This article was written for the Unz Review
There are two myths which are deeply imprinted in the minds of most US Americans which are extremely dangerous and which can result in a war with Russia.
- The first myth is the myth of the US military superiority.
- The second myth is the myth about the US invulnerability.
I believe that it is therefore crucial to debunk these myths before they end up costing us millions of lives and untold suffering.
In my latest piece for the Unz Review I discussed the reasons why the US armed forces are nowhere nearly as advanced as the US propaganda machine would have us believe. And even though the article was a discussion of Russian military technologies I only gave one example, in passing, of Russian military technologies by comparing the T-50 PAKFA to the US F-35 (if you want to truly get a feel for the F-35 disaster, please read this and this). First, I am generally reluctant to focus on weapons systems because I strongly believe that, in the vast majority of real-world wars, tactics are far more important than technologies. Second, Andrei Martyanov, an expert on Russian military issues and naval warfare, has recently written two excellent pieces on Russian military technologies (see here and here) which gave many more examples (check out Martyanov’s blog). Having read some of the comments posted under Martyanov’s and my articles, I think that it is important, crucial, in fact, to drive home the message to those who still are thoroughly trained by the propaganda machine to instantly dismiss any notion of US vulnerability or, even more so, technological inferiority. I am under no illusion about the capability of those who still watch the idiot box to be woken out of their lethargic stupor by the warnings of Paul Craig Roberts, William Engdal, Dmitrii Orlov, Andrei Martyanov or myself. But I also think that we have to keep trying, because the war party (the Neocon Uniparty) is apparently trying really hard to trigger a conflict with Russia. So what I propose to do today is to connect the notions of “war with Russia” and “immediate and personal suffering” by showing that if Russia is attacked two of the most sacred symbols of the USA, aircraft carriers and the US mainland itself, would be immediately attacked and destroyed.
The aircraft carriers myth
I have to confess that even during the Cold War I always saw US aircraft carriers as sitting ducks which the Soviets would have rather easily destroyed. I formed that opinion on the basis of my study of Soviet anti-carrier tactics and on the basis of conversations with friends (fellow students) who actually served on US aircraft carriers.
I wish I had the time and space to go into a detailed description of what a Cold War era Soviet attack on a US aircraft carrier battle group would typically look like, but all I will say is that it would involved swarms of heavy air and sea launched missiles coming from different directions, some skimming the waves, others dropping down from very high altitude, all at tremendous speeds, combined with more underwater-launched missiles and even torpedoes. All of these missiles would be “intelligent” and networked with each other: they would be sharing sensor data, allocating targets (to avoid duplication), using countermeasures, receiving course corrections, etc. These missiles would be launched at standoff distances by supersonic bombers or by submerged submarines. The targeting would involve space-based satellites and advanced naval reconnaissance technologies. My USN friends were acutely aware of all this and they were laughing at their own official US propaganda (Reagan was in power then) which claimed that the USN would “bring the war to the Russians” by forward deploying carriers. In direct contrast, my friends all told me that the first thing the USN would do is immediately flush all the carriers away from the North Atlantic and into the much safer waters south of the so-called GUIK gap. So here is the ugly truth: carriers are designed to enforce the rule of the AngloZionist Empire on small and basically defenseless nations (like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq). Nobody in the USN, at least not in the late 1980s, seriously considered forward deploying aircraft carrier battlegroups near the Kola Peninsula to “bring the war to the Russians”. That was pure propaganda. The public did not know that, but USN personnel all knew the truth.
[Sidebar: if the topic of carrier survivability is of interest to you, please check out this Russian article translated by a member of our community which is a pretty typical example of how the Russian don’t believe for one second that US carriers are such hard targets to destroy]
What was true then is even more true today and I can’t imagine anybody at the Pentagon seriously making plans to attack Russia with carrier based aviation. But even if the USN has no intention of using its carriers against Russia, that does not mean that the Russians cannot actively seek out US carriers and destroy them, even very far from Russia. After all, even if they are completely outdated for a war between superpowers, carriers still represent fantastically expensive targets whose symbolic value remains immense. The truth is that US carriers are the most lucrative target any enemy could hope for: (relatively) small, (relatively) easy to destroy, distributed in many locations around the globe – US carriers are almost “pieces of the USA, only much closer”.
Introducing the Zircon 3M22 hypersonic missile
First, some basic data about this missile (from English and Russian Wikipedia):
- Low level range: 135 to 270 nautical miles (155 to 311mi; 250 to 500km).
- High level range: 400nmi (460mi; 740km) in a semi-ballistic trajectory.
- Max range: 540nmi (620mi; 1,000km)
- Max altitude: 40km (130’000 feet)
- Average range is around 400km (250mi; 220nmi)/450 km.
- Speed: Mach 5–Mach 6 (3,806–4,567mph; 6,125–7,350km/h; 1.7015–2.0417km/s).
- Max speed: Mach 8 (6,090mph; 9,800km/h; 2.7223km/s) during a test.
- Warhead: 300-400kg (high explosive or nuclear)
- Shape: low-RCS with radar absorbing coating.
- Cost per missile: 1-2 million dollars (depending on configuration)
All this is already very impressive, but here comes the single most important fact about this missile: it can be launched from pretty much *any* platform: cruisers, of course, but also frigates and even small corvettes. It can be launched by nuclear and diesel-electric attack submarines. It can also be launched from long range bombers (Tu-160), medium-range bombers (Tu-22m3), medium-range fighter-bomber/strike aircraft (SU-34) and even, according to some reports, from multi-role air superiority fighter (SU-35). Finally, this missile can also be shore-based. In fact, this missile can be launched from any platform capable of launching the now famous Kalibr cruise missile and that means that even a merchant marine or fishing ship could carry a container with the Zircon missile hidden inside. In plain English what this means is the following:
- Russia has a missile which cannot be stopped or spoofed by any of the current and foreseeable USN anti-missile weapons systems.
- This missile can be deployed *anywhere* in the world on *any* platform.
Let me repeat this again: pretty much any Russian ship and pretty much any Russian aircraft from now on will have the potential capability of sinking a US aircraft carrier. In the past, such capabilities were limited to specific ships (Slava class), submarines (Oscar class) or aircraft (Backfires). The Soviets had a large but limited supply of such platforms and they were limited on where they could deploy them. This era is now over. From now on a swarm of Zircon 3M22 could appear anywhere on the planet at any moment and with no warning time (5000 miles per hour incoming speed does not leave the target anything remotely comparable to even a short reaction time). In fact, the attack could be so rapid that it might not even leave the target the time needed to indicate that it is under attack.
None of the above is a big secret, by the way. Just place “zircon missile” in your favorite search engine and you will get a lot of hits (131’000 on Google; 190’000 on Bing). In fact, a lot of specialists have declared that the Zircon marks the end of the aircraft carrier as a platform of modern warfare. These claims are widely exaggerated. As I have written above, aircraft carriers are ideal tools to terrify, threaten, bully and otherwise attack small, defenseless countries. Even medium-sized countries would have a very hard time dealing with an attack coming from US aircraft carriers. So I personally think that as long as the world continues to use the US dollar and, therefore, as long as the US economy continues to reply on creating money out of thin air and spending it like there is no tomorrow, aircraft carriers still have a bright, if morally repulsive, future ahead of them. And, of course, the USN will not use carriers to threaten Russia. Again, the US press has been rather open about the carrier-killing potential of the Zircon, but what it rarely (never?) mentions are the political and strategic consequence from the deployment of the Zircon: from now on Russia will have an easy and very high value US target she can destroy anytime she wants. You can think of the US carrier fleet like 10 US hostages which the Russians can shoot at any time. And what is crucial is this: an attack on a US carrier would not be an attack on the US homeland, nor would it be a nuclear attack, but the psychological shock resulting from such an attack could well be comparable to a (limited) nuclear strike on the US homeland.
This, on one hand, will greatly inhibit the Russian willingness to strike at US carriers as this would expose Russia to very severe retaliatory measures (possibly including nuclear strikes). On the other hand, however, in terms of “escalation dominance” this state of affairs gives a major advantage to Russia as the US does not have any Russian targets with an actual and symbolic value similar to the one of a US carrier.
There is another aspect of this issue which is often ignored. Western analysts often speak of a Russian strategy of “deterrence by denial” and “Anti-Access Area Denial” (A2AD). Mostly this is the kind of language which gets you a promotion and a pay raise in US and NATO think tanks. Still, there is a grain of truth to the fact that advanced Russian missiles are now providing Russia with a very cheap way to threaten even fantastically expensive US assets. Worse, Russia is willing (eager, in fact) to export these (relatively cheap) missiles to other countries. I find it amusing to see how US politicians are in a state of constant hysteria about the risk of nuclear proliferation, but fail to realize that conventional anti-ship missiles are a formidable, and much more likely, threat. Sure, there are missile export limiting treaties, such as the MTCR, but they only apply to missile with a range of over 300km. With modern ballistic and cruise missiles becoming smaller, deadlier and easier to conceal and with ranges which are (relatively) easy to extend, treaties such as the MTCR are becoming increasingly outdated.
The bottom line is this: as long as deterrences holds, attacking US carriers makes no sense whatsoever for Russia; however, as soon as deterrence fails, attacking US carriers, anywhere on the planet, gives Russia an extremely flexible and powerful escalation dominance capability which the US cannot counter in kind.
Striking at the Holy of Holies – the US “homeland”
If you thought that discussing striking US carriers was bad, here we are going to enter full “Dr Strangelove” territory and discuss something which US Americans find absolutely unthinkable: attacks on the US homeland. True, for the rest of mankind, any war by definition includes the very real possibility of attacks on your own towns, cities and people. But for US Americans who are used to mete out violence and death far away from their own peaceful towns and cities, the notion of a devastating strike against the US homeland is pretty much unthinkable. On 9/11 the loss of 3000 innocent people placed the vast majority of US Americans into a total state of shock which resulted in a massive over-reaction at all levels (which was, of course, exactly the purpose of this false flag operation by the US and Israeli deep states). Just as with carriers, the dangers of a US over-reaction should serve as a deterrent to any attacks on the US homeland. But, just as with the carriers, that is only true as long as deterrence holds. If the Russian territory becomes the object of a US attack this would clearly indicate that deterrence has failed and that the Russian armed forces should now switch from a deterrence mode to a war-fighting mode. At this point, the US American over-reaction to begin attacked or taking casualties could, paradoxically, result in a last-minute wake-up call indicating to everybody that what will come next will be truly devastating.
Introducing the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
Though officially very little is know about the Sarmat and the Yu-71, the reality is that the Internet has been full of educated guesses which give us a pretty clear idea of what kind of systems we are dealing here.
You can think of the RS-28 Sarmat as a successor of the already formidable RS-36 Voevoda (SS-18 Satan in US classification) missile: it is a heavy, very powerful, intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (warheads):
- Weight: 100 tons
- Payload: 10 tons
- Warheads: 10 to 15
- Hypersonic glide vehicles: 3-24 (that’s the Yu-71 we will discuss below)
- Range: 10’000km
- Guidance: Inertial , satellite, astrocelestial
- Trajectory: FOBS-capable
That last line, about being FOBS-capable, is crucial as it means that, unlike most Soviet/Russian ICMBs, the Sarmat does not have to fly over the North Pole to strike at the United States. In fact, the Sarmat could fly over the South Pole or, for that matter, in any direction and still reach any target in the USA. Right there this capability is, by itself, is more than enough to defeat any current and foreseeable US anti-ballistic missile technology. But it gets better, or worse, depending on your perspective: the Sarmat’s reentry vehicles/warhards are capable of flying in low orbit, maneuver, and then suddenly plunge towards their targets. The only way to defeat such an attack would be to protect the USA by a 3600 coverage capable ABM system, something which the USA is decades away from deploying. And just to add to these already formidable characteristics, each Sarmat can carry up to 3-24 (depending on who you ask) Yu-71 hypersonic glide vehicles.
Introducing The Yu-71 (aka “Object 4202) hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV)
Yet again, this is hardly a topic not covered in the media and you can find numerous articles describing what a hypersonic glide vehicle is and how it can be used. (the best article I could find in English was by Global Security, it is entitled “Objekt 4202 / Yu-71 / Yu-74”).
Here is a summary of what we think we know about this HGV:
- Max Speed: from Mach 5, according to Scott Ritter, to Mach 9, according to a quasi official Russian source, to Mach 15, acccording to Sputnik, to Mach 20 (that’s 7 kilometer per second, or 25’200kh/h, or 15’000mph), according to Global Security. Whatever the true speed, it will be fantastic and far, far beyond the kind of speeds current or foreseeable US anti-missile systems could hope to engage.
- Hypermaneuverability: Russian sources describe the Yu-71 as “сверхманевренная боеголовка” or “hypermaneuverable warhead”. What that exactly means in turns of sustained Gs does not really matter as this is not about air-to-air combat, but about the ability to perform sudden course changes making it close to impossible for anti-missile systems to calculate an engagement solution.
- Warhead: nuclear and conventional/kinetic.
That last line is very interesting. What it means is that considering the speeds attained by the Yu-71 HGV it is not necessary to equip it with a conventional (high explosive) or nuclear warheard. The kinetic energy generated by its high speed is sufficient to create an explosion similar to what a large conventional or small nuclear warhead could generate.
Bringing it all together now
Did you notice the similarities between the Zircon missile and the Sarmat+Yu-71 combo?
In both cases we have:
- an attack which can come from any direction
- speed of attack and maneuver capabilities which make interception impossible
- the capability for Russia to destroy a very high value US target in a very short time
It is amazing to see that while US decision makers were talking about their Prompt Global Strike program, the Russians actually developed their own version of this capability, much faster than the USA and at a fraction of the cost.
These are all ideal ways to “bring the war home” and to encourage a country which enjoyed total impunity for its policies to being seriously thinking about the consequences of messing around with the wrong people.
To make things even more potentially dangerous for the USA, the very same geography which protected the USA for so long is now becoming a major vulnerability. Currently 39% of the US population lives in counties directly on the shoreline. In fact, the population density of coastal shoreline counties is over six times greater than the corresponding inland counties (source). In 2010 the US Census Bureau produced a fascinating report entitled “Coastline Population Trends in the United States: 1960 to 2008” which shows that the coastal counties provide an “intense concentration of economic and social activity”. In fact, a very large number of US cities, industrial centers and economic hugs are located near the USA coastline making them all *ideal* targets for Russian conventional cruise missile strikes which could be launched from very long distances (including over open water). And we are not talking about some future, hypothetical, cruise missile, we are talking about the very same Kalibr cruise missiles the Russians have been using against the Takfiris in Syria. Check out this very well made video which explains how Kalibr cruise missiles can be hidden pretty much anywhere and used with devastating effect on military and/or civilian targets:
The reality is that the US homeland is extremely vulnerable to any kind of attack. This is only in part due to recent Russian advances in military technology. For example, the “just on time” manufacturing or delivery practices which are aimed to minimize costs and inventory are, from a strategic/military point of view, extremely dangerous as it take very little disruption (for example in the distribution network) to create catastrophic consequences. Likewise, the high concentration of some industries in specific areas of the United States (oil in the Mexican Gulf) only serve to further weaken the ability of the United State to take any kind of punishment in case of war.
Most TV watching Americans will dismiss all of the above by saying that “anybody come mess with us and we will kick their ass” or something equally sophisticated. And there is some truth to that. But what this mindset also indicate is a complete mental inability to operate in a scenario when deterrence has failed and the “other guy” is coming for you. That mindset is the prerogative of civilians. Those tasked with the defense of their country simply cannot think that way and have to look beyond the “threshold of deterrence”. They will be the one asked to fix the bloody mess once the civilians screw-up. Georges Clemenceau reportedly once said that “War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men”. I believe that the exact opposite is true, that war is too serious a matter to entrust to civilians, especially the US Neocons (the vast majority of whom have never spent any time in uniform) and who always make it sound like the next war will be easy, safe and painless. Remember Ken Adleman and his famous Iraqi “cakewalk”? The very same kind of scum is in power today and they want us to believe that the next war will also be a cakewalk or that being on a high speed collision course with Russia is something the USA can afford and should therefore engage in. The combined effect of the myth of US military superiority with the myth about the US invulnerability result in a US American sense of detachment, or even impunity, which is not at all supported by fact. I just fervently hope that the people of the USA will not find out how mistaken they are the hard way.
In the meantime, the Russian Chief of General Staff, General Gerasimov, has announced that Russia had completed what he called a “non-nuclear deterrence system” based on the Iskander-M, Kalibr and X-101 missiles. According to General Gerasimov, the Russian armed forces now have enough high-precision weapon systems to strike at any target within a 4000km range. Furthermore, Gerasimov declared that the number of platforms capable of launching such missiles has increased twelve times while the number of high precision cruise missiles has increased by a factor 30. General Gerasimov also explained that the combined capabilities of the Kalibr cruise missile, the Bastion mobile coastal defense missile system and the S-400 air defense system made it possible for Russia to fully control the airspace and surface of the Baltic, Barents, Black and Mediterranean seas (talk about A2AD!). Gerasimov concluded his briefing by saying “the development of high-precision weapons has made it possible to place the main burden of strategic deterrence from nuclear to non-nuclear forces”.
To fully evaluate the implications of what Gerasimov said please consider this: deterrence is, by definition, the action of discouraging an action or event through instilling doubt or fear of the consequences. So what Gerasimov is really saying is that Russia has enough conventional, non-nuclear, capabilities to inflict unacceptable consequences upon the USA. This is something absolutely new, a fundamental game changer. Most importantly, that is the official declaration by a senior Russian official that the USA does not have any technological superiority and that the USA is vulnerable to a devastating counter-attack, even a conventional one. In one short sentence General Gerasimov has put to rest the two most important myths of US geostrategic theory.
Keep in mind that, unlike their US counterparts, the Russians typically like to under-evaluate Russian military capabilities. You will find the Russia media bragging about how “totally awesome and best in the world” Russian weapons systems are, but military personnel in Russia still has a corporate culture of secrecy and under-reporting your real capabilities to the enemy. Furthermore, while junior officers can say pretty much anything they want, senior officers are held to very strict rules and they have to carefully weigh every word they say, especially acting officers. So when the Chief of Staff officially declares that Russia now has a conventional strategic deterrence capability – you can take that to the bank. It’s real.
Alas, the western media is still stuck in the “full idiot” mode we saw during the transit of the Russian aircraft carrier from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean: on one hand, the Admiral Kuznetsov was presented as a rusty old bucket while on the other NATO forces constantly shadowed it as if it was about to strike London. Likewise, US politicians present Russia as a “gas station” while, at the same time, stating that this “gas station” has the capability to decide who lives in the White House. This kind of reporting is not only unhelpful but outright dangerous. One one hand the “the Russians are backward brutes” fosters an arrogant and cocky attitude. On the other hand, constantly speaking about fake Russian threats results in a very dangerous case of “cry wolf” in which all possible Russian threats (including very real ones) are dismissed as pure propaganda. The reality is, of course, very different and simple in a binary way: Russia represents absolutely no threat to the United States or anybody else (including the three Baltic statelets). But if some western politician decides that he is smarter and stronger than Napoleon or Hitler and that he will finally bring the Russians to their knees, then he and his country will be destroyed. It is really that simple.
The Saker
Actually no grown-up in the military sphere thinks the US military could defeat Russia. But since Blair first rose to real power, he has worked to ensure as many no-nothing ‘children’ have risen to positions of authority- half-wits whose understanding of everything comes from Hollywood movies and zionist media outlets.
These children of Tony Blair- now holding so many positions in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, France Germany, etc- believe with absolute certainty that Russia is a pathetic paper tiger. Having grown-up outside the cold war, they don’t even believe in nuclear weapons – thinking their scientific threat is actually some kind of ‘old people’ myth.
The highest level military planners and generals in the USA fear Russia with all their heart. Their education has given them total knowledge about what 70+ years of nuclear weapon research really means. Lower down and the people think nukes are as unreal as dragons.
Russia’s biggest nukes would wipe out the entire south of England with a single warhead, or all of California or the State of New York. And America and Russia have vastly more nukes than either side admits in public.
On the other end of the scale are the ‘small’ high radiation nukes designed to wipe out whole divisions of ground forces in one strike, leaving the land accessible after a few days at most. Nuclear artillery exists- with nuclear shells being directly interchangeable with the conventional shells the artillery teams are trained with.
However, US military ‘superiority’ is another thing altogether. Too many on our side mock the largest and most powerful military the Human Race has ever produced. This military is well trained and more importantly extremely well funded. Yeah the average American soldier is a spoilt coward- that goes with the culture. But the ***system*** takes this into account, and positions these cowards perfectly.
And the US military has many ‘elite’ units which contain the exact opposite of the spoilt cowards. No these units have sought out and recruited the worst serial killing psychopaths America has to offer. Steroid keep-fit junkies who live to rape and murder.
The ‘superiority’ of the US army is true where it matters- ‘on the street’. The US army is all ‘gangster bling’ by design- and backs up that bling with a wilingness to bring down the hammer on anyone the ‘bosses’ say needs to be hammered. The US army walks tall, carries a big stick, and brings down that stick endlessly on whichever poor nation ‘sap’ is in the firing line today.
Does the US military lose wars? Fools say ‘yes’. But when you understand the real goal of the US army- utter destruction of property and lives- well ***no*** the US military does not ‘lose’ wars. How many people died in Germany? How many people died in Japan? How many people died in Korea? How many people died in Vietnam? How many people died in Iraq? How many people died in Afghanistan? And what was the state of those nations after the US military finished with them?
The US military is Britain’s perfected murder machine, as Lebanon and Iran are about to find out.
In ***theory*** Russia can stand up to American military might ***today*** and back the Deep State the heck down. But Putin doesn’t allow this. Supine Putin has even forced RT to register as foreign agents in the USA cos Putin feared something as total feeble as Americans ‘arresting’ RT people.
Putin is the ‘muscular vicar’ who only ever says ‘can’t we all just get along’- rather like the character of ‘Jesus’ in TV’s ‘The Walking Dead’. He has the power and the skillz- but insists on trusting the enemy, and making all the wrong choices in the name of ‘morality’.
Immediately after Putin rolled out the red carpet for Saudi rulers in Moscow, we have the palace coup eliminating anti-war Saudi elites, and KSA declaring war on Iran and Lebanon. Wow, they was some mighty success by Putin. And worse, Putin has given KSA the Russian S400 air defence system- the same system Putin refuses to sell to Lebanon, Syria and Iran.
***That*** is where America’s military ‘superiority’ comes from- the endless foolish acts by Putin to ***lower*** Russia’s influence on the world stage. By digging ever downwards, Putin makes America appear taller in comparison.
America’s real strength is in military power projection- the ability to move insane amounts of men and machines to anywhere on ther Earth within weeks. History has seen nothing like this. WW2 was a mass of planning for action that literally tooks years of work. America can now do more within a month starting from scratch. In this regard America has a greater than 1000-to-1 advantage over Russia, and anyone claiming otherwise is doing our side a massive disservice.
Of course power projection doesn’t intimidate China or Russia- when it happens on their doorsteps it risks escalating conflict. But it allows the USA to smash into the ground any nation without Empire protection as soon as it likes. Only political considerations hold the US military back. So the Libya war, for all its horror, was an example of extreme restraint by the US military (it was politically convenient to all the UK and France to carry out the worst atrocities).
The coming Lebanon war will involve US forces, but they will be mostly covert. In that war the ‘heavy lifting’ will be done by Israeli butchers in alliance with various European powers and India. The main US forces are waiting to attack Iran in the war the Deep State hopes will begin on the back of the Lebanon War.
Anyway the Demons who control the Deep State want the Final Conflict. It would be be nice to think articles like this one would make the servants of the Deep State think twice before sleepwalking into World War. Sadly that isn’t how Human psychology works. You cannot scare the bejezus out of people selected because of their ability to ignore the facts. Most of the technocrat class that serves the Deep State has been ‘bred’ for their ability to swallow mainstream media propaganda perfectly.
Come on folks, have none of you read 1984? The real meaning. How such a society is possible if the right people are selected for the right police state roles. Orwell was warning that if you allow a Deep State to form, it will have no problem conditioning circumstances to produce perfect controllers. So you don’t allow the Deep State to establish in the first place. But we have. We have allowed Team Tony Blair to change the world- and it ain’t changing back.
The current rule book is Blair’s rule book- and even Putin works tirelessly to follow this rulebook. Hence his very, very, very late intervention in Syria. Hence his very late intervention in Ukraine. Hence his last minute saving of Crimea. Because in each situation, by following Blair’s rule book, Russia was led down the garden path and at the last moment had to panic and act.
America’s military might means the Deep State is free to take the lead in planetary manipulation. When Putin won’t even stand up to weak threats to RT in the USA, well the Deep State knows even the smallest bluff beats Russia.
I don’t take succor in the fact that when the Final Conflict arrives, Russia will play its part and ensures America ceases to exist. I am a ***sane*** person for whom suicide is the worst choice. And mutual suicide is still suicide. The time for Putin to act is now. And the time for Russia to prove the uselessness of America’s military when it comes to true Empire power plays is also now.
Ordinary Americans can live perfectly well without the militaristic jingoism. They did so from the mid-60s to the mid 80s. So Putin is free, in theory, to humiliate and stand-down the US military by denying it its desired wars. But will Putin say “i will not allow war against Lebanon. I will not allow war againts Iran”. We all know hell will freeze over before he does this- but too few of you really ask “why?”.
well dunno, if ‘evil’ putin can stop this slaughter that has been going on since mankind crawled out from the caves.Dot get me wrong but i am just a card carrying 9to5er, who is mostly busy putting food on the table in this rat race and still trying not to be a prick in the wall.Apparently things are heating up even geopolitically even for 9to5ers with their head n the sand to take notice of.The prince who is normally seen in CNBC and other worthwhile main fake new media getting smacked down is mind blowing to say the least.
Well the thing is since ‘AMERICA’ was found on the graveyard of 60 million ‘red indian’ authorised by the vatican and the ‘Doctrine of discovery’ some erudite smart alecks used the same franchise against the rest of the glob to spread ,’peace freedom and democracy’ around and pity any who stands against this manifest destiny.The living embodiment of this franchise is what this 9to5er calls,’TEAM CHAOS ‘, you can say they are this or they are that but there is no other alternate word for this franchise.
Now coming to this present time where the dogs of war are busy,colour me suspicious but every piece by well informed reporters does not make sense of the actual reason for what is happening.Maybe in 50 years or so we all can say if we are still around ,’so this is what happened..well what difference does it make?”
Colour me suspicious again ,i mean why in the hell is no one is talking of SOPHIA?She was given a saudi citizenship and everything goes thud in the nights ,what is up with that?Giving citizenship to Sophia (hope this 9to5er got that name right)was the smartest thing the desert royal family did ,cos they realised they can’t rule themselves and they are too proud to be ruled over but Sophia without being a female was a smart choice,other than driving is sophia driving the alpha prince too?…”QUICK ARREST THEM BEFORE THEY RETIRE TO THE CASINOS”?
Long live Sophia.
Oh, stuff the Putin-bashing, please!! He has been playing a long term defensive strategy buying time since the 2014 speech in front of the UN. The stakes are more than a few embassy buildings in the USA or some hurt feelings.
Get real—more will be revealed about what happened, is happening and will happen in Saudi Arabia. Remember the Russian pilots shot down ( one was foully murdered) by the Turks? Then the attempted coup against Erdogan? Then the cautious rapprochement between Russia and Turkey? All this is crowned with the defeat of Daesh in Syria. And universal respect for Russia.
When your opponent is part of his own circular firing squad, you do not divert him.
Putin is taking too long to show the paper tiger the way out, he is too docile, remember when he declared “mission accoumplished” and sent back half the garrison on Hmeymim? All the time talking about “political solutions”, ven the latest confernce in Astana was dubbed a “reconciliation of the Syrian peoples”, thus buying into the imperial narrative of Syrian civil war, and uprising against a despot, bullshit! Grow a pair
I would like to play you at poker some time. Bring everything you own, and I will bring a truck.
If you can achieve your ends without laying your hand, but rather with time, timing and inherent threat, the ‘big man’ opposite who is intent on comparing penises will always lose. The Americans are entirely outclassed in this game and ought to fold and go home before they get cleaned out by – time, timing and inherent threat.
This kind of thinking is delusional.
Why bother even trying to talk to people who break their agreements in less than 24 hours???
This is not just pointless, it is disastrous.
Treat America as the vile, implacable, hate filled enemy it is.
I believe it was Napoleon that said “Never interfere with your enemy while he is busy destroying himself”
“The highest level military planners and generals in the USA fear Russia with all their heart. ”
Not buying it, ’cause the upper level knows Ru is no threat. They have not demonstrated imperialist interests. Ru is deterrent/defense oriented in framework of developing EEU/CSTO/SCO, silk road, etc. Ru interest in trade relationship with Europe is not threat to US.
“the upper level knows Ru is no threat”
Wrong. Russia is a formidable threat precisely because it’s working (together with China) to end the fiat currency regime of Western imperialism — a dream coming true for an ever growing number of countries and peoples raped and enslaved by the Zionazis. The latter know their class interests very well indeed even if Western Leftists usually do not.
So you are saying that in fact Russia has an interest in harming the US? Not believable. Sorry. Alterations to the currency system will not harm the US. The US can simply on-shore the production that was off-shored.
I believe neither Russia nor China have any interest in harming the US, but that both Russia and China have interests in mutually beneficial development and trade,win-win policies. Russia and China are no threat to the US.
Saying Russia and China are a threat to the US seems like it could be used to justify US policies against Russia and China. I disagree. We will see if the win-win strategies of China and Russia can accommodate threat to any one.
I believe it is a mistake to think that ending the currency system of imperialist exploitation will hurt the US. It would benefit the US. Ending this problem would improve the economy of the US, not hurt it. Because US would revitalize domestic production.
@ anon
You clearly need to read more. The US is supported now and extends its empire exclusively by its supreme reserve currency status. Everything- structure, infrastructure, policy, military, educational, bureaucratic, agricultural – you see in the US is funded either outright or subsidised by the forced extraction of wealth from vassal nations by exchanging real goods and services for dollars printed out of thin air. Without this system, the US is vastly underfunded and can’t compete on any level, at anything. Think Zimbabwe, without the mineral wealth. Sorry to upset you with this reality.
Russia and China are actively challenging, withdrawing from and subverting this disgusting, usurious system in favour of a framework of multi lateral trade and peace of self-weighted sovereign nations.
You’re not upsetting me with what you’re saying. Here are some messages from economics and history: 1) The US economy is not resource constrained. (Prof. H. Minsky ) 2) The US trade deficit is largely military in character (Prof. M Hudson) 3) The US has off shored much production because of various income advantages for CEOs, and in crushing US labor (paraphrasing Dr. Roberts) And there is more.
Now. US infrastructure: US highway system 1950s. US railway system: 1800s into early 1900s Various water works, and other public infrastructure: various time periods, most quite old. More other infrastructure, electricity, oil pipelines, etc. Picture? Infrastructure in US vastly predates the US international T-bill reserve system, dating from 1971, when US dropped gold standard. The US was not built by foreign plunder. That US dollar plunder system is mostly quite modern and recent, recent decades, not in era of development of US. The US has plenty of iron ore, coal for centuries, met coal, and other minerals, and still some timber. Oil reserves, not much (~2% of global oil reserves), rare earth minerals not much, but plenty of other things to trade. Massive agricultural production of grains (although I myself object to GMO). US does not need to rip off other countries, and was not built that way. Check the time periods. And check the facts about US resources.
The international US T-bill reserve system is mostly about overseas military activity. Not about how the US was built. When you get the numbers, of what the US is spending on the military activity over seas, and what the US trade deficit is, they are closely matched. The US is grabbing the economic surplus of foreign countries, and using it to fund military activity over seas. Not for domestic use. This is where the comment about China and Russia paying for the US surrounding them with military installations, missile systems, etc. comes from. If you don’t believe it, you can take it up with Prof. Hudson.
Without that system, US would simply go back to prior production mode, domestic. And revert to trade is largely balanced, and no foreign entanglements.
And a question for you: at what point in time did the US T-bill international reserve system really accelerate, along with US over seas military activity? This will help you understand that the US was not built the way you are thinking.
Now. What is it you want me to read? Since I’ve read all these kind of economists like Roberts, Hudson, Minsky, Keen, Black, Mosler, Perelman, Keyenes, Hayek, Robbins, Jevons, Mills, Ricardo, and a boat load of others going back to people like Sir James Steuart, Richard Cantillon, François Quesnay etc, as well as all kinds of disputes in economics, I’m not sure there’s much else to read. Punch line: if US international T-bill reserve standard ends, US goes right back to domestic production. It will be good for the US and world to end the US international T-bill reserve system. And by the way, I’m not left.
And so my contention still stands: Russia is not threatening the US in any way.
@ anon
What you write has its own internal logic based on the musings of contemporary seers of Delphi, but you bypass some facts which make your idea that ‘the US was not built on foreign plunder and can return to a pre-plunder republic’ naive.
Your banking system and wealth has been built on extraction of foreign wealth by debt since 1913. Before this, the US was a zero. This is the point you want to return to.
The US has had two impressive periods of growth and expansion – 1920’s and 1950’s – when US production output filled the post war void / wasteland of the rest of the world. You have to weigh the possibility that the US has not had to, and does in fact not compete with the rest of the world either culturally, intellectually or industrially without the huge advantage of the rest of the world in tatters. You are a very isolated island with a small population, small internal market. Your premise that US corporations exported labour because they could, and for short term gain, is hubris. You must weigh this against the possibility that you under perform the rest of the world on many indices, and that invention and production is better elsewhere.
Resources. Commonly quoted US 5% world population consumes 20% of worlds resources, mostly from outside the US. Lie these numbers alongside your trade deficit. Bullshit, is your trade deficit mostly military. It is this: your military enforces a financial system that reaps a shower of cheap world resources. The US mines and clear fells the world with guns. The T-bill system buys labour and resources for free, plus the military cost. The US is not resource sufficient at your current standard of living, and for the US to let go of its gun-enforced international debt mechanism will result in a massive drop in buying power of the US public, and a massive drop in consumption. For the rest of the world, the demise of the T-bill system represents the release of at least 15% of the world resources to the rest of us.
Bank skimming. The US makes huge gains from skimming bank transactions enforced in dollars, at the point of a gun. eg Coal mines in Wales must sell to power stations in Nottingham in dollars (conversions of GBP to $ = skim 1), through a US correspondent bank (skim 2). The mine then converts GBP to $ (skim 3) through a correspondent bank (skim 4) to pay costs. When we tried to exit this rape by joining the European Exchange rate Mechanism against the protestations of the US, the US (sorros) crushed the pound and made us drop out. In the following years the £/$ conversion spread was stretched by the US to 2%, the mines went bankrupt and we fell at the feet of the US system, under Thatcher. Same here as every other vassal.
Your illegal hidden sanction system, also known as ‘exclusion from the dollar mechanism’ allows for the subjugation of nations, installment of sympathetic governments and total plunder of resources by your corporations. I can’t import honey, of all things, from much of Africa because honey is only internationally trade-able in dollars, and much of Africa is excluded from dollar trade. The US courts have extracted 10’s of billions from European banks and companies for violating these ‘sanctions’, since 2010 alone. This is private, not state US corporate profit, accomplished through the threat of your military.
Your assumption is that the T-bill dollar debt system funds the military, as an end in itself? Really? That cancelling one eliminates the need for the other, and all else remains the same and intact? The US has killed tens of millions of people since 1970 for no other end than to sustain more of the same? This is an absurd assumption and act of denial of all the other gains, some of which I list above.
The US was not built by the T-bill system, but it is sustained by it, in its entirety, right down to the income of the poorest ETB card holders. Contrary to most people’s perception (here at least) Bush, Obama, Clinton etc are supreme patriots. They know full well that challenges to the ability of the US to expand its credit abroad is not an existential but a real physical threat to the sustenance of the US.
You have a debt system. Debt repayment requires expansion of debt. Energy in can’t exceed energy out. Once an entity relies entirely on debt for growth, it soon enough runs out of road. Your system is very, very similar to Hjalmar Schacht’s German experiment of the 30’s under Hitler. Hitler did not invade Poland because he liked the idea. His economic system required him to. Contained with the border of Germany, his economic system would have failed.
All economists project on the base line of the status quo, or expansion of the current system. None of these seers of Delphi dare tell the king what will happen if his sand castle fails. None of them dare look about the landscape and strip out those things funded by a cascade of stolen wealth. When you do, by God you’ll fight to the death for the status quo.
sorry: read ‘energy out can’t exceed energy in.’
I’m not buying the point about the Fed since 1913 extracting foreign wealth. Foreign trade is largely balanced. Fact. The imbalance is largely military in character. This also can be checked out, and is described by Prof. Hudson, in his books. The foreign trade deficit is being used to hide the overseas military spending. All those bases men equipment, overseas. They don’t show up in the accounts you look at for trade deficit. Why is that? It’s obvious. The overseas military spending is occurring. Are you seeing the problem? This is how the US hides the issue of the trade deficit being largely military in character. It’s obviously happening, all those bases, men equipment, overseas spending, but it does not show up in the trade deficit as overseas spending. Do you see? And so you have to look in other accounts. And there the answer is. The foreign trade deficit is largely military in character, otherwise Prof Hudson would not have reported it as such. No one has successfully contested his position.
And the US does actually compete is one area, grains/beans. The US sells a lot of grain. There are reasons for this, the US is a high cost economy, it is unable to compete with the rest of the planet, for anything other than grains/beans, some movies, and some other things. US civilian aircraft are still big sellers overseas. For things we need to import, we can trade for. The ordinary civilian economy, foreign trade is largely balanced. It is all those bases, men and equipment overseas, there are no trade possibilities for those. The cannot be balanced by trade. Get it?
“Your assumption is that the T-bill dollar debt system funds the military, as an end in itself? Really? That cancelling one eliminates the need for the other, and all else remains the same and intact? ” The T-bill reserve system is not funding economic activity in the ordinary mainstreet economy of the US. The numbers don’t match up. It’s not an assumption. It is accounting.
“Your premise that US corporations exported labour because they could, and for short term gain, is hubris.” Offshoring is not an export. The US receives no income for offshoring labour. And offshoring is for short term gain, and to crush labor. The mind set of corporate managers is hit and run, strip mining, they are not doing long term planning. If they were, we would not have a high cost economy, with the worst and most expensive health care system in the developed world.
“The US is not resource sufficient at your current standard of living, …” Personally, I would be glad to see less cars, etc. Less resource wasting. But the US really does have plenty of resources, for construction and manufacturing of many kinds. “The US was not built by the T-bill system, but it is sustained by it, in its entirety, right down to the income of the poorest ETB card holders….” This is too much. There is no way that the international reserve T-bill system does what you pretend. This is confusing the incomes/revenues of elites, their corporations, and their plans, with what is going on in the mainstreet economy. If the T-bill international reserve system disappeared, and the elites, and the military overburden, the US would be better off, and not suffer at all. As it is, the US is being destroyed by the elites, as the economy is actually shrinking, by doing proper accounting, as the creator of GDP actually wanted non-productive activity excluded from GDP. But congress insisted on inclusion of finance and advertising, non-productive activity. If these were subtracted, along with other economic waste, the result shows that the economy is shrinking, and has been for decades. The ordinary US citizen is not benefited by the T-bill standard, nor by overseas military activity. And there is an answer for the debt problem too. Cancellation.
“They know full well that challenges to the ability of the US to expand its credit abroad is not an existential but a real physical threat to the sustenance of the US.” How strange. Absolutely disagree. Debt/credit exists only in words on paper, and as electronic digits/bits and bytes. The US does not need to expand credit. It needs to write down the debts, and institute substantive economic polices. It needs to stop rent extraction at home and abroad, that is killing the economy. We’ll get a crash anyway, as the corporate sector is more levered than at any time in history, and the coverage ratio is minimal for the lower 50% of US corporations. IE, big fail coming.
But I can see that our respective economic and other views don’t allow real conversation. If we don’t even use terms such as ‘export’ and other concepts with the same meaning, we will never be able to communicate. And that’s the end of it.
“Because US would revitalize domestic production.”
I agree and a case in point is what happened to the economy of Russia after the sanctions were installed on their nation.Russia pulled itself up by their proverbial bootstraps and they are doing better than ever today ,surpassing their best years in grain production for instance .
I had never thought of it that way regarding the US , but it could very well be that , the down side of the petro dollar could very well be the best medicine for the American people .It would certainly wake many of them up to the fact that they are not that exceptional , in spite of their being told so.
@ guy
Russia has no debt. When it grows, it is growth.
The US is something unknown like 300+ trillion in debt. Growth in production just pays off some of the interest.
When the dollar system goes pop, who loses that 300 trillion? Who do you default on?
Well, about 20 or so trillion default on other nations. Big deal. The remainder – about 270 trillion, or 27,000,000,000,000 – is US pensions, future funded state obligations, existing and future liabilities, current and future agricultural subsidies, etc. It is internal. Interest on that 300 trillion burden is paid by the ‘petro-dollar’ system, benefits of which I outlined. I help pay for it, over here in the UK.
If the dollar ship sinks quickly the US will be too hungry to riot.
The world must move away from this US system because debt and oil are holding the world back from a renaissance in many sectors. If the Russians let the US down gently, as they are, you have lot to be thankful for.
What are 320,000,000 people in the US to do while the country slowly rebuildings manufacturing when their debt needs to be serviced? What good is 150,000,000 foreclosed houses and 400,000,000 repossessed cars and trucks, or every mom and pop store or shop closes. You can’t compare US survivability of Russia under sanctions to the US that will collapse from unserviced debt, unemployment and complete collapse of consumer sector.
Russia had little debt, Russians have even less debt. A Russian loses as job(under sanctions unemployment never rose about 4.5%) means taking a vacation since there is very little personal debt and fewer recurring expenses. Bills are based on what was consumed so instead of a $100/mo for the 2 year contract for cell service, a Russian just stops using their phone much, and for text and minimal calls normal connected life might cost $7 for 3-4 months. 70%, even young adults, own their home free and clear of any debt. If they have a car, they can stop using it and save a lot on a very effective cheap public transportation system. Most families have a dacha where vegetables and fruit are grown in the summer.
Compare that to the extreme panic that overcomes an American who pays 50-80% of income to credit bills for basic living costs.
The US has not the time or ability to rebuild the economy before the vast majority starve to death or freeze to death on the street joining the current 500,000 children who are homeless in the US.
When the dollar is not longer needed for international trade settlement, sooner than anyone could have predicted with the BRI taking shape much faster than even the most optimistic supporters had hoped for, the US economy is in a very tough position, of not having anything to sell except war, and massive debt that will come home to roost when the dollar is not needed for 80% of world trade.
@ stan
Dollar is about used in ~64% of world trade, I think, not 80%. 80% I think is internal trade in dollars within Russia, if I remember correctly. That is because of the large contribution of energy in its economy.
Otherwise, I agree.
The geo-political fight is between the debtor nations and the creditor nations; between the nations with a trade deficit and those with a trade surplus.
We, the debtors, are fighting to keep the ‘world order status quo’ that allows us to use the exorbitant privilege of reserve currency status to fund our debts.
This trade surplus table says it all: at the bottom you see the exact list of coalition nations operating illegally in Syria / ME and lining up against Russia. Funny, that!
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html
The threat is against the Empire, not the US, which is also socially hurting from imperialism, understand?
The US has a vital interest to keep Europe closely tied. It has also a vital interest to keep Russia out of Europa as much as possible.
Stronger ties with the EU would mean higher trade volume for Russia, more direct foreign investment and possible increased research cooperation.
None of that is in any interest to the US to keep their beachhead in Eurasia. Losing Europe to Russia would mean losing the great geopolitical chess game for Eurasia.
Splendid isolation is not so splendid when it come to trade, investments, research and geoolitical powerplays.
It is in Europa’s interest to look both ways, and South.
Twilight,
Why is there an assumption that Putin and the Nation he leads needs to be the ones that stand up to the Empire? I feel that assumption leads down the same dangerous path that indoctrinated Americans into becoming the “World’s police”.
Putin is only obligated to do what is in the best interests of the citizens of the country he leads. Nothing more. Does total war with the West serve his people? No, it gets a whole lot of them killed needlessly. Russia has become more prosperous under Putin and returned to stage as a leading nation. He seems to only push back when absolutely necessary for his nation and I think that is a mark of a disciplined leader.
Some could say that,and oh so many here constantly do.But that is of course purely guesswork. But lets look at a fairly modern example of fact ,not guesswork. The so called Cuban missile crisis. The US plotted to destroy Cuba. They had sponsored an invasion just recently . And had plans to do so again.Never in the history of US/Latin American relations had they allowed a Latin American nation to defy them as much as Cuba had.
The Soviets installed nuclear missiles in Cuba to prevent that. And the US went crazy with fury and fear. The US spin on the end of the story is that the Soviets “blinked” and were forced to withdraw the missiles.But the truth is far different.The US agreed to not invade Cuba.And to secretly withdraw US missiles from Turkey bordering the USSR.The US President Kennedy saw that the US intimidation game had limits with the USSR.And that rather than go “nuke to nuke” with them making agreements was safer. Throughout the next decades,no matter how rough the US/Cuban relationship was (and it could get very rough),the US never tried to invade Cuba again.They kept to their agreement.
So on the one hand we are faced by guesswork,and on the other historical fact.I always put more credence with proven fact myself,but that seems to be just me.
“The US agreed to not invade Cuba. And to secretly withdraw US missiles from Turkey bordering the USSR.”
To be fair, Bob, the strategic situation was different back then.
“Actually the three philosophies are barely distinguishable, and the social systems which they support are not distinguishable at all. Everywhere there is the same pyramidal structure, the same worship of a semi-divine leader, the same economy existing by and for continuous warfare. It follows that the three super-states not only cannot conquer one another, but would gain no advantage by doing so. On the contrary, so long as they remain in conflict they prop one another up, like three sheaves of corn.”
~ ”1984,” George Orwell
USA Inc. and the Bolshevik Union were both following the Orwellian system, so those kinds of concessions were allowable if it meant perpetuating the continuous war. Revived Christian Russia, however, is working against the dystopia, so Cold War approaches will not work.
Because if he doesn’t – if he leaves it to Yugoslavia, Iran, North Korea, Libya, and others, they will be picked off one by one and then Russia will be destroyed.
“How many people died in Germany? How many people died in Japan? How many people died in Korea? How many people died in Vietnam? How many people died in Iraq? How many people died in Afghanistan?”
And more long-term: How much could the bankster mafia dons corrupt, loot, and exploit those countries afterwards?
“Orwell was warning that if you allow a Deep State to form, it will have no problem conditioning circumstances to produce perfect controllers.”
“1984” is also set up so that there is never any real opposition to the Deep State anywhere. Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia all run the exact same socioeconomic scam, the war zone slaves just pass hands between the superpowers, and Goldstein’s resistance might have been crushed and hijacked long before Winston joins. None of that is true today, so the strategic concerns must also be different.
“The time for Putin to act is now. And the time for Russia to prove the uselessness of America’s military when it comes to true Empire power plays is also now.”
By doing what? Cementing the rest of the bankster countries, and their contingents of American troops, on the empire’s side…? The last world war’s anti-bankster axis lost because the empire amassed too much global support. You were mostly correct, Twi, when you said that, “Only political considerations hold the US military back.” Yet using the Internet and alternative media outlets like RT is a key part of creating those kinds of political considerations.
For instance, Russia played a part in rallying civilian and military protests against the 2013 Syria escalation by exposing the “moderate rebels” as more Al-Qaeda off-shoots, exposing the chemical weapon false flag, and organizing the destruction of the Syrian government’s chemical stockpile to defuse the situation. Yes, the empire responded by staging the Maidan coup, the Ukraine “civil war,” the rise of ISIS, the European refugee crisis, trying the chemical false flag again, etc., but this demonstrated something important: It’s the banksters who are in a rush for bigger wars. Why should Russia oblige their wish for no good reason…?
Putin is simply doing what The Saker brought up in the “Does Russia Now Have Superior Military Technology?” article: Refusing to fight the empire’s type of war.
This guy is wrong. KSA jailed the bush drug trafficking, money laundering satanic royals. MBS is evil but bandar bush and alwaleed are very evil too.
Is MSB’s “moderate” and “women may drive” pivot a form of Saudi identity politics?
(I doni’t really see how someone who is moving to thrash Shi’ites etc. both within and outside the KSA while making common cause with the Israelis can be termed any kind of “moderate,” regardless of whether or not he permits women to drive cars.)
Katherine
Virtually all skilled work in KSA is done by ex-pats from other countries. Given the declining economic situation there, any attempts at modernising and moving away from a reliance on oil revenue to boost the economy requires that the local people skill up and join the workforce, something that they have never before had to do.
The women will be expected to take up the positions currently occupied by the many ‘gastarbeiter’ from all over Asia who don’t currently enjoy much freedom.
That’s what is really behind the proposed relaxation of rules for women, though I have my doubts that it will provide much benefit to those women, given the iron fist control mechanisms already in place. The identity politics angle is more of a convenient add-on, a PR smokescreen, I think.
A lot of sense from Twilight as usual.
Over the past 25 years, Russia has continually tried to appease the US.
Yeltsin, Medvedev, Putin, it makes no difference.
Just constant appeasement and kowtowing to Uncle Sam.
Russia has facilitated, enabled and given diplomatic cover to US aggression, regime change and economic strangulation.
Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Iran, North Korea, it is always the same.
Russia constantly stabs friendly countries in the back in futile attempts to strike deals with the US. Worthless promises that are never kept. Promises not to expand NATO one thumb’s width beyond Germany. How did that work out? The ABM Treaty. Intermediate Missiles Treaty. Agreements over Syria that were broken in less than 24 hours. Worthless promises not to station missiles on Russia’s border in return for not completing Bushehr/ delivering S300s Iran had paid for/ supporting economic strangulation of Iran – just as it is doing now with N. Korea.
What does Russia get in return for endlessly dropping its trousers and bending over?
More and more and more sanctions against itself – the day after Russia has kowtowed to US demands for sanctions against another target nation.
An endless campaign of vilification and propaganda smear against Russia and all things Russian, Russian leadership, Russian business, Russian media, Russian sport.
A military build up on Russia’s borders on a scale not seen since 1941.
Support for Islamic terror groups inside Russia.
Constant interference in Russian politics.
Threats to engineer regime change in Russia.
Threats to murder the Russian President.
Attacks on Russian diplomats and diplomatic premises.
Last section was all in cap.Caps violate the blog policy.MOD
Im guessing you have not long left High School, still live with your mother and have had less than two sexual experiences?
Twilight, you view Putin as an all powerful Tsar able to stop the empire’s march. The reality is that Putin has to take a lot of things into consideration. The empire lays traps everywhere for Putin so that he can trip and they find an excuse to start WW III. Putin is weighed down by a lot of factors like the degenerate Russian opposition, diplomacy, international rules of law, economic conditions due to sanctions, moves that would invite more sanctions and upcoming elections. You should also wail about Xi Jinping not doing anything on his part to cut down the empire’s tentacles but you don’t. Putin knows many things that we don’t and his moves might appear to be that of taking loss, but in the long term they have always delivered astonishing results. Instead of appreciating the Russian Federation’s role in the resistance and the brilliant results that it gave in it’s limited available resources you choose to bash Putin. Russian foreign policy has to align with the interests of Russia and not saving other countries from their impending doom.
The Russians play chess very well and the Americans ,well ,they play checkers.
Don’t underestimate the Russian administration . They know very well how to deal with the neocons and their handlers.
Americns don’t play chess or checkers – they play Monopoly. And they cheat-which is easier since they are the banker.
You, like many, haven’t understood the long-term (!) strategy of Russia and China. Long-term thinking is something that seems to completely elude Americans – I’ve experienced it myself working 2.5 years for two US companies. Time is on Russia/China’s side, so why risk unnecessary conflict? The US will collapse economically and there is no way and no war that could prevent that. It’s over. Eventually it will be brought down by soft power, so why use military might? Besides, Russias whole military doctrine is defensive. Why change that when it is not necessary? Especially when it is more than doubtful that the US nutjobs are seriously seeking conflict, I mean, all this anti-Russia drumming is solely for domestic purposes: the US regime would fall like a house of cards without some big fat villain somewhere. Has there ever been a time when the country that has fought wars 93% of its existence not had to fear some enemy somewhere?
Have you read Sun Tzu’s Art of War? Two key lessons are: Always appear weaker than you really are and the best way to win is not to fight. Russia is doing it brilliantly. The Yanks (and Brits before them – same shit) have only read Machiavelli, but now they aren’t even following his ideas properly anymore, mostly because they can’t. Anglo muscle-thinking has worked only so long as, first, America still had an attractive (Hollywood-) appearance to the world, and, second, as long as there was enough own country and others to exploit. But the world has changed. The last two decades it has mainly operated on naive EU-ropeans’ economic power, but the Euros have had it as well and are slowly crawling out of the Yank orbit. Slowly, because there are heavy conflicts between Atlanticists and Eurasian integrationists in the EU deep state(s). But Europe will move away from Murrica, because it’s their own best interest, and then what?
It’s very much the same as with issue of Navy technology: defense will sooner or later (mostly sooner) find ways to take advantage. That’s why invaders have lost their advantage, even in conventional warfare.
It’s obvious than in so called west modern era policy makers are very far from reality when estimating their military competence. Also – i see everyday people generally focusing potential coming war as another WW2. Even in Vietnam that fantasy was decimated. Soviet U learnt their own bitter lesson in Afghanistan.
The US Military is in no condition to undertake direct operations against Russia or China. The Neocons have diverted its assets toward wars of oppression and suppression against largely Moslem countries, with the ultimate goal of making the world subject to Zionist control ( bringing the light unto others).
To this end, Trillions of dollars have been spent disorganizing the US military into “lily pads” in Africa and “oases” in the Middle East, while the crews of aircraft and vessels have been worn out without adequate replacement. The indisputable military superiority of the United States in 1991 has been dissipated.
Therefore, since the world has little to fear that the United States will venture to directly attack either Russia or China now or in the near future, the potency of Russia’s military deterrence capability will not be tested.
However, it is obvious that the United States is waging war against Russia by other means.
The effects of these tactics upon Russia’s economy and its citizens may become so frustrating and debilitating, that her leadership may be forced to consider a military response as a last resort to end them. To the extent that Russia believes that its military capability exceeds that of the United States, it may decide to repel US presence from Russia’s near abroad (Ukraine and the Caucasus) and the “farther abroad” ( the “Stans”, particularly Afghanistan). Call this strategy a “counter-aggression”.
If Russia’s trump card against the United States is its military superiority, then it must be used before its economy and the well-being of its citizens are significantly undermined by the effects of America’s asymmetrical warfare against them. By 2020, the developing political chaos within the United States will present Russia with some fateful opportunities to “get even”.
So what Military-Strategic puropse do USN MEGA-AIRCRAFT CARRIERS serve?
Answer:GAY PRIDE MONTH CELEBRATIONS!!!…Since Comrade Saker mentioned Ronnie Reagan:The USS Ronald Reagan MEGA-Aircraft Carrier now celebrates Gay Pride month with a great big pink Gay Pride Month cake…with GAY PRIDE!!! emblazoned on it…All Seamen onboard are required to attend this jolly celebration…And, on the USS Ronald Reagan…Gay Pride Month is celebrated 365 days a year…..
Perhaps some of you think I am joking about this?…No siree…just do a bit of googling…or yandexing….
So what Military-Strategic purpose do USN MEGA-AIRCRAFT CARRIERS serve?
Answer:GAY PRIDE MONTH CELEBRATIONS!!!…Since Comrade Saker mentioned Ronnie Reagan:The USS Ronald Reagan MEGA-Aircraft Carrier now celebrates Gay Pride month with a great big pink Gay Pride Month cake…with GAY PRIDE!!! emblazoned on it…All Seamen onboard are required to attend this jolly celebration…And, on the USS Ronald Reagan…Gay Pride Month is celebrated 365 days a year…..
Perhaps some of you think I am joking about this?…No siree…just do a bit of googling…or yandexing….
If you think you are going to have a navy without gays, well good luck with that. Something about putting a bunch of men on a ship for months at a time with few if any port visits. And if you think its anything new, its been around since at least the Greeks and their triremes sailing around the Med.
queers call sailors “seafood”…nice pretty boys just off the ship and lookin’ to get…get high and get sex.
The old rule was to keep this stuff to yourself, as a ship is entirely inappropriate locus for sex of any kind. undermines discipline, for real.
Senior non-com pal from USN steam (all diesel and gas turbine now) described sitrep circa first gulf war. Everybody knows who is queer in engine department. There is no misbehavior or there will be violence…violence of degree necessary…includes final solution…this is “jettisoning” offender or heroin overdose in his bunk. Rarely needed… Queers go ashore and do their thing. Come back and behave again. Is a social contract, unstated. What happen below decks, eg engine room, stays in engine room. Skipper does not want anything but turns and reliable ship. Give skipper what he wants. Keep discipline and order. Evident no longer the case. Ergo USN FUBAR,
Very enlightening. Thanks.
I like the last bit.
Katherine
Saker,
Excellent presentation of the overwhelming factual representation of MAD.
The RF has prepared its defenses.
The US can test them and die or learn to converse with the Russians and maybe cooperate on global threats.
This article is a vital piece of your best contributions to discourse about war or peace.
Good to know (from the link with his name, above) that Scott Ritter is still active and doing his best to save the world from weapons of mass destruction, in despite having been “expelled from the UN for decent behaviour”. A high level technician but also a man of conscience and courage, who does not hide behind “I’m only doing my job, the rest is not my business”: the Western world is in dire need of such people.
I agree. Its good to know he’s still around and kicking. Of course, in this age where people who don’t subscribe to the enforced view point get blacked out from the news, its sometimes hard to keep track of people.
Decent guy as well as knowledgeable. I met him prior to the Iraq War when he was traveling doing speeches trying to stop what became the deaths of over 4000 Americans and the waste of trillions of dollars. We were involved in setting up his local speech, and he’s a decent guy to talk to during what has to be hectic times when he’s on a speaking tour from city to city trying to stop a war.
I have a different idea as who’s a hero than the society in which I live ….. Mr. Ritter would be on my list of modern heroes.
Anon wrote:
“I met him (Scott Ritter) prior to the Iraq War when he was traveling doing speeches trying to stop what became the deaths of over 4000 Americans and the waste of trillions of dollars.”
Only American deaths count for you? The deaths of the Iraq victims of war aren’t worth mention?
“Only American deaths count for you? The deaths of the Iraq victims of war aren’t worth mention?”
To exceptional, indispensable folks, other peoples’ lives are a 100% non-issue. It’s really swell that the exceptionals take their greatness for granted whenever and wherever they opine on no matter what subject. Makes their moral stature ‘fairly obvious’ to us non-exceptionals.
When Saker writes:
“…Hypermaneuverability: Russian sources describe the Yu-71 as “сверхманевренная боеголовка” or “hypermaneuverable warhead”. What that exactly means in turns of sustained Gs does not really matter as this is not about air-to-air combat, but about the ability to perform sudden course changes making it close to impossible for anti-missile systems to calculate an engagement solution…”
LZ would add that the physics decides the advantage…to simplify a small maneuverable rocket flies up through thick soup of atmosphere…major control problems go with this as the air density changes and rocket masschanges and the moment changes etc make stability very problematic…(LZ has read the maths in interceptor design…it’s daunting) But the overall defect in intercep is gravity well, the package coming down has all the advantage in terms of horsepower, The fella trying to go up has very limited mass seconds…the fella coming down has all of this…now add wings and AI and sat and is obvious…
Now LZ will enjoy remaining text…
And say many thanks for the attempts to prevent the war, or stop it, or even slow things down
Thanks, Saker!
Is interesting to consider what Strategy Comrade VVP and the fellas have suggests as their ideal outcome, intermediate outcome, and the bad outcomes.
How to know? Can not know. But design are revealed by actions over time…actions to build some machines and not others, actions to do arctic, actions to make OBOR, action to make particular weapons and not others…all imply a design set.
LZ sees through fog of apriori natures,,,this:
Ideal. Ruling Class changes nature and joins in triumvirate according to law (do not expect this)
intermediate: Revolution in US…is obvious design. NA becomes a mess. Ru and Chin send cops and stuff, and judges… Maybe divide the country – I. Panarin has written on such
Bad outcome is rally really bad, and poisonous….radioactive. smelly.
LZ has also heard silly people say kick ass…they are ignorant like hammers.
Lesson of Imperial Ru in US Civil War (not the fairytale one, the real one) suggests similar concordance is possible in near future, eg after overseas fight over…when fight comes “home” (generally this happens in defeat)
But, maybe Empire prevails? LZ doubts that, but sees it as possible.
This article is talking around the elephant in the room, mutually assured destruction. Even during Yeltsin’s time, Russia could have destroyed the United States with ICBMs. I don’t know why the author is focusing on aircraft carriers, since US forces have land bases surrounding most of Russia.
Even if the US brought their carriers within 400/600 miles of Russia, the idea that the US would have no practical response to the destruction of these sitting ducks is wishful thinking. the US could easily mine the waters around Leningrad or the Crimea, bracketing in the Russian navy.
Granted, Russian weapons are superior, due to graft and corruption within the US war industries. But numerically it doesn’t matter. Send 24 B1’s into Russia and you would occupy a large portion of their air defense. Now imagine B-52’s, cruise missiles, and the B2 Stealth’s joining — and that is only the US air force. The Navy can launch attacks well outside the range of Russian anti-ship missiles with mid-air refueling. Let’s also add in the bumbling European forces as an added distraction.
Russia would have to ruin their economy to be able to stand up to these numbers. We are still in the age of mutually assured destruction. This whole discussion is pure theory, in that either nation could destroy the other with even old outdated ICBMs and cold-war era submarine based missiles.
Jamie,
Saker is not talking about “who would win in a US versus Russia war”. It is, of course, foolish to think that the US would suddenly stop doing a war because one of their carriers sunk. Like the title said, he is talking about “Debunking Two American Myths” – the US military superiority, and the invulnerability of US mainland.
Aircraft carrier is focused on in this article because it is pretty much the symbol of US military might. Wherever the US go to war, the aircraft carriers are likely to be there. It has also been elevated to mythical status by the media (news and movies alike) as an invulnerable, impregnable bastion for delivering freedom and democracy.
I myself is of an opinion that, despite what Gerasimov said about Russia’s conventional warfighting capabilities, any attack on Russia, conventional or otherwise, will get a nuclear response.
You seem to have missed the most impressive feature in The Saker’s data about Zircon, perhaps because it came right at the end of the list. It nullifies your scenario “Russia would have to ruin their economy to be able to stand up to these numbers.” For your convenience, here it is again:
– Cost per missile: 1-2 million dollars (depending on configuration)
Hahahaha….. without their carriers enslaving innocent countries to their empire, bye bye dollar and usa collapse. Excellent.
Hi Nick. Precisely. The dollar is no longer backed with gold, it’s backed with aircraft carriers. A flimsy pedestal indeed, given the development of the Zircon.
Even if the US brought their carriers within 400/600 miles of Russia, the idea that the US would have no practical response to the destruction of these sitting ducks is wishful thinking. the US could easily mine the waters around Leningrad or the Crimea, bracketing in the Russian navy.
And the Russians merely state that they have mined all US harbours and Maritime Insurance rates render the US blockaded. Remember ALL ships are a minesweeper ONCE. The sea or ground mine is the ultimate weapon – you don’t even need to lay it for it to be effective.
There is a third American myth (i.e. lie) that underlies all other American deceptions: that the United States is a force for good, leader of the Free World, Land of the Free, and Beacon of Liberty.
This fanatical belief in US moral supremacy is ultimately what allows Americans to demonize any other country (like Russia) as “threat,” while ignoring that the preeminent existential threat on this planet is the United States of America itself.
P.S. For all the Americun patriots:
Happy War Criminals Day (aka Veterans Day)!
You all must be proud of how many countries America has bombed, invaded, raped, pillaged, destabilized, balkanized, and in general terrorized into failed states.
So if you see an American military stormtrooper, don’t forget to “thank them for their service.”
Making the world safe for the American Empire, its “moderate” jihadist proxies, mercenary contractors, and US capitalist plunder of the world is truly something to be proud of.
“This fanatical belief in US moral supremacy is ultimately what allows Americans to demonize any other country (like Russia) as ‘threat’ “
Ironically, there is substance to this perception of other countries as threats. US Americans are militant parasites, and they know it. As such, they have the exact survival instincts of a parasite, knowing very well that coercion is of utmost necessity to defend their misappropriation of other peoples’ wealth (natural resources and labour output). On the other hand, if this goes on for too long, the parasite will eventually kill off both its host and itself.
Their self-worship as a “force for good” amounts to little more than making virtue out of necessity.
@Anonymous,
I am an American citizen.
You have identified the major problem that underlies the terrible actions of the US. Without solving this problem and educating the US population about the true nature of US crimes, the world will continue to be a dangerous place until the US is marginalized economically, bankrupted by debt, or consumes itself in identity politics civil war.
“There is a third American myth (i.e. lie) that underlies all other American deceptions: that the United States is a force for good, leader of the Free World, Land of the Free, and Beacon of Liberty.”
Your continuation and identification of the US soldiers as military stromtroopers, killing in the name of empire, is also entirely accurate, and I cringe at the groveling of citizens at the feet of these mercenaries, “Thank you for your service.” I stand and shout to the rooftops, “Support our dupes!”
Bring the young idiots home, where they can be put to work producing goods that will benefit their country and lead to a peaceful world.
@Nussiminen,
“US Americans are militant parasites, and they know it. As such, they have the exact survival instincts of a parasite, knowing very well that coercion is of utmost necessity to defend their misappropriation of other peoples’ wealth (natural resources and labour output). ”
I believe that you are entirely mistaken in this statement. I repeat what I said above: I am an American, but interestingly enough, you mention “US Americans”, and as I live in East Asia, I guess I do not qualify as a “US American”, although I assume that you just made a mental error or typo by describing Americans as “US Americans” and did not deliberately try to differentiate between expats and Americans living in the US. You seem to think that the majority of Americans are “militant parasites”, and furthermore are aware of this fact, and that they benefit from the misappropriation of other peoples’ wealth. I think you overestimate the ability of most Americans to think critically and deeply. In addition, you mistakenly assume that ALL Americans are the benficiaries of this misappropriation. I beg to differ. I believe that those elitists who are responsible for and aware of the misappropriation and who benefit from it are the same ones who are bombarding Joe and Jane Six-Pack and the rest of the plebs with the propaganda that keeps them down, accepting lower and lower salaries for more and more work, vanishing freedoms, nonexistant health care, higher taxes, higher cost of living, opiod epidemics, etc. And they even have the power to make the ignorant puppets send their sons and daughters to die in foreign belligerence that doesn’t benefit the US, all the while standing up and chanting “USA, USA, USA, USA”.
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
Frankie P
Taiwan
I don’t think many Americans believe they are a force for good any more. At least not the ones I know (this includes friends in military)
Some foreigners do due to Hollywood propaganda, but that seems to be changing rapidly
was “armistice day” and celebrated Peace, or at least silent guns…
the nazis got hold of calendar and turned it inside out…making it the day to celebrate War, naming “Veteran’s Day”.
That’s Propaganda with a capital P
I witnessed this transition and I still say “armistice day” out of spite and to illuminate the youth…the switcheroo the nazis did with the naming make a very handy annual lesson in applied Rhetoric…and the kids are entirely innocent of Rhetoric…they’re like putty in the hands of expert propagandists… Teaching them with the example of this classic swap is easy.
This is a hint…
This is important but not related to the topic. Once Saker mentioned if anybody find the documentaty ‘Magnitsky Act behind the scenes’ by Andrei Nekrasov, point it here.
The russian dubbed version is avaliable in youtube.. there you can also find interactions with Nekrasov after the movie. I hope somebody will sub it into English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EevVMU7_xcM
“In fact, the Sarmat could fly over the South Pole or, for that matter, in any direction and still reach any target in the USA”.
Not with a maximum range of 10,000 km, it couldn’t. The minimum distance from the South Pole to the USA is over 12,000 km – and the missile would have to be fired from a good deal further away than that. A submarine might be able to surface at or near the North Pole, which is basically open ocean with a relatively thin layer of ice – indeed, USS Nautilus did that over 60 years ago. But Antarctica is a continent – not good submarine territory.
Now if you said a Sarmat could reach the USA from the South Atlantic or the South Pacific, that would make sense.
The range of the missile is listed as 10k km, at least according to wiki-media. But with its 10 ton payload, the same article says it can launch 24 ‘hyper-sonic glide vehicles’. So, the question becomes how far one of these can glide if its release point is high in the atmosphere 10k km from the launch site?
Since the Sarmat is a ‘heavy ICBM’, I suppose one thing we won’t have to worry about is them being launched from a submarine.
I do seem to recall that its Russian doctrine to have at least some of its missiles on trucks, so I’d imagine they can be mobile …..how far away is Vladivastock?
the nominal range of a missile is throweight dependent and is not the same range as the reentry vehicles or the warheads themselves, neverming a HGV.
So yes, the Sarmat can reach all of the USA, even through the South Pole
cheers!
You’ve missed the Russians’ teaser hiding in open view – could there be Sarmat’s stationed at the South Pole? The resilience of Russian equipment in low temperatures is well known… as is their capability to drill deep holes in the Arctic… and they have a presence in Antarctica… not so implausible then when you start thinking about it…
Younger Americans may have grown up in a world where they are told that as Americans they are invulnerable. But not those closer to my age. I grew up in the days of “duck n cover” drills in the school as if crawling under a cheap school desk was going to save you from a hydrogen bomb. I went to college and was a young adult knowing the big Bell building that was less than a mile away was also the communications hub in its concrete bunker for the whole region of the US and that this certainly was the target for probably multiple bombs so we debated which recreational alcohols and other materials to keep around for that last 30 minutes or so that the annoying warning test drills on the TV might give us.
Modern Americans, those who’ve largely been alive since the early 90’s only may have lived their lives believing they were invulnerable. But those of us who are older grew up in a time and place where we knew that the only protection given us by the state was that flimsy school desk that we crawled under during drills.
Which probably goes a long way to explaining why we marched in our millions in anti-nuke and peace movement marches, and kids these days don’t.
I’ve lived in the US for about 12 years and I have never met those Americans you mention who think they are invulnerable. Especially millennials – they don’t seem to have much attachment to this country and would like to leave if only they knew whee to go. They are also jealous of their best friends and quite selfish.
Pretty much every American I know (ranging from normal people.military, students to celebrity producers, actors and billionaires) think their country is very corrupt (even the brainwashed gay Hilary worshipers). I honestly don’t think I have ever met an American who is proud of his country and I have lived here for 12 years. They know their country is fraud.
I have met Argentinians who are proud of and love their country, or Serbs, Japanese – but never Americans.
For that to happen I think a country needs a meaningful social context and a functioning social contract. Otherwise it’s just a manic, psychopathic, fake collection of people who are being exploited by psychopathic politicians/corporations/banisters and everyone becomes too scared of everyone else and over-competitive/jealous and living in a scarcity mentality which prevents meaningful aggregation and collaboration.
It’s like confidence – to experience it you need to be mentally healthy- if you have been sexually abused or exploited by psychopaths too much so to become mentally damaged – you will never experience it.
That’s what we have in the US on a level of society – and that’s why it’s hard to be genuinely proud of this country. There is a lot fo fake pride and fake happiness – in form of mania but that’s a different thing.
Well, not all American millennials are confused as to where to go. I moved to Canada myself. It’s not the best choice, but it was the easiest move and doable on a relatively short time frame. There is less war, cheaper healthcare, and lower taxes on small businesses.
The fact is, even if the US doesn’t get military defeated, it is going to bankrupt itself through war and corruption. The US middle class is squeezed harder and harder, and more and more are falling into the ranks of the poor with each passing year.
People aren’t proud to be American, they are proud to be rich as Americans. Once Americans are no longer richer relative to the rest of the world, social cohesion will collapse.
Heard in bar in rural USA…a paraphrase: “…smart young murkin men (very few) would be advised to learn basic Russian and get passport…but what then? Go where? Volunteer for Ru Army. After service in combat they might just maybe be permitted to stay… But why?…”
Think of the future, and then there are the beautiful girls, too…
Not an ordinary sentiment, but it does not start a fight either…people are disgusted by what they see.
Particularly in Alaska… This might have implications for westcoast, all of it. We shall know all about it by and by, eh?
I am about to move to Canada to spend more time with my mother she lives there. Good to know about lower taxes for a small business.
Even the very rich Americans I know are not proud of their country (nor about being rich – most of them inherit their money and tend to feel inadequate or guilty) . About a decade ago they used to be more proud (and in early 90s I knew a lot of proud Americans- I mean I still know them but they are not proud any more).
when I see my rich friends (every few months) – I can tell they are more and more worried and scared – they see something is terribly wrong with their country (and I like to rub it in a lot – because I know if I don’t do it nobody else will). They escape more into NYT (they religiously read it over breakfast) – I tell them the NYT has always reminded me of the communist newspaper my father used to read when I was a kid in Yugoslavia in 70s.
As a foreigner I think Americans have been brainwashed (probably through church schools etc) to feel they must protect their masters (like good slaves).
I have always thought that was really the purpose of religion – not to make people believe the fake stories (the original fake news) but to imprint into their brains that they cannot understand reality – it’s much better to avoid it as much as possible and that they are not good enough and never can be – they are nobody and so must submit to Master X (insert any kind of psychopath/totalitarian which will appear later in life be it a celebrity, a guru, a rich person, a bully etc). Like that experiment with Conrad’s ducks (whatever ducks see when born gets imprinted and they follow it forever later in life – they followed Conrad’s yellow boots).
It gets really warm around my Slavic heart when I read articles from Saker. Thanks to mother Russia our children will live in peace&freedom. Na mnogo let Vladimir Vladimirovič!
Regards from Ljubljana!
“But if some western politician decides that he is smarter and stronger than Napoleon or Hitler and that he will finally bring the Russians to their knees, then he and his country will be destroyed”.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bU38dS0HqM8/VhaFf0QnGBI/AAAAAAAABNU/pLl8Sfw6ALY/s1600/10645334_10152875631295797_4795442700649030385_n.jpg
As of today, it appears to be an open question as to whether the USA can bring North Korea to its knees.
I’d guess that the answer is probably yes, but it would be at great cost. Great cost in terms of American taxpayers and inflation from the money printing machines. Great cost in Korean lives, north and south. The highest levels of American casualties since the Vietnam War. Great cost as other countries see what South Korea got for being America’s loyal ally.
But if North Korea looks like it might be a near run thing, then Russia’s out of your league.
Thanks for your insights. My greatest wish—given all of the other challenges facing us today–is that the question would be re framed from “can the USA bring North Korea to its knees” to can the people of the world ever sweep “our leaders” aside, so that finally we can have peace? I look at the people living in all the places around our country where natural or unnatural disasters have occurred (those awful fires in the Santa Rosa CA area are, I believe, an example of exotic weapons of some kind, please study the photos and research this carefully, what occurred there is truly Bizarre in all capital letters). We now have entire areas where the people here are living in a post apocalyptic society, It is not just in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan anymore. I hope that Americans who wish or plan for war against others will pause as they consider the devastation going on in our own country— a war with North Korea or Russia or China is only going to make our lives here much worse, not better, to the point that recovery will never happen, but maybe there is an element of “karma” or divine judgement in all of this.
although Santa Rosa looks like Hiroshima after being nuked – it’s probably due to a very strong wind/ My friend has a house (which survived intact) in Napa and was there that night. She said the wind was extremely strong. That probably explains why fire burned so strongly and why it spread so much
@tomo. I agree, we make too much of our own petty great-ape capacity for evil, and too little of God’s/Nature’s awe-inspiring apocalyptic might. Reminds me, after Hiroshima a lady asked a weather forecaster on the BBC, “Do you think the weather is affected by atomic bombs?”. He replied, “It’s not so delicately poised”.
Be careful to distinguish between Man’s capacity to inflict physical evil, which is petty, from our propensity for moral evil (alias, Original Sin) which is truly Apocalyptic.
“Hell is immense and very powerful; it begins and ends in the human heart” — Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland, just prior to WW2.
Dr. NG Maroudas,
The apocalyptic might of God is truly frightening to consider, as it is beyond our ken. I choose to focus on God’s bestowal, and I believe that if a greater portion of humanity would do so, the world would be an infinitely better place to live in.
Bahauddin Walad (d.1230) was a Sufi mystic, writer and religious teacher, as well as the father of the greatest mystic poet in the Persian language, Jalaluddin Balkhi, perhaps known to you as Rumi, now the most widely read poet by Americans, strangely enough. Baha Walad, unlike his now famous son, wrote prose, a kind of sensual, first-person reporting on his union, experience and interaction with God, and unlike many writers of the time, he didn’t believe that one had to be specially blessed or chosen to see and experience God personally; he actually urged his readers and students to seek out God in the quotidian actions and objects encountered in everyday life. I present you with an excerpt from Baha Walad’s Ma’arif:
“I conceived of God’s bestowal in the form of a whiteness and in the shape of an essence compounded of white pearls. I gazed at the essence of bestowal. My spirit came to rest in it and rubbed itself against it. “What a sweet thing is this bestowal, for I have found every ease within it!” I found every release from grief and every healing from pain. I slithered along in it and found no conception of weariness. I gazed upon compassion and the essence of kindness. I found in it everything to warm the heart, everything sweet, and all loves. The more I slithered into it, the happier I became and the more beloved I found the essence of kindness. Bestowal is that you have fallen, and a noble, knowledgeable man arrives and prepares your cure. Or, you are broken and hard up. You go to a benefactor and patron and he bestows and provides the cure for your work. The kind person is he who searches out the helpless and pulls him, willingly or unwillingly, to himself so as to take care of his work. He protects him from affliction and wants to keep him always next to himself. He keeps on adding to the intimacy. Now I say, “God is greater.” If I look at beauty, I say, “God is greater.” If I look at any sort of power, I say, “God is greater.” If I look at all sorts of knowledge, I say, “God is greater.” I keep on entering into the remembrance of God and the meaning of God, for the meaning of God is better than all. The tongue is the key to the heart. The more the tongue moves in uttering the remembrance of God, the more the heart opens up and the more that precious things appear within it. It is as if the remembrance of God is the east wind bringing news of the Beloved. It delights the earth of the dead body by filling it with gardens and orchards. Water flows before the door of every house of the body, and blossoms pour down in the meadow of each organ and part. An intelligent, experienced man may become sated and tired from the remembrance of God and then wilt. When he sees these wonders, and when that wondrous thing appears to him, his parts become quick and sprightly and they enter into the remembrance of God. It is as if that was a wondrous life that harmed his parts, then brought them to life. Or, it was a wondrous blast of Seraphiel’s trumpet that brought the sleeping parts of his earth to life. The meaning is that this is the explication, by allusion, of how God brings to life the wilted parts and takes them to the paradise of happiness. By the Mount! [52:1]. In other words, when the inward self of Mount Sinai became aware of love, it fell to pieces. If your inward self also looks cleanly and clearly, it will become aware and distracted and find that very joy. Now, utter the remembrance of God so much that you see God. Just as the veil was lifted from the Mount, so also, when your veils are torn by the remembrance of God, you will see.”
Bwahahahahaha
this is superb, thank you!!
Do the US NeoCohens not realize the extremely advanced and dangerous weapons Russia has?
Does the US top military not realize it?
Just watching that one video I understand. And I know zero about missiles/ weapons of wars.
Heck! not even ” guns”!
Surely, there must be men in top positions in the US of A military that KNOW that a war with Russia is NOT an action to jump in an nonchalant manner.
Replies will be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Carmel by the Sea
In 2013 ,when Obama drew his puny red line, and then had a false-flag gas attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dempsey put the brakes on any escalation campaign. I’ve always thought a little Russian bird whispered something in his ear, and he listened. He retired (or was removed) not long after. I’m convinced he wanted to avoid anything which might lead going toe-to-toe w/ the Russian military.
they probably do know about these weapons, but at the same time they probably believe their invisible friends/masters will help them.
They also probably believe they will live really well AFTER they die – if only they are good enough slaves while alive.
Don’t assume they are rational. Or even intelligent. There are many very stupid people here
The whole aircraft carrier argument is somewhat pointless. Any country that has them won’t put them in harms way in the first place. If a country sends three carriers to an area of interest, it literally means they expect no real harm to come to them. If they suspect there may be danger to one of them, they will high tail it out of the area. This has happened in the recent past. Carriers are not intended for all out war. The US, France, UK, Russia and China all know this. So, let’s see where in the world there might be a collection of these warships. Yep, Korea. You can bet there will be no danger to these ships. You want to be in a safe space. Hang out around an aircraft carrier.
You missed the point. They would become a top priority target in potential US-Russia conflict, regardless where in the world they are placed. And they would be destroyed no doubt. Why? It is not because of the threat they present to Russia, but rather what they present to Americans. It would be a massive moral defeat for US. Imagine all of those floating ducks being destroyed in a matter of hours. It would be such a shock to see those things going down one by one. The myth about them would be shattered and by that, the myth about American military superiority. ‘Top Gun’ fans would be devastated.
aircraft carriers can be used in us ports to force us population to obey…ie they are potentially weapons that can be used against any defenseless population, including those that live in us port cities and inland a considerable distance.
This may be crazy now, times change…Ru Imperial ship Aurora did the unthinkable…can happen in Fascist way too…
if carrier goes poof then this possibility ends.
carriers represent potential for proportionality in violence and also possibility that by avoiding the us mainland Ru/Chin could possible leave loser state some options other that MAD or really bad…
Never put opponent in a corner, Comrade, unless you want him to attack…
US may be on the way down, but that is most dangerous process – as VVP has pointed out.
One problem with violence as method is unpredictability of outcome. Wise man keep violence at a minimum and uses only when necessary to create a good.
“On 9/11 the loss of 3000 innocent people placed the vast majority of US Americans into a total state of shock /…/ “
Wrong; People serving in the very financial and military hubs of the Empire (WTO and the Pentagon) are anything but “innocent” in my book. As regards the ensuing hissy fits among the majority Pindo population, one is tempted to ask what the most infuriating scenario amounted to here:
a) Being outsmarted by a bunch of lousy non-Exceptionals
or
b) Being set ablaze by their own beloved superiors, clearly viewing their “fellow Americans” as less exceptional and indispensable than themselves.
Really, Russia should finish off the US. It would be a tremendous step towards world peace.
@Nussi
I happened to talk to someone in NE shortly after this event and the fellow said that many of the people he knew were told not to go to NY that day. So, maybe Saker is right, as all those other people were not pre-warned.
Al Franken was one of those people. Warned by no less than Ed Koch.
Reading this reminded me of that 1970s board Game Stratego. At what point do the Americans yell: “You sank my battleship!” Watch the commercial for it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkwMDkfrZ1M. Who knew back then that it might possibly foretell the future. Just LMAO.
Tell me, is the Russian high command, including Putin, so ignorant of the facts not to know as Vox Day has written that the killing of tens of millions is not “a bug but a feature” of the program? Targeting of civilian populations is evil, whether it is done by the American government or Russia’s.
Yet how can they not know that the Neocons, the so-call elites don’t give a damn about the civilian population?
Why are there no plans to target the ruling class? Why not just lob a nuke at the latest Bildeberg conference and blame it on America’s ever present terrorists? Why is Soros still around to plot and plan? I don’t trust the government and ruling class of either nation. And I think a major was is inevitable because the American sheeple won’t stop their government from war mongering. We tried with Trump but’s a puppet of Netanyahu and his ilk.
“Targeting of civilian populations is evil, whether it is done by the American government or Russia’s.”
This might have been Saker saying that missiles could be “used with devastating effect on military and/or civilian targets,” not that they would.
“Why are there no plans to target the ruling class?”
Who said that there isn’t…? The problem is with the nature of this “hydra of corruption,” as President Andrew Jackson called the bankster cartel: Cut off one head and two more grow in its place. Unless one cauterizes the heads’ stumps, there will just be more enterprising sociopaths and gullible goons to follow them. This can only be done ideologically, and hypocritical false flags, just like hypocritically targeting civilians, will not help.
“But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many. Let it be the study, therefore, of lawgivers and philosophers, to enlighten the people’s understandings and improve their morals, by good and general education…”
~ “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government,” Founder and President John Adams, 1787
“… the American sheeple won’t stop their government from war mongering.”
As you said, 9z, “the so-call elites don’t give a damn about the civilian population.” Doesn’t this include their protests? And protests in the military have reached critical points before, such as during the Vietnam War and the 2013 Syria escalation. Do not be fooled by controlled opposition, color revolutions; real revolutions take time. Look at Russia: It took over 70 years to ditch the Bolshevik Union, and the banksters’ mess is still getting cleaned up there.
“We tried with Trump but’s a puppet of Netanyahu and his ilk.”
“We”? I’m American, and I knew months before the selection that Mr. “I’m a big fan of Israel” [Trump’s words] was being falsely portrayed as “anti-establishment” to the tune of over a billion of dollars worth of free mainstream media coverage. Saker has a point: “War is too serious a matter to entrust to civilians.” So was a reality TV celebrity ever really going to war with the “monolithic and ruthless conspiracy”…?
Good points; however, there is asymmetrical warfare: Soros’ infrastructure could be targeted, DDOS attacks, hacking and diverting funds, make it difficult to do business. Saker’s pal Paul Craig Robert wrote there are only a handful of Neocons. If they were scared off, since they’re cowards, perhaps the Empire less likely to go to war. Unfortunately, things aren’t looking good.
Looks like the end game is coming fast.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/11/10/america-allies-setting-up-another-trap-for-us-middle-east.html
“…Why are there no plans to target the ruling class?…”
Who says?
The female H-person, surely a member of the ruling class (or close to them as servant of evil) said, and it is not in dispute, that if they lose election they face a “phuckin noose”… Noose…Hanging…and Oh-Bummer said of “pitchforks” (these are Fodder Units not in military) “I am all that stands between you and the pitchforks (of a mob)…and Bush 41 said “if the people ever find out what we’ve done they’ll lynch us. and Casey said that (in 1981) the CIA would have succeeded when everything that Murkinz believe is false. No kidding. All statements above are verifiable… They Know what is in the abyss…and they’re terrified. Makes them dangerous and delusional.
Ruling class knows it is target…and who is enemy of ruling class?
Is not Ru, much. Is Murkin population…they are natural enemies of their own ruling class.
And taking RT etc as guide is evident that the design strategy of Ru include promoting this…
I say Ru designs that Revolution occur in Murka.
I also say that this Strategy is a classic and logical, indeed almost compelling, way to undermine an Empire in corrupt agony of decline – natural way to speed opponent into self-consumption and weakness. Strategy is easy. Is working, of course.
The military business is kept to minimum and run to create objective realities to permit this accelerated decay.
Attacks on media RT etc are obviously not going to stop revolution, but they are understandable, and may slow the process slightly. Is landslide…not preventable. RT has made sure that Murkiz do not lack for hints of remedies they shall have to live. Food is on table…so to say.
I advocate nothing. State evident reality. Merely alien observer… Well…advocate for calm and sober thought and study, puppies and kids and flowers and trade skill in wood and forge arts. Advocate for nice human qualities… Is communism…family, friends, (small “c”).
about the idea that Murka is revolution-proximate, consider the implications of this:
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/index.aspx
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2017/state-nation.pdf
“…In 2017, many Americans say they are stressed about at
least one issue facing our nation, and a majority of adults
(59 percent) said they consider this the lowest point in our
nation’s history that they can remember — a feeling that
spans generations, including individuals who have lived
through World War II and Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis,
the September 11 terrorist attacks, and high-profile mass
shootings….”
If this is true (and I say there is no reason to take a strong position in doubt) then implied Strategy is clearly logical…Ru is very subtle, as it must be, and only “nudging” Murkinz in “:direction R”. Is war. Is also legal method, and a ripe sitrep seems close.
The Strategy of chaos employed by Empire in domestic arena combines with (please excuse sarcasm of terms) “ecomcon” (term from 7 Days in May) and “SCMODS” (Blues Brothers) to smooth out the sands of the arena for the Main Event…which is terrible…revolution. Question, as always, is which way that goes, and there is always betrayal…ask Lenin.
“Is Murkin population…they are natural enemies of their own ruling class… Attacks on media RT etc are obviously not going to stop revolution, but they are understandable, and may slow the process slightly.”
On point, Anon. Four years ago, RT actually ran an article titled, “Nearly 30% of Americans advocate for an armed rebellion.” Of course, the banksters can still derail this with a fake color revolution or proxy civil war, so the lines of communication and education have to remain open.
In accord with this Strategy the correct application of military force by Ru and Chin is create the conditions for Direction R inside the countries that hosts the seats of the Cabal. Primary target is to create ground to permit natural genuine indigenous rebellion such that Empire is neutered and dissolves in diaspora…then criminal king-pins are hunted like supernazis…which they are.
Purpose of military force is to assist in creating objective conditions for diplomacy and compromise. If compromise not possible, then to create conditions for destruction. In nukeage this is particularly difficult…and dangerous…and therefore “best” is to create conditions for suicide of state in question. This operation is one that has a range of outcomes, including the extremes of complete failure of any party, and also of Peace… We shall see how it goes… Not pretty.
If Peace, then…
Show trials follow for the Guilty, in strategy to inform the believers about true nature of criminal cabal forth Reich/CFR etc
about who is who in cabal…see https://swprs.org/the-american-empire-and-its-media/
If n-war is outcome we all die. Can happen.
“Yet how can they not know that the Neocons, the so-call elites don’t give a damn about the civilian population?”
Short answer: They (the Russian government) don’t care about twilight‘s fabulous submissions here. It’s outright scandalous.
Seriously, the Russian government and the majority Russian population know better than most other people about the true nature of “European values” as does the DPRK. Hence their resilience while the neoliberal Western rot unfolds with ever more pleasant results.
Possibly only two attack points would be required to wipe the “USA off the map” (i.e., reconfigure the Atlas — California is already talking secession etc).
1. At the coordinates known as “Washington D.C. — don’t drain the swamp: … swamp the drain.
2. At coordinates known as “Yellowstone Supervolcano caldera”.
I’d like to know what the Russian response will/would be to the creeping NATO threat on Russian borders. Don’t these effing NATO idiots study history? “Do not attack Moscow…” repeat, repeat, repeat,…!!!
It is becoming more apparent day-by-day that the US-based criminal fascist ‘1% elite’ are stalking the Bear using the European poodles to ‘yap’ their way into victory. What? … is the strategy to turn the Russian into mental cases by constant geopolitical noise harassment?
After two world wars leading to the deaths of many millions and the destruction of social infrastructure I’d suggest the President of Russia (Russian Federation) has a responsibility to stand up and say in 100% clarity and simplicity that if the Germans (as the dominant European economy) do not sit back down and STFU with this NATO encroachment bullshit then next time Russia will push through to the Atlantic all the way to liberating London (Russian money owns much of it in any case).
And in addition they will sell every German woman and child to the Arabs as slaves — while, in accord with the Old Testament, ‘liquidate’ in Siberian work farms all the able bodied males. The ‘final’ depopulation solution. However, although this dark scenario may seem in the realms of science fiction, the ME/African refugee implosion (thanks to Libya’s destruction) seems to be is drifting towards the same outcomes — apparently the Polish now have to “root like rabbits” to save the mother/father land.
Who’s “they”?
What are the opinions of said women and children regarding NATO and their own government’s subservience thereof? Why should they suffer from actions they are not responsible for?
Because Zircon 3M22 and RS-28 Sarmat are not yet operational, I would not see them as an asset, nor an argument to counter Americans Might.
Saker,
I assume you don’t believe the US is very advanced in electronic warfare. Which may be true, I have no idea. But it was not mentioned.
I am not sure why the US would be developing ship-based laser and rail gun technologies if these are serial devices and an attack would be parallel.
– Regards, Shyaku.
“number of high precision cruise missiles has increased by a factor 30”
Factories must be going hard out
One of Saker’s better articles, for sure.
While the neocons, and the rest of the zpc/nwo fascists fronting them, huff and puff and bluff their way through, everybody knows israel’s pindo enforcer colony lacks the ability to fight a nuclear war and “win”. They can’t fight a conventional war against a determined colony larger than Grenada now.
Back in the 1990s the zpc/nwo thought the world was their cherry. With Russia out of the way, China lacking any serious military projection capability, the israeloamerican “world order” put their war fighting vs capable opponents on the back burner and stressed colonial policing instead. A logical move, given the circumstances.
Putin’s Russia proved a rude surprise. The israeloamericans, along with their euro bouncing balls, had already been committed for a decade to colonial warfare, especially the pindos. And here come Russia, resurgent and more technologically advanced, throwing a wrench into the zpc/nwo world domination works.
So what’s a zionazi failing empire to do? Buy time while they try and catch technologically and rebuild the sort of military needed to reassert their lost position.
This is where the neocons come in with their puffed out chests and loud mouths. The brinkmanship bluffing they call 6 dimensional chess is to buy time while israel attempts to force the colonies, especially their pindo pets, to catch up and again attain a position of strength to dominate.
The wet dream of the western capitalist fascists has been all along a position of nuclear/conventional primacy where they can dictate from a position of absolute power without fear of victim effective response.
The current western colonial regimes (trump, euro, abe), are to bluff like hell, keep the propaganda war inflated against Russia/China and the other independents, continue their terrorist and regime change covert war, while they rebuild their military to again confront and mythologically defeat equal peer rivals.
All in all: Russia has better weapons and strategy. The US has better posturing and slogans.
IMO, there can be no US “backdown” over its claims about Russia. I say this because pride comes before a fall. The US is not acquainted with humility. It never will be because its wall of lies and deceit has fallen and now it sees, knows and comprehends its situation vis-a-vis the ‘barbarians’ and it is humbled from without but not surrendered from within. Only pride in the “good ol’ USA” can save the day so-to-speak.
After watching this interview of Russian aviation military expert i won’t claim that Russia is either superior or far behind to America. He honestly told that there are lots of sectors in aviation technology Russia is lagging behind USA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScM_rN9a-js
“It seems despite all negative prediction and bad mouth, F-35 turned out to be a mighty machine, and total success. So, guys, please, if you don’t want to embarrass yourself, don’t post Pierre Sprey links and comments.
It looks like T-50 is also not that far behind. Maybe lacks some components, but nothing too discouraging. It looks like it’s gonna be a revolutionary machine for Russia, that emits confidence.
“
Russia is lagging behind USA
In electronics domain it will stay that way for a long long time. When you look at range of specialized IC chips produced in the West we’re witnessing a mass exodus of conventional electronics. It is simply amazing.
specialization creates fragile structure. revolution make this a liability. revolutionary ground favor protean ability. domain of specialization in elect relevant to projection of power only while revolutionary ground is elsewhere.
An engineer or any electronic enthusiast wouldn’t agree with you at all, utter nonsense.
What has not been mentioned is that like the Soviet Union, the U.S. will likely collapse from within. The aircraft carrier is the stereotypical example of obsolescence presently besetting not just its military but the entire system that is driving this last vestige of empire into early retirement and the grave. The rapidity with which it is happening should not be of surprise considering other modern empires that have gone down in flames with great haste. Trump is the picture perfect last emperor. Delusional, self-aggrandizing, slothful, and incompetent. The treasure that has gone up in smoke in order to maintain the empire both near and far cannot be continued. Lean and mean it is not.
“Those who refuse to study history will be condemned to repeat it.”
What makes a fascinating study is the history of the decline of the Spanish empire. The Spanish painted themselves into exactly the same kind of corner the Americans have.
The story of how the empire became a captive government under the early modern equivalent of a Deep State, and how it bankrupted itself in wars and arms races it felt it had to participate in, is being replayed before our very eyes.
And most ironic is that it was the newly developing US empire that dealt the death blow to the rotting remnants of the Spanish Empire over the second half of the 19th century.
The only Americans who wish extermination upon Russians as a whole are Liberals, and Liberals in the USA live near coasts (specifically in California and New York state). So if killing civilians was morally justified, these are the only places that the Russian govenment would need to take out (other than US government and military) to ensure peace, because non-Liberal Americans (whether Trump supporters or Sanders supporters) don’t wish death upon Russian civilians and therefore, don’t wish a war.
Absolutely too optimistic and partly naive and little bit too angry article from Saker. However it doesn’t meant US is anything better. So the big picture here is that both US and Russia are now too much injected with military testosterone while majority of nations are focusing much more economic and social future. Have you all see any prove of common street level war hysteria? Nope. This is bullshit and no Ordinary Joe in US, Europe and Russia are hungry for large scale war. This is mostly just swagger of die hard gun lovers and strategic analysts.
Thanks for your amazing analysis. I feel privileged to read your articles.
Thank u.
“So I personally think that as long as the world continues to use the US dollar and, therefore, as long as the US economy continues to reply on creating money out of thin air and spending it like there is no tomorrow, aircraft carriers still have a bright, if morally repulsive, future ahead of them.”
What about every other currency issuing government on the planet? These sorts of ill informed statements tend to devalue your analysis on all other matters.
Thank you for your very clear article.
Concerning the RS-28 Sarmat (“Satan 2”), as it is FOBS-capable, this implies a minimum speed of 7,9 km/s (28,440 km/h) on its orbit. During descent on its target, the HGV slows down a bit, of course. If we assume a final speed of around MAC 10 for a 1 T HGV, the kinetic energy delivered to the target is 4.5 10^9 J, which is equivalent to the energy delivered by 1,07 T of TNT. This is much lower than a small atomic bomb (Hiroshima was 13 kT, 13000 times stronger).
Too much analysis of commensurate firepower can easily miss the point. Sustained belief trumps bullets. I was drawn to Saker’s analyses years ago by his grasp of the primacy of internal contradiction. Debunking myths after all is about slaying stories and banishing prevailing narratives.
This seems relevant:
“Burroughs’s fiction deliberately renounces the status of plausible representation in order to operate directly upon this plane of magical war.” —Cybernetic culture research unit
http://www.ccru.net/archive/burroughs.htm
This ‘status of plausible representation’ is under siege like never before. If the dominant narrative cannot be enforced the Empire collapses under the weight of internal contradiction. Thus the first-order danger is conceptual, not territorial or military. The alt-media is gnawing at the foundations of Bernays’ dominant narrative. The Hollywood cabbalistic spell of suspended belief (the monomyth) has been broken. Now all we can possibly see on screen are abusers, sex transactionists and pedophile victims. That venerable and hermetic money machine in America called the NFL is also collapsing under the weight of social justice dissent. Sheikh Imran Hossein noted recently that “everything is looking decidedly long in the tooth” (paraphrase)
“In order to work, the story that runs reality has to be believed”
Yes and no. Or on earth perhaps. However God’s eschatology is the overriding narrative that the Devil strives (anti-)heroically to re-write. But God weaves the Devil’s counter-narrative into His own, much to the latter’s exasperation.
Nice to see old Bill brought up.
Nothing is Forbidden, Everything is Permitted – Bill Burroughs, a minor Prophet…G-d has clever ways, eh? To speak.
Remember school…teacher uses force to get student to pay attention, focus, think. This is proper function, as adjunct to education. It speed things along. Just a “smidgen” is sometimes necessary, especially with fractions boys… get it? boys.
after that effacement of delusion by objective reality the main event begins… Principles of Strategy to promote Direction R is what FSD has described, it seems. Very astute, too. Evident that the Cabal is in Panic…and Fear… Geewhiz! The moons of War… Well, it was their own idea, eh?
Helltopay…then. Pitchforks for starter…
Pity
Direction “R” – hummmm… It’s where we’re going, like it or not. As FSD says, I think…
Pax
This is not to detract from Saker’s excellent analysis above, but merely to contextualize what we might call the broader conflict.
As Hegel would insist, the war is between Ideas of which tanks and missiles present instrumentalities. Weapon systems don’t win wars. Alastair Crooke was also on-point circa 2013, below:
http://www.conflictsforum.org/2013/the-inevitable-has-happened-in-egypt/
“This is what was believed to have happened to the former Soviet Union by Sunni thinkers at the time. They concluded from this experience that a deliberate program of “vexing and exhausting” Western power could potentially so inflame internal tensions, and exacerbate contradictions within the United States, that it too, would tire of its Middle Eastern entanglements — as had the USSR. Thus, they devised a calibrated action plan intended to provoke and “sting” the West into hasty — and hugely costly — military over-reaction; into blatant contradictions of their own “narrative” of benevolence, freedom and democracy; and into the fragmentation of their own internal cohesion through the deliberate playing upon Western internal contradictions — and the exposing of “the illusion” of US omniscience. Such psychological warfare, they believed, ultimately would lead to the exhaustion and the collapse of US influence in the region. And, flowing directly from this, Muslims would then witness the concomitant fall of Western proxies and allies — including in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
Just to be clear, the “idea” never encompassed any notion that the West would be driven from the Middle East militarily; this was dismissed. Rather, it was predicted that the United States would be forced to turn upon its own professed liberal “values” in pursuit of increased militarization, and thus exacerbate the internal contradictions inherent within US society. In short, the United States would eventually “retire” from the Middle East through internal exhaustion and contention within their own societies.”
This is why I salute The Saker!
More the *THE EXCELLENT SAKER*. Fantastic website, Sir. I found your link her from the East-West Dichotomy. You are popular in Japan too! Best!
Saker, a great article.
But here is my thought. You say:
“But if some western politician decides that he is smarter and stronger than Napoleon or Hitler and that he will finally bring the Russians to their knees, then he and his country will be destroyed. It is really that simple.”.
What if this is the exact purpose of the “insanity” that is going on in the Anglo sphere?
Is the whole point of the “insanity” to destroy the US mainland, so it is ready to be taken over by whoever it is that is actually in control of it from afar? You know, those Zionists over there in the Middle East on that sliver of land by the Mediterranean?
Not just by conquering the surrounding Arab lands, but doing this globally?
Lebensraum on a global scale?
We know that it are the Neocon ZioNazis that are driving US foreign policy, the MSM and therefore the intended conflict. I’m also convinced that they are fully aware (unlike the American/European sheeple that are being kept drugged-up, ignorant and entertained) of the devastating consequences if conflict with Russia were to take place.
So why are they pushing it? Because they SEEK the total destruction of the US mainland. And very likely of Europe and large chunks of Eurasia.
WWI & WWII were essentially fought for the same reason.
Out of chaos, order.
If we can read your articles on the Internet about Russian weaponry (this by the way, could be Russian propaganda too, both sides can play that game), then so can they. They won’t actually have to read it on the Internet at all, they will have plenty of other, more direct sources, just as yourself.
Not being critical here, I just want to put things into perspective.
A larger game is at play here than just conflict between the Anglo sphere and Russia.
It’s the ultimate Divide&Conquer game, playing East off against West.
With the 3rd party running away with the spoils.
Sheikh Imran Hussein instructs that Pax Judaica requires the destruction of broad swathes of North America and Europe and the ultimate alliance of Holy Rus and Islam. I’m finding this increasingly plausible and a vindication of Dostoevsky and any number of Russian saints/prophets/martyrs including Nicholas II himself.
The Russian Moment is fast approaching. Bolshevism was in many ways a demonic attempt to preemptively avert the ascendance of Orthodox Christianity. Vatican 2 corrupted the western form from the inside-out, relegating it to the sidelines of the epic spiritual battle.
Viewed in this context, MacKinder’s Eurasian Containment strategy is but a geopolitical expression of what, in essence, is a spiritual aversion to all that Russia portends in the Final Battle of Good and Evil Principalities.
I wish russian officials inc. President Putin would stop calling their western counterparts/opponents
“Our Partners”. The are not Russia’s partners!
They are at risk of losing their employment, held to smear anything russian, if they do not – by those in power.
Unless its done to to shame and to embaress – every-body knows the West is not Russia’s Partner.
Anyhow I find the ‘stick to facts attityde’ of russian officials trustworthy.
Russian Generals lead from the front.
American Generals lead from their stock broker’s office.