I am not suggesting that Avril Haines, Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, is stupid. But I do believe, based on her performance at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Reagan Library, that she is not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. If she is telling Biden the nonsense that she was dishing to Andrea Mitchell, and Biden is believing it, then the Biden Administration and the American people are in for a rude awakening in the coming weeks.
Here is the video of some of her remarks:
What a maroon! Let’s start with this headline from the NY Post based on Avril’s delusional comments — Ukraine may have brighter future as Russia struggles to resupply fighting forces. What?!! Apparently Ms. Haines is so busy reading “intelligence” reports that she is unaware that it is Ukraine, not Russia, begging for more weapons and ammunition and most NATO countries are pleading poverty, with no more to send:
France has unofficially admitted that it is unable to provide Ukraine with more weapons due to dwindling stocks, but promised to continue helping Kiev in other ways, Politico has reported, citing an anonymous source.
“Off the record, the French admit they can’t give more weapons to Ukraine due to the state of their own supplies,” the outlet said in its Brussels Playbook briefing on Thursday. It added that Paris “hopes to make up for it with civilian aid.”
It comes amid reports that most NATO members have also run out of weaponry to give to Ukraine.
Yeah, that is a sure fire recipe for success in fighting a war. Ukraine is like one of those self-proclaimed homeless people standing at an intersection with a sign begging for more armaments. France said, au contraire.
Haines also is unaware that Russia is in the process of sending more than 300,000 fresh troops to the frontlines at the very time that Ukraine is suffering catastrophic losses. You would think that the head of U.S. intelligence might have heard a word or two about that development.
Oh yeah. Almost forgot. Did you know that Russia is running out of precision missiles? Yep. That mantra is being repeated almost every week by wistful Western intelligence analysts and pundits. Putin and the Russians apparently did not get the word on that development and continue to shellack Ukraine’s key power infrastructure every week.
I think Haines honestly believes that there is no way Russia can produce more missiles and rockets. That is not so much a reflection on her gullibility as it is an indictment of the pathetic state of U.S. intelligence. The CIA and the NSA apparently are unaware of the locations and products produced by Russia’s defense industry.
Russia has several advantages over the United States in this regard. First, it is blessed with the natural resources, minerals and metals required to produce those weapons. Second, it has a better educated population that can perform the technical work required to build and test the weapons. And third (and most important), the Russian defense industry does not have to pay off greedy legislators to produce highly expensive, largely irrelevant defense projects; the recently announced B21 bomber (a really gargantuan white elephant) in order to give shareholders a nice return. Russia’s defense industry, in contrast to the U.S. behemoth that now needs $800 billion a year to produce boondoggles, is dedicated to defending Russia and producing weapon systems, like the S400 air defense system, that actually perform well in combat.
Heard much about the “game changer” HIMARS lately? No. U.S. cannot produce enough of the rockets fired by that system to keep them viable in Ukraine.
I believe the U.S. intelligence capability is severely degraded from what it was 30 years ago. Yes, the Central Intelligence Agency still has CIA officers in the field trying to recruit foreigners to spy for us. In other words, supply us with the inside skinny about what is really going on inside a foreign government or military. Unfortunately, the CIA is a career bureaucracy and does not play a long game. What I mean by that, the CIA does not encourage nor incentivize officers to become genuine experts in dealing with a particular country. They move from job to job in order to secure a promotion. I know of one officer who was working in one of the former Soviet Republics (one of the “stans”) in recent years and, because he did such a swell job there his next assignment was a country in north Africa. No time to become genuinely fluent in the language of either country.
Do you recall the story of Gary Berntsen? I consider Gary a friend and patriot. He wrote the book, Jawbreaker:
In Jawbreaker Gary Berntsen, until recently one of the CIA’s most decorated officers, comes out from under cover for the first time to describe his no-holds-barred pursuit of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
With his unique mix of clandestine knowledge and paramilitary training, Berntsen represents the new face of counterterrorism. Recognized within the agency for his aggressiveness, Berntsen, when dispatched to Afghanistan, made annihilating the enemy his job description.
Prior to 9-11, Gary had carried out intelligence activities in Afghanistan after the Soviets withdrew. So, you would think the CIA would want a Pashto speaker who knows Afghanistan to remain active in that region and cultivate sources and contacts. Nope. The CIA sent him instead to Uruguay, a Spanish speaking nation with a great beach at Punta Del Este (they say it is the place the Argentine men go to stare at the beautiful rear ends of the daughters of Uruguayan men). In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, Gary’s boss in Uruguay tried to block him from volunteering to go to Afghanistan. That was 22 years ago and things have not gotten any better.
The sad reality is that the United States has become addicted to gathering intelligence via foreign liaison services. That means we get our intel spoon fed to us by the Brits, the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Israelis, just to mention a few. Making matters worse — we actually believe the garbage that our allies feed us. If the CIA had any decent sources on the ground in Russia they would know that the Russian defense factories are working 24 – 7 and are churning out the precision missiles that people like Avril Haines keep hoping disappear. And they would acknowledge that Vladimir Putin is more popular in Russia than any political leader in the United States because Putin played a major role in transforming Russia from a genuine shithole in 1999 to a fully modern country.
I recommend you watch (if you have not already) Alexander Mercouris’ latest commentary on these matters. Frankly, he would make a better Director of National Intelligence than Avril Haines and he could still do his Duran podcasts.
It all reminds me of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” tale, where a vain Emperor ended up walking around butt-naked, deceived by his fancy new tailor, and even worse, by his corrupt court, instead of preventing such an embarrassment and idiocy, were praising the Emperor’s non-existing dress. It took a child to shout, “the Emperor is naked” to jolt all the adults back to reality.
So, the question is now at the top of our current US government will shout “the Emperor is naked – Ukraine lost this war, let’s stop the madness?”
It really looks like she walked into a briefing of how things were going for Ukraine and she mixed up Russia and Ukraine
I suspect that’s the exact gist of their morning meetings. See what’s going south for Ukraine, then raise those points but attribute them to Russia instead, then let the MSM run with it.
Stupid but very effective for their target audience.
Hi Lika,
I think it is like this: Would she / all of them / get an approval from “lawmakers” (with public support) for more “funds for Ukr” (aka gravy train for all involved) if she told the truth?
Also, Larry, wouldn’t all the “intelligence” agencies sub-contract the sources for another nefarious reason — clear deniability! As in: “We didn’t screw-up, we were fed misinformation; it wasn’t our fault!” (Eh?)
The worst part of the above points is that the “public” is so insouciant and naive that it sort-of-deserves-that-what-is-coming…
And my last point: Is Ms Haines the heiress of the underwear co? 😉
Regardless, the point is, can one imagine that from all the very rich (0.01%) one of the most intelligent ones may be Mr. Gates and Mr. Bezos? (Exempt Mr. Musk, his billions didn’t screw-up his mind yet!)
Cheers, JaKo
What do you do with a DNI like that?
Easy – Get her to read this.
In more depth . . . https://les7eb.substack.com/p/long-proxy-war-vii-crisis-of-failure
Hi Larry . . . Latest post.
War criminal neocon V Nuland was in Kiev this week-end.
Can this woman still sleep at night? Same question for Blinken, Austin, Bojo, Macron, the all EU and co.
Another cemetery of the Ukrainian Armed forces 🔥🇺🇦
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/23319
Of course. Sociopaths can make decisions very lightly without even a passing knowledge of the briefs, and without a thought as to the consequences. They sleep fine.
It’s like stealing from a store: You think everybody is watching, which is why you will be caught. Those who do not care have an advantage.
Those without a conscience have no problems afterwards; those with a conscience likely do not either, because their conscience and the fear of God keeps them within boundaries.
Garland Nixon’s stream today was on point – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRlBmtf60AQ The people at the highest levels of our government are legit psychopaths.
“You can see it in their eyes: dead shark eyes.”
Exhibit A is this lizard Blinky pretending to be a human being: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVhY8p9cGI. The man is completely dead inside.
As clinical as AI robots. They have much in common because their thinking is programming the robots. Some people would even say that the demons possessing them are guiding their thoughts and deeds.
By “they” I mean the people with the dead shark eyes.
Oh yes. One way to look at the cycle of abuse is that it’s just demons, hopping from abuser to abused, endlessly. My opinion is that Blinken was fed a diet of hating the Russians since he was a baby, as his father and grandfather before him. The real Anthony never had a chance.
Is he trapped in there somewhere? May God have Mercy on his Soul.
She is the Gina Haskel 2.0.
you are right – this is from The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Staut (you can find a free pdf at pdfdrive com):
“..Imagine not having conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. No struggles with shame. Pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless. So completely outside of their personal experience that they seldom even guess at your condition. Your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences, will most likely remain undiscovered.
When it’s expedient, you doctor the accounting and shred the evidence, you stab your employees and your clients (or your constituency) in the back, marry for money, tell lethal premeditated lies to people who trust you, attempt to ruin colleagues who are powerful or eloquent, and simply steamroll over groups who are dependent and voiceless.
Making people jump means you have power – or this is the way you see it – and bullying provides you with an adrenaline rush. It’s fun. You quietly lie to your boss’s boss, cry some crocodile tears, or sabotage a coworker’s project, or gaslight a patient (or a child), bait people with promises, or provide a little misinformation that will never be traced back to you. If you slip up, you may be caught and punished by the system. But you will never be confronted by your conscience, because you have no conscience. If you decide to kill, the only difficulties will be the external ones. Nothing inside you will ever protest.
..”
Statistically, the number of genetic psychopaths / sociopaths is very small. Yet the number of those with psychopathic /sociopathic traits is very high, including high percentages of lawyers, doctors, CEOs, military officers and (of course) politicians. In other words, this is not just a genetic pathology but a SOCIAL one, something you learn to do. Zelensky is a good example.
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/zelensky-hero-or-villain
A Russian speaking Jew who ran on a peace platform — and now is killing thousands of his own people, not to mention ethnic Russians, while amassing a fortune. My guess is that he sleeps well at night — not counting sheep– but counting bars of gold. Social psychopathy is enabled by inhibition of both critical thought and human feeling. This requires a personal mythology to rationalize one’s wrong doing. We see this in all US Presidents since FDR and most national leaders, with the exception of Putin and Xi today. In Haine’s case, I think Larry is right. She is not stupid. And the facts are plain. So why does she say what she says? Because it is expedient for her and her career. Social psychopathy.
You are talking about psychopathes. They enjoy harming people.
I don’t know that they are psychopaths. Rather they may just be coddled, lacking in self-awareness, midwit, type A personalities who are way out of their league.
Psychopaths only feel good about themselves – in a shallow proto-emotional way – when they are “getting over” on others. They must deceive and manipulate in order to sustain their insatiable personal ego that needs to feel masterful over others and, therefore, are not able to work well with others or maintain long term career objectives to other goal oriented foci.
In practice, these government types look like psychopaths because the end product of their actions is self-serving, destructive, irresponsible and defended via mendacity. I get it. Just being a bit pedantic, I guess.
Agree. They are likely highly credentialed midwits who are simply out of their depth, but in fine Dunning-Kruger tradition are oblivious to that fact. So they act on their limited understanding with the empty confidence of the highly credentialed.
Compounding this phenomenon is that Haines was likely promoted into her position because she is a woman. Notice how this is a trend now in many western countries where defense ministers etc. often tend to be women.
I believe the story is a little different, more like what happened during the IO runup to the Iraq war. The rank and file intel people know exactly what’s going on. The corrupt criminals at the top are running the Op.
Nope. The GS promotion ladder is just like Larry describes. You’d be lucky if the GS-15 in your command has any actual working knowledge. They are of no help to the political appointees.
I believe this lady failed the class in ‘intelligence school’… “When a democratically elected leader is overthrown in a bloody coup d’etat’, it typically descends into civil war and ceases to become ‘a country'”, well- except for those who overthrew the leader and even then, it’s a fifty-fifty proposition.
These arrogant bastards have placed all their bets on SIGINT instead of HUMINT because they’re so busy spying on us with tech they don’t think that they need HUMINT.
MAJOR THEMES
–Russians and even Putin are in the dark, but the American public thanks to the MSM has a real bird’s eye view of developments.
–Russia needs to rely on N Korea, Iran, and China, but we have not a shred of data about any of it, but we understand our first obligation is to keep the narrative going and be team-players in the DNC/DOJ/Intel/etc matrix.
–Russia is barred from exporting M$500 of micro-electronics to the EU, nevertheless they must be running out of ammo because they can’t source the components which they can’t make themselves … despite having a semi-conductor sector … even though we can’t tell you anything exact, other than that they need to import washing machines for the chips.
–We’re keeping an eye on that, we are continuously monitoring everything with our analysts, we are Great & we are winning: Russians are so dumb.
PATHETIC
She doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know. Got to keep the party going.
Don’t be a downer , Larry!
Biden and his administration are beneath contempt , a very low point for the US.
Who was worse ? My limited knowledge of US history suggests Andy Jackson , although this may be unfair to Pres. Jackson.
Your humour and insights are much appreciated.
Speaking about weapons, looks like Abrams tanks are being sent to Ukraine:
https://youtu.be/WY4muC26EL0
Or
Twitter: @AZgeopolitics
3 dic 2022
4: 14 pm
It might confirm not just that the ukranians have lost thousand of tanks but also from now on, the Western propaganda wont be able to put blurry videos of a tank being destroyed and say that is a russian one (since Russia and Ukraine use similar soviet tanks and a Western tank like Abrams is easy to recognize) and also would show Biden desperation to save face at any cost from the ukranian mess he made.
In other words now that soviet tanks for Ukraine are over its the turn for Western tanks to be blown up.
Jeez, the first turret flying off an Abrams tank on bitchute is not going to go over well. May even invoke a few heart attacks in Congress. Thank God for censorship.
I’m sure that Abrams can be carried on rail transport inside Greece (though even there the video says the train derailed) but I’m not at all convinced that they can be carried on Ukrainian rolling stock designed for tanks that are 10-15 tons lighter.
And forget the image of Abram turrets littering the battlefield: think of the embarrassment when the drone footage emerges of an Abrams tank lying upside down in a river after the overweight monstrosity caused the bridge it was travelling on to collapse.
The damn thing weighs 74 tons. A Russian T-80 weighs 45 tons.
One was designed for eastern European operations, the other was designed to make a profit. Three guesses which is which.
Those Abrams means desperation, they are not even planning. Seeing Zelensky capitulate would be too much for NATO.
And the turbine engine has a much higher heat signature. Hide to hide on frozen tundra.
Previous videos of Abrams tanks were in connection with NATO exercises.
These tanks could be en route to Romania or some other NATO purpose.
If that is the level of “intelligence” being displayed by the US today, you’re fucked!
My kids know more about what’s really going on in Russia/Ukraine, and that’s through open source information, thanks to sites like your own. Know thine enemy! The lack of knowledge on display is truly jaw dropping!
“Know thine enemy!”
And who do ye believe thine enemy is then?
Once everyone get their big cut of the pie, such as was reported today in activistpost.com, see quote below, perhaps things will wind down. It’s just about money and milking the system. When it runs dry, they will stop.
“The US Army has awarded Raytheon a $1.2 billion contract to produce an air defense system for Ukraine as part of US military aid for the country.
The contract is for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), a system the US recently began providing Ukraine. The funds for the contract are coming from the fifth package from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the US to purchase arms for Kyiv.
NASAMS typically take 24 months to produce, but the US Army said it will work to expedite the timeline. Either way, the systems will likely take at least about two years to deliver, demonstrating how the US is planning to support Ukraine against Russia in the long term.”
Larry,
Any idea who the former USMC general officer commanding Wagner PMC’s British battalion might be?
Benedict Arnold ?
The Daily Mail’s MailOnline reviews the foundations of PMC Wagner and its heinous crimes, reviews the hallmarks of the Nazi Dirlewanger brigade and reveals ……
My gosh, I started shaking when I read this.
Well, it was just really my head shaking, but that sort of ruins the punchline.
What is it with the Brits? They honestly do come off as really weird. Sort of like an island species that developed independently from normal folk, galapagos-style. Like some ancient pacific islander tribe whose culture once consisted of getting in their canoes and raiding neighboring islands.
Of course the Wagner group is like a bunch of Nazis. They named themselves after a 19th century German Composer. See the connection.
One thing to be like a bunch of nazis and another, to actually be a bunch of nazis. See the difference?
Or…..maybe they thought such a name would get them major support from the US/EU? See the connection?
Of course, they could alsways change their name to Svoboda. It’s the same words in Ukrainian and Russian.
Indeed, some simpletons would as quickly make that connection as they would hide real Ukrainian nazis in their basement and serve them cookies and cream.
My all-time favorite though was Black Water. Who in their right mind would name their company after sewer water is beyond me.
Heck, might have been on purpose.
The key difference between black and white or gray water is that black water has come into contact with fecal matter. Fecal matter is a haven for harmful bacteria and disease-causing pathogens.
Loyalty down yields loyalty up. Disloyalty or lack of loyalty down yields disloyalty or lack of loyalty up. We are not serfs. We were citizens in a republic. Now we are subjects in an oligarchic empire which wears the flayed skin of our old republic like a ghillie suit, managing popular discontent with a fake democracy.
Do you think God is on the side that is attempting to normalize pedophilia and sexual mutilation of children with surgical knives and developmental-pathway altering pharmaceuticals and sends its political police to harass those who protest it? We owe the ruling class of this abomination of an open-borders imperial crony-cartel corporate trade zone NOTHING.
This USMC general is not going to be an outlier in another 4-10 years.
Oh we owe them something alright, but describing that outside of a video game is probably a crime.
Rightly spoken.
Smedley Butler?
I heard he was bored.
Quite the opposite.
You’re projecting again.
With your full-throated loyalty to the GAE/AINO you are the Benedict Arnold betraying the legacy and future of decent, mindful people everywhere.
He might be able to tell you but then he’d have to shoot you.
Please spare him such inconveniences.
Bad translation. It was said, in Russian, the Wagner unit is under command of a former Marine infantery general, who happens to be a US citizen. It is not specified, in which army he served. US is not excluded but not specified. It isn’t specified either, whether there ar other, earlier citizenships.
E.g. A. Martyanov is a former navy officer and a US citizen, but not a USN officer …
Pravda seemed pretty sure it was a former USMC general commanding Wagner’s international troops. In fact, that was the article’s headline…
Former US Marine Corps general commands PMC Wagner foreign fighters
https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/154921-pmc_wagner_us_general/
Could be wrong, of course.
So? Andrei Martyanov was Soviet Navy. Came here in the early 90s. Wrote books, articles at USNI, Unz, his blog and podcasts with various and sundry, and bleeds at what the U.S. has become. He is a tremendous asset. USN officer? Not? So much the better. Martyanov. When only the best will do.
“LIKE A MAD WOMAN SHIT,” all over the place. Has it finally come to this?
“LIKE A MAD WOMAN SHIT,” all over the place. Has it finally come to this?
Larry, I am afraid you are confusing the lack of integrity with the lack of intelligence. She knows exactly what is going on. Like a good spook that she may or may not be, she just lies through her teeth. Sorry to say, but she may have fooled even you 🙂
Hmm. No, I think the more likely answer is that she’s been given a script and is merely repeating the lines she’s been told to say. Let’s face it, Andrea Mitchell isn’t exactly giving her a grilling, mainly because she’s another actress reading a script, and isn’t paid to ask questions but is there to maintain the narrative.
Avril Haines is what we used to call, in my former employment, an empty suit. Someone you could rely to go out and make a good impression but at the same time be completely lacking in any competence, insight, integrity or analytical ability. Like all those retired generals and admirals, her business isn’t intelligence, it’s sales. She has a product to sell and she doesn’t have the faintest idea whether what she’s saying is true or not. What’s worse, she doesn’t care. She’d make a great Pfizer rep.
There’s no great secret as to what’s going to happen once the Russians flip the switch. Avril could call Col. Douglas Macgregor, or Larry for that matter, if she wanted to really know what’s going on. Or go to the news report that described the carnage the Ukrainians are suffering in Bakhmut. No one has any excuse for ignorance on this score.
Like it said in The X-Files, the truth is out there. Oh, and the glasses perched on the top of her head are a nice touch too. Gives her that studious look, a kind of faux intellectual touch that university academics and think-tankers tend to promote.
Yes, she WOULD make “a great Pfizer rep.” But that fact only equates to more deaths and the continued, ongoing destruction of the Ukrainian people. This woman exemplifies my own longstanding adage that Liberalism is the ideology of the insane — and the damned. (Liberalism, probably defined, is any idea, notion, or government policy that clashes with God’s pure, Holy Spirit-superintended Word, the 66 Books of the King James Version Bible.)
All Larry Johnson readers should read Dr. John Robbins superb article, THE MESSIANIC CHARACTER Of AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY. In this article, Dr. Robbins, who had one of the greatest Christian minds in American history, presents a Biblical, supernaturally revealed way that our Triune God would have Christian governments conduct foreign policy. (It is the OPPOSITE of how American politicians have been conducting foreign policy for DECADES. It is a fact of history that the Tree of Liberty only springs up, grows, and thrives on Calvinist Protestant Christian soil.)
Here’s the link:
https://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/The%20Trinity%20Review%200075a%20MessianicCharacterAmericanPolicy.pdf
FFS McMorrow give the incessant proselytising and boring sermons a rest.
Not everyone is religious and not all religious are “christians”.
And the King James bible you constantly push is a Zionist revised psyop.
@Jack: Of course, I agree with you, the woman is an actress. Where our hypotheses diverge is in my allowing for her knowing the truth. An affirmative-action hire, she nevertheless comes across as intelligent. At least ntelligent enough to keep the Reagan Library’s audience of clopping seals at the edge of their seats for an hour.
It seems, from everything out there, that to advance in any US bureaucracy, rather than perform you progress by (metaphorically speaking) sucking dick. The toolkit of those nearest the top is comprised of chapstick and kneepads. And, according to thouroughly modern Milley, Chairman of the Jt. Chiefs, maybe some false eyelashes and sexy nylons too.
Russia and China just don’t understand where a proper military and intelligence service focus should be. And that’s why they’re winning.
The CIA could do a better job by simply sitting in a café and talking to real people.
Yes.
But the money.
“The CIA could do a better job by simply sitting in a café and talking to real people.”
“Yes, the Central Intelligence Agency still has CIA officers in the field trying to recruit foreigners to spy for us. In other words, supply us with the inside skinny about what is really going on inside a foreign government or military.”
One of the outcomes facilitated by the hearts and balls efforts of “The United States of America including American propaganda” over many years and locations, is the growing aggregations of curved balls not restricted to the physical, as force multipliers of pre-existing facilities, thereby aiding the CIA and others to do a better job of “self-destruction”.
If the crap she was dishing out in public is what she is telling Crash Test Dummy (thanks Pepe) then God help us. I have not heard so much crap from a person at that level of the Intelligence Community for………….. well in reality I guess that’s all we’ve been getting since 2001. As an aside I was not long out of the military in 2001 (10 years) and still had contacts in the job. Asked one straight up as to what the intelligence assessment was with regard to Saddam’s WMD as my assessment directly opposed that of our politicians in Canberra (and Washington and London). My friend mulled the question for a minute and then said (in Australia – the secrecy act is generally adhered too scrupulously) “We sometime wonder if the politicians are reading the same intelligence report we are”. And I’m under the impression it hasn’t changed much – probably got worse.
Ah… Straylian Politicians… Punching above their weight again 🙂
Not that the Canberra Career Nomenklatura are much to write home about either.
Not to self: stock up on Kumquat Preserves. It’s going to be a long, cold Northern Winter.
“We sometime wonder if the politicians are reading the same intelligence report we are”.
As I suggested : They don’t want to know. DC or Canberra, London , Berlin, Paris.
This has been a dark decade . Unbelievable when you pause and think of the lessons we should have learned on the nature of power.
We’ll see.
( excuse for including scungy little Canberra in this list).
I guess her calculation is that little stream of bilge water is enough to keep the believers on side. It’s like marking your own homework or boasting about your child gaining entry to a prestigious school after you paid a substantial bribe to get them in. After all, it’s business as usual. https://youtu.be/M8zmnaHpdmY
Larry, you are so right – yet not the first major intelligence failure – Group think? Careerism over truth? Mass formation? a focus on SigInt rather than HumInt? Outsourcing to actors with ulterior motives?
I am always suspicious of a small middle eastern non-arab country that seems excellent at re-directing the US.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-troops-in-lithuania-shift-from-deterrence-to-combat-mode
Apparently US Troops in Lithuania are now in combat mode – actors in the US gov’t are heading for an escalation, and I can only presume bad intel plays a role.
And the Polish army is mobilizing 200,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca7zRpwql1E
Is the intel on our allies any more reliable?
What a maroon!
Sheesh, do you really have to subject us to this sort of torture?
10 seconds into her video was enough for me. I can recite the rote nonsense without a further listen verbatim, since it’s all canned spam.
Speaking of spam (or God forbid, not), let’s take a walk through a Moscow supermarket 8 years into ‘the sanctions from hell’, just for fun. Is the voentorg doing as poorly, I wonder?
https://youtu.be/Vhdc7Lwst-I
https://youtu.be/Vhdc7Lwst-I
Even today I heard Alastair Crooke say that one of the main parallel stories that the conflict in Ukraine tells is the biggest failure of Anglo intelligence that he can remember. As I had already written here and I don’t know MI6 or the CIA as he does. It’s notorious that they swallowed the story of the gas pump, just as it’s notorious that they were never in possession of all the numbers that tell the true tragedy of Ukraine in the conflict. What is even stranger! Must also be provided to Western intelligences by the SBU. Even for those who have operatives on the ground such as MI6 and the CIA. But the front is too big. Only the EU looks worse in the picture. Brussels even believed in the disinformation campaign that the CIA sends to MSM until recently. In any case, none of this massive intelligence failure is relevant today. Even if it’s not noticeable to everyone, the West today only looking for negotiations. Even Biden’s headset has already given up on taking down Putin. Basically what he came to say is that he is willing to do what he didn’t do in December. To hear Russia’s proposals. Regardless of what Russia wants today. Must not be the same anymore! But it’s also clear that there have been conversations lately. We’ll see. I continue to believe in the possibility of ending the conflict by Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MCbbXMqaM
I was in Russia in ’99 and I disagree with Larry’s characterization of being a genuine shithole. A genuine shithole was Philadelphia, also where I was in ’99. Russia was merely ‘rustic’, sort of like Pittsburgh in the 80’s.
Casual Observer,
I recall, lots of older people hawking personal wares in the park, guns on guards at any nice restaurant or cafe, and a toilet seat at the Russia hotel made out of plywood under the shower head. I would categorize Philadelphia as a hell hole – better than Somalia (where I have never been, and no desire ).
DC, being the capital, is more telling – did Rome ever allow such deprivation in before the Vandals and frequent sacking? “Rome didn’t fall in a day,” but forces in the US are turbo charging late empire processes.
Ah, that was more during the Yeltsin years. I remember my favorite sardelki joint where they greeted me with a smile and “Vot nash Amerikanits prishol”, the fresh baked lavash kiosk around the corner and the silly warnings from the American Embassy from those Yeltsin years about ‘how gypsies targeted foreigners’ wallets in the park on the way to the Hyatt’ and my favorite of all, chick-gazing in the metro stations. Course, it all helps when you speak the lingo and can pass as a local.
Once, during the Chechen terrorist period, I sat down in an empty metro car on the wrong side of an end station, waiting for it to move and a metro guard came running up to me to investigate. I said two words…’Ya Amerikanits’. No papers, nothing. He actually saluted me, then explained I needed to cross over to the opposite side. Man, did these wackadoodle neocon warmongers screw things up for the US big time.
It does seem strange that a person so young and inexperienced should be selected as DNI. Not unheard of in the history of politics, however. For example, Pope Sixtus IV made many young men cardinals in his time. It is known that the president values youth when it comes to women and he is careful to repay political favors.
America is saturated and self-absorbed in a culture of extreme narcism and arrogance. It wreaks. You can smell the stench of it all over the world.
It is not about politics (voting is an act of terrorism), voting and elections. It is about raw power and greed.
Time to nip that baby in the bid big time.
It is not apparent that this person has any real, in-the-weeds, intelligence experience, the type where you learn from your mistakes as well as your successes.
Wikipedia (which I rarely quote but which, in this case, undoubtedly has been edited to provide the best spin for her) says:
“Avril Danica Haines (born August 27, 1969) is an American lawyer and senior government official who currently serves as the Director of National Intelligence in the Biden administration.[1] She is the first woman to serve in this role. Haines previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Obama administration; the first woman to hold either position. Prior to her appointment to the CIA, she served as Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs in the Office of White House Counsel. ”
She is an AA lawyer, apparatchik for the Dems. The rest of the Wiki writeup makes that very obvious.
She has no genuine qualifications for her position — except she had a number of other AA appointments, for each of which she was equally unqualified.
She will say whatever the regime’s narrative requires, but has no experience giving her the ability to discern, or seek out, the truth of what is happening.
re: ” … the recently announced B21 bomber (a really gargantuan white elephant) … ”
It really is white! At least the first prototype is. Here’s the unveiling, for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/z8dPTDHmwRfb/
I like how the crowd oohs and ahhs as the big white boondoggle moves dramatically out of the shadows, like they’re there watching a Cirque du Soleil performance, and the acrobats have just pulled off an extra special and amazing, dipsy doodle.
Excellent post. It seems apparent we Americans are now living in a Land of Make Believe, and it is there that we will fight – and win! – all our future wars.
I’m off now to watch the recently released Marvel movie Captain American and the 99 Avengers vs the Evil Slavic Menace. I heard it’s not only action packed, but that it has a happy ending!
GOOD
Avril Haines really is an empty suit, God bless her pointy little head.
For the US to change, her prompters, and here I count Victoria Nuland as the most vocal, need to be shown the door. It’s not just that what they advocate is toxic, it’s more that they get it wrong every single time. I can think of no other example in which being consistently wrong somehow qualifies one for tenure.
Avril Haines – long-time Biden and Obama apparatchik, a truly evil person. Just 3 of her ‘achievements’:
– 2013-2015 : as Deputy Director of the CIA (appointed by Obama) reporting to Brennan, she authorised drone strikes on Obama’s infamous ‘kill list’. These were targeted extrajudicial assassinations of people from various countries including US citizens, including children and entire families
– 2015 : oversaw the CIA illegal hack of the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee. This was to nix the Committee’s investigation into the CIA illegal torture program. She then covered it up by redacting the investigation report
– during her time as Deputy CIA Director, Obama’s illegal surveillance program within the United States escalated, bringing in innocent citizens, Senate and House members, and foreign diplomats
– 2016/2017 – Haines, Rice and Lisa Monaco were key players of the Crossfire Hurricane crime, targeting the Trump canpaign
My take is that she’s not very bright but likely a sociopath, who takes real pleasure from using her power and will obey any orders given to her. I have no doubt she’d organise for individuals, or groups of people, to be liquidated if ordered to do so by the Biden regime inner circle.
This is the poison that America has allowed to be injected into its system. God help America.
Looking at her picture, she obviously looks a whole lot like a good standard librarian working at a community library but definitely not the head of the intelligence.
The well known author of several excellent WW II books and professor, Victor Davis Hanson characterizes are current government as, “A cabinecy of dunces.” I couldn’t agree more.
Good synopsis, and I agree, that Avril Haines is interesting, but stupid. She does represent the administration and the electorate that put her in her position. Oh, of course with the help of the Republican Party.
But be elated, she is touted as the first woman to hold such a position. Again, we see the evidence of what I coined, “You hire for diverse, you make it worse.”
One would think that the empire of lies would end at some point, after being exposed in all those lies. But, no, a new package of even bigger lies is coming right away. And so for 10 months.
On a trivial note, Punta del Este is a nice beach. Certainly head and shoulders above any beach in Argentina, but compared to Brazil it would probably wouldn’t rank in the top 1000. The Argentines are staring at Argentine asses in PdE as well, since all of upper middle class and above from Buenos Aires basically relocate there for the summer and dwarf the Uruguayan moneyed class.
The more we see, the more the theory that we are ruled by cabal of lizardoids that hate humans make sense.
They Live. What a great movie, only the alien overlords didn’t hate us, they just wanted to strip-mine the planet without interference.
“I am not suggesting that Avril Haines, Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, is stupid.”
Just willfully stupid and willfully ignorant. She is saying what she needs to say, what she has been ordered to say. In order to get along. Getting along means getting paid in money that is worth nothing.
Women have no concept of advanced citizenship. The whole concept of consequences has no meaning to them. What does lying, cheating, two-timing, cold-heartedness, home wrecking and “loserdom” mean to them?
“What, at this point, could it possibly matter?”
I just wonder if your excellent judgment that “Women have no concept of advanced citizenship. The whole concept of consequences has no meaning to them. What does lying, cheating, two-timing, cold-heartedness, home wrecking and “loserdom” mean to them?” cover also William J. Casey, CIA Director as a woman? After all, he did say: “We’ll know our disinformation is complete when everything the American public believes is false. – William J. Casey, CIA Director”. Not a beacon of advanced citizenship.
It seems to me that we are seeing is a growing predominance of women in every profession. I believe they are being put there, intentionally, probably by men.
Why?
Feminism, mainly.
Women have demanded equality with men. The Powers That Be will never let this happen. Other women will never let this happen. Women will never be equal to men, regardless. The closest women will ever be allowed to get to their heart’s desire is to be the same as men. And being a man sucks. Want to know what that means? Just ask men.
Everything women know about men, and what a man’s world is, comes from the equivalence of feminist comic books — about how it’s “a dog eat dog world,” the patriarchy, and stuff. The reality is a lot worse.
If he’s smart, everything a man knows about women comes from other women. Men are actually smart about that one thing. Most men. Women, on the other hand, get all they know about men from other women. That’s like gazing in a mirror. The wrong kind of mirror, belonging to the wrong kind of women.
“If he’s smart, everything a man knows about women comes from other women. Men are actually smart about that one thing. ”
You should learn everything you know about women from DEALING with them. Not about what other women tell you. And adjust your game from there. Women, mostly, are not predators and schemers, but depending on women to fill you in is madness. Don’t know if you’re married or what, but a single guy shouldn’t be building his game on a woman’s advice. Just sayin’, all due respect. Trust your instincts. It’s when you ignore those that the trouble starts. Instincts are better than most guys think. They can keep you alive, after all.
Sorry to come back to this.
My Hillary Clinton quote was a little off. “At this point, what difference does it make.”
The thing with William Casey was that most people knew he was evil. Just knew it. Not a caricature of evil, the way women are today. Which is worse. Somehow evil, with women, runs deeper than pathos.
We don’t know, and won’t admit, what the true character is of women like Avril Haines, Victoria Nuland, Liz Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, NYS Governor Kathy Hochul, Maxine Waters (with her Emperor Palpatine smile), Finish PM and blossoming neo-Nazi Sanna Marin, or real honest to God Nazi New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Not because they are evil, but because we refuse to see it. We caulk it up them being misinformed, stupid, or ignorant, still just women. It’s a copout. “An instance of avoiding a commitment or responsibility.”
Most women like this are just playing men. They get away with bad behavior because they believe men get away with it all the time. Maybe men do. The men that are left.
Women play at being men. And, as the realization grows about the true degree of wanton and open criminality going on in the United States, and the world, and happening to women, women will very soon be emulating that; going to extremes like they do now.
And men carry their portion of blame for this. Instead of being seen as being the same as men, men still see women for what they wanted them to be — protectors or civilization, the family, justice, etc. Stuff, like democracy, that are fictions, and no longer exist. Protecting a world for something that does not exist. Women. Still not equal to. Still just the same as men. Maybe even worse than men.
The true change has yet to come.
I think I agree with a lot of what you say but you have gone a bit into the weeds. As a woman aged 77 I can look back to times when women knew and understood their “place.” Men and women are basically different- one is not better than the other but different. Our roles are complimentary and fit together perfectly – notwithstanding there are men and women who deviate from the norm. It is sad to see so many hard feminists in power around the world today. Nature has give them the wonderful gifts of motherhood and nurturing. What kind of woman sits in an office all day and plans the destruction of others? We have put these poor women into these positions for the worst of reasons – because of politics.
One more point that we never talk about is: what are you men thinking when you allow those you are by nature to protect go out into the world and act out a perversion of their gifts?
I agree with the weeds part. Thank you for your comment. “What kind of woman sits in an office all day and plans the destruction of others?” From my POV, I am reminded about how “Women tie knots no sailor ever knew.”
“. . . the Russian defense industry does not have to pay off greedy legislators to produce highly expensive, largely irrelevant defense projects; the recently announced B21 bomber (a really gargantuan white elephant) . . . .”
As shocking wastes of money goes the B-21 is nothing. The “really gargantuan white elephants” are not even accounted for. The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) reached the point decades ago of not having to stand for a simple audit. Too much ‘spaining to do.
Simple accountability lets you know what something costs, or at least gets you in the neighborhood. Simple accountability also lets you know what you are getting, and if it works.
We have nothing like that anymore.
Read about the Peter Principle. What you see here is typical for all organisations. High positions are filled with incompetent people as a rule.
“Read about the Peter Principle. What you see here is typical for all organisations.”
Mirror Gazing can bring solace to some and opportunities to “all” others.
“Unfortunately, the CIA is a career bureaucracy and does not play a long game.”
Boy, is that double, triple, and quadruple speak.
You really want a bureaucracy that plays the long game? Just look at our entrenched, career, professional politicians, who somehow get re-elected, over and over and over again. And if something happens to them their children step in and take their places. Meghan McCain? The entire Cheney family? The Kennedys? The Cuomos? Whose long game are they playing? Same thing with Hollywood.
Our ideological enemies — yes, I’m thinking Russia and China — their most irresistible, cogent, and undeniable criticism about the United States, a representative government, specifically our republic, was that they had to deal with a new bunch of “deciders” every four years. In other words, the United States, because of what it was (or used to be), and what it (used to) stand for, was incapable of playing the long game.
We don’t know what the CIA is anymore. They used to be the phone company. That level of benign-ness was somehow comforting, back then. Today, all I want for Christmas is a 25-megaton nuke dropped on Langley.
“France has unofficially admitted that it is unable to provide Ukraine with more weapons due to dwindling stocks, but promised to continue helping Kiev in other ways”
We’ll send them perfume so they can spray the rotting corpses that are left on the battlefield?
We won’t be able to send crutches to Ukrainian war amputees because our Health system is in total disarray…
Delenda Ukraina?
“Frankly, [Alexander Mercouris] would make a better Director of National Intelligence than Avril Haines and he could still do his Duran podcasts.”
Alexander Mercouris? The disgraced and disbarred former British Barrister would make a better Director of National Intelligence than Avril Haines?
Lowering the bar much? (Pun intended.)
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=77393bcffc9f31a3JmltdHM9MTY3MDE5ODQwMCZpZ3VpZD0wNmNlZWY1Yi0yN2Q0LTY2OTctMjM0ZC1mZDJhMjZiYjY3MjUmaW5zaWQ9NTAwNw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=06ceef5b-27d4-6697-234d-fd2a26bb6725&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVnYWxjaGVlay5jb20vMjAxNy8wNy9iYXJyaXN0ZXItd2hvLXdhcy1kaXNiYXJyZWQtYWZ0ZXItZm9yZ2luZy1sYWR5LWhhbGUtbGV0dGVyLXN1ZWQtZm9yLTIwMDAwMC1ieS1leC1jbGllbnQv&ntb=1
while your point is made with obvious facts the less obvious fact is,Mercouris did not have the deep state connections that would have exonerated him.Look at the list of western criminals still holding office after the scandel was suppressed.Joe Biden tops that list.
This is the second time this has happened. I copy a link to something that substantiates a point I am making. A link that worked perfectly well when I tested it, but when it is inserted in a comment becomes something else, and always the same thing: The Microsoft Store. I don’t know why this is happening. Some kind of new censorship, gaslighting, dirty deeds done cheap?
Just for the record, I have nothing for or against Alexander Mercouris. I watch his videos. Not all the time. His fidgeting can be very distracting. I don’t know if he has a medical condition, and if so, what he is suffering from.
Let’s try this one more time. I did test it, and it did work.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=589c9e2de0e4ae87JmltdHM9MTY3MDE5ODQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZTM5MDI4OC1jZDBiLTYyYjUtMmE4Yy0xMGY5Y2NhMzYzNTMmaW5zaWQ9NTQzMw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1e390288-cd0b-62b5-2a8c-10f9cca36353&psq=alexander+mercouris+disgraced+barrister+sued&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3RhbmRhcmQuY28udWsvbmV3cy9jcmltZS9iZWF1dGljaWFuLXdpbnMtcmlnaHQtdG8tc3VlLWJhcnJpc3Rlci13aG8tbGllZC1vdmVyLXBheW91dC1hMzU4ODU0MS5odG1sIzp-OnRleHQ9QSUyMGJlYXV0aWNpYW4lMjBjYW4lMjBzdWUlMjBhJTIwZGlzZ3JhY2VkJTIwZXgtYmFycmlzdGVyJTIwZm9yLHNvbiUyMHdhcyUyMHRha2VuJTIwaW50byUyMGNhcmUlMjBmb3IlMjBhJTIweWVhci4&ntb=1
This link should take you to an Evening Standard article about Alexander Mercouris’ earlier troubles as an English Barrister.
But you believe and have faith in Victoria Nuland? You will believe and have faith in US foreign policy that has led to death and destruction all across the world? Alex had his problems. You get his and my age and you might have a story or two. That does not distract from the reality he is describing today. It does not detract from the reality that he is doing a public service trying to educate people on this Ukrainian debacle. And also? Were you there? Did you know what happened? We are right now watching the J6 people who were lured in by a DNC and FBI political operation being turned into political prisoners. Scott Ritter has a criminal charge because he would not go along with the Iraq invasion. Every FBI agent has a thumb drive ready to put kiddie porn on your computer my friend. And the fact that he puts himself in their crosshairs daily makes me respect the man.
I have no idea what you are talking about. I never said anything about believing or having faith in Victoria Nuland. Please show me where I said that.
Alexander Mercouris is not there. He is couped up in his little room of perception, like the rest of us.
And stop calling me “my friend.” You don’t even know me.
Adhesion.
I think the Evening Standard link that “the blame-e says” is looking for is:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/beautician-wins-right-to-sue-barrister-who-lied-over-payout-a3588541.html
And I want to start by saying that I absolutely agree that what matters is the content of videos today. That’s why we have a brain to think and evaluate. That’s why it’s very sad to see Western Democracies censor channels like RT. As if viewers didn’t have the brains to evaluate the contents and as if channels like CNN weren’t much worse in terms of false propaganda about the current conflict. In fact, distinguished journalists like Chris Hedges, who have worked on both channels, assured that they were much more censored on western MSM than on RT. Larry himself has a lot to say on the subject.
That said Alexandre Mercouris does not provide any public service! If not, in the pay of what state? A public service is a service that the State provides or guarantees to citizens with tax money. Like the police or healthcare in Europe. The Duran videos are a private service, with information content to generate revenue and their authors can live with full legitimacy. Where everyone can see it or not, public interest!
As for the lawsuits, Ritter’s lawsuit should not be compared with the Mercouris lawsuit where he was expelled from the profession in 2012 by a Disciplinary Court which concluded that he brought the profession into disrepute by deceiving a client. A classic case of scam or swindling, with forged signatures and other even more bizarre episodes worthy of a Guy Ritchie swindle and gangster movie. Admitted by Mercouris himself that he still tried to justify himself with a nervous breakdown and subsequent depression. It was worthless.
The judicial process that led Scott Ritter to prison is a typical witch hunt process with a series of illegalities but on the part of the state. Which says a lot about the state of Democracy and the rule of law – a judicial system needs to be autonomous – in the US. Incidentally, and now I speak as a European lawyer with a diferent penal code, the way Sting operations, as they are called in the US, are allowed is completely illegal in Europe. A plainclothes police officer cannot instigate the crime. In Europe, it was the police who ended up on the bench in court. Undercover investigations serve to investigate and ultimately lead to arrests in flagrante delicto. Never for the police to frame a citizen. Comparable to the Assange violations that have already fallen. In both cases the state clearly tried to destroy the messengers of truth.
In Scott’s case for exposing the WMD fraud in Iraq. Including a series of procedural illegalities. It’s even hard to believe the corruption of the US judicial system. Even though we all know poor citizen who has to litigate against one State. But not wanting to dwell further on the legal question, curiously Scott’s judicial process ends up contaminating more Scotts analyzes than in the case of Mercouris. What is human. The US tried to discredit and destroy Scott. What affected family and friends! He’s strong! But as in addition to the dispute with the State, it also seems to be hasty by nature, tending to make very quick judgments against the US. Like the conflict in Ukraine finish in one week! Even though conflicts are dynamic in nature and it is perfectly normal to adjust opinions. Or China, which was about to invade Taiwan when Pelosi visited. But overall I listen to Scott sometimes. Like the Duran. Less.
Where I already have to report an episode at least curious. Especially for someone like me who thinks the past matters in an era where we are all experts on all subjects in the world?! Even though we all have the right to change our lives. Or rebuild our lives! I sometimes commented on Cristoforus’ videos. Where they award comments that are nothing more than a fraud that you notice when you go to collect the prize. Which I’m sure many have heard of. At the time I spoke to an individual on Telegram who said he went through the same thing! And we both warned Cristoforus several times without any response. Or solution! When on top of that the fraud uses the official name of Alex Cristoforus on his you tube page?! This user also said that The Duran working for Peter Lavelle from RT’s Cross Talk. Which I find difficult because in that case they would have guaranteed income. And again, I have no problem working for RT. As a matter of fact, hiding it is always a problem. All communication professionals have a deontological duty to advertise for whom they work! Or does someone also think that Russia does not use propaganda as a communication tool? Everyone uses it!
This is all to say that lots of people who comment today in Russia’s side
in this conflict – for me is the right side of history – has gone through problems in the past. What we also like or not, makes anyone more vulnerable. And as the only way for Russia to make itself heard in the West, with the major media platforms all anti-Russian, is through some more charismatic people, it turns out to be a process that raises many doubts and only weakens Russia. I also love listening to Pepe Escobar. A former music critic with allegations of plagiarism. I think I make myself understood. No value judgments or intent lawsuits and any proof.
But the truth is that there aren’t many people with a completely clean “record” like Larry or Colonel McGregor giving us the truth of the facts. And I abhor the demonization of Putin as much as any cult of Putin! And conspiracy theories that always solve everything! And even more I abhor the idea of Western propaganda that Russia is Putin. About this post, for example, any enlightened economist should know that only the extractive part of Russia’s economy has more impact on the world than the EU common market. And Russia’s economy has evolved a lot in the last decade, paradoxically, with sanctions. Because it was forced to produce many goods. How come the CIA and MI6 didn’t know about this?
My answer is that unfortunately the Russia issue in the US and UK has really become a personal issue about overthrowing Putin. And when that’s the case, nobody expects very smart decisions. Because we humans use our heads and not our hearts to think. And Putin is truly responsible for Russia’s great advances in recent years. This does not mean that it should have advanced further in areas such as, for example, the autonomy of the judicial system. Already calling him a dictator is completely false and it is his biggest opponents who are not in the hands of the CIA who confirm this. Elections in Russia always have international observers. More serious than many OSCE observers in Ukraine. What exists in Russia is an enormous difficulty in running for political office. Which is understandable given the CIA harassment over the last few decades. Candidates like Navalni are as missed in Russia as Guaidó is in Venezuela. Just to serve US interests.
“Because we humans use our heads and not our hearts to think”
A “rude” Russian example of this concept is:
All humans think with their muscles.
Some with their brains, and some with their penises.
“Navalni/Mr. Navalny are as missed…….. ”
Mr. Navalny was not missed since he always had problems keeping his hands in his pockets and his trousers on, thereby increasing the pool of people motivated not to miss.
You need to follow the link all the way through and not just copy it from the search results page. Search engines do this so your click goes through their server and they can track it. Google has been doing this for over a decade now, dunno about Bing.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/beautician-wins-right-to-sue-barrister-who-lied-over-payout-a3588541.html
> His fidgeting can be very distracting. I don’t know if he has a medical condition, and if so, what he is suffering from.
Being British?
More likely ‘Being English’.
Alexander is a an excellent geopolitical analyst in my opinion. The compassion he shows towards the suffering of Ukrainians is moving and perfectly tuned to the devastation he feels obliged to watch as he trawls through the Telegram reports. I feel privileged to watch his contribution to this appalling horror show, and am grateful that I don’t have to watch what he watches
His previous career is irrelevant.
I think he’s on a redemption arc. What better way to atone for lying then telling people the unvarnished truth?
Mercouris is far better when in a group. Quick, succinct points made, rapid fire insights, nice progression. Running solo, he tends to drone on, repeating, pausing mid sentence, amplifying, correcting to no end, where you want to start waving your own hands at the screen and yell “move on, you made your point three times already for God’s sake.” But hey, fighting the insomnia is well worth it.
That said, his analyses are really insightful. Every once in a while, I catch where the bias overshadows the insight but that’s pretty rare.
I remember when he used to appear on Lavelle’s program. Lavelle is a serial interruptor, always hijacking guests’ rhetoric in mid sentence and rarely returning to them to finish their points. I’ll bet Mercouris just couldn’t take it any more and finally told him to bugger off. Anyway, their both insightful in their own ways.
Not a big Duran fan. The Greek guy on the Duran seems just fine, but, yeah, Mercouris has always struck me as having a creepy vibe. Didn’t know about his background and disbarment. Thanks for bringing that up. His behavior as a lawyer would be reprehensible, assuming the stories are true, and he would be untrustworthy, as far as I’m concerned. Are the stories true? Are they slanted? Is there more to them? No idea.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Consider the message.
I do consider the message. I like Ritter, a lot, despite the skeletons in his background and the obvious potential for an axe to grind motive. Ritter is a subject matter expert with a good intelligence track record. His explanations as to how he arrived at his conclusions make sense to me. Mercouris, not so much on all accounts.
Related, albeit even further off topic, I weigh everything available to me. Sometimes I chuckle as both sides play the “those guys are running out and finished any day now” card – the anti-Russia side keeps saying that Russia is running out of ammo and men, but the rounds just keep hitting the Kiev regime and the Russians still hold most of what they gained. The pro-Russia side (of which I am generally a member) keeps saying that the Kiev regime is running out of everything, mostly troops, yet the counter attacks just keep coming and Russia was too scared to hold them off in Kherson (if 30K Russians can’t hold off a supposedly depleted and almost done for any day now Kiev force, then Russians are way too timid to win – or Kiev actually lots more troops). The lights are off! The lights are back on! The trains are shut down! The trains are running again! Etc., etc., etc. I’m still 50/50 on whether or not there will be some big decisive frozen ground offensive by Russia. We’ll see.
When you have such limited and conflicting information to work with, a lot of what you lean toward concluding has to do with the quality of the source.
Should have added that I like Larry and MacGregor too. They’re both smart, trained professionals.
They’re both Greek. Alexander a UK transplant and Alex a US transplant.
“I think Haines honestly believes that there is no way Russia can produce more missiles and rockets. That is not so much a reflection on her gullibility as it is an indictment of the pathetic state of U.S. intelligence.”
There is a name for it: “hubris”.
Haines knows that the USA’s military industrial complex would be unable to produce missiles and drones at anything remotely approaching the volume to sustain such a bombardment.
And if the USA can’t do it then – obviously!!!! – neither can the Russians.
I mean, honestly, contemplating anything else is heresy.
QED: The Russians must be running out of missiles and drones.
Faith-based intelligence.
Estimations based upon dogma.
Nothing more, and no less.
“Estimations based upon dogma.”
No even more useful.
Estimations based upon interpretations by inept methodologists, based upon dogma sourced from approximations of SigInt and largely unvalidated HumInt, facilitating outcomes akin to the Soviet Union’s internally published seed potato to potato sold “algorithms” and derived ratios of the 1980’s and the rising popularity of dachas.
“Faith-based intelligence.
Estimations based upon dogma. ”
Be careful! Do not step in the dogma.
I’m sure you were not visiting the country-side, and the big cities in Russia always accomodate those who do well. It’s fair to say that the country was in a grim state with the exception of several big cities. Not a shithole as a whole, but there were places that could defenitely qualify.
One could say Ms. Haines is engaging in a classic example of projection. However, I think it is just part of a misinformation campaign to keep the populous on board with more $s and weapons to Ukraine.
Of all the $billions being sent to Ukraine, does anyone know the “Big Mans” cut?
Larry, I have to urge you to be more forthright. If this gal believes that shyte she was talking the other day, then she really is stupid and it behooves us all to say so plainly. In fact, it’s time for some honest observations all around: Biden is a demented dimwit and lying SOB; Jake Sullivan is an arse-kissing political hack; Vickie Nuland is an overweight ideological monster who ought to be in an orange jumpsuit (extra large); Gen. Milley would fail as police commissioner of Mayberry, USA; the country these bozos and bozinas pretend to work for is a shadow of what it was just 30 years ago and sinking lower every day…. And there’s much more I could write in this same vein, but why bother? Anyone with eyes in his head knows in his heart what is happening: the curtain is coming down on the show called America.
I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I have a reputation for going scorched earth too quickly.
Haha….don’t we all.
I have said this in many of my comments here: the surprise of the sanctions failure, the surprise about the weapons stockpiles in Russia, the surprise at all the new tech Russia is rolling out, the surprise at the fact that the whole global south is behind Russia – all these point to a systemic intelligence failure in the West. It’s like Russia was on the planet Pluto for the last 20 years and it just appeared on Earth, like the likes of CIA or insert-overpaid-blah-blah-agency-here are seeing Russia for the first time, ever. Not to mention failure of academic world who has apparently been “studying Russian history” for decades as well.
The explanation for this failure is simple – corruption. The western world is drowning in systemic corruption and most of these people (academics, analysts, journalists, decision makers etc.) know we are in an unsustainable situation, yet they keep doubling down – because they know we are too far down the road to stop and reverse course of fix things.
We should make a game of “guess what next surprise will be”. My guess would be: surprise that Russians can fight in winter. 🙂
Who was it that started that business about ‘Russia will probably halt operations during the winter, to catch up….because it’s well, so running short of everything’.
Remember that one? It was floated for about 2-3 days in the media, then disappeared. I never heard of trial and error propaganda but I guess necessity breeding invention and all that matronly stuff has its place too.
It is indeed trial and error. The Ghost of Kiev was a success. The Zaporozhie Avenger not so much. The Polish Tractor was a total fail.
That woman is a reflection of us. A country that is no longer serious. We are not going to have Valedictorians because those hurt someone’s “feelings”. We have to take Bobby to the drag queen show since everyone is. You wonder why the government is broke and in debt? 40% of Americans have ZERO saved. I’m going to college and run up 140,000 in debt for a gender study degree with no job prospects. No thought of the future. No thought of reality. So don’t be too hard on her. She is us. The US is a dinosaur. A huge powerful dinosaur that dominated the earth. And its brain has died. But the brain was so tiny, and the neural paths so slow and so long that it still walks ahead. Crushing things to death while it lumbers thru its path. But gradually slowing. Growing more and more erratic. While the other animals slowly realize the fact. And preparing for who will run the jungle next.
Believe some big US size dinosaurs also had a brain in their butt.
Was always pro US even when it was unfashionable to be so (most of my youth).
But now , what they are doing to kids…..no , never.
Ah…. an OT that matters. thanks. All this theater is indeed played to distract from the greatest evil of all: Western elites are in thrall to satanic powers. Just as Putin as said.
You are the greatest Evil of all.
Fuck you cunt I’m watching you.
Burn mofo
Can’t wait to see what Putin thinks of you.
Are you . . . all right?
Which kids? Kids in the US, in Donbass? Elsewhere?
We are no more than viewers of a ‘theatre of politics’ that is devised for our consumption on a daily basis.
The main actors are there because they follow their ‘script’, Avril is no exception.
Larry, you are a bit player in this production, inserting a bit of chaos and testing the depth of incredulity amongst a segment of the audience.
Expressing faux outrage at the performances of the actors, we are?
All must their parts!
You aren’t an English speaker.
Dr Hugo Hackenbush
Isn’t either
But
In Florida
They love
Their
Ice cold
Shakespeare.
Avril Haines may believe what she stated is correct which is scary. If so it is preventing rational informed decisions like having the UAF perform a tactical retreat to more defensible positions. This belief that the Russians are a bunch of clueless rubes provides them with a huge advantage, probably unexpected. It will be interested to see what the response will be to the coming Russian winter offensive.
Ms. Haines’ primary job qualification is tribal loyalty followed by psycho pathology.
It’s not only that Putin is more popular in Russia than any political leader in the United States. I’m pretty sure that he is more popular in the USA than Biden (which is not very hard thing to do).
One thing I learned from reading Peter Strzok and FBI texts and emails released by John Durham is how inwardly focused the FBI is, particularly in DC, at the heart of the bureaucratic beast. Strzok and his colleagues spent most of their time discussing who was meeting with whom, who said what to whom, who was being interviewed on CNN, etc…
One can assume all large bureaucracies have such tendencies, but for those at the top of government political hierarchies (as US IC must be) and at the center of the empire – this self-reinforcing loop of bureaucratic pandering and greasy-poll-climbing must be highly debilitating to independent and accurate intelligence gathering and analysis.
Haines does not seem the sort who could rise above or break-away from such a system.
OR…much like the preparations for D-Day, the West is playing a big con, with massive psyops and misdirection, and there are really vast stores of game-changing wunderwaffen and ammunition being secretly and strategically deposited in and around Ukraine. And huge, secret armies are hidden from sight, lurking throughout NATO countries, moving surreptitiously into position to strike a shattering blow on unsuspecting Russian forces.
Full disclosure: My coke dealer is the same guy as Zelenski’s.
The US “Arsenal of Democracy” is no more…it is bedazzled by wonder weapons (primarily overly expensive combat aircraft) and defense industry production output and capability is a shadow of its once great WWII self.
US-NATO military theater strategy is premised on immediate air domination followed by ground force occupation…that has not occurred in the UKR-SMO…hence US-NATO is confounded and unable to sustain the proxy war much longer .
If anything the UKR-SMO has proven that US-NATO forces can barely sustain a fight for more than several months against a peer military force.
I watched a video from Russia the other day, about the consequenses of draft on the russian economy. One of the major complains by small/mid size businesspeople was that they can no longer find enough workers, as everybody prefers to get a job on a weapons factory! Since all military industry plants work 24/7 and hire all the experienced workers they can get, this is of no surprise!
These arrogant bastards have placed all their bets on SIGINT instead of HUMINT because they’re so busy spying on us with tech they don’t think that they need HUMINT.
Could be that after 30 years of EEOC hiring, merit doesn’t filter in anymore. Only the very best are useful. They don’t have it anymore. Once you move away from merit, literally the very best you can find, human intel suffers. Plus, Woke plays into this too. We see this in every sector of the government, local through federal, and the economy. When you move away from merit, quality suffers. It’s the very source of our decline.
fun fact: she’s one of many jews in the Biden admin who make up the vast majority of his NatSec/Intel/LEO appointees. they’re also only 2% of the US population.
The West will lie 7X24, day after day until Russia has achieved all of its objectives in Ukraine. They cannot tell truth. The West will lie about the Russian victory , declare its own victory through MSM and proceed to memory hole Ukraine for eternity. The garbage will be left at the EU doorstep to dispose of as good servants do. This is called 100% government control of mass information and censorship.
The likes of Avril Haines needs to continue the Ukraine ascendancy narrative in order to keep the show on the road. Otherwise, how could good money being thrown down the UKrainian black hole be justified. How else could Ukrainian Mothers and wifes not take to the streets asking about their children and spouses on the frontline. How else could the ukrainian conscripts being trained overseas by a plethora of nation not claim political asylum in order to avert certain death or live changing injuries on their return.. How else can all those making fortunes from this war justify their amassed fortunes.
Reminds me of an ugly Helen Hunt. Probably as knowledgeable, but maybe playing dumb. Intel types and bureaucrats are actors, they play dumb, ignore the reality and keep the grift going at the expense of another 100,000 dead, which suits Nuland. She hates Russians and Ukies alike.
Hi Larry,
Off Topic Post – feel free to read and delete instead of posting it.
I would be interested in seeing your perspective on the Moore County Substation attack in N.C., along with your readers comments on whatever you write. There is very little out there on it that is intelligently written.
JB
I second that JB. People want dramatic! We must change the world today! You know what a nightmare is? A man with a grudge that knows how to monkeywrench. That has a lifetime to act on that grudge. And that substation attack showed planning and patience. And probably a working man with a passible knowledge of electricity. And if he was smart enough to do it on his own, and keep his mouth shut? Home free. Transformers. The big ones are filled with oil. One shot with a .308 and it leaks till it burns. And they are very expensive, and they don’t keep spares. Targets of opportunity by lone wolf operatives. That is what the police state fears. Because if you are a member of a “group”? You are already infiltrated. I’m too old to fight now. It will be curious to see if a new group of Founding Fathers arise. Otherwise, Orwell weeps for his inadequacy.
Since the powers that be decided to create those “nightmare”s at full speed for well over a hundred years now, that scenario narrows it down to what? 20 or 30 million suspects?
Yet your scenario rings the probability bell fairly high up on that musical chart.
Yet yeah, I would like to hear Larry’s take on it. Would be interesting since it was so close to a base to get a professional opinion on various scenario’s too. Especially considering the fact that so many out there immediately began ringing false bells of tranny/looting alarms that are so low on the probability scale that it boggles the mind that so many echoed the fake tunes in unison.
Listening to Johnny Cash at the moment if you wonder about my wording.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxGgnI6kCrs
Gilbert Doctorow, reporting from Moscow:
“My acquaintance tells me that the hospital is now filled with wounded Russian soldiers from the Ukraine campaign, and in particular with maimed POWs who were released by the Ukrainian authorities in prisoner exchanges. The hospitalized include a good many traumatized soldiers who were savagely castrated or otherwise disabled by their Ukrainian captors.
If publicized, these cases would be far more inflammatory in broad Russian society than the horrendous video which circulated in social media a week ago showing the brutal execution of a dozen disarmed Russian POWs by jubilant Ukrainian soldiers. Clearly, the Kremlin is holding this back, lest detailed knowledge of the Ukrainian brutality unleash violent emotions in the Russian public.
In these circumstances, I call attention to the very difficult balancing act required of the Russian President. The man has nerves of steel. He is surely under great pressure from the patriotic hard-liners in the Kremlin who are au courant about the castrations and other evidence of Ukrainian depravity. One nod from Vladimir Vladimirovich and Kiev would be leveled to the ground in a matter of hours. It is tragic that Washington and Brussels confuse this restraint with incompetence, fear and other nonsense.”
I keep tellin’ y’all, Valimir Putin is a closet Buddhist! What is foundational principle of the Buddhist path toward everlasting enlightment? Turn the other cheek. Not sometimes, not only when it’s convenient, but no matter the circumstances, we must always, turn, turn, turn.
“Monks, if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw, he among you who would let his heart be filled with malice, are not following my teachings.”
“On the contrary, we must project thoughts of universal love to those very bandits, forevermore.”
Buddha, c. 500 BC
Just playin’, Putin bots! As a Putin bot myself, I think there will come a time when the President of the Russian Federation will stop turning the cheek, if for no other reason, he will be dispatched by those next to him that have no interest in submissive pieties.
As he knows he is the best man for the job, and I’m quite sure President Putin does know this, he will come around, to a let’s say, a less Christian way of conducting this SMO?
Because he must.
I am not an expert on intelligence matters, but I honestly cannot believe that I have just watched the head of the Intelligence Community of the United States of America!
Tears!
With people like this at the helms of US affairs, who needs enemies?
So, we are, per this woman, to believe that a country that can produce hypersonic weapons and AD systems like the S400 is struggling to produce enough artillery shells, and will depend on North Koreans and Iranians?
And we are also to believe that a country with its power grid and oil installations crippled will somehow, magically, win a war against Russia?
It is difficult not to feel sorry for the United States when this type of clearly ill-informed people are chosen to advise its president!
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/03/a-baseline-understanding-mostly-missing-behind-the-twitter-discussion-govt-influence-over-social-media-influence-and-the-surveillance-state/#more-240540
This has some interesting theories as to why individuals of seemingly low intelligence are promoted into certain key positions. Remember James Clapper, the village idiot (or in the 21st Century should it be metro idiot) who was Obama’s DNI. The guy who when asked on national television the day after the Benghazi attack what he knew about it answered that all he knew was what he had seen on CNN that morning while sporting a cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk. The guy who blatantly lied under oath to Congress about illegal data collection and received not so much as a stern look. According to Conservative Tree House the DNI doesn’t exist to either direct or know anything about intelligence. The DNI exists for compartmentalization enforcement within the Interagency, as Alexander Vindmen styled it. Their job is not to appear smart or even cunning. They’ve already been promoted far beyond their capacity and so are just grateful to have important titles and sweet party invites while doing as their told. It would appear most face-with-title positions are like this, Lloyd Austin anyone. There were a couple of Trump appointees who said their staff, in the department or agency to which they had been assigned, seemed surprised that the appointee showed up thinking they were supposed to be in charge of something. The DNI’s job is to make sure the the right info gets to the right people, and only to the right people.
A thought related to our time, and to the matter in hand.
Let’s just consider the west’s current obsession with gender related issues, and this aspect of female leadership.
Female presidents, prime ministers, defence ministers, spy chiefs and so on; aplenty.
Is the western world getting any better, socially, politically, economically, militarily? Are both genders really equal in abilities and physical and mental strength? Aren’t we made to be complementary instead of being competitive? Aren’t private and public tasks and chores best done according to gender, by the natural inclination and abilities of either gender?
It is a matter of record that anyone occupying a position for which he is not adequate tends to behave oddly, out of balance, unproductively. Taking a glance at European and Anglo public life we can judge the outcome – regardless of the fact that the moral and mental quality of the male leadership of that part of the world is equally dismal.
Since the flood to three or four generations ago the male and female worlds were kept distinct and complementary, according to the natural condition of either.
In our revolutionary times nature itself is to be overthrown – not for any improvement in any aspect of life but towards destruction. The female political show off is just one arrow in the devil’s destructive quiver.
(Such trogloditical ideas may pass the censor on this blog, hopefully; elsewhere – under official watch – they would be considered… trogoditical)
Osama bin Laden was suffering from Marfan syndrome – it is well documented. This is a genetic disease affective the collagen, the connective tissue. It is causing big vessels, like the aorta and big arteries to enlarged develop aneurysms +affects the cartilages , the heart, the eyes and the skeleton.
People suffering from this have a peculiar appearance : tall, slim, long arms and legs, lax joints, dislocated lens .
Bin Laden had end stage kidney failure and lung disease secondary to his Marfan. He was on dialysis .
Nobody having these complications secondary to Marfan syndrome lives for an extra 10 years. Ask any physician .
Not even in the best conditions, never mind being on the run, in Afghanistan caves
Usual life expectancy for Marfan is 44-57 years .
Bin Laden was 44 yo when he died, middle of December 2001, in a hospital in Pakistan.
Most Arab newspapers documented this . I doubt that the CIA didn’t know this .
So this ” pursuing Osama bin Laden for 10 years” , his laughable assassination and
” burial at sea in accordance with Muslim tradition [ sic !] ” is total BS.
But, Seal team 6 involved in his ” killing ” had an ” unfortunate accident ” and all witnesses died and this was real.
Let’s see if what I ‘ve said is allowed
You’re allowed but it is bullshit. Bin Laden was dying of kidney disease and was unable to get out of bed without assistance. The SEALs killed an unarmed man.
Larry, why did you censor my comment about Osama bin Laden?
Too much inconvenient truth ?
have not censored it. Some comments, for whatever reason, are put in pending and I have to approve. Sometimes I don’t get to them for more than 20 hours.
The Q&A in the vid sounds exactly like the female executives at my place of work when we have corporate-wide “town hall” meetings and the pesky rank and file workers ask questions that weren’t covered (or not covered thoroughly) in the body of the formal presentation(s). Long on platitudes and short on supporting facts. Feel good stuff that makes the typical listener confident that all is well. It’s actually an art form and true skill to be able to consistently talk like that, appear friendly and helpful and not slip up when you really do have detailed info and detailed info that might be contrary to the rainbows and sunshine you’re supposed to peddle (trust me, I know). She is not necessarily stupid. She is simply not authorized to go off message, or to scare anyone, raise more and bigger questions.
She is the Gina Haskel 2.0.
EXACTLY!
Maybe Haines isn’t delusional or lacking intelligence. Isn’t the goal of the West to slowly weaken Russia rather than defeat it? Deception – consider the possibility that the Pentagon is lying about its severe shortage of weapons and limited ammunition to send to Ukraine. This may be true for EU countries, but one has to look at the whole range of other lies coming from the West. Isn’t it possible that some of the draw-down of the SPR has gone toward rebuilding and restocking US armories? There seems to be an endless supply of foreign mercenaries being trained and thrown into battle, along with newly supplied US weapons that Russia was supposed to destroy. And the fact that Donetsk continues to be shelled by the UA, and further offensives are in the works despite a crippled infrastructure and decimated forces. I suspect nothing is quite what it appears to be from either side of this conflict.
The goal of the bankrupt West is a thermo nuclear war. They don’t want to weaken Putin, they want to replace him with a hardliner who will be triggered enough to push the button. This is the only reset they plan. The MFs think they will survive a war and if they do will the dying rest of us let them live once they come out of their bumkers, really?
Larry,curious as to why you say the b21 is a white elephant?
We are now at a point technologically that a manned bomber makes zero sense because it can be so easily shot down with a variety of air defense systems. In fact, a precision hyper sonic missile can do more than one of these lumbering beasts.
Yes Larry, but for Russian hardliners, these lumbering beasts are part of their strategic defense doctrine. Davos is after bringing the hardliners to replace Putin. It always goes back to regime change for “a flip the poker table” they are broke. We are dealing with nihilistic Euro trash.
It’s quite allright. She is a jew and as such, she carries American interests close to her heart. As her co-religionists in the State do naturlich…:-)
Evidence is out or coming out that these sub-humans are torturing , castrating,executing Russian POW’s; doctorow, cassad have reports/linking; these sub-humans, too charitable to call them animals; these are the cretins which these neo con psychopaths are supporting.
This is not publicized in Russia for obvious reasons.
For professional reasons, I deal daily with many Americans, especially folks from the bay area. Arguably some of the most well-paid middle-class professionals in America, all of them highly credentialed in some of the most expensive higher-learning institutions of America, and almost all of them are incapable of seeing beyond the veil of propaganda.
Most of them still believe that Russia is a “gas station masquerading as a country” and that Russia will fold any time soon when the “giant stocks of ammunition left from the soviet union” finally run over.
They sincerely believe that Russian missiles and fighter planes need western chips, and those tank factories are stopped because they don’t have access to American diesel engines anymore.
They simply can’t comprehend that America and the west have de-industrialized themselves and that a country with plenty of resources and an educated population can figure out other ways of manufacturing stuff without having to resort to a complicated just-in-time supply chain that spans the whole fucking world just so wall-street profits can be maximized.
When you show them that simple things like insulin cost Americans 10, 20 times more than in the rest of the world, they shrug with the absolute certainty that American insulin must be inherently superior to the cheap insulin sold in the rest of the world when actually most of the bulk insulin is exported from the US to Denmark and Germany, and then imported as single doses to be resold by big pharma in the US again. Then 40% of generics in the US are made in India but resold by American companies at multiples of the retail price in India.
You can go with countless examples of how America’s most important “product” is the US dollar, that the reason Americans can consume so much is that due to the reserve status of the dollar, the US has been running on trade deficits for decades, that is, the US consumes way more stuff than what they actually produce for the world.
They believe that they can measure their economy by the size of the stock market, a stock market that is now basically a giant casino completely divorced from reality, where a useless advertising company like Facebook is more valued than a company that actually builds real things like Intel chips.
The signs are everywhere; the average age of the engineers in critical industries like aerospace and micro-electronics is quickly approaching and, in some cases, even passing the 50-year-old mark, a sign that there are not enough young entrants in those areas, even with the industrial levels of brain imports. What will happen to the already fragile American industry when those critical folks finally retire?
And yet, they still believe that America rules the world. That no country can develop and have good standards of living unless by being an obedient participant in the American Order.
They believe that their leadership in the software tools for designing cutting-edge chips, along with their patents, is enough to prevent other countries like China from catching up, and worse, they don’t understand that you don’t need 5nm tech to build chips for weapons systems and that those kinds of chips are used mostly in consumer products like smartphones, and that for those applications where those chips could have military applications like in the building of datacenters and supercomputers, any sanctioned country will probably find a thousand ways of smuggling those chips running around sanctions.
It is truly a state of collective mass delusion.
Thank you for this insightful an incisive comment.
That’s it. The fraud of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency after the bankruptcy allowed the US to do it all. Until they completely screwed up the most industrialized nation in the world to the point where they practically only produced dollar fraud without any ballast. Sadly for the US it is coming to an end! It remains to be seen how much the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency will cost us. On top of everything it’s cost over the past 50 years. In Europe, where I live, things are not going well. I just hope we still have time to change the partnership definitively.
Well, they may be a tad smarter than the typical member of Congress but in so many ways are like that one member whose name never stuck, that many (maybe 20) years back reflecting on US deindustrialization said something like: “China? All they make are toys. No need for concern.”
That DID stick in my mind.
“I am not suggesting that Avril Haines, Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, is stupid.” It is not a suggestion, it is fact!
Look, anyone that planned, executed and championed that little repeat of Iran 1953 at Maidan and didn’t foresee the consequences of today, IS stupid and belongs under constant adult supervision at best and in a cell in the Hague at almost worst, leaving the worst to one’s fertile imagination.
Lets face it…
The Psychotics are running the show.
This is Diversity for Diversities sake hiring.
Weeeze glued, screwed and rainbow tattoed.
Avril may be intellectually deficient but at least she knows which Bathroom to use…. unlike some of the clowns in sleepy Joe’s administration. It’s a clown world
SMH
How can anyone take her seriously?
I’m starting to think the Deep State has a secret AI that tells them what to do. They just need human character actors to play roles and show up at events while they follow the instructions of the AI.
It seems far fetched, but I don’t see any better explanation for people like Biden, Blinken, Haines, and so many others.
Well call me cynical as much as you will. Whether it’s unduly cynical i would be happy to debate. She strikes me as intelligent. Looks like she’s being spoon fed questions she knows are coming in advance. Her mannerisms seem to say she’s not telling the truth. The way she thinks about the questions to make sure she says the “right” lie. So what if she does know the truth but doing the political mind split. Which makes your point about what happens come February, when even the MSM can’t hide the Russian winter offensive being successful, even more telling and dangerous.
She gives every appearance of being a lightweight: her words, her body language, her gesticulations..
“WHAT TO DO WHEN THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE IS NOT INTELLIGENT?”
Let her do it herself.