France's Most Popular "Far Right Mayor", Woke Army Battlefield Superiority, Election Censors Get Rewarded by Biden Regime, Leicester's Sectarian Riots, Mongolian Warrior Culture Festival
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I will turn to the Early Days of HIV/AIDS series once again tomorrow and hopefully have the next entry up in the evening. I appreciate your patience.
I’m intrigued by these right wing pockets in Europe that don’t fit the normie conservative mold. Southwest med in France, Saxony, etc. Still wary of Meloni as she is handcuffed by the coalition w Salvini and Berlusconi. Hungary def the model. What would be the best global nationalist community building apparatus? Maybe we can hijack the sister city org and give it teeth..
There are several ways to explain the stubborn character of particular regions: the legacy of local history, economic backwardness creating conditions in which relatively archaic forms of social and cultural life persist after they have vanished elsewhere, linguistic isolation or simply blind luck. I am not sure that terms like 'right wing' or 'conservatism' mean all that much.
Today the key political calculus involves resistance to the networks of power, both national and extranational, that seek to delegitimise inherited socio-cultural forms.
The best means of responding to the globalist challenge is to organise locally to build trust and cohesion. IMHO sister-cities are a bullshit move...the answers are not to be found across the globe, but in your own backyard. Pay attention to conditions overseas, but focus locally.
There are scalable local methodologies and systems that can be shared with others in a similar struggle against local establishments. These should be shared. Fully agree that anyone who thinks a top down strategy to reclaim sovereignty is delusional but mesh networks can be useful
Hungary is not really the model. Orban aimed for the center and still does.
The far-right, or radical right arises when mainstream parties leave masses without representation. In effect, they're a benchmark of the center-right: if Orban fails to represent people, someone else will.
Jobbik, the greatest far-right success evaporated since 2015, partly due to the migration crisis: Jobbik aimed to become more center by softening, and thus their messaging became hazy. Orban took a clear stance. Jobbik is now gone.
I've been watching the radical right startup scene in Europe for years, Swedish Democrats, AfD, whatever goes on in Italy: not much in common with Fidesz. They're opportunistically filling representation gaps, but have no strategy to advance to the next level. You can't be regional to do so, escaping that takes a lot of ground work on a national level, and you can't rely on widening the gap that your party fills, you need to sell yourself to the center.
Brexit and Trump shows that without a lot of groundwork and a legit, national team that's ready and willing to govern, the broader establishment can sit out the occasional "fuck you" startup that the masses vote for out of frustration.
The Tories have been in power for 12 years in the UK, they failed to conserve anything, it might as well been a Labour government. Yet people vote for them, because there's no credible alternative aiming for the center-right.
The Far Right exist as enforcers of last resort and as a honey-trap for the disaffected. Like the Far Left they have learnt little to nothing from the 20th c. and this suits the powers that be just fine. NATO would be delighted if Hungary's Far Right became renascent on the scale that the Far Right are doing in Slovakia or Ukraine. Such a development would be used for a wide range of purposes...mobilising support for the anti-Russian campaign, stigmatising Hungary internationally, sowing discord and fracture.
In my opinion the true test of political insight is the degree of nuance applied to the contested histories and politics of the last century. Putin and Orban get it perfectly. They understand what extremes have wrought and they seek balance, engagement and a respect for a wide range of opinion. Patience, caution and a bias towards cohesion are the essential attributes for any worthwhile statecraft today. Sincerity in representing the masses is key.
Your insight about Brexit and Trump is brilliant. So far the threat of populism has been performative and has functioned as a safety valve for the system, rather than pose a substantive challenge. This challenge will come when a critical mass within the elite defect and provide leadership.
Well, I'm not so sure about the Western establishment being happy about any far-right resurgence. They're either unwilling or incapable or both to co-opt it successfully. Ukrainian national sentiment is a different game, but beyond supporting them as long as they own Putin, the current West European establishment wants no nationalist Slavs to come any closer, as an EU member for example. Germany is even more horrified by the prospect of Ukraine being in the EU than Serbia in the EU. Nein, danke. Poland and Hungary is more than enough trouble. Guest labor to pick vegetables, sure, they can come in millions, and owning Putin far away, go ahead, but they're reactionary rubes otherwise, icky. So are far-right parties, anywhere.
Now Putin, well, he did meddle in far-right startups back in the day, Jobbik was pro-Putin, embarrassingly so, circa 2012-2015. Jobbik's current MEP even took part in ratifying the Crimea referendum. One of their former key people is a political refugee Moscow, he just got sentenced in absentia for spying for Russia.
To reinforce this point even further: Orban does have a far-right competitor, Our Home (former Jobbik members), they got into the parlament, on their own, no foreign backing, no domestic media support, even Facebook suppressed them. They have a strong anti-lockdown, anti-EU and anti-immigration stance. I don't see how Washington (or Brussels) can make any use of them. They can bite into Orban's support, but they're more trouble than it's worth, even on the short term.
A lot of pro-Russia sentiment in Hungary on the right comes from the right's (once fiercely Atlanticist, pro-EU) mistreatment by our "allies". They were abused so much by the West that they've adopted a chaotic neutral stance. Orban, despite being a populist, tries to keep them in check, rather than whipping them further into a frenzy. Our Home's most likely play is to offer these people a stronger opposition to the West, to nibble at the base of Fidesz.
In some ways, Washington's best interest is to keep Orban in power, but the State Department can stay irrational for a long time, they can probably blow up a gas pipeline and get away with it (in Minecraft); with so much political capital to waste, I don't expect them to be Machiavellian masterminds in our little backwater. They'll just pump the losing globalists with more money until a sizeable crowd attempts a color revolution, and if that fails, they'll keep repeating this until it succeeds.
The support for the Far Right I speak of would be covert and come from the Western Deep State, not the wider elite.
Germany's conflicted position vis a vis the Ukrainians expresses the fundamental confusion of their politics. True statesmen cut through such confusion and focus on essentials, but no such people can emerge under present conditions. IMHO Central Europe needs a new 'Rapallo'...rapprochement with Moscow, but there is no Rathenau type figure in Berlin. The closest was Alfred Herrhausen of Deutsche Bank and he was assassinated after the Cold War.
Washington is clearly playing a long game re both Hungary and Poland. And it is a very dirty game.
Ridiculous piece on a woke progressive Ukrainian army. I won't even get into the LGBT/diversity shit, Just going to point out that these western progressives love to brush over the fact that at the outbreak of the war, Zelensky banned males from leaving the country and mass conscripted them into this war. Western Lib journos who spent the last +10 years endlessly crying about misogyny, sexism, male privilege etc, did not even bat an eye when delivering that bit of news matter-of-factly in Feb.
When the cold hard reality of war came back and men were called upon to unquestionably take on their historic role as the willing, expendable, protectors of their nation, Western Libs just accepted, with zero sympathy.
The only real objection I heard of this in western media, was that the the wives might need these to help raise the kids, so no inherent value of the male's life other than how useful he is in supporting his woman.
Not complaining about the historic gender role of male fighter/protector for nation, just pointing out how deplorable western lib propaganda is, that outside of performative bs, they will still need old school tough males on the ground doing the dirty work.
There is no point IMO teasing out the logical inconsistencies in any of the woke rhetoric. The key to propaganda is the emotion, which is consistently negative towards anyone who has the potential to disrupt either the narrative or the assumed path of progress. Logic is too phallocentric to be applied safely, the woke will cut it off every time (apologies for the double entedre).
The buffoons who lap up the woke stuff have had their expectations set by infotainment...Buffy the vampire slayer and Xena warrior-woman are psychologically plausible figures for these cretins.
Their stance on islam, which is simultaneously amazing diversity and the embodiment of every conspiarcy they've ever believed about a radical christian right wing theocracy, shows that you're looking for logic in what better be described as a fetish.
Logic is beside the point...you waste energy and time applying logic to the rhetoric of these people...you end up exhausting and demoralising yourself.
The current attraction of Islam for the Left is the visceral hostility of so many Muslim migrants to the European indigenes. In the past it was the oil companies and the Right who shilled for Islam (especially in England and France), but since the late 70s and early 80s the Left has appropriated that role.
What is appalling is that the lucid and ration people in the Muslim world are prepared for co-existence and dialogue. It is the Western Left who frustrate this and they do so for the very worst of motives.
In the first instance, Leicester's riots offer an opportunity for more 'dialogue' and multicultural 'outreach'. There is no way that the social workers and consultants will pass up a chance like that. One can only pity the UK taxpayers.
Anglostan is set to function as a North Atlantic parody of Fiji. It is time for the King to put his people skills to use. But will the people of Leicester accept the authority/interference of an alien prince, especially one as pale as CR3?
Sorry but the first paragraph triggers me. Europe consists of sovereign nations who had -- and have! -- the ability to tell the USA to fuck off. Germany did that under Schroeder and spared us joining the disastrous Iraq war. It's not the evil GAE forcing our poor politicians to do their bidding, they decided to. Yes, the US first and foremost cares about their own geopolitical goals (they should) and yes, they see their "alliances" mostly as means to an end (that's to be expected) but Biden can't dictate EU foreign policy, our so called leaders do. What we are seeing here from Brexit over Covid to now Ukraine is a crisis in European leadership. These people that my countrymen (god bless these retards) voted into power are naive, ignorant, uneducated and wholly unprepared to be the elite that they claim to be.
When the US can shield Saudi Arabia from any consequences of their actions and thus is directly responsible for not only murder and dismemberment of a journalist but also for spreading the cancer that is Wahhabism over the world the EU can do the same with Russia. Simply because of the economic realities. Yemeni children getting bombed? That's the price of freedom. People in Transnistria and The People's Republic of Donetsk (LMAO) what to be free? Not my department.
Anyways. This Substack is the best in terms of journalism I've been reading in years and one of the few this I pay for on the internet. Thanks a lot.
Oct 1, 2022·edited Oct 1, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Watch out for riots between Sikhs and Hindus in Canada. There are lots of Sikh nationalists in Canada who arrived between the 1970s and 2000s. Instead of assimilating to Canadian culture, their kids and even grandkids remain extremely nationalistic(though not to Canada).
Trudeau after winning in 2015 has further ramped up immigration from India. However, most of these newcomers are Hindus leading to tensions with Sikhs. A few weeks ago there was a rally in Toronto, where about 100,000 Sikhs showed up in support of Sikh nationalism. Most of these were young people, born in Canada(Can you imagine even 100 people showing up in Toronto in support of Canadian nationalism lol). There have been reports of minor clashes between Sikhs and Hindus with some temple vandalizations in the Greater Toronto Area. I wouldn't be surprised if full scale riots broke out between the two groups.
This is the fate of the West. To be a battleground for competing ethnic groups while the aging and deracinated host population pretends that all is well.
When you import people, you also import their old grudges. During 1990-91, it was common for diaspora Croatians and Serbs in Canada to fight it out at soccer games/coffee shops/nightclubs/etc. I should know.
The Sikh diaspora in Canada is interesting, as their ultra-nationalists engaged in terrorist attacks like blowing up a plane. The community in British Columbia (mainly in and around Surrey) tends to be more extremist than those in the Greater Toronto Area.
Lest we forget that emigration is a time-honoured means of ridding oneself of discontented types, especially hardliners and troublemakers. Europe postponed revolution till the end of WW1 because of mass emigration to the Americas after the Civil War. Much of the world is doing the same right now. Diasporic communities are often nuttier and more turbulent than people back 'home'.
Nations that receive migrants have the opportunity to insist that the migrants discount old grudges as the price of acceptance. Failure in this regard rests with the authorities.
Yes...they created the social-democratic oases of the Mid West and Great Lakes, now fallen into decay.
One effect of this wave of emigration was to fuel the vogue for Teutonic higher education. The surge of interest amongst young Ivy League graduates in doing further study in Germany which in turn enabled the rapid dissemination of the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt (father of behaviourist psychology) which ultimately ended up inspiring progressive education in North America throughout the 20th c.
The effect on Germany itself was appalling. The emigrants were the most spirited and productive constituency for social and political progress. Their departure enabled the reactionaries like Kaiser Bill to do their worst.
Sikh extremists (Khalistanis) are covertly supported by Pakistani ISI to cause trouble for India (read: Hindus) actively supported by the left in West. This is well documented by Canadian journalist Terry Milewski in is writings.
The cynicism of the ISI is matched only by their recklessness and contempt for humanity. After the Bombay/Mumbai massacre (carried out by drug addled fanatics) there is no excuse for them. The Left's love affair with jihad is the very essence of insanity.
The tension can and will be instrumentalised by third parties (the Western Deep State) with an interest in geopolitical intrigue. The vivid, manipulable, identity politics of the first and second generation offers opportunities for all sorts of mischief. As India declines to sacrifice itself on the altar of a Sinophobic alliance I expect that it will face more criticism/interference from Western NGOs fronted by North Americans of subcontinental ancestry.
I understand from comments made by the ever-outspoken Professor Amy Wax at Penn that Indian-American women are a conspicuously woke element in medical education. The long term damage that this will most likely achieve in race-relations is predictable and IMHO could have been avoided with even a modicum of common sense. Unfortunately, woke pours acid on open wounds, as it were. We are all in for trouble.
This is a classic example of how the second and third immigrant generation becomes totally disconnected with culture and religion of their immigrant parents and gets coopted by the dominant ideology of their new country i.e. wokism. Because Indians tend to value academic training and related professions , they become easy targets for woke indoctrination.
To be fair I don't expect second and third generations to retain the culture of their ancestors. If the immigrant parents wanted their children to retain their ancestral culture then they should have stayed in their ancestral land. Heck, even the ancestral land's culture is changing all the time putting the immigrant parents in a very awkward position. You make a lot of money but you die as a stranger both in your birth homeland and adopted homeland. Nothing in life comes without costs after all.
Few things are as unreliably or dishonestly discussed as immigration or the truth behind the transformative experiences involved. My father (a onetime displaced person) pointed out to me many years ago that migration fosters alienation and estrangement (my words, not his) and is far from being the positive or uplifting experience of the fairy-tale narratives. The psychic costs of adjustment are considerable for some, less so for others.
The problem is the opportunities available for self-deception and misrepresentation and the way these play out within the context of a radically different culture. It is absurd for high caste Indian migrants to masquerade as history's victims, still less as victims of systematic racism in contemporary America. It is also degrading for the migrants to expose themselves to ideologies that encourage self-pity and ressentiment....these are absurd and ultimately self-destructive.
To add injustice to the situation, the skilled immigrants are being utilised by Western economies in order to spare those economies the cost of offering meaningful opportunities for quality education and upwards social mobility to their own lower classes. The class conflicts of the near future will blend with ethnic rivalries and anxieties over the allocation of privileges like affirmative action and equity. The potential for a political and social disaster is exceptionally high.
"Consider the following propaganda that aims to convince the reader that liberalism makes for an inherently superior armed force:"
Might be a general development among Western "military experts". Carlo Masala, one of the most prominent pro-Ukrainian experts frequently cited in German media, made several tweets about the need for wokeness and diversity in the military last summer:
You're of course right that this clown O'Brien is a lying shit about WW2. As a German I can't say I overly like Russia's cult of the Great Patriotic War, it contains quite a few half-truths and omissions, and something like Russia's Armed Forces Cathedral (Temple of War would be more accurate) creeps me out tbh. But one has to respect the Soviet experience of death and suffering on a giant scale. The American WW2 cult is worse, much more unmoored from what actually happened in WW2 and highly ideological, little more than a justification for US global domination under the guise of "antifascism". It's no accident that attempts to minimize the Soviet role in WW2 seem to have been gathering force in recent years.
German_reader, your comments put me in mind of Nietzsche's observations (following 1871) that victory makes people stupid. Germany learnt that lesson the hardest way possible. Now America faces similar urgent lessons.
Great comment. Like you, Andrei Martyanov always make the point that russians have centuries of experienced in the conduct and more importantly the consequences of serious existential warfare. The Americans on the other hand lack this completely and its a major source of the delusions they have about their military power.
If anybody can claim to have "won" WW2 its certainly the russians. The american views on WW2 are, as usual with them, completely ahistorical and the source of major delusions.
The continental USA is almost unique in its geographic isolation and subsequent historic advantage (Australia surpasses it).
Concepts like victory are of limited value in discussing 20th c warfare. The price of victory was ruinous for everybody but the USA and a few of its allies (Australia and New Zealand). A victory that left two continents (Europe and Asia) in rubble, with generations of demoralisation and confusion in its wake, is nothing like the conventional sense of the word.
On a military level, the USSR emerges with maximum credit. The long stagnation under Brezhnev through to Chernenko was in large part a legacy of the war...the veterans of WW2 simply lacked the capacity (understandably so) to reform things as they should have done. China too is often forgotten. The long struggle against Imperial Japan was also fought on a colossal scale and with desperate resolve on both sides.
War is central to politics. Only a society with a deep, fundamental, confusion about the connection between power and force (and the total reliance of that connection upon the capacity to mobilise young men en masse in defence of other men's property and families) could entertain the insanity of the educational, cultural and social norms of present day North America.
The piece is great but I have to correct you on one thing. Lombardy as a whole region, was never a left-wing bastion. Sesto San Giovanni, which is a town nearby Milan, was. Lombardy has been consistently right wing for quite a while, ironically with Milan itself shifting to the left recently.
If we want to talk about historically left wing regions in Italy, then we should be talking about Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche. However Marche and Umbria have been moving to the right in the past decade and are now converted. Tuscany itself, the reddest of the red regions, is seeing a variety of cities going right wing, though others still hold.
The Soviets did not overwhelm the Germans with human wave attacks, they certainly did use a lot of Rifle Divisions...the Soviets did largely by deception and excellent Operational Security repeatedly mass Superior forces at the decisive points. So yes a correlation of forces 6:1 at certain points, not they had more breasts than the Germans bullets, that’s a nice story, not true. The real Russians didn’t vastly outnumber the Germans, they ordered their forces well.
The German generals started getting out foxed from Stalingrad counteroffensive forward.
if one wants a fair reading on the Soviets David Glantz, COL, USA, RETIRED and noted historian.
If one wants a good read on the Russian military now Lester Grau the Russian way of war - Grau, Bartles. Plenty of brain below, you might be surprised who essentially relies on brawn.
The real Russian army is a highly technical and digitally integrated competent force that is an artillery army with a lot of tanks, but also air defense, drones, electronic warfare abilities that outstripped ours years ago. Lots and lots of artillery. Artillery takes ground, then armor and mechanized infantry occupy it.
A BTG of 1100 has only 200 infantry.
USA is an infantry army with an Air Force that will have a lot of growing pains dealing with a first world army with premier air defense.
A BTG of 1100 outguns our BCT of 4400 in artillery.
Now we the line units know this, have for years, we were ignored.
Sadly for all the folly I think war between the USA 🇺🇸 and Russia 🇷🇺 is coming. Its going to be difficult to catch up with all our kit in Ukraine, maybe we can buy it back from the Uko Mafia .
The Russians have been for years using when possible local forces like LPR/DPR militia, the Kharkiv area had 2000 militia on a screen, the RU had redeployed to the SE. Ukr pushed on an open door. Meanwhile in Kherson the Ukr was frustrated at great cost.
RU infantry are RU last choice.
Locals , artillery, mech before.
This isn’t new.
The myths of WW2 sigh, where RU infantry were used at cost was a choice driven by early years scarcity of artillery and ammo compared to later.
As to our supply situation since we stripped out units to send to Ukraine 🇺🇦 nothing is known except its BAD and demoralizing for 🇺🇸 soldiers and Marines. Then again we’re about as liked as the Police by who’s in power, they just hide it better.
The same venom is present.
Never think we believe the 💩 our Generals and SECDEF say, we know better. Being a soldier is always enduring suffering, including 💩💩.
To answer further the Russians just now committed to ending this, a fresh army of actual Russian soldiers on the way.
Ukr is probably refitting for spring offensive. The RU will be ready in a month when rains end, ground freezes. The Russians now have the option of simply ending this militarily. That’s what the 300K callup is for, to relieve the trained professionals in other areas like Siberia etc to move to Ukraine theater, end game. Certainly negotiations are gone.
I think 50/50 rapid UKR collapse.
They are out of bodies.
RU has potential reserves of 25 million- former troops mostly former conscription service- that can be put back into shape and service quickly. Its one of the strong points for National Service/Conscription.
a pool of soldiers with combat experience to call up helped the us in korea and vietnam.
one of the benefits from vietnam was a pool of younger combat soldiers in case.
the usa with no draft and much of its wokeness and a lot of war stores sent to ukr with nato basically unarmed is in no position to push.
ukr is using the usa "kill chain" to fire long range artillery and himars rockets as well as go after russian navy in black sea..... as well as suspected mercenaries...
The US has a pool of 5.5 million veterans of military age as of 2020. Mostly male. Military age 18-54. 54 is not too old for rear area or training duties. In some cases front line. Numbers aren’t a problem.
The Russians have the inestimable advantages of an unsentimental education system that focuses on STEM and a universal, deeply felt, resolve to ensure national safety. Advances in military technology work for them in a way that they no longer do in the US.
The old myths about Russians as drunken peasants were always gross exaggerations, but are now truly dangerous delusions. Unfortunately the 'best and brightest' of the West lack respect for adversaries.
Well it not education or even the equipment , we have the same equipment, training, skills.
Not at the density they do, not as doctrinally integrated. Behind integration and sufficient numbers fielded in Air Defense, EW, drones/counter drones. Not trained up enough in using it.
Also not enough artillery.
All of this known for years.
I think the educational gap you refer to would apply more to our elites Philip. We get it.
The ENRONISTA neolib ruling creatures don’t. It’s not a matter of explaining technology and fielding it to millennial kids with only high school or community college, its a matter of explaining it to the Ivy Leaguers who at best are skilled in finance, who’s idea of electronic warfare is cyberwar cuz dats the money pot and sounds cool ...like video games but more money $$&
(Cyber war is to electronic war what video games are to industrial robotics ...)
With you 100% on the elites...anyone who has been exposed to a skilled trade understands technology and the importance of real-world prowess intuitively, while sheltered types live in a world of infotainment where 'magic' emerges spontaneously from a box.
When real cyber war breaks out, the #### will truly hit the fan. I expect catastrophic region-wide breakdowns in communication, which in a military scenario would render proper organisation/mobilisation/coordination impossible and probably disable everything mechanical. I feel truly sorry for anyone stationed at or close to any key command command or logistics posts.
I expect the only thing holding Russia back is uncertainty about the speed at which NATO collapses and the brass approach the nuclear threshold...panic at the top is the ultimate nightmare.
Well electronic warfare means jamming, meaconing, interception. Also location finding followed by artillery.
Jamming can include GPS or even as practiced for years disarming shells in flight (smart shells with electronics).
Cyber war may rob or attack infrastructure but its not battlefield. Industrial damage, sure, possible. But its the money for CYBER WAR that draws flies.
It is equally existential for us too...we (the subjects of the Western Oligarchs) are already defeated, but a Russian victory may weaken Panem-on-the- Potomac. Thus, IMO the Russian Army is fighting for our cause.
Moskva za nami! (Moscow is behind us!)...Donbass za nami! (Donbass is behind us!). The lovely Victoria Petrovna Daineko and Natalia Kucera put it best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03yQRZk8p8U
Completely agree. Really the russians represent an alternative civilizational project to the american empire. It would be a major cause for celebration, even to us, if they win this war.
Any country that actively protects or promotes human flourishing deserves respect. For Moscow to ever end up like Portland or Chicago would be a world-historical catastrophe. Russia would be less significant if the constituent portions of the EU were in good shape, but they are not. This is not to project naive fantasies onto Russia (a Western fixation since the Enlightenment) but simply to face facts. And loyalty to Washington/Brussels is an absurdity...they offer no loyalty to their own people and their aggrandisement would be a danger to us all.
Very well said. At the end of the day anything that weakens the power and legitimacy of our traitorous rulers is a positive for us. No meter who strikes that blow.
I am sure the Ukrainian Mafia already has commercial agents in the US...delivery will cost extra, just don't expect them to extend credit unless collateral is involved and take care about the vig.
I assume that California is already taken by the Mexican cartels, with carve-outs for the Chinese in the coastal cities. The Ukrainians may have to settle for Minneapolis, if they can handle the Somalis...and the climate will make them feel at home.
That Atlantic article on the Ukraine / Russia conflict fails to mention that in WWII the US military was anything but a safe-haven for gays and lesbians. And the British, while tolerating Alan Turing's brilliant contributions to decrypting enemy communications, nonetheless later prosecuted him for homosexual acts in 1952. Amazingly, allied forces still won the war.
That enlightening article makes we want to celebrate this unstoppable Western victory. I look forward to seeing Ukrainian tanks and mobile artillery units, camouflaged with rainbows and unicorns and fully open to new information, liberate Moscow in the next couple of weeks.
History does irony on a grand scale. Throughout the 20th c. key regions of the old Papal States retained exceptionally strong anti-clerical currents.
My guess is that the the Marxist influence ensured that liberal and centrist beliefs remained contestable. Just maintaining the tradition of saying 'no' to dominant ideas is enough to ensure that a region (or an individual) remains problematic, no matter what the dominant ideas of the day are. It reminds me of police procedure...the usual suspects attract attention no matter what. I expect (judging by books and movies like FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) that comparable social psychologies/perspectives are at play amongst the authorities in your previous line of work. One has to laugh...though I imagine that there are plenty who would rather not.
My respect for your online candour to date knows no end...best of luck with the opsec. I imagine that unsympathetic eyes make their way across these commentaries as a matter of course.
If you are interested in understanding the Russians, I am advised that Tibor Szamuely's little read classic THE RUSSIAN TRADITION is supposed to be pretty good. I just ordered one of the last available 2nd hand copies for myself. Here is an article that discusses it.
Hit the like button and use the share button to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you (be nice!), and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already done so.
I will turn to the Early Days of HIV/AIDS series once again tomorrow and hopefully have the next entry up in the evening. I appreciate your patience.
Yes lets return to literal rimming and fistulas, the media government complex isn’t serious about this...
I’m intrigued by these right wing pockets in Europe that don’t fit the normie conservative mold. Southwest med in France, Saxony, etc. Still wary of Meloni as she is handcuffed by the coalition w Salvini and Berlusconi. Hungary def the model. What would be the best global nationalist community building apparatus? Maybe we can hijack the sister city org and give it teeth..
There are several ways to explain the stubborn character of particular regions: the legacy of local history, economic backwardness creating conditions in which relatively archaic forms of social and cultural life persist after they have vanished elsewhere, linguistic isolation or simply blind luck. I am not sure that terms like 'right wing' or 'conservatism' mean all that much.
Today the key political calculus involves resistance to the networks of power, both national and extranational, that seek to delegitimise inherited socio-cultural forms.
The best means of responding to the globalist challenge is to organise locally to build trust and cohesion. IMHO sister-cities are a bullshit move...the answers are not to be found across the globe, but in your own backyard. Pay attention to conditions overseas, but focus locally.
There are scalable local methodologies and systems that can be shared with others in a similar struggle against local establishments. These should be shared. Fully agree that anyone who thinks a top down strategy to reclaim sovereignty is delusional but mesh networks can be useful
Hungary is not really the model. Orban aimed for the center and still does.
The far-right, or radical right arises when mainstream parties leave masses without representation. In effect, they're a benchmark of the center-right: if Orban fails to represent people, someone else will.
Jobbik, the greatest far-right success evaporated since 2015, partly due to the migration crisis: Jobbik aimed to become more center by softening, and thus their messaging became hazy. Orban took a clear stance. Jobbik is now gone.
I've been watching the radical right startup scene in Europe for years, Swedish Democrats, AfD, whatever goes on in Italy: not much in common with Fidesz. They're opportunistically filling representation gaps, but have no strategy to advance to the next level. You can't be regional to do so, escaping that takes a lot of ground work on a national level, and you can't rely on widening the gap that your party fills, you need to sell yourself to the center.
Brexit and Trump shows that without a lot of groundwork and a legit, national team that's ready and willing to govern, the broader establishment can sit out the occasional "fuck you" startup that the masses vote for out of frustration.
The Tories have been in power for 12 years in the UK, they failed to conserve anything, it might as well been a Labour government. Yet people vote for them, because there's no credible alternative aiming for the center-right.
The Far Right exist as enforcers of last resort and as a honey-trap for the disaffected. Like the Far Left they have learnt little to nothing from the 20th c. and this suits the powers that be just fine. NATO would be delighted if Hungary's Far Right became renascent on the scale that the Far Right are doing in Slovakia or Ukraine. Such a development would be used for a wide range of purposes...mobilising support for the anti-Russian campaign, stigmatising Hungary internationally, sowing discord and fracture.
In my opinion the true test of political insight is the degree of nuance applied to the contested histories and politics of the last century. Putin and Orban get it perfectly. They understand what extremes have wrought and they seek balance, engagement and a respect for a wide range of opinion. Patience, caution and a bias towards cohesion are the essential attributes for any worthwhile statecraft today. Sincerity in representing the masses is key.
Your insight about Brexit and Trump is brilliant. So far the threat of populism has been performative and has functioned as a safety valve for the system, rather than pose a substantive challenge. This challenge will come when a critical mass within the elite defect and provide leadership.
Well, I'm not so sure about the Western establishment being happy about any far-right resurgence. They're either unwilling or incapable or both to co-opt it successfully. Ukrainian national sentiment is a different game, but beyond supporting them as long as they own Putin, the current West European establishment wants no nationalist Slavs to come any closer, as an EU member for example. Germany is even more horrified by the prospect of Ukraine being in the EU than Serbia in the EU. Nein, danke. Poland and Hungary is more than enough trouble. Guest labor to pick vegetables, sure, they can come in millions, and owning Putin far away, go ahead, but they're reactionary rubes otherwise, icky. So are far-right parties, anywhere.
Now Putin, well, he did meddle in far-right startups back in the day, Jobbik was pro-Putin, embarrassingly so, circa 2012-2015. Jobbik's current MEP even took part in ratifying the Crimea referendum. One of their former key people is a political refugee Moscow, he just got sentenced in absentia for spying for Russia.
To reinforce this point even further: Orban does have a far-right competitor, Our Home (former Jobbik members), they got into the parlament, on their own, no foreign backing, no domestic media support, even Facebook suppressed them. They have a strong anti-lockdown, anti-EU and anti-immigration stance. I don't see how Washington (or Brussels) can make any use of them. They can bite into Orban's support, but they're more trouble than it's worth, even on the short term.
A lot of pro-Russia sentiment in Hungary on the right comes from the right's (once fiercely Atlanticist, pro-EU) mistreatment by our "allies". They were abused so much by the West that they've adopted a chaotic neutral stance. Orban, despite being a populist, tries to keep them in check, rather than whipping them further into a frenzy. Our Home's most likely play is to offer these people a stronger opposition to the West, to nibble at the base of Fidesz.
In some ways, Washington's best interest is to keep Orban in power, but the State Department can stay irrational for a long time, they can probably blow up a gas pipeline and get away with it (in Minecraft); with so much political capital to waste, I don't expect them to be Machiavellian masterminds in our little backwater. They'll just pump the losing globalists with more money until a sizeable crowd attempts a color revolution, and if that fails, they'll keep repeating this until it succeeds.
The support for the Far Right I speak of would be covert and come from the Western Deep State, not the wider elite.
Germany's conflicted position vis a vis the Ukrainians expresses the fundamental confusion of their politics. True statesmen cut through such confusion and focus on essentials, but no such people can emerge under present conditions. IMHO Central Europe needs a new 'Rapallo'...rapprochement with Moscow, but there is no Rathenau type figure in Berlin. The closest was Alfred Herrhausen of Deutsche Bank and he was assassinated after the Cold War.
Washington is clearly playing a long game re both Hungary and Poland. And it is a very dirty game.
To move rightward remain where you are, nothing more is necessary.
Ridiculous piece on a woke progressive Ukrainian army. I won't even get into the LGBT/diversity shit, Just going to point out that these western progressives love to brush over the fact that at the outbreak of the war, Zelensky banned males from leaving the country and mass conscripted them into this war. Western Lib journos who spent the last +10 years endlessly crying about misogyny, sexism, male privilege etc, did not even bat an eye when delivering that bit of news matter-of-factly in Feb.
When the cold hard reality of war came back and men were called upon to unquestionably take on their historic role as the willing, expendable, protectors of their nation, Western Libs just accepted, with zero sympathy.
The only real objection I heard of this in western media, was that the the wives might need these to help raise the kids, so no inherent value of the male's life other than how useful he is in supporting his woman.
Not complaining about the historic gender role of male fighter/protector for nation, just pointing out how deplorable western lib propaganda is, that outside of performative bs, they will still need old school tough males on the ground doing the dirty work.
There is no point IMO teasing out the logical inconsistencies in any of the woke rhetoric. The key to propaganda is the emotion, which is consistently negative towards anyone who has the potential to disrupt either the narrative or the assumed path of progress. Logic is too phallocentric to be applied safely, the woke will cut it off every time (apologies for the double entedre).
The buffoons who lap up the woke stuff have had their expectations set by infotainment...Buffy the vampire slayer and Xena warrior-woman are psychologically plausible figures for these cretins.
100% real talk
GAEyeee..someone had to do it
Their stance on islam, which is simultaneously amazing diversity and the embodiment of every conspiarcy they've ever believed about a radical christian right wing theocracy, shows that you're looking for logic in what better be described as a fetish.
I've long given up.
Logic is beside the point...you waste energy and time applying logic to the rhetoric of these people...you end up exhausting and demoralising yourself.
The current attraction of Islam for the Left is the visceral hostility of so many Muslim migrants to the European indigenes. In the past it was the oil companies and the Right who shilled for Islam (especially in England and France), but since the late 70s and early 80s the Left has appropriated that role.
What is appalling is that the lucid and ration people in the Muslim world are prepared for co-existence and dialogue. It is the Western Left who frustrate this and they do so for the very worst of motives.
Long winter coming to Europe
Always remember that before candles, humans used electricity.
Thank Gaia we’ve progressed!
In the first instance, Leicester's riots offer an opportunity for more 'dialogue' and multicultural 'outreach'. There is no way that the social workers and consultants will pass up a chance like that. One can only pity the UK taxpayers.
Anglostan is set to function as a North Atlantic parody of Fiji. It is time for the King to put his people skills to use. But will the people of Leicester accept the authority/interference of an alien prince, especially one as pale as CR3?
Sorry but the first paragraph triggers me. Europe consists of sovereign nations who had -- and have! -- the ability to tell the USA to fuck off. Germany did that under Schroeder and spared us joining the disastrous Iraq war. It's not the evil GAE forcing our poor politicians to do their bidding, they decided to. Yes, the US first and foremost cares about their own geopolitical goals (they should) and yes, they see their "alliances" mostly as means to an end (that's to be expected) but Biden can't dictate EU foreign policy, our so called leaders do. What we are seeing here from Brexit over Covid to now Ukraine is a crisis in European leadership. These people that my countrymen (god bless these retards) voted into power are naive, ignorant, uneducated and wholly unprepared to be the elite that they claim to be.
When the US can shield Saudi Arabia from any consequences of their actions and thus is directly responsible for not only murder and dismemberment of a journalist but also for spreading the cancer that is Wahhabism over the world the EU can do the same with Russia. Simply because of the economic realities. Yemeni children getting bombed? That's the price of freedom. People in Transnistria and The People's Republic of Donetsk (LMAO) what to be free? Not my department.
Anyways. This Substack is the best in terms of journalism I've been reading in years and one of the few this I pay for on the internet. Thanks a lot.
You're very welcome, Kai!
Watch out for riots between Sikhs and Hindus in Canada. There are lots of Sikh nationalists in Canada who arrived between the 1970s and 2000s. Instead of assimilating to Canadian culture, their kids and even grandkids remain extremely nationalistic(though not to Canada).
Trudeau after winning in 2015 has further ramped up immigration from India. However, most of these newcomers are Hindus leading to tensions with Sikhs. A few weeks ago there was a rally in Toronto, where about 100,000 Sikhs showed up in support of Sikh nationalism. Most of these were young people, born in Canada(Can you imagine even 100 people showing up in Toronto in support of Canadian nationalism lol). There have been reports of minor clashes between Sikhs and Hindus with some temple vandalizations in the Greater Toronto Area. I wouldn't be surprised if full scale riots broke out between the two groups.
This is the fate of the West. To be a battleground for competing ethnic groups while the aging and deracinated host population pretends that all is well.
When you import people, you also import their old grudges. During 1990-91, it was common for diaspora Croatians and Serbs in Canada to fight it out at soccer games/coffee shops/nightclubs/etc. I should know.
The Sikh diaspora in Canada is interesting, as their ultra-nationalists engaged in terrorist attacks like blowing up a plane. The community in British Columbia (mainly in and around Surrey) tends to be more extremist than those in the Greater Toronto Area.
Lest we forget that emigration is a time-honoured means of ridding oneself of discontented types, especially hardliners and troublemakers. Europe postponed revolution till the end of WW1 because of mass emigration to the Americas after the Civil War. Much of the world is doing the same right now. Diasporic communities are often nuttier and more turbulent than people back 'home'.
Nations that receive migrants have the opportunity to insist that the migrants discount old grudges as the price of acceptance. Failure in this regard rests with the authorities.
Lots of failed revolutionaries from the 1848 revolutions ended up in America.
Germans in particular, like Kurt Vonnegut's family.
Yes...they created the social-democratic oases of the Mid West and Great Lakes, now fallen into decay.
One effect of this wave of emigration was to fuel the vogue for Teutonic higher education. The surge of interest amongst young Ivy League graduates in doing further study in Germany which in turn enabled the rapid dissemination of the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt (father of behaviourist psychology) which ultimately ended up inspiring progressive education in North America throughout the 20th c.
The effect on Germany itself was appalling. The emigrants were the most spirited and productive constituency for social and political progress. Their departure enabled the reactionaries like Kaiser Bill to do their worst.
Sikh extremists (Khalistanis) are covertly supported by Pakistani ISI to cause trouble for India (read: Hindus) actively supported by the left in West. This is well documented by Canadian journalist Terry Milewski in is writings.
The cynicism of the ISI is matched only by their recklessness and contempt for humanity. After the Bombay/Mumbai massacre (carried out by drug addled fanatics) there is no excuse for them. The Left's love affair with jihad is the very essence of insanity.
The tension can and will be instrumentalised by third parties (the Western Deep State) with an interest in geopolitical intrigue. The vivid, manipulable, identity politics of the first and second generation offers opportunities for all sorts of mischief. As India declines to sacrifice itself on the altar of a Sinophobic alliance I expect that it will face more criticism/interference from Western NGOs fronted by North Americans of subcontinental ancestry.
Young Indian American women are probably the most woke demographic in the world.
I understand from comments made by the ever-outspoken Professor Amy Wax at Penn that Indian-American women are a conspicuously woke element in medical education. The long term damage that this will most likely achieve in race-relations is predictable and IMHO could have been avoided with even a modicum of common sense. Unfortunately, woke pours acid on open wounds, as it were. We are all in for trouble.
The whole suttee thing comes into focus...
Ditto witch-burning in the West, a practice that once spared humanity much readily-avoidable suffering. Progress comes at a cost.
This is a classic example of how the second and third immigrant generation becomes totally disconnected with culture and religion of their immigrant parents and gets coopted by the dominant ideology of their new country i.e. wokism. Because Indians tend to value academic training and related professions , they become easy targets for woke indoctrination.
To be fair I don't expect second and third generations to retain the culture of their ancestors. If the immigrant parents wanted their children to retain their ancestral culture then they should have stayed in their ancestral land. Heck, even the ancestral land's culture is changing all the time putting the immigrant parents in a very awkward position. You make a lot of money but you die as a stranger both in your birth homeland and adopted homeland. Nothing in life comes without costs after all.
Few things are as unreliably or dishonestly discussed as immigration or the truth behind the transformative experiences involved. My father (a onetime displaced person) pointed out to me many years ago that migration fosters alienation and estrangement (my words, not his) and is far from being the positive or uplifting experience of the fairy-tale narratives. The psychic costs of adjustment are considerable for some, less so for others.
The problem is the opportunities available for self-deception and misrepresentation and the way these play out within the context of a radically different culture. It is absurd for high caste Indian migrants to masquerade as history's victims, still less as victims of systematic racism in contemporary America. It is also degrading for the migrants to expose themselves to ideologies that encourage self-pity and ressentiment....these are absurd and ultimately self-destructive.
To add injustice to the situation, the skilled immigrants are being utilised by Western economies in order to spare those economies the cost of offering meaningful opportunities for quality education and upwards social mobility to their own lower classes. The class conflicts of the near future will blend with ethnic rivalries and anxieties over the allocation of privileges like affirmative action and equity. The potential for a political and social disaster is exceptionally high.
Enoch Powell white courtesy Phone, Enoch Powell white courtesy phone please...
"Consider the following propaganda that aims to convince the reader that liberalism makes for an inherently superior armed force:"
Might be a general development among Western "military experts". Carlo Masala, one of the most prominent pro-Ukrainian experts frequently cited in German media, made several tweets about the need for wokeness and diversity in the military last summer:
https://twitter.com/CarloMasala1/status/1514196212794236930
https://twitter.com/CarloMasala1/status/1543296795807256579
https://twitter.com/CarloMasala1/status/1553692054152175617
https://twitter.com/CarloMasala1/status/1529476056431869952
You're of course right that this clown O'Brien is a lying shit about WW2. As a German I can't say I overly like Russia's cult of the Great Patriotic War, it contains quite a few half-truths and omissions, and something like Russia's Armed Forces Cathedral (Temple of War would be more accurate) creeps me out tbh. But one has to respect the Soviet experience of death and suffering on a giant scale. The American WW2 cult is worse, much more unmoored from what actually happened in WW2 and highly ideological, little more than a justification for US global domination under the guise of "antifascism". It's no accident that attempts to minimize the Soviet role in WW2 seem to have been gathering force in recent years.
German_reader, your comments put me in mind of Nietzsche's observations (following 1871) that victory makes people stupid. Germany learnt that lesson the hardest way possible. Now America faces similar urgent lessons.
Regarding the US and WW2, you might be interested in this excellent recent piece by Michael Tracey:
https://mtracey.substack.com/p/a-fairy-tale-version-of-world-war
Great comment. Like you, Andrei Martyanov always make the point that russians have centuries of experienced in the conduct and more importantly the consequences of serious existential warfare. The Americans on the other hand lack this completely and its a major source of the delusions they have about their military power.
If anybody can claim to have "won" WW2 its certainly the russians. The american views on WW2 are, as usual with them, completely ahistorical and the source of major delusions.
The continental USA is almost unique in its geographic isolation and subsequent historic advantage (Australia surpasses it).
Concepts like victory are of limited value in discussing 20th c warfare. The price of victory was ruinous for everybody but the USA and a few of its allies (Australia and New Zealand). A victory that left two continents (Europe and Asia) in rubble, with generations of demoralisation and confusion in its wake, is nothing like the conventional sense of the word.
On a military level, the USSR emerges with maximum credit. The long stagnation under Brezhnev through to Chernenko was in large part a legacy of the war...the veterans of WW2 simply lacked the capacity (understandably so) to reform things as they should have done. China too is often forgotten. The long struggle against Imperial Japan was also fought on a colossal scale and with desperate resolve on both sides.
War is central to politics. Only a society with a deep, fundamental, confusion about the connection between power and force (and the total reliance of that connection upon the capacity to mobilise young men en masse in defence of other men's property and families) could entertain the insanity of the educational, cultural and social norms of present day North America.
The piece is great but I have to correct you on one thing. Lombardy as a whole region, was never a left-wing bastion. Sesto San Giovanni, which is a town nearby Milan, was. Lombardy has been consistently right wing for quite a while, ironically with Milan itself shifting to the left recently.
If we want to talk about historically left wing regions in Italy, then we should be talking about Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche. However Marche and Umbria have been moving to the right in the past decade and are now converted. Tuscany itself, the reddest of the red regions, is seeing a variety of cities going right wing, though others still hold.
I definitely did not mean Lombardy as a whole to be left-wing, which is why I qualified the statement by saying "in places like".
Ok then I misunderstood, my bad
I guess I could have phrased it better.
that's also fine
Italy has always been fractious. The Left/Right division echoes the Guelph/Ghibelline one of old or, indeed, the Blue/Green in your Rome.
Stay where you are, keep the same beliefs, extreme right wing happens.
The Soviets did not overwhelm the Germans with human wave attacks, they certainly did use a lot of Rifle Divisions...the Soviets did largely by deception and excellent Operational Security repeatedly mass Superior forces at the decisive points. So yes a correlation of forces 6:1 at certain points, not they had more breasts than the Germans bullets, that’s a nice story, not true. The real Russians didn’t vastly outnumber the Germans, they ordered their forces well.
The German generals started getting out foxed from Stalingrad counteroffensive forward.
if one wants a fair reading on the Soviets David Glantz, COL, USA, RETIRED and noted historian.
If one wants a good read on the Russian military now Lester Grau the Russian way of war - Grau, Bartles. Plenty of brain below, you might be surprised who essentially relies on brawn.
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/portals/7/hot%20spots/documents/russia/2017-07-the-russian-way-of-war-grau-bartles.pdf
The real Russian army is a highly technical and digitally integrated competent force that is an artillery army with a lot of tanks, but also air defense, drones, electronic warfare abilities that outstripped ours years ago. Lots and lots of artillery. Artillery takes ground, then armor and mechanized infantry occupy it.
A BTG of 1100 has only 200 infantry.
USA is an infantry army with an Air Force that will have a lot of growing pains dealing with a first world army with premier air defense.
A BTG of 1100 outguns our BCT of 4400 in artillery.
Now we the line units know this, have for years, we were ignored.
Sadly for all the folly I think war between the USA 🇺🇸 and Russia 🇷🇺 is coming. Its going to be difficult to catch up with all our kit in Ukraine, maybe we can buy it back from the Uko Mafia .
usa is supposedly low on 155 mm shells.... all sent to ukr and most all are expended!
same for older stingers and javelins.
with the next 18 himars launchers for kiev how many units will deploy to empty cantons?
and don't go to sending tanks, which army has tanks not allocated to a unit war plan?
macgregor (col retired) thinks the russians have not even started to engage in ukraine...
Yes, and MacGregor is correct.
The Russians have been for years using when possible local forces like LPR/DPR militia, the Kharkiv area had 2000 militia on a screen, the RU had redeployed to the SE. Ukr pushed on an open door. Meanwhile in Kherson the Ukr was frustrated at great cost.
RU infantry are RU last choice.
Locals , artillery, mech before.
This isn’t new.
The myths of WW2 sigh, where RU infantry were used at cost was a choice driven by early years scarcity of artillery and ammo compared to later.
As to our supply situation since we stripped out units to send to Ukraine 🇺🇦 nothing is known except its BAD and demoralizing for 🇺🇸 soldiers and Marines. Then again we’re about as liked as the Police by who’s in power, they just hide it better.
The same venom is present.
Never think we believe the 💩 our Generals and SECDEF say, we know better. Being a soldier is always enduring suffering, including 💩💩.
To answer further the Russians just now committed to ending this, a fresh army of actual Russian soldiers on the way.
Ukr is probably refitting for spring offensive. The RU will be ready in a month when rains end, ground freezes. The Russians now have the option of simply ending this militarily. That’s what the 300K callup is for, to relieve the trained professionals in other areas like Siberia etc to move to Ukraine theater, end game. Certainly negotiations are gone.
I think 50/50 rapid UKR collapse.
They are out of bodies.
RU has potential reserves of 25 million- former troops mostly former conscription service- that can be put back into shape and service quickly. Its one of the strong points for National Service/Conscription.
a pool of soldiers with combat experience to call up helped the us in korea and vietnam.
one of the benefits from vietnam was a pool of younger combat soldiers in case.
the usa with no draft and much of its wokeness and a lot of war stores sent to ukr with nato basically unarmed is in no position to push.
ukr is using the usa "kill chain" to fire long range artillery and himars rockets as well as go after russian navy in black sea..... as well as suspected mercenaries...
The US has a pool of 5.5 million veterans of military age as of 2020. Mostly male. Military age 18-54. 54 is not too old for rear area or training duties. In some cases front line. Numbers aren’t a problem.
The 5 Ws are a problem.
The Russians have the inestimable advantages of an unsentimental education system that focuses on STEM and a universal, deeply felt, resolve to ensure national safety. Advances in military technology work for them in a way that they no longer do in the US.
The old myths about Russians as drunken peasants were always gross exaggerations, but are now truly dangerous delusions. Unfortunately the 'best and brightest' of the West lack respect for adversaries.
Well it not education or even the equipment , we have the same equipment, training, skills.
Not at the density they do, not as doctrinally integrated. Behind integration and sufficient numbers fielded in Air Defense, EW, drones/counter drones. Not trained up enough in using it.
Also not enough artillery.
All of this known for years.
I think the educational gap you refer to would apply more to our elites Philip. We get it.
The ENRONISTA neolib ruling creatures don’t. It’s not a matter of explaining technology and fielding it to millennial kids with only high school or community college, its a matter of explaining it to the Ivy Leaguers who at best are skilled in finance, who’s idea of electronic warfare is cyberwar cuz dats the money pot and sounds cool ...like video games but more money $$&
(Cyber war is to electronic war what video games are to industrial robotics ...)
With you 100% on the elites...anyone who has been exposed to a skilled trade understands technology and the importance of real-world prowess intuitively, while sheltered types live in a world of infotainment where 'magic' emerges spontaneously from a box.
When real cyber war breaks out, the #### will truly hit the fan. I expect catastrophic region-wide breakdowns in communication, which in a military scenario would render proper organisation/mobilisation/coordination impossible and probably disable everything mechanical. I feel truly sorry for anyone stationed at or close to any key command command or logistics posts.
I expect the only thing holding Russia back is uncertainty about the speed at which NATO collapses and the brass approach the nuclear threshold...panic at the top is the ultimate nightmare.
Well electronic warfare means jamming, meaconing, interception. Also location finding followed by artillery.
Jamming can include GPS or even as practiced for years disarming shells in flight (smart shells with electronics).
Cyber war may rob or attack infrastructure but its not battlefield. Industrial damage, sure, possible. But its the money for CYBER WAR that draws flies.
You’re correct its the best and the brightest,
The regular folks get it
Exactly. This is an existential war for the Russians, they cannot and will not lose this war.
It is equally existential for us too...we (the subjects of the Western Oligarchs) are already defeated, but a Russian victory may weaken Panem-on-the- Potomac. Thus, IMO the Russian Army is fighting for our cause.
Moskva za nami! (Moscow is behind us!)...Donbass za nami! (Donbass is behind us!). The lovely Victoria Petrovna Daineko and Natalia Kucera put it best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03yQRZk8p8U
Completely agree. Really the russians represent an alternative civilizational project to the american empire. It would be a major cause for celebration, even to us, if they win this war.
Any country that actively protects or promotes human flourishing deserves respect. For Moscow to ever end up like Portland or Chicago would be a world-historical catastrophe. Russia would be less significant if the constituent portions of the EU were in good shape, but they are not. This is not to project naive fantasies onto Russia (a Western fixation since the Enlightenment) but simply to face facts. And loyalty to Washington/Brussels is an absurdity...they offer no loyalty to their own people and their aggrandisement would be a danger to us all.
Very well said. At the end of the day anything that weakens the power and legitimacy of our traitorous rulers is a positive for us. No meter who strikes that blow.
I am sure the Ukrainian Mafia already has commercial agents in the US...delivery will cost extra, just don't expect them to extend credit unless collateral is involved and take care about the vig.
Honestly how about a piece of the action?
They can have California.
I assume that California is already taken by the Mexican cartels, with carve-outs for the Chinese in the coastal cities. The Ukrainians may have to settle for Minneapolis, if they can handle the Somalis...and the climate will make them feel at home.
Sadly for all the folly I think war between the USA 🇺🇸 and Russia 🇷🇺 is coming.
Enoch Powell call your office please...
That Atlantic article on the Ukraine / Russia conflict fails to mention that in WWII the US military was anything but a safe-haven for gays and lesbians. And the British, while tolerating Alan Turing's brilliant contributions to decrypting enemy communications, nonetheless later prosecuted him for homosexual acts in 1952. Amazingly, allied forces still won the war.
That enlightening article makes we want to celebrate this unstoppable Western victory. I look forward to seeing Ukrainian tanks and mobile artillery units, camouflaged with rainbows and unicorns and fully open to new information, liberate Moscow in the next couple of weeks.
They’re too old to be woke
That Atlantic article made me sick to my stomach.
I recommend this read from a few months ago, that is very much related to Nic's hypothesis. Usually do not trust thinktanks, but: https://peacediplomacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Woke-Imperium.pdf
I do love how formerly Communist Lombardy regions are now right wing bastions.
By simply being yesterday’s Communists they are today’s Extreme Right Wing.
History does irony on a grand scale. Throughout the 20th c. key regions of the old Papal States retained exceptionally strong anti-clerical currents.
My guess is that the the Marxist influence ensured that liberal and centrist beliefs remained contestable. Just maintaining the tradition of saying 'no' to dominant ideas is enough to ensure that a region (or an individual) remains problematic, no matter what the dominant ideas of the day are. It reminds me of police procedure...the usual suspects attract attention no matter what. I expect (judging by books and movies like FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) that comparable social psychologies/perspectives are at play amongst the authorities in your previous line of work. One has to laugh...though I imagine that there are plenty who would rather not.
I’m on the books until 2026.
To that end just ordered super heavy foot sleeves for cold.
Also training in Valenki boots
Ordered foot wraps
Will walk some miles in their shoes
My respect for your online candour to date knows no end...best of luck with the opsec. I imagine that unsympathetic eyes make their way across these commentaries as a matter of course.
If you are interested in understanding the Russians, I am advised that Tibor Szamuely's little read classic THE RUSSIAN TRADITION is supposed to be pretty good. I just ordered one of the last available 2nd hand copies for myself. Here is an article that discusses it.
https://unherd.com/2022/08/why-is-russia-obsessed-with-slavery/
Lol the unsympathetic eyes don’t go downrange
Who will protect them from...
...the Troops?
They don’t want to either
So someone has to -
The decisive eyes are uh like we need proven people
I’m a middle aged NCO and allowed to be grumpy lol