Rule Of Thumb.

Western media are abuzz--the main dictator of this planet, the abuser of Russia and underminer of the American democracy, the evil Putin has spoken. About hyper-sonic weapons.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will soon be in a position to counter hypersonic arms deployed by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, adding that Moscow was ahead of the United States in developing new types of weapons. Hypersonic glide vehicles can steer an unpredictable course and manoeuvre sharply as they approach impact. They also follow a much flatter and lower trajectory than ballistic missiles. Washington and Moscow have been expanding their defence capabilities as some Cold War-era arms control agreements collapsed during worsening of Russia's ties with the West. Last year Russia deployed its first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles, while the Pentagon has a goal of fielding hypersonic capabilities in the early to mid-2020s.

In Russian version of Putin's interview he actually spoke (sarcastically) about "pleasant surprise" for the US once it will, eventually, get its hands on some sort of hyper-sonic weapon. And, of course, Reuters lied (I am sure without any malice, wink, wink) or is simply dumb to understand the difference of which I write non-stop. While hyper-sonic "nuclear capable" gliders are cool and are "strategic" it is not them which are the focus of the modern arms race.  The real deal are what broadly could be defined as operational-tactical hypersonic weapons designed to be used at the modern battlefield against variety of the enemy's military targets. Russia has one such weapon, hypersonic Kinzhal in IOC since 2017 and in full combat deployment since 2018. 

The United States undeniably will be able at some point of time to develop some sort of a glider but I doubt it very much that US military will have anything comparable to 3M22 Zircon or even same Kinzhal anytime soon. Rule of thumb here is this: a generation of weapon systems. The United States lags behind Russia in hyper-sonic battle-field weapons not just by generation, but by two. She simply doesn't have any, while Russia already has Kinzhal in action for 3 years and Zircon is nearing its IOC. That means a NEW generation of weapons is already on the drawing board or even in prototype stage. Ad nauseam, again, not only the United States doesn't have a working prototype of such weapon, including a latest snafu with losing one. The issue, ad nauseam again, here is that the US doesn't have any experience with high super-sonic (M=3+) missiles at all, unlike Russia who deploys an astonishing array of such weapons from 3M54 Kalibr, to P-800 Onyx, capable to attack pretty much anything on land and water, and, of course, X-31, not to speak of deadly X-32. And then, of course, comes this issue of anti-missile systems. 

Butt-hurt (nothing new here) Mark Episkopos (another humanities-"educated" so called "expert" from, and you guessed it, The National Interest) already tried to spin BS about S-500. 

Russian media and military experts believe that the S-500 will be the first missile defense system able to reliably target and neutralize fifth-generation stealth fighters like the F-35, a claim too early to meaningfully evaluate at this stage in the S-500’s development cycle. 

Mark Episkopos, being an "expert" he is, and citing Sputnik, for some reason, arrives to a strange conclusion about S-500 capability to "reliably" detect F-35. Obviously for people not acquainted with modern battlefield, netcentricity  and sensor fusion it may come as a surprise that modern truly integrated AD system sees any so called "stealth" targets and is able to develop targeting for Buk-M3, S-300, S-350, S-400 etc. Moreover, ancient Soviet S-125, when used by skillful Serbs in 1999, also had little problem shooting down what then was advertised as "invisible" F-117. The persistent of "Stealth" myth, and meme, in the US is astonishing, to the point of folly. It is especially true for people in US media who, by definition, are completely removed from analytical apparatus required to understand a complexity of modern warfare. 

But what Putin was talking about in terms of a defense from future hyper-sonic weapons, most likely are not just S-500, which is stated to be able to detect, track and shoot down hyper-sonic weapons, especially ones which will be flying at Mach=5-6 (S-400 can do this already). He was most likely talking about defense against what could be defined as "strategic" hyper-sonic gliders which fly at M=20+ and that is a completely different type of weapon and requires a different, from merely hard-kill by anti-missile, approach. Obviously, Russia deploys, now world-famous, meowing A-235 Nudol, and this system becoming mobile is a serious step in countering pretty much any type of exoatmosperic or atmospheric high-velocity and maneuvering targets. But rule of thumb tells us that we, in addition to such missile systems as S-500 or Nudol, may expect appearance of something truly revolutionary which is still hidden behind curtain of secrecy in Russia. Lasers? Sure, we already know about them, like Peresvet, but something tells me some other physics could be involved. In the end, many still cannot get a full meaning of this demonstration which speaks volumes for professionals.

We just have to wait and see.   

OK, It Is Friday.

And people started to post their favorite music. All right, guys--post your favorites, but let me get my favorite, in fact most favorite, song by Mighty Zeppelin. 

 

About Citizens.

Sheriff Grady Judd is my kind of man. Plain spoken, calm, the kinda guy you would buy a drink in a bar, or pour one at home. In just a few words Sheriff explained why there is still a hope for America (no, not Washington D.C.):

I consider this to be the most important political statement of the last two weeks in the United States. In general, and it is an axiom, where guns are involved, people tend to be polite, courteous and avoid robbing, raping or killing. It is really a funny pattern, granted few exceptions do exist.

Lavrov, Help!!!!

I am now so unoriginal, so stale, so predictable in mocking those cretins from Wall Street and their accompanying media that my only response to this:  

The Dow crashes more than 1,700 points out of nowhere — here's one reason why

Out of "nowhere",  "nowhere", seriously? Is this:

I will remind what Lavrov says this moment: Imbeciles, Fuck. I can give you many reasons why it is NOT from "nowhere", from complete fraud that Wall Street and US financial system are, to a sheer, utter incompetence of US "elites" across the board. But, of course, this doesn't look good either, because it is a death knell for a US "energy" sector which was blown into bubble by cheap credit and financial and geopolitical manipulations.

 As per "second wave" of Covid-19, as I said it before--I do not buy any "statistics" originating from WHO or, for that matter, any American "org" because most of it will be fraud. I am still waiting for a reliable data in this seasonal flu with a clear distinction of causes of death and then, maybe, I will make up my own mind once I have data--for now it is primarily statistical masturbation. What is clear already today that Covid-19 is NOT what it was presented to be, plus, against the background of the US being flushed down the toilet, this whole "pandemic" cannot be taken as merely a public health event. US economy, meanwhile, follows in the wake of US Constitution--into oblivion. 

I stumbled today on Duran's discussion of the fate of the West in general and US in particular. Guys make some mistakes of geopolitical nature there but in general they are correct, especially when talking about rational thought--the most important brick in the foundation of Western culture.

Well, it is gone, it was gone for a long time, because Western "education" is a joke starting from school, that is why West is not agreement-capable and that is why its "elites" are mostly morons, even if they have doctorate degrees in some useless shit like political science or journalism. It is a complex problem and it is not solvable through some "tweaking"--it is generational, it is cultural. It is profound. I wrote about this for years. So, this "nowhere" thing has a set of very particular addresses and most of them are in the open. It is just that this crop of Western "elites" is incapable of seeing it--they do not have vision.

It Is Accelerating.

First, I don't buy for a second this utter BS that US military is a-political. This is a type of baloney which makes one sick to the stomach. American political circus is built around "the finest fighting force in history" and US military is tightly woven into the fabric of US body politic. Second, in the last 25 years this military produced zero military figures of note but it sure as hell produced political "operators" who would sell themselves to a highest bidder. Which, of course, didn't prevent US top brass to lose every single campaign. Now this:

So, the guy apologizes for being next to POTUS in the photograph? The cowardice of the American military-political class is astonishing. Frankly, I never saw anything like this in my life. This is how being ungovernable looks like. Collapse of governing more like it. I wrote about US elites being incompetent and cowardly for many years--the events of the past weeks presented us with a manifestation of that. Tucker may lament a cowardice of GOP:

But haven't I told you that the only difference between increasingly insane--they reached eleven--democrats and GOP is the speed with which they will sell you. Democrats do it fast, GOP does it slightly slower. Come on, can you imagine boy Marko Rubio or Ted Cruz taking a leadership in anything? Of course not. The only bright figure in GOP ranks who exhibited a degree of integrity and courage in the last three years is Devin Nunes--boy, those dairy farmers are a tough lot and Devin certainly has a very impressive real life background in doing useful and hard thing. Other than that--it is a collection of self-serving BSers. 

As per this crap about US military being a-political, evidently the issue of subordination, especially to the President of the United States, is not well developed in it and, indeed, one has to think about the future in retirement--what sinecures on what boards of directors of what corporations will be offered and it is so risky for those poor generals and admirals to even think that their country is imploding right now. But then again, US military has no modern tradition of defending own country against aggressors, it primarily wrecks other countries (namely weak ones), so, for many US top brass a real defense is a fuzzy concept. Sure, they never heard about this: 

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. 

They also still cannot grasp (or, they don't want to) that the United States is in the stage of the implosion of the Constitutional Order and that the enemy is domestic--both bases are covered in their oath. Nope, they worry about what perceptions they create and how those perceptions may harm their careers, present and future. It is a sad, pathetic show seeing a man who is supposed to radiate resolve and firmness to bow to a crowd of hoodlums and media whores. It is forgivable for American politician--a euphemism for corruption and coward, but seeing cadre officer in the highest actual military position to humiliate himself this way is unprecedented. I guess, it is indeed up to citizens to defend the Constitution.

Seattle Used To Be Such A Lovely City.

It was clean, it was friendly. It was a Jet-City but then things changed. This is where they are now and, frankly, I wish this to develop even further, because people of Seattle for some reason decided to destroy their own town and started consistently elect fvcking weirdos, including pedophiles and "lefty" mayors. Now let those people of Seattle enjoy. After all, democracy is a euphemism for spreading responsibility around, so be it--let it spread.

 

Predictable.

Yet another "strategy" for doing something-something against some threat to America, this time by The Republican Study Committee's Task Force On National Security And Foreign Affairs. I'll be honest with you upfront--I didn't read this 120-pages long "document" because there is nothing to read there. While I am on record that US Democratic Party's cabal of the "leaders" is a clear and present danger to the existence of the United States as we know it, any Republican "institution", including this Committee of some Task Force is only slightly better in a sense of being slower in terms of completely destroying the United States, but both parties are incompetent and cannot by definition produce any "strategy", which will not be implemented anyway in terms of actual "countering" threats but sure as hell will make America's position even worse. 

The "document" is titled.... well--you can see the summary of this "strategy" here and from there you also can follow, if you have nothing better to do, to the full version. The whole thing is primarily about China, China, China but also has some pages dedicated to Russia, Russia, Russia. I will abstain from commenting on Chinese "threat" which US legislators of the past helped to actualize by aiding and abetting the largest transfer of the American industry and technology to this very same China (you can acquaint yourself with some details here).  Remarkably, though, one phrase from this, whatever it is, attracted my attention, get this from page 7:

China currently has the world’s second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP ($14.14 trillion) and the largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP ($27.31 trillion). 

No shit, even those "geniuses" in Congress are now using PPP (Purchase Power Parity) metric when talking about economy. Evidently a fraud of "nominal" US GDP doesn't do it anymore even for them and forces them to look at still highly inaccurate but more realistic measure of economy expressed through PPP. In real terms, however, there all reasons to suspect that the actual size of US economy is hovering around $10-12 billion and when adjusted vis-a-vis Chinese economy is probably 2.5-3 times smaller. But enough about China. 

I will only stop at Russia, Russia, Russia thingy and immediately point out to this fact: those people want to do this: 

Designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for its support of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and the Russian Imperial Movement.    

I do not pay attention to economic "sanctions" on Russia since the United States are inconsequential for Russia economically, being practically non-entity and, as I say not-stop for years--sanctions are very good for Russia, who, by now, also has all things in place in case these "strategists" kick Russia out of SWIFT or attack Russia's sovereign debt. Sure. But declaring Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism is serious (I omit here the fact that Taliban is officially declared a terrorist Organization in Russia, but operating with facts is not a strong trait for US legislators), because it will lead, for already sinking US, to international repercussions on a major scale. You may partake in US Department of State wisdoms on a state sponsorship of terrorism here. But sanctions on such "sponsors" include things of this nature: 

1. A ban on arms-related exports and sales.
2. Controls over exports of dual-use items, requiring 30-day Congressional notification for goods or services that could significantly enhance the terrorist-list country's military capability or ability to support terrorism.
3. Prohibitions on economic assistance.
4. Imposition of miscellaneous financial and other restrictions, including:

• Requiring the United States to oppose loans by the World Bank and other international financial institutions;
• Lifting diplomatic immunity to allow families of terrorist victims to file civil lawsuits in U.S. courts;
• Denying companies and individuals tax credits for income earned in terrorist-listed countries;
• Denial of duty-free treatment of goods exported to the United States;
• Authority to prohibit any U.S. citizen from engaging in a financial transaction with a terrorist-list government without a Treasury Department license; and
• Prohibition of Defense Department contracts above $100,000 with companies controlled by terrorist-list states. 

As you can see yourself it is a check list for averting losing in military and economic field under different pretexts and, as facts have it, the United States is not just losing, but lost arms race to Russia, while simultaneously being humiliated in every single conflict she embroiled herself into and, of course, the irritation and extremely painful effects of losing an oil war are very telling. Do you recall, five years ago I warned that Russians are wrong people to fvck with? You can browse this blog 4-5 years back. And here is today's spread. 

This is what really drives Republican desperation. With headlines like this:

 The U.S. shale-oil industry may collapse due to the sharp fall in oil prices because of the coronavirus pandemic, a new influential report predicts. The demand for and price of oil tumbled due to the economic slowdown and have since begun to recover, but Australian think tank the Institute for Economics and Peace warns that a low price will affect political regimes in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. The impact of coronavirus may 'result in the collapse of the shale oil industry in the U.S., unless oil prices return to their prior levels.'

One may totally expect Russia to be designated evil incarnate soon and I will not be surprised a bit, honestly. As I stated some short time ago, I increasingly do not buy this "Saudi Arabia started the oil war" concept, because behind Saudis was the United States whose "defense" cowardly Saudi princess ultimately depend on. Not that it is any good, but better than nothing, I guess. Saudis went against the US? Oh, please. The bluff was called, again, and the US, as that proverbial old hack grandma from Pushkin's tale about golden fish granting wishes, was left with a broken trough and her decrepit house. The United States cannot forgive Russia that since 2008 almost every single US bluff or aggression were either called or checked. Those who signed this sheer "strategic" idiocy also need to understand that Russians know for a fact that they, not just as a country, but as a nation, as an ethnicity, as a culture, as a race are mortal enemy for the US establishment and that is why Russians are back into their ultimate national survival mode, of which NO US Congressman or Congresswoman, none, zero, have any clue let alone experience with. That is why they are losing no matter what "strategies" they invent--all of them are predictable, primitive, are anticipated and are already countered. I can understand their frustration. 

But on a practical side of the issue, I really struggle with grasping a sheer nuttiness of this all since they still do believe that they can win some sort of conflict with Russia on the battlefield. Plus they still exercise this illusion expressed in this pearl of Republican strategic (lack thereof) "thought":

Communicate with the Russian people: The strategy would call for the creation of a strategy to communicate directly to the Russian people and support their aspirations for democracy and human rights. 

Didn't late McCain once communicated directly with Russians and was laughed at by most Russians.  Maroons still do not understand that they know nothing about Russia, which is expected of them. They feel that they are losers but they don't know, they still struggle to put a finger on it. I can only scratch my head in disbelief. They really cannot grasp  that they are viewed in Russia as a bunch of midgets and Russians, overwhelming majority of them, wouldn't even share a same acre with these Republicans when taking a dump in the field. I can only suggest to them to get a hold of themselves (you know, hope springs eternal) and try to do something for their country, while it is still intact and, FFS, learn the goddamn real history of Russia. The Russian Navy is older than the US and throughout history Russians dealt with enemies compared to which all of them in D.C. are a bunch of corrupt amateurs good only at self-promotion. So, I dare the US Congress to designate Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism and then see what happens.