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January 8, 2023
The MoA Week In Review – (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-07

Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:


Other issues:

Russia:

Peter Schmidt (The 92ers) @The92ers – 12:40 UTC · Jan 6, 2023

Clip of a 1997 Biden speech on NATO expansion. In it he says the Russians told him they were threatened by it and it might force them to ally w/ China. Biden laughs and says, 'Good luck – and try Iran too!'
This debacle is 30-years in the making.
CSPAN – User Clip: Biden Blunder

Economy:

U.S. Proxies:

Too big, too fast:

British Spies:

Politics:

Use as open (not Ukraine related) thread …

Comments

re: US recession alarm bells ringing far and wide
Yes, and in San Diego, the number of homeless downtown reaches record high for fifth straight month. Monthly count finds nearly 2,000 people living without shelter and more people to be evicted as the cost of living, especially rent, increases.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 8 2023 15:02 utc | 1

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 8 2023 15:02 utc | 1
Only 2,000? San Francisco has over 7,200. This is because we have the best Welfare system in the state, maybe the country.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jan 8 2023 15:18 utc | 2

I’m very curious what people, and b, think of the Posen piece. He says that Russian strategy has been foolish and ineffective, that Russia was for es to retreat from Kiev, that Russia has lost more troops than Ukraine, and that it can’t wage an offensive. In other words, he parrots the MSM and establishment line.
It runs against the interpretation of the war phases which, for example, B and Macgregor have offered.

Posted by: Wilbur | Jan 8 2023 15:37 utc | 3

Posted by: Wilbur | Jan 8 2023 15:37 utc | 3
of course he parrots the MSM and establishment line. Foreign Policy is the establishment organ.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 8 2023 15:40 utc | 4

Wilbur @ 3
Foreign Policy is the sophisticated innalekshul MSM outlet. They live in a fantasy world.
It would be nice if these clowns had their face rubbed in their own shit. Does not seem to be the Russian style. The innalekshuls won’t understand their utter defeat until US completely collapse or for at least a decade, whichever comes first.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 8 2023 15:46 utc | 5

The Duran. Can peace in Syria come about via Turkey and Russian agreements? And how will they get the US to move out?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waCk_Jhnz5c

Posted by: curtis | Jan 8 2023 15:47 utc | 6

thanks b and to the various posters here at moa who contribute so much…
that 1997 clip of biden is very telling…
richard steven hack left a link in the previous thread and ‘the tragedy of ukraine’ and another poster ‘irish moses’ recommended it.. i would also like to recommend it too.. it has helped me understand the dynamic in greater detail.. here is the link again.. thanks richard and irish..
The Tragedy of Ukraine

Posted by: james | Jan 8 2023 16:10 utc | 7

The Twitter files do show that a line was crossed with governmental entities “illegally” encouraging/forcing Twitter (and presumably other social media sites) to censor political view the State did not like. I put “illegally” in quotes to make as clear as possible that we no longer live in a society based on the British tradition of law starting with the Magna Carta. This tradition of law exists only on paper and occasionally shows up in law courts out of a kind of habit that has little substance.
It is clear to many of us who make comments here that, just as our tradition is evaporating in the sunshine/heat of the totalitarian trend in the USA/UK, the whole construct of international law (that many Americans championed after WWII) is even less present and being replaced by a Nazi-like version or might-makes-right at least in the West. The Empire’s refusal to even consider the rights of nations to exist and their security concerns has been dramatically exposed during 2022. The Russian dramatically experienced this reality after they made every diplomatic attempt to stabilize the situation in Eastern Europe. This situation in Ukraine finally totally overthrew international law in the letter and spirit of the post-WWII visionaries. It’s over folks–agreements, treaties, the whole structure guiding interactions among nations and entities is gone. What remains is a structure of lies, deception, covert ops, military actions, greed, and the criminalization of the West.
The State Department in Washington is now a military/intel asset without any diplomatic mission–its only interest is to facilitate the conquest of ALL of planet Earth as part of a global super-Rome. This is why Europe is all about the same agenda–they like and desire order for its own sake. They, the leaders, and increasingly the citizens embrace our current drift towards totalitarianism. Why? Because modernism has proven to offer and empty life without meaning–hedonism/consumerism does not fulfill the human need for meaning (see Victor Frankel’s work). The mentality of War(!) offers meaning for people. It clearly divides the world into two parts–the good guys and the bad guys and this is deeply satisfying when every structure around us crumbles whether it is family, community, sexual roles and differences, religion (particularly in Europe). Order in such a world is seductive. Those of us who want a more healthy way of living have to assert ourselves without descending into the good guys/bad guys mentality that our culture now encourages–things are never that simple. It starts with culture, i.e., the way we choose to live not “politics” since that door is closed and, it seems, closed for good.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jan 8 2023 16:23 utc | 8

A snippet of eco-salesmanship, from the article on heavier electric vehicles (some of ’em four tons heavier!) in The Atlantic:

The electrification of America’s vehicle fleet will happen faster, one could argue, the more consumers view EVs as objects of desire, rather than as obligatory concessions to the greater good.

Razzamattazz! The manufactured consensual magic in this approach is striking: Somehow we’ll trick USA uber-consumers into doing something right, by golly! If this keeps up, we could eventually see a reappearance of vanishing courtesies of the road — such as using turn signals.
The trick is to make that turn-signal knob an object of desire. Proceed carefully.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jan 8 2023 16:30 utc | 9

@https://t.me/ZandVchannel/46468
🇫🇮 Finns are not in a hurry to join NATO before Sweden.
“Finland is not eager to join NATO as soon as possible, so we can wait until Sweden receives the appropriate signal,” he said.

And Sweden depends on Erdogan.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 8 2023 16:58 utc | 10

Thanks for the articles from the “Let’s hate Musk” crowd, b. But it sounds like Penis Envy, or more accurately, Success Envy, to me. Anyhow, I’m still a fan.
Someone on Strategic Culture a couple of weeks ago described the people in charge of USA FP as “evil and stupid.”
I don’t think Musk is evil and he’s sure as hell clever enough to play the Swamp like a bunch of cheap fiddles.
I don’t take Yasha Levine or Glen G as seriously as they take themselves, and FAIR.org carelessly conflated pre and post-Musk Twitter issues.
I could be persuaded that Musk is too good to be true. But so far so good.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 8 2023 17:37 utc | 11

I posted this in the previous open (not ukraine) thread not realizing it had already petered out…
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/01/07/bye-bye-1991-2022/
IMO one of Pepe’s best in a while.
One of many small gems therein:

No one will obviously confirm it on the record. But all this could be part of an evolving, secret Russia-Germany deal in the making, leading to Germany restoring at least some of its sovereignty.

Another:

Few people – including CIA operatives – may know that New York City, for instance, may be destroyed with a single move: blowing up the George Washington bridge. The city can’t be supplied with food and most of its requirements without the bridge. The New York City electrical grid can be destroyed by knocking out the central controls; putting it back together could take a year.
Even trespassed by infinite layers of fog of war, the current situation in Ukraine is still a skirmish. The real war has not even started yet. It might – soon.

Conclusion:

The NATO vs. Russia war in Ukraine is just a cog in the wheel of the New Great Game. For the Global South, what really matters is how Eurasia – and beyond – are coordinating their integration process, from BRI to the BRICS+ expansion, from the SCO to the INSTC, from Opec+ to the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
We’re back to what the world looked like in 1914, or before 1939, only in a limited sense. There’s a plethora of nations struggling to expand their influence, but all of them are betting on multipolarity, or “peaceful modernization”, as Xi Jinping coined it, and not Forever Wars: China, Russia, India, Iran, Indonesia and others.
So bye bye 1991-2022. The hard work starts now. Welcome to the New Great Game on crack.

As to issue of RF ‘should have done this in 2014:’ the geopolitical ground had not yet been properly seeded, plus they needed a greater level of military capability (like hypersonics neutralizing NATO navies). The Ukraine operations are the hub of a large spinning wheel that is changing the entire world order for the foreseeable future. They had to be ready for those world wide ramifications, moreover be in a position to ensure they went their way, before turning that hub in Donbass.
The dynamic is multi-layered and complex and will play out over decades. But there are simple tell-tales, as there always are. One, for example, is how Putin is viewed world wide. Of late he has become a globally recognized Great Man figure. Are there any such figures in the West? Have there been in decades? I think not. That right there tells us a huge amount about current reality. It tells us that the world order has already changed, that the future is already here now. New financial and diplomatic arrangements are playing catch-up, that’s all.
This period is going to be analysed by many for centuries to come. Anyway, it’s a good article.

Posted by: Scorpion | Jan 8 2023 17:39 utc | 12

@ Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jan 8 2023 16:23 utc | 8
A couple of points:
1. There was nothing “illegal” about what multiple government officials did in persuading Twitter staff to do what they were already inclined to do. Back in the day, we used to call activities such as this “extra-legal”, meaning they were done outside the realm of law. They do it because they can.
2. I think you have it backwards. The State Department (Kagan/Nuland/Blinken) is the tail wagging the DoD dog. In the US, State and CIA are more aligned with the Democrats and the Military with the Republicans. Hence Obama’s purge of the Generals promoted by Bush, something the military still resents. It also appears that they deliberately botched the rushed Afghanistan withdrawal to make the Biden Admin look bad.
3. The rush to totalitarianism is a consequence of War. It is impossible to fight an effective large scale war with large amounts internal dissent and potential sabotage.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 8 2023 17:47 utc | 13

Opport Knocks | Jan 8 2023 17:47 utc | 13
There is beginning of large demos in Europe, yesterday in Paris was a huge demonstration, which is under censorship of youtube..

Posted by: fanto | Jan 8 2023 18:02 utc | 14

Does the Jan. 3 post, “Critical Infrastructure Intercepts All Exploding Drones,” exist? It didn’t appear on the blog on Jan. 3, as far as I can see, and clicking headline above just goes to the MoA home page.

Posted by: David G | Jan 8 2023 18:11 utc | 15

that doesn’t mean the disclosures aren’t important, or that the accuracy of the information contained in the files is somehow undermined by the political slant of some of those reporting on it.

nice straw man argument…though i’m sure some people might think as much if they watch CNN/fox/etc as anything but corporate performance art and ignore most of the “alt-media”. the files are “important” if you’re on twitter and/or give a shit about it. unless it’s a “revelation” that we live in a surveillance panopticon where “big tech” is a proxy for the “intelligence” agencies.
otherwise it’s just “durrr i believe it now that elon musk says it”. one of his few actual “talents” is “columbusing” other people’s work. old wine in a new bottle.

Posted by: the pair | Jan 8 2023 18:15 utc | 16

Posted by: Scorpion | Jan 8 2023 17:39 utc | 12
“No one will obviously confirm it on the record. But all this could be part of an evolving, secret..”
great thing about secrets, if the prophet prognosticates enough about what might be, what’s cooking in the secret kitchen, he’s never wrong. even if what Germany is openly doing openly contradicts his open “knowledge” of what’s supposedly in the secret sauce.
“Few people – including CIA operatives – may know that New York City, for instance, may be destroyed with a single move: blowing up the George Washington bridge. blah blah blah”
they made a batman movie about this…on planet earth, pepe is the clown. a whole planet can be destroyed in a single move. i wouldn’t even ask pepito how many boroughs are in NYC, much less how many bridges.
“The NATO vs. Russia war in Ukraine is just a cog in the wheel of the New Great Game…”
unless it’s not. not if a country that can’t defeat the Taliban collapses. or a billion other things happen. it’s not exactly happy land in the US Congress right now, but i’m glad they passed a budget before they start “fighting” again.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jan 8 2023 19:03 utc | 17

LOL!!
Just finished reading Wm Pesek’s “…Recession alarm bells ringing far and wide” from Asia Times.
I know Sweet Fanny Adams about “economics” but I cannot understand how or why raising interest rates during a period of high inflation would/could/should avert a recession. It doesn’t make any sense at all.
But thankfully Elon Musk must be as ignorant of “economics” as I am and thinks it’s as insane as I do.
But I’m going further. The people of my grandparents era who grew up in the Great Depression were scarred by it and each of them had a ridiculously quirky economic foible. eg my favourite aunt wouldn’t allow us kids to have butter AND cream on scones & jam.
Imo, the coming recession will be worse than the GD. And this one is almost deliberate. And certainly NOT accidental…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 8 2023 19:03 utc | 18

the pair | Jan 8 2023 18:15 utc | 16
but he’s leading our journey into space! i can’t wait till i get shot in the head in battle, fall off my steel horse, look up into “the sky, the infinite sky”, and see…Musk’s satellites and the US Space Farce, ICE drones mixed with Amazon drones.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jan 8 2023 19:09 utc | 19

Fanto | 8 2023 18:02 utc | 14
Demonstration in the post 2001 world do not matter at all no matter how effective. The State which includes all their organs, (i.e., media (news and entertainment), police, social media, and so on) is all powerful. It’s power and control is too broad. Change can only come from the top in the West in this historical moment.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jan 8 2023 19:10 utc | 20

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 8 2023 17:47 utc | 13
Totalitarianism is certainly aided by war but, at this time, it is fueled largely by the need for meaning, for direction for the end of the moral ambiguity that is at the center of life in the West. The oligarch class is happy to oblige and give the public what it wants (sort of).

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jan 8 2023 19:16 utc | 21

Brazil
Lula Da Silva has been evacuated to Sao Paulo. The Government building has been taken over by “protestors”.
The police claim they are not enough to keep the calm.
I don’t think Bolsonaro is still in Brazil.
Situation to watch closely for US “regime change” activities.

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 8 2023 20:03 utc | 22

Forgot to add that the protestors have taken the Presidential building as well.

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 8 2023 20:07 utc | 23

It’s all kicking off in Brazil. This has been brewing for weeks now.
“Bolsonaro supporters have stormed the National Congress in Brazil. There are reports that protesters have also broken into the Presidential residence, Planalto Palace, and the Supreme Federal Court.”
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/alx/status/1612163704023392256

Posted by: Gt Stroller | Jan 8 2023 20:24 utc | 24

@Stonebird, Lula was not “evacuated” to São Paulo, he was already there visiting victims of the heavy rains.
Bolsonaro fled to Florida two days before becoming ex-president.
Some 100 buses arrived in the capital Brasilia coming from all over the country. The capital’s Governor (a bolsonarist) is in the US and left the city unprepared to an obvious violent mob. There are federal authorities asking for an intervention over the city’s government.
Basically, there’s nobody of importance in town (judges, senators, president), so it will be just lots of noise, trashing, rubber bullets and pepper spray.

Posted by: Ricardo Ramirez | Jan 8 2023 20:27 utc | 25

Why do I get the feeling that Lula was set up exactly like Morsi in Egypt? USA initially pretended to support Morsi only to set him up for a failed government under constant attack and an eventual coup by the old pro USA military right wing. Seems exactly what is happening here only with less patience than they had in Egypt, Lula didn’t even have time to unpack his toilet kit in the Presidential palace.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 8 2023 20:31 utc | 26

My guess is Bolsonaro fled to Florida so as to make the revolution/coup look grass roots rather than orchestrated by him.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 8 2023 20:35 utc | 27

Why would Bolsonaro and his governor flee to Florida unless they were backed by the USA to begin with? Perhaps the USA backs both sides in Brazil in order to control whoever wins.

Posted by: Rhinoskerous | Jan 8 2023 20:46 utc | 28

Ricardo Ramirez | Jan 8 2023 20:27 utc | 25
Agreed. Lula was already out of town, I used early reports that were incorrect.
***
Fats Waller
Lulu’s back in town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rgtt_8DbKE
Nearly right.

Posted by: Stonebird | Jan 8 2023 20:48 utc | 29

Playing both sides is probably the best guess. Bolsonaro visited the CIA headquarters right after being elected (!!!) and by the end of his government CIA director was saying in the msm that he better accept the election’s results. All very bizarre.
I think Bolsonaro’s unending support for Trump, even saying publicly that Biden stole the election, made him no friends of The Swamp.
Assumption here is that he is very afraid of being jailed. Even his minions say that he is a coward compared to Lula “that knew he was going to be arrested and didn’t scape to Cuba/Venezuela/Russia, went to jail, got out and won the election”.

Posted by: Ricardo Ramirez | Jan 8 2023 21:01 utc | 30

CIA is not backing Bolsonaro. CIA is backing trouble, turmoil, strife.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 8 2023 21:16 utc | 31

@ Chris Cosmos | Jan 8 2023 19:16 utc | 21
i thought your post @ 8 was bang on… thanks for saying all that.. it seems to me the diplomatic mission, is not really a diplomatic mission, but one where they need to keep the us$ printing machine running without any interference so that war can continue as they see fit… i guess it has always been this way, but now with more and more questioning the need for war and all the financial sanctions that everyone is supposed to go along with, there is some uncertainty.. good… if europe can’t see how they are holding the gun to their foot by supporting these ‘diplomats’ at the washington state dept, or their goons in the cia – well, they deserve everything they get..
———–
the parallels with bolsanaro and trump is interesting.. both want to support an insurrection,lol, although i suppose bolsanaro can still post on twitter..
nice @ stonebird! lulas or lulus back in town.. great song!
@ oldhippie.. exactly.. all for the purposes of control..

Posted by: james | Jan 8 2023 21:29 utc | 32

james | Jan 8 2023 16:10 utc | 7
I only watched the start Much missing on Ukraine history and reasons/causes of current conflict in the brief summary of Ukraine diversity. They are all part of the Rus people. The cause of the conflict is not cultural/religious diversity but anglo promotion of OUN-b and its military wing as basis for national identity. He does mention that Austria used Galicia to try and foment a Ukraine national identity within the Russian empire so this has been ongoing for a long time. Putin said in a speech, Stalin adding Galicia to Ukraine was a big mistake.
To me, Ukrainians are the Kievan Rus that came under Polish rule for some centuries. Galicia spent the most time under foreign rule, the last 150 years or so under Austria. I don’t think they can be called Ukrainians but the official Ukraine language is the dialect of Galicia and its artificial national culture is based on the beliefs of the peasants of Galicia.
Austria took Galicia from Poland. Poland retook it in WWI, then Stalin added it, part of Kievan Rus to Ukraine in WWII. Galicia I think is key to what is occurring in Ukraine. The sooner Poland retakes it the better. The Ukraine nationalists will soon turn their attention on Poland and Poland wont go easy on them as the Massacre of Poles is still strong in Polish memory.
Central Ukrainians and the ethnic Russian seemed to have got on well prior to 2014, all simply considering themselves Ukrainians. Zelensky signed an agreement with Poland some time ago to do away with the border and for Poland to take over policing and administration in western Ukraine. It will be a Ukraine Idlib where nationalists can be sent but I think that will end up in hostilities between the Nationalists/Galicians and the Poles.
That may well be what ends the war in Ukraine.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 8 2023 21:50 utc | 33

Brazil – Official buildings stormed while president out of town. Reminds me of Ukraine. In the Ukraine case, the president signs an agreement for early elections and heads out to his voter base.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 8 2023 21:57 utc | 34

“The official narrative of the Kosovo War states Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, President of Yugoslavia, intended to create a ‘Greater Serbia’ via the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Kosovo’s lbanian and Muslim population. Such was the genocidal terror and violence unleashed against civilians, NATO had no choice but to intervene militarily to avert the bloody eradication of hundreds of thousands of people.”
From Kit’s Newsletter 04/24/22.
——-
The official US/NATO narrative for the 1999 bombing of Serbia /Kosovo, which was in fact a lie, sounds eerily similar to the true narrative of what Ukraine was doing to the people of the Donbass in 2014 through 2022.
“Such was the genocidal terror and violence unleashed against civilians [of the Russian speaking people of the Donbass, that Russia] had no choice but to intervene militarily to avert the bloody eradication of hundreds of thousands of people.”
Isn’t it amazing that the people of the western empire can’t see the similar justifications?

Posted by: Ed | Jan 8 2023 22:09 utc | 35

Fellow MoA barfly Roger posted