War And More War

Yesterday Zhou announced that the American Empire is still considering sending ATACMS systems to Ukraine. That would be the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which is a tactical ballistic missile with a range of up to 190 miles and is capable of precision strikes based on its GPS based guidance system. I have no idea of how the ATACMS would fare against Russia’s world class air defense system, but conceptually this would be a major escalation of the US war on Russia. Even one such missile making it through Russian air defense could cause significant loss of life or infrastructure damage. That is the US “poking the bear” as an active participant of war on Russia, while there is no responsible public discussion of our war in the US. My take on this announcement by Zhou is that it’s probably in line with the other recent escalations: This is part of an effort to bluff Russia into agreeing to a “frozen conflict”—which amounts to a NATO Ukraine. Perhaps the idea is that the pinprick attacks inside Russia that we’ve been seeing will put sufficient public opinion pressure on Putin to agree to lose a war that Russia is winning. Not gonna happen.

Obviously Russia (and China) is taking the American Empire very seriously. They’d be fools not to, considering that the American Empire has an enormous nuclear arsenal, still has global economic and monetary clout, is run by a crazed and fanatical oligarchy and a corrupt political class, with an out of touch populace. Russia (and China) are not run by fools. Here’s how they’re responding.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, perhaps serving as a front runner for Putin, is calling on the Russian government to move to full mobilization. That would, as Douglas Macgregor says, place 2 million Russian soldiers on the borders of NATO—something few NATO countries bargained for when they bought into this insane Neocon adventure. Is this a bluff or for real? Hard to say. It could be preparing the Russian nation for some escalation that would fall short of full mobilization. It is, however, an indication of resolve. Here’s Putin’s own thought on where things stand, and his words indicate an intention to carry this war through to the end. And bear in mind that Putin has never, to my recollection, engaged in empty bluffing:

Will Schryver

@imetatronink

Significant Development In his daily update today, Alexander Mercouris highlighted something said this week by Vladimir Putin, wherein the following pregnant phrase was employed: “… the territory known as ‘Ukraine’ …” In addition to this statement by Putin, Dmitry Medvedev said: “The only way this war can end is if the government in Kiev is overthrown. Unless it is, the war will continue indefinitely.” This is an extremely meaningful development. I believe it clearly signifies that Russian objectives – and resolve – in this war have now expanded to encompass the complete defeat, unconditional surrender, and effective dissolution of the sovereign state currently known as “Ukraine”. There will be no “negotiated settlement” to this war. Russia will dictate the terms of its ultimate resolution, and that resolution will bring an end to the brief lifespan of the geographic entity currently labeled as “Ukraine” on world maps. As I wrote several months ago, “Russia is in it to win it, and will settle for nothing less”. In for a Pound

In for a Pound

10:11 PM · Jun 1, 2023

Obviously, China is also paying close attention to these events, because they know that if Russia steps down, the American Empire’s planned war on China may begin even sooner than the date of 2025 that US generals have openly stated is the latest date for starting their war on China. China’s awareness of all this lends significance to Xi Jinping’s statement yesterday:

China Xi Jinping tells national security team to prepare for ‘worst-case scenario’ as leaders warn of AI risks

China must "adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case scenario thinking, and get ready to undergo the major tests of high winds and rough waves, and even perilous, storm seas," he said.

Notably, the Chinese military and top level diplomats refuse to speak with their counterparts in the American Empire. China knows that their sovereignty is at stake, so that decision was not taken lightly. With continued provocations taking place on a daily basis and major provocative NATO exercises coming up this summer, there’s not much room for mistakes.

Shifting focus just a bit …

We’ve all seen the increasingly close cooperation between Russia and Iran—economic and military. I don’t say that there are never coincidences, but I certainly advise scrutinizing alleged coincidences closely. Readers may be familiar with events of the last few days between Iran and Afghanistan. A border dispute suddenly led to an Afghan invasion—fueled by the vast amounts of US weaponry that was gifted to the Taliban by the Zhou regime:

Mats Nilsson

@mazzenilsson

Taliban sends a military convoy to a border town near Iran, tanks, ambulances and heavy artillery weapons to Islam Qala, a border town close to Iran, in Herat province.

Taliban sends military convoy to border town near Iran | Amu TV

A convoy of dozens of vehicles including tanks, ambulances and trucks pulling heavy artillery were seen heading towards Islam Qala

3:07 AM · Jun 2, 2023

Call this wild speculation, if you will, but this leads me to wonder whether there has been coordination between the Sunni Taliban and the Neocons—we gift you the country and a ready made somewhat modern military, and you attack Shiite Iran when when we give the sign.

Two points:

One, this would certainly not be the first time the American Empire has engaged with Sunni extremists—think, ISIS, al Qaeda, and others.

Two, the benefits for Neocon strategery is clear—Iran’s focus on Syria and the Persian Gulf is, at a minimum, less focused than before. Russia’s attention is also distracted.

War everywhere, and that’s the US behind it.

A final side note. The US continues to lose ground in the Middle East. I don’t think this trend is going to get walked back. MoA has a discussion of the latest developments in the Persian Gulf. I read about this a few days ago and was somewhat nonplussed—the Western narrative didn’t appear to me to jive with the UAE’s action and statements. MoA did a bit of a deep dive to figure out what’s going on:

Missing The Context - U.S. Media Fail To Understand Persian Gulf Diplomacy And Action

Here’s the NYT story. The NYT take is that the UAE is venting frustration over the failure of the US to confront Iran over oil tanker seizures (which is actually a tit for tat affair—the US was the first to seize ‘sanctioned’ oil shipments unilaterally):

As Iran Seizes Tankers in Gulf, U.A.E. Pulls Back From U.S.-Led Maritime Force - New York Times - May 31, 2023

How does that work? The UAE wants the US to get tough with Iran, so the UAE withdraws from a US-led anti-Iran coalition? The actual wording of the UAE statement was:

The Emirati Foreign Ministry said the country “withdrew its participation” from the Combined Maritime Forces two months ago “as a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners.”

So MoA asks, tongue in cheek:

What was the last significant measure Emirati and Saudi officials took to "expressed frustration with U.S. policy toward Iran"?

Here is a hint:

Mediated By China Iran And Saudi Arabia Restore Ties - Moon of Alabama - Mar 20, 2023

The Saudis and the UAE, the later of which  was never really enthusiastic about fighting Iran, have made their peace with it. They want and need economic development. 

They had found that U.S. policies were leading either nowhere or towards a full fledged war in the Gulf which probably would have hurt themselves more than Iran. They therefore no longer want to support U.S. measures designed to express hostility towards Iran.

Here is it straight from the pages of the Tehran Times:

UAE determined to boost relations with Iran: minister - Tehran Times - May 31, 2023

Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, who is a Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Tuesday.

The UAE’s minister emphasized Abu Dhabi’s determination to boost relations with the Islamic Republic, the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.
...

The American Empire is attempting to force global warfare on the world because it sees its ambitions for unending, all-embracing hegemony slipping away. Our Uniparty system is not up to the task of subjecting this mad scheme to serious examination. That’s the real danger. There is no check on Neocon ambition, unless the Deep State led by the professional military take action. I’m not sure I can be as optimistic about that happening as Alexander Mercouris is. Without an effective political check on the Zhou regime, the only limit to global war is Neocon rationality. Does that make you feel better?

By the way, a reminder: Bluto Barr thought—and still thinks—that this is better than having Trump in the White House. No one needs to be a total Trump fan to realize that Trump is a more based individual than anyone in the current regime.