"When life hands you a lemon, say
"Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?"
- Henry Rollins
So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, March 10, 2023
Thursday, March 9, 2023
"I Hope I End Up..."
“I don’t want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don’t want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, “Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case.” I will turn and say to them, “It is you who are the basket case! For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn’t even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!” And maybe, the passersby will drop a coin into my cup.”
- Henry Rollins
"Streets of Philadelphia, 3/9/23"
Full screen recommended.
kimgary, 3/9/23:
"Streets of Philadelphia, 3/9/23"
"Problems with drugs and crime on Kensington Ave, Philadelphia's most dangerous street. In Philadelphia as a whole, violent crime and drug abuse are major issues. The city has a higher rate of violent crime than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas. The drug overdose rate in Philadelphia is also concerning. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50%, with more than twice as many deaths from overdoses as homicides. Kensington's high crime rate and drug abuse contribute significantly to Philadelphia's problems.
Because of the high number of drugs in the neighborhood, Kensington has the third-highest drug crime rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia, at 3.57. The opioid epidemic has played a significant role in this problem, as it has in much of the rest of the country. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed in the United States over the last two decades, and Philadelphia is no exception. In addition to having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% of Philadelphia's overdose deaths involved opioids, and Kensington is a significant contributor to this figure. This Philadelphia neighborhood is said to have the largest open-air heroin market on the East Coast, with many neighbors migrating to the area for heroin and other opioids. With such a high concentration of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have focused on the neighborhood in an attempt to address Philadelphia's problem."
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Full screen recommended.
Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"
"Beware: March Economic Meltdown Madness"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 3/9/23:
"Beware: March Economic Meltdown Madness"
Comments here:
The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Find out more here: https://trendsjournal.com
Musical Interlude: 2002, "The End Is a Beginning"
Full screen recommended.
2002, "The End Is a Beginning"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulas known.
The star forming nebula lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 10 light years. The featured image is a composite with luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert Gendler."
The Poet: Rolf Jacobsen, "When They Sleep"
"When They Sleep"
"All people are children when they sleep.
There's no war in them then.
They open their hands and breathe
in that quiet rhythm heaven has given them.
They pucker their lips like small children
and open their hands halfway,
soldiers and statesmen, servants and masters.
The stars stand guard
and a haze veils the sky,
a few hours when no one will do anybody harm.
If only we could speak to one another then
when our hearts are half-open flowers.
Words like golden bees
would drift in.
God, teach me the language of sleep."
- Rolf Jacobsen,
"The Roads Have Come to an End Now"
"Could Be Worse..."
"I'd been in hairier situations than this one. Actually, it's sort of depressing, thinking how many times I'd been in them. But if experience had taught me anything, it was this: No matter how screwed up things are, they can get a whole lot worse."
- Jim Butcher
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Dig your way out, they said...
"People Will Panic When Gas Prices Surge To $7 A Gallon In The Coming Weeks"
Full screen recommended.
"People Will Panic When Gas Prices Surge
To $7 A Gallon In The Coming Weeks"
By Epic Economist
"Prepare to see gas prices surge to nearly $7 this driving season! A supply and demand crisis is gripping the market right now, and the national inventory is falling short of experts’ estimates for this time of the year. A few weeks from now, paying $4 per gallon of gasoline will become the reality for millions of Americans. And executives in the industry are pointing to higher pressure on crude oil markets, refinery disruptions, and increased volatility as the drivers of the coming price spike that could push the cost of a gallon of gasoline to double or triple in many states in the coming months!
This is going to be another tough year for U.S. motorists. We enjoyed a few months of lower gas prices after the historic rise that drove the national average to above $5 in 2022. But now costs at the pump are surging rapidly, and several factors are combining to create a new price spiral over the next few weeks and months.
In an interview with Insider, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan warned U.S. drivers to brace for a spike in gas prices due to refinery shutdowns and amid renewed energy demand from China as the Asian nation reopens its economy. "2023 is not going to be a cakewalk for motorists. It is going to be expensive," De Haan noted in the firm’s March 2023 fuel outlook report.
GasBuddy predicts the national average price of gas at the pump to top around $4 a gallon in most major U.S. cities just a few weeks from now. And by this year’s driving season, when demand shots up amid the summer break, many U.S. cities are likely to see gas prices approach nearly $7 a gallon!
Some cities in the West Coast state of California, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, aren’t that far from that average already. Meaning that they could see prices three times higher than the current national average by the summer. "Basically, curveballs are coming from every direction," De Haan stressed. "I don't think we've ever seen such an amount of volatility as we are seeing this year, and that will be a trend that likely continues to lead to wider uncertainty over fuel prices for the rest of 2023," he added. According to the executive, the rebound in gas prices is already starting and it will only accelerate from here on, as refineries close down for maintenance after a rough winter and curb the production of gasoline and diesel.
While during this time in 2022 refiners were operating at full capacity, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that for the week ended on March 3rd, refiners were operating at just 85.2% capacity due to heavy maintenance at several key pipelines. Demand, however, has stayed strong. And the AAA says that the imbalance between supply and demand will likely add further stress for U.S. drivers in the next few days. "The increase in gas demand, amid tighter supplies, has contributed to rising pump prices. If demand continues to grow, drivers will likely continue to see pump prices increase," the association noted.
In fact, gas prices are set to rise by a minimum of 62 cents by Memorial Day, experts with the association said. Conditions in the oil market, the gasoline and diesel market, and in the auto industry are deteriorating faster than anyone could have imagined. A nightmare scenario is now unfolding, and U.S. drivers should get ready for more pain and uncertainty ahead as the perfect storm begins."
Comments here:
o
"A nightmare scenario is now unfolding..." "People Will Panic..." Indeed it is and they will, as this video metaphorically accurately depicts the consequences of the good ship "World Economy" encountering the final full force of a total global economic collapse and destruction. Melodrama? No, impending nightmare reality. Believe what you will, but you'd better brace for impact... I could be wrong, but I'm not...God help us.
Full screen recommended.
o
But of course...
“Alas, regardless of their doom,
the little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come,
nor care beyond today.”
- Thomas Gray,
“Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”
"The FED Is About To Crush The Economy And Markets; Credit Card Breaking Point"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/9/23:
"The FED Is About To Crush The Economy And Markets;
Credit Card Breaking Point"
Comments here:
"The Economic FREEFALL Continues To Accelerate And Market Risk Continues To Rise"
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
Gregory Mannarino, 3/9/23:
"The Economic FREEFALL Continues To
Accelerate And Market Risk Continues To Rise"
Comments here:
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Market Data Center
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"We Just Witnessed An Economic Red Flag
That We Haven’t Seen Since 1981"
"Russia Has Annihilated the Ukrainian Armed Forces"
Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls 3/9/23
"Russia Has Annihilated the Ukrainian Armed Forces"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States and the world."
Comments here:
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In Focus, 3/9/23:
"Douglas Macgregor:
Huge Offensive! Crushing The Defenses"
"Have We Reached “Peak Idiocracy” Yet?" (Excerpt)
"Have We Reached “Peak Idiocracy” Yet?" (Excerpt)
by Michael Snyder
Excerpt: "We should all be absolutely horrified by what has happened to our society. Everywhere you look, people seem to be going completely and utterly nuts. Once upon a time, the crazy people were a very small segment of the population that could be easily ignored. But now the lunatics are literally running the asylum. If you doubt this, just look at our statehouses around the nation and the current crop of politicians that we have in Washington. Sadly, the truth is that the people that are representing us are a very accurate reflection of what we have become as a nation. We truly have become a raging “idiocracy”, and the rest of the world is literally laughing at us."
The complete, hang our heads in shame article is here:
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"Ah, You Miserable Creatures!"
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great!
You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything!
Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
- Frederic Bastiat
How much more evidence do you need to
realize we as a society have lost our collective minds?
"People Are Starting to Worry"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/9/23:
"People Are Starting to Worry"
"There is a great survey asking people what keeps them up at night. The biggest concern right now is inflation. Inflation is a bigger concern for people than taxes are."
Comments here:
"Our Perspective..."
¨"There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
- Douglas Adams
Bill Bonner, "Think Like An Argentine"
"Think Like An Argentine"
A local businessman explains how
"gringo" thinking misses the nuance...
by Bill Bonner
"When dem cotton balls get rotten
You can’t pick very much cotton..."
~ Lead Belly
“You need to think like an Argentine. You see everything in black or white…legal or illegal; that doesn’t work down here. Everything here is a shade of gray.” To our recent complaints against the simpleminded nuttiness of ‘us vs. them,’ good vs. evil, we add the advice came from a local businessman. We had driven out to a large, flat valley in the eastern part of Salta province. Farmers there cultivate as many as 75,000 acres – huge, industrial-scale agriculture.
Farm products are the source of Argentina’s wealth, and more importantly of her foreign exchange. And farmers – or, at least these farmers – seem prosperous. How do they do it?Prices are doubling every year. Many parts and supplies are almost impossible to get. And to make it worse, the government hands out so much “welfare” money, many people no longer want to do the hard work farms require.
A Time to Reap: “The ‘planes’ [various welfare programs] don’t give you a lot of money,” explained our retired foreman on Monday. “Some of the payments are only about $100 US per month. But a guy works full time on a farm; what does he get? Maybe only $350 for a month. I guess he figures the difference is just not worth it. And then, he forgets how to work. So, even if they want to get back on the job, they don’t have the habits they need. They’re no longer used to hard work…and can’t take it.”
Part of the secret to these large farms in the East is that they don’t need many people. Up at the ranch, we have 8 full time employees tending our grapes and herding our cattle. And when it is time to round up the cattle…or pick the grapes…we hire extras, when we can find them.
“Out here,” our business informant continued, “we might have only one employee per 5,000 acres. Everything is mechanized. The tractors are huge. So, are the planters and the harvesters. A guy might pass through the field just three or four times per year. He sprays on a herbicide to kill the weeds. He then goes over it with a planter; we don’t plow or disc up the soil. If we did, it would blow away. And then, he harvests. The genetically modified plants don’t need as much attention as they used to.” He was showing us a field planted with cotton.
The Inflation Tax: “See these plants. We used to have to fumigate 4 or 5 times to kill the bugs. Now, these plants have been improved. They’re poison to most of the insects that used to eat them. The bugs just drop dead.”
But the technical advances, here in Argentina, have been offset by political set-backs. These crops are designed for the global market…and expected to sell at world market prices. So, the government – desperate for revenue – imposes “retentions” on them. It’s a tax the gaucho feds collect even before any profit is made. That is, it’s a tax on the export of the commodities, whether you made any money producing them or not.
“That’s nothing,” our expert continued. “Inflation is running about 100%...so the inflation tax is about 50%. A year from now, your money will only be worth half of what it is now. What can we do? The seeds, machines, pesticides and other things we need are quoted in dollars. And we’ve got pesos. Every day, our costs go up. And we might have gotten our income – from selling a crop – a year ago.
Sometimes you can’t get anyone to take your crop for cash. All you can get is post-dated checks. And then, you just have to pray that the peso doesn’t lose too much value before you can cash your check. That’s why you’ve got to think like an Argentine, not like a gringo.
Sometimes we can’t get a tractor part here in Argentina, so we go to Bolivia….and then smuggle it back across the border. Some guys even take the corn they’ve grown in Argentina, and sneak it across the border and sell it there. Of course, it’s illegal…but what are we supposed to do? The government cheats us. We cheat the government. What a crazy society, but that’s the way it works. In Bolivia, you can sell your corn for dollars. And you pay no tax. That’s illegal too…but so what?”
BGT - A New Dimension: The Argentine tax collectors use satellites to keep an eye on what farmers are growing. When harvest time comes, they expect to be paid. “Yes, of course they do that,” explained our inside source. “The trick is to keep a set of records for most of your crops that appears impeccable. They must look so tight that the tax agents don’t question them. And then, when asked what happened to the corn or beans or cotton. You simply explain that it was attacked by bugs, or even though the plants looked good from the air, they produced no fruit. Or they dried up and we got nothing from that field. There are so many things that can go wrong in farming, they can’t argue with it...if your other records are in order. The foreigners [he looked at us gravely] never seem to get it. You think it’s either/or. Either it’s okay…or it’s not. Legal or illegal. Good or bad.”
Our interlocutor was adding a new dimension to our complaint about bad guy theory. “You may think I’m a ‘bad guy,’ as you put it, because I break the law. But I say, they’re the bad guys; they made laws we have to break. You say it’s dishonest. Or illegal. And, of course it is. But if farmers tried to comply with all the government’s laws, they’d go out of business. Who’d produce the food then?”
"Prices Continue To Rise At Kroger! Not Good! What Next?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 3/9/23:
"Prices Continue To Rise At Kroger!
Not Good! What Next?"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing more price increases on groceries! It's getting rough out here as grocery prices continue to go up. We go some shelf stable items that are a good idea to stock up on, and prepare for the future!"
Comments here:
"So We Never Live..."
"We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our sight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us, we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have no certainty of reaching. Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so."
- Blaise Pascal
"Ex Obscurum"
Full screen recommended.
"Ex Obscurum, Adagio for Strings, Op. 11"
"From emotional turmoil, hatred, and addiction the miracle of recovery begins in this Spadecaller Video entitled "Ex Obscurum" (From Darkness). Featuring original poetry narrated by the author and visual artist, Matthew Schwartz. Composer Samuel Barber's powerful musical score, adopted for the movie "Platoon", (Adagio for Strings) sets the background for this spiritual exodus "From Darkness."
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
"The Addiction To Easy Money Is Over; Stop Making Excuses; You're Too Scared To Prepare For Reality"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/8/23:
"The Addiction To Easy Money Is Over;
Stop Making Excuses; You're Too Scared To Prepare For Reality"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though.
Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."
Chet Raymo, “Caught In The Middle”
“Caught In The Middle”
by Chet Raymo
"It doesn't take a genius to recognize that human males have a propensity for intergroup violence, and that the killing is often accompanied by rape. One need only read the newspapers. The only question is to what extent these tendencies are innate or culturally inculcated. Nature or nurture? Or both? A book, "Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World," by population biologist Malcolm Potts and science writer Thomas Hayden, dishes up a bit of both. The violence is in our (male) genes, they maintain, but it is susceptible to cultural control.
What the authors calls "behavioral propensity to engage in male coalitional violence" evolved as far back as the common ancestor of humans and chimps, they claim, although our other close relations, bonobos and gorillas, seem to have found more peaceful ways of living. Genes predispose, say Potts and Hayden, but cultural forces can alleviate the worst of male nastiness. By empowering women to be leaders in cultural, social and political spheres, the violent propensities of men can be restrained. Further, empowerment will give women control of their reproductive destinies, and will therefore result in fewer offspring. Less population pressure will reduce other factors fueling violence and conflict, the authors claim.
Anthropologist Hillard Kaplan reviews the book in the October 9, 2009, issue of "Science." He agrees that the available evidence suggests that male intergroup violence has a long evolutionary history. He believes this tendency was exacerbated into large scale warfare with the development of agriculture and the associated larger population groups and competition for fertile land. Kaplan believes that male group violence is stoked by poor economic prospect for young males. To the empowerment of women he would add education and jobs as a way to reduce antisocial behavior.
There is nothing particularly new or revolutionary about any of this. Progress? Yes, I suppose so, but we clearly have a long way to go before women exercise equal power in society, or before young men in the developing world, especially, have an economic stake in social stability. Meanwhile, as the painting above by Jacques-Louis David, "The Sabine Women," suggests, women and children will continue to be caught in the middle.”
Anthropologist Hillard Kaplan reviews the book in the October 9, 2009, issue of "Science." He agrees that the available evidence suggests that male intergroup violence has a long evolutionary history. He believes this tendency was exacerbated into large scale warfare with the development of agriculture and the associated larger population groups and competition for fertile land. Kaplan believes that male group violence is stoked by poor economic prospect for young males. To the empowerment of women he would add education and jobs as a way to reduce antisocial behavior.
There is nothing particularly new or revolutionary about any of this. Progress? Yes, I suppose so, but we clearly have a long way to go before women exercise equal power in society, or before young men in the developing world, especially, have an economic stake in social stability. Meanwhile, as the painting above by Jacques-Louis David, "The Sabine Women," suggests, women and children will continue to be caught in the middle.”
"Too Often..."
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia
"Go To The Stores And Stock Up On Meat Now Because The US Cattle Herd Hit Lowest Level In 61 Years"
Full screen recommended.
"Go To The Stores And Stock Up On Meat Now
Because The US Cattle Herd Hit Lowest Level In 61 Years"
By Epic Economist
"Get prepared to eat a lot less beef this year because the size of the national cattle herd has shrunk, and now livestock producers are warning that there won’t be enough meat supplies to meet demand in the months ahead. Prices are also expected to explode, and of course, all of this is happening in the context of a much larger crisis that is turning not only America’s but the world’s food supply chain upside down.
Our food supply is steadily shrinking, and now we’re clearly starting to see the effects of drought, crop failures, and the massive loss of cattle herds in our food systems. In fact, the latest biannual report from the USDA shows that the national beef cow herd has dropped to 89.3 million, marking the lowest level since 2015. Of that number, 38.3 million cows and heifers have just calved. Today, there are only 28.9 million beef cows in the U.S. food system, which are those explicitly bred for slaughter and meat sales. That figure is down nearly four percent from last year and the lowest the agency has recorded since 1962.
The problem is that in 1962, only 184 million people lived in the United States. And right now, roughly 331 million live in America. If back then, the fall in the number of beef cows caused shortages and pushed prices to soar, we have every reason to believe that the same is going to happen in 2023. At the moment, many everyday Americans may not be realizing the gravity of this supply crunch just yet because we are still buying and consuming cattle that were slaughtered some time ago.
But it won’t take too long before inventories start to run dry all over the country, says Beef Magazine editor Ryan McGeeney. With beef availability projected to decline sharply in 2023, and beef demand remaining on solid footing, the most recent USDA monthly estimates peg the domestic per-person beef supply to decline by 5.6% next year. If this occurs, it will be the largest annual decline in U.S. consumer beef availability since 1987.
So if you don’t want to eat less meat, securing your supply now is crucial. In 2003, when the supply dropped by 4%, prices jumped nearly 25%. The same happened in 2011, when a 3.9% decline in supplies led to a 20% price increase, and in 2014 when a 3.7% reduction contributed to a 23% price jump. According to Restaurant Dive, we could be looking at a similar price spike for beef in 2023, which already rose by 22% from 2020 to 2022. Beef prices are expected to go up by 21% this summer. No wonder why the corporate media is already calling beef “a luxury meat".
The cattle sell-off can also result in the closure of thousands more small, local meat producers, as they are unable to compete with larger, more established players in the industry. This will be a continuation of over 100,000 small farms closing down in America due to the odds being stacked against them and low-quality, imported goods flooding the market, Beef Magazine highlights.
It is safe to say that this is just the beginning of a much larger crisis that will shake the world to the core. Global food production is dropping precipitously due to climate change. Farmers are running out of topsoil, fertilizer supplies are getting insanely tight, and diseases are decimating livestock all around the U.S. Don’t be mistaken: the people in power know exactly what is about to happen, but they aren’t saying a thing because they don’t want to alarm the general public. But we need to keep our eyes open and start making preparations for ourselves because, at the end of the day, we will be on our own."
Comments here:
"The Stage Is Set for Hybrid World War III"
"The Stage Is Set for Hybrid World War III"
By Pepe Escobar
"A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you’re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by selected stops and enlightening conversations, crystallizing disparate vectors one year after the start of the accelerated phase of the proxy war between U.S./NATO and Russia. That’s how Moscow welcomes you: the undisputed capital of the 21st century multipolar world.
A long, walking meditation impregnates on us how President Putin’s address – rather, a civilizational speech – last week was a game-changer when it comes to the demarcation of the civilizational red lines we are all now facing. It acted like a powerful drill perforating the less than short, actually zero term memory of the Collective West. No wonder it exercised a somewhat sobering effect contrasting the non-stop Russophobia binge of the NATOstan space.
Alexey Dobrinin, Director of the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, has correctly described Putin’s address as “a methodological basis for understanding, describing and constructing multipolarity.”
For years some of us have been showing how the emerging multipolar world is defined – but goes way beyond – high speed interconnectivity, physical and geoeconomic. Now, as we reach the next stage, it’s as if Putin and Xi Jinping, each in their own way, are conceptualizing the two key civilizational vectors of multipolarity. That’s the deeper meaning of the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership, invisible to the naked eye.
Metaphorically, it also speaks volumes that Russia’s pivot to the East, towards the rising sun, now irreversible, was the only logical path to follow as, to quote Dylan, darkness dawns at the break of noon across the West.
As it stands, with the wobblin’, ragin’ Hegemon lost in its own pre-fabricated daze, the real runners of the show feeding burning flesh to irredeemably mediocre political “elites”, China may have a little more latitude than Russia, as the Middle Kingdom is not – yet – under the same existential pressure Russia has been put under.
Whatever happens next geopolitically, Russia is at heart a – giant – obstacle on the warmongering path of the Hegemon: the ultimate target is top “threat” China. Putin’s ability to size up our extremely delicate geopolitical moment – via a dose of highly concentrated, undiluted realism – is something to behold. And then Foreign Minister Lavrov provided the sweet cherry on top, calling the hapless U.S. ambassador for a hardcore dress down: oh yeah, this is war, hybrid and otherwise, and your NATO mercenaries as well as your junk hardware are legitimate targets.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council, now more than ever relishing his “unplugged” status, made it all very clear: “Russia risks being torn apart if it stops a special military operation (SMO) before victory is achieved.” And the message is even more acute because it represents the – public – cue to the Chinese leadership at the Zhongnahhai to understand: whatever happens next, this is the Kremlin’s unmovable official position.
The Chinese restore the Mandate of Heaven: All these vectors are evolving as ramifications of the bombing of the Nord Streams, the only military attack – cum industrial terrorism – ever perpetrated against the EU, leave the Collective West paralyzed, dazed and confused.
Perfectly in tandem with Putin’s address, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose the geopolitical/existential moment to finally take the gloves off, with a flourish: enter the "U.S. Hegemony and its Perils" essay cum report, which became an instant massive hit across Chinese media, examined with relish all across East Asia.
This blistering enumeration of all the Hegemon’s lethal follies, for decades, constitutes a point of no return for trademark Chinese diplomacy, so far characterized by passivity, ambivalence, actual restraint and extreme politeness. So such turnaround is yet another proud “achievement” of the outright Sinophobia and mendacious hostility exhibited by American neocons and neoliberal-cons.
Scholar Quan Le notes that this document may be regarded as the traditional form – but now filled with contemporary wording – the Chinese Sovereigns used in their millenary past before going to war.
It is in fact an axio-epistemo-political proclamation justifying a serious war, which in the Chinese universe means a war ordained by a Higher Power capable of restoring Justice & Harmony in a troubled Universe. After the proclamation the warriors are equipped to strike mercilessly at the entity judged to be troubling the Harmony of the Universe: in our case, the psycho Straussian neo-cons and neoliberal-cons commanded as rabid dogs by the real American elites.
Of course in the Chinese universe there’s no place for “God” – much less a Christian version; “God” for the Chinese means the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity, Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. The closest concept for a non-Chinese to understand is Dao: the Way. So the Way to the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity represents symbolically Beauty-Goodness-Truth.
So what Beijing did – and the Collective West is completely clueless about it – was to issue an axio-epistemo-political proclamation explaining the legitimacy of their quest to restore Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. They will be fulfilling the Mandate of Heaven – nothing less. The West won’t know what it hit them until it’s too late.
It was predictable that sooner or later the heirs of Chinese civilization would have had enough – and formally identify, mirroring Putin’s analysis, the upstart Hegemon as the premier source of chaos, inequality and war across the planet. Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder, in a nutshell. To put it bluntly, in streetwise language, the hell with this Americana crap of hegemony being justified by “manifest destiny”. So here we are. You want Hybrid War? We will return the favor.
Back to the Wolfowitz Doctrine: A former CIA advisor has issued a quite sobering report on a pebble along the rocky way: a possible endgame in Ukraine, now that even some elite-run parrots are contemplating a “way out” with minimal loss of face.
It’s never idle to remember that way back in 2000, the year Vladimir Putin was first elected as President, in the pre-9/11 world, rabid neocon Paul Wolfowitz was side by side with Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski in a huge Ukraine-U.S. symposium in Washington, where he unabashedly raved about provoking Russia to go to war with Ukraine, and committed to finance the destruction of Russia. Everyone remembers the Wolfowitz doctrine – which was essentially a tawdry, pedestrian rehash of Brzezinski: to keep permanent U.S. hegemony it was primordial to pre-empt the emergence of any potential competitor. Now we have two nuclear-powered, tech savvy peer competitors united by a comprehensive strategic partnership.
As I finished my long walk paying due respect by the Kremlin to the heroes of 1941-1945, the feeling was inescapable that as much as Russia is a master of riddles and China is a master of paradox, their strategists are now working full time on how to return all strands of Hybrid War against the Hegemon. One thing is certain: unlike boastful Americans, they won’t outline any breakthroughs until they are already in effect."
"The Coming Crisis"
"The Coming Crisis"
By The ZMan
"Every war is a part of a larger story of relations between the nations that fought in the war and the war in Ukraine is not an exception. This war started a year ago, but it is part of the story that started in 2014. of course, that chapter was preceded by the aftermath of the Cold War. In the case of the neocons driving American policy, their portion of this story begins during the Trial of the 193. Like all stories, the war will end and what will follow are more chapters to close out this story arc.
Within the war itself there are chapters. In the case of Ukraine, the first chapters could be called the pre-awakening. Both the Russians and Ukrainians assumed this would be a short affair ending in rounds of talks. The Europeans, in contrast, thought it would be a short affair as well, but instead ending in a Russian collapse. They had been assured by their American handlers that Russia was a hollow country. Once the sanctions hit them, the peasants would revolt.
Interestingly, all parties kept on believing their version of the plot even after it should have been clear they were wrong. The Russians kept pressing for negotiations, even after Ukraine told them Washington would not allow it. The Europeans kept pushing new sanctions packages, even after it was clear the Russian economy was not going to collapse and there would be no peasant revolt. For a few months last spring and summer, everyone stuck with the old script.
It appears that it was the Russians who were the first to realize that the script was wrong and that they needed to rethink things. The mobilization of reserves along with a reorganization of their military structure in Ukraine followed. The Russians figured out that this is a long war of attrition between Moscow and its allies versus the American Empire and its allies. What we have seen for the last six months is a slow, deliberate grind of the Ukrainians by the Russians.
We are about to see the final closing of one chapter of this war and the opening of a new chapter due to developments on the battlefield. The first and most important bit of news is the encirclement of a town called Bakhmut. If you look at this pro-Ukrainian deployment map, you see the line of contact in Ukraine. In this case, pro-Ukrainian does not mean pure propaganda. It simply relies primarily on Ukrainian sources to assemble the map and unit positions.
If you zoom into the area dead center of the line of contact, you will find the town called Bakhmut and see a large grouping of Ukrainian forces. They have been throwing everything they can into this town in order to hold it. The Russians now have the town surrounded, with tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops inside it. It appears that Zelensky has instructed the forces inside this cauldron to fight to the last man, much as he did last year with the Mariupol garrison.
There are two primary reason Zelensky and the general staff are sacrificing tens of thousands of men for this town. One reason is strategic. It is the keystone to this defense line in the Donbas. If it falls, the Ukrainians will have to fall back to their last line of defense east of the Dnieper River. That last defensive line is not as built up as the current defensive positions. The Ukrainians are buying as much time as they can in order to build up that new defense line.
The other reason for this massive sacrifice of men and machines is the general psychology of the war on the Ukrainian side. They have been told since the start that they just needed to hang on until the Russians crumbled. Then they were told to hang on until the West could provide wonder weapons. Now they are hanging on because they have no other option. For Zelensky, this war is about buying time while hoping for some change that will save him from his fate.
Another reason for the great turning of the page that is coming in this war relates to that waiting strategy of the Ukrainians. They are running out of supplies. Reports keep coming in from Ukrainian sources that they are out of ammunition. The reason they are out of ammunition is the West cannot get ammunition to them fast enough. The reason for that is the West is running out of ammunition as well. After a year of ground war, the Western warehouses are now empty.
The issue has become so critical that the people running foreign policy had Biden sign “a presidential waiver of some statutory requirements (Waiver) authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to more aggressively build the resiliency of America’s defense industrial base and secure its supply chains.” This is the first step in transitioning the economy to wartime, which means prioritizing defense over civilian items.
Something similar is afoot in Europe. What the West has come to realize is they were all wrong about the Russian economy. It has performed better over the last year than the European economies. They were also wrong about Russia’s standing in the world, particularly with other major powers like China and India. They have not been willing to go along with Washington’s war on Moscow. Eighty percent of the world’s population now supports the Russian side in this conflict.
Another piece of this is a bit of reality Western leaders have ignored for so long they stopped thinking about it. That is, the industrial base of the West no longer exists as a practical matter. Generations of offshoring and global supply chain management have left Western countries with a tiny manufacturing base. China now has more manufacturing capacity than the U.S. and Europe combined. Throw in Russia, Brazil and India and you see the problem.
The shape of the next chapter in this new global war is still unclear, but one storyline will be the looming political crisis in the West. The sanctions regime is simply unsustainable for Europe so it must come to an end. It cannot come to end until the war in the Ukraine has come to an end. The trouble is European political leaders have ruled out any end other than Ukrainian tanks rolling through Moscow. Europe has created an unsolvable problem for itself.
Another part of the story could be a change in China. For a long time the Chinese have viewed their relationship with Washington as purely economic. If they did good business with Washington, everything else solved itself. Beijing now sees that things have changed and so they are changing. All of the war talk over Taiwan has finally convinced the Chinese to adjust their position. Sino-American relations will no longer be about business, but about great power conflict.
Of course, all of this will be happening against the backdrop of a political class in Washington that looks like the shuffleboard courts in Boca. Everyone who wants to be Pericles in this war is too old to say the name clearly. Of course, Washington is full of potential Cleons among the younger generations of politicians, but none of them are bright enough to understand it. As this war enters the crisis chapters, the West is desperately short of men who are good in a crisis."
o
"Scott Ritter -
Ukrainian Casualties in the Donbass, Bakhmut"
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