One..two…maybe three but seven..c’mon?
Posted by: S Brennan | Sep 6 2025 15:56 utc | 62
==============
Yeah, “statistisch fast unmoeglich.”
I think this has been since Aug. 1.

Posted by: Jane | Sep 6 2025 17:34 utc | 104

SoCoRuss 91 – Agree fully, the state of US military under Senile Joe and Fat Albert Austin deteriorated immensely……..they were fully woke, only DEI mattered….but that is changing!
Posted by: tobias cole | Sep 6 2025 17:26 utc | 98
Woke was just the most convenient window dressing for Imperialism. It’s out of fashion, so they changed clothes.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 17:36 utc | 106

I enjoyed reading the phrase “identifying as a realist” because we commonly get that first part of that phrase as ‘identifying as a woman’ or whatever. It sets the tone for whatever odd delusion is to follow.
Colby is the psycho who suggested limited nuclear war with China – in writing. To me, that’s the ultimate in denying reality, worse than some hairy dude putting on frilly panties and pretending to be a girl.

Posted by: Eighthman | Sep 6 2025 17:38 utc | 108

As the CCP knows, China imports too much to get into a war, particularly food. They know a blockade will devastate them. I’m chuckling at the facile takes from the bolshies.
Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 17:38 utc | 108
So, China is doomed before the mighty US imperialism? Whatever you say, chucklehead.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 17:44 utc | 110

VVP has he own “Monroe Doctrine” in the Ukraine, Azer and Armenia and is doing so in good fashion.
That is the shape of things to come. If I was Maduro I would be purchasing property in Majorca and so soon too.
Posted by: tobias cole | Sep 6 2025 17:06 utc | 85
==================
Sebastian Sas has been talking quite a bit about the Monroe Doctrine—as a background or counterpoint to pointing out that it is reasonable for great powers to have spheres of influence.
Hence, Russia and China—both of them great powers—also have, each, a sphere of influence.
I thought the main point of the Monroe Doctrine was “Don’t mess in our backyard.”
Not: “We will exploit and drive down all of you ‘backyard’ countries as we see fit.”
Here is what Google’s AI says about the Monroe Doctrine:
“The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy statement issued in 1823 by President James Monroe, warning European powers against further colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere. Its main principles were: the U.S. would not interfere with European affairs or existing colonies, and European powers could not colonize or interfere with independent nations in the Americas. Although initially ignored due to U.S. weakness, the doctrine became a foundational tenet of American foreign policy, evolving over time to justify increased U.S. influence and intervention in Latin America, most notably with the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904.”
I guess the connection between the Monroe Doctrine and overthrowing regimes in Latin America is that first comes the assertion that they are “foreign” regimes, controlled by Communists, etc.
A major irony: Now the USA itself is controlled by a power outside the Western Hemisphere, namely, Israel (and to some extent the UK/City of London). Would this increasingly well-established acknowledged fact provide a pretext for a rebel govt. to overthrow the one in DC?
Just a thought experiment!!!

Posted by: Jane | Sep 6 2025 17:46 utc | 112

Why defend Taiwan? China is their biggest trading partner. If China absorbs Taiwan not much will change. Except for the BS from DC.

Posted by: Cycling Nut | Sep 6 2025 17:50 utc | 114

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 17:44 utc | 109
.
.
The CCP is a lot smarter than you, bolshie. They don’t want another famine.
You bolshies seem to like famines though, historically. Like I say, the CCP ain’t as stupid as you.
Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 17:47 utc | 113
Says the clown “concerned” about China’s “weakness” in the current historical epoch, no less. Of course, I never questioned the intelligence of the CCP, just yours, trigger.
I actually enjoy being called a Bolshevik. Did you know the CCP, in their great wisdom, holds Marx in high esteem? You know the “C” stands for Communist?
Read a little. It’s fun.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 17:58 utc | 116

Why defend Taiwan? China is their biggest trading partner. If China absorbs Taiwan not much will change. Except for the BS from DC.
Posted by: Cycling Nut | Sep 6 2025 17:50 utc | 114
Well US Imperialism would then have to fall all the way back to Japan and the Philippines. That’s a pretty significant change.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 18:00 utc | 118

Isn’t it amusing how the Colonizer goes straight to starvation as a weapon?
The coming American famines will be a sort of justice.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Sep 6 2025 18:04 utc | 120

c1ue | Sep 6 2025 14:48 utc | 26
*** @b
I don’t know why you are saying it is the US “pushing” Europe on Ukraine.
It seems very clear to me that it is the opposite now: Europe is the one pushing the US to keeping engaging with Ukraine. ***
The Trump administration itself might arguably not be, but that doesen’t mean other agencies/factions of the US Establishment have lost interest in escalating a Europe-based war.
The political establishment in the UK is particularly rabid … their basic outlook belongs to a now long distant past — and whatever capabilities their predecessors had in the past — but that mental anachronism doesn’t make its present day attempts at actualisation any less dangerous.
However, along with the various Continental zombies appointed by the US-empire, these horrors also seek to justify (to themselves and each other) their own ongoing existence by indulgence in conflicts. Nowadays they simply don’t have any other basis to justify themselves and their rotten, “class” derived system.
So they convince themselves that — with protection from the US-Empire — they must keep on creating conflicts. Self-perpetuation demands that.
The CIA and other US agencies (plus Neocons) are no doubt happy to help, since their own self-justifications partly coincide.
But in the case of the European self-appointing (subject to US approval) ‘elites’, most are aware somewhere in their addled consciousnesses that by this stage without serious US backing they are well-deserved toast.
So they need to convince themselves that either the apparent US loss of interest is just a temporary blip, or that the Trump administration really does want them to carry on warmongering, but for whatever resons finds it expedient to pretend otherwise.
Thus, in effect the USA is “pushing” even when it is not.

Posted by: Cynic | Sep 6 2025 18:10 utc | 122

I have a feeling this bolshie wants to liquidate kulaks something fierce.

Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 18:12 utc | 124

Regarding Chinese dependency on food imports…
Quick summary: China is fairly close to food self-sufficiency; where they’re not self-sufficient, the gap is either not very wide, or they can substitute or suffer-through the gap between what they consume .vs. what they produce domestically. The only exception to that assertion is for soybeans.
China is not going to suffer the famines of last century any time soon. China’s ag production is a lot better than it used to be.
Here’s a link to a pretty good summary of where they are now. And here’s the summary paragraph from that source:

China has made significant achievements in food security, with wheat, rice, and corn, its three main staple grains, being largely self-sufficient. However, apart from these three staples, China still has a high level of external dependence on agricultural products such as sorghum, barley, soybeans, and vegetable seeds. These data indicate that, overall, China still relies on imports to meet domestic demand for agricultural products. Increasing investment in agricultural technology, promoting product diversification, and internationalization are currently the best ways to further improve agricultural supply rates and ensure national food security. Whether these policy measures will be effective remains uncertain and not exactly optimistic.

Soybeans is the only high-quantity, important-to-diet import vulnerability for China, in my opinion. Sorghum is a sugar-source, easily substituted. Barley is for beer, and barley is widely available from many cool-summer, relatively dry places around the world. Russia produces almost twice as much barley as the next-largest producer (Australia); China can get all it wants from Russia. Veg seeds is a specialty item; if you can grow vegs (China produces more veg than any other country) then you can grow seed. China prefers to buy seed .vs. produce it.
China is in better shape re: food security than most other countries in the world. Let’s put that “China can be starved into submission” canard to bed. That one’s not happening.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Sep 6 2025 18:24 utc | 126

>>> “China still relies on imports to meet domestic demand for agricultural products.” <<< Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Sep 6 2025 18:24 utc | 126 . . Your own source says China is reliant on food imports. You were saying? This isn't surprising. Their count of arable land and usable water is low. The CCP knows this, even if you don't. They remember the famines, and aren't prone to that same stupidity. And that's just food imports. What about all their other imports? And exports, for that matter. All vulnerable to blockade. If a few ragheads and pickup trucks and rockets can blockade the Suez, what can industrial states do in the S. China Sea? Fortunately, I suspect the CCP knows all this, and if the Blob doesn't push them, they will shirk war.

Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 18:40 utc | 128

Posted by: Milites | Sep 6 2025 17:11 utc | 87
Goes into the, ‘stupidest things I’ve read this year’ competition. War is not a parade, I’m surprised an ex-soldier would say such a thing.
===============
Disagree. I think Bernhardt is right on this one. One expects to see discipline in a military parade. . . .it’s not too much to ask of people that are supposed to obey orders that would have them killed.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Sep 6 2025 18:17 utc | 125
=====
It is not just marching that is drilled.
Also, handling weapons, at least it used to be. Now that soldiers no longer shoulder rifles, present arms, etc., maybe the whole idea of drilling until certain actions can be performed automatically, smoothly, has gone the way of the dodo . . . ?
Also, the parades were also “floor shows” of actual weaponry.
I thought the Chinese show was a heck of a lot more impressive than what I could see of the US one.
When I watched a recent Moscow Victory Day parade (I think it was pre-covid) I was impressed by the smooth organization and impressiveness of the whole event, which lasted hours: limousines exiting some huge Kremlin gate with Shoigu and others standing up in them; endless disciplined units of every kind marching into Red Square, smiling as they marched past the reviewing stand where Putin stood with ancient veterans of the Great Patriotic War, with their medals; huge military bands playing different martial numbers to accompany various serious commemorative rituals; jets in formation roaring overhead.
Not only the extravaganza on the ground but the video that was shown the world was totally professional quality. The whole thing projected not only the gravitas of the past war, the sacrifices made, and of the need to be prepared to defend the country in the future, but also the confidence and good cheer on the part of many young people marching in their units and smiling at their leaders.
I wondered: Where the heck do they rehearse this show before it goes live?
I have heard it said that the Brits are very good at “doing” coronation and other parades that feature royalty (also the Diana funeral thing).
Well, the Russians and now the Chinese seem to be pretty good and putting on a military parade. That has to mightily impress the RoW.

Posted by: Jane | Sep 6 2025 19:06 utc | 130

seer @109: “China imports too much to get into a war, particularly food. They know a blockade will devastate them.”
I don’t know if you ever go shopping with your mom when she is getting the fixin`s for your dinner, but if you have you might have noticed the declining quality of produce at the supermarket. Some people write that off as a consequence of global warming, but the truth is more interesting. At the international wholesale level it used to be that the US was the biggest buyer and could dictate terms in the marketplace, but recently some other big buyers have muscled the US out the front of the line to get first pick. In the markets for some products the US is getting the leftovers now.
I bring this up just to highlight how international markets have changed in recent years, and in ways that you can already see on the dinner table. More importantly, what you should really be concerned about is shortages in the US driven by market forces like this. As the world dedollarizes there will be less incentive for other countries to give the US the cream of their crops. China will increasingly be countries’ preferred trading partner because China has so much to offer in return.
Now, can the US block that trade with its navy? You may imagine it can but that is because you exist in a Hollywood delusion and you don’t know any better. Ask some of the top minds in the US Navy, on the other hand, and the responses you get will express far more uncertainty. There are no commanders in the US Navy who have actual command responsibility who are eager to tangle with China. Only political fools think it is something doable.
The Chinese wish to avoid war with the US, but if the alternative is their people going hungry, or just going without fresh Argentinian beef, then it’s on like Donkey Kong.
And I assure you if when comes to a knock-down-drag-out between the US and Chinese navies, the Chinese will win. Oh, sure, maybe both navies will be almost completely sunk in the first few hours of combat, but it will take the US a century to rebuild is fleets while China will be back in action in a matter of months. This is something wise commanders know, but that you cannot even begin to understand. There will be massive losses, but every ship in the US Navy is essentially irreplaceable.
China is the former wimp who doesn’t want to be bullied anymore, so he is training and working out. Problem is he has low self-esteem and never thinks he is strong enough, so he is bulking up way beyond what is needed for a showdown with the bully. When the fight actually comes it will be so one-sided as to be almost comical if it were not so tragic for the bully.

Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 6 2025 19:18 utc | 132

I bring this up just to highlight how international markets have changed in recent years, and in ways that you can already see on the dinner table. . . .
Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 6 2025 19:18 utc | 132
=============
It is hard to understand why the US has to import a lot of food.
We have tons of land that could easily be transformed into vegetable gardens (such a front and back lawns, golf courses, playing fields, verges of highways, land under power lines, etc.).
I thought that California and Florida more or less provided the country will all the fresh vegetables and fruit that it needs, plus grain from the Midwest. I don’t think we “need” fruits and vegetables to be shipped here out of season from South America.
Meanwhile, our local conch catch is auctioned off to China. I feel that this trade should be stopped. But in the future, if there are any conch left, we’ll be eating them ourselves.
We might not like it, but I think the US can “pivot” to food self-sufficiency if needed. But who knows the source of all the “food” that goes into the junk food that so many USA-ians consume. Perhaps it is the corporate food processors that are more dependent on foreign suppliers.

Posted by: Jane | Sep 6 2025 19:29 utc | 134

@seer | Sep 6 2025 18:40 utc. Thanks for the reply, let’s run through your points in order:
Seer: Your own source says China is reliant on food imports. You were saying?
Tom: I’m saying that most of the imports are either not significant (e.g. veg seeds or sorghum) or readily demand-reduced (use soy to feed people not hogs, for a 6:1 increase in food-use-efficiency), or source-substitution (get barley from Russia not Australia, for ex). There are a lot of ways to manage import vulnerabilities, Seer. I just named a few. And most of the imports are relatively small proportion of domestic consumption.
Seer: This isn’t surprising. Their count of arable land and usable water is low. The CCP knows this, even if you don’t. They remember the famines, and aren’t prone to that same stupidity.
Tom: Chinese famines were the result of misguided ag policy, and the lack of suitable fertilizers. The so-called Green Revolution (use synthetic N fertilizer) had its greatest impact on Asia. Please refrain from saying unnecessarily abusive things like “even if you don’t”, because it makes you look even more inept as I demonstrate that I know more than you do.
Seer: And that’s just food imports. What about all their other imports? And exports, for that matter. All vulnerable to blockade.
Tom: Yes, the trade is vulnerable to sea blockade, but that’s a different issue than food security. But since you brought it up, let’s talk about blockade. As many barflies have noted, ships are vulnerable to anti-ship missiles launched from rag-tag or otherwise asymmetric players. Is the U.S. not vulnerable to such? That leaves submarines to conduct the blockade, or drone-subs. Do you think Russia, or China, or Iran … can produce submarine drones?
Sub-drone warfare is not something the U.S. is going to be able to dominate.
Seer: If a few ragheads and pickup trucks and rockets can blockade the Suez, what can industrial states do in the S. China Sea? Fortunately, I suspect the CCP knows all this, and if the Blob doesn’t push them, they will shirk war.
Tom: The Blob will be the one to “shirk war”, Seer. That’s what the retrenchment is all about. Bully got punched in the nose, now looking for weaker prey.
As others have pointed out, words like “blob” and “deep state” and so forth are not helpful.
We’re all the victim of a small group of sociopathic criminals who believe it’s OK to subject the world to misery in order for them to feel good about themselves.
Even if we can’t name their names, yet, we can certainly name their behaviors, and start generating alt-methods to neutralize / respond to those aggressive, predatory behaviors.
Why? Because as a U.S. American, I’m pretty sure that the predation focus is going to be turned on us, now that the many of the Asian and African former-victims have learned to fight back.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Sep 6 2025 19:36 utc | 136

Sep 6, 2025 Pentagon rebrands: ‘Secretary of Defense’ signage changed to ‘Secretary of War’

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War. This anticipated move aims to project American military strength globally. Originally established in 1789, the Department of War was renamed and reorganized by President Harry Truman in 1947, after World War II. Trump remarked, “It’s a much more appropriate name, especially considering the current state of the world.”

https://youtu.be/eYXzCD2eDBs?si=neHakegWRFY_4GUu

Posted by: Gary Brown | Sep 6 2025 19:43 utc | 138

@Ahenobarbus #105
You clearly don’t understand that one can desire the fruits of empire without being a globalist. Or in other words, a nationalist.
But whatever. This is only the latest example of your fuzzy thinking.
Posted by: c1ue | Sep 6 2025 19:32 utc | 135
You’ve got a right to your opinion, old boy. Just saying…

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 6 2025 20:09 utc | 140

A hit parade is not a symptom of victory. Had to be said.
As to the draft? First, it could have been leaked because Colby wanted public dissent from his friends to help him kill it.
Second, the draft could have been more about getting ready for war against Venezuela (then Nicaragua) then at long last Cuba. That’s what a defensive hemispheric posture looks like.
I believe that Mexico is believed to be too weak politically to fight the US and the supposed anti-drug operations will be sufficient to keep Mexico under control. The first Mexican War was not a cakewalk, no matter what the usual history books say.
The least probable interpretation to my mind is that Trump is being defensive and dropping world hegemony, a la dingbat nationalist nonsense.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Sep 6 2025 20:29 utc | 142

You are not going to convince me otherwise given that Europe has, even in the recent past, chosen their own paths ranging from Germany’s resistance to Iraq 2003 back to de Gaulle’s enthusiastic emptying of gold from Fort Knox under Bretton Woods.

Posted by: c1ue | Sep 6 2025 15:28 utc | 50
But then those leaders (Schröder and Chirac in the case of the Iraq War) would since be replaced with ones more servile to the US Empire. Like what happened to Gough Whitlam in Australia. If that wasn’t the US manipulating things behind the scenes, then…?
And what does one make of the presence of US military bases on some of those European countries? Which of them have their military bases, if any, on US soil?

Posted by: joey_n | Sep 6 2025 21:06 utc | 144

Posted by: Naive | Sep 6 2025 20:33 utc | 143
########
Remember Hegseth can blow our minds when America shows its true power levels!!! 😂😂😂
The newest copes are hilarious. Marching in formation doesn’t matter. All of those weapons are stolen.
The newest one, Trump was working for the FBI when he was with Epstein.
Enough lies told long enough, induce madness.
America has finally found its true calling, comedic relief.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Sep 6 2025 21:12 utc | 146

@steel_porcupine #63
Posted by: Michael J | Sep 6 2025 16:12 utc | 67
RE: show me the incentive that will permit the U.S. to pivot from global hegemonic primacy
<< Thx, Michael J, for your response. You state that the U.S. will indeed choose to pivot away China, for instance, and maybe give up on all that bellicosity toward Iran, not to mention finally giving on Project Ukraine, because then the dollar will be allowed to age gracefully and enter rest. << After all the carnage & wreckage, who is poised to allow this-? It's not as if the U.S. retires like Secretariat, a champion thoroughbred, a stone-cold winner. Cue the music: Regrets, I've had a few... Coulda been a contender if the PTB hadn't decided to give the dollar a rest. Posted by: c1ue | Sep 6 2025 16:32 utc | 75 RE: No empire ever admits that its time is done. The reality of such an occurrence is demonstrated in fact, not rhetoric. << Thx for this, clue. No less a *trusted* source than POLITICO is providing its ultra-trustworthy "rhetoric" about Elbridge Colby's change of mind. /s The hegemon itself is quite untrustworthy in its words & deeds. In light of this, it's difficult to believe that the world will suddenly start believing in what no less a personage than Elbridge Colby has to say, especially when it's promulgated by a hegemon-adjacent media outlet. That's the "rhetoric" angle. To date, we have not seen the neocon-turbocharged U.S.pivot from its well-prepped intentions. The U.S. can certainly talk-the-talk, and many a stroll down a primrose path has started w/ such seductively enticing talk---but can the U.S. walk-the-walk-? We've seen no evidence of this. In fact, in no case has the U.S. accepted ultimately the sovereignty of a target country they have prepped for vassaldom & subjugation and allowed the targeted country to dwell in peace and prosperous partnership once it actually got-away. What incentive has the U.S. to leave off its habits now-? Venezuela, for instance right now, is an old, old target. Note how readily the hegemonic U.S. revives its move toward primacy. It's difficult to see the U.S. suddenly redirecting its aggressions from other such targeted nations who seem to have slipped into the background. Its difficult even to see the U.S. recanting its past aggressive intentions.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Sep 6 2025 21:20 utc | 148

It has been floated that North Korea may have provided Yemen and with Assistance or components for their cluster bomb missile.
That would be an extremely interesting development.
https://youtu.be/cKyiPbAh1DM?si=labYxwVTQVJwtisG

Posted by: David G Horsman | Sep 6 2025 21:50 utc | 150

Dear:
Although all of us commentators are humans with zero relevance to matters beyond our interest group, I, being an idiot, propose the following topics for reflection.
Empires don’t fall overnight.
The decline of an empire takes time because the power elements of the empire are not easily diminished by those seeking a new system of relations between other collective agents.
Neither Russia nor China want the United States to collapse because they intend to adapt and help the United States adapt to the decline of the Hegemon.
The American empire will not collapse overnight. But its degradation is a problem because it could lead to the immediate future, kinetic warfare in the 2030s.
The United States has no choice, in its decline, but to seek war with China because it has ceased to dominate the attributes of empire:
Control of the supply routes of resources and technology.
The United States no longer controls either the resources or the logistical routes between countries.
But it controls some resources of the empire: the currency, that is, all owners, lenders, and borrowers must confront the chaos if the United States defuncts the system in a tik-tok.
China does not intend to replace the United States.
Russia does not intend to replace the United States. An empire in decline.
Russia does not intend to waste time and money Russifying the last provinces of the defunct Soviet Union.
Russia, China, intend to ensure that the fall of the hegemony does not drag us into more barbarism.
Posted by: Esophagus | September 06, 2025 at 21:53

Posted by: Esophagus | Sep 6 2025 21:56 utc | 152

Actually, everything is clear. Rarely have such clear statements come from the US.
Trump wants to cut spending, so he is shifting the costs to the Western fanatics.
He will do something similar in Asia with regard to the Taiwan issue.
Then he will present himself as a peacemaker.
He will focus his efforts on continental America.
Lower costs, blame for wars and cost bearers are the vassals, while the domestic front is “cleansed.”
This will win him votes. That is what his voters want. He and America come out looking clean. (obviously his concept)

Posted by: smartfox | Sep 6 2025 22:05 utc | 154

The US is far and away the most resource rich country on the planet.

Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 21:52 utc | 151
Hmmm…
You’ve let yourself down there.
Obviously there’s going to be plenty of resources for a nation to exploit when it covers three time zones: as an exercise in data comparison, what would the resources look like for a nation that covers eleven time zones?
What are the comparative costs for exploiting these resources? The resources that need to be invested into the recovery of more resources?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:09 utc | 156

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:09 utc | 156
.
.
You’re not really saying anything. And China is planning on exploiting many of those time zones, since nobody else is. 1940’s Japan and China bear many similarities here, as well.
In any event, my statement stands. Or maybe the bolshies can take over again, and steal that mythical warm water port someday.

Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 22:17 utc | 158

Beats me why anyone thinks the US is the most resource-rich country on the planet; needs more data to back that statement up.
Oh yeah, what’s a bolshie?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:22 utc | 160

Actually, I just got it:
a bolshie is a guy with the hypersonics, amirite?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:23 utc | 162

… or maybe a bolshie is a guy who wants to audit Fort Knox?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:25 utc | 164

… or maybe a bolshie is a precious metal trader who insists on good delivery, rather than cash settlement?

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 6 2025 22:28 utc | 166

I don’t believe the monarchy is the root.
Wipe out the monarchy, and there is a massive vacuum to be filled, and it will be filled.
Power is never ignored or abandoned.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Sep 6 2025 17:37 utc | 107

You misunderstood me completely – I was talking about breaking the connection between Canada and the Britain, and thus the basis for the special relationship between the Britain and the USA.

Posted by: hh | Sep 6 2025 22:48 utc | 168

Collective agents are those who think beyond individuals. We have a problem.
The thought of us, homo sapiens, humanity, is a construct of impotence.
We are individuals who for the sake of our individual interests are making trades and building relationships.
We are, homo sapiens, the worst agent to make all of us, a hive.
Why? Because all of us are unique, individual and pretty stubborn to pass for any collective thought.
I don’t have any problem to live with everyone, but, sorry, I have the right to make my life, my live.
Those who aim, to pretend, that a Comunal society is the marvelous and best destiny of the humans, have lost the identity.
I have many time to be with you, but little time to be with me.

Posted by: Esophagus | Sep 6 2025 23:00 utc | 170

venezuela? on the surface they are in trouble militarily, perhaps they have things going on we don’t know about
Posted by: paquo | Sep 6 2025 17:31 utc | 102
Schryver says they have significant Russian stuff.
https://x.com/imetatronink/status/1964216036322140466
What does Venezuela bring to the table to defend themselves?
🔹 The most potent air force in the Americas outside of the US, all of it Russian-made, and of relatively recent manufacture:
🔹 23 Su-30MKV multi-role fighters, with a modest inventory of R-77 (80 km) and R-27ER (130 km) air-to-air missiles, and supersonic Kh-31 anti-ship missiles (80 km).
🔹 12 Buk-M2 medium-range air defense systems.
🔹 3 battalions of long-range (200+ km) S-300VM AD systems.
🔹 The Khibini electronic warfare pod can almost certainly be carried by the Su-30MKV.
Now, although this is a modest air force and air defense array compared to the major powers on the planet, it poses a non-trivial risk to the US force now facing it. The AV-8B Harriers on the USS Iwo Jima are no match for the Su-30. And the Kh-31 anti-ship missile would pose a serious risk to the ships in the naval flotilla.
Of course, maybe none of Venezuela’s Russian stuff is operable. But Russian military experts have spent a lot of time in Venezuela over the past few years, and lots of military shipments have been made. So I would not immediately discount the combat-capability of the Russian-made equipment in Venezuela.

Posted by: Mary | Sep 6 2025 23:09 utc | 172

Look at all the Trump interviews prior to his first stint as emperor of the Universe. “We should have taken the oil”.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 6 2025 22:39 utc | 167
=============
Possibly Trump doesn’t understand gas.
At some point and in some basins oil may become a byproduct.
https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/shale-gas-arithmetic

Posted by: Jane | Sep 6 2025 23:10 utc | 174

Again, best for all if you leave my name out of the continuous flow of your diarrhea posts, troll.

Posted by: seer | Sep 6 2025 23:15 utc | 176

Posted by: Newbie | Sep 6 2025 15:43 utc | 61
****************
I put your post into auto-detect/auto-translate and the software crashed.
What language did you post in?

Posted by: General Factotum | Sep 6 2025 23:33 utc | 178

@ Jane | Sep 6 2025 14:55 utc
Am not entirely sure the comment, to which you refer, makes sense.
Is he/she suggesting a move to a platform already containing comments from elsewhere?

Posted by: necromancer | Sep 6 2025 23:41 utc | 180

Jane | Sep 6 2025 23:10 utc | 174
At some point, that will likely happen. For countries with low population density and long roads – Australia, Canada Russia and I think the US, I had thought electric vehicles out of the question. China is now making cars/batteries that get 2500 km on a charge. Piddly urban cars are not much good out bush though.
The greater part of Australia, and I assume Canada and Russia are the same, or the permafrost swamp country far worse, you need something a little different to an urban car.
I now own an old Merc SUV. Nice to drive until there is a faulty electrical component. Connection or sensor. To go out bush again, off the bitumen, I would far prefer the toyota 60 series I had before it.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 6 2025 23:51 utc | 182

seer @151: “The US is far and away the most resource rich country on the planet.”
Except for the most important resources of all: Competence, skill, and industry.
Good luck whipping those narcissistic Starbucks baristas and Uber drivers with tattoo-sleeved pencil biceps into a worthwhile workforce.

Posted by: William Gruff | Sep 7 2025 0:21 utc | 184

Esophagus | Sep 7 2025 0:13 utc | 183 “I tell you: I gonna live to be a 120 years person”
The dreams and aspirations of the third rich. One thousand years. Barbarossa was 1941. The hammer and sickle was raised over the reichstag in, I think, 1944. Three years
Going by that, you have about three years or less.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 7 2025 0:24 utc | 186

Don’t you remember?
Socrates was the guy who was connected with the deamon, the soul. He was the guy who was communicating with his Ego.
Plato was narrating what his master lived. Plato never experienced what Socrates did. Plato is a memory of his master.
The same with Saulo of Tarsis.
A guy who never saw the situation, invent a movie, to make your life a justification.
We don’t know nothing.

Posted by: Esophagus | Sep 7 2025 0:30 utc | 188

c1ue | Sep 7 2025 0:23 utc | 185
Walmart. The entire west is reliant on imports from China. A blockaded of China would be a blockade of the average consumer in the west.
Back when the Abbott Morison gang were managing Australia on behalf of the English monarch, with all their spare time spent kowtowing to the American emperor, China stopped buying our shit. Media headlines about evil China launching economic war on Australia. The average fuckwit believed that stuff. Never under estimate the lack of intelligence in the ‘average’ person.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 7 2025 0:36 utc | 190

The commenter seer has been invoking “CCP knows” with regards to food security multiple times by now and some correction is in order.
I’ve previously engaged in an unproductive discussion regarding food security with another MAGA cultist, c1ue. I am aware of America’s successful strategy of dumping American food into the developing world to destroy indigenous agricultural industries and create a food dependency on America, making it easy for America to choke off supplies when other nations do anything that displeases America. MAGA barflies like Jane love to portray this as America doing charity by feeding the world when in reality it’s far more insidious than that. Part of the concessions that China was forced by America to make for entry into the WTO was to remove protection and aid for domestic agricultural production, which has weakened Chinese food security, but not to the point of dependence on America. My conclusion based on sources inside and outside of China is that China’s vulnerability is only in finding enough feed for its hog population, and considering that meat being a luxury is still within living memory of the population, losing access to meat in dire circumstances, such as an existential war with America (this includes the scenario where Americans decide that blockading China’s supply lines is a good idea that definitely won’t invite retaliation), is not as crippling as Americans would imagine it to be.
Here’s some info:
➡️China has a food security law.
➡️China has an entire department dedicated to food security named the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration.
➡️The conclusion regarding food security reached by the CPC on October 16, 2024 is that the reserves are good for a year or more.

Total grain output has remained above 1.3 trillion jin (approximately 100 billion kg) for nine consecutive years, achieving 100% self-sufficiency in wheat and rice, the two major staple foods. Grain reserves are ample, exceeding the international food security warning line of 17%-18%. Wheat and rice stocks can meet the national food consumption needs for more than a year.

Yes, China has a “Clean Plate Campaign” against food waste, which outlets like BBC and NYT insinuate as a sign of China having trouble feeding its population. The Chinese would interpret this as a sign that the central government is imposing discipline on its population so that it does not fall into bourgeois decadence.
Stop bringing up the CPC to cover your ass just because most barflies cannot call you out on your bullshit due to a language barrier.
As always,
Death to America
Marg bar Âmrikâ
Marg bar Âmrikâ
Marg bar Âmrikâ

Posted by: All Under Heaven | Sep 7 2025 0:40 utc | 192

As for the rest, you’ve forgotten . .
hh 173
==========================
Uh, no.

Posted by: Jane | Sep 7 2025 0:40 utc | 194

Dear Milites, when I was a YDFC soldier, we were brutalized, humiliated accused of bringing the Army into disrepute and not good enough.
The aim of the instructors was to break us and quit. Separating the boys from Men.
Everything was a drill. From marching to combat drills.
In the madness that is war, muscle memory kicks in and the flight/self preservation response suspended. Incredibly difficult to achieve but very noticeable in highly disciplined groups.
The Russian, North Korean and Chinese soldiers make for formidable opponents.
As Colonel Hati of the jungle patrol used to say, “Discipline!”.

Posted by: Suresh | Sep 7 2025 1:01 utc | 196

@c1ue, replies interleaved.
c1ue: The explicit bargain between the Chinese government/CPC and the population is that life will keep getting better in return for said government staying in power.
Western people seem to think mainland Chinese are like the overseas Chinese immigrants from the previous waves: they totally are not.
I am not saying that revolution occurs overnight if China gets blockaded, but I am also not saying it is impossible. The CPC has massive food stocks for a reason…
tom: the link I included few posts up pointed out the (few) areas where China’s domestic food production has gaps .vs. consumption. They are few; veg seeds, sorghum (used to sweeten (add carbs) to animal feed, and for sugar) and soybeans. Soy is used mainly for animal feed, and can be fed directly to humans (tofu, etc.). If you feed soy to humans .vs. animals, you get a 3:1 (pigs) or 6:1 (beef) increase in direct-to-humans nutrition. There’s room to reduce consumption of soy a lot. Point: China’s food-import needs are not that big a deal. They produce a lot of food now, and what they don’t product they can substitute-around. Contrast: UK, for ex.
c1ue: As for your comments on blockades: If the Houthis could effectively blockade the Suez Canal and the Red Sea using drones, US submarines would do far, far worse.
tom: Yes, subs can do a lot of damage, of course. But with underwater drones, and ship-lanes concentrated (they are), the subs start taking a lot of risk. If you can saturate the ship-lanes with drones that can sense for subs … there aren’t that many subs, and drones are (relatively) cheap to produce. Imagine that undersea drones do what air-based drones and missiles do: they vastly reduce the efficacy of “big hardware”. My point there is that China has a lot of engineers and mfg’g cpy; they’re likely to take the lead in undersea drone innovation. Repeat: there aren’t _that_ many subs in U.S. fleet. Dozens, not hundreds or thousands.
So what about land-based anti-ships? Well, will the BRI players around China’s major ship-lanes let locals launch ship-killers? Likely not; that’s their commerce getting sunk.
Next up: the U.S.’ Pacific fleet is based in Philippines and Japan. Bases well-known. Drones. So, taking out a few subs, taking out a few ship-based anti-shiping platforms, and the game changes considerably.
This is not a slam-dunk for the U.S. to interfere with China shipping. Now add in Russia. Are they going to stand idly by and let all that happen? Likely not.
Next: as another poster upstream commented, the interior BRI routes are designed from the git-go to bypass / supplement sea commerce. Another wrinkle.
One more: Most U.S. west-coast commerce comes out of LA, Portland, and Seattle. What works for the goose (U.S. interfere with China shipping) can be readily applied by China to U.S. How’s the hinterland going to respond to no export revenue for wheat, soy, corn? How about a few LNG fireworks in the Atlantic? Good for goose…
I grant the points others have made re: U.S. mostly self-sufficient for food, energy, materials. Big advantage. But this is why the West tried so hard to separate China and Russia. Now there’s Russia-China .vs. U.S. parity on mat’ls, energy, and food (remember, Russia produces a lot of food!).
Where’s the frontier of the game? Innovation. Who’s innovating, and likely to innovate more? I bet China and Russia .vs. U.S. so long as U.S. stays fixated on financialization and oligarchy/concentration of wealth, and the “prevent others from being successful” .vs. “make yourself successful” strategy.
And the U.S. / West still has not made the turn from the interference game to the innovation/creation game. Got many more years to go, and we’re still stifling dissent and doing major resource mis-alloc.
c1ue: And they don’t need to focus on a specific area – the US has massive space, air, sea and land surveillance capability such that anti-shipping submarine warfare would be absolutely devastating.
China does not have a comparable global or even regional capability outside of their immediate neighborhood.
Europe would be screwed by a blockade, so would Walmart but the US overall? Not clear at all.
Tom: Agree that at the moment, China can’t project much outside immed. But ask yourself: how much addn’l gear do they need to do undersea drone warfare? I say “not that much beyond what they already know; add in Russia, and probably got all they need right now”. It’s a “how fast can you produce” issue. China can innovate and produce pretty fast.
Meantime, the U.S. has its own problems: MAGA is also about “feeding the middle class”. How are we doing, c1ue? This is the core motivation for MAGA, and as we often discuss, this “has a ways to go”. And it’s not off to all that great a start at the moment. But like to you said, and I agree, it’s “not clear at all” how this will play out.
I say it comes down to how fast the respective cultures adapt to circumstance, and on that dimension, I vote China. Remember, I vote China only because I think they’ve got their act together better than U.S., and certainly _not_ because that’s what I want. What I want is for our leadership to get the ()&*&) out of the way, and for the _people_ to bust out of their lethargy, and decide to actually _be somebody useful_.
Then I’ll be waving the U.S. flag again. Right now … not so much.
=== Separately … in the brief moment that seer wasn’t giving himself whiplash with self-congratulatory bows, he did accidentally make a useful point: China has a water shortage in the north and western segs of their country. Guess what? They’re addressing it. The U.S. has the same problem (southwest, northern plains) and _isn’t addressing it_. Do your research before you respond, seer.
OK, c1ue, your serve. Looking forward to the rebuttal.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Sep 7 2025 1:06 utc | 198

They probably view stealing resources at gunpoint in their own hemisphere as more practical and cost effective. As Trump said of Venezuela’s oil reserves, “…and it’s right there!”

Posted by: nwwoods | Sep 7 2025 1:22 utc | 200