Posted by: Polli | Sep 2 2026 17:15 utc | 1
 
For sure they are liars and clowns, but if the plan is to crash the world economy we cannot claim incompetence.
 
Indeed to make it al look like some terrible accident is the height of competence.
 
(Imagine Tommy Cooper doing geo-politics).
 
Economic Chemotherapy: America’s Desperate Plan to Save Hegemony

Posted by: ChatNPC | Sep 2 2026 18:01 utc | 3

Repost updated with latest numbers in bold: federal revenues are running ~10% higher than I estlmated 18 months ago …,,,, 
 
Interest cost of federal debt as percentage of federal revenues:
 
Actual
~2% 2019
~9% 2021
~18% 2024
~24% 2025 (3.3% int.)
My Estimate
~29%  27% 2026 (3.6% int.)
~32% 2027 (3.9% int.)
 
If my estimates for 2026 and 2027 are correct, then the Federal Gov‘t will face some sort of insolvency crisis in early(?) 2027.
 
Watch 10 year treasury interest rate: if stays above 4% then bond market agrees with my prediction of an insolvency crisis; if 10 year drops below 3% then I am wrong. TBD

Posted by: Exile | Sep 2 2026 18:26 utc | 5

Exile | Sep 2 2026 18:38 utc | 6—
 
But were they electric? And how autonomous are they?

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 2 2026 18:46 utc | 7

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 2 2026 18:00 utc | 2
 
I was going to write something similar.  <you beat me to it>  I checked out the same media sources you did this morning.
 
I would like to add:  the Chinese strides in EVs and solar power, especially their new Sodium Batteries as per the electric truck video you linked to (EXCELLENT video) – this is what the rest of the world will need to combat the US attempts to implement the Medhurst Strategy.  Manufacture oil and energy shortages as a way for US oil companies to rip off the rest of the world with high energy prices, and to control other nations.  Obey the US or we stop selling you our oil.
 
I did not understand all the details of the Larry Johnson discussion on the US oil situation, but what you wrote and what I understood are the same.  In addition, the US is manufacturing oil shortages, particularly diesel, in the rest of the world, particularly SE Asia.  Actions that the US has taken include the “Ukrainian” attacks on Russian oil refineries and Russian oil pipelines before that, the blockade meant to stop “Iranian” exports leaving out the part that it also is blocking other nations selling oil to SE Asia, so on and so forth.  The theft of Venezuelan oil is quite profitable and useful for the US, and apparently Chevron is the company slated to further develop US oil facilities in Venezuela.
 
I do not think the Epstein class will succeed.  At best they will control part of the world, with the US dominating its own colonies that, like Venezuela and Africa, will provide free resources for the US.  It will be dominated by the use of fossil fuels.  China will be the leader of the opposing faction, focusing on renewable energy and nuclear power for energy.
 
My prediction:  the Epstein Class is too incompetent and too arrogant to remain in power too much longer.  The only question is:  how much of the rest of the world will they destroy on their way down?  As far as my country, the United States – we won’t fare very well.  The Epstein Class will bleed us dry.
 

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 2 2026 18:59 utc | 9

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 2 2026 18:23 utc | 4
 
These types of stories is why I consider China to be the leader of the opposition to the Epstein Class.  The financial power that they are creating is absolutely crucial in constructing a competing business plan for the world that can replace what the US has constructed over the last 70 years.  And they are doing it VERY quickly.
 
Russia with their go-slow approach in Ukraine has given China the time to create their financial tools while catching up with the US in things like chip production, and now chip fabrication.  China is not quite energy independent.  But they are getting close.  It’s not hard to imagine a world where China is exporting enough energy to make OTHER nations energy independent, and most importantly independent of the US oil monopolies.
 
Russia holding off US/NATO in Ukraine was a requirement for China to have enough time.  The Iranian successes over US/Israel in West Asia majorly speeds up the process for China.  Incompetent arrogant fools in high places in the US like Scott Bessent just seals the deal.

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 2 2026 19:11 utc | 11

Posted by: unimperator | Sep 2 2026 19:55 utc | 12
 
Fingers crossed that this works for working class people, rather than working to impoverish working class people.  These things have a pattern for being corrupted and coopted.

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 2 2026 20:05 utc | 13

So bond yields rising, oil rising, war tensions endemic.  Yet, the dow rises 300 points. 
If the finance Zios are not collectively acting to provide Trump room to keep attacking Iran, please tell me how that can be.  

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Sep 2 2026 20:25 utc | 15

Another straw in the wind:
 
Netherlands moves billions in gold to London in ‘crisis preparedness’ move
 

The Dutch central bank (DNB) has confirmed that billions of dollars in gold has been taken out of north America and relocated to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest”.
DNB said on Wednesday that 86 tonnes of gold had been removed from the US and Canada in a complex operation that took several months. It is now being held by the Bank of England, where the precious metal can be traded more easily “in a crisis situation”.

 
Certainly a smartish move. More interesting is where it was not moved to – namely the EU, nor to the home country, nor to Switzerland. It might be better placed in Hong Kong.
 
However, its current residence might not give the average Dutchman reason to sleep easy since it will be stored alongside Venezuela’s gold reserves…
 
Possession is nine-tenths of the law, as they say…

Posted by: ChatNPC | Sep 2 2026 20:29 utc | 17

Ahenobarbus@16:
 
Glad you found it helpful. Cheers.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 2 2026 20:42 utc | 19

“The run-up of the debt has been incurred to prop up the financial system and enrich the oligarchs that dominate it. Now they are demanding that the working class pay for the crisis they, the and the institutions of the capitalist state, have created. Workers did not create the debt. They must refuse to pay for it…”
 
Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 2 2026 20:15 utc | 14

 
What “workers” are they talking about? Fast-food workers? Warehouse workers? Government workers?
 
“As of 2023, 19.34% of the U.S. labor force was employed in the industrial sector, according to World Bank data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 
When broken down further, manufacturing specifically accounted for approximately 8.3% to 9% of total U.S. employment in recent years, hitting an all-time low as a share of the workforce compared to historical levels where it exceeded 30% in the 1950s and 1960s.”
 
The debt will be restructured or defaulted on, eventually. That which cannot be repaid, will not be repaid.

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Sep 2 2026 21:07 utc | 21

MOATS, with George Galloway, Day 187: ‘War 2.0’
 
https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgeGallowayOfficial/streams
 
“Trump ‘very little left’ threat| Iran hits US bases| Throwing shade|
 
with guests: Prof Glenn Diesen, RT’s Chay Bowes

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 2 2026 21:48 utc | 23

Portugal was the host until that fateful earthquake that destroyed much of their fleet and capital city. Spain became the host soon after. I forget which was next… Holland? Doesn’t matter. Whichever country has the strongest currency at the time – is the host for ‘them’.
 
It’s all laid out in the available histories, despite misinformation and ideological slants.

Posted by: Nor am I | Sep 2 2026 22:29 utc | 25

 The debt will be restructured or defaulted on, eventually. That which cannot be repaid, will not be repaid.
Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Sep 2 2026 21:07 utc | 21
 
I agree. The debt incurred can never be paid off by borrowing more. Only hard assets, PMs and property have enduring value. Real things.
 
The whole thing is built on hot air in the first place. I believe 40% of the world’s physical gold disappeared around 2008. Didn’t actually disappear, but went into the controllers’ pockets after the gold price was artificially driven down (to its lowest levels) by paper gold.  It was talked down by mainstream too.
 
I watched my mother fall prey to that, as she got rid of the gold she and my father found with detectors, during their retirement. A little over 200 ounces – from 15 years digging – pissed up against the wall.
 
Now as the fiat money crumbles, the price of gold goes through the roof. Gold and silver remain as universally accepted value. Note what China is doing regarding that.
 
 

Posted by: Nor am I | Sep 2 2026 22:57 utc | 27

The Epstein Class will bleed us dry.
Posted by: Woke American | Sep 2 2026 18:59 utc | 9

 
If you let them. Make December 4th “Mangione’s day” and have a day of the bottom 99% taking out some of the top 1% every December 4th.
 
Fear. Power change. Problem solved. I have a dream.

Posted by: Asian Frog | Sep 3 2026 0:02 utc | 29

James, thank you for your response at 199 on the Week in Review thread.  My own introduction to Orthodoxy, as I’ve said many times, came through a  Dostoievski study group called a ‘preceptorial’ led by one of my former tutors (professors) from the college I had attended as a student, when I was already married and with a young family.  I wasn’t intending to learn about Orthodoxy at the time,  but he and his family were remodelling their garage into our Santa Fe church beginnings.  So that activity was happening in the background as we studied.  That physical happening was a part of my own experience, so I don’t want to discourage you by just giving the theory behind it all, which must be hard to digest on its own.
 
I think you’ve done very well to stay interested on your own terms. It would be hard, I think, to accept all the permutations of theological do’s and don’ts in the abstract – I think they only makes sense bit by bit.  I certainly took a long time to explore on my own what I was seeing as the building became a little church and some Russians, and Greeks, old and young,  little and elderly, came and participated once services began.  At the same time  we were discussing the novel, so it was an unique process.  It was very much a family involvement for those who came from outside the discussions, so the mixture of skeptical students and folk raised in the tradition was an interesting one.  Plenty of questions were being asked both places, in the house and in the coffee gathering after the services. 
 
It wasn’t a monastic environment.  I wonder how far I would have come had it been.  I did hear of a monastery in Puget Sound that was very accessible — a lady came to one of our art shows proudly telling me she was that monastery’s ‘parish atheist’.  You will remember that the elder inTBK was very accessible to the women of the village in the early chapters.   Dostoievski always remembered the wives of the Decembrists who helped him and other prisoners on their way into exile in Siberia.
 
I’ve loved learning more about Orthodoxy – there’s always more to learn.  So, take it at your own pace entirely would be my advice.  The same for Scripture — if something doesn’t sit well with you don’t fret, just leave it be.  I started with literary assumptions, loving the stories as just stories.  

Posted by: juliania | Sep 3 2026 2:16 utc | 31

~ A License To Perv  ~
 
My comment under a You Tube video, entitled, ‘Meta Have Gone Too Far‘, by Novara Media, talking about these Meta (owner, M. Zuckerberg) company ‘Ray Ban’ web-cam glasses, AKA, pervert glasses:
____
 
~ Government-Issued Pervert License ~
 
I never even liked– and still don’t– people walking around everywhere clutching their pervert cellphones/’smart’phones while often glaring at their screen glare and even wearing headphones, so almost totally tuned out of their natural surrounds.
 
Pavel or somesuch surname did an artwork or more featuring people looking sort of like zombies, walking around staring at their screens.
 
It’s like that Star Trek TNG episode where people got creepily-addicted to this game on headsets that aliens sort of sneaked in. Remember that?
 
There used to be a band called The Tender Perverts, incidentally, but anyway, maybe if we can prove that we’re only at most a tender kind of pervert, say by taking an assortment of psychological tests, we can then qualify for a tender pervert prescription for the glasses.

Posted by: Strange Bedfellow | Sep 3 2026 3:40 utc | 33

My latest effort incorporates some MoA commentary, Defeating Weaponized Finance and Energy and thus the Outlaw US Empire

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 3 2026 5:06 utc | 35

Cuba returns to class:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcwplgZtzqw/?igsi=NmRwamJyNWhrMjNz
 
After having to suspend classes for a few months due to the genocidal U.S. blockade, the Cuban government is restarting classes in the best education system in the Americas.

Posted by: Soviético | Sep 3 2026 5:56 utc | 37

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 3 2026 5:42 utc | 36
 
Your dream assumes some sort of global governing structure with global finance as a public utility with agreed upon ‘excessive rentier income’ rules.
 
China’s hope is a multi-polar or multi-nodal world where different regimes apply widely varying rules to their citizens, of varying moral quality. China isn’t planning for a global police authority to enforce the best, most moral rules on folks. That’s just not how it perceives ‘its job’; it doesn’t plan to be hegemon.
 
In the very likely world where there are still very rich people from the Middle East, fat on excessive oil and gas income, willing to pay to park their money safely somewhere; China sees that as a growth market for its Shanghai and Hong Kong banks. 

Posted by: fairleft | Sep 3 2026 6:59 utc | 39

Unsurprisingly, sanctions are an inconvenience that multinational companies choose to ignore.

 
VW, Amazon and others name blacklisted groups among potential suppliers
 
More than 160 US companies unable to rule out sanctioned smelters in test of western efforts to clamp down on conflict minerals
 
Global groups from Volkswagen and Tesla to Nokia and Amazon have named businesses blacklisted by western authorities as potentially present in their supply chains, exposing a clash between sanctions rules and companies’ ability to establish the origin of every input.
 
More than 160 US companies and at least 10 based elsewhere included one or more of four gold refiners subject to US, EU or UK sanctions in their latest conflict minerals or supply chain disclosures, according to FT analysis of regulatory filings.
 
The findings highlight the possible legal risks posed by companies’ complex global supply chains, as well as the limitations of international systems designed to monitor and prevent the use of conflict minerals.
…
 
The sanctions lawyer said that while Ofac had “kind of looked the other way” on indirect dealings with sanctioned entities, “what might be passable now in the relevant agencies’ eyes may not be in the future”.
 
The US Treasury, the UK Treasury and the SEC declined to comment. The European Commission said it could not comment on individual cases but that “tackling circumvention of sanctions is a key priority for the EU”.
 
continues ==> https://www.ft.com/content/70fdf5c3-6b3a-494d-a141-85aba60d14d5
 

Selective enforcement is a political tool.
 
 
 

Posted by: too scents | Sep 3 2026 7:48 utc | 41

fairleft@39:
 
Thanks. Critical real-world perspectives on the topic of China and its economy  are important and necessary for better understanding . Unfortunately there is far too little of it here. 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 3 2026 7:52 utc | 43

BTL: Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is Turning Ecuador into a US Military Outpost
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oEqhaRgoos
 
“…As Operation Southern Spear marks its first year, investigative journalist Camila Lourdes Galarza breaks down how Ecuadorian President and Miami-born billionaire Daniel Noboa has turned the country into a testing ground for US military expansion under Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine…”
 
 
Truthwire: Fi & Pasta: ‘Fake Left At It Again’ (& vid)
 
https://x.com/FiorellaIsabelM/status/2095198314782507239
 
“Venezuela signs away oil for a century|Fake left at it again: El Sayed, Mamdani & AOC.”
 
 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 3 2026 8:02 utc | 45

🇰🇬 🌏 SCO Nomad games in Kyrgyzstan ❗️❤️

https://t.me/ZandVchannel/197968
 
Spectacular

Posted by: Norwegian | Sep 3 2026 9:19 utc | 47

Good, straightforward summary by Angelo Giuliano of the why of China/Russia non-intervention in Venezuela: https://x.com/angeloinchina/status/2095427061460488396?s=20

Posted by: fairleft | Sep 3 2026 11:43 utc | 49

50 corrected:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF9uu9bCKpo

Posted by: John Gilberts | Sep 3 2026 20:10 utc | 51

Posted by: ChatNPC | Sep 3 2026 20:27 utc | 52
 
This one does:
 
https://english.www.gov.cn/services/investment/2014/08/23/content_281474982978047.htm

Posted by: ChatNPC | Sep 3 2026 20:30 utc | 53

Posted by: Inevitability | Sep 3 2026 22:13 utc | 54
 
Trump $1 coin sold out. Will more be released? What to know
 
https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/money/2026/09/03/trump-1-dollar-coin-sells-out-where-to-buy-if-more-get-released/91590365007/

Posted by: arby | Sep 3 2026 22:17 utc | 55

@ Inevitability | Sep 3 2026 22:13 utc | 54
 
i share your viewpoint on the new 20 dollar bill.. lets make canada canada, instead of an extension of the british empire… can we get beyond this british empire mindset?? i think we can.. more canucks need to be thinking differently towards the monarchy then they presently do.. 

Posted by: james | Sep 3 2026 22:41 utc | 57

Posted by: james | Sep 3 2026 22:41 utc | 57
 
james, do have a look at the nomad games pieces if you haven’t seen them, and I have posted a comment to you at 31  above — enjoy!

Posted by: juliania | Sep 3 2026 22:47 utc | 59

China barrels toward world dominance. Almost everything else happening is feeding that end, it seems. Those (unknown movers and shakers) behind the curtain, will pack up their ‘Punch and Judy’ show and abandon Israel/US to their fates. China will be the new host for them. Will the ordinary people even see the transition from one to the other? I hope I’m wrong, because that’s very depressing to consider, but it’s what I see.
Posted by: Nor am I | Sep 2 2026 22:19 utc | 24

Looking quite that way at this time, I’m afraid.
 

Posted by: jonboinAR | Sep 4 2026 0:49 utc | 61

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNPVzPHR1s4
 
Military leaders speak with reporters at Indo-Pacific Defense Conference – September 2, 2026 CPAC
(yes, CPAC, not AIPAC, but I bet there’s a big overlap between the 2.)
Where within the 1st minute, Admiral “Subvert the Constitution” Samuel J. Paparo asserts that Trump is not the Commander in Chief of the US Military.
 
so don’t worry, Canada! Trump can mess around with tariffs, but never with what matters. e.g.,..
 
In Carney’s “Build Canadian” speech, he vows to drive Russia from every square micrometer of Ukraine, no matter how much Donald Trump betrays freedom to dictators who only understand strength. Excepting his anti-Russia hysteria, and militarism, Carney sounds like a rock of stability with this cliche-factory running in his Goldman-Sachs mouth. Weighed in the balance with President Truth Social, that is. What is it to define madness? the capitalist world is a madhouse.  and we have our Polonius, with the banker’s wisdom of Canada’s Carney. I bet he’d be happy to trade one Lake Ontario for one Strait of Trump.

Posted by: duck n cover | Sep 4 2026 3:36 utc | 63

@ juliania
 
i see the nomad games video that too scents posted @ 48… norwegians post @ 47 says media too big, which means i can’t watch it.

Posted by: james | Sep 4 2026 3:54 utc | 65

Scott Bessent is a bad salesman.

 
Manager of Norway’s $2tn oil fund proposes slashing US Treasury holdings
 
Overhaul of bond positions suggested to Ministry of Finance aims to boost returns
 
The manager of Norway’s $2.3tn sovereign wealth fund has proposed an overhaul of its government bond portfolio that could see it slash its holdings of US Treasuries by about $80bn, as it looks to other types of debt to try to boost returns.
 
Norges Bank Investment Management said in a letter to the country’s finance ministry on Tuesday that it recommended reducing the weighting of government debt in the fund’s benchmark bond index from 70 per cent to 50 per cent.
 
The proposals would cut the fund’s global government bonds allocation by about $106bn, according to FT estimates, with most of this reduction coming in Treasuries. Just under 26 per cent of the overall fund is invested in fixed income.
 
ref ==> https://www.ft.com/content/ecc15aa6-6e7b-409d-8753-2fb6aadd0592?syn-25a6b1a6=1
 

Posted by: too scents | Sep 4 2026 6:11 utc | 67

Morning has broken at the waterhole …
 
Namibia: Live stream at the Okaukuejo waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia
 
Posted by: too scents | Sep 4 2026 6:11 utc | 67
 
Further moves away from Gov Debt – esp. US Treasuries.
 
Irish 10 yr ~3.4

Posted by: Don Firineach | Sep 4 2026 6:37 utc | 69

Purpose made for guerilla warfare.

 
Musk’s Starlink Persists in Unauthorized Areas Despite Shutdown Warnings
 

• Company told users it would crack down in unlicensed areas
• A March Bloomberg investigation revealed the extent of misuse

 
May 2, 2024 at 12:42 PM GMT+2
 
Elon Musk’s Starlink service is still operating in multiple unauthorized regions, defying warnings issued by the company last month that its satellite internet will be shut down by May 1 in areas where it doesn’t have a license to operate.
 
SpaceX’s Starlink sent emails to customers in several African nations last month warning that it would restrict roaming where the service wasn’t allowed.
 
Despite the vow to cut access, Adam Mohamed, a resident of El-Fasher in conflict-hit Sudan was able to answer Bloomberg’s questions in an interview conducted Wednesday. “I’m currently talking to you through the Starlink connection, it’s the only way of connecting between people, especially those who fled the war,” he said.
 
continues ==> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-02/musk-s-starlink-persists-in-unauthorized-areas-despite-shutdown-warnings
 

Posted by: too scents | Sep 4 2026 9:13 utc | 71

Delusion abounds:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgyqey6rlyo

Posted by: ockham | Sep 4 2026 10:40 utc | 73

We’ve had the question if the traditional Kora music from West Africa is based on the western tonal system or not. The answer is in.
 
The very pleasant and fluid harmonies of the Kora are resting on a tonal system that’s based on certain interval ranges (“fifths”), as is western music, but the design choices are different. So both are based on the same principle, but independently developed and not similar in their results.
 
An anecdote about the Kora furthers the point and that little sense of wonder that comes with it. When western tuning pegs became available, the instrument building tradition experienced a bifurcation: the industrial quality of the machine heads means that the strings are much more stable against the naturally occuring tendency to detune, which is at odds with the practice of tuning a Kora according to the place where it is played, often a hot and humid environment which exerts lots of entropic stress on the strings.
 
Imagine that! I love music that is atuned to the time and place where it sounds. Another point of note is that the Kora tradition is closely linked to its history and role and the Malian courts, where the djeli performed praises on whatever the current king serves up for dinner that day and whatnot; so the image of hiring one of them for my own castle was another intuition I got right.

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 11:29 utc | 75

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 11:29 utc | 75
African music is much more than it’s unique instruments, it encompasses a vast range of vibrant styles and rhythms that vary greatly across the continent’s different regions and nations. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08S9UYUXZYA
 
 
 

Posted by: Menz | Sep 4 2026 12:32 utc | 77

Chinese companies are now restricting rare earth minerals so that the US cannot get any:
 
China rare earth firms halt some US shipments over geopolitical worries, sources say | Reuters
 
Xi just bashed in Bessent’s skull with an aluminum baseball bat!

Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Sep 4 2026 13:44 utc | 79

@ ockham | Sep 4 2026 10:40 utc | 73
 
delusion is a good word to describe it..

Posted by: james | Sep 4 2026 14:55 utc | 81

If/when the democrats win again, or get a president in power, all the europoodles will return to buying US treasuries like obedient little slaves.
 
Posted by: unimperator | Sep 4 2026 6:32 utc | 68
 
I wouldn’t be so sure of that.  After all, the Biden administration was just as brutal, or even more brutal, towards Europe than the Trump administration.  The Biden administration included Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nueland.
 
The US has little to offer other nations.  Trump BRAGS about the “19 trillion dollars” that the US is extracting from our allies.    The Trump administration tariffs our allies quite heavily.
 
The next administration could promise to remove the “Trump Tariffs” if Europe and others obey us and return to being our slaves?  My take on it is that if Europe makes annual solid efforts to decouple from the US while Trump or Vance are in office, then they would be gone for good.  With luck they will decouple fast enough so that a kinetic war with Russia will be averted.
 
The US seems to be working overtime with the goal of getting a Europe-Russia kinetic war going before that happens.

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 4 2026 16:54 utc | 83

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 17:45 utc | 84
 
🙁  🙁  🙁
 
So Europe is far worse off than I ever imagined.    Does this imply that European nations bringing back assets from the US to the EU is just a show, or similarly, the EU obeying the US and maneuvering US/EU assets to help keep Europe solvent or to increase military funding against Russia?

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 4 2026 18:14 utc | 85

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 18:36 utc | 86
 
Financial assets and gold.  Maybe they are doing nothing with it.  I am asking because I’m trying to get a handle on recent reports that European nations have been moving financial stuff from US to EU.
 
The content and tone of your post implies that the EU is even worse off than the US when it comes to actually producing stuff.  I hear “Europe is deindustrializing” a lot.  The people that talk financial stuff talk about Europe as if it still has wealth and power.  You are giving me the impression that the first statement is VERY true, and that the second statement is barely true, if at all.
 
Let me ask two direct questions:  1)  Could Europe equip and arm a half million man army in say a year?  2)  If Europe could get the rare materials, could Europe create a car company that could produce EVs?  Or how about air conditioners?

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 4 2026 19:01 utc | 87

Let me ask two direct questions: 1) Could Europe equip and arm a half million man army in say a year? 2) If Europe could get the rare materials, could Europe create a car company that could produce EVs? Or how about air conditioners?

 
1 – This is a question for someone more qualified than me. But here’s a number of very specific issues: the heavyweights, aside from Poland, have reduced their armies to funny garden gnomes since 1991; they can’t just spring back like that. The personel issue is at least as big as that of armaments. Speaking of which, a notional european land army has no adequate integrated air defense and ballistic missile capability to contend Russia, as such systems are not available in the first place. The bulk of the stuff that went to Ukraine, especially armour and artillery, is replaceable in theory, and there are good systems already up and running: Caesar 155mm, Leo MBTs, various IFVs (Puma has apparently overcome teething issues and looking good now; Swedish model is combat proven and well liked in Ukraine), APCs (especially the Boxer, the design was successful right away and is probably being procured en masse for a reason), plus assorted smaller gear can all be produced in massive numbers if Europe decides to get its act together and provided the raw materials are still available then; for a while it would be in any case until the industry switch could be completed. 
 
— Regarding your question on making stuff, my report from here is that there is a lot of industry in Europe, I’ve personally seen northern Italy and many regions in Germany over the last years, and you can just see it by driving overland. I could name a dozen or so relevant fields where Europe is (still) a top competitor, things like airliners, small and large combustion engines, trains, assorted medical machinery, and more mundane stuff ranging from construction gear to household items and food products. — 
 
2 – German automakers were asleep at the wheel safe in the knowledge they are sitting on a 50 years lead in research, but the US pulled a leak and China is systematically outpricing them now. The ICU has fallen out favour for political reasons at this time, but the other components of a good car are still in play. Tesla build quality, chassis design and security features are no match for the European brands; however, they are rooted ina completely different engineering tradition and will take a while to wrap their heads around the reports that WLAN connectivity is a top sales argument. The American tech dealers, especially Apple, and the German hardware makers would have been a natural match to design and produce a modern vehicle, perhaps with various engine options; Chinese manufacture would have seen not much light against that for a long time to come. They have the batteries and can produce at scale, but the products are reasonable at best, not, you know, sophisticated. If you want a proper yard stick for this argument, look into mobile cranes, not luxury cars, as this seems the leading edge in many regards. Some german models feature friggin eddy brakes, for strictly economical reasons. I assume air conditioners are at least optional these days; but the fleet of auxiliary trucks at the Thömen yard in Wilhemsburg had none, and I would have resigned at the precise moment management orders new cabs with the feature, but that’s a different topic altogether. 

Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 20:16 utc | 89

People dismiss it all the time, but the longer I gaze the more certain I become in my intuition.
Posted by: persiflo | Sep 4 2026 14:42 utc | 80
 
You might enjoy this then, hope you get to fulfil your dreams.
 
Warning this only ep 81
(2) 1300 Kilometers through the HEART of the CONGO 🇨🇬[S7-E81] – YouTube

Posted by: Suresh | Sep 4 2026 20:56 utc | 91

Could Europe equip and arm a half million man army in say a year?

Posted by: Woke American | Sep 4 2026 19:01 utc | 87
 
I’d say it is very, very unlikely; apart from other matters, one unconsidered bottleneck is training. With a sudden huge influx of raw recruits I don’t see there being sufficient experienced NCO’s, instructors and supervisors available to handle this.
 
Sure, the recruits could probably be pushed through eight weeks or three months of basic square-bashing, practising marching drills and suchlike, but then it comes to more specialised training like artillery deployment and use, advanced infantry assault tactics, tank/AFV handling, or the soup de jour of drone operation, and these are areas where I see a very tight bottleneck in the availability of enough experienced personnel to conduct large-scale training of increased numbers of new recruits.
 
And of course training brings it own logistics issues. Thinking particularly about artillery training, if shells are at a premium for front line use, due to production shortfalls, then what hope is there for “live-fire” training on artillery ranges?
 
We could also raise a question about what guiding doctrine would they be training to fight under? The now largely discredited NATO Cold War 1-based doctrine, or some new, as yet unformulated doctrine?
 
So, all in all, it would be a very tall order indeed for Europe to equip and arm a half million man army in a year. An even taller order for Europe to equip and arm an effective half million man army in a year.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Sep 4 2026 21:15 utc | 93

Interesting since it is by Freedland, who many have for years suspected is the real editor of the Guardian …..
 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/04/donald-trump-winning-midterms-us-president
 
** How much does Donald Trump care about winning the midterms? Apparently, not much at all 
 
…….  concluding paragraph :
 
** …… But that only goes so far. It explains why Trump does not fear Republican defeat in November, but not why he would actively seek it. For that, one has to look into the abyss that passes for the president’s soul. The bestselling new book Regime Change, by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, spells it out: “If Republicans were wiped out in the 2026 midterm elections, or in 2028, he could simply boast that they couldn’t win without him” on the ballot paper. Such is Trump’s narcissism, he will take an epic Republican defeat in two months’ time not as a repudiation, but as a compliment. And, it seems, he is doing all he can to earn it. **
 
Any thoughts?
Could the the extortionist zio-fatberg be so self-obsessed and disloyal to his own political associates as to actually think that way?

Posted by: Cynic | Sep 4 2026 22:43 utc | 95