Sanctions Overuse, US Navy Falling Behind in Vessel Production, Colour Revolution in Bangladesh?, The Sahel, Gold, Terror, Wagner, and More, Oetzi the Anatolian
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On Bangladesh, I'm not sure why the US government would support Jamaat-e-Islami. Simply for port access? It's curious. In any event, supporting so-called Islamist parties is bad business.
The Bay of Bengal is a significant strategic asset controlled by Bangladesh. What amazes me is that a relatively non-violent uprising could unseat the government of such a large population (150 million) so quickly. This event will be the subject for much analysis. Keep watching.
Yeah, ISIS in Syria / Iraq are very useful against the Assad regime. Every time Iraq asks the US to get their troops out, ISIS start creating trouble and so they stay. Plus they have to guard the oil and wheat production areas and enforce the impoverishment of Syrians and pressure on the Assad government, and smuggle the oil out via Iraq.
The US wants to open up an air base on the strategic St. Martins island, and Hasina wasn't having any of it. Now Yunus is more compliant and the Americans will be able to pressure the China Belt and Road Initiative in the region.
The best weekend review that I've seen yet from Niccolo -- thank you! There is enough here for a week of breakfast reading and I will forward it to friends and family.
Thanks very much for the Ötzi update. I’m planning to go visit him next fall, and I’d hate to be behind the times on knowing the precise vectors of his intersectionality.
Hello from India. My understanding of the Bangladesh coup was mainly about US/IMF v China/BRI dynamics (explaining why pro IMF Yunus was selected as temporary leader). The US is also furious with Modis visit to Russia last month (Bangladesh BNP not considered favourable towards India). Haseena has given an interview to an Indian newspaper outlet this week alleging that she was told she would have been permitted to retain power had she allowed the development of a US military base on Bangladesh territory which she had refused. The Indians permitting her to give such an interview so soon after she fled indicates they are not happy with the developments either - which could explain why rumours of non USD oil purchases from UAE were circulating in various corners of social media this week.
Super interesting. Another peek through the drawn back curtain, allowing a glimpse at the never ending wheels of the world's government's wars over power and resources. As to our favorite mummy, I wonder how long before they try to clone him....Good Lord we are so insignificant. Thanks Niccolo.
Your first two posts are directly connected with one another. A lot of US supremacists don't understand the extent to which the US military and military industrial complex have been degraded. I'm not a military expert myself, but looked into the issue over the course of the Ukraine war because there were certain elements that just didn't fit with my understanding of American military power.
While we all know the US is not very good at war, with an abysmal record since 1945, it's alway been assumed that the mistakes were mostly political in nature. But since the end of the cold war, capacity has been severely weakened. In fact, it's not just ships the Americans are having a hard time building, but pretty much everything else as well, including fairly basic items like artillery shells and tanks.
So the reason the US has been relying so heavily on sanctions isn't because it doesn't want to fight, but because it can't. It simply has a very weak conventional military deterrent. Among its few remaining strengths are its capital markets, economy size and global reserve currency, so these are the weapons being wielded. However, they, like other weapons, eventually run into diminishing returns. At this point, they've becoming self defeating and will lead to the undoing of these last remaining strengths (there is still some soft power, but this is offset by ham handed and incompetent diplomacy). Basically, all that's left is their nuclear deterrent, which is a pretty scary realization.
🇺🇸 industrial and military capacity being rebuilt rapidly, however we won’t be in good position for years.
And yes we in the military and industry and the people told them, but our political-media complex lives in a media bubble, a bodyguard of fantasists feeding the star of the show.
Mainly we’re rebuilding because of business getting the 💩 scared out of them by seeing their real life supply chains broken by COVID and Ukraine sanctions.
An interesting development is that the Chinese are using the $1 trillion in US debt as collateral to finance their own debt instruments, which whilst maintaining the dollar as the reserve currency, makes them and all the deals downstream free from the pressure of sanctions.
Inside China Business - 10x bigger than Bitcoin, Tether, and Gold: China's Central Bank Digital Currency will dwarf them all
Well aware of the importance of Chips , I don’t believe we’re going to war with China, our major weapons supplier over anything any time soon. Because we’d run out fast , and couldn’t replace.
I downloaded the report free below from govini, basically China is our weapons supplier.
Here’s some good news on the manufacturing front, as well as an explanation as to how we got such a tiny and really artisanal defense base. Nico touches on it with the Navy redesigning the frigate 85% lol. Mind you the government really gives the defense industry no choice.
The 31 year old Palmer Lucky, the young genius who built Oculus Rift VR - who got stabbed by Facebook Zuck over Trump- has decided to build America’s new arsenal Tesla style, at a fraction of the cost. He’s raised $1.5B to do it for Anduril. They build themselves from common parts.
Nearly every revolution in history going well past the French to ancient Greece (Thucydides source) matches the conditions of A Color Revolution. Plausible?
Plausible is rather a low standard of truth, if at all.
Color revolution is a very specific concept. It was developed by the collaboration of an American who had supported the uprising in Myanmar with another American who knew a lot about nonviolent resistance in the Gandhian tradition. The latter - Gene Sharp - has written a lot of books about the subject. Those are real manuals for regime change.
It is controlled by the US that starts the operation with sponsoring a lot of NGOs. Those are about seemingly neutral subjects like the environment and women rights but the real goal is to get a large backbench of people who can be mobilized when you have a demonstration.
They just wait until something happens that makes enough people angry to justify a demonstration. Normally demonstrations are boring things with lots of speeches, but they have a long script on how to make them interesting with music, performing artists, paintings, symbols, nicknames for hated leaders, etc. Foreign and affiliated news organizations give them lots of free publicity.
Those once upon a time demonstrations somehow turn into permanent occupation of the most central square in the capital. Don't ask how all those people can afford to stay there for weeks without income.
After some time or after the government gives in on the main subject the subject suddenly changes. It now becomes regime change. And their favorite way to achieve it is storming parliament.
Hit the like button at the top or bottom of this page to like this entry. Use the share and/or re-stack buttons to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you to do so.
And please don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already!
By saying nothing meaningful and insisting we believe her, Harris is scheming to ride juvenile hubris to the White House.
Relieved at Biden's disappearance, Democrat crowds roar:
"She walks! She doesn't shake hands with air! She is the first of . . . so many things!"
Eye-candy. Sweet, but not good for US.
And it's working....according to polls.
Dewey defeated Truman . . . according to polls.
Well, polls, like budgets and elections are fictitious.
Niccolo, Will you be commenting at all on the action/convention in Chicago next week?
A friend forwarded to me a link detailing all the stuff that Chicago is doing to mask its derelict aspects:
https://x.com/JaymalGreen/status/1825199450031059084
Gonna open up an open thread shortly
“Mister Marlboro” - wasn’t that YOUR nom de guerre back in the old speedboat days?!?
On Bangladesh, I'm not sure why the US government would support Jamaat-e-Islami. Simply for port access? It's curious. In any event, supporting so-called Islamist parties is bad business.
The Bay of Bengal is a significant strategic asset controlled by Bangladesh. What amazes me is that a relatively non-violent uprising could unseat the government of such a large population (150 million) so quickly. This event will be the subject for much analysis. Keep watching.
As a point of leverage against India and Burma/Myanmar.
The USA has a long history of doing this.
“It’s plausible.”
Uh huh
Yeah, ISIS in Syria / Iraq are very useful against the Assad regime. Every time Iraq asks the US to get their troops out, ISIS start creating trouble and so they stay. Plus they have to guard the oil and wheat production areas and enforce the impoverishment of Syrians and pressure on the Assad government, and smuggle the oil out via Iraq.
The US wants to open up an air base on the strategic St. Martins island, and Hasina wasn't having any of it. Now Yunus is more compliant and the Americans will be able to pressure the China Belt and Road Initiative in the region.
It’s truly over for Otzicels.
The best weekend review that I've seen yet from Niccolo -- thank you! There is enough here for a week of breakfast reading and I will forward it to friends and family.
Thank you very much!
Quite interesting. Thanks.
You also missed a couple of US sanction targets that were quite significant:
Cambodia and Libya.
Thanks very much for the Ötzi update. I’m planning to go visit him next fall, and I’d hate to be behind the times on knowing the precise vectors of his intersectionality.
haha
Hello from India. My understanding of the Bangladesh coup was mainly about US/IMF v China/BRI dynamics (explaining why pro IMF Yunus was selected as temporary leader). The US is also furious with Modis visit to Russia last month (Bangladesh BNP not considered favourable towards India). Haseena has given an interview to an Indian newspaper outlet this week alleging that she was told she would have been permitted to retain power had she allowed the development of a US military base on Bangladesh territory which she had refused. The Indians permitting her to give such an interview so soon after she fled indicates they are not happy with the developments either - which could explain why rumours of non USD oil purchases from UAE were circulating in various corners of social media this week.
Thank you for the insight!
Super interesting. Another peek through the drawn back curtain, allowing a glimpse at the never ending wheels of the world's government's wars over power and resources. As to our favorite mummy, I wonder how long before they try to clone him....Good Lord we are so insignificant. Thanks Niccolo.
Your first two posts are directly connected with one another. A lot of US supremacists don't understand the extent to which the US military and military industrial complex have been degraded. I'm not a military expert myself, but looked into the issue over the course of the Ukraine war because there were certain elements that just didn't fit with my understanding of American military power.
While we all know the US is not very good at war, with an abysmal record since 1945, it's alway been assumed that the mistakes were mostly political in nature. But since the end of the cold war, capacity has been severely weakened. In fact, it's not just ships the Americans are having a hard time building, but pretty much everything else as well, including fairly basic items like artillery shells and tanks.
So the reason the US has been relying so heavily on sanctions isn't because it doesn't want to fight, but because it can't. It simply has a very weak conventional military deterrent. Among its few remaining strengths are its capital markets, economy size and global reserve currency, so these are the weapons being wielded. However, they, like other weapons, eventually run into diminishing returns. At this point, they've becoming self defeating and will lead to the undoing of these last remaining strengths (there is still some soft power, but this is offset by ham handed and incompetent diplomacy). Basically, all that's left is their nuclear deterrent, which is a pretty scary realization.
Great post, thank you.
🇺🇸 industrial and military capacity being rebuilt rapidly, however we won’t be in good position for years.
And yes we in the military and industry and the people told them, but our political-media complex lives in a media bubble, a bodyguard of fantasists feeding the star of the show.
Mainly we’re rebuilding because of business getting the 💩 scared out of them by seeing their real life supply chains broken by COVID and Ukraine sanctions.
An interesting development is that the Chinese are using the $1 trillion in US debt as collateral to finance their own debt instruments, which whilst maintaining the dollar as the reserve currency, makes them and all the deals downstream free from the pressure of sanctions.
Inside China Business - 10x bigger than Bitcoin, Tether, and Gold: China's Central Bank Digital Currency will dwarf them all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2YldACOBJ8
thanks Niccolo!
The country that can’t build new littoral ships has its sights set on the riparian lands of Bangladesh. Checks out.
Well aware of the importance of Chips , I don’t believe we’re going to war with China, our major weapons supplier over anything any time soon. Because we’d run out fast , and couldn’t replace.
I downloaded the report free below from govini, basically China is our weapons supplier.
https://www.govini.com/insights/numbers-matter-defense-acquisition-u-s-production-capacity-and-deterring-china
Here’s some good news on the manufacturing front, as well as an explanation as to how we got such a tiny and really artisanal defense base. Nico touches on it with the Navy redesigning the frigate 85% lol. Mind you the government really gives the defense industry no choice.
https://www.rebuildthearsenal.com/
The 31 year old Palmer Lucky, the young genius who built Oculus Rift VR - who got stabbed by Facebook Zuck over Trump- has decided to build America’s new arsenal Tesla style, at a fraction of the cost. He’s raised $1.5B to do it for Anduril. They build themselves from common parts.
Anduril.com
Here’s his story. Palmer Lucky.
https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/american-vulcan-palmer-luckey-anduril
Nearly every revolution in history going well past the French to ancient Greece (Thucydides source) matches the conditions of A Color Revolution. Plausible?
Plausible is rather a low standard of truth, if at all.
Color revolution is a very specific concept. It was developed by the collaboration of an American who had supported the uprising in Myanmar with another American who knew a lot about nonviolent resistance in the Gandhian tradition. The latter - Gene Sharp - has written a lot of books about the subject. Those are real manuals for regime change.
It is controlled by the US that starts the operation with sponsoring a lot of NGOs. Those are about seemingly neutral subjects like the environment and women rights but the real goal is to get a large backbench of people who can be mobilized when you have a demonstration.
They just wait until something happens that makes enough people angry to justify a demonstration. Normally demonstrations are boring things with lots of speeches, but they have a long script on how to make them interesting with music, performing artists, paintings, symbols, nicknames for hated leaders, etc. Foreign and affiliated news organizations give them lots of free publicity.
Those once upon a time demonstrations somehow turn into permanent occupation of the most central square in the capital. Don't ask how all those people can afford to stay there for weeks without income.
After some time or after the government gives in on the main subject the subject suddenly changes. It now becomes regime change. And their favorite way to achieve it is storming parliament.
I know this , thanks. 😊
The statement that it matches up all through history to the Greeks stands.
Yes the tools have changed.