A biblical red glow torments the skies of northern Israel, which now burns with a Zionist’s zeal for Palestinian land, after a series of Hezbollah strikes. The gods of war are smiling favorably on the coming summer, as flashpoints all across the globe heat up. And the mother of all of them threatens to engulf the region in even more flame with the announcement that Israel could launch the long-awaited war against Hezbollah by mid-June, with rumor claiming the Knesset may vote to take action as early as tonight.
Lol, who is the hypocrite? Did Israel ever extend her borders without ethnic cleansing and genocide? Did she ever ask the inhabitants by a referendum? The internationally recognized borders are those of 1948. All beyond is result of conquest, murder, rape.
The most Jew hating people are the zionists, and people like you.
Do you think the attacks on Russia's southern strategic radars could have an Iran link. Given Pepe Escobar's reporting of the possible F35 shoot down (whether true or not). Then there is the helicopter crash. Dangerous games if it is
no, it was a wet-dream of some Polish general or US wannabe general dressed in skirts and lipstick with hair popping up over the frill at the neck of his blouse. But the US is the obvious culprit and that is damned scary. They seem to think they can use Ukraine to attack Russia's early warning system and crickets. Fools. Criminals.
I read a comment on a Youtube video which claimed the Russian radars were used to target the US ships off Yemen and in Red Sea. The US Carrier to be exact. Which is why they were targetted. I'm no radar expert but that sound ridiculous.
Over the horizon "distant early warning" RADAR systems are not of much use at sea level way the frog around the globe.
" It has a range of up to 10,000 km and is capable of simultaneously tracking 500 objects.[7][8] Its horizon range is 6000 km and vertical range is 8000 km (Due to radar horizon, this range is only applicable if target is located at altitude of several thousand kilometers"
You don't understand the difference between OTH radar and all other radar systems. OTH radar has a "look down" ability. OTH works by bouncing off the ionosphereso it must use the short wave spectrum, usually 8-12 MHz - not microwaves which pass straight through the ionosphere, unreflected.
I don't know if OTH is good enough to see a ship at sea, or if it can only see the ionized plume of a rocket motor, which has a huge radar cross-section and is easily identified by its high velocity and Doppler shifting of the return radar beam. OTH radar serves only one specific purpose: early warning, not targeting. But maybe my data is obsolete. The problem is that the ionosphere is a poor mirror. In a few seconds, it can rise or drop by tens of kilometers, which plays hell on accuracy. But maybe modern computing power can iron out those variations.
Weirdly enough, both of the principles were first used by radars by radars accidentally spotting a ship.
The first type has currently different uses. Russian EW radars of types which were hit, don't watch anyone's airspace. It has been said they have a hard cut-off at roughly 150km, because some countries protested about their ability to peek into their airspace.
Other OTH radars (those watching Europe) don't have such a problem, but there's too much clutter close to the ground, they're not that useful (but they can do that).
Then there is the second, surface wave OTH radar type. They were first used by the Soviets to track ships in the Sea of Japan. The downside is, they have to be close to the sea, otherwise they don't really work well (but strictly theoretically, they could work even over mountains).
I've never seen anything about a "hard cut off" for any radar system, other than INTERNAL signal processing which can ignore signals that take too long to come back. The ITU has no treaty which might prevent the use of radars seeing into other nations' airspace. Radar frequency bands are the same world-wide, with few minor regional differences. OTH radar was always an intruder in the HF band and didn't have authorized channels. OTH radar has to change frequencies based on ionospheric conditions. Before perestroika, the USA and the USSR both operated multiple OTH radar systems and no one made a formal complaint. They would move up and down the HF band, blotting out signals for a few minutes and then moving on to bother users on another frequency. OTH radar was - and still is - a vital part of ensuring the peace.
There is only one case where an ITU treaty block signals from one country getting into another, and that's television. TV broadcasts were always supposed to be only national.
"hard cut off" - anything that can't be switched off by the crew at anytime they like. And yes, it's most probably what you just said it is.
"ITU has no treaty" - nobody said it has. It was just a request from certain governments who felt uncomfortable with that and in the interest of friendly relations, you agree to do these kinds of gentlemen agreements.
Well, if Macroleon wishes to send more of his kin to emulate Napoleon's ill-fated invasion, he is welcome to; Russia has plenty of room for them, a 2.5 sqm plot for each one.
Every time I hear macron say they will send French troops to Ukraine, I think "Does he think Russia or anyone is threatened by French troops?" When I think of rough and tough fighters I do not think of the French.
Russia will destroy French troops & others just as easily as Ukrainian troops. Sure, they may be more skilled and kill a few more Russians, destroy a bit more equipment, and delay the inevitable by hour or days. But that's about it. They're not bringing new superlative weapon systems with them. Trenches are trenches. Russia still rules the sky, and it's troops are well trained, well supplied, and more experienced in the Ukraine theater than any foreign troops could possibly be.
Seeing members of the US Congress wave their little Ukrainian flags last month was absolutely sickening, and exposed them all. That's why they panicked when the video got out. They should have waved little white flags 2 years ago,
I'd rather say, easier. While freshly pressed meat may have worse chances, at least the more battle experience part of Ukrainian forces have a concept how it is under relentless drones, shells, and bombs, in trenches where mice and rates bite you and worms and insects slipping in your wettened uniforms, where everything stinks from blood, shit, urine, and rotting corpses. All these snowflake parade "warriors" from NATO won't survive that for longer than a couple of days. Thousands of mercs ran away already.
That was an absurd way to end an otherwise great article. I have been spending time with an elderly relative in a "memory care" facility recently. You cannot trust anything that comes out of Biden's mouth from memory due to advancing dementia. He has all the classic symptoms.
They have recently trained him to alternate between a left and right teleprompter, but it is no less obviously scripted than before.
There are various different types of dementia with symptoms that work in quite different ways. The pattern of mental function you've observed doesn't necessarily transfer to another person. Some dementia sufferers can switch back and forth between bewilderment and decent recollecting ability.
Destruction of a person's physical contract with the Devil causes the body to immediately assume the condition nature would have normally left it in, as per Dorian Grey So we can assume that as a brand new PhD, Henry was thoroughly modern & recorded his contract on (then cutting edge) magnetic tape media... Which had a maximum lifespan of about what Henry demonstrated.
Insist on archival quality acid neutralized paper in all such contracts... A few who used the original aluminum film CD format had less than 30 years to enjoy the kingdoms of the earth!
Lovely to know that, old Fu5k Henry Kiss-my-a55-inger, he's burning nicely in eternal pit of hell. Also, demented-FJ Biden hopefully will join him soon, sooner than later. Dubya, both Clintons, Obama, all those war criminal and scums of humanity, would be a very very delicate painting were Dante alive today. Maybe King Charles will come to the party later.
Nonsense. Elizabeth II wasn't what you think. It was her husband who was the weirdo. She once warned the third charlie's ex-wife's butler (Paul Burrell) 'be careful Paul, there are forces at work in this country that even I don't understand'.
The US won't go nuclear because it would mean the end of the MOTUs (Masters of the Universe) because they would lose everything they have. It's just an empty threat. Furthermore, NATO doesn't stand a chance against Russia because Russia doesn't stand alone. Rest assured that quietly, in the background, China is monitoring this conflict as a close ally of Russia. Russia and China's fate depends on each other as losing one country to the West would pose an existential threat to the other country. Russia may appear to fight alone but China is ready to back it up if needed. In addition, the US forces are far too split up and quite vulnerable if major conflict were to break out. The US chess pieces are scattered against concentrated forces fighting on its own turf. The NATO-backed US hegemon is cruising into a death spiral with a broken financial system, no industry, poor planning and gross incompetence. We are witnessing the early transformation of a new global order with the US peeking in from the outside. It's just a matter of time.
Only issue is the ruling class of the West have ruled the known world for 500 years starting with Portugal and today it's USA and collective NATO vassals, will they accept 2nd class status and being normal countries subject to intl law, laws of inflation, laws of Hague, etc or leave nothing to rule? e.g. nuclear war.
Most are war criminals and owe trillions of money to places like Vietnam and Iraq if they fall and justice takes it's course.
The MOTU's are too pampered living in extreme luxury to even consider the painful restraints of living the harsh post-apocalyptic life of a hungry nomad. And, all the remaining survivors would just kill them on the spot and confiscate their possessions. These useless MOTU's fear us for good reason.
It is a fair point, to borrow the old phrase, if you wanted to go to war, you wouldn't start it from here. However the West has made serial miscalculations before and throughout this episode and - unless this is a feature not a bug??? - we can expect to see more.
None of it is incompetence, it is purposeful controlled demolition . Today it can be observed in Ukraine and tomorrow.............................................................
See the main problem is the MOTU are not made of competent types but types who are in their own bubbles of delusion and believe they control everything. So they will think they can win any nuclear war and get out unscathed. Few among them will comprehend that they cannot win when they get anything they want, anytime they want.
So the chance of the actually conducting nuclear first strike is not small.
The megalomania among the American ruling class is staggering. Bill fucking Gates, a nerd with a talent for monopoly, wants to blot out the fucking sun! I guarantee the insanity we know about isn’t the half of it.
The problem is they can't take us all out. Those of us who remain would kill them on site. Also, there's no guarantee they'd survive and who's to say that their own security teams (what's left of them) wouldn't kill them? The MOTU's would lose their complete base of power like the ability to print money. Then they would become the useless eaters and easy prey to humanity's predators. Blow it all up, MOTU's (MOFU's) Make my day. lol
Pretty sure I remember reading an obscure news piece a few years ago about a conference for the ultra wealthy that focused on future planning, disaster management etc. I seem to recall one of the main topics of discussion amongst the attendees was just how to keep the grunts in line after the Nukes have flown. The psychos have already accepted that as a premise and are working to iron out the bugs. No good if you survive a first strike just to be lynched by the remaining iradiated plebs is it?
One need only summon to mind the look in Blinken's eyes during the night-flight back from Tel Aviv as Joe was holding court in Air Force One's back aisles, where the rapt & compliant press corps was seated. Joe was rambling delusionally about "offering people hope" & clenching his bony dry fist as if to reinforce the wisdom he was laying on the wisdom-starved press corps--Blinken's eyes were the image of desperation, fear & panic about the very next words Joe would utter. Blinken's retinas twitched. The man looked cornered.
Blinken is not at peace with himself. Always think he'd like to be anywhere but wherever he is, but his ego won't allow it. He's hunted. Sometimes I feel almost sorry for him.
The obnoxious war monger does not deserve any sympathy. Blinked takes on an appearance du jour of an “eternal victim.” He is a parasitic predator having zero sympathy for the suffering and dying Ukrainians and the suffering and dying Palestinians.
True but how many American masters of the universe know this, as opposed to smoking hopium and stocking their bunkers? It’s really not amusing to see the west fall in real time when subject to their madness.
I suspect that they are better informed than we are. After all, we've been hearing for years how escalation is impossible. The West escalates all the same.
Furthermore, it beggars belief that, if what you and I wish to be true actually were true, that nobody in the Champs d'Elysses has not taken Macron aside and told him that he needs to quit letting his mouth write checks that his ass cannot cash.
NATO is doing everything in its power. That's all. Russia is doing the same thing. No one is bluffing, but it's probably too early to destroy the whole world. Everyone can still try other methods to win. In the end, I'm sure the West will retreat.Americans like living too much.
Amid all the drama on the various fronts, Ukraine's loss of electrical generating capacity perhaps doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. But it could be a huge factor in determining the war's outcome. Note that already Ukraine can't keep their most important cities operating. Industry and homes alike are going dark. That desperate situation was brought about with relatively few Russian missiles, and no doubt what remains of Ukraine's electrical grid is equally vulnerable. If that goes, then it's back to rubbing two sticks together to make fire, figuratively speaking.
It's difficult to see how any country could prosecute a large scale modern war without having a functional electrical system.
That is what I don't understand. Ukraine is, IMO, essentially on life support....and Russia can pull the plug at any time. So why doesn't it? Why doesn't Russia knock out all remaining Ukrainian energy production, and turn out the lights? There would be a mass exodus, and the war effort would crater, for good. How could it not? No more Blinken/Zelensky assignations. No more "Rockin' in the Free World" in Kiev night clubs. What am I missing?
It's pretty simple. Currently, Ukraine has three large nuclear power plants built during the Soviet era. Russia will not touch them, so that a large-scale catastrophe does not occur. We must proceed with caution. The goal is for Ukrainians to gradually drown them out themselves.
I believe the Russians will treat Ukraine's nuclear power plants with great caution, but that doesn't mean that those plants can't be effectively neutralized. That's what happened at the Zaporizhia nuclear generator, which Russia controls. Even though it's functional it's off-line. It doesn't supply any power to the grid. Ukraine has damaged the grid attached to the station making it unsafe to generate power. Russia could do the same to Ukraine's remaining nuclear stations. But again you have to do it carefully, by sequentially targeting the grid in a way that shuts the nuclear generation down gradually.
Russia doesn't have to touch the nuclear power plants. It only needs to destroy the HV power lines. The NPP's provide their own electricity to support the required safety procedures. So yeah, Russia could take the 404 electric power down to 1%, but Russia seems to have chosen not to. I'm pretty sure the Kremlin knows what it's doing, even if I don't understand why.
If the NPP's lose access to external power, that should not be a safety issue because they make their own power. I am not "suggesting" the Russians should cut the electric grid. Obviously they have all the advice they need, and more. I am only saying that losing external electricity should not pose a safety issue.
Fukushima did not exactly explode. It suffered a disastrous meltdown, like Chernobyl.
Fukushima was an instant disaster because the operators lost control of the cooling rods. The geniuses who built the damn thing put the electrical controls (circuit breakers, heavy duty switches, etc.) below sea level. Below sea level and tens of meters from the shoreline. It was flooded by the tsunami - of course. Westinghouse engineers probably laid out the plans; the design is identical to US nuclear submarine power reactors of the same era, all made by Westinghouse. But those clever and proud Japanese engineers should have overseen construction and when they saw the special under sea level control room, they should have yelled, "Wait a minute..."
But Fukushima was ten times worse in the following months because the Japanese owners of Fukushima did not want to spend money buying land for the pools to cool the spent fuel rods. Those tanks held at least 10 times more radioactive materials than were in all the reactor cores. Cooling pools need electrical power to circulate the water. Without electricity, the water boiled off and then the "hot" cores started to turn into radioactive dust. I think they had back-up diesel generators with about 4 days worth of fuel, and - unlike hundreds of Soviet men at Chernobyl - none of the Japanese were willing to be heroes and refuel the diesel generators. The "cherry on the top" is that some of the cooling pools were put right on top of the reactors. You know, to save land. Total clusterfcvk. I've read that Ukrainian nuclear power management is (or was) head-and-shoulders better than the Japanese.
if for hydroelectric or thermal power plants that run on coal, this does not pose a big technological problem, they are quite easy to stop, then for nuclear power plants this is a really difficult transition process. Because the reactors must be shut down.
Nuclear power plants can be stopped at the request of the dispatcher or for repairs. This is a routine procedure. It is quite easy to stop the fission reaction of uranium nuclei, which gives the main energy, by introducing absorption rods for this, and the reaction stops. But the reactor has accumulated a huge amount of artificial radionuclides, in which alpha and beta decays continue. Which leads to the release of heat. This is the so-called residual heat generation, which must be removed. It instantly decreases by 100 times, but about 1% of the power that was remains. This heat must be removed to the environment through pumping cooling water.
In order to bring the reactor to a "cold shutdown" state, nuclear scientists have such a term, you need to know the history of the reactor. How long has it been working, how much fission products have accumulated in it. On average, it takes several weeks.
You will have to connect backup diesel generators, which must be intact and in working condition. They will provide electricity, first of all, to the reactor cooling system.
But God forbid if something goes wrong. For example, backup diesel generators will not start. There will be something wrong with their lubrication or they may be destroyed. This is already an approximation "to the edge".
First and foremost, Fukushima was supposed to be built on higher land.
But someone decided it is too expensive.
Then there were several assessments and regulatory orders after it was built. For example they were supposed to build an anti-tsunami wall of certain height - they did that, except they lowered it to save money.
They were also supposed to move diesel generators, because it was clear they will get flooded if the wall (which was then built lower than it was supposed to be) overflows. That never happened. Because of... Saving money.
Fukushima was a typical cost-cutting managerial farce since before its first concrete was poured and continued to be a typical cost-cutting managerial farce to the very end... And still remains to be a managerial cost-cutting farce to this very day.
Now, I don't want to say something obvious, but most French nuclear power plants don't have their own water reservoirs (to provide their own coolant if they need to be shut down due to some accident and their adjacent river is low on water). Perhaps you remember France shutting down nukes during droughts in recent years - at least they understand that if they keep them running and there's an accident, it's game over.
But why did it happen? Cutting-costs managerial....
The war in Ukraine is the secondary battle field. It is necessary to keep the Ukraine war going to distract from the primary attack trajectory. The economic front is what most people fail to consider. The Russians backed by the Chinese are attacking the center of US power it's economic dominance, classic Tsun Zhu. The US dollar is the world's international reserve trading currency, US debt is the world's international reserve asset. These are the pillars of US power globally, removing any of which diminishes the US economic influence globally. As a US dollar that is worth less or valued less will do less and US Patriots will not fight for free nor will the US MiC produce military equipment they cannot profit from. The Ukraine conflict has been the perfect cover and perfect incentive for the Russians to attempt this action.
Except the west did that to themselves. Excess debt, zero interest rates and the destruction of longstanding global financial understanding with sanctions and the seizure of foreign assets. We’re not the good guys this time.
That is why the Wolfowitz Doctrine says that the US Security State can not allow Russia or China to threaten the US's economic hegemony, and why we are at war with Russia. The Security State may actually want a nuclear war so the debt slate is wiped clean and they introduce the US crypto-dollar. Investment wise, things on Wall Street have been bizarre. Imagine tying up tons of money for 30 years at three percent while Shadow Stats has shown we have had 10 percent inflation annually for years. Bitcoin is a psyop. Perhaps the ultimate goal of this war is to destroy the dollar.
Maybe the West should take a hint from CADTM.org and abolish all international debt. For a long time, CADTM has argued that debts owed by what we used to call the Third World were illegitimate and that much suffering could be alleviated by abolishing it all. As a creditor to the US, China would be screwed out of about USD 2 trillion, but if somehow that included the compete elimination of any military threat from the West, that might be a good deal for China too. Just thinking outside the box here, but unicorns aren't good enough anymore.
On that point, why, in your opinion, does China still lend money to the bottomless pit that is the US? It will never get paid back and China must know this.
Habits are difficult to change especially when it is all that we have known in our lifetime. The Chinese have high surplus of dollars from trading with the world. The dollar is useless in China as it is not money the Renminbi is money in China. So what will they do with those excess dollars, pack them from floor to ceiling in rooms? The dollars are a depreciating asset that lose value with the creation of new money. So the Chinese will lend it back to the US, the only place the dollar is actually legal tender, at a specific interest to protect the value. In the meantime slowly convert the debt they already have into gold or invest it into other nations to buy influence. Having a fire sale will create a collapse in the bonds market innitiating a fight to the bottom and losing all their accumalated wealth if they are left holding worthless treasuries. So patience is essential to have very good timing in taking action.
In autumn 2023, China paid Sri Lanka $200mn to lease a submarine port. Policy makers in China made explicit @ the time that the $200mn was a result of China's cashing some T bonds it had been holding. The submarine port China leased is a result of U.S. debt. The U.S. paid for China's submarine port.
You are exactly right to say the economic front in this global war is by far the more important front. I believe one of the several strong reasons why Russia is doing slow-motion on the SMO, is that Russia and friends need time to ensure victory in the economic war. For example, It takes longer to convince Indian businessmen that their future is with Russian and China, than it takes to advance 200 km on the Line Of Contact. It's a global battle with many many fronts.
Russia doesn’t want a pyrrhic victory. If Russia will rush UA capitulation, the peace afterwards won’t be stable. NATO will funnel weapons and money to all those AZOV-minded guys, countless „advisers” and mercenaries. Russia aims, as it has been stated at the beginning of the SMO, to demilitarize oponent. UA military capabilities must be exhausted to achieve a stable post-capitulation situation.
There was a guerilla war in Ukraine SSR, 1945-1955. It cost 150,000 lives. Wehrmacht General Gehlen gave the Nazi networks to the US, represented by Allen Dulles, the top OSS agent in Switzerland. Gehlen fled to the West in early May 1945 - before the Nazi surrendered. FOr 10+ years, the CIA and West German's BND (headed by Gelhlen) used the Nazi network as fuel for that guerilla war, and the Soviets had to work hard to put out the fire. I'm sure the West has its old playbooks gathering dust and they fantasize about a second guerilla war. So this threat is just one more reason why the Russian army will not stop until it gets to the Polish border. De-Nazification must be 100%, not 99%.
The Vietcong used old women to hide supplies, and women in combat. The whole population gets involved with guerrilla warfare. I can understand Ukraine using conventional warfare when fighting in the east, but the population of western Ukraine is anti Russian and guerrilla warfare becomes feasible.
Yes, why not win? Russ seem to be intent on depopulating the Ukraine rather than getting rid of the people actually causing the war - the Ukrainian government. Why not decapitate the Ukrainian government as that is what the US intends to do to Russ. And that would be a real benefit to the Ukrainian people who are being exterminated. Why not take out the airport all the US and NATO officials fly in on? The war is a US/ NATO security state operation. No one I know wants a nuclear war, but we don't count. We get lied to. But the security state is committed to the "Wolfowitz Doctrine" that it CAN NOT allow Russia or China to threaten US hegemony. The Globalist oligarchs may regard Nuclear war as a benefit to them as there are less people to support and they can start all over with the crypto-dollar.
Not sure how much we can believe any "polls" coming out of the Ukraine, but it seems like the people there are not resisting. I know they are in fear of the SBU, but that doesn't seem to explain all of it. I think there are 2 things we can count on: (1) The Kremlin has a very good idea of Ukrainian public opinion, and (2) the moment the Kremlin believes decapitation strikes, like on Bankoava street, Kiev, will leave the 404 people free to be happily liberated, the missiles will fly within the hour.
I conclude that the Ukie people have been willing to be deceived about their real losses, so the Kremlin is biding its time, waiting for the apple to fall.
Ordinary Ukrainians have been the target of this particular Hypnosis Topic for 10 years longer than ordinary Americans. This round of Hypnosis began for ordinary Americans on 24 February 2022, when "Putin's full-scale war of brutal aggression against a scrappy innocent democracy" commenced.
Ordinary Ukrainians have been /under hypnosis/ since before 2014--but you best believe the hypnotic trance intensified massively after February 2014. NGOs, democracy foundations, USAID & other grassroots-seeming benevolent organizations shaped the battlefield before the actual explicit battle began. Since 2014, OTAN has been complicit in a kind of Ukrainian-on-Ukrainian violence which has marked this civil war, like the ceaseless targeting of Donetsk City & other Donbas areas, because OTAN weaponized an eager, motivated & incentivized local population in Ukraine to kill its fellow citizens. The Hypnosis permitted the weaponization. Groups like NGOs working beneath the surface of Ukrainian society offered perks like mRna vaccines during the pandemic to Ukrainians who were willing /to play./ Groups like USAID set people up w/ digital currency, if they were willing /to play/--so the incentives were tangible when it came to remaining /under Hypnosis./
Although ordinary Americans far & wide are still living within the original Hypnotic Trance of 2024 on this particular topic--"full-scale brutal war of unchecked aggression"--they are already well-habituated into the sort of Hypnosis which a whole-of-government status-quo power lays on them.
Actually, NAZI Germany did quite well in its final year considering the beating it received on all fronts. People under authoritarian rules are more paralyzed in action even if their minds are still alert. Authoritarian governments are able to hold the government apparatus functional at the last moment. Hence their demise under constant external pressure is exponential decay. It actually decays slower in the final stage, unless the governing apparatus can be broken. The two atomic bombs thrown onto Japan did not even had such impact. The surrender decision was made by the emperor himself AGAINST a cabinet which mostly vouched for war to continue. As for Ukraine, the Zelensky government may actually survive well pass nov.2. This is not a problem of Russian military did not do their jobs, but rather a conscientious decision to minimize Russian casualty.
There's a reason Ukrainian farmland was relatively cheap.
Most of these attempts to explain war in terms of natural resources are lazy and fall apart upon an cursory glance. Iraq has oil, but Saddam would have been thrilled to be able to sell oil freely for dollars on world markets. No, Syria and Afghanistan are not ripe for big, expensive, vulnerable infrastructure like pipelines.
Knowing Biden and his endless streams of absurd lies he probably made up the phone call with kissinger just like he did with his hiking trip with Xi in Nepal
You didn't mention the South China Sea, Simplicius. That seems to be heading for a shooting match as the Philippines have signed up for another proxy attack dog. It's been escalating all year and has to boil over at some point
There are a lot of strings China can pull in the Philippines along with an unpopular president whom a lot of the country knows is a western proxy put in place to harass China.
Certainly a possible headache for China, but the Chinese have some good cards to play.
Having Philippines ally themselves (that is, the RP's "government") with the US *again*, was not a good move at all. Would have been a far better idea to ally themselves with the rest of SE Asia to actually work with, and benefit from, the economic possibilities between them and China. With the US in the mix, forget it.
It’s a given that Biden lied. Kissinger may have been playing world politics like it was a game, but he was sophisticated about it. He likely understood the board better than most. Biden has always bent with whatever wind was blowing through Washington. He’s a mouthpiece, no more. But that’s probably been true of presidents since the first Bush, who was likely at the high table, or possibly its head. Americans have been kept in the dark for decades about the games these (mostly) guys play with our lives.
Very comprehensive analysis. Thank you. And the last line was a zinger :)
Not much I can add except that the Houthis keep kicking America's ass (I heard they crippled an aircraft carrier last week), including shooting down their expensive drones. Every America general and admiral who isn't a man wearing a skirt must be suffering pretty bad heartburn right now. Planning a NATO attack on Russia would literally be suicide.
Also, I'm 100% sure you're right about what happened to the Black Sea recon drone.
Hitler was still planning for a double envelope attack to grab back the Seelow heights and perhaps capture Zhukov's HQ as well. As the situation gets worse and worse, it is only natural for the kind of people currently in charge of the west to think of something that will "settle the business once and for all". Had the west been logical to begin with, we would not have this entire Ukraine tragedy altogether.
Lol, who is the hypocrite? Did Israel ever extend her borders without ethnic cleansing and genocide? Did she ever ask the inhabitants by a referendum? The internationally recognized borders are those of 1948. All beyond is result of conquest, murder, rape.
The most Jew hating people are the zionists, and people like you.
Do you think the attacks on Russia's southern strategic radars could have an Iran link. Given Pepe Escobar's reporting of the possible F35 shoot down (whether true or not). Then there is the helicopter crash. Dangerous games if it is
The F-35 was just trying to land, not shot down.
Don't they all fall out of the sky?
Only when the oxygen to the pilot cuts out. 👍
Fnar!
no, it was a wet-dream of some Polish general or US wannabe general dressed in skirts and lipstick with hair popping up over the frill at the neck of his blouse. But the US is the obvious culprit and that is damned scary. They seem to think they can use Ukraine to attack Russia's early warning system and crickets. Fools. Criminals.
I read a comment on a Youtube video which claimed the Russian radars were used to target the US ships off Yemen and in Red Sea. The US Carrier to be exact. Which is why they were targetted. I'm no radar expert but that sound ridiculous.
Over the horizon "distant early warning" RADAR systems are not of much use at sea level way the frog around the globe.
" It has a range of up to 10,000 km and is capable of simultaneously tracking 500 objects.[7][8] Its horizon range is 6000 km and vertical range is 8000 km (Due to radar horizon, this range is only applicable if target is located at altitude of several thousand kilometers"
Thanks for the info!
You don't understand the difference between OTH radar and all other radar systems. OTH radar has a "look down" ability. OTH works by bouncing off the ionosphereso it must use the short wave spectrum, usually 8-12 MHz - not microwaves which pass straight through the ionosphere, unreflected.
I don't know if OTH is good enough to see a ship at sea, or if it can only see the ionized plume of a rocket motor, which has a huge radar cross-section and is easily identified by its high velocity and Doppler shifting of the return radar beam. OTH radar serves only one specific purpose: early warning, not targeting. But maybe my data is obsolete. The problem is that the ionosphere is a poor mirror. In a few seconds, it can rise or drop by tens of kilometers, which plays hell on accuracy. But maybe modern computing power can iron out those variations.
@JessDTruth
Information on RADAR was from Wikipedia, not terribly surprised if it is incorrect...
There are two types of OTH radars.
1. Those using ionosphere mirrors.
2. Surface wave radars.
Weirdly enough, both of the principles were first used by radars by radars accidentally spotting a ship.
The first type has currently different uses. Russian EW radars of types which were hit, don't watch anyone's airspace. It has been said they have a hard cut-off at roughly 150km, because some countries protested about their ability to peek into their airspace.
Other OTH radars (those watching Europe) don't have such a problem, but there's too much clutter close to the ground, they're not that useful (but they can do that).
Then there is the second, surface wave OTH radar type. They were first used by the Soviets to track ships in the Sea of Japan. The downside is, they have to be close to the sea, otherwise they don't really work well (but strictly theoretically, they could work even over mountains).
I've never seen anything about a "hard cut off" for any radar system, other than INTERNAL signal processing which can ignore signals that take too long to come back. The ITU has no treaty which might prevent the use of radars seeing into other nations' airspace. Radar frequency bands are the same world-wide, with few minor regional differences. OTH radar was always an intruder in the HF band and didn't have authorized channels. OTH radar has to change frequencies based on ionospheric conditions. Before perestroika, the USA and the USSR both operated multiple OTH radar systems and no one made a formal complaint. They would move up and down the HF band, blotting out signals for a few minutes and then moving on to bother users on another frequency. OTH radar was - and still is - a vital part of ensuring the peace.
There is only one case where an ITU treaty block signals from one country getting into another, and that's television. TV broadcasts were always supposed to be only national.
Absolutely correct.
"hard cut off" - anything that can't be switched off by the crew at anytime they like. And yes, it's most probably what you just said it is.
"ITU has no treaty" - nobody said it has. It was just a request from certain governments who felt uncomfortable with that and in the interest of friendly relations, you agree to do these kinds of gentlemen agreements.
according to some reports the Houthis have seriously damaged the "Ike" w/o RU help.
i agree with you. unless, of course the RU radars were in Yemen. :)
State secrets? To gulag with you.
China has already published satellite images of the Ike and it's escort so that is the way ships are tracked, not with radar.
Well, if Macroleon wishes to send more of his kin to emulate Napoleon's ill-fated invasion, he is welcome to; Russia has plenty of room for them, a 2.5 sqm plot for each one.
Every time I hear macron say they will send French troops to Ukraine, I think "Does he think Russia or anyone is threatened by French troops?" When I think of rough and tough fighters I do not think of the French.
Every time i hear the name Macron i think: Why is this Rothschild bastard still breathing?
LIKE
Russia will destroy French troops & others just as easily as Ukrainian troops. Sure, they may be more skilled and kill a few more Russians, destroy a bit more equipment, and delay the inevitable by hour or days. But that's about it. They're not bringing new superlative weapon systems with them. Trenches are trenches. Russia still rules the sky, and it's troops are well trained, well supplied, and more experienced in the Ukraine theater than any foreign troops could possibly be.
Seeing members of the US Congress wave their little Ukrainian flags last month was absolutely sickening, and exposed them all. That's why they panicked when the video got out. They should have waved little white flags 2 years ago,
I'd rather say, easier. While freshly pressed meat may have worse chances, at least the more battle experience part of Ukrainian forces have a concept how it is under relentless drones, shells, and bombs, in trenches where mice and rates bite you and worms and insects slipping in your wettened uniforms, where everything stinks from blood, shit, urine, and rotting corpses. All these snowflake parade "warriors" from NATO won't survive that for longer than a couple of days. Thousands of mercs ran away already.
Well said. I couldn't have written it better.
seems like a good % of them are getting wiped out in the brothels. :)
Macroleon? Better try Microleon!
The slide continues to accelerate, but it's always a lot longer to the bottom than we hope.
Wish they'd just call it at this point, this is just sad.
I’m afraid they’ll take a lot of us down with them.
LLM-derived breakdowns and summaries of that post by Simplicius The Thinker:
https://open.substack.com/pub/complexiathesinker/p/llm-over-sitrep-6424-global-turmoil
The end of the last sentence: “earlier than expected demise.” Kissinger was over 100 when he died. LOL
One of the most repulsive creature ever , demonstrating inhumanity . Who is missing a like of him ? Or her sister Madeleine Albright ?
"Undead, undead, undead...."
With thanks to Bauhaus. ;O)
He is now in much hotter climes. 🔥 🔥🔥 I would say burning hot. 🔥
That was an absurd way to end an otherwise great article. I have been spending time with an elderly relative in a "memory care" facility recently. You cannot trust anything that comes out of Biden's mouth from memory due to advancing dementia. He has all the classic symptoms.
They have recently trained him to alternate between a left and right teleprompter, but it is no less obviously scripted than before.
There are various different types of dementia with symptoms that work in quite different ways. The pattern of mental function you've observed doesn't necessarily transfer to another person. Some dementia sufferers can switch back and forth between bewilderment and decent recollecting ability.
Biden's got a sick ping-pong game w/ the teleprompter: left, then right; left, then right. Very fly. I can believe his pickleball game is brrrap--!
Destruction of a person's physical contract with the Devil causes the body to immediately assume the condition nature would have normally left it in, as per Dorian Grey So we can assume that as a brand new PhD, Henry was thoroughly modern & recorded his contract on (then cutting edge) magnetic tape media... Which had a maximum lifespan of about what Henry demonstrated.
Insist on archival quality acid neutralized paper in all such contracts... A few who used the original aluminum film CD format had less than 30 years to enjoy the kingdoms of the earth!
Amen.
he was supposed to outlive Methusala
Lovely to know that, old Fu5k Henry Kiss-my-a55-inger, he's burning nicely in eternal pit of hell. Also, demented-FJ Biden hopefully will join him soon, sooner than later. Dubya, both Clintons, Obama, all those war criminal and scums of humanity, would be a very very delicate painting were Dante alive today. Maybe King Charles will come to the party later.
His soul is there already? Poor old cap. Maybe he should repent while he can.
You forgot to mention the wicked evil Queen is gone to hell too. Maybe Schwab's under the weather too. Billy Bob Gates is not looking good either. lol
Agree Denis, must in hell, list of evilest people ever lived on earth. They should all be included!
the sooner the better indeed
Everybody wished it to happen sooner, thus our world might finally spinning peacefully. Humanity restored.
exactly... how many are the top western oligarchs? 100 people? reigning on? 8 billions? ...
down to 2 evil actually, Rothschild and Blackrock.
Nonsense. Elizabeth II wasn't what you think. It was her husband who was the weirdo. She once warned the third charlie's ex-wife's butler (Paul Burrell) 'be careful Paul, there are forces at work in this country that even I don't understand'.
Such truth should be spread.
Funny thing - this nonsense started after she departed us. Her Majesty was good for the world, this charles guy - not so much.
...and don't forget soros and his successor
The US won't go nuclear because it would mean the end of the MOTUs (Masters of the Universe) because they would lose everything they have. It's just an empty threat. Furthermore, NATO doesn't stand a chance against Russia because Russia doesn't stand alone. Rest assured that quietly, in the background, China is monitoring this conflict as a close ally of Russia. Russia and China's fate depends on each other as losing one country to the West would pose an existential threat to the other country. Russia may appear to fight alone but China is ready to back it up if needed. In addition, the US forces are far too split up and quite vulnerable if major conflict were to break out. The US chess pieces are scattered against concentrated forces fighting on its own turf. The NATO-backed US hegemon is cruising into a death spiral with a broken financial system, no industry, poor planning and gross incompetence. We are witnessing the early transformation of a new global order with the US peeking in from the outside. It's just a matter of time.
Only issue is the ruling class of the West have ruled the known world for 500 years starting with Portugal and today it's USA and collective NATO vassals, will they accept 2nd class status and being normal countries subject to intl law, laws of inflation, laws of Hague, etc or leave nothing to rule? e.g. nuclear war.
Most are war criminals and owe trillions of money to places like Vietnam and Iraq if they fall and justice takes it's course.
Ofc they don't accept it. That's why there are conflicts popping up like mushrooms after rain.
The MOTU's are too pampered living in extreme luxury to even consider the painful restraints of living the harsh post-apocalyptic life of a hungry nomad. And, all the remaining survivors would just kill them on the spot and confiscate their possessions. These useless MOTU's fear us for good reason.
It is a fair point, to borrow the old phrase, if you wanted to go to war, you wouldn't start it from here. However the West has made serial miscalculations before and throughout this episode and - unless this is a feature not a bug??? - we can expect to see more.
None of it is incompetence, it is purposeful controlled demolition . Today it can be observed in Ukraine and tomorrow.............................................................
Yes, purposeful incompetence.
Maybe?
Russia has many, many friends around the globe and they are friendships not alliances based on intimidation, bribery and threats.
Yankland, its kike owners and all of its NATO puppets have really missed the play here.
See the main problem is the MOTU are not made of competent types but types who are in their own bubbles of delusion and believe they control everything. So they will think they can win any nuclear war and get out unscathed. Few among them will comprehend that they cannot win when they get anything they want, anytime they want.
So the chance of the actually conducting nuclear first strike is not small.
Excuse my ignorance but what does MOTU mean?
"Masters of The Universe" from the 1980s Tom Wolfe novel 'Bonfire of the Vanities' about Wall St. Which shows how ridiculous they actually are.
Lol, thanks.
The megalomania among the American ruling class is staggering. Bill fucking Gates, a nerd with a talent for monopoly, wants to blot out the fucking sun! I guarantee the insanity we know about isn’t the half of it.
Too, too true I'm afraid.
My take is that they would sooner annihilate us all rather than lose their positions.
The problem is they can't take us all out. Those of us who remain would kill them on site. Also, there's no guarantee they'd survive and who's to say that their own security teams (what's left of them) wouldn't kill them? The MOTU's would lose their complete base of power like the ability to print money. Then they would become the useless eaters and easy prey to humanity's predators. Blow it all up, MOTU's (MOFU's) Make my day. lol
Another post-apocalypse Rambo heard from....
"annihilate us all" Hmmm. Sounds rather Ramboish too. lol
Sometimes we need comedic relief from the crazy world we're in.
You're cool, man.
Pretty sure I remember reading an obscure news piece a few years ago about a conference for the ultra wealthy that focused on future planning, disaster management etc. I seem to recall one of the main topics of discussion amongst the attendees was just how to keep the grunts in line after the Nukes have flown. The psychos have already accepted that as a premise and are working to iron out the bugs. No good if you survive a first strike just to be lynched by the remaining iradiated plebs is it?
Like Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get a hard punch to the face. Nothing is guaranteed.
From their cold dead adrenochrome filled hands.
One need only summon to mind the look in Blinken's eyes during the night-flight back from Tel Aviv as Joe was holding court in Air Force One's back aisles, where the rapt & compliant press corps was seated. Joe was rambling delusionally about "offering people hope" & clenching his bony dry fist as if to reinforce the wisdom he was laying on the wisdom-starved press corps--Blinken's eyes were the image of desperation, fear & panic about the very next words Joe would utter. Blinken's retinas twitched. The man looked cornered.
Which he was & is.
What about Blinkin's face palm when FJB called Xi a dictator? LOL, clowns.
His eyes are like coals. Or perhaps black holes, where light goes in but can’t escape.
Blinken is not at peace with himself. Always think he'd like to be anywhere but wherever he is, but his ego won't allow it. He's hunted. Sometimes I feel almost sorry for him.
The obnoxious war monger does not deserve any sympathy. Blinked takes on an appearance du jour of an “eternal victim.” He is a parasitic predator having zero sympathy for the suffering and dying Ukrainians and the suffering and dying Palestinians.
All true. Got soft for a moment. Dressed his little son up as Zelensky for Halloween… a hideous man.
Matt Palumbo... The man behind the curtain... maybe You could enjoy reading it... :)
He's following orders, relaying given orders, that is all. There's no deal making at the creepy table just assignments.
True but how many American masters of the universe know this, as opposed to smoking hopium and stocking their bunkers? It’s really not amusing to see the west fall in real time when subject to their madness.
We've been hearing for years now that every NATO escalation is foolish, reckless, unpopular and brings us closer to WWIII. NATO must be bluffing!
NATO escalates regardless. They are not bluffing.
We've been hearing that one for years as well. Obviously, they don't think so.
I suspect that they are better informed than we are. After all, we've been hearing for years how escalation is impossible. The West escalates all the same.
Furthermore, it beggars belief that, if what you and I wish to be true actually were true, that nobody in the Champs d'Elysses has not taken Macron aside and told him that he needs to quit letting his mouth write checks that his ass cannot cash.
FROM France. Nobody here is listening to Macron. He is dead. Sure he can send troups to Ukraine but NOT one person I have talked to is going to fight.
AT the end of a 2yrs term Macron is not listened to.
NATO is doing everything in its power. That's all. Russia is doing the same thing. No one is bluffing, but it's probably too early to destroy the whole world. Everyone can still try other methods to win. In the end, I'm sure the West will retreat.Americans like living too much.
Americans have no say in the matter. It is the rulers who decide, and they would without hesitation annihilate us all before they give up their power.
In this case, they will die too. So relax, no one will leave without taking revenge.
NATO smells.
Doesn't really matter if NATO are bluffing.
Russia has it all.
you are right. No matter what we think, they are brave enough to go to the end.
I have one word
And ?
What if they know that Putin won't respond.
That Russian government do not dare to take western lives.
Keep the articles coming
Thanks for the update Simplicius! I'm sharing the link on our Substack.
A Skeptic War Reports
https://askeptic.substack.com
Amid all the drama on the various fronts, Ukraine's loss of electrical generating capacity perhaps doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. But it could be a huge factor in determining the war's outcome. Note that already Ukraine can't keep their most important cities operating. Industry and homes alike are going dark. That desperate situation was brought about with relatively few Russian missiles, and no doubt what remains of Ukraine's electrical grid is equally vulnerable. If that goes, then it's back to rubbing two sticks together to make fire, figuratively speaking.
It's difficult to see how any country could prosecute a large scale modern war without having a functional electrical system.
That is what I don't understand. Ukraine is, IMO, essentially on life support....and Russia can pull the plug at any time. So why doesn't it? Why doesn't Russia knock out all remaining Ukrainian energy production, and turn out the lights? There would be a mass exodus, and the war effort would crater, for good. How could it not? No more Blinken/Zelensky assignations. No more "Rockin' in the Free World" in Kiev night clubs. What am I missing?
IMHO both sides are enjoying the Military Keynesiasm while it lasts. Not Ukraine of course, but NATO countries and Russia.
It's pretty simple. Currently, Ukraine has three large nuclear power plants built during the Soviet era. Russia will not touch them, so that a large-scale catastrophe does not occur. We must proceed with caution. The goal is for Ukrainians to gradually drown them out themselves.
I believe the Russians will treat Ukraine's nuclear power plants with great caution, but that doesn't mean that those plants can't be effectively neutralized. That's what happened at the Zaporizhia nuclear generator, which Russia controls. Even though it's functional it's off-line. It doesn't supply any power to the grid. Ukraine has damaged the grid attached to the station making it unsafe to generate power. Russia could do the same to Ukraine's remaining nuclear stations. But again you have to do it carefully, by sequentially targeting the grid in a way that shuts the nuclear generation down gradually.
Yes, that's right.
Russia doesn't have to touch the nuclear power plants. It only needs to destroy the HV power lines. The NPP's provide their own electricity to support the required safety procedures. So yeah, Russia could take the 404 electric power down to 1%, but Russia seems to have chosen not to. I'm pretty sure the Kremlin knows what it's doing, even if I don't understand why.
If you do as you suggest, these nuclear power plants will explode like Fukushima. It's not hard to understand
If the NPP's lose access to external power, that should not be a safety issue because they make their own power. I am not "suggesting" the Russians should cut the electric grid. Obviously they have all the advice they need, and more. I am only saying that losing external electricity should not pose a safety issue.
Fukushima did not exactly explode. It suffered a disastrous meltdown, like Chernobyl.
Fukushima was an instant disaster because the operators lost control of the cooling rods. The geniuses who built the damn thing put the electrical controls (circuit breakers, heavy duty switches, etc.) below sea level. Below sea level and tens of meters from the shoreline. It was flooded by the tsunami - of course. Westinghouse engineers probably laid out the plans; the design is identical to US nuclear submarine power reactors of the same era, all made by Westinghouse. But those clever and proud Japanese engineers should have overseen construction and when they saw the special under sea level control room, they should have yelled, "Wait a minute..."
But Fukushima was ten times worse in the following months because the Japanese owners of Fukushima did not want to spend money buying land for the pools to cool the spent fuel rods. Those tanks held at least 10 times more radioactive materials than were in all the reactor cores. Cooling pools need electrical power to circulate the water. Without electricity, the water boiled off and then the "hot" cores started to turn into radioactive dust. I think they had back-up diesel generators with about 4 days worth of fuel, and - unlike hundreds of Soviet men at Chernobyl - none of the Japanese were willing to be heroes and refuel the diesel generators. The "cherry on the top" is that some of the cooling pools were put right on top of the reactors. You know, to save land. Total clusterfcvk. I've read that Ukrainian nuclear power management is (or was) head-and-shoulders better than the Japanese.
if for hydroelectric or thermal power plants that run on coal, this does not pose a big technological problem, they are quite easy to stop, then for nuclear power plants this is a really difficult transition process. Because the reactors must be shut down.
Nuclear power plants can be stopped at the request of the dispatcher or for repairs. This is a routine procedure. It is quite easy to stop the fission reaction of uranium nuclei, which gives the main energy, by introducing absorption rods for this, and the reaction stops. But the reactor has accumulated a huge amount of artificial radionuclides, in which alpha and beta decays continue. Which leads to the release of heat. This is the so-called residual heat generation, which must be removed. It instantly decreases by 100 times, but about 1% of the power that was remains. This heat must be removed to the environment through pumping cooling water.
In order to bring the reactor to a "cold shutdown" state, nuclear scientists have such a term, you need to know the history of the reactor. How long has it been working, how much fission products have accumulated in it. On average, it takes several weeks.
You will have to connect backup diesel generators, which must be intact and in working condition. They will provide electricity, first of all, to the reactor cooling system.
But God forbid if something goes wrong. For example, backup diesel generators will not start. There will be something wrong with their lubrication or they may be destroyed. This is already an approximation "to the edge".
First and foremost, Fukushima was supposed to be built on higher land.
But someone decided it is too expensive.
Then there were several assessments and regulatory orders after it was built. For example they were supposed to build an anti-tsunami wall of certain height - they did that, except they lowered it to save money.
They were also supposed to move diesel generators, because it was clear they will get flooded if the wall (which was then built lower than it was supposed to be) overflows. That never happened. Because of... Saving money.
Fukushima was a typical cost-cutting managerial farce since before its first concrete was poured and continued to be a typical cost-cutting managerial farce to the very end... And still remains to be a managerial cost-cutting farce to this very day.
Now, I don't want to say something obvious, but most French nuclear power plants don't have their own water reservoirs (to provide their own coolant if they need to be shut down due to some accident and their adjacent river is low on water). Perhaps you remember France shutting down nukes during droughts in recent years - at least they understand that if they keep them running and there's an accident, it's game over.
But why did it happen? Cutting-costs managerial....
The war in Ukraine is the secondary battle field. It is necessary to keep the Ukraine war going to distract from the primary attack trajectory. The economic front is what most people fail to consider. The Russians backed by the Chinese are attacking the center of US power it's economic dominance, classic Tsun Zhu. The US dollar is the world's international reserve trading currency, US debt is the world's international reserve asset. These are the pillars of US power globally, removing any of which diminishes the US economic influence globally. As a US dollar that is worth less or valued less will do less and US Patriots will not fight for free nor will the US MiC produce military equipment they cannot profit from. The Ukraine conflict has been the perfect cover and perfect incentive for the Russians to attempt this action.
Except the west did that to themselves. Excess debt, zero interest rates and the destruction of longstanding global financial understanding with sanctions and the seizure of foreign assets. We’re not the good guys this time.
And the antagonisation, the ignoring the Minsk Agreement, admitting neighbouring countries to NATO.
But there seems to be a dual role played by China - partnering Russia in war but partnering USA in the vax rollout?
That is why the Wolfowitz Doctrine says that the US Security State can not allow Russia or China to threaten the US's economic hegemony, and why we are at war with Russia. The Security State may actually want a nuclear war so the debt slate is wiped clean and they introduce the US crypto-dollar. Investment wise, things on Wall Street have been bizarre. Imagine tying up tons of money for 30 years at three percent while Shadow Stats has shown we have had 10 percent inflation annually for years. Bitcoin is a psyop. Perhaps the ultimate goal of this war is to destroy the dollar.
Maybe the West should take a hint from CADTM.org and abolish all international debt. For a long time, CADTM has argued that debts owed by what we used to call the Third World were illegitimate and that much suffering could be alleviated by abolishing it all. As a creditor to the US, China would be screwed out of about USD 2 trillion, but if somehow that included the compete elimination of any military threat from the West, that might be a good deal for China too. Just thinking outside the box here, but unicorns aren't good enough anymore.
On that point, why, in your opinion, does China still lend money to the bottomless pit that is the US? It will never get paid back and China must know this.
Habits are difficult to change especially when it is all that we have known in our lifetime. The Chinese have high surplus of dollars from trading with the world. The dollar is useless in China as it is not money the Renminbi is money in China. So what will they do with those excess dollars, pack them from floor to ceiling in rooms? The dollars are a depreciating asset that lose value with the creation of new money. So the Chinese will lend it back to the US, the only place the dollar is actually legal tender, at a specific interest to protect the value. In the meantime slowly convert the debt they already have into gold or invest it into other nations to buy influence. Having a fire sale will create a collapse in the bonds market innitiating a fight to the bottom and losing all their accumalated wealth if they are left holding worthless treasuries. So patience is essential to have very good timing in taking action.
Thank you for your very useful explanation.
yes, clear and nice. thanks
In autumn 2023, China paid Sri Lanka $200mn to lease a submarine port. Policy makers in China made explicit @ the time that the $200mn was a result of China's cashing some T bonds it had been holding. The submarine port China leased is a result of U.S. debt. The U.S. paid for China's submarine port.
Ka-ching--!!
China has been net selling US treasury bonds. From a high of 1.4 trillion to 800 billion now. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-hm93bD0gXY
Thanks for the link.
You are exactly right to say the economic front in this global war is by far the more important front. I believe one of the several strong reasons why Russia is doing slow-motion on the SMO, is that Russia and friends need time to ensure victory in the economic war. For example, It takes longer to convince Indian businessmen that their future is with Russian and China, than it takes to advance 200 km on the Line Of Contact. It's a global battle with many many fronts.
A slow-mo economic defenestration is the "secondary battlefield" of which Seeker speaks
Russia doesn’t want a pyrrhic victory. If Russia will rush UA capitulation, the peace afterwards won’t be stable. NATO will funnel weapons and money to all those AZOV-minded guys, countless „advisers” and mercenaries. Russia aims, as it has been stated at the beginning of the SMO, to demilitarize oponent. UA military capabilities must be exhausted to achieve a stable post-capitulation situation.
Ukraine is not a candidate for a guerilla war. The one thing all successful insurgencies have in common is a young population.
This is just a retcon made to excuse Russian waffling.
There was a guerilla war in Ukraine SSR, 1945-1955. It cost 150,000 lives. Wehrmacht General Gehlen gave the Nazi networks to the US, represented by Allen Dulles, the top OSS agent in Switzerland. Gehlen fled to the West in early May 1945 - before the Nazi surrendered. FOr 10+ years, the CIA and West German's BND (headed by Gelhlen) used the Nazi network as fuel for that guerilla war, and the Soviets had to work hard to put out the fire. I'm sure the West has its old playbooks gathering dust and they fantasize about a second guerilla war. So this threat is just one more reason why the Russian army will not stop until it gets to the Polish border. De-Nazification must be 100%, not 99%.
Compare Galician demographics in 1945 vs today.
Don't make me go look up the statistics. I haven't the time, and it's a small detail. Please just say what you have in mind.
The Vietcong used old women to hide supplies, and women in combat. The whole population gets involved with guerrilla warfare. I can understand Ukraine using conventional warfare when fighting in the east, but the population of western Ukraine is anti Russian and guerrilla warfare becomes feasible.
You still need lots of young people. It's not as if most Vietcong fighters were old ladies.
Yes, why not win? Russ seem to be intent on depopulating the Ukraine rather than getting rid of the people actually causing the war - the Ukrainian government. Why not decapitate the Ukrainian government as that is what the US intends to do to Russ. And that would be a real benefit to the Ukrainian people who are being exterminated. Why not take out the airport all the US and NATO officials fly in on? The war is a US/ NATO security state operation. No one I know wants a nuclear war, but we don't count. We get lied to. But the security state is committed to the "Wolfowitz Doctrine" that it CAN NOT allow Russia or China to threaten US hegemony. The Globalist oligarchs may regard Nuclear war as a benefit to them as there are less people to support and they can start all over with the crypto-dollar.
It's a retcon, that is all.
Not sure how much we can believe any "polls" coming out of the Ukraine, but it seems like the people there are not resisting. I know they are in fear of the SBU, but that doesn't seem to explain all of it. I think there are 2 things we can count on: (1) The Kremlin has a very good idea of Ukrainian public opinion, and (2) the moment the Kremlin believes decapitation strikes, like on Bankoava street, Kiev, will leave the 404 people free to be happily liberated, the missiles will fly within the hour.
I conclude that the Ukie people have been willing to be deceived about their real losses, so the Kremlin is biding its time, waiting for the apple to fall.
Ordinary Ukrainians have been the target of this particular Hypnosis Topic for 10 years longer than ordinary Americans. This round of Hypnosis began for ordinary Americans on 24 February 2022, when "Putin's full-scale war of brutal aggression against a scrappy innocent democracy" commenced.
Ordinary Ukrainians have been /under hypnosis/ since before 2014--but you best believe the hypnotic trance intensified massively after February 2014. NGOs, democracy foundations, USAID & other grassroots-seeming benevolent organizations shaped the battlefield before the actual explicit battle began. Since 2014, OTAN has been complicit in a kind of Ukrainian-on-Ukrainian violence which has marked this civil war, like the ceaseless targeting of Donetsk City & other Donbas areas, because OTAN weaponized an eager, motivated & incentivized local population in Ukraine to kill its fellow citizens. The Hypnosis permitted the weaponization. Groups like NGOs working beneath the surface of Ukrainian society offered perks like mRna vaccines during the pandemic to Ukrainians who were willing /to play./ Groups like USAID set people up w/ digital currency, if they were willing /to play/--so the incentives were tangible when it came to remaining /under Hypnosis./
Although ordinary Americans far & wide are still living within the original Hypnotic Trance of 2024 on this particular topic--"full-scale brutal war of unchecked aggression"--they are already well-habituated into the sort of Hypnosis which a whole-of-government status-quo power lays on them.
It is because Russian government is afraid to act.
It can also be that some Russian oligarchs do not like that idea.
Back to the "Russian oligarchs are running the country" meme, are we ? Chicken Little, the children's story, was more fun and no less real.
Really, is that how you see it? That the Russian government is afraid to act? The SMO would seem to prove otherwise.
Ukraine is not a country--it's Bondsteel 2 for OTAN
Actually, NAZI Germany did quite well in its final year considering the beating it received on all fronts. People under authoritarian rules are more paralyzed in action even if their minds are still alert. Authoritarian governments are able to hold the government apparatus functional at the last moment. Hence their demise under constant external pressure is exponential decay. It actually decays slower in the final stage, unless the governing apparatus can be broken. The two atomic bombs thrown onto Japan did not even had such impact. The surrender decision was made by the emperor himself AGAINST a cabinet which mostly vouched for war to continue. As for Ukraine, the Zelensky government may actually survive well pass nov.2. This is not a problem of Russian military did not do their jobs, but rather a conscientious decision to minimize Russian casualty.
The only thing NATO requires of Ukraine is warm live bodies.
The world right now is awash in ag commodities.
There's a reason Ukrainian farmland was relatively cheap.
Most of these attempts to explain war in terms of natural resources are lazy and fall apart upon an cursory glance. Iraq has oil, but Saddam would have been thrilled to be able to sell oil freely for dollars on world markets. No, Syria and Afghanistan are not ripe for big, expensive, vulnerable infrastructure like pipelines.
Because it was relatively cheap.
"US corporations" will own squat in 404u.
It is clear that they are still functioning.
There is no impact on their army.
I believe that there will definitely be an impact on Ukraine's ability to wage war.
Don't peace on my leg & tell me it's raining
I see what you did there. Very good 😀
Knowing Biden and his endless streams of absurd lies he probably made up the phone call with kissinger just like he did with his hiking trip with Xi in Nepal
Haha, and remember his claim about the PNG cannibals eating his uncle. The cannibals were very pissed off and set the record straight.
https://time.com/6969618/joe-biden-uncle-cannibals-papua-new-guinea-backlash/
You didn't mention the South China Sea, Simplicius. That seems to be heading for a shooting match as the Philippines have signed up for another proxy attack dog. It's been escalating all year and has to boil over at some point
Nah. China's having too much fun right now blasting Filipino ships with water cannon :) I never get tired of watching those videos.
Had a little problem with the Taiwanese Coastguard last week though!
There are a lot of strings China can pull in the Philippines along with an unpopular president whom a lot of the country knows is a western proxy put in place to harass China.
Certainly a possible headache for China, but the Chinese have some good cards to play.
Having Philippines ally themselves (that is, the RP's "government") with the US *again*, was not a good move at all. Would have been a far better idea to ally themselves with the rest of SE Asia to actually work with, and benefit from, the economic possibilities between them and China. With the US in the mix, forget it.
I think Bidens claims about Kissinger are about as credible as his claims of being elected with more votes than Obama...
It’s a given that Biden lied. Kissinger may have been playing world politics like it was a game, but he was sophisticated about it. He likely understood the board better than most. Biden has always bent with whatever wind was blowing through Washington. He’s a mouthpiece, no more. But that’s probably been true of presidents since the first Bush, who was likely at the high table, or possibly its head. Americans have been kept in the dark for decades about the games these (mostly) guys play with our lives.
Very comprehensive analysis. Thank you. And the last line was a zinger :)
Not much I can add except that the Houthis keep kicking America's ass (I heard they crippled an aircraft carrier last week), including shooting down their expensive drones. Every America general and admiral who isn't a man wearing a skirt must be suffering pretty bad heartburn right now. Planning a NATO attack on Russia would literally be suicide.
Also, I'm 100% sure you're right about what happened to the Black Sea recon drone.
Hitler was still planning for a double envelope attack to grab back the Seelow heights and perhaps capture Zhukov's HQ as well. As the situation gets worse and worse, it is only natural for the kind of people currently in charge of the west to think of something that will "settle the business once and for all". Had the west been logical to begin with, we would not have this entire Ukraine tragedy altogether.