I don’t really have an answer for this question. It came to my mind because I’ve been reading and thinking about Simplicius the Thinker’s latest substack, which deals with a somewhat technical subject—the complications of mobilizing an army. It’s not as simple as just giving an order:
Here's the problem with that. If Durham had revealed to the American people that the FBI was spying on them based on WaPo articles he would have had no excuse for not prosecuting top FBI officials--starting with Comey. Redaction preserves Americans' quaint belief in the goodness of their government.
All those years the SOL was running those charges could have been brought. Imagine going in front of a jury and using the defense that you relied on news articles to spy on citizens without checking them out?
So we are looking at an insanely desperate attempt to force reality to conform to neocon fantasies? You have a group of people with access to nuclear weapons who are not guided by logic, strategic thinking or common sense, but raw emotional responses detached from rational thought.
What could possibly go wrong. As the English would say, we are well and truly on the thin end of the wedge.
Looks to me like this whole nightmare could go south in a heartbeat.
"German exports are finished goods--cars, machine tools, chemical products, all of those things. The German industrial economy is going down." I believe Mercouris is exactly right. The EU economy and the EU banking system are tottering on the edge right now. Germany is by far the foremost provider of exports in the EU and Germany is being de-industrialized. Did anybody see that Volkswagen just bought into Xpeng, the EV auto maker in China? They (and other corporations in Europe who have already left) know where their future is (and it isn't in Europe).
No way Europe can support a war against Russia (anyplace, any way). Blinken and Nuland and all the other neoCons better realize that if the war is to persist it will have to be the U.S. pushing it - how does that square with 2024?
All this talk of escalation juxtaposed with claims that Germany and the entire EU are on the economic/industrial ropes. After two years of draining weapons depots, etc who in the hell is going to fight the Russians and with what?? Despite all the wizbang weapons we have, haven't the Russians and Ukies made it abundantly clear that mechanized/industrial war is still how wars are fought?? Call me crazy but America doesn't appear to have the industrial might, financial resources or population capable of any of this. Apparently Hitler wasn't the only one living in Cloud Kookoo land
So, China is preparing for war. Given the rhetoric and repeated provocations coming from the Biden administration, wouldn't it be stupid for them not to?
"Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership for a secure, free, and prosperous future." You mean the future of the U.S.? Where is the U.S. leadership (other than bullying Europe and the Ukraine into destroying themselves and insulting China)? How can we have a more secure future when we provoke the only two nuclear peer powers of ours every chance we get? How can we have a more prosperous future when our government is spending billions that we don't have for the benefit of our MIC on countries half way across the world which have nothing to do with our daily lives and nothing to do with the defense of our national borders? I'm old enough to remember how the world was going to end if Vietnam fell. Do you really think it will be the end of us if Taiwan is taken over by China? If so, have you ever heard of the "One China" policy (the policy the U.S. already agreed to)?
Sun-Tzu, then Clausewitz, both described war in the manner of game theory, to oversimplify this a lot. So, the “game” is truly only played by those sitting at the table and “dealt in”. Their play is determined by what each believes are the important inputs, data wise. So, by analyzing the “players”, we may learn something broader about their individual style of play.
On one hand, Putin, ever the nationalist, benefits from both rogue actors/ inputs, as well as traditional, with a smattering of known, and now removed, corrupt elements. He benefits greatly, politically, as the Russian populace adores “The Strong Hand”, when applied to foreign adversaries. He makes his decisions, I believe, accordingly.
On the other hand, Nuland, like both her mentor, Killary, and sponsor, iBama, acts more like a narcissistic thief, trusting no one and must surround her self with sycophants, whom offer nothing beyond the press clippings that they themselves are providing to the press. They truly seem to operate in the Ben Rhoads Skool of Strategerium, whose motto is “I wish, therefore it always is.”. Since the reality is that Nuland is supervising the “protection” of their greatest ATM and laundromat, escalation is the only choice, despite the crumbling reality surrounding them.
I could go on, but that’s the way I’m grasping it, at present.
If Ukraine and the West are heavily bleeding at a minimal cost to Russia, why should Russia change tactics?
And any massing of Russian Military assets in Ukraine in the current environment, may create a huge target due to Western Surveillance and targeting abilities. Plus the logistical issue of rapid advances.
NATO / US forces do not have the ability to intervene materially in Ukraine with actual personnel, much less with equipment, beyond what they are already done. The forces are just not available. Nato and the EU can bluster all they want, but their militaries are mostly a shell currently.
I’m not sure what impact the us congress and Biden going on summer break / recess will have.
A good point that the Two Alexes made in a previous video is that the US Ukraine policy is entirely emotions-led while the Russian one is governed by cool, calm logical thinking. The key emotional trigger for the Americans is Nuland's obsessional hatred of Russia. This led her and her circle into committing continued errors. Meanwhile, Russia, channelling their inner Sun Tzu simply refuses to do what their enemies want them to do.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12353759/Bill-Barr-says-hell-jump-BRIDGE-Donald-Trump-wins-GOP-2024-nomination.html
Just proves he NEVER had the President's back. Also proves he's a liar, tongue on fire.
And Durham hid more Fisa bs in the classified Annex to his report:
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/08/01/deception_by_redaction_how_the_fbi_tried_to_hide_the_full_extent_of_fisa_abuses_using_fake_news_in_the_washington_post_969200.html
Here's the problem with that. If Durham had revealed to the American people that the FBI was spying on them based on WaPo articles he would have had no excuse for not prosecuting top FBI officials--starting with Comey. Redaction preserves Americans' quaint belief in the goodness of their government.
Thanks Mark - I did not see that.
I thought it was just to save institutional face / whitewashing. And since the statute of limitations had been run out, charges were not possible.
All those years the SOL was running those charges could have been brought. Imagine going in front of a jury and using the defense that you relied on news articles to spy on citizens without checking them out?
Something to look forward to. Big splash contest.
Trump just forwarded him a list of all the bridges in the area.
So we are looking at an insanely desperate attempt to force reality to conform to neocon fantasies? You have a group of people with access to nuclear weapons who are not guided by logic, strategic thinking or common sense, but raw emotional responses detached from rational thought.
What could possibly go wrong. As the English would say, we are well and truly on the thin end of the wedge.
Looks to me like this whole nightmare could go south in a heartbeat.
"German exports are finished goods--cars, machine tools, chemical products, all of those things. The German industrial economy is going down." I believe Mercouris is exactly right. The EU economy and the EU banking system are tottering on the edge right now. Germany is by far the foremost provider of exports in the EU and Germany is being de-industrialized. Did anybody see that Volkswagen just bought into Xpeng, the EV auto maker in China? They (and other corporations in Europe who have already left) know where their future is (and it isn't in Europe).
No way Europe can support a war against Russia (anyplace, any way). Blinken and Nuland and all the other neoCons better realize that if the war is to persist it will have to be the U.S. pushing it - how does that square with 2024?
All this talk of escalation juxtaposed with claims that Germany and the entire EU are on the economic/industrial ropes. After two years of draining weapons depots, etc who in the hell is going to fight the Russians and with what?? Despite all the wizbang weapons we have, haven't the Russians and Ukies made it abundantly clear that mechanized/industrial war is still how wars are fought?? Call me crazy but America doesn't appear to have the industrial might, financial resources or population capable of any of this. Apparently Hitler wasn't the only one living in Cloud Kookoo land
There you go again, T, thinking logically. That's something the neocons don't do.
I just finished this Kyle Bass presentation and interview at the Hudson Institute on China and Taiwan. It is well worth your time.
https://www.hudson.org/events/china-prepares-war-timeline-miles-yu-kyle-bass
So, China is preparing for war. Given the rhetoric and repeated provocations coming from the Biden administration, wouldn't it be stupid for them not to?
"Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership for a secure, free, and prosperous future." You mean the future of the U.S.? Where is the U.S. leadership (other than bullying Europe and the Ukraine into destroying themselves and insulting China)? How can we have a more secure future when we provoke the only two nuclear peer powers of ours every chance we get? How can we have a more prosperous future when our government is spending billions that we don't have for the benefit of our MIC on countries half way across the world which have nothing to do with our daily lives and nothing to do with the defense of our national borders? I'm old enough to remember how the world was going to end if Vietnam fell. Do you really think it will be the end of us if Taiwan is taken over by China? If so, have you ever heard of the "One China" policy (the policy the U.S. already agreed to)?
Sun-Tzu, then Clausewitz, both described war in the manner of game theory, to oversimplify this a lot. So, the “game” is truly only played by those sitting at the table and “dealt in”. Their play is determined by what each believes are the important inputs, data wise. So, by analyzing the “players”, we may learn something broader about their individual style of play.
On one hand, Putin, ever the nationalist, benefits from both rogue actors/ inputs, as well as traditional, with a smattering of known, and now removed, corrupt elements. He benefits greatly, politically, as the Russian populace adores “The Strong Hand”, when applied to foreign adversaries. He makes his decisions, I believe, accordingly.
On the other hand, Nuland, like both her mentor, Killary, and sponsor, iBama, acts more like a narcissistic thief, trusting no one and must surround her self with sycophants, whom offer nothing beyond the press clippings that they themselves are providing to the press. They truly seem to operate in the Ben Rhoads Skool of Strategerium, whose motto is “I wish, therefore it always is.”. Since the reality is that Nuland is supervising the “protection” of their greatest ATM and laundromat, escalation is the only choice, despite the crumbling reality surrounding them.
I could go on, but that’s the way I’m grasping it, at present.
Col Douglas Macgregor Believes Ukraine is on its last legs in a video from today.
https://youtu.be/eH9pusOf9Kg
If Ukraine and the West are heavily bleeding at a minimal cost to Russia, why should Russia change tactics?
And any massing of Russian Military assets in Ukraine in the current environment, may create a huge target due to Western Surveillance and targeting abilities. Plus the logistical issue of rapid advances.
NATO / US forces do not have the ability to intervene materially in Ukraine with actual personnel, much less with equipment, beyond what they are already done. The forces are just not available. Nato and the EU can bluster all they want, but their militaries are mostly a shell currently.
I’m not sure what impact the us congress and Biden going on summer break / recess will have.
The other day the good Colonel mentioned how Ukraine is committing reserves to the front and has at best 10 brigades left in reserve.
A good point that the Two Alexes made in a previous video is that the US Ukraine policy is entirely emotions-led while the Russian one is governed by cool, calm logical thinking. The key emotional trigger for the Americans is Nuland's obsessional hatred of Russia. This led her and her circle into committing continued errors. Meanwhile, Russia, channelling their inner Sun Tzu simply refuses to do what their enemies want them to do.
I also liked their observation of our negotiating tactics:
If we win, we will dictate terms to you; if we lose we will dictate the same terms.
Yes, they really aren't getting the message, are they?
And no need for a false flag such as possibly happened with an apartment building in one of the Chechnya wars.