farm ecologist @55
Generally speaking your researches and insights appear to be quite historically balanced and evidentially accurate. However, I believe you may have made a single mis-step. The Banderites are almost exclusively of a Uniate adhesion to a Roman Catholic belief system. They generally detest true Ukrainians because they are Orthodox, through and through. Contrarily to their religious animosities towards the Russian Orthodox Ukrainians, their animosity towards the Poles is primarily and politically ethnically racist and probably founded upon ancient grievances.
What I’m trying to say is that the priests who blessed the weapons of those Galician and Volhynian nutcases, by definition should not have been Orthodox, rather Catholicized Uniates.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 3 2023 23:20 utc | 104

catdog @ 60
No need to be CONCERNED about any kind of major Ukraine offense. So breathe easy. With rail services massively disrupted (just heard yesterday that they are now so desperate that they are resurrecting steam locomotives to move troops and supplies around…AND with their 73rd Brigade as an example of the status of the Ukie army on the Bakhmut/Artemovsk front having been taken off line due to their 75% casualty level…there is very little possibility of the Pukes mounting an offensive against much more than the neighborhood watering-hole.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 3 2023 23:27 utc | 106

catdog | Jan 3 2023 23:12 utc | 100
That is either human or sat intel. A separate issue to counter battery fire.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 3 2023 23:29 utc | 108

Blissex @ 102
Bright and experienced as you may be; it rather seems like your various introjections and protestations tend more to favor one side in what you metaphorize as a typically British soccer match. Capisce?
There remains this little matter of probability factoring. From all indications your blue and yellow boys have this tendency to come up with what we Yanks refer to as “whoppers”…consistently and continually. Meanwhile those sporting the colors of St. George are a bit short on understanding of Bernaysian style propaganda and are not nearly as media-savvy and connected as those who direct the Ukie brass and bluster.
As the enemy of my enemy is not my enemy and there does appear to be two quite distinct sides to the equation, even though I be a citizen of the (ca.1858) State of Minnesota and not that of the Di$trict of Corruption; I cannot abide the current puppet regime in that aforementioned D.o.C. That entity due in the first instance to the “Federal” Reserve Act of 12-23-13, is under operative control by the Rottenchild Bank in City of London, is closely aligned with and acts as the attack dog for City of London, my enemy is quite thoroughly delineated.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 3 2023 23:39 utc | 110

Posted by: D J G | Jan 3 2023 23:27 utc | 107
«The western establishment’s vice-like grip on the media is one of the most worrying parts of this, IMO.»
That’s not the most worrying part in itself, because in recent history, since mass armies were required for industrial war, any government that considers itself at war imposes a complete control over the media for “home front morale” purposes, tolerating no dissent, e.g. USA anti-german hysteria in WW1, anti-japanese in WW2, etc. etc. etc.
What is really worrying is that in previous mostly “proxy” and some “limited” wars abroad, e.g. Vietnam or Gulf, while the usual MSM were of course aligned with the war party, opposition to the war was tolerated, but it is not tolerated now.
Which seems to imply that many/most “Washington Consensus” governments believe themselves to be engaged in war directly, not just a a geographical remove of a few thousand miles or indirectly through proxies, and that is what really worries me: that the intolerance of anti-war arguments means that “western” governments reckon they are directly at war (while I can understand that of the RF government: several RF cities are being bombed, some daily).

Posted by: Blissex | Jan 3 2023 23:41 utc | 112

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 3 2023 23:18 utc | 103
Ok. I am not bamboozled by all the buzzwords strung-together. Lancets have cameras, and if lancets have been destroyed HIMARs, we should see the videos with the usual lag time of about 10 days, and I will happily cede the point.

Posted by: catdog | Jan 3 2023 23:50 utc | 114

@dask 42
You have to take into account the time expended, relative areas and energy dissipated in kinetic, strain, fracture and deformation energy, as well as any elasticity in the impact, in order to calculate the effective transferred energy in any real world collision*. Depleted uranium is frangible, so while it is self-sharpening at low velocitirs (which can be useful, as is it’s pyrolytic nature) at the high velocities attained by hypersonic weapons, they tend to fracture on acceleration and turn to powder absorbing energy during the impact, rather than transferring energy to the target as tungsten does. This behavior is well defined and predictable, which is why Tungsten is preferred for high-speed weapons.
*This is why e.g. a straw in a tornado (maybe 18 to 40 m/s) can penetrate the trunk of a tree, while a building might absorb a passenger vehicle being blown against it.

Posted by: Hermit | Jan 3 2023 23:55 utc | 116

“Whenever the ground freezes solid, the Russians will mobilize in a BIG way. Until then, Russia will continue to open up more new fronts to grind away the Ukrainian army along the very long zero line. ”
You folks have been saying this since september, that this amazing russian spearhead will magically appear and sweep the front. But I know folks in NATO, and nobody sees any such buildup anywhere on the horizon. Its like your famous third army who was supposed to turn the tables in october, it just does not exist. Have you ever considered that Russia may in fact be loosing this war, gradually and in small numbers? I see Scott Ritter giggling and saying that the russians have bombed four ukrainian barracks with hundreds of casualties these last three days, have you ever considered that he and McGregor are just bullshit artists like General Flynn and all the other Trump-weirdoes?
Its really weird to me to see so many obviously intelligent folks deluding themselves into this dream that Putin has a secret masterplan that will unfold very very soon, and that the West will be completely surprised by. Its the dreaming of the Ardennes offensive that plagued Hitler and his followers when they failed to realize that the material reality was just telling them to quit and accept defeat.

Posted by: Fnord73 | Jan 3 2023 23:58 utc | 118

“thousands of Bradleys, Strykers and Abrams”. Ridiculous on the face of it. The Pentagram does not possess thousands of those wunderwaffen which they can spare. Then there’s the little matter of getting them across the Polish and/or Romanian borders without most of them being intercepted and magically transformed into lumps of scrap-iron. ”
I wont speak about the Strykers and Abrams, but we sure do have thousands of Bradleys sitting in mountainhalls, just here in Norway I think there are about 1500 of them. And as for the russians being able to hit the bordercrossings, well, that clearly has not worked so far, has it? Youre fantasizing again, of course NATo can deploy what it wants across the border, since the airspace is uncontested. Goodness, you are really making shit up.

Posted by: Fnord73 | Jan 4 2023 0:05 utc | 120

Posted by: catdog | Jan 3 2023 20:26 utc | 60
Russian shell production is believed to be around a million rounds a year (new and refurbished). It seems unlikely they are running out of them. Its more likely at at given gun position they don’t always have as many as they would likely want to be able to blast away at everything in sight. (Every artilleryman’s dream.)

Posted by: Bill Smith | Jan 4 2023 0:11 utc | 122

Posted by: D J G | Jan 3 2023 23:47 utc | 113
«The UK is not at war. Nor is America. Nor is Europe. All of their mainstream media obediently parrots the government propaganda. ALL of ’em. What else are the media prepared to lie about en masse?»
Perhaps I was not clear, I will try again: unlike in previous proxy, limited or distant wars, the USA/UK/EU/… ruling elites today have taken total control of “home-front morale” messaging *as if* the USA/UK/EU/… were at war (the RF government have done the same, even if less completely, as the RF government is actually at war now), while officially claiming they are not at war.
That unusual “*as if*” worries me more than the total control of “home-front morale” messaging itself, which is usual for governments during wars.

Posted by: Blissex | Jan 4 2023 0:22 utc | 124

@Richard Steven Hack 111
Thank-you 🙂

Posted by: Hermit | Jan 4 2023 0:26 utc | 126

Posted by: catdog | Jan 3 2023 23:50 utc | 114 ” am not bamboozled by all the buzzwords strung-together”
But it is pretty amusing.
Posted by: Fnord73 | Jan 4 2023 0:05 utc | 120 “just here in Norway I think there are about 1500”
I don’t think that is correct. Norway didn’t use them, themselves, did they? The US has stationed equipment in Norway to be married up with US forces that got flown in, in case of a war. But I always have seen plans for US Marines to make up the bulk US reinforcements to be deployed into Norway and they don’t use Bradley’s.
Posted by: Fnord73 | Jan 3 2023 23:58 utc | 118
This place is a bit of an echo chamber. A lot like Naked Capitalisms’ take on this war, er, Special Military Operation.

Posted by: Bill Smith | Jan 4 2023 0:42 utc | 128

Vintage Red @92–
The Economics of Abundance would be Simon Patten’s mantra that developed from what Hudson calls the American School which “chose to examine the causes leading to society’s enrichment, not the class conflicts leading to immiseration. What Simon Patten called the Economy of Abundance was enabling acquired characteristics to shape a new social psychology, in contrast to Europe with its class conflicts and vicious political system.” (America’s Protectionist Takeoff, 1815-1914 p. 26)
Hudson devotes an entire chapter in the cited book to Patten, whose importance can be guessed at because of his being cancelled long ago by US history texts. Indeed, Hudson’s text is of supreme importance as very little about economic thought is discussed in US History texts aside from Hamilton and Henry Clay. Knowing the roots of economic debate within the USA prior to the Fed Act and WW1 ought to open eyes and minds for there was certainly a very different direction being promoted by the American School that rejected what’s now known as Neoliberalism.
What Putin’s team seem to be establishing is similar to what Patten, Veblen and others saw as possible but was never really implemented. China’s course also seems similar given its outcomes to-date. I highly suggest this source Crooke cites in his most recent essay discussed at the Red Lines thread, “Inflation, recession, and declining US hegemony”.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 4 2023 0:46 utc | 130

D J G | Jan 3 2023 23:27 utc | 107:

Scary propaganda video. I could have sworn that Ukraine always votes against Russia’s regular UN resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism. Maybe I dreamt that, as the always honest BBC ridicules any notion that Russia is going after Nazis in Ukraine.

No. Ukraine has only voted ‘No’ on the UN resolution since 2014. For the first two years of the resolution — 2012 and 2013 — it abstained.
It’s the United States that always votes against the resolution condemning Nazism.
Though, in the most recent vote — on 15 December 2022 — Ukraine and the US were joined by 48 other countries that also voted ‘No’ — including Germany and Japan, who you would think really would know better. The highest ‘No’ vote the resolution has ever gotten.

Posted by: Kukulkan | Jan 4 2023 0:55 utc | 132

The use of new seismic and phonic counterstrike radars
does wonders at short distance.
Can stay on without stress.
For a week the Russian counter baterrie shoots in less than two minutes.
Read RF reports.

Posted by: la bouteille | Jan 4 2023 1:09 utc | 134

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Jan 4 2023 0:13 utc | 123 “Back in country 404. SMO’s daily kill list shows that up to 90% of the USSA/NATO arms supplied have been destroyed”
If that was the case, I would assert that Ukraine is doing a very good job with the 10% of the worthless stuff that does get through.

Posted by: Bill Smith | Jan 4 2023 1:16 utc | 136

@127 “Last time I checked that Army was in the sovereign country of Ukraine and had absolutely NO legal right to be there except for what their propaganda arm of the government said.”
You’re forgetting the Responsibility to Protect. The Ukrainian government was killing ethnic Russians in Donbass. I don’t know if Russia has brought R2P up yet but it might be worth a try.

Posted by: dh | Jan 4 2023 1:38 utc | 138

fnord @ 120
De vier en DritSak. Også Stoltenberg, en Quisling.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 4 2023 1:50 utc | 140

«When you forward these screeds from the Guardian, please make it clear to the readers that “Guardian” was totally compromised and taken over by MI6 several years ago.»
“We don’t technically know that, even if their content often resembles what SIS/MI6 might have written themselves.”
We technically don’t know lots of things…but we do know the Guardian was taken over by a corporate backed foundation working hand in hand with the MI6. Direct control by the MI6 or other deep state security apparatus is not needed as propaganda is best served by a neutral appearing intermediatary.
The Guardian’s coverage of the Second Iraq War was actually pretty good. That was an unforgiveable sin and marked them for regime change in a journalistic sense.

Posted by: Haassaan | Jan 4 2023 1:59 utc | 142

Please tell me where I am wrong??
Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 0:37 utc | 127
———————
You are fucking wrong:
The forces that attacked and murdered the people of the Donbass came to power in 2014 through an illegal coup supported and financed by foreign powers (the US and EU). The only crime committed by the people of the Donbass was that many were descendants of Russia, and they did not accept the legitimacy of the of the Nazi coup. Yet they were attacked for 7 years and over 14,000 people were murdered, many women and children. Under these circumstances, any support given them by Russia (both military and humanitarian) was justified, legal, and morel.
Now tell me I am wrong.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 4 2023 2:02 utc | 144

@ RSH 101 with the Zoltan Pozsar link….thanks
The connection of that piece to Ukraine is the hidden geopolitical inflation to fund it.
The quote

“My sense is that the market is starting to realize that the world is going from unipolar to multipolar politically, but the market has yet to make the leap that in the emerging multipolar world order, cross-currency bases will be smaller, commodity bases will be greater, and inflation rates in the West will be higher,” the author explained.
He added that inflation traders “should be paranoid, not complacent,” saying that “inflation breakevens do not seem to price any geopolitical risk.”
The dusk of petrodollar, the dawn of petroyuan

Powerful article but I don’t think this is what behind ZH paywall? Others know?
The new term to learn is “commodity encumbrance”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 4 2023 2:27 utc | 146

Russia’s military command is now blaming their soldiers’ cell phone use for the loss of now 100 soldiers plus the wounded.
Good excuse. Rings true. Understandable and perhaps likely.
But before NATO’s approaching bums’ rush, gang style, multiple fronts assault to win this war dropping understandable excuses and act fully while the sun still shines over both Ukraine and Russia could be something to think about.
It’s true, Vietnam won over long years. Who wants such mass suffering as that again?

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Jan 4 2023 2:37 utc | 148

@ Posted by: Ed | Jan 4 2023 1:45 utc | 139
There is Physics, Meta-physics, then pure bull crap.
Guess which one you quoted.

Posted by: BroncoBilly | Jan 4 2023 2:52 utc | 150

So apparently action will be taken against the commanders responsible for the Makeevka disaster, where the death toll is now 89?
And yet some idiot on Larry Johnson’s blog insulted me for saying action should be taken.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jan 4 2023 3:11 utc | 152

farm ecologist #55

All the tragic facts referred to make a lot of Polish people sceptical about the prospect of “dying for Ukraine” contrary to the message spread by the mainstream media.

Thank you for that. It captured in a nutshell what I had read of Polish/Ukraine antagonisms.
I am intrigued as to who the ‘Polish’ mercenaries currently suiciding at the front as Bandera’s avengers. Did Ruthenians remain in Poland after the WW2 hostilities and occupy Polish political life?

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 4 2023 3:54 utc | 154

Jan @138
iirc, russia filed the “right to protect” with the un before they went in. i thought i read it somewhere. i looked for a link, but none there. there’s a lawyer who comments on rt now and then, and i know he supports it, but i can’t remember his name. i’ll keep my eye out.they have certainly argued it.

Posted by: polarbear4 | Jan 4 2023 4:35 utc | 156

Now tell me I am wrong.
Posted by: Ed | Jan 4 2023 2:02 utc |
Well since you asked!!
There was no fighting in the area UNTIL 2014 when Russia started fucking with the Ukrainians because they COULD and because the USA did to them what they have been doing for years and that was messing with their elections. We can talk and argue all we want and try and try to justify the Russian actions in Ukraine over the years. But at the end of the day ALL and I repeat ALL of the actions were taken on Ukraine soil!! A sovereign nation and as such NONE OF RUSSIAS BUSINESS.
When you point out how many times we have done the same, USA, I will agree but I will also have won this argument.

Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:23 utc | 158

@ Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:23 utc | 158
pass the nuland cookies, lol……………..

Posted by: james | Jan 4 2023 5:29 utc | 160

Re: Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 3 2023 18:07 utc | 6
Russia has a long stated policy of no first nukes.Hypersonic missiles relieve them from even considering what amounts to a multiplicatively inferior resolution in using the brash alternative.
Since when did Russian policy and the international rule of law matter to them??
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, a central tenet of the charter that requires UN member states to refrain from the “use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:34 utc | 162

Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:23 utc | 158
pass the nuland cookies, lol……………..
Posted by: james | Jan 4 2023 5:29 utc |
So I little 2 minute conversation is all it took to start the ball rolling to kill thousands and thousands of innocent Ukraine and Russian people?? Unreal!!
Do you have any idea how weak and pathetic that makes the ultimate puppet PUTIN look?? Good god man!! Is he that easily manipulated?? No wonder Russia has seen better days.

Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:43 utc | 164

Sheesh! Its the new late night troll brigade at MoA.
Don’t forget to tip the barkeep for the mess you make that he has to clean up.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 4 2023 5:49 utc | 166

Re: Posted by: Blissex | Jan 3 2023 19:44 utc | 44
Surely you know there are (at least) TWO very important reasons to exaggerate the strength of your adversary in “peacetime”.
The first is obvious to anyone: “Better to be SAFE than SORRY”.
The second is obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of how the MIC works “The more you can exaggerate the strength of the enemy – the more justification there is to pour more and more and more money ad infinitum into the MIC – and everyone involved benefits.”
This has been going on since the 1940s.
Prior to World War II the US had a very undersized military – but they had the industrial backbone to turn that around quickly.
If you want to know how the USA became the “hegemon” read up on the Dawes Plan which effectively led to Western Europe being in debt servitude to the United States / Wall Street Banks – I believe it was 1922 – we may have just celebrated the centenary of the American Century.
Believe me – the Chinese know all about the Dawes Plan.

Posted by: Julian | Jan 4 2023 5:51 utc | 168

@ Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:34 utc | 162
Russia did refrain from the use of force against Ukraine even though the USA had backed a coup in Russia’s neighbor Ukraine and installed neo-Nazis. But then the ethnic Russians in Donbas were subjected to artillery fire with many casualties, and when Ukraine intended to increase the slaughter Russia took action — right to protect.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 4 2023 6:00 utc | 170

Zakharova responded to Lithuanian Culture Minister Simonas Kairys’ proposal for a “mental quarantine for Russian culture.”
📝 “I can make you happy: you’ve been on a mental quarantine for a long time now, judging by the statements. Thank you for voicing it. I can’t hide it; we’ve been puzzling over the diagnosis for a long time. Your confession’s worth a world award. I don’t know whether it’s a Nobel or a Darwin,” said Maria Zakharova.
This is straight talk like we have never seen from Russia. Good news week.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 4 2023 6:09 utc | 172

Posted by: aristodemos | Jan 3 2023 18:07 utc | 6

…Their impact is not merely the explosion force. It is multiplied by the speed of the vehicle, combined with the gravity effect of their extremely high altitude, while protected from enemy countermeasures by their ability to maneuver, rather than the standard and solid arc of trajectory common to ordinary ballistic missiles….

what a garbage..
already a good answer from
Posted by: dask | Jan 3 2023 18:17 utc | 10
For oldhippie | Jan 3 2023 18:52 utc | 23 and @all,
you can use the pool of older moa-posts
please look at the start-page –> left column –> “Strategic Technologies by Gordog”

Posted by: ghiwen | Jan 4 2023 6:28 utc | 174

Julian #163

There are (at least) 5-7 oblasts in Western Ukraine we will not see any Russian troops in during the course of this war.

That does not mean there won’t be a whole bunch of Ukrainian proxy troops there looking for those responsible for the ruination of their country. I very much doubt Russia would be at all satisfied if it pulled up short of absolute domination of the entirety of old Ukraine. How else will they drive the nazis back to the bosom of Nato that weaned them?
Sure that new order may see few Russians around but it sure does not mean they would leave terrain capable of being exploited by the NATO warmongers to continue the perpetual assault that Russia has endured for the past 80 years.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 4 2023 6:39 utc | 176

@ Pete Jones | Jan 4 2023 5:52 utc | 169 with the shout out to RSH for the Zoltan Pozsar link….its OT mostly here but I have a couple of comments up about it over on the latest MoA Week in Review – Open Thread Add your thoughts over there and I agree with its value you claim

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 4 2023 7:05 utc | 178

There are several hacks who comment here who are cast iron certain Russia is going all the way to Lviv and beyond – NO – they are not – do you even listen to what Putin has repeatedly said about Western Ukraine?!? Clearly not.
There are (at least) 5-7 oblasts in Western Ukraine we will not see any Russian troops in during the course of this war.
Posted by: Julian | Jan 4 2023 5:35 utc | 163

Yes, let’s listen to what Putin said. He made remarks like the one about how annexing Galicia back in the days was a catalyst for losing the whole of Ukraine eventually.
How does it follow from that there will be no Russian troops there?
The only way that is a viable strategy is if Poland agrees to go there, annex Galicia and Volynia and denazify them themselves. That would in essence be dumping the Nazi problem onto the greedy not very bright Polish.
Who would have to be very stupid to agree to that deal. First, while those are historically Polish lands, they were very thoroughly ethnically cleansed and de-Polonized during and after WWII (the most Polish Ukrainian city today is in fact Zhytomyr, at 2%, and that is because it was further way from Poland and kind of slipped through the cracks). The Russians probably have a better chance at establishing control there than Poland. Second, that opens the whole territorial control can of worms that was supposedly closed at the end of WWII, as now it would turn out that Poland not only got compensated for losing those territories to the USSR at the expense of Germany, but now suddenly regained them back.
Also, there is the Caprathian issue. The Rusyns are pro-Russian, not pro-Ukrainian, and have been for many decades. There was even a Carpathian Ruthenian autonomy declared at one point after the nazification process was really set in motion by the Maidan events. Of course crushed by the regime, and that part is still not well known outside the region.
But, more importantly, geostrategic considerations leave the Russians no choice but to take over the whole thing. That doesn’t mean they will do so with 100% certainty, but it will be a big mistake if they don’t. Eventually events will force them to do it.
What happens if there is an independent Ukraine left, even if it is as rump as just the westernmost oblasts, and if even Kiev is officially recovered by the Russians (as it should be — it is one of the most important cities in Russian history and there were barely any Ukrainians there until very recently)?
It will be the same thing you see now in the Donbass, but cranked up to eleven. They have already acquired long-range drones, and will be able to strike deep into Russia even if reduced to the Western Ukraine corner, but later they will be given long-range missiles too. Also remember that there are two nuclear power plants in Western Ukraine, which means they will be left with the means to develop a nuclear program.
War will never end, it will only escalate.
The only way to end it is to end them. And that means you need to occupy, denazify, and de-Ukrainize. Fully, no Khrushchev amnesties this time. And yes, that means ethnic cleansing once again. Hopefully most will leave voluntarily when the Russian army is sweeping towards the Polish border, but even after that some currently unacceptable things will still have to be done. I hope I am wrong, but by the time we get to that point, the Ukrainians will have done such things (Makeevka is just a taste of it) that there will be little room for hesitation on the Russian side about it.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Jan 4 2023 7:34 utc | 180

@karlof1 | Jan 4 2023 0:46 utc | 130
Thank you for the Crooke link—having studied capitalist economics when I was young I will definitely check it out (I defected to healthcare when I saw monetarism, the gateway drug to neoliberalism, taking over). I have deepest respect for Michael Hudson from what I’ve read of his writings to date; I’ll read his perspectives on this as well.
My post @92, though, long as it was, was strictly about the US-centered capitalist empire’s strategy against the USSR and other socialist countries: overthrow them where possible; otherwise stress, sabotage and choke socialist states’ development toward full socialism and beyond that to communism. Within global capitalism originally what many have called industrial capitalism prevailed until ~1980s, when the US capitalism began a vast new attack on the US working class, breaking unions while offshoring jobs, largely to China, and financialized the economy. Globally capitalism continued the colonialist heritage of abject poverty throughout the neocolonized world in order to maintain an artificial relative ‘abundance’ for the golden billion of the metropolitan imperial core. And, acting through arms races, ‘controlled chaos’, ‘disaster capitalism’, etc., to ensure that capitalist development does *not* give rise to any danger of true abundance breaking out, which would bring its innate historical contradiction front and center.
Marx and Engels knew industrial capitalism and its inability to deal with the abundance it creates. Veblen as well, having proposed a “Soviet of Engineers” as his own response to it. Lenin in his Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism glimpsed emerging Finance Capitalism but died before he could develop this analysis from a revolutionary perspective. Almost every revolutionary thinker since has been absorbed in immediate struggles against fascism and imperialism—Marx famously said our task is not to understand the world but to change it, but there is nonetheless a deep, dire and long overdue need to update and trailblaze revolutionary understanding of financialized capitalism.
I should qualify: in English and other Western languages. China has consulted at length with Michael Hudson and I’m sure other Westerners of interest, and I would *love* to be able to read what exists in Chinese on these topics. Items I have seen translated or summarized include focus on the US’s financial warfare strategies supporting overall destabilization toward political control and economic scarcity. These indicate the CPC studies finance capitalism both in its own terms and with a revolutionary Marxist understanding, using this knowledge both to defend China from US financial attack (e.g. the attempt to ‘harvest’ the Shanghai stock market) and more proactively to create a new commodity-based international network of currency-exchange and trade.
I am reminded of the Communist Manifesto’s famous passage, “The cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy artillery with which [capitalism] batters down all Chinese walls…”, forcing all the world into its globalized empire. But talk about capitalism creating its own gravediggers! By pauperizing its own industrial working class and instead making China the “factory of the world” for US capitalism’s own greatest short term profit, bringing down China’s wall has on a global scale turned around and unleashed the contradictions of capitalism back on itself in an entirely unexpected way.
Most of us here and on other sites have been talking about this geopolitically and financially, but to me it’s still the global class struggle amidst capitalism meeting its weird in a way most of us never foresaw—but which is still pure historical dialectic. The Almighty Dollar, central nervous system of global capitalism, is having seizures as the yuan, rising from the labor power of the Chinese working class, beats it at its own game:
“When China finally wins her independence, then legitimate foreign trading interests will enjoy more opportunity than ever before. The power of production and consumption of 450,000,000 people is not a matter than can remain the exclusive interest of the Chinese, but one that must engage the many nations. Our millions of people, once really emancipated, with their real latent productive possibilities freed for creative activity in every field, can help improve the economy as well as raise the cultural level of the whole world.” (Mao, 1936)
Some of us here may remember hearing in our youth a theory that imperialist capitalism would not be overthrown by the action of the working classes in the imperialist centers, but by a global encirclement from the ‘periphery’, the colonized countries. Most I knew thought this must mean some sort of globally-coordinated prolonged people’s war, but more and more of late I believe this might be coming about economically. As class struggle takes place at the point of production, so too the global class struggle—even industrial capitalism is progressive compared to rentier capitalism; China’s socialist sector and SOEs combined with industrial capitalism overseen by the socialist state to complete its historical mission, is positively revolutionary.
Returning to the US, do we have or have we ever really had real abundance here in the way capitalist propagandists portray? To my way of thinking, 1) what relative abundance we’ve known here all our lives is vampiric as mentioned above, unstable, and presently about to end. And 2) larger and larger sectors of US society are instead suffering collapse, a degradation of artificial abundance back into abject poverty. Barflies may be familiar with geopolitical analyst Garland Nixon; recently he discussed China’s and Russia’s emerging ‘undeclared alliance’, counterposing it to US collapse. To illustrate US collapse (watch from approximately 36:00 on) he takes us through the streets of Oakland, California, perhaps the most thoroughly working class city on the US west coast.
This is my hometown. I walk these streets weekly if not daily. There is no social psychology of abundance here, new or old; the only abundance is of immiseration.
This comment has been long, but as it is a Ukraine Open Thread consider that China is providing the economic strategic depth behind Russia, without which Russia would be in a far worse position all around, and that Russia’s leadership, familiar with if not espousing Marxism and Soviet economics, is absolutely relying on industrial capitalism to defeat NATO. It’s been said that in war “Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics”—in perhaps another irony Russia and China together are proving old Nikita correct after all: “We will bury you”.

Posted by: Vintage Red | Jan 4 2023 7:45 utc | 182

Posted this at my VK account this morning.
The last two lines are interesting.
https://t.me/s/rezident_ua
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the publication of a message by the Verkhovna Rada on the birthday of Stepan Bandera and bent Denis Shmygal. After that, a post dedicated to the anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera disappeared from the Twitter account of the Verkhovna Rada.
“This is a sign that the Ukrainians have listened to our voice. I want to make it clear that it is unacceptable for the Polish state to glorify Stepan Bandera, the ideologue of Ukrainian nationalists, who killed tens of thousands of Poles in Volhynia,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk said.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland said that Ukrainians should realize that what the Polish government and the Poles are doing now is much more important for an independent, sovereign Ukraine.
He also said that the Poles “still have work to do”, because, in his opinion, many Ukrainians do not know about the events in Volhynia.
“I am convinced that the time will come when this issue will be clarified in relations between our countries,” Mularczyk said.
……………
Poland is mobilizing. For what? To fight Russia in Ukraine or to grab western Ukraine? Perhaps it thinks it can do both. Polish history indicates syphilis. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 4 2023 7:57 utc | 184

Syriana Analysis on Ukraine here.
Fiorella Isabel is an American journalist based in Moscow and she’s reporting on the Ukraine war and Washington doesn’t like her.
Jump in to 4:30 to skip the tech fiddling and get to the start of the discussion.
Fiorella Isabel is a diamond.
Peter AU1…. roadkill :)) I like that.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 4 2023 8:03 utc | 186

Poland is mobilizing. For what? To fight Russia in Ukraine or to grab western Ukraine? Perhaps it thinks it can do both. Polish history indicates syphilis. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 4 2023 7:57 utc | 184

The USSR was ultimately defeated for two reasons.
First, Nazi Germany was pitted against it, and inflicted it a mortal demographic blow — most of the males born between 1910 and 1930 didn’t make it to the 1950s. Now imagine how you rebuild and develop a ruined country with the males in prime productive age gone? You will be a severe disadvantage.
The war also destabilized the country ethnically — various minorities collaborated with the Nazis, and there were a lot of mutual grudges left after that, while the main area of devastation was the Russian core, not Central Asia.
Second, the rule of you-can-have-two-of-three applies to socioeconomic development — you can invest in the army, in your human capital, or in consumer goods, but you can only have two of those, not all three at the same time.
USSR had no choice but to invest tremendous resources into the army, and then picked human capital (education, healthcare, overall welfare) as the other direction for investment, neglecting consumerism.
The USA picked the military and consumerism
Western Europe had the luxury of the US military umbrella so it did invest much more in human capital while being consumerist too.
The problem for the Soviets was that their people caught the consumerist bug, and that, combined with the greatly weakened position they started from after the war, was their downfall.
Similar plans might be in motion now.
Have Ukraine fight to the last Ukrainian, then when that resource is exhausted, mobilize Poland, Romania, the Baltics etc., and so on, until enough Russians are killed to greatly weaken the country. And force Russia to once again spend too much on the military, so that it’s destabilized (Putin in fact explicitly warned about the latter, so this isn’t an empty concern of mine).
Who cares how many people in the proxy countries die? They will only hate Russia even harder as a result, which is a win, and it weakens Russia, which is the bigger win.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Jan 4 2023 8:13 utc | 188

@bar Chip heads…. Is this significant?

Russian Space Systems Holding – RKS
(part of Roscosmos State Corporation)
has completed the development of a series of unique quadrature modulators for advanced navigation, communications, telecommunications, space exploration and ecomonitoring satellites.
5×4 mm microchips will become part of modern radio links for transmitting information from satellite to ground and space objects and will significantly increase the speed, stability and quality of high-speed broadband communication.
The quadrature modulator “formats” the signal of the satellite’s onboard devices into different types of modulation — this allows you to improve image quality, speed up signal transmission, and increase the amount of information contained in this signal.

https://t.me/azmilitary11/32594

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 4 2023 8:19 utc | 190

uncle tungsten @ 186

Fiorella Isabel is a diamond.

Rachel Blevins from RT USA moved to Moscow too. Damn Ruskies are taking our hottest babes, now that is hybrid war!

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 4 2023 8:28 utc | 192

Re: De-dollarization ( Zoltan from Credit Swiss );
Zoltan’s analysis is mostly correct, especially given all the unknowns. The greatest unknowns are 1) the pace of de-dollarization and 2) at what point does de-dollarization result in economic collapse ?
1) Pace ? – unraveling existing cross border business agreements takes a a few years. Supply chains in the age of globalization are shockingly complex. Central Banks will also only glacially change the mix of their reserves. It took 30 years for the Dollar to replace Sterling. De-dollarization has been happening big time since 2008.
One measure of the pace of de-dollarization is % of Central Bank reserves held in dollars. Prior to 2008; 80% of Central Bank reserves were dollar based. As of 2021; that figure dropped to 60%. That’s a staggering change
2) Collapse ? – At what point in de-dollarization does confidence in the dollar vanish ? No idea, but that’s going to be the key variable to watch over the next 24-36 months.
To repeat – the consequences of de-dollarization are profound. For example:, De-dollarization means Washington can not run 10% deficits. Walk through the implications of that single change. Zoltan the Credit Swiss Banker is correct to warn investors.

Posted by: Exile | Jan 4 2023 9:01 utc | 194

Vintage Red #182
Thank you, great words and absolutely relevant in this Ukraine thread. This is a watershed battle. I loved the Nikita twist. Salut.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 4 2023 9:40 utc | 196

Posted by: Julian | Jan 4 2023 5:35 utc | 163
Actually, there is one very quick and dirty way.
In the Russian Federation Western Military District. Approximately 21 overstrength army divisions. Broken up into various mobile armies.
Move part of the army to the Karelian military winter training ground. The Finns will get the message very quickly.
Move the fast land mobile forces to Belorus for joint winter training. The Baltic terriers will become instant lap dogs overnight. Poland will suffer a complete 180 so fast. The entire government and general staff will be requesting a change of underwear.
On the upside, the Polish/Country 404 border will be closed to all traffic west or eastbound for the duration. Thus prompting the southern neighbors to close the international border as well.

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Jan 4 2023 10:01 utc | 198

OT and I apologize if better explanations have already been given, and for any errors of course. I’m very tired and only wish I could blame it on New Year’s 🙂
Plasma cloud/wall etc:
1.
In the case of kinetic bodies visualize it as drag that ends up being pushed “forward” due to the speed of the body; things are moving too fast for the drag to either decouple or cool down and thus be “left behind”. We are talking about immense levels of drag at these speeds which also means we are talking about very large amounts of “trapped” energy in front of the moving body.
This is why there is plasma being formed in the first place, plasma requires a lot of energy (sold, liquid, gas, then the 4th state of matter is plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate the 5th —this view might be a little bit dated by now).
Essentially it’s superficially similar to why liquid water feels like concrete if hit hard enough (like a fall from 30m height): no time to flow/move away.
2.
Shaped charges (ordinary explosives) work by creating a plasma lance; the explosive is formed in such a way as to collect and focus as much of the energy as possible in what becomes a thin cylindrical volume (the “lance”) which then is intended to be enough to cut through the armor and fill the internal space with fire. This works even if hatches etc. are open, the energy does not have time to dissipate quickly enough not to burn or melt everything.
3.
Plasma sheets/clouds forms around just about anything at the ordinary atmospheric reentry speeds such as ICBM or space vehicle reentry shields (exactly the same thing as each other and both are designed to slow things down which is the opposite to hypersonic weapons), unless they’re extremely ablative (which they never are because it takes too much mass; only natural objects are that ablative, “rock” are much more “spongy” in comparison to reentry shield materials which need to be as light as possible).
4.
Dump enough energy into a set space and you get plasma. Once again I’ll mention “Blue Fire” and it’s explanation of how one could possibly do that without having anything physically present. Aka “UFOs” zipping all over the place without any breaking of any physics. Search for “Blue Fire” in old comments of mine for any links. How many countries have done this during the last seventy years? Could be all of them.
5.
Almost forgot:
Nuclear explosions also cause “plasma blackouts”. There is lots and lots of plasma in nuclear explosions.
This also means that any radar can be an excellent device for detecting nuclear explosions …which in turns makes it highly unlikely that anyone is getting away with using nuclear weapons undetected despite what some people claim.
“TNT”:
Kiloton is thousands of tons of TNT equivalent in energy.
Megaton is millions of tons of TNT equivalent in energy.
Any ordinary grown human can handle/push the nuclear bomb part of a megaton warhead on a trolley, they’re not particularly big and Would fit in the back seats of a normal car. Other examples are smaller, for example the Davy Crockett bombs are about the size of a basketball or oversized rugby ball and are fired out of a tube similar in size to twice that of a TOW missile launcher (which could be mounted on old tiny jeeps).
Wikipedia has pictures.
Megadeath is millions of deaths.
· · ·
Bit long for an OT. Sorry 😐 (and there’s always more).

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 4 2023 10:07 utc | 200