War on the Rocks published an article the other day — U.S. DIPLOMACY AFTER THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR — that unintentionally illustrates why the United States is losing influence on the international front. Once upon a time — Okay, I mean in the aftermath of World War II — the United States enjoyed a reputation like E.F Hutton (this is an obscure reference to a once popular set of commercials that featured the catch phrase — “When E.F. Hutton Talks People Listen.” Like E.F. Hutton, who has vanished from popular culture, the United States is becoming irrelevant on the diplomatic front because Washington prefers threats and bullying to diplomacy.
The article at War on the Rocks is a joint-piece by Kelly M. McFarland, Chester A. Crocker and Ryan Conner. I remember Crocker from my days at the State Department. He is now in his 80s and represents an era when diplomacy was still considered a relevant talent when it came to U.S. national security. I am sure that Crocker and his two co-authors meant well, but Good Lord! The substance of their piece shows they have an underdeveloped sense of irony and are living in a fantasy world . This one paragraph sums up their dream world:
The linchpin of any successful diplomatic strategy moving forward will be a special emphasis on multilateral diplomacy, where the United States can use its convening power to build and lead coalitions around mutual interests. As power diffuses throughout the system, such coalitions will be necessary to align efforts and marshal resources. Rather than seeking explicit commitments to stand by the United States in its rivalry with China or any other actor, Washington should prioritize flexible frameworks that do not compromise other countries’ concerns and provide these hedging nations with a positive currency. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called this “variable geometry.” It allows for convergence on issues requiring a concert of powers without requiring adherence to or support for all U.S. priorities. As it already does in forums such as the G7, the United States can organize informal arrangements with other countries on issues like climate change, finance, or nonproliferation, either within established institutions, such as the U.N. Security Council, or outside them.
This is fine as theory. But it certainly does not define what the U.S. has been doing on a daily basis to other nations for the last 30 years. We are accustomed to using the G7 and G20 as a bludgeon to coerce Russia, China and other Global South countries to do what we wanted or else. Over the last 25 years the United States has become Christopher Walken in the Saturday Night Live skit. Instead of demanding “more cowbell”, Washington shouts, “more sanctions.”
You want a short list of countries? Just name the countries that the United States has not sanctioned one way or another. Instead of multi-lateral talks, the Washington way has focused on figuring out how to inflict pain on foreign countries and how to interfere with their economic activity. If you truly believe that is a sound policy then I encourage you to join the Foreign Service of the United States asap. You will have ample opportunity to use an economic truncheon on nations that are not keen on acquiescing to the ways of Washington.
In my opinion, the article reads like a fairy tale. That is why I started off with the phrase, “Once upon a time. . .”
One of the things I enjoy most about doing Podcasts is the chance to meet new and interesting people. It used to be you had to get on a plane or ship and go somewhere to accomplish that. No longer. They are just a click away. One of my new friends is Dr. Nima Rostami Alkhorshid (given his last name I believe his family is from Iran). He lives in Brazil and is a Professor of Civil Engineering and hosts a podcast, Dialogue Works. The man obviously is an optimist. His personal interest in trying to figure out the Russian/Ukraine conflict has led him to track down and snag interviews with most of the usual suspects — e.g. Paul Craig Roberts, Scott Ritter, Jeffrey Sachs, Andrei Martyanov, etc. English is not his native tongue, but he does a great job of asking probing questions.
It’s hard to get old. You remember when you were young and strong. And if your smile didn’t get you out of your self-induced clusterfuck, your fists would.
That is the US. All of our leaders are in their 80’s. And they remember the glory days. They can’t understand why these pesky Russians and Chinese will not “get off their lawn”. Chester Crocker. In his 80’s. They are all 80 or more.
Remember the old Soviet Union just before the fall? Those reviewing stand with those really old fat guys with the chests full of medals? That is what happened to the Soviet Union.
Hell, and the Russians are not that much better today. Putin and Xi are both 70. Which beats the shit out of Pedo Joe but not by much.
And the old are tricky. They will not release power, because that signifies their end. And the elderly fall into horrible and vicious rages as the ravages of time have their way. And there will be NO change in the US. The two political parties have this wrapped up.
I have voted every year since I was eligible. I am not going to waste the gasoline this year. Why? So I can choose between the two buffoons the rich elite set up for me to select between? And that is assuming the election is not rigged to even allow me to make that Faustian choice?
And there is a freedom in that. I am no longer invested. I bled as policeman and as an infantryman. Both literally and figuratively. Now I watch the circus and eat my popcorn. And make my plans to protect myself.
We are ruled by a Plutarch Gerontocracy owned by Oligarchs.
So who among the “young” would you select to lead?
There is a difference between “ruling” and “leading”. We are led by those chosen by our rulers. Young or old it does not matter at all. The rulers are the corporate elite and the international bankers. Your venom should be directed at them, not the old.
Worse than that they are vapid, poorly educated, poorly read, uncultured, untrustworthy, deceitful, egotistical and arrogant owing to their connections which allowed them to worm their way into positions far and away above their unimpressive intellects, and abuse diplomacy at will and without consequence.
They should not be there because they produce nothing valuable and indeed anything they touch leaves a wake of death and destruction. They (ab)use diplomacy to flex their muscles and promote their own personal psychotic issues. They are toxic and should be avoided by any foreign country able to do so, and only minimally contacted.
The rise of the “Imbecile class” all around the west is well underwat ….
Yes, our venom should be directed at the Rothschild Class. That includes the Rockefeller, Koch, Carnegie et.al. dynasties, and even the Bush, Kennedy (remember the pre-WW2 Nazi connections) and now Clinton family businesses. And yes, the Bidens…
RFKjr still has strong allegiance to the Israeli Apartheid Regime, but maybe just to get enough votes for a chance at the Oval Office. Time will tell.
The instruments of their hegemony are the FED, IMF, World Bank, BIS, SWIFT, WTO, WHO/EU and a plethora of ubiquitous UN power-silos staffed by their brainwashed/ bought WEF/Davos/Bilderberg acolytes.
Klaus Schwab openly bragged that the WEF “had penetrated the Canadian gov’t”, stating that half of our Liberal Gov’t was WEFers. But it was more than that, Dear Leader Klaus is on a first-name basis with both Trudy-the-cut-out-PM and the power-behind-the-throne Deputy PM AND Finance Minister Neo-Nazi Freeland. Add in WEFer terrorist-family NDP “leader of the Opposition” Singh and a hated, corrupt minority gov’t stays in place until 2025.
The US didn’t need to be “penetrated” in this way, all that was required was to fill the Uniparty brain-trust with US “exceptionalism” ideology and the US MIC was a self-winding clock.
Check out Lynn Forester De Rothschild’s CV. She is an American-British billionaire businesswoman who is the CEO of E.L. Rothschild LLC, a holding company she owns. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Estee Lauder Companies, The Economist Group, Gulfstream, General Instruments, Bronfman-Rothschild, and Weather Central. For feel-good cover, Lady de Rothschild is the founder and CEO of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, a charity devoted to advancing economic and social inclusion. She believes (???) that change will come when hedge fund billionaires and Pope Francis work together. (And pigs will fly) She calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, stricter regulation of big business, and a wholesale reordering of the capitalist system that has delivered her such privilege. (Ya, sure, the leopards are going to change their spots, they have been at this since the late 1700s)
At 69 years-old, looks to be the heir apparent, as the Rothschild Hyper-Geriatrics shuffle off this mortal coil. The obscenely wealthy and powerful suddenly have grown a social conscience? No, they see Russia, China and the Global South taking away their carefully constructed IMF-etc./Bretton Woods/Petro$$ Scam being dismantled before their eyes.
But their real fear is Bitcoin, a medium of exchange that NO ONE controls.
Apocryphally, the quote which is attributed to Mayer Amschel Rothschild is:
“Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws!” Even if he didn’t EXACTLY say it, the actions of the Rothschild Cabal since the late 1700s proves the reality of that statement. We see the same impunity in the current Circus of international oligarchs, of which the Rothschilds are the ringleaders.
The Rothschild name should be at the top of any freedom-seeking mind. Follow the money.
Yes. All too true, albeit some would say the same families, under different names have been at it far longer. Be that as it may, I see no force in the west capable of overturning the cabal. And if the cabal is not overthrown from within the west soon, and control passed to a less predatory group, the future looks dark indeed. Full global conflict is likely and is best avoided.
It is impossible to predict the outcome of a full scale WWIII. Russia has stated it has weapons based on new scientific principals. Likely several other countries also have “new” secret weapons. Some of them may actually work as planned, others not so much. Try gaming that.
Absolutely, the Rothschilds took their generational cues from the rapacious likes of the Borgia’s, Medici’s and a long line of “popes” when it came to usurping the wealth/power systems of the day. The Rothschilds DID perfect the “useful idiot” system of covertly placing ideologue/blackmailed/bought puppets in virtually every corner of the political/economic elite of European, and now global countries.
“All wars are bankers’ wars.” Smedley Butler.
And the Rothschilds and their WEF minions are well-represented in every Central Bank and gov’t worldwide. (As but one example, Macron is a former Rothschild banker.) Except… Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela… gee, can anyone see a pattern here? Iraq and Libya also used to be Rothschild-free… until Saddam and Gadhaffi paid the ultimate price at the hands of such “useful idiots”.
“You will own nothing, rent everything and be happy.” All Schwab (a blood Rothschild via his mother) and Harari left out was the “OR ELSE!”
Example in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0swBR40_R8&t=3m30s
We are governed by a Plutarch Gerontocracy owned by Oligarchs.
You are governed by an aristocracy NO voter seems willing to throw out of office.
If it were not for Term Limits Obama would have still been in office
Term limits are a fools errand.
A Gerontocracy is rule by old people.
But many geriatrics still have their wits about them, which doesn’t appear to be the case in the USA.
So what would be the term used to describe a political system that is geared towards rule by senile or stupid people? An Idiocracy?
Congress is generously “peppered” with younger so-called “politicians” who lack finesse and also harbor a heavy “ingredient” of stupidity. The list is endless.
I think you meant to say “plutocrat” rather than “Plutarch.”
Thank you for your service… both as a policeman and infantryman.
And you’re right… many in their 80s (not all, but very many) do not know what time it is in this world’s history.
The world changed too fast for them in the last decade I think.
Most who are in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s have no more of a clue about the world outside America , than the 80+ crowd does.
It is the same with the USD and western financial system.
All imagine tomorrow will be as yesterday.
“And there is a freedom in that. I am no longer invested.”
I stopped voting when Georgie Dublyou was reelected (that must have been in 2005). It is one thing to elect a goofy guy to US presidency, it is quite another to reelect him. Only American democracy can do it. But little did I know that Georgie would not become the worst US President–even though even trying to imagine such a thing at the time was preposterous. And yet current reality is more absurd than absurd imagination.
Neither am I invested. And there is a freedom in it.
I thought the same, and wrote a satire: Bush last Hurrah, about it: https://femi6a133.substack.com/p/bushs-last-hurray
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Bomber “Brother” Obama came, a true Ogre, and now Old Corrupt Joe!
Pretty good stuff, your Bush satire is, Femi. I have downloaded your article, and can always count on having a good laugh rereading it. Thanks.
Speaking of rigged elections, check out this doozie of an interview Jimmy Dore did with a man named Epstein regarding Google:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Gd_Md3GnM
Yes Obama was all about “Change”…………the young alert hero of the US political scene………(sarc.)
I’ll bet everything I own you voted for Biden… Do you know how I know? Because if you had voted for DJT you would have said so, because, after 2 1/2 years of a catastrophic debacle we are suffering, guess what? I cannot find anyone who voted for Biden. Imagine, 81 million voters and I can’t find a single solitary idiotic bastard, who chose to vote for the stinky, mummified carcass.
If you had voted for DJT, you would know just how much he did for our country, under a non-stop barrage from venomous sons and daughters of Beelzebub. As a small time investor, I made a quarter of a million dollars during DJT’s term. Under Biden, so far, I have made $000,00, coincidence, uh?
No one on earth could have endured what he had to (and still is) and accomplish “the impossible”. Look at him now, like the Energizer Bunny, still going.
You, like tens of millions like you, couldn’t see him for who he is, instead chose to cast your “hate vote” against him and look what you got!
How are you going to protect yourself from the tyranny that will engulf all of America, if Democraps, by their cunning, lawlessness and deceit, continue to steal elections and disregard our Constitution? Dig a hole somewhere and hide?
Yes. Moved around this country for various reasons. California housing and taxes got to high. Went to Nevada. Nevada dried my skin went to Oklahoma. Didnt like ice storms in winter now Florida. I’ll have no problem moving out of this country either. Gotta roll with the punches or you may find yourself like poor ethnic Russians in western Ukraine thrown in a van by SBU to fight your brothers. You can’t save the world and neither can Trump with 535 on oligarch payroll who hate his guts.
Well said, Hubert. Very well said.
I voted for Trump twice. And Trump did nothing but run his mouth. And appoint the biggest pack of idiots any administration ever had.
“I can’t find a single solitary idiotic bastard, who chose to vote for [Joe Biden], the stinky, mummified carcass.”
“The stinky, mummified carcass”? Please, don’t understate.
I live in a retirement community and I notice most people get crankier as they age but a few like me give less shits. Trips me out. It’s like old man what are driving so fast for…hurry to die? I OTOH always driven speed limit but now drive less than and enjoy the scenery. These old cranky leaders we have need to give less shits and retire already they are not fit to negotiate.
I have not voted in 30+ years. I knew what the Famous Princeton Oligarchy study said years before it was published and it was pointless to focus on politics. Better just focus on improving me family and such. Not only pointless gets people wound up in events that will never come. For a liberal that may be UHC for a conservative that may be sending illegals back or at least stemming flow. They don’t care what you want. 1% make the rules and they want cheap labor and like having you over-the-barrel to your companies HC plan. Once I understood that was a Business like that, I gave that 1% any extra pennies I could scourge up and let them work it and was able to retire comfortably at 49.
Steve, I retired very earlier also. My careers and my activity in them took a toll. Got a VA disability for a bullet, and a medical from the police department. Not having to scrabble every day gives one time to stand above the fray and contemplate it.
That’s true I was never a hard charger so always had time to contemplate. Took me 5 years instead of 4 in college. Then got .gov job where 4 hrs a day was pushing it in that culture. I was an environmental chemist and once samples were setup in instrumentation sometimes I’d leave after 2 hours. One year I built 2 spec homes on the side.
That my friend, is the best advice. Watch the circus, eat your popcorn, and prepare for the inevitable.
I used to think our young people would get us out of the jam, but 99% of them are brainwashed dolts who couldn’t help, even if they could free themselves of the current group-think.
😥
Since we’re old men preachin’ here it also helps if you remember
“My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36)
Problems around you tend to roll off like water off a ducks back.
I read the article this way.
As US power vanishes throughout the Globe, coalitions will be necessary to secure future US influence.
Washington will provide other nations with a bribe without requiring them to adhere to all US policy.
The US can blackmail 6 countries within the G7 on issues like climate change, finance, or nonproliferation, thereby sidelining Russian and Chinese Veto within the UN Security Council.
So the old boys in Washington plans to keep blackmailing the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and Canada into accepting a sharp reduction in the living standards of their populations, by keep weaponizing the weather and Print more Dollars Euro and Yen, while banning G7 export of nuclear technology.
US influence is already bypassed by the other 186 Nations on the Globe, and the Globalist (US) Agents within the governments of France, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia are now in office on borrowed time.
The now defunct G20 has been reduced to G7, and may soon be reduced to G3.
This what isolation looks like.
It’s hard to get old. You remember when you were young and strong.
The Russians have a rhyme that addresses that:
старость – это гадость Starost – eto gadost (old age is nasty)
Well said, Curt Nichol. I am of a quite similar persuasion. No vote for me, thus far. When I have mentioned this, some commenters have said it is my “duty” as an American to exercise this obligation. I do not have a PhD in politics, but it’s obvious things will not change in the US even with a change in the so-called “leadership” and it doesn’t make sense to vote just for the sake of “voting.”
The words tell me of someone that tells others what to do and will never realize they don’t like it. Someone that doesn’t give a shit what another nation might want or need and cares only on what can be gained from the relationship. You know, a rapist and the victim all tied up.
We sure don’t need any more of these butchers taking part in our alleged future policies. Should there be the need. And that isn’t looking too likely without some major changes and fast.
The SMO goes on, De-nazification, reducing the Ukr army to nothing, and bankrupting NATO and all its slaves. Add destroying all the western weapons without trying all that hard.
The idiocity that keeps on stumbling though disaster might have the Russians concerned. After all, from all appearances these monkeys can’t type and are real unlikely to come up with something no matter how furiously they try.
As Gordon Lightfoot said in song; “Fellows it’s been good to know ya”
“Fellas,” not “fellows.” Don’t misquote the Master!
Hello. I watch his podcasts. I am Russian, and everything that is said in his podcasts is very pleasant to hear for the Russian ear. Which suggests that something is wrong here).
In the Russian-speaking part of the Internet, there is an opinion that Russia and China are UK crypto-colonies. We, of course, can judge this only by physical signs. For example, Putin’s representative at the negotiations in Istanbul was the oligarch and owner of the English football club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich. And on the Ukrainian side, David Akhramiya (Brown) is closely connected with the British. Or the fact that Zelensky immediately visited MI6 during his first visit to the UK. “The English always talk to the English.”
The idea is this: the British organized a war between Russia and Ukraine in order to draw the United States deeper into it in order to further weaken America and hasten its collapse as a hegemon. Perhaps out of revenge for the loss of its hegemony after WW2 or even for losing the War of Independence).
What do you think about it?
A reasonable hypothesis.
Brilliant Penrose. Now advise the US to dump NATO, in order to avoid being manipulated by perfidious Albion. That would do us all a favour.
According to Rick Atkinson in the great trilogy of WW2 he authored, “Dwight D Eisenhower was the best general the Brits ever produced”
Anyway, the man has a sense of humor …
And what is the expected outcome for Britain to profit from if U.S. collapses? Britain is weak (just can’t grasp it), and the nature abhors vacuum, so clearly Britain won’t fit in the place of the U.S. – so, what’s their end game rumored to be?
The Crown does not forgive insults. Just ask at Princess Di).
Who?
Lika, it is just daft. Don’t bother unpacking it. Putin uses the tools he has got. Don’t we all? That is why oligarchs who can speak English fluently, know the culture and are willing to push a given line, get rolled out.
Sorry for this but.
Who rules Britain?
The City
Who rules the City?
You know… the ones who cannot be named…
“You know… the ones who cannot be named…”
You mean Jacob the Minter’s kin and their fellow Sabbateans?
You do have to give a devil his due, by developing the die to make the gold sovereigns for the king he was able to use it for his own ill-gotten gold after completing the original task.
A major mistake made is people blame the Faith they are from instead of focusing on the actual perpetrators of malicious acts and the people that carry them out. In other words, define your target by calling them out by specific name i.e., Rothschild & Company, the Cabal, Neo-Cons, the Cult, and the Courtiers in influential institutions of the West. Then go further by calling out the specific individuals for their actions, i.e., Victoria Nuland orchestrating the February 2014 Kievian Coup.
Thomas
Wow!
I never considered that angle!
Surely, a working hypothesis that is worth exploring further.
Thanks
Britain is a very poorly led and managed country. The idea that they are able to order the world around a small cabal of brilliantly clever and devious individuals is fanciful.
To coin a popular phrase, they couldn’t organise a Piss up in a brewery!
How on time they finally left the EU). A month and a half before the start of a special military operation. Coincidence? Two birds with one stone.
British policymakers are neither brilliant nor stupid but neither are their counterparts elsewhere.
The British Elites decided after 1959 to try join EEC because it had high growth rates and UK did not. It was a false premise – growth was because – Italy, Germany, France – were still moving people from agriculture into manufacturing centres like Turin – it was basic Development Economics whereas UK was largely heavily urbanised already.
De Gaulle did not want “America’s Trojan Horse” inside EEC…….but after 40 assassination attempts US finally removed De Gaulle through 1968 Student Riots……..his replacement Pompidou was not only from the Rothschild Bank (like Macron) but also the French negotiator with Edward Heath in 1962 for UK to join EEC.
This time it worked – Heath forced UK into EEC using a Guillotine on legislation to force entry in 1972 without consultation or referendum. He sacrificed British fishing grounds (biggest in Europe) when France created a “Fisheries policy” overnight to claim British fishing grounds
Heath sold out and even the 1975 Labour Government which tried to renegotiate (as Starmer pledges 2023) and had a Referendum could not improve disadvantageous terms appreciably.
Elites were happy, USA was happy to have a “Trojan horse” between Germany and France…….but the public in UK were increasingly frustrated.
The BreXit “Befreiungsschlag” on Plassey Day 2016 was loathed by the Elites but gave the population a feeling they had stuck it to the political class………………but they were still in charge.
Outside the EU itself Britain decided to flip NATO over the EU Commission and influence Europe through NATO………von der Leyen was perfect as German Defence Minister Incompetent………….the Covid Scam showed her total loyalty to US money…….
Britain needed to weak German economy which accounted for bulk of British trade deficit…………
Britain needed to create a crisis in Europe so it could peddle “security”……….MI6 and British Police Intelligence is superior to any EU state – so it needed a big crisis………and one that pits Germany against Poland and Russia whilst isolating France is ideal
RUSI , Royal United Services Institute, just in case no one knows about this,
How UK media mislead us about Britain’s leading military ‘think tank’ 15 June 2023
https://declassifieduk.org/how-uk-media-mislead-us-about-britains-leading-military-think-tank/
Its second largest funder – providing between £500,000 and £999,000 – is the US State Department, add in BAE et al. ,
BUT :
RUSI’s largest funder is the European Commission, which represents European governments.
Brexit for thee…
Ursula FondOfFlying must know this!!!
Ursula is a medical school flunkie. She got busted on plagiarism so severe that a council was called to settle the matter. After a few phone calls or some such 7 of the 8 judges or whatever they were called backed down. But she still got booted. So what to do? She just had to have a prestigious job. Since her father was one of the EU architects she called in favors from political scammers she knew since girlhood and presto change-o she is once again in over her empty head and completely unqualified for leadership but still managed to worm her way in like the rest of them and make things worse than they already are.
The only difference between her and Nuland is comportment and etiquette. Other than that they are both louts.
Ursula von der Leyen , EU Commission President, studied at the London School of Economics, LSE, under a false name Rose Ladson.
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/die-morgenlage-aus-der-hauptstadt-wer-war-rose-ladson/24592960.html
And German Foreign Minister Baerbock :
Master’s degree without a Bachelor’s degree
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/karriere-hochschule/hoersaal/annalena-baerbocks-studium-in-london-master-ohne-bachelor-17336848.html
a long list of LSE “graduates”….
Britain is just a piece on the board, and the British people have no idea what their rulers plan. Besides, even in its high days, Britain was a relatively small power which was only able to take it’s turn as an empire largely by the tactic of ‘divide and conquer’. Plenty of ‘conquered’ elites did very well out of the deal, as did foreign elites attracted to the wealth that empires always have to offer the oligoi. There is no way that the British oligoi (and just how ‘British’ are they?) can maintain their relevance without the support of allies in the USA and Europe (and wherever else they can be recruited). So, while the conspiracy you mention is possible, it is more likely that plans are made at a ‘higher’ level than Britain or UK.
Fine. According to the strict rules of golf. Let’s call it international groups fighting for resources and influence, one of which is the Crown&Co. The only difference between them is that English aristocrats will remain aristocrats only if England exists. That’s why they have more patriotism.
By the way, have you noticed how cleverly the Vatican plays this game both white and black?
I think that the Vatican still exists because it plays the game very well. Whether that is best for mankind, or even its own followers, is another argument.
Laughing!!! Yeah, a reasonable hypothesis for a 6th columnist (how do you say Billy in Ukrainian?)! My old babba, might have been taken by by such scaremongering…until my dedy calmed her down!
Come on Сержант Sarah! Can’t do any better than that? Don’t let penis-piano-playing-boy know you dipped into his stash again! Laughing!!!!
Hi Billy,
I know this sounds a little silly, but if you want to really understand the UK, I suggest watching the series “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister” from beginning to end. The show is a VERY subversive satire. The show’s writers were allowed to say a lot more in a comedy than could be said in serious print. “Only the Court Jester can speak Truth to the King”:
Yes Prime Minister Expel Russian Diplomats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqtGGPRVfgU
Why Britain is in the European Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFBgQpz_E80
British Defense Policy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neIMa5mODlo&t=26s
From censorship to “woke” it was all there 40-50 years ago in the United Kingdom. I don’t think there is a single issue that we are currently facing that was not mentioned / covered in that show.
Back then Britain was a declining empire and I have to wonder if it is not indicative of all empires in decline and that the United States is now going through the same thing? The premise of the show is a UK politician (Jim Hacker) doing battle with the British Civil Service (Sir Humphrey Appleby) to get the government to act on behalf of its people. Very much like what is now going on in the United States between the populists and the Deep State.
If you lived through the Soviet Union era, you might have seen something similar, where the State becomes too unwieldy, sclerotic and corrupt to coherently function ?
Anthony Jay who wrote Yes Minister was Thatcher‘s speechwriter
You might not find those Civil Servants now after Thatcher and Blair purged them and brought in “diversity“ targets and de-professionalised it so it is now „woke“ and WFH
The idea that London can drag Washington somewhere after WWII is hilarious to say the least. And what does London gain from the loss of US hegemony? Even less economy? But the poodle from London that washed trillions from Russia and in 2014 only washed millions from Ukraine, of course it collaborates. Like collaborates in the looting of oil in the Middle East. Collaborate. Just this!
The US has been trying to take Russia’s resources since they lost them with Putin’s arrival in the Kremlin and particularly since the 2007 Munich Security Conference. When the poor Mcain was dying of a heart attack due to Putin’s “insolence”. And cut off Russia from Europe, namely Germany, to prevent an economic bloc much larger than the US. Like the British Empire did in WWI. Which was the last time London dragged Washington somewhere. Meanwhile, the crown jewel of the British Empire began to buy the English sovereigns by the slice. Even the number 10 Downing Street. Even the automotive industry, that has been just brands for many years. Which makes many beefs have real nightmares every day. Even the Fritzs bought some British car brands. Such as the most luxurious RR and Bentley. I don’t even understand how on an island, the brits haven’t all thrown themselves into the sea yet.
After Anthony Eden’s 1956 Suez Catastrophe he organized with France and the Jewish State of Israel, this trio licked US boots ever since — and dare not try any similar adventures, absent prior approval. Ike put his foot down; message sent.
Everywhere the British went, destroyed societies and civilizations were sure to follow.
Arguments have been made that 19th Century Russian sale of Alaska Territories to USA was directed against British Empire and her Canadian possession; in October 1867 this purchase happened; & Britain, July 1867 had created “Dominion” of Canada. [That is, rather than risk losing Alaska to British, Russia may have calculated US would not lose “canadian” Alaska to them; and/or hoped US would check UK power, thus Alaska was strategic sale?]
1920 League of Nations said Canada “independent”; British Parliament 1982, legally ended its legal dominion, that Queen Elizabeth endorsed.
Canada along with more than 50 other countries remain within United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — Commonwealth banner. Which, according to Lord Arthur Balfour Declaration of 1926 says in part: “. . .autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. . . .”
May well be true many British politicians experience wet dreams of destroying Russia, and remain cross their bastard child, USA, lords it over them at will.
Greed and selfishness and lack of vision, among many other things, — such as “biting off more” than they could chew ended British hegemony, as it is ending US hegemony — wet dreams of “revenge” etc. not withstanding.
The China/Russia economic project essentially takes the 1] capitalism/greed dimension of those failed empires and adds as a manifold centerpiece/foundation: 2] respect for national cultural norms and traditions, etc. — and respect for national sovereignty; [2a] indivisible sovereignty of nation-states; and [2a1] their right and expectation of non interference in their domestic political affairs. [This was allegedly the promise of United Nations Organization and its Charter — which UNO General Assembly Palestine Partition Resolution, Nov. 29, 1947 broke and shattered any semblance of UNO legitimacy, from the outset.]
In this new context — rise of China/Russia economic/political arrangement: Saudi Crown Prince recently said his goal is seeing middle east become major economic region within a generation.
Europeans in general are not too stupid to not have figured out this new context: Whether or not they are too racist to act rationally in response, is another question.
USA politicians and our various and sundry diplomats, business giants, academia, our media apostles, . . . welp: they are still figuring out how to monetize and rape what’s left of our large and beautiful country. This is exactly why there is such tyranny, here and now. . . greed and selfishness — and zero concern for the people.
This is why, for example, college students from Spain, for example [and not just Spain], from wealthy families, who can afford to pay for things. . . this is why such undergraduate students of actual and real privilege can waltz into the best US colleges & universities, — with all, yes: ALL expenses paid, by these colleges –and this despite having NO immigration status here, zip zero nada immigration status. While poor and working class and middle class [Caucasian and nonC] kids born here: get shit on, every which way from Sunday. This is just an example of the perfidy, the rot. The Amoral now happening in our land.
And since “we” can no longer seem to educate our children, jobs go overseas. . . this was greatly sped up during pandemic “emergency” from which working online from home spread like wildfire.
How many US companies employ people outside of US, via remote work, and pay them great wages, and say F. U. to the relatively uneducated US folks? How much “anonymous” money is now pouring into our elite colleges and universities — which, among other things, pays for students outside US to get their education paid for completely for free; and relegates alumni, wealth and super wealthy alike, to second class citizens, thus loss of local control, and rise of “supra national” control, as it were? Americans have verily lost control over our best colleges and universities as a result. The horrific problems at our southern border sad to say only tip of this moral turpitude iceberg.
Perhaps Col. Lang, may he rest in peace, was right when he said a Napoleon would eventually come along here — prior to complete and utter collapse. Who might that be? When might this occur? In the meantime our collective and individual enslavement continue apace. At any rate, Chester Crocker epitomize our intellectual bankruptcy. . . .
-30-
Suez was a debacle because John Foster Dulles did not want his protege Nasser toppled. It was CIA that put Nasser in power.
Israel approached France to set up the Suez matter and Eden was encouraged by his Foreign Secretary Macmillan into a venture Macmillan subsequently disowned
Macmillan during WW2 was U.K. liaison with Ike in N Africa……..he was also a close friend of JFK from his time as a student at LSE and when his father was Ambassador in London
Macmillan succeeded Eden as PM and negotiated Polaris deal with JFK
Kissinger viewed Dulles anti-British behaviour over Suez as destructive of transatlantic ties
During UK 1882 invasion of Egypt, UK told Egypt that their Suez Canal control would be “temporary.”
Agreement later and subsequently put in place provided Egypt 7% of gross profits; & in 1968 canal ownership would revert to them. Nasser nationalized canal July 26, 1956. Which, at time: operated by British and French owned company.
USA wanted no one else to be boss of the Suez shipping lanes; nor anyone else to be final arbiter of the region’s oil-flow, etc. — and she now possessed the power to enforce it. And did so. Humiliation of Eden paid dividends to this day.
One could almost plausibly argue USA set trap for Britain, they fell into it, and their military adventure gave USA excuse to show everyone whose boss.
And about putting Britain in her proper place in pecking order of nations. Mission accomplished. Since then, Britain must obtain Uncle Sam’s permission prior to adventurism. Ditto Israel, France. That’s the moral of the story.
It’s irrelevant whether factions in CIA did or did not want Nasser. Suez affair circa 1956 was about $$, oil $$s. The CIA loved Nasser so much they watched Israel, with Washington’s complete blessing, destroy Egyptian army in June 1967. When Nasser then offered to resign as a result. Johnson loved Israel so much he let the Jewish State destroy USS Liberty.
Speaking of Kissinger: he was behind 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, greatly raising oil prices, bringing windfall profits to western, in particular, US-based oil companies; and “best part” was all this spike in petrol prices at the pumps at the time was totally blamed on the Arabs.
-30-
The common myth here in Canada is that we are an independent nation… but a quick check on any Gov’t of Canada webpage where copyright may be an issue, click on the little “i” box in the lower right corner to find a similar phrase to this:
Copyright (or the symbol) His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as Represented by the Minister of the Environment (or whatever Ministry page you are looking at).
Does that sound like Canada is “independent”, despite all the fooferaw about Trudy’s Dad “repatriating the Constitution”? And you have to bear in mind that the Canadian “Constitution” is merely the British North America Act which was first passed by the BRITISH Parliament in 1867, with a new cover page and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms added in 1992. A Bill of Rights was passed in 1960, but that is not technically part of the Constitution.
Of course the current Trudeau traitor ignored all the “rights” set out in both pieces of legislation for the G20 in Toronto and the Trucker Convoy.
So the Canadian “Constitution” is now bereft of meaning, at least as regards the country’s independence from the British Crown, or the independent Freedoms we are supposed to legally have regardless of what gov’t is elected.
But people appear here again and again who believe that London has some power over Washington. And that the Mi6 also has some power over the CIA. I don’t understand why Larry doesn’t put an end to the matter.
It gives folks something to chat about. They share a symbiotic relationship.
A little far-fetched but who knows what goes on in the British subconscious? All I know is I’ve never visited the UK and never had any desire to, although as an English speaker I don’t deny them their positive contributions in diverse fields throughout history. They are though, incessant troublemakers on the world’s stage.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called this “variable geometry.”
Sounds too much like Baerbock’s 360° circular_argumentation_as_sophistry version of geometry.
Then again, it could just be a subset of Blinken’s variable_rules-based_order_of_things.
Yes, take the language about multi-polarity and then insert exceptionalism under some cloaked new terminology. Listening carefully to Lavrov I’m expecting that Russia will continue to exit western dominated institutions … to the sounds, but, but, you can’t leave.
Old school geometry is not good enough for them. They will make new trans-geometry based on their own axioms.
Variable Geometry is an EU term, Blinken just swiped it:
“Multi-speed Europe or two-speed Europe (called also “variable geometry Europe” or “Core Europe” depending on the form it would take in practice) is the idea that different parts of the European Union should integrate at different levels and pace depending on the political situation in each individual country. Indeed, multi-speed Europe is currently a reality, with only a subset of EU countries being members of the eurozone and of the Schengen area. Like other forms of differentiated integration such as à la carte and variable geometry, “multi-speed Europe” arguably aims to salvage the “widening and deepening of the European Union” in the face of political opposition.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-speed_Europe
Too bad the EU never came to terms with the necessity of a ‘New European Security Architecture’ post Warsaw Pact dissolution.
They will. Kicking and screaming if necessary but they will.
Repeating the message in yet another way (and trying for a little humor): The Russians and Chinese say they want mutual respect for nations, mutual security, and mutual prosperity and well-being. They are selling their agenda in the Middle East and Africa for sure.
Meanwhile, it is proposed that the United States engage in multilateral space, deploy positive currency, and exercise variable geometry.
Hmmm. I understand the first position but not the second one.
I’m really starting to hate my own country – America – because of its arrogance. We could say “it’s not the people, it’s the government”, but a lot – maybe most – of the people empower these dolts running the place. They get a ten second, superficial mainstream news synopsis of the approved narrative (“Russia’s unprovoked attack”) and that’s all they need to know. The war in the Ukraine (which should be called The Ukrainian Civil War) is a slow motion train wreck thirty years in the making. Say “Minsk Agreements” to your average American and you’ll get a blank stare. We get the leaders we deserve, unfortunately.
I’m really starting to hate my own country – America – because of its arrogance. We could say “it’s not the people, it’s the government”, but a lot – maybe most – of the people empower these dolts running the place.
Totally off topic, but as a non-American, let me give you a different perspective:
I have travelled extensively and for most of my life, and by far my favorite people to meet are Americans. They are almost always extremely friendly and easygoing unless they are obsessing about their weight or ther ex-boyfriends/girlfriends. They are almost always generous and entertaining. They almost always do their best to make you feel welcome and to include you if you are alone, even if they barely know you. And if the topic comes up, they almost always complain about their country’s foreign policy.
The only other nationalities who come anywhere close on the “pleasantness” scale as a rule have been the Kiwis and the Russians (and the Israelis, believe it or not, but more when they are young than when they are old).
So far, reliably the worst group for whatever reason have been the English. No idea why, but almost everybody I have talked to feel the same.
Anyway, don’t hate your country–your people are a joy to travel with and meet up with.
” the English” ??? Wish I knew who these people were you refer to……and where you encountered them.
England has been an Occupied Country for generations – The Normans ravaged The North which was largely under Danelaw previously having been Viking occupied………
After early 1941 US Occupation Forces arrived and never left…….May 1941 they began scouting for bases…….
English Society was up-ended postwar by politicians imposing US solutions – High Schools in place of Grammar Schools; High-rise dwellings; out of town shopping, run down railway networks in favour of highways; moving on to University tuition fees, managerial bureaucracy; DRGs in hospitals, SATs,
“The English” have been pushed out of their capital which similar to the ethnic mix in Washington DC is only around 40% “English”
The country is run by an unelected Indian Prime Minister whose parents arrived in UK in 1965 having been run by an unelected Prime Minister Liz Truss who was a CND activist and Liberal Democrat who opportunistically joined up to David Cameron’s over-promotion of women in his party
“the English” are squashed into a small island – which if US had same population density – would require another 2 BILLION people in USA……….and have net 606,000 immigrants a year overwhelming schools, hospitals……..
Since 2000 and Blair I the population expanded 10 million through immigration as Government cut spending on health and education and roads – especially after 2010
You see. I said. The British blame anyone for all their troubles: the prime minister of a Hindu, Americans, Russians, Hitler, immigrants, bureaucrats…
But not the crown!
I believe “the crown” ceased to be “the government” or “the rulers” long ago.
“The crown” is simply the marketing arm of the tourist industry.
Next British conservative leader is a certain Olukemi Olufunto “Kemi” Akomolafe. Heavily pregnant mother flies in to land in Britain – hence baby is British. Until 18 lives in Nigeria and Merica. Then back to Britain for a free education. Jet black woman, like Harris is a shoe in. London is now less than 45 pct indigenous white, hence no heritage or allegiance to the country they represent. Same with Birmingham. And then there is the mayor of London. For many years past and for all the future, a muslim. Old stereotypes on many of posts here, no longer apply.
The Americans stayed in Europe after WWII but it was not on a cultural level that they interfered. Even with the debt, the UK’s greatest achievements in the 20th century were all after WWII, such as public schools and the NHS. It’s the first oil shock that changes a lot the UK and the Europe! Including the excellent English railways with Tacther.
Take it from me as a UK citizen – aka ‘subject’ – a large proportion of the ‘English’ – especially but not exclusively the upper classes, have always been bastards. Maybe half the working classes are ok, but the other half epitomise ‘lumpen-ness’ to the nth degree. The middle classes are worse.
I don’t think that the writer said that he hated his compatriots, Americans.
Their openness makes Americans among the most lovable people on earth.
I think that it is possible to hate one’s country without hating the people.
Honest Americans should hate what became of their country!
I do.
Would like to retire and leave here but it’s easier said than done.
Leaving the US is not that complicated, it just looks that way because there are so many unknowns. Once you do it and look back, you realize it wasn’t that big of a deal. Think of it like the apprehension you feel before jumping into a pool of cool water, once you make the jump you’re glad that you did.
During the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 one of the Iranian students who stormed the U.S. embassy was quoted as saying, and I’m paraphrasing here, ” we don’t hate Americans, we hate their government.”
This is the right observation. Russians and Americans are very similar. Each of them is proud of their country, but fiercely criticizes the current government. For the past 15 years, Germans have added to them.
The English are different. They are completely loyal to the crown.
America has been highly insulated from the rest of the world, so can be given some leeway perhaps.
There is less excuse for stupid in Europe, but I can assure you there is no shortage of idiots here.
Oh, you can’t say ‘attack’ in public without prefacing it with ‘unprovoked’, yet those of us who do delve into these things understand very well that it was in fact provoked, on many an occasion. Frankly, it was clearly an R2P operation, by the west’s very own definition, a pre-emptive move to stop an Operation Storm 2.0 in its tracks, while finally addressing an aggressive NATO expansion as a side benefit.
When I start to feel this way I look at my family, my friends, most of my neighbors, and see good people who are not blind to what our leaders have become. They do their best to the power they have. You and I, and they, are Americans too.
You’re correct and I concur. My old truck had the quote on the tailgate I had custom applied. It said, “We are breathing the embers of our dying Republic.”. My new truck has a small US flag on the tailgate upside down and peeling off reflecting the state of our nation.
The Neocon Nazis and Zionist Neocons who populate the FJB Administration and hold high appointed office have turned our nation into the world’s foremost terrorist state. The process began in 1945, picked up in 1948 and took off in 1991.
Go wild and put a Confederacy Flag on the back together with a gun rack………….it was a cultural symbol……..but nowadays probably more a political statement of how far that War of The States has mis-shapen American Policy as “Unionist Expansionism” globally
New study funded by the ‘defense intelligence enterprise’ finds national security officials with dementia could ‘create a security threat’
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/09/new_study_funded_by_the_defense_intelligence_enterprise_finds_national_security_officials_with_dementia_could_create_a_security_threat.html
If you truly believe that is a sound policy then I encourage you to join the Foreign Service of the United States asap. You will have ample opportunity to use an economic truncheon on nations that are not keen on acquiescing to the ways of Washington.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but from what I can tell the US State Department has pretty well always been this aggressive (for both economic and military coersion).
Strangely, DoD tends to be far less so. Even during the bombing in Beirut, if I recall the State department was pushing Reagan to put in troops while DoD (under Secretary Weinberger) was dead set against it.
Even the whole idea of the Powell Doctrine to only go into a situation where the US military had at its disposal “overwhelming force” was often really used as an excuse to avoid committing the military rather than to actually use it.
Two strange things about this:
1) The US funds its defence department far better than the state department, and yet the State Dept seems to have more influence. Is this correct?
2) When Powell went from DoD to DoS, he too became more hawkish and got the US involved into the same type of short-sighted idiotic wars that he was determined to avoid as a soldier in Vietnam.
Any thoughts/corrections/insights would be welcome!
/from what I can tell the US State Department has pretty well always been this aggressive/
It goes back as far as the early 1990s, that is for sure:
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General of the United Nations (1992-1996)
“It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy; power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy. This is why the weak are so deeply concerned with the democratic principle of the sovereign equality of states, as a means of providing some small measure of equality for that which is not equal in fact. Coming from a developing country, I was trained extensively in international law and diplomacy and mistakenly assumed that the great powers, especially the United States, also trained their representatives in diplomacy and accepted the value of it. But the Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States. Diplomacy is perceived by an imperial power as a waste of time and prestige and a sign of weakness.” ~ As quoted in Unvanquished : A U.S. – U.N. Saga (1999), p. 198.
I think it really kicked into gear in 1948 with the establishment of the Intelligence Services and the MIC.
“The CIA is the Department of State for countries we don’t like.” ~Alan Dulles
In 1953 with the overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh the United States really began to flex its muscles. Before then, it was arrogant but more informal and at the behest of large corporations and banks. 1938 is also an important year, with the Munich Conference, there the UK tried diplomacy to settle Europe’s problems, rather than by threats and force. The UK stepping back like that may have created the power vacuum the American’s stepped into???
Do not ignore the attrocities in Korea and Japan beginning in 1945.
I’m Canadian and my advice to you Yanks is don’t give up the ship. It’s only been 75 years the rats have assumed control. There is too great a reservoir of good strong solid goodwill and common sense in the USA waiting to be put into service again.
I believe the USA can be a beacon for a better world again.
75 yrs lol? USA has always been an organized crime syndicate with a national anthem. You need to read “war is a racket” by the most decorated combat vet ever which was written well before WW2.
I’m American and although as much as I’d like to share your thought, can tell you that that horse has already left the barn.
Read the war on the rocks article. A combination of presenting a decent framework, nonsense word salad, delusional assessment, with no relationship to reality.
In principle, yes, the US should work with other nations towards common goals, but come on, man! I mean, really, – if the US is sanctioning a country, it is delusional to think it will work with the US on climate change or pirates. And yet, the US has been tooting this horn for years with zero results. The definition of insanity!
China has economic Malaise (the BRI is on the rocks? Then, why does BRI trade keep growing, and BRI economies grow faster than the West?), but the West does not? Are they unaware of the US national debt.
Which leads me to ask, “Why write this article?” Damned if I can figure out a reason. Maybe for a paycheck.
Those of us who remember E. F. Hutton remember a cheque-kiting scandal which was symptomatic of its collapse into irrelevance – it did not go down with unsullied reputation. Something Foggy Bottom should reflect on.
Lavrov answered a question about the USA being at war with Russian Federation……….he used a Russian saying to describe US as wholly “unpredictable”………and that Russia considered itself to be in a state of war with Western nations who appeared oblivious to where that would inevitably lead
He stated that West European politicians were in denial about the state of war – but would find out how far they had overstepped the mark
Someone wrote on another blog that to understand the Green Agenda you have to read the Unabomber Manifesto……..but I think Pol Pot and his Sorbonne PhD Thesis might be equally valid.
The German play “Biedermann und die Brandstifter” appears in USA as “The Firebugs” and is vital reading if people really wish to comprehend how their societies have been taken hostage – by empty husks of people, people who only gain self-awareness and actualisation, through creating crisis situations they feel invigorated to intensify
So-called “Mass-Media Democracy” is exceedingly poor at screening out psychopaths and sociopaths and mentally ill from higher ranks of political structures……….it is very successful in screening out the intelligent, the educated, the knowledgeable, anyone with a scintilla of insight or understanding of other cultures……….
Do you know why Ribbentrop became Foreign Minister of Germany ? He was formerly an importer of Johnnie Walker and spoke English – one of very few Nazis to do so – he met his wife at a tennis club in Bad Homburg – the daughter of a sparkling wine dynasty – Henkell – and she was a Nazi fanatic.
Think about how Western diplomats Foreign Ministers are selected…….or Prime Ministers – look at Liz Truss who held both offices incompetently………at Blinken ……at Baerbock……at Catherine Colonna……at Borrell…….at von der Leyen……..
People are going down the very same path as in August 1914
The British King had to abdicate because of very well known Nazi sympathies. Even Churchill, et al were all onboard until their Golem funded by Prescott Bush et. al headed west.
Their Royal Heilness – credit The Sun Jul 19, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ZPchVWPbY
As for Firebugs, Brandstifter arsonists, there was the 1933 Hitler Reichstagsbrand 1, then #2 – 9/11.
That is how oligarchical “selection” works.
The Max Frisch play has zilch to do with Reichstag Fire but nice attempt at diversion!
Let people decide for themselves :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fire_Raisers_(play)
Is Olaf the conventional Biedermann who let the arsonists blow NordStream right in his own “attic”.?
How many Biedermann still believe 9/11 was “them”, not those abiding in the “attic”?
Lavrov and the US as wholly “unpredictable”
When the powers that be saw fit to redefine ‘precedent’ as ‘whataboutism’ in order to strip it of agency, that was the tell that should have told us all of the impending unpredictability of those powers. The undefined ‘rules-based international order’ concoction was just icing on the cake.
The quoted piece is not a row back from the bully approach. It is just back pocketing it to get a wedge in the door, thrust in the cookie jar and once it has addicted the target nation to whatever is in that jar, threatened to take it away unless that nation does exactly as the US demands. This is the Hobson’s choice of an approach now that target nations are telling the US upfront what they will not do, before they even allow it to present its spiel. Vietnam did this with Biden.
If I can see this gambit, I trust the victim nations will, or maybe they will conclude they can have their cake and eat it here, and just shrug when whatever spigot has been opened wide is turned off. If the US really wants a new way forward it could do worse than adopt the China approach that simply concentrates on mutually beneficial trade.
I recommend everyone to watch this interview with Ambassador Chas Freeman. His first posting was to India, sent to Taiwan to learn Chinese, was interpreter to Nixon during Nixon’s visit to China and became Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
He echoes what Larry penned today. There is no diplomacy and statecraft from the USA anymore.
https://youtu.be/5t_Lw8InEt8?si=loGDPbCIEETlKoKc
The USMC lost an F35, one of those really expensive Mojo gadgets, but not to worry
Military Personnel Seen Wandering Forest Pressing Button On F-35 Key Fob
https://babylonbee.com/news/marines-seen-wandering-forest-pressing-button-on-key-fob
BUT
Bad Luck: Military Announces Lost F-35 Was Carrying Epstein Client List
https://babylonbee.com/news/bad-luck-military-announces-lost-f-35-was-carrying-epstein-client-list
Still, all is not lost!
It wasn’t that long ago when Sleepy Joe woke up long enough to order the USAF to shoot down Chinese “Spy” balloons that were drifting over the continental USA (I notice no such order came when they drifted over Hawaii, how odd…).
A pity, because if he hadn’t then Milley could have just rung up the Chinese and asked them to keep an eye out for that F-35……
If anyone reads my comment (12th from the top) it was specifically directed at a comment by Curt Nichols, who posted the very first comment.
His comments reflect, in graphic fashion, everything that is wrong with the way voters think about potential candidates. They seem to choose to completely ignore their prior records, focusing instead on all the bullsh*t that comes out of their mouths during debates and commercials.
Mr. Nichols obviously is acutely unaware that the upcoming presidential election cycle does not give any voter any margin of preference of a candidate over the other.
This time the choice is really quite simple: vote DJT of choose to let your country go to hell in a hand basket.
You see, the billionaires of this country, who put JB in power “DO NOT” give a damn if we become another Venezuela. They will continue to have a stranglehold on every facet of our society and even if we were to go from $23bn GDP to $5 or $2, they would still be able to amass obscene profits from their monopoly on “all” our daily necessities, gas, food, housing, etc.
DJT is standing in their way and must go. That is why this election cycle will be the last one in America, before either there is a small chance to arrest and perhaps salvage what’s left, or plunge headlong into the tyrannical system Democraps are systematically implementing upon our nation.
It is tragic that most if not all Americans born in this country “never” experienced a single day under a totalitarian government… but I’m afraid, soon they will!!!!!!!!!!!
Many of our “leaders” suffer from Victory at Sea syndrome. There was a time when sea power was the standard for a country’s power. Of course the last time that was something was WWII. Sea battles were gone after that. The exocet missile during the Falklands revealed the truth that planners knew but ignored. The US is the last to believe this and still has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined. ISR and missiles have pretty much done away with the practicality of the expeditionary military. Post Soviet Union, China and Russia (and others) recognized that the future strength and power of a country was going to be based on economic power and concentrated on domestic education, infrastructure and domestic production. This required a shift in foreign policy to mutual respect for a countries self interest. The US ignored this and it will take one or two generations to recover IF it ever decides to do this.
Yet Exocet was already an old missiles even then but Britain had a badly designed ship HMS Sheffield with aluminium superstructure which burned so readily.
It also has a high radar mast which made the ship unbalanced
Plus which Sea Sparrow missiles were inadequate. Half the taskforce had redundancy notices from Thatcher‘s Defence Spending cuts
So your point has merit but the example reflects British inadequacy more than French missile success
Just as modern British ships are under-armed compared to Russian or Chinese vessels
Cancel your John Hancock.
The disgusting Biden Administration has also lost the respect of the American people. Even the electronic propaganda machines are losing their grip.
The war on the American people and the wars on non-compliant nations continue…
Strange that no-one links this to 9/11?
US Author Patrick Lawrence firmly pins the blame for the Empire’s insanity on 9/11.
Patrick Lawrence : “Infantile imperialism.” ‘These are not serious people.’
https://thescrum.substack.com/p/infantile-imperialism?s=r
The majority of the world see infantile imperialists playing with fancy war gadgets at the Mackinder-garten.
The US did not “lose” its Mojo – it was brutally smashed at 9/11.
Solution ? Say why and how that was done, say what an effect it had. If foreign states are fingered, when it is a global oligarchy which bases its propagation on named “fondi” – indict those!
US diplomacy is based on a flawed definition of the thing to begin with.
I was listening to a public address by Tucker in Hungary the other day and the guy was whining about the actual diplomacy having lost the capacity to make other countries agreeing on policies favorable to the US.
Man, diplomacy is not about constraining people to do what’s good for you, it’s a constant quest for MUTUAL interest and the art of the non toxic relationship combined.
See, the Chinese opened an embassy in Afghanistan just yesterday. If it’s possible to have positive relations between atheist communists and traditionalist Muslims fundamentalist , why can’t the US at least try to have some intelligent relationships ?
Nah … “inconceivable”, that would mean the US are not exceptional anymore and the Hill can’t have a grasp on that idea.
Something to take cognizance of:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/09/18/artillery-duels-are-a-thing-of-the-past-as-ukrainian-and-russian-gunners-hunt-each-other-at-long-range/
Take cognizance of what exactly? The article is full of same ol’ BS.
Do you have evidence that any of the assertions in the article are untrue?
The article was written by a reputable journalist and published by a reputable source.
If you have countervailing evidence, please cite it.
You pointed this run-of-the-mill junk as something special. I took the bait, and wasted my time reading it. Now I feel cheated. Instead of apologizing, you are asking me to write rebutals of it. You must be trolling me.
Considering the source reputable is a personal problem that I can’t help with, or another joke that I have missed. I also must have missed the thing worth cognizance of, and could use a hint about it.
So you can’t, or won’t, cite anything that counters the article by Axe.
I don’t know if the article by Axe reflects a real imbalance in the relative effectiveness of Russian and Ukrainian artillery.
But I do know that you have offered no evidence that it doesn’t.
Oh, and why is this issue important?
It is no hyperbole that artillery is called “The King of Battle”.
Pitiful that you don’t understand this fundamental aspect of land operations.
See
https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/about-wwi/artillery#:~:text=60%25%20of%20the%20battlefield%20casualties,over%20the%20battlefield%20when%20exploded.
That article does not reflect anything. That’s the whole point. It’s just yet another propaganda piece. It’s a waste of time (and so is me commenting). If you buy it, that’s your right, but don’t expect others to approve that.
That Axe guy is yet another incompetent journalist soyboy, doing MSM gig, with same ol’ talking points. I do have military knowlege, and experience, thanks for asking. I have checked out his other writings there, and I guess that’s why I got “triggered” by his nonsense.
I’m glad that you have just discovered importance of artillery. You are only few centuries behind Russians. In time, you will discover that MSM have been lying to you all along.
Have fun with reputable journalists and sources.
Us Diplomacy 🙂
The simple interpretation of the world is China is coming out on top and yet China is offering the world a new Multi-Polar system. US (and especially Europe) should just say thankyou.
Which would lead to the question “can the US operate in a balanced multi-polar world?”
And of course it is psychologically incapable of that kind of world. In diplomacy, in Business, in techology development and most especially in law, the US operating model is Always bully to make the game unfair, then take advantage. Step 1 2 &3 is always to tile the playing field.
Could US do diplomacy on a level playing field? Simple answer – No.
I’m not sure if US is genuinely better trying to prevent a multi-polar world rather than enjoy the benefits, but it certainly things is is Not and I can see why. This is a semi-Rational and wholly deliberate decision to wreck the coming system.
(Ukraine as a wedge between Europe and Asia is clearly part of the strategy).
Dialogue works – he is good isn’t he. I loved his straight faced question “if instead of Ukrainian soldiers we had German soldiers we could have something different from what we have seen”.
A brilliant set up line for Larry (did you ask him to say that?)
He likes that kind of “innocent” set up.
Wrt Zelensky after his election not keeping his promise to negotiate peace with Russia, somewhere on YouTube is a video of Zelensky somewhere in the Donbas talking to Russian speaking residents, in Russian, about that very thing and being threatened by someone from the Azov that if he continued with that promise, his life was going to be quite short. These are not the exact words but the gist it the same.
They told Z he would swing from a tree. I kept that video.
Swell collaborators?
The Usual Suspects – an excellent film by the way – reveals Larry’s excellent sense of humor. And although there are also Europeans like the excellent Jaques Baud and people from other latitudes on the same wavelength, I would like to ask Larry how it’s possible that in the US with more than 300 million souls, it’s always the same usual suspects who criticize Washington on the online pod casts? Academics like Mersheimer and earlier Choen also had some global impact on analysis of this conflict. But yet just last week I heard Jeffrey Sachs tell Judge Napo that his show was unique about Ukraine in the US!
And I would ask Larry if also doesn’t feel that so few Americans inevitably cause some to look at the usual suspects as Kremlin propagandists? Many years ago, when Pepe Escobar jumped from music criticism to geostrategic analysis, where as a journalist he has oscillated between covering China and Russia, Pepe himself argued that since the US controls all Western media platforms, the only way for large economies to Easterners communicating with the West was through some Westerners with some media coverage. By the way, Pepe wrote an excellent book about the great energy corridors that help a lot to understand all the conflicts of the last 30 years. Back to RU, I continue to think that Russia’s communication with Western public opinion continues to be Russia’s main Achilles heel. That could have prevented this war.
“Leadership passes into empire; empire begets insolence; insolence brings ruin.”
–William Carlos Williams (American poet/MD)
NYT writes that the missile on Kostantynivka market ,killing 16 persons, was ukrainian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/world/europe/ukraine-missile-kostiantynivka-market.html
Just like the rocket on Poland last year.
Just like the market place bomb in Kosovo to make Serbia available for US punishment beating
Same playbook from same DC author
Wasn’t the market place false flag in Bosnia? On the other hand, there were so many of those, that no one can keep track.
Ukrainians are so shit that they can’t even do half decent false flag.
Just like when Wee Willie Walker took a break from covering up for El Salvadoran death squads and turning civilians into insurgents to go off to Racak and turn a firefight with insurgents into a civilian massacre.
Not sure why you’re reading it that way Larry.
He’s basically saying “do what China and Russia are doing, go for the “win-win” strategy agree and support where you can get it. The “organization” part lame, cuz already have NGOs, USAID, and every other international organization at US trough..
Yes, for US policy this would be “out there”…
The US has a “voluntary choice”, with strength still to recalibrate & alter trajectory. We don’t have to go through a “century of humiliation” or a “political collapse” and be under the boot of our own corruptions or a foreign power.
It may seem “Once upon a time…” but as the window is closing, there are more & more voices domestically wanting a serious change of trajectory.
Will they “prevail”? It’s seems currently determined a lot on the patience of foreign powers… which is getting thin.
It is useless to expect “foreign diplomacy” or “diplomacy” at all given the current political collapse. As obviously, diplomatic “niceties” have gone the way of public & private cut throat, reeling power moves for power centers to “get their way” and frankly, “diplomacy” will not return until the collapse rebirths a new power structure or a foreign power literally forced the existing power structures into subjugation.
The key to diplomacy is compromise and allowing your adversary a place to step down and save face so that even when you are forcing him to eat a plate of shit, you don’t rub his nose in it. I would argue that US diplomacy has gone even beyond that now in that not only do we force people to eat the plate and rub their noses in it, we want them to then tell us how good it was and how much they liked it.
This goes back a long ways but I would say that last step is more recent and more indicative structural problems. Our diplomats now are the same woke Ivy League mediocrities that are running domestic policy. As such they are ideologues. It’s a religious mission for them. We don’t have serious people in charge practicing Realpolitik, we have idiots who believe they can create their own reality by a strict adherence to a pseudo religious ideology.
Many of the foreign readers on this site blame America and Americans. These idiots don’t represent the majority of Americans and we are as beset by them as you are. At absolute most they represent a faction in control that may…I say…may have the support of some 40% of the electorate. But I would say that is misleading as well because real information is so scarce. If people actually understood what they were doing, their support would be in the teens or single digits.
America is undergoing a tremendous popular backlash against foreign interventions in general that hasn’t been see since before the last two world wars. Like then, the powers that be are trying to suppress it and make it seem unpatriotic. But I personally think it will be much more difficult now than it was then. The powers that be have aligned themselves with freaks. Much easier to deceive people into fighting for democracy as it was imagined back then, than it is to get people to go fight so that thirteen year old boys can cut their peckers off in foreign lands like they can in California.
USA diplomatic mojo is commonly known as gunboat diplomacy.
NYT today says that the missile that killed 16 civilians at market in Konstantinovka during Bliken’s visit to Kiev, in fact was Ukrainian. A malfunctioning missile fired from a Ukrainian Buk air defense system.
The airstrike of which Zelenski promptly blamed Russia for asking the US for more weapons.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/world/europe/ukraine-missile-kostiantynivka-market.html
The Biden’s welcome on Zelensky’s visit to Washington! The US putting pressure on Kiev to negotiate peace! When its also said that Lavrov will meet with Zelensky at the UN to demand that Ukraine accept Russia’s terms to stop the war. With Ukraine’s allies starting with the same type of pressure to stop the war. As expected before 2024, election year in the US. The new type of US diplomacy has already begun. No pressure.
Looks like the west is doubling doubling doubling and doubling down supplying more weapons to ukraine. UK Denmark Netherlands all providing more money for weapons. This is just getting ridiculous now.
You can’t buy gazillion dollars worth of weapons if no one is selling. Military might of those three countries can provide trickle down of weapons at best.
There is plenty of room for diplomacy :
In Vladivostok, the Russian Far East rises
In Vladivostok this week, the ‘Russian Far East’ was on full, glorious display. Russia, China, India, and the Global South were all there to contribute to this trade, investment, infrastructure, transportation, and institutional renaissance.
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/in-vladivostok-the-russian-far-east-rises
Pepe Escobar SEP 14, 2023
The sheer scale of economic progress will override the infantile imperialist US cronies. This is business!
William Gilpin , 1st Governor of Colorado, and the Original World Land-bridge Project
https://canadianpatriot.org/2018/10/29/william-gilpin-and-the-original-world-landbridge-project/
Have a look at there at Gilpin’s Cosmopolitan Railway map of 1860’s linking Vladivostok to Alaska, via Bering Straits :
https://i0.wp.com/canadianpatriot.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/7bfd1-image838.png?ssl=1
Any aspiring US Diplomat knows this is gold! A card to put on the table soon, during any negotiations with the RF and China .
And some say Diplomacy is simple arithmetic, logical.
You are right. Good questions. One of your better interviews.
Judging by recent news, Armenia might take over Ukraine in the race to the bottom. I guess it’s natural selection at the state level. Anyone still dumb enough to buy USA lies is getting exterminated live on TV/Youtube.
For the first time in our time, since the Ukrainian war, the greatest danger does not come from weapons but from disinformation! The weapons were only heard later. And if with the destruction of the free press – by the US – many do not understand the conflict in the UA, more do not understand Karabakh
If it helps in understanding the conflict in Karabakh, a quick fact check:
http://zububrothers.com/a-quick-fact-check-of-the-latest-karabakh-conflict/
Phrase “fact check” is a very bad sign. I would rather read Dreizinreport than anything titled fact check.
But is ok this time. Basically the terms in which the last conflict in the region ended! Because I believe its yet another attempt to implicate Russia. A new front. Like they tried in Georgia.
The Konstatinovka, marketplace bombing, was probably an Ukrain-ian hit, not Russian, but today a Swedish journalist’s car from the TV4 channel was hit of a Russian missile in the rear part of the car,
but he survived, but was of course
scared, down in the Zaporizshija area. The war comes more close by that,and Zelensky arrives to UN.
Must be a Volvo. They should send those instead of CV90.
The bodies continue to drop. That must be the end goal of US diplomacy.
https://odysee.com/@Overthrown:6/1Y91OJgjZfFvhH8z:6?r=F3REVuBAqzLhinnFr4mfCTJC5YaNeJrf
18 years and above for the video… rough.
The NYt Author of the article about the ukrainian missile on Kostjantyinwsk , Thomas Gibbons-Neff is on myrotvorets.
https://myrotvorets.center/criminal/gibbons-neff-tomas/
https://twitter.com/SarahAshtonLV/status/1702013564465156204
direct threat of assassination for this week from Kiev.
Factious advantage means say this out loud!!
NYT prints the Ukraine Buk attack during Blinkens visit, while Z is in the US.
180deg turnaround!
It seems the translate services are “down”.
Google translate in particular.
I think it’s Oct 4th the USA will test the emergency broadcasting system nation wide.
All the best people are there.
This is US diplomacy to other countries… “What, you won’t use dollars?” It would be a shame if something were to happen to you.
ALERT: The $33 Trillion debt is JUST THE ON BALANCE SHEET Debt !
IF you add the government current liability for (1) Medicare, (2) Medicaid, Social Security, Government Pensions, Military Pensions
ADD ANOTHER $120 TRILLION ! ! ! !
TOTAL = $ 152 TRILLION WHICH WILL NEVER BE PAID
EU is even worse off with trillions in dollar denominated Eurobonds.
The great financial reset is coming with the key component being the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that YOU will be forced to accept it. US Fed has been working with MIT developing the model.
The plan was to implement sometime in the 2030’s . However Biden just signed an order to move it up. Some say to ’25 or ’26.
THIS TERRIFYING !
US needs an event , an emergency to get the folks to go for it. US needs a Boogeyman(s) to blame ie Russia, Putin, Xi, China . . . maybe world war three.
But there is a big problem. It’s called BRICS. The BRICS TRADING SYSTEM CIRCUMVENTS DOLLAR DOLLAR AS THE RESERVE CURRENCY. THE TWO ANCHORS OF BRICS ARE CHINA AND RUSSIA.
Can’t attack China the only way to stop China is to blockade delivery of natural resources.
The only way to blockade China is to eliminate Russia as a superpower and steal their natural resources is regime change. The US doesn’t have ten or even 5 years to rebuild and reload Ukraine. US has to move fast.
Tucker predicts hot war with Russia within a year.
Other topic: yesterday Hillary wants the “Clinton Global Initiative” to have a major part in rebuilding Ukraine. I guess she wants in on the $millions to be made . Hillary doesn’t want Blackrock, Pritzger Family and JP Morgan to be making all the money.
I hope Blinken does not read UR. He would be so verklampt!
https://www.unz.com/ejones/antony-blinken-is-a-holocaust-liar/
I think the guy in the uniform at the end of the ad who put his hand up to his ear was the guy who played “Jay” on Let’s Make a Deal.
Public Library of US Diplomacy.
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html
Ambassador to Russia , now CIA Director Burns’ memo “Nyet means Nyet” to NATO expansion. Declassified : 01/30/2018 from 2008.
and Baker to Gorbachev 1990
https://twitter.com/StubbornFacts/status/1703749307881447745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed