By Fred Reed for the Saker Blog
Everybody and his goat are talking about the Ukraine. Why not me? You might ask, But Fred, what do you know about it? To which I would respond, Look, this is journalism. You don’t need to know anything, just wing it, preferably using words you can spell. Admittedly this is more of a limitation than it used to be. Anyway, here goes:
Why did Russia invade the Ukraine? Contrary to American media, the invasion was not unprovoked. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America has been pushing NATO, which is a US sepoy operation, ever closer to Russian borders in what, to anyone who took fifth-grade geography, is an obvious program of military encirclement. Of the five countries other than Russia littoral to the Black Sea, three, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria, are now in NATO. America has been moving toward bringing in the Ukraine and Georgia. After Georgia would have come Azerbaijan, putting American forces on the Caspian with access to Iran and Kazakhstan. This is calculated aggression over the long term, obvious to the—what? Ten percent? Fifteen percent?—of Americans who know what the Caucasus is.
Putin has said, over and over, that Russia could not allow hostile military forces on its border any more than the US would allow Chinese military bases in Mexico and China or missile forces in Cuba. Washington kept pushing. Russia said, no more. In short, America brought on the war.
Among people who follow such things, there are two ways of looking at the invasion. First, that Washington thought Putin was bluffing, and he wasn’t. Second, that America intentionally forced Russia to choose between allowing NATO into the Ukraine, a major success for Washington’s world empire; or fighting, also a success for Washington as it would cause the results it has caused.
From the latter understanding, America pulled off, at least at first glance, an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia. Nordstream II blocked, crippling sanctions placed on Russia, many of its banks kicked out of SWIFT, economic integration of Europe and Asia slowed or reversed, Germany to spend 113 billion on rearming (largely meaning buying American costume-jewelry weaponry), Europe forced to buy expensive American LNG, and Europe made dependent on America for energy. All this in a few days without loss of a single American soldier. This presumably at least in part engineered by Virginia Newland who, though she looks like a fireplug with leprosy, seems effectively Machiavellian.
Next victim, China. Divide and conquer. Or at least that’s the theory. At the same time reinstate the JCPOA and use economic baubles to try to pry Iran away from Beijing.
Here we need some context. Everything Washington does internationally aims at maintaining America’s largely military near-hegemony over the world. This involves several elements:
First, military dominance. This includes the many hundreds of bases around the world, naval supremacy, and the huge military expenditure. Thy latter will be maintained at any cost to domestic needs, and apparently it is going to be increased.
Second, control of the world’s supply of energy. Washington is trying to starve Venezuela, with its vast reserves of petroleum, into submission. Submission means letting American-dominated oil majors exploit the country’s oil. Washington is doing the same with Iran and its enormous reserves. It has troops in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has confiscated Syria’s oil lands, crushed Libya, and so on. Keeping the European vassals from buying more Russian gas through Nordstream II is part of this energy control and an important part.
Third, and crucial, keep Eurasia—note the “EU”—from coalescing into a vast continent-spanning trade zone, which is exactly what China contemplates in its BRI, Belt and Road initiative. This is too much subject for a few paragraphs, but some thoughts: China is a manufacturing juggernaut in explosive growth. Economic power is the basis of all power. China has the advantage of inner lines of communication: it can build rail, fiber optics, highway,s and pipelines in Asia, where America has little access. China has money because it has a for-profit economy, and America doesn’t. The pull of China’s gigantic market and manufactures was beginning to loosen America’s control of Europe. Eurasian integration had to be stopped.
Fourth, the dollar. Washington controls the dollar, the IMF, SWIFT, and in general the international financial system. It uses this control brutally as a weapon to impose sanctions, crippling the economies of such countries as Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and now Russia. Seeing this intimidates other countries. Washington may have gone too often to this well. Having made England, its chief bootlicker, confiscate Venezuela’s gold reserves, and now freezing Russia’s reserves, Washington has served notice that no country is secure from this treatment. Here I speculate freely, but this may prove America’s worst mistake since 1619 as it may greatly accelerate the search for other payment systems—CIPS from China, SPFS from Russia, and the upcoming digital yuan. Washington, methinks, is betting the farm.
So much for the world. Meanwhile, America seems to be sinking into irreversible decadence that muss eventually—I would say soon—affect its international position. As the world’s economic and, laggingly, technological center of gravity moves east to Asia, an internally collapsing America will be less able to maintain the empire. Consider:
Washington’s printing of money, equivalent to the debasing of the coinage characteristic of failing societies, has resulted in high inflation and a potentially catastrophic national debt. This will cause political perturbation as voters seek to find which of the two essentially identical parties will not behave like the other one. Unrest will grow. Trust abroad in the dollar will decrease.
America suffers from a massive and growing trade deficit, largely with China, about which nothing can be done, certainly not soon, because America no longer makes things it needs. Manufacturing cannot be brought back, excep perhaps in niche markets like semiconductors, because the US no longer has the necessary engineers and trained work force, and American labor costs more than Chinese, so reshoring would increase inflation. The importation of cheap Chinese products keeps inflation down,.
The heavy flow of national wealth into Wall Street and the military in addition to offshoring has led to real poverty in Appalachia, the Rust Belt, and the rural Deep South. This has produced some 100,000 opioid deaths annually in despairing populations. Simultaneously large and growing homeless aggregations appear in LA, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, St. Louis, on and on, estimated at 60,000 in LA and 50,000 in New York, making the subways dangerous. Bush world conditions presumably do not make for political stability, as neither does the governmental inattention to them.
Crime is out of control, not a sign of a healthy polity. Some 700 homicides annually in Chicago, 300 in Baltimore, and similar numbers elsewhere are now routine, almost all of the killers and killed being black. To countries like Japan and South Korea this must seem barbaric. The situation is not First World.
America’s racial problem is grave. The southern border is open, the southwestern states either majority Latino or soon to be. This is not as bad as it could be as the races seem to get along, but it imposes heavy economic and other costs. At the same time across the country cities have huge black ghettos with appalling semiliteracy, no prospects for the young, all of this apparently irremediable. Racial attacks on whites and Asians grow in number and so, almost everywhere, do racial killings, mostly by blacks. Governments at all levels fear blacks who they know will burn cities if provoked, which leads tax bases to flee from cities, making things worse.
This adds to potentially explosive resentment. There is a substantial White Nationalist movement, that wants no non-whites in America (a bit late for this), Republican Chambers of Commerce, that want more illegal Latinos for the cheap labor but won’t say so, and the high-tech sector, which wants more East Asian and Indian immigrants on which America, with a failing educational system, increasingly depends.
Overall, government is weak, unable to prevent crime, riots, and looting. Washington does not control, but is controlled, being a storefront operation for special interests. Elections do not change policy but only the division of the spoils. Presidents perform their three essential duties, protecting Wall Street, Israel, and the military budget, but not much else.
Schooling is being dumbed down in stark contrast with China. Excellence everywhere is discouraged in the name of equity. Native white talent dwindles in the elite schools, from high-end high schools through CalTech, as Asian majorities predominate. Measures of talent, such as SATs and Medcats, are dropped or downplayed. English grammar and arithmetic are dropped as racist. None of this seems likely to improve America’s future competitiveness.
Finally, the media are controlled. This allows Washington freedom of action abroad as enough of the public will believe anything they are told by television (The Russians are coming, the Chinese are coming, the Iranians are coming, the Guatemalans….) Internally censorship may keep the lid on, for now anyway, by keeping enough of the population from knowing what is going on. By preventing discussion of problems, or their mention, it assures that nothing will be done. I suspect this is having the effect of winding a spring.
Where is all of this leading?
Biden is playing as if this were 1960 and the US enjoyed rock solid military and economic superiority and the population were firmly behind him. This is the world he remembers, being an aging cold warrior. He seems to believe that he consequently can do what he pleases with no repercussions for America. This may be true, or true enough. Perhaps he believes that Russia will collapse in domestic rebellion or simply surrender to the US. It is not how I would bet.
But—and this is sheer speculation—it is not clear what would happen if Russia cut off gas and petroleum and wheat and such things as neon gas from Europe. The West is accustomed to bombing remote countries, not to going without. Would Russia collapse under privation before Europe decided it wanted to trade with Moscow after all?
If Biden and the hawks decide to play hardball with China, they may realize that America is an economic dependency of Beijing. If—again, very hypothetically—China cut off all trade with America, the US economy would die instantly. Almost everything on American shelves is made in China. An American public already very unhappy would explode, which it is on the point of doing for various reasons. Reflect on the Floyd riots. China would be hurt, but it has other markets and a nationalistic population more united than the American.
Them’s my thoughts, probably worth what you pay for them.
Thanks, Fred, a refreshing article. Call ‘em like you see ‘em. Keep coming back!
pdb
Yes, a refreshing article with many accurate points. However, one point cannot be accepted:
“From the latter understanding, America pulled off, at least at first glance, an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia”.
Not even at first glance did America pull off an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia. All it did was make a heap of covert enemies in Europe. As I have written before, sanctions against Russia are also sanctions against EU countries, the intent being to cancel all trade between them and Russia, especially when it comes to energy. A foolish strategy. Washington DC has criticized EU countries for being so reliant on Russian energy, yet forgetting the simple fact that EU countries had no option but to buy Russian energy, as they could not procure it from anywhere else.
The EU imports between 40%-50% of Russian energy (depending on sources), while Germany imports between 37% and 40% of Russian energy (again depending on sources). If Russia was to cancel all gas exports to the EU, German industry would have to close down, as the Government would have to satisfy the needs of the civilian population. Imagine how German industrialists would react (when sanctions were first introduced in 2014, 500 German industrialists went to Russia, signing trade deals and opening subsidiaries, which now employ more than 140.000 Russians).
Washington DC scored no victory over Russia. The Nord Stream – 2 gas pipeline is still there. Yes, it is not in use, but it’s only a matter of time before it starts pumping gas to Germany. All the other Russian gas pipelines are working, exporting gas to Europe, and Europe is indeed paying for this gas. Only a number of Russian banks have been expelled from SWIFT. However, these banks are using Russian and Chinese payment systems, introduced after 2014, when the first sanctions against Russia were implemented. The remaining Russian banks are still part of SWIFT, receiving revenue for oil and gas, and this revenue will no doubt pay for Russian expenses in Ukraine, bearing in mind a barrel of crude oil is now 130 dollars, and expected to rise.
Sanctions will cause limited damage to Russia, and not as much as Washington DC expects. Russia is only now retaliating against the West, introducing it’s own sanctions. Putin has issued a decree forbidding the export of Russian raw materials. The next step – if need be – would be the cancellation of all gas and oil exports, a nightmare for the EU, where energy prices are already rising. Analysts are stating that should Russia cancel energy supplies to Europe, this would create an energy chaos on the international scene, as Europe would be brought into an impossible situation. It could only procure enough gas if supplies were diverted from Asia to Europe, which would be impossible, as political repercussions would be immense. The US would be unable to satisfy all of Europe’s gas needs, and even the gas which it could export could not be fully transported, as there are not enough terminals in Europe, especially in Germany. All the US did was shoot itself in the foot, creating a catalyst for a rift between Europe and America, which I think is now inevitable.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/03/08/crisis-actors-pretending-to-be-dead-ukrainians-cant-keep-still-and-fox-news-talking-heads-cant-stop-lying/
The above link pertains to an article written by Dr Paul Craig Roberts, who also included a fake Ukrainian propaganda video, which shows crisis actors impersonating “dead” civilians. One of the “dead” civilians was very impatient. He started moving, irritated to be in a body bag.
Nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s from a German climate protest
And his goat?
On a bulletin board at my place of employment one will read:
I don’t want to adult anymore
I don’t even want to human
I want to goat
Just eat all day and
Head butt anyone
Who annoys me.
yep, Nuffield said
Cheers
Thank you Mr. Reed,
…So Biden has gone too far fiddling around with America’s greatness, it seems.
A few other things to consider:
i. The immense blow to US (NATO) military prestige. It has been shown to be a paper tiger. Now, other countries will take note
ii. The immense blow to the US brand in terms of the lack of real international support from non-US-aligned countries (including the two most populous in the world) as well as some important US-aligned ones
iii. The coming immense blow to the US domestic brand as its own people finally realize that the US is a giant banana republic and not a first world country (or the ‘land of opportunity’) – a function of the economic tsunami soon to hit
The place is pretty dumbed down for now for most to realize anything, and the questionable law makers are preparing to make it much worse.
As homelessness is scheduled to rise dramatically in the coming years, the law makers are crafting up a proposal to have the cops abuse anyone caught sleeping outdoors, and we’ve already seen the extent to which the cops will go too enforce the questionable laws.
Unarmed and always hungry these poor chaps dont stand a chance in this land of plenty.
It is time for the new generation to start thinking about their lives in the East. The West is dying in the worst way: it is rotting.
The West will be just fine if it recovers from the egalitarian, biology denying madness which has gripped it at least since the end of WW I. We may even be able to shake off our (((Elder Brothers))). In the interim, I expect even more emotional frenzy and hysteria as things fall apart. Eventually it will all be worth it.
“The West will be just fine if…” If it was going to happen, it would have long ago. Americans are easily the dumbest, most brainwashed, yet arrogant, population on Earth. They will NEVER “get it”!
You are exactly right.
“…Americans are easily the dumbest, most brainwashed, yet arrogant, population on Earth. They will NEVER “get it”!”
Just the kind of bigoted generalization the Nazis would use to demonize their targets.
Quite a few of us Americans “got it” a long, long time ago. But unfortunately, we have no say in this government, which is not a “democracy” at all. It’s an oligarchy, where the actual wishes of the general population are consistently ignored.
Really?
This post is outside the grasp of most Americans, they watch their news instead, to be spoon fed their daily dose of brainwashing. Reading and comprehension are outside the grasp of most, while students from almost any school south of the border to Chile outshine them in any learning field.
Keep pumping up the BS, you’ll need it.
“Just the kind of bigoted generalization the Nazis would use to demonize their targets.”
Really no need to act offended – What was stated is a fact -even if there are a small pecentage of Yanks that “get it”. The point is that the majority don’t care to find out the facts. With the 24/7 propaganda war blaring via MSM the majority population don’t give a shit about the War crimes committed in their name. For that they are guilty -especially if they vote for either major US Parrty.
I lived in Germany for 28 years. Europeans don’t get it either. They are simply a cultured version of stupid. They will scream at you that global warming is settled science and we need to let in more third world people if you broach these subjects.
It really cant though, eventually be worth it. You see its been said and is being proved that the English language its self is the most destructive of all the languages, probably from its sophisticated ability to control people in so many different ways.
So if we do the examination, we notice all country’s using the English language also incorporate democracy as their form of gvt, I cant find one yet that has another form of gvt.
So the destruction potential of the language, (which is very great), has as its roots a democratic form of gvt, which also has a long history of exporting its “greatness” and shows no signs of curbing this behavior.
So bring on the frenzy and hysteria but at the end of this trail is a complete gvt default, so if that’s all worth it you, get your money out and into something very liquid and secure (non gvt involved), before a surprise default takes your life’s earnings and you find it wasn’t so worth it after all.
corrections:
country’s should be countries.
No English-speaking country is a democracy; all are republics or parliamentary monarchies. Big difference.
Wonderful Article, Would like anybody still with Common Sense to read this., Pray for our Nation.
Who of sound mind would pray for America that isn’t American? 9/10 will pray for the US to be consumed in a giant earthquake Siggy.
Think about it decades of genocide and theft. I find it most hubristic of you to think of anything else than burning in hell.
Lots of people in the US and abroad pray for America, mostly that it experience a return to Godly values and thrust out the Beast that squats upon our necks.
You’re not in charge of who’s going to hell, sport.
How could Russia collapse under privation? What privation? All the food they need and all the energy they want. Collapse for lack of fake dollars?
For Americans it is going to be VERY interesting once all those many, many Countries they have bombed and pillaged decide now’s the time for some revenge, and no doubt return of assets.
Those in the Middle East are far from savages and far from stupid. They also vave very long memories, and a VERY substantial axe to grind.
Having an American accent may well become a serious future liability.
Let’s hope that Venezuela & Iran both give the US the middle finger!
Being a white male could be a liability soon, seriously.
It already is.
Aye.
“There is a substantial White Nationalist movement, that wants no non-whites in America (a bit late for this)….”
No.
It’s actually a substantial ‘Black Nationalist Movement’ called BLM…
…cloaking bolshevism under ‘The Affirmative Action Govt. Industrial Complex.’
One of the many “unintended consequences” of all those US- demanded sanctions has been to substantially increase Russia’s resilience, and increase their domestic capabilities on all fronts.
Russia now is in a far, far stronger position than Russia in the “pre-sanctions” era.
Sam,
…This is how it could happen unless Kremlin just makes sure that it doesn’t. Once the West has isolated a country in this case Russia for a good period say 1 year, then top people in the government, military, trade, economy, media, health…etc. gradually, will be offered attractive sums of money (bribe) in dollar or euro which currencies would then have a lot more purchasing power versus the weakened Ruble through their active 5th-6th column networks ala Navalni and friends. Everything else will then follow after that. Let’s hope Russia doesn’t give those who betray their country the chance to do that and show no mercy when dealing with those who give the bribes and those who receive it. Anyway that’s Uncle Shmuel main technique for making troubles abroad based on Washington’s logic that It’s always more economical to buy a handful of people with big money than being forced to buy the entire population of a country.
“Presidents perform their three essential duties, protecting Wall Street, Israel, and the military budget, but not much else.”
True. America has been overpowered by these 3 forces. There’s a verse in the Bible that puts it in context:
“For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” 2 Peter 2:19
America is overcome, in bondage, cursed.
http://biblicisminstitute.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/is-america-cursed/
“Them’s my thoughts, probably worth what you pay for them.” I went straight to the conclusion.
This analysis could have been written by me. And I want to say to the author I am in total agreement.
The only thing I would add is something I just became aware of today – 16% of the uranium used by USA nuclear power plants comes from Russia. If Russia were to tell the USA that it can no longer have access to its uranium, there is a substantial risk that electricity in the northeast would be curtailed, resulting in rolling blackouts or worse. Think how people would react if they had no electricity; would they then empathize with what the USA did to Iraq in 2003, where electricity in Baghdad I understand is available for about 5 hours a day – even on the sweltering heat of summer days?
I think, like Fred, the USA is in a precarious situation. I expect the Democrats could lose up to half of their seats in Congress come November. The rout will be historic. Why would this rout occur? Not because the Republicans would play nice with Russia but because Americans would blame Democrats for the rapid decrease in their quality of life and standard of living brought on by the economic war declared by the USA on Russia.
Fun future ahead…..
There was the hillary and uranium 1 scenario, I want believe those nuclear engineers are smart enough to insist on have ample supply or as a consequence, walk off the job.
Really, the US would just twist Canadian arms a (very) little to send more of Quebec’s vast hydroelectric potential South of the border. Unless it’s the wanted effect (pressure on the US population) Canadians would suffer before Americans. I’m not sure but I believe that this may be covered under the original NAFTA agreements regarding energy, as it is for petroleum products. When requested, Canada has to make up to 50% of its output available to America, even if this would cause shortages in Canada.
Cheers
“If—again, very hypothetically—China cut off all trade with America, the US economy would die instantly.”
Wanna bet HOW hypothetically it would MAY be? ^^
i say, it is not IF and more WHEN.
China is not stupid. Russia is neither.
They both know the US and EU, respectively, are irrational actors out of the sheer incompetence and arrogance of their ruling elite. They know you better not provoke an animal by starving it for it will attack even when it cannot win.
They will make their life difficult. But only to the point of an absolutely neccessary deterrent. Time is on their side. And they know it. So does India, Pakistan, Iran and the rest of those who matter.
The Western civilization, bar exceptions like the German manufacturing powerhouse will simply rot from inside. Slowly and painfully.
One last. People think the German re-armament will primarily prop up the US MIC. It will now. They already announced serious funding for ongoing and planned FR-DE projects. That is where the bulk of the money will go. They know they were played by the US. But remember – they are still an occupied country. The US thinks they can get Europe on a leash. Short term it will work. But long term the West Europeans have the means to become resource-import-independent to a signifficant degree.
EU as an international powerhouse is done for. It was never real to begin anyway. But the EU as an independent player is being born. They will be weaker and poorer than before without the Russian energy. But they will also be less dependent – on anyone.
There is the saying about Education being a farce in the West. This is true for the US, but not so for Germany or France. There the meritocratical system is still surviving and will produce at least one more generation of competent engineers. After that, no one know. But they are gonna be competitive with China for at least one more generation – 50 years or so.
Just one thing – if Russia actually stops energy exports to Europe, Germany manufacturing powerhouse would be the very FIRST to grind to a halt.
This guy is Irish. Just so you know.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/08/irish-man-desmond-wisley-plows-truck-through-russian-embassy-gates/
It is a sad fact that there is no shortage of takers for a dose of the Kool-aid in any western country. It is ironic though that he chose to drive his lorry through the gates of an embassy belonging to a nation that has done no harm to the Irish. A better choice would have been Britain. After all, how many millions of Irish died as a result of that country’s greedy, strangulating grasp, and now we find our government and ill educated, ignorant, emotionally led fools allying with them?
Remember this though, not all Irish are blind and there are more than a few quite pleased at seeing our neighbour being forced to lick the backside of it’s master for crumbs while Russia pays them little mind in keeping with the importance due to a tick on a dog’s arse. As they say, it is the little things in life that bring the most pleasure and I do so enjoy seeing the “mighty” eat humble pie no matter how they may otherwise couch it.
@Michael—–Patterns, Michael patterns. Why do the Irish hate Muslims? They all do and not a one of them denies it, is ashamed of it or can explain why. Do you know why the Irish hate Muslims. Now why should the Russians get or expect a different treatment? It is nice to be fair to people and treat people as individuals but the realities of irrational hatreds born of the blood must not be ignored.
The Irish certainly don’t hate Russians, nor do we hate anyone particularly in my experience to the degree you insinuate. I believe that there are a considerable number of people worldwide who are not falling for the present hysteria, …and more power to them. It is long past time the west got a slap and it is richly deserved.
There are of course always those who will swallow up any lies and propaganda offered to them so long as it is delivered in a voice of authority. That holds true for any nation and race of man. Russia has it’s own internal parasites as well who would sell their souls for a pat on the back from the nation wreckers they perceive as their betters. Twas ever thus. No nation is immune.
I certainly don’t believe that any race of man on the face of this earth is truly comfortable with the “other” in their midst and given the enforced, unrequested and pretty much unwanted mass immigration across western Europe, it is hardly surprising to find that resentment is present in those countries that are finding their homelands nowadays unfamiliar and sometimes hostile places.
People absolutely should be treated as individuals and they should also be asked if they want massive immigration with all the fundamental changes it brings. No amount of liberal social engineering by RTE or western governments and media in general can do much to nullify that which is a natural response, nor does it make the indigenous people of an entire nation racist.
Have you been Hannotized?
I have no idea what that means particularly if it is a word of some undisclosed significance within yourself. However what I will say is that you would appear for all intents and purposes to have a single track mind regarding specific races. Hypocritically you accuse others of “irrational hatreds born of the blood”.
Your contributions here stray too far into the realm of sheer lunacy. For that I expect your tenure to be brief.
Fred, demonizing Blacks will not solve any problems. Lies won’t too. Shameful article.
Nothing that Fred stated in this article was fundamentally incorrect.
Nice to see, that some people haven’t strayed far the reservation.
Demonizing? Noticing the quite obvious fact that when the ‘inner-city population’ doesn’t get its way they throw a temper tantrum and burn down their own surroundings is now demonizing?
Urban blacks have shifted tactics. The recent great train robbery in LA illustrates that, as well as the flash mob looting of expensive “white” stores in good neighborhoods.
I hate to rail against two important pillars of American democracy, genocide and slavery as I must seem ungrateful. Hope that helps bolster a guiltless conscience.
Where are the lies? Is it now considered demonizing to point out behaviors and facts? Truth hurts.
He says what MANY whites in America think, but won’t say in public. The empirical evidence is conclusive.
I have black friends, and even black relatives, who are wonderful people. But, as was told to me by an American serviceman in Panama many years ago, wherever blacks are the majority is found poverty, crime, illiteracy, and a downward economic spiral. Today that is more true than ever.
I have had African-black coworkers who were wonderful people, untainted by the racial animosity and resentment promoted by Democrat party politics for generations. They truly loved and appreciated the opportunity they found in America compared to their own countries.
But the Democrats have enslaved and benighted the overall black population in America. Thank God for wonderful people like Candace Owens who can see that. Racial tensions and white backlash simmer near the boiling point. The coming economic storm may unleash them.
“…wherever blacks are the majority is found poverty, crime, illiteracy, and a downward economic spiral. Today that is more true than ever.” …”The empirical evidence is conclusive.” I recall a song from the great Elvis Presley that had the lyrics, “Yeah, before you abuse, criticize or accuse, walk a mile in my shoes.”
When you read the history of slavery, you feel black…because it’s the human race that suffered the abuse, not just blacks. You did not write anything racist and I don’t say the author did either. “Insensitive”? Insensitive. Most people don’t care to study the history of slavery. I had to in a class. Did you know George Washington once needed to replace one of his teeth and took it from one of his slaves (pulled it)? It’s in the book, “An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America.” The author, Henry Wiencek, is not against Washington. He chased slaves that escaped and had them whipped when they were caught. As president, his slave cook escaped and he ordered a chase now too. Wiencek doubts the legality of this action, unethical for sure. He didn’t like doing it, but he separated children from parents in sales. And so much more from others! When you read the history of slavery, you feel black if you realize that it’s the human race that suffered that, not just blacks. Thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia during the 1780s, but not by founders Washington and Jefferson. Those “African-blacks coworkers” did not experience American slavery and segregation (all the way to the 1960s).
Different races advanced civilization in their own time. Chinese, Babylonians, Egyptian, eventually Europeans – whites – did. A thousand years from now it could be another race and we don’t know which (the economist Ludwig von Mises made this point).
“Walk a Mile In My Shoes”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=852GKr56Afc&list=PLInnQePIhFqaNKU986uoCBgcL7Oooyul6
If you want to read another book, try “White Cargo”.
Message read. Yes, I remember the “indentured” system impressed me back then for how hard it was. Must be a good book, but I don’t like the cover picture. Maybe it’s the publishing house that decides but I would think the authors must have their say on that. It shows a sensationalistic bent, which hopefully just begins and ends there.
No pun, thank you very much.
I’ll look for it when I go to Barnes and Noble next (will just sit with a coffee to read it there ;). I can’t have a book with that cover in my beautiful book stands. For example, it can’t be next to my Thomas Paine collection. It’s that way, it would become my cover. Covers matter, yeah.
How is he demonizing blacks? And why capitalize the “b” in blacks? After all, they have ruined almost every major US city via sky-high crime rates and general destruction of neighborhoods and communities.
There are profound genetically-based differences in traits found across races of different continental origin. Everyone really does know that, there is no use hiding from it. Heck, there are even slight difference, gradients, amongst the various sub-races of Europe (Nordic, Alpinic, Dinaric etc.). Does that mean the strong have the right to lord it over the weak? Nope. Lothrop Stoddard and Madison Grant were Nordicists yet were not Nazis, they rather toothless country-club WASPs.
Anyone who wants to know what real Nazis are like should give a listen to a recording of Himmler’s Posen speech. It is a view into the nearly superhuman efficiency, ruthlessness and ferocity of which Germanic/Nordic people are capable of. There is a pretty marked difference between that and the snooty guys at the golf course.
Well, the thing about his remarks on Blacks is that it basically has nothing to do with the ostensible topic of the article, which is the mess in Ukraine. But I guess it’s reflexive. Fred forgot that he’s not on Unz Review any more, so this kind of constant ranting about the n-words in an article about Eastern Europe is pointless. On Unz Review, it’s a weird kind of “virtue signaling” I guess.
Sure looks like some of the less discerning hangers-on that constsntly trolled Fred over at Unz have already followed him here. Too bad. What is it about Fred that they can’t get enough of?
You must be looking for the Sean Hannity blog. This isn’t it.
Demonizing? Fred was a beat reporter in DC and elsewhere. He’s an expert. You’re a fool.
If you don’t believe him, move out of your delusion bubble and into a $1,000 house in Detroit. You might not change the world, but the world will change your mind.
Racial antagonism is the chosen method the Jews use in order to undermining and weakening Christ and Christianity. The Irish are the henchmen for the Jews. Fred is an Irishmen. That is why he is so fixated on blacks even when it has absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine. And it is not blacks going on and on about the evil Putin this and the evil Putin that, it is the Irish. It is not the blacks pushing for WW3, it is the Irish, Fred kind.
Triggered. Fred’s over the target.
Of course, what you allege here Mark is not accurate and it is plain an attempt to make trouble. There is nothing shameful about this article, except perhaps what is in your head is the only thing I can think.
Robert Browning, what does your comment have to do with anything excepting to sneakily try and infer to what the writer is and on that basis tie him to a madman? Nothing!
Let me remind the few last posters here. This is not Zerohedge and it is not Unz. This style of comment is clearly not welcome. These mindless snipes at a writer at the Saker Blog will get you removed. Get done with He is Irish and He is talking about Blacks and this kind of puerile (Aaah, wait, I’m going to say it), pissing all over the keyboard.
We are here watching the most atrocious racism against Russians, and from the USA’ians, we’re watching it constantly against the Chinese as well.
I’m actually stunned that there still are a few US Americans that I like, and that like me. You can be an ugly, narrow-minded bunch of utter fools if you choose to be and here it is trending that way.
If you do not like a writer and cannot comment coherently, you cannot comment here.
I insist gentlemen.
Amarynth
Saker Assistant.
@Amarynth—- I hate the blood of those who persecute and torment the weak and the innocent. Leave it to God to judge me as he sees fit. Fair enough?
Robert, if you continue to spread a racial message (so and so hates so and so, even cleverly, even by inferring), you will not last on this site.
You do not get it do you. The blood hatred is Gods punishment on those who persecute and torment the weak and the innocent. Why did the Jews kill Christ and are Christians racists for hating what the Jews did to the innocent son of God. Yes they are, and such hatred is sanctified and fully approved of by God. Why did God makes us haters? To scorn and condemn and shun those who prey upon the weak and the innocent. You and some many others like you have been led away from God.
@amarynth—-
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-05/russian-diplomats-in-dublin-shiver-as-fuel-suppliers-turn-away
Cool, your god sanctions hatred. So does mine. I think mine’s bigger. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
Sending love and good vybes. Thanks for all you do on top of what you already do in life. I’ve volunteered many times but never hear from anyone but that’s probably for good reason. Who has use for a bed ridden, soon to die, septuagenarian?
Great post. Much to mull over.Thank you.
“Internally censorship may keep the lid on, for now anyway, by keeping enough of the population from knowing what is going on. By preventing discussion of problems, or their mention, it assures that nothing will be done. I suspect this is having the effect of winding a spring.”
What follows is directed at American readers, but others may be interested.
What must absolutely have to happen after Americans “know what’s going on” — a revolution?
What, exactly, does the word “revolution” mean? Is there universal agreement on what the word “revolution” means? If there is, please tell me precisely how people “revolt”? What would the behavior of “revolting” be? Would those who know what’s going on be picking up guns and running down the streets with their hair on fire, each of them yelling in perfect synchronicity with the others, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!”? Would those who know what’s going on be guillotining some VIPs on the White House lawn? Would those who know what’s going on be marching hand in hand down Penn. Ave. demand, demand, demanding that the Elite behave better, or else? (“or else” just exactly what?!)
Here’s what you, me, We Who Already Understand Exactly What’s Going On are eventually going to have to do because
there.
is.
no.
other.
way.
to remove our (I’m a dual citizen) lying, warmongerng, false-narrative-creating oppressors’ 536 Rs and Ds from federal elected positions of power. (If you know of another way, please spell it out, right here, right now and, BTW, reading another hundred really great books that tell you who’s holding the reins of power in one hand and your balls in the other, wishing upon a star, dream, dream, dreaming; hoping and praying and deep, deep, deep self-study and drug-trips are not going to do that job.)
This is how you “revolt”. If you do not want More Of The Same that you’ve gotten after every election in the past, do not vote for another R or D, ever, no matter what an R or D promises! Jimmy Dore explains EXACTLY why. If you do want More Of The Same when you walk into the voting booth, just vote for another R or D, makes no difference which. (The latter is what the tens of millions of direct and indirect employees of, and the investors in, the MIC are going to do. They’re going to vote for No. 1 and they don’t give a shit if doing that ultimately leads to WWIII………. and, BTW, they know precisely what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82kxhXlM9bI
@ Ishkabibble
What needs to be done will not be done without violent means.
Yes you have the guns, but these psychopaths have been militarising not only Ukraine/XYZ Patsy for 2 decades but your own police force. Their ammo and high tech wmd’s are sure to be used against patriots.
Said this a 100 times. It must be written into your constitution that no one who has attended Harvard, Yale, Oxford & Cambridge (UK ) , the breeding grounds of subversion/imperialism, can stand for higher Public Office.
Successive Governments have bailed out mediocre Financial Institutions at your, the general public’s expense.
The Illusion of choice, Obama or McCain, Obama or Romney, Clinton or Trump, all unqualified to run for POTUS.
Still the No.1 Enemy is The Federal Reserve and the Financial-Corporate-MIC vultures sucking on the public teat in the money merry-go-round revolving door of power and gluttony.
If there is a ” Revolution”, it will be an orchestrated power grab like most revolutions. I am exactly the type of American you describe as instigating this glorious “Revolution” and don’t want to be near any bullshit “Revolution” when it comes. My concern is my life and my family. This doesn’t mean I won’t kick the corpse if I get a chance, but Revolutionary zeal for any of this. No thank you.
The US used to have nuclear superiority with a little sister in England and iffy allies in France and Isreal. Now sanctions and the threat of sanctions are driving a group of nuclear armed nations together :Russia, China, India and Pakistan. America now faces a group of countries they have alienated with bigger bombs, bigger total population and bigger collective economies. Power is shifting to Asia.
Thanks Fred. We are about the same age and I hold very simitar views. I have never been to Ukraine but my roommate for four months 10 years ago when I was in China learning the language was from Ukraine. And there was a tall girl who was from Odessa. They spoke Russian. He was a masseur for the Ukrainian Olympic team. We spoke the little Chinese we knew at the time.
Every week you can peruse the internet and find fifty decent descriptions of what’s wrong with America, and this is a decent one I guess. But the tragedy is that there’s not a thing anybody can do about any of it because of this horrible rotting corpse called “democracy” that has the country locked in an embrace. Occasionally you can vote for an outlier like Trump, and then watch him sit around for four years not doing sh*t. The political class is corrupt and dumb beyond imagining, but that’s all you’re allowed to vote for.
This trolley will go to the end of the line, and it won’t be pretty.
This is a pretty good description as to why things are bleak and any way out looks doubtful.
Thanks Mr. Reed. Your opening sentence made me laugh which is rare these days. You have summed it up in a few paragraphs what would have taken many pages for others to do. That is a talent!
“and the high-tech sector, which wants more East Asian and Indian immigrants on which America, with a failing educational system, increasingly depends.”
This is nonsense., There is no STEM shortage in the US, and never has been. Companies hire Indian workers because they can get away with paying them lower wages.
As a well educated American high school chemistry and physics teacher, still involved with education both nationally and internationally, I can tell you the decline in American STEM education is real.
But that doesn’t actually contradict what Ben said. Whether or not the “decline in American STEM education” is real, there still is not a shortage of STEM workers. The problem is simply that Indians will accept lower pay, because part of their compensation package is the right to be in our country.
You only need to look at the names on publications. The majority are either Chinese, or East Asian.
The situation in China now is that those STEM Students who are not good enough to get into Chinese Universities end up in American Universities – where the admission standards are lower. Let THAT sink in for a minute.
As for the oft-repeated comment that the Chinese publish less – they publish less in English-Language Journals, however they publish a tidal wave of papers and reviews in Chinese-language journals. The Chinese publish for Chinese consumption, and to say a Country with, e.g., more supercomputing capacity than anywhere else on the planet is “behind” the West is pretty laughable.
They are behind. Not in the low and mid-tech fields but in the high-tech ones they are.
What you describe is that they have a bigger engine and will catch up and overtake the US. That is true.
But their time has not yet come on the technology side. They need a decade to catchup at a minimum. Likely two decades on the semiconductors/nano-materials side.
So good to read such comments. Proves how blind people are. Makes matters much easier for the Chinese to surpass you.
I have a 14 year old US stem student. No homework. 4 classes. Supposed to graduate with a pilot’s license. These kids can’t wipe their ass. My kid lies about homework and gets straight As. It’s pathetic. I look at his comp history and it’s video games all day long. 1 or 2 assignments that aren’t completed. It’s BS.
Brilliant clear simply written article. Should be read by every journalist and military person everywhere
Another Anglo cry baby, when every invention in the Us did not derive from a white. How redundant. Hey, maybe revive the old Nazis they’ll help with whatever past pride to ascribe too. Or I know return the billions of wealth stolen from Latin America, maybe that’ll make you great again.
The western countries are like a bad western movie. The mayor is corrupt, the sheriff is corrupt, the judge, the business owners all in one big racket terrorizing the population. Better start looking for a pale rider or a Shane character to get rid of the bad guys cause this nightmare isn’t going to end until the people of the west put it down like the rabid dog it is.
Since we are witnessing an absolute orgy of deplatforming cancelling or right out censorship these days, I am not gonna give the demons a chance to try and slap this website with some legal action – so I am unable to say what I would like, but I think I can suggest some of my thoughts:
What da eff are all ya all waiting for? Dont you see whats coming Your way? Get ahead of it, even if by just one step, derail the locomotive and step out of the way!
Good luck Brothers!
Fred you are back, thanks for this post
Virginia Newland? Try Victoria Nuland, formerly Nudelman, a zio-fascist pig! Missing the name of the chief architect of the Maidan debacle in 2014, makes me wonder about your research!
That was a joke
It coulda been a typo, or an error of dictation. Mr Omniscience. Fred’s eyes are all screwed up from an incompetent military Opthamologist and he may do machine dictation now which often causes misspelling. So lighten up.
Fred,
Incredible article! Keep up the good work and keep publishing here.
You touched on all the main points. America’s main weapon is the weapon of economic sanctions. People think they can’t use it this time against Russia because Russia is too big and too indispensable to the global economy. But who knows, as they say – “who the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad”
The American deep state has become a bit mad methinks. If it does sanction all things Russia – and the media propaganda already seems to be building for that, it will bring about an end to the dollar and the power of its sanctions.
The fat lady hasn’t sung yet!
A fairly sound appraisal of the American dilemma.
Dear Fred,
Wow, had been missing your stuff as you vanished fron Unz a while back. Then yesterday I found you had popped up on another blog and had been writing all along. Then in less than a day you show up here at the Saker. Great stuff, I couldn’t agree more. Hope to see the next one. Saludis de Ags.
As a former Yank, now long time citizen of Oz, I always look forward to your posts, Fred. Please keep them coming. I predict that winds from hell will be blowing with increasing frequency across the American heartland in the coming years, and your take on that will be appreciated.
As an Australian Citizen who hates the hell out of our stupidly belonging to 5 Eyes I hope you realise we are living with War Mongering Politicains who back the USA to the hilt ! The propaganda & BS from our idiot PM is beyond insane & it’s nauseuting!
Bottom line you’ve done well getting out of the frying pan but you could off picked better :)
It’s time to retire the notion that excessive money creation is the cause of the current inflation. Firstly, The US has been aggressively expanding the money supply since 2008, and inflation was nowhere to be seen until the past year. Secondly, inflation is occurring all over the world, not just in the US. Surely, countries using their own sovereign currencies should not be so affected by US monetary policy.
The underlying cause of our current inflation is a shortage of supply. Supply chain interruptions resulted from the world economy emerging from the recession and the transport infrastructure being unprepared to handle the load. In addition, sanction-induced cut-offs in petroleum, wheat and a whole variety of raw materials needed by industry will make supply shortages even worse.
The world actually experienced a similar, though less severe, problem in the late 1970s. It was called “stagflation, and it followed directly on the heels of an OPEC oil embargo in 1974. Stagflation featured high inflation paired with slow economic growth. History is repeating itself, this time with a vengeance.
The US Government HATES Americans. Hates them.
I mean, they hate everyone, but they especially hate us.
They hate us so much, John Brennan, former CIA Director,
told MSNBC in early 2021 that Conservative Americans were like Al Qaeda and would be treated as such.
He then declared that Conservative Americans, especially white ones, will be hunted down and droned as they did to Al Qaeda in the ME.
Last year, I watched a fantastic Russian movie called Dear Comrades!.
In the movie, an older gentleman, who had suffered many horrors in Russia said something like
“Maybe the USA will just bomb us and put us out of our misery.”
I thought to myself, “Wow, how the tables turn.”
I’ve fantasized about Russia nuking Washington DC on occasion.
I’m having fantasies now that once Russia concludes in Ukraine,
they’ll come and liberate us Americans LOL
OR, maybe those of us who decide to escape will seek refuge in Russia.
It would be nice to live in a place where the politicians and governments, even if corrupt,
don’t do everything they can to destroy their own citizens and nation.
you have friends in the west Russia.
you are not alone.
we see what our politicians are doing.
we spread the word, and educate the blind.
your cause is just.
I don’t think the west will explode. The media are better controlled than in the USSR! I think what’s probably going to happen will be a very slow death scenario of the western world. We will witness a more fractured, more racist society… What is really ugly is that the Western elites until the end will see in this slow death and its symptoms additional tools of control and manipulation of the popular masses. The slightest activism in the West is increasingly, and has been so for a very long time, a well-framed and instrumentalized activism. One proof is the so-called Black Lives matter. Where is it when Blacks are treated like Russian speakers in Ukraine?
I speak of this to say that the protest around Floyd was just another tool in the hands of the elite that rules the West. This elite which kills the soul of Western peoples, and which wants to attack the souls of other peoples, and which has succeeded in the past in killing the souls of certain peoples. I believe that Western peoples are paying today for their complicit silence during the crimes committed in their name… A silence and a complicity that the genocide of Russian speakers in Ukraine has just brought to light again!
P.S There is still time to move to Russia, Asia…
“If Biden and the hawks decide to play hardball with China, they may realize that America is an economic dependency of Beijing. If—again, very hypothetically—China cut off all trade with America, the US economy would die instantly. Almost everything on American shelves is made in China. An American public already very unhappy would explode, which it is on the point of doing for various reasons. Reflect on the Floyd riots. China would be hurt, but it has other markets and a nationalistic population more united than the American.”
One can only hope that Putin & Xi Jinping worked out the ultimate response & hope like hell they impliment it ASAP. They have to finish NATO & the USA quickly & finally. If not – – – ??
As John Dos Passos wrote in his great “USA” trilogy, “Oil was trumps…” Russia is self-sufficient in energy and food, and indeed has the largest oil reserves in the world…Russia also has a tough population that. can do without
Pornhub and MacDonalds very nicely…
They can’t because of the gross corruption. If you start a business in Russia it is always on the radar of the traitors. Gouvernement traitors and criminals. So every business tries to hide the assets as possible and works like an undercover company in enemy territory were the literally are. You usually only know the first names and they do anything possible out of the country.
That’s one of the reasons why china became a superpower and Russia is doomed. Now they revealed that even the military is 3rd world tier.
Myself is very sorry about that, i worked often in Russia, like the people very much and the great culture too. But the ruling system is suicidal. Even Fred’s contribution is more an obituary that accepts the inevitable.
Great to see you turn up here, Fred.
My motto has always been “cynicism is the shortest path to the truth” so you’re always a breath of fresh air.
Don’t be a stranger here!
I read the article thoroughly. I disagree that “Manufacturing cannot be brought back, except perhaps in niche markets like semiconductors, because the US no longer has the necessary engineers and trained work force, and American labor costs more than Chinese.” No great country can surrender its future industrial progress. Can what the U.S. lost in industrial preeminence mostly in the last thirty years (right?) be recovered? You have to think the answer is “yes, definitely.” We’re not talking about 100 years ago. Nations like China have built this power from scratch in the last 50 years. It’s doable. Leadership and political problems stand in the way, a separate and different cause. The duty, actually, to try to recover lost industrial power is clearer when one reads the author’s description of what the future holds because of “offshoring”, and “Wall Street and the military” receiving too much “national wealth”: namely “real poverty”, “despairing populations”, “large and growing homeless aggregations”, “crime out of control”, etc. Solutions to social and economic problems are needed. A country has children to take care of; despairing is out of the question.
The article makes clear that “divide and conquer” may fail with China, but regarding Russia, when he considers one of two understandings, he does not go beyond this tantalizing first glance: “America pulled off, at least at first glance, an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia. Nordstream II blocked, crippling sanctions placed on Russia, many of its banks kicked out of SWIFT, economic integration of Europe and Asia slowed or reversed, Germany to spend 113 billion on rearming (largely meaning buying American costume-jewelry weaponry), Europe forced to buy expensive American LNG, and Europe made dependent on America for energy. All this in a few days without loss of a single American soldier.” He does say later that he would not bet against Russia like Biden does. I’d like to see the author carry this quoted part to some definite port next time. I don’t agree that’s an astonishing geopolitical victory over Russia. Rather, it’s more like the economic sanctions – “effective” in the short run, but contrary to the purpose in the long run.
I especially liked this line on the “third, and crucial” point: “This is too much subject for a few paragraphs, but some thoughts…” on Eurasia and China, and helpful for the reader (beautiful line). Too much subject for a few paragraphs has a solution too: to bring it to some conclusion.
Fred, you are my favorite current event commentator, followed by Linh Dinh, both heckled off Unz. I am of the impression that our best and brightest are trying to suck us into a world war. Goading Poland to supply warplanes to the ukraine, which would require Russia to respond, which would give NATO an excuse to get into the game. Poland, of course, declined to be the instigator. Thanks, Poland.
Gayropa, a bearded crone, is hated by the ideological Russian, and in fact I don’t wonder at all. Russia is living in a different intellectual era than the West, having been isolated from it for almost three generations.
I was already amazed at how smoothly Russia seems to be embracing the entire Western surface culture from which it had been very carefully isolated for decades. I do not take margins here.
But the surface is the surface. The deep currents of culture seem to be on the side of the Lunatic fringe, and as the state of war, even the spiritual state of war, continues its time, obscurantism becomes an increasingly honorable attitude.
LOL Protect Israel they pretend to protect Israel.
Remember how Israel spoke in-between the attack on Soleimani and the Iranian response. It was Israel’s opportunity for a war against Iran: Netanyahu told Iran and the world that Israel had nothing to do with this fight, that it was between Iran and the U.S. only (on video). Israel says again that it may decide to attack Iran on its own. Netanyahu dropped that pretense altogether. Anyone can guess what the Ayatollah must think about that.
Concur.
‘Cept for the snapshot of Biden.
He’s not here…watching cartoons before naptime, depends changin’, and ice cream…if’n he’s a good boy by meandering from the podium after the presser in a quick reverse route step march.
‘Jobozo’ is the word.
Sprinkled with Valerie Jarrett (Iran oil/nuke deal anyone?), Bill/Hilligula, and Vodka Skeletor, with occasional quips from lil’ georgiee soros…and chairman Xi when they go off script.
Having followed your blog and having purchased and read your books, it’s awesome to see you here. Thanks so much.
Enjoyed the “backhand” mention of 1619. Funny. Sadly true. But funny.