The polls are closed, or at least most are closed, and the Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives. Remains to be seen if they get a majority in the Senate. Even without the Senate, the GOP House will force a change in the Biden Administration’s Ukraine policy. The days of sending billions to Ukraine is over, especially as the United States continues to fall into economic recession. The Biden Administration happy talk about a strong economy is going to be exposed as delusional rhetoric.
Republicans in the House will not be eager to send more billions to Ukraine. If Russia continues to shut off the power grid in Ukraine and pushes Ukrainian troops out of the Donetsk Republic and Kherson, enthusiasm for backing Ukraine will continue to erode. The increased spending for U.S. defense corporations, ostensibly to be sent to Ukraine and re-stock U.S. military supplies, already is baked in to the budget. Even if Ukraine is defeated in the near term, the shareholders and executives Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman will be happy. They will still be making money off of Ukraine.
One of the most important consequences of the Republicans taking the House of Representatives will be Congressman Jim Jordan taking control of the Judiciary Committee. Unlike his fat, elderly predecessor–the incompetent Jarrold Nadler–Jordan is smart, aggressive, well read and committed to taking action to clean up the corrupt Department of Justice and criminally partisan FBI. The lies of the Democrats about the so-called January 6 insurrection will be exposed. I believe there will be a serious effort to dismantle the FBI and assign its law enforcement duties to other agencies, such as DEA and the U.S. Marshalls. I also will not be surprised if the House moves to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Directors Chris Wray.
The House also will play a big role in exposing the lies surrounding the Covid vaccines and the fact that Big Pharma hid crucial information from the public. Each day brings new reports of the deaths of relatively young men and women dying from myocarditis. The American public will learn about how doctors at NIH, like Dr. Faucci, profited from their relationships with those who produced the vaccines. America likes to lecture foreign countries about their corruption. This is like a drunken mother-in-law hectoring her son-in-law on the need for sobriety.
Republican control of the Congress is no guarantee that the wretched policies, especially foreign policy, will be altered significantly. International events, such as a global economic crisis, will expose the impotence of the Congress to do anything significant to adopt polices that will stem the carnage from supply disruptions and soaring energy costs.
One of the wild cards is BRICS. Will Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa succeed in creating an alternative to the petrol dollar? Previous efforts have faltered, but the sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine and increased U.S. bellicosity may change the dynamics and a new gold-based currency could take center stage on the world economy. That is bad news for the United States.
One final note about the influence of Donald Trump. There was only one Republican Senate candidate who made a point of insulting Donald Trump–a clown in Colorado named O’Dea. How did that turn out for him? He got his ass handed to him. Dumb. Trump remains an important force in U.S. politics and should not be dismissed as a “has been.”
That is my early take on what is unfolding tonight in America. What do you think?
Larry, I applaud your optimism, I share it to a degree, Jim Jordan is definitely a game changer. I look forward to what is to come, but can we really count on serious change in Ukraine policy?
I did vote for Rubio, but had to hold my nose while doing so.
I am just so used to being disappointed by the Republicans it’s hard to get enthusiastic here.
I have high hopes for Congressman Jim Jordan. Hopefully he will expose “Russiagate hoax”, totally created to dislodge an elected President and kept alive through out his Presidency. If all actors of this hoax are not made accountable, there is no hope to deal with Systemic corruption at all levels including Corporate Media.
Agree.
I think the Rs will eke out a thin majority in the house and an even thinner one in the Senate, like a one seat advantage. They will accomplish that in states where the vote counts could be carefully monitored. Elsewhere, they lose, whether or not they actually won.
The new breed of Rs are of a Trumpian strain and, therefore, are less elitist and closer to the pulse of the people. So, yes, support for Ukraine is in jeopardy. On the other hand, the thin majority means that there is opportunity for the MIC/neocon crowd to influence a few and flip them. Worse, it means that the need for a false flag of disastrous proportions becomes more necessary, something so bad that even this new breed of Rs has to get on board with the MIC/neocon crowd.
I wish that there had truly been a “red wave”. then the Rs would have moved to impeach Biden. That would have been an excellent distraction from the coming Russian offensive. By the time the impeachment (25th amendment + corruption), with all accompanying sturm und drang, successfully concluded, Ukraine would be all but forgotten in the American collective mind; an excellent way to “gracefully” back out of the whole stupid and ugly affair.
A very realistic analysis.
This will turn out as you wrote.
Looks like the cheat machine is too powerful. It was not a big day for republicans after all. So Thing will continue on the current trajectory.
I think this line says it all,
“Worse, it means that the need for a false flag of disastrous proportions becomes more necessary, something so bad that even this new breed of Rs has to get on board with the MIC/neocon crowd.”
Hello Larry, I wanted to get your view on how likely a situation were to be if Republicans did get majority in House and Senate but don’t do anything different from what U.S policy currently is? I know you stated the below:
“Republican control of the Congress is no guarantee that the wretched policies, especially foreign policy, will be altered significantly. International events, such as a global economic crisis, will expose the impotence of the Congress to do anything significant to adopt polices that will stem the carnage from supply disruptions and soaring energy costs.”
I’m just curious to know what you have in mind the short term and the long term? I know this is like high speculation but among citizens something will crack if such is the case?
The biggest obstacle to things changing is the 2-party system funded by lobbyists. Until that changes, all you will get is more of the same. Biden is a failure but we are in the sad situation of the alternative being a failed, vulgar businessman. A country of 350 million people can produce a 80+ year old cognitively impaired geriatric or a nearly 80 year old trash talker. Where are all the young, aggressive, talented and PRAGMATIC people?
This is the thing – all of our discourse if framed within a limited set of two choices, both owned by the same corporate/conglomerate interests.
As for GOP being different on the Ukrainian question, we shall see. My feeling (as I have said before) is that USA is hoping at this point that the Russians will accept a Syrian scenario in western Ukraine. I watched Col MacGregor today and he seems to think that this is the essence of the messages Sullivan has been sending to Russia – do not initiate an offensive to go further west or you will be facing American/Polish/Romanian troops there. I find it hard to believe that this would be done without the tacit approval of the GOP leadership.
As for BRICS+ – in my humble opinion, it is down to the Chinese and I think that since China is not engaged in direct conflict (yet) with the west, Chinese may eventually decide to soften their stance on the Ukrainian conflict and not in Russia’s favor. It is hence essential for Russia to wrap this SMO up as soon as possible. This is why I think Putin has offered so many off-ramps for the west in hopes of negotiations, they are the devil he knows (very well). China’s industry is based on producing things for the West as that’s where the purchasing power is (was?) – China cannot sell cheap junk to the Africans in the quantities that Walmart/Amazon/etc. buy every year. Hence, its allegiance to Russia is limited in time.
I think the whole idea of BRICS was to provide a counter balance, NOT to destroy the West to the point where it is a heavily armed ruin with no purchasing power. The West, knowing this, has dialed up the heat in order to force the Chinese to act. The hope in the West is that China is too dependent on doing business with the West (otherwise what is the Russian oil for if not for making all the stuff for USA/EU?) and hence cannot risk its total submission/destruction.
Oddo,
” ….do not initiate an offensive to go further west or you will be facing American/Polish/Romanian troops there.”
The Russians would have been aware of this as a possible scenario before launching their SMO, and I agree with many sage others that they will not allow that possibility to deter them. They will destroy any armed force in the Ukraine. If they don’t it will have defeated one stated purpose of the SMO; to demilitarise Ukraine.
“China cannot sell cheap junk to the Africans in the quantities that Walmart/Amazon/etc. buy”
IMO the Chinese are banking on the US/West becoming derelict and bankrupt and as such know that the exports will be reduced to there anyway.
Russia would be stupid to agree to anything the U.S. wants. Why? Because the US is incapable of sticking with any deal, whether verbal or written. Look at the US telling Russia that NATO wouldn’t expand one inch further east after the reunification of Germany. Or Trump withdrawing from the INF treaty. Or Trump withdrawing from the JCPOA with Iran.
Not to mention Trump assassinating Iranian general Soleimani. My guess is the US probably has operational plans right now, to try and assassinate Putin. Not to mention nuclear false flags they can blame on Russia.
Hell the American people can’t trust their own leaders, why should any other nation?
If Putin has any brains at all, he will stick with his plans and tell the US and NATO to go f*c themselves because that is what the US is going to try to do to Putin and Russia. Not to mention what the US leadership is doing to the US and European public.
I think everyone is fooling themselves about the over-inflated importance of the US and the collective West for the Chinese market. The US represents 4.3% of world population, Collective West, including US, 13%. China/Eurasia have shown a lightning fast ability to adapt to market forces. Africa, Asia and South America are vast growing markets and as the West staggers and falls, these areas, with their vast natural resources, ( too long plundered and stolen) will find their rightful and deserved niche in the world economy. It’s not China that’ll be forced to change. I’m 100% sure of that.
The trade turnover between China and USA is still the largest between any two countries, if I am not mistaken. EU is probably 2nd in line.
The amount of money China would have to spend in Latin America to bring it up to par (as in make it consumer ready) would be inordinate. Central/South America – places like Nicaragua, Honduras, Salvador etc. – they are extreme poverty, rowing gangs, drug cartels etc. To think that you can snap your fingers and turn places like Latin America or Africa into the same consumer base as America/EU, come now. If it were not for the sanctions and Ukr war, business would be as usual until such a time (a few decades from now) where maybe USA/EU would turn themselves slowly into s*itholes by their own choice, not by attrition (this process is on the way).
Russia could care less for the global south – it is just using it as a base/counterbalance in its war. China, on the other hand, is setting places like Africa up to be sources of raw materials and cheap labor, like China was for USA. These are just realities of the war – people will find that living under the Chinese boot will not be different/better than living under the American boot.
But alas, how much money with West Germany spend on East Germany? And in East Germany you had manufacturing base, orderly system and an educated population. Do you get that in Colombia?
> China cannot sell cheap junk to the Africans in the quantities that Walmart/Amazon/etc. buy every year
…which is predicated on the “money printer” in USA, making the whole world pay for American purchases (foreign trade imbalances).
That printer is dead now (remember the “REPO crisis” ?). USD value would go down quick and commercial, paid for USA imports would reduce many-fold. Either controlled decrease or abrupt collapse, but USA foreign trade would be re-balanced by external forces.
USA tried to devour Turkey or Russia, but mostly failed. As of now USA tries to devour EU, and seems to succeed. So, for a while USA might hope to balance their imports from China by exports to EU, however…
…would it last long, for EU to keep solvent on “walmart imports” scale?
…this rebalancing between EU and USA changes nothing for China, their total (EU+USA) export to West would shrink anyway.
So in the end China seems to have the binary choice, either to subsidize “walmart”, to print money for USA to keep buying all the Chinese export, just like USA used to print their money. Or to accept the new norm and reduce export to the West.
Both those options would not require China to mantain “puchasing power” of American/European citizens.
The US no longer has enough intelligent and hard working people to produce high end products. No smartphone, no internet stuff. No machines. The US can try to control China, but once they simply stop to obey, the US will have troubles to fed its own population.
The USA is as real as Hollywood now.
Speaking as one who trundled off to Bos/Kos/Iraq/Afghanistan and other less than hospitable other places, now retired, I might have something of small value to add here, This is now not 1945, the west is not heavily armed, while being massively indebted, nor is it capable of meaningful military victory in a European offensive against Russia, a competent well funded and hence equipped opponent, or economic victory against Brics+. Our one real talent seems to be over egged views on our military capability, MSM media optics, very expensive impractical weapons and Hollywood BS/Horse puckey, with subversive/terrorist actions all we are now capable of.
Well, being from Yugoslavia and living through the civil war, I can relate.
Like it or not, USA is armed to the teeth and can inflict serious damage on its opponents. In that light, the HIMARS was downplayed as a joke but yet it did enough damage to the Kherson supply lines so that today we are hearing about “imminent news” (as per Rybar) to come out tonight about what will happen in Kherson (retreat to east bank of Dnieper?). So, as s*itty as American weapons seem to be – they did make a difference even in a local part of a local conflict?
I think people are upset with the way USA is doing its business internally and externally – and rightfully so! However, to just dismiss 80 years of intense building of a potent military force, that would be silly IMHO.
The choice of the lesser of two evils, is – evil.
“… a new gold-based currency … is bad news for the United States.”
I don’t agree. It will be bad for the oligarchs (and the top 10% who essentially serve their system, including me) who are replacing European peoples in European civilizations. Yes, there will be pain for all, but at what level relative to the pain of importing our replacements, destroying our communities, and exporting the manufacturing base that was once the basis of a middle class life for our workers?
The exploitative financial architecture that a gold-based/currency basket would replace needs to be destroyed. The people running it are the greatest threat ever to the existence of European nations (even more than a millennium of jihad) and cause staggering suffering to the rest of humanity for which we all get blamed. No one currency can be the world’s reserve because that much power makes corruption and evil inevitable no matter how virtuous or well intentioned the original management.
You encapsulate what I meant. It is bad for the establishment. However, when they suffer the folks on the lower end of the food chain suffer more.
Horace and Larry, there is a good summary (actually the best I have read) at NC of the level of inertia in the dollar-based system that will probably keep it functioning for a few more decades. I agree that a gold-based system is emerging and will start to grow rapidly.
It is a shame as the dollar-based system now only benefits the banks (when the US was the world’s economy, it benefitted the entire US) – and is now causing real economic pain in the US (if you are not an oligarch). The rust belt is a prime example.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/11/debunking-the-petrodollar-myth-pricing-oil-in-dollars-is-just-a-convention.html
Nothing ever changes anyway.
But …..this could be the off ramp to stop the collapse of NATO &US bases exist from the EU?
Republicans stop supporting the Ukrainian war while the Democrats mumble stuff about same sex and monkey pox being the the new Covid.
The dollar is dead already, Gold is the second coming.
The Pentagon protects pensions and benefits and says fuck Wall St.
The wokey dokey two mom military is down the memory hole, or up it.(Whatever.)
Anyroad ……if America cannot save itself no one else will even try. I said a prey last night for all good men to come to the aid of the Constitution.
If not, them Blue will be the American colour of death.
I’m not bullish on gold. It is just another commodity and the government will confiscate it at the drop of a hat. They’re going forward with a digital dollar. The Federal Reserve already has the plan in place.
i must disagree.Gold is not a commodity.it is money.it has nothing in common with wheat,corn,lead,nickle,oil,soy beans,cotton etc.you can make jewelry with it,hmmm what else?it was put on the commodity exchanges to manipulate the dollar price,period.are diamonds commodities?
They are going from broke, to the shirt off Americas back you mean.
Mid terms, same old cheating, rigged this and rigged that. Fed Tulips are go, thunderbirds.
The election results are proof positive that American society as the fifties new it is long gone and dead. Continuing depravity and violence is all that the future holds. Half of America is voting for it as the FAANGs layoffs begin. The prelude to national soup queue’s.
I don’t think it’s healthy to even read about it anymore.
The Last Post.
Aaron,
try to stay positive. This is from an ex illegal immigrant to an ex soldier. Its the darkest before dawn. I have been to hell and back. Larry’s blog has blossomed into a well of reality and truth. And you are one of the premier contributors. So don’t sell yourself short. Please keep posting. It would be a travesty if souls like you went silent.
They may try to confiscate gold, but more Americans understand the importance of a gold based currency to a prosperous economy (the BRICS folks do) are much more skeptical of Big Brother, than they were back in the 30’s when Roosevelt confiscated Americans’ gold.
They may go forward with digital currency but it seems to me that will exacerbate the inflation and devaluation of the currency, which may be a good thing as it will bring a reckoning with the truth sooner.
In any event, like the law of gravity, the laws economics will ensure that there will be a reckoning and it will be painful as history has shown us.
Rob, you miss Larry’s point. It is the central banks of the various nations that will back their currencies on gold. And no one will keep their gold in London or Fort Knox anymore (is there even any gold in Fort Knox?) and use gold for settlements.
It also means the price of stuff will remain stable in terms of gold, which will allow businesses to plan long-term (if they want) pricing strategies and supply chains.
At least I think that was Larry’s point. If not, I apologize.
Hopeful analysis, I wish I could share your optimism.
Republicans should be taking the Senate too, but apparently voters in PA are dumb enough to elect a stalk of broccoli as a Senator. Which is not to say the daytime talk show host is much better.
If 538 is any indication, they are gong to get a walloping in the House. I think the Dems know it too, which is why they are blaming anything and everything but themselves. Including blaming black men! If they persist with this narrative, I fully expect the political shift to accelerate. And with that, more ANTIFA style violence as their power slips away.
Long term, I don’t expect Trump will return to the White House. He’s too old, and even if he did manage to win the nomination I think he’d probably just get assassinated. The real question is, who will take up the anti-Imperialist mantle?
> a clown in Colorado named O’Dea
Who?
Republicrats win, we lose. The US has really gone to shit since the “patriot act.” Closing gold window, great society, new deal, federal reserve, Lincoln’s actions, &c. notwithstanding
Well, I hope you are right on all counts Larry. How do you know that the GOP will get control of the House? Polls? As for what a GOP majority in the House might take on to redress certain egregious things, drawing and quartering the FBI would be grand. Prosecuting the two gentlemen (Garland, Wray) you mentioned even better. And how about the cherry on top the evil Tony Fauci?
Hope. Yes, hope. Well considering that basically the GOP and the Demoncrats are two sides of the same coin, I don’t hold out much hope one way or t’other. It would be enough just to stall out the machinations of the Brandon Administration instead of letting them run naked throughout the land throwing out absurdities left and right.
A majority would get rid of Nasty Nancy and that in itself would be helpful. Maybe raise up some committee chairmen to the the investigations you mentioned. As for the Senate? who knows? We’ve already been getting some disturbing reports of voting machines not working (do they ever run these things before election day to check them out?). Nah, I guess not.
Apparently in AZ they were working the day before & fritzed out (22 simultaneously) the day of.
Move along, move along. Nothing to see here. 😲
I remain skeptical, Larry. From Barr to Trey Gowdy, Sessions, Duram and a host of other next Republican ‘hopes’, we haven’t gotten a damned thing out of Republican majorities as regards Democrat corruptions which we have aplenty today as we did in the Hillary days. It just never seems to work out. What seems to work out is the Republican investigators stretch out investigations to the horizon and then the statutes of limitations run out. I’d like to see a Biden impeachment or two, but me thinks the Republicans go Gentlemen Jim and lay off of them. They just don’t seem to have sufficient blood in their eyes.
Unfortunately, as good as Jordan is on certain issues, I hear he’s the pocket of Big Tech. It was Jordan who blocked that bill on BigTech. He claimed he wanted to make it better, but it was spin. I love the guy otherwise.
So far this is a disappointing night for the Republicans after hearing of this red tsunamic coming. The GOP did better in Obama’s midterms and Biden is worse. Fetterman is neck and neck with Oz? Granted Oz was a bad choice but Fetterman can’t even function. Same with Warnock and Warner; even Boebert looks to be going down. Allegedly, there is a claim of the first sign of cheating for Warnock with that same sudden spike we saw in 2020 later in the evening. Did the trucks arrive? I think the Establishment wing of the GOP got what it wanted. They did not want maga-oriented candidates to win much. McCarthy wanted a manageable amount of Republicans he could control. I hear they maneuvered, and denied funds to certain candidates. Mitch even tried to save Murkowski and pulled funds from one state. I forget which state that was. When I use google on key political topics or certain names all I see are the same headlines down the first page. They can move lots of voters doing that. I remember in 2016 you could see a variety of headlines with pros and cons on Trump, but now so much is locked up. One has to know what sites to visit for the information they want. Most don’t have the time to research all that and just watch the TeeVee including Fox as controlled opposition. I guess the only thing to be positive about is this way the Democrats will own the shit show that’s coming for the next 2 years and hopefully more will wake up to who else wants it that way.
I’m trying to remain positive. But knowing the Republican Party….they will go to D.C. and surrender at the drop of the hat. The real power lays with the Wall Street financiers. They always get what they want. I used to laugh at other countries and their sham elections, but now we are the joke. They’ll be counting votes for days….It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.
Inflation illegal immigration gas prices came out in voter surveys indicating a red wave –it did not happen.
If the republicans do not get a decisive victory tonight — it means our country is lost . Maybe boxes of nursing home votes from people who can’t recognize their own children is not legally stealing but it is stealing. Billionaires with the planet’s best programmers could probably do some useful things to Dominion tallying machines. They panicked in 2020 and did careless things like filling out only the top of ballots don’t expect those crude things to happen tonight.
Our FBI and NSA and DOJ are all but accomplices in it. Certainly corporate board rooms are.
I rest my case with one additional item Biden seemed to know this with his unworried it might take time to get the results.
So what do we do? Get ready for high prices get a dog and a gun. I recommend also not watching the news any more unless you like are into watching the country turn into a favela on fire island.
I suspect the 2020 election was a fraud and by precedent….this one too. I suspect if a fix was not doable to retain power then a manufactured distraction would have occurred
‘pre-polling’ surveys as Americans would say, had the dems ‘losing bigtime’. The betting, another sort of opinion poll similarly had the landslide for the Rep party.
Went to bed with a handful of seats declared – even-stephen.
Wake up today and there is talk of the loathsome speaker having the casting vote.
No doubt all above board!?. Nothing to see here. Move along now.
As it says in rap songs – meet my 38.
It seems nothing will stand in the way of the suicidal economic/foreign policy in play right now…and with artificial intelligence and CGI manipulating what we see and hear in real time…the future of citizens direct involvement in representative government will have to be “one man one vote on paper ballots in the ballot box…..direct involvement in the jury box and lastly the bullet box
You “suspect”? Look at 2000 Mules if you haven’t yet had enough info on that election after 2 years Joe. Sheesh!
In the case of the US, unless there is a generational change it will be another case of something changing so everything can go on as before.
On the international side of things, the coming meeting of Xi Jinping and MBS in Saud Arabia might be the game-changer the world needs. If Xi endorses the Saudis joining BRICS, and the Saudis start selling their oil in a currency other than the US dollar, then there goes the Hegemon’s ability to be a hegemon. (Watch your back, MBS. The Yanks already have a military presence in your country.)
The usefulness of Ukraine as an all consuming distraction might already be approaching it’s end. The EU has been demilitarized and deindustrialized. It has been neutered. Europe’s, not the EU’s, only hope of avoiding a complete melt down seems to rest in the new Russian/Turkish Turk-Stream. (Watch your back, Erdogan. The Yanks already have a military presence in your country.)
Given the Biden administrations record on so many fronts how can it even be a contest?
Good night and goodbye USA. I knew you well.
I observe the USA from a hemispheric distance (not unlike Marvin the Martian :-). At that range, it is clear the USA is a one-party state; the party should properly be called ‘The Washington War Party’ (WWP). Like all big political parties, it has factions, in this case two big ones known as ‘Republican’ and ‘Democrat.’ On the things that are important (to the donors, large corporations, 0.01% etc etc), there is bifactional support. Most importantly on the war (oops, I meant defence) budget, role of the military, American world ‘leadership’ (aka hegemony) and maintaining imperial stability (aka known as the ‘Rules Based Order’).
Every few years, the simulation of democracy throws a distractive festivity called an election. Your country is having one now. In order for the rubes to (naively) believe they have an actual say in things, the WWP’s factions have differing policies on things that the rubes care about, BUT ARE ACTUALLY UNIMPORTANT TO THE WWP. You know, things like abortion or gun control or crime (not corporate crime, duh), or health care (without upsetting entrenched interests Big Medicine and Big Pharma), even taxation policy (the 0.01% & big corporations don’t pay tax in any meaningful way).
So, from this distance, it doesn’t matter which faction is in control. It is likely to affect neither my country’s relationship with USA nor USA’s role in the world.
Agreed wholeheartedly – there isn‘t a dimes worth of difference between the 2 wings of the War Party. The War Party refuses to reform. Therefore, economic collapse is inevitable.
Rather than obsessing over the minutea of faux Elections, better to start learning some good ol’ homesteading skills, participate fully in one’s church community, and gradually get ready to live with meager cash incomes.
“Every few years, the simulation of democracy throws a distractive festivity called an election.”
Exactly. You have two ultra right wing, neo-liberal globalist war parties duking it out every two to four years for the right to be the Keeper of the Slagheap.
Despite having lots of cover for dissent, the Republicans proceeded to vote 157-57 in favor in the House, and 39-11 in favor the Senate, for the initial 40 billion dollar Ukriane war bill, and little has changed since, so the idea that there are some anti-war sentiments bubbling up in the Republican Party is an absurdity.
Besides, let’s see how anti-war the Republicans are when the action turn towards China, which it will here shortly.
The Democrats have, at least temporarily, gained majority control of the main elements of the old Rebulican donor base, the MIC, the Fed/Wall Street Complex, and Big Global Corporations and Conglemerations, best exemplified by Big Pharma. The true shocker, though, is the Democrats have somehow wrestled away the support of the Deep State, and the Republicans desperately need to flip that equation back in their favor, because without the backing of the Deep State, what’s the use of “governing?”
And it looks like they will get their chance two years from now, when by all indications the GOP will once again regain their rightful and traditional place, as the Chief Lap Dogs of the neo-liberal globalists.
Note: What’s been comical to me as I’ve watched this process unfold over the last 40 years, is I still am not sure as to which side is more shocked to the see Democrats residing on the right flank of the Republicans. Is it the Blue team? Is is the Red team? Hard to say. I just know its creating a lot of confusion in both camps, as any attempt to flank their opponent on the right has become nearly impossible, as there is no room left after four decades rightward flankings.
Really the only right flank manuever that remains for either party, is to scream louder than their opponent, WE NEED MORE WAR!
Nice Max,
I am a once liberal (progressive is utterly feel good pretend leftist) I still believe many leftist beliefs of the old days, like anti war, women’s right to decide their healthcare and living in away that protects earth our home.
What I have witnessed in the time I have been politically active is a complete erosion of the political system. From Reagan to Biden. It likely started well before that as we were bombing couping and color revolutions well before these creatures. From 9-11 on the ugliness between parties has been fomenting along the same lines as corporate control over our government has solidified. It used to be that Senators and Congressmen would have lunch together and talk. It used to be we had friends who were on the other side who were our friends. No more. We fight about what the corporations want us to fight about!
I spent a lot of time talking to farmers and others from Alaska through Oregon, We agree on Climate issues, maybe not how to deal with it. We talked about taxes and guns and found all different ways to agree. I tried to get my pretend anti war group to go to rural Oregon and talk to locals. NO! Well needless to say these anti war fakes, are pro war as long as it is Russia China Iran. Etc. this also holds true with climate change people they will not listen to the concerns of anyone outside their little bubble. Like 3 different ranchers are raising cattle in Idaho WA and OR. By all means these farmers are growing organic beef, regulations by the state that are ridiculous prevent them from selling. The big ag has killed small community slaughter houses, so off to Kansas go the cattle go to be shot up and fed corn which is not a food source for cows! Can’t be organic!
I do not talk about Abortion because I believe as a mother who raised 2 wonderful kids it is no ones business to decide a women’s healthcare issues. I have known a handful of people who are anti abortion, anti death penalty, and anti war, this I can respect even if I disagree it is consistent. My senator Mark Hatfield was one. Best Senator in the states history. But guns, gays, climate are what our politician use to get us to stop talking to each other! Cause if we start talking and agreeing on the real issues like who controls our country, they will be dealt with.
I was talking to a republican friend when I brought up the environment she laughed and said her father was the biggest environmentalist, they had to turn the lights out save water, pick up trash. I laughed because that was how my Dad was as well both republicans!
The climate issues if we all think about it, are the same issues; huge corporations trashing the planet. Huge corporations poisoning us so they can sell more drugs, huge corporations who build weapons to kill, need war to continue.
What we all need to do is find a way to talk to each other. It is starting to happen in the alt media. We need to respect each other beliefs even if we disagree.
“I am a once liberal …”
I remember the term fondly. As a young man I too considered myself a liberal, for to be a liberal was to stand up for the oppressed, to be willing to die on a cross for the least among us. Today it means crush all before one as if they were grapes.
In 1980 I came of voting age. I knew where I was politically. I was a New Deal Democrat. So I took a vow, I will only vote for a candidate from one of these two pathetic, shortsighted, and entirely anti-people parties if they openly embrace either New Deal principles and policies, or have the guts to say out loud and in public, “Ok, I admit it, I am a Socialist!”
Needless to say, I never got the opportunity to vote. Came close with Bernie in 2016 and 2020. Although I don’t like Bernie, he is a pro-war, pro-MIC, milquetoast RussiaGating fool of a politician, a vow is a vow. Bernie had the guts to embrace the Socialist stigma, so I came close to pulling that lever* for the first time at the age of 56.
How close, I’ll never know, as the DNC had other plans for Bernie … both times.
*Do you still pull levers? I really don’t know what you all do in those voting booths, never having been in one.
Note: Thanks for the beautiful thoughts and words.
I tried for years and got progressively more frustrated now I vote for anyone but left or right or write in my husband lol
You pull a lever on the slot machines in casinos. In the voting booth it varies from state to state. I haven’t missed an election since I got the right to vote. In my case it’s always been blackening out the oval with a pen.
I hope that helps.
Spot on “Daddy”.
The USA citizens should travel a bit more (and invade a bit less).
They would see the huge difference existing between being among the trees and outside their forest.
PS: “the so-called January 6 insurrection”
mmm .. how should it be called?
fascist charade, maybe?
Larry,
“… a new gold-based currency could take center stage on the world economy. ”
Have you studied the history of gold standards – they have resulted in failure and collapse. They unleashed the deflationary forces which caused the Great Depression and the demise of Bretton Woods.
I first heard of the Russians declaring a convertible rouble with the aim of destroying the Western financial system almost 50 years ago.
Still waiting……
Still waiting.
Russian Emprie actually introduced golden chervonetz (10-roubles coin/note) during WW1. Killed her economy (and then the statehood too) in few years: now “foreign investors” AKA carpetbaggers did not have to purchase Russian goods for export to extract their profits (this was not easy, given how much more developed industrially and commercially Europe was), they just sucked dry gov’t golden reserves and spinned rouble inflation.
Golden standard (or other hard-pegged standard) is a thing for global free trade, which benefits strong economies and kills weak ones. Greek economy used to be balanced, when they had their own currency which could adjust exchange rate. Then they assumed Euro – one size fits all – and their economy nigh instantly turned to import everything export nothing debt hoarder.
So, if someone would make their currency unlimitedly convertible – it would be China perhaps. If they would want to eventually step on American road – make Yuan a new reserve currency to have half a century of blossoming turning to rotting.
That said, for doing global trade in golden standard (or oil standard, or electicity standard) one does not need a national currency pegged to gold. Ounce of gold or barrel of oil are units in their own right. Declare that a currency and use it for clearings.
Despite sanctions, Russian (and Soviet) gold coins are still available in Germany for collectors and investors.
I think it is Richard Glazar, Treblinka’s survivor, who mentions among others the Russian 5- and 10- ruble-coins as trade coin in the camp (1942) … The gold coins may have still been in use during WWII …
I agree that it makes no sense that Bavaria, Hamburg .. Paris .. have the same currency as Greece, Spain, half Italy …
But it is quite clear to me that Greeks (with the assistance of Brussels) made fraud in their accounts and balances in order to be able to join the Euro, and that made things even worse.
In Spain, all but the one real left party* were for the Euro. All the media, the “spanish versions” of Rs and Dems .. said we were a***s.
(Now, it is exactly the same: all but the left party are like crazy against Russia. They all unconditionally swallow the bs that comes from USA.
You know? The “left party” is not for Russia. It is only that we acknowledge where all the mess comes from, we are not brainwashed by the mass-mierda. It is not that we like Putin. At all. We just want to be independent of the USA. Not enemies, but not lackeys either).
*what ignorant bigots call communism, but it is nothing more than european social-democracy
I wish I shared your optimism about neutering the DOJ and dismantling the FBI. It has turned into a corrupt politic force – America’s STASI.
yet they are part of the deep-state and have immense power, and total support from the Democrats. So little will happen
Interest payments have gone parabolic. The US’ ability to do much of anything will be seriously constrained I think.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A091RC1Q027SBEA
Rodney,
You just posted the signal most important financial data point for our future – interest payments on Gov’t Debt.
Washington is going to see interest payments go from ~10% of Tex revenue to ~40% of Tax revenue in the next 2 years. That sure is constraining. 😳
Note – I didn’t use expenditures for the ratio.
Here comes a true red wave.
Rodney,
You win the internet with that quip, my friend.
BTW – the impact of interest rate hikes is even worse on state and local budgets.
As someone watching from the UK I’m not sure if anything substantive will change, there’s always hope.
Which cup do you want to drink your cool aid from?
I doubt anything will really change at all.
If they were a threat to the establishment, it would never let them run.
And if voting could actually change anything they’d never let us do it.
I think we are about to have a great reveal. I just don’t buy Kari Lake, Mastiano and Oz losing by so much.
One theory I have is that it had to be this way. If they dropped all the evidence of fraud for 2020 they’d ignore it, just like the courts ignored it. But when you show that it happened to other people the same way, it becomes a lot more believable.
“The days of sending billions to Ukraine is…” going to continue though less openly as long the MIC decrees or the cowards-in-govt will have their pocket money docked. Americans are amusingly naïve, still believing that poking a voting machine can change how the country is run. Step outside for awhile and look back in. The fowl yard has only changed foxes.
Off topic but provactive – Well reasoned article concluding RF bombing campaign against Kiev’s electrical system is mostly useless and a waste of resources
https://antiempire.substack.com/p/russia-keeps-hitting-the-power-grid
Those drones are so cheap that firing them at empty fields is barely considered a waste of resources.
O’Dea(r), O’Dea(r) me!🤣🤣🤣
you seem optimistic, for the sake of nextdoor Americans i hope you are right, but personalyl i won’t hold my breath.
too much partisanship there, both parties long ago adopted the “Hottentots morale” AKA double standards.
They will keep doing mostly the same, just now it would be recast as something good and proper (because it would be THEM doing it, not dems).
Obama’s wars are good and Trump’s wars are bad – for one party.
Obama’s wars are bad and Trump’s wars are good – for another.
Would Trumpists apply more pressure on China and less on Russia? Perhaps, even hopefully – for me. But what would it change for Americans?
Dreams about re-industrialization? Won’t work, as they didn’t on Trump’s watch.
USA has big problem with power generation: charcoal is damned, shale oil and gas have bad e-ROI, nuclear industry is long lost.
Also, purchasing power, without “pitchforks” coming i can hardly see wealth redistributed from 1-percenters to 99-percenters. And GOPs hardly would be more leftist than DEMs.
GOPs would probably continue devouring EU as DEMs did, but i don’t see this finite resource changing something persistently in USA, more looks like it would be just lived off.
To avoid or at least delay pitchworks both parties would have to boost “police state” and fan domestic conflicts (divide et impera).
So, i am skeptial, like this guy, who used to expose financial warware for years: https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2021/01/13/cancel-yourself/#more-67771
He has some irrational infatuation with Bitcoin but other than that he was quite interesting.
Whatever GOPs might *want* – the very state of things would largely move them the same trajectory, until USA hits rock bottom and perhaps dissolves like USSR did.
trump didn´t do any war
Ask the Syrians about that.
Why would politicians of any color change a political system that benefits them?
I am not going to comment on this because I basically have no idea about the sensitivities of Americans.
But:
The problem with this view is that it basically plays into the hands of those who are betting on “victory or downfall”.
If change is considered impossible from the outset, nothing will change.
Fatalism is understandable, but it is not a good strategy.
The much more important question is how something could change and where the journey should go …
Here in Germany the mainstream media is gloating about the fact that “there was no Republican landslide victory”. They have a very strong Democratic Party / Neocon bias.
Which is actually an interesting point that I’d really love to hear your opinion on, Mr. Johnson. Next to all journalists of German mainstream newspapers as well as a huge number of politicians are members to various US-organizations in Germany.
The Atlantic Bridge, German Marshall Fund, Aspen Institute, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, American Council on Germany and many many more.
Is this how the United States exercises it’s control over its vassal state Germany?
We do have American occupying forces here since 1945, and in fact, there’s a military base just a few miles from my home. But clearly they’re not patrolling the streets or exhibit any “power” visibly towards us, the native population. So I guess all the “decision influencing” is probably exercised through such organizations? If yes, is this how it is done in other country (e.g. Japan?) as well and a general pattern?
I’d really appreciate your input on that matter. Thank you very much!
Nothing seems to have changed in use politics since this was written in 2006:
“It is certainly more fun to watch two Capitalist parties go at each other than just having the one Communist party to vote for.
The things they fight over in public are generally symbolic little tokens of social policy, chosen for ease of public posturing.
The Communist party offered just one bitter pill. The two Capitalist parties offer a choice of two placebos.
The latest innovation is the photo finish election, where each party buys 50% of the vote, and the result is pulled out of statistical noise, like a rabbit out of a hat.”
~ Dmitry Orlov
Great stuff from Larry Johnson. The MIC remains firmly in place, and it remains the single most influential special interest group in the US. However, We the People now know where the threats to our Republic come from – They come from such special interest groups in Washington, New York, and Los Angeles, those who would pluck the feathers of the US eagle to line their own nests. This important realization is a huge step forwards for liberty, and I am hopeful that we can build upon it!
” Will Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa succeed in creating an alternative to the petrol dollar?”
Yes, they will. Indeed, it’s ready to roll out, probably as soon as Ukraine is over.
China made its intention clear in post-GFC 2009, when PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, announced, “The world needs an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and able to remain stable in the long run, removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.”
Zhou proposed Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, valued against a basket of trading currencies and commodities, and Nobelists C. Fred Bergsten, Robert Mundell, and Joseph Stieglitz supported him, “The creation of a global currency would restore a needed coherence to the international monetary system, give the IMF a function that would help it to promote stability and be a catalyst for international harmony”. Then,
2009: PBOC: “We want SDRs”
2012: Beijing values the RMB in SDRs
2014: IMF makes its first SDR loan.
2016: World Bank issues its first SDR bond
2017: StanChart Bank issues its first commercial SDR note
2019: All central banks restate their reserves in SDRs
2022: Russia, the EUEU, and China begin parallel trading in SDRs.
2023: Expect a synthetic currency whose value derives from a basket of global, publicly traded currencies and commodities. Stable, boring, impossible to game.
Query from an outsider of the US – is the Pennsylvania result as strange as Zerohedge makes it look with their chart? A dramatic last minute swing to the Dems.
Yes, it is strange. Kari Lake’s loss is also strange. Arizona becoming a blue state overnight makes zero sense unless there is fraud. Likewise Colorado, I read Republicans were wiped out in the House. Seriously? Rural counties voted Democrat?
There will be more to this story to come. It simply makes no sense.
I think that this belief that a partisan change in government can bring meaningful change in policies that are essential to the viability of the political class, is pretty much based on ignorance of the political workings of the capitalist system.
The crisis in Ukraine is going to carry on as it is now, until the cost becomes unaffordable, no matter who’s in charge (because there is no change in the essential interests of those who own the county).
It’s a belief that tends to be held by people who are not familiar with Marx. There is nothing essentially new in the present situation that didn’t exist in the 19th century.
Incidentally, the use of the term “deep state” kind of shows the lack of historical knowledge. It’s inventing a term for something Marx described 150 years ago. It’s trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s all in Marx (and Lenin!).
And they both say “computer says no”. Bourgeois democracy is theatre for the masses.
I meant “viability of the capitalist class”. Apologies.
Sorry Mr. Johnson, but nothing will fundamentally change. The money to Ukraine will continue, if only at a smaller amount. Big pharma will pay off any person in congress they need to to make sure that they don’t get in trouble. January 6 will just be more of a dog and pony show. Everyone needs to understand that the two parties are just one party. The Corporate Party. It’s all an act. The Democrats and Republicans in congress are all friends with each other. They just act like they are enemies. They all work for and are paid by the same people. We haven’t lived in a Democracy or a Republic for decades. We live in a oligarchy. If anyone tries to rock the boat too much ends up dead. I mean, look what The Agency did to President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. Look what the FBI did to Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, the Weaver family in Northern Idaho or the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Only a civil war or revolution will change anything.
Fetterman won in PA. That says all we need to know about the legitimacy of elections in key states. Not that the Turkish TV host was any better, but at least he could process full sentences.
By coincidence a Q&A with economist Michael Hudson was published only yesterday in the Saker, and here’s his answer to a question that’s relevant to today’s election. The link is:
http://thesaker.is/the-real-progressive-interview-of-michael-hudson-with-transcript/
“Q: …politicians, therefore government, are in the pockets of the rentier class, how do you think we could get rid of such rentier influence in order to implement socially oriented policies?
[00:43:43] Michael Hudson: That has never happened without a revolution. That’s the problem. How do you get rid of them? Well, I don’t see any way for the United States to get rid of them. It took a revolution in China. It took a revolution in Russia. That’s the problem right there.”
High inflation, worsening job prospects, high energy prices, corruption, funding a foreign war and spending billions on net zero.
And yet the people keep voting the same people in. I would have expected a landslide for the opposite party.
What is going on over there?
In a word: F R A U D
Nope……fraud wins the night. Democrats have fortified their fraud and captured the country. There will not be another honest election ever. The only thing left for us to get out from under them is a revolution, they don’t accept peaceful ones either!
Nancy Pelosi said earlier yesterday with a smile, we’d be surprised at the results. She was certain Trump was going, along with Soros, in 2020. How can they be that certain?
I read that under Obama, the naturalization process was streamlined and the test for it was made easier. I also read Soros was behind pushing that through. If I recall correctly, he may have even been more involved than that. Then under Biden, I recall reading the Democrats were going to rush through all these new illegals’ citizenship to register them to vote. Sorry, I can’t remember the source of these points. Perhaps this is a reason for no “red wave.” If so, it will be worse in 2024. Then again, around 4:30 AM it looked like House and Senate had achieved a Republican majority. Nevada had a large dump of late votes. I still fear the counting all week, after what happened in the 2018 mid-terms where Republican winners, had to return home from D.C. to California after a week of counting votes.
From what I have gathered from reading the comments section, a single election accomplishes nothing. I have to agree.
Here in my state, New York, the biggest weasel ever, Chuck Schumer go reelected to a 5TH term. He will have been in the US Senate 30-years. We need term limits to protect us from people like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein.
AOC just got reelected. Guess she will do anything to avoid going back to tending bar.
Kathy Hochul got elected as governor. The people of New York just got themselves a real, honest to God, fascist, pig-faced, goon. Is the whole state insane? She, like most women, can’t handle advanced citizenship, can’t even fathom advanced citizenship.
In all honesty, nothing has changed. The clown show continues.
What do I think?
I’m not American but I think nothing will change.
America lost last night and may never recover. President Trump, for all his good intentions, will be demonized and mocked. Biden will strut (stumble) to the sticks today and proclaim a massive victory over the MAGA Republicans. Mitch McConnell will wear his shit eating grin with pride. It’s hard to imagine John Fetterman is a US Senator – nothing will erase this loss, nothing.
Nice to see some optimism from the blog host. Thanks. On a side note looks like a Canadian has been KIA in the Ukraine. CBC article kind of interesting for all you sleuths. Having trouble providing link so use your google skills and see what jumps out at you in the article. Quick summary Age 33. 2 tours Afghanistan. No ethnic ties to Ukraine. No biological kids looks like. Left for the Ukraine June 11. Is this a warm up of things to come?
Hildebrand…..I don’t know off him but the CF is a small family….farmer from Saskatchewan. Good contractors are getting paid outrageous rates right now….he trained Afghan forces so probably knew his stuff…..part of a 12 man detachment in Bahkmut area…. probably caught infiltrating as part of a fighting patrol….9 patrol members killed in engagement. On a sidenote there are alot of foreign remains in Russian hands….I think they are sitting on 213 U.S citizens right now….as long as a few thousand dollars a day are being paid out to contractors…they will come to Ukraine
As an expat that has not lived in the US for over 35 years, all I can say is that the days of the USA as a hegemon are almost over. The EU, where I live, is in even worse shape.
The USA is experiencing the death throes of a terminally ill and senile patient on palliative care. What really makes this situation scary is that this patient has nukes and the person with the launch codes is a dangerous and senile psychopath.
I can’t really see Biden, going from being bored with playing with his shit in the toilet to having a Caligula moment and deciding to play Commander -in -Chief for awhile. “C’mon , man… gimmee the football. I’m gonna show Putin how I play Corn-Pop.”
Jill comes out with a Popsicle and a shiny pinwheel and nuclear war is averted for another day.
Ok that’s funny. Thank you for the laugh!
People somehow keep claiming that Brandon has the controls on all kinds of important stuff. I think not. As bad as it is, to have him pushed out in front of the World as if he is President, I do believe his handlers are smart enough to keep the “launch codes” safely in other hands.
Fetterman’s victory, in particular, is a huge middle finger to America. Now we have a radical left, literally brain dead, senator and radical left, literally brain dead, president. The US is kaput. Seriously. Russia and China, with BRICS, are the new world powers. Soon to be joined by India and SE Asian countries. Get used to the idea and dispense with fantasies about US hegemony, being the world’s police, etc. Can’t do it with a wrecked economy, woke culture, an increasingly uneducated populace, a populace that hates the culture that once made the country great, an emerging police state run by the FBI/DOJ and rampant corruption at the highest levels.
The UK and Europe are pretty much in the same mess.
However, the US (+UK) will still try to assert itself all over the world to its increasing detriment and, ultimately, destruction.
I knew that the elections would be rigged as I have seen and worked the raw data from the 2020 election for over a year, but I hoped that at least some of the states would have tough enough watch dogs that the powers that be would be too afraid to dial up the fraud. Guess they are not worried about being caught. They just label the watch dogs something derogatory and put the FBI and social media on their case.
What do you think about Fetterman possibly having been intellectually broken down by his stroke, and how his wife is running the show? Should we be concerned by the fact that Fetterman’s wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, a Brazilian expat, was here in the United States illegally until she got Fetterman to marry her.
NOTE: What follows assumes that one believes that our elections are not totally rigged…
It does not appear that the “red wave” is happening. The Reps may take the House, but since the Dems weren’t completely slaughtered they will take it as a victory. This is what the Dem-controlled MSM will run with, ad nauseam. They’ll dismiss any increase in Rep numbers as simply par for the midterm course.
As to what a Rep House will do (or even be able to try) remains to be seen. Whatever they do, it is going to be portrayed negatively by the MSM. They’ll continue to use Trump as a broad brush to paint any actions taken by the House as just some Mega MAGA malarkey.
As things continue to sink economically I’m not sure the American people as a whole will really care about anything except what the government will do help us. Americans won’t care about what the Dems did in the last Congress, or the excesses of the FBI and DOJ, any more than they cared about “January 6”, where the MSMs clutching of pearls was constant. Raking over the past – even yesterday – is something only the committed left or right is concerned with. The broad middle of the political spectrum just wants to survive and have some sense of societal stability.
The economic situation is apparently going to have to get much, much worse for there to be any sort of fundamental political shift. It may take something like the Great Depression 2 to really dislodge the Party seen as being in control of Titanic when it goes down.
If we make the assumption – A big assumption admittedly – that there was only nominal levels of election fraud yesterday is the following question valid. It is not looking like a landslide for Republican
Is Trump now hurting the Republican vote getting machine?
Would it be better for the populist to weigh in behind a De-Santis early rather than a messy battle between the two. I am asking this as someone generally supportive of Trump and his importance over the last 6 or 7 years.
Looks like Russia is giving up kherson?
I think its to create a buffer zone for negotiations… Since citizens evacuated, its either the zone remains empty or Ukrainian troops fills the zone.
If nato still does not want to negotiate despite the goodwill, then further offensive operations might happen.
In any case, holding on to current regions is already a win. Got the industrial territory, agricultural lands, control of black sea. Good time to consolidate and build up for next year.
Prevents Ukraine becoming a drain on Russian economy and preserve men too (ie afghan 2.0). Always thought that the left bank of the river was a pain to defend from the map.. The river can now serve as a defense structure.
Since Europe is self destructing, no need to push further for territorial gains either.
Since demilitarization of ukr army achieved, new lands gained and Donbass secured – consolidate economy and areas. Let’s see if next year brings anything new…
Kherson region is part of Russian Federation. If you think that Russia is just going to give up part of their land to Zelenski, I have a bridge to sell you.
One would like to think so.
Still, no matter how you spin it, the Russian Federation is taking a huge geo-political hit by abandoning to the enemy the capitol of one its 50 (?) Oblasts, not to mention giving up the “all-important” Dnieper bridgehead taken so easily back in March.
Why they didn’t they dig in, and fortify the hell out of the place and ring it with their vaunted artillery, their legendary King of Battles? After all, they had 8 months to do so.
Are we expected to believe the all foreseeing strategy was to lure the Ukraine Army into a trap just before winter sets in, to better fascilitate the launching of the Winter Offensive on Odessa, an offensive which now must cross a river that seldom freezes enough to allow for the transit of military vehicles?
Or is the plan to lay down pontoon bridges for the attacking divisions under the watchful gaze of American satellites, because the Russians want to prove they can do it the hard way? Who the hell needs bridgehead when you can make a river crossing under heavy – and space guided – enemy fires?
Or are there going to be no, Winter Offensives.
Does the President of the Russian Federation have it in him to get the job done? Really, that’s been my question the last 15 years. Is Vladimir Putin at heart a treasonous man that can quote the neo-liberal globalist’s patron saint, Milton Freidman, chapter and verse, or is he to his core the patriotic son of a woman who nearly starved to death during Nazi seige of Lenningrad, 80 years ago.
We shall see I guess.
There is no doubt that this looks very bad. It looks so bad that even Ukrainian officials don’t believe it’s true.
I personally was expecting push towards Nikolaev and Odessa, just like many others. I guess Russian high command doesn’t care much about our opinion.
Surovikin did announce some time ago that some tough decisions might have to be made. No one knew for sure what he ment, but many assumed that he was talking about this. Now we know for sure that he was, and that it was planed a while ago. They even evacuated monuments from Kherson.
If Putin doesn’t have it in him than no one does, and he’s not the kind that gives up on anything.
“They even evacuated monuments from Kherson.”
Lmao … Those Ukies do love to pull down and smash up Russian and Soviet monuments, every chance they get. Better to remove the temptation.
Well, my plan (!!!) is still possible. I thought marching on Odessa was foolish, because what do you do when you get there? You don’t want to starve a city into submission when that city is theoretically one of your own, let alone battle it out for supremacy street by street.
I was thinking, go on the defensive in the south and east, and do what you did in the beginning, march south and west toward Kiev, which is basically nextdoor, surround it, only for real this time, and then proceed to siege the shit out it.
Build dual walled fortifications like Casear did at Alessia, make them nice and warm and cozy, allow one corridor out for civilians, and then let the enemy starve and freeze in the dark until he surrenders on conditions that are nearly unconditional, all the while you are toasting marshmallows and drinking vodka.
If the Russians aren’t capable of this, I mean my battleplan doesn’t require any grand or tricky manueverings of any kind, hell, it doesn’t even require what I would consider an offensive, then I give up on em.
They just did.
The idea that they’d temporarily pull back to spare the difficulties of supplying defending troops for a few weeks, only to then have to make an opposed crossing of the Dnieper to launch the hoped for renewed strategic offensive, seems absurd.
So either the Russians are giving up on true victory and hoping for a frozen conflict and/or another fake deal with the lying US sphere, which will see the Ukraine built into a NATO military base whatever the terms of the deal supposedly claim, or they intend to launch the offensive elsewhere – Sumy, or the north west. Even then. though, if there’s any intention to return to the strategic offensive in the current war, abandoning this massive key bridgehead over the Dnieper (and thereby freeing huge Ukrainian forces to reinforce elsewhere) seems insane.
If they think that a missile/bombing war alone can bring the Ukraine to its knees then the Russian military and political leadership is not what it’s been cracked up to be, and they failed to learn the lesson of the Kosovo war, among others.
It’s not looking good, tbh. Barring some implausible grand deception or distraction, either things are a lot worse for the Russians than we’ve thought, or the Russian leadership has suffered another loss of nerve, it appears.
I don’t think so. Where did you get that info?
Civilians being removed from harm’s way, yes, but not the military as far as I know; unless there is some new info out there.
There are news about Russian retreating from northern Kherson region, which is different from giving up.
Northern Kherson would be the rural countryside on “right” side of the front if you’re facing from Russia towards Ukraine. Perhaps some over-enthusiastic dopes at MSM want to interpret “right” as being the West side of the Dneiper River, which it would be from the perspective of looking south from Kiev. It’s all a matter of perspective?
Russian MoD Announces Troop Withdrawal From Parts of Kherson Region to Left Bank of Dnepr River
General Surovikin told the defense minister that the establishment of defenses along the left bank of the Dnepr River would be the most rational option in the current circumstances. He warned that should the Kiev regime proceed with its plans to destroy the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric plant and dam, it could lead to disastrous consequences.
https://sputniknews.com/20221109/commander-of-russian-forces-in-ukraine-delivers-report-to-defense-minister-on-special-op-1103943922.html
Russia’s priority is to protect the civilian population and its own military. Moving the civilians out of harm’s way and moving the military to a more defensible position makes sense on all levels.
I apologize for being a buzzkill, but as Robert Dabney said over 100 years ago, Northern Conservatism – that is, the conservatism of the Republican Party, which now as then is driven by deep pocketed donors — is nothing more than progressivism’s shadow, always hurrying to catch up. The Republican Party, as the last fifty or so years have demonstrated, exists to cut taxes and serve Israel. It is no more a party of “real Americans” than the Democrats, but unlike the Democrats, it pretends that it is. I would like to think that funds for Ukraine will be slashed and that the FBI will be reigned in, but I would put odds on either happening at around zero. The “united states” — this monster leviathan created by Abe Lincoln’s war on the South — is unfixable, and only dissolution will save the individual states. (And as a proud son of the Deep South whose ancestors fought for General Lee, I have nothing but contempt for this phony “republic” and feel absolutely no loyalty to the “united” “states” or its symbols.
Great synopsis Larry!
It’s a very sad time for America. Hard times are ahead which will hopefully be therapeutic and force the necessary change. But I doubt it. The exporting of our manufacturing base, combined with our arrogant and disastrous foriegn policy have squandered our reputation and our economy. Plummeting US prestige around the globe, along the with the rising influence of the Brics, will go a long way to dedollarize world trade. As more countries dump the dollar, it will accelerate the dollar’s fall. The US will become another 3rd world country composed of oligarchs and peasants. The middle class will be thoroughly extinguished.
I think you’re right. In the internal R polling I’ve seen, Trump still polls well above any challenger. Obviously DeSantis has and will continue to move up sharply after this big win. But an ugly DeSantis v. Trump primary could hurt both and hurt their chances in the general. I think DeSantis should shoot for 2028, you know, assuming we get there without WWIII or a nuclear apocalypse. In modern US political terms, DeSantis is still an infant. He doesn’t even have dementia or a serious debilitating brain injury yet.
This was a status quo election.
The good news is the status quo will be calmer, as they remain in office.
They might even leave us alone or bother us less.
What do I think?
America has no leaders, only politicians.
Shoigu ordered troops out of Khearson.
I think you are such a great guy to give us an article every day
Thank you so much
And you are the first place I’ve gone today – for over an hour – where I actually learned w t f went on last night – I didn’t even know – its good news.
On the note of lobbyists ,when Lockeed was founded it was a tiny hanger in Santa Barbara and it was spelled differently Loghheed ,I think .I was told the one of the founders died near Northridge Ca ,since they really screwed him.
I heard for years how both sides are making it better but they don’t it’s just bad traffic overpriced everthing and more bad traffic,followed by more overpriced everthing.
I have no surprise at the flat R outcome. Seems to be a lot of fraud again. Ballots should be treated like crypto, always in control. They are not, especially with mail-in voting. Every ballot should have a number, which is then assigned to one individual. Also probably the usual counting fraud via www.
Since elections are primarily about who gets the loot of the fleeced Americans, if you don’t pay taxes (except retired after paying taxes most of your life), then you don’t have the right to vote. If you don’t put money in the pot, then you have zero right to determine where it goes.
Lastly, I believe the best Republican tactic going into 2024 (assuming no fraud!) is a DeSantis/Trump ticket. Crazy idea, but the Bolsheviks will be less likely to persecute DeSantis with Trump right behind him.
Biden/democrats will blame the economic crisis on republicans… “if only people would have elected democrats (midterm) we would have “still” a strong economy….”
Anyone paying attention should see the numerous election day snafus. It is disturbing to hear supposed unbiased commentators refer to chaos and conflict as “election battles at their finest.” No. The country is becoming a democrat hellhole that cannot be changed. The economy and society are going to hell and people love them and endorse them? The democrat machine is cheating like hell. Money, money, money walks and talks.
I call the rotting remains of the late Constitutional Republic the United States of America (July 4th, 1776 – November 3rd, 2020) “Venezuerica”
1) Venezuerica is so fucked up it’s amazing.
2) Venezuericans won’t get out of this by voting.
3) Venezuericans don’t want America back.
4) Venezuericans are basically suicidal as it comes to our already gone inalienable individual rights.
5) The Great Reset will get shoved up our butts, rape style (for some), like an elephant’s schlong.
6) Enough Venezuericans are made of the very same stuff as the Jews that stood naked, peacefully and in good order, in line holding a stone “soap” waiting for their turn to enter the chambers to “take a bath” that democracy has turned into a poison pill and America is not coming back, ever.
7) Leftoxenomorphism won.
8) If you walk past some cemeteries and hear something weird, it’s all the dead Frankfurt Schoolers that are clapping in their graves.
9) This is the most shameful betrayal and default in the history of our species, having the best ever, America, and letting it go like a retard that finds it funny to flush down the toilet the family valuables stash.
10) In the next ten years we are going to find out what “cataclysmically FUBAR” means.
Well was not exactly a red wave as advertised. I am not convinced Republicans in the house will not fund Ukraine.
especially when they will be called traitors and Putin sympathizers. Politicians cannot begin to tolerate that much heat.
The reason there hasn’t been a red wave is precisely that such a wave would have been required to get enough of the right kinds of Republican (Trumpian populists) into Congress to suppress the treasonous neocon types amongst the Republican hierarchy.
Most likely the fix was in from many angles to ensure that did not happen.
The Republicans will do nothing but jawbone. Just look at the slate of lily-livered non-entities that they put up almost everywhere, across the country. They didn’t want to win because they want what the Democrats want except, maybe, a little slower. If we want anything done we need to do it ourselves and rely on, and support, organizations such as Children’s Health Defense, to knock down, humiliate and bankrupt the tyrants.
I would support Col. Douglass MacGregor for president, but I will not vote for President Warp Speed again. You have to admit that the man has balls. It would take balls of brass to endure having his underwear pulled up over his head so many times and still walk normally.
The Red Flop has one benefit. Biden will be the Democrat nominee.
It truly is astounding that in all of America we do not have one single leader willing to step forward and lead. Truly Remarkable.
It is an opportunity to destroy the Republican Party and elect someone who represents White People.
I voted for Trump twice. Never again. Insulting DeSantis and Vance before the election. Running his mouth about his new campaign just before the MidTerms. Trump cost us this election. And his idiotic picks and endorsements. Mehmet Oz. Jesus Christ. Herschel Walker? Trump had a shitty administration because he picked shitty people. He thinks someone that looks cool on TV and kisses his ass will make a good Cabinet or election pick. If the Republicans want to survive, they have to dump Trump. What did Ronald Reagan say? Never speak ill of a fellow Republican. Trump is a self-centered bitch that only cares about himself. He just cost this country big time.
Curt Nichols
What would you have said if the Trump wave had barreled in?
You’d be saying Trump was a hero.
You guys talk about restoring decency and integrity.
Where do decency and integrity intersect with someone like Trump?
You’re only pissed off because the wave was barely a ripple.
Larry opowiadasz bajki.Rosja przegrywa i Usa będą finansowały Ukraine
Larry you tell stories. Russia is losing and USA will finance Ukraine
Politics, as we keep having to be reminded, is downstream from culture. Right now, we inhabit a culture in which a surprisingly large minority of voters – I reckon at least 30% – have decided to reject or ignore basic truth, including basic biology and mathematics. But this minority has established both cultural and political hegemony over the remaining 70-80% us, mostly because we let them. By nature, we in the majority have been too timid and diffident to get right up in their faces when they tell us men can get pregnant, or that there was no evidence of voter fraud in 2020.
So we’re no longer allowed to say, in polite company, that ‘boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.’ Or ‘in Arizona in 2020, an election audit found that 9,000 more mail-in ballots were counted than were mailed out.’ Or ‘The Democrat running for AZ governor is also running the election.’ If you let some such comment slip at work, you might well be summoned to HR.
At 1230 pm MDT, It looks like the GOP is going to take the House. The Senate is much closer. But Biden can count on enough GOP defections on key votes to muddle a narrow Senate victory.
That Culture of Untruth has given rise to politics in which the ruling party routinely sends its secret police to raid political opponents simply because they are political opponents. Oh, and to seize documents that might have exposed secret-police criminality in their earlier coup attempt.
I wouldn’t count on Jim Jordan to accomplish much. If he starts to, he’ll probably face a DoJ tax evasion probe, or maybe some Ohio DA can be persuaded to go after him. You can, as they say, indict a ham sandwich.
We still live in a banana republic, albeit a wealthy, high-tech one: Americagua, or maybe Amerabwe. Yesterday’s pink ripple won’t change much.
My guess is that the same people who own Democrats own Republicans. I will be surprised if there is a significant change
Mr. Johnson; i hope yu have the courage to post this. This will not be popular with allot of your website audience; but am beginning to think this may be true. I really want to be wrong about everything i write below; but am getting a sinking feeling am right.
the last 2 days may go down as a major setback for supporters of the republicans and russia also.
i do not see trump as a viable 2024 candidate. He is the self proclaimed father of the jab via operation warp speed. He still supports taking it . His ego will not let him admit he was wrong. I believe he lost allot of his base because of this stance that he will not back off and that may help explain the disappointing results of the midterms where even with democrat trickery it should still have been a landslide due to the obvious faulty democrat leadership.
When trump did not give amnesty to all of his jan 6th supporters and the lack of republican party support for them whom are being treated as animals in the DC gulag am thinking they are just paper tigers who are just bought and paid for like the rest. When put under pressure they fold like an superior all in poker hand who has been bluffed.
you can all laugh or mock at me if you want but when you check the increase in insurance death payouts for all ages, increase in cancer and heart related issues; there is no coincidence this started happening after the jab was put into widespread use worldwide after december 2020.
In my opinion if the republicans want a chance to get the presidency they need to go with DeSantos who does not have the jab baggage trump does and trump needs to retire to the golf course which his ego will not allow him to do
———————————————————————————
this just came out on russia.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-orders-troops-leave-kherson-zelenskys-office-cautions-over-staged-retreat
IF this is true may make sense from a miltary point of view but is a pr disaster for russia.
i learnt 1st hand from my years as a PM in the oil sector THE HARD WAY that;
PERCEPTION is REALITY and the TRUTH is NEGOTIABLE.
1) this will enbolden the neocons to say that russia is losing and to send more support to the ukraine. This may even embolden them to send troops into the Ukraine as they say that russia is weak and will not stop them from being a so called peacekeeping force
2) this will embolden the ukraine to keep fighting. When yu say you are just fighting to conserve your soldiers yu are saying we are weak and are not willing to do what is necessary to do what is necessary to win. In a war; yu will take casulties to win and that is just the way it is. The ukrainians will think we have the testicular fortitude and the russians do not. In that way it demoralizes the russian forces who know they can win when put to the test. They will think there is no need to negotiate know with a bunch of pansies like this.
3) The kherson region is know supposed to be a part of russia and by its constituion is not given to another country. By giving this up russia is showing to its new citizens that they will not do what is necessary . if russia trys to take this area back they will have to cross the river again which will cost them allot of casulties they are saying they are trying to avoid. Putin had a big ceremony with the 4 leaders of the new regions after the referendum and it is beginning to look mute at this point.
there are 2 recent examples of ww2 where a leader said stand or die and that was the right way to go;<
1) In december 1941 when the USSR launched its winter counteroffensive against the germans hitler against the advice of his generals said to stand fast or die. this was the proper descision to make at the time as a retreat would have resulted in a rout in -40 degrees F weather which would have resulted in the destruction of the german army jus t like napeoleon in 1812. by the spring of 1942 the germans were able to mount offensive actions again.
2) In 1942 stalin said no retreat from stalingrad – fight or die. This was the proper descision also. If the germans would have gotten cntrl of stalingrad the volga river would have been under their cntrl which was the main supply line for logistics to all fronts which included all of the lend lease coming in from iran. In addition the oilfields of the causcaus would have been lost; whereby the ussr would have probably have lost the war. They stood and fought and changed the tide of WW2 with their counteroffensive in november of that year. If any russian general would have told stalin to retreat from stalingrad they would have been rightfully put up against a wall and shot.
In my opinion if russia continues on this course of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory they deserve to lose this war that they should have already won. Putin is trying to play a long game which he will lose if he is not careful.
Am beginning to think that Putin is not a true wartime leader like churchill was. Churchill for all his flaws did not give up after dunkirk and continued on. He did what was necessary to win which i do not see putin doing in the last couple of monthes
For the last 2 months it has been ukraine regaining the inititive especially in the propaganda front and russia has been losing it as per the msm article below. If the morale of the russian people goes downhill putin will face increasing pressure from home the longer this war goes on. They need to end this sson or they may end up like the demoralized usa after vietnam.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/09/russia-abandons-ukrainian-city-of-kherson-in-major-retreat/
Putin needs to be a warrior and not a lawyer in my opinion. There is a saying either crap or get off the pot; so he needs to decide what to do. If he was playing texas hold-em .He is all in whether he knows it or not.
The neocons and leftists in power around the world only understand force; if yu give them and inch they will take a mile. This is true for both the ukraine and usa politics. Just the way it is.
best regards,
Ralph
You’re absolutely correct imo about this from a PR pov, and contrary to the views of some, PR is very important.
From a military perspective also, it’s hard to see this making any sense unless Russia is in effect conceding that there will be no resumption of any strategic offensive aimed at a full defeat of the Ukraine (“denazification”, de-NATOising). At most, some more grinding forward to try to get to the Donestk/Luhansk borders. Maybe they are under the “air/missile force delusion” beloved of the USAF that a victory can be won by bombardment alone?
Barring a rather fanciful “trap” (unlikely imo, but if it’s going to happen it would have to be in the next few days or couple of weeks at most, before the Ukrainians have secured the river line) or an imminent initiation of an offensive elsewhere (Sumy, the northwest, etc), it’s hard to see how abandoning this strategic bridgehead over the Dnieper and freeing up huge numbers of Ukrainian troops to transfer elsewhere, once they are established on the river, can be anything other than a strategic military defeat for Russia.
We will know soon, because if nothing of the kind described happens in the next few days, then there will be no hiding that it is the latter.
Fwiw, others have noted that Putin, for all his undoubted strengths, is neither a military man nor a war leader. He also has erred in being too willing to compromise with the neocon US sphere before now. We may be seeing the consequences of that weakness now.
Mark – you are absolutely correct on the pr and military prospective . I agree with your assesment on putin also.
the overall Russian commander is an air force guy . He would be the equivalent of carl spaatz who commanded the Strategic Air Forces in Europe during ww2.
Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin (Russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Сурови́кин; born 11 October 1966) is a Russian Armed Forces army general and Commander of the Aerospace Forces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander-in-Chief_of_the_Aerospace_Forces
these guys who had been the pioneers of air power in ww1 thought that air power would win the war by itself and just needed the army to mop up. they were wrong.
i could be wrong but i would want an army guy to be the overall commander instead of someone from the air force or the navy which when it comes down to it are there to support the army in fulfilling its role instead of thinking the other way around.
when he said (assuming the translation is correct ) this quoting from the zerohedge article; to me this is a sign of weakness; not strength
“We will save the lives of our soldiers and fighting capacity of our units. Keeping them on the right (western) bank is futile [of the Dnieper River]. Some of them can be used on other fronts,” Surovikin said. This moment was somewhat expected, given pro-Kremlin officials have for weeks been overseeing a very public evacuation of civilians and the Russia-installed administration from the city.
This would be like the marines abandoning Guadalcanal after they had taken the island due to the naval defeat at savo island which then made logistics quite difficult. the marines did not turn tail and be evacuated but stayed ; fought and won. The russian logistical difficulties at kherson are not the best but compared to what the marines at Guadalcanal dealt with are a walk in the park.
cheers,
ralph
I’ve heard/read all this before re: Russia’s actions. ‘The sky is falling’ etc. and then Russia turned right around and really let Ukraine have it, but good. PR ShmeeR! You don’t like Putin’s “long game”? maybe b/c you can’t handle a long game.
The Kherson pull-back made perfect sense. So what if some don’t like the way “it looks”. What’s important are peoples’ lives. The Ukraine Army put everything they had in this offensive at Kherson, and as you should know by now, the Allied forces were spread very thin. Meanwhile remember that call-up of Reserves?
So, here’s how I see it Ralph: Russia is getting all their ducks lined up right now, and does not need some side-show in Kherson to detract focus. Meanwhile the Ukrainian Army has been destroyed. On-going, Ukrainian infrastructure is being destroyed. Russia is holding in-stasis whilst the Reservists get fully and PROPERLY trained and deployed. Kherson will be re-captured almost automatically as part of the whole theater of war when the Real Offensive begins. Meanwhile makes perfect sense to retreat to the highly defensible east side of the Dneiper.
Go back and read your essay Ralph when Russia unleashes its blitzkrieg. This is going to shock a lot of people and awe the rest. Don’t worry. Putin and Shoigu fully intend on deciding this war once and for all, and doing it before the USA and its Polish ally get their shit together. Yeah, the high command in Moscow saw that coming a mile away.
So, relax, take a powder and just wait and see. It’s gonna be quite a show.
At every electoral results in the US , I have that clip that pop in my mind :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz_V4lRdtjo
And I don’t know why …
Las elecciones no cambiaran el rumbo. la podrerumbre seguira creciendo como es natural en cada nacion en la que no existe la democracia. aqui solo hay un monton de credulos que creen que su miserable voto cuenta.
You are entirely right only fools believe that their vote counts. The parties are always fingers of the very same hand wherever western “democracy” is ruling. So why do the masses believer that things may change for the better? It’s the deep state that rules and the deep state is driven by Rockefellers and Rotschilds.
Well you have to hand it to the Dems, they will never let a minor thing like most of the country hating them stand in their way of electoral victory.
It’s a good lesson in how psychological operations are run with domestic elections and how all those who saw the tyranny of lockdowns, the scam of the plandemic, and the dangers of vaccines somehow cannot see that elections are being rigged in five cities, again.
The founders were on to something with only property-owning tax-payers being allowed to vote. They advised that the tyranny of a state-dependent majority could one day overrule the property owners subsidizing the republic.
They certainly never imagined a Global Technocracy overseeing an Oligopoly overseeing a Corporatocracy overseeing a Managerial Kakistocracy overseeing an Idiocracy of obese beta males and their pussy hat wearing “partners.”
And Russia has announced it’s pulling out of Kherson.
Hmmmm
I was a huge Trump supporter in 2016 and left the GOP in January 2021 when the GOP leadership stabbed him in the back.
Yesterday I voted straight Republican here in a Boston suburb. I view voting in U.S. elections as the grown-up version of writing letters to Santa Claus but figured God would be disappointed with me for not making the effort to at least show up and vote against the Demonic Party.
So I went and kept my mouth shut when interacting with the shitlib boomers working at the polling place (not easy for someone like me but having some Wellesley cops standing nearby helped me keep my abrasive and contemptuous comments to a minimum).
The resentment towards the USA and their puppet regimes in Europe is limitless among those who do not believe the lies of the media and are courageous enough to face reality with their search of truth.
I am living in Switzerland another vassal of the US empire. I was a true patriot until I detected that all patriotic organisations over here are in fact 5th colonnes of NATO. Being a former member of the special forces of the swiss army I was convinced that the army was the organisation around which all patriots could rally yet I have been proved wrong when I discovered that the swiss army is also entirely in the hand of Nato lickers.
Today I believe that the best for the european people would be that russians do march to Paris again like they did in 1814-15 and free the continent from any anglo-saxon satanism. Numerous would be the europeans would stand up and help them in their task.