Hard Truths To Ponder

This first one gets to the heart of the Anglo-Zionist crisis. It is more threatening to Anglo-Zionist hegemony and the US Ruling Class in the Big Picture of things than shifting global military military and economic realities. War of the Ruling Class on the subject population rarely works—not in the long term and often not even in the short term. The problem is, IMO, even bigger than Gromen suggests. Yes, the entire NatSec sector—not just the military and MIC, but very much the Intel sector—is bloated and unsupportable by the real economy that remains, but government generally needs to be put on a diet. But the problem remains—where do we find jobs that will keep people gainfully employed and reasonably content?

Luke Gromen @LukeGromen

Sending US factories & jobs to China "fixed" this problem in 2001 (hurt unions & wkg-class wages.)

Printing USDs "fixed" this problem for Wall Street in 2008 (kept banks from collapse.)

Why not either offshore Boeing to China or print the USDs & pay the machinists?

Answers: B/c Wash DC knows offshoring to China has already severely compromised US national security & certainly can't afford to offshore Boeing to China.

But it also knows that the bond mkt would tank if wage inflation takes hold, which at 125% Federal debt/GDP, would drive either rates much higher (or, if the Fed/Tsy capped yields, the USD much lower.)

In the end, Wash DC must choose one: National defense, or the real value of the US bond market.

Decision time cometh, & that right soon...

8:11 AM · Oct 16, 2024

Commenters may wish to expand on Gromen’s analysis, although it’s sufficient to indicate how out of whack fundamentals are in America.

No gain without pain, and never more true than in this crisis. And it’s not as if America has maintained a world full of well wishers to help us through—a bullying hegemonic empire doesn’t do that for you.

Here’s an interesting story from Illinois that illustrates the way America is cannibalizing itself, on a state by state basis.

Don’t miss this tax question on your Nov. 5 ballot

Essentially, Illinois is run by government employee unions, which push agendas that the state can’t afford based on its real economy. Giving people more incentive to leave isn’t going to solve the real problem. But this is a problem that’s not confined to Illinois, and it’s not a problem that somehow originated in Illinois. It’s ultimately a national problem. And ‘ultimately’ is a lot nearer than many thought.

It’s sad to see the level of public debate as a hugely important election approaches.

Will Schryver today focuses on a proximate dilemma that will become ever more apparent. Schryver is briefly responding to a long thread (which I excerpt only) that discusses the effects of the US enabled war on the civilian population of Gaza. The author of the thread, Sophia, also contrasts the current Israeli debacle in southern Lebanon with the 2006 debacle

Sophia @les_politiques

Israel didn't expect Hezbollah to have such a defensive force this time around in South Lebanon. Israel expected Hezbollah to let them enter, then wage a guerilla war inflicting great losses on the Israeli army, as in 2006.

Hezbollah's defensive stance is extremely meaningful to counter Israel's current plan to depopulate South Lebanon where Israel won't be able to reproduce what it did in Gaza. An estimated 300000 people live south of the Litani, a small number compared to Gaza's 2.3 millions.

Let us understand what Israel did and is still doing in Gaza. Israel waged a war on the polity of the Resistance. It destroyed infrastructure, health care, schools,places of worship, universities, and nearly all means of life, in order to separate the Resistance from the people.

Hezbollah watched Israel for a whole year deal with the people of Gaza in this manner, and understood that Israel wants to do the same in South Lebanon. Discussions about Hezbollah retreating from the South started immediately after the Gaza war started.

Hezbollah understood what Israel's plans were for the South and acted accordingly. Israel will not be able to penetrate the South to sow the kind of chaos and helplessness it sowed among the population in Gaza.

Now, I disagree with Sophia to this extent: The Israeli military and the US military fully understood that Hezbollah’s defensive dispositions and capabilities were entirely different and less susceptible to attack than 2006—when Israel’s invasion was roundly defeated. The shift of Hezbollah from guerilla to more conventional defense against the Anglo-Zionist onslaught was baked in over nearly two decades and was never a secret nor a shift based on observing the genocide in Gaza. The Israeli military opposed this latest invasion and has attempted to limit its inevitable defeat at the hands of Hezbollah. But the stakes are far higher this time around, because the scope of the war is more truly regional. It’s the real crazies in the Anglo-Zionist hierarchy who have insisted on learning the hard way.

Anyway, Schryver briefly responds:

Will Schryver @imetatronink

Israel is — by far — in a more helpless state than any other people in the western world. It has been sustained for 76 years by the great Latter-day Gentile Empire, which is now in rapid decline.

And Israel simply cannot prevail by force of arms against its regional adversaries.

5:20 PM · Oct 16, 2024

Bombing the Houthis with huge bunker busters has left the Houthis … unimpressed. They’ve issued a defiant statement:

Will Schryver @imetatronink

It would have required at least 3 B-2 bombers — flown all the way from Missouri — to drop 5 GBU-57 bombs.

What a profligate waste of scarce resources.

#TheBigAttrition continues ...

Quote

MenchOsint @MenchOsint

The US Air Force used the B-2 Stealth Bomber yesterday during airstrikes on Yemen.

Underground facilities were targeted with 5 x GBU-57 Bunker Buster bombs (2.4 tons warhead).

Doug Macgregor seconds the overall diagnosis in his own way:

Douglas Macgregor @DougAMacgregor

PM Netanyahu is rapidly becoming the Tony Fauci of the Middle East.

More than weapons, Israel relies on an aura of invincibility for its survival.

Events in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran are shattering this image.

Because everything that has been done in Israel’s “defense” conflicts with reality, logic, Israel itself along with the rest of the Middle East and the United States are on the path to become collateral damage in a regional war that should not happen.

3:45 PM · Oct 16, 2024

In a way, this last is another hard truth. Andrei Martyanov notes the passing of Brit general Michael Jackson—and that the Russians have paid him a tribute. The tribute is not so much to any military prowess. Read it yourself:

Translation: Retired General Michael Jackson, former Chief of Staff of the British Army, has died at the age of 80, British media reported, citing the UK Ministry of Defence and the Airborne Veterans Council. He went down in history as "the most sensible military man in NATO" when in 1999 he refused to carry out an order from US General Wesley Clark to storm the Slatina airport in Pristina (Kosovo), which Russian paratroopers had taken by force. "I will not start World War III because of you," General Jackson told the American. He thereby demonstrated a responsibility that is higher than responsibility to a superior - a responsibility for the fate of all mankind, no more and no less.

Obviously the Russians were delivering a message to the world at this critical juncture in history. Here’s the Wikipedia account of the incident:

In 1995–1996, Jackson served his first tour in the Balkans, where he commanded a multi-national division of the Implementation Force. Following a staff job in the UK, he was appointed commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in 1997. He returned to the Balkans with the ARRC during the Kosovo War, during which he famously refused to obey an order from American General Wesley Clark, his immediate superior in the NATO chain of command, to block the runways of Pristina Airport and isolate the Russian contingent that was positioned there. He reportedly told Clark, "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". The incident attracted controversy, particularly in the United States, and earned Jackson the nickname "Macho Jacko" in the British tabloid press. Jackson established a working relationship with the Russian general commanding the detachment at Pristina, giving him a bottle of whisky, of which Jackson was known to be fond, and providing the Russians with the protection of a squad of British soldiers, commanded by his son, Mark.

To be clear, which Wikipedia’s prose is not, it looks like it was the Russians who gave Jackson the bottle of whiskey. Martyanov refers to Wesley Clark’s reaction in this incident as “hysterical.”