Enemy of the State-Read the Book-Know the Man
This is not a Safe Space but Baby, I don't care.
"I am not a number, I am a Free Man" - No. 6
Information Liberation Alex Jones’ Prison Planet Gary North Specific Answers Antiwar The Daily Bell Tenth Amendment Center Economics Policy Journal The American Thinker The New American Lew RockwellPosted by M. C. on October 6, 2022
Poland says “Thanks US”
While US neocons and mainstream media continue to inexplicably blame Russia for blowing up its own pipeline, US officials continue to signal their motive and the benefit they see from the sabotage. On Friday, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken said at a press conference that blowing up the pipeline presented a “tremendous opportunity” to finally end Europe’s dependence on Russian energy imports. Also today: Guess who’s personal fortune doubled during Covid?
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, Nordstream Bombing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on April 26, 2022
US Secretaries of State and Defense made a surprise visit to Kiev over the weekend to declare that Russia had already failed and Ukraine had already succeeded in the two-month conflict. Promising additional weapons transfers, the US is becoming ever more engaged in the war. Dangerous? Also today, some NATO officials openly declare the goal is to “bleed Russia.” And…Finland in NATO? Good idea? Get your tickets to RPI’s Houston conference: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-bide…
If Ukraine is winning so handily why is Biden so desperate to pour in money money and weapons. Mission Accomplished! Just like Iraq.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, Kiev, Mission Accomplished | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2022
The question remains, was this a mere “gaffe”? Anti-war journalist Michael Tracey and others say no: “Biden’s call for regime change in Russia wasn’t some off-the-cuff “gaffe.” It was declared as the climax of a carefully choreographed, “legacy-defining” speech, in a deliberately chosen venue (Poland) where the call would be well-received.“
BY TYLER DURDEN
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday while on a visit to Jerusalem to meet with Israeli PM Naftali Bennett continued the White House’s efforts to try and clean up the mess unleashed by Joe Biden’s words from Warsaw the day prior where he issued statements tantamount to calling for regime change in Russia.
“I think the president, the White House, made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else,” Blinken said, clearly trying to greatly alter the plain meaning of the words Biden spoke.
Biden had concluded the televised Warsaw speech by bluntly saying of Putin (who he also had called a “butcher” in a separate statement to a reporter)… “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Within the very hour as headlines spread around the world that the US president called for regime change in Moscow, and none other than the deep state’s preferred mouthpie, the Washington Post, said Biden “sparked a global uproar“, the White House desperately scrambled to walk it back.
A White House official tried to clarify to Bloomberg, “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” But Biden appeared to be reading a carefully prepared written speech from the teleprompter.
Blinken’s Sunday explanation of Biden’s words continued:
“As you know, and as you have heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia — or anywhere else, for that matter,” the US’ top diplomat said.
“As in any case, it’s up to the people of the country in question. It’s up to the Russians,” Blinken said.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Biden, Blinken, Global Uproar, Regime Change | 2 Comments »
Posted by M. C. on March 21, 2022
The great American historian Charles Beard recognized what was wrong with “collective security” in the 1930s. In his article, “Giddy Minds and Foreign Quarrels,” he asked: “On what … should the foreign policy of the United States be based? Here is one answer and it is not excogitated in any professor’s study or supplied by political agitators. It is the doctrine formulated by George Washington, supplemented by James Monroe, and followed by the Government of the United States until near the end of the nineteenth century, when the frenzy for foreign adventurism burst upon the country.
Few people today ask the most important question about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Many people want America to stay out of the fight, but even they don’t ask the vital question. Why does the world face a crisis today? Why has a border dispute between Russia and Ukraine escalated to the point where people fear nuclear war?
The answer is simple. America, under the “leadership” of brain-dead Biden and the forces controlling him, has done this and, by doing so, brought the world to the brink of disaster. As always, the great Dr. Ron Paul gets it right: “Three weeks into this terrible war, the US is not pursuing talks with Russia. As Antiwar.com recently reported, instead of supporting negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that could lead to a ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed, the US government is actually escalating the situation which can only increase the bloodshed.
The constant flow of US and allied weapons into Ukraine and talk of supporting an extended insurgency does not seem designed to give Ukraine a victory on the battlefield but rather to hand Russia what Secretary of State Blinken called ‘a strategic defeat.’
It sounds an awful lot like the Biden Administration intends to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian. The only solution for the US is to get out. Let the Russians and Ukrainians reach an agreement. That means no NATO for Ukraine and no US missiles on Russia’s borders? So what! End the war then end NATO.”
Let’s look at an analogy that will help us understand Dr. Paul’s point. For years, the Ukrainian government has attacked an area in the Donbas region that has seceded from Ukraine and formed an independent, pro-Russian, republic. Just before Putin moved against Ukraine, Ukraianians increased the scale and scope of their attack. Rick Rozoff describes what they did: “Two-thirds of Ukrainian army servicemen have been amassed along the Donbas contact line, Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia, said on Thursday.
“Another three brigades are on their way [to Donbas], which is 20,000 to 25,000 troops more. The total number will reach 150,000, not to mention the nationalists. This is about two-thirds of Ukrainian Armed Forces’ personnel,” Basurin said on the Rossiya 1 television channel (VGTRK) on Thursday.
Ukrainian troops are stationed along the 320-kilometer front line, he said.”
Unlike what has just happened, the Ukrainian attack did not result in US sanctions on Ukraine. There were no meetings of the UN to condemn Ukrainian aggression. There was no talk of world war. On the contrary, Ukraine government used American weapons in its attack and asked America for more weapons to continue their attack. Let’s listen to Rick Rozoff again: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine used the American anti-tank missile system Javelin in the hostilities in Donbas. This was announced by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov in an interview….
Budanov said that ideally, the U.S. would help deter any Russian incursion, through additional military aid and increased diplomatic and economic pressure, including more sanctions against Russia and the seizure and blocking of Russian banking accounts.
Also, in addition to U.S. aid already promised and delivered, including Mark VI patrol boats, Javelin anti-armor systems and AN/TPQ-53 light counter-fire radar systems, Ukraine seeks additional air, missile and drone defense systems and electronic jamming devices, Budonov said. Patriot missile batteries and counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems are on Ukraine’s wish list.
The AN/TPQ-53 systems were used to great effect, Ukraine military officials have previously reported. Budanov said the Javelin systems have also been used against Russian forces. Those, along with Turkish-manufactured drones, used against Russian-aligned separatist artillery troops, have a significant psychological deterrent value, said Budanov.”
Why the difference? We think that the US should not have shipped arms to Ukraine. Doing this made the situation worse. But for what we’re saying now, it doesn’t matter what you think of the policy. The key point is that because there was no international outcry and no sanctions, the matter remained a local fight. If brain dead Biden and his gang had reacted to the so-called Russian “invasion” in the same way, the matter would have remained a local quarrel. Russia and Ukraine would have made a deal and that would be that.
The neocon warmongers and other defenders of “democracy,” who unfortunately include some deluded “libertarians” object. Don’t we have a duty to resist “aggression?” The answer is clear: No, we don’t. We do not have a duty to evaluate every foreign quarrel and assess who is at fault. We do not have a duty to require leaders of regimes we, or rather our masters in Washington, don’t like to accept existing boundaries of countries as unchangeable. We should reject the false doctrine of “collective security,” which makes every border disputes a world war. The great American historian Charles Beard recognized what was wrong with “collective security” in the 1930s. In his article, “Giddy Minds and Foreign Quarrels,” he asked: “On what … should the foreign policy of the United States be based? Here is one answer and it is not excogitated in any professor’s study or supplied by political agitators. It is the doctrine formulated by George Washington, supplemented by James Monroe, and followed by the Government of the United States until near the end of the nineteenth century, when the frenzy for foreign adventurism burst upon the country. This doctrine is simple. Europe has a set of ‘primary interests’ which have little or no relation to us, and is constantly vexed by ‘ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice.’ The United States is a continental power separated from Europe by a wide ocean which, despite all changes in warfare, is still a powerful asset of defense. In the ordinary or regular vicissitudes of European politics the United States should not become implicated by any permanent ties. We should promote commerce, but force ‘nothing.’ We should steer dear of hates and loves. We should maintain correct and formal relations with all established governments without respect to their forms or their religions, whether Christian, Mohammedan, Shinto, or what have you.”
Beard then responded to those who wanted to scrap our traditional policy of non-intervention with “collective security”: “In the rest of the world, outside this hemisphere, our interests are remote and our power to enforce our will is relatively slight. Nothing we can do for Europeans will substantially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. Nothing we can do for Asiatics will materially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. With all countries in Europe and Asia, our relations should be formal and correct. As individuals we may indulge in hate and love, but the Government of the United States embarks on stormy seas when it begins to love one power and hate another officially.”
We should heed Beard’s wisdom today. Otherwise, the world may go up in flames.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. [send him mail], former editorial assistant to Ludwig von Mises and congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul, is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of LewRockwell.com. He is the author of Against the State and Against the Left. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, Charles Beard, collective security, Ukraine, World Crisis | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on March 8, 2022
NATO is a paper tiger that has never been tested. When the day comes that it is finally tested, when the shells start flying and the laser guided bombs flatten buildings, Poland is only ensuring that it is her cities and her people that are flattened first.
They’d better follow Hungary’s lead and dispense with their America-as-savior fantasies and historical differences with Russia in a hurry. Western hyenas will keep poking the bear into a darker and darker corner. Putin has shown tremendous patience with these bloodthirsty animals over the years, but every bear has his limits.
https://thegoodcitizen.substack.com/p/poland-is-playing-a-dangerous-game?s=w
In Carlson’s monologue last night he begins by showing the CBS Blinken interview on Sunday that also inspired this piece. Blinken goes on TV and nonchalantly sells out Poland as ground zero for a NATO war with Russia. Despite Poland’s relentless insistence that the WILL NOT be sending any fighter jets to Ukraine, Blinken callously ignores them on live TV. This is how the U.S. treats its allies, with reckless disregard and back stabbing PR diplomacy. Tucker also shows the Lindsay Graham rah rah speech to Ukrainian soldiers from 2016 I embedded at the end of this piece yesterday, where he says war with Russia is coming and the U.S. has their back.
On September 11, 2002, the Bush anniversary speech of 9/11 I recall hearing him name Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the speech and knew right then and there he was manufacturing consent for an invasion of Iraq despite the country have zero connections to the 9/11 attacks. I explicitly remember yelling to family members around me that the U.S. will invade Iraq next. They were so wrapped up in the superficial emotionalism of the speech and the moment, they told me I was crazy and to sit down and shut up. Family, eh?
When I watched the Blinken CBS interview Sunday, I got the same chills I got watching the Bush speech that day. It made me sick. This is how the U.S. psychologically manipulates its population into wars and in this case uses Poland as a sacrificial lamb for what would surely be a destructive global conflict. According to one analyst Tucker cites in his monologue, who war gamed a U.S.-Russia conflict in 2019, it would result in a billion dead. A billion.
Turns out the coronavirus and jabs didn’t do enough on the depopulation front, so it’s on to steps 2, 3 and 4. War, energy crisis, and mass starvation. Those Georgia guide stones aren’t going to be realized on their own.
The whole 22 minute Tucker piece is worth the watch as he shows how the blood thirsty hyenas explicitly wanted Russia to invade and do not want the war to end. Strangely the entire rest of the western corporate media completely ignore this Poland sell-out story even though it may be the first public signal from the U.S. of a desire to start World War Three.
Dancing with The Globalists
The propaganda is endless and everywhere. The images of babies and elderly people fleeing war blasted across western “news” sites with unsubtle headlines like:
PUTIN HAS THIS BABY’S BLOOD ON HIS HANDS!
There was once a masterful art to effective propaganda as psychological manipulation. Subtlety is no longer required with so many eager to assimilate to the latest media created madness, socially conditioned to reveal their stupidity in the comment sections: “Putin is the next Hitler! Someone needs to stop him at once!”
The citizens are seamlessly assimilating to this prepared Ukrainian Borg, happy to outsource their brains to a western corporate media who command them to only devote their emotions to the cause and nothing more.
Everything is designed to pull at the heart strings of people to manufacture consent for this conflict that should never have started and could be immediately ended with Ukraine disavowing NATO membership and allowing three majority Russian regions to rejoin their mother.
This is what the west wants, more war, more refugees, more propaganda to be used for their efforts to topple Putin in Russia. The warring neoliberals and neocons have been planning this for years and are loving every minute of the show.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, NATO, Poland, Putin | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on February 19, 2022
The report of an invasion of Donbass would be labeled a Russian false flag attack, and the Russian intervention would become the predicted invasion. If anything happens, I think I have described it.
Paul Craig Roberts
Feb 17, 2022
The other day I asked, “What is Washington up to?” It is already time to ask that question again.
While writing my article suggesting that only a judicious use of Russian force would sober up the West, Washington doubled down on its anti-Russian position, predicting in two news venues–the Secretary of State’s UN speech and the State Department spokesman’s press briefing–that Russia was about to launch a false flag attack that Russia would use as the excuse to invade Ukraine.
The State Department claims are pure fantasy. Why after just rejecting the Russian’s proposal for a mutual security agreement does the Biden regime keep fanning the flames of war?
It makes no sense for the State Department to predict something that is not going to happen. As there is no aerial or satellite evidence or evidence of any kind except assertions that “US intelligence has concluded” of a concentration of attack forces on Ukraine’s border, the only way the State Department could know of a false flag event would be if it is a US false flag attack for which Russia is being set up for blame.
We have heard excessively about 150,000 invasion troops allegedly assembled on Ukraine’s border with Russia. We have not heard about 150,000 British and US trained Ukrainian troops on the border of the Donbass republics. We have not heard about the massive arms that the West has sent to Ukraine or about the CIA trained neo-Nazi militias. If we hear anything, we hear that these Ukrainian forces are there to protect against a Russian invasion, a statement that is nonsensical. Why would the Ukrainian forces be concentrated on the Donbass border? The Russians would simply come in behind them, and the Ukrainians would be trapped between the Russians and the Donbass forces. How is it possible that US and UK military advisers would make such a mistake?
The Saker reports that the latest information from Donbass is that the Ukrainians are using UR-77 mine clearing vehicles to clear mines from the Donbass border. This is the operation that is conducted just prior to a ground attack.
It would seem that if any invasion is planned, it is a Ukrainian invasion of Donbass calculated to bring the Russians in. The report of an invasion of Donbass would be labeled a Russian false flag attack, and the Russian intervention would become the predicted invasion. If anything happens, I think I have described it.
Washington has prepared the narrative with Blinken’s UN address today and with the State Department spokesman’s press briefing. NATO and the Western media know the narrative and would repeat it endlessly. No actual facts would enter the story. Those who challenge the new narrative would be accused of being Russian agents. Sanctions would be imposed. The military/security complex’s budget would be increased. Europe would be pressured off Russian natural gas. US/NATO military presence on Russia’s border would be beefed up.
The growing burden of deceit and frustration will one day make Russia dangerous. To forestall an explosion of fury, Russia needs to enforce its red lines now. Washington needs to be taught a lesson before Washington goes too far.
Update: The scenario I sketched appears to be unfolding. In an “intelligence update” the British defense minister stated that reports from Donbass of “alleged abnormal military activity by Ukraine in Donbas are a blatant attempt by the Russian government to fabricate pretexts for invasion.” The incompetent British Defence Ministry has prepared a map with arrows drawn of the lines of advance of the Russian forces. As the Ukrainian army is concentrated on the Donbass border, there are no forces for the Russians to encounter in their advance along 9 lines of invasion imagined by the British. https://www.rt.com/russia/549776-uk-military-russia-invasion-map/
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, Donbass, False flag, Invasion | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on January 18, 2022
How embarrassing it was to hear Blinken ridiculing Russia for coming to the aid of ally Kazakhstan as a color revolution (with likely US backing) was brewing. “I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken told reporters. He said this with a straight face even as the US continues to illegally occupy a large part of Syria,
https://mailchi.mp/ronpaulinstitute/liberty2022-115825?e=ff526b933a
an 17 – Russia-bashing is a bi-partisan activity in Washington. Both parties think it makes them look “tough” and “pro-America.” But while Republican and Democrat politicians continue to one-up each other on “risk-free” threats to Russia, they are increasingly risking a devastating nuclear war.
It’s all fun and games until the missiles start flying. And in this case we are risking total destruction over who governs eastern Ukraine! Has so much ever been risked for so little?
The problem with all this tough talk is that politicians start to believe their own rhetoric and propaganda. As a result they don’t make sound decisions based on objective facts, but instead make rash decisions based on faulty misinformation.
When US politicians talk about Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border, for example, they leave out the fact that these troops are actually inside Russia. With US troops in some 150 countries overseas, you’d think Washington might pause before criticizing the “aggression” of troops inside a country’s own borders.
They also leave out the reasons why Russia might be concerned over its neighbor Ukraine. CNN reported recently that the Biden Administration approved another $200 million in military aid to Ukraine last month, making nearly half a billion dollars in weapons over the past year.
Imagine if China was sending half a billion dollars in weapons to Mexico to strengthen and embolden a hyper-aggressive anti-US regime. Would the US not be “massing troops near the Mexican border”?
Also there is that issue about the US-backed overthrow of the democratically-elected Ukrainian government in 2014, which is the starting point of all these recent problems. And this week Yahoo News reported that the CIA is training Ukrainian paramilitaries on US soil!
Recent talks between the US and Russia failed before they even began, with the US side refusing to even consider ending useless and provocative NATO expansion eastward. NATO is a Cold War relic that should have been disbanded along with the Warsaw Pact. It serves no purpose and its constant saber-rattling puts us at risk in conflicts that have nothing to do with US national security.
How embarrassing it was to hear Blinken ridiculing Russia for coming to the aid of ally Kazakhstan as a color revolution (with likely US backing) was brewing. “I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken told reporters. He said this with a straight face even as the US continues to illegally occupy a large part of Syria, continues to occupy part of Iraq against the will of that country’s parliament, and occupied a good part of Afghanistan for 20 years!
Incidentally, as soon as the regime change attempt was put down in Kazakhstan, Russian and allied troops began leaving the country. But, of course, the reflexively pro-war US media doesn’t report anything outside the narrative.
What to do about Russia? Stop backing regime change along Russia’s borders, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. Stop meddling in foreign elections. Look at how we wasted four years on false claims that the Russians meddled in ours. End weapons shipments and all aid to Ukraine. End sanctions. Re-imagine the US defense budget as a budget to actually defend the US. It’s really not that complicated: stop trying to rule the world.
—
Read more great articles on the Ron Paul Institute website.
Subscribe to free updates from the Ron Paul Institute. Copyright © 2021 by Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, NATO, Russia-Bashers, Ukraine, war | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on January 13, 2022
The Biden regime has blown the future
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/01/12/no-reassurance-for-russia-is-dangerous/
Paul Craig Roberts
The situation on the Russian front is far more dangerous than is realized. The reason is that the US-Russian conflict resurrected in the 21st century by the neoconservatives and the US military/security complex is far more dangerous than the 20th century Cold War.
I was a part of the Cold War as a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. The present danger was the Soviet Union, and the committee members were concerned that the situation did not get out of hand. There were two aspects to the situation. One was that the Soviets must not acquire military supremacy. The other was that tensions between the nuclear powers had to be kept from boiling over.
In Cold War days there was debate in the foreign policy community. There were knowledgable people, such as Stephen Cohen, to remind us of the Soviet point of view, which served the purpose of corralling a one-sided patriotic view that, if it got loose, could set off nukes. Even in our committee, which was anti-Soviet, there were people who saw both sides of the issue and kept at bay extreme positions such as the neoconservative one.
Today there is no debate. Indeed, there is no foreign policy community. There is only a collection of Russophobes, who see nothing but evil intent in the Kremlin and nothing but good in Washington’s hegemony. Stephen Cohen and the others who helped to keep things in balance are dead.
Consequently, Washington is unable to comprehend Russian concerns. As Scott Ritter recently wrote, “It is as if both Biden and Blinken are deaf, dumb, and blind when it comes to reading Russia.”
You can see how deaf, dumb, and blind Washington is by looking at who Biden’s national security advisor turned to for advice on how to approach the current meetings with Russia over her security concerns. Remember, the talks are happening because Russia feels threatened by a growing ring of US bases on her borders that are potentially sites for US nuclear missiles. It is Russia that feels insecure, not the US. So what did Biden’s advisor do? He turned to Michael McFaul, Obama’s Russophobic ambassador to Russia who has specialized in worsening the tensions with Russia. McFaul’s advice was to up the ante by rushing more weapons to Ukraine. In other words, make the Kremlin feel more threatened.
None of us would be here if this had been President John F. Kennedy’s response to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Kremlin has been trying for years to get Washington to listen. The current talks, I believe, are the Kremlin’s last effort. Personally, I do not believe that the Kremlin gives the talks any chance of success, and is just testing the conclusion that Washington will not even acknowledge, must less accommodate, Russia’s security concerns.
In other words, when one side does not listen, the other side has no one to talk with. This frustration has been building for years within the Kremlin. All the Kremlin ever hears from Washington is “you are wrong, we are right.”
In the United States the situation is so bad that anyone who explains the Russian point of view is dismissed as a “Russian agent.” President Trump was investigated as a Russian agent for wanting to normalize relations with Russia. By the time of Trump’s presidency all of the arms control agreements reached over previous decades had been discarded by Washington, and it was no longer possible for an American president to work to reduce tensions with Russia. To want good relations with Russia was a betrayal of America. The CIA director actually called President Trump a traitor to America, and the FBI director investigated him as if he were.
It is a tribute to the patience and hopefulness of the Russians that they continued to work for a peaceful coexistence despite the evidence that it could not happen.
As I explained yesterday, the crux of the matter is that Washington does not want Russia to be secure: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/01/11/washington-gives-cold-shoulder-to-russias-security-concerns/
This leaves Russia with two choices. She can accept American hegemony, or she can roll back NATO from her borders with force and intimidation.
The situation is dangerous, because the Kremlin has concluded that the chance of nuclear war is higher from allowing US nuclear missiles on Russia’s borders than from action to roll back NATO to the pre-1997 membership.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Blinken, Michael McFaul, NATO, Russia, Russophobes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by M. C. on August 9, 2021
Because, objectively, the current US retreat on most fronts might be the “soft landing” (transition from Empire to “normal” country) many Trump voters were hoping for. Or it might not. If it is not, this might be a chaos-induced retreat, indicating that the US state is crumbling and has to urgently “simplify” things to try to survive,
https://www.unz.com/tsaker/has-the-us-begun-its-great-retreat/
I have to begin this column by admitting that “Biden” (note: when in quotation marks, I refer to the “collective Biden”, not the clearly senile man) surprised me: it appears that my personal rule-of-thumb about US Presidents (each one is even worse than his predecessor) might not necessarily apply in “Biden’s” case. That is not to say that “Biden” won’t end up proving my rule of thumb as still applicable, just that what I am seeing right now is not what I feared or expected.
Initially, I felt my the rule still held. The total US faceplant in Alaska when Blinken apparently mistook the Chinese for woke-neutered serfs and quickly found out how mistaken he was.
But then there was the meeting with Putin which surprised many, including myself. Initially, most Russian observers joined one of two groups about the prospects for this summit:
Neither of these happened. Truth be told, we still do not really know what happened. All we have are some vague declarations of intent and worded pious intentions. And even those were minimalistic! In fact, after the summit most Russian observers, again, broke into two main camps:
I think that both of these grossly oversimplify a probably much more complex and nuanced reality. In other words, “Biden” surprised many, if not most, Russians. That is very interesting by itself (neither Bush, nor Obama nor Trump ever surprised the Russians – who knew the score about all of them – in any meaningful way).
My strictly personal guess is that there is some very serious infighting currently taking place inside the US ruling class. Furthermore, that serious infighting is not about core principles or even strategy – it is a dispute over tactics only.
Be seeing you
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, American military, Blinken, great retreat, Joe Biden, Russia | Leave a Comment »
MCViewPoint 