving the planning of one VSU disaster after another, while also providing a whole "package" of ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Recon) to Kiev, which is a definition of being involved directly in the Command and Control of VSU, it all means:

1. Not only the fact of Pentagon and Western intel services being fully aware of what is going on at the front, but that Rammstein Format is nothing more than a fig leaf covering, see below...

2. Two things simultaneously: attempts to ensure a gravy train of "free" money continuing to run, while simultaneously doing everything possible to make sure that it stops due to the main reason for it (VSU and "aid" to Ukraine) expiring with an increasing speed. 

3. That, inevitably, confirms not only a bi-polar dysfunction in the Pentagon, but also its sheer incompetence, especially when one considers the fact that it needs "convincing" from the VSU, when anyone with serious military background saw the defeat of Kiev Regime from the git go. 

So, it is a combination of a corruption, military incompetence and impotence which has been paraded time after time by the majority of the US military (former and present) through their media appearances and articles which confirm now a complete decomposition of the America's top brass most of who wouldn't be allowed to command a battalion in serious armed forces. Even WSJ had to publish a piece by General Mark Kimmitt who, discussing logistics, concludes yesterday:

Yet Mr. Zelensky must recognize that diminishing resupplies would have a disastrous effect on his army, not merely for battlefield operations but for the message of declining outside support it would send to the people of Ukraine. Beginning the diplomatic resolution would be distasteful, and perhaps seen as defeatist, but as there is little chance of climbing out of the current morass, it may be better to negotiate now than later.In modern high-intensity warfare, logistics is the Achilles’ heel. Good training, great tactics and brave soldiers are critical, but without weapons, food and fuel, armies grind to a halt. That may be what is happening as the battlefield becomes static and a breakthrough looks unlikely.The military often talks about the ability to see things clearly and comprehensively. Looking into a future of protracted war, diminishing high-tech systems and mounting casualties, Mr. Zelensky and NATO must face up to tough decisions before those decisions are forced on them.

What Kimmitt is saying is what I and many others started saying in March--VSU is done while the combined West simply has NO industrial and military-technological capacity to supply VSU with anything which will make any difference in Russia's SMO. Kimmitt proposes "negotiations" with Russia. I think it is too late for that and at the table is not Ukraine, whose fate is sealed, it is the combined West as we know it today--the entity which Russia has completely written off and that brings us to Russia's ultimatum. Recall, December 2021. 

Remember, I drill this idea in for a long time: only powerful issue ultimatums. Weak cannot issue ultimatums which mean anything. 

1. Russia did issue ultimatum to the combined West. Drafts of the framework for new security agreement between Russia and the West (NATO) are but a small part of a larger ultimatum. Albeit this ultimatum also is articulated through statements of the high level Russia's Foreign Ministry people, such as statement by the Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko. 

Washington crazies didn't get the message. Well, they surely have gotten it now and are desperate, especially when their bluff has been called, including exposing their military impotence--they are good only for PR and fighting third world paramilitaries. 

 

Meanwhile, Russia, which as we all know--Pentagon and CIA with MI6 tell us--is about to run out of personnel and ammo, holds Vostok-2022 maneuvers. 

Well, here is India's take:

Enjoy, if you will.

A Profound Duh, With Strategic LOL!

Thanks to Patrick Armstrong who pointed it out, we are treated to a very acute case of a bipolar disorder among what is known as US mainstream media. As it turned out, as if it wasn't clear from the git go:

After years and years of lying to the American people, the New York Times has finally admitted that the Steele dossier against former President Donald Trump was nothing but a lie. In their embarrassing admission piece, the Times noted that contents in the dossier “have never materialized or have been proved false.”

The verbatim from the NYT: 

Now the glow has faded — from both the dossier and its promoters. Russia, as Mr. Steele asserted, did try to influence the 2016 election. But many of the dossier’s most explosive claims — like a salacious “pee” tape featuring Mr. Trump or a supposed meeting in Prague between Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former attorney, and Russian operatives — have never materialized or have been proved false. The founders of Alfa Bank, a major Russian financial institution, are suing Fusion GPS, claiming the firm libeled them. (Fusion has denied the claims.) Plans for a film based on Mr. Steele’s adventures appear dead. Beneath the dossier’s journey from media obsession to slush pile lies a broader and more troubling story. Today, private spying has boomed into a renegade, billion-dollar industry, one that is increasingly invading our privacy, profiting from deception and manipulating the news.

I think the author here is missing the causality, which is normal for a majority of Western so called journos. The problem IS NOT with "private spying", this spying has been around since the dawn of human civilization together with prostitution, both physical and journalistic. The issue here is that the America's "fourth estate" (a euphemism for a lie-generating machine at the service of DNC) is a completely discredited institution and a shelter for influence and power craving losers who never could obtain any viable profession and long ago became promoters of the globalist agenda. But it is really good that Alfa Bank is suing the hell out of GPS Fusion. While the United States maintains at least the appearance of the place where laws and presumption of innocence are observed somewhat, sometimes, suing the hell out of all those NYTs, CNNs, Rachel Maddows and other intelligence operations "experts" is a good idea. 

Here is one candidate for such a lawsuit. Look at him, he passes for intelligence "officer" in the US, granted, one has to issue a qualifier--a Chief Petty Officer with, highly likely, cryptography technician level, who is as removed from human intelligence as I am removed from becoming a US Senator. Yet, here is this illiterate imposter insists that Steele was right.

I have news for Nance, that to be in REAL human intel one needs to be seriously educated, which Nance is not, having degree from some backwater diploma-mill type "institution" and his "expertise" in Russia in general, or KGB in particular, is about the same level as that of late Tom Clancy's expertise in Theory of Search or Principles of Integration in Weapon Systems. Right, the "expertise" level of an insurance agent in space travel. Nothing personal against this important profession of insurance agents. How this hack Nance turned out to be an "expert" in anything, let alone in Russia, demonstrates clearly level of US MSM which is the level of L.A. sewer and the latest admission about this BS known as Steele Dossier, from New York Times, no less, is just another nail in the coffin of the American credibility as a state which has a handle on anything when it comes to international relations. With "experts" like Nance one doesn't need KGB/FSB/GRU, you name it, to see the United States completely confused. 

Generally, US MSM are a great asset in terms of settling out of court, if one has a good lawyer. Boy, the amount of BS from them is such that I don't understand why nobody launched a cottage industry of suing lowlifes dominating pages of rags such as NYT or WaPo and TV screens of MSNBCs and other CNN-alike cesspools, yet. This is how you do it.

New York (CNN Business)CNN has settled a lawsuit with a Kentucky high school student who was at the center of a viral video controversy, a spokesperson for the news network confirmed Tuesday.No other details were immediately available. An attorney for the student, Nicholas Sandmann, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sandmann only tweeted, "Yes, we settled with CNN."The news was first reported by WXIX-TV. The local outlet said a settlement figure was not made public at a court hearing in Covington, Kentucky.The settlement will allow CNN to avoid a lengthy and potentially unpredictable trial. Sandmann sought $275 million in damages in the lawsuit he filed against CNN last March.

American MSM are utterly corrupted and the only way to make them pay is by making them... pay. Money, mullah, cash, what have you. They will never tell the truth, but, as is the case with Malcolm Nance or Rachel Maddow--they have zero qualifications to pass judgement on just about any issue related to international relations, least of all on spying and are good ONLY for one and only task--to read teleprompter where, hopefully, some real experts will write their opinions. They did spread enough Bullshit which not only damaged crucial Russian-American relations, but went out of their way to inflict an irreparable damage the United States itself and parade it as a collection of clowns in charge of a country, which, frankly, is not that far from the truth. And I don't even like Trump, but for all his immense failures of human character and being an impotent statesman, no human deserves to be dragged through the pile of dirt which for unprincipled and illiterate morons with agenda passed for "intelligence". Come to think about it--Steele, Maddow and Nance pass for KGB assets. After all, their contribution to turning the US into the laughing stock is immense. Boy, are those KGB guys good or what? Wink, wink...

Of Significance.

Second only on record Russian-Chinese strategic bombers patrol, escorted by Russian VKS SU-35Cs. 

MOSCOW -- Russian and Chinese bombers flew a joint patrol mission over the Western Pacific Tuesday in a show of increasingly close military ties between Moscow and Beijing. The Russian military said that a pair of its Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Chinese H-6K bombers flew over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the joint mission was intended to “develop and deepen the comprehensive Russia-China partnership, further increase the level of cooperation between the two militaries, expand their ability for joint action and strengthen strategic stability.” The ministry added that the patrol flight “wasn't directed against any third countries.”

Generally speaking, when you have two TU-95MS capable of carrying 16 X-101/102 cruise missiles with a range of 5000+ kilometers--the message cannot get any clearer.

As ABC notes:

It follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement in October that the idea of a future Russia-China military alliance can’t be ruled out — a signal of deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing amid growing tensions in their relations with the United States.

It is, certainly, a very high level military cooperation once one considers that both types of bombers are nuclear capable and this joint patrol gives a taste of Russia's involvement with China, and vice-versa. of course, traditional Western media routine followed with headlines like this: South Korea scrambles jets as Chinese, Russian aircraft enter air defense zone. But it is a pretty routine thing for aircraft to cross many countries' "air defense zones" while not violating national airspace. Once one considers a concentrated dysfunction on the display in the United States, some reminders about red lines become necessary because today, with the United States--who knows. The country is, for all appearances, collapsing in a sense that it is a perfect storm of a systemic and institutional disintegration. One MUST ask questions about what is going on when the law of the land is being gang-raped, together with common sense and morality, with none other than former AG Barr entering the mode "nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along". 

This whole thing is a wowser--I can see, obviously, a reaction in Russia on that and it is one of disbelief. A third world country run by mafia still pretending that it is "free" and is "democracy". It is a pathetic show of law and order being thrown out of the window by "elites" who are corrupt and unprincipled to the utmost. If you think you have seen it all, wait for this. The Nation, US preeminent lefty magazine produced this few days ago:

The Votes of Black Americans Should Count Twice. Vote reparations would empower us to replace oppressive institutions with life-affirming structures of equality.

Meanwhile, Washington still cannot pass a normal Stimulus Bill which is urgently needed to give desperate tens of millions of people some relief in the what passes for the economy, which is in a state of paralysis. Merry Christmas, you, deplorables. The scale of a clusterfuck the United States has become defies the imagination. The signs are unmistakable--the dysfunction metastasized and threatens to grow into a complete chaos. Most likely it will before turning America into the Orwellian nightmare. We are getting there. As I always say, drawing any historic parallels is a fool's errand, this is an uncharted territory because the world changed so much. 

Meanwhile in a truly bizarre world of America's greatest nation that ever was, circus continues:

The US sanctions list, published by the US Department of Commerce, includes the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Intelligence Service. 

Demoralized Russian Armed Forces and intelligence services are about to capitulate unconditionally and declaration of unconditional surrender due to American sanctions to follow shortly, any minute now. Or maybe not. That is why Russian-Chinese full-blown military alliance may be closer than we think--its contours are already visible now. In fact, it could be the only thing which can prevent the US from going rogue fully, but then, God help us all.  

Oh, What A Surprise! Nah...

I am just being facetious. Barbara Boland of TAC published the piece about foreign governments influencing D.C. "Think-tanks". Here is what she describes:

The top 50 think tanks that shape policy direction and legislation in Washington received over $174 million in foreign money from 2014 to 2018, according to a new analysis conducted by the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the  Center for International Policy. That’s more than double the foreign funding discovered by the New York Times in 2014. The top recipients of foreign funding from 2014 to 2018 were the World Resources Institute ($63 million), the Center for Global Development ($37.5 million), and the Brookings Institution ($27.3 million). Nearly 900 different foreign donations went to these three think tanks from over 80 different countries and international organizations. The top donor countries were Norway ($27.6 million), the United Kingdom ($27.1 million), and the United Arab Emirates ($15.4 million), according to the report.

We, of course, will humbly avoid mentioning such country as Israel which wields a lot of influence in D.C. but as I always say, let's not forget Gulfies. As Boland continues:

What does all this money buy? Think tanks contribute to the Washington ecosystem in a variety of ways: their writers and influence-peddlers appear as experts on news shows and pen op-eds, they conduct in-depth research on policy, they draft legislation, and they write talking points, memos and Congressional scorecards. Think tanks are homes for former and future government officials: they employ former former senators, representatives, executive branch officials, and their staff. The Brookings Institution is headed by retired four-star General John Allen and they employ two former Chairs of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, among over 300 experts. Think tanks also cultivate scholars and bureaucrats for future administrations. When Ronald Reagan was elected president, the Heritage Foundation provided his administration with over 1,000 pages of policy prescriptions. According to Heritage, Reagan’s administration eventually adopted or attempted to adopt over two-thirds of them. Think tank experts even appear as witnesses on important policy matters during congressional hearings. And they do all this without disclosing the powerful countries that are paying their bills.

For starters, let's recall that, as an example, it was namely on Reagan's watch that neocons infested US government structures and we know how the story goes after that. I always laugh when Ariel Cohen, a clown from The Heritage Foundation who passes for "Russia expert" in it and is sometimes invited to Solovyev's Show to have floors wiped with himself, on a number of occasions tried to correct different interpretations of this Foundation as being specifically "conservative". If one wants to see one of the manifestations of their serious cognitive dissonance, it is enough to get a load of pseudo-academic BS on the Middle East, as an example. I do not provide the link to their Russia tanked "thinking"--feel free to explore a number of laughable pretenses to scholarship on your own. 

But that is the whole point, I just finished a brief review of CFR's wet dreams aptly named "grand strategy", trying to underscore the inability of even the creme de la creme of what US foreign policy establishment can offer to operate within the confines of reality-based community. Now, in her piece, Boland, correctly states:

Americans deserve to know what countries are spending millions of dollars to influence policy discussions in Washington, as well as how much is being spent. Funding transparency would allow the media and the American public to more accurately assess think tanks’ policy prescriptions. If think tanks are recommending certain policy outcomes, we deserve to know who is paying them to make those recommendations and whether there are conflicts of interest.

But Boland, while implicitly confirming total corruption of US "intellectual political elite", forgets the most important issue. The question is not that whole D.C. subsists on donations from all over the world and politicians (and their media whores) are bought and sold wholesale by foreign money which fuel America's existential crisis in the 21st Century. No, this is not anymore an issue. Americans, of course, deserve to know all that--it is just that nobody will tell them. Are you kidding me? No, the issue now is this: are there ANY truly competent people in this swamp-gassing D.C. think-tankdom left to have ANY idea on how to, no, not to avoid an inevitable disaster, but at least do something for mitigating catastrophic consequences which are not just coming but are already here? That is the main issue. I can accept a corrupt, epiphany-stricken, competent leader who at least is driven by self-preservation, but having corrupt lunatics who cannot run anything right, from military, to economy, to foreign policy, leaving after themselves only a trail of destruction--I don't think that even naming those who pay them will change the outcome that much. These are the only ones who run D.C. In the end, no matter how much one pays to a plumber (nothing personal against this fine and highly important trade), we still would go for our triple-bypass surgery to a top notch medical professional, not to even highly paid plumber.

In related news: we finally learned that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the US Army. US Embassy in Denmark, certainly, thought so. As one user put it:

Hard to believe a former real estate agent given an ambassadorship for cash with a penchant for kicking subject-matter experts out of conferences would’ve made a mistake like this

Yep, sums it pretty well for D.C. think-tankdom too. Anyone wants to pay me a million dollars to prove that black is white? Hey, I am open for business, just issue cashier's check first. Cash will be even better....

Why Russia Is A Clear And Present Danger to The US-II

One of the most original contemporary Russian thinkers, Sergei Mikheev on Liberalism and its severe crisis (English subs): 

He speaks about exaltation of "liberals", of their fanatical belief in the sanctity of what they do when destroying a foundation on which human civilization is based. A liberal, a euphemism for totalitarian, delusion which must be resisted. There is also some talk about fusion, both social and economic. The main issue is where is this golden middle which balances personal and communal, self-interest and obligations to society? Clearly not a path of modern day financial capitalism which destroys societies both from within and outward--enough to take a look at what this "liberalism" did to the United States and many destroyed by her nations in the last 30 years. A catastrophe. But I also repeat myself, my latest book dedicates its large parts to describing this situation. 

Can the United States find a cure? I don't think so, but it seems that Russia is trying to do this. Enough to take a look at staples of Western liberalism such as fanatical radical feminism (third-fourth wave), sexual perversion, even attempts to legalize pedophilia, "reverse" racism--all these phenomena are marginalized or, down right criminalized, in Russia and are espoused by a very narrow strata of the so called Russian "liberda" also known as Creakls (from the word Creative). In today's excellent piece for RIA, Victor Marahovsky, discussing Hong-Kong mutiny defines its "democracy" movement as:  

Говоря проще, власть, формальную и неформальную, в деловитом китайском мегаполисе перехватывают граждане, чьи специальности и профессиональные скиллзы сводятся к "менеджменту эмоций". Творческая интеллигенция и "активисты" — то есть узкоспециализированные гуманитарии, мастера создания лозунгов и логотипов, цепляния тревожных сердец, написания мобилизационных песен и зажигающих речей.

Translation: speaking simply, the power, formal and informal, in the business-oriented Chinese megalopolis is being usurped by citizens whose specialties and professional skills are reducible to "emotion management". Creative intelligentsia and "activists"--that is narrowly specialized humanities-educated masters of slogan-mongering, logotypes, of pinning worrying hearts pins, writing of the mobilization songs and inspirational flaming speeches. 

As you may expect, these people have zero capability to run a public restroom, let alone such metropolis as HK. But what does it remind you of? Same here, in the United States which is run by people most of who have zero abilities and skills to run anything and almost all, seem to originate in the law and political pseudo-science field. It always ends in a disaster. Such as Russia of 1990s. You take a look at the modern crop of the American politicians, especially Democrats, this is, frankly, scary. The only thing these people are good at is to how reelect themselves and serve interests of their political donors. Liberalism simply stops producing statesmen. Corruption and mediocrity it produces aplenty, together with snow-flakes and so called "Social Justice Warriors", but statesmen, people who put interests of the country above personal one? No. It also stops producing thinkers of scale. Enough to take a look at Western geopolitical and economic thought in the last 30 years--a collection of, at best, mediocrity, at worst--of pseudo-academic delusion, which tries to avoid a crucial question of the economic and cultural devastation globalism brought upon its main protagonist, the United States. Current, televised live self-destruction of the United States is an irrefutable empirical evidence of a profound, systemic crisis whose roots are in the utter corruption of the American government, which long ago is not by the people and for the people...

To Be Continued...  

Isn't It Symptomatic?

That the person with courage and integrity in American politics came from the... US Armed Forces. I am not a hopeless idealist, US Armed Forces have a shitload of problems with morale, political generals (and admirals) and suicidal personnel policies, BUT it goes without saying that in the environment where words of duty are not always an empty sound, it is not surprising that Tulsi Gabbard started shooting straight and saying what other creeps from Dem.Party wouldn't even think of saying. 

Gabbard unloaded on Clinton on Friday, after the failed 2016 presidential contender suggested that “the Russians” were “grooming” her to run as a third-party candidate next year to split the Democratic vote. “Great! Thank you Hillary Clinton,” Gabbard tweeted in response. “You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain.”

So, Tulsi, you do deserve a highest praise for calling out your party's corruption in general and of Clinton clan (by default) in particular. Maybe there is still a hope for this country. I salute you, Tulsi. As George Orwell said: In a time of universal deceit — telling the truth is a revolutionary act.(c)

In other, seemingly unrelated, but very symptomatic, news, Russian Orthodox Church comes out with a statement (yesterday) which should give all kinds of whiteboard pseudo "economists" a pause and will explain, what I wrote recently (ha, funny--how coincidental) how overwhelming majority of Russians (Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, you name it) sees Russia:

«Русским не полезен либерализм, ни в консервативной упаковке, ни в социальной. Кастовая модель общества и возможность одних выживать за счет других не совпадают с тем, что написано в Евангелии. Нам нужен ценностный традиционализм, который соответствует нашей идентичности». 

Translation: Liberalism has no use for Russians, be it in conservative or social wrap. Caste model of society and possibility of some people surviving at the expense of others do not correspond to what is written in Bible. We need value-based traditionalism, which corresponds to our identity.  

Oh, boy, Russians are back at it, I mean at "communism", As famous character of immortal 12 Chairs Ippolit Matveevich was asking the priest Father Fyodor, while kicking his legs trying to wrest a chair (allegedly with diamonds in it) from him: 

--Holy Father, maybe you are a member of the Party?

--Maybe I am. 

But then again, Correlli Barnett could also be accused in being a "communist" when wrote: 

… 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. 

You see, how everything comes together? Of course, Russian Orthodox Church are not "communists", but this statement made from the highest podium of World Russian People's Sobor (Gathering, Council) in the foundation of which is the idea of "preservation of people" (no, it is not Solzhenitsyn's, it was stolen by him from Lomonosov's, concept). Liberalism left after itself in the last 30 years a non-stop economic crisis, unending wars, annihilation of the middle and working classes and imposed "morals" and "culture" which make Sodom and Gomorrah a concentration of virtue. 

Yet, for all seemingly unrelated nature of Tulsi' courageous statement and Russian Orthodox Church's statement on "preservation of people" there is a real connection, which is symptomatic--so called "liberal" societies have no future, because they lack everything which made humanity to endure through millennia--ability to form and live in community and do it peacefully. It is either a common sense or the world is going to be finished. The choice is ours.

Tulsi Just Being Tulsi.

I am not a naive teenager to believe that US oligarchy and national security-warfare state really cares about the "will of the people", law or the fate of people who actually made America great at some point of time. It is all bunk and words such as "democracy", "electoral process" or "rule of law" when applied to the United States today come across as a bad joke. But still, personalities matter and they still can make a difference in a long run. After all we all can see how that difference, in terms of destruction of the country, is being made by such personalities as shallow mediocrity and racist Obama, or a NY's very own Israel's stooge and hot air balloon Donald Trump. And we all know that in the endless game of BSing American public through never ending and pointless electoral process, most promises made by power hungry nonentities mean squat. Yet, even Marxist generalists bothered themselves with the role of personality in history.

So, in this case, apart from Fox surprisingly giving a podium to her, Tulsi Gabbard speaks a total geopolitical and military common sense about Iran and possible war with it, and she does have background, unlike it is the case with Bolton or Trump himself, to speak with authority. Listen for yourself. 

However, knowing how American political party machines and media are corrupt to the core, especially so with DNC, which is basically a variation of an organized crime group, I don't think Tulsi has a chance at Democratic (what an irony to call totalitarian liberal-fascist party "democratic") primaries. Too bad, she could have made a difference. She certainly knows where, apart from systemic crisis of liberalism, America's woes originate from--non-stop and unwinnable wars, which already bankrupted the country. Judging by Tulsi's young age, she, if she sticks around and fights, granted I personally do not share some of her political views, she will become a voice of reason of note to take on presidency in the future. In the end, the Democratic Party as it exists today is a train wreck (or rotting corpse, if one wishes) which cannot exist anymore in its present form. In general, she does come across as a decent human and promising politician--this is not nothing in times of a complete madness and corruption of the American political class.

American Politcs Today.

There is a good ol' Russian (Soviet, really) anecdote: two cowboys, Bill and John, ride their horses in prairie. While riding there, Bill sees a pile of horse shit and because he has 100 dollars it occurs to him--why wouldn't I dare John to eat this pile of horse shit for a hundred dollars. So, he dares John to do just that. John thinks: hm, of course, eating horse shit is really humiliating and disgusting but 100 bucks, damn, too serious of a money to pass on such an opportunity. So, he agrees and eats this pile of shit and Bill gives him his 100 bucks. They continue to ride side-by-side after that. While riding both think. 

Bill: well, it is all cool that John ate a pile of horse shit but, man, 100 bucks is too great sum of a money to pay even for such an atrocious challenge. I wish I never dared Bill and kept my 100.

John: well, it is really cool to have 100 bucks, but, man, I ate a pile of horse shit for that and now Bill will taunt and humiliate me for this. I wish I never agreed to accept his challenge. 

While thinking like that they pass another pile of horse shit and John dares Bill to eat this pile of shit for 100 bucks. Bill agrees and does just that, John gives him 100 bucks. After that both cowboys continue to ride side-by-side in full silence. After few minutes of riding in silence John breaks it: 

"Hey, Bill, you know what? Don't you think that we both just ate a load of horse shit for free?" 

This is a description of modern American politics which is an exercise in eating an excrement. In related news, US MSM is officially dead and its rotting corpse poisons atmosphere, and US political house is a house of organized crime, this is what Mueller Report confirmed today. 

The short version? Mueller is done. His report unambiguously states there was no collusion or obstruction. He was allowed to follow every lead unfettered in an investigation of breathtaking depth. It cannot be clearer. The report summary states, “The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 US Presidential Election…the report does not recommend any further indictments, nor did the Special Counsel obtain any sealed indictments that have yet to be made public.” Robert Mueller did not charge any Americans with collusion, coordination, or criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. The special counsel also considered whether members of the Trump campaign “coordinated,” a much lower standard defined as an “agreement, tacit or express,” with Russian election interference activities. They did not. Everything—everything—else we have been told since the summer of 2016 falls, depending on your conscience and view of humanity, into the realm of lies, falsehoods, propaganda, exaggerations, political manipulation, stupid reporting, fake news, bad judgment, simple bull, or, in the best light, hasty conclusions.

The only way United States will be able to recover at least some self-respect (forget it on the international arena) is if those people, including in both Clinton and Obama clans, who came up with this whole coup attempt and unprecedented attack on Constitution and Due Process will see real justice and prison terms. If not, and it will continue to be business as usual, then it is really over. As per sanctity of Office of POTUS, since Bill Clinton times all efforts were put in discrediting this important office, including by its present occupant.    

Upcoming "Elites", LOL!

Make no mistake, the United States is not unique here, there are all kinds of bimbos and good ol' boys getting their sorry asses into the most prestigious schools in Russia too. Well, I am sure this problem is not confined merely to the United States and Russia. The issue here is different--it is the fact that in accordance to narrative in good ol' USA, which, as we know, is the most democratic democracy, like, ever, the corruption in the higher education is non-existent. Well, as it turned out--it is not the case, like, at all. After busting the ring of a wealthy "celebrities", who never have time for bringing up their children into the decent, hard-working people, which was busy pushing their spoiled dumb-asses into the all kinds of prestigious schools, one has to ask the question--how about we all admit that celebrities, by definition, are dumb and rotten people, most of them anyway. They do represent, and many, in fact, drive this suicidal and superficial culture of feeling good about themselves for being complete ass-holes, without ever asking themselves a question if they are even qualified to be parents, because their children simply reproduce all rot their parents instill in them on a completely new level.

Here is one such bimbo, Olivia Jade Gianulli being sincere:

‘I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend. But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of like game days, partying… I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.’  

Well, what do you expect from the offspring of people who make living by pretending to be other people, or themselves, or who swindle others in such fields as fashion (a euphemism for ugly post-modernist belch of affluent urbanites). Mind you, there are many many more people like these good-for-nothing exhibitionists, who are already in school working "hard" on their "degrees" in useless fields and who, upon graduation, will start making their careers leading up to the positions of prominence in art (so called) and politics. Do you like present American "elites"? Well, there you go, much worse are coming and this is a sign of time, of which I wrote for years--modern liberal system eats itself from the inside, not least through giving prominence and reproducing people who do not satisfy even lowest of the low human, professional, ethical criteria to be anywhere close to the top, or the elite, which is required for the society to operate normally. Here who they are:

Ms. Giannulli is one of a number of celebrity offspring who have lived out their teenage years on social media. In the video for which she was criticized, she described how the dissolution of a romantic relationship had been particularly difficult because people would send her tweets, Instagram posts and Snapchats of her ex with other young women.   

Welcome to the brave new world.

Ahh, This Crooked Russian Genetics Again.

I always knew that I, as a Russian, was genetically inferior to inhabitants of gated communities of NYC or D.C. After all, such an authority on genetics as Mr.Clapper stated that Russians are genetically not exactly the first rate material. Now the New York Times continues a glorious American tradition of guarding own bodily fluids with yet another specialist in genetics offering his views on Russian untermensch. 

Corruption is in Russia’s DNA, as it is in Mr. Putin’s.

I think, US media are moving in the right direction by ejaculating their hatred of Russia and Russians into well-known territory (symptomatically the piece is written by German dude) of racial, genetic and other relevant inferiority issues which usually end...well we all know where and how. But never mind, I, honestly, long ago resigned myself to the idea that I am inferior in every single respect to any psychopath (many with serious mental and sexual deviations) who populate mostly US main stream media and other elites, so I don't mind. But this latest from NYT is a good opportunity to address by far more important issue than Russian genetic inferiority and this is what Gilbert Doctorow unloaded on unsuspecting us in his piece which Paul Craig Roberts utilized in his article on Vladimir Putin's...class. Doctorow starts with a wowser:

From his first days in power, Putin hoped to integrate Russia in NATO and, more generally, in the Western world. Putin was the first head of state to phone George W. Bush after the attack on the World Trade Center and generously offered substantial help, opening up Russia’s back yard in Central Asia to American forces to provide logistical support of the operation the USA would launch against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

I have huge reservations about this line of reasoning, its main weakness (well, let's leave it like this--weakness) is in the fact that it is simply not true. I would have accepted this reasoning 10-12 years ago with reservations. It doesn't work like this and, probably, in fact, most likely, wasn't working like this from the inception. After all, it is not 1999, 2001 or 2003....wait a minute, it is 2019 and Putin is on record about his paradigm shifting experience after NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. In fact, Putin's appearance in Kremlin is a direct result of that--this was in 1999. We had 20 years to adjust our views but it seems that many simply refuse to face the facts. In the end, it was Putin's Munich Speech in 2007 which started what we can observe all today and everything else after that (in reality much earlier--with anemic Russian Armed Forces starting to receive much needed cash flow in 2003-04 already, does  Doctorow know this?) is contrary to this statement that Putin "wanted to integrate into NATO". 

Counter-positioning Putin, an extremely educated man and much higher in intelligence services food chain professional than it was known previously, to a peasant crude simpleton Khrushchev is altogether mind-boggling. Yes, unlike Khrushchev, Putin is too cultured, too intelligent and too situationally aware to lower himself, and Russia who he represents, to a level of a boastful hollow political and media mediocrities from the West just because Doctorow wants, get this:

That, my friends, is the reason I say Vladimir Putin has done his and our people a disservice by not engaging in public diplomacy with the American and European peoples, by not scaring us properly so that we can come to our wits and compel our politicians and media to do likewise. 

It is mind-boggling that Putin owes it to Western peoples, according to Doctorow, a debt of scaring the shit out of them for them to mobilize. Really? How about own responsibility to do the right thing? Putin engages people of the West constantly by being an incredibly open public persona and projecting exactly what Doctorow views as a disservice: universally admired intelligence, integrity and projection of Russia's true power. Just to conclude with Doctorow recent strange string of articles, he now, in his latest, concludes:

Throughout the past 25 years a more agile and determined Russia has bested the United States and had its way in each and every energy corridor which the United States tried with might and main and dirty tricks to block.   It remains to be seen whether the same agility and skills will bring Russia victory in the coming new arms race, or whether the bludgeon of American economic strength win out.

I have news for Doctorow and I am damn sure I am correct on that: America doesn't have a bludgeon of "economic strength", especially in a military field, where even vast sums of printed money do not produce adequate capability anymore. But what do I really know about military, and Russia. 

On Syria (Mostly).

I usually try to stay away from Syrian war for a reasons that I do not have enough time and resources to look at the maps and study operational situation there--for that there are many bloggers who do just that and I gladly use their information. But the more important reason is that I know for sure that nothing what is stated by Arab sources on the ground usually corresponds to the reality. Not for once I wrote that Arab militaries and modern combined arms warfare simply do not mix well. I wrote about it here and here, with Colonel Murahovsky's interview. Now, it is very reputable Russian military analyst Colonel Khodarenok who speaks out:

Ex-Russian Colonel: Why Moscow Has Not Succeeded in Syria After 1 Year of Involvement

It is an excellent piece which does address reasons of why Arabs can not fight modern war. Here are some good quotes:

Further Syrian army success does not look good. The quality of army management is the most important question today. Since 2004 Syrian army fired a lot of officers and generals who got their education in USSR and Russia. There are almost no Russian-speaking officers in Syrian army today. Officers who got their education in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the West were preferred. They were the main core of Syrian army.

Or this:

Syrian army has no centralized supplies. Everything is decided by the army commanders. They get the money and decide what supplies they are going to buy. These commanders are the richest people in Syrian army. Central staff has no influence over their decisions regarding supplies. This is the reason why Assad army is so poorly supplied. Syrian young people leave the country from the conscription. There is a minimum help for the family members of dead or wounded solders. Such families are extremely poor.

  

Well, it never changes with Arabs. Now that the Russian military advisers left Syria (and rightly so) the Syrian Army (SAA) is left to its own devices in doing what they never could--serious strategic and operational planning, and effective command and control. So, nothing really new here but, in the same time, Khodarenok is a bit on a grim side here. While he is correct in this assessment: 

A huge amount if intelligence forces (mukhābarāt) make the situation even worse. There are four kinds of it: national, military, air and political. There is also the National bureau of security. The corruption in Syrian intelligence forces is awful. They force the whole population and army to pay an enormous amounts of bribes.

The truth is--it can not be any other way and it is true across the board in Arab world. And, I think, there is still military solution in Syria and there are signs of the so called "rebels" (terrorists supported by West) being at the end of the rope. But then again--all of this is a typical Arab affair and it never changes and to understand its military logic is usually beyond the grasp of "western" mind. But in the end, I have to disagree with Khodarenok in most dramatic fashion--the title of his article is plain wrong. I am just not in the mood to list all strategic benefits Russia already got in her mostly air campaign in Syria and by any metric, the circumstances favor Assad and SAA, thus providing for the main political objective of Russia's interference in Syria--survival of secular and friendly to Russia regime. In the end, it is the opinion of one man, there are many others which differ drastically (in Russian).

In related, that is military, news: Russia continues to slowly abandon Brigade structure and now resurrects yet another division, this time 42nd Motor Rifle Division, stationed in Chechnya. Another proof of a complete military bankruptcy of Serdyukov's "reforms", as well as people who promoted and supported them--namely people from SVOP such as late Vitaly Shlykov.  Incidentally, these were this new 42nd MRD's units which gave Georgian Army, trained and updated by NATO and Israel, an abject lesson in combined arms warfare on 08/08/08 in a brief Russian-Georgian War.