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Dear Niccolo Sir, your bedrock assumptions about America will not be swayed by me… however… in terms of America there (Europe) to stay:
What America do you mean?
Because it’s changing.
Hegseth is not just there for ending DEI. BTW.
America returning to Classical Liberalism from Progressive Liberalism is going back farther than 15 years, it’s overturning the New Deal administrative state.
That’s 92 years, not 15.
As it happens it is collapsing of old age and overreach but undergrasp anyway.
World- you really may not want whoever or whatever wins here in Europe, or anywhere near you World.
America 🇺🇸 Empire and NATO aren’t a bedrock assumption that’s eternal. Even the mightiest wall can fall if unmanned.
That Europeans should look to their own nations is very true.
CTE, Curtis writes about the nature power. He’s quoting a political thinker from Victorian England named Bhagot. I’ve spent my life thinking about power because I’ve had a strange existence wherein and I inherited a large company and it has been terrifying. When I found Curtis is thinking comported with my practical experience.
Aww, I know of Curtis, so I might be a little more inside than I led on. I thought your statement "Curtis at his best, did you see it?" was either about something recent and specific I didn't know about, or a subtle mocking of his philosophy. My bad.
There’s a lot going on. Americans being the world’s most blatant hypocrites regarding “international law” is old news surely? I feel like at least we used to hide it a little better - but maybe I wasn’t paying attention. I sincerely believe the second half of the 20th was a fluke - and my Icelandic retirement plan is being swallowed by lava. Anyone have any good news?
Militancy. We need militancy and only militancy. When our leaders feel threatened, they open the treat bag. They feel safe, so they treat us like trash - as you point out, they shit in our mouth and what are you going to do about it? The only answer is for us to become more militant. We go through life under certain constraints, the goal is to find collective strength, so that we may fight together, and carve out space for us to be less and less obedient. This includes political actions, but also, organized labor, housing and healthcare rights. People can fight more if they feel they have safety and stability, and come from a place of strength. So the goal should be to raise our militancy, scare the shit out of our business leaders, courts, and politicians, use this to carve out A New Deal - and unlike the last New Deal - we should only redouble on our efforts, and use that position of strength to wipe away our political class entirely, and depose our state.
Even the tiniest act, just wriggling your pinky, can contribute to a long and patient development of forces. We are trapped under a boulder, so first, we should wriggle our fingers and toes, and then you may find you can pry out your wrist, and then you can use your arm, then the whole strength of your body to escape the crushing weight. It starts with the most humble actions. Today is a good day to check in with your neighbor, and see if you can help them with a struggle.
Ultimately, we should not have any limit to ambition, but we should see it as a worker's movement which, one day, could even advance the withering of the state - the rise of peace agreements, the disarming of the state and disarming of society at large. I will gladly give up my gun when the cops and army give up theirs. How could any hypocritical power really threaten you, if it cannot put a gun to your head or make you homeless?
First - Bolshevism - labor and civil rights movement can develop to a military movement.
Second - All of our institutions have failed to legitimize themselves for many years now, it is an unprecedented crisis of confidence, across the board - you can see it in gallup/pew - business, military, media, congress - all are hated in a manner they have never been hated before. There is quite an opportunity for a big turn of things.
Third - You do not need to be deadliest, you just need to be the most durable. The Vietnamese, American, Russian, Chinese, French, Haitian, Cuban revolutions - they all follow this. The critical issue was the ability to harass the enemy while sustaining your own forces, until the enemy politically imploded, or was weak enough to face a final assault. We are watching the Palestinians try this as well, they are occupied, and they know there is no hope for direct victory, so there has been a judo manuever, use your enemy's strength against them - Israel has acted predictably - degrading itself internally and internationally.
Fourth - in America - things will continue to get worse, so opposing pressure will continue to increase.
America's hypocrisy is matched, if not surpassed by the hypocrisy of others.
America's take on international law is often infuriating, but America's critics are way worse.
International law is mostly a fig leaf for crimes committed by states. It does not exist to provide justice, but to clarify expectations between states.
I was trying to be polite. Law is about extracting resources from those too weak to resist, enforcing obedience to people unfit to command and managing the expectations of people too busy to pay attention to what is going on.
Am currently paying a few thousand dollars to a lawyer to handle a routine administrative matter downstream from my powers of attorney for a close relative. But we need a good result, there is too much at stake to take the system at face value.
The winter when it freezes does allow mobility, then tracks can move, it’s the October-November rains and spring thaws that hamper.
But this is a grunt / Drone /Air / Arty war. A lot of the advances are attack reconnaissance and small groups. Armor isn’t a big player in terms of huge sweeps, it isn’t working here- not just tactically but strategically.
Why take huge risks? Small moves daily work, and given the step change in drones , targeting and EW electronic warfare, why take uncertain losses ? The strategy of Russia having huge over match in everything especially artillery - they just grind them down with attrition. This also doesn’t create a drama that gives NATO an excuse to escalate or intervene.
The Russian strategy for most of this has been attrition, and it’s worked. Ukraine can’t replace the losses in people, most of all not to mention munitions.
Ukraine never had any business going on offense given the Russians over match. This is all just been a pointless slaughter, except for money, launderers and gangsters in Kyiv and DC. The Russians are killing 10 Ukrainians for every Russian and they started out with more to begin with, this is just been pointless slaughter.
Why is Putin making noises about escalating because of NATO missiles being fired into Russia?
Waging a war of attrition has the downside that Ukraine can do a bit of damage until they are forced to surrender. Like the NATO bigwigs, I assume Putin is bluffing and won't escalate outside of Ukraine.
Don't kid yourself. On a continent of meek and obedient little rule-followers, hall-monitors and goody goodys, germans are the meekest and most obedient of all.
Germany has Merkel and the Hertz reforms to blame. They made wage reduction the core strategy to improve German competitiveness. It was a beggar-thy-neighbor policy at the expense of Southern Europe. That mentality was also visible in the way Greece was treated when it had its indebtedness crisis. A side effect was that real reforms that could increase competitiveness were delayed.
It is the irony of history that Germany is now at the other side of the gun as it is victim of similar policies of the US.
Just a few days ago there was the news that Volkswagen - despite all its troubles - is investing 5.8 billion dollar in Rivian. It looks like the ultimate politically correct move: investing in an unproven American company when there are many proven Chinese alternatives available.
Georgescu's 1st round shock victory at least served to 're-politicize' the boring Romanian politics, considering the country lives in a perennial GroKo remote-controlled by Brussels since several years (remember PSD & PNL made a joint list (!) for the EU Parliament elections in June)
He must be the candidate whose ideas could genuinely be described as 'filo-fascist' who might reach the farthest in a recent EU election, even if in theory he should lose the run-off.
I find his figure much more fascinating than his ideas, a man who worked in very 'globalist-coded' institutions in the last decade such as the UN Human Rights High Commissionate or the Club of Rome, bet he must have seen spme very scary stuff out there in order to go full 'rightoid-schizo' as he apparently did. I watched his post-1st round 15-minute speech and he comes across as an extraordinarily charismatic speaker (ftr he's a university teacher) with a very 'lithurgic' style, in his tone and the words he chooses to stress you could think he's rather performing a religious service. And a phenotype that looks very 'presidential' (I described as "Spiro Agnew without hair gel"), compared to both Ciolacu & Simion who are very 'Gypsy'
Unfortunately the stakes are higher now considering he'll face the überliberal candidate who surpassed PM Ciolacu in the very last minute thanks to Bucharest and American diaspora votes being counted last.
Georgescu received George Simion's full endorsement for the 2nd round, so if we assume that AUR voters will oblige, Georgescu's 2nd round score should surpass Corneliu Vadim Tudor's in 2000 (33%, defeated by Iliescu), the last time a 'far-right' candidate reached the Presidential run-off in RO.
I'm not Romanian and not very knowledgeable about Romanian political dynamics either, so I don't think I can answer the question.
However, according to the polls Georgescu's vote had a more-or-less inverse correlation with the voter's age, i.e. very successful (+30%) among zoomers (thanks to his TikTok focused campaign?) but receiving <10% from pensioners, who I assume voted heavily for Ciolacu and didn't even know who Georgescu is. Now they do.
Between the two rounds there will be parliamentary elections on Sunday that could produce decisively positive (or negative) momentum for Lasconi
This is the first time since the revolution that a psd candidate didn't make it to the second round. A lot of these voters will have to make a different choice for the first time in their lives. For a lot of reasons I find it hard to imagine them voting Lasconi however the smear campaign against Georgescu is already "in plină amploare" and as you mention the pensioners probably hadn't heard of him will not get the best introduction to him...
An American married to a Romanian woman living in, I think, Bucharest:
“ The PSD is the social democratic party finally purged by the Anti-Corruption Directorate of heterodox malcontents and given over to pallid GAE status-quoism. Its presidential candidate faces an uncertain future…”
I have to admit I'm happy to see your opinion on how unlikely you think this conflict will escalate to nuclear war. I've been troubled to see how concerned Matt Tiabbi has been on this issue, as he speaks and reads Russian fluently after all. He and Walter Kirn have both been raising the alarm on their program.
As a member of the USA I hope Europe becomes more independant. It wasn't long ago they would snub their nose at the US with some regularity. It's been bewildering watching their leadership lead their population down the primrose path. Worse yet each country seems to be working to outdo the next. Currently by my measure the UK is taking the lead as Kier Starmer seems uniquely bold in following incentives that lie entirely outside of what is good for his country (some might bristle me including them in Europe but I think they fit in this same trend).
As someone who is currently in Germany, I would agree that the mood here is particularly grim. Also, the US strategy is, indeed, about bleeding Russia as well as severing any potential of Germany and Russia working together. On the contrary, Germany is again turned into Russia's enemy for this strategy
Even though an extreme statement, it is an interesting hypothesis. Which begs the question: Which historical conditions and circumstances promoted peaceful sovereignty, and which ones created hostile and brutal serfship for modern European nation states?
They now have little choice. They have burned their bridges with Russia, cutting off their access to cheap fuel. They rely on hydrocarbons from the US or the Gulf.
True but the spite towards Russians living in Europe after Putin intervened in the civil war suggests that old prejudices are at work. The tone of the commentary about Russia is too strident for mere opportunism.
Ever see those Looney Tunes cartoons with the little yappy dog following Spike The Bulldog around, singing Spike's praises, getting slapped around by Spike, and getting Spike into fights?
I remember the conclusion of that cartoon. Spike gets beaten up by a panther, but when the little dog goes to investigate, all he sees is Sylvester the cat. So he kicks Sylvester's ass.
Now the roles are reversed, with the little dog as the top dog and Spike as his sidekick.
Somewhere on my TL today somebody claimed the Romanian candidate was a Duganite. It would be a complete lie to say I know anything about him (I already forgot his name) or Romanian politics. But would be a very unusual national leader, if true.
This Ukraine war is mainly bullshit... In the beginning they were drafting people to 50 years old... Ok and Russia was killing 10 Ukrainians for every one Russian dead... Yet somehow they never run out of people? Oh wait they said they're getting 60 year olds, years ago and still not running out? GTFO
Meanwhile Russia still pumps gas through Ukraine.
And now more stupid bullshit... Putin says they're lowering the nuke response standard... To what? Nukes aren't even a good response to missle strikes... And it's already the standard if invaded they can threaten nukes. Why is Putin hyping shit up?
Fucking bullshit 1984 like war.
Keep people afraid of nuclear war. USA and Russia are doing a show. Cold war sequel.
Why Russia would choose apocalypse when they're winning their special war of attrition is a mystery to most of the pundits covering this conflict. But clickbait pays the bills...
I'm just wondering why the Russians didn't use this missile earlier in the conflict.
The reaction to it is interesting as well... like the EU and US seemed to think they would never counter-escalate to this level. So maybe the intelligence agencies aren't as well informed as everyone seems to think they are.
"America is The Boss, but everyone can see the hypocrisy here, including its closest allies"
The hypocrisy has been seen for decades due to the unlimited protection given to Israel, a state based on ethnic cleansing/supremacy by a country supposedly based on liberty and justice for all. As for the US supporting international law, its use of the veto in the UN to protect Israel from international law, by far the most common reason for the use of the US veto is proof positive of hypocrisy.
The US has nothing left of the idealism that formed it, all of it exhausted in the drive for empire.
As for the ICC rulings, the only trouble is it did not issue a warrant for the arrest of Joe Biden, as pure an accomplice to Netanyahu's slaughter as would be a person who said to someone who wants to shoot some victims, "take one of the loaded guns I have given you in the past to do it and I will replace them along with unlimited bullets as you proceed"
Joe Biden is both a traitor to liberty and justice to all and a war criminal.
Stop shedding crocodile tears for the “rules-based order.” Trump doesn’t need it or anything else to justify his demands. China May be the world’s factory but being the world’s consumer also has its advantages.
One quibble Niccolo. It is simplistic for any of us to take the US position on the ICC at face value. The US has controlled the ICC in the past. Most likely it still does.
Washington is playing its usual double game: undermining Israel through lawfare while publcly defending Netanyahu.
The US invariably wants its allies on their knees. Constraining Israel enables the US to play games with Iran, Egypt, Sa'udi Arabia, Turkey etc. Washington relishes its role as arbiter of these and related disputes.
What is truly significant is the criminalization of war or the management of allies by the threat of prosecution for war crimes. The US pioneered the former after WW1. Even today the US cannot publicly accept that force by state against state is integral to politics. The capacity to wage war is a defining attribute of statehood.
Furthermore, the US, the patron of three Arab states within the border of the original Mandate awarded to the UK (Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan) plus Israel is clearly becoming overwhelmed by the complexities of it all. This is evident from the tensions within the ranks of career diplomats at the State Department over Gaza.
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Caught MCC.
Dear Niccolo Sir, your bedrock assumptions about America will not be swayed by me… however… in terms of America there (Europe) to stay:
What America do you mean?
Because it’s changing.
Hegseth is not just there for ending DEI. BTW.
America returning to Classical Liberalism from Progressive Liberalism is going back farther than 15 years, it’s overturning the New Deal administrative state.
That’s 92 years, not 15.
As it happens it is collapsing of old age and overreach but undergrasp anyway.
World- you really may not want whoever or whatever wins here in Europe, or anywhere near you World.
America 🇺🇸 Empire and NATO aren’t a bedrock assumption that’s eternal. Even the mightiest wall can fall if unmanned.
That Europeans should look to their own nations is very true.
Thank you.
Curtis at his best, did you see it? His understanding of power is My thing he butters my toast like no other
No homo
Please give some context to this. It's far too inside for outsiders like me.
CTE, Curtis writes about the nature power. He’s quoting a political thinker from Victorian England named Bhagot. I’ve spent my life thinking about power because I’ve had a strange existence wherein and I inherited a large company and it has been terrifying. When I found Curtis is thinking comported with my practical experience.
Google “a brief explanation of the cathedral”
It is the best ofCurtis Yarvin .
Aww, I know of Curtis, so I might be a little more inside than I led on. I thought your statement "Curtis at his best, did you see it?" was either about something recent and specific I didn't know about, or a subtle mocking of his philosophy. My bad.
There’s a lot going on. Americans being the world’s most blatant hypocrites regarding “international law” is old news surely? I feel like at least we used to hide it a little better - but maybe I wasn’t paying attention. I sincerely believe the second half of the 20th was a fluke - and my Icelandic retirement plan is being swallowed by lava. Anyone have any good news?
Of course anyone with power is a hypocrite. What does anyone propose to do about it?
Militancy. We need militancy and only militancy. When our leaders feel threatened, they open the treat bag. They feel safe, so they treat us like trash - as you point out, they shit in our mouth and what are you going to do about it? The only answer is for us to become more militant. We go through life under certain constraints, the goal is to find collective strength, so that we may fight together, and carve out space for us to be less and less obedient. This includes political actions, but also, organized labor, housing and healthcare rights. People can fight more if they feel they have safety and stability, and come from a place of strength. So the goal should be to raise our militancy, scare the shit out of our business leaders, courts, and politicians, use this to carve out A New Deal - and unlike the last New Deal - we should only redouble on our efforts, and use that position of strength to wipe away our political class entirely, and depose our state.
Even the tiniest act, just wriggling your pinky, can contribute to a long and patient development of forces. We are trapped under a boulder, so first, we should wriggle our fingers and toes, and then you may find you can pry out your wrist, and then you can use your arm, then the whole strength of your body to escape the crushing weight. It starts with the most humble actions. Today is a good day to check in with your neighbor, and see if you can help them with a struggle.
Ultimately, we should not have any limit to ambition, but we should see it as a worker's movement which, one day, could even advance the withering of the state - the rise of peace agreements, the disarming of the state and disarming of society at large. I will gladly give up my gun when the cops and army give up theirs. How could any hypocritical power really threaten you, if it cannot put a gun to your head or make you homeless?
Mmm … Red Chaos theory?
Wiggle pinky, hurricanes 🌀 happen?
🤔
Agree on militancy but the root word is military which isn’t a labor or civil rights movement, despite what you may have heard.
First - Bolshevism - labor and civil rights movement can develop to a military movement.
Second - All of our institutions have failed to legitimize themselves for many years now, it is an unprecedented crisis of confidence, across the board - you can see it in gallup/pew - business, military, media, congress - all are hated in a manner they have never been hated before. There is quite an opportunity for a big turn of things.
Third - You do not need to be deadliest, you just need to be the most durable. The Vietnamese, American, Russian, Chinese, French, Haitian, Cuban revolutions - they all follow this. The critical issue was the ability to harass the enemy while sustaining your own forces, until the enemy politically imploded, or was weak enough to face a final assault. We are watching the Palestinians try this as well, they are occupied, and they know there is no hope for direct victory, so there has been a judo manuever, use your enemy's strength against them - Israel has acted predictably - degrading itself internally and internationally.
Fourth - in America - things will continue to get worse, so opposing pressure will continue to increase.
America's hypocrisy is matched, if not surpassed by the hypocrisy of others.
America's take on international law is often infuriating, but America's critics are way worse.
International law is mostly a fig leaf for crimes committed by states. It does not exist to provide justice, but to clarify expectations between states.
Thank you Philip that’s a great explanation of law.
Not just International.
I was trying to be polite. Law is about extracting resources from those too weak to resist, enforcing obedience to people unfit to command and managing the expectations of people too busy to pay attention to what is going on.
Am currently paying a few thousand dollars to a lawyer to handle a routine administrative matter downstream from my powers of attorney for a close relative. But we need a good result, there is too much at stake to take the system at face value.
Iceland will always have geothermal?
That’s good news
Since when is winter known to come to the rescue of Russia's enemies? The Russians love fighting in winter, they are in their element.
Winter turns Ukraine into a puddle of mud. This is not the element for heavy machinery.
It’s an infantry nibbling war with air and drones.
Infantry nibbling. I like that.
In computer science 4 nibbles = 1 bite.
Essentially what they’re doing.
The winter when it freezes does allow mobility, then tracks can move, it’s the October-November rains and spring thaws that hamper.
But this is a grunt / Drone /Air / Arty war. A lot of the advances are attack reconnaissance and small groups. Armor isn’t a big player in terms of huge sweeps, it isn’t working here- not just tactically but strategically.
Why take huge risks? Small moves daily work, and given the step change in drones , targeting and EW electronic warfare, why take uncertain losses ? The strategy of Russia having huge over match in everything especially artillery - they just grind them down with attrition. This also doesn’t create a drama that gives NATO an excuse to escalate or intervene.
The Russian strategy for most of this has been attrition, and it’s worked. Ukraine can’t replace the losses in people, most of all not to mention munitions.
Ukraine never had any business going on offense given the Russians over match. This is all just been a pointless slaughter, except for money, launderers and gangsters in Kyiv and DC. The Russians are killing 10 Ukrainians for every Russian and they started out with more to begin with, this is just been pointless slaughter.
Why is Putin making noises about escalating because of NATO missiles being fired into Russia?
Waging a war of attrition has the downside that Ukraine can do a bit of damage until they are forced to surrender. Like the NATO bigwigs, I assume Putin is bluffing and won't escalate outside of Ukraine.
Putin is issuing clear warnings.
So far he’s been a man of his word.
Striking targets outside of Ukraine will make the situation spiral out of control.
Why is this Russia’s view?
Germany is going to have a right wing revolution again but this time they’re going to Hol*caust fossil fuels (burn them all)
Don't kid yourself. On a continent of meek and obedient little rule-followers, hall-monitors and goody goodys, germans are the meekest and most obedient of all.
Germany has Merkel and the Hertz reforms to blame. They made wage reduction the core strategy to improve German competitiveness. It was a beggar-thy-neighbor policy at the expense of Southern Europe. That mentality was also visible in the way Greece was treated when it had its indebtedness crisis. A side effect was that real reforms that could increase competitiveness were delayed.
It is the irony of history that Germany is now at the other side of the gun as it is victim of similar policies of the US.
Just a few days ago there was the news that Volkswagen - despite all its troubles - is investing 5.8 billion dollar in Rivian. It looks like the ultimate politically correct move: investing in an unproven American company when there are many proven Chinese alternatives available.
https://autos.yahoo.com/rivian-vw-team-electric-future-183659590.html
The beatings will continue in Germany until they learn their lesson.
Investment or protection money?
Protection is a wise investment, nice Island you got there in the Pacific, be a shame if something happened to it.
We are the Ukrainians of the Southern Hemisphere and we can't get enough of the Hunter Biden types.
Georgescu's 1st round shock victory at least served to 're-politicize' the boring Romanian politics, considering the country lives in a perennial GroKo remote-controlled by Brussels since several years (remember PSD & PNL made a joint list (!) for the EU Parliament elections in June)
He must be the candidate whose ideas could genuinely be described as 'filo-fascist' who might reach the farthest in a recent EU election, even if in theory he should lose the run-off.
I find his figure much more fascinating than his ideas, a man who worked in very 'globalist-coded' institutions in the last decade such as the UN Human Rights High Commissionate or the Club of Rome, bet he must have seen spme very scary stuff out there in order to go full 'rightoid-schizo' as he apparently did. I watched his post-1st round 15-minute speech and he comes across as an extraordinarily charismatic speaker (ftr he's a university teacher) with a very 'lithurgic' style, in his tone and the words he chooses to stress you could think he's rather performing a religious service. And a phenotype that looks very 'presidential' (I described as "Spiro Agnew without hair gel"), compared to both Ciolacu & Simion who are very 'Gypsy'
Unfortunately the stakes are higher now considering he'll face the überliberal candidate who surpassed PM Ciolacu in the very last minute thanks to Bucharest and American diaspora votes being counted last.
Georgescu received George Simion's full endorsement for the 2nd round, so if we assume that AUR voters will oblige, Georgescu's 2nd round score should surpass Corneliu Vadim Tudor's in 2000 (33%, defeated by Iliescu), the last time a 'far-right' candidate reached the Presidential run-off in RO.
What about PSD voters? Wouldn't they be inclined to go with Georgescu as well?
I'm not Romanian and not very knowledgeable about Romanian political dynamics either, so I don't think I can answer the question.
However, according to the polls Georgescu's vote had a more-or-less inverse correlation with the voter's age, i.e. very successful (+30%) among zoomers (thanks to his TikTok focused campaign?) but receiving <10% from pensioners, who I assume voted heavily for Ciolacu and didn't even know who Georgescu is. Now they do.
Between the two rounds there will be parliamentary elections on Sunday that could produce decisively positive (or negative) momentum for Lasconi
This is the first time since the revolution that a psd candidate didn't make it to the second round. A lot of these voters will have to make a different choice for the first time in their lives. For a lot of reasons I find it hard to imagine them voting Lasconi however the smear campaign against Georgescu is already "in plină amploare" and as you mention the pensioners probably hadn't heard of him will not get the best introduction to him...
An American married to a Romanian woman living in, I think, Bucharest:
“ The PSD is the social democratic party finally purged by the Anti-Corruption Directorate of heterodox malcontents and given over to pallid GAE status-quoism. Its presidential candidate faces an uncertain future…”
https://shadeofachilles.substack.com/p/calin-georgescu-invictus-first-european?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2417173&post_id=152133901&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ho8ar&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
I have to admit I'm happy to see your opinion on how unlikely you think this conflict will escalate to nuclear war. I've been troubled to see how concerned Matt Tiabbi has been on this issue, as he speaks and reads Russian fluently after all. He and Walter Kirn have both been raising the alarm on their program.
As a member of the USA I hope Europe becomes more independant. It wasn't long ago they would snub their nose at the US with some regularity. It's been bewildering watching their leadership lead their population down the primrose path. Worse yet each country seems to be working to outdo the next. Currently by my measure the UK is taking the lead as Kier Starmer seems uniquely bold in following incentives that lie entirely outside of what is good for his country (some might bristle me including them in Europe but I think they fit in this same trend).
As someone who is currently in Germany, I would agree that the mood here is particularly grim. Also, the US strategy is, indeed, about bleeding Russia as well as severing any potential of Germany and Russia working together. On the contrary, Germany is again turned into Russia's enemy for this strategy
Europeans like being slaves.
Even though an extreme statement, it is an interesting hypothesis. Which begs the question: Which historical conditions and circumstances promoted peaceful sovereignty, and which ones created hostile and brutal serfship for modern European nation states?
To this Canadian, seems like the US is still living off the laurels bestowed on them in the aftermath of WWII.
More that it’s the same government. We have the New Deal administrative state written as law and our alliances binding on us.
They now have little choice. They have burned their bridges with Russia, cutting off their access to cheap fuel. They rely on hydrocarbons from the US or the Gulf.
Those bridges were burned to please Master.
True but the spite towards Russians living in Europe after Putin intervened in the civil war suggests that old prejudices are at work. The tone of the commentary about Russia is too strident for mere opportunism.
Ever see those Looney Tunes cartoons with the little yappy dog following Spike The Bulldog around, singing Spike's praises, getting slapped around by Spike, and getting Spike into fights?
Europe is that little yappy dog.
I remember the conclusion of that cartoon. Spike gets beaten up by a panther, but when the little dog goes to investigate, all he sees is Sylvester the cat. So he kicks Sylvester's ass.
Now the roles are reversed, with the little dog as the top dog and Spike as his sidekick.
Yep we see how politicians are full of shit, because they do not give a shit about the people but their own bottom line.
I've been saying this since the 80s and it's only until now that I have hope that the ignorant masses are starting to realize it.
END STAGE CAPITALISM
Somewhere on my TL today somebody claimed the Romanian candidate was a Duganite. It would be a complete lie to say I know anything about him (I already forgot his name) or Romanian politics. But would be a very unusual national leader, if true.
He wrote the preface to the Romanian translation of one of his books
This Ukraine war is mainly bullshit... In the beginning they were drafting people to 50 years old... Ok and Russia was killing 10 Ukrainians for every one Russian dead... Yet somehow they never run out of people? Oh wait they said they're getting 60 year olds, years ago and still not running out? GTFO
Meanwhile Russia still pumps gas through Ukraine.
And now more stupid bullshit... Putin says they're lowering the nuke response standard... To what? Nukes aren't even a good response to missle strikes... And it's already the standard if invaded they can threaten nukes. Why is Putin hyping shit up?
Fucking bullshit 1984 like war.
Keep people afraid of nuclear war. USA and Russia are doing a show. Cold war sequel.
Why Russia would choose apocalypse when they're winning their special war of attrition is a mystery to most of the pundits covering this conflict. But clickbait pays the bills...
Gotta keep the plebs on both sides working for less and less money, cause war costs money.
But for every dollar spent on war, people get almost nothing and many lose money.
Fuck all wars.
It's 2024, what the fuck is the point of the UN when they just dilly dally during a genocide and economic war on Europe?
I'm just wondering why the Russians didn't use this missile earlier in the conflict.
The reaction to it is interesting as well... like the EU and US seemed to think they would never counter-escalate to this level. So maybe the intelligence agencies aren't as well informed as everyone seems to think they are.
Ukraine has no air defense. Not much sense in revealing new weapons systems when old technology can get the job done.
"America is The Boss, but everyone can see the hypocrisy here, including its closest allies"
The hypocrisy has been seen for decades due to the unlimited protection given to Israel, a state based on ethnic cleansing/supremacy by a country supposedly based on liberty and justice for all. As for the US supporting international law, its use of the veto in the UN to protect Israel from international law, by far the most common reason for the use of the US veto is proof positive of hypocrisy.
The US has nothing left of the idealism that formed it, all of it exhausted in the drive for empire.
As for the ICC rulings, the only trouble is it did not issue a warrant for the arrest of Joe Biden, as pure an accomplice to Netanyahu's slaughter as would be a person who said to someone who wants to shoot some victims, "take one of the loaded guns I have given you in the past to do it and I will replace them along with unlimited bullets as you proceed"
Joe Biden is both a traitor to liberty and justice to all and a war criminal.
Stop shedding crocodile tears for the “rules-based order.” Trump doesn’t need it or anything else to justify his demands. China May be the world’s factory but being the world’s consumer also has its advantages.
The question I was hoping you would explore is "what is the meaning of the icc issuing a warrant for a dead man?"
One quibble Niccolo. It is simplistic for any of us to take the US position on the ICC at face value. The US has controlled the ICC in the past. Most likely it still does.
Washington is playing its usual double game: undermining Israel through lawfare while publcly defending Netanyahu.
The US invariably wants its allies on their knees. Constraining Israel enables the US to play games with Iran, Egypt, Sa'udi Arabia, Turkey etc. Washington relishes its role as arbiter of these and related disputes.
What is truly significant is the criminalization of war or the management of allies by the threat of prosecution for war crimes. The US pioneered the former after WW1. Even today the US cannot publicly accept that force by state against state is integral to politics. The capacity to wage war is a defining attribute of statehood.
Furthermore, the US, the patron of three Arab states within the border of the original Mandate awarded to the UK (Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan) plus Israel is clearly becoming overwhelmed by the complexities of it all. This is evident from the tensions within the ranks of career diplomats at the State Department over Gaza.
Excellent