Barnsey And Joe Doing Deep Purple.

Being Russian from Soviet times it is only natural that my life was spent, apart from British Glam and Uriah Heep, with the music of Deep Purple. But since Joe Bonamassa did his Blues Deluxe (I have Joe's all albums) and being always a fan of Barnsey--how good this could be? It is damn good. It is so damn good, it is so unbelievably good, it so out there (yes, I had a tear in my eye for John Lord during Hammond-organ's solo) that once you start listening to it your day turns into the evening listening to originals and truly great covers. 

      

Facepalm Of The Year.

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

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

About US Sanctions On Russia (Again)

Since the inception of this blog (in reality much earlier) I preach the "know thy enemy" and "know thyself" gospel since without it the instability in a complex global military-political system grows exponentially. Being aware and being knowledgeable allows to avoid stupid and down right dangerous decisions. But this important lesson is completely lost on many in US Congress and the new 2017 year starts with some "ranking member" of House Intelligence Committee (US "intelligence" by now is a laughing stock of the rest of the world) stating that Congress will have a "vigorous" response to Trump's attempt to reverse US sanctions on Russia. Many times I stated that most of US establishment decision-makers have no clue on how those sanctions affect Russia and, as I stated not for once, it would cause a real shock if they will learn that huge segments of Russian society are... against lifting of the sanctions on Russia. In fact, majority of Russians are against lifting those "Western" sanctions, because they are good for Russia. 

1. For people whose formative years were spent in law and Wall Street economic faux-reality it is beyond their grasp that "sanctions" do not work and, in fact, discredit those who impose them. Consider Iran who under severe economic decades-long sanctions did not only OK, but fairly well. Well, Russia is not Iran and by a very very long shot. Thanks to Western sanctions on Russia the structure of Russia's GDP finally received a very needed impetus for a change. You may have guessed it already that this change had everything to do with manufacturing sector. Russia simply started to produce more, much more. Even globalists' shill Kudrin had to admit that the outlook for Russia is very good. Well, the growth, of course, is mostly in manufacturing. Even the brief review of Russia's new manufacturing gives a startling picture of impressive, often double-digit, growth especially in machine-building sectors. And here is the question:

2. Why would Donald Trump want to reverse Russia's sanctions? Is Donald Trump Russia's friend? No. Not even close. In fact, large number of contradictions between US and Russia remain and they may yet factor into serious Russian-American geopolitical dance. But Trump, certainly, knows the real state of the affairs inside the US and he (and his team) they know that in order for the United States to have a chance and a time for the recovery, it needs a new geopolitical arrangement with the player who within last 36 months changed geopolitical dynamics in the most dramatic fashion is an absolute must. This player is Russia and it will be really stupid, not to say embarrassing, to start the negotiations with the counterpart while having it under laughable sanctions. Make no mistake, there are still those who think that US could have imposed much heavier sanctions which could have "hurt" Russia. One of them is Dmitry Simes who passes in US as "Russia expert", because he can speak Russian and can communicate with Russia's uber-liberal "intelligentsia", who is as clueless about its own country as most of US "Russian studies" field. Yes, Simes thinks still that: What President Obama has actually done is to try to use excessively dramatic rhetoric to camouflage a remarkably weak response. For two years, his administration has carefully avoided sanctions that might actually affect Russian behavior, such as sanctions on the Russian Central Bank and other pillars of Russia’s financial system. Steps like this could impose serious costs on the Russian economy and on Mr. Putin’s ability to govern. (c)

Obviously, Simes is not capable (granted his closeness to late Richard Nixon, a man, together with Kissinger, responsible for growing US real serious opponent and rival--China) to even understand that attack on Russia's Central bank would have had a dramatically disastrous for US reaction which would have resulted, first, in a catastrophic reputational damage and, second, in the emergence of  the alternative, not US Dollar-driven, financial system--the process which is ongoing now anyway, but at much slower pace. But calculating consequences of own actions is not a strength of US Russia's "expertdom", infested with a lot of Soviet Jewish ex-pats who have about the same understanding of Russia as I have of Planet Zoltar.  In the end, the stupidity of the above excerpt is simply incomprehensible.  It is also indicative of a desperation within US "political class" of which Trump is keenly aware. Will he go for reversal of US sanctions on Russia? He probably will and this will create a shitstorm in US media and Congress.

3. Reality, however, is such that US "sanctions" on Russia are merely some, at the most, inconvenience and, for the most part, are of very little consequence. So, the reversal of sanctions in this case could merely be a good will gesture and a sign to negotiations' counterpart. Yes, this gesture is important: "The forms must be obeyed"(c). Trump knows this and he, being real American patriot, needs at least a pause in US decline and, if being smart enough, a reversal of it. This means only one thing--changing of geopolitical posture away from unsustainable (and greatly overrated) unipolarity (aka Pax Americana) which is being demolished as I type this. This means the change of the global order. This change, however, may come only with clear formulation of the American national interests. I can formulate one right now, right here--avoid any escalations which may lead to global war. We, actually, barely escaped one (and still not out of the woods with loonies in CIA, Pentagon and State Dept. still in place) recently. 

And here comes this very interesting question: does US have legitimate national interests (apart from obvious defense of Homeland) which may require (and justify) a war? I think US does have such interests, and being still a global power, and "World's Island", as Elmo Zumwalt used to say, she has a claim to control of a significant real estate, aka sphere of influence. How large is this sphere (it is going to be large) will be one of the major discussion points in what seems to be, as some already named it, a "new Yalta". Better late than never. As Pat Buchanan noted: The Russian people, having extended a hand in friendship and seen it slapped away, cheered the ouster of the accommodating Boris Yeltsin and the arrival of an autocratic strong man who would make Russia respected again. We ourselves prepared the path for Vladimir Putin.(c)

Will this "new Yalta" be the meeting of players trying to give it another, second chance for what could be a magnificent play, or will it be a meeting of once high school sweethearts, now married to a different people, having own families and life, getting to the bar to have a drink or two and then part ways never to see each-other again? I don't know, but the world surely has changed and continues to change and that is why I usually do not give any predictions. After all, a life, same as a war, is probabilistic and stochastic and we may only hope for the better, not count on it.

 

If You Think That...

I will mourn openly a tragic demise of legendary Alexandrov's ensemble, don't. I held my profound minute of silence already. If you think that I will discuss President Putin's masterful response to Obama's anti-Russian hysteria, don't. On the New Year's eve I want to point out to some East Coast uber-liberal's epiphany. 

Anthony Bourdain slams ‘privileged’ liberals for ‘utter contempt’ of working class

Even if Tony does it out of pure desperation, born out of crushing defeat of liberalism, it is already good. But if he means what he says, that hard working people in US (and not in US only) were treated with contempt by liberal office plankton, much of which has no idea on what productive labor is, then it is even better. This whole liberal ideological cabal (not only, though)  exists only because some people get up early each day and begin producing: milk, wheat, steel, clothes, cars, jet planes, ships, frying pans (there was lately an upsurge in "Made In USA" frying pans), whiskey, beer, guns, satellites, modems, bricks, lumber, locomotives... you name it. For some dimwit from Wall Street or from many "liberal" economic "think-tanks" it could be incomprehensible to grasp that there is NO "post-industrial" world--a figment of imagination of some Davos "thinkers". It is not a post-modern world, unless one resides in NYC or in San-Francisco, it is the industrial world of modernity and this modernity came back to claim its proper place in history. Yes, by mercilessly kicking liberal ass and the boot which kicked this ass was the boot of some working man (or a woman) and that is the way I like it. I can live just fine without Bill Maher, or Tony Bourdain. I would rather live without pretentious, shallow Ivy League "educated" political "scientists" who are always wrong, without MSM, without this "creative" class only small portion of which is any good--the rest is trash. But I will take whatever I can. 

So, I wish everyone this upcoming year of 2017, the fulfillment of their wishes and return to sanity to those who are still capable of doing so. In the end, respect people who feed, dress, transport, teach, treat and save you. Respect a working class man and a woman. 

                                   Happy New Year!!

I Wish You All A Wonderful Christmas.

I also wish, however unrealistic this wish may be, a peace on Earth, you know--the absence of war, for people to have time to express their love to their closest ones and contemplate the fate of our planet. Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas. Incomparable Kelly Clarkson (and Reba and Trisha) wish this to you too.

But we call it Merry, apart from the main reason, for a number of wonderful other, very down to earth, reasons. You know, like a bottle of Gentleman's Jack and nice cigar underneath the tree;-)  Wonderful, cute Kelly again. Merry Christmas, everybody. 

                       

To The Credit Of Fox News

Tucker Carlson brings Stephen Cohen to his show and a remarkable conversation happens--honest and in agreement. I didn't see that in a long while. Cohen's points for the most part are valid, but especially so his lament of this current geopolitical insanity being perpetrated by the so called "progressives". This also, however circumstantially, answers the question about who gave the order to assassinate Ambassador Karlov. 

    

Meanwhile, the truth begins to surface at the affiliates of a major network. 

As Russian proverb (also spoken in one of the cult movies of 1990s Brat, "Brother") goes: The God is not in power, he is in truth.  

Left's Insanity.

I can only shake my head in disbelief. This would have been the future for the US should HRC have won the election. A dictatorship of fringes, Orwellian cultural reality which would at some point have resulted in a massive bloodshed in the US. We all avoided this fate so far. 

Man kicked off JetBlue flight for questioning why Ivanka Trump was on it

Here are some corrections:

1. The "man" who did this is not really a "man" but a "husband" of other man in a relations in which neither is a man. 

2. He didn't "question", he harassed Ivanka and her three children, even the "wife" (who is another "man") of this "husband" confirms this in her (his?) tweet. 

I do have a question and a statement: Mr. President of the United States (I drop "elect" things--no use), you have to understand that the whole future of the United States and, to a degree, of the world, as normal places, hinges today on you being calm, collected and in a good spirit. There are many nutjobs or completely consumed by hatred to you and your family "ideological" types out there who wish a great harm to you personally and to your family. While I believe that Secret Service carries out its duty properly, I can not conceive why Ivanka and her children should fly regular commercial flights. This is unnecessary exposure of closest to you people to what can become a tragedy waiting to happen. Decrease your exposure to a potential danger. Ivanka could have been using a private jet to move around and no normal person would have accused her of elitism or snobbery. Today she MUST fly separately from general public in the midst of which some ideological zealots or dangerous operatives wishing to harm can lurk. 

Mr. President, if you don't want your children to use private jets, you are a New Yorker, come on, get your people to Brighton-beach  to at least find some Russian bouncer Vasily Petrov or Ivan Drago (preferably former VDV para-trooper), in one of the Russian restaurants, or get some Vinny "Torn Spleen" Bonaducci to travel with your children commercial and beat the shit out of anyone who dares to harass them. These types of guys will be OK to spend a year or two for assault in one of the numerous penitentiaries for a very reasonable price and a huge moral satisfaction. My heart goes out to Ivanka and her kids. Stay and travel safe, guys.