“What changed with the German Minister of Defense, and why did it change so fast?”

December 23, 2025

Act 1: “Europe’s last peaceful summer.” Russia may attack NATO sooner than expected – Nexta, Nov 17 2025

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the past summer may have been “the last peaceful one” for Europe.

“We always assumed that a Russian attack on NATO could happen in 2029. But now we’re hearing assessments pointing to possible escalation as early as 2028, and some military historians even believe we have already lived through the last peaceful summer,” the minister said.

Act 2: Pistorius cools NATO rhetoric — there will be no Third World War – Nexta, Dec 23 2025

Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius has distanced himself from alarmism within NATO. In an interview with Die Zeit, he said he does not believe in a scenario of a full-scale war between Russia and the Alliance.

He was commenting on remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who said the Alliance must be prepared for a war “on the scale experienced by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers”.

Pistorius responded bluntly, saying this was most likely a figurative exaggeration. “I do not believe in such a scenario. In my view, Putin does not intend to wage a full-scale global war against NATO.”

Brian McDonald asks:

Just last month, Boris Pistorius warned a German newspaper that Europe may already have seen its last peaceful summer and that Russia and NATO could be at war next year.

Now he says there will be no Third World War and that talk of a NATO–Russia conflict is “figurative exaggeration.”

What changed, and why did it change so fast?

One Dimitry Medvedev asks a similar question:

The ‘European peacemakers’ are surprising. Pistorius said he doesn’t believe war will break out between NATO and Russia, and Stubb admitted our country has no interest in attacking alliance members.
So, what happened? Sobering up or have the Christmas holidays simply begun?

My answer to both is: Tulsi Gabbard

DNI Tulsi Gabbard @DNIGabbard – 21:02 utc · Dec 20, 2025

No, this is a lie and propaganda @Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides.

Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.

The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.

The master called and the poodles winced but found their place.

Posted by b on December 23, 2025 at 18:00 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Trump peace effort? What peace effort? He makes offers he knows Russia will refuse.

America is beyond making peace with anyone. It’s even picking economic fights with its allies. Talking about peace is the last “peace impersonation” any America politician can make. It’s all gaslighting.

Merry Christmas B and thanks for the great work!

Posted by: EoinW | Dec 24 2025 13:56 utc | 201

So many excellent comments here – obviously some are HasbaRat talking points – which most of the barflies can see through daily more clearly.
I’ll add my opinion on the zeitgeist driving the geopolitical reality and hang it on n one comment (nothing personal- just a jump off point Jane)

Re Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 5:17 utc | 148

‘Islamist ideology is to establish a worldwide caliph, and many Islamists, or Muslims, whatever, do wish to establish sharia law in US communities.’

Is that really true in terms of absolute numbers of people? Enough to make it happen. Given that it is highly sectarian and only the oil monied Wahhabists who are agents of the Ziolords appear to have any ‘power’?
I feel it is a red herring, squizzle pointing issue whilst the real Crime goes on in broad daylight as always.

I don’t have any objection with it, if so – no one can force anyone to BELIEVE.

After all the US was born on neo pseudo Christian sects that were birthed in Britain and Europe just so they could be ‘non-mainstream’ and so be ostracised by the state, church and even the third and fourth estates!

That being the whole purpose- so the ‘oppressed’ would have ‘encouragement’ to go to a ‘new land’ – apparently without native populations that needed settling or converting if there were any unfortunates there!

The Imperialism and colonisations were framed as such ‘missions’ were they not? Whether Jesuites or Plymouth Brethren’s- and the ensuing newer or revitalised US religions – Mormons, Christian Scientists or even ‘Klingon’ or the most absurd of all – evangelical Christian Zionists praying for an eschatological destruction of the Earth and Humanity so they alone could be saved by some insane skyfaerie !

Or the convert khazars, lets-ask-a-Nazi minions , of their promised slaves of all humanity which they were dispossessed of, by the ‘Slavs’, who they ‘farmed’ and supplied as their very own ‘spice or silk’ to the great rulers and nations of North Africa and Sahel etc.

The US mental dysfunction is manufactured, was planned from day one, to become a ‘neo-imperialism’ more powerful than the limits of the individual AngloEuropean ‘peoples’. Leaving their nations as empty husks bereft of populations.

How else were the Old Bastards going to create enough boots on the grounds to invade settle and manage their slave world?

See? That’s always been the plan. The ziofascist plan. Going back many many centuries.

The whole history of the US is a coherent force being formed in a melting pot and ultimately hundreds of millions aligned to that conquest of the world.

It still proceeds with that plan now with many young Africans being encouraged to migrate -to birth a neo Afro American boots on the grounds first generation army, in the coming greatest of all wars – for Africa.
———-

What really matters is Ownership – not just of human slaves ; but of Knowledge and Technology and Culture and most of all the means of transaction- that allows a forever tax/rentierism from where ever it takes place!

Hegemony is what delivers tyranny for ever.

There is no change to the theft and exploitation of ancient human civilsational progress – the silk, spices, invention , industry … even culture!

No they don’t care that the Chinese or even Iran raise generations of inventors, engineers and … astronauts even! Or Russians. They never want to do without that innovation – all they want in the meantime is the ownership of the vast Russian resources! It’s their right! Goddammit!

As long as they get to own and benefit from it as superiors by hook or crook or genocide!

The rafts of trade agreements post ww2 culminated in the 1994 WTO rip-off charters, so that such plunder by international entity’s would be guaranteed! With such corporate entities given RIGHTS which were greater than Humans! Well most humans except the Chosen eh?

When the Tips agreements were than being pursued as an extension of the WTO, it became obvious that the emerging economies would turn the tables – so they were delayed, collapsed, the retreat into G20 to keep the G7 and then 8 … all sorts of international ‘Rules’ being imposed unilaterally!

They don’t care – don’t give a damn – what hypocrisy and cheating and lying that proves; they just want it ALL. Hang the WTO!

Let us own all your bases! But how dare you try and own ours??
———-

Now that the world and humanity is finally waking up and saying hang on! ‘your god’ and your supremacy and your chutzpah putting yourselves at the top of the food chain forever; doesn’t quite seem fair for the rest of us, the majority, Many, of humanity.

The Old Bastards know their shapeshifted religious convert ‘authority’ is as bare arsed as the emperors new clothes always were and they can’t keep the pretence up, by hook or crook.

Whether it be the JudaeoChristian fairytales or the Western superiority – their fruits are all sour lemons.
Or the equally controlled ‘Islam’ version or even the TransHuman Hollywood infantalised Collective Wasters versions – e.g is there anything more absurd than the Japanese doll/child idiocy of its peoples?

What do they do with them lemons? Make lemonade of course, with lots of cancerous artificial sweeteners!

The latest neo religions of the Collective Waste? The fairy tales of Hollywood. Superheroes, the individualists of the techbros – all of who were just fronts for their captured science and technology. Which was created by real smart humans, captured by academia, mega corps or government defence departments – for the old bastard masters.

When the US needs to build Solar power factory it lets the Chinese build it instead and then takes posesssion!

When they want the newer semiconductors it does the same.

When they can’t strong arm that, they play nicey nicey, whilst still playing off their US/Collective Western minions as ‘competition’.
That’s the DJT maverick new broom, shtick – they expect the Multipolarists to fall over!

Shapeshifting into the inevitable winners multipolar world; expecting to take over, like a cancer as they have done every single time, over the last two millenia.

Taking control of the seas and the stuff below our feet. Now that grasp is slipping but will not be lost without a fight – as in Ukraine and Venezuela and many other constant war spots.

————

BUT … here is the game changer.
See that thing above our heads? The sky? The Moon? The SPACE!

The Chinese are going there, the Russians are going to hitch along as copilots, bringing what they can to the projects; the shapeshifters’ India is being encouraged to join them!

Whilst the US/Europeans have reached their limits – except for the couple of the US supposed private companies, heroically, with their super smart individuals (Hollywood see?) aiming to get there first!

Why try so hard when the rest of humanity can do that and we can just buy it up and use that ownership to lay claim upon the whole of their ‘gods creation’?

Simples. Innit.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 24 2025 13:59 utc | 202

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 12:46 utc | 194

How do you deliver the education, the emotional support (this is big-time emotional work, right?), the relationship-building (trading and personal, trust-building, etc.), the people (whom you don’t currently know), the products, and the acumen to start and run a local business? Need all that stuff, right?

There are some strategic tools yet-to-be-built which could possibly do those things.

<=very challenging set of questions..

1. the strategic tools already exist but they are monopolized by the too big to fail as a result of copyright, patent, and trade secret monopoly powers created from hot thin air by lobby directed rule of law.

a. Usually somebody somewhere knows how to do whatever is needed in the development of processes leading to production.. but because of top down monopoly power their knowledge and personal instructional oversight when needed are unavailable to bottom-up, underfunded, enterprising entrepreneurs (i.e. most of it would be on the Internet if top down profits were not driving the permissions <=the internet between 1985 and 1999 was much like AI is today, it was experimental and mostly free of top down greed driven regulation).

b. In the old days education was mostly on the job training.. Even the graduates were unprepared for the industrial revolution.. they learned to read, write, think, compute and they learned history, philosophy, a foreign language, Latin, German or French and just enough physics, chemistry, biology and stuff to know those fields could produce results when needed, But they did not become experts (PHds) in one of the fields they entered the job market and the competitive world at or near the bottom in an industry (hence they did their PHds by on the job training and they brought to the job what their parents and brothers and sisters had to offer, which often was a lot). The smart ones developed the science necessary for the industries to be competitive, the social ones became the sales persons and cowboy managers, and slower or less dedicated ones found supporting niches within the industries they began with..

c. The pride that goes with being an integral part of society created the trust, because society back then valued “contribution and personal performance” quite a bit more than position. Failure from lack of effort was unacceptable so people did not promise what they could not or would not deliver. Top down, particularly the congress and the bureaucracy it has created, has destroyed that pride and blocked that interactivity; leaving a void that has created a wedge between the many and the few reminiscent of the pre industrial era.

4. We are reaching an err when jobs as we know them are being automated out of existence.. The new contributors to the economy will most likely be people with imagination.. able to create in their minds an outcome that mankind has yet to invent.. Imagination will dictate the research and development projects and tasks society needs in the very near future.

5. Humanity is already fully distributed globally. Its just never had the socialization it needs to interactively work together to improve the world for everyone.. First it was geography, the scarce resources, then leader greed which morphed into monopoly power and the divide and conquer nation state system. That system and the monopoly powers it has given to the few has prevented humanity from engaging in interactive collaboration. But we are approaching a point in time when greed will have run its course and at that time I expect the nation state boundaries to become transparent.

Hope I understood your question and answered your questions .. my answers need a lot more thought.. and I will be working on those thoughts as I encounter specific examples. great questions. thanks for the reply.

Posted by: snake | Dec 24 2025 14:09 utc | 203

@Snake:

Couple points:

a. Most of what households need can be made on a local basis. The house, the appliances, the food, energy, child care, education, entertainment, health care, transportation … just about all of it can be made, repaired, produced locally. Thought experiment: open up your washer, or the HVAC unit. Take a look. None of those parts are complicated. Yes, many parts have to be made in specialized factories, but they can be designed to last, and the machines designed to be easy to repair. Many parts can be refurbed or recycled locally. Move the labor from centralized mfg’g to distributed repair and recycle.

b. Yes automation will make centralized jobs go away. Two Qs: who owns the automation? Oligarch or you? And … don’t we also need jobs that are tough to automate-away? Repair, refurb. Less load on natural world. Don’t we need that sort of stuff?

c. Here in US, humanity is mainly distributed to major metro areas, mostly on the coasts. There are vast relatively unpopulated areas with good weather, soil, etc. that have dead towns in them (centralized the jobs). What about un-centralizing the jobs? What’s in the way? The efficiencies of centralized production. What about the inefficiencies of the long supply chains for centralized production? Can the advantages of local be used to level the playing field between centralized production .vs. local?

d. The pride of worksmanship thing. It’s a thing, indeed. I take great pride in the things I build/built. The only limitation on getting more enjoyment is that it took me so long to do, and I can’t afford to be that inefficient for all the stuff I need. So, can a local economy be spun up over decades that gradually displaces centralized production with local? Can’t that be thought about, tested out, iteratively evolved toward? People don’t care about what they produce because the consequences of incompetence aren’t put in their face. If my neighbor makes me some furniture that is shoddy, he/she’s gonna hear about it. It won’t happen twice, right? And people want meaning; they want to make something tangible, start-to-finish, that’s theirs. That force exists, but it’s currently not expressible at the workplace.

e. Education. Right now, we don’t believe in self-education that much. But its sooooooo cheap to deliver education over the internet. youtube is gotta be 20% how-to vids. Online education can go waaay further than it is now. Also most work, most production, doesn’t need all that much education. Yes, top-end R&D, health care procedures, but most production doesn’t need that much education. (not saying education is bad; it’s terrific. But we’ve got brain-lock about degrees. Degrees don’t equate to job performance. Other factors (pertinence of knowledge, degree of discipline, ability to evolve, acquire and use feedback) make more difference.

f. Monopoly power. Most of the stuff you need to run your house isn’t covered by patent. They’ve long since expired. If you don’t try to compete at the leading edge of tech, and just use all the good stuff out there that’s out of patent protection, you’ll do fine. For ex, my washing machine contains elec motor, valves, timer, belts, pulleys, big wash-bowl, agitator, wiring, relays, and a sheet-metal enclosure. Which of those parts is still under patent protection? I think the correct answer is “none”.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 14:48 utc | 204

It seems absurd to me that we people down in the trenches in the class war are so consumed with the nationalist elites of the globe who are in the process of grinding us into dust.We must change the game entirely. Shut the war games down. Refuse to sacrifice ourselves to their heedless greed. Our current circumstance is unlivable for the majority. Do not acquiesce.

Posted by: linda | Dec 24 2025 14:59 utc | 205

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 14:48 utc | 204

re: f) Did you see an open-source washing machine yet? Who will build one for you and cover for warranty matters? Patents exist to incentivize innovation to hold a short monopoly to make money, and once a patent expires, some improvements can be made to slap a new patent on the whole thing, like your motor. Then there are Patent Pools and submarine patents, loved by tech companies and hated by the Open Source community which rightfully feels locked out… That’s why, for example JPEG2000 never really became a thing.

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 15:01 utc | 206

The combination of the rapidly accelerating illegality of the actions of the European Commission, with the astonishing sanctioning of Jacques Baud create a situation today in which – it seems to me in which the EU seriously risks collapsing like a house of cards. Or according to what is said: “first gradually, then suddenly all at once”.

I’d recommend seeing the interview of Baud by Daniel Davis (that’s the only one I’ve seen so far, but there are others, of which the key revelations may or may not be the same). Of special interest to me in that interview is that Baud stated many parliamentarians from numerous different EU countries have contacted him, stating that the legal right to free speech for anyone at all, anywhere in the EU, is now in principle completely dead.

The actions of the European Commission can only be legal if, and to the extent that, they depend on authority that was specifically entrusted to them by the various founding treaties. Any decision of the EU Commission that is not based on an authority specifically entrusted to them by treaty – such as the abrogation of the requirement of unanimity in foreign policy decisions, or the seizure of profits from sovereign foreign assets, or (I suggest) the sanctioning of individual persons on the basis of speech or opinion – is legally void, ultra vires, legally invalid.

What happens if people start protesting in very large numbers in response to the illegal repression of speech, opinion, and fundamental rights long taken for example? Supposing, for example, that Israel were to so increase the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank – with as always the complicity of the EU – as to massively enrage large sections of the population. Considering the illegal repression of fundamental protected rights especially speech and opinion, is it not conceiveable that large scale protests could potentially give rise to the spontaneous collapse of perceived authority to govern, in the eyes of the majority. If the perceived authority to govern, in the eyes of the majority, were to suddenly collapse, the authorities are likely to respond with lethal force – thereby directly multiplying the crisis of governability. What happens then? House of cards collapses?

Posted by: BM | Dec 24 2025 15:26 utc | 207

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 12:46 utc | 194

I kind of think a certain Mr Marx was there before you, explaining all that, but you can’t have that sort of thing in the good ol’ USA.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 15:34 utc | 208

A small correction:

“Can it run Windows 10 and Photoshop?” will be answered with a big grin ~~“Sure!”~~
“No need, we have our own programs to do all that stuff”.
Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 13:34 utc | 198

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 15:39 utc | 209

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 5:51 utc | 151
============

Second identical post.
Your point is weak, so drop it

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 15:40 utc | 210

Simples. Innit.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 24 2025 13:59 utc | 202
==========

Uh, no.
You must have a lot of time on your hands on Christmas Eve. Boil it down to a few sentences and I’ll read it.

Posted by: Jane | Dec 24 2025 15:43 utc | 211

@Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 15:01 utc.

Nervous German: great points, thx for raising them.

Who will make the open-source washing machine? The following individuals or companies, each of which has an interesting in helping out:

designer with CAD/CAM experience. Does all the design work, produces files can be mfg’d in many machine shops. My local machine shop can do all needs doing. Designer puts designs up on web, charges a royalty for each use. Makes royalty low enough that people will do it.

companies that make motors, pulleys, relays, washing bowls, agitators etc. and sells those parts of the OEMs like GE and LG etc. The big guys are doing assy and marketing, not mfg’g all the parts. Just like auto companies. Mechanic (below) buys these parts. Of course, there would be a “best places to get these parts” list circulating on the Internet

local person with mechanical ability. Opens repair, reclaim and refurb center near the landfill, where old washing machines go to die. Charges $80 hour to do repair, makes a very good living. Does refurb then sends the (like new) washer over to

local appliance retail shop, which stocks “new” or refurbed washers and other appliances. Gets 25% markup, makes a decent living selling them. Sells a bunch of other refurbed appliances in addition to washing machines.

local art person, who can do custom paint, metal sculpture, etc. ” I want fins on my washer. Art deco chrome, too, and I also want an analog clock and a shelf above the washer to store detergent on it, too. Canya do it?” Artist / metal sculptor says “Sure can. Gonna look very cool, too”

There is no warranty, unless you want to buy one from the mechanic. Machine is designed for durability (oversize bearings, oversize motor, oversize relays, high quality belts and over-engineered pumps. the stuff that typically breaks) and all the parts are in the mechanic’s (small!) warehouse, because all the models use the same basic parts. The machine is designed to be easily serviced, and indeed can be serviced by a reasonably mechanically adept homeowner. If the homeowner can’t do it, call the local repair guy, just like you’d do for a major brand. Only the local guy would actually show up, and would actually fix the machine, and at a reasonable price. National brand repair systems are really bad here in the U S.

The patent pools and latest (patented) motors are not relevant. The patents, held by pool or single company, are long since expired. When I look at the labels on the motors I buy, for farm or hvac use, I don’t see any patent numbers on them. I don’t need the most advanced motor to run a washing machine, right?

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 15:45 utc | 212

@Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 15:34 utc.

I say we can have that sort of thing.

The technical aspect is well within the province of the people I see running around the local makers shop. “Makers” in this context is a bunch of people that pool their money, rent a building, buy some tools, and share it among themselves to build cool stuff. My local maker’s outfit has all manner of advanced metal-working gear, paint shop, robotics, software, CAD classes … everything nec to do the custom parts of this washing machine thing. All of them know about, use, or actually create open-source software and hardware.

Don’t let cynicism get full control of your aspirations, Jams. I know exactly what you’re saying, but don’t feed the learned-helplessness bear. If you’re gonna get beat, _make the other team beat you_. Don’t beat yourself.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 15:50 utc | 213

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 24 2025 13:59 utc | 202
“the Chinese are going there, the Russians are going to hitch along as copilots, bringing what they can to the projects; the shapeshifters’ India is being encouraged to join them! Whilst the US/Europeans have reached their limits – except for the couple of the US supposed private companies, heroically, with their super smart individuals (Hollywood see?) aiming to get there first!”

First off, Merry Christmas (Eve!)

Secondly, (dons flame shield) on this topic I would suggest looking at actual numbers. The U.S is an order of magnitude ahead of literally everyone else thanks to Spacex. This gets casually dismissed by those who either don’t want to know or couldn’t be bothered to understand the details, so let’s look at the numbers.

In 2025, the “United States” (really, Spacex) carried out 229 orbital launches. Of those, 174 were Spacex and almost all of those (save a few) were fully re-useable rockets, with many boosters having flown dozens of times now.

China performed 78 launches, all of them with single use rockets- I think one or two were test reuseables. Yes, China is playing catch-up to the States with their development of what is basically a falcon 9 clone and they will get there one day but they’re not close to parity as of now.

Russia performed just 20 launches, all of them with single use rockets.

So the “Hollywood” super smart individual managed to pull off almost twice as many launches as the collective state efforts of both Russia and China. And, those launches came at a fraction of the cost and rapidly increased cadence (many boosters can be turned around and flown again in a matter of weeks)

All of this is not even taking into account Starship. And if you want to hand-wavingly dismiss that too as a stunt, methinks you would get along well with many mariners and Admirals in the 19th century who scoffed at the notion of moving from Sail to Steam.

Once Starship starts making actual production flights, the numbers are even more skewed with a single launch being capable of putting more than 100 tonnes into LEO with full reusability of the booster. In all of spaceflight history, there isn’t a single rocket flown by anyone that comes even close to realizing that capability.

So, yes. The U.S may be “collapsing” and bankrupt and all sorts of doom and gloom on the horizon. But the reality is in the space sphere, thanks to a single company they’re leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the planet and that gap is only widening. Even if the U.S has some catastrophic downturn, I suspect many will be surprised that entities like Spacex will just keep on chugging away, happily outstripping everyone else. I’m happy to defend that statement in a separate post if anyone is curious why I’d say that.

To be clear, I don’t intend any of this as a personal put-down or to denigrate or belittle anyone. But I have a really hard time understanding why so many pro-RF/East are completely blinded to the fact (or in outright denial) that at this time, the U.S reigns supreme in space, FAR ahead of any potential competitor. If that weren’t the case we wouldn’t have the only LEO constellation of literally thousands of starlinks in orbit right now.

None of this is to say that the situation can’t or won’t change with the U.S getting eventually outstripped in this sphere. But at this time, they are undeniably #1 and that gives them a significant strategic advantage.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 15:52 utc | 214

All the things you are proposing are eminently sensible, but you also need a plan to get from the financialized rentier style capitalism which is in control of most western economies to what is essentially socialist anarchism, as the operators of the USA have a long history of stamping very hard on such movements.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 15:57 utc | 215

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 15:52 utc | 215
You probably also have a really hard time understanding why the US for a long time bought (and very possibly still does) its most effective rocket engines from Russia.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:02 utc | 216

Both main parties arguably has (or at least had) the capability to destroy the Earth many times over

I’ve recently seen the argument behind this popular trope. It’s not the Earth, it’s not humanity, but it is a multiple of the Earth population if all warheads were fired on hypothetical population centers.

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 24 2025 16:05 utc | 217

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 15:52 utc | 215

Here’s an another example for your ‘space race’ (and don’t forget who put the first satellite and the first man into orbit)

“China is estimated to spend around $6bn a year on its space programme. Although that is almost $1bn more than Russia, it is still a fraction of the American space budget, which is around $40bn a year. Despite its large budget, the US made only 19 successful space launches in 2013, compared with China’s 14 and Russia’s 31.”

I imagine similar figures will continue to apply.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:06 utc | 218

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:06 utc | 219

######

I have been beating around that bush for some time.

The Axis’ space program isn’t a reality TV show like SpaceX. They engineer and do things, economically.

Wait until Iranian rocketry expertise joins the party beyond launching satellites.

Meanwhile, IIRC, Europe struggles (and fails?) to launch a single satellite, remaining dependent on America to do what is becoming a basic task for a modern industrial nation.

I have been enthused and skeptical about man going to space but after researching the Russian missions to Venus, I feel convinced it’s real “out there”.

If the Chinese do establish a lunar colony, that will be amazing. Mankind sorely needs new frontiers. Everything down here has become commoditized and superficial, IMO,

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 16:16 utc | 219

@ Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 15:52 utc. Good post. It’s important to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. US can and will do some great stuff. I hope to contribute to that; as an American I see no reason why I can’t do smart stuff, too, even though my leaders are demented, dysfunctional, short-sighted gangsters. I’m not them.

One important point you made: one company, with the right talent and culture, did amazing things. Can be done. In fact, this is where I see the future of the US: develop products that deliver great value, and sell them to ourselves or the rest of the world. Hang up the gangster-gun, and pick up the welder. Get busy.

@Jams: yes, stomp-down will happen. But the commercial space is replete with little guys that found niches and prospered. Amazon is stuffed full of products, proudly marketed in US, by US bigs, that are not covered by patents. Thousands of such products. Can be done.

And to your point about having a plan: I don’t think over-arching plan is a good idea. Grandiose plans have a great penchant for not happening.

Better to build the tools all those little anarchists need, make them available for low or no cost, and GTFO of their way. Just like what happened with the open source sw scene. Most of the tools needed are readily, widely available now, and many are free.

Better to zero in on one or two “case study” products, show that it’s possible, and let people run with it. Bottom up, not top-down.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 16:19 utc | 220

[o/t]

Re: Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 15:45 utc | 213

I get your idea, and I like it! Things are only impossible for as long as somebody who doesn’t know it’s impossible just goes ahead and does it. Could even do all the ordering and customization stuff online.
~~~~~~~~~~

Re: Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 15:39 utc | 210

“No need, we have our own programs to do all that stuff, and we can even switch the locale (UI language) without needing to log off and on again. Makes it much easier for us to implement good ideas better… And for you too, if you wanna join development on our 100 % open platform!” 🙂

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 16:24 utc | 221

The Russian Venusian missions were unmanned and the results unfavorable (for habitation), but they did expand understanding of what awaits us out there.

Venus is so hot and pressure filled that it took many attempts to get the first pictures and surface level readings. We could not make stuff strong enough until we did, and therein lies the value, IMO.

We’re curious and tenacious buggers. We refuse to let nature beat us. We love a challenge.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 16:25 utc | 222

# 76,
I think you nailed it. Without divine intervention Trump’s survival is very unlikely and those who worked in his administration will all be dead or in jail. I believe in Divine intervention!! I don’t think western Europeans do.
Ignoring Ms Gabbard would be expected. The reality comes down to resources. As the western Europeans are having to bear more of the costs and risks associated with their Ukraine adventure, we are likely to see more realistic policy initiatives from them.

Posted by: B.Poster | Dec 24 2025 16:29 utc | 223

Tom Pfotzer @213:

I definitely want one of those quarter million dollar bespoke washing machines! Probably comes with gold inlaid control panels and diamond studded knobs since that won’t significantly impact the cost.
Until I get rich I think I’ll just stick with the cheap ones from giant factories, though.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 24 2025 16:32 utc | 224

@William Gruff | Dec 24 2025 16:32 utc.

We won’t depend on you to build our future, William. You can continue to grouse from outside the shop while we do it. And no, we won’t ridicule you for being a boat-anchor.

🙂

Yes, I am kidding. Sure would like to have you around, William. I have some idea how competent you are. Keep the mental door open, OK?

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 16:36 utc | 225

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 16:19 utc | 221

You should read the history of the Wobblies. They were stomped into oblivion by US industry, government and the Pinkertons. They will do the same to you, and if you are just a bunch of guys here and there, and if you have no unity and solidarity they will do it very easily.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:46 utc | 226

@ BM | Dec 24 2025 15:26 utc | 208

i am not sure what has to happen for europeans to wake up to what their leaders are doing… hard to know.. freedom of speech is just one of the dynamics that they are having pulled away from them, but a very important one…

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 16:50 utc | 227

Tom Pfotzer @226:

The mind is open, but remains grounded in what is possible within the laws of nature. The truth is that a washing machine hand-made by craftsmen is going to cost more than a few hundred bucks more than a mass-produced one of the same quality and features. A whole lot more.

Capitalism was a progressive force in its earlier days, and mass production was an enormously progressive development. It massively reduced costs while improving quality. A small craftsman economy sounds nice in theory, but in practice it would be a step back to a more primitive economic model.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 24 2025 16:59 utc | 228

@Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:46 utc.

I will read the history of the Wobblies. I bet it will be quite instructive.

While I’m doing that, pls explain how open source software came to dominate (right word) so much of the I.T. landscape. If there’s any part of the industrial landscape that the Bigs want to control, it’s the IT landscape.

How’d that happen? Most data centers are running a version of Linux. The desktop will likely get owned by Linux. Microsoft is rapidly integrating it into many of its products.

There are lots of little companies that build components that “bolt on” to the Big’s products. Farm implements. Trailers (< 16′ ones, not the big truck trailers). Bunch of products co-exist with the Bigs. One point to remember: US has basically abdicated manufacturing of appliances to China and S. Korea. There’s no US mfg’r to get pissed.

That’s where William buys his cheap appliances: Asia. After we got the cost down, and total life-cycle cost is cheaper than Asia’s buy-one-every-decade price, even William will see fit to buy-local.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 16:59 utc | 229

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 16:50 utc | 228

######

What value does freedom of speech provide to the ruling elites?

It’s detrimental to wielding power.

If one cannot control speech, as has happened in America, there is an incentive to create and manage narratives. You create Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Tim Pool, etc.

They introduce and frame (Overton) the topics and manage the reaction.

To date, the only freedom a human has, is in their own mind. God save us all if that changes.

Freedom of speech was an ideal but never attainable in a society of thousands, let alone millions. It’s an aspiration, not a norm.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:01 utc | 230

The far-right that turned Germany into a vassal nation in the past century
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Dec 24 2025 9:04 utc | 170

Not sure what you mean here – the USA and USSR turned Germany into two vassal states, FRG and DDR, nothing to do with the agency of the “far-right”
“
“is playing the role of savior this century.”

In 1936 Lloyd George visited Hitler and upon return to Britain announced that “the far-right” Chancellor was Germany’s “George Washington” and his policies had “saved Germany”. In less than ten years Germany lay in ruins and many, many millions dead.
Once Mr MIC, Elon Musk got involved, AFD revealed themselves as another branch of the Uniparty, so I can’t share your confidence in “the far-right”

Posted by: will moon | Dec 24 2025 17:03 utc | 231

@ LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:01 utc | 231

i don’t agree with you ld… but i do agree it is a class war and the upper class continue to hold most of the cards…

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 17:06 utc | 232

@William Gruff | Dec 24 2025 16:59 utc

OK, now we’re making some progress. I’m not advocating for much of the machine to be made by hand. I’d expect most of the parts to be made in shops big enough to get scale advantage.
What I want is for the designs to be open-source, available to regional mfg’rs to make the parts. Then I want an assy place near land-fill, so I can recover the end-of-life machines and refurb them.
the parts would get bought in the tens to hundreds at a time, come in by truck via common carrier. Just offer a few models, nearly all parts shared across models.

The efficiency loss local suffers is a one-time disadvantage due primarily to Asia’s clustering of suppliers in one place. But Asia’s product is designed to get re-purchased every 10 years. Getting service on Asia’s product is really expensive (ask how I know) and they fail a lot. Total cost of ownership is often twice purchase price.

But I can design for durability, and serviceability, and I can stock a small number of parts locally. That has a lot of econ advantages. And I can pay my local repairman a good wage. I can get my end-of-life washer run thru refurb (Asia can’t do that), and I can remarket that refurb unit at way lower cost than new (maybe half to 2/3). And the refurb unit will last longer than Asia-new unit.

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 17:08 utc | 233

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:01 utc
“Freedom of speech was an ideal but never attainable in a society of thousands, let alone millions. It’s an aspiration, not a norm.”

You’ll acknowledge that freedom of speech is _vastly_ more prevalent now that it was even 20 yrs ago, let alone 50, right? So we’re a lot closer to the aspiration than we used to be?

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 17:11 utc | 234

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:02 utc | 217
“You probably also have a really hard time understanding why the US for a long time bought (and very possibly still does) its most effective rocket engines from Russia.”
You sir are 100% correct! Unfortunately however this information is a few decades out of date and hasn’t had any real application or impact for the last 10+ years.
Fun fact, part of the reason why SpaceX is where they are is that they were unable to buy Russian Engines in the first place. This was back in the early 2000’s and they were basically laughed out of Moscow (yes, I know the story is more nuanced than that) so they built their own.
Reality is that the RD-# series of engines Russia produces WERE the greatest in the game until SpaceX created the Merlin and now the true king, the Raptor. And Blue Origin has the BE-4 which isn’t too shabby (but also an attempt to replicate what SpaceX has already done with the Raptor)
Russian engines of the RD variety WERE the king of space in the era of single use rockets. An era that has been over now for a few years, though it takes time to admit to swallow such a bitter pill and move on.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 17:14 utc | 235

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 17:06 utc | 233

#####

In every social species the “strongest” rule.

It’s not class war, it is the natural order.

The notion of “class war” is a divisive Talmudic mind virus that contributes nothing and will never solve anything.

There will always be someone faster, taller, healthier, clever, etc.

How one can believe in biodiversity and think we must all be somewhat equal (classless) is beyond me.

Hierarchy is natural. Superiority is natural. Leadership is natural. All can have bad manifestations but they are all (necessary?) components of social reality across all species on Earth.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:15 utc | 236

In other words, every herd has a leader. If you (the individual) won’t lead, then you will be lead by someone.

That creates the incentive for people to “get their ish together”.

Class is only fixed if people accept it as immutable.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:19 utc | 237

Led by someone…

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:19 utc | 238

@ Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 16:06 utc | 219
“Here’s an another example for your ‘space race’ (and don’t forget who put the first satellite and the first man into orbit) “China is estimated to spend around $6bn a year on its space programme. Although that is almost $1bn more than Russia, it is still a fraction of the American space budget, which is around $40bn a year. Despite its large budget, the US made only 19 successful space launches in 2013, compared with China’s 14 and Russia’s 31.”

No disagreement with anything you’ve posted above. -however- I think here is where the disconnect is. Everybody else (including a lot of legacy U.S big names in the aerospace industry) are still in the Age of Sail if we were to use a maritime analogy. Spacex has progressed to be the only player with functional steam ships, and that isn’t anything to do with ideology or “east vs west” or who has more kids in STEM programs at the national level. It’s just reality, for a number of reasons. Also, your numbers were from 2013, 12 years out of date. Funny, why that’s the last year you posted numbers for?

Single use launch? Age of sail. Any rocket built, any engine (included the vaunted RD-180) can only fly a single time. That’s where Russia is. That’s where China is, though they’re right at the cusp of -joining- the bottom tier of where SpaceX is today. It’s where ESA is, India too. Everyone at a production level is still in the Age of Sail -except- for SpaceX

They managed to pull-off the worlds first steam ship, and since then they’ve only improved and gotten better. Starship will be akin the first Diesel, making steam largely obsolete. Everybody else is furiously working on getting their first steam ships out there.

Again, this is completely de-coupled with the legacy powers and ideology. Radical change usually is. And by those “legacy powers” I mean who would normally be referred to as the traditional U.S MIC. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, ULA. THOSE entities, yes, are far behind China, about on par with Russia. Boeing’s “Dreamliner” is an absolute piece of garbage. The SLS is a complete embarrassment and monumental waste of resources. Meanwhile though, Dragon blows any other crewed launch vehicle out of the water, and it’s now considered a legacy item.

If you can de-couple SpaceX from “the West” and see that it’s not all a single homogenous blob, that’s when the fun begins and opportunities start to open up.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 17:42 utc | 239

667 @ 192

Good on you! I too..am making the switch to Linux this year!

I started my professional career on Unix machines so I should be able to handle the switch. I am also shifting my parametric CAD package after 35 years to a new [to me] fully parametric CAD package that is free but more importantly, mine to keep locally with out codes, dongles or keys…a real liberation for the American worker who has been saddled with userous software cost other nations know nothing about. If I get good at swinging this new CAD hammer, I intend to teach it’s use. I already use Thunderbird…so much better than dealing with the rentiers at Microsquash’em.

Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 24 2025 18:21 utc | 240

@ LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 17:15 utc | 237 // 238 // 239

there is some truth to what you say, but you ignore the aspirations of the people for a fair and equitable situation, as opposed to the country that practices islam – ksa, or uae, where slavery and servitude are put at the top of the alter instead… humanity is bound for a better future and those who are powerful will be laid low… true leadership is what serves the best interests of everyone, as opposed to what we have and see at present..

@ S Brennan | Dec 24 2025 18:21 utc | 241

i’ve been using linux for a long time… ubuntu and mint operating systems at present on mainframe and laptop… thanks norwegian for starting the conversation earlier..

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 18:42 utc | 241

Posted by: snake | Dec 24 2025 14:09 utc |203:

… Humanity is already fully distributed globally. Its just never had the socialization it needs to interactively work together to improve the world for everyone.. First it was geography, the scarce resources, then leader greed which morphed into monopoly power and the divide and conquer nation state system. That system and the monopoly powers it has given to the few has prevented humanity from engaging in interactive collaboration. But we are approaching a point in time when greed will have run its course and at that time I expect the nation state boundaries to become transparent.

Thank you, snake. Happy festive season to all dutiful posters !

I have posted at the Open Forum a link to the movie Ostrov [the island]. This is not a festive movie. I have watched it this morning, now for the third time. The question asked there, which perhaps in future we might discuss, is:

“Why did Cain kill Abel?”

Thanks again, snake. I love your post.

Posted by: juliania | Dec 24 2025 18:56 utc | 242

The US wants to dominate.China wants to be prosperous, does not care about domination or about the US, happens to steamroll the US domination as a side effect.The US does not like that, resorts to pseudoarguments and attempts to undermine China.
Posted by: ArmChairGeneral | Dec 24 2025 6:54 utc | 154

It seems to me that BRICS and China think the best way is to co-operate with each other making everyone prosperous.

Posted by: arby | Dec 24 2025 19:03 utc | 243

Clown Shoes–
Brian Berletic just wrote an article about the reusable rockets .

A New Space Race Above Earth May Determine Who Prevails Upon It
Brian Berletic, December 22, 2025

China’s test of the reusable Zhuque-3 rocket marks a critical step in a new space race where rapid launch cadence, satellite dominance, and military leverage—not symbolism—define power in orbit.

https://x.com/BrianJBerletic/status/2003308885692867042

Posted by: arby | Dec 24 2025 19:06 utc | 244

Sleepy Berletic is awake !That “new” space race started in 2007 when China destroyed a satellite.
USA entered the race at the time : DARPA lauched a call for proposition for “cubesat”. The idea was to have a multitude of microscopic (one liter cube) satellite instead of a moderate number of big satellite. Such could not be taken down by missiles at reasonnable costs.
Other ideas flourished : pseudo-satellites. There is solar planes with months endurance (Airbus developped one) and there is pilotable balloon. Zuckerberg and others tried this way. But il looks like the chinese are the only ones who have mastered the technology and demonstrated it by flying one above the USA under Biden watch. The key for these balloon is the ability to predict weathers, which USA can’t do at the best level.

And, of course, there had been all the Space-X and Starlink program which had been higly subsidized by the pentagon.

One or two years ago, chinese academics have overtly played with the idea to explode nukes in the outer space in order to destroy the Musk constellation.
And you may have heard a few days ago of a (said) Russian project to explode kind of a giant grenade with thousands of metallic particles, for the same purpose.

Posted by: Parisian Guy | Dec 24 2025 19:29 utc | 245

“What information sources have helped you to develop this perspective?”
LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 0:40 utc | 100
Ouiji Board.

Posted by: Mann Friedmann | Dec 24 2025 19:33 utc | 246

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 18:42 utc | 242

#####

Aspirations are like demand (as in supply and demand). They are infinite. People want to be tall, beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, high status, strong, etc. They aspire to it all.

The thing is, aspiration and $5 will get you a coffee at Starbucks. Aspiration doesn’t build skyscrapers or perform surgeries. That takes effort, sacrifice, dedication, and skill.

I know people aspire to better things and a better world. Pursuing a delusional path that cannot lead to success is a proxy for achievement, and we have come full circle back to the root of class theory, resentment.

And that, IMO, is why class theory is a black hole for energy, time, and creativity.

It’s clever and insidious. If I were evil, I would like to think I could come up with something as elegant as it. To use people’s better natures against them.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 19:37 utc | 247

@ LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 19:37 utc | 248

love, ld… contemplate the full meaning of the word… true leadership is the embodiment of it… all else will fall by the wayside… your intelligence needs to serve you better then it presently does, but you have your name here at moa to remind you of the essence of why we are here and what we are meant to be an expression of…

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 19:45 utc | 248

@ snake

here is the movie juliania mentions to you in her post…

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 19:46 utc | 249

Anything goes, ‘parently.

France 24
Zelensky unveils new US-backed, 20-point plan to end the war in Ukraine
6 hours ago
BBC
Zelensky moves towards demilitarised zones in latest peace plan for Ukraine
…
…
The Globe and Mail
U.S. and Ukraine have draft proposal for ending war with Russia, Zelensky says
…
…
Al Jazeera
Zelenskyy unveils details of new peace plan, seeks Trump talks on territory
…
…
See more headlines & perspectives
BBC
Two dead after Pennsylvania nursing home explosions
16 hours ago
…
See more

❝bust·ed flush/ˌbəstəd ˈfləSH/
noun
noun: busted flush; plural noun: busted flushes

1. (in poker) a hand containing four cards of the same suit and one of a different suit.
2. informal
a promising person or thing that turns out to be unsuccessful.”her leadership is already a busted flush”❞

Natalya is a Russian citizen whose two sons served in the SMO and survived and is a frequent commentator at my substack and is more patriotic than Putin.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106Karlofi @ 106Thank you for supporting NatalyaPosted by: Bingo | Dec 24 2025 2:17 utc | 111

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 19:52 utc | 250

just as Germany secret setvices got increased piwers the other day, so

Lithuania has approved legislation expanding the powers of its intelligence services, allowing agents to detain and search suspected individuals, as well as conduct surveillance, without a court order.
The new law, set to take effect on February 1, comes amid escalating rhetoric in European NATO countries about an alleged threat from Russia, which Moscow refutes.
Adopted by the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday, the revised Intelligence Law allows security services not only to gather information but also to take measures against what they perceive as external risks, dangers, and threats “arising from abroad that may be significant to state sovereignty.”

Posted by: Jo | Dec 24 2025 20:32 utc | 251

More about the German economic miracle. The most recently built and modern coal plant in Germany, 150 MW capacity is being demolished.

Does anyone take militarization effort seriously? Last time it was coal and Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-fuel that built Germany, now the trillion Euro renewable effort is falling apart and no one can afford to manufacture anything in Germany.

Posted by: unimperator | Dec 24 2025 20:36 utc | 252

@253
Sorry, the capacity was 1650MW, not 150MW.

Posted by: unimperator | Dec 24 2025 20:39 utc | 253

What has changed is not the assessment by these Europeans about the probability of Russia attacking Europe but the assessment by these people of the advantages to pretending that a war with Russia is imminent. I doubt they ever seriously ask themselves whether Russia is likely to attack them. I am sure they seriously reflect on the advantages of instilling fear of a Russian assault in their restive populations.

Posted by: Roger Milbrandt | Dec 24 2025 22:21 utc | 254

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 17:42 utc | 240

Doesn’t matter. I used to read science fiction from when it was 1958 up until a few years ago, but SF is so over now. Try reading https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/the-end-of-reason and other articles on that site for a bit of perspective

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 24 2025 22:28 utc | 255

So the “Hollywood” super smart individual managed to pull off almost twice as many launches as the collective state efforts of both Russia and China. And, those launches came at a fraction of the cost and rapidly increased cadence (many boosters can be turned around and flown again in a matter of weeks)
Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 24 2025 15:52 utc | 215

*********************

Yes. And this “super smart individual” also achieved a considerable multiple of instances of “un-scheduled complete disassembly” procedures compared with both Russia and China.

No doubt you have those stats to hand also?

Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 24 2025 23:11 utc | 256

love, ld… contemplate the full meaning of the word… true leadership is the embodiment of it… all else will fall by the wayside… your intelligence needs to serve you better then it presently does, but you have your name here at moa to remind you of the essence of why we are here and what we are meant to be an expression of…

Posted by: james | Dec 24 2025 19:45 utc | 249

####

Do you really think you’re an expression of love?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 23:35 utc | 257

Saw this interesting GD on china De-Americanising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfAzt7iJhfQ
Self-reliance, brain drain going into reverse.
US pivot to Asia and weaponised sanctions were the stimulus.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Dec 24 2025 23:43 utc | 258

S. Brendan 26

i don’t particularly want to argue with idiots,
but when the British upper classes and the US , Khazar Jewish Nazi Neocons are still fighting a 1000 year old revenge war against Russia, for defeating of their aggressive empire , it is natural for Russia to fight back.

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 0:07 utc | 259

S. Brendan 26

i don’t particularly want to argue with idiots,
but when the British upper classes and the US , Khazar Jewish Nazi Neocons are still fighting a 1000 year old revenge war against Russia, for defeating of their aggressive empire , it is natural for Russia to fight back.

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 0:07 utc | 260

It seems to me that many of the punitive measures taken by the West have had the opposite effect.

Sanctions on Russia have led to a Russian economic boom.

Blowing up Nordstream, that natural gas will now power China.

By the US blocking China from lithography machines, China now produces cutting-edge technologies in response.

Maybe at some point, the West should stop because so many of its moves put it in a worse position.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 0:08 utc | 261

Natalya is a Russian citizen whose two sons served in the SMO and survived and is a frequent commentator at my substack and is more patriotic than Putin.Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 24 2025 2:02 utc | 106
Karlofi @ 106
Thank you for supporting Natalya
Posted by: Bingo | Dec 24 2025 2:17 utc | 111

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 24 2025 19:52 utc | 251
———————————————————————————-
Mind letting us in on your obsession with Natalya that’s compelling you to continue to beat this poor dead horse?

You haven’t posted thing one, one way or the other, that sheds the slightest light on what you’re going on about here.

Just a lot of insinuation …

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 25 2025 0:21 utc | 262

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:22 utc | 143
Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 24 2025 4:32 utc | 144
In the absence of links, I tried finding one of those articles, citing some of the text word for word, and couldn’t. Were these machine-translated?
Thanks.

Posted by: joey_n | Dec 25 2025 0:31 utc | 263

LoveDonbass 262

Possibly it is the outrageous lies propagated by the Western media which create this illusion of Russia flourishing from Western interference.
I haven’t looked at anything from the BBC since the start of the SMO, but a 200 year old canal bursting its banks caught my eye just now, and I end up watching a full package of straight BBC lies by Ros Atkins about the UAE not funding the Sudan genocide.
I feel shipwrecked, betrayed , wet , cold and very muddy. But obviously not as shipwrecked, betrayed, wet, cold and muddy as a Ukrainian conscript fighting the BBC’s Ukraine war for Netanyahu and the Jewish Nazi Neocons against Russia in Europe, in alliance with the Khazars of Israel.

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 0:39 utc | 264

BTW, take no notice of me for the duration of Christmas. The shirk festival has begun and it catches me every year the same way.
Why can’t they just leave their sordid, liberal belief in prophet Jesus AS being God alone like they do all the rest of the year?
Please take no notice of me. This dark mood will usually disappear in January.

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 0:51 utc | 265

As a Brit who does not support the ruling regime, I’d be quite happy with Russia successfully conquering Europe. No more EU scum. To visit Europe you’d only need to speak Russian. As part of the Russian Federation their economies would actually experience growth, so would be able to buy lots of stuff from Britain.
Posted by: Truthsayer | Dec 24 2025 8:09 utc | 166

But what would the Kremlin think? Wouldn’t they rather let those countries be in charge of their own affairs, minus the Russophobia? I remember Putin once lamenting a German national speaking English at the expense of his/her native tongue – what was the issue then?
If these European countries became part of the Russian Federation, would they be forced to replace whatever local currencies they have with the ruble? It’s bad enough that the replacement of the mark, franc, lira, etc. with the euro robbed these countries of the ability to issue their own monies.

Posted by: joey_n | Dec 25 2025 0:57 utc | 266

The best thing IMO is to abandon religion altogether

Not sure about that. Spiritual practice is helpful. Communal rituals are, too.

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 25 2025 1:22 utc | 267

Meanwhile, IIRC, Europe struggles (and fails?) to launch a single satellite, remaining dependent on America to do what is becoming a basic task for a modern industrial nation.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 24 2025 16:16 utc | 220

That must be one of the examples of you doing “more research than most”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianespace

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 25 2025 1:37 utc | 268

Tulsi Gabbard said that all intelligence agencies (how many are there?) agreed that Iran hadn’t had a nuclear weapon program since 2003. That didn’t stop Trump or Neganyahu from claiming they did. Why would her words effect Europe?

Posted by: Oracle | Dec 25 2025 2:35 utc | 269

Posted by: Oracle | Dec 25 2025 2:35 utc | 270
####

Please stop asking good questions.

Great name to post under, btw.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 2:54 utc | 270

I’ll answer what I assume was a rhetorical question.

Why would Tulsi’s words affect Europe?

They would not; this is all a fantasy and a mass delusion.

People are expected to believe Tulsi when she has zero credibility. What has she done this year that would give anyone a basis for trust or confidence?

Epstein? Gaza? Venezuela? Iran? What exactly has she done (actions, not words) that makes her more reliable than any random person on the internet?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 3:01 utc | 271

There is little to no difference between Europe and America in actions. Forget words; anyone can and will say anything.

The European policy is often the American policy. The differences and disagreements are all kayfabe.

Disagree? Find us some meaningful policy differences between the two.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 3:03 utc | 272

Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 24 2025 23:11 utc | 257
“Yes. And this “super smart individual” also achieved a considerable multiple of instances of “un-scheduled complete disassembly” procedures compared with both Russia and China. No doubt you have those stats to hand also? ”
Sure thing! count is at about a total of 7. Mostly in the early stages of any particular vehicle while they work out the kinks. Life is messy! Meanwhile, Falcon 9 now outperforms the total combined capability of Russia and China, faster, cheaper, with a lower cost and higher payload capability into orbit. And, to be fair China’s new Zhuque-3 is a serious contender to outperform falcon 9 by about 30%, once they get it into serial production that is.
So China’s space program(s) – (there are several) have serious potential to one day equal or surpass SpaceX’s -current- launch capabilities. Not counting Starship of course, for which there are ZERO contenders.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 3:30 utc | 273

LoveDonbass 273

There’s a challenge.
A Muslim woman is an angel in human form
A British woman is human in human form.
An Amerian woman or a Jewish woman is a demon in human form.

Therefore the Muslim .an is free to worship God.
The British man is free to worship Mammon.
The US or Jewish man is indentured to the Devil. His whole life is dedicated to destroying the peace and security of the world around him.

Us Brits , us Frogs, us Fritzes had to learn the hard way to think twice about our bullying behaviour. The US and Israel are blindly heading for the Niagura Falls in a canoe .
To a well- deserved destruction.
Britain is operating under the petticoats of the US and Israel, because it was defeated and humiliated in WW2.
The US and Israel are literally asking for Armageddon. They are extremely weak right now. Much weaker spiritually than Britain and Europe, which have incorporated Islam into their societies.

And much weaker militarily compared to their adversaries because they are behaving like King Kong. Asking for retribution.
Retribution is coming very, very soon to the Arrogant US Jewish Nazi Neocons, who are threatening R o W everywhere.

In five years time the US will have cloned super amd hypersonic technology.
The time for R o W to strike is now.
When that happens, the Europeans will easily fall into line.

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 5:57 utc | 274

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 5:57 utc | 275

####

Akhi, all of this was decided a long time ago. Tawakkul.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 6:17 utc | 275

An Amerian woman or a Jewish woman is a demon in human form. Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 5:57 utc | 275
==========================================
You know what, Givane, you god-damned frog: Fuck you!
Fuck you and your stereotypical antisemitism concealed in some kind of political sophistry.
I’m so fucking sick and tired of the barely-concealed crypto-Nazi sentiments that bubble up here all too often.
Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!

Disclaimer: this is not to say that Israelis and Zionists ought to be condemned—and punished—for the crimes they’re committing in the Occupied Territories. I think that pretty much goes without saying around here.

But to descend to the level of bare bigotry that you and others display here: no. Just no.
Take it somewhere else. Or maybe we ought to think about throwing you into the ovens …

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 25 2025 6:18 utc | 276

Israelis & Zionists ≠ all Jews.

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 25 2025 6:19 utc | 277

Inshallah

Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 6:21 utc | 278

So have you re-thought what you posted before?

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 25 2025 6:22 utc | 279

Posted by: George the Zeroth | Dec 25 2025 6:19 utc | 278

######

In your attempts to police language, you run the risk of defending Zionism.

Arabic is a Semitic language, as are Aramaic and Amharic (Ethiopian working tongue).

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 7:12 utc | 280

Posted by: Roger Milbrandt | Dec 24 2025 22:21 utc | 255

I think you’re 100 % right about this.
Such leaders are indeed a tragedy for us all.

Posted by: Avtonom | Dec 25 2025 9:11 utc | 281

@james | Dec 24 2025 18:42 utc | 242

i’ve been using linux for a long time… ubuntu and mint operating systems at present on mainframe and laptop… thanks norwegian for starting the conversation earlier..

Good to hear there are several linux users here. I started using Linux Kubuntu in 2007 and it is now my main desktop. To those of you who have not tried a Linux distro yet, the popular distros are very user friendly and provide a way out of spyware and corporate lock-in. Try one in 2026 or right now!

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 25 2025 9:59 utc | 282

Using Linux since 1996

Posted by: Catilina | Dec 25 2025 10:01 utc | 283

Not counting Starship of course, for which there are ZERO contenders.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 3:30 utc | 274

—

Yee Haw! Unparalleled explosions.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 25 2025 10:23 utc | 284

US sanctions EU bureaucrats for censoring free speech. Allegedly.

I think it is a case of double-edged sword meets double-edged sword. Both parties are baddies, for slightly non-overlapping reasons, and both of them are conning us about their true intentions.

EU case.
Supposedly the EU worry (funny ha ha) about the privacy of EU digital users, and want to reduce the control of huge US monopolies over the speech of EU citizens. So far so good. But I think the reality is far more that they want more power to control, snoop and censor the speech of EU citizens because the degenerate elites are terrified of the populus.

US case.
Supposedly the US want to block the EU from censoring US citizens, and by implication also block the undemocratic EU from censoring EU citizens. Sounds good but I say bullshit. They are more concerned that the EU will cause impediments to US ability to control, snoop and censor the speech of EU citizens. They barely care a rat’s ass about EU bureaucrats censoring US citizens, just as long as the US censorship has primacy over the EU censorship. Bonus: huge monopolies are both financially lucrative and politically lucrative for the US.

Posted by: BM | Dec 25 2025 11:29 utc | 285

Ukies, officially war refugees, from Prague, Plzeň, Brno have direct trains and buses specially prepared for them to spend winter vacations on UA, I think in the west part of it, they are being invited even for winter sports on the western hills of former Austrian part of the UA. They are mostly on the benefits the Czech taxpayers. incl. full medical care free, however the trains and buses are full, « drôle de guerre ».
As far as I know, the same situation is in Poland.

Posted by: Josef Schweik | Dec 25 2025 12:03 utc | 286

Tom Pfotzer | Dec 24 2025 17:08 utc | 234

But I can design for durability, and serviceability, and I can stock a small number of parts locally. That has a lot of econ advantages. And I can pay my local repairman a good wage. I can get my end-of-life washer run thru refurb (Asia can’t do that), and I can remarket that refurb unit at way lower cost than new (maybe half to 2/3). And the refurb unit will last longer than Asia-new unit.

We bought an AEG washing machine, German made, in around 1991 when we had child #2. It lasted around 27 years, doing two washes a day every day for 20 of those years. When it finally died … we bought another German made AEG.

Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Dec 25 2025 13:53 utc | 287

A Muslim woman is an angel in human form
Posted by: Giyane | Dec 25 2025 5:57 utc | 275

Do angels dress in black from head to toe and cover every part of their body including their faces and heads?

Or did Allah build them like that?

Posted by: arby | Dec 25 2025 14:39 utc | 288

The Angel of Death , played by Christopher Walken ( saturday night live. 04/08/00) claimed that being all clad in black from head to toe was more “funky”.

Posted by: Fíréan | Dec 25 2025 14:50 utc | 289

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 3:30 utc | 274

Ah, I see. Like most people, you prefer to ignore unwelcome facts. Us exceptionalism is so boringly predictable.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 25 2025 16:39 utc | 290

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 3:30 utc | 274 Ah, I see. Like most people, you prefer to ignore unwelcome facts. Us exceptionalism is so boringly predictable.
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 25 2025 16:39 utc | 291

Honest question, what are the unwelcome facts I’m ignoring? At no point have I argued that the U.S is exceptional. Merely in the area of space ( and space alone) –today– (not talking about tomorrow or all time) the U.S is ahead of everyone else by a wide margin, due to spacex.

Numbers back this up, in the form of a 9,100 satellite starlink constellation that (today) nobody else has the capability of creating.

2025 saw Spacex put almost twice the number of orbital launches (succesful) than both China and Russia combined. Then Throw in Blue Origin and ULA and some of the other smaller start-ups and that puts the U.S well past that.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 16:47 utc | 291

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 16:47 utc | 292

####

I believe that SpaceX’s lead will disintegrate very quickly with the lack of access to advanced materials.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 16:58 utc | 292

Numbers back this up, in the form of a 9,100 satellite starlink constellation that (today) nobody else has the capability of creating.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 16:47 utc | 292

—

This bubble is bright and shiny, but it is unsustainable.

July 28, 2025

LA PLATA, Maryland — SpaceX Starlink satellites performed 144,404 collision-avoidance manoeuvres in the six months ending May 30, well above the rate reported for the previous six-month period

https://www.spaceintelreport.com/starlink-performed-144000-collision-avoidance-maneuvers-between-december-and-may-wants-equal-reporting-rules-for-all/

Elsewhere it is widely reported that SpaceX’s evasive manoeuvres have been doubling every six months. That kind of exponential growth never ends well.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 25 2025 17:05 utc | 293

@too scents – That growth rate is quite something. But why is this happening?

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 25 2025 17:21 utc | 294

@Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 25 2025 16:58 utc | 293
I believe that SpaceX’s lead will disintegrate very quickly with the lack of access to advanced materials.

Interesting topic! I will take your bet and counter that so long as SpaceX is providing value, said resources will be provided to them regardless. I feel that the far bigger threat to SpaceX is the U.S being themselves and killing the golden goose.

In particular, if an established legacy entity steeped in the cult of MBA’s (Boeing, ULA, etc) were to absorb or take over the company in the event that Elon Musk is out of the picture. THEN we’d quickly see things take a nosedive into stagnation, mediocrity and ultimate failure. It’s certainly possible! And I’m not saying that everything would collapse because Musk isn’t running the show (for whatever reason) but rather that that -could- open the door to one of the usual finance capitalist zombies to come in and do their thing. It’s entirely possible that SpaceX could thrive massively without Musk if someone like Shotwell continued to run the show -unhindered- by the corporate clown show.

@ Posted by: too scents | Dec 25 2025 17:05 utc | 294

Elsewhere it is widely reported that SpaceX’s evasive manoeuvres have been doubling every six months. That kind of exponential growth never ends well.

Agreed! Same argument will apply to literally everyone else who builds their own multi-satellite constellation. Yes, space is gettting very, very crowded and it’s only going to increase. On the plus side, one nice feature is that every satellite in LEO has a fairly short life span (spacex are about 5 years) before they burn up on re-entry. Or hopefully burn up on re-entry!

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 17:28 utc | 295

But why is this happening?

Posted by: persiflo | Dec 25 2025 17:21 utc | 295

—

Geodesics and an increasingly complicated network graph.

“n chose 2″ ==> https://oeis.org/A000217

Posted by: too scents | Dec 25 2025 17:36 utc | 296

Same argument will apply to literally everyone else who builds their own multi-satellite constellation.

Posted by: Clown Shoes | Dec 25 2025 17:28 utc | 296

—

Try not to be too proud of SpaceX squatting on the global commons.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 25 2025 17:43 utc | 297

Brian Berletic agrees with Clown Shoes. The US is far ahead in this department. He also says that China is working very fast on catching up.

Posted by: arby | Dec 25 2025 18:11 utc | 298

Berletic’s article —

https://x.com/BrianJBerletic/status/2003308885692867042

Posted by: arby | Dec 25 2025 18:14 utc | 299

Merry Christmas! 🎁

Glenn Diesen: Sergey Karaganov Confronting Europe, Pivot to East & Nuclear War (39 minutes, streamed today)
Peter Samuel Jost: Gabriele Krone-Schmalz Russland und der Westen: Von der Sowjetunion zum Ukraine-Krieg (67 minutes, streamed 2 days ago, in German)

Posted by: Nervous German | Dec 25 2025 19:08 utc | 300

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