Uncle Sam: destroyer of nations

The trail of destruction goes back decades. Uncle Sam has wrought his magic from the Korean peninsula to the Caribbean to the Middle East. The carnage continues. American senator and perennial War Pig Lindsey Graham was in Munich this week, spreading the word about freedom and democracy, and in a sit-down with Ukraine’s Zelensky, thanked him for sacrificing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians so that no American’s had to die to bleed Russia. Zelensky sat there like a scared rabbit and took that abuse. Left to its own devices, Ukraine would never have provoked a war with Russia. But no, we could not resist. The US spent billions subverting democracy in Ukraine. John McCain and Vicky Nuland handed out sweets in the Maidan! Once our ultra-nationalist pets were in place, we promised them the moon! NATO membership! EU membership! Everything it takes for as long as it takes to put Putin in the dustbin of history once and for all! Three years and a million dead Ukrainians later, Uncle Sam is harumphing about Zelensky’s lack of appreciation for everything we’ve done for him. Ukraine isn’t the only country being destroyed by Uncle Sam’s war on Russia. Germany, the industrial heartland of Europe ever since WWII, is rapidly de-industrializing. Why? Because some unknown entity destroyed the Nordstream pipeline! Now Germany relies on LNG shipments from America that cost four times what they used to pay for Russian gas. But, according to geopolitical geniuses like Sholtz and Baerbock, that’s actually a blow for freedom and democracy! And so it goes… The clearly ridiculous becomes an article of faith, and as Lindsey Graham reminds us, it’s all worth it to save American lives while we defeat tyranny and preserve freedom in the world.

The wily Erdogan strikes again

Mainstream Western media were full of hallelujas today over Sultan Erdogan's climb-down re Sweden's entry to NATO. What didn't get much attention was the fact this concession was part of a quid-pro-quo; in return, Sweden will press for Turkiye's admission to the EU. Think that through. Turkey has been lobbying for EU entry for fifty years - long before Erdogan's time in power. There's a reason the EU keeps kicking that can down the road. Membership has its privileges. Like visa free travel throughout the Schengen zone. Basically, anyone with Turkiye ID gets free-range travel privileges across the EU. Given the abundance of Islamist radical factions supported by Erdogan's government, having untrammeled access to Europe should be a total laugh-riot! It will be all the more hilarious now that untold numbers of Stingers and Javelins diverted from the always corrupt and ever leaky Ukrainian supply chains are circulating in the black market. What could go wrong?!

The longer Putin is "bogged down," the more NATO and EU solidarity will crumble

Think that one through.

They've been telling us for two weeks Russia is bogged down, looking for an off-ramp, etc.

Maybe.

On the other hand, the longer the bog-down, the greater the refugee crisis. Poland is already crying enough. Three million in three weeks. What if Putin is bogged down for months?

Perhaps this thought has crossed the minds of Russia's military planners. Perhaps they see no great reason to un-bog until such time as their stated objectives have been achieved, those being demilitarization and denazification.

The demilitarization seems more or less complete. I don't know how they'll measure "denazification." That's one of those stretchy concepts that let's you declare victory whenever you decide.

The fact that escape corridors out of Mariupol are now functioning tells me the Russians are making progress in that department. That's the home base of the fascist Azov Battalion, the most highly motivated fighters in Ukraine. They literally will fight to the death. They will also execute civilians seeking to escape.

After three weeks of the fiercest fighting of the war, are we to assume the Azovs have pushed the Russians back? Maybe.

But I think a reasonable person should also consider the possibility the reverse has happened.

It was interesting which NATO leaders met with Zelensky today. It obviously wasn't a delegation from the serious end of the spectrum. The longer NATO showcases its impotence, the more its credibility wafts away.

They were there as part of a lobbying mission for more NATO support for the war, particularly "closing the skies." The F-35 is the most expensive weapons program in US history, and is foisted on NATO partners across the board. While armchair war fanboys are eagerly awaiting its combat debut, maybe people who know something have good reason to avoid such a confrontation.

As more and more of America's "partners" realize this war could soon move from their back yard to their living-rooms, and the American Empire is powerless to help them, perhaps they will reconsider their allegiance to their naked emperor. 

What if Putin isn't bluffing?

The cabal of dorkshits who pissed away $300 million every single day for twenty years before cutting and running from the Taliban, now see themselves entitled to dictate what's what to Russia and China.

I don't think you have to be a genius political analyst to see this can't possibly end well.

The Americans spent billions to over-throw the democratically elected government in Ukraine. After decades of encroaching on former Soviet satellites, Ukraine was to be the big prize. If we could turn Ukraine, NATO would be right on Russia's border!

Alas, the "Revolution of Dignity" wasn't much of a revolution, nor did it bring anything in the way of dignity to the people of Ukraine.

The current tensions in Ukraine can be traced back to comments the clown-comedian leader of Ukraine made back in the spring, about re-taking the Crimean peninsula. That's when the first "build-up" of Russian forces on the other side of the border happened.

Since then, Western politicians and media have been recklessly goading Zelensky to make good on his threats. Even as both the UK and USA announce up front they won't back Ukraine militarily, they keep up the confrontational rhetoric and flood Ukraine with hundreds of millions in fresh weaponry. 

The reporting in Western media on last week's meetings between EU, OSCE, NATO, and Russia was dismissive of any Russian concerns. We are, after all, the Good Guys, whereas Putin is an evil dictator looking to revive the Stalin era.

In Canada, the two primary organs of state propaganda, The Globe and Mail and CBC, are full of hubristic twaddle about how we and our allies need to call Putin's bluff and put him in his place.

Canada cut and ran from Afghanistan years before the Americans gave up. Yet somehow, we think it's our job to rally round Uncle Sam as the Americans provoke a military confrontation with an entity that is infinitely more capable than the Taliban?

This will not end well for the self-proclaimed Nations of Virtue.

BoJo is Trump without the charisma

What, you didn't realize Mafia Don had any? Keep an eye on Boris Johnson for a spell. You'll see what I mean.

BoJo is touted as the next PM of the UK, at least until the next election. At which point Jeremy Corbyn will most likely take the office. Neither eventuality is going to sit well with the anti-Brexit crowd.

The Brexit hysteria has been the biggest media clusterfuck after Russiagate, with the same tenuous non-grounding in reality. What's really going to happen the day after Britain leaves the EU?

Legions of paper shufflers in both the EU and the UK will have more papers to shuffle. Beyond that, precious little. In fact, there's bound to be a steep increase in employment ops for qualified paper shufflers on both sides of the Channel. This should be welcome news.

Scary stories about the Irish border notwithstanding, life will go on, just as it did after the Y2K hysteria, if you're old enough to remember that.

The EU is on the back foot for many reasons quite independent of Brexit. My father's generation, the people who endured the WW2 at ground level, naturally have an appreciation for the fact that there's been no war on the Continent for seventy-something years.

Fair enough.

But it's also true that what a lot of folks see when they look at the EU today is a bloated bureaucratic behemoth that gets its marching orders from the USA.

Pot-addled hillbilly takes a break from Bieber-bashing to pontificate on Brexit

It's gotta be tough being Bieber, wouldn't you say?

Yup, slamming Hollywood starlets and being an asshole at A-list parties has pretty much gotta drain your energy, at least if you had any in the first place.

But no matter the level of assholery, Biebs remains on the A-list.

I know... it seems to energize him.

But belieb it or not, there are bigger deals than Bieber loose in the world today.

Like Brexit for example.

Frankly, if George Galloway and Boris can see eye to eye on Brexit, there must be something good in Brexit.

And when Phoney Tony is campaigning for the "remain" side you know immediately that "remain" is profoundly flawed.

I've heard it said that Obama has weighed in on the remain side because it's way easier to steer one combine of 28 nations than it is to steer 28 disparate nations who each have their own agenda. That shit-show would just be totally unmanageable.

It's a conundrum alright.

But when Phoney Tony is on the one side, and George and Boris are both on the other, there's no question about which side of the debate I'm on.

Brexit now or Brexit later, but sooner or later Britain is out of the EU.

Merkel to Greeks; no relief from austerity enema

One can only marvel at the myopic arrogance Frau Merkel demonstrates in her proclamations to the people of Greece. We hope the new government in Greece will stay the course in governing, finally, for the people of Greece instead of for German banks and foreign bondholders.

Let's not forget that much of Greece's accumulated debt is the result of extravagant military spending over the past thirty years, spending always applauded by the same suspects who now expect the Greek people to endure generations of making do with less to atone for the profligacy of the NATO acolytes who ran up the debt.

There are other problems of course. The Greek elite have been world leaders in the art and science of tax evasion ever since taxes were first invented. (by the Greeks, if I'm not mistaken!) PM Tsipras and his finance minister have let it be known they intend to change that, and hopefully they will not be cowed by the threats of the tycoons to move abroad. Since they're not paying their taxes anyway, that's not exactly much of a loss.

The main reason for Merkel's dire warning and Schaeuble's patronizing tone, as if scolding an errant child, is that these champions of the decaying old order realize history has arrived at a moment where too many are seeing that the emperor is stark naked.

"There's no arguing with us about this..."

Let's not argue then. The truth is, the EU and NATO need Greece far more than Greece needs them.

Cuba - USA rapprochement; why now?

After all, the Yanks have had well over 50 years to set this right.

So why, after well over fifty years of missed opportunities, is this happening today?

My theory is that when some slow-burning back-burner story like this explodes, it's because the news gatekeepers are trying to take your eye off something else...

Like the EU striking Hamas off the terror list...

Like Islamist militants scoring hard in Pakistan and Afghanistan and Nigeria

Like the torture debate in America

Like the racism debate in America

Like the last round of concessions to the big banks

Like the bankruptcy of the USA

Like the fact that democracy in the USA has become a plaything of the .01%

Like the American elite's commitment to perpetual war

Like the rapidly disintegrating status quo around America's foster child in the Middle East...

When you think about it, there's never been a better time to make peace with Cuba!

There's a lot of stuff out there they want us to take our eyes off.