A Multipolar Expo Shows Unipolar Wreckage
Currently the 10th Moscow Conference for International Security is taking place. Russia's president Vladimir Putin gave a speech there during which he painted the big picture of international dynamism that is driving the war in Ukraine and elsewhere:
The situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape. An increasing number of countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values.These objective processes are being opposed by the Western globalist elites, who provoke chaos, fanning long-standing and new conflicts and pursuing the so-called containment policy, which in fact amounts to the subversion of any alternative, sovereign development options. Thus, they are doing all they can to keep hold onto the hegemony and power that are slipping from their hands; they are attempting to retain countries and peoples in the grip of what is essentially a neocolonial order. Their hegemony means stagnation for the rest of the world and for the entire civilisation; it means obscurantism, cancellation of culture, and neoliberal totalitarianism.
They are using all expedients. The United States and its vassals grossly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states by staging provocations, organising coups, or inciting civil wars. By threats, blackmail, and pressure, they are trying to force independent states to submit to their will and follow rules that are alien to them. This is being done with just one aim in view, which is to preserve their domination, the centuries-old model that enables them to sponge on everything in the world. But a model of this sort can only be retained by force.
...
They need conflicts to retain their hegemony. It is for this reason that they have destined the Ukrainian people to being used as cannon fodder.
...
It is obvious that it is only possible to reduce tensions in the world, overcome military-political threats and risks, improve trust between countries and ensure their sustainable development through a radical strengthening of the contemporary system of a multipolar world.I reiterate that the era of the unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past. No matter how strongly the beneficiaries of the current globalist model cling to the familiar state of affairs, it is doomed. The historic geopolitical changes are going in a totally different direction.
In parallel to the conference the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum, an international weapon sales show, is taking place.
Next to Russian weapons, all battle tested in real wars, the exhibition showed a few pieces weapons that visitor should better not buy.
Here is a U.S. M-777 howitzer in very pristine conditions. It was most likely purchased for little money from some Ukrainian patriot.
bigger
bigger
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A short video of the gun can be seen here.
There was more such captured or otherwise acquired stuff, partly in a bad state, on display:
Maya @MayaSashenka - 4:34 PM · Aug 16, 2022They have opened an extra exhibition dedicated to the captured weapons today. It will be soon open for public too.
Sadly I missed it, but RIA made a short video for public.
Video
I am pretty sure that multipolar visitors will make some fine jokes about those unipolar exhibition pieces.
Posted by b on August 16, 2022 at 16:31 UTC | Permalink
next page »US arms development history in last 70 years, and especially last 30 yrs back is full of this "wunderwaffe" projects than usually fail before single test item is even built. Purpose is not to make functioning, effective systems, but something that can be charged enormous sums of money for protracted development, purchase and maintenance costs.
Fact that US specialized in "asymmetrical" warfare (read: attacking weak or unarmed opponents only) since breakup of USSR only strengthened their degenerate development approach.
Their system must be complicated, exotic, reinvent wheel, use numerous untested technologies and buzzword friendly solutions.
NATO/EU systems sometime have some rationale for technically unsound decisions (eg. reduce man requirements -> peacetime costs -> so build over complicated automated artillery systems that fail in real war), but US devel. decisions are bats hit insane and serve only to fill MIC shareholders pockets, per tradition of never having to actually defend own country with those tools.
TLDR: artillery is technology refined for centuries through wars. Using light alloys in arty piece only yield one crappy M-777 result.
Posted by: Abe | Aug 16 2022 16:54 utc | 2
Observer #1
.. and I’m pretty sure you won’t be seeing any Russian equipment damaged in Crimea on display at an international trade show anytime soon.
Posted by: Krypton | Aug 16 2022 16:59 utc | 3
Russians also displayed a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.
I wonder if it has been captured intact, or was it glued together from the bits and pieces that fell down?
(That is what I would have done. Plus a paint job.)
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 17:00 utc | 4
Another posting right on the money b (pun intended)
"...the centuries-old model that lets them sponge on everything in the world. But a model of this sort can only be retained by force."
Those words by Putin strike at the heart of the issue as does our commenter karlof1's latest at his VK site linked below
https://vk.com/@580896205-the-plundering-nations-last-stand
The shit show continues until it doesn't...and it is nice to see it being called into question more clearly at least
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 17:04 utc | 5
Washington Post today just published a revisionist history of the running up to Ukraine war. Bunch of reports wrote it.
The gist of this PR material is that Biden officials claimed that they had warned Ukraine, EU, UK, NATO, and everybody else who had been beholden to the US hegemony, about the possibility of Russian invasion. Did anybody listen to Uncle Biden? Nope !!!!!!!!
Not US fault, it is the combined West's fault.
How to shame the shameless????
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Aug 16 2022 17:05 utc | 6
If Colonel Putin's KGB training had included even the briefest course in elementary Marxism he would not so shamelessly promote the falsehood that "countries" and "peoples" (including the "country" Russia and the supposed "Russian People") are real entities, not arenas of class struggle by workers and peasants against their capitalist ruling classes and state apparatuses.
Posted by: Bruno | Aug 16 2022 17:12 utc | 7
Reading Putin, it seems he thinks the new world organization will be about countries working for their self interest. They will find, he thinks, that going along with the planners in the US does not support their self interest, and so, will go other ways.
I'm not sure the uni-polar world will collapse so easily. It seems the US has been able to control many many countries and get them to do many things against their self interest for a long long time. What a country does depends, to a great extent, on who is calculating self interest. The military or business interests of a country might believe one thing about a country's self interest, whereas, the majority of the people of a country might have different ideas.
So long as US planners have the ears of the movers and shakers of the world, Putin's multi-polar world will have trouble getting started.
In the quote above, Putin does not explain how to "radically strengthen" the beginnings of his new multi-polar world. It's my understanding he has been working on this question for awhile. Maybe he'll keep that part to himself for awhile longer.
Posted by: quackyquackysteve | Aug 16 2022 17:12 utc | 8
Abe@2
Another aspect of the NATO procurement policy is that it has wiped out most of the arms industries in member countries which are, more or less, forced to buy US equipment. This leads to lack of competition and technological stagnation in a system in which the market rules, and that market is monopolised.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 17:14 utc | 9
To the new MoA barflys that don't seem to understand what is happening
Our world is in a civilization war about public/private control of global/sovereign finance. One could say that finance has been private for about 500 years and now that private human cult of control is being challenged by sovereign nations....about 85% of the world population currently.
Do try to catch up.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 17:19 utc | 10
.. and I'm pretty sure that anyone who did a tour of the recent strike sites in Crimea would see similar damaged Russian equipmentPosted by: observer | Aug 16 2022 16:45 utc
First comment is a troll. Shouldn't you be in the comments section of RT.com or something?
Anyway, here's one of those jokes.
Joe Biden: What do you mean that's all? We sent over 700 artilery pieces to Ukraine. Russia destroyed just 80 of them. There are 500 or 600 left? Right?
Lloyd Austin: No sir, we have sent about a hundred. It's M777 Howitzers. Not 777 Howitzers. That was a typo on your teleprompter.
Joe Biden: Oh!.... I'll be right back.
My comedy skills might need work.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Aug 16 2022 17:19 utc | 11
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 17:00 utc | 4
Petri, Apparently it was assembled from parts from a number of craft.
Bruno@7
The point is that, while every country is an arena of class struggle, where the ruling class is firmly in control, politically, it decides how 'the country' will act in the international arena.
Which leads to quackyquackysteve@8's point: the main buttresses of the Empire are the satellite powers - themselves former imperial metropoli- which reinforce the imperial 'message' in their own spheres of influence. This is the case, particularly, of the UK whose declining influence over the 'commonwealth' particularly the settler dominions, still adds to the ability of the US to dominate in the "Five Eyes" and even the Quad and Aukus.
It is this which makes the eruptions of radical crticism of imperialism, exemplified by France Insoummise (?) and Corbyn's project, particularly dangerous to Washington and their suppression a major imperial priority.
Back to Bruno@7: the great merit of his point is to register the denial of the Identity Politics view of Empire as national enterprises in which all classes benefit, rather than extensions abroad of the exploitative regimes from which ruling classes accumulate the capital and other means of armed long distance trade/plunder.
It is one of the weaknesses of the routine critiques of imperialism posted here that they forget the point, made recently by psychohistorian and myself, that it is lazy thinking to attribute to, for example the 'American people' either the gains or the crimes of Empire.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 17:31 utc | 13
Shit Happens!
Zaluzhny Pushes Zelensky Out of Power: The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Kicks Out “Team Ze” 8 mins agoNEW – August 16, 2022
Signals of an imminent military coup were sent from Ukraine
I would not be surprised. Apparently, the fall of the 'impregnable' Peski has triggered what looks like a coup in the making.
Some people above are saying 'the US' is doing this or that etc. but I don't think anybody has any clear idea anymore about what 'the US' is, who or what is running it, indeed whether or not it is even a bona fide sovereign republic (I think not). Looks to me like 'the US' is just one of many - probably all - captured nation states in the West none of which at this point are truly sovereign. They have been colonized by their own colonialism whose principle agent is the Money Power.
They remind me of Sauron's Ringwraiths, 'neither living nor dead.' But if 'the US' is not Sauron but merely the Captain of the wraiths, then who or what is? And will we ever be able to name it more precisely or are we going to keep calling it vague things like 'the US?'
In any case, the multipolar axis of sovereign states has a challenge: how to confront, reduce or otherwise prevent the Empire of Lies from further hampering their natural development without simply causing them to go underground for a while only to re-emerge from within their midst in a decade or so and then the whole corrupt parasitical take-over process begins yet again.
Hopefully the sovereignty principle will be enough, meaning that they do not create a supra-sovereign single world body which can easily be infiltrated and corrupted. If all nations in the sovereignty alliance remain independent and sovereign then perhaps that is the anti-corruption mechanism that will work globally even if on occasional individual nations on occasion succumb to bad periods which take a few decades to work through.
@ Posted by: quackyquackysteve | Aug 16 2022 17:12 utc | 8
& the many newly deployed flying blue monkey army at the bar.
Maybe a small quote that is presented is not going to contain all that you need to know before you are ready to even consider it’s merits? Have you actually ever bothered to read any of his speeches? They put them out in English you know? So that you don’t have to worry about translating. There’s also Lavrovs words and Sharakovas and Xi’s etc - ALL IN CLEAR PLAIN ENGLISH.
They are making the greater efforts to make sure they are clearly understood. Because they don’t want you complaining you weren’t told later.
Will you listen? Do you have the attention span greater than the maligned goldfish in a bowl?
I’ll happily put it in simple Godsplaining words if you want me to, just ask, ok?
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 16 2022 17:46 utc | 17
"neocolonial order"?
Not new. G7, The Great Powers, has been running colonial racketeering operations around the globe for 600 years to feed private banks and their envious proletariate such that there's not a one among 'em who doesn't imagine they/them/their selves born on third base defending supply chains of their precious body fluids, metals, bananas, and trade secrets from greedy autocrats OPPRESSING STARVING African-like savages populating their overseas territories from Vanuatu to COMMUNIST Cuba and Palastine.
Y'all give me a headache.
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 16 2022 17:58 utc | 18
thanks b.... putins commentary at the top is particularly insightful.... it reminds me of karlof1's commentary on a link he shared in a previous thread..
here is karlof1's post for anyone who missed it - The Plundering Nations Last Stand
@ Barofsky | Aug 16 2022 17:40 utc | 14
thanks.. if true, i am about 2 weeks out with my prediction..
Posted by: james | Aug 16 2022 17:59 utc | 19
President Putin makes some interesting points which might guide future geopolitics. There are things there which might lead to cooperation if we can somehow relieve ourselves of globalist oppresors. MultiLateralism promotes diversity.
Posted by: jared | Aug 16 2022 18:03 utc | 20
Interesting, the BBC News here is actually entertaining the idea that it's the Kiev regime that's targeting the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. And the reason? These dummies have just realised that if those Nazi fuckers in succeed, they risk contaminating most of Europe! Duh!
Putin is of course as usual correct, he almost mentioned their logical "reasoning" for hegemony:
"They justify their clawning inanity by claiming to be speaking for “The Rules Based Order.” Which according to them, is at war! with the outlaw non-rules following countries: Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, Syria, and whatever other country (or persons) of the month who defy (how bluddy dare they!) the demands of the Uniparty/WallSt/WarInc/Media/IndustrialComplex (see a doctor if you think you have that luv)." From The Current Thing or: A history of how we ended up in this sorry mess
Posted by: Baba | Aug 16 2022 18:18 utc | 22
Kiev will be screaming, that Russia stole Ukraine's this and that.
On the 2 minute video, at 1:53 something taken from Kherson is shown with a sign "HARRIS TMW 5000 передатчик большо́й мощности" (high-power transmitter)
An image search says it is actually a Harris model DX-50 "50kW Digital Solid State AM Transmitter". Two similar units are shown on these photos of the WABC 77 radio station from 1997. I do not fully understand why it was taken to Moscow.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 18:19 utc | 23
It's nice to read remarks of grandiloquence about multipolarity - but it looks like a big Smash 'n' Grab to me, take the best parts in a war of aggression. I know a little about what a war of aggression looks like cuz I've seen so many launched by my own country in the past 20 yrs, Irak, Afghan, Libia, Syria, etc etc etc.
An excerpt of grandiloquence: "It is obvious that it is only possible to reduce tensions in the world, overcome military-political threats and risks, improve trust between countries and ensure their sustainable development through a radical strengthening of the contemporary system of a multipolar world."
did invading Ukraine (way beyond the regions declaring separation due to the civil war/coup starting 9 yrs ago) "reduce tensions"? did it "improve trust between countries"? and what about "ensuring sustainable development" when Russian artillery flattens Ukrainian business districts and infrastructure? And if so, a follow up: "How?"
Poor Ukrainians - Perverts and war mongers in US State dep't talking grandly about containing/defeating Russia! Putin grinds on a war of aggression talking grandly about Multipolarity!
Posted by: Patrick Constantine | Aug 16 2022 18:19 utc | 24
Posted by: Patrick Constantine | Aug 16 2022 18:19 utc | 24
it's not a war of aggression, it's a reaction to US attempts to change the regime in Russia. you say you know what a war of aggression looks like but somehow are unaware of proxy wars, just one of many tools the US has used repeatedly to expand and maintain its influence on the world as the latest empire.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 16 2022 18:33 utc | 25
@ Patrick Constantine | 24
" ... did invading Ukraine (way beyond the regions declaring separation due to the civil war/coup starting 9 yrs ago) "reduce tensions"? did it "improve trust between countries"? and what about "ensuring sustainable development"[?]"
Yes, it reduced tensions by exposing unstated hostilities.
Yes, it improved trust among non-NATO countries by showing them together they can resist 'western' hegemony.
Yes, it's ensuring sustainable development by excising corruption.
Posted by: Figleaf23 | Aug 16 2022 18:35 utc | 26
The full, relatively short Putin speech to the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security is here:
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69166
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 16 2022 18:38 utc | 27
Next year's expo might have more variaty with a HIMARS, ATACMS and an F-16. And one of those NASAMS too.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 16 2022 18:42 utc | 28
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 17:19 utc | 10
Hey Psycho! You do seem to have it all figured out, eh? But one could also say that the current confrontation is nothing else but another clash of capital factions, one of the many we have experienced since the genesis of global capitalism. Russia, China, India - you name 'em - are just as much shells of private and institutional capital as the US and its vassals are. Their personified or institutional capital, just as any, does not bother to exploit nature and the working class for surplus value, nor to spill the blood of the latter class in senseless wars; and, in the mean time, in the sphere of production.
There is a civilization war going on indeed, much longer than the 500 years you threw in: it's class war. And when you'd make the effort to find out how grassroots social movements, be they unionist, environmentalist, or fighting for equal rights, are doing in these courageous sovereign nations you mention, you'll find out that they are being just as much suppressed there as they are in the fading contemporary epicentre of capitalism. But hey, that's a different story.
As long as there is capitalism, which by default is global, the capital factions of the world will bitterly fight for their stakes. Just like now, where the West is pretty pissed losing Donbass to the Russkies, while the face of Russkie capital enjoys smearing this in the West's face. While hundred thousands are dying; peanuts, in their eyes. So back to you, Psycho, what's there to catch up with again?
Posted by: NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 18:44 utc | 29
Zvezda - live, https://rutube.ru/live/video/5ab908fccfac5bb43ef2b1e4182256b0/
There's a serios discussion going on. Right now, Alina Lipp is speaking.
Posted by: rp | Aug 16 2022 18:53 utc | 30
Patrick Constantine@24
If the SMO is a war of aggression -a 'smash and grab raid' then every recourse to force is.
In fact it is, very clearly, a defensive operation mounted on behalf of an oppressed, threatened population which has had its right to self government taken from it by military force and terrorism.
Your viewpoint totally ignores the history of the Maidan coup and the subsequent attacks on Russian speaking regions of Ukraine (largely a Russian speaking country).
It is hard to recollect a war which is more justified than the defence put up by the people of the Lugansk and Donetz republics and the 'just in time' intervention of Russia to spare the world, and in particular people like yourself, from bearing the guilt of another genocide.
Your 'plague on both houses' politics has been if not the cause then at least an important facilitative factor in campaigns waged by the imperialists for the past seventy five years.
If you cannot tell the difference between what the NATO/Oligarch backed fascist regime in Kiev has been doing to the people of the Donbas and what the Russian military is doing that is a weakness of perception.
Do not mistake blindness for an ability to see things is a different way.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 18:57 utc | 31
A Socialist in Canada (may his tribe increase!) publishes a translation of a news article which was published in the Russian edition of Maxim magazine, Aug 11, 2022.
It chronicles the latest stage in the plundering (talk of 'smash and grab raids'!) of the public property of the Ukrainian people by NATO sponsored neo-liberals and fascists.
"On July 27, the Ukrainian government drew up a list of state-owned enterprises to be privatized or liquidated. There are 420 enterprises targeted, of which 354 are to be liquidated while the remaining 66 will be privatized.
"The list includes the companies ‘Ukrspyrt’ (the state monopoly on the production of alcohol); the State Investment Company; ‘Energostal’ (the Scientific and Technical Center for the Metallurgical Industry), and a metallurgy powder plant. Also, a number of mining enterprises in the east of Ukraine are targeted. All these are mentioned on the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
"It is expected that with the new owners, the enterprises will resume or modernize production, then new jobs will appear. The case seems to be good, but in China they are wary and suspect that, under the guise of good intentions, Vladimir Zelensky is going to put Ukraine under the hammer..."
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 19:02 utc | 32
@ bevin | Aug 16 2022 18:57 utc | 31
i have to quote you again bevin because i feel you hit the nail on the head directly here...
"If you cannot tell the difference between what the NATO/Oligarch backed fascist regime in Kiev has been doing to the people of the Donbas and what the Russian military is doing that is a weakness of perception.
Do not mistake blindness for an ability to see things is a different way."
bang on... ditto others response to @24 patrick...
update from rt news on the nuke plant bombing from today..
“One of the guided missiles hit just 10 meters” from the barrels with spent nuclear fuel,” Rogov told Soloviev Live. “Others hit a bit farther away, 50 to 200 meters.”
Posted by: james | Aug 16 2022 19:03 utc | 33
@ NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 18:44 utc | 29 who wrote
"
So back to you, Psycho, what's there to catch up with again?
"
I see you continue to miss the point that capitalism does not exist but private and public finance do. China has public banking at the core of its government which is at odds with the mostly privately owned rest of the worlds Central Banks....Russia's is evolving.
So, please engage in discussion without resorting to useless and obfuscatory "ism" descriptions.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 19:04 utc | 34
Patrick Constantine @24
It will become clearer to you when you accept that the Ukraine, as it existed prior to 2014, no longer exists and has not existed as a country for some time. Look at the events in the Ukraine without the jingoistic haze spewed by imperial presstitutes and from outside your cultural echo chamber and it is quite clear that Russia is building trust and ensuring sustainable development. Not for the Empire of Delusions, of course, but for the rest of the world.
Furthermore, if you paid more attention to the analysis offered by our host here at MoA and some of the posters in the discussions you would know that the aggressor in the Ukraine is the United States, just as was the case in all of the wars you mentioned plus many more since WWII. Russia is absolutely fighting a defensive action and the Ukraine is just the battlegrounds. That Russia wants to harm the Ukraine as little as possible is one of the most confounding problems that the Russians face. Your wunderwaffe are trivial problems for them in comparison.
"...it looks like a big Smash 'n' Grab to me"
But of course! You've grown up with that. It is how your culture operates. Even though that is diseased behavior it seems normal to you; a universal in human interaction. Since it is the norm for you, you assume it must be the norm for the rest of humanity. You project your own disease unto others who are not infected with it.
Hang around and read more and bitch less. You just might be able to overcome that problem you have with your perspective.
Posted by: William Gruff | Aug 16 2022 19:05 utc | 35
"Some people above are saying 'the US' is doing this or that etc. but I don't think anybody has any clear idea anymore about what 'the US' is, who or what is running it - Scorpion"
U.S. foreign policy is remarkably consistent, 'do what I say or I will [try to] destroy you', Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Venezuela, China, Iran, and even allies like S. Korea, are examples of this.
There is a self-perpetuating Foreign Policy establishment that has a stranglehold on the levers of power in the U.S. when it comes to the Treasury Dept, Dept of Justice, State Dept, and Intel agencies. I'd argue that our Treasure Dept is the tip of the spear.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Aug 16 2022 19:05 utc | 36
Posted by: NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 18:44 utc | 29
“But one could also say that the current confrontation is nothing else but another clash of capital factions, one of the many we have experienced since the genesis of global capitalism”
You could say that, but you would be ignoring or glossing over so many other salient elements as to render the rest of your comment facile and oversimplified.
Posted by: Macmuir | Aug 16 2022 19:08 utc | 37
@Posted by: Abe | Aug 16 2022 16:54 utc | 2
The U.S. Military Industrial Complex fully descended into kleptocratic capitalism when the US Military, run by weapons manufacturer shills hoping for their retirement in corporate board "heaven", decided to massively reduce the number of suppliers in the 1990s - facilitating a takeover frenzy that left a few oligopolistic suppliers with the financial resources to bribe any politician (and have production plants in every political district) and co-opt the careerist shills that arrogantly claim that they are "Generals" and "Admirals" etc, having spent their whole lives never risking even their pinkies in a real conflict.
Their technical products are "profit centres" not weapons meant to aid a soldier/airman/navyman in their duties. Which idiot would use incredibly expensive titanium (and with a lower melt point than steel) in a howitzer? Only one looking to make it as expensive as possible so the x% graft amounts become even bigger. Same with the F35, Littoral class ships etc. etc., overcomplicating leads to shitty in theatre performance but wonderful profit performance.
The Russians have fought numerous wars for national survival, and their MIC is dedicated to maintaining that survival - the siloviki kept the oligarchs far away from the MIC. Thats why in Real Corruption Terms (RCT - perhaps a new index for assessing MIC comparability) the US may spend nominally much higher than Russia but in RCT adjusted dollars may even be spending less. When we add the Wasted on Useless Foreign Bases and other Easy Targets (WUFBET) adjustment they are definitely spending less adjusted dollars.
The Global South + friends need to become openly hostile towards the West, ban Western NGO's, foundations etc, shut Western culture out, like stop teaching English at school, introduce maximum quote for Western music and movies, etc.
Also, completely ban the use of dollar, pound, and euro, except in direct trade with the US, UK, and EU, respectively.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:15 utc | 39
"But hey, that's a different story..." NoNewsHere@29
It is a story that differs from the actual history of the last seven odd decades, in which the suppression of social movements (Colombia?) Trade Unions and other struggles for equality and social justice has taken the form of genocidal attacks on socialists, communists and the communities which threw them up.
It is certainly true that imperialism, having become dominant in many countries (see uni-polarity above) has supported, installed and encouraged governments which ape its policies around the world. If you read Putin's short but eloquent address within the context of his recollection of the days, when he first entered Russian government, when there was a CIA desk in every ministry and a US backed bank behind every theft in the former Union, you might begin to suspect that there are more than two dimensions to politics and a broad palate of tones to colour them with.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 19:17 utc | 40
Identity Politics view of Empire as national enterprises
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 17:31 utc | 13
That's quite a verbose expression for "nationalism" prompted by Code Napoleon. Thank you. I wonder if you won't share your response to this ummm interpretation of "empire" and "nation" emanating from The Orient might be. Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations (running time 01:53:06)
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 16 2022 19:21 utc | 41
@Posted by: Roger | Aug 16 2022 19:09 utc | 39
I forgot the purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustment to correct for a still deeply undervalued exchange rate - in nominal US$ terms Russian GDP per capita was US$10,000 in 2020 (US$ exchange rate about the same as it is now), in PPP terms (i.e. reality) its US$33,000. So any nominal US$ number for Russian defence expenditures should be multiplied by a factor of 3.3 before adding the RCT and WUFBET adjustments. Things look very different after that.
In nominal US$ terms Russia spent US$66 billion on defence in 2021 (compared to US$800 billion plus lots of hidden black budgets for the US):
- Divide US expenditure by 3.3 for PPP = US$242 billion
- RCT (Real Corruption Terms) adjustment, lets be conservative and assume only 25% theft and profit driven uselessness = US$182 billion
- WUFBET (Wasted on Useless Foreign Bases and other Easy Targets ) adjustment, lets be conservative and take the same US$ adjustment = US$122 billion
So conservatively Russian adjusted defence expenditures are equal to about half that of the US official expenditures. Lets remember also that the Russian military is predominantly a force for national defence, versus one of global domination for the US, and thus Russia has a much less costly remit for its defence forces with many times shorter supply lines.
If you want to keep an eye on what's going on 'Army-2022' and the 10th Moscow Conference for International Security in Moscow, see the captured weapons from unfriendly countries, and hear interesting discussions etc, watch Zvezda - live TV, https://rutube.ru/live/video/5ab908fccfac5bb43ef2b1e4182256b0/
Posted by: rp | Aug 16 2022 19:27 utc | 43
I think this whole capitalism vs socialism discussion is rather outdated.
People have traded and owned stuff for thousands of years. And they have revolted against excessive concentration. The latter is a problem because these days money is virtual, just a number in a computer. So there is no longer a physical limit to wealth. In an African kingdom the people simply took stuff from kings that amassed too much and could no longer protect it.
I like China's mixed system, interestingly, the big real estate companies in trouble there are private, not state-run.
Anyway, regarding multipolar, the West uses the word as well, but actually means unipolar by it, namely different countries all doing the same things the same way, i.e. the Western way.
People outside the West need to stand up for their different culture, history, etc. And for their different systems and solutions that result from it. It is ok to be a kingdom, no need to become just another boring Western democracy with all its deficits.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:28 utc | 44
Russians also displayed a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.
I wonder if it has been captured intact, or was it glued together from the bits and pieces that fell down?
(That is what I would have done. Plus a paint job.)
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 17:00 utc | 4
-
Are you a Finn, by the way?
Posted by: RK | Aug 16 2022 19:35 utc | 45
"By threats, blackmail, and pressure, we are trying to force independent people to submit to our will and follow rules that are alien to them. This is being done with just one aim in view, which is to preserve our domination over them."
Posted by: ponyal | Aug 16 2022 19:39 utc | 46
In an African kingdom the people simply took stuff from kings that amassed too much and could no longer protect it.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:28 utc | 45
huh. To which "African kingdom" do you refer?
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 16 2022 19:41 utc | 47
35
That public banking was criticized by Ma, if I remember correctly.
He had to eat humble pie after that...
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:43 utc | 48
... They have been colonized by their own colonialism whose principle agent is the Money Power. ...
Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 16 2022 17:42 utc | 15
Bloody hell, ain’t that the truth, nicely put!
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 16 2022 19:43 utc | 49
46
I read that they put it together from parts of various drones they shot down or otherwise got a hold of.
I don't get Turkey's position. On the one hand they seem to get along with Russia, on the other hand they allow deals like the new drone factory in Ukraine.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:46 utc | 50
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 16 2022 17:46 utc | 17
@ Posted by: quackyquackysteve | Aug 16 2022 17:12 utc | 8& the many newly deployed flying blue monkey army at the bar.
Maybe a small quote that is presented is not going to contain all that you need to know before you are ready to even consider it’s merits? Have you actually ever bothered to read any of his speeches? They put them out in English you know? So that you don’t have to worry about translating. There’s also Lavrovs words and Sharakovas and Xi’s etc - ALL IN CLEAR PLAIN ENGLISH.
They are making the greater efforts to make sure they are clearly understood. Because they don’t want you complaining you weren’t told later.
Will you listen? Do you have the attention span greater than the maligned goldfish in a bowl?
I’ll happily put it in simple Godsplaining words if you want me to, just ask, ok?
Quackysteve has legitimate questions and I would be interested in hearing what people here have to say about it. Why the animosity?
Let me take you up on your offer and ask: what options are there for third parties to counter the Empire's influence and how can they regain full sovereignty?
Posted by: robin | Aug 16 2022 19:48 utc | 51
In my experience, a problem must be seen--called out--to be corrected. The Bandung Conference in 1955 was an attempt to do that, but the newly emerging de-colonized world was no where near strong enough, and Russia wasn't strong enough either. China at the time was a basketcase, and the Plundering Nations still held all the cards. Much of that has now changed. I again suggest reading the Joint Declaration made by Russia and China back in February where they announced in greater detail the plan Putin glossed over today. Its full title signifies its contents, "Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China on International Relations entering a New Era and Global Sustainable Development."
Plunder as THE problem was recognized by the Greeks. St. Augustine wrote his City of God as a pathway out from it. The Roman Empire died from its pursuit. The Founders of the nascent United States fancied themselves as the next Rome--just look at the architecture and statuary in DC. When the Frontier was declared closed after the 1890 census, Frederick Jackson Turner's 1893 Frontier Thesis asked how the USA would continue its dynamism with the continent exploited. In 1948, the Outlaw US Empire's policy problem was how to continue to plunder the world at the rate it was doing. The 85% of humanity that lives outside the Plundering Nations are banding together and saying ENOUGH. Not knowing any other path, the Outlaw US Empire continues to Plunder and will surely experience the fate predicted by Bastiat I cited at the top of my essay:
"When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe."
The Catastrophe is what the Collective West is now undergoing. Several have asked how the Multipolar World will rise above the Plundering Nations. I just wrote the answer--they are now busy Plundering each other, particularly the Outlaw US Empire because that's the destiny of Neoliberal Parasitism when employed as a political-economy--that's the Catastrophe. It appears the Golden Billion will realize they were pyrite all along.
In response to
"
That public banking was criticized by Ma, if I remember correctly.
He had to eat humble pie after that...
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:43 utc | 49
"
China is regulating commerce more than in the West currently but all need to remember that corporations being the multinational giant of now were not allowed "in the old days" and there is/was lots of regulation with good intention...the US had a Fairness Doctrine from 1949 to 1986 that forced media to present "all" sides and The League of Women Voters use to run most/all political debates.
I have tried to engage other barflys in discussion of the details of potential future Mixed Economy sectors like education, health care, FOOD, housing, JOBS but it seems most want to discuss their pet "ism" instead of potential future realities....what should a government do for its people and what should be left to "private enterprise"?
If we are to dig our way out of the Western shit show it will be by discussing potential realities, not "isms".....I want to see the elimination of private finance in all its forms because I see finance as a key government function and responsibility, for example.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 19:59 utc | 53
In the thread about Iranian drones I commented on the RUSI report on Western electronics in Russian weapons. See:
The 1980s called. They want their computer back.My conclusion is, that the weapons analyzed are based on 1990s technology.
Ukraine has fired British Brimstone missiles at Energodar and the Zaparozhia Nuclear Power Plant. According to Wikipedia, the Brimstone missile entered service in 2005.
Photos of the electronics have been published on Telegram. The two PCBs shown represents 1970s technology: standard 16-pin Schottky integrated circuits, discrete through-hole resistors. Two of the ICs are labeled AM26S02/BEA – a dual monostable multivibrator made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in the 1970s.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 19:59 utc | 54
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 19:04 utc | 35
I see you continue to miss the point that capitalism does not exist but private and public finance do. China has public banking at the core of its government which is at odds with the mostly privately owned rest of the worlds Central Banks....Russia's is evolving.
I see you continue to miss the point that public and private finance, as you name them, are the capital factions in that system I call capitalism. Sure, public an private finance exist, but as what? Part of nature? Or a means of power. I do not mind us having different views, but I do mind one side claiming authority on what is and what isn't.
So, what's so much different in the goals of private and institutional (to which I count states/nations) capital from the working class's perspective? You mentioned China, the country that has recently, as reported here and elsewhere, overcome extreme poverty. One might glorify that, and least one should appreciate that, but has it changed anything of the role of the workers in China? Could it also be seen as a means of both, securing and pacifying the labour pool, as it has been in the fading contemporary epicentre of capitalism? Comrades in China report that the union system there is corrupt as foo. The state approved union makes sure that domestic and foreign companies can exploit workers as they wish. Any attempt of breaking the state union's monopoly is persecuted with arrests and detentions (not as violent as Western media would claim, though). No color revolutions here, just workers fed up with their situation. So, can you report anything glorious the public banking of China does for the (global) working class?
Posted by: Macmuir | Aug 16 2022 19:08 utc | 38
You could say that, but you would be ignoring or glossing over so many other salient elements as to render the rest of your comment facile and oversimplified.
Care to elaborate?
Posted by: NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 20:03 utc | 55
For those who find it problematic to state that the US does this or that I think a document from 2005 may have interest
'The Neo-Cons Are British Liberal Imperialists' by Mary Burdman
https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2005/eirv32n42-20051028/eirv32n42-20051028_066-the_neo_cons_are_british_liberal.pdf
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Aug 16 2022 20:10 utc | 56
C is for chuzpah...
https://t.me/mod_russia_en/3369
⚡️The United Kingdom has submitted a flight plan application for a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft to fly along a route including over Russian Federation territory.
▫️We consider this action to be a deliberate provocation.
▫️Russian Aerospace Forces have been tasked with preventing the violation of Russian Federation airspace.
▫️All the possible consequences of this deliberate provocation will be borne solely by the United Kingdom.
@mod_russia_en
Posted by: Arioch | Aug 16 2022 20:16 utc | 57
robin @52--
The non-Plundering Nations are banding together in solidarity via the plethora of recently formed international organizations, like the SCO. Some like ASEAN have existed longer but are just now linking with other organizations. As I've chronicled over the last several years, Russia, China and their partners in their joint statements have consistently demanded upholding the UN Charter and its institutions. Yes, the UN's been co-opted by the Outlaw US Empire for most of its existence and refuses to follow its tenets. There's nothing wrong with the Charter or its institutions some deep democratizing won't solve. There's one main impediment that must be toppled which it's currently doing to itself. No Dark Age will follow the collapse of the Outlaw US Empire as a vibrant world is well on its way to being formulated. The development projects aimed at lifting the rest of humanity out of poverty are grand and meant to last. As Putin noted, the Plundering Nations aim is to prevent that, to enforce dependency, and further exploitation. The great mass of humanity is saying such behavior no longer has any place in our world.
@ NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 20:03 utc | 56 who must be paid well
You wrote
"
I see you continue to miss the point that public and private finance, as you name them, are the capital factions in that system I call capitalism. Sure, public an private finance exist, but as what? Part of nature? Or a means of power. I do not mind us having different views, but I do mind one side claiming authority on what is and what isn't.
"
Where is this thing you call capitalism that I call a myth?
The PBOC is a reality, a physical part of China's government and you conflate it as a type of capitalism, how stupid and/or obfuscatory is that?
You can claim authority on any myth you want but please take your textual white noise of such to another bar.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 20:27 utc | 59
It appears NoNewsHere has no clue as to the type of Capitalism now being practiced by the Plundering Nations reminding me of several trolls we've entertained over the years. I'll write this once: There's Industrial Capitalism and there's Finance Capitalism, the latter being based on Fantasyland "economics" that posits there's no such thing as unearned income when that's what it thrives on. For your edification, here's an excellent essay on the topic, "Finance Capitalism versus Industrial Capitalism: The Rentier Resurgence and Takeover".
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Aug 16 2022 19:59 utc | 55
-
I'm sure you are a Finn now. You have that subtle attack at the Russians.
Posted by: RK | Aug 16 2022 20:32 utc | 61
The only thing Putin retained from Soviet ideology was what ultimately destroyed the Soviet Union itself: the principle of national sovereignty and "national self-determination," which is what cloaks his government's aspiration to imperialist status.
A couple days ago, Michael Roberts released a blog post arguing that Russia is not presently imperialist - as it stands in more of a neo-colonial relationship with other powers, primarily exporting raw materials and with relatively weak export of capital to other countries. He noted, however, that Russia has higher aspirations than bog standard neo-colonialism. In any case, whether he's a comprador or a populist, Putin is an enemy of the Russian proletariat, whose exploitation is the basis of Russian "national greatness."
This is an area where anarchists were always clearly right. While, originally for reasons of political expediency, the Marxists have tried to be the greatest defenders of the Westphalian order, anarchists have always clearly understood that nationalist struggles are a subversion of class struggle, and that struggle must be directed against nationalism and nationalist political consciousness. Nationalism in the twenty-first century is distinctly reactionary, which is why the most renowned defenders of Westphalianism - Trump, Buchanan, and Putin - are reactionary figures. It is an attempt to turn back the clock - an attempt that will end like all such attempts in the past, in imperialist war. What imperialist power is not descended from the ancestors of a once oppressed people?
On a certain level every transgression against the global commercial order will appear atavistic, but then the multipolaristas are not even inherently opposed to this commercial order. Like Proudhon, they just want to see equal and autonomous nations create free and equal contracts with one another, utilizing their own comparative advantages to make mutually . There's no question of the overcoming of the nation-state, that's a category that has become fixed and eternal - like Proudhon's "eternal justice."
Posted by: anti-nationalist | Aug 16 2022 20:33 utc | 62
One more poke at NoNewsHere who wrote
"
I see you continue to miss the point that public and private finance, as you name them, are the capital factions in that system I call capitalism.
"
I think China would have a problem with you calling their banking system capitalism when they might think of it more like socialism or such.
And what is China doing for the global public? Taking down the God of Mammon global private finance cult, so far without getting us nuked by the poor losers of the Western anti-humanistic social system.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 20:42 utc | 63
The only thing Putin retained from Soviet ideology was what ultimately destroyed the Soviet Union itself...
Posted by: anti-nationalist | Aug 16 2022 20:33 utc | 63
--------
By the way, what do you know about "Soviet ideology?" Or, Marxism as such? What has Marxism has to do with Soviet ideology? The sound/pronunciation "Soviet" has nothing to do with its Russian meaning. It is just a anglo-pronunciation of a Russian word without the real meaning. Anyway, what do you know about "Soviet ideology?"
Posted by: rp | Aug 16 2022 20:45 utc | 64
C is for chuzpah...
...
⚡️The United Kingdom has submitted a flight plan application for a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft to fly along a route including over Russian Federation territory.
...
Posted by: Arioch | Aug 16 2022 20:16 utc | 58
C is also for (impending Ukrainian) collapse. These rapidly escalating provocations suggest that the Axis powers are desperate to distract attention away from UA’s crushing defeat at the hands of RF and, seeming at any costs, to prevent RF from taking the whole coast and then linking up with Transnistria.
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 16 2022 20:54 utc | 65
Road to War
The WaPo has released a review of events leading up to the present conflict in 404.
The entire review may be found at the following URL:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/
Full Title:
Road to war: U.S. struggled to convince allies, and Zelensky, of risk of invasion
On first reading I find no mention of:
1) American funding and direct control of multiple bio-weapons laboratories all of which appear to be in contravention of the Biological Weapons Convention (see
https://www.un.org/disarmament/biological-weapons/ ) of which Ukraine, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada are all states parties. ( see
https://www.un.org/disarmament/biological-weapons/about/membership-and-regional-groups/ )
2) No information with respect to US, UK and Canadian military assistance known to have been provided prior to the SMO with the intent to bring the UAF to a NATO standard of training.
3) No information with respect to the command centre established in the Mariopul steel works equipped with sophisticated communications gear to direct a UAF attack on the Donbass and the Crimea.
4) No mention of the increased shelling of Donbass undertaken by the UAF (and reported by the OSCE) commencing February 16th in preparation for the attack on Donbass.
5) No mention of the several thousand civilian victims of indiscriminate UAF shelling of a civilian population commencing in 2014.
6) No mention of the Nazi aligned hordes of UAF thugs, the repeated massacres of civilians, the deprivation of language rights and genocidal pronouncements on the part of the state.
7) No mention of the failure of Ukraine to even so much as attempt to meet the agreed provisions of the Minsk Accords.
8) No mention of the failure of the guarantors of the Minsk Accords (France, Germany) to take effective action to enforce the agreed provisions of the Accords.
9) No mention of RF security interests, the prior American agreement not to expand NATO to RF border, the repeated violation of this prior agreement, and the fact of NATO enlargement being used as a pretext for the positioning of US military assets in proximity to RF borders.
10) No mention of repeated US statements with respect to the use of military force to inhibit, prevent, or destroy, the rise of any potential competitor state.
11) No mention of the fact that the US mid-terms are fast approaching, the public statements with respect to 404 winning are beginning to look a little stale, and Team Big Guy desperately needs to smother the public with some aromatic spin if they are to avoid loosing both houses of Congress come November.
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 16 2022 20:54 utc | 66
It constantly amazes me the utter drivel trolls will write. There's absolutely zero "neo-imperialism" that Russia is after. Like China and the rest of the world, it wants to continue its development so it can further uplift its people and thus the nation, which is the goal it shares with all other non-Plundering Nations.
At Moscow's Security Conference today, this nugget was dropped by Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Colonel-General Volodymyr Matveev. According to the general, much more is at stake than Ukraine: for Washington and its allies, it is about the fate of the colonial system of world domination. And so we see all sorts of desperation. The world the Plundering Nations built is disintegrating. The Multipolar World has no active desire for revenge, which is a waste of energy; its success will be more than enough.
More trolls here today than ever. Note to Moscow: that black market m777 is workin' like a charm, keep rubbing their noses in it & see if you can buy a couple more to put on display. How about a complete battery?
Posted by: DrCiber | Aug 16 2022 21:01 utc | 68
If we are to dig our way out of the Western shit show it will be by discussing potential realities, not "isms".....I want to see the elimination of private finance in all its forms because I see finance as a key government function and responsibility, for example.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 19:59 utc | 54
One difficulty in discussing potential realities is that it is very uncertain at this point what state of organization will be left in society, in the West at least? Which institutions will retain some strength? Will things fall far enough that the question of whether public or private banks are preferable will be rendered moot by the disappearance of organized banking?
On top of that, while I'd agree that prolonged discussions of old "isms" is akin to whether Luther or the Dominicans were right, and that the answers are unlikely to provide us with much that we can use in what's to come, I think discussion about larger matters is appropriate. Every society is held together by one or more "glues." The old glues that held us together as Americans, religion and belief in the "American dream" (as sadly crude and materialistic as that is) are now dissolving. Stress levels are at max, and what holds people within limits is losing its grip. With the American Rambo mindset, it's hard to see how an orgy of killing is not in the future for a country already armed to the teeth.
What will come out of that is chaos, a chaos that will only be settled by the emergence of a new "glue" which can organize the people to do what must be done to get some semblance of civilization back on its feet. Some writers have addressed this problem, including Octavia Butler in her Parable series where the heroine invents a new religion that competes with the Handmaiden-types who were already organized before the final crash. Ursula Le Guin assigns the "glue" role in anarchist Annares to Odonianism, ascribed to the anarchists' acknowledged founder, Odo. She never describes it, but inferences from the novel lead to the conclusion that it must have had elements beyond Le Guin's beloved Tao te Ching.
It may be that by concentrating on the concrete, on doing, the other necessary elements will arise. In any case, we're in desperate need of some glue right now.
Posted by: Henry Moon Pie | Aug 16 2022 21:04 utc | 69
58
Applied for it to whom? If they asked Russia, simply deny it.
And if it flies into Russian airspace without permission, shoot it down. International right would be on Russia's side.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:22 utc | 70
China has public banking at the core of its government which is at odds with the mostly privately owned rest of the worlds Central Banks....Russia's is evolving.
Wrong, the majority of Central Banks are wholly owned by their governments. Do not confuse "arms-length" management with ownership.
https://bankunderground.co.uk/2019/10/18/the-ownership-of-central-banks/
Even the US Fed is a hybrid, in that the US Treasury gets all profits after expenses and member bank dividends, $88.5 billion in 2020.
You would do us all a favor by not propagating the myth.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 16 2022 21:25 utc | 71
As I observe the events, especially Europe's descent into Nazism, betraying all those oh so great European values, I get the impression that this is really a world war between good and evil, whereby the West is the evil.
And that makes me think that China should openly help Russia much more than so far. China could help protect Russia's borders so that Russia can focus on Ukraine, would also be good practice for the Chinese military.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:26 utc | 72
Fellow Barflies,
There isn’t going to be a collapse in Kiev‘s military any time soon. NATOland is filling the gaps with ‚volunteers‘ and ‚advisors‘ . This Ukraine hot war will last at least through 2024 and likely into 2025. Iron Curtain 2.0 will last much longer. Tragic but true.
Posted by: Exile | Aug 16 2022 21:27 utc | 73
On July 27, the Ukrainian government drew up a list of state-owned enterprises to be privatized or liquidated. There are 420 enterprises targeted, of which 354 are to be liquidated while the remaining 66 will be privatized.Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 19:02 utc | 33
It is difficult to imagine anyone paying anywhere close to market value for enterprises located in a war zone.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 16 2022 21:32 utc | 74
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 16 2022 20:54 utc | 66
So correct answer is to keep hitting harder.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 16 2022 21:36 utc | 75
speaking of western weapons in ukraine - we have a new winner for the "shittiest subhuman in the MSM" award:
https://www.newsweek.com/ww3-has-already-started-opinion-1733809
"The United States is actively sending weapons to people in Ukraine. That means that indirectly, the United States is actually killing Russian kids. I'm not saying there's necessarily a problem with that."
emphasis mine because he didn't say "soldiers"...he expressly said "there's no problem with killing kids". granted, given a time machine and his pregnant mother's address i'd be inclined to agree.
Posted by: the pair | Aug 16 2022 21:38 utc | 76
74
I don't think so. There are more volunteers fleeing from Ukraine than entering.
And there certainly won't be thousands of advisors, Nato can't afford to become a war party, because that would mean a world war.
I think Russia will shift gears soon, the civilian-friendly war lite is probably over.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:40 utc | 77
According to a Telegram channel, there seems to be a Turkish invasion of Northern Syria right now.
I wonder how that will affect Russia, if at all.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:45 utc | 78
The « containment » policy for China of the Indo-Pacific Strategy is not working. Just look at the Solomon Islands…
Posted by: Adam Troy | Aug 16 2022 21:46 utc | 79
@ Patrick Constantine | Aug 16 2022 18:19 utc | 24
Russia invaded Ukraine with a military force. NATO invaded Ukraine by infiltration.
Given the glacial pace of the SMO, it may look like Russia is infiltrating. Just like the frantic shipments of military hardware and military 'advisors' in the last eight years might make it look like NATO performed an unpublished Blitzkrieg.
Still, the US Deep State cranked up its hybrid warfare to military level. Russia cranked up its diplomacy to Operation Z. Not the history they're going to teach to school kids here in the US, but what it looks like from the sidelines.
Posted by: jhill | Aug 16 2022 21:46 utc | 80
Thank you for this great article. I've been expecting this war junk to show up somewhere. I thought Red Square Victory Day next May or perhaps an equivalent site that the Russians find in the liberated parts of Ukraine.
The video link within the Twitter statement is really shocking. Each death machine has a flag/sticker with its country of origin displayed. The land mines makes me feel sick. I looked up the BLU-91, BLU-92 items and ended up at Gator (company?). They shoot in a rocket/bomb filled with a clusters of these. The BLU-91 are the anti -tank mine, with the BLU-92 being anti-personnel."The BLU-92/B AP mine serves to discourage minefield clearing. Upon activation, the AP mine explosion sends high-velocity fragments in a horizontal plane over a wide area"
Posted by: Dim sim | Aug 16 2022 21:51 utc | 81
In the meantime, Europe's mighty rivers are drying up, Rhine, Danube, Po, Thames, Guadiana, Loire, Vistula etc. River transport cost would become higher, if not already.
Posted by: rp | Aug 16 2022 21:52 utc | 82
I see you continue to miss the point that public and private finance, as you name them, are the capital factions in that system I call capitalism.
Capitalism is where a profit is extracted between User Value and Exchange Value.
The person getting the profit does none of the work.
Basic Marx.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Aug 16 2022 21:55 utc | 83
83
This summer is brutal. One heat wave after another where I live.
Very severe drought and wildfires, the extinction of which also consumes a lot of water.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:56 utc | 84
@Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 16 2022 21:25 utc | 72
Central Banks may be nominally owned by the state, but they are run by chairs and boards made up of bankers. For example, the US Central Bank, the Fed Open Market Committee:
Chair is Jerome Powell: background is Carlyle Group and the "Bi-Partisan Policy Group" funded by the big foundations (e.g. Ford Foundation) and corporations.
John C. Williams (NY Head): US economist, career mainly within the Fed.
Michael Barr (Supervision Head): US Treasury
Michelle Bowman (Fed Board): Banker, politician and corporate lobbyist/consultant
Lael Brainard (Fed Board): US Treasury and Fed
James Bullard (St. Louis): Fed Economist
Susan Collins (Boston): US Economist
Lisa Cook (Fed Board): US Economist
Esther George (Kansas): Career Fed Economist
Phillip Jefferson (Fed Board): US Economist
Loretta Mester (Cleveland): Fed Economist
Christopher Waller (Fed Board): Fed Economist
To gain a mainstream US economics PhD you have to have fully internalized all of the lies and obfuscations that hide the reality of how the US works, and therefore be fully ion board with policies that benefit the rich (i.e. inflation is caused by too high wages rather than rentier capitalists, and free markets are always the best option etc.). Then a career in the Fed will be decades of social and cultural programming and peer pressure akin to the Soviet nomenklatura. Then, all headed by an ex-banker and shill for rich donors.
Where are the heterodox economists, the labor representatives etc? Add to that that the US Treasury Secretary always tends to be an ex-banker from Citibank, Goldman Sachs etc. and that the Central bank is part of the Bank of International Settlements that provides an extra layer of ruling capitalist discipline.
The Russian, Chinese and Iranian central banks are not part of the BIS and are not given the "political independence" of other central banks which serves to remove democratic control.
The West is much better at hiding oligarchy through layers of courtiers who claim their indolence after being fully programmed to make the "right" decisions.
We shouldnt underestimate the sheer insanity of the Unipolars. Our recently departed and unlamented US shoe shine boy Scott Morrison secretly 'appointed' himself to five Cabinet ministries in his Australian government. No one knew. This Sinophobe Ukie loving fascist could only remember three yesterday. Dangerously mad the lot of them.
Posted by: Paul McGrory | Aug 16 2022 22:04 utc | 86
A very curious item was published by RIA Novosti today, "The West will try to sow chaos in different regions of the world, the SVR said". The SVR is Service of the External Intelligence or Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia and the article reports some of what its representative Colonel-General Matveev said at the Moscow Security Conference. What follows is a machine translation of this short item:
The West, led by the United States, trying to maintain its elusive power, plans to strengthen its global dictatorship, will become more aggressive and reckless and try to sow chaos in different countries and regions, the whole planet is in the zone of such a risk, this is extremely dangerous, said the representative of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Vladimir Matveev."The West is weakening, stumbling, but still seems very powerful. According to our information, the White House seriously expects to revive and even strengthen the global liberal dictatorship," Matveyev said on Tuesday at the Moscow Conference on International Security as part of the Army-2022 forum.
At the same time, the tendency to the formation of multipolarity by American strategists is either ignored or interpreted as a sign of the coming anarchy, he added.
"Such a dogmatic approach is ridiculous on the one hand, and extremely dangerous on the other. It is here that lies the main challenge to peace and stability in various parts of the world. As power is lost, the West, led by United States will become more aggressive and reckless," Matveyev stressed. "To buy time to consolidate and regroup their own forces, Washington and its satellites will try to chaotize other countries and regions, to turn any potential, smoldering or long-standing conflicts into "hot spots," the representative explained. Svr.
According to Matveev, "in this sense, in the zone of increased risk, without exaggeration, is the entire planet - from the Balkans and the post-Soviet space to South China Sea, the Indian subcontinent and Latin America, not to mention the Middle East."
I agree with this assessment, although I've used different words to describe it. However, there's also the reality that the Outlaw US Empire is quickly running out of assets to further its policy and public support is nil. It will be instructive how the Media portray the 2022 elections and the European situation.
NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 20:03 utc | 56
Apart from your insider knowledge as your 'comrades report' and the sheer arrogance of your implication that 92 million members of the Communist Party of China (my comrades) are either deluded or subject to mass hypnosis, perhaps you should read the brilliant economist Xue Muqiao on "underdeveloped socialism" in his book 'China's Socialist Economy'. Putin's speech is of epoch significance. Perhaps you might also try and grasp that Putin is applying Lenin's analysis of imperialism and the role of colonial struggle to the contemporary and final stage of imperialism.
Posted by: Paul McGrory | Aug 16 2022 22:25 utc | 89
It is one of the weaknesses of the routine critiques of imperialism posted here that they forget the point, made recently by psychohistorian and myself, that it is lazy thinking to attribute to, for example the 'American people' either the gains or the crimes of Empire.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 17:31 utc | 13
Would the opposite then be to ascribe the success of Russia and China for example in their resistance to Globalists to only the "ruling class" and the people are not responsible there either?
I'm not trying to be argumentative, its just that your statement does not sit right.
if the people have no responsibility in either case then we never will. We the people have to take responsibility at some point.
I don't agree with you statement that we, the peoples of the colonising countries are innocent and neither does history.
And the American people did benefit for a long time from the gains of Empire which is why there is such complacency. Better not to question where all the "stuff" came from, right?
Posted by: K | Aug 16 2022 22:28 utc | 90
Posted by: Roger | Aug 16 2022 22:04 utc | 86
The Central Bank of Russia is part of BIS.
As is the People's Bank of China.
https://www.bis.org/about/member_cb.htm
The oft-touted 85% of the world being against the West is a tad misleading. No doubt why it has taken so long for them to join together with enough skill, shared vision and determination to finally create a new system. But so far it hasn't yet happened.
I suspect there is going to be a new digital currency system and the BIS network will be a part of it because otherwise they will wreak too much damage given they are part of the tail wagging the western dog. But hopefully am wrong.
It is quite possible that Russia and China are as noble as they say and many here report. But it's also quite possible that this is an elaborate charade to engender a collapse of the western world as precursor to establishing a new system for all once most private property and other assets in the West have been wiped out. The so-called Reset scenario. But for that scenario to be convincing the domestic populations now under siege have to believe that this is not being done on purposes by their own elites, rather the unfortunate side effect of a distant conflict they have no choice but to support without being regarded as unpatriotic or weak.
not being done on purposes
shld be
not being done on purpose
Sorry, was channeling inner Gollum. GOLLUM!
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 20:27 utc | 60
Where is this thing you call capitalism that I call a myth?
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 16 2022 20:31 utc | 61
There's Industrial Capitalism and there's Finance Capitalism, the latter being based on Fantasyland "economics" that posits there's no such thing as unearned income when that's what it thrives on.
Nice contradiction here. You two sort this out, just funny from my perspective.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 16 2022 20:27 utc | 60
I think China would have a problem with you calling their banking system capitalism when they might think of it more like socialism or such.
Of course they would! It would blow their propaganda just as much as this blog and others blow up the "value-based" Western one. I see no point in idealizing China or Russia just because they stand up to US-led capitalism only to enforce their own. I also see no point in idealizing a multipolar world order, when the emerging poles practice the same exploitation of the working class as well as nature themselves and propagate nationalism, the latter contradicting any socialist theory.
And what is China doing for the global public? Taking down the God of Mammon global private finance cult, so far without getting us nuked by the poor losers of the Western anti-humanistic social system.
Great. Replacing it with the God of Mammon national finance cult (being a bit too polemic here). As much as we all are fed up with US hegemony, supporting yet another authoritarian capitalist system is, from my perspective, like jumping from a frying pan into the fire.
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 16 2022 20:31 utc | 61
It appears NoNewsHere has no clue as to the type of Capitalism now being practiced by the Plundering Nations reminding me of several trolls we've entertained over the years.
Tough words. I cannot remember us having discussed our views on capitalism. Be it as it may, I was a little disappointed by the link you shared. Hudson writes:
However, Marx devoted volume 1 of Capital to industrial capitalism’s most obvious charac-
teristic: the drive to make profits by investing in means of production to employ wage labor to
produce goods and services to sell at a markup over what labor was paid.
My Marx volume tells a different story. The surplus value is not achieved by a markup. Instead, each worker receives their individual share of the reproduction pool - or less - and the surplus value is gained by both densifying work as well as extending working hours. If I remember correctly, Marx disproved the markup theory.
Hudson's text, and you didn't promise anything else, is an intra-capitalist analysis. And not far away from real-life discussions I have with communist theorists. What I find interesting,though, is that even communists today would count China as part of the plundering nations, as it applies, in your terms, Industrial Capitalism. I assume you remember the radical left's criticism of the Soviet Union being not much else than State Capitalism. China isn't much different, from my view. So my question to you would be, what is the working class's gain from intra-capitalist analysis? Or from glorifying one expression of capitalism against another?
Posted by: NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 22:52 utc | 93
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 19:28 utc | 45
You nailed it.
I am getting tired of western style communists, it is really getting old. Class struggle this, workers that, as if there is only black and white possible.
Face it, no one has a solution to economic inequality. Its always been there. Maybe in a post scarcity world there will be such a thing as not being exploited while working, whatever exploited would mean at that time. But we are far from that and may never achieve it.
A construction worker making 100+ euros per hour clean is not really oppressed or exploited, is it now? What class does that worker belong to?
Its a utopia. Communism has been tried many times and no matter what the current iteration is in the West, I believe Critical Theory holds that throne now (with its extremist off shoot Critical Race Theory and intersectionality), it doesnt work. Deal with it, grow and stop postmodernising our life, we are tired of old hippies (no offense Old Hippie) preaching their old bibles in the here and now.
What does work is ethics, norms and values in finance and avoiding the fall of society to a purely transactional one, a prime example of it the US of A. Over there, everything is a transaction: from marriage to lawmaking.
Posted by: alek_a | Aug 16 2022 22:55 utc | 94
@Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 16 2022 22:12 utc | 89
Samir Amin put this US approach so well in his 1992 "Empire of Chaos", then Mr. Escobar in his 2014 book of the same title. Strange how both books are so relevant to the present, perhaps all we really have now is an increased level of opposition to an ongoing Western modus operandi (Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, too many to count "colour" revolutions, drone attacks, sanctions and other interventions etc.), producing an increasing level of frustration and angst in the West.
It hasn't worked out for the West so well recently, Bandung is slowly turning the tables.
Forgive me b and barflies, feel free to ignore but a gauntlet has been laid before me and I will respond.
@ Posted by: robin | Aug 16 2022 19:48 utc | 52 and Others,
“ what options are there for third parties to counter the Empire's influence and how can they regain full sovereignty? “
————————
Robin et al,
There are NO options for ‘third parties’, whatever you want to define them as. NONE.
I’ll tell you what I have learnt over the years. But we need context first.
I’ll tell you what Putin and Xi and most of the Worlds leaders who represent the 85% of its population know or will soon know.
They can’t say because they are statesmen and women and are trying to lead all their peoples out of centuries of delusion and slavery.
I have no need to be coy - will you LISTEN? Here we go!
I will talk of the religion of Mammon, erected in the Temples of the Original City of Londinium, built over the 4 centuries of Roman occupation.
Which was followed by centuries of decay, the Dark Ages. Then the reclamation under Vikings in the form of Norman Invasion of William the Bastard of Falaise and the established ancient money lenders of Europe at the time, who financed his and many other invasions through history and the vast building programme of castles and cathedrals and who settled in Old Jewery in that old Roman City. I hold they did also finance the original Caesars until their praetorians took power from them, that’s how Empires fall.
The City dwellers did well until the mid C13th, when the Italians returned, as the Lombardian Merchant Bankers and ousted these ancient money lenders again who had to later again return as the various Red Shielder Silk Road traders.
The imperial dreams returned with the Lombardians and they set forth conquering the world through many a invention. Westphalian Nation States; National Banks to support the new fangled supra national Company. Taking control of Invention and Knowledge; controlling Technology, making weapons to better control and kill us when we threaten them. All to make it easier to steal the wealth of peoples of such invented nations by setting them against each other with endless wars. Whilst keeping us as slaves worshipping made up Royalty, as the God given rulers of the Nation states. Setting out thence to claim all the silver and gold that ever existed in the World and slaves of all its peoples. Not many resisted.
The one that got away and never came to heal is what is known as Russia and its hundreds of Peoples and dozens of religions and languages.
The religion of the City is not ordinary human religion, designed to succour the suffering and raising Humanity.
It is instead just utterly a crass OCCULT belief.
Beloved of these high priests of Money, with its Temples and High priests and rituals. It is a proxy of their Power, that has made ‘our’ World and ‘our’ History. Now self referenced as the Collective West,15% of humanity, most of whom are just slaves who are slightly better off then most of the poorest of the rest of humanity.
That is the only War that matters.
It is the real War of the Ages for Humanity, to stop being Forever Slaves whilst believing we are free!
The religions they invent for us are delusion.
That we will get our rewards in the hereafter or through rebirth as long as we are Good now and don’t upset the Powers.
Blindly believing whatever we told to believe from their Pulpits Old and New; From pseudo religious Economics to Pseudo religious Philosophies, through the centuries to now, the mass mediums, now just Corporate Media, the absurd ‘Weatern Culture’ and oxymoronic ‘Western Civilisation’ of fairytales, Imagination and destruction of our self image into countless ‘otherness’ - so that we learn to hate ourselves, whilst the Masters above watch and laugh like Olympians at how easily we are their little idiot creatures made to fight amongst ourselves. Currently they are creating evermore diabolical religions to keep us discombobulated for the next century. Paid for and directed by their richest high priests who are mere fronts.
The battle to destroy them and their primal Lie, finally, is what is upon us. It’s been way too long in coming. I never thought it would, but behold! And Rejoice!
It is manifest over the battlegrounds and death in Ukraine with its demented youth brought up with old mens fascist Nazi talismanic Occultism and Fantasy. Attracting the lite minded brainwashed with some notion of white supremacy from across the Collective Waste; the dumbest who can’t jump or even dance or gain a mate, neutered Losers, that hate these who are not as racist as themselves, even their own family and friends.
Just Fucks not even Wits
See them crawl out of the drugged up labyrinths of Azovstal. Now giving interviews about their mindless programming- it would be funny if they hadn’t destroyed so many innocents that they themselves started out as.
———————-
In short:
We in the Collective West of the long controlling Churches of the Ancients are on the Wrong Side of The Only and Never Ending War of Millenia, that holds us enslaved by the same Great Lies we are born with.
I see in Putin, Lavrov, Sharapova etc and Xi and other luminaries of South America’s and Middle East and the rest as these who have come to stand together and refuse to be divided and ruled as has been long accustomed.
That is why we are told to hate them and cancel them.
They are finally going to rid the World of these ancient monsters who made the City their base for and from which we are born and live in the Collective Waste. It will now melt into the deserved new and permanent Dark Age for the Occult City but actual raising of Humanity as whole which I hope to enjoy for my remaining years.
It is a GOOD thing.
Do you understand? Do you know what you ought to do for your kids and grandkids? For your friends and community? As a Human being ? Not just a deluded First Worlder? Not following orders for promises of riches from the Mamon worshippers.
Well? You did ask.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 16 2022 23:06 utc | 96
K@91
"..Would the opposite then be to ascribe the success of Russia and China for example in their resistance to Globalists to only the "ruling class" and the people are not responsible there either?.."
No. Just as the imperialists depended upon the deluded masses to furnish the means-from soldiers and sailors to revenues- to power imperialist adventures, so those resisting them cannot do so without mobilising the people to support their cause, which is just, as it happens and requires only an appeal to reason rather than, its opposite, tendentious propaganda based upon lies and misrepresentations. Thus the Red Army's cause was reasonable, whereas the Wehrmacht's was based on the terrorising and brainwashing of the populace.
"..I don't agree with you statement that we, the peoples of the colonising countries are innocent and neither does history..."
Innocent would be the wrong word- the people of England, for example, were enrolled in the colonial enterprise at a time when, having been reduced to vagrancy in their own land, which was taken from them by the ruling class, they were at a loose end. They were looking for work and manning ships, warships, merchant vessels, slave traders, it often had to be. Most of them died, very young, while thus engaged: the lives of seamen manning slavers from Bristol and Liverpool were no more likely to survive the middle passage than those of the slaves. A good case can be made, and has been by such southerners as George Fitzhugh that the industrial proletariat in the UK was, in terms of diet and lodging and security, worse off than the slaves in plantations. That is purely in material terms. And is not unconnected with the fact that whereas an African born slave could be sold for $1000 an unemployed English worker was valued by the dozen ten to a dollar.
"And the American people did benefit for a long time from the gains of Empire which is why there is such complacency. Better not to question where all the "stuff" came from, right?""
Have you ever considered why the American people have no healthcare, their infrastructure is collapsing, and their public systems of education and social security are the meanest and worst funded in the western world?
And why the Pentagon budget, plus its secret and unavowed associate budgets, amounts to about a trillion dollars annually? And why its military is staffed largely by various poverty drafts? And why, in general things, for the working people are as they are?
Generally the answer is that the plain people of the United States have been used to gather stuff from all over the world- and then deliver it into the laps of a kleptocratic and callous ruling class, which runs the worst prison system and cheapest services, in which profit is always privileged over human needs, in the OECD.
The 'we are all guilty' meme is a fallback of the oligarchs and part of the confidence trick of Identity Politics.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 16 2022 23:08 utc | 97
@Posted by: NoNewsHere | Aug 16 2022 22:52 utc | 94
What I find interesting, though, is that even communists today would count China as part of the plundering nations, as it applies, in your terms, Industrial Capitalism.
Perhaps the idiotic Trotskyist types like the WSWS, and the fake co-opted left, but many others (including myself) understand the fundamental differences between the West and China (and Iran) especially, and even with Russia. Your statement is a form of gaslighting, implying that all communists think a certain way when they don't. Hudson is a communist as is Martin Jacques.
K @91--
Good point! That's why I referred to Turner's Thesis. The Empires of Plunder make interesting and time-consuming study. Vast disparities of wealth existed within all of them. The new ideal, which isn't really new, is to eliminate such disparities so every person can enjoy a productive, dignified life. I haven't used the terms recently, but the Plundering Nations are clearly Anti-Human for they seek to deny such an existence; they are utterly immoral. Bastiat again:
"When plunder becomes a way of life, men create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."
And it's that system that's existed since Greco-Roman times that needs to be eliminated. The Plundering Nations have internationalized it, which is what is now with great effort being undone. The UN Charter and organization was idealized as the vehicle to alter that system, but as we know it was co-opted and still needs to be implemented. IMO, it's time for Russia to call the West Anti-Christian, for they certainly are, values being too vague a word to drive home that point.
Posted by: Nico | Aug 16 2022 21:22 utc | 71
UK has been more provocative than usual recently. Aside from air incursions I've been hearing more about UK physical involvement in Ukr 'special ops' activities, including sabotge to the Kursk reactor and shelling at Zaporizhzhia. At the time of ex-PM Johnson's visit to Zelensky I thought he was merely a US stooge delivering the mail, but UK's role in training Ukr Nazis going back to 2014 and its enthusiastic financial and military support leads me to think it's more practical than that. Unlike other EU countries UK government does not care if Ukraine glows in the dark for a few decades. I suppose it's just chatter but I'll be looking for more evidence of UK boots on the ground in Ukr.
Posted by: T Paine | Aug 16 2022 23:17 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
... and I'm pretty sure that anyone who did a tour of the recent strike sites in Crimea would see similar damaged Russian equipment
Posted by: observer | Aug 16 2022 16:45 utc | 1