Even if 100 metropolitan areas are destroyed, there would be more wealth in this country than there is in all of Russia today and more skills than were available to that country in the forties.”
Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War [i]
Herman Kahn was controversial. He said things that made his countrymen feel uncomfortable. Kahn, along with rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, allegedly inspired the character “Dr. Strangelove” in the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. What progressive opinion disliked the most was that Kahn believed in preparing for nuclear war. He argued that even small-cost preparations would produce life-saving results leading to a more rapid post-war recovery. Those whose doctrine was Mutual Assured Destruction did not like the sound of this.
Discomfort over the idea of surviving a nuclear calamity didn’t stop with Kahn. When President Ronald Reagan pushed Congress for minor civil defense preparations in the early 1980s, costing a mere $4.2 billion, the left engaged in a merciless campaign of ridicule. Time Magazine mocked Reagan with the headline, “Dig a Hole: Reagan Administration Civil Defense.”[ii] According to Time Reagan’s ideas were “starkly irrational.” Inexpensive life-saving measures, such as digging a hole from which to escape fallout, was derided by the mainstream media until Congress dropped the whole thing. The main objection to civil defense was that such measures would increase the danger of war.
Meanwhile, Russia and China expended vast sums on civil defense preparations, with underground blast and fallout shelters in Russia’s cities – including underground cities in the Ural Mountains. It is curious that Americans never thought of making similar preparations. In fact, America has taken no defensive measures in the event deterrence fails. We have not even prepared for an Electromagnetic Pulse attack. Once again, consumer society is not concerned with surviving a future calamity or war. We are only concerned with living well in the present.
It follows from past attacks against those who advocated civil defense in the public sphere, that anyone promoting civil defense in the private sector would also suffer vilification. Such has been the fate of Barrett Moore, a Midwestern businessman who has long worked toward building private civil defense facilities. Last year Moore was savaged by hack journalist Sam Biddle, writing in The Intercept (owned by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar). Biddle is widely hated for sloppy hit-pieces. New York Mag writer Laura Bennett said of Biddle, “His style is proudly resistant to nuance and largely absent of reporting, save the occasional gossipy tidbit….” But these are the milder criticisms of Biddle (readers are encouraged to check the footnotes). [iii]
Biddle’s piece against Moore was so one-sidedly malicious, so unbelievably long, only a political leftist would have bothered to write it. Recently I consulted court records and other documents referred to in The Intercept article and found that Biddle left out anything and everything that might have put Moore in a more favorable light. Biddle never attempted to tell Moore’s side of the story. Here we have a hit-piece in which a falling out between two friends, likened in one legal document to a “nasty divorce,” is misused by a jumped-up leftist troll who thinks prepping is for rightwing crazies. Biddle unfairly maligns Moore as a grifter only interested in saving “rich people” while leaving poor people to die.
In fact, Moore’s theory was to sell survival insurance to the wealthy so he could create the high-cost infrastructure that would eventually make civil defense privately affordable for everyone. Such is the stuff of entrepreneurial dreams. Nothing is built without risk, and without criticism. Furthermore, we may sometimes measure the value of a proposal by the miserable nature of those who attack it.
I had a chance to interview Barrett Moore last month. Our discussion ranged over his background in private security, his work during last summer’s Afghanistan evacuation, and his unrivaled knowledge of survival preparedness.
Notes and Links
[i] Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960), p. 91.
[ii] Dig a Hole: Reagan Administration and Civil Defense – TIME
[iii] Sam Biddle – Wikipedia. Lawyer Mike Cernovich challenged Biddle to a boxing match in 2014, promising to give $10,000 to an anti-bullying charity if Biddle accepted. Biddle refused. (Nerd/bodybuilder Mike Cernovich challenges Gawker writer Sam Biddle to a boxing match, promising to give $10,000 to an anti-bullying charity if he accepts. : KotakuInAction (reddit.com)). As one observer noted, “Same Biddle declined [to fight Cernovich], proving he is only interested in harming those he perceives to be vulnerable.” Crime & Federalism: Does Sam Biddle, a Bully from Gawker Media, Abuse Animals? (crimeandfederalism.com). Cernovich has also alleged that women have reported Biddle for “inappropriate communication, harassment, inappropriate digital contact, sexual assault, [and that he] followed someone into a bathroom and tried to masturbate in front of them.” (See Sam Biddle: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com.) Biddle has publicly advocated bullying gaming “nerds.” It is always worth remembering: What comes around, goes around.
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A phenomenal but very depressing conversation. It looks like we are truly doomed. Unfortunately, the Aussies are even sillier and even less prepared for any menace, from China in particular. Those chaotic rambles by the so called Aussie “Government” about boosting our defenses are just grotesque.
And when I attempt to draw the people’s (I’m talking about good, conservative people) attention to the incoming fast Grand Solar Minimum and its mortal danger to humanity, they look at me as if I tried to tell them about the sci – fi movie, I’ve just watched.
Jeff has also mentioned that Switzerland is the only Western country prepared for the nuclear war and also heard that they are capable of hiding their entire population of six million.
In 1994 I made a beautiful trip on bicycle around the European Alps, some three thousand kilometres and part of this trip led through the mountains of Switzerland. Now and then I would see giant gates in the cliffs or mountain walls that obviously led to the underground installations.
I wish our people were as wise as the Swiss are. But they are NOT.
Regards for Aussie – Bogdan
Well it looks like the SHTF, it has been reported in the last several hours that there may have been chemical weapons used in Mauripol overnight. Nothing has been verified by the West as of now, yet.
If true, no matter what kind of chemicals were used, the British government is already now talking about all options on the table, including sending in British NATO troops into areas of Ukraine if chemical weapons have been confirmed to have been allegedly used by the Russians.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/all-options-table-if-russia-uses-chemical-weapons-ukraine-uk-minister-2022-04-12/
The British newspapers (especially) and all British media have been giving the Putin regime and the Russian military the up yours business over the last several days. Definitely fanning the flames 🔥 of hate in unity of international condemnation against Russia all across the boards.
Excellent and timely interview Jeff. I do hope Americans that see what is happening in Ukraine and prepare for that happening here.
In my teens when Reagan was president, didnt know the liberals stopped what could have been a great start on civil defense for Americans.
Since most Americans cannot afford a bunker or even a retreat in the mountains they should at least prepare the best they can for our questionable future.
Get a portable water filter like the Sawyer mini for each family member and a larger countertop gravity system like the Alexapure, yes I have both.
Stock up on food right now with costs increasing daily, foods you like. Can foods, all varieties. Extra hand operated can opener, 1 could fail.
Dehydrated food is good and somewhat portable due to light weight but some is high in sodium and may not taste great but its food. You need the water for it.
Dont forget dry milk and comfort foods especially for children. Candy, cereal, peanut butter, etc.
Learn how to make skillet bread, it’s better than no bread and filling. Stock up on sugar, honey, varieties of spices, salt (iodized), rice, beans etc.
Many preppers put rice, beans, etc in food grade 5 gallon buckets with oxygen absorbers for long term storage.
Food saver vacuum sealers are good and also good for sealing anything you want to waterproof, first aid, radios, etc.
Maybe a way to gather rain water but stock up on water. Milk jug type are more likely to develop leaks than the tougher clear type from my experience.
Get weapons and practice using them and lots of ammo.
Get what your comfortable with.
A good pistol, rifle, shotgun. Some say a 12 gauge, a deer rifle like a 30-06, a rabbit small game rifle with cheap ammo like a .22 long rifle and a 9mm pistol is very common.
Concerning an EMP, many preppers get the old fashion metal trash cans with a lid. Wrap up the electronics to isolate from the metal sides. Use cardboard to line the can and perhaps throw in oxygen absorbers and seal up the lid with aluminum tape.
A solar, hand crank chargeable that receives weather alerts is good. There are many out there.
A short wave radio is useful for receiving news, etc worldwide.
Lots of flashlights, small LED lanterns, small camping portable stoves that fit in a backpack.
Camping and backpacking supplies are a good way to prepare.
Last is first aid supplies, lots of it. Vitamins, home remedies, books on home remedies and edible plants, especially in your area. An example is St. John’s wort which has shown to help depression. If no doctor is available you do what you can and feel comfortable with.
Many preppers get aquarium antibiotics which supposedly are the exact same as human, even a physician online that sells them. Your decision to make.
Hopefully many Americans can stay in their homes if SHTF but having portable supplies is another way to increase your odds of surviving.
This was an incredibly worthwhile – and sobering – conversation! It’s quite astonishing to see how private entrepreneurs are desperately (and admirably) trying to compensate, by their own engagement, for the scandalous shortcomings on the part of our governments. The communist bloc, having planned this great confrontation, that’s now imminent, over many decades, has taken all the precautions a serious military planner would take. The West, in contrast, has been stubbornly looking the other way, in fact: burying its head in the sand. Yet, markets that are based on wishful thinking and totally reckless naïveté, as we’ve now been witnessing for a long time, aren’t sustainable on the long run. In fact, they aren’t rational markets at all, but resemble more a horrifying suicide pact.
It all brings us back to Mr. Nyquist’s initial thesis laid out in 1998 in his work, Origins of the Fourth World War. Get the book! Read the book! And digest it thoroughly! – As far as a society’s willingness, or lack thereof, is concerned to defend itself and survive, here is a fairly suitable quote from that book (Chapter 11, page 173, note no. 14):
“Put a rat in a box and give it three levers: one for food, one for sex, and one for cocaine. What will the rat do? After learning what each lever brings, the rat pushes the cocaine lever until it dies. – Next, we try the experiment with human teenagers.”
I recently read a comment that all US land-based ICBMs had their MIRVs swapped for a single warhead payload. Is this true, and a Biden legacy to boot?
Randy Avera
The reduction to single warhead on many missiles was part of a post-Cold War reductions. See https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0610issbf/
Don’t even get me started on this one. And no, not Biden but the RepubliCONS.
I always say, we sent a whole dealership of new Ferraris to the crusher because our enemy couldn’t afford an old ‘vette. Even 365 B-52s cut up, granted many were ready for the crusher, but many, and many parts, weren’t. And stripped the nuke weapon circuits out of all “tactical” aircraft? Eliminated nuke weapons on everything in the navy but boomer subs. An entire carrier battle group outgunned by a cruise missile carrying patrol boat! I even heard we cut up the three warhead “bus” they took off the Minuteman IIIs so we “couldn’t go back.”
The could go on forever, but instead, read Dr. Peter Pry.
Sobering to the bone. Helped me understand how and why nukes would be used by Russia/China even though they want the land for farming. Technology is different now. Guess it doesn’t destroy land for decades like it used to? And only need to be below ground from fallout 18 days. M.A.D. not necessarily true now. Mercy.
Depending on the use of the weapons, fallout would only effect areas downwind of ground bursting. Cities attacked with these weapons would be air burst, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No meaningful fallout from an air burst fusion bomb.
It turns out that M.A.D is some bogeyman that US swallowed bait line and sinker. A nuclear bomb, is not nearly as devastating as a nuclear accident (like Chernobyl), however, I don’t see them using any nukes on farmlands/countryside. EMPs seems to be the “go to” route for a first strike, then a handful of nukes perhaps. I don’t think they would wage a war of extermination, it would easily backfire.
The problem with a continent-wide EMP strike is the possibility that all the nuclear (fission) power plants would melt down, spewing more long-lived radioactive isotopes into the environment than 10,000 nuclear wars. Nuclear power plants are fission, consequently they are dirty, and without power to their cooling pumps they will melt down unless the rods can be manually pulled from the reactor core. In my reading on the subject I could find no articles showing this possibility in an emergency shut-down. Everything I have read describes mechanisms requiring power to extract the rods. If any experts know more, and if I have misunderstood the procedures involved, I would love for a plant engineer to clarify or correct me.
As I recall, the reactor can be “scrammed” which means the control are lowered in the reactor stopping the reaction. With the end of the reaction, heat goes to a very low level. As long as the reactor vessel is not compromised, things should be OK.
Lowered how? By what mechanism?
Jeff, I can’t help myself, but to read enticing stories, regarding prophecies and traditions that sounds eerily close to the times we live in. That being said, have you read about a germanic tradition of predictions, not only one person but several throughout the span of centuries. I found this little book: “Los profetas del bosque: Vaticinios sobre el destino de Europa según la tradición popular centroeuropea” by José María Sánchez de Toca, a retired spanish military who collected and researched those predictions. You can find this book on amazon.
I remember not long ago, you citing the works of Alois Irlmaier, which is included in the book, with several others that sort of corroborate with his visions.
I am a skepctic myself but these stuff sometimes get my attention.
Anyway, thanks for bringing all these excellent interviews, and keep up the good fight, I always look forward to see your take on what is happening, and thus learning.
Yes, I know about these German prophecies through my German publisher. I helped him with a book more than twenty years or more ago on the subject. There is also a remarkable number of Catholic prophecies that appear related.
Jeff, excellent interview! about the mechanisms to extract the rods I remember reading about springs permanently tensioned, but blocked by a electrical mechanism, which without energy would open, thus releasing the springs, no idea if this could or is implemented in commercial reactors. I don’t remember seeing this in action in the Fukushima accident
Fukushima, of course, was shattered by a tsunami that rose above the height of the plant’s tsunami barrier. Here is a warning: Never believe in an earthquake-proof nuclear plant. There is no such a thing. Fission is praised as clean; but, in fact, it is potentially the dirtiest energy of all — representing a form of potential pollution, owing to an accident, that can render vast areas of the earth unsafe. Fukushima and Chernobyl were serious calamities. Imagine something one hundred fold worse. Birds migrate. Will isotopes eventual migrate with them? At what point is the food chain contaminated to the point of a global extinction event?
And our high tech know it all, Bill Gates, wants to make them small enough to put in many cities. So called safe designs, but there’s a guy named Murphy who would find a way around 100% safe.
There is no such thing as 100% safe. The problem with any engineered system is Mr. Murphy is always long for the ride. He insists he be taken on all trips.
The best thing that can be done is to minimize the probability that bad things happen. Chernobyl is a good example of a poorly designed power generation reactor. Fukushima was far better, but the water barrier wall was not high enough and the Tsunami topped the wall.
Jeff, here’s a technical article on a study of the possible effects of EMP attacks on nuclear plants. According to the study, the worse case scenario would be an emergency shutdown or an extended shutdown. But overall, EMP is more of a nuisance than a true threat to these plants: https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7301891
This article misunderstands that we are not talking the casual EMP effect from a nuke, but the effect of a super-EMP weapon with continent-wide effects. I believe the electromagnetic effect is much stronger than the effect referred to in the paper. This paper, written in 1977, was written a decade before super-EMP weapons were developed.
There is no safe shutdown mode in water cooled nuclear plants. Unless the fuel is brand new, the pumps must run continuously and their control circuits would get fried by a modern EMP.
Jeff, what are your thoughts on the possibility of our own nuclear power plants getting nuked by the Russians in order to get a ‘clean burn’ instead of a long, dirty burn if an EMP was used on us? I seem to remember this was briefly considered when Fukushima melted down, but it would be a political, moral, and psychological nightmare.
I have no idea if that is feasible.
Thank you for the interview Jeff! It was very interesting as well as educational. I think we’re doomed. 😳 Most people don’t believe anything that bad could ever happen to us, so preparation on that level isn’t being done.
Since I’ve been on vacation, I haven’t heard much news, but I did see where Putin said this: “We will not stop military operations in Ukraine until they succeed.” I guess that includes chemical weapons. 🙁
I hope Putin changes his mind on that.
But I know Putin — and I think he is following strategic guidelines.
I just would like to make 2 comments about doom. We have always been faced with doom. Not one of us lives beyond the appointed time. The lesson we are learning now is what it truly means to live each day as if it were your last. This is the time to create as many happy memories as possible for as long as possible.
My second thought is about suffering. Wisdom often comes from suffering and what we learned in the pandemic is that those who had the attitude to keep on going without the fear chains came out ahead. The same will be true if Putin or Xi do anything stupid here.
Related to suffering, I want to share this extraordinary talk that Zelensky gave to Russian journalists in which he describes the savagery of the Russian side toward their own men. He describes also the destruction of his country: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/28/it-s-not-just-a-war-it-s-much-worse
LadyFromLibertyGarage, thank you for these insights. I have thought a lot more about suffering, especially this week. I was raised to think of suffering as something to be avoided, and those who experience it to be pitied and comforted. I’ve always known suffering draws us closer to go God, to remember we are nothing on our own. Honestly the worst suffering I can think of is not being able to help loved ones, especially the innocent, and I never doubt or question God’s goodness and love for us, but I ponder at what this is all about, our brief walk on earth, with the pain we bring to fellow man (and creatures), and the suffering we cannot keep away. I try to thank our Lord and Savior for any suffering that befalls me or may befall me, with the wish that if it must come let it come for me; I haven’t understood that idea most of my life (better to hope that suffering spares us all), but lately it’s felt intuitively like a prayer I can make that is doing my small part. Ironically, it brings its own calm and comfort.
“This is the time to create as many happy memories as possible for as long as possible.”
I totally agree and have been living each day to the fullest. 🙂 I just spent several days in the Grand Canyon and it was glorious! It snowed yesterday morning but then the sun came out and the air was so clean and crisp. It was awesome! I didn’t enjoy paying $4.79 a gallon for gas, though. Ouch! LOL
As far as doom goes, I’m not afraid to die, so no doom personally. But unless God intervenes in a mighty way, America is in big trouble.
Slightly off-topic.
Has anyone seen the article by Timofey Sergeytsev published in the Russian official press agency “RIA Novosti”? It came out on April 3, just as the news of the atrocities at Bucha and other villages was coming out.
Link to the article (use google to translate): https://ria.ru/20220403/ukraina-1781469605.html
It basically defines as Nazis all Ukrainians who identify as Ukrainians and not Russians. By not identifying as Russian they are waging war on Russia. And so by definition, nothing the Russians do to Ukraine qualifies as Nazism/fascism by virtue of their being Russian. Such a broad definition would logically extend to any nation that is seen as being ‘against’ Russia in some way. The author later in the article explicitly links Nazism with being pro-Western (Ukraine became Nazi as soon as it left the USSR). Some quotes:
“In fact, their political aspirations cannot be neutral – expiation of guilt before Russia for treating it as an enemy can be realized only by relying on Russia in the processes of restoration, revival and development. No “Marshall Plans” should be allowed for these territories.
… Denazification will inevitably also be a de-Ukrainization – a rejection of the large-scale artificial inflation of the ethnic component of self-identification of the population of the territories of historical Little Russia and New Russia..”
“… The Bandera elite must be liquidated, its re-education is impossible. The social “bog”, which actively and passively supported it by action and inaction, must survive the hardships of the war and assimilate the experience as a historical lesson and atonement for its guilt.”
The Ukrainian people are just a social “bog”. As for the Bandera elite, think of the WWII Katyn forest massacre of Polish officers and intelligentsia.
And he is pretty much referring to all of Ukraine, not just the eastern part. He starts out by talking about a Western (Catholic) “forcibly neutral and demilitarized Ukraine” but then says this state will be the under “threat of an immediate continuation of the military operation in case of non-compliance with the listed requirements.”
Historian Tymothy Snyder comments on the article.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook?s=r
“The Russian handbook is one of the most openly genocidal documents I have ever seen. It calls for the liquidation of the Ukrainian state, and for abolition of any organization that has any association with Ukraine. It postulates that the “majority of the population” of Ukraine are Nazis, which is to say Ukrainians. Such people, “the majority of the population,” so more than twenty million people, are to be killed or sent to work in labor camps to expurgate their guilt for not loving Russia. Survivors are to be subject to re-education. Children will be raised to be Russian. The name “Ukraine” will disappear.” [The de-nazification program must be in place for at least one generation]
Mass killings, forced labor, mass deportations have long been tools of the Russian state to deal with ‘rebellious’ populations. I only wonder why they are coming out so publicly with it now? Does the Kremlin brain trust really believe their unreal definition of ‘Nazism’ or is it just calculated hysteria intended for the war-feverish masses? Perhaps to create public acceptance of more extreme measures deployed against their ‘brothers’ in Ukraine?
This is the cult of Stalin and the Great Patriotic War on steroids. Also the Russians officially divide the world in the same way Islam does, ie. ‘House of War’ and ‘House of Peace’. And they both lie constantly! No wonder they are allies against the West. In Islam, peace can only come through total submission and eventual religious conversion, in the case of Russia peace comes through Russification and religious-like allegiance to the Great Mother Russia mythic destiny project (or Communism, whatever you want to call it 🙂 ).
This RIA Novosti article, along with other similar statements by high Russian officials (eg. Medvedev) needs to be made known far and wide! When conservatives shrug their shoulders and support Putin, this is what they are signing on to!
Thank you for posting this very important article. The Russian state is, in essence, Stalinist. This Stalinism has been hidden by the post 1991 NEP and false liberalization. Lenin was not buried. A new cult of Stalin was quietly celebrated. In his speech of 22 June 2000, Putin described NATO as a fascist alliance threatening Russia just as Nazi Germany and its Allies had threatened Russia in 1941. Nothing Putin is doing or saying now is different from what he said then, nearly 22 years ago. I am reviewing experts on Putin. Not one of them mentions the existence in Russia of a strong communist party. Not one seems to know that Lenin’s party was formed as a “conspiratorial revolutionary party.” They look at the visible exterior of that party and ignore the unplumbed depths of its mechanism — in Russia, in Belarus, in Central Asia, and in the Caucasus. All the political parties in Russia are but varied guises of the Communist Party Soviet Union. How could experts on Russia know so little about the KGB, the Army, and the government, not to realize that these have always been permeated by communists? I am dumbfounded. Yet Zelensky has alluded to this in his I interviews, saying that “Putin wants a mausoleum for himself” and “you know the people I am referring to….” Zelensky has said it in plain words: “They want to bring the Soviet Union back.”
Lenin, Stalin, … Putin.
Put in those terms, the possibilities are horrifying, considering the first two were some of the largest mass murderers in human history.
It is a comical portrait of Czech film-maker Robert Buchar. Created some glare I’m afraid.
Zelensky is, of course right and it should be understood from the moment Putin began climbing the political ladder in Russia.
It was when Putin was nominated by Boris Yeltsin as a Prime minister of Russia that I red in German Weekly Der Spiegel (The Mirror) the interview with the former Putin’s colleague a KGB Major who was sitting for quite a few years opposite Putin in their KGB office in Dresden, East Germany. This guy told Der Spiegel that when he heard about Putin’s nomination first as a head of FSB and then Prime Minister, he (the Major) realized immediately that Putin was the guy chosen by the Soviet Nomenclature to lead the revival and the restoration of the Soviet Union. he described Putin as a “tight lipped” type, nevertheless this major was capable of grasping Putin’s true character and his strategic motives,ambitions and dreams.
There was much more info about Putin in this article. However, being an accidental and chaotic historian and equally accidental and chaotic “strategic armchair analyst” I had no motive to collect and record this info.
At that time, Der Spiegel could be regarded (despite is left leaning) as a relatively solid and trustworthy source of information and opinion which is, obviously, not the case today.
Regards – Bogdan
Yes. I was fascinated by all these Putin stories.
Howe can such willfully ignorant people be described as “experts?” Among engineers, “experts” are defined as a blowhard far from home. Another is ex=has been. Spert=a drip under pressure. Either way you want to look at it, anyone that does not see Putin as Stalinist is willfully obtuse.
You’ve said before that you’re worried about Russia mobilizing more troops. Well this Twitter thread does a good job on further explaining why that is less of a threat. https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1513926555336065026?s=20&t=2yhWNFEqXKG1oCeC6i91-Q
To summarize, most of the invaders have their contract expire in June of this year. The contract soldiers are also telling everyone to stay away from joining the military. Russia has an 18 year old conscript pool that is smaller than France’s in 1914. And lastly of course, most of the vehicles in storage were stripped for parts by profiteering gangsters.
Btw, I do read your responses and appreciate them. Like you pointing out the difference between a super EMP vs a normal nuke EMP.
I should point out that articles like the one you refer to contain curious distortions that play down Russian capabilities. While I have long admired James Dunnigan’s work, France raised a huge number of soldiers in 1914. If that is the comparison you want to make, Russia is hardly at the end of its manpower resources. The main problem with Russia is its leaders and administrative system which invariable treat human beings as chattel.
I listened to a former Stratfor analyst – supposed geopolitical expert – making a similar point. He rattled off a lot of granular facts that made him sound knowledgeable, all painting a picture that the Russian population is generally old, waning, sick, addicted to drugs, and lacking in any sort of sophisticated or technical knowledge to succeed in grand scale modern war or industry. Peter Zeinhan is who it was. He speaks with a smug grasp of what he’s saying. He styles himself as real politic. He basically thinks both Russia and China have waning demographics from which to pull a fighting force; have limited economies that won’t sustain themselves outside the Western liberal financial system; and have anemic educational systems meaning they don’t have the human ingenuity to replicate or replace the “high value” industries of the US. He thinks Russia is making a move to reconstitute the USSR, but will fail, while creating havoc in Europe.
I am not clear the original meaning of “useful idiots”. Did that primarily mean the slaves that did communist bidding/steeples or did it refer to the treasonous traitors that were corrupted/bribed to betray their nations that the communists then first targeted to eliminate when they enter a country historically? I have heard and read both root meanings.
The term “useful idiot” referred to all those idealistic fools that were eager to believe Bolshevik lies — and eager to help Moscow regardless of its murderous policies.
Popular opinion has said that Lenin coined that phrase, but I don’t know if that can be verified.
It is said that Lenin coined it, sometimes translated as “useful fools.”
All Marxist dictators need useful idiots, because their blueprint depends on tricking enough gullible people into thrusting them into power. Once in power, they do not need them anymore.
But in the stage before they are able to seize total power, wielding an army of deceived, indoctrinated, and tricked individuals is critical. That is essentially what Marxism is – a roadmap for how to ideologically trick people into giving you total power. That is also what critical race theory is here in the US.
Would abandoned missile silos make good fallout shelters? The Russian’s know that they’ve been decommissioned, right?
http://www.siloworld.net/SITES%20FOR%20SALE/SitesForSale.htm
They could make good fallout shelters, but I am not sure what the protection levels are after decommissioning.
The recent Substack article posted by Jeff is bad news, if true.
I always wondered why the West was punishing random Olympyians and people not directly connected to the Putin regime.
According to that article, the measures against Russian people solidified them with the regime. If true, this is bad news. It also calls into question the Leftists who are running the West and “why” exactly they did this measure. Were they trying to help Putin consolidate the public at home?
This is the problem with strategic warfare of all kinds — blockades, population bombing, sanctions, etc.
Jeff, is this from a podcast you are doing? I see a podcast on Apple Podcasts called Jeff Nyquist Show but it hasn’t been updated since 2010. Can you provide a link to where these will be uploaded as podcasts? I like to listen to them on 2x speed. Thanks!
It is the CriticalRealist podcast on youtube.
I love this Kahn quote you start with here. So good.
People’s indifference or even distaste of preparedness for nuclear war is just awful. Sorry maybe it is not polite to say but it seems pathetic. The cliche they always use is “In a nuclear war the lucky ones will be killed instantly!” It’s gross. Do these people have no will to live? No instinct for self preservation? No desire to fight? Plenty of times in history people had to face terrible unimaginable destruction and yet try their best to fight on. I’m so glad my ancestors who were Jews in Russia didn’t look at the pogroms and just say “Oh life is too hard we better just give up and die here.”
Whatever does not kill you outright, makes you stronger.
Just finished the video. I had never heard of Moore before. It’s nice to become acquainted with him and his work. Will be looking forward to any more of these shows you do. That studio you set up is beautiful. With the arched brick fireplace behind you. Who is the portrait of, the one behind you guys on top the wood stove?
What is the actual deal with Saddam inspector and apologist Scott Ritter? He is on RT news saying how Ukraine is losing and that we need to make a neutral buffer that allegedly Putin would respect between western Europe and Russia/Putin. I understand that continuing this wider economic war brought by this war in Ukraine could be conducive to result in a western breakdown of society and a victory for communist parties the world over (since communism is the group getting ammunition from economic warfare). However his delusion about Putin having legitimate wishes or that we should not use Ukraine to make it his grave, turning the Vietnam table on Russia with a Ho Chi Minh trail of our own to the Donbas, strikes me as highly disgenuine given Iran, Russia and China just plaid those cards onus in Afghanistan, Syria , Iraq etc. With isis.
Scott Ritter, has lost his mind long time ago. As his pocket grew heavier (from the money paid by well known payers) his brain and his morality were sipping slowly into the sewer.
Regards
Yes, he sure came out the woodwork suddenly at a critical time. Something must be up, like he was activated part of a plan.
I never liked Ritter.
For very good reason. He lied about Saddam’s WMD programs which were active up until we went into Iraq the second time. Ritter kept telling the world that none of that existed. IIRC, he was later arrested for allowing his pedo lusts free reign.
Ritter is still an utterly unreliable source.
Scott Ritter just got banned by Twitter a couple of days ago, along with several other well known fringe leftists simultaneously also got kicked of Twitter.
Saddam’s WMDs were moved to the Bekaa Valley of Syrian occupied Lebanon. Dub’ya new it because he watched on spy satellite TV as Russia trucked them in. O’bama dared Bashar Assad by declaring a red line, but Assad used Saddam’s chemical weapons against Syrians in Syria.
Good memory Day Dorothy!
Merkel already ordered this in 2007 to save 2 million annually. Who Merkel serves, we know! There are not even sirens in all places anymore.
The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance says that the federal government already abandoned the former shelter concept in 2007 together with the states. Currently, it says, there are no longer any functioning public shelters. A decade ago, there were around 2,000 shelters for about two million people; now there are about 1,000 facilities left. But they have been virtually unmaintained by the federal government for years and are no longer kept in working order.
Experts say that the public and private shelters are “gradually being released from the civil defense obligation”. With the removal of the “structural alteration ban,” the rooms behind thick concrete walls can be sold, converted or the building demolished.
The Southern border is wide open. We are not a country. We are a bunch of people living in a geographically defined area. When SHTF it will be tribe vs tribe. Not in my tribe? Shoot on sight. No guilt.
When the Chinese come your “tribe” won’t be stopping them without help.
You’ve said to watch for moves from China. Are you seeing anything we can read as specific risk, or tipping of hand on strategy? What do you think about the Solomon Islands security deal? I realize you’re not an oracle, but you provided insight on what was gathering w/r/t Ukraine for months in the lead up….
The huge COVID lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities don’t make sense as a health measure. These are political war preparations moves. 280 million locked down. I spoke to Dr. Li-Meng Yan yesterday. She said the lockdowns were political. Enemies of the regime were being dealt with and order being tightened. It is all about war. Watch: https://youtu.be/iYXZ_M3X7gI
As for the Solomon Islands, they are strategically located for encircling Australia. China should not be tolerated there. We should not have allowed the political situation there to deteriorate.
Looks like China has scrapped the Shanghai experiment, to be rid of anyone that had a taste of prosperity and relative freedom. What will the United States do without Shanghai? What will the United States do about the human rights violations of locking people in their homes and starving them to death?
It is a war preparation. We must build our own supply chain now.
Of interest: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/13/joe-biden-welcomes-10k-ukrainians-at-border-with-plans-to-lure-more-to-u-s/
…”They sprinted from their dorm at Frear Hall to Bilger Hall, where they remember seeing a yellow sign designating a fallout shelter.” …
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37260525/after-missile-alert-mistake-uh-students-ran-for-cover-and-hid-in-classrooms/
So where do you feel the relationship currently is between the Communist Russia/China party and our Western elitist leaders? (Schwab, Macron, Trudeau, O-Biden, etc) I’ve copied and pasted a quote from you, a few articles back, as my reference point. Do they still feel they are more “partners” with them, as they rattle sabers and threaten each other publicly, as they all move towards global totalitarianism and/or The Great Reset? Or do you feel western leaders are beginning to hear and see the “meat wagon” coming up the drive, and they are now getting concerned it may actually be for them, as well? They’ve weakened, demoralized, purged and even injected their military with an immune system, weakening jab. Exactly how do they think they will survive a red dawn type invasion, no less a nuclear attack of some sort? I know they have their bunkers, but…..
Your previous quote:
“”I do NOT approve of Klaus Schwab or any of our Western leaders. I do not think they are nicer or better than Putin. This would be to compare apples and oranges. Our Western elitists are weak. They are fools. They have believed that Moscow and Beijing are their “partners.” They are the milk-giving cows of history, gladly giving their substance for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. The insincerity of Joe Biden’s anti-Putin stance is found in his cutting of the Keystone pipeline. This was done to empower Russia and weaken us. And even now, as war gets closer, Joe does not restore the pipeline. None of his measures against Russia can be trusted. Cancel Putin and Lavrov’s American Express cards? Really? That is nonsense. Russia has been carefully preparing to withstand sanctions for many years. Biden is a cow, Schwab is a cow. Mao Zedong said that the capitalist world is full of ambitious people who seek status and power for the sake of money. They do not seek power for what they can do with it (i.e., for taking over the world). Mao said, “Why sew up their pockets.” Become their partners and help them get rich, help them make the milk of capitalism. Then the communists will collect the cream from the top, arm themselves with our technology and ideas, and send for the butcher. A cow is a smart animal. You have to be careful when you call the butcher to come for your cows. A friend of mine once had a dairy cow he was fond of. One day he had to sell her for hamburger. He tried to be as gentle and careful as he could. But when that cow saw the meat wagon pull up she knew it was her turn. She jumped a five foot fence and ran away. He had quite a day chasing her. Now look at Schwab, Macron, Biden, Scholz. They are cows. Do they see that the meat wagon is coming for them? Maybe they do. Maybe they have been told not to worry. It is only made to look like the meat wagon, they are told, so that they can arrest Trump and other right-wingers as Putin sympathizers. But I tell you, the meat wagon is for them. It is for all of us, but it is especially for them. And if they have instincts, like my friend’s cow, they will jump that fence and run. Or they will turn and fight with whatever horns they have. That is my metaphor, and I believe we will see it playing out.”
Feel free to delete your quote if you don’t want it taking up so much space.
OH BOY!
Arrests, heart attacks happening in Russia’s power circles as invasion of Ukraine does not go according to plan:
https://uawire.org/arrests-heart-attacks-happening-in-russia-s-power-circles-as-invasion-of-ukraine-does-not-go-according-to-plan
Thursday, April 14, 2022 12:00:53 PM
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, who has not been seen in public for a long time, has a massive heart attack, said Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian businessman living in Israel.
“Shoygu is out of the game, perhaps he will become disabled if he survives. He suddenly had a massive heart attack. He is in intensive care, connected to devices. There are rumors that the heart attack could not have occurred due to natural causes,” Nevzlin wrote.
The businessman also added that twenty generals were arrested in Russia. They are suspected of embezzling funds allocated for the preparation of war in Ukraine. About $ 10 billion allocated by the Kremlin have disappeared.
A case has also been opened against former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who is expected to testify against colleagues and friends.
“Sources in the FSB say that if he does not make a deal with the investigation, he will be transferred to the Matrosskaya Tishina or Lefortovo detention center,” Nevzlin said.
As for Putin’s former aide Vladislav Surkov, he is currently under house arrest on suspicion of embezzling funds allocated for preparations for war.
There has been no official confirmation about Shoygu’s deplorable state of health.
On March 11, journalist Andrei Soldatov reported about arrests in the fifth service of the FSB, which is responsible foreign intelligence including Ukraine. According to the journalist, the head of the department, Sergey Beseda, is now in Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev reported that the FSB had detained the Deputy Director of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvadria), Roman Gavrilov. Grozev says, citing his sources, that Gavrilov has been detained due to “the leak of confidential information that led to the death of people”, two more sources claim that the cause was the “wasteful use of fuel”.
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