1. Joe Scarborough and his MJ crew are on a hyper-nationalist journey in which the Cold War image of the USSR continues to dominate their collective Borgasm.
2. They fret and fret over a variety of issues such as the supposed Russian intention to invade Ukraine. What proof there is for that escapes me but, no matter… Why do they bother to ponder this possibility? If it is going to happen, that will become manifest. If it does not happen, well, it did not happen. The only reason one would be interested in forecasting something like this would be if one contemplated a forestalling effort and I do not think that is a real option for the US and its Borgistic pals. Mutual nuclear annihilation lurks in the background and the JCS knows that well.
3. Donald (the Closer) Trump and his minions are the object of intensive Borgist media efforts to portray them as agents of Vladimir the Hood (LeCarre reference). It is now discovered that Berlusconi (the Letch) was also a servant of The Evil One brooding in his Kremlinesque castle (Lord of the Rings reference). I actually think the Letch was interestingly human and nothing like a Borgista. Can anyone doubt that this latest smear campaign is directed by the Obamanite information operations center in the White House?
3. The Turks. Ah yes, the Turks. On the one hand they are going to attend cooperation meetings in Teheran with Russia and the Shia mullahcracy. On a second hand they are talking about improving relations with the Syrian government. With yet a third hand they have in the last couple of days let 1,000 jihadi reinforcements pass through the Turkish Hatay Province border crossings for the evident purpose of reinforcing the jihadis at Aleppo where these creatures have lost a lot of men. It would seem to me that the Russians and Iranians know about this since I do. I think the Sublime Porte did things more skillfully than this but, what do I know?
4. Then there is the Aleppo battle itself. This thing has become such a meat grinder for the jihadis that the R+6 must think it worth continuing for a while. As someone on SST mentioned there has emerged a pattern in which Syrian forces advance into a rebel held area of the city and then withdraw to allow the jihadis to re-occupy it. This is a great convenience since the area you withdrew from is "target rich" after the jihadis advance int it. And then there are the hunting trips across Idlib Province being conducted by Russian and Syrian air. This must be a real meat market.
Hilly is going to have a lot to deal with in her role as mother of us all.
pl
https://southfront.org/turkey-permits-1000-terrorists-to-cross-border-and-enter-in-syrias-idlib/
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-russia-iran-idUKKCN10S0V9
Re: #2
The UK Sun has an article that says the Russians
are massing 40,000 troops including armor and
air on the border of Ukraine with the usual suspects
declaring the Russian “strong man” is getting ready
for another incursion.
Its a crusade. A secular humanist crusade for “universal human rights” and no borders where we all are the same (except for our Davos overlords).
Virtue signaling at its highest level.
Only two things unite men: interest, and fear. How is it that our empire has created such strong mutual interest among historic enemies (Persians, Arabs, Russians) that they ally against us? What parasite infects and stupefies the imperial brain?
“Borgasm” is rare turn of phrase.
The sort of ‘nationalism’ in which the talking heads indulge, believing as they do America is entirely a propositional nation, has the form but not the substance of its foreign equivalents. There’s is the nationalism of a transnational tribe, whose incarnation and instrument is Rome on the Potomac. Once again this exposes the absence of vertical integration between the governed and the governors. The phenomenon is akin to continental drift, where an ‘elite’ upper crust moves upon the liquid ‘proletarian’ core. We can stretch this analogy further by noting the prerequisite for such a drift is the formlessness of the underlying material. Hence the the main project of globalism is standardization – the imperative of the revolution of quantity and mass – over their domains.
I came across this essay a few days ago that touches upon this Washingtonian nationalism, specifically the way in which the Democrats are now consolidating the worst aspects of it from both sides of the uniparty. Should the Donald lose, we can expect unprecedented levels of US unilateral militarism.
https://renderuntoc.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/americanism-a-universal-creed/#more-26
Colonel “Borgasm”? Isn’t that somewhat suggestive, if so, one could only hope at least is not reproductive.
Dreams of what? Referring to # 1: They want regime change in Russia.
EA
You must find the answer for yourself. pl
Colonel,
Having been away I am catching up on my reading and was wondering if you saw this:
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/25/robert-kagan-and-other-neocons-back-hillary-clinton/
Despite the catastrophic effects of that war, Kagan insisted at last week’s fundraiser that U.S. foreign policy over the last 25 years has been “an extraordinary success.”
…..
Kagan has advocated for muscular American intervention in Syria; Clinton’s likely pick for Pentagon chief, Michelle Flournoy, has similarly agitated for redirecting U.S. airstrikes in Syria toward ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Smith told the audience that unlike Trump, Clinton “understands the importance of deterring Russian aggression,” which is why “I’ll sleep better with her in the chair.” She is a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.
Yep, you are 100% right: the US need to revive military draft
Reposting:
News from South Sudan – their poster child – it speaks for itself:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-helped-birth-south-sudan-012701145.html?nhp=1
Technically it is not Nationalism since it is a (NATO) Alliance-wide sentiment & phenomenon.
It is, per Samuel Huntington Theses, a Civilizational Confrontation.
The poor President Khatami tried to forestall this when he proposed the idea of “Dialogue of Civilizations”; I suppose many in the West and Western-Wanna-be countries (e.g. Brazil, Romania) dismissed it as the un-needed and un-supportable and un-couth emanations from a benighted mullah from a culture and civilization that was too be assimilated in due course.
All of this would have been funny if the ramifications of prolonged inter-civilizational confrontation and war were not so grim; with the Western Diocletian, the Orthodox, the Sinic, the Seljuk etc. slugging it out for decades and perhaps centuries on this planet.
And for what exactly; squat toilet versus flush toilets?
In reply to Kooshy 18 August 2016 at 02:12 PM
Prime candidate for a new thesaurus entry:
Borg: a parasitical, destructive, and useless w*nker.
A defining characteristic of neocons is their utter incompetence in military, not that in other fields they exhibit any prowess, but it is namely in military field where they fail miserably. Most of them (neocons, interventionists, BORG, whatever) are people who never served a day in any armed forces, let alone have serious professional background to understand real physical principles on which weapon systems (some of them extremely complex) operate and how this affects tactical, operational, strategic and doctrinal issues. They simply don’t have it. Plus, they lack any awareness of what impact warfare has on people. I would love to see Nuland and her hubby to experience being shot at even by small arms, let alone by something which is 30-mm and higher. So, from Biden, to Kagan to Power to HRC we have people who simply have no idea what it is to experience all “wonderful” things when somebody wants to kill you or your people. In general, we have people who have no idea about application of military force and what it entails–they simply lack these synapses and it is incurable unless Kagan or Biden can be thrown on the front line in Donbass during next conflagration and spent half an hour under Grad or Msta’s fire impact, if they survive, of course. Plus, there is a much larger, existential, issue here which serves as a background of this complete mad house. I am aware that this post of mine resonates with Colonel’s essay on restoration of draft, but I, in my very humble opinion, don’t think that even that will address the problem. We are dealing currently with a completely corrupt political culture, which, in the end, produced people such as McCain or Cotton. The problem is cultural.
Borgist dream? They want to re-write Ismay’s formulation of NATO’s purpose “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down” to something along the following lines: “Keep Russia down keep Israel up and China out”.
* or Poland if your surname is Brzezinski.
Col Lang
Sorry, I didn’t put it well. Regime change in Russia is my suggested answer to your point #1 as to what the neocons want.
As for Turkey and their continued participation in the multinational F35 program. Why are the powers to be letting a big bad aircraft out to a marginally supportive NATO member.
The Turkish helping hand in supporting IS is a bit like feeding a game animal. The big game hunters (U.S, UK) go and take trophy’s and check off the combat boxes for advancement.
Colonel,
FYI:
Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the US has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania, against the background of worsening relations between Washington and Ankara.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/us-moves-nuclear-weapons-from-turkey-to-romania/
Those in Washington seem to have a desire to react violently to any government which has a higher approval rating.
Colonel Lang,
I was wondering if you have ever read the Alexiad by Anna Comnena? I suspect that your have. It has been many years since I last read it. The first time was in 1968 and I am sure that I have read it at least three or four more times since then.
It is a wonderful eye-opener to the to the kind of maneuvers that Anna’s father (the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I (who reigned in Constantinople from 1081 – 1113).
For those who have not read the Alexiad, I strongly recommend it.
Regards,
David
Regime change in Russia is my suggested answer
It is much more than that–there is a huge cultural and racial element to all that. It becomes abundantly clear (for Westerner) when one gets acquainted with those in Russia whom neocons consider their “allies” for “regime change”. In general, it is a universal consensus in Russia that the scores are being settled with Russians as a nation, not just “regime”. Late 1980s-early 1990s Russians bought this meme that “We are against communism, not Russian people”. Today, saying this to any Russian will be met with laughter. For Russians it is very personal now after blood of Russian civilians was shed. West, in general, as I already stated not for once here, had committed a cultural suicide in Russia. Even during Cold War there was a degree of admiration for Western “culture”, today–among overwhelming majority of Russians revulsion is a dominant attitude. Because of that the probability of the “regime change” in Russia is approaching zero. This also explains part of the Borg hysteria. Here is the latest (see “credentials” of this “scholar”)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/08/18/there-will-be-no-reset-with-russia/?utm_term=.8f63544f1b27
I hope that is the case, and not a reproductive transgender action like the new restrooms. One never knows if you still can piss standing up, or you will be acused of gender discrimination.
Sir
There’s no doubt that the Borg propaganda is being ramped up with Putin and Russia in the evil box. Reminiscent of the Dubya media campaign on painting Saddam and Iraq as an imminent existential threat with Condi’s mushroom cloud. Now, the Democrats in general along with the ziocons are propagandizing the American people to elect the Borg Queen.
Peggy Noonan has it right. The Borgistas do this because they pay no price. For them death and destruction of others and in some one else’s neighborhood in pursuit of their delusions of grandeur are all par forthe course. But…one of these days the “unprotected” as Noonan calls them will get back and then payback will be a bitch.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-global-elites-forsake-their-countrymen-1470959258
Not what I would consider a “factual” publication. Trashy tabloid owned by Murdock…..
georgeG
One more time – consider the information and the source separate;y. pl
In reply to turcopolier 18 August 2016 at 05:11 PM
Sir,
The information in this particular report in The Sun appears to be at least a week old and the original source seems to be the Ukranian ambasador to the UN.
See for example this report from the BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37049313
or this one from the Daily Star which regularly manages to be an even trashier UK tabloid than the Sun
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/537209/Russia-Crimea-Ukraine-War-Vladimir-Putin-40-000-troops-UN-Kremlin-NATO-Invasion-Threat.
I may have been unclear when i implied the commentariat are the American representatives of a global ruling tribe whose chosen instrument is Washington. (“There’s is the nationalism of a transnational tribe, whose incarnation and instrument is Rome on the Potomac”). So Joe is part of an emergent nation, or as Tyler said the ‘Davos elite’. These people have more in common with each other than their putative common countrymen. Hammond, the former British Foreign Secretary, noted he knew the people at international conferences than the community around his abode in Britain.
I don’t believe we’re in a true civilizational clash. When Russia takes back Constantinople, that will be a civilizational clash. A war based on real substance. The (crumbling) empire of our present global elite, however, is an order based on post-political technocratic managerialism whose manifest destiny is the dissolution of every identity modulated by higher principle. So what we’re really dealing with is a global parasitic network.
Couldn’t agree more. Same applies to Syria, Iran, and China. It drives our elites crazy when the ordinary people reject our horrid post modern liberal democracies. They used to console themselves with the fantasy an effective economy was impossible sans our extant socio-political system. Now that has been debunked with a resurgent Iran, Russia, and China; they’re becoming unhinged as you say.
“…their collective Borgasm”
priceless.
As per #s 1,2 and 3, the Morning Joe crew trotted out the oily Walter Isaacson yesterday morning to warn of Russia’s manipulating our electoral process to elect a pro-Putin and subservient Donald Trump and, then, this morning gave Richard Haas the pulpit to beat the drum for intervention in Syria with Mourning Joe Scarborogh, contemporaneously, calling the rolls of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have been allegedly murdered by the Assad government. There seems to no inclination at all to concede that the Americans, Saudis, Qataris, Brits, and French, et al., bear a substantial responsibility, also, for the continued internecine strife in Syria.
Dreams for the masses = imagining as in John Lennon’s song “Imagine”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww
That’s what the masses want and think they’re getting. They seek utopia.
As for what the elites, who promise the utopia, are dreaming, we can connect the data points and extrapolate a global financial crop to be selfishly and lawlessly harvested. I suggest enhanced interrogation of George Soros for greater detail.
PL,
Forgive my impertinence for suggesting the following picture to accompany your next post re Ukraine. The western msm has been focusing on Syria but I feel this really brings home the ferocity of the exchanges going on in eastern Ukraine.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Legioner_sniper/status/765760413996818432/photo/1
(Hope the link works)
I wonder if Kagan and their fellow travelers would be so bellicose under such a bombardment.
@smoothiex12
I’ve noticed the cultural animus has extended to the sporting arena esp the Olympics. The extent of the demonization of the other by both sides is eerily reminiscent of the mass hysteria of Cold War days of yore. I saw a sketch on Twitter that surmised US-Russian relations in the Olympic context as being “Russia doped (and was expelled); US lied (and ran away, re Ryan Lochte).
It comes across much better than I’ve put it, I swear 🙂
It is Nationalism of the Western world so technical it is Nationalism
Colonel,
One of these days, I will try to stop repeating myself. This is all interrelated. The Democratic Party has thrown the Millennials, the White Working Class and Progressives under the bus in order to rake in the loot. Hillary Clinton personally took in 21 million dollars in corporate “pay to play” speaking fees after she resigned as Secretary of State and before she announced her run for President which made it illegal.
What the Globalists did to the Russians after the fall of the Soviet Union is what they are doing to the citizens of the peripheral EU States and the American Heartland. If the Russians resist, there is hope for the rest of the world; that is if the crazies don’t blow us up first.
Turkey wants to participate in the R&D not just purchase weapons
Russia will make itself brain-dead before that happens. Military tech sharing? Name one Turkish military achievement that equals the Russian S-400 anti-missile system. In Debka’s dreams.
IMO, Turkey, or as used to be called in old days Anatoly/ Anatolia like her nighbour to east Iran and south Syria, because of thier important geographic bridge like location between east and west, and thier ethnic and religious diversity were never easy to be governed, managed, or be secured.That is historic fact, IMO this will not change, as matter of fact the people burned and living whithin this geographic locations know this deep in thier DNA.
WSJ
“U.S. Held Cash Until Iran Freed Prisoners”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-held-cash-until-iran-freed-prisoners-1471469256
”
LA Times
“U.S. now says $400 million to Iran was contingent on release of prisoners”
Foreign policy/relations learned from this transaction, as per now USG’ admittance: if you want to get your assets/ belongings back form USG , you will need to keep/ hold some of their assets of any kind including talking ones. A great way to manage the international affairs.
President Khatami a Yazdi was extremely naive, I have heard some of his suportes advisers are now since the JCPOA are privetly admiting thier mustakes/ naïveté / or as they now say misconception of thier procedure. A fancy way of saying we made an error.
All
I have been also wondering about the possible Erdogan pivot in recent days toward making up with the neighbors Syria , Iran & Russia . Could it be that Erdogan has figured that the Liver Eaters will be defeated in Syria after all . Furthermore Erdogan figures he might not ever get to join the EU – why not do a complete pivot make nice with Putin – and ask to to join the Shanghai Cooperative Council instead of the EU — this might explain why now Erdogan Supreme leader for life sent the 1,000 Liver Eaters into the cauldron that the R + have created around Aleppo .
tunde
“US lied (and ran away, re Ryan Lochte” What are you talking about? I am not interested in sports. pl
Wow, that article is an impressive example of foreign policy newspeak (/snark) hmmm http://static.flickr.com/116/308101421_ff87120cb0_o.jpg
Angela’s credentials, in addition to the one’s listed in the article
Angela Stent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Stent
She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has served in the Office of Policy Planning in the U.S. State Department and as National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia.
This is not a direct reply to your comment about “pissing standing up”, but still.
I don’t know where you live or who you know, but I know a couple of guys, (one a South African white and one a Nigerian black) who from what I surmise piss sitting down. I seem to have read somewhere that men peeing sitting is more common in the Middle East and maybe in Africa because of the robes that some men have to deal with.
In any case, I probably feel the same way you do about the transgender question. However, I very much doubt that transgender problems plague either of the individuals that I know who attest to peeing sitting down.
In my case, I simply cannot pee sitting down, but others of my age claim that is the only way they can pee.
Regards,
David
PS: I recommended the Alexiad because it gives you a fantastic view of the machinations that Alexius had to go through to maintain independence from the West as the Crusaders made through way through the surviving areas of the Eastern Empire.
PPS: Maybe you are not old enough to have experienced prostate problems yet? If so, you have much to look forward to.
Smuggler
Watch him when he opens
his bulging words — justice,
fraternity, freedom, internationalism, peace,
peace, peace. Make it your custom
to pay no heed
to his frank look, his visas, his stamps
and signatures. Make it
your duty to spread out their contents
in a clear light.
Nobody with such luggage
has nothing to declare.
Norman MacCaig, in Ewen McCaig, The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Polygon 2009).
Yeah. A dark crusade. Sometimes i feel like in warhammer 40 000 dci fi universe. If you like dark military sci fi check fall of the eldar or the Horus Heresy. A spine shivering experience.
CNN endlessly cycling the video of that poor 5 year old boy who was allegedly bomb injured in Aleppo. We never saw any 5 year old boys bombed in Iraq or Yemen. They are really ramping the propaganda up.
Borgasm has captured me.
Not much makes me smile, jaded soul that I am. This made me laugh.
If you discover that I have borrowed elsewhere without attribution, tough titties. Too good to pass up.
Erdogan is feeling very weak at the moment and is trying to develop as many options as he can for himself, even at the cost of eating crow from time to time. Russia, Israel, Egypt, Silk Road Project, Iranians, even Assad regime itself. Yes, true, he has been talking with Assad’s people through intermediaries.
He is weak visa vie West, pissed off too many people. EU and NATO are showing teeth, he sees it. He is weak domestically as well, putting up a charade of cooperating with the opposition, fighting the common enemy, Gulen organization. PKK has also upped its game, knowing his weakness.
Few examples, he is trying to finess out of his promise of bringing the death penalty, no more talk of all powerful presidency, and has even backtracked his efforts to completely subjugate the Armed forces to himself, etc.
PL,
Apologies for the rather OT reference. RT has been riffing about how Russia has been vilified by the accusation of state sponsored doping during recently held sporting events held in Russia ; namely the Sochi winter Olympics and the IAAF championships held in Moscow.
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-07/wada-statement-independent-investigation-confirms-russian-state-manipulation-of
RT has been examining, gleefully it might be said, the brouhaha caused by US swimmer Ryan Lochte’s indiscretions in Rio and his subsequent embellishments to the detriment of the organisers and host nation.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/usoc-apologizes-to-brazil-for-swimmers-actions-025658482.html
Hence, the questioning on RT of the moral high horse the US mounts when it criticizes other countries.
Just wanted to clarify…..
Tyler, IMO, It goes deeper than mere virtue signaling. There are millions of people living in modern Western society that never break a sweat, never get their hands dirty, never have to train (and thus ever think about the possibility)to apply deadly force to another human being – or even to an animal (i.e. for food). These people have college educations and work in comfortable climate controlled environments. They make good money. Their entire lives are spent in pampered protective bubbles. Traditional male attributes are not only not needed in the bubble, but are actually represent a disturbance in the aura of the thing. Thus maleness is demonized and derogated. All of their friends and associates live in this bubble and it’s so nice that they believe that is how live should be – could be – for everyone. Why wouldn’t everyone want that? That their are people living outside the bubble just means that there are still frontier areas populated by savages living in darkness that need to be pacified. One method of pacification involves exposing the savages to the good life. Surely they will see the beauty of it and assimilate. It MUST be that way. This is true belief and its power should not be underestimated.
Human perception is rarely purely rational. The subconscious plays a huge role. These millions of relatively affluent people know that their way of life – their very survival – depends on the existence and furtherance of the bubble they inhabit. That’s powerful stuff. Perpetuating the bubble becomes a neurotic obsession.
These people are dedicated to leaders like Big Grandma who, essentially, is one of them. She promises promotion of the bubble – complete with all the social and human re-engineering of the savages ideology. So the inhabitants of the bubble overlook the thinly veiled psychopathic twist that causes her (and her ilk) to want more for themselves and to ruthlessly pursue the role of queens and kings. IMO, the psychopathy does not totally render the re-engineering shallow hypocrisy. Both are real and, again, not to be underestimated.
The would be kings and queens must make deals with devils (e.g. Soros) and are able to justify doing so when the devils seek something that ideologically overlaps with the prevailing ideology (e.g. globalism).
I presume that Putin and China are not down with the globalist vision – or have their own version competing version. Therefore they are enemies. Again, there is not much rational about this. It is ideology about how we will live in a modern era where technology has – to many people’s minds – eliminated the qualities and values that were once held in high esteem by society. The old archetypes are being discarded as irrelevant. Leaders are engineering new ones. Powerful stuff. Dangerous times.
David, muslim men religiously are required to pee sitting down, men in LA “still ” are using the urinals, as long as it’s not pissing off anyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Lochte#Gas_station_incident
I am not suggesting that adding gold medalist Lochte in that context makes sense, by the way.
But Tunde’s twitter image from the Ukraine is a good photo.
http://i.imgur.com/Cch5XDR.jpg
http://www.businessinsider.de/front-lines-ukraine-2016-8?r=US&IR=T
Forgot to add, photo by:
Viktor Kovalenko
@MrKovalenko
#Ukraine analyst & journalist. Military veteran. Online #marketing & #socialmedia strategist.
LeaNder et al
Let’s see, four drunken spoiled brat swimmers get drunk in Rio, vandalize a bathroom door and then lie to cover up their childish behavior. Their mommies and daddies always accepted their lies so in their childish little minds they assumed they could do it again. If the Brazilians want to extradite Lochte, let them ask. Have they? I would support extraditing him. OTOH I have spent a lot of time in Brazil and the behavior of these four miscreants would not be unusual in Sao Paulo or Rio. LeaNder – What is so special about the photo from Ukraine? Three men and a baby carriage? What? pl
“In general, it is a universal consensus in Russia that the scores are being settled with Russians as a nation, not just “regime”.”
cough Zbigniew Brzezinski coungh then there’s all those Banderistas in Canada …
Found via Patrick Armstrong’s latest posting:
“Letting dilettantes, grifters, con men, pasty Neocons, bottle-blonde ruins, and corporations decide on war is insane. We have pseudo-masculine dwarves playing with things they do not understand. So far as I am aware, none of these fern-bar Clausewitzes has worn boots, been in a war, seen a war, or faces any chance of being in a war started by themselves. They brought us Iraq, Afghanistan, and Isis, and can’t win wars against goatherds with AKs. They are going to fight…Russia?
A point that the tofu ferocities of New York might bear in mind is that wars seldom turn out as expected, usually with godawful results. We do not know what would happen in a war with Russia. Permit me a tedious catalog to make this point. It is very worth making.”
Well worth reading in full here: http://fredoneverything.org/hillary-trump-and-war-with-russia-the-goddamdest-stupid-idea-i-have-ever-heard-and-i-have-lived-in-washington/
Perhaps it’s time for me to re-read Tuchman.
Well, not interesting from an expert military perspective, I agree.
The soldiers that try to get their comrade out? The baby carriage may have led the David Choi of business insider to carefully put it this way:
“Ukrainian military photographer Dmitry Muravsky captured the alleged moment of what appears to be Ukrainian forces being fired upon”
LeaNder
So what? Three men being shelled? this is a big thing for you? pl
Well now that you mention it, the increasing popularity of the squatty potty should be of real concern to western governments as it is but one step away from tyranny
had to look it up. “Yazdi” as from the province of Yazd and not the “Yazidi” religion.
The product placement of the baby carriage is priceless
tunde
Lochte is not a representtive of the US Government. The US government did not smuggle the fool out of Brazil. The Russian GOVERNMENT apparently systematically sponsored doping athletes for increased performance. pl
Ok, not a big thing in matters of war, obviously. My mind wandered to war artists admittedly, maybe since I saw a film with quite a bit imagery of “the Russian enemy”. No Nazis in sight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purge_(novel)#Background
But maybe emotionally effective, not least because of the abandoned baby carriage?
LeaNder
IMO that kind of sentimentality obscures and impedes clear thought. You remember the thing about Germans being clear thinkers? pl
I do not have the least idea, why Tunde added it, as he did.
Maybe he was interested in the latest “MIHOP-“Make/Made it happen on purpose” theory, or the “West’s” version versus Russia’s and Putins. … supposedly Russia/Putin already used bombing in the context of War in Chechnya. … this could however vaguely connect to Lochte.
And yes, full discovery, I did not quite get this. Borg an borgasms aside:
“The only reason one would be interested in forecasting something like this would be if one contemplated a forestalling effort and I do not think that is a real option for the US and its Borgistic pals.”
Preparing audiences?
LeaNder
“Preparing audiences?” More conspiracy nonsense. I am sorry that you don’t like the way I write. I lack your literal mindedness. What I said was that the drivel in the Borgist “mind” is stupid because the US has no real options against Russia. pl
LeaNder,
The Chechans of course “dindu nuff’n” as the expression goes over here. I wouldn’t worry about Putin’s view of the West, which is what Russia is; as opposed to Merkel’s view of what it should be.
Exactly, and for all those “credentials” not a shred of knowledge. Unless, of course, we assume that this is her (and other Borgs’) public persona and in private she exhibits some real grasp of the situation. We can assume that, but for some reasons I think this assumption would be wrong. I think that it is namely public persona which is somewhat “moderated” while in private, should we be allowed there, we could witness rage and full blown irrationality covered with the fig leaf of grandiose phrases and thin veneer of “academic” and service titles. What’s the use of any of it when those people know sh.t from Shinola.
cough Zbigniew Brzezinski coungh then there’s all those Banderistas in Canada
It is my long standing contention that US foreign policy is run by ethnic and religious mafias, or rather combination of those. All those wonderful ideas on “avoiding foreign entanglements” are long ago dead and buried, sadly. For those mafias, whose loyalties lie not with the US, US is merely a vehicle for settling scores and promoting suicidal policies which for the last 17 years see US sliding down the ramp and losing what, for me personally (I am sure for many others), made this country great once. Or maybe, just maybe, it is the truth which is coming out now and it was always like that;-)
Ok, thanks.
sorry, I didn’t read nor thought about it carefully enough. There were other passages.
The “media Borg” (opportunists only?) … Sounds realistic.
I got the rest, but the present setup reminded me of something, and thus sent me to Wikipedia for a fast copy and past action.
Yes, but they want more. They want Russia to not exist, at least not in its present form. They want it to split into several small pieces none of which is capable of independent existence and which are therefore easy to control.
In the interest of the Confucian idea of the Rectification of Names – Western states, collectively, do not constitute a “Nation” as the meaning of the word is commonly understood.
All political careers end in failure; just like all life ends in death.
In reply to Kooshy 18 August 2016 at 08:47 PM
“a Yazdi”
In what way is the fact that he’s from Yazd relevant to this topic. Are you trying to say that all those who hail from the city are naive? Or perhaps you mean all those who hail from the province are naive? If he had been from Tehran would he have been less prone to naivety?
Turkey does not have that domestic culture in support of native R&D. You cannot just create R&D out of nothing – in my opinion.
MRW, it did in my case. loved it.
Col. Lang:
You wrote: “US has no real options against Russia.”
I agree and I think that could be a real basis for strategic stability between US and the Russian Federation.
However, it has been my (albeit limited) experience that very many Americans take offense at such statements.
Yup, that is why Russians and Iranians moved in to assist him in seeing/finding the Right Path
“Midway’s Life Journey I was made aware
That I had strayed into a Dark Forest
And the Right Path appeared not anywhere…”
I suspect that the freedom of a number of Iranian blockade runners who had been handed over to the United States by a number of US-friendly countries was also part of this exchange.
The Russian and Polish nobles had the same attitude towards the serfs as what you attribute to the “Davos Crowd.”
Poland was an interesting example since the Nobles considered themselves to be “Poland” and did everything they could to prevent any changes in Poland to address the rise in power of the Prince of Muscovy.
They presided over the extinction of the Polish State.
smoothiex12
“what, for me personally (I am sure for many others), made this country great once. Or maybe, just maybe, it is the truth which is coming out now and it was always like that;-)” Perhaps you were just wrong headed to expect something other than a country like all others. pl
Kunuri
Thanks as always for your on the ground perspective in Turkey . Any opinions about Turkey leaving NATO and or joining the Shanghai Cooperation Council ?
Perhaps you were just wrong headed to expect something other than a country like all others
US is not the country like all others. As strange as it may sound from me, but US is an exceptional nation–it is just that this exceptionalism has nothing to do with the one which is being promoted ad nauseam by neocons and…exceptionalists. A conflation of incredibly fortunate natural and geopolitical factors do make US exceptional and also allowed it to move along without (with the exception of Civil War and Great Depression) any political cataclysms. The US Constitution is unique and its implications and ramifications are massive. Staying free from wars for more than 150 years also contributed to this uniqueness. Sadly, wrong conclusions were derived from it and, together with US failing to become a nation (in a true not-liberal sense), it played a tragic role for both US and the world.
Debka is Israel’s equivalent of STRATFOR. When it comes to Russia neither has any clue.
In Iran Yazdis ( from a central desert province) are generally known to be honest, hardworking, and good with business, as well as very stiff and careful with spending. i thought Mr. Khatami was too honest and extremely naive for this environment.
Yes indeed as well as some ancient artifacts.
“Chechans of course “dindu nuff’n”
see me skeptic in this context too. …
never mind our differences otherwise.
Col, you are 100% correct to make a distinction between individual violations vs. state sponsored cheating.
Whenever I look at accusations against Russia there is always less there than meets the eye. I am getting tired of looking.
The link below is thorough but I’ll summarize what I found to be the best points …
1. Almost the entire allegation depends on the testimony of one person who was a director of sports in Russia then fired by them and now residing in the U.S.
2. One of the most critical parts of the cheating process was the tampering of samples in tamper proof bottles but no method has been presented on how that was done.
3. They did not accept any interviews or allow the Russians to respond to the allegations or counter the ex-pat’s testimony.
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/08/11/a-rush-to-judgment-on-russian-doping/
So the heart of the doping scandal is to say, yeah, the doping rate of the Russians is not that excessive but there were a lot of Russian athletes who didn’t get caught because of Russia’s clever methods. Actually, the MSM likes to imply that the Russian doping rate was excessive when it actually was not. The official reason for the punishment is because of the state sanctioned conspiracy angle and the suspicion that the ‘true’ doping rate was actually much higher.
Here is an easy to read breakdown of the actual doping statistics in the Olympics for all countries
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/outrage-doping-scandal-yet-another-example-anti-russian-double-standard/ri15087
I am a fan of the Swizz Gisons, admitted, been there recently again, whatever language variant you prefer for the region. Never too interested in Davos itself though.
But since “Davos ” recently surfaced here, I have to admit I always wondered about Erdoghan post this Davos event:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisons
I agree with pl that the US doesn’t have any new options to use against Russia but the old options seem to be somewhat effective and will continue. Sanctions and economic/military/political pressure won’t bring Russia to its knees but they do cause pain, stagnation and a military buildup that wastes scarce resources. The BRICS that were supposed to be the foundation of some multipolar response to the Borg don’t seem to have had much mortar to hold them together and have crumbled.
The fact that Putin is now firmly stuck to the tarbaby Assad in Syria does offer an opportune target for the Red Queen to use to show that Russia also has limited options and she is coming with a lit torch to set that tarbaby alight.
Russian Olympic Doping
I posted my summary of the Russian doping story above. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the allegations are false. To quote a favorite of ours, ‘WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?’ After all, we all know that life’s not fair.
This story was broken by the NY times, over the years the U.K./U.S. press have broken stories that all seem to be specifically targeted to discredit Putin in the eyes of the Russians.
1. The Olympics was his baby to make Russia look good the west, oops.
2. Putin the crook (he embezzled $40B according to two Oligarchs).
3. Putin murders journalists and ex-pats.
All of these allegations are sketchy. I believe this to be a concerted campaign by some elements of the Borg. It is just too systematic. I’m starting to sound like Paul Craig, if I start talking about 9/11 conspiracies, slap me.
smoothiex12
“Staying free from wars for more than 150 years also contributed to this uniqueness. Sadly, wrong conclusions were derived from it and, together with US failing to become a nation (in a true not-liberal sense),” You seem to have missed the War of 1812, The Mexican War, the Civil War, various more or less continuous wars with the Indians, the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection. My definition of a “nation” is a group of people who share a culture and the language that carries it. what is yours? pl
You seem to have missed the War of 1812, The Mexican War, the Civil War, various more or less continuous wars with the Indians, the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection.
I didn’t miss Civil War. As per War of 1812, while great on psychological impact, the actual brunt of it (casualties wise) was very limited. Let’s put it this way–total casualties in this war amounted to about first 2-3 hours of Borodino Battle. Civil War, yes–it was a massive impact in blood and treasure which dwarfed War of 1812. War of 1812 is also the war against invader. The rest–pretty much expeditionary wars not fought on US territory or fought against supremely inept (Mexico) adversary.
My definition of a “nation” is a group of people who share a culture and the language that carries it. what is yours?
Mostly agree, but ethnicity, that is blood, is still a part of it. I would add this to otherwise correct definition.
I am aware of that and also that to one used to standard German, that dialect is too crass and uncouth.
I doubt a German male would like to be seen in public in the company of a Grison-speaking woman; no matter how stylish and dolled up she is (excepting, perhaps, a desperate Schwabian.)
smoothiex12,
As the Colonel said/implied, we have a long history of war. Almost continuous. I would say there is a strong link between our wars of manifest destiny and our Borg wars. There is even a similarity between our enemies in a lot of those wars. We often out-gunned them, both on this continent and abroad… with the notable exception of our fight with Red Cloud. He kicked our ass. Perhaps the Borg have been in our collective DNA from the beginning.
The Russian GOVERNMENT apparently systematically sponsored doping athletes for increased performance
Soviet government did, in case of contemporary Russia a lot of doping cases (the ones which were proven) were done through initiatives of some of the federations and, quite often, even individual coaches. And then, of course, there is a case of Meldonium and this is where this whole doping narrative breaks down. Athletes were taking it while it was not-forbidden substance which it became only in January this year. This is for the drug which was in production since…drum roll..1970s.
smoothiex12,
A point I forgot to make was that our wars, for the most part, did not subject us to the trauma of defeat or pyrrhic victory. Most were won without excessive, for the time, casualties. Our war against Red Cloud being a notable exception.
As proudly documented by an anti-regime Syrian journalist/activist, the propaganda vehicle has gone far beyond the American outlets participating in this collective “borgasm” of hypocritical caterwauling:
“Omran the Syrian child who survived a Russian airstrike first page of most of the international newspapers”
https://mobile.twitter.com/3z0ooz/status/766597014855483392?p=v
Smoothiex12
“War of 1812 is also the war against invader’ No. We attempted to invade Canada several times and were defeated. casualties? As father used to say if you were killed in a skirmish against Apaches in Arizona or at Gettysburg you were equally dead. Blood ties? How European an attitude. By that judgement the US could never be a “nation,” which is fine with me. BTW my wife found another Mayflower passenger in my family tree. That makes six. I am not much in favor of nationalism. Along with organized religion and economic ideology (Marxism) it is a great killer of people. pl
As father used to say if you were killed in a skirmish against Apaches in Arizona or at Gettysburg you were equally dead
There is, obviously, a huge difference between being killed as part of expeditionary force or being killed fighting on the outskirts of own town (village, city). This is a substantive and a very significant difference. This is called a conditioning by continental warfare. Numbers, scale and proportions here matter a great deal, in fact, define long term outcomes.
Along with organized religion and economic ideology (Marxism) it is a great killer of people
I am no fan of Marxism either, as per religion (me being what late Oriana Falacci called Christian atheist)–I may be against it or not, but it is a bond and a very serious one. Let’s put it this way, while Samuel Huntington was not necessarily accurate in many of his views, he certainly got it right in his seminal work regarding one of the major factors in peoples’ self-identification. He definitely atoned with his Clash Of Civilizations for his earlier war-mongering and it still, 23 years later, remains relevant, unlike the other book.
Apparently, Russia is contemplating adopting a first strike nuclear policy and attacking the NATO bases along its border. The situation is discussed in this article:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/siv-oneall/68590/we-need-to-distance-ourselves-from-nato-if-we-want-to-avoid-war
and this interview:
scotthorton.org/interviews/2016/08/10/81016-alastair-crooke/
Agree with this point. But that is the whole point–attitudes to war change in direct variation with losses in blood and treasure. As per that:
Perhaps the Borg have been in our collective DNA from the beginning
A fundamental question today is this: is warfare endemic in American system (institutions) or is it a result of mutation which can theoretically be reversed? I do have an opinion on that but I am still not 100% sure. It is a complex issue, at this point I lean towards the latter. Albeit I still keep in mind “Remember The Main, To Hell with Spain”.
Borgist dream? They want to re-write Ismay’s formulation of NATO’s
They are, actually, quite busy with rewriting the history of the 20th Century and the history of warfare. They also have quite a few helpers from those who are seemingly not Borg.
smoothisx12
If you are going to comment here use quotation marks around other people’s statements. Are you Russian or German? Like some of the continental Europeans here you appear to be very solemn, without humor and condescending. You appear to want to argue for the sake of argument. Your judgmental remarks about American history and culture are not appreciated. Perhaps you should find some other place to enlighten. pl
smoothiex12
“This is a substantive and a very significant difference.” Well, well. I do not take well to being lectured. pl
Thank you for elevating me to the sublime and bringing me “down to earth” again with this “terza rima.” I am not a Dantista, but I have read the poet in both Italian and in English translation plus the Singleton translation and commentary and much more comment. I do not know, however, if the Russians or Iranians led him there.
“Dangerous times.”
Indeed. We are witnessing the self-fulfillment of a (fake) prophecy. Russia is becoming more defensive and assertive – what else the casual abusers in the US government should expect. No trust means greater danger of a fatal mistake. The real “deciders” are either very confident in the US ability to prevent (with some superior technology/weaponry) a nuclear catastrophe on the US territory or they are suicidal poker-players. We live in a society where deeds and words of those in the highest echelons of power are not connected to personal accountability. This is dangerous.
“Even during Cold War there was a degree of admiration for Western “culture.”
Actually, amongst Russian intelligentsia the admiration was passionate and unconditional. It took a lot of dishonest actions by the West to eliminate this “adolescent” love of Russians for everything Western.
In my opinion, no leaving NATO, Turkey is so deeply, historically, and strategically a part of it, has been from the get go, and people with the right frame of mind here know it.
Turkey is no France, or Greece, in and out as it suits the winds of popular demand will never happen.
Shanghai Cooperation Council membership for Turkey is a trump card against an unresponsive EU, and a magic show against US. Perhaps, some people should wake up to the fact that they are dealing with a wily, smart and a survivor of a politician with the instincts of a rat of which would put old Mach, and Al and Benito and the rest to shame. Erdogan is a genius in rhetoric, Churchill could only be his humble understudy. But Erdogan could never touch Ataturk, but hey, the poor guy is too busy turning over his grave these days.
Red Cloud? Don’t you mean Sitting Bull? Yes, Red Cloud did manage to kill Fetterman, who disobeyed orders and led his men to their deaths.
Hubris: America the ‘beautiful’ & ‘the exceptional one’.
Lochte became such a big case here in Brazil only because at first we tried to make good by capturing the robbers (we desperately try to be good hosts amid a chaotic nation and violent city), but then it became obvious that he tried to smear the host nation to cover his ass (or whatever else he was thinking), so the cops and judiciary branch of our Government rushed to clear the case.
I doubt we will ask the USA to deport him over such a minor crime. We have better things to do.
By the way, it was not the first case of this type in the Olympics. A romanian medal winner (judo, IIRC) also made up a history about being assaulted to cover up a confusion he created in a hotel while being drunk.
Regarding Russia`s sports bans, what I can`t get over is that the sport courts allowed collective punishments. Just put yourself in the place of one of the athletes that did nothing wrong and couldn`t participate in the olympics or even show that they were innocent… collective punishment is something out of the middle ages…
Regarding Trump, Clinton, the Borg, Russia, Ukraine and Syria… I just can`t get over all this red baiting coming from democrats. It is like we did not live through the last Iraq War, the disaster that the arab spring turned out to be, the Georgia – Russia war… and, like I said, democrats are doing the red baiting now.
Go figure.
For once I can speak as an expert on this subject. I have been involved in drug testing either as a technician (Los Angeles Olympics and the Orange County Coroner’s Office as a civilian) or the forensic drug testing laboratory in Wiesbaden as an officer. There is not one shred of evidence that any system wide doping was being used in Russia other than testimony from an extremely corrupt Russian (Rodchenkov) paid to say what he said. If you analyze what he has been alleging it is ridiculous. No Director of an institute would be involved personally in any testing and I doubt would have a clue how to do anything anyways. He states he personally in the middle of the night substituted samples through a hole in the wall. It is so ridiculous it is amazing anyone even believes it at all. Every sample is unique and tamper proof and there are cameras everywhere and personnel work 24/7. I guarantee a Director in the laboratory after hours would have been noticed by everyone. But to state he did it nearly every day? I am amazed by the ability of MSM to accept the ridiculous. McClaren is a stooge with a suspicious take on this. The effort to permit Klishna, allegedly using doping who was to be suspended from the games but could compete only if she competed not as a Russian puts a clear light on it.
On top of that competitions in foreign countries are tested in the foreign laboratories there. No Russian officials would be involved in any way nor would have any access to the samples which are handled as forensic evidence. The kinds of performance enhancing drugs alleged to be used have long half lives so random testing or definitive testing would yield at least a few positive results yet there have been none. There is also no evidence from prior Olympics other than the usual single episodes which occurs in every sport and every country, the US included. Every athlete is tested randomly and definitively after winning an event. This entire fiasco was done at the behest of the US as a political move to exclude Russia from the games. The effort was only partially successful but still over 30% were excluded and we see the results in the US medal count. Also, all the samples from previous competitions are stored frozen and can be retested any time. None of that has occurred which I find suspicious as well.
I personally loath doping and I especially loath professional athletes competing in the games. That rule change, again done at the behest of the US, was terrible. I have been an amateur athlete all my life and maybe not all that great, I have competed openly and honestly with a fair number of wins in my life. But, I always worked a real job and athletics were never my main occupation nor should it be so for any amateur competitor. Allowing professionals to compete against amateurs gives them an unfair advantage as they do not have to support themselves and reap large rewards for winning. If the money was removed from the equation there wouldn’t be a doping problem at all. But, the financial rewards are so great of course people are doing anything they can to win. If any country has a systemic doping problem it would be the US where money is king. I am not saying doping isn’t happening and I am certain it is being done all the time and new methods are being utilized which are difficult to get ahead of in the laboratory. However, it is all going to be moot once genetic programming takes hold and we should start seeing performance improvements through genetic engineering sometime in the next 20 years or so. Once that starts there will be a no holds barred approach to competitions and I suspect all rules will be abrogated once this begins in earnest.
Just call it imperialism, i.e. the nationalism of the oppressor, aka the Arabs’ stumbling block for 700 years… That’ll do.
Yup; trade beat up Beatles records for top coats or Melodia recordings …
They were evidently channeling Vergil, i.e. the Human Reason.
irf520,
Zbiggie Brzezinski quite literally wants that exact specific thing . . . to divide Russia into several smaller countries. I remember him writing an article about that. Here is the first link to it I found in searching.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1254548/posts
SST,
Among the various meanings to be drawn from Hamadan, is it agreed one of them is that it effectively means all options are NOT on the table vis a vis if the JCPOA fails?
Thanks,
Mac
Excuse my ignorance, but please tell me what a “Borgist” means. Once I know that, I’m sure I will appreciate much more the bon mot “borgasm”!
Mac,
No, all options will remain on the table for rhetorical reasons, actual implementation of the worse one is a suicide leap into the abyss by any leader authorizing it.