By Batiushka for the Saker blog
The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest….Instead of enquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted for so long.
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon
Introduction: Imperial Failures
Empires in terminal decline, like the American today, go from one usually military disaster to another. ‘Might is Right’, is the old dictum they wrongly believe in. It happened to the Roman, as described above. It happened to the British, starting with the Boer War, then the bankrupting Pyrrhic victories in two World Wars and ending with the Suez humiliation in 1956. And the French with their World Wars and Indo-China and then Algerian debacle. It happened to the Soviet Empire in Afghanistan, though its failure was more about its failure to deliver on its promises to consumers because it could not finance debt like Western countries. Imperial failure is always a frightening phenomenon.
After catastrophic failures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Empire has now chosen to bet everything on someone else’s country in Europe. This is the big one, not a war against sandal-wearing tribesmen, but against a Superpower with a professional army and the best rocket artillery, drones and hypersonic missiles in the world. This was is in the south-western borderland backwaters of Russia, called the Ukraine. Having lost its attempt to occupy the naval port of Sevastopol in the Crimea and so control the Black Sea, the US aggressor-state has turned the Ukraine into yet another failed attempt to try and impose its global hegemony. At present, attention is focused on a town called Bakhmut in south-eastern Ukraine.
The Bakhmut Bloodbath
Bakhmut (its name is Tartar and is a deformation of Mohammed – Mahmut), to use its pre-Revolutionary name, is in itself not of vital importance. Its pre-war population was only 73,000, though it is a regional route-centre. However, the West has made it vitally important, indeed existential, for the Kiev regime, and for itself. The regime was forced by its US backer to bet almost everything on it. When Bakhmut does finally but inevitably collapse in the coming weeks, with much of the Ukrainian Army destroyed or surrendered, then much of the south-eastern half of the Ukraine could be liberated by Russian freedom-fighters. Some even predict the fall of the whole of the Ukraine after Bakhmut, and its liberation by Russian freedom-fighters. Maybe.
At present the Ukraine is surrounded by nearly 700,000 Russian troops. As they are not taking part in the fighting in Bakhmut or anywhere else, it is assumed that they are being held back to form a future Army of Occupation after Bakhmut. They will restore freedom and normal life to all Ukrainians who want to get of their Western-enforced isolation and join a Free Ukraine, allied with the Russian Federation and Belarus and the Free World of international organisations like the EEU (the Eurasian Economic Union), BRICS and the SCO. They all represent the seven billion, the 88% of the world, who constitute the Global North, the Global South and the Global East. The million or two isolationists who do not want this will flee across the Polish border, together with Zelensky and his corrupt clique – if they are still alive by then.
The Western War Crimes
Since this Washington neocon war broke out in 2014, over 160,000 Kiev troops (some say 250,000, some 320,000; in any case several thousand are foreign mercenaries, notably Poles) and over 20,000 Russian-Ukrainian and Russian freedom-fighters have been killed. This is on top of the deaths of some 14,000 Russian civilians who lived in the Ukraine and nearly 7,000 Ukrainian civilians from all over the Ukraine. Kiev has lost around 50 percent of its energy infrastructure. It needs to increase its debt by $3 billion a month just to keep afloat. A note to the West: this debt will never be repaid. Since 2014 16 million Ukrainians have been displaced – 10 million to various countries in Europe, especially to Russia, and 6 million internally. It is not clear what proportion of those 10 million will return to the Ukraine, whose population is now only around 20 million, with 4 million in the south-east now in Russia.
Western support for the Ukraine, the most corrupt country in Europe, has done nothing for America’s authority. It had already been undermined by war crimes, water-boarding, economic decline, a drugs epidemic, mass shootings, a trashed health system for 40 million in poverty and military debacles from Vietnam to Afghanistan. The ‘regime changes’, assassinations, electoral frauds, black propaganda (also called PR), massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars and military interventions carried out by the United States since 1945 have resulted in over 20 million dead and planetary revulsion for U.S. imperialism. ‘Yanks go home’. Blood lies on the US. Did they really expect to get away with this?
The Last Hope
The conflict in the Ukraine is effectively World War III, or if you prefer, World War I, Part III. A proxy hot war between Washington and Moscow. Yes, the military phase is local, having started between Russia and the Ukraine in 2014. But the repercussions for Russia are enormous. They mark the end of a 300-year period when Russia was enamoured with the West. Now Western deceit means that Russians have lost their illusions and naivety for ever. Now Russia will fight on until the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all those who took up arms and have been fighting Russians for almost nine years are no longer a threat to anyone. The Kiev Army will be routed and Russia will return to its roots of over 300 years ago.
However, the political and economic repercussions for the Western world, held on a tight leash by its feudal US owner, are even more enormous: the end of the rule of the dollar. True, there are those who predict a second military phase between Iran and the US colony of Israel. And a third could be between China and the US, the pretext being the Chinese Ukraine, Taiwan. But nothing is certain. After the coming Russian victory in the Ukraine, all could still be averted, for that victory will be sobering for the Western world. This indeed is the last hope, that defeat here will at last bring the Western world back to its senses and reality. Only through such a crushing defeat for Western hubris can further crazy adventures, including nuclear ones, be avoided.
Leaving the Ukraine
If sanity does prevail, then the US will abandon Kiev. For example, it could suddenly discover, as it just seems to have discovered (following a tip-off from Hunter Biden?), that the Ukraine is corrupt and that, like any tinpot Latin American gangsters put into power by the CIA, Zelensky and his clique have been stealing all that wonderful US aid, the gift of the unwitting American people. That is why Kiev is losing the war – it stole the invaluable aid for itself! And as regards the cheese-eating surrender monkeys of Europe, it is also their fault because they refused to back the US to the hilt, especially those funny Hungarians, Croats and other Non-Anglo-Saxon traitors who could not keep control of their revolting (in both senses for the neocon elite) peoples.
So, as honest people, the US will regretfully be obliged to ‘do a kabul’. The US will be freed from all further subsidies for the Ukraine, who brought this all on themselves because of their corruption, and will then be able to concentrate on the real problem, that evil China. Hell-holed Europe can be left to sort out the consequences of being forced to back the wrong horse in the Ukraine. Western ‘leaders’ will be falling over themselves to go to Moscow and blame the US for being lied to. Who will go first? Macron or Scholz? Who is the biggest bootlicker in Europe? Who needs what used to be cheap gas the most? The choice is very wide and the bets are on. Maybe a Georgian? Perhaps the alcoholic Johnson will be sent to apologise for ‘not understanding and that he didn’t really mean it’?
Conclusion: Imperial Excuses
Saigon, Kabul and now Kiev? How do you mask it? Mass distraction with a scandal at home? Maybe a movie star could be arrested for insulting a transgender? How about Trump being arrested for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with a woman, preferably a black one, so that he cannot run for President in 2024? (Remember what happened to the IMF viagra addict and alleged pimp Strauss-Kahn in a New York hotel room?). How about a scandal to do with Biden’s ‘forgotten’ classified documents in his garage? But that poor old man, who deserves everyone’s sympathy (vote), will be declared to be too ill to stand trial, on account of a very sudden and unexpected onset of dementia.
So this hero of the US, gallantly acting as President even though he did not feel very well and was disoriented, will be able to retire to Florida and play golf with that wonderful Nobel Peace Prizewinner, Obama. (Remember? The one who refused to close the Guantanamo Bay torture-centre and murdered lots of people with drones). Get the Hollywood scriptwriters to work on something for Netflix. They will find something. Virtual reality will take over. It always does in the US. As for the next US President, there is only one valid candidate: the heroine Victoria Nuland. The first US Jewish woman President. A triumph of diversity in anti-Semitic adversity! After all, she was the only one who as early as 2014 had the foresight to know exactly what the US was doing to the EU. Maybe the CIA could also fund a Nobel Prize for Prophecy to award to her?
2 February 2023
I have been a fan of Batiushka since first reading him at saker. I have no comments to make about the above article, other than thank you for your long service to many of us. But I do have a question to ask. The saker will be closing down his website, perhaps by the end of this month. Where will I be able to find/read Batiushka’s work?
Everyone – please note what the Saker said in his last post:
“Guest authors
Here I ask for your patience, I am getting some very interesting offers and suggestions which I need to think through. Please just know that I am not forgetting this issue!”
He is looking into this and will update everyone soon. Mod.
The same for me 👍
Randy, i second that. I absolutely love Batiushkas writing and prophecies. We need Batiushka and his especial wisdom Batiushka let us know how to read your prophecies which I value highly.
More likely substack with his own account.
Unlikely MOA which is a one man site.
There has to be some western hedge funds that are going to lose a financial interest once this turf is gone.
Dear Saker,
I read that you are shutting down your website, which I consider a terrible shame, please consider selling it. You have something here that that is more valuable than money, it is informational, enlightening, inspiring, encouraging, and should not be allowed to be killed.
Certainly someone will be willing and able to pickup where you leave off and carry on. I expect you have my email address and welcome you to contact me to explore options.
Best regards,
Capitan Kirk
I don’t think Ukraine is enough. First, it is necessary to return NATO to the borders of 1997, and then perhaps further. The armies of the surrounding countries must be reduced to a level that does not threaten Russia, and they must be militarily neutral or side with Russia.
After this shit-show, bearing in mind the ensuing decades of hardship ahead and existing fractures within, it’s highly unlikely IMO that the EU or NATO will exist past the middle of this decade.
Unless Russia-Allies are invited/wish to replace current European energy providers, including infrastructure, Europe should be shunned until a Peoples Party materialises as a ruling Government.
Ukraine is only as corrupt as it’s allowed to be! Approximately 15% of the declared US Government Ukrainian War Budget reaches the country. What of the remaining 85%? I expect a large chunk of it is distributed among US Banks & Corporations, Lobbyists, future Congressional Campaigns, The 2fer1 Party Machinery, Propaganda Outlets and a plethora of Grifters, Pimps and CIA black-budgets (when Kabul fell, CIA incomes from opium crashed).
In essence therefore, in the Grand Scheme, the proceeds from corruption in the Ukraine wouldn’t pay for the US Fat-Cats private jets and meals.
The global corruptor and long-con is/was the US$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Used as a weapon/tool in forever indebtedness. This is what they’re fighting (well using relatively inexpensive fodder as a proxy) to preserve.
European Government/Parliamentary Members should be rounded up and transported to Donbass, either to perish in Bakhmut or face a War Tribunal there. They can have their own graveyards/memorial sites, just like those springing up all over Ukraine with their blue & yellow flags dug into the fresh earth of their marks.
Failure abroad, repression at home. Distraction won’t be enough to cover the gaping holes in western finance; the parasite of global finance can either expand or die. Rejection by the multipolar states of USD reserve currency dominance is existential, so which direction for the doomsday clock at 90 seconds to midnight. It looks like plan A failed in the clash of financialized economies vs real economies.
It happened to the Soviet Empire in Afghanistan But there is a story about that as well and it involves western interference!
Well, if we’re rolling out quotes about Rome, it’s pertinent to note that the “decline” part was baked into Roman sociopolitics well before even the Principate (and sounds awful familiar to anyone in the West): “The oligarchy that Sulla restored had shown itself to be irresponsible, corrupt, self-seeking and indifferent, and no longer commanded the respect or loyalty of any significant group in society. The propertied classes of Italy had no confidence in a regime that excluded their leading men from senior positions and was unable to guarantee order and stability; the poor happily surrendered their spurious freedoms and ineffectual political rights in favor of individual leaders who depended on them for support and who consequently took care to supply their material needs.”
Or maybe we should look to Ralph Roeder’s apt description of Charles VIII’s invasion of Italy: “Swollen by the confluence of so many causes, it advanced like some complex, blundering, uncontrollable force, which absorbed its own authors, and assumed more and more the featureless and irresistible likeness of Fate.”
Or maybe we should ponder the words of the ancient Greeks, like Aeschylus: “You wish to be called righteous rather than act right.”
In all such matters, it never hurts to consult the Chinese, like Zhang Xianzhong:
“Heaven brings forth innumerable things to nurture Man.
Man has nothing good with which to recompense Heaven.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.”
Of course, we should all be reading Walter Miller’s A Canticle For Leibowitz, to catch a glimpse of a possible future for our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren.
Thank you for reminding me of A Canticle for Leibowitz. A search thru my bookshelves was rewarding. A re-read is coming.
There were some giants of prophecy writing in the Sci Fi genre back then, and I count myself fortunate that they were around and I discovered them during some of my formative years.
Be careful, very, VERY careful.
The Globalist, Oligarch, Money Changing Cabal wants Governor Loathsom Gruesom… Nancy Pelosi’s nephew.
When I posted the idea a couple of days ago about Ukraine being thrown under the bus by the USA on grounds of corruption (see the thread under Gonzalo Lira’s last video) I suggested that the distraction story would probably be an impeachment and possible retirement of Biden over classified documents ad that is what looks as though has been in preparation a while.
I don’t see a split with Europe over this (if it happens). The political cost would be too high. The US will want to maintain sanctions on Russia and it won’t throw away the baby with the bathwater – in this case the split of Europe and its energy market from Russia. After all, that was one of the most important objectives of the Ukraine conflict.
As always a good piece from Batiushka. Thanks. I have to find out where to follow all the authors.
Besides that I have a question. Russia sees the ongoing actions as a special military operation. Ukraine sees it as a war. But did Ukraine formally declare war to Russia? What does that imply?
You declare war you hold the baby after defeating it. Don’t declare war, be smart unlike imbeciles and don’t demand regime change. Let people decide who represents them.
Thus after defeat whoever is in charge is responsible for the defeated rump. They take the decisions at the pleasure of the people. But a very big but Russia is always there with escalatory dominance willing to wield the pain dial again if things don’t go their way.. By their way I mean everything it decides is important to it.
If controlling borders with poland and Romania in joint patrols is important to Russia then whoever is in charge of the rump state better deliver. If deciding who to arrest for crimes against humanity is done to Russia’s satisfaction then the pain dial is always live ready to move.
If the regime fails to provide opportunities to survive then Russia is not part of the regime. It’s their business. That’s how declaring or not declaring war works.
If you follow the news, you know that the sanctions against Russia are a joke. Nothing but PR.
A few examples:
India is importing over a million barrels of Russian oil a day. The game is to distill it into oil-based products and resell it to the EU and the United States, which are officially buying “Indian distillates”.
Russia is delivering tankers full of oil to Bulgaria. The oil is distilled by a Russian-owned refinery and then resold to Bulgarian companies … which in turn sell it to the EU and Ukraine as “Bulgarian distillates”.
It is old news that Russian tankers are meeting other tankers off the coast of Greece and other places to transfer Russian oil into non-sanctioned supertankers. Russian oil loses its identity when mixed with other non-sanctioned sources of oil.
Russia was hyper-prepared for the sanction nonsense. Russia used to sell electrical energy to Finland. The Finns baucked. The energy is now being sold to Mongolia and Chica.
Washington’s War – Narrative Collapse. Desperately Seeking Exit Strategies – with Honour.
Rand to the rescue.
https://les7eb.substack.com/p/washingtons-war-part-viii-narrative
Bahaha!!!! Very funny! Excellent article too! Thanks.
@Batiushka
where can we find you when this website shut down ?