I’ve always liked communist and socialist ideas.
Vladimir Putin [i]
Carl Schmitt once said, “Tell me who your enemy is, and I will tell you who you are.” Writing before Hitler came to power in Germany, Schmitt noted that Central Europe was living under the eye of the Russians. Schmitt explained, “Their prowess in rationalism and its opposite, as well as their potential for good and evil in orthodoxy, is overwhelming.” He added, “They have realized the union of Socialism and Slavism, which already in 1848 Donoso Cortés said would be the decisive event of the next century.”[ii]
And now, in the twenty-first century, the union of Socialism and Slavism, under Putin’s management, is on the march. Yet the Russian offensive has apparently stalled; and the reason goes to the very heart of what Friedrich Nietzsche called “European Nihilism.” It may be argued, contra Nietzsche, that Russia became the primary vehicle of that nihilism. Here is an outcome Nietzsche did not foresee because his animus was so one-sidedly focused on the West.
Nietzsche wrote, “My objection to the whole of sociology in England and France is that it knows from experience only the decaying forms of society and takes its own decaying instincts with perfect innocence as the norm of sociological value judgement.”[iii] Nietzsche thought of Russia as a foil to Western nihilism when he wrote, “Our Socialists are decadents, but Mr. Herbert Spencer is also a decadent — he sees in the victory of altruism something desirable!”[iv]
Tsarist Russia was selfish. Tsarist Russia was imperialist – an imperium with real authority. Rebuking Western liberalism, Nietzsche wrote, “Freedom means that the manly instincts that delight in war and victory have gained mastery over the other instincts – for example, over the instinct for ‘happiness.’”[v] Nietzsche then denounced “shopkeepers, Christians, cows, women, Englishmen and other democrats.”[vi] Anticipating one of Hitler’s arguments, Nietzsche wrote, “Our institutions are no longer fit for anything….”[vii] Democracy, he added, “has always been the declining form of the power to organize….” The German Reich, he continued, was a decaying state. An ever-expanding Imperium was the only true basis for the renewal of authority – as in “Russia, the only power today which has durability in it, which can wait, which can still promise something – Russia, the antithesis of that pitiable European petty-state politics and nervousness which with the foundations of the German Reich has entered a critical phase…. The entire West has lost those instincts out of which institutions grow, out of which the future grows….”[viii]
To understand Russia and the West today, it would be useful to know where Nietzsche was wrong and where he was right. It must be admitted that profound insight may be tangled-up with profound error. In retrospect we can see that Juan Donoso Cortés was a better analyst and prophet than Nietzsche, and so was Dostoyevsky. These writers foresaw what Nietzsche failed to foresee; namely, that Russia would succumb to socialism in the twentieth century, and become the focus of a great calamity – a calamity that continues into the twenty-first century.
Why did Russia embrace Lenin’s nihilism in 1917? Why did Russia embrace socialistic atheism even more decisively than Europe? Why did Nietzsche fail to anticipate this turn? Perhaps the political philosopher Eric Voegelin discovered what Nietzsche missed. In his theory of political order (which is also a theory of nihilism), Voegelin indirectly suggested that communism’s triumph in Russia (in 1917) owed everything to Tsarist dogmatism. In itself this dogmatism was sufficiently “grotesque” that it offended the deeper noetic sense of those Russians who mattered most. This dogmatism especially offended the Russian intelligentsia, who were already susceptible to “philosophic” extremes. Consequently, intelligent Russians were driven further and further to the left in their nihilist revolt against Orthodoxy.[ix]
Here is an explanation for the Russian Revolution and its aftermath – an event modernity has not properly dealt with. And now, overtaken by events in Ukraine, few realize the extent to which the Russian Federation, as the USSR successor state, continues to follow nihilistic logic. It is more than a little curious that Nietzsche’s error regarding Russia is now recapitulated by a subset of paleoconservatives and traditionalists. Like Nietzsche, they see Russia as a foil to Western decadence. Like Nietzsche, they fail to see Russia’s nihilist core and its apocalyptic trajectory.
It is, especially, Russia’s apocalyptic trajectory that should concern us. By way of explanation, an Orthodox clergyman once told me a story. Eighty years ago there was a priest in the Russian countryside who passionately opposed the Communist Party. Inevitably the secret police came and arrested him. He was taken to Moscow but was not taken to jail. Instead, he was brought to the Kremlin. Escorted up to Stalin’s office, the priest said to himself, “God has given me this opportunity to preach God’s word.” Standing before Stalin, the young priest started to sermonize. Stalin held up his hand and said, “Father, excuse me.” The dictator went to the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a Bible, opening it to the Book of Revelation. Stalin pointed to Apocalypse of St. John and said to the Priest, “Father, I am following the word of God. I am doing what it says right here. Now go back to your village and tell them.” The priest was taken back to his village.
Whether this story is apocryphal or not, it is nonetheless revelatory. It was Dostoyevsky’s mistake, in this regard, to suggest that Christ’s second coming would take place in Russia. What took place with the advent of Bolshevism, of course, was not the Second Coming of Christ but the appearance of Antichrist. In William Butler Yeats’s poem, The Second Coming,” written in 1919, the horrors of the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution and the Irish War of Independence are rendered metaphorically – along with the flu pandemic of 1918-1919. The poem reads as follows:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
It is appropriate, in this context, to acknowledge that Yeats’s poem is also about our time. The year 1919, in fact, has much in common with 2022 – though it may ultimately prove to be more intimately related to 1914 and 1939. So far, Russia has not made use of its real firepower. Even now there are military analysts who say, in private, that we are headed for a general nuclear war. Set aside, if you can, the ever sinister and sugary promises of our politically correct dogmatists, whose fatted heads are larded with expectations of the Millennium of equality and inclusivity. What we ought to expect is a “hard reset” as opposed to a Great Reset. Instead of the slogan, “You’ll own nothing and be happy,”[x] the outcome might well be that you’ll own nothing because you’re dead. Nihilism plays tricks of this kind on its disciples.
As if to confirm our worst fears, Congress’s nuclear war advisor, Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, has suggested that the “whole point of Russia’s war in Ukraine could be to drag the West into World War III….”[xi] Perhaps Moscow does not really care about Ukraine or the Ukrainian people. Think of them as a “stepping stone.” In other words, the invasion of Ukraine was conducted to facilitate more far-reaching preparations; that is, preparations for a nuclear preemptive strike. Pry is the director of Congress’s U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum and he has been arguing for an increase in U.S. readiness levels. In an interview with Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, Pry said,
I think the administration and the intelligence community are either lying or have misconstrued the strategic situation … and this has been used to justify keeping U.S. strategic nuclear forces at their lowest readiness level, DEFCON 5, which potentially makes them more vulnerable to … surprise nuclear attack.
Given the Kremlin’s readiness to destroy Ukraine, why would Putin or his lieutenants have moral qualms about using nukes on countries they really hate? What is wrong with destroying cities, after all? The malignant narcissist and the psychopath, revolting in more than one sense of the word, are perfectly capable of flattening cities, continents, and more. The Russian president certainly belongs in this category. Just look at the evidence regarding the many brutal assassinations his henchmen have carried out over the last twenty years. Heidi Blake’s excellent book, From Russia with Blood, delves deeply into this subject. Here we discover the kind of people – or the kind of person – that rules Russia today. In this context it is worth quoting the deathbed statement of one of Putin’s leading victims, former FSB Lt. Col. Alexander Litvinenko, fatally poisoned with radioactive polonium.
At the beginning of his statement Litvinenko thanked the doctors and nurses who cared for him. He thanked the British government and police for investigating his case. He also thanked his beloved wife. And then he said,
But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death…. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition. You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women. You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.
And now Putin threatens the whole world with nuclear weapons. Given the bizarre lockdowns in China, and given the fact that China is Putin’s main ally, what are we to make of the thousands of merchant ships piling up outside China’s closed harbors? What will happen when Walmart closes and the supply chain breaks? Is China preparing to nuke us? Is that what this is?
Of special interest in this regard: an active FSB analyst, working in Russia, has allegedly offered the following analysis of Putin’s stewardship. He says that “Putin was never a spy,” and that Putin’s competence has never been questioned because any such questioning would be regarded as treason. Furthermore, FSB analysts do not really know who the top decision-makers in Russia are! They do not know how strategic decisions are arrived at.[xii] “Most importantly,” he writes, “no one knew that there will be such a war – it was concealed from everyone. For example – you are being asked to analyze various outcomes and consequences of a meteorite strike – you research the mode of attack, and you are being told that it’s just a hypothetical and not to stress on the details….”[xiii]
Wait a moment. A hypothetical meteor strike?! Is this not a thinly disguised attempt, on the Kremlin’s part, to reassure itself that Russia can economically survive the destruction of the West? And who will direct these “meteorites” (presumably sent) toward Paris and London, New York and Washington? The FSB analyst then complains, “so you understand the report is only intended as a checkbox, and the conclusions of the analysis must be positive for Russia, otherwise you basically get interrogated for not doing good work.”[xiv]
And so, it seems, the “meteors” are coming. What kind of economic turbulence would Russia then experience? Better not make your report too pessimistic. We are, after all, determined to unleash these “meteors.” Just check the box and tell us what we want to hear. Instead of a rational, transparent process for decision-making, Kremlin decisions originate in intrigues that are initiated by “people who are trusted at the top.” These are the people who lobby the teams and lobby the decisions, etc.
“I personally have no contact with Putin,” wrote the FSB analyst, “but if I were to assess him as a target for recruitment … then we have the following….” The analyst then described Putin as suffering from “narcissistic disorders,” proneness to “cross dominance” in relationships, indecisiveness and unwillingness to take responsibility for difficult decisions. Putin is also described as unable to refuse offers from his closest colleagues but unwilling to make promises. Putin’s attitude is, “If you fail then you are to blame.”
The problem with Putin’s inner circle, said the FSB analyst, is that “no one anywhere has reliable information on complex issues.” All reports are adjusted to paint a rosy picture. Bewildered by the insanity of Russia’s strategic process, the analyst wonders if Putin is being manipulated – “there is a reason he is afraid to even allow his ministers near him.” Yet nobody knows what that reason is. The analyst continues, “But what I do know for sure,” is that Chairman Volodin of the State Duma of Russia “flew to Cuba prior to the war, and on the day of the invasion he wrote that it’s critical he fly to Nicaragua.”
According to the FSB analyst, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “is not a real military man.” He passes fake reports about military successes to Putin. Behind the scenes, officials are seriously discussing “how Putin is lately absorbed by finding ‘mystical meanings’ from numerology to the shamans…. Can’t say anything concrete – it doesn’t fit into any analysis.” Yet, somehow, “the Czar is not the Czar in fact. (Putin is not in charge anymore).”
In his first letter, the FSB analyst writes, “Our conditional deadline is June. Conditional because in June there will be no economy left in Russia – there will be nothing left.” Indeed, everything is coming to a head. Last May 9, the day of Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade, Putin was not looking for an offramp. The war is to continue. To what end?
What kind of maniac flirts with national collapse? Is it the same kind of maniac who flirts with nuclear war? “By and large,” writes the FSB analyst, “Russia does not have an out.” A bit further along he adds, “Now we are stuck waiting until some mentally screwed up advisor convinces the top to start a conflict with Europe, with demands to reduce the sanctions – they either loosen sanctions or war. What if the West refuses?”
Whatever Nietzsche said about “the advent of European nihilism” we are now confronted with the final consequences of Russian nihilism.
END
Notes and Links
[i] Russia’s Putin: I’ve Always Liked Communist and Socialist ‘Ideas’ (newsweek.com)
[ii] Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), p. 80.
[iii] Friedrich Nietzsche trans. R.J. Hollingdale, Twilight of the Idols: or How to Philosophize with a Hammer (London: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 101.
[iv] Ibid, pp. 101-102.
[v] Ibid, p. 102
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid, p. 103.
[viii] Ibid, pp. 103-104.
[ix] Eric Voegelin, Anamnesis: On the Theory of History and Politics (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 2002), pp. 381-398.
[x] The catchphrase was originated in an essay, published by the World Economic Forum, by Danish MP Ida Auken, titled “Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better.” The essay anticipates a mass surveillance society. Note: The article has been removed from the website of the World Economic Forum.
[xi] Congress’ Nuclear Adviser Wonders Whether Russia Is Stoking WW3 – Air Force Magazine.
[xii][xii] Igor Sushko – #FSBletters from the Wind of Change inside the FSB (KGB) – Racing & Beyond: Active FSB analyst’s psychological assessment of Vladimir Putin, translation from Russian by Igor Shushko.
[xiii] Igor Sushko – #FSBletters from the Wind of Change inside the FSB (KGB) – Racing & Beyond: Translation of the alleged analysis of the current situation in Russia by an active FSB analyst.
[xiv] Ibid.
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Jeff, not sure if you can comment or do a critique on 4 articles, there is a blog called Russian Propaganda Bot which has released 4 articles on Operation Novorossiya which is about a Psychological Operation started in the Ukraine by the GRU Unit 54777:
OPERATION: NOVOROSSIYA THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAS NEO NAZI PSYOP IN UKRAINE: PART 1 OF 6
https://russianpropagandabot.blogspot.com/2022/04/declassidied-operation-novorossiya.html
OPERATION NOVOROSSIYA: THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA’S NEO NAZI PSYOP IN UKRAINE: PART 2 OF 6
https://russianpropagandabot.blogspot.com/2022/05/operation-novorossiya-history-of.html
OPERATION NOVOROSSIYA: THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA’S NEO NAZI PSYOP IN UKRAINE: PART 3 OF 6: THE GREY CARDINAL AND UNIT 54777
https://russianpropagandabot.blogspot.com/2022/05/operation-novorossiya-history-of_3.html
OPERATION NOVOROSSIYA: THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA’S NEO NAZI PSYOP IN UKRAINE: PART 4 OF 6: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
https://russianpropagandabot.blogspot.com/2022/05/operation-novorossiya-history-of_9.html
Part 5 is about the Azov Movement which has not been published yet
Part 6 is about Sergei Korotkikh who is known to be involved with the Belarusian KGB and later Russian FSB
Very interesting Alex, thank you. The Soviet Union was secretly developing its contacts with Nazi groups over many years. This has been exploited to create Red-Brown alliances in many places.
It has a very long tradition; Polish historiography is full of examples of NKVD working with Gestapo during WW2 against Polish underground movement, Armia Krajowa (The Polish Home Army) and other patriotic military organisations like Polish National Armed Forces, for example.
In fact, the Communists used to work together with the German Nazis against the government of the Weimar Republic.
I still remember reading in the German weakly “Der Spiegel” (The Mirror) a huge article titled “Nazis und Kozis” where the Kozis were the German commies. The article described how the Nazis and commies supported each others during the street fighting against the Weimar Republic authorities. They have even used to lend each others their thugs to do that kind of work.
The support given by the German commies to the Nazis was given on the order of Joseph Stalin himself who has ordered the leader of German commies Ernest Thalmann to collaborate with the Nazis.
I still remember a few parts of the letter Stalin wrote to Thalmann: “Our strategic and most important aim is the destruction of Weimar Republic. Our eventual ideological and political differences shall be resolved later”.
I’ve red that article many years ago when Der Spiegel could still be regarded as a relatively reliable source of info and opinion which obviously is not the case today.
Regards – Bogdan
In post WW2 Europe, Nazis often switched over to the Communists. The Stasi, for example, had a very large contingent of Sicherheitsdienst officials. They simply changed color, rather than function.
Jeff, not sure if you can comment, this article from a Ukraine based website also mentions that the leaders of the Azov Movement also has connections with Aleksandr Dugin as well:
NAZI EXODUS: HOW RUSSIAN NAZIS ENDED UP IN UKRAINE
https://violence-marker.org.ua/en/2021/11/24/nazi-exodus-how-russian-nazis-ended-up-in-ukraine/
‘For instance, Olena Semenyaka from the Azov movement hung out with Duginists and attended Dugin’s seminars in Moscow suburbs.’
Very interesting, Alex. This puts the lie to the Kremlin propaganda.
I thought you said not to trust the FSB when I first brought this up? That they use poison in your ear? Also, you used the wrong citation. The original Wind of Change source is here in Russian (Just use Google translate): https://gulagu.net/Wind_of_change
However the organization of the site is sloppy. For example that page ends at the letter for April 12th and it doesn’t include the most recent letters for April 28th and 29th: https://gulagu.net/news/2022-04-29-1284.html
Yes. We should not trust anything coming from FSB sources. The entire FSB letter series may be disinformation. What caught my attention was the reference to “meteors.” The translator completely missed the obvious interpretation of this term. Thus, it is intriguing. We also now know more about Russian military failings. Curiously, Western experts are coming to regard the letters as authentic. Should we trust them? No. Are they a re-coloring of something our side has discovered? Possibly. I suspect they are still preparing a wider war. These letters could be authentic or not. What they contain deserves attention either way.
I always thought that Antichrist would come from Russia and the following verse from the book of Revelation 17:11 confirms this to me:
“And the beast that was and is not, he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”
How can you be the 8th of the 7? Russia was the 8th member of the G7 before being kicked out.
I also once read suggestion that the beast could mean a bear, who is the symbol of Russia, and the dragon would represent China as their national symbol. Both, the beast and the dragon would fight against saints of God.
Christ claims kingship as both exclusive Mediator between God and man (on the basis of being the only Redeemer) and as King of kings, that is, Lord over all the nations. In European post-Roman history, only one institution has dared to claim the same duality of temporal and ecclesiastical supremacy and thereby qualifies as Antichrist.
Revelation 17’s beast that was, is not and yet is, describes a form of government that the major nations of the West subscribe to; all beasts in apocalyptic imagery are not individual human beings per se, but political systems / empires / power blocs, whether in Daniel or in Revelation. In the case of Revelation 17, it refers to a Marxist world order; the previous other forms of government prevalent in the Roman world prior to it were:
“five are fallen” (relative to John’s time):
1. Kings
2. Consuls
3. Dictators
4. Decemvirs
5. Tribunes
“and one is”:
That is, in John’s day, Emperors.
“and the other is not yet come”
After the Roman Empire’s demise, “the other” would be the 7th kind of pre-eminent ruler, to continue a “short space” which is a paradoxical metaphor for the 1,260 years in which apostate Christianity would dominate the West, principally that form of it presided over by the one who claimed (and still claims) both ecclesiastical and temporal supremacy.
“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth”
This is the very final beast system, the scarlet one, the most depraved form of human government ever conceived, to come at the end, before the Lord turns the ride. And it is Marxist, a system considered vanquished at the Cold War’s end, and no longer a threat in the West, yet it still abides and is now resurgent.
“and is of the seven”
That is, it is ungodly and opposed to Christ and His earthly kingship rights, like all the other “kings” (forms of imperial / federation rulership in the West) before it.
You are correct up until you get to Rev 17. The scarlet woman is the old religion of Babylon and the False Prophet which is of the Nouveau Roman Empire. It’s not Marxist – it’s Fascist. The Fasces is found in Roman and Masonic symbolism. The fallen heads are the European Union which will collapse, and reform in ten states again, but may have different borders than the original EU members. The Antichrist keeps Russia and China in check somehow. Who can do battle with the Beast? After the first three and one half year half of the seven year Great Tribulation, the Antichrist suffers a headwound, and his containment of Russia ceases. Then Russia invades Europe and the Middle East. Next, the Antichrist snaps out of it and annihilates Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
Very fanciful.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
–2 Peter 3:3-4 KJV
Algunos de ustedes se molestaron porque escribo en español (mi idioma de nacimiento) sepan disculpar pero no quiero hacer papelones con mi pésimo ingles (y tampoco quiero usar Translate)
Dicho esto, el Anticristo saldrá de Egipto y se presentara como el hombre de paz que detendrá la Tercera Guerra Mundial; una guerra que durara poco pero será tremenda y se iniciara luego del asesinato de un líder mundial importante en la región de los Balcanes ; las tropas rusas avanzaran hacia el Oeste arrasando con todo lo que encuentren a su paso, aunque serán detenidas por los EEUU.
Este es un compendio de diversas fuentes sensibles relacionadas con probos videntes católicos; pero les recomiendo que estudien los escritos de Alois Irlmaier.
JR: tengo una pregunta para usted, en su opinión…¿que sucedería si Vladimir Putin es asesinado?
Desde ya, muchas gracias por dejarme participar.
Dios y la Santísima los bendigan
It is a simple matter for me to translate your writing using Windows app on my computer. Thank you.
That Shanghai lockdown is really interesting. Seems like a big puzzle piece for what is going to happen next in the world. Look at this news out yesterday, possibly related:
After insisting for more than two years that the country was untouched by the global pandemic, its leader Kim Jong Un locked down all cities and counties as part of a “maximum emergency” response, and was spotted wearing a mask for the first time.
Despite the outbreak, North Korea test launched three short-range ballistic missiles this week—evidence of Pyongyang’s commitment to expanding its military arsenal and hardening stance against the West.
The biowarfare threatens to escalate. As Ukraine is losing the war, ruble is getting stronger than ever, no major country except NATO joined the sanctions, the whole financial imperialist system is to collapse. Desperate attempts to save it will be made, biowarfare or nuclear false-flag.
How do you figure Ukraine is losing?
You fancy the recent renovations? I don’t see Azov Battalion remodeling Moscow.
The Ukrainians are not the aggressors here. Thanks for pointing that out for us.
Commit, most of what you write is risible. The rest is simply idiotically tendentious.
Ukraine isn’t losing, no matter what those voices in your head tell you.
I read that Shanghai was locked down because it is the stronghold of opposition to Xi and his reelection. Don’t know how true that is; but it makes sense. We are beginning to experience increased measures to do the same here.
I have heard this too, and do in part believe it.
Every time there is political uncertainty, Americans go out and buy more guns. They don’t much protest in the streets like the few useful idiots who do. When Chinese and Pakistani nationals in UN blue helmets go door to door in the United States, at the invitation of Joe Biden for them to confiscate guns, it won’t go as smoothly for the pigs as it does in Shanghai.
As was said years ago, “Behind every blade of grass…………..” True.
Eddie, that was said by Yamamoto tot he Japanese General Staff. He had served as Naval Attaché in the US and had traveled extensively in the US and Mexico. He was probably the Japanese officer who knew the most about the US and knew that Japan could not win a long war against the US.
Do you remember the Japanese plan to attack US with small blimps/ balloons containing clay jars filled with bubonic infested fleas? Bio attack seems the best bet for China vs US. Massive EMP will cause dozens of nuclear reactor meltdowns. Seems to me that any nuclear war scenario will result in alot of nuclear reactor meltdowns by way of power grid disruptions. Unless there some miraculously farsighted plans to deploy 100s of teams to defend and maintain power to our nuclear power stations. I’ve seen no evidence of it.
Not sure about red-brown, all I see is rainbow-pink-brown alliance. There are be many degenerates and degenerate western volunteers catched fighting for Ukraine.
These two filth seem to have always been somehow connected since the origins of fascism. Fascism is monopolist capitalism in decay after all.
“Exterminate all homosexuals and fascism will vanish.” -Gorky proposed in 1930s.
Will this step be also part of denazification of Ukraine?
You are such a straight up Stalinist. Very enlightening. And Moscow is right there with you — and you with them.
Looks like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are preparing to retire. Two unknown quantities shall replace them, just in case you actually believe that if only you could understand them that you’d be able to predict their actions. If you aren’t going to take them at their word when they say they want to talk, then go read the new leaders’ minds. The US bolstering Ukraine’s conventional military capability, while at the same time decommissioning the US nuclear arsenal is some mysterious philosophy. Maybe if Biden retires that will match Russia and China’s chess moves, as if that were a winning strategy.
I have long quoted Leonid Kravchuk’s line that Putin is not the real leader, but a symbol. The people behind him are interchangeable with him. Grey blurs — just like Stalin.
If anyone would know, Kravchuk would have.
What information do you base this on?
I was asking Lynn W about his retirement comment
George Soros fired Xi a few months ago.
afr. com/world/north-america/george-soros-xi-is-vulnerable-to-being-toppled-20220131-p59si8
_______________________________________________
Xi Jinping is stepping down
tfiglobalnews. com/2022/05/15/xi-jinping-is-stepping-down/
________________________________________________________________________
Russian President Vladimir Putin talking to Presidential Press Service Aide Dmitry Kovalev
news. com. au/world/europe/photo-sparks-rumours-of-russian-president-vladimir-putins-replacement/news-story/3cd1b8d5d705f4206b2f45ccc1a0acf1
_________________________________________
(Close the space before the dot . com to form links.)
Soros cannot fire Xi. How silly.
Soros seemed genuinely surprised that Xi would no longer Kow. You know, like how the Globalists think that by compartmentalizing resources and labor, no one country produces all that it needs for sovereignty being interdependent and subject to deals packaged by multinational conglomerates. Mao on the other hand stated of course, “Power flows from the barrel of a gun.” Chinese steel however is crap. Sweden makes the best. Ruger does a nice job with it. Japanese steel like classical katanas are superlative.
Lynn, I have some information that modifies your take on steel. The katana was susceptible to breakage in days past due to the impurities of Japanese mined ore. The smiths compensated by folding over and over to remove the impurities. Even so, breakage was prevalent if the blade was not used properly. Today, Japanese steel is very good due to importation of better ore. 1970s import knives to K-Mart and Sears were the beginning of the change. Chinese steel in the 80s was very poor; and although they still ship low grade knives, they also produce high end products with very good steel due to improvements in the manufacturing to compete with other countries. Swedish steel has always been good. Germany and USA produce some very fine steel that is nearly unbreakable. I own many blades from around the world. Some less than $10 and some more than $1000. Depending on your planned usage, one is as good as another. Hope this helps.
Does the US actually have a steel mill left? Anything I buy made in China with a metal zipper on it invariably the metal zipper snaps off. Prior to World War 2, Japan was buying scrap metal from the US to build planes and ships. I notice that Remington has 125 grain .357 semi jacketed hollow point back in stock. That’s a relief. Glad they didn’t close after being forced into bankruptcy over a frivolous lawsuit.
Here’s the breakdown, Lynn
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/bankrupt-remington-sold-off/
Interesting article. My concern is that the parent company that buys up all the other firearms companies is owned or will eventually be owned by someone like George Soros.
I intend to invest in a gross or more of ammo, just in case.
Jeff wrote: “In his theory of political order (which is also a theory of nihilism), Voegelin indirectly suggested that communism’s triumph in Russia (in 1917) owed everything to Tsarist dogmatism. In itself this dogmatism was sufficiently “grotesque” that it offended the deeper noetic sense of those Russians who mattered most. This dogmatism especially offended the Russian intelligentsia, who were already susceptible to “philosophic” extremes. Consequently, intelligent Russians were driven further and further to the left in their nihilist revolt against Orthodoxy.
Surely this infers that the most depraved among sinners wish to divest themselves of God entirely and find themselves driven to the polemic antithesis; not Satanism, as one might expect, but atheism and its natural concomitant political outworking: communism.
Also, Jeff referenced Russia’s apocalyptic trajectory. This is something that is going to become much clearer as world events proceed in the next few years.
How about Fascists, Quietman? Can they be Satanists? Any idea how similar and/or dissimilar Azov Battalion is to Hitler’s NAZI Fascism? Is it comparable and compatible with the NAZI scientists’ philosophy who were charter members of the CIA and NASA?
There are ten times as many “Nazis” on the Russian side….
What is the appeal of NAZISM to neo NAZIS? In particular, the Azov Battalion? Is it the same NAZISM of Hitler, or how does if vary? What do they believe?
Azov was denazified years ago. The “far right” has little influence in Ukraine, but quite a bit in Russia.
Most so-called neo-Nazis are simply clowns. I recall George Lincoln Rockwell back in the 60s. He pranced around in Nazi uniform, but simply seemed to be playing a game. Turned out the man was a Jew and doing little more than cosplay.
While it is hard to tell just Nazi those who bear the label in Russia, it has been noted that pro-Russian Communists and Nazis have united in the Donbas to fight Ukraine.
https://www.outono.net/elentir/2022/03/01/the-alliance-of-pro-russian-communists-and-nazis-fighting-against-ukraine-in-donbas/
How was Azov supposedly “de NAZIfied, OHENGINEER, and why were they ever NAZIS in the first place? It’s certainly good to know that they finally saw the error of their ways and got it all out of their system. Why is it though, that most NAZIS turn out to be homosexual?
“There are ten times as many “Nazis” on the Russian side….”
Except in Russia everything related nazism is illegal. Maybe was the case during nineties, not anymore.
Please read what Alex posted at the top of this chat.
“Can they be Satanists?”
Their masonic handlers in Washington D.C. surely are.
“What is the appeal of NAZISM to neo NAZIS?”
When enough money is pumped into propaganda, as Nuland admitted the USA did, alternative news sources banned, there is a good chance some people will follow, not the majority, but active minority. For American elites, the anti-russian, anti-slavic aspect surely is appealing. Ukrainians are Slavs? Even better, they will hate themselves and worship anglos even more.
“Is it the same NAZISM of Hitler”
Seems yes
An example of Ukraine TV channel broadcast
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dI8-UO9M_ms
And your point is? Putin’s idiocy has set up an existential struggle for Ukraine, and you want to carry on about Nazis in Russia being destroyed? You get more hilarious, and not in a good way, with each post.
Putin caused the war. He was not provoked, and simply invaded for imperialistic reasons. Deal with it.
“invaded for imperialistic reasons.”
anti-imperialist reasons
https://rainershea.substack.com/p/the-donbass-peoples-victory-against?s=w
Commit, the only reasonable conclusion one may reach about you is that you do not know imperialism is. It’s the same for what a Nazi is as Russia has plenty of them and they reach into Putin’s inner circle. It doesn’t matter what is “illegal,” Russia is swimming in Nazis.
Well, I’m going to write in English, excuse any mistakes.
The feeling one gets from the news coming out of Ukraine is that Russia cannot back down and I think that is a great paradox.
I will explain, in Buenos Aires the local communists have Putin as a great idol, almost a pop star; I would say that they masturbate thinking about his character and the military, financial and propaganda power that he knew how to display before the invasion.
But all this began to change, Putin has revealed himself for what he really is: a vulgar homicidal psychopath, just like Hitler, and this has confused the Argentine Marxists; we would say that the masks have fallen, and the true faces have revealed all their cruelty and impiety.
Regarding the paradox that Russia cannot go back, because although I consider that this is the beginning of the end of global Marxism (if communism falls in Moscow, it collapses throughout the planet) Russia must go forward to continue being what it sold to be; if it shows weakness it can be overwhelmed, the only option is its own destruction: continue attacking.
“and this has confused the Argentine Marxist”
Everyone calls himself a marxist nowadays. They either have no clue what is going on or are not true anti-imperialist Marxists.
https://rainershea.substack.com/p/the-donbass-peoples-victory-against?s=w
It’s hard to find people who have actually bothered to read Marx. Yes. Very true.
Why read Marx political theory? Just look at his personal life and his non theoretical writing. Look at the history of tens of millions of deaths by Marxists. It’s not only that the idea of Communism is bad and unworkable, it’s that the means to realize it are incredibly destructive. Marx knew it and mocked the people that believed in Communism. Truly it’s just a tool to apply force. Cotton candy or tickle feathers for all could be used by a sufficiently evil International movement to achieve the same goals eventually. Marx, Nechayev, and Lenin were evil.
It is important to understand Marx and Lenin in order to understand what is being followed, what it’s strategy is, and where it is headed. There is a psychology revealed here. Naturally, much of it is nonsense and very harmful. But if we go back to Ronald Reagan, and to the ideological responses to communism in the 1989s, the conservatives mischaracterized Marxism and the USSR as if it were an economic system that had failed. This misunderstanding became ingrained in our conservative leaders to such an extent they came to believe that Gorbachev was a genuine reformer, that communism had been discredited, and there was nothing more to worry about. Anticommunism was then derailed because they were not careful students of Marxism-Leninism, and failed to know that Marxism is flexible — that it can adopt capitalism and use it, and has done so in the distant past under Lenin himself.
If true; contemporary Marxism is a bizarre mix of “Che” Guevara T-shirts, social guilt over poverty, and refined doses of resentment
This is my previous message translated.
Some of you were annoyed because I write in Spanish (my birth language) excuse me but I don’t want to make fools of myself with my lousy English (and I don’t want to use Translate either)
Having said this, the Antichrist will leave Egypt and present himself as the man of peace who will stop the Third World War; a short-lived but tremendous war launched after the assassination of a major world leader in the Balkan region; the Russian troops will advance to the West destroying everything in their path, although they will be stopped by the US.
This is a compendium of various sensitive sources related to honest Catholic seers; but I recommend that you study the writings of Alois Irlmaier.
JR: I have a question for you, in your opinion… what would happen if Vladimir Putin is assassinated?
Thank you very much in advance for letting me participate.
God and the Blessed bless you
Matias Estaban: You write very well in English. Please continue. If you do make a mistake in English, we overlook English mistakes because of the ideas that you present. Your ideas are more important than perfect English.
I second R.O.’s comment.
Food for thought..I have believed for nearly thirty years that there is a country described in Scripture that is destroyed in “One Hour’s Time” and great riches come to naught. Jeremiah 50-51 describes many characteristics of this country, but one that stands out is for centuries Rabbis have understood the phrase “the hammer of the whole earth is broken asunder” as a Jewish idiom for the Policeman of the World, which is destroyed in a Surprise Attack. I heard a Pastor say about a decade ago on a program that he was given a vision and in it, he saw what he understood to be the Leaders of China and Russia, and they made a Pact. It was decided that when China and America go to war over Taiwan and the South China Seas, then Russia will hit us with a Surprise Attack. Two months or so ago even the liberal press made the statement that China and Russia have made a Pact against America using the very words given to this Pastor a decade or so ago. Regardless, Our only hope is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4..God Bless, Mr Nyquist
In bygone times, the Reformation was referred to by Catholics as “the northern heresy” and conversely, Catholicism was (and still is) referred to in Reformed circles as “Babylon”.
The Particular Baptist view is that Jeremiah 50 and 51 is another example of a dual prophecy, with first a prototype fulfilment and then a mystical fulfilment; the former being when the Medes and Persians under Cyrus attacked literal Babylon, the latter being when the godly ascend to power in the West and lay waste to the spiritual Babylon that is the Romish religion under the 7th of 7 Last Plagues of Revelation 16, and thus mystical Babylon is destroyed from the “north”.
What Babylon is NOT, under any rational interpretation of Scripture, is the USA. I know it’s de rigeur among Evangelicals in the US today to imagine that America is Babylon, but that notion does not stand up to any serious scrutiny.
I don’t know any Evangelical that regards the US as Babylon. Some Seventh Day Adventists regard the US as Babylon, however.
Well, the SDAs have different views on the USA. Another one some of them are pushing of late is that the USA is the second beast of Revelation 13… They seem to have their knife in America’s back.
Quiet, that’s not a recent thing. They have long held the US to be the second beast. I wouldn’t say they have a knife in the back of America, though. I’ve studied Eschatology with the SDA while still lived in Ohio. They are good people that have a some strange views on the issues of eschatology. Their view of Romans and James are the same as others that have have descended from the Wesleyan movement.
Iraq is Babylon, and when the Antichrist, the First Beast, dictator of the revived Roman Empire, revives from a head wound after three and one half years after the signing of a covenant with the False Prophet, the Second Beast, the head of the revived religion of ancient Babylon, the two former associates, have a falling out, and the False Prophet moves his head quarters from Rome to Iraq; Babylon.
The United States is conspicuous from it’s absence in the Bible at all; most notably from the Apocalyptic Books, which are relevant to this modern Church Age. What happens to the United States, the greatest super power ever on planet Earth?
How can Europe be free of Russia, without the presence of the Untied States to defend Europe? How can China and maybe India and Pakistan, endure for the final battle at Armageddon if there were a World war prior to the Great Tribulation?
Lynn. What a very bizarre formulation. You say it is “conspicuous” that the Bible does not mention America? Yes, the whole ancient world — Greece and Rome, etc. — were conspicuous in failing to mention America. Jesus conspicuously never mentioned Brazil — or Japan. And certainly, what are we to think of the way Australia is left out!? Or China! But these countries and their associated continents are now of strategic importance as war threatens. Does it ever occur to you that you’ve misread the whole thing? —!
Most of the nations that exist today were not mentioned in the Bible, and there is no reason they would be. Why not discuss Antarctica in Bible prophecy? Of course, that would not be serious. Such a discourse is not worth our time. It is bad enough that we have so many political misunderstandings; but now we must compound those misunderstandings with religious misunderstandings, with dogmatically pronouncements on poorly understood texts. Oh. But you understand them. Or do you?
Until you actually know what certain references, stories and symbols mean, and unless you have a better sense of history, you are not going to discover anything of importance here. And so, you merely introduce an element of confusion here which inhibits clarity.
Jeff, as you know I have been following your blog from a long time, not as long as many of the commenters here, but long enough that I have come to trust your insights, appreciate your great grasp of history and literature, and love your writing. Today, I read something just upset me because I thought I could trust this person, too.
I follow Curtis Bowers’s video blog. He is a former congressman who has produced some documentaries as well. This week his blog was called “What’s Really Going on in Ukraine?” In it, he includes two clips that presume to tell you the “real” story. One of these was Harley Schlangar who was recorded on the LaRouche Organization. I recall you have written that Lyndon LaRouche worked for the KGB. Schlangar was followed by retired Colonel Richard Black. Both men blame NATO, the US, and the wealthy west who wants to “destroy Russia” and divide it up for its resources. I could not believe that Curtis Bowers accepts this as truth. I am so devastated that someone who has a large following may be misleading 10s of 1000s of people. Here is a link if you or your readers care to listen. https://agendaweekly.com/whats-really-going-on-in-ukraine/ .
Commit, these people talk like you do and they are anti-communists, supposedly. So, they don’t align politically with you but they see the world as you do. I don’t know if they are brainwashing people because they are connected to the FSB or they have been brainwashed and they actually believe this garbage. Nobody wants to destroy Russia. Russia has a great history and great achievements, but its leaders are very much misguided and have been for a long time. It takes great courage to stand up to evil men.
Today, I was with a young mother from China who came to the US just before COVID and then became stuck here. So, she has been here for two years with her daughter and her husband. She now realizes how brainwashed she was. She never wants to go back.
My point is this. Look, if we are constantly fed lies, we end up believing them because we don’t know any better. In the United States, we are supposed to have free speech and have an exchange of ideas. That’s in great peril, right now. But we also need to back up our facts. I would ask that everyone on this blog back up their facts with sources because right now, the truth is getting harder and harder to figure out. If I am going to go after Curtis Bowers in a persuasive way, I need sources.
If you read the Wiki on Lyndon LaRouche you will find plenty of things connecting him to communism and the KGB. Webster Tarpley, who was associated with the LaRouche organization, and did many appearances with Alex Jones, participated in a far-left meeting of communists around June 2016 in which he strongly attacked Trump and suggested Trump would prove to be a useful foil. In this link he calls Trump a Nazi: https://muse.ai/v/W9pLHqm-DONALD-TRUMPS-NEW-AMERICA-by-WEBSTER-G-TARPLEY
Many say Alex Jones works for Vatican. Do you have an opinion on a Roman Catholic writer E. Michael Jones, his frequent guest?
Alex Jones has been connected to right wing communists like Webster Tarpley, has Russians on his staff, supported Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, etc. He has since been more careful regarding some of these positions. But I think Russia has influenced him in the past. As for E. Michael Jones, he is a very sophisticated antiSemitic conspiracy theorist with an axe to grind. Indeed, Jones is Catholic; but he is one of those Catholics who would naturally oppose the Vatican. Alex Jones’s focus on conspiracy theory is wide-ranging, and so he is naturally curious about E. Michael Jones’s anti-Jewish ultra-traditionalist theories as well. Alex has even referred to Charles Forte’s “aliens own the human race” conspiracy theory during a Joe Rogan podcast. In that same podcast he touched on the the extra-dimensional theories elaborated by authors like Jacques Vallee and John A. Keel. Jones does not give proper attribution to these writers — who originated some of these ideas, and I am not sure why. I Suspect he wants his listeners to think he “figured this out” himself.
Alex and Rogan. Tools
Both are commie tools and so is Mike Adams to the Reds. America is becoming completely Red.
Here is my first attempt to respond to Mr. Bowers. See what you think.
“I have tried to use what I have learned here. I watched this video about Harley Schlangar from the LaRouche Organization and Colonel Black. I was appalled that you fell for such a thing. Lyndon LaRouche was a KGB asset. Nothing his organization does should be trusted. Colonel Black’s description of the invasion of Donbas is also full of factual errors. Ukraine’s entire ground army is less than 125,000, so the idea that they used 250,000 troops to invade the Donbas is poppy cock. Currently, Russia has 100,000 troops in Ukraine. I am very disappointed that you are promoting Russian propaganda. The whole notion that NATO wants to destroy Russia is nonsense and is the Russian propaganda story. What do I think is the truth? There are four reasons that I think this war happened. 1. Putin wants glory. He wants to restore Russian greatness and their Soviet empire. Ask any eastern European if they want to go back to Russia and the answer is NO. They will fight to the death because they know what will happen if Russia takes them back. Why does Russia push? 2. The entire population of Russia is 145,000,000 and their economy is the size of Holland. They have a population problem. They have a shortage of men which is only growing worse because of this war. 3. This war was brought on by Putin being surrounded by “yes” men who feed him what they think he wants to hear. 4. They want to make Europe dependent on them for oil and take over the continent. Look up Jeff Nyquist. He is a source that will give you and your readers a better perspective than Schlanger or Black. You should just redo this entire episode. It is full of factual errors. Too many more for me to comment on.”
Your #2. USSR / Russian/ China/ hidden economy is incalculable. It is the largest criminal financial enterprise in history.
Excellent point, Bedlamsbardi! Thank you.
It sucks to see our favorite writers and talk show hosts fail on the Communist question. At one time I had high hopes that Michael Savage could have done much. But his vision is fogged esp on Putin last few years. Thank God for Jeff Nyquist. I’m thinking back to high school education… basically nothing was taught about His.tory or politics. Thousands of hours wasted.
I saw Curtis Bowers’ video too and was likewise amazed. Made me think of what Jeff wrote a month ago: “This latest turn of so many toward Putin is, for many of us, a difficult defeat coming so late in the game.”
Hope you do drop mr Bowers a line. Would be very interested in how he responds.
To Anon: Thank you for your comment. I posted my comment on Saturday. There is no response yet. :-(.
Sometimes a good comment leaves nothing more to say. 😁
According to Putin, the goal of the special military operation was destruction of the radical elements and military equipment of Ukraine, which is almost achieved. When it comes to troop numbers, Russia has cca. 3 millions reservists, can be mobilized once special operation turns into a real war. Ukraine already uses its reservists.
Do you believe the USA can continue resupply at this pace? The USA is running out of stocked cold war era weapons, with no sufficient production capacity to continue.
Never underestimate the people of the United States. If you know your history, you will recall at the beginning of WW2, the United States Navy had an ancient fleet from WW1. The same with the planes. Need I say more?
“If you know your history, you will recall at the beginning of WW2, the United States Navy had an ancient fleet from WW1.”
if you have civilian/dual use industry, access to raw materials, you can turn it into military production in few years (in certain segments). But it takes many decades to rebuild industrial base once you lose it.
even before the WW2, the USA together with Britain produced more ship tonnage annually than rest of world combined. They controlled natural resources extraction in underdeveloped countries, that were defenseless against imperialist exploitation back then, not the case anymore.
before Pearl Harbor, the USA had much stronger Navy than Japan, they moved the most valuable ships to ocean from Pearl Harbor before the attack, let only some obsolete battleships to be sunk, it was basically the pre-WW2 carrier fleet that won the Midway.
nowadays China produces more steel than rest of the world combined, even Russia produces more steel than the USA nowadays. Russia produces orders of magnitude more explosives a year than the USA. Russia deploys more nuclear missile subs a year than the USA did in last 2 decades (exactly 0). Restarting production of those things takes time (at least a decade for first Columbia class sub to be finished).
Ladyfromlibertygarage: Every airplane flown in combat by the U.S. during World War II were either already deployed (e.g. P-40, Wildcat, B-17), were prototypes or early models (P-51, P-38) or were already on the drawing boards of designers. The navy had retired the old four stacker destroyers from World War I which is why they were available for Lend Lease to England. The U.S. had new battleships and cruisers, which is why they were available for combat around Guadacanal. Even though the U.S. started rearming before World War II, it took a few years for the U.S. to hit its stride in war production.
Due to the use of nuclear weapons, World War III will last only months with a death toll that will dwarf World War II. We will not have the time to ramp up production like we did in World War II. We will have to fight with the weapons we have. With Biden sending so many to Ukraine, what are our chances?
We do not know the answer to such questions because there are too many variables in such scenarios. Nuclear war leads to economic breakdowns on all sides. Russia and China live off the global market. Without any connection to it — they collapse even if they win. Of course, the science behind this is mired in our own sociological suppositions. Human behavior in the aggregate is not easy to predict.
I have no idea where you got some of your numbers. The original numbers I saw for the Russian Army in Ukraine was about 190,000, or about 65% of the active Russian Army. The nominal numbers of the Ukrainian Army was about 225,000. Potentially, they could field many more than that, and the actual numbers may be smaller. But, they aren’t saying. I think as time goes on, we will see more actual large units in the field rather than the small units fighting what has amounted to a guerilla war.
The Ukrainian Army has gone over to a decentralized model which is similar to that of the west. The Russians are still fighting with a highly centralized model that harks back to the Stalinist model which placed no trust in junior officers or enlisted. The consequence is what you are now seeing in Ukraine. As the Ukrainians train up units on the new equipment, things will get far worse for the Russians. Putin doesn’t have the bodies that Stalin gave to Zhukov and Konev, who basically choked the Germans on Russian blood.
Cortes hits the mark: panslavism presaged these antimonies, and Russia’s failed to materialize as the Third Rome shielding post-Christian Europe like a Greek protectorate as Nietzsche hoped for in Beyond Good and Evil— they will never be “good Europeans” as a result. “Generational trauma” is fashionable in the CRT crowd; still, Communism manifests a biological event, an epigenetic wildfire likely unrecoverable to a people’s posterity. Russia, China, and everywhere they touch are primed by it. The Human analogue of the Mouse Utopia experiment is in effect. We are haunted by millions of pathological nulls latched onto the human biomass thanks to modern infant mortality rates, “spiteful mutant” clay in the pathocrats’ hands. Future law and society must be circling the wagons against them, not remake society in the name of pathological altruism as the “communitarian” paradigm would have it.
The ideologue’s rigid adherence to the cause is millenarian: if only a revealing, if only a Twilight of the Gods to settle things now and forever . . . but it is endlessly deferred with permanent revolution, the better to provide moral cover for unrestrained, unclean appetites; they lack presence . . . they are not ‘There’, but focused on confabulations just over the horizon until – like the tightrope walker in Thus Spoke Zarathustra – eventually they waver in the wind and fall in terror. Every Colonel Kurtz wishes for an “errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.” to stop them short of achieving their desire, that final deinstrumentalization of their will. Ultimately, only death will suffice, judgement . . . To paraphrase Chesterton, “The appropriate response to one claiming to be a ‘moral nihilist’ is to take out a gun and shoot them.”
“Let them eat cake and have it too.” Despite everything, they don’t appear to be getting their way. Isn’t Brandon their Manchurian Candidate guy, with all those deals in Ukraine and Kazakhstan? Is Mad Dog doctrine credible with a matryoshka doll of a black box passing for political and military leadership? The apparent indifference to signals and operational security in the eastern theater surely only solidifies the necessity for total war to achieve any success, with an emphasis on wiping space assets and concurrent cyber. The necessity is there for them, but the hard counter wouldn’t necessarily be public knowledge barring tea leaf readings . . . would they write off the lower 48 entirely to ‘win’? A Han World Order would be inevitable, with all of Russia’s ethnos eventually replaced . . . the futility of this frame of mind, “willing anything, even nothingness to avoid not-willing at all.” can’t be lost on them at some level.
Anyone bothered to watch last Monday’s Victory Day Parade in Moscow’s Red Square? There was a decisive change in design (while the parade itself followed the same Soviet protocol as ever): THE RED IS BACK, WITH FULL FORCE! No comparison to the parades of the last 17 years (which should have been watched much more closely by the West right from 2005 when they were revived)! Of course, there was no sea of red flags and of Lenin portraits – yet! – but a return to more overt Soviet aesthetics, nonetheless. No more vague blueish designs. That deception is over. It’s now red, and particularly deep-red, that dominates the scene. The beast of international communism, with its headquarters still situated in Moscow, can’t wait much longer to devour the world.
Then, look at the faces of the young soldiers. All their former enthusiasm and confidence (that could be seen in recent years) seems to have vanished. They are now looking death straight in the eye.
Also, there was a brief moment that revealed the nervousness of the leadership (whoever the real leaders are): As the “dignitaries”, at the end of the parade, moved, as every year, from Red Square around Arsenalnaya Tower to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to ritually lay down their ever-same communist red carnations, Putin appeared to feel threatened by the first guardsman approaching him – perhaps too resolutely – to hand him the first bunch of carnations. Watch this moment, and watch it in slow-motion, at the exact time mark of 1:27:40 to 1:27:42. Putin, the skilled judoka, quite visibly backs away as if expecting an attack. So, there is fear in their hearts. They are well aware of the magnitude of horrors they’re about to plunge the whole world into (which has always been the sole reason for them to exist), and of course, even inside Russia, a lot of people don’t like the idea…
By the way, I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin looked like a sausage in his coat, which he did, because he may have worn a bullet-proof vest underneath. I can almost spot the outlines of it.
As for his ten minutes of Soviet gobbledegook, what stuck out to me was that he characterised Russia’s ongoing operation against Ukraine as a “preventive strike” (which is naturally in line with their permanent propaganda of an encircled and threatened Russia). This forebodes the all-out nuclear decapitation strike that’s looming against an America that is already leaderless (one might also say: Bolshevik-controlled), and it’ll be justified in the exact same manner: as a “preventive strike” that was necessary to secure the survival of the Russian motherland.
I suspect that the West is, once more, falling into a deadly trap by giving the Soviets (and Chinese) the escalation they need to launch global war. Will the U.K. be able to defend in any way the Finns and Swedes against Soviet aggression (or merely provide them with a credible deterrence)? True, the free world now finds itself in a dilemma (a dilemma of its own making, that is). But PM Johnson’s recent security pacts with these two Scandinavian countries, whatever well-intentioned, might turn out to have been a cardinal mistake.
The warnings had been with us for a long time. Anatoliy Golitsyn’s New Lies for Old was published 38 years ago; his second book, The Perestroika Deception, 27 years ago; J. R. Nyquist’s Origins of the Fourth World War, 24 years ago. So much could have been, if not corrected, but still learned in those years, but, as Mr. Nyquist’s sobering assessment goes: “They were too busy shopping and having fun.”
Kind of strange. The parade is usually “commanded” by a Colonel General, but this year a General of The Army instead.
Given what Putin has told the troops in the past, the troops now feel they’ve have been lied to. To much news has come back from Ukraine, and it doesn’t match the agitprop.
In my opinion, the nukes don’t fly until the Russian Army is destroyed on the mountains of Israel. That is coming and there is no plan for it in Moscow as God will be put hooks in the jaw and draw them south. In the long run, the troops are right to be scared. So is Putin.
Ohengineer, get real. This Russian Army couldn’t make it to Turkey, let along the mtns of Israel. Can’t even conquer more than a few miles of East Ukraine. And soon won’t be able to hold even that.
@VIRTUALCONSERVATIVE1: Give them until 2028 and see how much they improve in the interim. Ukraine has been a real eye opener for them and they will surely learn lessons from the debacle.
Virtual, they won’t be fighting their way there. If they had to fight their way there, I would agree with you.
In the natural light, Putin looks very, very old.
The same seems true of Medvedev and Lavrov. It’s as if all life had been sucked out of them. I don’t believe for a minute they are defeated. Nor do I think that these monsters are capable of remorse or shame, but they certainly hate being publicly embarrassed (and maybe they got too much accustomed over the years to being courted by the West, which amounts, for narcissists, if they don’t get it any more, to a painful withdrawal of narcissistic supply). In any case, they at least APPEAR somewhat wounded and somewhat clueless. Perhaps it’s also a supernatural thing, who knows.
What concerns me at least as much, however, is the fact that it is mostly leftists (and fake conservatives) who are pushing escalation from the Western side. As if they were most happily (and treasonously) willing to throw us into another world war. It’s a bit of a hall of mirrors we’re in right now – but definitely the Soviets (plus allies) want this escalation, which imho should not that generously be given to them.
Yes. This is a real concern.
I did notice some of the soldier’s eyes darting around all over the place with nervousness in a close up, something I would not expect while standing at attention. But given what the British tabloids are saying about Putin suffering from “blood cancer” and having to cover his legs with a blanket, I would expect him to be a little unstable at walking, and indeed he did seem to walk a bit odd. But then there has always been talk about his walking, such as swinging his left arm while holding the right arm steady. The guy is pure Dr. Strangelove if you ask me.
We should treat these rumors of Putin’s illness with caution. This is a dictator’s trick when times are uncertain.
Yeah, even David drooled at the mouth and rolled on the floor before the Philistines.
Good point!
I had read before that Putin walks with his strange arm movements was due to KGB training and some other KGB were noticed walking the same.
Might be total BS but msybe it makes him feel like a world famous international spy like James Bond?
I am not buying into the Putin illness stuff. I want to see facts.
Totally agree with caution on the tabloid garbage news.
So-called Israel can’t make it to Gaza. What makes you think Arabs will need Russia’s help?
Israel is next door to Gaza. Why do you think Israel can’t get to Gaza?
Why do you think the Arabs wouldn’t want Russia’s help?
shelling across the wall, not entering.
Commit, that’s another of your nonresponsive responses.
“whose fatted heads are larded with expectations”
I love your descriptions, Jeff. 😂
Something wicked this way comes… too many strange things are happening.
Most commentators here think that the progress of the war proves the Russian Army to be weak, but I would argue this isn’t necessarily the case. It’s possible that they deliberately sent in inferior troops. Why would they do this? One purpose would be to convey the impression of weakness to the western countries thereby lulling their enemies into a false sense of security; another would be to use the war as cover to make final preparations for the long-planned invasion of Europe. Stalin almost managed to this 80 years ago, but the Fuehrer was too quick for him. Many Russian oligarchs have been done away with lately, perhaps they knew too much or didn’t want to go along with the programme. There have been other things as well such as the ever increasing number of fires which have destroyed dozens of food distribution centres in North America over the course of the last couple of years or so. To quote James Bond once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. This would fit the various prophecies which Mr. Nyquist has written of in previous articles, the most striking of which I believe to be those of Alois Irlmaier.
One theory for weakness of the Russian troops might be the intention to sacrifice a first strategic echelon in a nuclear exchange on NATO’s border. But it never made it there.
I can’t help but wonder what China is thinking about all of this. We know they were working together. What comes next?
China and Russia have been preparing some kind of combination play.
The problem with the Russian Army is one of long standing. The centralized model is not a flexible model and harks back to the Stalin’s time. Since the beginning of the Red Army Junior Officers and enlisted were regarded as unreliable and were not trusted. Often the training was of quite low value. One Army Officer made the comment that what the Soviets regarded as training, western armies regarded as demonstrations. There has never arisen anyone that could be regraded as a true reformed in the Russian military. Ukraine is doing well because it has been trained by western armies and reformed with expectation made of junior officers and senior enlisted. The Soviets never had an effective NCO Corps, and the Russian have never acquired one either. It shows in the lack of flexibility they have demonstrated in Ukraine.
The biggest problem for the Russians is the troops in Ukraine came from active units. Those are among there best troops. Even their Airborne troops have been slaughtered, and they are considered an elite force.
Walter: you honestly believe the Russians “deliberately sent in inferior troops?”
That their crushing losses have us right where they want us?
Bwahahaha Reminds me of Monty Python’s Black Knight sketch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs&ab_channel=eltoro
Sometimes you really can believe your own eyes.
The Russians really did expect to get through Ukraine.
The Red Army often sent in penal units as cannon fodder during the second world war, they weren’t expected to last very long. They would be ordered to charge straight at the Germans & if they didn’t they’d be shot by smersh detachments. From the Soviet point of view they were unreliable anyway; if they attained their objective somehow well & good, if not they at least caused the Germans to expend more ammunition & in doing so eliminate persons that the Chekists themselves would probably end up shooting later on anyhow, a win win situation. The internet & social media have made it much easier for any country’s secret services to surveil the public. The units sent into the most dangerous situations might well have had a good number of men who had been found to entertain anti-Soviet attitudes. The western countries will likely do the same thing. Those who remain in the American Armed Forces & who are religious & didn’t take their shots had better watch out; if there’s a war they’ll probably be ordered to their doom. Even if everything is as it appears it is no reason to crow as they still have the best ICBM’s in the world & they still have their agents in place in all western countries. In fact if their Army really is this bad that is all the more reason for them to use their rockets & have done with it. It is all coming to a head, The Almighty will soon avenge the oceans of innocent blood shed by the filthy disgusting worthless infidel pigs that fill & corrupt the earth. They chopped up their own children & delighted in depravity. Now many of them will likely soon perish in a conflagration the likes of which has never before been seen & the survivors will finally understand that God is not mocked. “But as for those my enemies, who would not have me reign over them, bring them hither, and kill them before me.” Gospel of S. Luke 19:27.
I would prefer diplomacy not war as it will be my children doing the fighting not the children of the politicians whose children seem to be in the habit of taking lines of cocaine from potential CCP spies.
I would prefer we at least try for a diplomatic solution even if we are just buying a few years to prepare.
Greetings to „down under“! Been there an eternity of 34 years ago, and I loved it! Great country! Wonderful people! Never saw such an amount of freely given hospitality as in Australia! It was the journey of my life (eight months of India, Singapore, Australia, Papua New Guinea, back to Australia, back to India, including the spectacular – and life-threatening! – Srinagar-Leh road from Kashmir to Ladakh, and back to Europe).
As for Australia, I began my journey at the Gold Coast, drove down to Sydney, crossed over the Great Dividing Range into Canberra, climbed up into the Snowy Mountains (on dirt roads, with a run-down 1974 Toyota Corolla panel van; this was 1988), came down into Victoria, Melbourne, flew for a week to Tasmania, Great Ocean Road, Adelaide, Flinders Ranges, Great Salt Desert, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock (politically incorrect term; one was still allowed to climb it then), Darwin, Kakadu National Park, back to the Three Ways Junction, Mount Isa, Townsville, Cairns (two weeks of PNG), and back to my friends at the Gold Coast! It was quite a ride, and I wasn’t bitten by a snake or a spider, or eaten by a croc once…
Also, I greatly love your splendid national anthem, “Advance Australia Fair” – even though these days, given the ever-louder threats and bullying coming out of Beijing, the noble line, “For those who’ve come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share”, has no doubt acquired a somewhat bitter connotation, and of course it’s now a different Australia anyway, just as the whole world has been massively transformed in these three and a half decades, and not for the better…
I am glad you enjoyed our beautiful country. It is an amazing land full of contrasts and very different to what people would expect. Our cities are very urban but once you get outside of the city you are in untamed wilderness for thousands of kilometres.
“Russia and China live off the global market. Without any connection to it — they collapse even if they win.”
shortage of what exactly will cause their collapse? Food? China is net exporter of calories. AFAIK American strategists count on cutting off China from energy imports via naval blockade. Even if they manage to do so, there already is a solid pipeline connection and China can shut down energy heavy industries and import finished products like fertilizers or aluminum from Russia and Iran.
America is much more dependent on imports than China, Europe even more. When you start with blockades, Iran can easily blow up everything in the Arabian side of Persian gulf. Will be a bigger problem for Europe.
Marxists are incapable of understanding economics. You prove this in your remarks, Commit.
He also gives far to much credit to Chinese resilience. He’s an ignoramus on many counts.
Neither are you imperialists, you just blame all failings of your system on “marxists”.
I would never give Marxists that much credit.
The only point of trade is to obtain things you don’t have in exchange for things you have in surplus. I ask you what China does not have and can’t obtain from its allies?
Here’s what the late British analyst and editor-publisher of Anatoliy Golitsyn’s second book, The Perestroika Deception, Christopher Story (1938 – 2010) said in an interview back in 1995 with regard to the content of same book and the West’s already-then dangerously growing economic, political and cultural entanglement with the “formerly communist” world:
HOST: In addition to exposing this massive disinformation strategy, which Anatoliy Golitsyn uniquely has exposed and made available as information in these two books: What can be done and what should be done by the West in response to this, assuming enough people became aware of it in time?
CHRISTOPHER STORY: Well, as you correctly say, I take the second point first, the important point is that there should be people who, in the structures, the power structures of the West, who do finally come to realise this deception, and indeed Golitsyn clearly says that he believes that this will eventually happen, but he says it will be too late when it does happen! Incidentally, coming to understand how the Soviet deception works may come to some people through revelation rather than through intellectual application. A mixture of both is helpful.
HOST: You mean, by just observing events.
CHRISTOPHER STORY: Yeah, I mean, revelation is helpful. You know, I’m not talking about Paul on the road to Damascus, but in fact the brain goes ‘click’, and you suddenly understand, and having gone ‘click’, you never go backwards!
HOST: Right.
CHRISTOPHER STORY: But the answer to the first part of your question is that we should leave them to stew in their own juice. We should withdraw. Now that we’re so deeply involved, we gotta do it subtly, but we should withdraw from cooperation. We needn’t announce it, we should just do it!
HOST: And stop aiding them!
CHRISTOPHER STORY: Stop aiding them! Stop cooperating! Withdraw whenever we see an opportunity! Retrench! AND: We should re-arm like crazy!!! Because the only thing these people understand is that we are determined not to let them prevail!
* * *
None of which, of course, ever happened. And so the question inevitably arises: Is it indeed “too late”? Time will show…
Full transcript of that interview, done by myself 9 years ago, and complete with source, to be found here:
https://thecontemplativeobserver.wordpress.com/category/anatoliy-golitsyn/
I started reading the series on Operation Novorossiya, mentioned at the top of the comments, very much wanting to believe the Russians were responsible for hyping the Nazification of Ukraine. I know someone who has fallen into this trap and feels the Ukrainians are the problem, which I don’t. I got up to part 3 feeling really good about what I was reading until I came across this (quote):
It seemed Surkov gloated in his own work, his oversight and mission planning on the GRU attack into the influencing of the U.S. political system with the 2016 election of Donald Trump, who the Russian intel services considered an asset and the right wing media another tool of the GRU propaganda machine. Surkov and Putins distaste with America was more than paranoia, they felt the U.S. and their Jewish masters created the internet as the perfect weapon against the Russian motherland. (end quote)
This sounds more like Democrat propaganda and racist garbage to me than the truth. A close friend of mine, at the age of 60+, voted for the first time in his life for Trump simply because he was not a politician and spoke truth to power. My opinion of why Trump won, (and as this current election showed, it was never sure that he would) was because the Democrats chose to run the Hidlabeast which very few loved. I’m having real trouble with the idea that we have Jewish masters running things.
There has long been a coterie who thinks it all da Jooooooos! There are some who are problematic. A good example is Charles Schumer, who is about as anti-American as you can get. The left certainly doesn’t need leftist Jews as they get along quite well by themselves. Unfortunately, much of the left is made of so-called conservatives, who do as much damage to the country as the Dims do. A good example of that is Mitch McConnell.
Russia’s holy nihilism
1) Russian TV showed how many seconds it would take Russia to strike major capitals in Europe. If this is what’s playing on TV they must be sure of having a receptive audience.
https://youtu.be/1vEX1qfC_sY Putin prepares Russians for nuclear war by stoking hatred of the West – Sky News
Russian TV exchange:
-if there is a nuclear strike, we will go to heaven
-and they will croak
TV commentator: Russia is big. Britain is small, one Sarmat missile will sink the island. Everything has been calculated already. (“Everything has been calculated” — was this a slip up or meaningless filler?)
The Sky News presenter also notes dozens of calls from Russian soldiers calling home, intercepted by Ukrainian and Western intelligence. The soldiers were boasting about raping, killing and looting.
Even if this is exaggerated, if you scroll through the comments you will see many pro-Russian supporters casually wishing for Ukraine, U.S., Britain to get nuked or completely destroyed.
2) What a surprise, Ukrainian Jews have no wish to be ‘liberated’ by the Russian army.
Ukraine war: ‘If this is true, then I am also a Nazi’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61361827
Holocaust survivors in the Ukrainian city of Uman feel insulted by Russian claims to be fighting Nazis.
Uman has one of the largest synagogues in Europe, which is now used as a welcome centre to all refugees regardless of religion. The synagogue’s basement, usually used for ceremonial washing is now a bunker. Why would the synagogue do this if Ukrainians are Nazis? Articles like this should be food for thought to Western dupes who smear Ukraine, but they seem set in their ways.
Of course, we have to remember that Russians sometimes use the special definition of Nazi that holds that anyone who doesn’t love Russia or stands in the way of its world domination is a Nazi. That’s the same way the Left denigrates conservatives as fascists, to delegitimize all opposition. All of which makes it doubly perverse for conservatives to suddenly embrace the Left’s stereotype of them and defend Russia’s Nazi-like actions in Ukraine. It reminds me of comments I heard about Jean Le Pen, how he kept deliberately shooting himself in the foot by making gratuitous comments about the Holocaust, almost as if to invite the Nazi association. Kind of makes one wonder.
3) Very good piece on the foundational archetype of Russian propaganda on Ukraine.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-sadness-of-sloviansk/comments?s=r
I had heard about the notorious 2014 “crucified boy” story but didn’t know about the wider context. For one thing the story was suggested by Dugin. It was used to distract from and cover up the shelling of the Ukrainian military in the Donbas from the Russian side of the border. Although refuted by Russian independent journalists, the lie became established and provided motivation to soldiers. In 2014 they were in Ukraine “for the children.” Some of the soldiers fighting in Ukraine have seen the association of Ukrainians with depravity for much of their lifetime. And now in 2022 the Russians wrote “for the children” on the missiles that struck the Kramatorsk train station, killing children. Russia is always innocent and Ukraine is always guilty (and depraved). Therefore Ukrainians are fair game for everything.
Although many Russians have probably been brainwashed by relentless state propaganda, there is something wrong with people who so readily embrace lurid, easily disproven lies and use them as an excuse to commit even worse crimes (or in the case of some American conservatives, justify the commission of such crimes)
4) Ukraine sends images of dead Russian soldiers to their families. Hear the responses they received
CNN May 14, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppla4T75NLA
We know the Russian government still underreports Russian deaths in Ukraine and refuses to collect their corpses so that Russians do not know how many are dying.
Ukraine using facial recognition technology to identify dead Russian soldiers, as is required by Geneva Convention. Once identified the Ukrainians send a message to the family for 2 reasons 1) to counter propaganda and show them there is a real war going on and Russian soldiers are dying 2) to get them to come and pick up the bodies
80% of answers are “We will come to Ukraine ourselves and kill you, you deserve what’s happening to you.” Although this is military families talking, it tracks with about 80% of Russians supporting the war.
Very good news items, Laura. Thank you.
This won’t end well…
Laura, your comments regarding Russia can just as easily be applied to our own government of liars.
I wish I could disagree.
I decided to reread the main article, and came across this: “It is more than a little curious that Nietzsche’s error regarding Russia is now recapitulated by a subset of paleoconservatives and traditionalists. Like Nietzsche, they see Russia as a foil to Western decadence.”
What Nietzsche and the subset of paleoconservatives and traditionalists fail to see and recognize, is that Russia, especially under the communists, and China under the CCP, are more decadent than the West. How, then, can they be foils to Western decadence?
Nobody is proposing that the West serves in any sense as a foil to Russian decadence. The West is incapable of playing such a role; and such an argument was never made by me. It was Nietzsche who proposed that Russia serves as a foil to Western decadence. The same is being proposed by our paleos. It is my suggestion that Russia is not able to foil our decadence because they are even worse than us. At any rate, Russia and China are not attempting to thwart or frustrate the West. It is my argument that they are trying to DESTROY the West. They are working to bring about our downfall. That makes them, potentially, the West’s Nemeses. [To destroy someone is not the same thing as to foil their decadence.]
Jeff, you’ve implied the Chinese lockdowns have nothing to do with Covid but (unless I’ve missed it) you haven’t explained further. What’s behind all this then?
Are the supply-chain disruptions meant to bring about the pre-war chaos in America that was predicted, is it going to affect the US military, might the thousands of ships idling off the coast, later be commandeered?
Your questions about the Chinese lockdowns are identical to my own. I wish I could lay out definitive answers to those questions; though my research suggests this is all connected to war preparations.
This is in response to Commit about America not launching submarines.
I just read recently about a launch so a simple search showed the 92% complete Virginia class USS New Jersey launched in April.
Article states USS Delaware (SSN 791), the last and final of eight Block III Virginia-class submarines, was commissioned in April 2020.
On 2 December 2019, the U.S. Navy announced an order for nine new Virginia-class submarines – eight Block Vs and one Block IV – for a total contract price of $22 billion with an option for a tenth boat. The Block V subs were confirmed to have an increased length, from 377 ft to 460 ft, and displacement, from 7,800 tons to 10,200 tons.
Submarines in Block IV configuration :
Vermont (SSN 792) – Commissioned 18 April 2020
Oregon (SSN 793) – Delivered to the U.S. Navy Februrary 26, 2022
Montana (SSN 794) – Delivered to the U.S. Navy March 14, 2022
Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 795) – Christened in July 31, 2021
New Jersey (SSN 796) – Launched April 28, 2022
Iowa (SSN 797) – Keel laid August 20, 2019
Massachusetts (SSN 798) – Keel laid December 11, 2020
Idaho (SSN 799) – Keel laid 24 August 24, 2020
Arkansas (SSN 800) – Construction began March 2018
Utah (SSN 801) – Construction began March 2018
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/04/huntington-ingalls-launches-the-newest-virginia-class-submarine/#prettyPhoto
We all kno9w that Commit is not, to the least, well informed on much of anything. He is blinded by his idiotic ideology.
Remember, the Marxists think their ideology is science — so you are really sticking it to them.
Virginia-class is not ballistic missile submarine, can carry tactical nuke warheads on cruise missiles (allegedly does not), but I doubt it is a credible retaliation strike potential. We will see what Russia and China think on this when Ohio-class gets decommissioned in second half of this decade.
I agree with Anon’s comment about the Shanghai Covid19 lockdown. It’s a cover story for China putting a sudden embargo on shipping goods to the West. Also the Covid19 excuse allows for a heedless pileup of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage at China’s ports, awaiting seizure by the Chinese navy.
It’s important to have that cover story because we’re not quite out of the stalking phase yet. The Reds want to get a little closer before letting the prey know that it’s targeted. Also this choice of cover story, serves as an NBC warfare drill for the Chinese.
The nuclear first strike needs to seem justified to many people in Russia, China and around the world. The relatively restrained behavior of the Russian troops in Ukraine, their suffering from US armaments sent to Ukraine, and the multiple sober warnings about the nuclear danger from various Russian leaders, all will make the Russian/Cbinese nuclear first strike seem less unjustified.
Interesting.
“The relatively restrained behavior of the Russian troops in Ukraine, their suffering from US armaments sent to Ukraine”
Relatively restrained? – they are bombing fuel depots and infrastructure even in the west and creating a huge humanitarian crisis. I believe it was a few days ago that Zelensky said there is a medical crisis in Ukraine, with displaced people unable to access basic services and western hospitals being overwhelmed. There are other ways besides flattening cities of destroying a population.
As for the second part, Russia would first have to publicly admit that it has suffered large casualties in Ukraine if it was going to use that as a justification for nuclear strikes against NATO. If that is the gameplan and they are deliberately losing, it’s odd they haven’t made a big deal about that. But even with the censorship, Russia can’t complain abroad that its troops are being massacred and then portray the war as an easy victory at home. I’m starting to think their justification will come from somewhere else.
Good points.
I can think of several ways of looking at the conflict.
1 Russia’s ultimate goal is really just getting control of Ukraine and they are not yet at the final ‘clenched fist’ stage. This is more of a practice run and they don’t yet intend to go to nuclear war with the West unless severely provoked or the war goes so badly for them they decide they have no other option. The ball is in the West’s court now. If the West back off helping Ukraine this may serve to pacify Russia. At a terrible cost to Ukraine, but it might buy the West a little more time *if* they were serious about stopping Russia and China. (On the other hand, all those NATO-trained Ukrainian troops and Western equipment will end up fighting for Russia. And abandoning an ally mid-war will not strengthen the Western alliance but instead may make it more vulnerable. The West could end up being flooded by refugees from Ukraine and other neighbouring countries that are in Russia’s warpath, and they might be all let in out of guilt. Anti-military pro-Russia isolationism could prevail in the US because it successfully ‘prevented’ a nuclear war. So Russia could still achieve its larger geopolitical goals without firing a shot at the West. An even better setup for the final phase.) In this scenario China would also be testing the West’s response to a supply chain shortage and learning to fine-tune its economic warfare strategy for next time, while also seeing how the US deals with a credible threat to Taiwan.
2 This war really is the opening act of the final ‘clenched fist’ strategy for defeating the West. That means nuclear war is in the cards no matter what the West does in Ukraine, or how NATO responds to Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the alliance. If the West keeps arming Ukraine (although I hear the heavy equipment is still slow in making its way there) then Russia will use that as justification for a nuclear first strike. If the West backs off, they will find another pretext probably through a false flag attack in Ukraine or Russia. Either way, Russia has invested too much in this war to now be satisfied with anything less than total victory over the US and NATO. Biden will still be in power for 2.5 more years therefore there will never be a better time than now.
3 Similar to 2) Russia wants a nuclear war but it has to come about in a certain way. The incompetence of its invasion is unintentional rather than part of a larger plan to ensnare the West. Russia does not want to be seen as losing or getting stalemated and launching a nuclear strike out of sheer frustration. Putin expected to get through Ukraine quickly and then from a position of strength propose a whole series of impossible ultimatums to the West, which upon rejection and on the heels of more Russian provocations, could become justification for a nuclear strike or similar attack. Or maybe upon conquering Ukraine Russia intended to ‘find’ US-built weapons of mass destruction (like the US failed to find in Iraq) which could be used as justification for taking the war to NATO. If stumbling in Ukraine wasn’t part of the plan, then the West has to make sure Russia keeps stumbling.
4 Another possibility is that Russia intends to launch a dirty bomb nuclear attack. This will look like a terrorist attack and cannot be traced back to Russia. However, Russia openly threatening nuclear attacks on the West makes this less likely now.
Maybe 2) or 3), hopefully 3), are more likely. If we look at the way the invasion of Ukraine was portrayed to Russians, from the beginning there was always a duality — a fight for Ukraine and an existential war with the West. Ukrainians are at once ‘brothers’, ungrateful Nazis, not a real people and puppets of NATO and the US. The real war is against NATO, the ultimate fascist bogeyman, and Ukraine is just a proxy. And if the war is really against NATO, then of course nuclear attacks are on the table. Hence less then 2 months into the war, Russian state TV is giddy with excitement and prepping the masses for the possibility of a nuclear war – that Russia will win of course.
I suspect they need Ukraine before they can start the nuclear war.
“As for E. Michael Jones, he is a very sophisticated conspiracy theorist”
what are you then?
“but he is one of those Catholics who would naturally oppose the Vatican.”
he has refused to call the Pope heretic many times, he is not traditionalist catholic if you mean SSPX or similar. His views on capitalism are spot on IMO, he is right, capitalism is incompatible not only with Christianity, but almost all existing systems of ethics, he exaggerates Jewish role in origins of capitalism and reformation IMO. Not all reformed Churches were originally pro-capitalist.
As for Alex Jones, he promotes all kinds of conspiracy theories, but never names concrete secret societies, uses generic name “globalists”. He never names Jesuits in particular, gets very aggressive when his callers mention Vatican or Jesuits. He used to do a lot of JFK related stuff, but never mentioned JFK was Knight of Columbus, which many believe was the main cause of his death (a conflict between different secret societies).
What am I? I am not a conspiracy theorist. I have merely studied the writings and actions of Lenin’s conspiratorial party, the CPSU and the global movement spawned from it. This party’s existence is not a theory. This movement’s conspiratorial activity is not a theory. It is a real movement full of real people using conspiratorial methods. Lenin admitted it all from the outset. He said that his party was a conspiratorial party. Read his tract, “What is to be done?” He laid out his method as conspiracy. All the leading defectors from the communist movement have all described it as a conspiracy! So, you are now conspiring to deny these facts by asking a snide question. The history of the communist parties worldwide and the testimony of the defectors from those parties is full of conspiracy — active measures, change agents, infiltrators, false fronts, disinformation, etc. It is all history. And I am a student of that history.