The End Of The 'Rules Based International Order'
The 'western' countries, i.e. the United States and its 'allies', love to speak of a 'rules based international order' which they say everyone should follow. That 'rules based order' is a way more vague concept than the actual rule of law:
The G7 is united by its shared values and commitment to a rules based international order. That order is being challenged by authoritarianism, serious violations of human rights, exclusion and discrimination, humanitarian and security crises, and the defiance of international law and standards.As members of the G7, we are convinced that our societies and the world have reaped remarkable benefits from a global order based on rules and underscore that this system must have at its heart the notions of inclusion, democracy and respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, diversity, and the rule of law.
That the 'rules based international order' is supposed to include vague concepts of 'democracy', 'human rights', 'fundamental freedoms', 'diversity' and more makes it easy to claim that this or that violation of the 'rules based international order' has occurred. Such violations can then be used to impose punishment in the form of sanctions or war.
That the above definition was given by a minority of a few rich nations makes it already clear that it can not be a global concept for a multilateral world. That would require a set of rules that everyone has agreed to. We already had and have such a system. It is called international law. But at the end of the cold war the 'west' began to ignore the actual international law and to replace it with its own rules which others were then supposed to follow. That hubris has come back to bite the 'west'.
Anatol Lieven's recent piece, How the west lost, describes this moral defeat of the 'west' after its dubious 'victory' in the cold war:
Accompanying this overwhelmingly dominant political and economic ideology was an American geopolitical vision equally grandiose in ambition and equally blind to the lessons of history. This was summed up in the memorandum on “Defence Planning Guidance 1994-1999,” drawn up in April 1992 for the Bush Senior administration by Under-Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and subsequently leaked to the media. Its central message was:
...
While that 1992 Washington paper spoke of the “legitimate interests” of other states, it clearly implied that it would be Washington that would define what interests were legitimate, and how they could be pursued. And once again, though never formally adopted, this “doctrine” became in effect the standard operating procedure of subsequent administrations. In the early 2000s, when its influence reached its most dangerous height, military and security elites would couch it in the terms of “full spectrum dominance.” As the younger President Bush declared in his State of the Union address in January 2002, which put the US on the road to the invasion of Iraq: “By the grace of God, America won the Cold War… A world once divided into two armed camps now recognises one sole and pre-eminent power, the United States of America.”
But that power has since failed in the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, during the 2008 financial crisis and now again in the pandemic. It also created new competition to its role due to its own behavior:
On the one hand, American moves to extend Nato to the Baltics and then (abortively) on to Ukraine and Georgia, and to abolish Russian influence and destroy Russian allies in the Middle East, inevitably produced a fierce and largely successful Russian nationalist reaction. ... On the other hand, the benign and neglectful way in which Washington regarded the rise of China in the generation after the Cold War (for example, the blithe decision to allow China to join the World Trade Organisation) was also rooted in ideological arrogance. Western triumphalism meant that most of the US elites were convinced that as a result of economic growth, the Chinese Communist state would either democratise or be overthrown; and that China would eventually have to adopt the western version of economics or fail economically. This was coupled with the belief that good relations with China could be predicated on China accepting a so-called “rules-based” international order in which the US set the rules while also being free to break them whenever it wished; something that nobody with the slightest knowledge of Chinese history should have believed.
The retired Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar touches on the same points in an excellent series about the new Chinese-Russian alliance:
- The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes of age — Part 1
- The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes of Age — Part 2
- The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes of Age — Part 3
Bhadrakumar describes how the 'west', through its own behavior, created a mighty block that now opposes its dictates. He concludes:
Quintessentially, Russia and China contest a set of neoliberal practices that have evolved in the post-World War 2 international order validating selective use of human rights as a universal value to legitimise western intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign states. On the other hand, they also accept and continuously affirm their commitment to a number of fundamental precepts of the international order — in particular, the primacy of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, the importance of international law, and the centrality of the United Nations and the key role of the Security Council.
While the U.S. wants a vague 'rules based international order' China and Russia emphasize an international order that is based on the rule of law. Two recent comments by leaders from China and Russia underline this.
In a speech in honor of the UN's 75th anniversary China's President Xi Jinping emphasized law based multilateralism:
China firmly supports the United Nations' central role in global affairs and opposes any country acting like boss of the world, President Xi Jinping said on Monday.
...
"No country has the right to dominate global affairs, control the destiny of others or keep advantages in development all to itself," Xi said.Noting that the UN must stand firm for justice, Xi said that mutual respect and equality among all countries, big or small, is the foremost principle of the UN Charter.
No country should be allowed to do whatever it likes and be the hegemon or bully, Xi said. "Unilateralism is a dead end," he said.
...
International laws should not be distorted or used as a pretext to undermine other countries' legitimate rights and interests or world peace and stability, he added.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went even further by outright rejecting the 'western rules' that the 'rules based international order' implies:
Ideas that Russia and China will play by sets of Western rules under any circumstances are deeply flawed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with New York-based international Russian-language RTVI channel."I was reading our political scientists who are well known in the West. The following idea is becoming louder and more pronounced: it is time to stop applying Western metrics to our actions and stop trying to be liked by the West at any cost. These are very reputable people and a rather serious statement. It is clear to me that the West is wittingly or unwittingly pushing us towards this analysis. It is likely to be done unwittingly," Lavrov noted. "However, it is a big mistake to think that Russia will play by Western rules in any case, just like thinking this in terms of China."
As an alliance China and Russia have all the raw materials, energy, engineering and industrial capabilities, agriculture and populations needed to be completely independent from the 'west'. They have no need nor any desire to follow dubious rules dictated by other powers. There is no way to make them do so. As M.K. Bhadrakumar concludes:
The US cannot overwhelm that alliance unless it defeats both China and Russia together, simultaneously. The alliance, meanwhile, also happens to be on the right side of history. Time works in its favour, as the decline of the US in relative comprehensive national power and global influence keeps advancing and the world gets used to the “post-American century.”
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P.S.
On a lighter note: RT, Russia's state sponsored international TV station, has recently hired Donald Trump (vid). He will soon host his own reality show on RT. The working title is reportedly: "Putin's Apprentice". The apprenticeship might give him a chance to learn how a nation that has failed can be resurrected to its former glory.
Posted by b on September 22, 2020 at 17:59 UTC | Permalink
next page »The rules are follow the dictates of our western neo-colonial institutions like the World Bank, the IMF et all. We will own you and you will do what we say and those are the rules. Any challenge to our authority will lead to war, economic ruin or both.
Its a pretty simple concept backed by the attack dog of the US military.
Posted by: circumspect | Sep 22 2020 18:27 utc | 2
'Rules based order' was always a euphemism for exceptionalism of one kind or another.
The term was invented to avoid having to say 'rule of law', which invited criticism because even the most minimal amount of law (such as Geneva conventions, ICC etc) was rejected in practice and in policy by the leading members of the actually existing world order.
Posted by: ptb | Sep 22 2020 18:37 utc | 3
Can't resist tooting my own horn.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2017/04/29/the-west-actually-lost-the-cold-war-it-turned-victory-into-defeat/
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | Sep 22 2020 18:52 utc | 4
Rumor says the "Wolfowitz Doctrine" also envisioned the balkanization of Russia (the document is still classified, but it leaked to a NYT journalist at the time, who published a report on it).
It's not clear-but that a Russia-China alliance would have advantage over the American Empire. The secret here is that the USA must be seen not as a North-American empire, but as a thalassocracy that control "The Seven Seas". This makes the USA larger in surface area than the Eurasian landmass.
Martyanov stated that new hypersonic missiles rendered the US Navy ineffective in a war of aggression against Russia and China. That's true, but that's not the main role of the US Navy: it's main role is to guarantee the shipping routes, thus controlling the totality of foreign trade. In that, it is still undisputed.
The way to go is to, first of all, guarantee the Russia-China alliance, and, second, to finish the BRI as fast a possible. If China-Russia guarantee the land routes of trade and supply through Eurasia, the game is basically over for the USA, because Eurasia is where most of human civilization lives, it's the "World Island" - the world island not in the military sense, but in the economic sense. Every path to human prosperity passes through Eurasia - that's why the USA can't "let it alone" in the first place, while the reverse is not true, that is, Eurasia can give to the luxury of letting the Americas alone.
The recent White House plans to control content of school curriculum, especially regarding history, suggests a few powerful people in Washington are trying to shore up the exceptionalism emphasis.
Posted by: watyler | Sep 22 2020 19:07 utc | 6
I laughed out loud at the RT skit. They certainly have found a good DJT impersonator.
Got to admire their in yer face, ‘ take the mick ‘ type humour.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall to see some U.S. politicians and state dept. persons reactions.
Lindsey Graham and Nancy Pelosi immediately come to mind.
Oh the faux outrage! Comedic gold! * Trebles ( Gin and Tonic’s ) all round *
* A reference to a British satirical periodiclal, Private Eye.
Posted by: Beibdnn | Sep 22 2020 19:08 utc | 7
It is not over in the sense that the West hasn't given up in its attempts to take over the world.
But as the "exceptionalist" western countries decline, they will go even crazier and crazier and there will be full blown hysteria.
In this sense, the rule based order will be over as there will be only disorder and animalistic, crazed western rage and bullying.
The West is like a trapped animal. It will start pouncing, raging and snarling like a wild animal.
This is the real nature of the West. A hungry wild animal that needs to feed.
All the liberalism is just self-congratulation about how exceptionalist it is. It is born out of narcisism and self-obsession during the "good times" of the West.
But behind the liberal mask, there are hateful eyes and gnashing teeth, and hunger and greed for other people's resources.
The real face of it is hateful and snarling. And it will be fully exposed during the next 10 years, as the West goes crazy and it becomes a hungry wild animal that desperately needs to feed.
Expressed in words, the West's face says "I'm the best and you are nothing! Give me your stuff! And this is how it will forever be!"
Countries need to stay out from the wild animal and carry a big stick just in case, until it succumbs from its internal hatreds and contradictions.
Posted by: Passer by | Sep 22 2020 19:43 utc | 9
Putin's Apprentice is perfect. Shove that title right back in Maxine Water's face. Here's the link for English speakers without the Russian subtitles:
Trump is here to make RT Great Again!
Posted by: One Too Many | Sep 22 2020 19:44 utc | 10
As Putin has said, the US is no longer agreement capable. As b. outlines. the US elites no longer follow the rule of law. This is even true within the US. The US inherited the role formerly played by the British Empire after WW2. the national security apparatus of both the US and the Soviet Union kept the Cold War going. Notice how soon after JFK was assassinated Khrushchev was deposed. Gorbachev rightly stopped the Soviets superpower regime. As Dmitri Orlov points out - Empire hollowed out the Soviet Union and he sees it doing the same to the US. instead of bringing Russia into the Western liberal democracies (with the threat of major nuclear war now drastically reduced) the now Anglo-Zionist Empire just looted it. The life expectancy of Russians fell 7 years in a decade until rescued by Putin. It can now be seen that the Nixon-Kissinger opening up to China was not to gain access to its large market potential but to gain access to hundreds of millions of cheap, disciplined, and educated workers. The elites starting in the 70s became greedier. Jet travel,electronic communication, and computers allowed the outsourcing of manufacture. The spread of air conditioning allowed even the too hot south to be a location. First in the US as the factories began their march through the non union southern states onto Mexico. Management from the north could now live in air conditioned houses, drive air conditioned cars and work in air conditioned offices. The 70s oil inflation led to stagnation as the unionized labor were powerful enough to get cost of living raises. With the globalization of labor union power in the US has been destroyed. As Eric X Li points out China's one party rule actually changes policies easier than the Western democracies. So China's government hasn't joined in with the West in just creating wealth for the top 1% and debt for the real economy. As b.pointed out, the Anglo Zionist policies created the mutual benefit partnership of Russia and China. The Chinese belt and road initiative appears to be intent on creating a large trading zone that could benefit those involved. The US is just using sanctions and the military to turn sovereign functioning countries that don't go along with it into failed states and their infrastructure turned to rubble
Posted by: gepay | Sep 22 2020 19:44 utc | 11
Is rt trying to troll the democrat russiagater's or DJT fanbase?
Either/or...it's a misfire.
Any type of enmity btw the two countries under Trump is pure theater.
We all know that DJT does actually admire Putin, and for good reason!
But I would go further to say that Putin has respect and admiration for DJT...and appreciation for bringing the warhawks in Syria to heel.
So I suppose y'all who feel that DJT is some ineffectual- when it comes to outplaying Russia- establishment figure, it might be funny for you. To me, it is just silly.
But give Biden a chance to prove me right and bring us to further brinkmanship in Syria.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 22 2020 20:07 utc | 12
Now, the US is forced into puppeteering the UN in order to maintain the illusion of the 'rules based order,' even as it slides further and further away from any meaningful international cooperation:
Fortunately for the world, the United States took responsible action to stop this from happening. In accordance with our rights under UNSCR 2231, we initiated the snapback process to restore virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions, including the arms embargo. The world will be safer as a result.
The United States expects all UN Member States to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures. In addition to the arms embargo, this includes restrictions such as the ban on Iran engaging in enrichment and reprocessing-related activities, the prohibition on ballistic missile testing and development by Iran, and sanctions on the transfer of nuclear- and missile-related technologies to Iran, among others. If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN-prohibited activity.
https://www.state.gov/the-return-of-un-sanctions-on-the-islamic-republic-of-iran/
Posted by: Roy G | Sep 22 2020 20:11 utc | 13
After November 3 2020, the USA will devolve into chaos. You have nothing to worry about.
Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 22 2020 20:13 utc | 14
Great clip of "Trump" in Moscow, the end scene in front of Tsoy’s wall in the Arbat has a message, a reference to the well known in the former USSR song Peremen, Changes, by the group Kino. Trump would do fine in Moscow were he to lose the election, there is a kitsch side to the megalopolis too, but it is such a huge and varied city, an imperial capital, that it had to have it.
Posted by: Paco | Sep 22 2020 20:15 utc | 15
Any type of enmity btw the two countries under Trump is pure theater.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 22 2020 20:07 utc | 10
Actually the Trump Administration has done far more against Russia than all US administrations from the last 30 years. Do not listen what they say, look at what they do.
Right now the US in a full blown Cold War with Russia with ever increasing attacks.
Posted by: Passer by | Sep 22 2020 20:15 utc | 16
Pompeo talks more or less continually about "China's bullying behaviuor". To me it is wonderful that he can say this with a straight face. (Perhaps it is a result of his lessons in the CIA on "how to lie better".)All the countries that have engaged with China have benefitted from it, whether as salesmen or as recipients of aid or loans at advantageous rates. The countries that have engaged with America have mostly (All?) lost. (The fifty+ countries invaded and wrecked since WW2 or the NATO "allies" or the countries attacked with sanctions.) Either their economies were destroyed or billions upon billions of dollars were paid to the US MIC. The NATO member countries have got what from their membership? Formerly, they had "Protection" from an imaginary Soviet threat, more recently "Protection" from an equally imaginary Russian threat! Some bargain, that!
Posted by: foolisholdman | Sep 22 2020 20:22 utc | 17
Rules based international order .... the U.S. functions as the the Supreme Court for the U.N., 'we have invoked snapback sanctions anb extended the arms embargo on Iran indefinitely and are enforcing it'. UN, 'but your vote failed'.
U.S, 'we have the right to seize cargo between any two countries transported in international waters based on U.S. federal appeals court decision even though the transaction in no way involves the U.S. We call this Freedom of Navigation and why we need to have aircraft carriers in the South China Sea and Arabian Gulf'
We are completely and totally insane.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Sep 22 2020 20:38 utc | 18
Rules based International Order is the dog whistle for global private finance controlled economies.
It is sad that we are in a civilization war with China/Russia about who runs international finance going forward and yet there is no discussion of the subject but instead all sorts of proxy conflicts.
Thanks for the posting b as it gets to the core myths around the global private finance jackboot on the neck of countries in the West.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 22 2020 20:41 utc | 19
Thanks b, and I will add that we here in the US also are expected to be okay with a financial rules based order that favors the rich over the not well off and seeks the same sort of hegemony in terms of its own citizens.
Recently I loved reading that President Roosevelt sent thousands of bankers to prison. Wish we still had him.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 22 2020 20:49 utc | 20
Putins apprentice is perfect for RT and I propose that Trump would need a regular foil with a standard 30 second discussion with Joe Biden in every show. Joe could have his name board or US flag upside down. With only 6 weeks to go to election day this show would drive the entire dopey establishment crazy.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 22 2020 20:55 utc | 21
The US is not just facing relative decline -- the fact that others are catching up in key ways. The US is also facing absolute decline -- the fact that it is suffering a degradation of capacities and is losing competitive battles in key areas. Examples of absolute decline include the Russian and Chinese military-technological revolutions based on anti-ship and hypersonic missiles and air defense systems; Chinese 5G; China's demonstrative success in suppressing COVID and its overall manufacturing power; the declining quality of life for most Americans; and the collapse of American institutional competence.
Related to this, we can't separate these dynamics from the political economy of the states in question. China, in particular, is showing that an interventionist state, with high levels of public ownership, is essential to qualitative power, human security, and economic and social development.
Capitalism might enrich a few, but it is the primary cause of America's relative and absolute decline.
Posted by: profk | Sep 22 2020 20:59 utc | 22
US and allied military analysts have been talking over the last year or so of the need to enter a single focus and total “wartime” posture throughout our societies, with all financial and industrial output directed to the “war”. This has influenced the information/ propaganda efforts, but also the uptick in military manoeuvres around Taiwan and renewed NATO pressure directed at Russia (including the recent provocative B52 flights). Don’t think Russia/China can be tricked into over-reacting, but some kind of loss-of-life military confrontation may be what the rules-based side is looking for as the population at large will probably not accept a “wartime sacrifice” regimen without such.
Posted by: jayc | Sep 22 2020 21:01 utc | 23
Recently I loved reading that President Roosevelt sent thousands of bankers to prison. Wish we still had him.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 22 2020 20:49 utc | 18
He sent even more Japanese-Americans into concentration camps...
Posted by: v | Sep 22 2020 21:10 utc | 24
Much more recently than FDR, many bankers were sent to jail during the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s. The difference now is that Wall Street has taken over the Democratic Party.
Posted by: lysias | Sep 22 2020 21:21 utc | 25
Very well written article.
Whilst Russia and China are creating a truly new, unique and creative alliance and a market of everything, in Australia the “authorities” are sicking their police dogs on poor grannies sitting on park benches. This image of five brainless armed state goons in a show of force over two quiet little grannies really puts things into perspective. It must be that New World Order that Soros and puppets always talked about.
Psssst, learning Russian is easier than Chinese and we already know a few Russian words, such as novichok.
Posted by: Kiza | Sep 22 2020 21:26 utc | 26
I see Pompeo as the quintessential opportunist of this moment (beyond his spiritual master of course, B-Nut.) Probably counting on the desperate vanity and ego of Trump with the looming election to not shorten the length of the leash on Pompass. Pompass must also have noticed that Trump is willing to shove the homeland into civil war in order to claim victory, so maybe Pompass finally has the latitude to slake his bloodthirstiness.
Since I'm wondering down the path of speculation, a bit further into the murk. If there is one thing that characterizes the US today from the highest to the low, it is corruption. I submit that this corruption finds its zenith in the military, and especially the procurement train: any engagement with a near-peer (or the coalition/bloc we're talking about here,) and the rot and corruption will collapse this empire in upon itself. I've had this suspicion for some time, and believe if the going got rough the collapse would come rather quickly and completely.
Posted by: vinnieoh | Sep 22 2020 21:41 utc | 27
Andre Vltchek whose done some great reporting on China, Russia, and the Middle East over the years was found dead today in Turkey.
Posted by: Colm O' Toole | Sep 22 2020 21:41 utc | 28
Great analysis b and connecting the dots.
The post scriptum stopped the clock for me. Has our host slipped into our drink there a profound prophecy, disguised as jesting?
Many agree something big will happen (break?) soon, possibly with the elections. The other thing is the Americans' ability to change course, drop all baggage, and run off in a new, even the opposite direction with unfettered enthusiasm (and ferocity). No people has a greater capacity for almost instant renewal, once it chooses to.
I also notice that the spoof takes good aim at The Donald's peculiarities, though in a fair and human way. The proverbial Russian warmth, or a humorous invitation?
Meanwhile, I enjoy my newfound optimism in these dark times. Thanks b!
Posted by: Leser | Sep 22 2020 21:42 utc | 29
Lots of excellent commentary!!
I very highly suggest a close reading of Xi's and Putin's UNGA statements, plus two from yesterday, Xi's and Lavrov's for they come close to telling us what their next moves will be. Xi's Monday speech was quite clear that China will avoid war if at all possible, and as I read him, even when it comes to Taiwan.
Macron's UNGA statement's in French, so I'll provide this Sputnik recap that shows he continues to be wishy-washy on Iran and other issues.
On the Open Thread, I also linked to the last two Keiser Reports which feature Dr. Hudson as the interview guest. I highly suggest spending the hour needed to watch both episodes as they touch on the degree of dysfunction caused by Private Finance and what we might expect in the near future within the Outlaw US Empire.
our host misses the real challenge for humans on this planet, perhaps by design. I think Michael Krieger had it right, what we should be aiming for is the decentralizing of power. invest in localism. get to know your local power structure. get ready for trade and barter survival mode.
for example, if I lived in Germany I might identify how my country helps American drone pilots like Brandon Bryant violate our constitution. from the link:
On October 15, former U.S. drone operator Brandon Bryant testified before the German Parliament about the role the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, plays in the U.S. drone program. Hours later, Shadowproof reported, two American Air Force officers showed up at the house of Bryant's mother in Missoula, Montana, to inform her that she was on the "hit list" of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), which Bryant's attorney is calling a clear sign of whistleblower intimidation.Bryant, now an outspoken critic of the U.S. drone program, left the Air Force after what he described as a moment of moral clarity. "We were hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen," he told a German parliamentary inquiry committee last week. "I suddenly realized that by doing what I was doing I was going against the American Constitution which I had sworn to protect. That was when I decided I had to get out."
Bryant came back to his hometown in Missoula and became active in local politics, culminating in a felony arrest for allegedly intimidating local council members over his criticism of how local officials use public funds. this was right before the pandemic, and since then there has been nothing in the news about his case. I would know, since I could possible be a witness in the case.
if you aren't at least a little prepared for a disruption in critical supplies, and choose instead to waste time commenting on online forums, it won't matter how up to date you are on "rules based international order" vs. "international law". at that point the reality will be something like this: if you aren't holding it, you don't have it, and if you can't defend it, you won't be keeping it for long.
Thanks b and on Anatol Lieven in the Prospect story (fairy story?)...
Russia after the Cold War was a shambles and today it remains a weak economy with a limited role on the world stage, concerned mainly with retaining some of its traditional areas of influence. China is a vastly more formidable competitor. If the US (and the UK, if as usual we tag along) approach the relationship with Beijing with anything like the combination of arrogance, ignorance, greed, criminality, bigotry, hypocrisy and incompetence with which western elites managed the period after the Cold War, then we risk losing the competition and endangering the world.[my emphasis]
Lieven simply does not see it. Has it ever occurred to Lieven that colonialism just might be rejected by both Russia and China and that there might be no competition? Does Lieven watch too much football?
What is it that endangers the world in Lieven's petite cortex? This verbose Lieven tosh is littered with fancy sentences trawled from here and there but always presented to us from a narrow dimensional mind with limited analysis and seemingly zero interrogation.
again:- "then we risk losing the competition and endangering the world"...
So Lieven thinks the current behaviour of the US hegemon and its collaborator the UK is innocuous? These were the two nations that blithely squandered the "peace dividend" from the end of cold war as he describes and have led us to this time of perpetual war. A perpetual war that he does not mention, does not allude to, does not treat as an important driver behind the current global mistrust and disengagement from the USUK drive for global dominance.
Lieven is putting lipstick on his pig and screaming about losing the competition to the imagined wolf outside his prison.
Beneath contempt.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 22 2020 21:59 utc | 32
Passer by @Sep22 19:43 #8
It is not over in the sense that the West hasn't given up in its attempts to take over the world.
I agree. The contest between the Empire and the upstarts is not over by a long shot.
What the West HAS lost is the "inevitability" argument. But for the upstarts to actually prevail in their "multi-lateral" vision, they have to actually entice countries to join them despite threats and intimidation from the Empire.
_________________________________
Passer by @Sep22 20:15 #14
Right now the US in a full blown Cold War with Russia with ever increasing attacks.
Yes. We still see the narratives like of Trump as Putin-lover despite the debunking of Russiagate and the clear evidence of Cold War tensions. The incessant propaganda reeks of desperation.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
Some seem to think that the Empire is cornered.
Aha! We've got you now, you scoundrels!
LOL.
The Empire's power-elite KNOW that Russia, China, and allies of Russia-China don't want to be subject to their "rules-based order". The Empire is actively working to undermine, subvert, and divide the countries that oppose it. While also securing their own territories/population via intimidation and propaganda.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 22 2020 22:09 utc | 33
Colm O' Toole #26
Andre Vltchek whose done some great reporting on China, Russia, and the Middle East over the years was found dead today in Turkey.
Vale great warrior, the world was kept informed by this wonderful spirit and passionate mind. I am very sad to hear of his passing.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 22 2020 22:15 utc | 34
Colm O' Toole | Sep 22 2020 21:41 utc | 26:
I learned about places I’ve never been reading Vltchek. He will be missed by many.
Posted by: David G | Sep 22 2020 22:23 utc | 35
On rules based disorder and the capitulation of Merkel and her BND lapdogs to the 'hate Russia' fulminations of the UKUSA morons. I see that the German Parliament has NOT TAKEN its red pills these days and is reluctant to swallow the BS. It would be satisfying to see the collective wisdom of the Parliament to exceed that of the BND. But then that is a low bar.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 22 2020 22:53 utc | 36
An excellent look into the seemingly mundane but important business of negotiating arms control agreements is offered here: Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov’s interview with the newspaper Kommersant, published on September 22, 2020. Excerpt:
"For our part, we more than once described a balanced and mutually acceptable framework for future agreements in this sphere during our contacts with the American negotiators. Aware of the difficulties on the path forward in light of how widely different our approaches are, we proposed extending the New START as it was originally signed.
"We do not want any unilateral advantages, but we will not make any unilateral concessions either. A deal may be possible if the United States is ready to coordinate a new document on the basis of the balance of interests, parity and without expecting Russia to make unilateral concessions. But this will take time. We can have time to do this if the treaty is extended."
As predicted, the Outlaw US Empire makes an offer it knows will be refused so it can then blame Russia for being an unreliable negotiating partner--a trick we've all seen before.
Lavrov conducted a short interview with Sputnik mostly about Belarus and Ukraine and much of which is a rehash.
Colm O'Toole @ 26, Uncle Tungsten @ 32, David G @ 33:
I am also sad to hear of Andre Vltchek's passing. He used to be an occasional contributor to Off-Guardian.org.
His death is being treated as suspicious by Turkish police authorities. I myself am rather puzzled by the decision to travel overnight by car from Samsun to Istanbul, given his state of health (according to the report that Colm O'Toole linked to) and the length of the car journey (about nine hours) when he could have travelled by plane.
Posted by: Jen | Sep 22 2020 23:03 utc | 38
I agree. The contest between the Empire and the upstarts is not over by a long shot.
What the West HAS lost is the "inevitability" argument. But for the upstarts to actually prevail in their "multi-lateral" vision, they have to actually entice countries to join them despite threats and intimidation from the Empire.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Sep 22 2020 22:09 utc | 31
Yes, the big question remaining is to predict what will happen and when. This is what the real deal is. And i'm sure they are working on that in the intel agencies.
It can certainly be predicted that the US and the EU will be significantly weaker in 2030 that today. Will this be enough is the question.
We now have some new information about US long term health as published by CBO. Very interesting numbers.
They predict lower population growth and lower GDP growth for the US than previously estimated, as well as higher debt rates.
US federal debt is to reach 195 % of GDP by 2050 under best case scenario.
http://www.crfb.org/papers/analysis-cbos-2020-long-term-budget-outlook
Analysts also seem to agree that the Covid 19 crisis further weakened the US vis a vis China, as the Chinese economy significantly outperformed almost everyone else this year, more than expected before the crisis.
I will also mention two important recent numbers. This year:
1. China, for the first time, became the biggest trading partner for the EU, beating the US.
2. China's retail market overtook the one of the US.
Posted by: Passer by | Sep 22 2020 23:07 utc | 39
Posted by: Beibdnn | Sep 22 2020 19:08 utc | 6 -- "I laughed out loud at the RT skit. They certainly have found a good DJT impersonator."
Over at The Saker's site, there is an excellent twitter video of trump & pomp singing I Love You China in Mandarin.
Terribly funny.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Sep 22 2020 23:23 utc | 40
Posted by: vk | Sep 22 2020 19:05 utc | 4 -- "....Eurasia is where most of human civilization lives, it's the "World Island" - the world island not in the military sense, but in the economic sense. Every path to human prosperity passes through Eurasia - that's why the USA can't "let it alone" in the first place, while the reverse is not true, that is, Eurasia can give to the luxury of letting the Americas alone."
Excellent observation, VK.
Even if the World Island (thanks for your formulation) trades with itself, within itself, there is sufficient mass to last a century, during which the arrogantly exceptional West might just wake up from their Century of Humiliation.
Meanwhile, inertia alone will ensure that the West forgets that their vaunted "civilisation" was fed, watered, enriched by the Silk Route that came from the East -- from the Middle Kingdom (China) and from the Middle East (which is "middle", as you pointed out above, because all wealth passes through that region).
Posted by: kiwiklown | Sep 22 2020 23:41 utc | 41
Yes there are rules which are observed more by their breach than their observance: The Geneva Conventions. Just ask Julian Assange.
I find it incredible that the Anglo-Zionist captive nations can sign, ratify, incorporate into domestic law and then sign the additional protocol, making themselves high contracting parties, which requires them to report all and any breaches to Geneva, then ignore all the above commitments. One of these commitments includes educating their citizens on the basic provisions of the conventions. Again they haven't bothered, that could expose their hypocrisy to the public.
Even the bandit statelet signed but I am yet to see just one example of its application in the seventy plus years of its barbaric and bloodthirsty occupation of Palestine.
Interestingly, the conventions prohibit the occupied from signing away one iota of their territory to the occupier. So much for what Claude Pictet's Commentary to the Fourth Geneva Convention calls"alleged annexations." This book is available from the ICRC.
My late father as an army officer prosecuted Japanese war criminals for their atrocities now the Anglo-Zionists are the pre-eminent war criminals and their leaders loudly proclaim "our values" as a pathological and propagandistic form of projection. Is it possible they are unaware of their blatant hypocrisy ?
It seems the New World Order has some familiar and unsurprising antecedents:
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/452693/New-world-order-pledged-to-Jews-80-years-ago
Hold on tight, hubris is always fatal:
https://asiatimes.com/2020/09/pompeo-threatens-to-light-the-fuse-in-persian-gulf/
Posted by: Paul | Sep 23 2020 0:02 utc | 43
Uncle Tungsten @ 30:
Anatol Lieven comes from an educated and cultured family in Britain's upper middle class layer. His older siblings - he is the youngest of five children - include a High Court judge (Dame Natalie Lieven), a Cambridge University professor / historian (Dominic Lieven) and a psychologist / linguistics researcher (Elena Lieven). They haven't done badly for a family from the old Baltic German aristocratic elite that used to serve the Russian empire as administrators for the Livonia governorate.
The British Lievens might see themselves as gatekeepers and interpreters of what the ruling classes desire (or appear to desire) and communicate that down to us. Hence their positions in intellectual and academic occupations - no engineers, technicians or academics in the physical or biological sciences among their number.
Anatol Lieven is right though about "competition", in the sense I believe he is using it: it is "competition" for supposed global leadership and influence as only the British and Americans understand it. Life as British and American elites understand it is the annual football competition writ large; there can only be one winner and the worst position to be in is second place and every other place below it. Never mind that what Russia and China have in mind is a vision of the world with multiple and overlapping leadership roles dispersed among nations according to various criteria: this ideal is simply too much for the Anglosphere elites to understand, let alone digest and accept.
Still, I wonder why Anatol Lieven is teaching in a university in Qatar of all places. Family influence and reputation must only go so far.
Posted by: Jen | Sep 23 2020 0:09 utc | 44
Somewhat a side note, but has some relevance. The West has used against Russia the same memes and tropes the German Nazis used against Jews, the Soviet Union, and Slavic peoples. The great Jewish conspiracy to destroy German is being regurgitated as Putin wants to destroy American democracy. But the second half the Nazi attack was the Jews wanted to destroy European civilization, and not just Germany. This is where the crap about "rules based order" comes in. Some also used the term "liberal democracies". Same theme: Russian wants to destroy the entirety of the Western order--not just making sure Hillary lost the election (and now Biden).
But here is the thing. The West with American leadership looks at this struggle over a rules based order as a life and death struggle. It is not just about economic competition and dominance. The underlying propaganda base is rather deadly.
Posted by: Erelis | Sep 23 2020 0:26 utc | 45
Erelis @43--
Putin doesn't need to do anything regarding the Outlaw US Empire as it's effectively shot itself in the head already. As for the so-called "Western order," that's almost as dead as "American democracy" as it gets killed off by the same group of Financial Parasites. If you were to take the time to read the sentiments of the world's leaders via their UNGA statements, you'd learn that they universally uphold the rules and ethos that resides within the UN Charter--aside from Trump, there's total reaffirmation. And they all desire a multilateral global order of the sort envisioned by FDR. Thus your "side note" has no "relevance" whatsoever.
Posted by: lizard | Sep 22 2020 21:59 utc | 29 if you aren't at least a little prepared for a disruption in critical supplies, and choose instead to waste time commenting on online forums, it won't matter how up to date you are on "rules based international order" vs. "international law". at that point the reality will be something like this: if you aren't holding it, you don't have it, and if you can't defend it, you won't be keeping it for long.
Got that absolutely right.
There is no "international law" and no "international order." There is only relative power. And when those powers clash, as seems inevitable, the world is in for a major nuclear war, and probably preceded by several more regional wars. Meanwhile, the US internally is collapsing into economic disaster, social unrest, political and social oppression, infrastructure failure, and medical disasters. We'll probably be in martial law sometime between November 3 and January 21 if not beyond that period, just for starters.
This month is National Preparedness Month. I recommend watching the following videos from well-known "preppers" who have been warning about this stuff for years.
78 Days Will Determine the Fate of America
5 Things You Need To Do Before the U.S. Election
A playlist of 23 videos for National Preparedness Month:
30 Days of Preparedness Collaboration - 2020
And this one from The Urban Prepper, an IT guy who is exceptionally well organized and logical in his videos. I recommend subscribing to his channel. He avoids most of the excessive "doom and gloom" hype that afflicts a lot of prepper channels and is oriented more about urban survival than "backwoods bushcraft" since most people live in cities.
Prepping 101: Prepping Architecture Diagram for Gear Organization
And if you don't watch anything else, watch this one from Canadian Prepper - he's absolutely right in this one and it specifically applies to the barflies here:
What is Really Going On? Its WORSE Than You Think
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Sep 23 2020 0:54 utc | 47
Meanwhile, inertia alone will ensure that the West forgets that their vaunted "civilisation" was fed, watered, enriched by the Silk Route that came from the East -- from the Middle Kingdom (China) and from the Middle East (which is "middle", as you pointed out above, because all wealth passes through that region).
Posted by: kiwiklown | Sep 22 2020 23:41 utc | 39
============================================================================================
Thereby we have the answer to America's longest war:
https://twitter.com/danieldumbrill/status/1290456155286900737?lang=en
Posted by: Jun | Sep 23 2020 1:06 utc | 48
karlof1@28:
...Xi's Monday speech was quite clear that China will avoid war if at all possible, and as I read him, even when it comes to Taiwan.
Mostly agree. Actually, I doubt that China would even want to take over Taiwan at this point in time, given the attitude of the people towards China today. But politically and psychologically, China cannot allow Taiwan independence. And in terms of national security, China cannot allow either USA or Japan to establish a foothold on the island. China doesn't want war, now or ever. But if war is imposed upon it, China is not trepid either, especially not in the region within 4,000 kilometers of its boundaries.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Sep 23 2020 1:15 utc | 49
Oh, and this one from Canadian Prepper in which he muses about whether and why we actually *want* the SHTF situation to occur. This one would resonate with a lot of the commentary here about the social malaise and the psychological reasons for it. Maybe nothing really new for some, but definitely relevant.
Society is Collapsing: Prepare for the Next Phase
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Sep 23 2020 1:19 utc | 50
Jen #42
Still, I wonder why Anatol Lieven is teaching in a university in Qatar of all places. Family influence and reputation must only go so far.
Thank you that backgrounder explains a lot. Perhaps like englanders before him he finds Qatar, safe and rewarding PLUS mounds of finest hashish and titillating company. From my understanding it is a grotesque abuser of human rights and everyone has a price.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 1:47 utc | 51
America's "Rules-Based International Order" is a Goebbelsian euphemism for a Lies-Based Imperial Order, led by the USA and its war criminal allies (aka the self-styled Free World).
The true nature of this America-led order is exposed by the USA's war of aggression against Iraq (which violated international law and had no United Nations sanction) and its decades-long War on Terrorism, which have murdered hundreds of thousands of people and maimed, immiserated, or refugeed millions of more people. These crimes against humanity have been justified by Orwellian American lies about "Weapons of Mass Destruction," "fighting terrorism," or the curious events of Sept. 11th.
This America "Rules-Based" order is one drenched in the blood of millions of people--even as it sanctimoniously disguises itself behind endless propaganda about defending liberal democracy or the rule of law.
Truly, America and its allies can take their malignant Rules-Based Disorder back to Hell, where they all belong.
Two decades of US “war on terror” responsible for displacing at least 37 million people and killing up to 12 million
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/09/cost-s09.html?view=print
Posted by: ak74 | Sep 23 2020 2:15 utc | 52
Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2020 0:50 utc | 44
"Thus your "side note" has no "relevance" whatsoever."
You sound like some podunk UN official from a podunk country trying to impress a waitress in a NYC bar. The Empire is very much alive and dangerous. Ask Iran, ask Syria, as the Palestinians, ask the Russians, ask the Chinese. Ask numerous African nations. Even Pangloss was not so stupidly naive.
Posted by: Erelis | Sep 23 2020 3:01 utc | 53
Jun #46
Thank you - YES that is the answer and always has been PLUS there will be no pipeline from Iran through Afghanistan to Pakistan and on to China. There will be NO overland pipeline or rail route to sound the death knell to the maritime mafia.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 3:02 utc | 54
please vote for trump 2020
no president destroy america from inside like what trump did
the goal is to accelerate american empire destruction and grip in this world
what better way to put such clown along his circus in white house
he will make a mess of everything and will definitely bring america down
i hope he win 2020 and american explode into civil war and chaos
with america destroyed internally , they wont have time to invade venezuela or iran
Posted by: milomilo | Sep 23 2020 3:33 utc | 55
Remember , if Biden win 2020 , American foreign policy will revert into normalcy that means seeking alliance with EU and 5 eyes in a more meaningful way , aka giving them preferential treatment on trade..
all that to box in china and russia , reenable TPP , initiate the delayed venezuela overt invasion other than covert
this is dangerous for the whole world , not that it will save US in the long run but it will increase real shooting conflict with china and russia..
so focus on trump victory in 2020 , the more controversial the win the better , lets push america into chaos
Posted by: milomilo | Sep 23 2020 3:37 utc | 56
I appreciate the time and thought that goes into a post like this; all without a popup ad trying to sell me ANOTHER item I just bought via Amazon, in spite of the fact that I am among the least likely to want another right now. Voice of reason crying in the wilderness and all that.
The rule The Capitalist Ogres promote as the heart of Civilization is simply the age-old Golden Rule. Those with the gold, make the rules.
Posted by: defaultcitizen | Sep 23 2020 3:41 utc | 57
US "Rules-based international order" = We make the rules, you obey our orders.
Posted by: The Polemicist | Sep 23 2020 4:05 utc | 58
@3 Patrick Armstrong
A good horn to toot - thanks for the refresher.
Timeless article, and a flawless existential equation - there is no "decline" of the US because there was no height to fall from. It chose its own defeat, all unwitting, from the jaws of victory:
"Peace has brought the riches, the pride, the anger and now the war. Soon the poverty."
You were right.
Posted by: Grieved | Sep 23 2020 4:48 utc | 59
Damn it Jun, you messed up the width of the page with your stupid =======s
Posted by: Featherless | Sep 23 2020 4:52 utc | 60
Posted by: Grieved | Sep 23 2020 4:48 utc | 57
Allow me to agree that Mr. Armstrong is entitled to toot his own horn.
Does anybody else notice that Trump & his minions seem extra frantic of late? It's like he's on something, and projecting like mad. He tends manic to start with, but this seems different.
Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 23 2020 5:26 utc | 61
Bemildred #59
Does anybody else notice that Trump & his minions seem extra frantic of late? It's like he's on something, and projecting like mad. He tends manic to start with, but this seems different.
Thank you and YES I have noticed their frantic. Methinks the war monger oligarchs and their captive generals have made a deal with the war mongrels in the Demonazi team and are angling to dump Trump. That was my take on a previous thread after following a link. It seems that they are being DRIVEN to get stuff in place. I see Merkel is being driven too as she was mighty quick to cry novichok - before - the hospital scientists made the call.
These stampede tricks are very UK in my recall so perhaps the Institute for Statecraft is peddling its venom at an extreme pace. I remember they had journalists under their beck and call across the entire globe and it is easy to amplify their bogus belligerent message via concentrated media ownership.
Maybe the arrest of Steve Bannon has rattled their sense of equilibrium and invincibility as prisoners receive strange visitors as we see from the Epstein accident.
However when pressed a President can always be shown the solution of having a wee war and demanding patriots rally round the flag. That is an old and well worn hoax to silence dissent, get out the vote, arrest dissidents, grant power to police to shoot whoever. Trump could also call in the Pinkerton Men to straighten the lilly livered peaceniks too. Trump could wrap himself in the flag and bring every patriot to tears (and obedience) and it could happen about ten days before election I guess.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 6:50 utc | 63
R.I.P DR.Stephen Cohen.
R.I.P. Andre Vitchek.
Maybe his latest outcry hindered some :
Posted by: willie | Sep 23 2020 7:20 utc | 64
Andre Vltchek whose done some great reporting on China, Russia, and the Middle East over the years was found dead today in Turkey.
DAMN! I loved Vltchek's articles, this man was so inspired and sincere in his writing. Really bad news he died. Will miss this brave man. RIP.
MoA - thanks for 'The Sino-Russian Alliance Comes of age' links, very good article.
Posted by: willie | Sep 23 2020 7:20 utc | 62 -- "R.I.P. Andre Vitchek."
Thanks, Willie. I read all 12 pages of his essay that you linked.
What a war cry for the 7 billion 'other' human beings not in the white culture.
If that was his last article, that was a bloody fitting one.
Now, I will read every one of his articles all over again.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Sep 23 2020 9:02 utc | 66
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2020/09/russia-steals-everything.html
Comment by Reader Dark Fate
EXCERPTs
Following a long line of very arrogant american imperial "negotiators", mr oblivion billingslea used standard "negotiating" techniques like
(a) accusing the other side of crimes americans have committed first and forever, eg, extreme lying, bad faith argumentation, military aggression, foreign government security breaching, assassination and poisoning [as in american presidents and independent thinkers], and of course, electoral cheating;
(b) putting the opponent in the "negotiation process" on the defensive or back foot by stating false news allegations amplified by the media controlled by the american empire;
(c) offering nothing useful or commitable to be done by the empire, and yet "magnanimously" demanding the moon as opponents' concessions, eg, russian, iranian and chinese nuclear weapons limits, but not for nato's development and deployment, and; (d) after making impossible demands, the imperials accuse the opponents of hostility and unwillingness to "negotiate".
The russians can skillfully agree by stating that they only require the americans to reduce their nukes to 320 pieces like china, and in less than five years.
This is why it is very important for sovereign nations to read the guidebook, called the "idiot's guide on running the american empire", and developing deep and lasting solutions.
As for the other american imperial military "advantages", eg, constellation of "aggression" satellites, andrei forgot to mention that these can be shot or burned down in minutes easily by russia, china and even iran, as these stations cannot hide or run away in earth orbits.
Replenishment of weapons and military supplies after 3 months is rather doomed as the cheap, mass production and manufacturing facilities do not exist. Which must be re-created somehow but now
American lands are the targets. Much, Much Different Than WW2 !!
And of course, russia can always nuke down the USA and its vassal countries, and thus permanently ruin their economies for a decade or more, they don't know how to run defense -- this was always the fatal weakness of all bullies - if they'll have enough time to "learn it"... let's see... I doubt this.
Let's see americans try to start and conduct a nuclear war after too many spy, internet and gps satellites are shot down. Russia can even do this today using conventional explosives, and the world will be shocked how helpless the american military and economy can be made even without using russian nukes.
There are countries still immune to the numerous american imperial diseases that are already documented daily in zerohedge postings. The better countries still have lots of parents telling their kids to study and work hard so they can have better lives than their ancestors.
In oregon and california, they teach unemployable kids to burn something or somebody sometime before dinner.
CdVision • 11 hours ago
I was about to say that what now comes out of the US & Trump's mouth in particular, is Orwellian. But that credits it with too much gravitas. The true comparison is Alice in Wonderland:
"Words mean whatever I want them to mean".
Posted by: Ashino | Sep 23 2020 9:23 utc | 67
Reminiscence of the Future.. (http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2020/09/russia-steals-everything.html)
Russia "Steals Everything" !! (Not just China, oops... ???!!!!)
And Jesus Christ was an American and was born in Kalamazoo, MI. It is a well-known fact. So Donald Trump, evidently briefed by his "utterly competent and crushingly precise aids", knows now that too! !!! LOL
Time For Daily Auto-Hypnosis, Comrades. !!!
https://vz.ru/news/2020/9/19/1061259.html
https://www.Путин-сегодня.ru/archives/108431
https://vk.com/deebeepublic?w=wall-197487820_23447
(Digital Translation)
> US President Donald Trump claims that Russia developed hypersonic weapons after allegedly stealing information from the United States.
> According to him, "Russia received this information from the Obama administration," Moscow "stole this information." Trump said that "Russia received this information and then created" the rocket, reports TASS.
> “We have such advanced weapons that President Xi, Putin and everyone else will envy us. They do not know what we have, but they know that it is something that no one has ever heard of. "
->We are the foremost and always number one. Everything is invented only by us, the rest can only either steal, or be gifted with our developments for good behavior. This situation is eternal, unchanging, everyone lags behind American Tikhalogii at least 50 years (the time frame was chosen so that even a 20-year-old would lose heart, “what's the point of trying to catch up, it won't work anyway, in my lifetime”). It was, is, and will be, this is the natural course of events.
All this is delivered in the format of the classic Sunday sermon of the American provincial Protestant church, coding the parishioners for further deeds and actions. And it worked effectively, creating in some basalt confidence “we are better because we are better”, in others - “I don’t mind anything for joining this radiant success, I’m ready for anything, I’ll go for any hardships and crimes, if only There”.
Only now it worked. In a situation where the frequency of pronouncing such mantras is more and more, emotions are invested in them too, but in fact everyone understands that this is what autohypnosis does not work.
The poor have stolen from the United States, if you look at it, literally everything. And 5G and the superweapon of the gods. Moreover, a pearl with a characteristic handwriting is not copy / paste, but move / paste, you bastards. Therefore, the United States does not even have any traces of developments left - the guys just sit in an empty room, shrug their hands, “here we have a farm of mechanical killer dolls, with the faces of Mickey Mouse overexposed, and now look - traces of bast shoes and candy wrappers from "Korkunov" only, ah-ah-ah, well, something like that, ah. "
At the same time, there are no cases of sabotage, espionage - whole projects were simply developed, developed, brought to a working product, and then the hob - and that's it, and disappeared. And this became noticeable only after years. And all the persons involved are like "wow, wow."
Psychiatric crazy fool of the head, no less.
But due to the fact that all of the above theses are driven very tightly into the template for the perception of the world, both those who voiced these theses and the listeners are satisfied.
Because the post-American post-hegemonic world is not terrible because in some ratings another country will be higher there, and Detroit will never be rebuilt “as it was”. It is scary because it is not clear how to live for people who had no support in the form of global goals, faith, philosophy of life, and all this was replaced by narcissism on the basis of “successful success is my second self”.
This means that the moment when this issue has to be resolved must be delayed to the last. Leaving the whole topic on the plane “we were offended, we are offended, we were dishonest, which means we have the right to any action” is not a bad move.
It's a pity that it doesn't really affect the essence of what is happening.
Posted by: Ashino | Sep 23 2020 9:29 utc | 68
When the icecaps melt and you farm and herd in Greenland, you're in the best place
Posted by: Noel Grannell | Sep 23 2020 10:02 utc | 69
gosh, i thought the new world order was modelled more like on The Jetsons, you know, a world of AI interface, elevated turnpikes, skyways, condominiums above the clouds, maglev trains to whisk one rapidly through the mire below...a kind of invocation to the heavens to escape the putrefied surface of toxic lakes and rivers, depleted soils, the noxious exhaust belt inhabited by scavengers and toilers and their germs, the hooligan kingdom of chaos, headshots, and crowd control bromides.
ah yes, life in Orbit City where George works an hour a day, two days a week. a leisurely life.
Posted by: john | Sep 23 2020 10:13 utc | 70
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 6:50 utc | 63
RE: Frantic Trump:
Driven yes, trying to gaslight the world, trying to drive the square peg into the round hole.
Anyway, I suspect things can't go on like this for long. Someone is going to crack.
Re: Navalny:
So they say he has been discharged now, but not where he is. He said in the beginning he wanted to go home. I'm guessing he won't do that yet. In the picture he looks spooked, as one can easily understand. I think this whole thing with Navalny since he left the Russian hospital is fake, theater, sort of like Boris Johnson's bout with COVID19, which I think was also fake.
Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 23 2020 10:18 utc | 71
NemesisCalling #10
Thanks for that challenge and I won't disagree with you. I personally would never trust a Harris Biden Presidency and would never tun my back on either of them. They are a pair of murderous thieving vandals.
Trump is a scheming cheating prick and may (??) be the lesser of two evils but I could never cast a vote for him in any contest even if I was able to in this one. I am faced with the same dilemma in my part of the planet.
The third party challenge (other than the Greens) was totally stuffed up by prevarication IMO and that left the presentation of an alternative write in up shit creek. Good luck USA but just take down every warmongering loony if at all possible.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 10:42 utc | 72
Bemildred #71
So they say he has been discharged now, but not where he is. He said in the beginning he wanted to go home. I'm guessing he won't do that yet. In the picture he looks spooked, as one can easily understand. I think this whole thing with Navalny since he left the Russian hospital is fake, theater, sort of like Boris Johnson's bout with COVID19, which I think was also fake.
Thank you and I bet he IS spooked. It is possible that he was expatriated without his consent and that he knew what the consequences would be if he ever tried to leave apart from this fiasco. The scenes back at the hotel and the loose lipped egotistical rants from his english minder, Pevchikh and also the BBC are just one enormous debacle.
Read John Helmer's multiple posts on this entire story and it smells like a rats nest of intrigues to set him up or (a more remote possibility) to extricate him.
One thing is certain, if he tries to return to Russia the British bulldog will kill him. Time will tell.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 10:56 utc | 73
Bemildred @ 71, Uncle Tungsten @ 73:
Alexander Sosnovsky, writing for Ekonomiya Segodnya, claims Alexei Navalny was never a patient at the Charite hospital in Berlin!
"A journalist who visited Charite showed signs of Navalny's absence there"
Machine-translated from the Russian language:
... According to [Sosnovsky], the photo of Navalny with his wife on the balcony makes one think about his whereabouts. Sosnovsky, who is well acquainted with the architecture of Berlin, drew attention to the strange urban landscape in the corner of the picture. He pointed out that the Charite building does not have balconies with such a view, as it is located in the central part of Berlin with a completely different architecture.To confirm his words in practice, Sosnovsky personally went to the Charite and walked around the building with a camera. He drew attention to the construction work near the clinic (it would probably have gotten into the blogger's photo), as well as the complete absence of journalists and security. All of this confirmed Sosnovsky's suspicions about Navalny's absence from the Charité.
In addition to the cityscape, the journalist had questions about the can with cigarette butts on Navalny's balcony. Sosnovsky called such an object impossible in an elite medical institution in Germany with patients of this level. If all the cigarettes in the frame were smoked by Navalny himself, this raises even more questions about his "diagnosis" and the conclusions of German doctors.
The journalist notes that all the shots with Navalny after he emerged from the coma are static and "inanimate." Sosnovsky, a person with a medical education and a practicing doctor, calls this understandable, pointing to the possibility of identifying the signs of specific diseases and influences by movements, speech and other dynamic manifestations. For example, after a tracheostomy (artificial windpipe), a person often has voice problems.
"Any video and audio makes it possible with a high degree of probability to calculate where and how it was done. It is much more difficult from a photo. And if they hide from us the opportunity to determine the location and diagnosis, this is very indicative," Sosnovsky said on the air of Soloviev Live.
Earlier, Navalny demanded that Russia return his clothes , in which the blogger was hospitalized in Omsk. However, Navalny's associates had previously written that all of his belongings were transferred to his wife, and some of the items that the blogger touched and used could be taken out by Maria Pevchikh, a suspect in his poisoning."
Photo of one side of Charite Hospital, Berlin
I have seen the photo of Navalny walking down a staircase with no help and a second photo of Navalny and his wife Julia out on a balcony at the hospital where he is (supposedly?) staying with the can of cigarette butts placed near the bottom of the sliding door. I had my doubts about Navalny being in hospital even before I saw the Sosnovsky article - would a hospital allow a patient just out of a coma to walk around by himself, especially down the stairs, or allow him to smoke cigarettes? Would a hospital even have balconies attached to patients' wards?
Incidentally I've just seen news that Navalny has now been discharged from hospital.
Posted by: Jen | Sep 23 2020 12:15 utc | 74
In the very short-term (3 months?) what is the outcome of US/Nato seizure of ships and cargo in international water?
Posted by: j. casey | Sep 23 2020 12:28 utc | 75
Trump is a scheming cheating prick and may (??) be the lesser of two evils but I could never cast a vote for him in any contest even if I was able to in this one. I am faced with the same dilemma in my part of the planet.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 10:42 utc | 72
My most recent take on the situation comes from Trump ads that I watched lately on YouTube (to see some content not related to USA, but from USA). In those ads you see (exaggerated) mental decline of Biden followed by a final dramatic point that makes one doubt the sanity of Trump: Will he be able to control the radicals trying to take over America? The times are tough, the man is weak. Newer: Will he be able to stand up to China? The times are tough, the man is weak. I guess I will see more of that series. Democrats produce more soothing ads, on "monumental failure" concerning Covid, threat to Social Security plus general purpose bromides.
You may ask how one can exaggerate mental decline of Biden (I would). The ads do not show Biden saying a single word, only taking pauses. That can be done to any thinking person! Then again, what can you do in a 15 second YouTube ad, the prime tool for political discourse in USA.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 23 2020 13:03 utc | 76
@jen 38:
Personally, before COVID-19, an 8 or 9 hour car trip as an alternative to air travel was a wash to me. (I fly coach, so have to arrive well in advance of the published departure time, endure the checkpoints, get the rental car at the destination airport, drive to the ultimate destination, etc.)
Now with the blossoming of COVID-19, car travel has become a bit *more* appealing to me.
So, I am not surprised by the choice of transportation in this case.
Posted by: renorich | Sep 23 2020 13:18 utc | 77
Posted by: Jen | Sep 23 2020 12:15 utc | 74
Thank you for the links, very interesting. I've seen several of the pics of Navalny, the heads look edited in, a bit too big, not quite aligned. This all seems very amateruish, like the Belorussian coup attempt. I'll bet they are connected more than we know.
I don't believe a bit of it. I haven't seem any evidence of life for Navalny except some not very convincing pictures.
The video of Ms Pevchickh is interesting too, she is very animated, works hard to get her point across.
If you allow she was part of a plot to get him "poisoned", lots of new questions pop up: did Navalny know, was he in on it? Was this supposed to tie in with the Belarus unrest, a distraction, something else? Who talked Merkel into going along and how? Is Heiko Maas really that dumb he thought this was going to work?
Anyway thanks.
Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 23 2020 13:33 utc | 78
@ptb
quite right
'Rules based order' was always a euphemism for exceptionalism of one kind or another.
ie US and its "allies" is basically asking the rest of the world to finance their (the US et al)
version of a welfare state.
as US et al can no longer fund their own unaffordable welfare promises made to their own electorates, they have to call on the rest of the world to do so (China has been effectively funding the US budget deficit since they entered the WTO.
and the EU (mainly Germany) was doing the same before China's entry into WTO)
China and rest of the worlds foreign central banks stopped growing their foreign exchange reserves (on net) in 2014
leaving the US in a sort of limbo.
Posted by: chris m | Sep 23 2020 13:42 utc | 79
PS addendum
if you've ever wondered who has been financing the GWOT since 2001; it was the Chinese.
Posted by: chris m | Sep 23 2020 13:47 utc | 80
@ Beibdnn | Sep 22 2020 19:08 utc
RT has a sense of humour. Here is an old one you might like.
RT---how it works
Posted by: jrkrideau | Sep 23 2020 14:52 utc | 81
chris m @80--
Well, you're sorta correct; it was all those nations including China that bought Outlaw US Empire debt. China certainly knows better now and for almost a decade now it's purchases--and those of the rest of the world--of said debt have declined to the point where a huge crisis related to the debt pyramid threatens all those aside from the 1% living within the Outlaw US Empire. The Judo involved was very instructive.
Ashino @68
Trump
"“We have such advanced weapons that President Xi, Putin and everyone else will envy us. They do not know what we have, but they know that it is something that no one has ever heard of. ""
That is like out of a cartoon language.
Posted by: arby | Sep 23 2020 15:23 utc | 83
Escobar reviews the UNGA's first day that revealed Trump's desperation a few alluded to above. Psychohistorian will be pleased to read Pepe's channeling his #1 premise:
"As for the 'rules-based international order,' at best it is a euphemism for privately-controlled financial capitalism on a global scale." [My Emphasis]
As I wrote yesterday, every national leader I read backed a Multilateral UN and its Charter while including various degrees of reproach for the illegalities of the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals, even the Emir of Qatar:
"The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that we live on the same planet, and that multilateral cooperation is the only way to address the challenges of epidemics, climate and the environment in general, and it’s also preferable to remember this when dealing with the issues of poverty, war and peace, and realizing our common goals for security and stability....
"And during the unjust and unlawful blockade it is going through it also has securely established its policy founded on respecting the rules and principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, especially, the principle of respecting the sovereignty of states and rejecting intervention in their internal affairs.
"And based on our moral and legal responsibilities towards our peoples, we have affirmed, and we will continue to reaffirm, that unconditional dialogue based on common interests and respect for the sovereignty of states is the way to solve this crisis which had started with an illegal blockade, and whose solution starts with lifting this blockade."
If the Saudi blockade is "unjust and unlawful," then all those imposed by the Outlaw US Empire are also.
Pepe apparently doesn't agree with Lieven's essay and writes:
"Sinophobia is the perfect tool for shifting blame – for the abysmal response to Covid-19, the extinction of small businesses and the looming New Great Depression – to the Chinese 'existential threat.'
"The whole process has nothing to do with 'moral defeat' [Lieven] and complaints that 'we risk losing the competition and endangering the world.'
"The world is not 'endangered' because at least vast swathes of the Global South are fully aware that the much-ballyhooed 'rules-based international order' is nothing but a quite appealing euphemism for Pax Americana – or exceptionalism [Neocolonialism].
"What was designed by Washington for post-World War II, the Cold War and the 'unilateral moment' does not apply anymore."
As the dirty domestic underwear of the Outlaw US Empire becomes more visible to nations, they are emboldened to stand up for themselves and join the Strategic Partnership's Eurasian project.
"Trump's UN address censured" headlines Global Times article that reviews yesterday's UNGA. Domestic BigLie Media didn't like what it heard from Trump:
"Commenting on the US' performance, many Western media tended to view US as being 'isolated,' and its unilateral efforts 'widely derided....'
"Some US media outlets cannot stand Trump's accusations. A WSJ report said many Democrats blamed Trump for "isolating the US and diluting American influence in the WHO or other bodies."
It went on to say Trump's threat of withdrawal is often used as leverage to "influence partner countries, or get allies to pay more for shared defense."
"Some US media linked Trump's address to his widely blamed effort to re-impose sanctions on Iran, saying his address came as 'UN members push back against Washington,' AP reported.
"Wednesday's Washington Post article reported that the Trump administration walked on a 'lonely path' at the UN where the US attacked WHO, and embarked on the 'widely derided' effort to snap back Iran sanctions.
"A week before the UN General Assembly, US media NPR predicted that the US 'appeared to be isolated' at this year's General Assembly, saying that Trump's 'America First' agenda left him out of sync with America's traditional allies as it has a long record of pulling out of international agreements, including one meant to tackle the world's climate crisis."
So, Trump's attack on China's environmental record was beyond hypocritical and ought to be termed psychopathic prevarication. The best comment from the article well describes the Trumptroll @53:
"'Trump's smears and attacks against China were apparently aimed at campaigning for his reelection. Only his die-hard fans - those who do not care about truth but support him - will buy his words,' Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Institute of World Development of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Global Times." [My Emphasis]
And isn't that really the basic issue--the truth? 75 years of lies by the Outlaw US Empire to cover it's continuous illegalities and subversion of its own fundamental law while killing and displacing tens of millions of people. Guardian of the Free World my ass! More like Guardian of the Gates of Hell.
More on the situation of the "rules based international order":
The Eurozone economy stopped recovering and stagnated in September (PMI)
And here's a more general picture on the state of global capitalism today:
Yes, I'm biased, but anyone seeking truth and invoking the Rule of Law would find themselves at odds with the Outlaw US Empire. Today's Global Times Editorial makes the following key observations:
"Major powers maintaining cooperation, at least not engaging in Cold War-style antagonism, is the important foundation of world peace. China is committed to maintaining cooperation among major powers, as well as being flexible in the balance of interests acceptable to all parties. The problem is the Trump administration is hysterically shaping decoupling and confrontation between Beijing and Washington, and has been mobilizing more forces to its side at home and abroad. Those US policymakers are deliberately splitting the world like during the Cold War.
"The impulse to promote a cold war is the ultimate version of unilateralism, and shows dangerous and mistaken arrogance that the US is almighty. Everyone knows that the US is declining in its competitiveness under the rules-based international system the US itself initiated and created. It wants to build a new system more beneficial to itself, and allow the US to maintain its advantage without making any effort. This is simply impossible."
My research is pointing me to conclude the First Cold War was contrived so the Outlaw US Empire could impose privately owned finance and corporations and the political-economies connected to them upon the world lest the collective forces that were the ones to actually defeat Fascism gain control of their national governments and shape their political-economies into the public/collectively owned realm where the benefits would flow to all people instead of just the already powerful. That's also the intent of imposing a Second Cold War. Some seem to think there's no ideological divide at play, but as I've ceaselessly explained there most certainly is, thus the intense demonization of both Russia and China--the Strategic Competition also is occurring in the realm of Ideas. And the only tools available for the Outlaw US Empire to use are lies, since the truths involved would encourage any neutral nation to join the Win-Win vision of China and Russia, not the Zero-sum bankruptcy pushed by the Parasites controlling the Empire.
@ karlof1 | Sep 23 2020 15:56 utc | 84 and forward with the links and quotes...thanks
I do like the confirmation Pepe quote, thanks
It is sad to understand that much of the US population does not have the mental clarity to see that Trump is no different than Biden when it comes to fealty to the God of Mammon. Way too many Americans think that replacing Trump with Biden will make things all better.
The end of the rules based international order/global private finance cannot end soon enough, IMO
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2020 17:07 utc | 88
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | Sep 22 2020 18:52 utc | 4
Glad to see you posting here. SST jumped the shark a couple of months back and the only real reason I go there anymore is to read your biweekly-or-so RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP. Do you publish these anywhere else? Thanks.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Sep 23 2020 17:14 utc | 89
farm ecologist @ 89
Patrick Armstrong publishes the sitreps (and other content) at https://patrickarmstrong.ca/
Posted by: Timothy Hagios | Sep 23 2020 17:19 utc | 90
IMO, the west's self called winner of the cold war was only the fact that Russia could not borrow money like the US could to keep playing this silly game and Russia quit.
Posted by: arby | Sep 23 2020 17:26 utc | 91
psychohistorian @88--
Thanks for your reply! As I discussed with the Missus last night, IMO only the people regaining control over the federal government can rescue themselves from the multiple dilemmas they face--the most pressing being the Debt Bomb and control of the monetary and fiscal systems by private entities as exemplified by the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, both of which employ the Financial Parasites preying on the nation's body-politic. Undoing all the past wrongs requires both Congress and the Executive be captured by The People who can then write the laws to end the wrongs while arresting and prosecuting those responsible for the last 20+ years of massive fraud. The biggest components would be ending the Federal Reserve, Nationalizing all the fraudster banks, writing down the vast majority of debt, and disbanding NATO thus ending the overseas empire. Those are the most fundamental steps required for the USA to avoid the coming calamity brought about by the Neoliberals. I also have finally developed my thesis on where, why and how that philosophy was developed and put into motion.
With Wall St pushing for Green Energy and Biden donors pushing for a cabinet free of fossil fuel interests, I’m wondering if some or all of the ground shaking is the divorce between powerful fossil fuel interests and global capital. Global capital seems the goliath, but that’s a powerfully messy divorce.
karlof,
The first 'Cold War' was entirely contrived. The US knew the Soviet Union was weak and had no agenda beyond maintaining security and its own reconstruction after WW2. There was no threat of a Western European invasion, or of the USSR spreading revolution globally. All that Cold War ideology is a lie. And the same lying is taking place about China today. No difference.
The key issues for the US were:
1. it needed western european capitalist states to buy US manufactured exports. those states had to remain capitalist and subordinate to the US, i.e. to avoid what Acheson called 'neutralism' in world politics.
2. the US wanted gradual decolonization of the British and French empires so that US firms could access markets and resources in those same territories. but the US feared revolutionary nationalism in the colonies and the potential loss of market access by the former colonial powers, which would need resources from the post-colonial world to rebuild after WW2.
The key event which cemented the 'Cold War' in Europe was the division of Germany, which Carolyn Eisenberg shows was entirely an American decision, in her important book, Drawing the Line.
The driving force of all this, though, was the economic imperatives of US capitalism. The US needed to restore and save capitalism in Western Europe and Japan, and the Cold War was the ideological framework for doing so. The Cold War ideology also allowed the US to frame its meddling in Korea, Guatemala, Iran, etc.
The late historian Gabriel Kolko wrote the best analyses of these issues. His work is much better than the New Left 'revisionist' US historians.
Posted by: profk | Sep 23 2020 18:16 utc | 94
"And isn't that really the basic issue--the truth? 75 years of lies by the Outlaw US Empire to cover it's continuous illegalities and subversion of its own fundamental law while killing and displacing tens of millions of people. Guardian of the Free World my ass! More like Guardian of the Gates of Hell."
Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2020 16:21 utc | 85
...
Thank You Karlof, and greetings from the "anarchist named City of Seattle"
"Department Of Justice Identifies New York City, Portland And Seattle As Jurisdictions Permitting Violence And Destruction Of Property
Identification is Response to Presidential Memorandum Reviewing Federal Funding to State and Local Governments that are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities
The U.S. Department of Justice today identified the following three jurisdictions that have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities: New York City; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington."
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-identifies-new-york-city-portland-and-seattle-jurisdictions-permitting
...
To the Scum US Govt I say- how about we secede, and beginning immediately ending any and all Federal taxes to be paid and collected by the Federal Scum Govt.- no longer being complicit in it's crimes against humanity at home and abroad.
Posted by: CitizenX | Sep 23 2020 18:49 utc | 95
profk @94--
I agree with your recap and second your appraisal of Gabriel Kolko. Eisenberg's work somehow escaped my view but will no longer thanks to your suggestion.
But I see more to it all as the First Cold War had to occur to promote the financialization of the USA's industrial Capitalism which began within the USA in 1913 and was abruptly interrupted by the various market crashes, the failure of the international payments system and subsequent massive deflation and Great Depression. A similar plan to outsource manufactures to its colonies and commonwealth and financialize its economy was began in the UK sometime after the end of the US Civil War. At the time in England, the school of Classical Political-Economists and their political allies (CPE) were attempting to rid the UK and the rest of Europe of the last vestiges of Feudalism that resided in the Rentier and Banking Classes, the former being mostly populated by Royalty and its retainers. Land Rent was the primary source of their income while it was the stated intent of the CPE to change the tax burden from individuals and businesses to that of Land Rent and other forms of Unearned Income. That movement came swiftly on the heels of the abolition of the Slave Trade which was a vast source of Royal income. Recognizing this threat to the basis of their wellbeing, the Royals needed to turn the tables but in such a manner where their manipulation was secret because of the vast popularity of the CPE's agenda. Thus began the movement to discredit the CPE and remove their ideas from discourse and later completely from the history of political-economy. And there was another problem--German Banks and their philosophy inspired by Bismarck to be totally supportive of German industry, which provided the impetus for its own colonial pursuits primarily in Africa.
Within that paragraph is my thesis for the rise of Neoliberalism, much of which Dr. Hudson documents but hasn't yet gotten to/revealed the root cause of the counter revolution against the CPE. IMO, that reactionary movement underlies far more, particularly the growing animosity between the UK and Germany from 1875 to 1914. As Eisenberg's research proves, there's much more past to be revealed that helps to resolve how we arrived at the times we now face.
CitizenX @95--
Indeed, as Hudson and Max Keiser ask: Why pay taxes at all since the Fed can create all the credit required. I've written about the pros and cons of Secession here before which are quite similar to those existing in 1861. In Washington for example, how to deal with all the Federal property located there. Just as Ft. Sumter didn't belong to South Carolina, the many military bases there don't belong to Washington. Trying to seize it as the South Carolinians attempted in 1861 merely creates the casus belli sought by Trump. Now if you could get the vast majority of the military stationed in Washington to support your cause, your odds of resisting would greatly improve.
IMO, trying to regain public control over the Federal government would be much easier.
karlof1 #85
Thank you brother karlof1, YES, the minotaur indeed but where is Theseus and Ariadne when we need them?
Please don't tell me that Biden and Harris are the 'chosen ones' - that would mock the legend and prove that the gods are truly crazy :))
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2020 21:21 utc | 98
Karlof1, once again your grounded insight and perspective are both a tremendous asset and inspirational.
My rebellious nature often surpasses practical reality. Thanks to you and others for sharing, its one of the ways to illicit positive change.
kind regards and respect.
Posted by: CitizenX | Sep 23 2020 21:57 utc | 99
The comments to this entry are closed.
The Liberal International Order or Pax Americana are synonyms for The Rules Based Order. The plan that was followed for years was the outline given by Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Trilateral Commission in The Grand Chessboard to "contain" the ambition of Russia, China, and Iran over their interest to expand into Central Asia and the Middle East. Brzezinski changed in 2016, so did Kissinger, Brzezinski wrote that it was time to make peace and to integrate with Russia, China and Iran. But the elites had changed by then, newer people had taken over and no longer followed Brzezinski.
Posted by: Kali | Sep 22 2020 18:18 utc | 1