wonder where bevin got to??
Posted by: james | Jul 31 2024 15:07 utc | 1
james, I saw your comment about that yesterday too. A few weeks ago (4-8?) at a time when b was out and Lavrog’s Dog was posting out of control and the comments were roiling, bevin posted a message that said he still reads the blog but found the comment section ‘repellant’.
There’s no question in my mind that the quality of the comment section has deteriorated over the past couple years and I think that bevin just doesn’t need the grief presented by some who did not grasp and appreciate the depth of his knowledge and understanding of how the big pic works. I miss him too and like many would welcome him back. We’re all a bit less informed by his absence.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jul 31 2024 15:27 utc | 4

@ waynorinorway | Jul 31 2024 15:27 utc | 4
thanks.. it’s true what you say.. hey do you ever listen to mattais eick?? norwegian trumpet player. i am playing a few of his songs i a group i play in – the two songs are midwest and dakota.. it turns out he was influenced by bill frissel..

Posted by: james | Jul 31 2024 15:30 utc | 6

@ Newbie | Jul 31 2024 15:29 utc | 5
re: On the china front US companies will be forced to say how screwed they are if US goes for a china war.
July 29, 2024
National Defense Commission: Pentagon has ‘insufficient’ forces ‘inadequate’ to face China, Russia

Boldest among the report’s recommendations is a proposal for what it calls a new “Multiple Theater Force Construct” to fix the current, “out-of-date” version.
. . . In a factsheet accompanying the report, Harman said, “DoD’s defense strategy was written before the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and doesn’t account for the partnership between China and Russia. It is insufficient to meet the threats. We recommend a new approach, combining the U.S. military with the ingenuity of the tech sector; our influence through diplomacy and investment; and the resilience of the American people.”
Beyond laying out an alarming picture of America’s national security landscape, the 114-page report offers a number of recommendations to policymakers in the White House, strategists in the Pentagon and to lawmakers — largely taking an aggressive, more-of-everything approach. Boldest among the proposals is calling for a “Multiple Theater Force Construct” to fix the current, “out-of-date” version. . .here

and
Jul 24, 2024
‘Not prepared’: Congressional panel calls for huge defense buildup

America’s odds of fighting a major war are the highest in 80 years, and its military isn’t prepared for one.
This was the finding of a bipartisan panel tasked by Congress to review U.S. defense strategy. Its nearly 100-page report reveals a crisis of confidence in American national security.
The commission chides a Pentagon it considers too plodding, a Congress it considers too partisan and multiple administrations it says have been too complacent to address threats from China, Russia and countries in the Middle East.
“The nation was last prepared for such a fight during the Cold War, which ended 35 years ago,” the report reads. “It is not prepared today.” . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 16:05 utc | 8

Newbie@1526
Situation in Venezuela is instructive. Opposition to the Madura government received something like 46% of the vote and now they are butt-hurt about not overthrowing the government by peaceful means.
Don’t know for sure, but it seems likely that Gazillions of CIA and $tate Department $$$ flowed into a media campaign backing the opposition and denouncing the government. This appealed to elements of the urban middle-classes in particular as their economic status has slipped during the nationalist years of Chavez and Maduro.
The sanctions from the Di$trict of Corruption regime has played a major role in the incitation of those sore-heads…reason being that the Venezuelan oil production and sales have dropped due to those sanctions. People can certainly be influenced by declining incomes…particularly if they are spiritually vacuous and materialistic minded.
So it all reverberates to one thing: OIL revenues for those major Rottenfeller Crime Clan dominated major oil companies and the power they have over the U$$A regime. They can’t wait to get their grubby, greedy mitts on all that BLACK GOLD. Until those financier crime clans are removed from the scene, the ruptured republic will devolve deeper and deeper into indebtedness, with the National Debt now reaching the unreal level of 35 T R I L L I O N dollars…and counting.

Posted by: aristodemos | Jul 31 2024 16:11 utc | 10

Posted by: aristodemos | Jul 31 2024 16:11 utc | 10
It is instructive and as I mentioned it can be a major BRICS moment, Lula seems to have been practicing chess with Putin and is now slowly demolishing the western strategy for south america (unless there is an unexpected last minute backstabbing)
Small Update, unlike the Biden Talk, the talk with Stramer did not include quotable remarks about Venezuela. But the UK had been on the “show the tallies” boat already so no need to push.

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 16:22 utc | 12

@ Newbie | Jul 31 2024 15:59 utc | 7
re: “[an F-35] going in and out of Iraqi airspace in full stealth mode.”
The 35 may go in with some stealth but it can’t depart without a high heat signature from the largest engine ever put into a fighter plane, especially in afterburner mode.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 16:12 utc | 11
You can’t go with afterburner, you have to cruise in economy mode to get to launch and back without refueling.
Besides, IR in long range is not that useful (but correct me if i’m wrong)
As for engine power, try the Kuznetsov KN-32 “, especially in afterburner mode.”

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 16:28 utc | 14

The only time Russian side advanced was when wagners and Chechens were fighting otherwise Russian army is Expert in retreating..
Great loss for Russia who needed badly a private army to fight anti Russian elements the world over with plausible deniability”
Incompetent Putin is expert in neutralising the Patriot Russians and do undue favour to his Anglo enemies.
Posted by: Sam | Jul 31 2024 16:07 utc | 9
————————————————————
Sam the Shams thinks that commentors here at MoA are idiots that. Russia is advancing all along the front line, and the front line has increased significantly.
Sam the Sham is repeating the MIC anti-Russian, pro US/NATO/Ukraine BS that somehow Ukraine is about to win, but it just needs a few more billion-dollar gifts from the US taxpayers, and some high-priced weapons: F35’s anyone!
You are shaming the wrong site Sam, try Raw Story, they eat the sh*t up.

Posted by: Ed | Jul 31 2024 16:41 utc | 16

@ 17
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (1961)
On January 17, 1961, in his farewell address, Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a “military-industrial complex.”
recent news–
The Fiscal Year 2025 The Defense Appropriations Act provides a total discretionary allocation of $833.053 billion, which is $8.57 billion (1%) above the Fiscal Year 2024 level and consistent with the limit set in law by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Jun 13, 2024 which of course isn’t enough.
The comment at my 5 includes wishes for a huge defense buildup necessary to fight the Russia-China alliance which mostly has nothing to do with the defense of the US. Why don’t they just go back to “War Department?” . .There’s also talk about bringing back the draft because recruiting is tanking. The draft was ended in 1973 because the in-Vietnam troops refused orders and handgrenaded their sergeants. Naughty guys.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 17:23 utc | 18

The military also has a suicide problem.
The military jobs performed by troops who were found to be most at risk of suicide include infantry, ordnance disposal and diving, combat engineering, medical care and those for technical specialists “not elsewhere classified,” according to a Department of Defense study finalized this month.
The report studied rates of suicide in the armed forces between 2011 and 2022 by military occupational specialty and identified trends to help the Pentagon address suicide risk among certain jobs. It identified 5,997 service members who died by suicide, a number that included 3,665 active duty, 930 Reserve and 1,402 National Guard troops.
Large numbers of National Guard units have been deployed overseas, including Syria, without notice. This is while there are tens of thousands of regular troops in Korea and Japan which have nothing to do with US defence. . .here.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 17:44 utc | 20

@ Sam | Jul 31 2024 16:07 utc | 9
hey sam.. thanks.. i tend to agree with @ Ed | Jul 31 2024 16:41 utc | 16
and it looks like you didn’t read the article sam…

Posted by: james | Jul 31 2024 17:48 utc | 22

In most Ukraine posts, we’ll see the usual NAFO chaff and counter-narratives. I am so astonished at the Russian’s progress along multiple vectors, many non-military. The NAFO low IQ fleas tend to focus on timing and territory, overlooking that any global conflict has dozens of fronts and dimensions.
In the Sahel, Russia has been building a substantial African footprint, modeled on the incomplete projects of Qadafi who was killed (largely IMO) because he was a man who could unite different African factions and had a grand vision for the continent.
Now Russia is cutting a deal with the Houthis to build a rail line between north and south Yemen, as well as to ship the cash-poor country weaponry and agricultural products. Some of this is a wink and a nod in return for the tremendous profits Russia is reaping from the limited Red Sea traffic which allows Russian and Chinese ships free passage. Truly a win-win scenario where Yemen can do the right thing by the Ummah regarding Palestine punishing the Zionist menace and profiting materially from new partnerships at the same time.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 31 2024 17:49 utc | 23
Yes, Qadafi must laughing his ass off in the afterlife (not to hard because his ass hurts) the french who did him in (with their friends) are getting kicked out of africa (along with the americans that could profit from france’s loss)

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 18:03 utc | 24

@Newbie re: IR detection and range
I worked on a project involving satellite-housed IR telescopes, purpose was spotting ground launches of missiles.

Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Jul 31 2024 18:32 utc | 26

@Don Bacon #20 re: suicide troops
I worked for a couple years with a guy who was ex-Army. When they started to do things to him, he fought like hell to get out, pulled every trick he could think of. They did damage to him, and he became strongly transhumanist, often talked singularity stuff and was learning all things Japanese from anime to the written and spoken languages. I suspect he was self-medicating, never asked. I liked him, very personable, but very stubborn.
The other somewhat disturbing encounter I had was giving a semi-emergency ride to a young USAF guy, just 4 years ago. Shaved head, said he felt angry all the time, couldn’t figure out why. I’m nearly a perfect stranger at this point, and he’s expressing this to me? Was asking about Trump’n’stuff. I told him “I don’t like that jackass either, but they (powers under the rug) want him out, and they’ll break the country in half to do it.”

Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Jul 31 2024 18:42 utc | 28

Re China and US companies, for the last couple milienia, China has focused
on selling their manufactures to all comers, not conquering the world. Look at Mongolia to see how badly trying to conquer the world usually works out.
US compaines are extra-screwed cuz without Chinese/Indian immigrant engineers, they’ll have to make do with laowai flat earthers, young earth creationists, etc. I doubt that will work well.

Posted by: lester | Jul 31 2024 18:51 utc | 30

Re Venezuela, what’s happened to Guaido?
Posted by: lester | Jul 31 2024 18:45 utc | 29
That sucker is currently in exile in Miami…

Posted by: jure | Jul 31 2024 18:59 utc | 32

The Philippines are undeveloped newbies on the scene, spending most of their life as a colony of Spain, Japan and the US — and now free at last for almost a hundred years [and recently a de facto US colony again]. . . . four thousand versus 75 years !! Big vs. small!!
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 18:06 utc | 25
I protest against the term newbie there 😀
And discussions of Big vs. small in east asia are depressing, take it to africa and see who’s laughing.
Now seriously, yes the Philippines are the only steady vassal of the US in the area (japan and SK are further north)
But the pressure on china to assert control in the area for A2AD purposes has been costly with other local countries, Xi has some amends to make if he wants them back (as he should).

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 19:27 utc | 34

@ Newbie | Jul 31 2024 19:27 utc | 34
Don’t take it from me, read what a Filipino journalist has to say, Rigoberto Tiglao. . .
‘West Philippine Sea’ is fiction, and a dangerous one

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s worst assertion in his recent State of the Nation Address was that the “West Philippines Sea is not fictional” (kathang-isip). He melodramatically, but in a jingoistic manner, claimed: “This is ours, and it will remain ours until our love for the Philippines is aflame.” Marcos is so blatantly wrong.
“WPS” is fiction, and I will stop writing forever if anybody can prove I am wrong. Worse, Marcos is maliciously tapping on Filipinos’ nationalist sentiments against another nation and ensuring US support to buttress his failing presidency. Emotional sentiments against other countries are not easy to reverse, making it extremely difficult for our country to resolve our territorial maritime disputes with China and Vietnam in the South China Sea. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 19:43 utc | 36

Lester @ #29.
Did you see the opposition guy that the US was (is) backing. If you think Joe Biden looked out of it in his debate with Trump, you got to see this guy who replaced Guaido.

Posted by: Ed | Jul 31 2024 20:09 utc | 38

Posted by: unimperator | Jul 31 2024 18:58 utc | 31
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 20:12 utc | 39
###########
Happy to see news from Africa being posted by multiple barflies.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 31 2024 20:16 utc | 40

About the Taureg strikes led by Wagner.
No one should mistake Russia’s discernment in Ukraine for weakness. When the Russians want to kill and destroy they are very good at it.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 31 2024 20:20 utc | 42

@Newbie #35: Where do you suppose is the most difficult, unexpected (!) place to detect a launch? IR is radiation, not the resultant heat.

Posted by: Dr Wellington Yueh | Jul 31 2024 20:26 utc | 44

But the pressure on china to assert control in the area for A2AD purposes has been costly with other local countries, Xi has some amends to make if he wants them back (as he should).
Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 19:27 utc | 34
Like Russia has some amends to make with Europe?
You should know better than that. The countries in the region that have sided with US, mostly for corrupt reasons are toast.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 20:18 utc | 41
Vietnam etc were not in the US corner

Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 20:53 utc | 46

Newbie | Jul 31 2024 20:53 utc | 46
Vietnam is to a certain extent trying to play US against China. They are fools in doing that. Vietnam’s major trading partner is China. Who grabbed the majority of the Spratly islands and reefs? Vietnam. Hear an outcry from the yanker wankers?

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 20:59 utc | 48

I wrote this over at Sonar21, but I think it’s appropriate to drop it here. It’s my current evaluation of the Big Picture regarding the assassination attempt on Trump- subject, as always, to revision or complete repudiation as more evidence emerges. What I present here, though, is based entirely on the almost certainly true facts that people in security apparatus tried to kill Trump, and that they failed. Only details that show one of those facts to be false do any significant damage to my conjecture:
Honzo
Reply to
heikomr
While the ‘Invisibles’ that hover in the airy nothing above the Deep State set the agenda, the visible layer of power is full of minions, because rulers cannot rule directly, however powerful they are, they need minions and institutions to translate their desires into material reality. While any particular minion has a limited scope, and is hemmed in by other minions, both allies and ‘enemies’, on all sides, they still have particular powers that closer to the ultimate power- of being able to destroy enemies- than the PTB who give them their orders- because without minions, nothing can be done. In this hierarchy of minions, those closest to the bottom have the most direct effect on events, even though their powers are most narrowly constrained. And, they each have interests that are not identical to those of other minions, or of the PTB.
Right now the dominant minions and their True Believer acolytes are being forced to either work against their own narrow interests, or be forced out of power altogether. Some of them, like Netanyahoo, dig in their heels and fight back- because the alternative is prison or worse.
I would suggest that the rabid neocons and descendants of the Dulles Brothers and their cohorts are in a similar position. They are wedded to the policies that gave them power post WWII, and believe that they are close enough to the real mechanisms of action that they can off the Invisibles and replace them.
Trump, while a capitalist bastard in his own right, does not belong to the group of minions who are being purged- he is slated to be the overseer of that purge. The desire to kill him is thus perfectly rational, but I think that the neocons have dug themselves a hole they can’t climb out even by killing Trump at this point. Not that they won’t try, because delaying the inevitable enough times is equivalent, to them, to preventing it entirely, and it gives them time to come up with new plans to further delay things. Nobody in that crowd tips over their king to acknowledge defeat, they tip over the chessboard, if they can, to prevent it.
So- Trump’s role is to purge the Dulles-era rabble whose policy vastly increased the power of their masters, but which contained the seeds of their own destruction, which is now occurring. The active core of the PTB wants them out so they have the flexibility to change course in a number of areas, while still hanging on the fundamentals of their wealth and power. Trump, whether he knows it or not, is their tool, and the neocons know it.
My conjecture, for the time being, is that Trump didn’t know it before Butler Farm, but he probably knows it now. Vance is a carefully groomed swamp creature, the White Obama, and Trump ‘chose’ him to show that the Donald is going to be a good boy and only do the part of what he might like to that conforms to the PTB’s new direction. The centerpoint of that policy is now the Purge, which the neocon’s failure to kill Trump has now given real momentum to at all levels of society. As usual, those doing God’s Work in righteous anger are doing the work of the gods of the PTB.

Posted by: Honzo | Jul 31 2024 21:18 utc | 50

https://x.com/aussiecossack/status/1818647425781055651
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 20:12 utc | 39
Link doesn’t work.

Posted by: Honzo | Jul 31 2024 21:37 utc | 52

“July 29, 2024
National Defense Commission: Pentagon has ‘insufficient’ forces ‘inadequate’ to face China, Russia”
Imperial Japan at its height could not defeat China at its nadir, under Chiang Kai-shek and the warlords. The USA can’t defeat small countries like Vietnam. I really doubt they can defeat China in the 21st century.
Posted by: lester | Jul 31 2024 18:59 utc | 33
I think the US idea of ‘defeating’ its enemies now is to extort whatever concessions they can by ‘threatening what the enemy holds dear,’ as Sun Tzu put it. The US has tremendous capabilities to fuck other folk’s stuff up at scales up to and including nuclear devastation. Never mind that they can’t ‘win’ wars by Napoleonic standards against even very small opponents, most countries don’t want to have even conventional missile strikes on their cities and know that even a devastating conventional response might easily become the precursor to nuclear war. The Russians and the Chinese sincerely want to avoid that for their own people, no matter how thoroughly they can destroy the US in such an exchange. If they develop truly effective shield that can reliably protect their cities and major assets, their view might change, but as of right now, they not only don’t want nuclear war, they don’t want to escalate or retaliate in ways likely to trigger it. They show every sign of wishing for the US Empire to achieve the softest possible landing in its fall from power, not so much for concern with the wellbeing of innocent (?) Americans, but out of concern for their own citizens.
Unfortunately this attitude empowers the brinksmanship of the imperialists. However, they (and especially the Chinese) feel that time is on their side, and they need to just keep on keeping on while the power of the US to harm them gradually diminishes.
The only exception to this stance in the Axis of Resistance might be the DPRK, as they have already ensured that they are the most likely survivors of any level of nuclear exchange with the US- and indeed, anyone else, although I’m confident that’s not a real issue. with the addition of more Russian missile technology and the build up of their arsenal, the DPRK is likely to become more and more assertive- the Medvedev to the Russian/Chinese/Iranian Putin. My experience with Koreans is that it is truly unwise to believe that they are bluffing. Kim most certainly have nuked as much of the US as he had warheads and missiles for if the US had attacked in accordance with Trump’s posturing. It is to be hoped that future US presidents understand that.

Posted by: Honzo | Jul 31 2024 21:58 utc | 54

Yo! b.
I trust you are improving. Take as much time as necessary.
We will need you as the summer turns to autumn and the Great Winter Comes.
The Big War is nearly set to kick off.
Iran has called a security council meeting.
Tick fucking tock…….
PS can you confirm you are not the sock puppet bevin?
It’s a curious coincidence of absence.
Whilst all look forward to your regular return some appear to be missing him/her/it.
😉 me …not so much.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jul 31 2024 22:26 utc | 56

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 16:25 utc | 13
True words. It’s my love for Australia that makes me so angry about the way that it is mismanaged, sold cheap, poorly governed, hollowed out, embezzled and kept in a permanent state of adolescence. I’d give anything to see a Keating or Whitlam back at the helm. For all their flaws they believed in the possibility of a sovereign Australia acting in its own interests and all its people. I fear that we’ll never outgrow our settler parochialism, our narrow horizons and our colonial self-loathing.

Posted by: Patroklos | Jul 31 2024 22:46 utc | 58

rare insults
@insultsrare
https://x.com/insultsrare/status/1818378404699488298

Posted by: Menz | Jul 31 2024 22:58 utc | 60

Patroklos | Jul 31 2024 22:46 utc | 58
So true.
I grew up on a farm and Whitlam was disastrous for the small farmer. Several years back I red the draft of something my mother was writing up I think as an article in the newspaper – I cant remember for sure, my aunt did tell me.
But I remember that time, both parents had to go and find work outside the farm.
So I look back and I see in Whitlam policies that were good, free education, free health care were two big ones.
But when I look back, the big one was sovereignty. Whitlam and Keating, Perhaps the only two PM’s with a strong sense of sovereignty – that we had to break away from the US.
But even Fraser, long out of office was the same before he passed away. Both Keating and Fraser were singing the same tune around 2013-2016.
My Australia it seems is now gone. Americanized and the majority seem have the very shallow urban yuppie type thinking.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jul 31 2024 23:19 utc | 62

On the china front US companies will be forced to say how screwed they are if US goes for a china war.
https://asiatimes.com/2024/07/legislation-forces-us-firms-to-prepare-for-a-taiwan-war/
Posted by: Newbie | Jul 31 2024 15:29 utc | 5
I think the whole point of talking up war with China is to force the tech companies to reinvest in production on the US mainland. They’ve been foot-dragging because it would force to accept massive losses, it would be expensive in itself, and they believe that the threat is not real precisely because it would be so damaging to the US economy. However, that economy is tanking anyway, and I think the constant “Don’t test me, I’m crazy enough to do it” messaging is getting to them. If they really do it in a substantial way, a war of choice with China may become impossible, but it will also become unnecessary.

Posted by: Honzo | Jul 31 2024 23:27 utc | 64

CIA furious Maduro still Venezuelan president, despite getting the most votes
Venezuela is doing democracy all wrong
Jul 29, 2024
The CIA has reacted with disappointment after the world’s largest oil reserves ended up with the wrong leader again.
In a shock result, Nicolas Maduro has monstrously imposed himself on the people of Venezuela, despite getting more votes than the other candidate. All the countries that want Venezuela’s oil have called the credibility of the election into question.
Remember, it’s only wrong to question the outcome of US elections and a January 6th in Venezuela would be good actually 👍
The Venezuelan Supreme Court wouldn’t even allow the woman who was funded by the US state department onto the ballot, but it did allow a socialist onto the ballot. The party that rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders said “this is not how democracy is supposed to function”.
Thankfully, the Democrats were backed by the UK prime minister who is incapable of formulating a foreign policy without speaking to the White House first.
Sir Keir Starmer would like you to know the 900 international election observers who ratified the result are wrong and Maduro needs to be punished. A Downing Street spokesman said: “We’re gonna do to this guy what we would love to do to Jeremy Corbyn!”
One of the White House spokespeople who deny the Gaza genocide has expressed deep concern about “the human rights situation over there”. Clearly, the CIA has no choice but to export democracy before Venezuela does a trade deal with China or something.
More…
https://www.normalisland.co.uk/p/cia-furious-maduro-still-venezuelan

Posted by: Menz | Jul 31 2024 23:36 utc | 66

@ Honzo | Jul 31 2024 23:21 utc | 63
re: As I recall, they were mostly fragging their officers
Thank you, I didn’t know that. I was in country earlier and didn’t need to go back.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 23:49 utc | 68

Honzo | Jul 31 2024 23:44 utc | 67
I found I had to have a twitter account to To be able to scroll through it, a couple of accounts I scroll through each day.
So that is likely the problem. I had thought just single posts would come through ok for those that dont have an account, but it appears that is no longer the case.
As for the spooks that monitor everything on the net, I don’t much care any more. I do what I want to do and say what I want to say and they can go fck emselves.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 1 2024 0:12 utc | 70

Looks like Khalid Sheik Mohammed will plead guilty after 21 years of torture and illegal incarceration.
The article I read wasn’t clear on what charges he will plead, but probably conspiracy to commit fraud.

Posted by: Polli | Aug 1 2024 0:35 utc | 72

those 500 years have come at a terrible cost to the rest of humanity,
the 85-90% of the world’s people.
“We threaten, we sanction, we bomb, but we don’t ever use the art of persuasion. It’s not just that Pax Americana — the American Century — which turned out to be about 50 years long, is over, but the 500 years of Euro-Atlantic global ascendancy are over.” — Chas Freeman, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, etc

Posted by: michaelj72 | Aug 1 2024 1:05 utc | 74

But try as I may I cannot understand the apparent distinction between “neocons” and the “Invisibles” and the “PTB” and the Deep State.
Neocons are an ideological set that are far from universal either in the apparatus of government or the broader ‘deep state’ of the interconnected corporate, military, academic and infotainment industries. It is not necessary to have any ideology at all to operate in these environments, and many have ideological conflicts with the neocons.
The PTB is not my term and various people use it in various ways, but I believe that it most cogently references the group of key wielders of power of the biggest of the Big Bourgeoisie. Some of these people are quite visible but it can be difficult to distinguish them from the Upper Minion class of very visible operatives like elected officials, public billionaires, ‘thought leaders’ and so on. Some of these people can only be known through their effect on those around them, like a black hole that distorts the star field in its vicinity. I think of these people as the Invisibles, and I believe they are the survivors of an evolutionary process of refining the mechanisms of power that goes back to ancient times, which may in part explain the pervasiveness of the emblems of ancient religious cults in contemporary symbology of power. (I certainly recognize, however, that arrivistes with no connection to past power structures often invoke their symbols to legitimize themselves and a lot of other people like myself, with no claim to power at all, find these symbols fascinating.) I do believe, however, that any study of ancient mystery cults and some well-known modern descendants like the Free Masons suggest that such cults, while changing their appearance as the situation warrants, have been conduits of covert power since forever, and it is unlikely that there is no historical continuity between them as organizations, no connection between the personnel of one generation and another, and no continuity of ideas and aims- though none of these remain entirely fixed in form over the millenia.
I don’t regard the Invisibles as a monolith with control over the globe, although it’s clear that they desire that. I am most familiar with the traditions of Western Invisibles and their evolution from Egypt and the ME, but Asian cultures certainly have their Invisibles as well.
Of course, to many this seems like tin-foil hat stuff, but I suggest that it’s actually a parsimonious approach to understanding at least western history.
I hope that covers the nuances that trouble you.
Honzo
The notion of a purge of the Dulles crowd makes no sense to me, because time has purged them.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
It makes sense from the standpoint of institutional cultures. Once established they tend to reinforce themselves, with the Elders training and indoctrinating their recruits to follow in their footsteps. This is one reason we can easily identify the ‘CIA Playbook’ in operations in eg. Venezuela, despite the fact that the Dulles are dead. Individuals are capable of creativity and ideological flexibility as individuals, but as members of an institution they tend not to be until circumstances require some ‘revolution.’ The common term for this is ‘institutional inertia.’
Honzo
Those guys died of old age, purge done. Insofar as there was any institutional continuity to somebody else who would count in Honzo’s view as “Dulles crowd” would be via connections to big bourgeois.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
No. Besides indoctrination and shared beliefs, the employees of the State Department and CIA, to begin with, would be unlikely to make deep changes in the institution they have been functioning in. This tendency is seen in every institution. The fact that they also have connections to the Big Bourgeoisie to recruit from the same pool that produced them certainly enhances the effect, but by now the institutional effect is so powerful that change from within requires some kind of Martin Luther moment. Those are few and far between.
Honzo
The Project for a New American Century is not particularly Dulles though it certainly was neocon. But PNAC had deep roots in Reagan/Bush plus connections to big business (the notorious Halliburton connection of founder Cheney.) This analysis I can’t make sense of.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
I’m not sure I understand your confusion, what you say actually supports my thesis.
Honzo
It seems to me very unwise to conclude that Kim had nothing to do with the failure of Trump to negotiate a surrender of Korean nukes. I suspect that if Kim had rolled over, the crew would have been happy to take the win. It’s just not clear to me that Trump wanted to negotiate an end to the Korean war.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
Of course Kim did not roll over and thus did not accept a deal that the Deep State could embrace as a win. Whether Trump wanted an actual peace treaty and was willing to withdraw US forces from ROK to get it cannot be known, but I think the idea of that is not unreasonable considering Trump’s stated priorities and his desire to accomplish big things his predecessors could not. Of course, this view is most compatible with the idea that Trump considered ‘war with China’ and even ‘Trade war with China’ to be nothing more than initial negotiating positions, but that’s compatible with his whole Art of the Deal approach, and with the absolute fact that either kind of war with China would have been an absolute economic disaster for the American economy during Trump’s term, as it would be now or in the foreseeable future. And, the only reason to from a Trumpist perspective, aside from avoiding war and getting lots of likes on the internet, would be to improve the business environment- maybe in DRPK, but certainly in China, who, I suspect, would have been brought into the deal.
Honzo
That different people have different motivations for opposing or supporting ‘the wall’ does not suggest that Trump didn’t have reasons to desire it, and that powerful people in the Deep State had reasons for opposing it. Nobody cares what hoi poloi thinks.
Honzo
And, it is baffling to think the PTB/whoever stopped Trump from actually withdrawing from Afghanistan but couldn’t stop Biden.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
It wasn’t up to the PTB or Deep State to withdraw from Afghanistan when they did, they were forced to by a military defeat. The same thing happened in Vietnam. The Deep State appears to have wanted the Afghan occupation to continue as long as possible. It became impossible. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
Honzo

Posted by: Honzo | Aug 1 2024 2:00 utc | 76

Ran out of room at 76, this is to attempt to finish up.
Project 2025 continues in the ongoing work to make lists of reliable Trumpers. Heritage Foundation has deep roots in Reaganite politics (Paul Weyrich a key founder) and big business (Adolph Coors.) Heritage fundraisers bragged Reagan carried out about 80% of their recommendation, as I understand it. Today, it is unlikely that Trump would even read their 900 page manual. But the twenty/thirty somethings who do the actual work probably will and enough of the forty year olds have more substantial connections. So there is every probability that a good portion of their program is meant for action and will be carried out…just like Heritage’s Reagan era Mandate for Leadership or later Project for a New American Century. This seems to me very much the same spirit as Nixon’s promise that he’d fix things so they’d never go back. What I can’t get from that is that such a Purge is directed against the Invisbles/whoever.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jul 31 2024 23:52 utc | 69
Trump’s purge will be directed against the Biden/Obama/Clinton crew and the neocons and some of the Dulles legacy in the State Department and intelligence apparatus, which Trump will have a lot of support for doing after Butler Farm. The Invisibles are, IMO, the ones who see a need for a change in direction before the Old Guard of Dulles/Deep State operatives runs the ship aground and it sinks. The elements and individuals to be purged as the ones that can’t change direction, either because of ideology or personal investment (of ego or wealth) in the current regime. This is not a novel direction for purges to take.
The 20/30 somethings you reference are being empowered because they are capable of change and actually desire it- within limits. The 40 somethings who have the same flexibility will rise to the top, the rest will be disempowered, even if not actually purged.
I don’t know if Trump can succeed in this, even with what I believe is the support of the Invisibles, because the ‘enemy’ has a lot of institutional power that translates easily into violence in the material world. I do think that if Trump fails- which seems unlikely unless they kill him- I believe it will happen anyway, a little further down the road, and possibly with a lot more bloodshed. Those 20/30 somethings are a thing now and they won’t just go away. No doubt the Invisibles (and many visibles) will continue to feed them despite anything the Old Guard can do. The beauty of being invisible is that you can’t be destroyed, only cut off (temporarily) from access to the mechanisms of power.

Posted by: Honzo | Aug 1 2024 2:13 utc | 78

“there are tens of thousands of regular troops in Korea and Japan which have nothing to do with US defence. . .here.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jul 31 2024 17:44 utc | 20”
Perhaps they will be used to invade Shandong Province, China. It’d be easier than invading Taiwan.
Posted by: lester | Aug 1 2024 0:45 utc | 73
They are there to guard the equipment and infrastructure for the US to drop bombs and missiles on China and Russia, including medium range nukes. They don’t have the capability to invade anyone, even North Korea, which they could at least drive/walk to.

Posted by: Honzo | Aug 1 2024 2:18 utc | 80

@ Honzo | Jul 31 2024 23:09 utc | 61
thanks honzo for a detailed response to that article from helmer.. i like your suggestions and take on all this as it is ultimately optimistic and uplifting.. i hope they are able to achieve the ideas you suggest here – sooner then later..

Posted by: james | Aug 1 2024 2:32 utc | 82

Honzo@76….the looming War in the Ukraine was the main reason for the quick bailout from Afghanistan…. everything else is window dressing.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 1 2024 3:05 utc | 84

Posted by: Jane | Aug 1 2024 3:30 utc | 191 – on the Palestine thread –
Heinrich Boll and Ernst Junger team Gentile. The Glass Bees is an excellent novel by Junger. Thomas Bernhard is Austrian, and one of my favorites. No!
I’m reading Boll’s The Clown right now.

Posted by: lex talionis | Aug 1 2024 3:52 utc | 86

The current US administration is headless. In this vacuum, all interested parties – US, Ukraine, Israel, Russia – are trying to present the incoming US administration with accomplished facts.

Posted by: Passerby | Aug 1 2024 6:12 utc | 88

Forgot the end blockquote on that one. After the link is my thoughts.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 1 2024 6:21 utc | 90

Becoming divorced from any semblance of reality. Current headline in the oz government woke trash rag.
“Majority of people who menstruate struggle to afford sanitation products, new study on period poverty shows”
I guess the wannabe females have to be able to afford a monthly bunger to shove up their cracker each month….
The divorce from anything resembling reality is mind boggling here in the west.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 1 2024 8:13 utc | 92

Ryan Grim
@ryangrim
The NYT barely printed a word about the flagrant election theft in Pakistan in February, a nuclear armed country of some 250 million people, but now it pulled out all the stops to do its own vote count in Venezuela.
One is a U.S. ally, the other is an adversary. Guess which.
https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1818807208379134286

Posted by: Menz | Aug 1 2024 9:03 utc | 94

Zlatti71
@Zlatti_71
🇺🇸 🇬🇪🇨🇳 The United States has demanded that Georgia stop the construction of a joint port with China in the Black Sea.
“The Georgian government should be clear that there is a way back: to prevent China from building a deep-water port in Anaklia,”
said Assistant Secretary of State O’Brien, speaking before senators.
Earlier, the American Conti International LLC failed to fulfill its obligations to attract $400 million for the construction of this port, and the Georgian authorities terminated the contract with the consortium of which it was a part.
– RD reports
https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1818647066261717146

Posted by: Menz | Aug 1 2024 9:04 utc | 96

The German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen is planning to start publishing the nationalities of people who commit crimes.
I think it’s completely safe to do, since we all know that any criminal investigation ends the instant the fucking nose is seen. We all know that one religion/nationality/personality disorder/disease that grants complete exemption.

Posted by: Michael A | Aug 1 2024 9:13 utc | 98

Is this really happening?
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/104876

⚱️There’s a bit of a problem in Argentina. Sixty-two tons of gold worth $4.5 billion, the country’s entire gold reserve, had disappeared somewhere.
The government grudgingly announced that the Argentine gold had been loaded onto British Airways charters and shipped to London. Mad President Javier Milay worked for the British bank HSBC before entering politics.
And remember how all of Argentina cheered when Milay won in November 2023? Writing at the time, “Every country must live through its 90s. Without it, it will not be understood. That’s exactly what is in store for Argentina.”

Posted by: anon2020 | Aug 1 2024 10:53 utc | 100