But people sent me "news" and "opinions" about slight skirmishes in Russia related to "opposition" rallies in defense of Alexey Navalny. My first message to all: it was a pathetic show of a few thousand infants, including many children, who were controlled and, inevitably, dispersed. As US Police Telegram Channel wrote to Russian colleagues:
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs already called on US Embassy to visit Ministry where American "diplomats" will be talked to for taking an active part in helping underage children get "politically active" (in Russian). That brings us to the whole Navalny's "poisoning" affair as, primarily, a desperate attempt by the combined West on PR action (aka operation of influence) against Russia. Assuming, which is a really risky assumption, that not all people in Western intelligence-"diplomatic" establishment are complete morons, it is clear that no sane person would expect actions of this type to undermine "Putin's regime". Provide some TV picture for brainwashed Western public? Sure. But that's about it. Russia's political reality is such that it requires an apocalyptic event to change her and even then, it wouldn't be towards the outcome desired by the West. As per Alexey Navalny--everyone in Russia with IQ higher than the room temperature knows that he is an asset of Western intelligence orgs and his support base is within the statistical error, when counting votes during elections. Today's events demonstrated this perfectly. Criminal cases are being now opened as I type this (in Russian). Move along, move along--nothing to see here. Putin again "escaped" the wrath of minuscule minority of Russia's alternatively gifted teenagers and elementary school kids. Talk about "revolution".
Last time I checked, Russia's official language, Russian, is a human language. That means you can translate it, learn it, use it and comprehend it on this planet of ours. That is what usually assumed by Russians, especially at the top political level, which is a level of Russia's President or Minister of Foreign Affairs. Top shelf interpreters work there and they bear personal responsibility for precision with which words from and to Russian officials are translated. Well, EU "diplomacy" (I have no idea what is this) and "elites" evidently have issues with understanding a rather important human language, such as Russian, since they still do not get the message. When Russia's President tells them directly that: "... love is impossible if it is declared only by one side. It must be mutual", he expects EU to understand that he, being highly cultured and well-behaved statesman, is telling EU to go fuck itself until their attitude changes. OK, that's Putin. Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov, however, is a man who can turn the heat up a notch and that is why his famous meme is... well, famous.
Well, he got his audience with Lavrov who, basically, repeated what Putin said but in a more direct form. Speaking about EU as non-agreement capable, Lavrov stated:
Translation: because of that, we build our life out of consideration that EU is not reliable partner, at least at this stage.
After that Russia declared persons non-Grata and kicked out three diplomats from Poland, Sweden and Germany, who were especially active in fomenting trouble inside Russia around Navalny. I don't know in what language should Russia talk to EU for EU to understand that, as Lavrov stated, Russia doesn't really care about EU's internal decisions and nobody in Moscow, in reality, gives a shit how Borrell "assesses" EU-Russia's relations. Who knows, maybe Lavrov has to go to 11 and openly state to these cretins that they should go and fuck themselves, literally. Evidently they still don't get the message. EU does not have a subjectivity in international relations, it is an object which is there to dance to Washington's tune. Russians are fully aware of that and that is why Russia is turning away from EU. Including being somewhat reluctant, for now, to let go of Nord Stream 2 for purely geopolitical, not economic reasons as Ischenko thinks, a view which I share. I also completely agree with his assessment, that abandoning NS 2 for Russia is merely an inconvenience, for Germany--it is a catastrophe. In what language, then, do you communicate with a bunch of cretins? Obviously, they do not understand human language.
To underscore the absence of intelligent life in EU, I will leave this link (in Russian) and you can easily translate TASS reporting using Google translate tool. They don't even understand that most of Russia laughs at them. As you can see from this EU graph, the trend in economic relations was pronounced already by 2019. Russia simply started importing less from EU.
It is over with--Krinki is under full control of Russian forces. Yes, anticlimactic and as was predicted. Shoigu also summarized the VSU "counteroffensive" with freshest numbers.
Translation: MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) lost 166 thousand troops and more than 800 tanks during their counteroffensive, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. According to him, the losses of Ukrainian troops amounted to “166 thousand killed and wounded, more than 800 tanks, almost 2,400 armored combat vehicles.” “In fact, of what they have today, more than half of the Leopards were destroyed, they lost 123 aircraft and helicopters,” the minister said in an interview with TASS editor-in-chief Mikhail Petrov.
The losses of VSU in the last 48 hours around Avdeevka are 2,400, so you get the drift, right? And then a peculiar report from TASS.
Translation: “Western sponsors of the Kyiv regime link the continued supply of extended-range military missiles to Ukraine with the effectiveness of their practical use,” the source noted. “NATO countries that transfer such weapons are well aware that the regime of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky uses terrorist methods by inflicting these missiles on attacks on civilian targets on Russian territory, killing unarmed Russian citizens." "Kiev is required to provide a list of targets on Russian territory and justify the feasibility of striking them. The operation and combat use of missiles supplied to Ukraine should be carried out under the control of NATO specialists, who are actually turning the Kiev regime into a terrorist organization like ISIS (IS, until 2014 -" "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" - ISIS, is banned in the Russian Federation). All this indicates the direct involvement of NATO in hostilities against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the agency's interlocutor noted.
Correct--it is all about petty vengeance and impotent hysteria. Obviously those people in NATO can only fight defenseless civilians. In Russian case--not so defenseless with Air Defense dramatically mitigating the damage, but you cannot stop 100% of everything, some will "leak". In other "yawn" news:
Yes, Kremlin is quaking in its boots from these sanctions, LOL. Do you know when it is over? When the world starts laughing at you, albeit not without sadness. As was expected:
U.S. Vetoes Proposal for Humanitarian Cease-Fire in Gaza at U.N. Security Council. Washington says unconditional cease-fire would prolong conflict in Gaza.
As you all know now, Presidents Putin and Biden are to meet in Geneva on June 16 this year for a summit. Here is Alexander Mercouris giving a time line leading to the decision to hold meeting and making some very good points on the overall state of the Russian-American relations, or whatever passes for them nowadays.
Basically, most of what was said or written by Alexander, Pepe Escobar, Andrei Raevsky (The Saker), Patrick Armstrong and me, among many other observers, is unfolding in a front of our eyes and Russian-Chinese alliance begins to take shape be that unified position on the history of WW II or on global stability, or be that initial operational integration such as was observed at Vostok-2018 maneuvers or joint air patrols and Russia aiding China with her anti-missile early warning system--it is like, dude...
Riiight. Someone builds a gigantic common market in Eurasia and is planning human exploration of Mars using new types of propulsion, others discover new genders and support all kind of lowlifes such as Navalny or Neo-Nazis in Kiev. Hey, free will, free will. So the United States still can produce some Force majeure before Geneva summit to kill the summit or try to frame Putin but at this stage it doesn't matter. It is very anti-hype and almost anti-climatic and this state of the affairs is brilliantly summarized by Leo Tolstoy, and I hope you know what quote from War and Peace I am talking about.
I am of a very low opinion of present American geopolitical intellectual faculties. Nah, I am being facetious, it is not just geopolitical--it is most of it, which is nothing more than headless chicken run. The time of the titans is over (for now) in the US. But Robert Kaplan, who scribes for, I know, I know, The National Interest, has a special case as an Exhibit A of such an intellectual impotence. Especially once Kaplan decides to come up with a Grande' Idea worthy of the TNI tabloid, masquerading as a serious publication. Get this:
Why Russia Is the Problem From Hell: America must try to move Russia away from China and improve relations while maintaining deterrence.
He opens with a broadside and knocks me off my chair because, well I'll explain.
In 1812, his army exhausted and overwhelmed by the Russian steppe, and watching Muscovites desert and burn their city rather than see it handed to his troops, Napoleon was reported to exclaim in desperation about the Russians: “What men they are! They are Scythians!” The reference was to the nomadic horsemen of antiquity whom no one could conquer, reason with, or pressure in any way. Indeed, by the turn of the twentieth-century, the historian Henry Adams observed that the intractable Russia problem had always been the key to modern Europe and that, therefore, “The last and highest triumph of history would…be the bringing of Russia into the Atlantic combine.”
Writing about subjects one has no clue about is a defining trait of modern "scholarship", and not just an American one, let's be objective. The reason I am still trying to recover from Kaplan's opening salvo is next. This is the map of Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812 up to an entrance to Moscow.
Russia has always proven to be a bridge too far for the designs of the modern West. And that is a point we unfortunately need to accept. To denounce Putin for his human rights abuses constitutes mere decency. But it won’t get us far in terms of confronting the eternal dilemma of Russia. For there is something undeniably Russian—straight out of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, in fact—in the way that Putin has treated dissident Alexei Navalny: banishing him to a notorious prison camp outside Moscow, where inmates do manual labor and are forced to stand silent for hours with their hands clasped behind their backs. Putin himself, meanwhile, is in good health and could be in power for years to come. And with longevity comes legitimacy in the amoral world of geopolitics.
I wonder what so "Russian" did Mr. Kaplan find in Solzhenitsyn other than mediocrity and lies--universal human traits, in any nationality. But then again, people who "studied" Russia from Solzhenitsyn, one would expect that type of concoctions. This is not to mention the fact that Russians also changed, rather dramatically, since the times of Dostoevsky who saw Russia as a very poor country (see his Pushkin Speech) and described idiosyncrasies many of which simply disappeared because times changed. Like really-really changed. Did Kaplan check his calendar recently. But never mind, he finally comes up with a grand plan, an incredible geopolitical insight into Russian psyche and government, and proposes:
The painful truth is that Putin has not only to be deterred and morally denounced, but engaged, since the chances of changing his regime in our own image is as likely as remaking Russia was in the 1990s, or of Napoleon or Hitler adding Russia to their empires.
Wow. Well, obviously trying to sell 1990s to the majority of Russians, especially by some American "scholar" is a very bad idea, the same as trying to promote creeps like Navalny as Russia's future, but then again, if Napoleon got exhausted by Russian steppes, I guess morally denouncing a President of a country where he enjoys overwhelming public support... ah, wait, I forgot--Putin is a killer, so yes, I guess then strongest moral denouncement is in order. After that, Kaplan, comes up with a classic contemporary geopolitical drudgery and parading his ignorance of Russian realities, which is a defining trait of modern American "Russia Studies" field. But his conclusion is a wowser.
What Nixon and Kissinger accomplished is now impossible. That was a time when Russia and China were practically at war and thus ripe for American manipulation. But a modest prying-apart over time of the Russia-China alliance might yet be possible. At least that is the direction where we should be headed. Merely holding Russia to account is not a policy. We should learn from Napoleon.
First, there is nothing to learn from Napoleon because at that time it took Russian more than a year to get to Paris. Nowadays, Russia can defeat the combined West without resorting to nuclear weapons in a matter of weeks. But the main issue is this: Mr. Kaplan--look in the mirror, while imagining that you represent modern United States and ask yourself a question of what do you see there? If you think that what you see there is worthy of attempts on a "modest prying apart" of Russia-China alliance, I have a bridge to sell you. No one in their mind will want to exchange brand new 2021 Japanese-made SUV for the 1978 Lincoln Town Car for practical reasons. No one in their own mind. But then again, evidently Kaplan still thinks that Nixon and Kissinger accomplished a lot. Sure, they started the US on the road to both financial ruin, with Nixon getting off the gold standard, and Kissinger... well. I rest my case.
So, the question is--how this pseudo-scholastic drivel is even published, let alone is considered an opinion worthy of consideration. Kaplan is not alone is publishing geopolitical BS, just yesterday another "expert" from The American Conservative publishes an absolute incoherent delirium. This is an intellectual disaster, a catastrophe of the American Russia "scholars" manufacturing an alternative reality, still thinking that Russia sleeps and dreams of how to become the part of the West. Forget "steppes" and other laughable mistakes public school sophomore wouldn't make after a couple of hours on the internet studying geography or history of Russia. Putin today signed the Order (Ukaz):
Указ о применении мер воздействия (противодействия) на недружественные действия иностранных государств
Translation: The Order on application of the measures of influence (counteracting) on unfriendly activity by foreign states (in Russian). Mr. Kaplan, guess from three times who those "unfriendly" foreign states are. Need a hint? Read the Order and check out what Order from 2018 (#127-F3) states.
These "scholars" still don't get it, that the West had its chance with Russia, it BLEW it. It did, however, blow it not only towards Russia, it also blew it in relation to itself. But history loves victors. Nobody loves losers, especially sore ones. Maybe it will occur to Kaplan while studying a physical geography of Russia.
I really didn't want to post on this issue but Bernhard of MoA gave the link to yet another gem of an American "strategic" thinking and I might as well say couple of words on that. By now you probably know my severe allergy to the majority of "thoughts" expressed by all kinds of American "diplomats" (quotation marks are deliberate) and other "experts" in Russia. Alexander Vershbow is one such "thinker" and "expert" who pretends that he knows Russia. Read his biography, he is class-A luminary in globalist circles and is decidedly the same type of a "success" (quotation marks are also deliberate) as Strobe Talbott, who passed at some pint of time as yet another "expert" on Russia.
Russians know extremely well who this guy is and his rap-sheet is impressive (by D.C. and Burssels standards) as is his lack of understanding of a set of problems the world faces today--an expected ignorance from a man with a radically humanities "education" form one of the Ivy League schools--and Vershbow being a consummate swamp creature continues with the same ol' story, now as the head of the Atlantic Council. You know, Atlantic Council, another collection of narrative-mongers who are good only at grandiose political declarations and scratching the bottom of the barrel for its set of the abusers of sinecures, who do not know shit from shinola but are into business of advising none-the-less. Vershbow wants to pressure Russia (what's new) and his opening salvo is courageous in terms of outright exposure of a level of fill with shit and sheer stupidity.
For starters, Vershbow doesn't know it, since he has zero background in real "security" and balance of power, that future of the "liberal international order" is really grim since:
1. This "liberal international order" has very little true liberalism in it, but mostly a set of rules designed for robbing the rest of the world in favor of a few "elite" conglomerates of rich and perverted, most of them located in the US, UK and Western Europe. They worry, since the system is done. It simply doesn't work.
2. But, of course, any order requires a force which upholds it. Obviously, institutions are important, such as IMF, which wants new issue Bretton Woods in order to continue business as usual, collecting welfare for its class of leeches who know only how to collect rent and little else. But order, or ordnung, to give it appropriately sounding name is impossible without the enforcer.
Here is where Vershbow, despite his tenure as NATO's Deputy Secretary General for some PR BS, requiring zero qualifications in issues of actual working and effective policies and international relations, has a very difficult time understanding that the "enforcer", mostly on paper, is almost dead. Make no mistake, the enforcer, or the bully, is still convulsing and is not dead yet per se, but as an actual military force capable to fight and win a conventional conflict against serious power the United States is done. European NATO members are altogether a joke, once French nuclear weapons are subtracted from this "order of battle". Russia, indeed, can thumb her nose and Vershbow's version of "international community", because what Vershbow tries to present as such is just NATO, which is about 10% of Earth's population and which is wholesale non-agreement capable. With most of the remaining 90% of population Russia has excellent relations, ranging from China (1.5 billion people), India (1.3 billion), Iran, many African and Arab countries, many other countries in South America.
In fact, once one begins to actually add REAL GDP (not BS which passes at the Wall Street as such) of Russia and China alone, it becomes clear that this tiny block of only two nations has enough economic power to both bury this precious "liberal international order", which does a swell job of killing itself as I type this. But speaking broadly Russia alone can rearrange stones in every NATO capital, D.C. included, without even resorting to nukes and this is the fact that even Vershbow, I am sure, understands. As per Novichok and Navalny's "poisoning", as many observers already pointed out, this Novichok "deadly weapon" is incredibly ineffective--people just refuse to die from it. Remarkable how bad Russians are at chemical weapons. They try and try to kill at least someone with this deadliest chemical and still cannot succeed. Russians now gave up and retooled all Novichok nerve agent production facilities for distillation of a deadly vodka
and sunflower seed oil.
As part of the NATO 2030 initiative, allies need to develop a more dynamic policy toward Russia. The Alliance needs to retake the initiative, increase the costs for Moscow’s disruptive activities, and put real pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to change course, while reducing the risk of escalation resulting from Russia’s provocative military behavior.
At this stage we MUST ask the question--are they really that stupid, in fact, utterly dumb? As I am making case for years--many are. In fact, very many of those good ol' boys and girls with degrees in International Relations, "security" studies and political science, among many, are downright morons. They are incapable of developing anything, let alone "dynamic policy", whatever that means, not to mention putting pressure on whatever. But Vershbow, being so close to a globalist elite, and serving it, must know at least some real score. If he doesn't (it is possible) then he is a brainwashed complete moron--I wouldn't be surprised, just recall a clown Michael McFaul--but if he does, I don't know what he must think about himself putting out such a trash masquerading as a "policy" piece. Does Vershbow cry himself to sleep at night recognizing that he is a hollow suite with zero ability to comprehend what is coming? But then again, such a recognition requires both serious intellectual and moral component and this is largely absent from current Western "elites".
So, enjoy, if you will, yet another excrement by one of the America's (and West's) brightest stars in the field of security but don't ask me why these people are still around. Maybe for Vershbow is not to late to change a career and try something he was good at when he was younger--drums. No, not the drums of war this dude tries to beat in his insult to intelligence, but real drums. You know like jazz or rock-n-roll drums. Because the only field where 90% of modern American military-diplomatic-political-intelligence "elite" belongs is in entertainment, as a filler for long forgotten bearded women and other circus freaks shows at a country fair.
