Sarah returned from India. This is ages ago. I didn't know Sarah. I was introduced.
At one point Sarah and I were alone, and I asked her point blank:
'So what's your big takeaway from India?'
'After seeing Calcutta, it's that you can't fix everything.'
The idea seemed anathema at the time. Of course you can fix everything! We have to fix everything!
The days go by, turn into months, then years, and you watch the same type of mediocre scallawags rise to the top and ruin things for the rest of us.
So let's start there. Let's accept the fact that we can't fix everything. But we're ever mindful that is our goal anyway. Let's instead chip off a chunk or two, then leave to others to fill in the gaps. Victory by a thousand rhetorical contributions.
She's 85!
Sharon Tennison is now 85 years old. She's been advised by doctors to 'slow down'. Sharon had a bit of a collapse at the outset of the SMO. She's taken it easy. Now she's back - a bit - to update us.
Changes in Motion at CCI (https://ccisf.org/changes-in-motion-at-cci/)
‘I've missed being in touch with you over the past months. I had to take time out to see if my body and mind could heal itself after working around the clock for too many years. In my 85th year constant work finally caught up with me!’
Sharon's been funded to the hilt by peace-loving people in DC. At least for a while. Her accounts of her chance encounters with a young bureaucratic Putin have been instrumental in educating a clueless West. Her explanations of what the F is really going on in that area of the planet have also been beneficial.
Do take a look around her site to learn more.
‘After taking time off, getting plenty of sleep and downtime, I'm feeling considerably better. However at my age, I'm told that it's not wise to continue this pace to which I've been accustomed. So I'm trying to figure out how to slow down. My sons, who are already retired, think it's time for me to be a family Mom! I love them and my grandchildren, but I was always so involved with CCI that I allowed my work to come first before family events. Thankfully they still want me to be part of their lives.’
It's impossible to say too much about this wonderful woman.
The Latest Neocon Disaster
Sharon wrote the following on 5 July. She basically introduces a piece from Consortium News dated 1 July (which in turn is a reprint). We can include her entire intro.
Ukraine is the Latest Neocon Disaster (https://ccisf.org/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/)
‘The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the U.S. wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
‘The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these U.S. foreign policy debacles.
‘The neocon movement emerged in the 1970s around a group of public intellectuals, several of whom were influenced by University of Chicago political scientist Leo Strauss and Yale University classicist Donald Kagan. Neocon leaders included Norman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Robert Kagan (son of Donald), Frederick Kagan (son of Donald), Victoria Nuland (wife of Robert), Elliott Cohen, Elliott Abrams and Kimberley Allen Kagan (wife of Frederick).
‘The main message of the neocons is that the U.S. must predominate in military power in every region of the world and must confront rising regional powers that could someday challenge U.S. global or regional dominance, most important Russia and China. For this purpose, U.S. military force should be pre-positioned in hundreds of military bases around the world and the U.S. should be prepared to lead wars of choice as necessary. The United Nations is to be used by the U.S. only when useful for U.S. purposes.’
(A big takeaway, that final graf. Suitable for framing.)
CN link:
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/01/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/
There are a few minor points we'd object to. Such as the US-centric POV that silently creeps in from time to time.
And one thing the neocons and other residents of the West have to get out of their heads before it's too late: Russia doesn't want to expand.
Repeat the line: Russia doesn't want to expand.
Look at a map. Just look. Russia has eleven time zones. Extends from Scandinavia to outside Sarah Palin's kitchen window. It's big - too big. So big that everyone, from Bonaparte to Adolf to 'WC' to the joint chiefs to the Rocking Dulles Brothers to Z-Big and now Vicky & The Kagans want to split it up. Russia has a problem with too much territory. Territory that connotes responsibilities. For, perhaps contrary to what you've been led to believe, Russia of today takes care of her own. That's why people applaud Putin when he comes to town: not because he's the president or something but because they got it good and they're thankful. They're applauding themselves, their country. This is easy to see for anyone not blinded by the frat boy tribalism that hangs like a thick fog over the Beltway.
But we're not going to fix everything, remember? So it's time again to turn our attention to that conflict somewhere in Yurp. (But there will be a comic interlude at the end, a sort of lollipop for your good efforts in reading the next lugubrious part.)
Andrei Returns
Most of you know of Andrei and his 'Saker' collection of websites. So you know that he too took a breather back in February just like Sharon. He's returned now, says his batteries are recharging well, and he's dropped a blockbuster of a summary a day early.
Nothing will replace reading this. And one read isn't enough. But it basically covers all the bases. It's a huge effort. Let's try to tantalise by highlighting a few of the high points with the occasional comment.
‘In very simple terms, this is what Russia has achieved so far: Ukraine has lost about 20% of its territory, about 3 thousand towns and villages, half of the gross national product, and a third of coal production. It completely lost access to the Sea of Azov, and traffic through the Black Sea ports froze due to fighting and mining of waterways. The number of refugees has reached 7 million.’
Not sure that 7 million includes the 2 million who fled (to Russia) already in 2014/15. Yet another fact the West chose to conceal. Not good for those who fled west, as their fate isn't as rosy as for the others who skipped over to Rostov. Russian resources are superior and they treat people better in Russia.
‘To begin I want to list a few elements of the official western narrative which have now faceplanted and nobody sane would take seriously.’
OK...
'Russia is losing the war, was defeated by the Ukronazis near Kiev, she is running out of ammunition and supplies and is about to collapse'
Yeah that's a good one. See the comic interlude below.
'Russia had to change her plans and tactics because of the heavy losses suffered by the Russian military early in the operation'
Oh please. Sergei explains at length, then winds up with this, something all of us have understood from Day One.
‘The truth is that by the laws of warfare the Ukraine lost the war in less than a week.’
Deeper still:
‘What is my evidence for such an apparently outlandish and over-the-top statement? Simple: since the beginning of the SMO, the Ukrainians failed to execute a single operational level attack or counter-attack. At most they were able to execute small, tactical level attacks, the vast majority of which almost instantly failed, a few were defeated in a few days, and, crucially, not a single one gave the Ukrainian side the operational initiative. Not once.’
This stings:
‘If Kiev had any agency and if the Ukrainian leadership cared about their country and people, they would have immediately sued for peace. But Kiev never had any agency and the buffoons in power do not give a damn about the Ukrainian people.’
Digging it in:
‘Instead, it was the US that told the Ukrainians to never surrender or pull back, even if that meant huge losses in both manpower and firepower. The West, which despises and hates the Ukrainians almost as much as it hates the Russians were delighted to see the hated Ukrainians and the hated Russians killing each other (well, mostly Russians doing the killing). Furthermore, being military incompetent, the leaders of the West apparently believed that supplying weapons, money, instructors, and special forces to the Ukrainians could, if not turn the tide, slow down Russia enough to create fear, uncertainty, and doubts in the Russian public opinion. That plan also spectacularly failed, Putin is as popular as ever, the 5th column and the 6th columns in Russia are in despair (many emigrate) and the SMO has the full support of the Russian nation.’
Sergei summarises a bit further down.
‘Military: the best proxy the USA had in history (the Ukrainian armed forces) is being slowly and inexorably destroyed by about only 8-10 percent of the Russian armed forces.
‘Economic: while some sectors in Russia did suffer from the so-called 'sanctions' (they are not sanctions, but acts of war and crude robbery, only the UNSC can impose legal sanctions), all in all, Russia did great, and seems to be set on a path for economic success due to the fact that a) most countries have refused to obey Washington's demands and b) the Russian economy is powerful and real, not virtual like the western economies. It will take a couple of years for Russia to adapt, but now that this process has begun, it is unstoppable.
‘Propaganda: here the image is pretty clear: on one hand we have the USA and its colonies, then a few countries with comprador elites that are hated by most people, and countries that openly defy Washington. This is best expressed by this map from the Chinese foreign ministry:’
(Remember when people told that joke about the IO and the end of WWII? The IO on Ukraine was strong in the beginning, but it's not lasting, people are wisening up, faster than the IO architects thought possible. Perhaps they remember the Iraqi WMDs and other things like that. And again: see below.)
An observation Sergei makes on the above graphic:
‘One key characteristic of the countries shown in red on the bottom (realistic) map is that all these countries have two crucial factors in common: a) they (mostly) lack real resources (since their civilizations were always built on imperialism, colonialism and plain robbery) b) they hate Russia so much that they are willing to take measures which hurt themselves much more than they hurt Russia.’
Or this, Sergei 2.0, back with a vengeance:
‘That is the core 'philosophy' of the USA: fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, prolong the war as long as possible, get as much of the civilian infrastructure of the Ukraine destroyed, subvert the status of the dollar, crash the world economy, let the EU crash and burn economically, socially, and politically, shove the Woke agenda down everyone's throats, even if that makes them gag and throw up and, last but not least, totally and comprehensively stick your head in the sand and deny reality in all its aspects.’
And in bold font:
‘Yes, the West is so soaked in rabid hatred and fear of Russia that it prefers to commit collective suicide rather than accept any type of coexistence with a sovereign Russia.’
That's about right. It's not just the US. It's the West. Do revisit Z-big's Grand Chessboard if you need a refresher.
Icebergs
‘The fact that the economic warfare waged against Russia or the promise of Wunderwaffen has totally failed will never be admitted by these deeply psychopathic and terminally delusional people. And if they cannot double down ad infinitum in their actions, they sure will continue to double down in their rhetoric, just as the orchestra continued to play while the 'unsinkable' Titanic was sinking.’
Jumpin' Jack Flash?
‘Still, at least some of the regular folks in the West are smelling the roses, hence the dismal rating of ALL the western political leaders.’
Global South?
Check this map. The countries in purple are the ones that sanctioned Russia. The ones in green are the ones who support Russia. So the Beltway's got 12% of the world on its side and Putin's got 88%. Who's going to win? (Again: see below.)
Sergei comments:
‘Notice that pretty much the entire green zone is composed of countries that the West has invaded, robbed, devastated, enslaved, subverted, forcibly converted, bombed, economically 'sanctioned' with blockades and blackmail (by means of so-called 'secondary sanctions' which is a euphemism for blackmail and extortion) and, more recently, upon which the full satanic insanity of Wokeness has been imposed (hence the US embassies flying 'homopride' flags).’
‘The population of these green countries, which I call 'Zone B', knows the true score and they mostly hate and despise the West. And that places all their comprador ruling elites in a very tricky situation: their US masters want them to declare total war on Russia while their population is mostly sympathetic to Russia.’
He ends with:
‘The writing is on the wall, and only those who deliberately shut their eyes fail to see it.
Yup, that's what more and more of us are realising.
Sergei's final point
‘In the EU we don't really have any real 'ruling class', we only have frontmen (sorry! I meant 'frontpersons' of course), puppets, pretend-rulers with no agency whatsoever (Olaf Scholz and Josep Borrell are perfect examples). There is no European 'defense policy' or any other meaningful evidence of agency on any level. The EU is dead, clueless and totally in the control of the US Neocons.’
And who is Ursula anyway?
‘Second, in the USA, Neocons rule supreme, having total control of both major parties in the US. And while the GOP base is very different from the Dem's base, their leaders are mostly interchangeable.’
Sergei doesn't really like Tulsi, and he's never noticed Jim Jordan. But this part is good. This is about the mindset of PNAC, the Kristols, and Vicky & The Kagans, who pretty much govern all policy in the West.
‘Their mindset and worldview are pretty clear: they are messianic supremacists and sincerely consider themselves racially superior to the rest of mankind.’
(Don't really subscribe to his 'semitic' angle, but that could be because we know too little. Or maybe learning more would convince us he's wrong.)
‘These folks excel in the art of accumulating power, by hook or by crook. They like to claim that they have superior intelligence, but in reality, what separates these people is not brainpower, but two key aspects of their worldview: a) tribalism and b) drive. Simply put, most other people do not have this tribal 'us against them' mindset, and only a subsection of regular people are truly driven to power and influence. Hence, while being a numerically small minority, the US Neocons are in full control of the USA.’
Sounds about right. Until recently this 'tribalism' was considered virtuous.
Now he gets into the Golden Years with Putin.
‘Then something went very wrong and suddenly they were faced with a radically different kind of leader, one with the massive support of the Russian people. Remember here that Putin was an intelligence officer specializing in the West, thus a man who had a very good understanding of his enemies. Furthermore, Putin was patient enough to realize that in the early years of the confrontation with the West, Russia was in no condition to openly defy the West, let alone fight it militarily. This is why he stopped the LDNR forces from moving any further westwards in 2014-2015 even though the Ukrainian military was in disarray. While he knew that during the time the Ukrainians were in a panic and disorganized, he also knew that Russia could not take on the consolidated West. So between 2014 and 2018 Russia made a gigantic effort to develop the kind of capabilities needed to be able to take on all of NATO and win. By the time of the Russian ultimatum to the West last Fall, Russia was finally ready.’
And there you have it. There's your Saturday Night Ant & Dec Takeaway. That's why you read (skimmed) this far. Yes it's obvious, and now it's been said again.
Bold:
‘Notice that the Russian ultimatum was not an ultimatum to Kiev as much as it was a direct challenge to the US and NATO.’
Yes, and had anyone in the West followed things and noticed what Putin said on the morning of 24 February, none of this would have been a surprise. Putin doesn't bluff and he doesn't lie. Mostly because most Russians don't bluff and don't lie. It's just not in their DNA.
Putin's just a small man in a brown suit trying to do his job, someone with a lot of integrity and a lot of discipline (which he attributes to judo) who wants the best for his country and his peoples in a way most people in the West can't understand. Centuries of delicious Russian black humour lead to this.
‘The Neocons, drunk on their bravado and sense of racial superiority, basically told Russia to screw herself and doubled down in their rhetoric. And when Russia moved in, they truly freaked out, hence their suicidal policies towards Russia ever since. These folks mistakenly assumed that while Russia might (maybe!) prevail over the Ukrainian forces, they were confident that Putin would not dare openly defy the consolidated West. And when Putin did just that, they went into full panic mode, hence the nonsense we hear from the western capitals on a daily basis.’
Oh bingo. Well said. The same thing so many have wanted to say for so long now. It's a big planet and it's round.
‘But it got even worse. Far from being deterred by western promises of fire and brimstone, the Russian then proceeded to methodically destroy the Ukrainian armed forces. In spite of the Ukrainian military being the best proxy force in US history, in spite of BILLIONS given to the Nazi regime each month, in spite of all sorts of super-dooper Wunderwaffen deliveries, in spite of economic warfare, Russia is now pounding the Ukie+western forces in the Ukraine day after day after day and while the US is ordering the Ukrainians to fight to the end and never withdraw, the many waves of Volkssturm reinforcements have had no impact on Russian warfighting capabilities.’
Nope. Or yep. But all true.
‘It is outright comical to hear western countries (Germany, Italy and even the USA) whining about their weapons stores getting depleted while all these truly huge deliveries have not made any difference at all on the ground since the beginning of combat operations.’
But Sergei hails from over there and lived for the longest time in Switzerland, so he has a perspective not achievable for those in the 'colonies'. And that's the core issue.
Things now take a scary turn, but it shouldn't be a surprise, as all this was laid out for the world on 24 February.
‘But it gets even worse (for the Empire, that is): there are all the signs and even clear messages that Putin is not 'bluffing' at all and that Russia has full escalation dominance over the West. but it is now becoming quite evident that the Kremlin will not stop under any circumstances short of a total victory, and if that means nuclear war, so be it. And the Russian people are overwhelmingly supportive of this stance.
‘Why?
‘Because the Russian people have now FINALLY seen the true face of the West, they now understand that this is nothing else but a continuation of WWII and that the very existence and sovereignty of the Russian people are at stake. Again, Putin said it clearly: 'if someone makes a decision to destroy Russia, we have every right to fight back. Yes, it would be a global disaster for humanity and for the world, but being a Russian citizen and head of Russia, I want to ask a question, What's the point of the world without Russia?'
Sergei concurs with us:
‘So no, while Putin rarely makes threats, he never bluffs.’
Nope. Never.
‘Bottom line is this: anybody who sincerely believes that Russia will not wipe out the entire West if she is seriously threatened is terminally delusional, knows nothing about history, and does not understand the Russian mindset. They would do so at their own peril.’
In red:
‘If there is one message I want to convey to anybody willing to listen it is this: Putin is not bluffing, the West cannot win, and the only variable here is what price the West is willing to pay for its defeat.’
Calling the US '#2' as if this were a repeat of the post-war years, the move from the Commonwealth to Pax Americana, would be a misnomer. There's no set '#2'. There's no set '#1' either. That's the most important thing to understand, and it's also the realisation of which the neocons are going to resist tooth and claw. The outcome cannot possibly be otherwise. The only unknown is how much misery and destruction they're going to cause before they flee the battlefield.
And Stoltenberg?
Stoltenberg's always been a blowhard, a buffoon, a jerk who can arch his back and puff up his chest because he's had the backing of the US. But that backing isn't as intimidating as it once was. Norway's not going to like having him back.
Sergei's piece goes on and on and on. It's highly recommended, even if you find certain sections sluggish to wade through. But let's leave Sergei for now and move on to our comic interludes - two of them. Bringing it all back home a bit.
CNN Blooper
Jimmy Dore caught it, jumped right on it.
NPR Blooper
Dore on it again.
Fear not, not too much at any rate. What's going on now is a kind of 'evolution'. You can't see it much in the West, but things are definitely improving. The only unknown is how the 12% West will fit in with the other 88%.