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August 26, 2022
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-139
Comments
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 1:05 utc | 128
“The US is a boxer who beats the hell out of his sparring partners but always manages to come up with an excuse for postponing the championship bout.”
Brilliant mataphor! Appreciate your posts Bevin.
Posted by: migueljose | Aug 27 2022 12:20 utc | 201
Melaleuca @ 206
The manner of elaborate knot tying shown in the link you post comes from practitioners of sexual fetishes. It has zero to do with immobilizing a prisoner. It is the work of freaks.
Posted by: oldhippie | Aug 27 2022 12:20 utc | 202
I have a neighbor, Jack, 74 years old. Retired truck mechanic, Vietnam vet, big, sometimes mean, aging hard with diabetes, sleep apthnea (lung problems) agent orange issues from Nam.
Yesterday he was helping me fix my sawmill and I told him he was the only person I knew who had ever been to Russia. He went by himself in 2005 to hunt brown bear, flew from Chicago to Moscow, then to Siberia. I asked him about his trip and his impressions. He said he liked the people, then offered: “You need to go. I went to Red Square. The Russians lost 4 million people in WW2, they were the ones who beat the Germans.” I started to correct him but he kept going, talking about how much they suffered and how they stepped up more than the Americans did and how he admired them as a people. He said he didn’t believe what the news is saying about Russia. “You know how it is with politicians. They lie.”
By the end of our conversation, he had fixed my sawmill and I’ll mill up one of his walnut trees in trade. It was a good afternoon.
Posted by: migueljose | Aug 27 2022 12:48 utc | 203
@oldhippie | Aug 27 2022 12:20 utc | 212
“The manner of elaborate knot tying shown in the link you post comes from practitioners of sexual fetishes. It has zero to do with immobilizing a prisoner. It is the work of freaks.”
If they were captured by the freaks of the Kiev regime, it could well be both.
Posted by: Ranelagh | Aug 27 2022 13:07 utc | 204
Posted by: Xeen | Aug 27 2022 11:56 utc | 207
The difference between your AfD and CDU 20 years ago is that AfD is even more extremely neoliberal, even more than the FDP. The explicit racism of the current AfD was actually more common in the CDU 20-30 years ago when election campaigns were won on the racist ticket.
Surely for you, Xeenophobe, Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz surely are nice guys, also their friends from Witikobund and Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend. If they aren’t fascists (or postfascists, as Traverso argues), fascism itsself must be a propaganda lie.
https://andreaskemper.org/afd-faschismus/
The Alternative for Germany, as a party of inequality, is determined by three ideological currents: Neoliberalism, Christian Fundamentalism and Fascism. While in its founding phase the AfD was dominated by a national-liberal orientation of neoliberalism, the fascist wing around Björn Höcke (and formerly also Andreas Kalbitz) has gained increasing influence in the AfD. The tendency in the AfD is towards fascist ideology.
The AfD is profascist for two reasons: Firstly, with the Höcke wing it has created a brown ferment which it shields and defends from the outside. In addition, the AfD attacks on a very broad front all groups that appear to be anti-fascist. This does not just mean antifa groups in the narrow sense, but antifascist-oriented initiatives from the churches to the trade unions to feminist and queer groups that oppose the fascist gender image. By agitating anti-antifascist and at the same time supporting, expanding and shielding a fascist ferment, the AfD is profascist. The AfD is not (yet) fascist as a whole, because in addition to the fascist ideology, it also represents other ideologies that are reactionary, but with property fanatic and Christian fundamentalist positions contradict the völkisch-authoritarian state idea of fascism, at least in the desired society.
Despite the contradictions, the discourse coalitions and strategies of the various currents are strong enough to hold the AfD together as a party.
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 11:26 utc | 203
If the composition of these WestingHouse fuel assemblies in any way supports the hypothesis of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, that could be a motive to target them.
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I am not an expert, but as far as I know, Westinghouse supplies fuel to VVER-440 pressurized water reactors not only in Ukraine, but also in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia.
A total of 18 reactors.
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 27 2022 13:13 utc | 206
Checked it. I was wrong. Zaporizhzhia has VVER-1000 pressurized light water reactors.
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 27 2022 13:25 utc | 207
Breeze from the past.
“Exactly 80 years ago, at a meeting in Rivne, Reich Commissar of Ukraine Erich Koch:
“There is no free Ukraine. Ukrainians must work for Germany. We must not make this people happy. Ukraine must provide what Germany lacks. This task must be completed, regardless of losses. Führer has asked Ukraine for 3 million tons of grain for Germany & they must be delivered.”
https://twitter.com/colonelhomsi/status/1563520270148587526
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 27 2022 13:38 utc | 208
anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 10:31 utc | 199
Why not eliminate Arestoboy then? It’s not like they’ll ever going to bring any of them to trial. The second the puppets feel danger they’ll be far away, paraded on BBC and CNN as heroes. I’m not convinced Zely is in Ukr anymore. I think he comes for the photoshoots with Duda or Bojo, then leaves with them.
Maybe they’ll start a political party in one of the other puppet countries using Ukr refugees as voters. It’ll be nice to have Arestoboy president of a Baltic country or Zely in Finland. They have “defeated” the Russian army, right? so even locals will vote for them, to protect them from bad Russians.
Posted by: rk | Aug 27 2022 11:27 utc | 204
It’s tempting but we it shouldn’t tempted. Team Zelensky exists to engage Russia in a manufactured civil war (MIC profit) and to facilitate the total asset stripping of Ukrainian public property (Agro profit). It is the purpose of Zelensky and all the other degenerate creeps of Ukraine’s CIA-proxy government to infuriate and provoke.
Look how quickly HIMARS was dispatched when a detainee testified to Arestovich‘s role in crimes against POWs. Their handlers are afraid of reputation damage, it damages the western narrative, which is the only thing preventing western populations from rejecting their government’s participation.
In a sense, Arestovich, Zelensky and all the rest don’t matter. They talk and talk but RF keeps destroying UA units and liberating territory. Liberated territory is voting to leave the Kiev regime.
I agree it would be satisfying to read that Arestovich had been vaporised by a pinpoint Iskander strike but intentionally targeting political figures would be a gross escalation and they’re just puppets anyway, with no significant authority.
As things stand, Zelensky & Arestovich are worth more to RF alive and discredited, they would all be safer in RF custody than they are now!
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 13:53 utc | 209
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 27 2022 13:13 utc | 216
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No, that is wrong !
Hungary only received new fuel rods from Russia by plane in May… there was even a somewhat hidden report about this special flight in the SMO! Of course negative! Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary are all power plants of Russian design, all had problems with these non-standard fuel rods! Of the 6 kilns in Zaporozhye, 4 are still running with Russian fuel rods, I don’t know whether the 5 has been retrofitted in recent years! Westerhouse had problems in every nuclear power plant of Russian design, but also in the USA itself!
As already mentioned, I was in each of these nuclear power plants until about 1988 because we were servicing the turbines.
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For the operators of so-called VWER reactors, Russia is even the only supplier of custom-made hexagonal fuel rods.
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The dependency on Russian fuel elements was only recently made clear by a special flight, writes Wenzel, who is also spokesman for the environment and nuclear safety for the Greens in the Bundestag. On March 1, a Russian Il-76 transport aircraft was allowed to land in Slovakia to resupply two Slovakian nuclear power plants with new fuel elements – despite the EU flight ban on Russian aircraft.
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Hungary is now even expanding its nuclear power plant from Russia..again with fuel rods from whom?
It is the Hungarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban that is keeping a big secret about Paks. It is known that Russia’s Rosatom is to build the reactor units and that Hungary will receive a 10 billion euro loan from Russia to finance it. But the details are secret.
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About 40 percent of European uranium imports come from Russia and Kazakhstan. This also applies to the German nuclear power plants that are still in operation.
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The Russian state-owned Rosatom has a leading position in the international uranium business. “Rosatom is the second largest uranium producer in the world through its interests in uranium mines in Canada, the United States and most notably Kazakhstan.
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Europa hängt auch bei Uran an der langen Leine Moskaus
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 14:02 utc | 210
Sorry
it comes to uranium, too, Europe is on Moscow’s long
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 14:03 utc | 211
Posted by: anon2020
If the composition of these WestingHouse fuel assemblies in any way supports the hypothesis of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, that could be a motive to target them.
Well, they targetted the Azov pre-trial detainees, and now they are targetting NPP fuel assemblies….
There is nothing worse than evidence. Evidence has to be destroyed if it cannot be denied by Kiev.
Posted by: Lapin | Aug 27 2022 14:10 utc | 212
Re: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 11:26 utc | 203
you wrote “If the composition of these WestingHouse fuel assemblies in any way supports the hypothesis of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, that could be a motive to target them.”
A clandestine nuclear weapons program would likely be taking spent fuel (used uranium fuel) from the spent fuel pools and reprocessing it to extract the plutonium, which is formed in the fuel rods when they undergo fission in the reactor. Some of the uranium in the fuel rods is transmuted to become plutonium, which is what is commonly used to make the fissionable “pits” that are the heart of modern nuclear weapons.
The first nuclear reactors (in Hanford, Washington) were actually made to produce plutonium, which was used in the atomic bomb that destroyed Nagasaki. Plutonium is always produced as a byproduct in nuclear reactors that use uranium for fuel.
Reprocessing is a very dirty and dangerous process. The fuel rods are dissolved in nitric acid, and the plutonium is chemically separated from the uranium and many other radioactive isotopes. The process has to be done remotely, as the rods are highly radioactive. Hanford wound up with 53 million gallons of highly acidic and highly radioactive waste, which was/is in leaking underground tanks.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 14:17 utc | 213
Part II on the EU’s dependence on Moscow
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France
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Sanctioning Rosatom has never been discussed in the West. The global interdependencies are too tight. Of the 57 reactors built on the planet since 2011, the Russians are involved in 13, overtly or covertly in charge. In Eastern Europe – the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland – only Russian engineers are able to control and maintain the reactors, some of which date from the Soviet era. The instructions for use are in the Kremlin, summed up the French trade magazine L’Usine Nouvelle.
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France in particular, which operates the most civil reactors after the USA (they have 56) and obtains more than 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, is cooperating with the Rosatom colossus on all levels. The French have their own reprocessing plant in La Hague. However, 33,000 tons of radioactive material accumulate there, which can only be post-treated in Rosatom’s Siberian factory in Tomsk. This fact is often suppressed in Paris.
Officially, France is proud to be independent in terms of energy policy thanks to its nuclear power. However, this narrative is “a myth,” says Charlotte Mijeon of the Sortir du Nucléaire exit network. Since 2001, when the last uranium mine in Brittany closed, France has imported 100% of its natural uranium, mostly from Kazakhstan, Niger, Australia and Canada. These countries of origin are geopolitically well diversified. The main supplier, Kazakhstan, exports its uranium via Rosatom, so it depends on Putin’s placet.
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Conclusion :
Without Putin it will be very dark and cold in Europe!
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What makes the actions of the EU states even more meaningless!
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 14:21 utc | 214
The fuel rods contain Low Enriched Uranium (LEU), which has U235 concentrated to 3% or 4% (in nature U235 exists as 0.7%, with 99.3% being U238). One would have to continue the enrichment process of the U235 to at least 20% in order for it to be capable of creating a nuclear detonation (weapons grade is 90%, at 20% U235 it is called weapons usable).
Enrichment is a very difficult and time consuming process, which is why plutonium was chosen for most nuclear weapons; it is a much faster and simpler process to create plutonium in nuclear reactors and then reprocess it for weapons, as opposed to enriching uranium to concentrate the U235.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 14:22 utc | 215
… There is nothing worse than evidence. …
Posted by: Lapin | Aug 27 2022 14:10 utc | 222
Brilliant, I’ll remember that! Kinda like the line from Lynch’s Lost Highway: There’s no such thing as a bad coincidence.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 14:17 utc | 223
Thanks for the info, the material-scientific part of it is completely out of my sphere of anything, so apologies I’ve got the wrong end of the stick, but I seem to recall someone (PavewayIV maybe) mentioning that weapons-relevant material could be produced by running fuel rods for a short time (incomplete burn?) and then removing them for processing.
I also wondered if Westinghouse might have supplied rods with a nonstandard composition to somehow assist in producing weapons material. Anything that might be damning enough to motivate an artillery strike on those particular fuel assemblies.
The artillery hits might simply be coincidence, though.
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 14:51 utc | 216
Posted by: Xeen | Aug 27 2022 11:56 utc | 207
AfD is mostly political positions of the CDU about 20 years ago. Thats why they cannot be Nazi, since otherwise CDU 20 years ago would have been Nazi.
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In the post-war years, the CDU was by far the biggest refuge for ex(?)-nazis. Almost everyone who had NSDAP party membership before 1945 exchanged it for the CDU (optionally CSU) after the war.
Hans Globke (CDU), Hitler’s ministerial adviser and diligent co-designer of the Nuremberg Laws, continued his career as Adenauer’s state secretary. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), ex(?)-nazi and former NSDAP member, was even Chancellor for a short time.
Birds of a feather…
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 27 2022 14:51 utc | 217
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 14:02 utc | 220
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Thanks for the information mon3.
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 27 2022 14:57 utc | 218
@ Blue Dotterel | Aug 27 2022 9:58 utc | 190
thanks for that!!
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 14:57 utc | 219
In response to Organic 156
Various definitions of svastika (pali, sanskrit, ayurveda, etc.) https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/svastika
The definitions at this site do not correspond with this research. Please provide the links to your sources.
Posted by: Perun | Aug 27 2022 15:12 utc | 221
Hopefully this avert a tragedy at the ZNPP.
“Ministry of Defense: Russian troops destroyed the M777 howitzer, from which the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the ZNPP”
https://ria.ru/20220827/zaes-1812516974.html
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Aug 27 2022 15:13 utc | 222
To all those who sport illusions about AfD in Germany
AfD’s founding fathers were neocon nationalists disappointed with the ultra-liberal FDP (“Friede Den Palästen”). AfD’s party program epitomizes the opposite of the representation of the interests of the 99%. Their agenda is a massive SOCIAL WRECKING BALL. Examples: Defund the state; Privatize education and public services; Oppose the minimum wage; Abandon the employer’s share in health insurance; Tax breaks for the rich; Retirement age at 70+ years (the record publicly discussed in a newspaper was 85 years !); Cut social benefits / welfare for those who were thrown overboard the rolling capitalist cruiser in order to press them to accept slave working conditions and wages. So much to the interior politics, which ALWAYS rank first in evaluating a party program. And almost always decide elections (see Trump’s “America first” which primarily aimed at domestic issues).
In foreign politics (that’s why we discuss it here), AfD are the ones who actually try hardest to avoid the nuclear annihilation of the 100%. However, not hard enough. And it is just a SIDE EFFECT. The real aim is to let the (German only, not globalist, not even European) 1% keep benefitting from cheap Russian energy and maintain the saga of trickle down for the 99%. “Continue as before, but with our (above described) agenda”. That’s AfD.
If they were a party truly dedicated to peace, they would ring all available bells for nuclear disarmament and the dissolution of NATO. Which they don’t, never did and never will do I’m convinced.
Posted by: OttoE | Aug 27 2022 15:18 utc | 223
The next few months in western countries have the potential to be truly horrific. Rocketing energy prices, soaring inflation, rapidly rising interest rates, austerity and misery on a scale not seen for generations, poverty and privation in previously comfortable and affluent societies, going on for years with no glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Widespread social unrest and political instability, with the ruling elites resorting to unprecedented repression to try to keep a lid on things. Widespread bankruptcies and business failures, mass unemployment, collapse of public services. Something akin to 1990s Russia.
But apart from that, I suppose we haven’t got much to worry about.
Posted by: Paul | Aug 27 2022 15:20 utc | 224
James, bemildred and others.
It’s possible, probable even that the symbol was chosen because of its OG meaning and its positive vibrations.
The nutzies have rendered a symbol used to present positive human interactions has been rendered almost useless.
Kinda like how the Ludlow monument in Colorado was defaced just prior to right to work in the states.
Black majics
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Aug 27 2022 15:25 utc | 225
Posted by: OttoE | Aug 27 2022 15:18 utc | 233
Thanks, Otto! Perfectly correct! I even liked Gauland’s speech about Ukraine at the Bundestag.
Posted by: Moses | Aug 27 2022 15:26 utc | 226
re: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 14:51 utc | 226
Paveway is correct about removing the fuel rods earlier that normal, which is done to reduce the amount of plutonium 240 being created; Pu240 fissions faster than Pu239, which is undesirable for weapons material. Plutonium that is extracted from spent fuel that was kept in the reactor for the optimum time for energy (rather than weapon) production is still “weapons usable”, that is, it can be used to create a nuclear detonation, but with a much lower explosive power (yield), because the Pu240 will cause the weapon to blow apart before it can achieve the last few doublings that produce the enormous yields; this is called a “fizzle”, but this nuclear explosion can still produce a yield of a few kilotons.
I have the read that the Westinghouse rods were not made to the same specifications as the Russian rods that the reactors were designed to use, which could create some safety issues. I don’t think fuel rods would be part of a plan to make nuclear weapons. The simplest path would be to obtain HEU or plutonium and fabricate the weapons, however, it might be better for plausible denial for provide technical assistance for preprocessing. These days, I am not sure if there are any limits to what lengths the West will go to.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 15:37 utc | 227
Sorry, I meant to write “reprocessing” rather than “preprocessing” lol.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 15:39 utc | 228
@ Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 27 2022 7:53 utc | 177
Kudos for being brave and rational enough to challenge the overly optimistic groupthink that exists here and at The Saker.
In addition to your valid points, we cannot exclude the possibility that this conflict, which could have been easily and painlessly avoided via Minsk 2, was engineered to bring about a financial reset to get us out of the $300 trillion global debt Ponzi. Is Putin in on that endgame? A case can be made both ways.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 27 2022 15:43 utc | 229
German Lawmakers Break Ranks, Demand Halt To Weapons For Ukraine Amid “Escalation Spiral”
A group of Left-SPD lawmakers have had enough of the unprecedented Ukraine arms shipments following on the heels of Berlin boosting its military budget by €100 billion. They’ve sent a letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with the title, “The weapons must be silent!”
Instead of pumping weapons into a hot conflict with a nuclear-armed superpower, the group within Scholz’s own party are demanding the pursuit of a diplomatic negotiations, pushing the Ukrainians to the peace talks table. “The escalation spiral must be stopped,” letter states, urging a “modus vivendi” until a final settlement can be found.
Balance of story at Zero Hedge.
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 15:53 utc | 230
@ Tannenhouser | Aug 27 2022 15:25 utc | 235
i’d like to say more but we are on the ukraine open thread! maybe when an ”open” thread becomes available we can talk more.. i am not sure why b is being quite stern about banning folks who go ot, and at the same time not providing an open thread.. meanwhile peter au and yenwoda have disappeared..
@ Opport Knocks | Aug 27 2022 15:43 utc | 239
i like that aspect of debs as well… not afraid to challenge the status quo… and i agree with you speculation in the rest of your post too.. it is hard to know, but my impression is based off michael hudsons book – financial verses industrial capitalism, that putin is not in on the game and seeking something for the 99, as opposed to 1 percent… all his actions point in this direction… the west with its financial ponzi scheme need to be taken down.. and here we are in ukraine for what i think will be a long haul…
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 15:54 utc | 231
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 27 2022 7:54 utc | 178
I join you, Norwegian, in thanking karlof1 for his post of segments of Putin’s 2018 speech to the Russian Federation. It was well worth revisiting.
Today is, Old Calendar, the eve of the final great feast in the Orthodox calendar, the Dormition of the Theotokos, the Mother of Christ. The little church which I belonged to in Santa Fe was named for this feast, so it is our central feast of observance. I will remark that I can see that the Alexander Nevsky film had no representation of Orthodoxy other than the Novgorod church and great bell. Beautiful it was, and I am sure has been rebuilt as have so many churches in Russia.
I do question the claims concerning the swastika and its relevance for Christianity, though I am sure there can be found some deviations with that symbol as there even are in the practice of iconography. Just as in the movie only a limited role is given to the Orthodox faith, the movie happening as it did in the USSR. Which, by the way was also responsible for a new restoration of icon art, as art, so the beauty of old Russia persisted and inspired, even in that ‘new’ age. I do think the icons of the Theotokos in their loving purity are very responsible for that continuance.
But that’s just me.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 27 2022 15:57 utc | 232
@ Sushi | Aug 27 2022 15:53 utc | 240
thanks sushi… that will be especially good news if the majority of germans get a vote to voice there position on it, while ignoring what the press say… it really is coming down to whose side are you on? the 1% or the rest of us? it is the same deal here in canada and the usa where the energy corps are raking in way more, as is the military industry, while the ordinary person sees everything go out of reach and their dreams squashed..
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 15:57 utc | 233
Black majics
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Aug 27 2022 15:25 utc | 235
Interesting point. I assumed it was because it was “Aryan”. But I can’t say I ever looked into it. Not my cup of tea.
Thank you for your comment.
Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 27 2022 16:00 utc | 234
🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russia ready to discuss possibility of negotiations with Ukraine only in event of Kiev’s unconditional surrender,reduction in size of Ukrainian military, and country’s DENAZIFICATION – Russian Parliament International Affairs Committee Chairman Leonid Slutsky.
https://t.me/azmilitary11/17123
I don’t think there will be serious negotiations despite whatever SPD thinks.
Like in March, the anglos will sabotage it, and nationalists won’t abide by anything. This thing has no breaks at all. Zelensky will be eventually replaced by one of the earlier euro-Maidan characters which US has in its sleeve to keep the ball rolling till it falls off an edge.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 27 2022 16:01 utc | 235
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 15:54 utc | 241
I will miss Peter Au if he is indeed banned.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 27 2022 16:05 utc | 236
On AfD…
OttoE | Aug 27 2022 15:18 utc | 233
Yes, AfD is not the perfect Marxist revolutionary Party we are looking for.
But the left in Europe is mostly lost. Not even Marxist too. Most of them just “woke”
So, we need a popular movement against the war. It’s not our war. We don’t want to pay for it.
I just received a letter from Stadtwerke. We will pay 50% more “in solidarity blablabla.
AfD “not good”, Lfi in France “not perfect”, rassemblement National too “xénophobe”, etc… Etc…
And who win?
We need to unite.
It’s in fact simple.
Who oppose Macron, Scholz and Borrel? Who ask for dumping sanctions?
“not in my name , it’s not our war, we don’t accept to pay , open NS2”
Even whit Gauland, LePen, Melenchon and Wagenknecht. Which one I, you, we hate or love is not relevant.
We don’t have a choice.
Posted by: Weimar | Aug 27 2022 16:07 utc | 237
Posted by: juliania | Aug 27 2022 15:57 utc | 242
The beauty of abandoned churches can compete with a big cathedral. Even agnostics are awed by ruins so charged of energy. There are lots of them in Russia, for obvious historical reasons, and lots of them are being restored which is fine but they should slow down a bit and rebuild just those that are imperiled and risk imminent disappearance.
Just a personal opinion, congratulations on your day of celebration and joy.
Posted by: Paco | Aug 27 2022 16:13 utc | 239
Posted by: b | Aug 27 2022 16:13 utc | 250
thanks for the reply.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 27 2022 16:19 utc | 240
good to know… thanks b.. i agree with pretzelattack.. i value his input and admire he is human and posts after having had a few drinks too…
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 16:22 utc | 241
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 15:54 utc | 241
. . . putin is not in on the game and seeking something for the 99, as opposed to 1 percent… all his actions point in this direction
Recent posts on Intel Slava support this assertion – “Russia builds new houses in Mariupol for those who lost their homes- it will be free.” Also reported is RF providing pension income to the displaced persons from DPR / LPR as well as granting them the right to seek employment in Russia.
I know of no neo-liberal Western government delivering such benefits. A space under a bridge is the only accommodation on offer. Or a tent village on an urban street. You supply or scrounge the tent. The state will provide the bridge.
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 16:22 utc | 242
Posted by: juliania | Aug 27 2022 15:57 utc | 244
But that’s just me.
I believe there are a great many bar flies greatly appreciative of karlof1 and the material he provides to these threads. If we were all to repeatedly voice our thanks it would overwhelm the thread and likely result in us all being banned.
I’m taking a big risk here – Thank you karlof1!!!
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 16:29 utc | 243
@fennovoima
What a load of s**t. Sorry, first aeroplane was donated by swedish,not german as I stated before. The year was 1918, way before nazi party in german,so I really wonder where you get an idea it was sort of nazi symbol? Do not connect dots which are not related. Period. Yes, finns do have mythical beliefs about seccond world war and I’m very much agreeing with you about that. The most worrisome thing is,that the lessons to be learned from history are learned from wrong assumptions and we are heading to war again based on wrong assumptions. At least majority of my collageous believe that fighting with russia is sort of cakewalk. i’vebeen watching Ukrainian war through these channels and I do not have any illusions at all.
Posted by: pavi | Aug 27 2022 16:40 utc | 244
Re: Posted by: Melaleuca | Aug 27 2022 11:05 utc | 200
Bulgaria
Crisis team: Bulgaria wants to buy natural gas from Gazprom again
23 Aug
Bulgaria’s interim government wants to buy natural gas from Russian state-owned Gazprom because of the gas shortage in the EU country.
“Obviously, we will have to hold negotiations with Gazprom,” Energy Minister Rossen Hristov said after a meeting of an energy crisis team on Monday. Sofia also wants to resume negotiations with Azerbaijan on gas supplies, he said.
Bulgaria faces an election on October 2.
If Russia wants a friendly government in Bulgaria (which borders Serbia which borders Hungary) – the Russians should do everything they can to help the new Bulgarian Government increase its political popularity.
If they can flip Bulgaria they will have a string of countries into Central Europe on their side from Turkey-Bulgaria-Serbia-Hungary – and there are pipelines from Russia which run through these countries all the way to Hungary I believe.
This string of countries can be invaluable in exerting pressure on the EU to stop their insane policies and try diplomacy.
Posted by: Julian | Aug 27 2022 16:46 utc | 245
Posted by: Weimar | Aug 27 2022 16:07 utc | 249
.
Right !
No party in Europe is error-free!
But some better than those that are completely run by the USA, better than e.g. Scholz who, thanks to his past, can certainly be blackmailed by the CIA and & !
Why ?
Now you have to know that in Germany the public prosecutor’s office is not independent and only determined on the instructions of the minister or not!
What is important to know here in this case.
Why is this public prosecutor investigating again against Scholz on the instructions of Dr. Marco Buschmann = FTP = Scholz’s coalition partner!
As I said, in Germany the public prosecutor determines ONLY on instruction or not!
AFD, well you don’t have to applaud, but in every party in Germany there are “stupid” and gossips, mostly they come from the third row and always know something very well! But only if you do NOT have to bear any responsibility yourself!
AFD, that’s about 80 academics! Followers in the lower levels are everywhere. What happened to links? Left-wing radicals who are driven to counter-demos at the expense of the state so that there are counter-demos at all, especially when it comes to AFD !!!
Partly also organized and financed by the SPD!
Violence against AFD politicians has no place in the now 100% left-wing media (TV) or press!
That was the silence of the media in Germany in 1939!
In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the AFD is over 25%
EVERY coalition that is possible will be found in order not to leave the leadership to the AFD. Coalition of parties that have never fit together in the history of the country, which is also one of the reasons why things are not looking up in Germany, on the contrary.
NO coalition partner may be annoyed because this is over immediately, others say exploded!
So a chancellor can of course not make any decisions, he even has to defend the wrong gas levy, for example, which only benefits the FTP clientele and protects shareholders and assets!
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 17:02 utc | 246
@ Sushi | Aug 27 2022 16:22 utc | 254 // 255
seriously – thanks! and to karlof1 as well – lol… loved what you said @ 255…
@ mon3 | Aug 27 2022 17:02 utc | 258
fascinating.. thanks..
Posted by: james | Aug 27 2022 17:06 utc | 247
TASS/. Kherson lost power for the second time this week, according to a TASS reporter.
At about 18:30, traffic lights went off, trolleybuses stopped and buildings lost electricity. Water pressure in faucets dropped, and later disappeared completely.
The regional power company, Khersonoblenergo, said on its Telegram channel that the reason behind the power outage is being investigated. The company urged local residents to unplug electric appliances, since a power surge may happen once power supply is restored.a
On Thursday, power was gone in Melitopol, Energodar and a number of other Zaporozhye Region settlements, due to Ukrainian shelling of Energodar, where the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is located. In addition, a disruption at a distribution station on the Melitopol power line shut down power supply to the Kherson Region, causing water supply disruption in the region.
Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 17:09 utc | 248
Re: Posted by: mon3 | Aug 27 2022 17:09 utc | 260
On Thursday, power was gone in Melitopol, Energodar and a number of other Zaporozhye Region settlements, due to Ukrainian shelling of Energodar, where the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is located. In addition, a disruption at a distribution station on the Melitopol power line shut down power supply to the Kherson Region, causing water supply disruption in the region.
Surely if it wants to prevent these type of attacks Russia should make a priority of taking the northern bank of the Dnipr and places like Nikopol in particular?
This would also have the added benefit of pressuring Zaporizhzhia from the west.
Posted by: Julian | Aug 27 2022 17:52 utc | 249
In addition to your valid points, we cannot exclude the possibility that this conflict, which could have been easily and painlessly avoided via Minsk 2, was engineered to bring about a financial reset to get us out of the $300 trillion global debt Ponzi. Is Putin in on that endgame? A case can be made both ways.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 27 2022 15:43 utc | 241
Quite likely. But even if the case, Putin has many more irons in the fire and the conflict is simultaneously playing out in many different arenas.
Sushi @255–
Thanks very much for the honor you and others bestow. You also do excellent work. I didn’t have the time/energy to reply to Clausewitz as you properly did; nor do you get enough thanks for the empiricism you bring.
Posted by: Steven Starr | Aug 27 2022 15:37 utc | 239
That’s all very interesting, thank you. Do you remember at the start of SMO when UA shut down some reactor units at Zaporizhzhia?
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, Energoatom shut down Units 5 and 6 to reduce risk, keeping Units 1 to 4 in operation on 25 February 2022.[16]
“>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhzhia_Nuclear_Power_Plant
That’s the day after RF pulled the trigger on SMO. With the benefit of hindsight, the idea that UA shut Units 5 & 6 to “reduce risk” is ludicrous.
Which begs the question, against the backdrop of a possible clandestine nuclear weapons program, what ulterior motive might UA have had for this seemingly exceptional behaviour, by the standards of NPP operation?
Is there any way in which UA might have been trying to “cover their tracks” by shutting down those units?
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 27 2022 18:57 utc | 252
Posted by: Julian | Aug 27 2022 17:52 utc | 261
>Surely if it wants to prevent these type of attacks Russia should make a priority of taking the northern bank of the Dnipr and places like Nikopol in particular?
It is amazing that Ukrainians haven’t renamed Nikopol to Mykopil.
Posted by: hopehely | Aug 27 2022 19:26 utc | 253
It is always good to see another of Debisdeads’ thoughtful contributions. The points he raises are all important and worth considering.
It seems to me that Russia’s objective is to secure the existence of the state. And Debs is right in believing that the nascent ruling class/bourgeoisie in Russia are primarily concerned, not with the state but with their bellies. And that contradiction of interests certainly means that the opportunity exists to organise the wealthy against the state. That was the logic behind the sanctions which were designed to facilitate regime change by, essentially, telling the Russians that if they wanted their Big Macs and Cokes back (they make their own blue jeans now) they had better get rid of Putin and forget the idea of sovereignty.
The contradiction between the interests of the state and the greedy is not quite that simple, though. The wealthy know that the role of comprador has its drawbacks, not the least of which is that they have to watch as the imperialists cream off the best profits. The major contradiction, however, is that it means that the exploitation of the workers and peasants become highly intense- any Latin American can confirm that- and tends to lead to a polity in which military rule is necessary just to keep the system running-to put down strikes, to prevent reformers, who might be nationalists or socialists, from coming to power. And such regimes are inherently unstable.
I don’t think Russia has any alternatives to its current course. The fate that the Empire has in mind for it is to smash not only the state of Russia up but to eradicate Russian culture, to remove the people itself from the roll call of nations.
And the reality is that Russia is in a very strong position: its economy is sound despite its economic policy which verges on the suicidal. It has enough to feed and clothe everyone. And it has enough willing trade partners to be able to dispense with autarky and specialise. The sanctions constitute an economic plan: the US won’t sell Boeings, so Russia has to get back to making its own, perhaps in conjunction with China or India. The same is true of German cars. And even the most style obsessed bourgeois will find that Asian or home produced substitutes for BMWs or Mercedes will serve.
But the real underlying compulsion lies in the fact that, now that Russia realises that it is in a struggle for its existence and that to win that struggle, and spare itself the indignity of becoming another US dominated Colombia or Ukraine, it has to join with the actual victims of the Empire-the people of Africa, for example and Latin America- to ally their inchoate struggles with its own fight to the death, and with the longing in places like Iran and China to free themselves from the imperial incubus.
The UN vote recently in which sanctioning Russia (very popular in the Security Council) was roundly rejected indicates that the tipping point may have been reached in international terms: that the Empire might be on the wrong side of the dispute not only in terms of numbers (the United States-6%, the rest of its bloc another 10% of the population) but in terms of firm choices. The days when states requiring money had to beg in Washington are gone. There are now other sources of capital . And other alternatives to repaying IMF and World Bank loans, such as proclaiming their odium and denouncing debt. And when the first domino in that game falls it will be ‘game over’ for Bretton woods and all that it has signified.
Basically it is a matter of optimism or pessimism: Debs is old enough and has seen enough of life to be pessimistic. He has seen it all before. Haven’t we all?
My difference, as one of the most pessimistic people on the planet, arises from the view that the Empire has to collapse and it must do so because apart from the pressure from ‘revising’ Russia and China and a formerly colonised world with revenge in its hearts, it faces insoluble social contradictions from which it can no longer hide. So as it fights for its life it will be divided, with a majority of people having as much disgust with Washington as Russia and China do, perhaps more.
The NATO countries are all approaching crises of a sort never seen before. Despite fifty years of deliberate and ruthless attacks on the defences of the working class – institutionally from Unions to Cooperatives, ideologically in the shape of neo-liberalism and post modernism and economically in the de-industrialisation of rust belts (and Red Walls) everywhere from Liege to Milan, from Middlesborough to Middletown- the underlying fact of class society remains chronically unaddressed.
Is not that the significance of the sudden eruption of strikes in Britain, most of them despite the Unions and all of them against the Labour Party?
It is a very old story. No knowledge of secret cabals headed by agents of Soros or Schwab or Schumpeter’s ghost is needed to understand what is happening. Barbarism is rearing its ugly head. And it is angry. It can see that the juggling act of capitalism is becoming too complex to continue. Capitalism can only survive as it is surviving in the Ukraine, which is to say by sheer will, violence and regular massacres . And because Barbarism is approaching its last struggle to stay alive, Socialism must be coming.
It matters not at all that Russia is run by capitalists surrounded by neo-liberal technicians (although ‘surrounded’ is probably no longer the word). To win the battle it faces Russia must enrol the full commitment of its people. Its enemies will always include a Fifth Column loyal to the Empire, to isolate it and disarm it the people must be awake, conscious of the crisis and ready to make the state their own.
And a Russia united around a programme of basic social justice will have to ally itself with those rejecting neo-colonialism as well as a ‘western’ working class sick of declining living standards and the erosion of freedoms.
Then, when the Empire has been put back in its box the matter of its burial- in the form of dealing with its poisonous environmental legacy- will be at the top of the agenda.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 19:59 utc | 254
Heinrich Schliemann-The Man Who Brought the Swastika to Germany, and How the Nazis Stole It
The sign of the swastika or αγκυλωτός σταυρός can be still found on the iron railings of Schliemann’s magnificent residence in the city centre of Athens, the Iliou Melathron (Ιλίου Μέλαθρον, “Palace of Ilium”), which houses today the Numismatic Museum of Athens.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-brought-swastika-germany-and-how-nazis-stole-it-180962812/
Posted by: ΚΓΨ | Aug 27 2022 20:03 utc | 255
Dimitris Konstantakopoulos says it better:
“…I read recently a very interesting novel by Yulian Semyonov, and I think it is Yuri Andropov who speaks behind him. He attributed the Soviet victory on Nazi Germany to the fact Soviets were not defending only the interests of one nation, like Germans did, but also the interests of all dispossessed and oppressed people in the globe. Millions of people around the globe were ready to satisfy their lives for the Soviet Union because they believed it represented a big hope for all humanity…”
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/the-world-and-russia-russia-and-the-world-the-rise-and-the-crisis-of-globalization-nationalism-democracy-traditional-vs-modern-values/
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 20:17 utc | 256
Tigger | Aug 27 2022 10:31 utc | 200
You should add Nicola Sturgeon and her NuSNP to that list.
Posted by: cirsium | Aug 27 2022 20:34 utc | 257
Thank you, Paco – and to take the focus back to Ukraine historically speaking, the movie ‘Alexander Nevsky’ mentioned on the previous page begins with an opening scene between Nevsky and the leader of the Mongols, who pass him by out of respect for his recent victory over the Swedes on their way (presumably) to raze Kiev to the ground.
Novgorod churches, having escaped Mongol destruction were not so well served in WW2. Somehow I have acquired a volume that describes many aspects of Medieval Novgorod, published in 2005 – “Sacred Arts and City Life”. It’s from a touring exhibit that came to Baltimore, Maryland then. Better times. I also have a Netherlands icons exhibit volume that toured New Zealand just before the last time I was down there.
Posted by: juliania | Aug 27 2022 21:07 utc | 258
Sorry that was to : Paco | Aug 27 2022 16:13 utc | 251
Posted by: juliania | Aug 27 2022 21:09 utc | 259
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 19:59 utc | 266
Bevin – I have always taken you for an incurable optimist.
Capitalism can only survive as it is surviving in the Ukraine, which is to say by sheer will, violence and regular massacres
In partial rebuttal it is suggested capitalism can only survive when it is in an expansionist mode, when “a rising tide lifts all boats” or gives the illusion of doing so. The illusion supports the belief in upward social mobility and the existence of a reward system that delivers a genuine return on individual effort.
Once this illusory bubble is pierced and deflated the entirety collapses – no matter what the degree of individual effort, the rewards decline, the opportunities contract, and merit is displaced by symbiotic associations fuelled by avarice and cronyism.
The advent of the triumph of the will, imposing discipline through violence and massacres, constructing an empire of lies, ruling by agreement incapable chaos, these mark the end game of capitalism in which the chief pursuit is securing one’s nest egg and the ranch in Patagonia, or New Zealand (or for the lesser comedians, Miami), before the whole corrupt edifice comes crashing down, the aroused mob cuts off all line of retreat and the “elites” are carted off to the Place de Grève, Les Halles, or the Gibet de Montfaucon.
In Europe the ancien régime is once again proclaiming let them have cake, take cold midwinter showers, eat your pets, and support Ukrainian democracy by freezing to death in an unheated flat. Before the end of this year we will all reflect on a wise man’s opinion of Western civilization – “I think it would be a good idea.”
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 21:34 utc | 260
What a load of s**t. Sorry, first aeroplane was donated by swedish,not german as I stated before. The year was 1918, way before nazi party in german,so I really wonder where you get an idea it was sort of nazi symbol? Do not connect dots which are not related. Period. Yes, finns do have mythical beliefs about seccond world war and I’m very much agreeing with you about that. The most worrisome thing is,that the lessons to be learned from history are learned from wrong assumptions and we are heading to war again based on wrong assumptions. At least majority of my collageous believe that fighting with russia is sort of cakewalk. i’vebeen watching Ukrainian war through these channels and I do not have any illusions at all.
Posted by: pavi | Aug 27 2022 16:40 utc | 256
I thought I wrote quite clearly that it was the emblem representing a far right stance, from the very start. The Swede ended up founding the Nazi party in Sweden, didn’t he? He made no secret of his ideas even in 1918, even if of course the Nazi party in Germany hadn’t been founded yet.
But then again 1945-2017 you still kept the symbol, out of tradition. Most other countries tried to distance themselves from those associations.
And yes, I’ve met a lot of people that tried to twist history on the alliance with Germany, so I did think that there was a bit of shame there.
Totally agree with you on the stance of Finns. I don’t wish them to stand corrected, it would be a painful lesson. But no one cares about invading Finland, if it doesn’t create security concerns. I guess you’ll have to wait and see what the US decides for you.
Posted by: Fennovoima | Aug 27 2022 22:25 utc | 261
Debsisdead #179
So by all means cheer on the allied forces but temper that with knowledge of humanity, of how we generally get led by the basest of humans motivated almost entirely by greed/hunger for power.
Thank you for your post.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 27 2022 22:45 utc | 262
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 20:17 utc | 268
Just found and read your linked essay by Konstantakopoulos. His assertions are better understood in the context he presents in Part I which is found here:
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/the-world-and-russia-russia-and-the-world-from-perestroika-to-the-ukrainian-conflict/
I note there are at least two errors.
In the paragraph cited by you I believe it should read:
Millions of people around the globe were ready to sacrifice their lives for the Soviet Union
i.e. “sacrifice” not “satisfy.” Satisfaction is what the Western mercs seek in Ukraine. When they recognize the sacrifice to be made, they depart.
In the paragraph following that quoted by you there is another error. In the line “According to Emmanuel Wallerstein” correct the spelling of the name to Immanuel Wallerstein. He is the originator of World Systems Theory which is the analytic method being applied by Konstantakopoulos. A reasonable, yet wholly incomplete presentation is found at the following URL:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-systems_theory
Cheers!
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 22:46 utc | 263
Sushi@275
I noticed the errors. The piece has ‘machine translated’ all over it. I think I posted a link to Part One last week. I greatly enjoy your contributions.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 22:52 utc | 264
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 22:52 utc | 276
And I yours. Plus all the rest of the bar and great thanks to the bar keep.
If we put ourselves afloat on enough high octane single malt we may have a chance to alter the world for the better.
Under the present circumstances one can only be an optimist for whatever comes next cannot be worse. We can join with Camus in the belief that as human beings, as mortals, we live under an inexplicable, irrational, completely absurd death sentence. We can only dedicate ourselves to the attempt to do better.
Pass the Lagavulin for a toast to the bar and to that drunken aussie swine best left unnamed for the moment.
Posted by: Sushi | Aug 27 2022 23:04 utc | 265
Meanwhile the Dutch capital seeks exemptions from the sanctions :))
The city of The Hague wants a temporary exemption from EU sanctions against Russia
This means that The Hague has to find an alternative to the existing contract with Gazprom.
The city of The Hague wants a temporary exemption from EU sanctions imposed on Russia over the military operation in Ukraine. This emerges from a letter from city councilor Saskia Bruines to the city council published on Thursday.
The text states that Gazprom is the city’s current gas supplier. However, the EU sanctions imposed on Russia stipulate that governments and other public bodies must terminate contracts with Russian companies by October 10. This means that The Hague has to find an alternative to the existing contract with Gazprom.
Bruines pointed out that tenders were held in June and July but no potential suppliers were found. In parallel, tenders for the gas supply are running from January 1, 2023. “For the period from October 10, 2022 to January 1, 2023, an exemption from the European sanctions is required,” the letter says. “This is necessary to ensure security of supply.”
More at anti-spiegel.ru
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 27 2022 23:35 utc | 266
uncle tungsten | Aug 27 2022 23:35 utc | 278
A megawatt is a million watts, which is the amount of power used by the average microwave oven. A megawatt-hour is the same as one megawatt of power used continually for one hour.
*France = $1,003/€1,000 per megawatt hour
*Germany = $843/€840 per megawatt hour
*Hungary = $590/€591 per megawatt hour
*Czech Rep. = $577/€578 per megawatt hour
*Serbia = $539/€540 per megawatt hour
*United Kingdom = $468/£263 per megawatt hour
*Nordic = $278/€278 per megawatt hour
*Spain = $225/€225 per megawatt hour
*Portugal = $220/€200 per megawatt hour
*United States = $166 per megawatt hour
1. The Hague seeks an exemption.
2. Bulgaria seeks resumption.
3. Moldovia seeks extensions.
4. Germany is facing another suspension.
Posted by: Gilbert | Aug 28 2022 1:41 utc | 267
Gilbert | Aug 28 2022 1:41 utc |
I believe that an average microwave oven uses closer to a kilowatt of power (1,000W) rather than a megawatt (1,000,000).
A typical microwave oven consuming 1,000 W of power would draw roughly 10 amperes (A) or so on a 120V (RMS) supply – which is common in North America: most branch circuits in homes that microwaves are plugged into only allow current of max 15A (or 20 A).
A MW of power consumption would draw a current of around 10,000 A at 120 V (or 5,000 A at 220 V).
Posted by: spudski | Aug 28 2022 3:36 utc | 268
The US State Department has admitted to the death of another US mercenary in the Ukraine:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/cD92ooIm6WIt/
Posted by: Nate | Aug 28 2022 3:37 utc | 269
Occupied Palestine is being asked to supply gas according to Ursula the Unicorn.
Five minute utoob:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9yRNYWb84
Russia invades Ukraine – BAD
Israel slaughters its way through Palestine – fine, we will buy ‘your’ gas.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 28 2022 3:49 utc | 270
Gilbert #279
If my microwave used that much, my switchboard would melt and my silicon panels would melt through the roof and toast my rs.
Yes, energy is grossly expensive and in some places maybe even ten times last year’s cost. The other half of the crime is the power company only pays low price for my solar surplus.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 28 2022 3:56 utc | 271
https://t.me/s/sputnik
Macron is in Algeria.
Algerians: “Get out of here!”
Macron: “Thank you! Thank you!”
Security: “Mr. President, get in the car.”
Video by @rt_russian
The world in miniature!
Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 28 2022 9:01 utc | 272
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 28 2022 3:49 utc | 281
Erdogan is a doubtful proposition but what he did to that eurocrat absolved him a bit. That nazi great grandchild of slave owners makes me feel like puking every time I see her. So steal the gas from the Palestinians, send it to Egyt, liquify it, send it by ship to Europe and regasify it. What a green proposition, yes, we’re taking care of green planet business so I can win my nazi forebears lost battles.
Posted by: Paco | Aug 28 2022 9:02 utc | 273
According to social media it seems Zely is hunting refugees, trying to force them to return for mobilization by getting them fired, if they have a job, in the destination country. Priority is given to people with military training and pilots of any kind.
Consular services are denied. So go back to die for slava cocaini or become a sort of stateless person
Posted by: rk | Aug 28 2022 11:56 utc | 274
Posted by: Marina | Aug 26 2022 22:48 utc | 104
This is a coping story for bastard children of vikings and their mongol masters. No one mistakes Russians for Europeans. Lipstick on a pig is a phrase that applies. The lipstick was European, purchased by Peter II. The pig remains the pig.
Posted by: DearMarina | Aug 28 2022 12:30 utc | 275
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 27 2022 7:53 utc | 179
Great post. But:
I suggest you are missing a key element heretofore not present in any post-war conflict namely that the sanctions war on top of covid-induced supply chain blockages exacerbated by CCP’s recent statements about USG being ‘unfriendly’ nation along with their serial lock downs of tens of millions along with bank withdrawal lockouts indicating something super serious going down in the Chinese domestic mandala, that all this points to a worldwide Mother of all Depressions coming soon to whatever country we happen to live in.
This managed collapse is a game changer far greater than $40 billion hardly any of which effects kinetics on the ground in Ukielandia.
It also looks increasingly like all sides are pushing for this, maybe with secret handshakes and Chinese whispers maybe not. Perhaps Western elite networks are hell-bent on realizing their first-crush-then-build-back-better bullshit whilst Eurasia just wants the Western Money Power cartels out of their emerging new civilization, maybe to build Eurasian Enlightened Utopia, more likely to build one or more similar cartels of their own with govt-run cyber bucks/IDs/social credit in totalitarian polities.
Maybe multipolar means different totalitarianisms similar to ‘communism with Chinese characteristics’ such as Western, Russian, Iranian, Indian, Brazilian, Japanese etc. ie different member states in a new global Federation which will start off genuinely multipolar with sovereign members but once that’s up and running nicely after about 20-40 years then a World Government with executive powers will be mounted and Hegemonic Centralization with its world wide leadership class will finally rule the roost.
No matter how it plays out, this is an inevitable outcome of the Eurasian rise no matter how sincerely well intentioned it is now (which of course it probably isn’t).
So my point is that the goal right now is to engender financial and political collapse world wide not to keep the status quo for America going for another 100 years like you say, nor for some compromise deal between RF and US as in Syria (which you described beautifully).
That said, if Germany could break away from US-EU and fly sovereign joining Belt & Road Eurasia where she belongs, after which rest of continental western Europe will soon follow, this would ease the transition mightily effectively stranding North America and her maritime partners left to manage themselves for a few generations. That will free up Eurasia for epochal century or two of growth as the Mongol Empire reincarnates after a 500 year bardo (afterlife gap). But for that to happen many old people in Germany will be dying of cold-induced disease this winter…
AfD is mostly political positions of the CDU about 20 years ago. Thats why they cannot be Nazi, since otherwise CDU 20 years ago would have been Nazi.
Posted by: Xeen | Aug 27 2022 11:56 utc | 209
You may have zero affinity with Nazism or fascism but the AfD leadership might. That’s the way of most political parties in so-called democracies…
It is a very old story. No knowledge of secret cabals headed by agents of Soros or Schwab or Schumpeter’s ghost is needed to understand what is happening. Barbarism is rearing its ugly head. And it is angry. It can see that the juggling act of capitalism is becoming too complex to continue.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 27 2022 19:59 utc | 266
Great post and great point. Though it seems to me that most of the barbarism is top-down. It remains to be seen if upcoming pressures will inspire bottom-up anti- barbarism, though this is unlikely. More likely is civilian mob violence mitigated by military violence ending up with various soft and hard police states.
Five minute utoob:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9yRNYWb84
Russia invades Ukraine – BAD
Israel slaughters its way through Palestine – fine, we will buy ‘your’ gas.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 28 2022 3:49 utc | 282
The video is somewhat irritating. It illustrates the point of St. Ursula questing all around, including Israel, in the search for natural gas, while neglecting that Palestinians and Lebanese have some right that Israel regularly tramples. But why the clip illustrating features her shaking hands, daintily, with a gentlemen strangely resembling al-Sisi (not an Israeli), next to a flag in red, white and black, Pan-Arabic colors, with the flag and podiums adorned with a very characteristic eagle symbol, in Egyptian style. Was there some radical redecoration in Jerusalem?
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 28 2022 18:56 utc | 279
How is Russia supplying, or going to supply, the area in the south west of the river where the bridges have been destroyed by HIMARs? A YouTube channel reports that the HARM missiles have taken out enough Russian radar that Ukraine can now fly the Byractor drones.
Posted by: Simon | Sep 2 2022 9:11 utc | 280