[This column was written for the Unz Review]
There is nothing new about empires taking hostages and using them to put pressure on whatever rebel group needs to reminded “who is boss”. The recent arrest in Italy of Alexander Korshunov, the director for business development at Russia’s United Engine Corporation (UEC), is really nothing new but just the latest in a long string of kidnappings. And, as I already mentioned in distant 2017, that kind of thuggery is not a sign of strength but, in fact, a sign of weakness. Remember Michael Ledeen’s immortal words about how “”Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business“? Well, you could say that this latest spat of kidnappings is indicative of the same mindset and goal, just on a much smaller, individual, scale. And, finally, it ain’t just Russia, we all know about the kidnapping of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou by the Canadian authorities.
By the way, you might wonder how can I speak of “kidnapping” when, in reality, these were legal arrests made by the legitimate authorities of the countries in which these arrests were made? Simple! As I mentioned last week, words matter and to speak of an “arrest” in this case wrongly suggest that 1) some crime was committed (when in reality there is ZERO evidence of that, hence the talk of “conspiracy” to do something illegal) 2) that this crime was investigated and that the authorities have gathered enough evidence to justify an arrest and 3) that the accused will have a fair trial. None of that applies to the cases of Viktor Bout, Konstantin Iaroshenko, Marina Butina or, for that matter, Meng Wanzhou or Wang Weijing. The truth is that these so-called “arrests” are simple kidnappings, the goal is hostage taking with the goal to either 1) try to force Russia (and China) to yield to US demands or 2) try to “get back” at Russia (and China) following some humiliating climb down by the US Administration (this was also the real reason behind the uncivilized seizure of Russian diplomatic buildings in the USA).
This is not unlike what the Gestapo and the SS liked to do during WWII and their kidnapping of hostages was also called “arrest” by the then state propaganda machine. By the way, the Bolsheviks also did a lot of that during the civil war, but on a much larger scale. In reality, both in the case of the Nazi authorities and in the case of the imperial USA, as soon as a person is arrested he/she is subjected to solitary confinement and other forms of psychological torture (Manning or Assange anybody?!) in order to either make them break or to at least show Russia and China that the US, being the World Hegemon gets to seize anybody worldwide, be it by a CIA kidnapping team or by using local colonial law enforcement authorities (aka local police forces).
US politicians love to “send messages” and this metaphor is used on a daily basis by US officials in all sorts of circumstances. Here the message is simple: we can do whatever the hell we want, and there ain’t nothing you can do about it!
But is that last statement really true?
Well, in order to reply to this we should look at the basic options available to Russia (this also applies to China, but here I want to focus on the Russian side of the issue). I guess the basic list of options is pretty straightforward:
- Use official and confidential diplomatic channels to protest and demand a release
- Publicly protest and denounce these kidnappings as completely illegal (and immoral to both!)
- Retaliate by using legal means (sanctions, cancellation of agreements, etc.)
- Retaliate by using extra-legal means (counter-kidnappings, not unlike what China allegedly decided to do in the case of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor)
Frankly, in the case of the USA, options one and two are useless: the AngloZionist leaders have long given up any hope of not being hated and despised by 99% of mankind and they have long dropped any pretense of legality, nevermind morality: they don’t give a damn what anybody thinks. Their main concern is to conceal their immense weakness, but they fail to do so time and time again. Truly, when wannabe “empires” can’t even bring an extremely weakened country such as Venezuela to heel, there ain’t much they can do to boot their credibility. If anything, this thuggery is nothing more than the evidence of a mind-blowing weakness of the Empire.
But that weakness in no way implies that Russia and China have good options. Sadly, they don’t.
Russia can engage in various types of sanctions, ranging from the petty bureaucratic harassment of US representations, diplomats, businessmen and the like to economic and political retaliations. But let’s not kid ourselves, there is very little Russia can do to seriously hurt the USA with such retaliations. Many would advocate retaliation in kind, but that poses a double problem for the Kremlin:
- Once a country has gone down the road of illegal brute force, there is no way back. The examples of the US, Israel or, for that matter, the Ukraine show that once primitive thuggery becomes part of your political arsenal you will forever remain a thug and everybody will see this (whether everybody will have the courage to openly state this is a different issue altogether).
- The reality is that double and triple standards have long become the essential key feature of all western ideological systems, from the Papacy to modern capitalism. The Kremlin fully understands that in the AngloZionist Empire “some are more equal than others” and that that which is “allowed” to the World Hegemon is categorically forbidden to everybody else. Thus if Russia retaliates in kind, there will be an explosion of hysterical protests not only by the western legacy corporate and state ziomedia, but also from the 5th columnist in the Russian “liberal” press.
And yes, unlike the USA, Russia does have a vibrant, diverse and pluralistic media and each time when Putin agrees to a press conference (especially one several hours long) he knows that he will be asked the tough, unpleasant, questions. But since he, unlike most western leaders, can intelligently answer them he does not fear them. As for Dmitrii Peskov and Maria Zakharova, they have heard it all a gazillion during the past years, including often the most ridiculously biased, mis-informed and outright ridiculous “questions” (accusations, really) from the western presstitute corps in Russia.
So yes, Russia could, in theory, retaliate by arresting US citizens in Russia (or by staging Cold War type provocations) or by kidnapping them abroad (Russia does have special forces trained for this kind of operation). But this is most unlikely to yield any meaningful results and it would create a PR nightmare for the Kremlin.
The truth is that in most of these cases we always come down to the fundamental dichotomy: on one hand we have a rogue state gone bonkers with imperial hubris, arrogance and crass ignorance (say, the USA and/or Israel) while on the other we have states which try to uphold a civilized international order (Russia, China, Iran, etc.). This is by logical necessity a lop-sided struggle in which the thugs will almost always have the advantage.
[Sidebar: here I want to address a logical fallacy which I regularly hear in the West: when one political system proves stronger, or more capable of survival, than another one, this supposedly proves that the stronger state is also somehow “superior”. This is the argument used by those who claim that the Soviet Union “lost the Cold War” and that “Capitalism has proven much more sustainable/efficient than Communism”. This is utter nonsense for at least two reasons: first, the USSR did not “lose” the Cold War – the CPSU and the Soviet ruling Nomenklatura decided to break-up the USSR (against the will of the people!) and, second, the fact is that the Soviet Union was squandering its wealth all over the planet while the USA was robbing the entire planet blind. How can we compare the two? Finally, allow me this metaphor to make my point: if we would lock up a human being and a hyena in a small empty cell to see who will survive we can be pretty darn sure that the hyena will immediately and very “effectively” kill the human and eat him. Does that “victory” somehow prove the hyena’s “superiority”? Of course not! For one thing, capitalism implies infinite growth in a finite environment, which is exactly what a malignant tumor does for a living and which is self-evidently non-sustainable. So are we going to compare one political system – Communism – which does not rely on growth and which is therefore sustainable, and which spread its wealth all over the planet with one based on (international) “highway robbery” (don’t take my word for it, take it from Paul Craig Roberts himself who unambiguously stated recently that “American Capitalism is Based on Plunder”). Yes, the Soviet system was fundamentally rotten, profoundly dysfunctional and ineffective (only imbeciles or ignoramuses would deny that!), but it was not in any way “defeated” by the West nor is Capitalism any “better” or “superior” (whatever you want that to mean) than Communism (more on this here if you are interested).]
For all these reasons, there is really nothing much Russia (or China) can do about this situation besides publishing an official warning to the Russian people saying that if they travel abroad they should realize that “US intelligence agencies continue their current hunt for Russians around the world”. They also made public the list of countries which have extradition treaties with the USA: Australia, Austria, Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Hungary, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Dominica, Greece, Guyana, Haiti, Guatemala, Germany, Honduras, Greece, Israel, India, Jordan, Iraq, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Netherlands, Nicaragua, new Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, El Salvador, San Marino, Swaziland, Seychelles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Turkey, Uruguay, Philippines, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Estonia, South Africa, South Korea, Jamaica and Japan.
The MoFA concluded by warning that “The Russian foreign Ministry strongly urges all Russian citizens planning trips abroad to carefully weigh all the risks, especially if there is reason to assume the possibility of claims against them by American law enforcement agencies”.
Some caveat emptor before buying your airline ticket, right?!
Conclusion: it will get a lot worse before it gets better
First, we need to always remember that kidnappings are just the latest manifestation of an overall pattern of thuggery by the USA. The attitude is pervasive, and US citizens are not free of this climate of thuggery. Another good example are the outright bribes offered to the ships captains of Iran, to sail their crude carriers to somewhere where the US can literally pirate the carrier. Remember the amazing confession by Pompeo himself: “We lied, we cheated, we stole…. it reminds you of the glory of the American experiment”?
You don’t?
Then here is a quick refresher:
It can almost be rewritten and expanded like this: We lie, we cheat, we steal, we kidnap, we bribe, we extort, we pirate, then we threaten, and then we tell everyone how exceptionally morally superior we are.
Yet a certain limit has been crossed. It is as if their own belief in their own moral superiority has inverted to the extent that their own moral superiority is so big, and so certain, that any small actions of thuggery is allowed to them. This will not change any time soon and even the most innocent traveler must have awareness of this. This is why the Chinese are now openly wondering if sending Chinese students to the USA is such a good idea after all.
So the first thing we have to accept is that this pattern of thuggery will not stop, if anything – it will expand.
Second, we have to also realize that there are no good options for the Russians or the Chinese. In fact, this is normal: civilized actors often find themselves “out-gunned”, so to speak, by thugs, sociopaths and criminals. Over time, however, thuggery is always self-defeating because it is inevitably linked to a delusion of impunity. As for civilized states, while it is true that they are at a fundamental disadvantage when faced by uncivilized thugs but, again, over time they eventually prevail if only because everybody always ends up fed up and disgusted with the thugs. Finally, while thuggery can seem attractive to people with sociopathic inclinations, most human beings need a higher ideal than just unbridled consumption to inspire them. Communism had (and I would argue, still has) this ability. Capitalism does not.
For the foreseeable future, however, we can only expect more of the same. Thanks to the ceaseless efforts of Obama and Trump the Empire is collapsing even faster than it normally would and we can expect that the current sequence of humiliating defeats for the USA (and, of course, Israel which has its own humiliating wounds to lick!) will continue and that the USA (and, of course, Israel!) will have to find more small targets (be it kidnapped Russian nationals or empty buildings in Syria) to kidnap or destroy and feel powerful again.
This will be revolting, disgusting and simply plain stupid.
But there is nothing Russia (or China) can do to stop it, at least not for the foreseeable future.
The Saker
American businessmen should be kidnapped the same way the US does it. One-for-one. Have a “current” list of Americans traveling, and snatch them. When the Russian citizen is freed, the American is freed.
That’s the symmetrical approach.
The asymmetrical approach is to take US officials for the barter deal.
What one or two of these “answers” to the US thuggery will generate is total awareness in the Media and the minds of US citizens that their government is a thug and response will be equal.
Bully behavior is best met with a baseball bat. Nothing much to think about.
Bullies count on the shocked, no response. When you bust their knee caps, they stop the bullying.
China acted the right way to defend Ms. Meng Wangzhou. They took two hostages.
I very much doubt that the Canadians are ‘hostages’. No doubt Chinese intelligence follows smcores of Western subversives active in China spreading dissension and treachery among creatures like the scum in Hong Kong. Picking up one or two rather than following them and then rolling up their networks, is useful in this case. If Meng is renditioned to the US Gulag, I recommend a lengthy sentence for the Canadians and other measures to teach the Ukronazi and Zionazi regime in Ottawa a very stern lesson. Western fascists never learn, never change and are best kept isolated, where they soon turn on one another.
The problem is that the businessmen doesn’t mean anything to the masters of the empire, because being a businessman is not sufficient to belong to the highest class. It is like in Proust, when M. de Charlus speaks about baron Shit and countess Poop, they do not matter as long as they don’t belong to Faubourg St. Germain…
I cannot concur. In the West, and the USA in particular, the ‘business’ class, ie the holders of wealth, land, assets and all real power, are the true ruling class, although they are often members of older, hereditary, ruling elites. Getting their hands on such a Western business figure equivalent in power as Meng will be very hard, so going after former ‘diplomats’ and lower level business figures seems to best way to retaliate. It is a very dangerous path, but doing nothing will only encourage the religio-fascist thugs ruling Thanatopolis DC and its stooge regimes to kidnap even more Chinese figures, perhaps including diplomats etc.
And I see that one group of religio-fascist psychopaths in the USA, led by a God-botherer called Kirbyjohn Caldwell, ‘pastor’ of a Texas ‘megachurch’, is attempting to induce Trump to threaten China into paying up on Qing Dynasty bonds, which they laughably value at present prices at ONE TRILLION US dollars. And, unsurprisingly to anyone aware of US history (and the derivation of ‘Yankee’ from a Dutch word for thief) in the event that the Chinese laugh off these larcenous and ludicrously inflated demands, the suggestion is that the USA pays China for a trillion in US Treasury Bonds with this Qing wall-paper. The certainty that the USA always planned to renege on debt owed to China, and then everybody else, is coming true, to the surprise of no-one.
It will get to an all or nothing point. Trump believes he has been chosen. He is aware of the number 7 pattern entwining his birth date and the declaration establishing Israel. He also won the Presidency with 77 electoral college votes. He has said regarding nuclear weapons ” somebody has got to use them. The US aim is not to attack Russia but to defeat Russian and it’s allied forces in Syria. The troubles for Syria are in no way over. The Deal of the Century is a few weeks away from unveiling. It’s job is not to bring peace but rather to guarantee war. Orthodoxy will face a great challenge from the evangelical eschatalogical triggers embedded in the Deal.
Forget rational actor theory as an absolute.
You are spot on,its the only language these people will understand,Russia has already been demonized for years by the same bunch of criminals and their prostitute Media,why should Russia care what anyone thinks,just take some Americans hostage.
Has China’s reaction helped Meng in any way? China took two “hostages” and stopped importing Canola from Canada which will have severe consequences for Canada’s economy. But Meng is still in custody…
Business meetings involving Russia and China should take place on the territory of Russia and China. This is why I do not believe Russia or China should engage in reciprocal thuggery. Otherwise, where would the meetings take place?
The territory of the US and their minions will become radioactive for any international traveler…
A Zionazi manual and exercise in narcissistic self-glorification and psychopathic acting-out, ‘Rise and Kill First’, by Ronen Berman was published in 201 outlines how Israel has murdered more ‘enemies’, following both that ancient tet-book of hatred and murder, the Talmud, and Jabotinsky’s infamous boast, ‘We will kill anyone who gets in our way’. than any other Western state. And every interview I heard in the local and Western fakestream media sewer was a God-awful exercise in Sabbat Goy groveling and boot-licking, the presstitutes not daring to question this death-cult in any manner, lest, of course, they be denounced as an ‘antisemite’, which, for once, ironically, would have been partially true.
The wretched, unmentionable, secret is that Judaism is founded on eternal hatred and fear of the goyim, and Talmudic dogma and exegesis makes killing an actual sacred act, a religious observance. And the USA, particularly now that it is totally controlled in its ruling elites by Zionazis and Sabbat Goy stooges, has always followed the same doctrine. In the end these Evil swine will destroy all Life on Earth in their lust to dominate, kill and destroy.
Well unfortunately people who act with impunity do not stop unless confronted with an implacable force or unless you refuse to play.
My father taught me this when one evening as the sun was setting he thundered at me when I would not agree with him. “Well then say I am right or get out of the car”. Without hesitation as an eternal rebel was formed within I opened the door and stepped out of the car into a deserted industrial area of town . I Watched him drive off into the setting sun as I figured out the direction of the long walk home. And to this day I continue to do so.
These folks are brutal sadists. No surrender! He did drive back to pick me up later. I suppose he was afraid to answer to my mother or the police. But he never looked me in the eye as he did so.
You make good points, S, but I wish you wouldn’t drag bolsheviks into this. The actions are not comparable. Pretty sure bolsheviks did not make it a habit to kidnap citizens of other countries. Knowing the extent of the crimes of this empire, you of all people should know that equating the two is nonsensical.
You need to read a book on the history of the Russian civil war
The Saker
Yes, and the question is which history does one read and/or believe. There are many histories, not all of them accurate. But my point is a bit different: why even mention bolsheviks? It adds little to the analysis, does not illuminate it in any way, and just confuses the issues at hand.
(And just fyi: in my family, there were kulaks, driven off their land around 1928. Another dispossession occurred in 1941. And yet, I believe it is important to try to understand that era in its complete historical context, without simplifications and preconceived/misguided condemnations. Given what USSR was able to achieve, in spite of being under attack for most of its existence, it seems clear that the topic is not black or white.)
Unlike for instance Iranian Islamic Socialism in Ali Shariati’s Iran or socialism in China, the genuine socialists of the USSR were especially under attack from within all the time.
See for instance; https://sascha313.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/bill-bland-stalin-mythos-und-wirklichkeit/#more-88708
I don’t agree with this analysis. Russia did detain an American for spying after Maria was arrested. They did kick the Americans out of some diplomatic properties following the American seizure of the Russian ones and I believe they are pursuing this in American courts. The renditions and extradition requires cooperation of third parties. This is not always forthcoming and is not guaranteed, even in cases like Assange. Gibraltar released the Iranian tanker and its captain refused the offered bribe. Russia has taken disputes with Ukraine to international courts with some success. The situation is not so one sided as presented here.
The U.S. doesn’t care about the decisions of international courts. They already threatened the tribunal in the Hague, causing those judges to cower. It is very clear, as has been demonstrated in this article, this empire places itself above the law. Isn’t this a simple definition of a ‘rogue’ state acting with ‘malign intent’ as John ‘the grim reaper’ Bolton likes to say?
“there is really nothing much Russia (or China) can do about this”
You are forgetting asymmetrical warfare options. If someone hits you with a jab you could jab back or you could kick them in the knee.
USA kidnaps people (and tankers) they blow up a refinery with a track record of safety issues. Plausible deniability and all evidence burnt up. Remember that shooting up of a transformer station in California? That type of thing.
Lots of options. Just not obviously connected by design.
Moreover, China and Russia would hurt themselves by sinking to this level in the long run way more, than whatever damage their wildest hopes a kidnapping would inflict.
The US is going down, the empire is failing on all fronts and Trumps behavior proves it. Every foreign policy action he takes, in one form or another, tries to siphon money from everyone else to sustain it. NATOs 2% goal… so the NATO countries buy US arms, just to name one of countless examples.
Once the death of the empire is official, someone will need to fill the power gap, at least for the foreseeable future. The reality is some US client states can not function without the US and will immediately look for someone else to fund and guide them. I’m not saying China and Russia seek to be the replacement nanny, but it’s either that or chaos spots all over the globe. Other, smaller states who can not defend themselves, will look to the new big dog on the playground to do it for them. If that big dog is known to bite, provoked or not, they will look elsewhere.
Right now, anti – Russian sentiment is dying all over the world, in spite of the Wests best effort to ignite it. Officials from some western countries even apologize behind closed doors to Russian officials for the behavior the US makes them conduct publicly. In part because Russia does not retaliate, does not lash out, does not behave like a brute, which it has the strength to do, this “taking it” approach is not going by unnoticed and will be rewarded immensely down the road, in fact the reaping already started, albeit small.
Instead of kidnapping US citizens, turning Turkey into the festering wound of NATO and the soft underbelly of Europe is a more effective approach.
Who would have thought that the S-400 turned out to be a strategic weapon?
The Sultan’s nuclear ambitions are incompatible with US/Israeli interests in the Middle-East and beyond.
Turkstream (and Nordstream 2) will shift the balance of power in Europe.
The mere threat of a new refugee crisis in Europe causes headaches from Athens to Stockholm and from Rome to Berlin.
Don’t hate the players, hate the game. Don’t hate Erdogan, even if you don’t like him.
Syria, Venezuela and Yemen were in the ropes but they are not down and out like Yugoslavia or Iraq. The tide is turning.
Yes, the tide is turning, but the EU ‘leaders’ are not afraid of a flood of immigrants as long as Erdoğan can be blamed for it.
My father told me that the secret of winning a fight is not how many times you get knocked down but how many times you get back up. My father was not the only father who was aware of that truth.
There was something else I learnt in the army, and that is you do not attack your enemy at his strong point, but rather his weakest point. What is America’s weakest point?
How about ‘their’ terrorists still in Syria. And perhaps one of them could remember who shot John Kerry.
A couple of points.
I remember Saker (and some others) telling the story of “why” the terrorists back in the past never seemed to attack Soviet targets.That one time they did do that.And a while after that the gang members involved turned up in “pieces” delivered to their leaders headquarters.After that Soviet personal were off the target list. Its one thing to want to be seen as law abiding.And its another to be safe from attack.The Soviets chose to be safe.Russia and China should consider that in dealing with the West.In the West ,Russia and China will never be seen in a good light by the populace over this issue of the kidnappings.The Western media will control how that issue is seen.The elite in the West know the truth,they just don’t care.So Russia and China gain nothing by not retaliating.
” This is why the Chinese are now openly wondering if sending Chinese students to the USA is such a good idea after all “.
I have always though that was a horrible idea for the Chinese and the Russians to have their students studying aboard. That is one of the prime methods the US uses to co-opt the elite classes in foreign countries. They take the youth,Americanize them,and then they either stay in the US/West. Which is a “brain drain” from China and Russia,or they return home and join the 5th column there. That doesn’t “always” happen.But it is very successful for the US.When during the “modernization” of Japan.The Japanese used to hire top Western teachers to work at schools in Japan.That way the majority of their elite students would be educated in their homeland.
This brutal game is an invitation to a game of escalating tit for tat – and is designed to en-strangle the so-called ‘adversary’ to kick back in worthless reactions against the bullying thug. From what I see, both Russia and China (and of course Iran) are playing this game with some elegance, reaction always measured, where it can do most harm, but not overstated and emotionally worthless. This is about the only way to *not* get en-strangled in the game, because it is designed for that specific thing, to get what they see as their adversary into worthless, non-productive escalating tit for tat activities, like making a war against the Ukraine which Russia was invited to do on numerous occasions and putting troops in Hong King which China is invited to do. Joining the schoolyard thug only stops one from doing something else, something worthwhile and productive.
Restraint, if done well, is an active defense.
Showing restraint is a frustrating process of active defense and is not passively accepting the thugs antics and it takes time and the patience of Job. But it does not abandon productive activities to join a fight that the thug invites you to. Eventually, if the thugs do not find sufficient reaction on their taunts, bribes, kidnapping and so on, they will turn on their own people, because a thug remains a thug wanting to do thuggish things and will turn to the easiest adversary. I don’t want to necessarily jump on Trump, but he is modelling this thug behavior on a daily basis in his tweets, jumping on the easiest adversaries.
This active defense of restraint is now bearing fruit in Venezuela, where one Guido is now up for treason charges – not for his political activities, but for aiming to deliver Venezuelan assets to transnational corporations. It looks like they’ve got him and his cronies dead to rights and right between the eyes. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Guaidos-Illegally-Negotiating-Venezuelan-Resources-Saab-20190906-0007.html
In the “public the list of countries which have extradition treaties with the USA” The saker omits two crucial territories: The province of Téiwan and The special administrative Zone of Hòngkóng/Xiānggǎng. Hòngk´ng likewisa has an extradition treaty with Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as far as I remember without any limitation to what crimes the extradightees may be accused of.
The assumed bill for extradition arrangements with Mainland China and the province of Táiwan in the draft version clearly specifies that only suspects accused of crimes that are not minor misdemeanors and clearly crimes punishable by jail detention, fines or the alike in Hòngkóng may be delivered to Bĕijing and/or Táibĕi for sentencing.
Also, it shold be of interest to know whether or not The special administrative zone of the Adelson &caetera gambling den Macau/Aòmén has or has not like agreements with The US, GB or Portugal, and what their situation is vis-à-vis Táibĕi- and Bĕijing-led criminal justice authorities.
丘不如/Qiū Bù’rú,
I am sure Canada has the provisions which you mention and yet they are looking to extradite Meng to face punishment in tbe US for something that is not a crime in Canada..
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/double-criminality-issues-in-meng-case-unlike-run-of-the-mill-extraditions-lawyer
My country, Serbia extradited Milosevic even though it was against the constitution. Djindjic, the politician who fast-tracked the extradition (after a quick constitutional amendment) got himself assassinated. Live by thug rule, die by thug rule.
I think Russia should not “retaliate” and it will not. Here some reasons:
1) Russia might sack some CIA agents on its territory and offer to exchange them for Russian citizens. But it will never begin to abduct people the same way the US does, under which pretext whatsoever. Russia has become not only a protector for countries like Syria and Venezuela, its influence depends on his moral standards too. It is a more reliable partner and ally than all the Western countries. Russia won’t risk that positive image they have. What would the brilliance of Mr. Lavrov be worth internationally, when at the same time Russian secret services do exactly what the “Western world” does while framing Russia to do exactly that?
2) Russia knows it is at war. In war no one “retaliates”. No one is bombing a village to “send a message”. Only morons from the US and Israel do that and some of them still think about why they can’t win wars. In a war, when you are attacked at one point and attack yourself on another it is not for “retaliation” – it is because you have the chance to inflict more damage to your enemy than your enemy inflicts on you. You probably would hit the same soft spot whether you were attacked or not.
3) If Russia “retaliates” then always in a manner, that achieves two things: First, Russia benefits. Second, let the other side look stupid. Take the measures against agrar products from the West – they inflict much more damage on Western economies than the sanctions of the West could on Russia. “Retaliation” is more a symmetric thing. Russia doesn’t do that.
4) Russia can do much more damage with a complex diplomacy than they could with a strike of a few iskanders: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/05/erdogan-ill-let-syrian-refugees-leave-turkey-for-west-unless-safe-zone-set-up
Does anyone think, Turkey can establish a safe zone in Syria without the Russians permit it? Look at this article, Erdogan presses the EU to stand against the US in Syrian matters….THAT is a hard blow, we will see, how they manage it. Do you think, Turkey would risk such a standoff without the S400 in place, without “blue stream”…. But Russia did not do that to retaliate for anything. They did, because it is right.
I conclude: Russia makes its steps. Most of them are cleverer than anything the West could do. They will make more of these clever steps, whatever the West does. Even if the West does nothing, Russia will do what it finds advantageous for itself as long the international law allows for it.
Thanatopia and its stooges are so used to ruling by lies, treachery, threats and violent aggression, that they are no longer capable of diplomacy. They see themselves as Chosen People with the best system of governance ever possible, and all other cultures and civilizations as inferior and populated by untermenschen who only wish, hopelessly, to become Western ubermenschen. Thanatopia does not do compromise, or mutually beneficial arrangements(‘You are either with us (and licking our boots) or against us (and we will kill your people and destroy your country)’. As one of Thanatopia’s planning documents, ‘The Clash of Civilizations’, made plain, Thanatopia intends attacking and subjugating every other civilization on Earth and imposing their economic exploitation system on them and their people, and because, simply put, the Judeo-Christian elites of the West are Death-worshippers for whom killing and destruction are religious acts of tremendous significance.
China did well in counter-kidnapping the Canadians (or Americans, whatever) using “legal” excuses. Russia should do the same.
An eye for an eye….as long as the nukes aren’t flying, all is fair in love and war.
The Russians and the Chinese have a lot to learn from one another :-).
Fire needs three things to exist, yes? Fuel, oxygen, heat. Deprive it of even one of these things, and it is extinguished. Applying this idea to the empire’s behavior (in much the same way a firefighter does with any blaze) will be effective. This strategy is well within the range of abilities of the world powers. Add to this the exercise of self defence (which is very clearly within the capabilities of the rest of the powers) , and it is only a matter of time before the empire’s aggression collapses (in much the same way that the nazi war machine collapsed and was defeated).
Yes, there actually is something the decent, civilized nations can do to stop the thuggery; something more powerful than any possible empire gambit… namely speed up the destruction of the Almighty Dollar. There is no way to bribe ship captains or whoever without lots of Dollars being rapidly printed up. Once the Dollar looses its reserve currency status and becomes recognized for what it is, namely worthless, the empire will collapse like the sack of hot air it really is.
Good Lord! Will you buy a used car from this man? A Commission on Unalienable Rights he just launched. I think I’m going to tweet back at him, informing him not to speak for me! I log out of this program, turn off the channel, opt out! :-) Would someone put a sock in his mouth, superglue his fingers or just stuff him into a closet somewhere!
Secretary Pompeo
Verified account @SecPompeo
Our proud tradition of unalienable rights sits at the core of our founding and exemplifies us as Americans. That’s why we speak out on behalf of the people of Iran, Venezuela, China & all nations who deserve their God-given freedoms just as much we do.
Secretary Pompeo
Verified account @SecPompeo
17h17 hours ago
For decades American diplomats have set the standard for human rights leadership, always taking up the cause of the vulnerable, but we can’t become complacent. We owe it to all Americans to uphold this noble tradition of leadership to secure unalienable rights at home & abroad.
Secretary Pompeo
Verified account @SecPompeo
15h15 hours ago
To help protect unalienable rights in a world often bent on violating them, I launched the Commission on Unalienable Rights in May. I’m confident it will help me better advance America’s ideals and interests around the world.
https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1170060776436117506
All one really needs to do is convince him that his/Americas “ideals” are defective. Since the case has already been tried in universal court and been proven, all one needs is to get the info to his “people” and that should quell the desires of his confidence. This is not a question of rocket science, its a failure to communicate.
Why should we believe anything Pompeo says when he’s so proud of lying, cheating and stealing?
Pompeo should just shut up. He does not represent the convictions of most Americans, who want to get out of all those international predicaments. he is an ass braying to other asses.
So obscenely hypocritical and fallacious as to be absolutely hallucinatory. These monsters are undoubtedly the most deranged thugs ever seen, anywhere, ever. The purest and most poisonous Evil possible. Mind you, such lunacy is the belief of all US elites, and much of the population, to one degree or another. Makes Caligula seem almost level-headed.
Perhaps, Pompeo told only this time in his entire life the truth.
If Russia doesn’t retaliate, it will only encourage the out of control empire to kidnap more Russians. In fact, that is exactly what the empire has been doing.
There is retaliation and retaliation.
The sad part for the current US regime is that they fail forward all the time. Could one have imagined that the State Department would have been incapable of bribing a sailer in the Grace-1 Tanker, see in Clinton time, let alone in the 60’s?!
When USG can’t intimidate an individual from a third world country without any major government backing, it is only logical to take an even bigger bite that they are incapable of chewing: let’s Russian & Chinese industrialists will capitulate, where Iranian & Indian sailors refuse, obviously.
While, “… there is nothing Russia (or China) can do to stop…“, the slide of the empire into barbarism, i.e. systematic transgression of law, including their own, thuggery, and escalating wanton destruction of the biosphere that has created us and nurtured us to the current level of self-aware ‘intelligence‘, there is plenty Russia and China are doing to prepare for the inevitable collapse of the empire and the drastic fallout from this impending event.
But as you have correctly noted, the tiny minority quorum of psychopathic affiliates have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, demonstrated dedicated extremist hatred of humanity, the 99%+ (yes, some of those in the top 1% of socio-economic standing have not completely surrendered to the darkness).
So, there are many things that humanity can do, and first and foremost among the top items of the to-do list, is to develop and implement better methods of spreading the facts to the 99% about what is really going on, i.e. the war against humanity.
Relating to our latest report by our host, we see that this kidnapping tactic, and the umbrella of thuggery tactics in general are being done in the open, and perception ‘managed‘ by the mainstream propaganda agencies, in a way that:
a. discounts for the overt transgression(s) against international law
b. creates artificial justification for the actions
c. enables the expedient ‘drop‘ from consciousness, so that few dwell upon the event long enough to recognize the Orwellian irony in it, and the inherent threat to everyone in the criminal activities of ‘the state‘*. (* the state usurped by the tiny extra-national quorum of psychopathic affiliates)
The bottom line:
We need to create methods of getting the real news to the people, and further, obtain the real bombshell information/evidence to catalyze popular motivation to reform the system.
You may not have noticed, but the mainstream media in the west has been failing for quite some time. That failure is exponential in nature. On person notices the lies, tells another and they each tell another, who in turn all tell another, and so it goes, just like the grains of rice multiplying on the chess board. In the final iteration the number of those knowing the truth will equal all the souls on the planet, and history tells us it never needs to get that far before those in charge get their marching orders from the masses.
The internet is a major player in how this has come about. When they try to shut it down is when we will know they are about to fall.
The nature of exponential progression is poorly understood by the human brain because that brain prefers linear thinking, and thus often predictable events are often seen as surprising. The end of the psychopaths reign will be seen as a shocking surprise by most, but it won’t be, just as the many previous pogroms were the inevitable result of overreach by greedy, narcissistic, evil people who thought they were better than everyone else.
The real trick challenge is to have something good and sound ready to replace them. Something that hopefully takes into account all the lessons history, recent and distant, has to teach us about psychopaths and their lust for power, the risks and frailties of party dominated “democracies”, and the dangers of letting disciples of Mammon get control of nation states.
Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth. The Meek can, but they really need to get their shit together or they will have to suffer yet another round of chaos, collapse, rebuilding and greed as the psychopaths gather the far flung herd back together for harvesting.
Maybe the earth Jesus refers to is spiritual, and the meek already inherit it. What you see as ‘evil’ is an illusion of the senses, and unreal.
The Austfailian Quisling class, in the media, politics, business and the military/intelligence apparatus, are all total sycophants to the Empire. You cannot be involved in public life if you voice even a whisper of criticism of ‘Our Great and Powerful Friend’.
One nauseating mantra that the elite grovelers chant with ritualistic monotony is, ‘The Rules-Based International Order’. The fact that this is a Western, Atlanticist, creation designed to solidify Western hegemony over the entire planet, without justice or respect for other cultures, is, naturally, verboten. And, even more ludicrously, the USA’s habitual ignoring of ‘the International Rules’, and its supremacist abrogation of treaties and rules, and refusal to even countenance its obligations under the NPT etc, or enter Treaties like UNCLOS, if they see it as any threat to their power and dominance, is strictly forbidden to be mentioned. However, unnatural selection for craven boot-licking, service to power and prodigious hypocrisy and arrogance, has produced in this country ruling elites so fifth-rate, intellectually, morally and spiritually, as to be almost funny-if you ignore the careering path to oblivion on which they are leading us.
I live in a’college town’ in Delaware. The Chinese presence here is huge. They hit the ground spending: alot of top-end vehicles. They drive BMWs, Mercedezs, Porsches, even a Maseratti, always white. The loss of these students will have a big impact on the regional economy. Our town is over-built w/student housing complexes, to the point that houses-for-rent are sitting vacant. New complexes are still being built, and more planned, as the university eyes expansion. But curtailing foreign student enrollment will mean apartment vacancies, lower tax revenues for the city, and dimunition of grocery store and retail profits. I can’t wait!
On the plus-side, when I go home at 2AM, i see groups of american students wandering around in the party mode, and one or two Chinese on bicycles coming home from studying. The academic ranking of many universities will suffer, but that’s usually of minor concern to the admin; they’re only interested in the high-paying out-of-state students. And their loss will hurt.
Likewise the Australian university system. The official in charge of ensuring the integrity of that system recently identified the Chinese student as a major risk vector in a publicly released report.
In my state the clowns in charge are betting the whole farm on expansion to cater for this market.
I can see lots of tears in their future.
Chinese students are a ‘risk’ only in that they might actually tell some Australians the truth about their homeland, China, principally how it has achieved the greatest economic, cultural, scientific and technological leap in history. That might prove hard to accept for Austfailians because our Free Press is, as ever, 100% in unison in describing China as a Hell on Earth, bent on world conquest, and just as dangerous and Evil as the Nazis.
Why do they come to the West to study?
Doesn’t china have good universities?
Katherine
Ironically, Rule of Law is supposed to be the Greatest Contribution of England………and then its colonies….and Empire……….including former colonies “brought back into the fold”.
Material advantage from developments in science and industry (especially ships, guns, artillery) then facilitated the “hard power” of imposing Empire (the “White Man’s Burden” as the English put it.)…and clearly, even as colonists declared independence……these English Habits certainly rubbed off on them, as they went about securing their “freedoms” while depriving others who might get in their way……..of their unfortunately less defensible lives, rights. property and lands.
WHile there was Law…even in the Wild, Wild, West those not considered constituents, citizens or subjects who gave some consent to be governed……..were generally disregarded by such law
Yet, even while committing genocide through deliberately induced famine in India and other places and disease (small pox infected blankets for the North American Indian tribes, worked quite well to finish off all resistance!) some of the colonized peoples, in true Bettelheim Syndrome fashion….still admired English Rule of Law and Colonial Administration………..much the same way barbarians of old held some admiration for Rome……..as they were deservedly sacking it! LOL.
This is rumored to STILL be a major problem among the “freed” …”independent” elites of the Subcontinent ….the former “Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire…
But back to “Rule of Law”:
While there was a facade of such law for its constituents on the public face of authority…and government DID provide its benefits …………there was also always…from Rome, through London and down to New York City and Washington DC………an underground of Satan-worshipping “elites” whose LAW…for themselves and themselves alone…as the Elect Few…”Born to Rule” from the Hellfire Club of Jeremy Bentham and Britsh Intelligence down to The Skull & Bones Society and the C.I.A was best expressed not that long ago, by Aleister Crowley:
“Do What Thou Wilt. That is the Whole of The Law.”
Of course, when even the constituents of western governments or their children ….are raped, murdered and eaten by such Luciferians…….”consent” starts to wear…rather thin.
There is the wide open flank upon which to punish the Imperial Enemy…………..IMHO...asymmetrically...not “tit for tat” thuggish symmetricity…tempting as it may be.
Rus and China always work with the deep concept of deniability. Why pull a gun and walk through the front door, when you can quiety waltz in and out through the cyber door? They’ve cleaned out enough damaging information about US/UK from attacks on JP Morgan, Equifax, BA, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.
These days, it’s not worth doing anything physical as there’s surveillance everywhere. Cyber, different story. Imagine locking up some computer that controls your . It may not make headlines but sure puts more fear than a simple kidnap. It’s the same feeling one has when their iphone password stops working or Windows wont boot.
Isn’t that more fun?
I think that the importance of US false flag operations cannot be overstated. Look at what the Skripal false flag and a thouroughly corrupted MSM were able to accomplish in the “minds” of most people living in the UK and other countries. You want to demonize Russia? Just stage a false flag in Salisbury, “investigate” for a few days; declare Mr. Putin to be the culprit; call upon the other US vassal nations to support the investigation’s findings; don’t give Russia any opportunity to refute the allegations and, voila, Russia is miraculously transformed into a very bad nation. Russian diplomats are booted out of Britain, US, Canada, etc. and “sanctions” are then imposed. Mission Accomplished! So easy.
Unfortunately, it is almost certain that this is the strategy that US actors will employ in the future, not simply to demonize and sanction Russia, but to outright attack Russia. “Russia” will have to do something especially heinous in order to literally force the POTUS to more or less immediately launch a massive nuclear attack from such a close distance that it might destroy Russia’s ability to retaliate. I think that the movie “Sum Of All Fears” pretty much spells out such a scenario exactly, but this real false-flag attack will likely be carried out by desperate, panicking US deep state operatives, perhaps doing what they believe is necessary even without the knowledge of the POTUS, as the Russiagate soft-coup may (or may not) have been.
If Russian subs and land-based mobile ICBMs could be destroyed on the initial attack, that would prevent retaliation from those forces.
Is the US transnational Elite willing to go gentle into that good night? That is the question. Most recent increasingly desperate US+vassal-state acts seem to me to indicate that it will not. By failing to accomplish in 2019 what they would have easily accomplished a few decades ago, US Elite see themselves as being increasingly pushed into a corner in which they have absolutely no intention to remain. Doing just exactly what is going to get them out of that corner and back into the world’s driver’s seat?
Absolutely! I very confidently expect another 9/11 sometime soon, a New New Pearl Harbor, to be blamed on Russia, China or Iran. Nothing seems more certain.
https://rostec.ru/en/about/companies/145/
VSMPO/AVISMA supply, among others, 40% of boeing’s Titanium needs. Withholding at this time might be critical for Boeing.
First thing to do is for Russia to publish a list of all this involved with the “arest.” This should include the arresting Italian policemen and go all the way up to the US department of justice flunkies. Then state that Russia has issued arrest warrants for all of them for wrongful prosecution, wrongful arrest, etc.
At first this might not do much. But after a while those involved with these arrests will begin to worry themselves about being arre8yhe moment they leave the US.
In Islamic literature their is a prophecy of Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him); paraphrase
“In the end times for someone to hold onto to their beliefs will be like holding a red hot coal in his/her hand”
I’ve lived in the US for about 14 years – I don’t think Americans think of themselves as superior in any way – they understand it’s just a Hollywood etc propaganda – nobody actually believes it (apart from very stupid people).
They know their country is a 3rd world fascist banana republic.
The old ones who watch TV all day and read NYT during breakfast out loud (mostly my jewish friends) are also starting to see the reality of their delusion.
That’s why they are so depressed and can’t wait to get drunk or drugged out – their reality is very hard to bear and it has been for at least a decade as far as I remember.
They are also cowards – I don’t think I have met anyone brave in my 14 years spent there (apart from maybe 2 navy seals in training I met in Hawaii)
This another aspect of the failure of the Empire. A big part of the reason the US military leans on technology so heavily, and especially in the form of air power, is because, Bush Sr. notwithstanding, the US never really beat the Vietnam syndrome. Then and even more so now, the US population is simply largely unfit to fight wars where they’ll suffer heavy or even moderate casualties. With the mass consumer bubble, and the accompanying ethos, that arose after WW2, the US masses have been left unfit for combat. Such a pampered, narcissistic and self-centered population raised on exceptionalism (largely in a white- supremacist guise) is not a very deep well from which to draw committed soldiers from. Indeed, in recent years the military has been hard pressed to find qualified recruits. Most cannot pass the physical and many are too strung out to make it out of the recruiter’s office. Contrast this to Russia with a history of having to fight for its very existence and a population that never has forgotten the huge sacrifices required during wartime. The one drawback is that , while the Empire lacks the foot soldiers to impose its will in the comprehensive way required to save itself (sure they can bomb and destroy but not decisively control territory), the moribund US population looks like it will not be up to the task to stop the monsters atop the US regime from doing something fatally stupid.
Russia and China can hit the Anglo American Empire by asymmetric measures instead of reacting tit for tat.
But even tit for tat can be deployed against the British wing of the Anglo American Empire, as demonstrated by Iran, when it responded to the British pirating of the Grace 1 tanker by seizing the Britzie-flagged Stena Impero tanker.
Eventually, the British bastards had to back down and release the Grace 1, which much wailing from the Americans.
The British cowards are the weak link in the Anglo American imperium.
as a Serb who has lived in both the UK (13 years and the US 14 yrs (as well as Canada – I think Americans and Canadians are more cowardly than Brits.
Canadians are the most slavish and petty/stingy and backstabbing
It’s next to impossible to find a native Canadian who speaks his mind – it’s all about slavishly following the PC master and backstabbing as many people as you need to (or want – even if it’s irrational. I’d say Canadians are the most cowardly of all Anglosheeple . Australians seem the bravest by far
A native Canadian that speaks his mind, very eloquently I might add, Perry Bellegarde. Always remember Canada will never be a soverign nation untill it elects a Canadian First Nations Person as President, not a quisling crypto brit Prime Minister
Unfortunately no nation is sovereign anywhere. The central banking system for one has plugged that for most. Most nations are interdependent on others for imports and exports for goods and services…. etc etc
Secondly every nation of peoples form cultures which reflect a summary of their internal values… Its difficult to generalise between two or more nations of peoples as we judge from out of own culture which is as imperfect as the one we criticise.
Thirdly the political elect we view are groomed out of sight before they are put forward by the external to parliament political party heavily backed by unseen financial and connected elites. To be elected or rejected by the populace.
Sean your own nation of Rep of Ireland. The insurance industry rule …. They a powerful grouping of 6 ????unregulated financial entities who charge what they like …..
This is a little off topic I know …. but this quisling behaviour you cite is relatively common in degrees amongst western elites. And this can be traced to the dying hegemon as argued above.
ciao
China and Russia are not the only two countries suffering from these gangster tactics. French and German business leaders are terrorized by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to accept deals that are highly disadvantageous to their companies and national interests.
The US selectively use these laws to jail European business executives when they want to up the pressure, either when an American company wants to swallow European companies (as when General Electric bought the French nuclear company Alstom) or to stop these companies from investing in certain places.
These acts of extra-territorial terrorism are plainly illegal, but that doesn’t stop the Real Evil Empire. And the upper echelons of the ‘Justice’ and ‘Treasury’ Departments are controlled by aggressive Zionazi Jews, and their belligerence is truly maniacal. They see EVERYONE else as an enemy, and can be unleashed on any victims, from Palestinian charities, the BDS movement, to Russia, China and Iran and their people. Hell hath no fury like a Zionazi.
it is crucial to let the bully know that he will be be hit for his crimes by hitting him back indeed. he must not be able to act in these ways with impunity. yet this is not the 1960’s when the empire was still young and it could compromise in such violence with the future in mind
they backed out when the Russians retaliated by chopping up their terrorists
the empire is now dying however, losing and spoiling for a fight. anything can escalate into the fight the empire desires.
that the empire will fight and blow the planet to me is forgone. the empire cannot afford to lose and lose it must and will. the empire is capitalist and must expand to live. it cant expand forever..its expansion is over. it must lose but it cannot afford to lose. the price to pay for losing is way to great for the empire and it will blow the planet.
in any direction the empire loses. at least some of them know this. the Zionists know this which is why they are losing all pretense, all sophistication, patience. it is my impression we can see what their intent is by these facts. they are going to lose..or if they are going to lose… they are going to blow it up.
it is my impression that the Zionist expect a real holocaust if they lose..they will not submit to the judgement of the goy. humanity is toast
Most of humanity is, this is a forgone conclusion. Yet a plan does exist among the few to further the evolutionary process of humanity.
Weather this plan is sufficient to succeed (or even gain a chance) has yet to be determined, the(burnt) toast does not easily make its self readily available for consumption ergo we may still be in the early stages of experimentation toward the chance to evolve. I must admit that it does not look good for the human race to succeed, so enjoy peak human race now as its all downhill from here on out.
The US idea of capitalism;
When the US cannot compete in business, they arrest/kidnap the executive of the company when he visits a third country:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-italy-usa-arrest/putin-slams-italys-arrest-of-russian-executive-at-u-s-request-idUSKCN1VQ28J
Saker,
Just because some countries use their official “law enforcement groups” does not really mean the activity is legal, as these people are citizens of other countries. Now, if these people were dual citizens where once of the citizenship’s was of an arresting country then the arrest could pretend to be legal. The dual citizenship could be argued in international law, though.
Saker, you write about the kidnapping persons and lying about them to produce results in his favour to maintain the actual government system around the world. You are right but this empire will stumble in a bad way and at this moment too many signs are showing this appreciation.
The chaos produced by the empire will soon reach them .
What the geopolitical strategy of Russia and China coordinating is about is establishing a New Era Rule of Law. The Hegemon has broken out of the confines of the established (by the USA, post-WWII) institutions, rules, treaties and protocols.
As the unipolar SuperPower, the Hegemon has run wild globally for a quarter century.
Its consent of the vassals is based on terror, mostly financial terror via sanctions emanating illegally from the US Treasury Dept. and the US Senate’s statutes. Consumed with Russophobia and, now, Sinophobia, US officials fabricate “crimes” by Russians and Chinese citizens, officials, corporations and government entities.
This Wonderland of Full Spectrum Dominance where disobedience by anyone or any object or construct is punished by the Feudal Lord in Washington has run its course. All the target nations, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, even Turkey, etc., openly defy the Master. They work around the obstacles and containment. They create new mechanisms to replace the old system’s institutions. They pursue order where the Hegemon has created chaos.
And as anyone who observes the global octagon match between the giants can see, Russia and China have illuminated who the culprit, the lawbreaker, the chaos-maker, the criminal really is. Humanity has had its fill of the USA.
Nations are flocking to Russia for alliance, for defensive weapons, for mediation, for protection.
With the international strategy for world development designed by China’s BRI and the synergy of the EAEU with BRI already attracting Iran, Turkey, South Asia and SE Asian nations, Eurasian Integration seems impossible for the Hegemon to contain.
Only its flailing random acts of “legalistic” terror and proxy kinetic terror of radical Islamic and neo-Nazi ideology are possibilities. Its huge military and metastatic alliances (NATO) (Coalition) are worthless to confront Russia and China, or even to intimidate Iran or Turkey. Ergo, we have “kidnappings” of tourists in Europe and extradition of Asian executives from vassals like Canada.
Even these weak acts of a humiliated Hegemon must be confronted with the historic and famous Russian shovel of resistance. Out of ammunition, no other weapon at hand, beat the bully with a shovel. That’s how WWII was won and the fascists destroyed. Spetsnaz units have weaponized their shovel for close, final encounters.
There is nothing to discuss, nothing to negotiate. The boot comes off the neck when the bully’s leg is broken.
Russia wins when Russia fights. Of course, time and place is part of the strategy. Shaping the battlefield is a Russian specialty. We see the pauses and repositions in Syria all the time. With Idlib alone there has been one year of tactical moves, mixed with the harshest use of aerospace force munitions and detailed Intel that is obliterating al Nusra. Negotiations and the shovel!
Don’t put down the shovel. Use it. The Spetsnaz shovel also is a metaphor for “other means” .
Here’s a video of the Russian shovel in training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=wisFUOxVUHs
Well said, my friend, well said.
We are watching the beginning of the eventual end in the facade of hubris. Think of a granite statue that has cracks in the legs and torso that will extend and expand with time and eventually bring the statue crashing down. Problem is the hegemon knows the cracks are there and in my opinion the Hegemon knows it’s days are numbered.
With the slow but steady turn of many nations to the Russian/Katai axis, an axis where all are treated with respect both culturally and legally, reality is the main support of the hegemon, the conglomeration of grovelling bumm kissers known as ‘eu’, is rapidly transforming in to a ‘who needs you’ class, witness the screams from same back in late September of ’14 when VVP put sanctions on them after they faithfully did what the hegemon told them to do and sanctioned Russia. The groans and hand wringing from Poland, Prebaltica, France and Italy were especially delicious to hear as their trucks were turned back from the borders of Russia in the middle of harvest season. To coin a phrase, one reaps what one sows.
The fly in the ointment is as we watch from near and afar the fall of the hegemon, like any wounded and cornered animal it is dangerous, very dangerous. I have watched VVP back and fill, buying time as the armed forces of Russia were rebuilt, and being denigrated time and again for this policy, as new and cutting edge weapons came in to service. The hegemon knows at this time that it’s chance of a preemptive strike against Russia is no longer possible, and reality is it was never really possible without the extinction of life as it was known in US, Canada and ‘eu’. Say what you will, the hegemon’s elite have no intention of committing collective suicide, so it’s only hope is to survive a while longer. You will know when the end is really coming when you see the top echelons running baggage in hand for safe haven….in Russia.
I watched the vid of the trenching tool. For the real truth concerning that weapon, read Never The Last One, you will read of it in action, how and why.
Auslander
Author
http://rhauslander.com
Never The Last One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK In essence, the rebirth of Russian Armed Forces.
An Incident On Simonka https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU NATO is invited to leave Sevastopol.
Great comment!
What should Mr. Putin do in the two minutes after he and his military forces observe a nuclear explosion in a large, eastern European city of a NATO ally — an explosion for which they know with absolute certainty they are not responsible, but strongly suspect is yet another US false flag that is very likely a pretext for an all-out, first-strike nuclear attack by the US on Russia’s cities and military forces?
I ask this question because IMO the US’s expansion of NATO in Europe, its coup in Ukraine, its pulling out of the INF, it’s regime change operations everywhere, its brutal crackdown on any nation, friend or foe, that does not follow US diktat, all point toward an eventual, inevitable attack on Russia and China and the above purely hypothetical situation would be one possible way to justify that attack to its bewildered herd of citizens.
Now if, and I do mean if, Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi also come to believe, like I do today, that an attack on them is in fact the goal of the US, what must they do today to survive? What would the US do today if confronted with that same intolerable, existential-threat situation? (What did the US do even when it knew that it would very soon defeat Japan by conventional means?)
How would the leaders of the other nations of the world react after ” the bully’s leg is broken “?
Jeez, I hope some of our most intelligent commenters offer some answers to this very reasonable question.
Is it possible to determine the source of a nuclear blast?
Can one read the nuclear and electronic tea leaves before the bomb touches down?
Katherine
That is a complex question too big to answer here. and off topic But….
Visit this web site and follow prof steven starr s comments. Its not that easy to transport a nuke secretly and detonate it.
There are huge school s of anti nuke experts out there … some grouped in abolitioncaucus.com (Hope I got that right) Begin here …. (Forget wiki … whatever … sources)
http://www.nucleardarkness.org/
ciao
Another thoughtful and well-reasoned article by the Saker.
I agree that Trump (and his appointees, especially Bolton and Pompeo) are accelerating the decline of empire. This is happening on many levels simultaneously.
The thing that strikes me as amazing is this. The financial, corporate and media fiefdoms do not seem to understand what is happening all around them. Their only answer is more theft, more cronyism, more censorship, more waste and more of everything else that is causing decline.
It is actually amazing to watch.
When corruption of the mind, soul and the rest of the elements of society reaches a certain point, it starts blinding people, deminishing even their ability in self preservation, eventually destroying everything they built.
Its totally natural and has repeated itself many time in history. Still as an outsider looking in to this situation, its for sure amazing.
Well put.
Speaking of America using kidnapping as a favored tool of (economic) terrorism, here is a shocking example of the case of Frederic Pierucci, an executive with France’s Alstom company, whom the USA arrested and imprisoned for years under the pretext of corruption charges as a means to force Alstom to allow the US corporation General Electric to buy up this crown jewel of French business!
This exemplifies extortion and thuggery that the self-styled Leader of the Free World specializes in: kidnap and imprison the executive of a foreign company that America is trying to takeover….
Forget all this Anglo propaganda about Adam Smith and “the invisible hand of the market.”
It’s the not-so-invisible hand of the American Empire that rules the world.
The US economic war on France
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/09/04/the-us-economic-war-on-france/
Incidentally, Pierucci, now released from an American prison, has written a book about his experiences, The American Trap: My battle to expose America’s secret economic war against the rest of the world, that will be released in its English edition this coming November.
Among Snowden’s revelations was the fact that the USA is by far the most aggressive cyber-terrorist regime and the greatest intellectual property thief of all. All completely ignored by the Free Press.
The Saker is apt in making comparisons with the Second World War, as ‘imperial hubris’ threatens us with another. Hegemonic power is the driving force, driving us towards the abyss.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
I’d like to refer readers to less high profile commercial kidnapping that US corporations (in league with US government regulators and government departments) engage in. A significant case in recent years was the detaining for a year of the CFO of France’s Alstom on charges of Alstom breaking US law in third countries. The implied threat and fines to all officers and directors of Alstom led to the quick sale by Alstom of the jewel in Frances’s industrial crown, Alstom’s turbine business, to a prior suitor, US General Electric (70% of Alstom). This put a key part of France’s infrastructure in US hands as Alstom provides and maintains the turbines in all of Frances approx 65 nuclear power stations! Other similar industrial cases have been highlighted.
(Less in the line of kidnapping, but significant, is the way the US authorities have imposed enormous fines on European investment banks for mis-deeds ALL investment banks engage in, while feeding backdoor funds to US investment banks that mitigate similar but smaller fines. Thus most European investment banks have been driven from the highly lucrative business, one of the better ways of extracting wealth from the global economy (UBS and HSBC among the only to survive, Lloyds, Barclays, Deutsche have withdrawn) .
With pindo lawlessness that we are seeing full frontal under the quisling trump regime, it’s clear the usa is mimicing its israeli master. The likudites in israel don’t really care what others think of them, it’s anything goes to get what they want. The sods think they are invulnerable and act accordingly. This how their quisling trumpettes also now behave.
From here on, you want insight how the american regime will act, look to the zionazi-gay far right. This is who has control now.
Khazars can concurrently hold the view that only white supremisists are interested in preventing the destruction of the white race and only antisemites are interested in the destruction of the Jewish race. ;)
Maybe game is on few levels more complicated. Trump is in the centre of “cold civil war” in USA. There is real power struggle on all fronts, specially on media front. Maybe Trump is something like Gorbatschov, he is doing some kind of “perestroika” in US. USA was a tool of world elite for ruling of whole world. But this tool is now dangerous for the whole world even for globalist world elite, and must be isolated from global dominance and processes. How can be do it? For example to prove to the whole world, that USA ARE NOT ABLE FULFIL ANY AGREEMENTS AND NORMS. And right this is happening. Kidnapping, torturing, illegal attacks and wars and especially withdrawing from international agreements witch was did by USA themselves. For example with Iran and recently with Taliban. The goal is, to persuade whole world, that USA are no longer able fulfil any agreements and force vasal countries to cut up ties with USA, especially in EU and actually it is really happening as we see in France ane Germany…
Another provocation from a Zionist poodle :
Canada seizes & sells $30mn worth of Iranian assets to ‘compensate US victims’ of terror.
https://www.rt.com/news/468790-canada-confiscated-iran-buildings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS