Winston Churchill famously said, during WW2:
"In war-time, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."
The American Empire, of course, is in a permanent state of war—not just abroad but also at home. Thus, progressives famously run their War Rooms to gaslight the populace. Every effort to subvert our freedoms and subject us to their will becomes the Moral Equivalent of War. It’s gotten to the point that the country is being prepped for permanent Truth Suppression under the guise suppressing “misinformation”—narratives counter to those that are officially approved.
Vladimir Putin is on to that:
When was the last time that we had a declared war, a la the Constitution? Permanent War, permanent censorship:
Recognize the narrative? It’s all that’s on offer at many “conservative” sites. CTH is an honorable exception, and Fox has allowed glimpses of a possible alternative truth to the official “narrative”.
We’re told sanctions will strangle Russia’s economy—but that that noble cause will entail some small suffering at home, which we should all blame on the demonic Putin, rather than the hapless and corrupt Zhou and his ideological wrecking crew. But …
NATO solidarity? Not so much. From the start it should have been obvious that the pressure would be on Turkey, but other nations also seem to have a sense of which way the wind is blowing:
Hungary is refusing to allow NATO arms shipments to Ukraine. Neither Bulgaria nor Slovakia will turn their MiG 29s over to Ukraine. However, Poland still has, nominally, 23 MiG 29s:
Poland and the Baltics remain all in with NATO. Something the Russians are unlikely to forget. Poland will never be part of the new Anglosphere replacement alliance for NATO—AUKUS—and it should never count on Germany or France. Meanwhile, Belarus says it will now allow Russian nuclear weapons on its territory and is reported to be poised to begin military operations against Ukraine.
MAJOR UPDATE: Poland, which had the most planes available, has apparently backed out, as well:
Bulgaria, for historical and cultural reasons, was always a stretch when it came to supplying military hardware against Russia. With Poland it was more a question of whether hard geopolitical thinking would overrule emotion.
One wag put it this way:
MiG-29 and countering Russian air supremacy is an oxymoron.
Well, we get what he means.
Something strange has happened here. Normally every comment shows up in my inbox. All comments are automatically enabled, but this system allows me to read comments efficiently and respond if it seems called for. Today, NOT A SINGLE COMMENT HAS APPEARED IN MY INBOX. Obviously there ARE comments. I've checked my settings and can't see the problem. I'll just have to keep checking.
Great post and observations.
If I were a foreign counterparty of the U.S., I would be asking the following questions now: "Why should I believe anything you say? Who is the real authority speaking for you on whom I can count? On what morality are your promises based? What is the cost to you if your promises are false?"
"What track record do you have for fulfilling your promises? You say you want to support 'democracy' in my country, yet when your citizens try to exercise their political rights you crack down on them. How then should I interpret what you have to say about 'democracy'? "
"If I commit to do your will, based on your promises, how might those promises be impacted by the results of your next Presidential election? If I agree with what you want to do, will my elected government really be controlling my country, or will it be yours? Please explain how this would work. Will you commit to recognizing the validity of my country's next Presidential election, without disrupting it? Will you commit to not promoting corruption in my country and to not undermining our political and legal systems? How will this commitment be enforced?"