[this column was written for the Unz Review]
The long awaited summit between Presidents Putin and Biden has finally taken place, but was it a success? Will it change anything? The answer to this question very much depends on one’s expectations. Let’s take a closer look beginning with the context.
Context of the summit
Just about the only thing which both US and Russian observers agree on is that the state of the Russian-US relations is about as bad as can be (in my personal opinion, it is even much worse than during the Cuban Missiles Crisis or any other time in the Cold War). As I have mentioned many times, I believe that the AngloZionist Empire and Russia have been at war at least since 2013. Remember Obama with his “Russian economy in “in tatters”? That was the outcome Obama promised the people of the USA (Quick factcheck: the company Deloitte recently polled the CEOs of major Russian corporations and only 4% of them felt “pessimistic” about their financial perspectives as “negative”, 40% replied “same as before” and 56% replied “optimistic”). Of course, this was was not a conventional war, it was about 80% informational, 15% economic and only 5% kinetic. This, however, does not change the fact that this war was an existential war for both sides, one in which only one side could prevail while the other would, if not quite disappear, then at least totally lose its superpower status. This is a civilizational war, which pitted western and Russian civilizational (cultural, social and even religious) models against each other roughly along the following lines:
The US/Anglo-Zionist worldview: we are the “city upon a hill”, the beacon of light and hope for mankind. Our “manifest destiny” is to “expand the area of freedom” worldwide. We have the best armed forces in history, the strongest economy, the best everything. We are the “leaders of the free world” whose “responsibility” is to lead the world. This is not imperialism, this is the “duty” and “responsibility” placed upon us by history. Our values are universal values and must be universally accepted by all. Those refusing to join our model are authoritarian “rogue states”. Russia must accept that because she lost the Cold War and that western values have prevailed. Those who refuse to accept this are “revanchists” who want to overturn the outcome of the Cold War and rebuild the Soviet Union. The US had to expand NATO to the East to protect Europe from “Russian aggression”. Now “America” is back and, with our allies and friends, we will create a “rules based” international order which we will benevolently enforce to the immense gratitude of all of mankind.
Russian worldview: Russia rejects any form of imperialism, for herself and for others. Russia wants a multilateral world order, based on international law and the full sovereignty of nations. Each nation should have the right to pursue its own cultural, economic, spiritual and civilizational model without being threatened, sanctioned, bombed, subverted or invaded. Russia rejects the so-called “western values” (turbocapitalism, imperialism, wokeness, multiculturalism, militant atheism, critical race theory, gender fluidity, etc.). The US is welcome to fly homo-flags on its embassies, but it has no business telling others how to live. In fact, the US has to accept two closely related realities: first, the US does not have the means to impose its ideology on the rest of the planet and, second, the rest of the planet sees the total hypocrisy of a country claiming to stand for values which itself gets to violate as much as it wants. Any comparisons are immediately dismissed with the words “but this is completely different!!!”.
Again, Russia agrees that the US is welcome to live in a post-truth, post-reality, delusion if it wants, but she also believes, and says so, that the West has no right to try to impose its pretend-values on others, especially when it constantly violates them all when convenient.
The core issue
The core belief underlying these very different worldviews is extremely simple: the US sees itself as exceptional and, therefore, endowed with special rights and sees Russia as a much inferior interlocutor which needs to accept the US hegemony upon the world. In sharp contrast, Russia denies the USA any special status and demands that the US leaders accept Russia as an equal interlocutor before any meaningful dialog or cooperation could even be discussed.
I think that it would be fair to say that roughly between 2013 and 2020 both countries exerted immense efforts in a kind of a massive arms wrestling match to show that it, and not the other guy, would prevail.
For a very short while, Trump tried to get some kind of dialog going, but he was quickly and completely neutered by the Neocons and the messianic imperialists in his own camp (I think of Pompeo for example) and his efforts, however sincere, yielded absolutely nothing: Trump was not able to put an end to the war started by Obama.
Then came Biden and, at first, things looked hopeless. Seeing the massive failure of the first US-China meeting in Alaska, one could have been excused to expect a similar, or even worse, outcome from any meetings between Biden and Putin. Many (on both sides) believed that such a meeting was pointless at best since the US had painted itself into a zero-sum corner in which anything short of an exchange of insults would be seen by the US media (and the public opinion it shapes) as a “defeat”, “surrender” and possibly even “treason” by Biden. That is definitely the message conveyed by much of the US media, including Fox.
[Sidebar: I want to express my total disgust with US Republicans who, for four years, were literally hounded by the US media for Trump’s alleged “caving in” to Putin or even for being a “Manchurian candidate” put in power by “Putin”. Now the Republicans are holding the exact same language accusing Biden of “weakness” and for “caving in” to Putin. Truly, the Dems and the GOP are like Coke and Pepsi: different labels, same product. Worse, both the Dems and the GOP place their petty interests above the well-being of the United States and its people. I consider both parties traitors to the US and its people].
What actually happened
In spite of all the nay-sayers (on both sides!), Putin and Biden did meet. True, the meeting did not yield any spectacular results, but it would be wrong to conclude that nothing of importance happened.
First, the tone of the Biden administration towards Russia and Putin did change, remarkably so, especially after Biden’s infamous “uhu, he is a killer”. Some sanctions were lifted, the US basically gave up on trying to prevent North Stream 2 (NS2) from being completed, and a number of small steps were achieved, including:
- An agreement to discuss cybersecurity on an expert level (something the Russians had been demanding for years, but which the USA rejected out of hand).
- A joint declaration strategic stability (more about that below)
- An agreement to discuss outstanding issues on an expert level
- A return of both US and Russian ambassadors to their former positions
- A discussion on a possible prisoner swap
- A discussion on possible future arms control agreements
Also of interest are the points which were mentioned in passing, mostly by the US side, but which were clearly not focused on. These include:
- The Ukraine and Belarus
- Human Rights (aka “Navalnyi” & Co.)
- Russian alleged interference in western elections
- Russian alleged covert operations against the US
- The alleged Russian threat to the EU or in the Arctic
- Russian ties to China and Iran
That is the official picture. But let’s be a little more wise about this: the US and Russian delegations (about 400 people each) included some very high ranking officials, including the Russian Chief of General Staff. Neither side would have bothered with such a massive undertaking only for the purpose of exchanging threats, ultimatums or insults. And such summits are never organized unless the parties have at least a reasonable prospect of some kind of understanding (this is why the return of the ambassadors was announced before the summit!).
So what really happened here?
To answer that question, we first need to look at what did not happen.
First, it is quite clear that the language/tone of the Biden administration has dramatically changed. This was immediately noticed by the (mentally infantile) US media which attacked Biden in his press conference for not putting enough pressure on Putin. Oh sure, Biden did pay lip service to the usual russophobic nonsense the US media seems to be forever stuck on, but it is quite clear what the US legacy ziomedia did not get what it wanted: they wanted Biden to “unite the West behind the USA” and then “tell” Putin to “behave” and admit something – anything – about the Russian “wrongdoings”. Putin gave them absolutely and exactly nothing. If anything, we could say that he held up a mirror to Uncle Shmuel and that Uncle Shmuel had nothing to say to that.
Second, and for the first time in a very long while, the US did not engage in any threats or ultimatums. If anything, it was quite amazing to see Biden getting angry at an imbecile journo from CNN (I think) who asked Biden why he expected Putin to “change his behavior” when the latter admitted no wrongs. Later Biden apologized, but he was clearly frustrated with the level of imbecility of the US press media.
[Sidebar: the US media truly showed its true face during both press conferences. With Putin, they asked stupid, leading questions, based on their own delusional assumptions, and Putin easily swatted down these questions by pointing out at undeniable and well-known facts. The Biden press conference was, as usual, completely sanitized with a prepared list of reporters and questions, and with no Russian journalists allowed (pluralism, free media or free speech anybody?!). The infantilized US public did not think much about this, but in the rest of the world – in Zone B if you wish – people immediately noticed the startling difference between the two leaders and between the two press conferences. It will be awfully hard for the US to speak of “freedom of speech” when its President cannot be trusted to talk to his counterpart alone (Bliken never left his side, just like Dick Cheney did for Bush Jr. or Don Regan did for Reagan in his latter years) and cannot take unscripted questions from the (supposedly) “free” media. The US media clearly wanted Biden to go to Geneva, and tell Putin “now you submit or else…” and only the completely ignorant and infantilized US public could actually take that nonsense seriously. When that did not happen, they turned on Biden and accused him of weakness for “making no threats”!]
Third, and crucially, by NOT discussing silly issues but by focusing on the real, important, topics underlying the US-Russian relations, Biden de-facto admitted two things:
- The US policy towards Russia since 2013 has failed and
- Russia is an equal partner to the USA who cannot be bullied, threatened or attacked
So much for “talking to the Russians from a position of force” which ALL the western leaders mantrically promised us. In sharp contrast, the Kremlin did not have to make any threats: the recent military exercises, which truly freaked out NATO and the EU, made any posturing by Russia quite unnecessary.
I am not so naive as to believe that any of this is set in stone.
First, we know that US politicians typically meet with their Russian counterparts and say “A” only to later come back home, cave in to the war lobby, and then declare “non-A”. Trump did that, as did Kerry and many others. US diplomats are mostly ignorant political appointees and/or warmongering Neocons who simply are not intellectually equipped to deal with their Russian counterparts (James Baker was probably the last truly sophisticated US Secretary of State). Second, we all understand that Biden is really “Biden” (the man himself is just a front, real decisions are taken by the collective “Biden”), which means that while he and even Bliken can agree on something, but that by no means implies that they will stand by what they agreed on. Finally, it is objectively really hard to undo that which was done: eight years of self-defeating delusions about itself and the rest of the world have done immense damage to the United States and it would take something pretty close to a miracle to now reverse a course which at least two US administrations have so foolishly insisted on pursuing.
Yet, what Biden did and said was quite clearly very deliberate and prepared. This is not the case of a senile President losing his focus and just spewing (defeatist) nonsense. Therefore, we must conclude that there are also those in the current US (real) power configuration who decided that Biden must follow a new, different, course or, at the very least, change rhetoric. I don’t know who/what this segment of the US power configuration is, but I submit that something has happened which forced at least a part of the US ruling class to decide that Obama’s war on Russia had failed and that a different approach was needed. At least that is the optimistic view.
The pessimistic view would suggest that, just like a boxer who has thrown so many punches that he now needs to catch his breath, the leaders of the Empire just needed a short time break, to “catch their breath”, before resuming the endless cycle of petty attacks, threats and accusations against Russia.
Time will show which group is right. My money is on the pessimists (as usual).
What we can say now is this: the period 2013-2021 saw a huge decline in US power abroad and the explosion of an equally huge internal political and social crises which are still catastrophically hurting the United States (Obama and Trump were truly the weakest and worst Presidents in US history). In sharp contrast, the same 2013-2021 years saw a huge rise in Russian military, political, economic and social power. Denying this reality forever is simply not an option for the USA (even if the US media never reports about this). It appears that the Biden Administration decided to keep up the same infantile language as its predecessors for internal consumption, but decided that a change of attitude on the international front was urgently needed, if only in order to avoid taking on both Russia and China (and, possibly, Iran) at the same time. History also shows that even just talking to Russia from a presumed “position of strength” was useless at best and suicidal at worst. The history of western imperialism in China offers a more ambiguous image, but the current revival of Chinese power under Xi also suggests that the Chinese won’t cave in to their former colonial masters.
What about China?
If China was mentioned at all, it is not official. The Kremlin had already indicated in numerous statements that trying to turn China and Russia against each other was not a realistic option, so on the Russian side there were no expectations of anything changing on that issue. Besides, while China has a lot to offer Russia, the USA has literally absolutely nothing Russia would want or need. The same goes for Iran, albeit at a lesser degree. There are those in the US ruling class who believe that China is a much more dangerous enemy for the AngloZionist Empire than Russia and it is possible that these are the interests which pushed Biden into a more realistic stance. The truth is that anybody who knows anything about the Sino-Russian relationship (which the Chinese now officially call the “strategic comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era”) understands that these two countries vitally need each other. Did the US diplomats really hope that they could sway Russia to the US side? Probably not. So, at most, what they needed was a short time break or, at least, some kind of temporary stabilization of the “Russian front”.
What about the Europeans?
The Europeans are stuck in some kind of political no man’s land: some want a confrontation at all cost (3B+PU), especially since the EU stopped funding them, while others are clearly fed-up (Germany, France, Italy, etc.) with the current situation. They all realize that something has just changed, but they appear unsure as to what, why and how. And how shall the EU now treat Biden? First, while hating Trump was seen as “politically correct” by the EU ruling classes, hating Biden is quite unthinkable. Second, while Biden did “consult” with the G7 and NATO, these “consultations” yielded no meaningful result. Unlike the summit with Putin, these “preparatory summits” were just nice PR, a feel-good, “rah-rah, we are all united” kind of symbolic event. Think of it as an imperial king visiting his colonies: fun but not very important. But meeting the leader of a “gas station masquerading as a country” required the presence of 400 or so top US officials and months of preparations. Finally, the fact that “Biden” had to yield to Germany on NS2 shows that the grip of Uncle Shmuel on Germany is weakening, “another writing on the wall” which “Biden” apparently read.
So who won?
At this point I don’t think that we can say that anybody won. In fact, the existential war opposing the AngloZionist Empire to Russia is not over. At most, this will be a temporary ceasefire allowing Uncle Shmuel to catch his breath. But I think that we can also fairly conclude that Obama’s war on Russia has failed and that the Biden Administration is more in touch with reality than Obama ever was. How long this new realism will last is anybody’s guess. I don’t think we should put much stock in the idea that now a new era of peace or collaboration has begun. But maybe, just maybe, the USA will stop playing what I call a “game of nuclear chicken” with a superpower which is at least a full decade ahead in military (and civilian!) nuclear technology and delivery vehicles and a superpower which is now working as a binomial with another nuclear superpower, China.
Conclusion: the US-Russian Joint Statement on Strategic Stability
This is the full text of the US-Russian Joint Statement on Strategic Stability I mentioned above: (emphasis added)
We, President of the United States of America Joseph R. Biden and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, note the United States and Russia have demonstrated that, even in periods of tension, they are able to make progress on our shared goals of ensuring predictability in the strategic sphere, reducing the risk of armed conflicts and the threat of nuclear war. The recent extension of the New START Treaty exemplifies our commitment to nuclear arms control. Today, we reaffirm the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Consistent with these goals, the United States and Russia will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust. Through this Dialogue, we seek to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.
The language here is very important: it is the repudiation of a major US delusion which began with Ronald Regan’s “Star Wars” and which was shared by each following President: the notion that the US can win a nuclear war against Russia by technologically or economically defeating Russia. The website “Defense One” (which is hardly a “Russian disinformation outlet”) had this to say about this decades long illusion:
Biden can correct the mistakes of the past. The future of missile defense will be thoroughly studied as part of a broader nuclear posture/deterrence review that will be started in the few weeks. Mindful that less expensive offensive weapons can always be developed to overwhelm, sabotage, or destroy any conceivable defensive system, his administration can return to diplomacy, seek verifiable mutual reductions, prevent the development of new threats, and address rising concerns such as the weaponization of space and cyber threats. That would allow the transfer of funds from the weapons that don’t work to programs that will rebuild and add to America’s security.
If this is really what is happening (and we need to wait before coming to any hasty conclusions!) then this is good news. Good news for Russia which has nothing to gain from any “reloaded Cold War” with the West, good news for the Europeans which need to recover at least a modicum of agency, good news for the USA, which is bled dry and is quickly becoming a underdeveloped third world country, and good news for the entire planet which would be devastated by any nuclear war between any combination of superpowers. If this is really what happened.
For the time being, the “crazies in the basement” are still every bit as crazy as before (see here and here for a few good examples). So are the woke-freaks (see here and here). So is the homo-lobby (see here and here). They all hate Russia and Putin with a passion, and they ain’t going away anytime soon. Besides, it is not like “Biden” will do anything other than give them all a standing ovation, full support and millions of dollars to their cause: these “minorities” (more accurately: this *coalition* of minorities) are the ideological foundation for Biden’s entire presidency, they brought him to power and he cannot renounce them.
How long brainwashed doubleplusgoodthinking sheep will continue to “take a knee” against “systemic racism” is anybody’s guess, however.
On the external front, the US cannot give up its messianic ideology and claims of exceptionalism. This would be truly unthinkable for the vast majority of US Americans. This does not change the fact that, as I have written many times, the AngloZionist Empire and the current US political system are neither sustainable, nor reformable. Besides, empires are almost impossible to reform. That is why they usually end up collapsing. And when they do, they often try to lash out at those they blame for their own failures. This is exactly what has been going on since 2013 and this will not and, in fact, cannot change until the final – and inevitable – collapse.
There will be no friendship or even partnership between the USA and Russia for as long as the USA will continue to serve as the latest host for the parasitic AngloZionist Empire. Аs the spokesman for Putin, Peskov, just declared “So far, there are no reasons to exclude the United States from the list of unfriendly countries“.
Finally, did Putin “win”?
I would answer both yes and no. Yes, he did win in the sense that his strategy of dealing with an Empire on the warpath against Russia has been proven extremely effective. All the nay-sayers (liberal or neo-Marxists) have been accusing Putin of caving in to pretty much everything everywhere, yet it is the USA which had to eat crow, drop all its preconditions and ask for a summit. None of the many propaganda attacks against Russia (MH17, Skipal, chem weapons, Belarus, the Karabakh war, Navalnyi, doping, sports and flags, the seizure of Russian diplomatic offices, the kidnapping of Russian citizens, economic and political sanctions, threats, sabre-rattling at the borders, etc. etc. etc.) have worked or even yielded any meaningful results. In that sense, yes, Putin did win. But that existential war is not over, not for the US, not for Russia and neither it is over for China, Iran and any other country wanting true sovereignty.
In that sense, what happened in Geneva is not the beginning of the end (primarily because that beginning of the end has already long taken place, even if it was never reported in Zone A), but it is definitely a chance to change some dynamics on the international scene. The infinite arrogance of the likes of Trump and Pompeo has been replaced by a much more cautious and realistic approach, at least in superpower relations. But Putin/Russia will only have truly won once the US accepts the reality that the Empire is dead and that the USA, like all ex-empires, must now become a “normal” country (like all former empires had to). Sounds easy, but this is almost infinitely hard when imperialism is what you were born, raised, educated and conditioned to live with and when you sincerely believe that your brand of imperialism is somehow benevolent, even altruistic. Russia/Putin will only have truly won once the last empire in history finally gives way to a civilized international world order. Until then, the struggle of Russia – and all the other members of the resistance against the Empire – will continue.
The Saker
Another take on the summit http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2021/06/in-flash.html
Always appreciate your words Saker
Best wishes
Without Russia, Assad would be long gone and Iran would have been bombed to oblivion, and Greater Isra-h-e-l-l would have been fulfilled and ruling over the MidEast.
Russophobia by Jewish-controlled politicians and in Jewish-controlled Western media is driven by Jewish Neocons
http://biblicisminstitute.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/how-the-ashkenazi-jews-conquered-the-west/
Even though I just saw info (can’t confirm source) at another blog according to which half or so of the richest men —billionaires and multi-billionaires— in Russia are Jews.
Quite possibly. The main contrast between Putin and Biden is that one is fighting against his deep state for the Russian people, whereas the other is a willing hostage to his deep state.
The amount of corruption in Russia is such that it is a miracle Putin manages to get anything done at all.
The US empire will collapse when the US dollar is truly abandoned as the global reserve currency. This will likely coincide with the collapse of the dollar itself through hyperinflation (caused by the creation of trillions of digital dollars), which is now beginning to surface.
Trust me the US dollar will be around for a long, long while. Everyone has been wishing and fearing this scenario for the last 2 decades and we are now in the 3rd.
The Saker, a good summary. Thank you.
@ Arshan, the US$ will be around. The key question is about the Dollar Empire. Why do you approve of the MONETARY Imperialism?
An average age of the reserve currency is around 94 years (80-110 years). Why? The US$ started on the reserve currency path around 1921. So it is in the end phase. In 2018, 88% of China-Russia trade was in the US$, and in 2020 it dropped to only 11%. What will happen to this trade in 2021? Russia is leading De-Dollarization and conducting trade in respective national currencies with China, Japan, UK, the EU… In summary, the move away from the US$ as the reserve currency has started!
The U$A has DEFAULTED thrice in the last century. Why?
U$A Defaults & Devaluations:
1933 – Dollar devaluation by 41%
1971 – Nixon ended the Bretton Woods convertibility of 1945. “The dollar plunged by a third during the 1970s.”
2008 – Financial Crisis –> Default through inflation/quantitative easing (QE1, QE2, QE3, QE4… )
Of course it will but the IMF is inching towards a basket of several reserve currencies.
Biden the man and Biden the group controlling Biden. A valuable contribution to help negotiate the maze in DC power vectors.
Interpreting this short pause in intensity is the nugget of any analysis of the Summit and US dynamics.
The US needed a pause that might ease the pressure from Russia. Russia is winning, the US is losing.
They are hoping for more color revolution in Belarus and more Navalny demonstrations in Russia. Why are the Americans obsessed if Navalny should die? They speak like they know he is going to die. And of course, they probably will arrange his demise since his life and his “movement” is a colossal failure. He is worth a load of propaganda as a dead man.
They need a military solution for Ukraine.
They need to resist being forced out of Syria.
They need to “distract” Russia from coordinating with China.
So, the very European solution for Biden to talk and arrange talks and set timelines of more talks. It pleased the EU and NATO countries and won him praise.
But the US will come back to character and soon we’ll see the new aggression. Economic and legal cases for crimes of the regime. They will never stop because of who and what they are. The form of the policies against Russia is due to the Tribe, the Khazarians, the Anglo-Zionists, the EuroFascists and the Liberal Deviants.
If anyone thinks all that changes because of four hours in Geneva, “you be delusional my friend”.
This is a timeout. That’s all.
The Russians wanted to get the US into diplomacy again. But this is like asking a junkie to use clean needles.
They remain addicts.
If you want to see changed behavior, you have to hang losses on the US.
The place for that is Syria.
Begin with strikes of every oil convoy to Iraq. Destroy them all.
Then, Iranian militia missiles onto US bases. Pulverize the vehicles. None of the bases are defendable. Make them unsustainable.
Do it before the US does similar to Russian forces.
Want the Unipolar Hegemon to enter a Multipolar power structure?
Deprive the hegemon of Syria and everything changes.
The US has no memory of when it was not the top dog of the globe. A century, five generations, since it grew into the monster it is now.
Talking gains time for US to maneuver.
Deprive the US of that respite. Deliver it a strategic disaster.
That’s a tempting strategy. But the simple fact is that the US is on an unstoppable downward trajectory – economic, military, social, political, cultural – all dimensions. Russia/China/Iran need to do precisely nothing to prevail, other than to firewall the US. Put simply, the US was always flattered by being untouched by WW2. Normal business is resumed, and the US is not, and never was, the top dog. The US is destroying itself from within; it won’t be long now, and the rest of the world knows this.
CDvision, I think “destroying itself” is too strong a description for what is happening in the Empire. There are many good people in the Empire, and they will survive the transformation of the Empire into something smaller and more ordinary. The way the Roman Empire transformed itself into Italy, Great Britain is transforming itself into England, etc. The heady dreams of being a Citizen of No Mean City, a shining City on a Hill, “fade into the light of common day” — but normal life continues.
Except for the few power hungry actors on the world stage who are left declaiming, “Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness”.
Great comment my friend!
Though there has been rapid change culturally and the society is visibly divided by the Liberal Cult’s dogma taking hold in Blue States, major metropolitan cities and all the institutions of government, don’t think the hegemonic pillars of power are threatened by this devolution.
The US is a mammoth of assets and financial power. It may be laden with trillions in debt, but it is like a priest with the power to hear its sins and forgive itself.
Only if the Elites decide to collapse the government where Power resides for the Hegemon will the US fall.
The outcome predicted is wishful thinking.
The democracy edifice is gone. The Republic has been captured by the Deep State. The Middle Class is being compressed. Soon property will be taken.
But none of this weakens the Hegemon, or its core fascist command center. The US government is corrupt and deviant. But that is its nature.
Evil is. (Think about the essence of what the US government has become.)
Don’t conflate the country with the government.
The American people are in the same situation as the Palestinians. They have lost control of their Republic and now suffer from the fascism that rules over them.
That is a truly brilliant, reality-based observation, Sir. Maybe it is quite pessimistic, but the way things stand in the US – and the West – there is very little reason for optimism. I think we’ll all be long dead and what you call the Hegemon will still be around and causing severe havoc internationally as well as domestically. Thinking that it will collapse soon – without taking everyone else with it – is just very nice wishful thinking.
Many thanks also for your ongoing, sensible and well-reasoned contributions to Saker’s blog. Like many others here, I really enjoy your analyses and views and always look forward to them.
Would you consider writing more articles for the blog, please, pretty please?
Very well said, I agree.
@Kérberos
Thank you for the kind words.
Regarding articles:I always have the temptation to do more on the Double Helix, but events overtake the work. I also like this theme I touch on about ‘country not government’. It just hasn’t come together in my mind in a way I want to describe in long form.
Since I like to do predictive analysis, I have to select a topic the is current but somewhat static. When things are in flux, it’s a risk to be declarative. I like my eggs to eat, not as a face wash.
But soon, maybe.
Thanks again.
From where I sit in the belly of the beast, I would say time is on the Eurasian side.
The US isn’t getting any better at geopolitics. It was obvious in the wake of this last election that the stinking gangrenous rot of corruption is everywhere now in the body politic. It is starting on its own ‘cultural revolution’, no doubt soon to be followed by a ‘great leap forward’. The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. to borrow some Yeats..
As tempting as it might be to propel this trend with a strategic disaster, that might galvanize some sort of response, while the ‘success’ of the empire will allow the decay to continue.
NS2 may be a litmus test for the overall trend — if it starts delivering energy to Germany, missiles may not be needed.
“Deprive the hegemon of Syria and everything changes.”
In due course. Otherwise, the supremacist idiots in Israel can take a too swift cleaning of the sovereign Syria from “moderate terrorists” as a call to Samson option.
Let the Anglo-Zionist Empire expire on its own.
Clinton/Obama are parents of modern-day slavery in Libya. At the same time, the Obamas’ favorite martyr – felon George Floyd – has been commemorated with a huge bronze statue in New Jersey.
Thanks to the Internet, such names as Lazar Kaganovich and Philipp Goloschyokin (born Shaya Itsikovich) have emerged to identify the perpetrators of genocides in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan famine, which eliminated about 40% of the Kazakh population, is known as the Goloschyokin genocide. The same Shaya Itsikovich was also involved in the murder of the Russian imperial family, including children. The Jewish-American bankers Jacob Schiff et al. deserve to be remembered as the greatest unscrupulous criminals they were.
Russians and Chinese have a delicate task of monitoring the Anglo-Zionist Empire’s rot.
Well said, Mr. Larchmonter. It looks like both sides are playing for time from their own points of view. US needs time to regroup and focus on destroying China and figure out why the hell everything went wrong in Ukraine despite throwing everything they had at it. And Russia knows, or so I imagine, that every day that passes without open war is one less day the Empire has, as the sand is running out of its hourglass at an alarmingly accelerating rate.
It could well be that America has sought a ‘timeout’ in order to confront China and Russia has acceded to the request as such a situation would be beneficial for it in the long run.
It has been mentioned here, as far as I can remember, that any period of peace is also a period of renewal for Russia (as stated by a PM of the last Czar). So, why wouldn’t Russia allow America the limited timeout during which the Americans would further expend their energy and resources confronting China? Russia could then continue to become economically and militarily stronger while closely monitoring the geopolitical challenges.
The beast at hand is not just the U.S., but all of the Western sphere (NATO, G7, Davos crowd and the like). The U.S. is currently the driver but as cdvision says, the U.S. is in an unstoppable downward trajectory. Once the U.S. dollar loses its fiat status, the driver will be Europe, led by Germany, with the EURO being the most important fiat currency.
It is important to understand that the destruction of the U.S. (and other Anglo countries) will not stop the beast but simply transfer the steering wheel to Europe.
Talking to the US is like talking to an addict. You can be reasonable to him, explain your view of his problem, and he might understand his problem for a moment, but as soon as he is alone, he will go back to his addiction and act as an addict.
Imperalism is an addiction, more so when they believe they are chosen above others.
Geneva has postponed WWIII, on the Empire’s request, to a later date, nothing else.
Putin: “As for sanctions and economic restrictions, I have already pointed out that we are not aware of the domestic political mood and the line-up of forces [in the US], or rather we know, but we cannot fully understand the developments. Some forces are against improving relations with Russia, and others support this. I cannot say which of them will win.”
I think this is the crux of the matter: imperialism cloaked as duty and responsibility (as in Responsibility to Protect by invading small, resource-rich countries). The very opposite of Putin’s realistic multipolar worldview.
The U$A, as an Anglo-Zio colony, inherited the Anglo-Zio worldview of being “a chosen people” and “a light unto the nations”; to whom Jehovah has “given” a promise of occupying other peoples lands, and either exterminating, driving out or “protecting” the native inhabitants Chicago style.
“Take up the white man’s burden,
Thy captive heathen peoples
Half devil and half child”
From Wikipedia:
“The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands” (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, is a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902), which exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.”
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/%22The_White_Man%27s_Burden%22_Judge_1899.png/600px-%22The_White_Man%27s_Burden%22_Judge_1899.png
I think the U$ is like a mental patient who suffers from waking dreams and delusions of grandeur; a psychotic state, not agreement capable. Hence, even if Biden were not suffering from senile dementia, this meeting would be a nothingburger — as similar meetings were in the days when Biden was VP to POTU$ Obomba Obombast.
Saker’s analysis, as usual, is excellent.
Here is another one from Russtrat:
https://russtrat.ru/analytics_/17-iyunya-2021-2340-4688
Cheers from France.
‘But Putin/Russia will only have truly won once the US accepts the reality that the Empire is dead and that the USA, like all ex-empires, must now become a “normal” country (like all former empires had to).’
Yes!
However, the trans-national (AngloZionist) ‘Globalist’ elites that control the U.S. (and the EU, UK, etc.) have no place in a “normal” country. For them, the death of the (‘Globalist’) Empire is also personal destruction for them and their families.
The only way that ‘ the US accepts the reality that the Empire is dead’ is to remove these people from power, in the US and in Europe. And given that democracy no longer functions in either case, this will only happen by an effective civil war or, more likely, economic collapse.
The best that Russia and China can do is to facilitate the ‘Demise of the Dollar’, so that the Empire collapses before the (AngloZionist) ‘Globalist’ elites can drag Russia and China down with them in the process.
There is rumor floating about that those seeking to address the systemic inequities experienced by Black, Latinx, and Multilingual Peoples of Color in Mathematics are constructing policy to abolish negative numbers from all student mathematics text books. According the the re-enlightened neo-historical Woke narrative, negative numbers were invented by the systemically privileged oppressive people to discount, minimize and diminish minority peoples of color. The new curriculum will emphasize additive, positive developments towards all-inclusive goals where no one and nothing is excluded, forgotten, or left behind from a common, fair starting point.
If this is true, then graduates of these new math courses should be immediately promoted and assigned to all critical defense sectors of the United States, where they can most effectively accept all the rewards and entitlements they have do duly earned.
Not sure I get the logic here, the positive side of the equation over here (the peace side) would be a dismantling of the military (ie: no new recruits), as a requirement toward the long term peaceful solution.
This would include the eventual elimination of your so called duly earned entitlements.
Under the new Woke mathematics, pronounced “maff,” American nukes would explode in their silos, since the command to open the launch doors would require the opposite signal that keeps them closed. Predictably, nothing would get off the ground.
When the “opposite of a positive” is eliminated from the language of military training guides and programmable logic, in order to endow the sacraments of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DIE, as in everyone must DIE) upon every service member, their weapons will become useless, or suicidal to operate.
Should we encourage these Rainbow Klownz in their task, to further things along? Or is that too dangerous to the sane world?
Final note: If these comments seem confusing, illogical, baffling, incredible, wacky, intimidating and depressing, then you now understand what it means to live within the USA now, particularly around places like Washington DC. Saker is dead on: the “crazies in the basement” compose the ideological foundation for what passes as a US Presidency.
The Americans are hoping to Divide-and-Conquer Eurasia.
That is the fundamental driver of the USA’s pretending to play nice with Russia.
In particular, the Americans must neutralize the Russian/Chinese/Iranian resistance by inciting divisions between them–especially Russia and China.
That is the why the American regime has adopted a (temporary) “respectful” mask with Russia.
The fable of the Scorpion and the Frog comes to mind in this situation.
Like the scorpion in this story, America cannot change its nature as a messianic empire with an ambition to rule the entire planet–though it may temporarily promise otherwise.
Woe befalls any nation that harbors illusions to the contrary.
The Scorpion and the Frog
https://www.bedtimeshortstories.com/the-scorpion-and-the-frog
“First, it is quite clear that the language/tone of the Biden administration has dramatically changed.”
In addition to your examples, I noticed in Biden’s Geneva press conference that he repeatedly used the term “international norms”. Seemingly he is trotting out a replacement for “rules based order”. We will see if it sticks, but it is a difference without distinction and it seems like the US just can’t bring itself to say “international law”.
Putin, in contrast, cited the specific laws governing activities in the Arctic when asked about that.
Biden was all about optics (America is !!!BACK!!!), while Putin was all substance. I’d give a superficial win to Biden, but it’s plain to see that Putin had won long before. It was Biden that had made concessions prior to the meeting and Biden who wanted the meeting in the first place. Putin was being kind in accommodating him. He even went out of his way afterward in praising Biden. It’s being widely reported in Western media that he (Putin) “lavished praise on Biden”.
That’s some judo there, I tell ya’.
Excellent analysis as usual by The Saker…
In relation to this paragraph….
“For a very short while, Trump tried to get some kind of dialog going, but he was quickly and completely neutered by the Neocons and the messianic imperialists in his own camp (I think of Pompeo for example) and his efforts, however sincere, yielded absolutely nothing: Trump was not able to put an end to the war started by Obama.”
Just my 2 cents worth, but I could never have interpreted Trump’s behaviour as “sincere”. He repeatedly made appointments of warmongering Neocon lunatics like Pompeo, Bolton and Abrams. This to me meant 90% of his actions were always utterly cynical and naive.
In this instance with the Demo’s ‘at the helm’, and with the presence of Nuland at the table in Geneva, this appalling appointment proves categorically that there is absolutely nothing sincere in this round of talks either…as such I see this as just as you described…
“At most, this will be a temporary ceasefire allowing Uncle Shmuel to catch his breath.”
It’s the global business of human butchery as usual for the Hegemon. This time around it has the Demo stamp on it. Biden kept his election promise…ie “nothing would fundamentally change”…at least he didn’t lie about that!
Best regards
Col
This summit showed to world history how presstitute shitflies can actually insult, challenge and smear a giant of human history like Putin.
I think American Zionists are behind Biden’s offer of “peace” to Russia because they know Israel’s existence is at the mercy of Russia…so do not get Russia angry otherwise..
Andrei My Orthodox Brother,
A Zebra cannot change it’s stripes. My guess is that this is a ruse to get Russia to let down it’s guard. If it is not a ruse and it’s a genuine attempt to lower the tension in US-Russian relations then that says to me that Washington is in big trouble and that just like when Gorbachev had his Icleandic summit with Reagan the American Deep State knows (as the Soviet Ruling Class knew then) it’s over. They know the USA is about to collapse and they are positioning themselves to be in the best spots possible when it does. If that’s true then it would explain a lot because sometimes I get the distinct feeling our American (and or Globalist) Ruling Class are hell bent on collapsing the USA and dividing it amongst the oligarchs.
As for Biden his relationship with Russia is secondary to me (I am not a Russian but American). Most important to me as a Patriotic, Traditional Christian American is his Administrations war on people like me and families like mine.
Do I see this meeting as a good thing? Possibly (I don’t want to say no just out of my deep dislike and distrust of Biden, the Democrat Party and his Administration). However I look at the terrible policies (destructive, anti-Christian and anti-American policies) he is doing here at home and I can’t get enthusiastic at all.
Are the Republicans foolish for their knee jerk anti-Russian, anti-Chinese (and pro-Zionist) reactions? Absolutely! However the Republicans these days have a lot more right than they’ve got wrong compared to the Woke Globalist psychopaths of the Democrat Party.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that as much as I want to see normalized relations between Moscow and Washington, it’s all for nothing if a tyrannical woke regime takes Washington and sends me and my family to the Gulag or executes us as enemies of the state. Lets hope the USA breaks apart instead of going into some Woke Stalinist phase.
I suspect the Establishment intends to transform the entire United States into a Plantation, and then offer the services of that Plantation to the remaining world as a repentance for the “Sins Of Empire,” thus allowing the Establishment Cabal to escape prosecution and retain their power while increasing their personal wealth. Since the founding of the US republic the Establishment has consistently operated on the principles of violence and threat of violence. Ask any American Indian what an agreement or a treaty is worth. Nothing within them will change after Geneva 2021.
They have a backup plan: Rather than project their threats of violence with aircraft carrier battle groups in the direction of Russians, Chinese and the remaining world, the Establishment will begin turning their instruments of violence inward, toward the residents of North America, where the tasks will be relatively easier, although less profitable.
The Thirteen Amendment of the Constitution enshrines the institution of slavery. A criminal conviction transforms any person into tangible asset, and everyone is considered a suspect and a defendant. Everyone’s name is somewhere on a docket. The “national security” enforcers are ready to “investigate” and then arrest and detain. The prisons will fill. The judges will be eager to convict and sentence. The media will tally the daily ingestion, whitewashing the corruption, as always. The asset identification and geo-location technologies are well in hand. The slave auctions will commence outside of the court rooms. The highest bidders will put their stronger human-like assets to the tasks of breaking things down into component commodities (bricks, steel, asphalt) and packaging them for export to productive nations. They will put the most attractive human-like assets to the tasks of satisfying thirsty men and increasing the numbers of human-like assets. The youngest will return to the mines and cotton fields. The talented will perform theater and sing to their masters. The uncooperative, the weak, frail, elderly will molder in detention camps until their bodies are ready for the thermal depolymerization reaction chambers to become transportation fuel. The American population will decrease, body count by body count.
Horrible as all this would seem, the world will sit quietly and smugly, rationalizing to themselves that the Americans are finally getting what they deserved after living many decades of careless ease and ignorance while electing and supporting their Establishment leaders in the raping and pillaging of the world in the furtherance of consumerism.
A Warning To Immigrants to the USA:
Assuming the Plantation hypothesis is correct, please recognize and consider that current US immigration policy is an active campaign to attract and eventually detain the maximum number of productive and reproductive “farm hands” (to use a polite term) on the future Plantation. Be careful not to migrate into an open-air prison cleverly disguised as a first-world nation. The promises of easy reliable money is the bait. The border wall is designed for containment, rather than exclusion. Recognize the trap and escape back to your homelands before the trap snaps shut. Perhaps after returning you will be permitted to live, learn, grow and love in your native homelands, finally free from that constant violence and threats of violence that was projected upon you by that hostile foreign Cabal for so long. Good Luck!!
I fully agree with you – I have come to the same conclusion after about 14 years spent living all around MORODOR: SF, LA, Arizona, DC, Chicago etc
@ Observer From Mordor
You got it right. Fate of immigrants is to restart western production as dirt cheap labor, and as cannon fooder in future wars.
Present population is not willing to slave away (or die) for whims of western cryptofeudal oligarchy. Their fate is still obscured (but predictable).
My friend, as a fellow American I definitely feel the social changes you are talking about, and I agree it’s bad. I hope it doesn’t negatively affect you or your family. But there are better alternatives than for our great republic to be broken up.
While the conservatives ‘are less on that bullshit’ than the liberals are is true, it isn’t saying much when they are both whacked out, intellectually bankrupt, spiritually bankrupt shells of their former selves. The conservatives still actively like (passionately love) some of the main poisons killing our society: pro-big-business, anti-poor, pro-war, anti-empathy, mammon > God, racism, etc.
Both* of their bullshit needs to be flushed down the toilet, as it should have been long ago, before the boomers/GenX forced the millennials to pay for their hubris in opportunity cost. They owe it to their country, to their children, to their posterity, and frankly to the world, who needs relief from the hardships our country imparts onto them as a result of said hubris.
It doesn’t cost money to submit ones self to honesty.
The things that would do the most good for our country are free and could be done relatively quickly.
No written law or policy of any institution could ever equal the total positive impact of these basic, personal choices.
We Americans pay a huge price each year in the form of missed opportunity and wasted talent to afford ourselves the ability to stubbornly cling to wrong ideas. What is the ultimate value of stubbornly clinging to wrong ideas?
Not having to muster the courage to submit to honesty.
Self dishonesty and the popular cult of its worship is the true vice of our political culture.
The Summit put on display the conflicting interests at play in Western politics. It appears to me that the only real reason to have the meeting at all was to reestablish diplomatic relations and get the arms control talks back on track which must be done on a diplomatic basis. I take it that this push is coming from the professional military officers whose business is to deal with the Andrei Martynov level of military business, real capacities. Not hype, rhetoric, spin, but weapons systems and what that entails for American security which they are sworn to protect. They can only achieve their professional agenda by hopping into the clown car of idiotic media hype. There’s no other way to Geneva. Grin and bear it. Russian strategic capacities are getting very close to enabling a first strike. That, I take it, is the bottom line. Of course, both political leaders are duty bound to swear off the very idea of a hot war as being unwinnable. But it’s that middle management professional layer who has to deal with realities regardless of political imperatives. Russian offensive technology is unstoppable. Even more concerning is that their defensive technology is near the point where MAD is no longer as ‘assured’ as was once the case. Some people have to think about these things, even if the political class as a whole has lost the capacity of thinking realistically, or even at all. This is how Russian diplomacy operates. The lead players are the engineers of the design bureaus. Their task is to develop real deal bargaining chips to be used at the table. Russian diplomacy has openly made it known that everything is negotiable, including potentially disruptive defensive technologies. The only flaw I see is that the whole negotiating process depends on the other side being rational, which means concerned with their own survival (self interest). However this expectation of rationality has been constantly frustrated by the necons who, shortly after the collapse of the old SU advanced the claim that ole Ron Dog, the Rapture Ready Pentecostal President, put the fear into those chess grandmasters of the Kremlin: ‘we’re crazy enough to hit the hot button’. All along the essential strategy of the chickhawks has been a bluff. What Martyanov complains of is not a product of ignorance, but deliberate, sheer chutzpah. Jews who were properly born and raised in NYC can often get away with this stuff. But what about their camp followers, that is, the rag tag Obama/Biden bunch? Chutzpah only works as an exceptional gesture. But when the exception becomes the rule .. .. what to say?
Reiterate. As I see it, the meeting took place because of the very few adults in the Beltway loop who insisted on diplomatically mediated military to military relations. They have their reasons. Everything else, all the human rights talk, ‘values’ and tough posturing, all fluff. Ignore. But all in all, it looks to me like a win. Russian diplomacy has set this moment up and it’s been a long time coming. The adversary is threatened. Thank heavens there are still a few competent professionals within the American govt. who recognise America’s true military position. Russian technology cannot be undone. American technology is lagging. The only way forwards, the only way to security is through arms negotiations. Accordingly the restoration of its fundamental condition of possibility, diplomatic relations, is imperative. It’s worth a trip to Geneva.
If you read the nato plan for 2030 then you can not be optimistic. Russia is described as a rogue state an ennemy with malign influence that need to be confronted everywhere.
The EU published a document a month ago in which it is said they want to regime change Russia. So improving relations between the west and Russia is simply impossible.
I think some people in the US came to conclusion that their foreign policy was pushing Russia and China together. They also understood that the US can not do much about it because they can adopt 3 strategies and all of them won’t work. Firstly they can increase the pressure on Russia but that will push Russia closer to China. Secondly they can trigger war but it s a war they can not win. Thirdly then can try to play nice with Russia but they know the Russians will not trust them will laugh at them and will keep their partnership with China anyway. I think that at least for now some people in the US dicided to freeze the conflict to prevent a worsening of the situation. It is more or less the only decision which makes sense.
Of course it’s not over. We have to keep in mind that the very tense situation in donbass and in Syria are still the same. Nato provocations close to Russia and China will continue. Sanctions are still there. Nothing changed.
Neocons and the military lobby are very powerful in both the EU and the US. So they will keep pushing for escalation. I wonder how much time we will have to wait before another false flag will be unleashed somewhere to blame Russia and justify new sanctions. I would say a few months at most.
”If you read the nato plan for 2030 then you can not be optimistic. Russia is described as a rogue state, an enemy with malign influence that needs to be confronted everywhere.”
On the contrary, NATO’s pronunciamentos are what lightens me up considerably! Not just because they prove that Russia’s power is beyond them (think of how the world looked 30 years ago) but also because of the total loss they are at as they try to tackle this ’malign influence’ without their anti-communist slanders. Today, Russia promotes professionalism and meritocracy above all else. This was also very much the case with the USSR, but back then there was the issue of always having to promote a State ideology where it wasn’t appropriate or even outright counterproductive. Today’s Russia has the innovation spirit, the professional attitude in solid command, and her social cohesion very much alive too. This is totally confusing and — even more — outright depressing to Western fascist Russophobes.
I would add that the Genderized Woke Alliance that has never won a war (bombing third world people is not a war, it is a war crime), has decided to take on China as an adversary.
So, from day one, the primary target of the Brussels Suicide Pact (NATO) has been Russia (USSR-Russia).
It can’t seem to find a suitable battlefield for their objective. Europe? Certainly, they won’t want it on West European soil. East Europe? Better than West, but ideally, only inside the borders of Ukraine, Belarus and Kaliningrad.
One might surmise that NATO would prefer to take their war of domination right onto Russian territory. They have planned for since 1949 to fly bombers over Russia and destroy it. Then they added the concept of using missiles, too. But they waited too long and the USSR developed atomic weapons, bombers and missiles of its own.
So they had no chance for a costless war against Russia. MAD doctrine took hold until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1991 for the ensuing decade they thought they could cajole the very weakened surviving Russian Federation to come inside the NATO group. But Russia resisted, and insisted on keeping all the Soviet nuclear warheads and delivery system bombers, submarines and missiles.
For 20 more years, NATO has strategically narrowed the space around Russia, taking in nearly all the East European Soviet republics, the most vital to their strategy of containment and strangulation being Ukraine.
And so we stand at the line of confrontation with bombers, submarines and missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, NATO staring at the Bear of Russia, now lead by Vladimir Putin who rebuilt the Russian psyche, economy, society and military. There will be no war between NATO and Russia. It is back to MAD.
However, this time, the Russian doctrine set by Putin is different. Any attack on Russia will result in a devastation of the source of the attack, the attack itself and the decision centers that actually authorized the attack. As we all know, NATO doesn’t think or act for itself. The US is the decision center–the Pentagon, White House and EUCOM headquartered in Germany will be targets hit by the Russian missiles.
Given the active, persistent strategy against Russia, NATO has passed the point of no return. If some foolish strategist, or crazed officer or raging ideologue manages to launch a missile that somehow evades Russian defenses, sizeable portions of the West will be no go zones for decades until the radiated rubble is disposed.
NATO statements and doctrines are not relevant. It’s weapons moving closer and closer to Russia are what decides what Russia does. Presently, flight time of any missiles includes the time it takes for Russian systems to identify a deliberate launch or an anomaly. The closer the missile the less time for deconfliction or disarmament of the missile.
So for a few years the doctrine that matters is the Russian doctrine. The entire chain of command of the West will be destroyed if Russia suffers any form of attack. You can see this applied in small form in Syria. Russians have annihilated formations of Turks, Kurds, AQ,ISIS and, most recently, al Nusra in retribution of attacks on Russian troops.
Ukraine is the great danger. Loaded with tens of thousands of Bandera nazis, armed by ideologues who hate Russia and who advise Ukie war crimes, Ukraine is a time bomb. Biden could easily defuse it. He’s chosen to keep it ticking.
Well this aint gonna help…..note last para
UNITED NATIONS, June 18. /TASS/. Russia is calling on the UN Security Council to discuss Ukraine’s diversion in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) last week, during which five LPR officers were killed, the Russian mission to the UN said in a statement published on its website on Thursday. According to the document, “on June 17, during the closed consultations of the Security Council Russia brought the attention of its Security Council colleagues” to what happened. The Russian mission informed that in the early hours of June 11, a sabotage group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces infiltrated the observation post of the Lugansk Region’s people’s militia in the area of the Golubovskoye settlement, killing five militia officers. “Russia is calling on Security Council members to condemn this mindless and brutal attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Lugansk militia officers, which is a direct violation of the Minsk Agreements and additional ceasefire control measures dated July 22, 2020, that ban reconnaissance and sabotage activity of the parties,” the statement says. The Russian mission pointed out that direct assistance to the Kiev government by Western states is of special concern. The statement says that since April 13, US military experts have been training Ukrainian snipers in a camp near Mariupol, located in the near vicinity of the conflict. “It is not a secret even to the media that US companies are supplying sniper rifles and munitions to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. These US deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine are pushing Kiev to destabilize the situation in Donbass and attempt to resolve the conflict by force.” The mission added that the June 11 provocation was staged by the Ukrainian government right after the phone call between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his US counterpart Joe Biden and after Zelensky’s trip to the line of contact.
Put this one in the pantheon of ‘predictive’ articles, it will age well.
Anyway, a suggestion: A section with seminal articles about important topics from the past contrasted with real world events and developments of today would be very interesting.
Or you could just do that yourself.
A very nice summation, which pretty much sums up my views as well. Putin and Russia “win” just by being the adults in the room. I suspect Biden was mostly playing to a script; bellicose rhetoric beforehand followed by uncharacteristic reasonableness here, a variation on the classic good cop/bad cop routine. But it was important for Putin and his delegation to remain unflappable in the face of so much childish behavior on the part of the US – mostly conveniently delegated to the sycophant media here – which they did superbly once again. Both sides essentially reiterated and doubled down on their current positions, so we shall see how it all plays out in the long run. The smart money in such a wager is denominated in rubles and yuan.
You are correct, the AngloZionist Empire is sinking like the Titanic, and nothing can save it. This was by design, as Zionism has always been a messianic death cult that longs for a cataclysmic final conflict that will bring their warrior messiah back to Earth to smite all unbelievers, everyone but them, apparently. That the USA has become its latest victim is a little like the parable of the frog and the scorpion…
A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. The frog lets the scorpion climb on its back and then begins to swim. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”
Great analysis and mostly concur except towards the end when you say that for Putin (ie Russia) to have “won”, the US Empire must collapse.
This may be a necessary condition but surely not a sufficient one. Russia needs to build a robust, growing, technologically advanced economy with a strong social safety net (healthcare, education, social security) ie fulfill the stated Nation Projects that are forever on the horizon. In other words, Russia needs both a foreign policy AND a domestic policy victory.
So Russia should not make the same mistake the US did/does – keep score according to how its putative enemies are doing. While one can argue that had the US Empire been a constructive or at the least not a destructive partner, Russia could have improved domestically much faster and earlier (though a counter argument is that the US behavior allowed more self-reliance and development of crucial national security industries), the fact is that for the average Russian – as for the average American – the external score is largely irrelevant. Their and their family’s personal well being is paramount.
So Putin will have to deliver and fast. Real incomes have been falling and the current situation where COVID cases are once again jamming hospitals in the face of a blase attitude from the public re vaccinations is not good.
Ultimately just like Empires collapse from within due to corruption, financial and imperial overreach, dissolution, lack of social cohesion, nations will only survive if the citizenry show an urgency not just in resisting enemies without but in building to the future. Unlike the Chinese, Russians don’t seem to show the same zeal (despite Putin trying to rally the country along) with the low COVID vaccination statistics despite having the best vaccine in the world a demonstration of this apathy and fatalism.
@Chanakya: “Russians low COVID vaccination statistics [is] a demonstration of apathy and fatalism.”
On the contrary, it is a demonstration freedom and realism in Russia.
Freedom because the Russian government, unlike Western regimes, does not force the injection on its people: it is there for those who believe in Con-19.
Realism because there is no evidence that the Con-19 virus exists, and even less evidence that Covid-19 was ever a danger to public health — no more dangerous than common annual flu.
Every poultry farmer knows you cannot stop a corona virus epidemic with a vaccine, they have been trying to make one since 1930 without success. Every GP knows he cannot stop the annual flu epidemic by giving out the vaccine injections: it is a yearly ritual to make people feel good, like Christmas Dinner or Diwali or Mardi Gras.
God bless you for youre insight and honesty.
Its ever so easy to give gratuitous advice whilst wishing away one’s own problems. We do not know the facts and truth about the current hybrid war (which may include a biological component), what we have are conjectures. We can be certain that President Putin knows much more than almost everyone and the decisions taken by him would be for the benefit of Russia.
So far the summit between Biden and Putin was the usual weak stuff we get from the US political establishment, which tends to start off in a punching stance to satisfy the US taste for blood, before proceeding to some kind of softened stance in some international context – typically a summit – followed by more tension-ratcheting. It’s a twisted game that keeps the MIC stoked while bringing the world deeper and deeper into war.
Putin’s nationalist tendencies stood Russia in good stead when he rescued the nation from the US-caused Yeltsin era of horrors. At this point he is simply a placeholder who prevents other talented leaders from rising. Russia now needs some kind of vision to enter into the world leadership role that it desires and that the world needs. While it’s wise of Russia not to be too confrontational with the US – Russia knows how dangerous a wounded beast lashing out can be – it must join with China in providing real leadership to the part of the world that is not sealed under vassalage to the US. Unfortunately Putin’s words and actions are always those of a realist.
This is certainly attractive as a contrast to American manias, and it’s better than a lot of ideological fist-waving and trouble-making, If Russia actually wants any sovereignty, it cannot avoid playing a role of global leadership. This leadership must offer some kind of alternative future direction for humanity. Offering no leadership is the same as leaving leadership to the Hegemon, and that means subjugation. It comes down to this: Putin must offer some hope to oppressed people and oppressed lifeways of the world.
Putin’s approach leads to a dead end at this point. We see this in Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Palestine – even in Iran; in these and many other places entire peoples are consigned to despair simple because the Hegemon wishes to crush them and there is no real global alternative to that. Even in the case of Iran, seemingly an important ally to both Russia and China, Putin absolutely refuses to express, clearly and unmistakeably and forcibly, its opposition to the isolation of Iran by the US. Behind this of course lurks the weird role that Israel seems to play in Russian politics. Putin’s craven relationship to Israel makes a sickening mockery out of his claims to root his global policy in International Law.
So what we say in Geneva seems to have been standard Good Cop Bad Cop play from the US – endless Bait and Switch – and Putin being his wishy washy self. When the world needs a tonic it gets a class of dirty dishwater.
IMO it’s a timeout until August. Remember that back in May, Biden publicly gave the intel agencies 90 day to research the origins of Covid (an absurd PR theater move, because these agencies would have been constantly analyzing everything about the virus from the start). It’s a foregone conclusion that they will (falsely) blame China for leaking Covid…and then things will get exciting. There is no way that China will be able to take that accusation quietly.
Soooo….humanitarian aid mentioned re northwest Syria hopefully on UN and Russian terms and conditions….it is coming out more into the open re Turkish illicit support for militant rebels terrorists and USA UK funding for anti Assad forces.
But- not publicly? discussed up front was north east Syria……unless it is being discussed quietly behind the scenes or later to be content within a form of dialogue…..?
Interestingly enough Lavrov seems to have laid into UK Foreign Minister Raab ….jolly good. Perhaps referring to this
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/06/14/how-u-s-and-uk-information-warfare-fronts-ignited-anti-government-protests-in-belarus/
MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized the importance of rejection of ungrounded allegations against Russia by UK officials during his phone call with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. According to the Ministry’s statement, the responsibility for the poor condition of relations between Russia and the UK lies entirely with London. “During the conversation, [the Russian side] noted the unsatisfactory state of the bilateral relations, the responsibility for which lies entirely with London. Russia underscored the importance of rejection of ungrounded allegations, unproven by a single fact, and of provocative rhetoric in the international dialogue, as well as absence of alternatives to London’s return to the track of respectful and equal communication,” the Ministry said in its statement. “The selective nature of contacts, practice by the UK, which implies contacts only on issues that interest London, is unacceptable in the normal diplomatic practice,” the Ministry said. Remove the backlog Lavrov also called on Raab to reciprocally “remove the backlog” in operation of Russian diplomatic missions in the UK. “An emphasis was made on London’s unconstructive actions, which resulted in serious obstruction of operation of Russia diplomatic missions in the UK, which, naturally, caused reciprocal measures from Moscow. Sergey Lavrov urged to remove this backlog on a reciprocal basis,” Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement. Besides, Lavrov urged Raab to engage in responsible cooperation, based on mutual consideration of interests, and concrete actions in order to form positive bilateral agenda. “Sergey Lavrov called on the UK side to engage in responsible cooperation, based on mutual consideration of interests, and to take concrete actions in order to form positive agenda in Russian-British interaction. The sides agreed to solemnly celebrate the 80th anniversary of arrival of the fifth Arctic Convoy to the USSR,” Russian Foreign Ministry said.According to the statement, the sides exchanged opinions on a number of international issues, with an emphasis on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the situation around Belarus and in Ukraine. “During the discussion of the Belarusian topic, Sergey Lavrov pointed out the indisputability of rejection of external intervention in this country’s internal affairs, as well as of use of language of threats and sanctions in relations with Minsk,” Russian Foreign Ministry said. The sides also touched upon the alleged violations of the Convention on Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. “In regards to the groundlessly promoted topic of Moscow’s alleged violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, [the Russian side] spelled out the real situation around the actions of the West, who subdued the OPCW Technical Secretariat, undermining the universal principles of its operation, and blatantly violated the Convention,” the Foreign Ministry said. The sides also discussed the cooperation on combating the pandemic and the global climate change. Previously, Lavrov and Raab talked by phone on May 6, 2020. The conversation will continue Dominic Raab disclosed that he and Lavrov discussed issues that cause serious disagreements between London and Moscow. “We discussed a range of bilateral and international issues, including where we differ profoundly, as well as global challenges including international security, Covid-19, and climate change ahead of COP26 [the 26th UN Climate Change Conference – TASS],” Raab tweeted. The UK Foreign Office disclosed that Raab and Lavrov “agreed to have a new conversation soon.”.
Excellent article, Saker. You are correct in saying that the “US legacy ziomedia” is behind most if not all of the Russia-phobia that has pervaded US politics since WWII. The Mighty Wurlitzer came into being at the direction of the CIA and world Zionism. Its standard operating procedure is to throw mud at a wall in the hope that some of it sticks. Ever hyperbolic, it has been reduced in recent years to being a laughingstock that very few thinking Americans pay attention to.
We know that the ziomedia lied us into all the wars of this century, all for Israel. We know how they presented the official narrative of 9/11 to us within hours of the attacks, way before any evidence-based investigation could possibly have been done. We know how they’ve justified the 2014 coup in Ukraine as justified when in fact, the likes of Victoria Nuland were doing a lot more than passing out cookies in Kiev, the old Khazar stomping ground. The antipathy the Ashkenazim have for Russia goes back to 965 when Sviatoslav I destroyed the Khazar city of Sarkel and its capital of Atil in the Caspian Expeditions of the Rus’.
Biden will never come clean about any of this because to do so would expose the whole Zionist project, the racist notion that some Europeans are destined by God to range around the planet, displacing the indigenous, stealing their land and resources, and eventually to bring mere humanity to an end in an apocalyptic final battle between “good” (them) and “evil” (everyone else). The rest of the world is sick and tired of it. At least Biden and Putin agree on that one.
I wrote some time ago that I hoped Biden would defeat Trump as that would quicken the demise of the US empire and do so without the extreme violence that Trump may have envisioned. In that regard I belive I am beginning to gain traction.
Next I believe Germany will become a major player as the first European country with growing economic and strategic links to China. As military conflict becomes confined and localised economic power takes a premier role. The military choice is ethier total destruction or skirmishes. That certain advanced technologies are proposing nucelar attack may be intercepted and negated is some long way off. Meanwhile for those who want to understand what comes next just open those history books and search for chapters on the demise of empires.
Oh … and for those looking for one of my illustrations … (‘the short time room’)
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMtBGeLmSQ4yzo9azV6WoaE-mK5Q0i2H9vLRYAz
In terms of communication, which is so decisive, there is a de-escalation on the part of the USA in relation to Russia. VVP has not conceded anything. After realizing the strength of Russia following the Russian deployment on the borders of Ukraine, the US realizes that their threats are useless because they do not have ground units up to the task (both in number and quality) to follow the escalation in Europe.
After the Geneva summit the confrontation should move to Asia with China. And there the US still has a navy to pretend, at least in its eyes. Are we going to see an intensification of the positional struggle between the Chinese and US navies (with all the combat actions that this implies, lighting up of fire radars, electronic warfare, etc.)? Will the Russians, who have the “long arm” with their sophisticated missiles and their denial of access bubble, directly support China in the confrontation?
In terms of communication, we are witnessing an anti-Chinese escalation in the USA and Australia. China is accused of being responsible for the Covid crisis, but at the same time they say that it was Fauci (a US official) who financed the Wuhan laboratory with federal funds. Are the US not taking sides in an internal Chinese power struggle?
At the same time we are apparently witnessing a loss of power of the big-reset-davos-boy” in the USA. Does this have an influence on the US versus Russia-China confrontation? If so, which one? Moreover, time is running out because the USA, following the catastrophic management of the crisis, is in the process of economic collapse. Hasn’t the tax share of the federal budget fallen to less than 50%?
Russia inflicted such a defeat on the US in the eastern Mediterranean in 2013-15. Will the Chinese succeed in following this example in the China Sea? If they are victorious? What I wish with all my being, we should witness the beginning of an era of peace. The people of the West will pay a high price for their cowardice and stupidity, because they will remain the only field of plunder for their elites.
This dream of peace is not only mine, the Anglo-Zionists will do everything to turn it into a nightmare. The war continues, but it seems to me that an end is near. Russia inflicted such a defeat on the US in the eastern Mediterranean in 2013-15. Will the Chinese succeed in following this example in the China Sea? If they are victorious?
?
‘
The citation of Mahan was deleted : A crushing defeat or marked inferiority in the presence of the enemy fleet is equivalent to both a complete dislocation of the whole system of colonies or zones of influence, wherever that defeat may be.
And the 4th § from the end should be deleted. I do not understand what happened during the automatic edition process.
I think the summit actually does mark a watershed. But it’s doubtful that the Atlanticists have ‘turned a corner’. It appears (to me) that elements from within the military have put their foot down after this recent Ukraine fiasco and registered a demand for arms control negotiations and thus restored diplomatic relations. But that won’t stop the neocons. They can be expected to just go on being idiots as always. But still, the term in play here is ‘watershed’. I think so. Something is changing. Think of Iran. Think Palestine. Consider how France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Japan have put in these lukewarm performances when called to arms against China. Is Turkey still in Nato? The winds in Latin America are blowing left again. About half of America doesn’t believe what they hear from the corporate media. Half. That’s a lot. Things are changing. With the Russians it’s steady as she goes. Nothing dramatic, no compelling narratives here. But the wisdom and moderation of a principled governance is starting to pay off.
You’re right to recognise the present conjuncture as a civilisational war. One will prevail, the other not. But truly, the conflict at hand is a struggle at the heart of Western civilisation itself. The international order upheld most notably by Putin, Lavrov, and their Chinese colleagues is very much a European order of things. It was an order that was born on the morrow of Westphalia, long ago, in the wake of a terrible crises of thirty years. Back then, the exceptionalists of the 17th century adamantly believed that all should conform to their ‘rules based international order’. Rivers of blood flowed to achieve a decision – and indeed a decision was achieved; the system of sovereign states has endured ever since as the real basis of international order and law. Nato will fail, just as was the case with the Third Reich, Napoleon, the Sun King and previously the Habsburg’s themselves. When the dust has settled, Europe will still be there, but only just. Their five hundred year day in the sun is past. America? According to old Hopi and Iroquois traditions the country will be attacked (the third ‘great shaking of the earth’) and suffer an invasion. From the West. Many of us believed that our Western modernity was the road to the future of all humanity. The day will come when we will see it as a cul de sac. Then, history will be the business of others, not ours. But be that as it may, Western civilisation will survive in the East as it did once before. The theme of ‘Russian Ark’ comes to mind.
Returning to the subject, watershed, I do think that a segment of the Beltway establishment is interested in negotiations but, again, I don’t expect much to change as a consequence. All of the West, Israel included, is stewing in a condition of stasis, a certain deadlock of political forces that cannot reach a resolution. The process of anacyclosis has reached rock bottom. They are in no condition to ‘build back better’ or shower Africa with ‘high quality’ infrastructure thanks to the magic of the market, nor will they succeed in isolating China. We already see the pattern. Nothing these so called elites do succeeds. In Eurasia: integration. In the West: disintegration. This is the trend.
When the RF takes their 900,000 israeli settlers back home & likewise the remainder of the world takes their settlers back and the fraud called israel reverts to being Palestine the 20th century of war for the money might end. Us Vs them must end, whoever we & they are, say Grandaddy USA Vs the reborn RF. We Are All The Same Humanity. But, it could be the planet’s sick of us, all of us.
Well said and well done, Saker.
Brother Blue Iconoclast
What we are seeing is a gradual realisation within the US political establishment that they do not have the power that they pretend to have to threaten & intimidate the entire world into obedience & vassal status. The more important issue is whether the real ruling class in the US is prepared to accept this reality, & the answer to that is almost certainly no – evidenced by the manner is which the corporate media report, their reporting reflects the attitude of the ruling class firstly & foremost, not the political establishment. So where does this go from here? The ruling class will either begin to seek to replace the entire political establishment the way they replaced Trump, by placing in power Hitler type lunatics that are prepared to start a world war – either that or the US is on the verge of an internal crisis which, I suspect, will destroy the US as a political structure. The ruling class i.e. the owners & holders of the bulk of finance capital & stock within the institutional shareholder firms which in turn own all the major corporations in the US & western world generally (Europe), can not accept a change in world order. They simply can not, because it means being deprived increasingly of access to markets & resources, the battle over Nord Stream 2 is a class example, a gas trade between two countries with no US or Anglo corporate participation in a currency other than the US Dollar (Euro). The US will not skim its cream off the top of this trade & that is a sign of things to come, others are making money, accumulating capital, outside of the Anglo-American sphere, & from the point of view of the Anglo-American ruling class, this is absolutely unacceptable. I expect the Biden admin to come under real intense pressure now to “act”, & if they do not, a major political crisis is in the offing.
A very intelligent analysis, thank you.
My own view which stems from the premise that a strategic alliance embodying Russia, China, and Iran is simply too strong to challenge using militarism; and that propaganda and the now hackneyed “colour revolutions” concommitant with all out economic warfare has failed. Dismally: And has in fact I believe comprehensively destroyed us in the west as financialisation has rampaged without regulation by our totally corrupted governments.
So, Americas change of attitude is I think to be viewed with the utmost scepticism: I am quite certain the President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin is doing just that. The only game in town now for the UK/US is to charm Russia away from its allies. Desperation as the UK collapses into tyranny, despotism and Bolshevism. Presiden Putin has played a stormer.
FM Lavrov in a recent Press Conference noted the characteristics of the US-led “rules-based-international-order” versus the Sino-Russian led version of international law, the UN, and so on.
For the US regime, it is simply “we make the rules and you obey our orders”. This plays out in the form of a kind of mock democracy in which the US “decides” what is a democracy, and what isn’t, and takes actions accordingly: NGOs, sanctions, and all the other blessings of Western civilization that Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen are familiar with. I suppose this could be more precisely characterized as “liberal” versus “authoritarian” in US lexicon but it amounts to the same steaming pile of animals droppings.
I should add that, despite the horrors imposed on the above listed countries, the US regime ultimately does not treat its “allies” much differently. Canada, under “liberal” Trudeau, loses billions of dollars in agricultural sales to China – thanks to the spurious kidnapping and ransom of Meng Wanzhou – which the US promptly filled in the form of soy-based alternatives. We also see this in the (now, seemingly failed) attempt to kibosh the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and replace it with more expensive US fracked gas.
The Russians and Chinese look at the matter of the relations between states as, in principle, a set of relations of equals and, therefore, as a “democratic” domain. This is backed up a Westphalian view of the sovereignty of states, the right to govern themselves, etc., and, therefore, not ruled by the imperial whims of whatever bloviating senior citizen happens to be residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Lavrov’s characterization is sharper, more precise, and does a more thorough job, i think, of disembowelling the democratic pretenses of the US empire’s foreign policy than the excellent summary by the Saker here.
Some questions I have been pondering but haven’t heard anyone else bring up:
– Biden, a catholic, met with Putin, an orthodox, at a pivotal time in history. The last world wars saw the churches play an unclear, but also not inert role in the conflict/political environment. Didn’t the last catholic president get assassinated? When the catholic Biden becomes POTUS Israel is soon snubbed and Netanyahu ousted? Maybe none of this is connected, but interesting none the less.
– Biden is pursuing by the “Build Back Better” initiative, having stoked the momentum of this with his visit to Europe, eventually leading to Russia… all in the context of anti-sino posturing. It would appear that the BBB initiative is an alternative to both the “Green New Deal” proposed by the other members of Biden’s party, and also to the BRI. Maybe “Joe Amtrak Biden” is ready to green light the Alaska-Siberia rail and communications corredor? This would make sense if there is any real chance of competing with the BRI. This would turn Russia into a transit state between Europe a d America, making Russia rich and important in the long term. Safe(er) from Chinese land grabs, enables China to be contained and for Russia to keep Siberia.
– Biden may be creating political space for future steps toward restoring de-escalation, non-proliferation, etc. treaties. In America now there is a blind, broad hostility toward Russia: it will take adjustments to get the American political environment to accept negotiating with Russia. If this is true, it could be because the USA seeks to contain China and other WMD powers with such treaties, and to be successful in this it must start by making treaties between the two WMD superpowers and living up to them as a start.
– Maybe the US side is trying to get an agreement with Russia and Saudi Arabia to raise the price of oil, enriching Russia and Saudi Arabia, squeezing China, and saving the American petroleum industry now that it has been defeated on its bid to sell the EU frac gas. If energy prices go up, it helps American energy companies stay alive while giving America time to find a new energy policy.
– Maybe Biden seeks to steal Trumps ideas for himself, blocking Trump from ending NATO and reproaching with Russia… This could deal with the Turkey problem and Ukraine admission problem at once, while strengthening ties with Russia. A pivot to the “Quad +” in earnest would make sense for Cold War 2.0 vs China with a ‘flipped’ reverse-Nixon Russia in Quad +. Biden has a lot to offer that Russia wants. Russia’s western flank could become safe, it could become wealthy, and its control of Siberia bolstered all very quickly. Especially if USA stopped thwarting the Union State project.
– Russia’s bombers in the northwest pacific are a serious threat to a maritime war with China if Russia is an active ally of China. What China’s H-6 fleet can’t reach and neither can the missile salvos, Russia’s bombers stationed in Kamchatka can* reach, with world-beating Russian missiles. If USA is to contain China in a pacific war or threat thereof, it must have some answer to the threat these bombers pose.
– Russia might have the ability with its special mission submarines to threaten SOSUS, thus enabling the PLAN to seize the second island chain. If China is to be contained via naval power, SOSUS is extremely valuable for the need to deal with the Chinese submarine fleet.
I’m just brainstorming subtopics I haven’t heard any opinions on from people who know more than me about these matters. Just trying to help the discussion move forward.
Liz, you ask some very good questions pertaining to issues beyond the perceived results of this Summit break- or-non- breakthrough. These questions cover quite diverse topics, ranging from ‘catholic’ church links of the US president to covert attempts by Biden to manipulate energy prices in conjunction with Russia and SA to the disadvantage of China, as well as questioning the role of Russian bombers in Northeast Asia in view of China’s supposedly limited naval capability issues.
To join you in moving the discussion forward I must humbly admit that I know less than your opinioned friends about these topics. Although I deeply suspect them (not your friends, but the Church), I know nothing of the role of the popes, apart from what I learned from reading a lot of church history). But should I obtain any clarity on these matters from the knowledgable people you invite to join the discussion, that would still not answer the question whether the Summit was a load of BS or a watershed. Yet, I agree that more clarity on these ‘sub’ topics will help answering the main question.
Besides I would suggest 2 more sub topics, which I consider to be the main cause of Empire bidding for time. My impression is that any concessions from the Dems and their handlers towards Russia following from this ‘watershed’ summit are concerned with their need to re-enforce their grip on the vassals (who are driven increasingly eastward as mentioned in other comments) and to secure a future role for Empire in the Arctic. Where at present they are nowhere, except for their basis-led occupation of Norway and their strategic arms treaties with (nomally) non-NATO members, Sweden and Finland.
Besides there is the cyber/space topic, where they are also lagging behind.
They need at least 5 years to get both straight, the Arctic and Space.
Will this watershed Summit offer them enough time to solve these topics to the advantage of Empire?
Saker’s Take:
“What about China?”
“So, at most, what they needed was a short time break or, at least, some kind of temporary stabilization of the “Russian front”.”
My take: The US/Biden et al, operate with no strategy for the Double Helix. They are baiting China to act against Taiwan or in the South China Sea. But, there is no leverage anywhere against the coordination between China and Russia. It is a similar tactic to using the Ukies against Russia.
The border between the two giants, China and Russia, is long, and unites them as much as defining them. More so, recently, Russia has invited China to participate through the Arctic NSR, which extends the reach of the PLAN to assist passage of vessels coming and going past the US territorial chokepoint of the Bering Sea.
Everywhere the Russians and Chinese touch there is synergy.
The Korea Peninsula? They coordinate protection and trade, assuring Kim’s survival and preventing US takeover of the whole Peninsula.
Japan? Both resist the breakout of a second Imperial Military in the East Asia and Far East region. They coordinate military and diplomacy while encouraging Japan’s economic power to work in Eurasian Integration.
ASEAN zone? Both work economic, diplomatic and military ties to ASEAN nations to keep the US limited to a visitor status.
The dilemma for the US machinations is seen in Mongolia and the Central Asia Stans. Creating trouble for Russia in these nations by the US merely alerts China which is a stakeholder in these countries also. And making trouble for China in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang, alerts Russia who holds stakes in these nations and the region, also.
There simply is no easy place or means for the US to wedge apart China and Russia.
The need for one another is magnified the more pressure the US puts on either.
The US is a decade late geopolitically, technologically, and economically.
Then, in terms of leadership, strategy and tactics, the US is 500 to 1000 years behind the curve.
The Western Civilization of the US has run itself into a global cul-de-sac.
The Russian and Chinese civilizations are as vibrant and vital as ever. They have discovered an enormous frontier of Eurasia that welcomes them to assist in its development and security.
All the while, the US looks to create chaos, dominate ‘full spectrum’, and steal everyone’s wealth.
No mention in Geneva of China to Russia? The US is dumb, blind and stupid and have nothing in their quiver to deal with the Double Helix.
They have a two-front war of containment to attempt. A short rest won’t help at all.
It is a new variant of a Thucydides Trap. The Hegemon is overmatched by the Double Helix.
“Also of interest are the points which were mentioned in passing, mostly by the US side, but which were clearly not focused on. These include:
The Ukraine and Belarus
Human Rights (aka “Navalyi” & Co.)
Russian alleged interference in western elections
Russian alleged covert operations against the US
The alleged Russian threat to the EU or in the Arctic
Russian ties to China and Iran”
So let’s focus on them here, then. To wit:
Ukraine and Belarus: Ukraine is a failed state all along the line. What used to be a highly industrialised, prosperous constituent republic of the erstwhile USSR has deteriorated into a Nazi asylum with Russophobia as its only “justification” to exist. Well, it’s depopulating fast so the problem is subsiding by itself.
Belarus was the Maidan attempt which failed decisively thanks to the Belarusian leadership, the majority population, the Belarusian KGB, and Russia. What is key here is that neither Russia, nor Belarus got infested by the Nazi inferiority complex. Actually, Belarus was very much spared the Liberal hell which ravaged Russia and Ukraine alike with vastly different outcomes there.
Human Rights (aka “Navalyi” & Co): Watching a pathetic cocaine addict and alcoholic perform the “Human Rights” monkey business and comparing today’s fraudsters with those of a by-gone era such as Solzhenitsyn,, Sakharov, Biermann, and others shows convincingly that if the West’s leadership ever took its bought and paid for “dissidents” seriously, today they are — correctly — viewed as disposable garbage,
Russian alleged interference in western elections: Understandably, narcissistic psychopaths can’t and won’t admit that their designated enemies exert any kind of positive pull upon their “domestic” populations. But still this is first and foremost a matter of gauging the power of a pivotal delusion among the West’s populace: the one about Western elections being something profoundly important and the envy of everybody else.
Russian alleged covert operations against the US: It’s a pity of course if there are only alleged ones. I think it’s safe to say that the Axis of Evil’s covert operations outsmart Pindos and Euro-trash, especially in view of the latters’ chauvinism and arrogance. So there are in all likelihood covert operations of which the West’s leadership and Deep States know absolutely nothing.
The alleged Russian threat to the EU or in the Arctic: This is actually something with appreciable substance. Russia, by itself, is a threat to the You’re_a_peon Union as Russia’s leadership builds alliances and infrastructure projects globally together with China to the detriment of Western imperialism.
The Arctic is the very first energy war where Russia seems very able to emerge totally victorious.
Russian ties to China and Iran: Spot-on. Just heard on the Evening News that today’s Presidential Election in Iran will, most likely, be won by Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner with significant credentials to show for him. China is already doing business on a vast scale with Iran, and so will Russia too.
A watershed event would be the US elite deciding that China is their main problem, not Russia. This may or may not have already happened. Or it might happen soon. It certainly appears that the US has economic and competitive and social problems, not Russia getting in the way in Libya or Venezuela or whatever.
Russia has been an obstacle to Western plans, and they are unhappy about it, but this is not the kind of threat China represents. The US may agree to various arms control treaties to lessen the fear within Russian power circles of American recklessness or insanity, and it would be beneficial to both sides. The US could also freeze the current rotten state in the Ukraine. Again, that would make the Russian elite feel that DC is at least sane.
And, getting to the point a couple of posters made about Russia or Putin not offering a model or hope for the downtrodden of the world, it is probably China that actually offers hope for a less oligarch-run and degenerate view of how a country should operate. Try to make your country better at everything. Best roads. Best schools. Best infrastructure. And prevent the super-rich and financial cartels from feeling like they are Gods above all laws.
The Haitians seem to be of a different persuasion:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XRYC5GdRNGg
Rumour or real news…? ??????
https://sputniknews.com/world/202106181083185209-white-house-reportedly-freezes-100-mln-military-package-to-ukraine/
Here’s the Politico article on which the Sputnik report rests.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/18/white-house-ukraine-military-lethal-weapons-495169
Sounds like the US doesn’t want to see Ukraine destroyed in a few hours of Russian military action.
If Putin has forced the US to pressure Kiev to work on the Minsk 2 protocols, then arming them is the wrong message to send to the nazis.
Gerasimov at the meeting quite obviously explained how thermobaric volleys decimate tanks and artillery, vaporize humans and leave $120 million worth of military aid in small heaps of ashes.
General Gerasimov might have had a TikTok video for the Americans showing how a hypersonic missile would fly at Mach 12 into command HQs where American and other NATO advisers would have no time to say goodbye to loved ones.
Americans are slow learners. It’s been seven years in Donbass trying to bait the Russians.
It’s been 20 years in Afghanistan. 18 years in Iraq. It took the US 25 years to leave SE Asia.
They have tried in Korea since 1950 to take the whole peninsula.
And now it’s been since 1991 using the Banderista nazis having psycho-massaged them and used them to try to poison Russia’s relations with its historic neighbors and trading partners. Plus, the US has “invested” $10 billion in these war criminals and corrupt politicians.
The US is taking a short break. It will be back doing the same things, saying they are different. So will their vassals.
Nothing is going to change. Quite likely the UK will send arms to Kiev. NATO will leave their weapons after training and exercises. Likely, half of what Kiev gets will disappear from their armories and sold on the black market. That’s what Ukies do.
All the West possesses facing the Russian Federation is the criminal, bankrupt, murderous regime they installed in Kiev.
And when Shoigu locks and loads, the West wets its pants and retreats.
It’s fun to watch.
To quote myself: “The US is taking a short break. It will be back doing the same things, saying they are different. So will their vassals.
“Nothing is going to change.”
The White House says the report about not sending the Ukies the armaments is wrong.
“Just last week—in the run-up to the U.S.-Russia Summit—we provided a $150 million package of security assistance, including lethal assistance”, Psaki’s statement reads. “We have now provided the entire amount appropriated by Congress through the Ukraine security assistance initiative.”
https://sputniknews.com/us/202106181083186482-white-house-denies-holding-back-security-assistance-to-ukraine/
Biden will never give up the Ukraine. It is for the Russophobes like Jerusalem is for the Zionists.
Nothing is going to change.
Ta for responses thank you…yes saw that re Psaki a bit later. One wonders if as Lavrov speaks to Raab Uk ….twas a kinda warning make up your own mind and be aware of consequences…and OSCE has been “demanded” of (yet again again again)to ensure Minsk proceeds, no more letting Kiev get away with their lies deceit and manoevering. So one wonders of Donbass is going to move from being a front line to a redline and that UK and USA are firmly being made aware….that if Kiev clearly does wish to take a chance or two does any more it will be a threshold they should not have crossed….and do not be surprised if they get kicked back out…
UKRAINE CRISIS 20 JUN, 10:58Updated at: 12:34 Russia wants OSCE to use its leverage on Kiev that sabotages Minsk deal – foreign ministry Kiev has also been evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement The Russian Foreign Ministry © Valery Sharifulin/TASS MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. At the talks with OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmid on June 21, Russia is planning to call on the organization’s leadership to use its leverage on Kiev, which has been sabotaging the Minsk agreements and evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. “In regard to the domestic Ukrainian conflict, we are planning to discuss the work of the Contact Group, where the OSCE is coordinating direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk as parties to the conflict with the goal of implementing the Minsk Package of Measures. We will call on the OSCE leadership to use its leverage on Kiev, which is sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures and evading dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk,” the ministry said ahead of a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the OSCE chief. At the talks, Russia plans deliver remarks on the OSCE reports regarding the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. “The observers are in no hurry to confirm data on the casualties and damage to the Donbass civilian facilities. They more rarely name the side, which carried out the shellings, although there are possibilities to determine this. We emphasize that the mission’s mandate spreads to the entire territory of Ukraine,” the ministry said. “The observers should report about the situation with observing human rights, pay attention to the situation of ethnic minorities. However, the attention to these aspects, especially in the context of the outburst of neo-Nazism in the country, the violations of language and education rights of its citizens, is insufficient,” it stated.
“… the US sees itself as exceptional and, therefore, endowed with special rights and sees Russia as a much inferior interlocutor which needs to accept the US hegemony upon the world…”
After having spent 14 years living in Chicago, LA, SF, Arizona and DC – I have to say I have NEVER met an American who actually believes this.
It’s the zio media that tries to create this fake reality about Americans actually believing this nonsense.
There is even a book about it – called I think How Jews Created Hollywood – it describes how jews persuaded confused and disoriented Americans to believe they are what Pedowood tells them that they are.
These usual suspects are just trying to widen the scope of that fraud onto the resto of the world: i.e. Americans believe they are ‘the best’ – so don’t be so rude to dare to realize that’s just all pure fraud. etc..
It’s important to distinguish the reality on the ground in JUSSA from the widespread and constant predatory zio-fraud enforcement.
I know several sons and daughters of some of the most politically powerful, wealthiest American families – even they don’t believe this fraud. Nor do they have much confidence.
I find Americans generally very much lacking any confidence (they have learned from Pedowood how to be manic – but that’s a caricature of happiness – nothing to do with the real thing which comes from being in tune with reality).
I have also never met an American who thinks Russia is the new MORDOR – they know very well that JUSSA is the MORODOR – past, present and future.
This predatory replacing reality with fraud is what Americans and their zio handlers have been ‘good’ at until now. But the world is waking up to the fraud.
A Little lie here, a little bit of fraud there….amplified and repeated endlessly by their loud megaphone of Pedowood… – and they hope eventually their edifice of BS will somehow stand at least as long as needed to confuse a few more people around the world who have never actually been to JUSSA… and who hav enever seen the hiorrific decay and destruction so widely spread all over the decaying shithole of fraud of a country.
After having spent 14 years living in Chicago, LA, SF, Arizona and DC – I have to say I have NEVER met an American who actually believes this.
Trouble is, you don’t have to believe in it to tolerate it. That’s all they need. Plus the fact that it works on a subliminal level. Try to stand up and shout down this myth in public and see how fast you end up in cuffs with absolutely no one to stand up in your defense. This is exactly how it all worked in Nazi Germany, and the same principles are still at work even more effectively today.
Everytime I read the Saker’s article(s)—I get, a..little bit smarter.
I have to read slowly–sometimes putting it down and coming back to it later, (because I ponder) and because my nerves get too attach to the writing style …
Thank you for improving my critical thinking skills with your analysis, great writing, and cropped image to start up the conversation (tip of the hat to Larry Romanoff)
Hello Saker, This presser by Lavrov today with his Belarusian counterpart was too late for you to include in your analysis, but it does confirm some of it. Lavrov was also tasked today by Putin to give his report to the meeting of the Security Council. Below IMO is the key presser part:
“The Belarusian topic was touched upon, not as an individual topic, but in the context of conceptual discussions that took place between the presidents. They were conceptual, but had a very specific refraction in practical politics. I mean this. Every nation – it was recognized – has its own history, culture, traditions, values, and they should be taken for granted if not respected. This is a fact of the modern world, its civilizational diversity, which “under one row cut” does not work. That’s clear to everyone.
“This diversity, this national specificity, the national values that have suffered for centuries of ancestors, must be taken into account in the preparation and harmonization of approaches to those profound and not yet very clear predictable changes that are coming in international life. They have embraced the modern world and do not bypass any state, whether it calls itself liberal, democratic or something else.
“This understanding was extended to not very long-term references to the situation in the Republic of Belarus. They affirmed that it is necessary to be guided by international law, This understanding was extended to not very long-term references to the situation in They affirmed that it is necessary to be guided by international law, ensuring the sovereign equality of states, respecting the right of peoples to determine their own destiny without interference from outside.ensuring the sovereign equality of states, respecting the right of peoples to determine their own destiny without interference from outside.
“That’s the way this conversation took place, but it affected more than one country, as I said. I thought he was very helpful.”
TASS also had this report:
“I’ve read the assessments of US officials, including the participants of the talks, on the outcomes of the Geneva talks. They are trying to position themselves in such a way that they said: “We need to return the personnel that will facilitate the work of the embassy, we need to get Russia to respond to the accusations related to the activity of hackers, who are attacking the American infrastructure, and we need to get Russia to release the Americans serving prison sentences.” This is not the approach that the presidents talked about. I want those, who comment on the results of the summit in such a way, to hear this: this will not be a one-way street,” the minister said.
“Lavrov pointed out that Putin had supported Biden’s offer to resolve the existing issues on a mutually acceptable basis. “If the logic of the Americans is like this: we returned the ambassadors, and now you should do everything we want, and then we will see – about diplomats, cyber attacks, convicts – this is not acceptable. So, if the logic that the presidents expressed in Geneva prevails among the bureaucrats, I think we will get results,” the Russian top diplomat concluded.”
In our ongoing discussion about this topic at Moon of Alabama, some of us agree that Biden is bowing to reality, that it’s impossible for the Outlaw US Empire to now fight both Russia and China at the same time, not just due to geopolitical realities but also because of the domestic reality, which is in reality a long term crisis in many differing dimensions that will not be easily solved given the current political-economic ideology (treason by the Duopoly), and other Congressional actions that will be very difficult to undo.
On the other hand, the sole purpose of whole charade could just be face saving of US.
All that huffing and puffing around North Stream 2 resulted only in getting finger from Germany and Russian slow but steady finish of the pipeline.
And that is PR disaster that easily can trigger domino effect resulting in mass insubordinance among “allies”.
Biden generously “allowed” Putin to have his pipeline. He will be blamed for making mighty US looks soft. In reality, he played his role of patsy as scripted.
After failed NS2 sabotage fiasco is forgotten, nothing that Americans agreed will be honoured because of…reasons.
That’s all folks. Damage control, nothing more.
The big mistake made by all too many is thinking of Nord Stream 2 as “Putin’s Pipeline” when in reality it’s owned by a consortium from Germany, UK, Russia, and other EU nations.
I hope you didn’t misunderstand sarcasm when I used MSM’s soundbites without quotes.
But, I agree, all too many falls for simplicity. So I will rephrase my point, just in case.
After realising that they are powerless to cancel NS2, US come up with scenario in which they “allowing” it to happen.
Sadly, as ridiculous as “Putin’s pipeline” sounds, all too many will fall for it (again). KISS principle never fail.
After US regains shaken authority among allies, they will simply blame Biden, and return to old ways.
The American Empire is a desperate empire.
The United States is anxious and fearful that its rule over the planet is unravelling and a multipolar world led by China and Russia challenges imperial American domination.
Like the British Empire that spawned them, the Americans’ instinctive response is to resort to Divide-et-Impera tactics and attempt a hackneyed “Revere Nixon” by turning Russia against China.
This is the same Russia that the Americans have been threatening and militarily encircling for the past decades by both factions of the American War Party (“Democrat” and “Republican” alike).
Now, the Americans are channeling their inner George Orwell and turning on a dime: the United States of Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia … er … East Asia.
That is what the United States is attempting with its phony “be nice Russia” summit.
The Americans may congratulate themselves for being clever, but this geopolitical ploy will likely fail, as the Russians are not so stupid as to fall for this connivance.
Washington Reveals Its Summit Agenda: Threaten & Bribe Putin to Break with China
https://theduran.com/washington-reveals-its-summit-agenda-threaten-bribe-putin-to-break-with-china/
Moreover, the Build Back Better (B3) scheme that the Americans were peddling at the G7 seems very similar to an American slush fund for corruption, as Alexander Mercouris has suggested.
Even worse, this B3 scheme seems to Biden’s repackaged version of the infamous Great Reset of the global economy and Green New Deal all rolled into one.
As Pepe Escobar has suggested, “B3 is now official code for both The Great Reset and the New Green Deal.”
Empire of Clowns vs. Yellow Peril
/empire-of-clowns-vs-yellow-peril/
The Americans fancy themselves to be the masters of Machiavellianism, but rip off all their deceptions, and there is one glaring reality: the American Empire has No Clothes.
“Build Back Better” is spinnoff of canceled soap opera “Make America Great Again”. Same producer, director and script, only different lead actors.
The big problem is that the Pentagon is out of control. Lavrov made his comment about USA being “non-agreement capable” after Centcom commander Votel ordered the deliberate airstrike on the Syrian Army at Deir Ezzor. Unless Votel and the air commander are court martialed, the Pentagon will continue its own foreign policy such as arming and training Ukronazi snipers.
The other problem is that his base is fueled on all the lies about Russia such as Skripals, Navalny, Olympic doping. Team Biden can only have a sane policy towards Russia if the CIA starts leaking to the media the truth, which would mean that Brennan and Bloody Gina will have to be thrown under the bus.
Very informative and interesting piece. What, if anything, is known about Putin the man, and how much longer he plans to carry the burden of ruling the Russian state? To someone who became a member of my national church in late middle age, the incident of the Army church to the southwest of Moscow looms large, and must have been very emotionally and spiritually destabilising for Putin. This church, to the south-west of Moscow, had extensive murals depicting the victors of 1812, 1945 – and 2020, including a prominent portrait of Putin. Putin had the murals taken down on the grounds that the outcome of the present confrontation was not decided.
It must be the first incident in history where a catechumen has better absorbed Christian doctrine, particularly about the arch-sin of Pride, than the head of his national church. Rather than speaking the truth to power, Gundyayev was using flattery in Disraelian quantities to promote his power and wealth (Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister in the middle of the nineteenth century, famously remarked that “everybody likes flattery, but with monarchs you have to lay it on with a trowel”). Is Gundyayev a self-serving wrong ‘un, like Geoffrey Fisher in Canterbury, or Eugenio Pacelli and Benny the Rat in Rome? The incident of the $10,000 Rolex watch is significant. Noticed on the Patriarchal wrist in the first official photograph, only to be photoshopped in the second. Incompetently, as its reflection in the heavily polished wood still showed. A weakness for bling at church expense, of course, was one of the less serious failures of Benny the Rat.
An excellent analysis of this “summit,” Mr. Saker. Right up there with your treatment of the threatened war in Ukraine that was narrowly avoided due to the right chess moves by President Putin.
Very perceptive of you to end both critiques noting that, though the pressure has been blessedly lowered and a very real crisis passed without catastrophe, both moves were simply holding actions by Putin. Expect the empire at some time in the future to renege on its promises, break its word and come back looking to make more trouble for Russia and Putin. It’s about all they know how to distract Americans from their country’s own unfolding internal collapse.
Spewing n seething.
Lol.
In the lead up to Geneva Summit, US narrative strategists didn’t want Putin sharing a media stage with Biden.
They wanted Putin’s presser to go first, allowing Biden “the last word”.
Now Pompeo is seething and spewing because there was no US president standing next to Putin to “shut him down”.
There was no US flag.. (boo hoo).
This 12 minutes of hate from Pompeo and his foxy friends is real salty.
Enjoy.
“Putin had free rein to spew propaganda in solo press conference: Pompeo”
(Just the name “Pompeo” makes me wanna spew)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8H-ld688A
everything in the universe operates on cycles/s. from our own bodies to the pulse of black holes. there is no reason to conceive nations, empires are in any way immune from the basic force that animates the universe.
the cycle that underlies the american empire is now visibly waning towards completion and termination. there is simply no human force capable of turning it around or even staving off it ending.
it has become also obvious that as the empires cycle degrades into ending the quality of those in control of maintaining has also degraded along with all the underlying components that once made it powerful.
russia and china surely understand this since both have been through their own cycles having long histories on earth. it is america having existed such a “”SHORT” time that has no historical memory as you would find in a small child repeatedly asking their parents on a long road trip, ”are we there yet”’?
in short there is nothing to be done, there is nothing that can be done to extend the empires life or its power. the forces at work are immutable.
on another note the zionist empire in israel is on its own last iterations into their death spiral of their smaller cycle. again there is nothing to be done one way or the other. these forces play out beyond the ability of humans to counteract.
down the road in a coming century it will be eurasia (russia/china et al) who will be faced with the same decaying forces washington is staring at now. our human life spans are too short to appreciate the elegance and simplicity of how all this plays out.
Basically a nothingburger…
Only pragmatic outcome was (and probably the real main agenda) a face-saving way of getting diplomats back into each capital to roll the not-so-great game down to the next chapter.
So, Russia is still a superpower according to the author. But how? Because it has 4 thousands nuclear weapons and can kill every person on the planet and yet it can’t really do it because the main purpose of all those weapons is to act as a deterrent. Is Russia ready to starve its population just to stay in the race? Let’s get real, Russia has cut many, many branches on which it was sitting, it will never again reach even close the power of former USSR. Don’t we see that today, Russia is at least 20 years behind both China and US in the space exploration. The Russian nuclear weapons are the only reason for the “summit” and not any genuine wish of the West to mend its relations with Russia. It is unfortunate that after all that has transpired Russian elites are still as willing as ever to do everything they can to placate the “western partners”, instead of felling remorse and contrition for all the misdeeds and outright treachery of those that once were true friend and allies.
You sound like a bitter neo-con who still thinks Russia is gas station masquerading as country idiocy, it really is sad that you cling to that delusion. Also why would Russia want to be the USSR again, what so that it would have to subsidize and develop ungrateful state like Ukraine, the Baltics or Georgia, no thanks. Besides the USSR’s fate is also the fate of the US your unsustainable and bloated country. As for space exploration it’s funny how 20 years behind in exploration Russia was so necessary in building the ISS or for the last decade sending your aeronauts in to orbit, even with that front phony company known as Space X.
Or that said 20 years behind, still sells the RD-180 rocket engine for the Atlas V rocket, yet you Americans can’t replicate it and make one yourself. Also the European exo-Mars probes are dependent on the Russian proton rockets to get to the red planet, and the latest ones that is launching has even more Russian components, again 20 years behind. China barely got its BeiDou satellite navigation completed the Russian Glonass was completed nearly a decade ago, same goes for Glonass completed ahead of the Europeans Galileo satellite navigation system. Again Russia is 20 years behind the Europeans who haven’t launched a Human in to orbit or made their own station.
20 years behind the Chinese who copy Russian lunch rocket technology, orbital station modules or their spacesuits. You mean weak technologically behind Russia that China still buys, Russian jet engines, Gas turbine engines, military hardware like the S-400. Also laggard Russian technology and participation that is important for China’s ambitious wide body civilian passenger jet the CRAIC CR-929. Yup 20 years behind.
Seriously starve the population, you mean the biggest grain exporter, Russia has a starving population that is some grade A neo-con delusional tripe you posted there Peter. Here is an example of wheat production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_wheat_production_statistics, year on year decline for the U.S. and year on year rise for Russia, yeah they are going to be starved nonsense. The Russians can truly say the hell with your toxic GMO’s there Pete.
As for an Arms breaking them economically, neo-cons like you have been saying this for 20 years aren’t you tired of being wrong. In fact Russian military spending has been going down in the last couple of years, now that it has been modernized, meaning its far less of strain in its economy that your bloated Pentagon military budget is on your debt ridden mess of a U.S. economy. Smart priority military spending not hindered by a corrupt private military industry complex like in the U.S. means Russia can spend up to ten times less on similar weapons system. To which the Russians are ahead by a decade, meaning you Yanks are the one’s that can’t afford this arms race, that is shown by Biden agreeing to extending START and himself asking for this summit. Hardly a position of American strength.
You are text book case of American exeptionalist delusional thinking and as to why you posted such silly and childish blather here, well I don’t know it must be delusional case of supremacist psychopathy on your part. Similar to what a NAZI card carrying Russophobic racist citizen of Germany was in the 1930’s and 40’s, imperial delusions on your part.
Thanks you. Your response to the fossil thinking above has saved me the effort of pointing out his/her deficites in argument. Russia has a nice tight national unit with climate change on its side. Obviously history is not this guy’s forte. Spain, British, Ottoman, (add in a few minor Portuguese, Dutch, etc) all burnt out and drifiting along. And how long did China languish in the British opium swamp because they were a faded empire-scale at that time?
The USA went bankrupt in the 1970’s, smashed the game board and have printed their way into everyone’s lunch box ever since. Sure some nice innovative techo stuff emerged and hats off to them for that. But bankrupted again in 2000-Dot.com crash and again in the 2008 global financial crisis. And now again printing $trillions of digital nothings to keep the Wall St scam afloat.
Sure, follow the money trail until you can’t because it has devalued to zero. And where is all the gold and silver? Trading in Asia 2.0 as it was before the European invasion and colonization. The occupation entity has pretty much sucked the US roach dry and is now casting around for the next blood donor. It was meant to be a Russia or China but they are not co-operating. Hence the existential anxiety of the parasitic classes.
They (the 1%) have sold the rope they (the 99%) are hanging with.
It’s going to get nasty before it gets better in Western domains.
You’ve struck a nerve here, you see there are patterns to the collapse of a society (even if its just a society of grade A associates).
The Spanish collected great amounts of wealth in the 1500’s and provided its citizens with a lavish lifestyle of church and social gatherings for nearly a century. But at the end of the day nobody wanted to work and once the money ran out and the people got angry about their new conditions, and soon after the local financial predators absorbed the remains.
The situation is very similar today with the western financial system, the mkt has been flooded with money, people trying to remain solvent cant find the workers to help bail them out, thus creating more insolvency, requiring more money to resolve the lack of real growth.
The system is based on a growth model so it can never admit a lack of growth, even though more people are unable or simply dont want to work, or would rather medicate and meditate than bail some business fluzy out of their financial jam.
And thus the story of decline of the elite begins, first slowly, but then all at once.
We know we’ve started the decline, but we dont know where or when it ends, there is simply no telling.
I live in Russia. Come here bro.
@Peter
You forgot to mention western ultimate supremacy over Russia in manufacturing enormous amount of PR-bullshit.
What a great analysis Saker. You have really looked at all the details and from every single angle.
I believe we will only fully understand this meeting with hindsight. Given the deceptive nature of the hegemon, your pessism, (and that of other commentators) is warranted…
Re: Russia’s vision, conduct and performance
@ paul (June 18, 2021 at 7:44 am) makes good points about Russia. A good discussion about how Russia can do better here. Thanks.
Russia has consistently over the last couple of centuries performed poorly in the financial realm. It has survived only because of its resources and resilience of its people. Unfortunately, it hasn’t used its money wisely to energize its populace and developments. In summary, it hasn’t demonstrated how to make best of its assets: people, natural resources and money. It should be thriving.
It has been betrayed big time thrice by the Financial Empire in the last century. Even in Ukraine after signing the agreement for Yanukovych it was betrayed in 2014. Each one of Russia’s allies has been sequentially attacked by the Empire. China is next. Russia initially does nothing and then after damage is done provides nursing services to the destroyed nation.
Vladimir Putin’s performance at the summit’s press conference wasn’t one of his best. He had no vision for the world. We acknowledge Russia’s interest, but that is a narrow frame. Putin didn’t utter the words: multipolar, multilateralism, respect for sovereignty, noninterference, monetary imperialism, hegemony, regime change… It seems like he is okay with monetary imperialism and enslavement. Joe Biden attacked Russia in his press conference about Navalny, talked about some of his red lines, framed Putin negatively, outsmarted and outperformed Putin in the press conference setup,… Russia and Putin wouldn’t address these attacks, accusations, talk about regime change in Belarus & Venezuela, NS2 sanctions, extraterritorial restrictions… unbelievable. Putin talked about two nuclear powers but not about the multipolar order. He could have set the world stage and won accolades by stating, “welcome to the multipolar order and this summit is about powers engaging for a peaceful and prosperous world.” This would have won Russia appreciation from nations that support multilateralism. What was the crux of Putin’s press conference? How will Russia address its attacks of autocrats, bully, G7/Democracies groups’ human rights violator,… without a vision & key messages?
Russia has repeatedly sacrificed long term for short term gains. One wants short term or long term gain for long term or short term pain correspondingly. The Empire knows very well how to play Russia with its traitors and Russia falls for it. Now the Empire wants to take on China, so it wants to pacify Russia. Will Russia fall for this trap? Yes, Russia has capabilities to destroy, thereby powerful. Does it have the power to develop a nation? One doesn’t see its development power in Syria, Donbass, Venezuela,… To qualify as a super power one needs a vision, leadership and capabilities (developmental & destructive).
Leadership is the art of looking forward. Do times define leaders or leadership defines its time?
Dont be led astray, as Russia will say, “in debt we trust”.
Wlen asked about Biden, Putin said something to the effect: He’s a very experienced politician. In view of Saker’s analysis, this may be diplomatese for: he knows when his bullshit isn’t going to cut it. In other words, bluff and bluster, and intimidation and cajoling, and back-slapping and glad-handing were not going to get him anywhere (Putin doesn’t have enough hair to make it worth sniffing). None of the tools in the tall-white-guy toolkit were going to work, and Biden, being a seasoned politician, realized this, and thus realized that he would have to sit and talk. The meeting lasted two hours (was Biden awake the whole time?), so they must have gotten to some understanding. Returning to the stupid question from the stupid CNN reporter, will Biden be able to keep his word despite all the evidence to the contrary?
“Time will show which group is right. My money is on the pessimists (as usual).”
Well, a pessimist is a good informed optimist, they say.
Not sure you fully get it. Russia has no choice but to strike before scrolls crazies seize control and launch. This is what Americans want – Russia to kill them and death to release them from the crazies.
If the US is ‘retreating’ for now, it is likely only because they’re prepping for a false flag.
The WEF is simulating a complete cyber digital attack just as they did Covid. For which the US deep state itself was carrying out illegal research in China’s own back yard, which it is now slowly dumping on China, and Beijing was too stupid to notice. Given that even Moscow fell for it and is now demanding certain public sector workers “vaccinate” despite now seeing a post-Vax rise in “cases” as RT reports, and still being unable to connect the dots, someone should point out to Putin that all those reports of “Russian hacking” are laying the groundwork for what is to come. The narrative is already set. If the Americans are not barking at you then you should be more wary.
The West will bury their own economic collapse under the facade of Russian cyber terrorism just as they’ve conveniently done under the umbrella of a “pandemic”, which will lead to more sanctions are increased turmoil against Bad Vlad and the Russkies.
Also, don’t count on China in the future. The stupid child murdering commies after now graciously allowing 3 child policies and what seems like broken promises over white collar jobs to desperately maintain blue collar ones, will see its economy collapse overnight once the population ages without replacements. China committed suicide and it’s advantage will depend on the extent that Western nations have not also done likewise. But China is more vulnerable because it’s people were the primary product for Western outsourced cheap manufacturing and also as a market for their Hollywood films and services.
All this means is that time is limited, and if anyone is crazy enough to see all our kinetic war as a solution, then the window of opportunity is closing.
China’s having less children is no better or worse then the same phenomena in Japan, Korea, Taiwan or the West itself. It’s symptom of all industrialized or so called modernized society. To much of the sky is falling over here, the Chinese birth rate decline hysteria is more desperate Western MSM hysteria directed at country who’s rise they can’t stop. I would suggest you don’t take this stuff to seriously.
Oh but I do take it seriously, and you’re absolutely right that everywhere else is much the same. But the one untended consequence of China’s abortion plan was the overwhelming eradication of the female child in favour of the male one, and that’s a major problem in terms of reversing the trend.
Even if China comes out better than the other nations, it’s economic advantage and therefore exertion of power will be greatly diminished. So unless the commies decide to force women to get pregnant at the point of a gun or beating, just as they do to un-pregnate them, China’s future is over and they won’t be an economic or military threat to anyone aside from the ability to press a button and launch a missile. The ‘rise’ will be in free fall along with everyone else, but China has the most to lose.
The Western MSM is never going to point this flaw out with China however, as they are also servants to the abortion industry of whom many of them are frequent customers. At least the Chinese lived in fear of the government, but as the Chinese authorities are finding out, their industrialized society doesn’t want children any more than the western ones. But where China outdoes themselves in stupidity is that the ones who do aren’t allowed to make up the difference, because to go beyond the limits established by the party is to demonstrate that the party is wrong and has created a catastrophe waiting to blow up in their face.
The population issue is yet another anti-China talking point/wishful psyops that Americans and likeminded propagandists push.
But the Americans and West have been actively trying to re-conquer China since the 1949 Communist revolution.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in particular, the Americans and their crime partners have been fomenting subversion attempts (Tienanmen; Hong Kong “pro-democracy” regime change ops, etc.) and hoping against hope that they could regime change and return China to Third World status, similar to what the Americans did to Yeltsin era Russia, as only a source of labor or natural resources for America’s corporations to exploit.
In short, the Americans and West want to recolonize China, as they thought they could recolonize Russia.
In both cases, the Americans have failed.
As such, the Americans are increasingly filled with spittle-flecked rage at their failure to fulfill their “Manifest Destiny” to recolonize the world disguised behind their national deceptions called “Freedom and Democracy.”
Incidentally, America’s population problem can only be solved by more immigration from what they call “shithole” nations.
Because the traditional White colonizer/settler base of the United States is declining in population, they must rely upon immigrants–illegal or otherwise–from Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere as workers.
As a result, however, Whites in the USA are projected to lose their majority status by the 2040s.
Indeed, in some of those territories that America stole from Mexico and currently occupies like Texas, California, or the Southwest, the Latino population and other non-Whites are challenging Anglo Americans for dominance.
This what some White nationalists call the Great Replacement or Reconquista.
What it means is this: RIP White America.
Census shows majority of Texans are minorities
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Census-shows-majority-of-Texans-are-minorities-1569186.php
Nothing burger, just as Israel change government, not savoury.
In a real life example of an ‘underdeveloped’ country, in 2017, I travelled the 395 miles from Moscow to St. Petersburg on a high speed train in about three hours, as chronicled in my book about Americans working in Russia.
America and its beloved Capitalist system are imploding.
That is what drives all of the USA’s criminal behavior around the planet including America’s genocidal wars of aggression; economic terrorism (i.e. sanctions); political destabilization campaigns; and media blood libels of other nations.
The only “solution” that the Americans have for these political and economic crises is: World War
However, World War includes not only possible conventional/nuclear war but also America’s preferred method of Hybrid War involving economic, political, media, and — shall we say — “unconventional” methods of war like cyberwar and biowarfare.
But then again, these crimes are to be expected from the Americans, who are the greatest war criminals on the planet.
Financial Blowout Ahead: Lobotomized Economists Clash on the Deck of the Titanic
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/06/13/financial-blowout-ahead-lobotomized-economists-clash-on-deck-of-titanic/
“An agreement to discuss cybersecurity on an expert level (something the Russians had been demanding for years, but which the USA rejected out of hand).”
This caught my eye. With the impending targeted cyber attacks on the corporate supply chain by the Davos/WEF/bankster crowd with the aid of the CIA and other three letter U.S. government organizations, it smells to me that the Powers That Be want to ensure their assets in both the U.S. and Russia are on the same page.
I found several details of the gasoline pipeline hack to be suspicious. I’m wondering if that wasn’t a warning shot by Russia, and is the real reason “Biden” is stepping more carefully around Russia.
US teases new anti-Russia sanctions as ambassador returns to DC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl6FEC3XWyQ
So much for all that! Putin really should stop wasting his time with these things.
These summits are nothing more than photo ops and an excuses for Western leaders to travel and party away from all the hysterical pandemic lockdowns and restrictions they’ve imposed on their cattle populace that they routinely ignore. These are taxpayer funded celebration vacations where nothing gets done and anything that is done was only to formalize what they already decided to do long ago.
Given the control of the deep state over the military, IC, and State hard to fathom that they want diplomacy. My guess is that France and Germany put pressure on Biden to have the summit to stop the US from a war in Europe over the Ukraine. As the poster Larchmonter445 has stated, anti-Russian business will resume in due order. I saw photo of the lead US table and sitting near center was Victoria Nuland. She and her ilk will stop any diplomatic resolutions. Looking back at Obama and Trump, the deep state is in charge and can countermand any direct executive order.
My tales on the G-7 Nato and Geneva non-summits in spanish, use microsoft edge taht incorporates a translator
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/asi-se-las-ponian-a-fernando-vii
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/los-hombres-g-7
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/de-andrei-martyanov-por-que-son-tan-estupidos (just a translation)
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/comparativa-de-las-ruedas-de-prensa-del-holograma-biden-y-volodya-putin
https://www.dodgone.com/blog/conclusion-del-la-no-cumbre-holograma-biden-vs-volodya-putin
This is the best analysis that I’ve seen so far. The Empire got a reality check, but will it fully understand it? We shall see. 👍👍👍
According to Thierry Meyssan it is no nothingburger – what happened is so explosive that it does not appear in the media on either side.
https://www.voltairenet.org/article213446.html
What really happened on Jun 16th.
Biden: you must sell your oil to China and the rest of the world for US$.
Putin: No.
Biden: But it would be in everyone’s best interest.
Putin: No.
Biden: Please.
Putin: No.
Biden: But I said “please”.
Putin: No.
Biden: Fuck you.
Putin: Fuck you.