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The Empire’s claims about Syria are so ludicrous that they might as well be pecked out by Fatt Stanko, who contributes gibberish to this blog. Perhaps this is intentional. With so many lies about Syria floating around, the public doesn’t know what to believe, and therefore tunes out, letting the Empire do whatever it wants.
Perhaps the Empires deliberately makes its lies stupid. After seven years, many people ignore them (just as they ignore Stanko). And when a story vanishes (e.g. the Skripal poisoning hoax) people just shrug their shoulders. There are more important things to think about, like what Meghan Markle wore to her royal wedding rehearsal.
Speaking of the Skripal poisoning hoax, the UK Guardian is now claiming that “almost 100 police have received psychological help” after the non-existent poisoning.
Evidently it can be traumatic having to constantly cover for a lying government.
“Some policemen reported feeling disorientated and anxious, while others were concerned about the possible long-term health effects on the public.”
Imagine being forced to repeat government nonsense, knowing that if you tell the truth, you will lose your job and be reduced to living in a cardboard box with the rest of the homeless. UK police departments are already cutting more and more jobs. One word of truth out of your mouth, and you’re done. Surrender your badge and get out.
On 20 April 2018 the UK government claimed to have apprehended the suspects behind the hoax. Eleven days later (1 May 2018) the UK government said there were no suspects behind the hoax.
Those poor UK policemen. Not knowing which lie to tell, and worried that they might tell the wrong lie at the wrong time.
“I wasn’t coping well at work or at home; I wasn’t sleeping well, I was anxious and irritable, I felt angry, guilty and sad – a whole host of emotions – and I could see that my work and family were suffering.”
Konrad, if the water is muddy enough nobody knows what to believe. Except that nothing can be believed. It's all fake news! And there is nothing new about it. Same shit has been going on forever - read George Seldes.
What I find interesting (and I am sure Bashar al-Assad finds annoying) is how Russia allows Israel to bomb, at will, Syrian, Hezbollah and Iranian forces inside Syria -- forces, like Russia itself -- committed to the destruction of the jihadists.
Let's think about it for a sec. Geo-politically speaking, how often do we witness a country -- Israel in this case -- that gets to simultaneously yank the testicles of both the US and Russia?
Truth be told, it is an amazing feat to behold.
Btw ... who is Fatt Stanko? Sorry, I have been away a bit :(
There is a lot more to this than most people realize, even some of the top analysts I read regularly.
It would take a few pages to explain it in terms of all the balls in the air.
It's much more like a game of go with many players than a chess game with two, which is the usual metaphor and game approach. That is to simplistic. Moreover, there is also a lot of wishful thinking, magical thinking, and group think involved. An indication of this is the many opposing narratives and explanations based on wildly different implicit presumptions and explicit assumptions, leading to oppositional conceptual models.
Russia plays a pivotal role as it stands at the junction of Europe, East Asia (China), Central Asia (the "stans"), and the Middle East. Russia is not equatable with Putin. He has to balance different cohorts of the elite and also the Russian people. The "Russian world" is divided into cohorts that are the constituencies of the various elite cohorts. Most people don't appreciate that Russia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society that is well integrated, much better than the US "melting pot" is. Moreover, Russia has a strong connect to the Middle East through its Byzantine culture that distinguishes the Orthodox Christian tradition from Roman and its offspring Protestantism.
Netanyahu and Likud are following the Zionist playbook laid down by the Zionist founders of Israel. Israel has the backing of various wealthy and powerful cohorts in the US, UK, and Europe and Russia, some Zionist, some Christian fundamentalists, and some for geopolitical reasons that see Israel as the key to domination of MENA.
This is a very complicated game with many interests involved and a lot of control of territory, resources, etc. at stake. It is also a complex games owing to reflexivity and emergence. This requires adaptability, agility, and the ability to coordinate, even if it means switching sides or comporting with enemies should the need arise.
To succeed at this game requires a lot of expertise and a high level of intelligence and skill, especially when this is the geography where the interests of all the "great powers" intersect.
Of the bunch — Trump, May/Johnson, Macron, Merkel, Putin, Netanyahu, Xi — Trump, May/Johnson, Macro appear to me to be outclassed, unless they are playing 4D go, which if true, is extraordinarily disguised beneath a veneer of apparent stupidity and arrogance. But they are also the most powerful. This spells danger, since they can easily take false steps that put the world in jeopardy.
The danger now is that Netayahu and the Zionists that control politics in Israel at present can pretty easily manipulate Trump, May/Johnson, Macron, and Merkel.
Xi is biding his time in the background.
So it falls to Putin to balance this. I think he is probably up to it but there are a lot of wild cards in the pack, and Putin doesn't have as free a hand as most believe. He also has to consider the domestic situation in Russia and balancing the interests of the various factions of the elite.
Those that think they understand this game don't, unless they are mindreader and have a working crystal ball regarding the unfolding of multiple contingencies that influence each other.
@ lastgreek: I have complained about this myself. I once referred to Russia as “Israel’s little b*tch” for having invited Netanyahu to be honored in Moscow while Israel was bombarding Syria. And for obeying Netanyahu’s orders to not give the S-300 defense system to Syria. I said that Putin would not have hurt Russia’s interests if Putin had declined to stand beside Netanyahu during the May Day parade. This was disgusting, distasteful, and disgraceful.
Still, let’s keep two things in mind…
[1] Israel and corporate media outlets tell non-stop lies. For example, on 8 Feb 2018, a stray U.S. bomb accidentally killed half a dozen Russian mercenaries who had not engaged in any combat in Syria. The corporate media outlets inflated this, boasting that the USA had triumphantly killed 1,000 Russian mercenaries in Syria.
See this for more info… http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/american-fury-the-truth-about-the-russian-deaths-in-syria-a-1196074.html
In 2000 Hezbollah forced the cowardly Israeli occupiers to flee Lebanon. Israel declared a “victory.” Six years later the cowardly Israelis, seething with rage, shame, and humiliation, invaded again, only to be decimated even worse by Hezbollah. The Israelis dropped their weapons and fled back across the border while soiling their trousers and crying for their mommies. They had been crushed, yet they again declared their total defeat to be a “victory.”
So when Israel and the corporate media outlets brag about another Israeli “victory” in Syria, we don’t always know what’s true and what’s a lie.
Syria is a land of lies. A land of gassing hoaxes, “moderate” head choppers, and bloodthirsty “white helmets” terrorists. A land where the USA arms, funds, and trains the jihadists that the USA claims to be fighting. A land where a democratically elected President (Assad) is a “dictator” who “exterminates his own people” for fun. A land that Israel claims to bomb every other day.
[2] This same phenomenon may also be involved with Russian weapons systems. For example, why would the Russians obey Israeli orders not to give the S-300 defensive system to Syria? Is it possible that the Russians don’t want the S-300 to be used in combat? Is it possible that the vaunted S-300 system is junk, and the Russians don’t want anyone to know?
Oh, and regarding your question, every blog has at least one troll. This blog’s troll is Fatt Stanko. See this… https://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145
I would concur with most of it, but I think he may miss some of the nuance owing to emotional involvement, being of Russian descent. But he is in the right ballpark.
This is a complex, fast-changing, and highly nuance historical process that is unfolding in terms of a dialectic that involves many players and all the great powers, at least behind the scenes.
Moral: Don't get carried away by the moves. Look at the big picture in terms of the unfolding dynamic.
For example, all competent strategist know that to win it's not necessary to win all the battle or even most of them. Winning require being victorious only the last one and making it stick. The qualifier is signifiant because the US has been successful in winning wars and losing the peace — Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.
Putin and Xi are playing the long game. It's far from finished.
@ Tom Hickey: I agree with what you said, but your comment also seems to have a bit of a cop-out that goes like this…
QUESTION: Why does Russia let Israel repeatedly bomb Syria?
ANSWER: It’s complicated.
Maybe you're right, but I look at it this way…
QUESTION: Why does Russia let Israel repeatedly bomb Syria?
ANSWER: How do you know that Russia lets Israel repeatedly bomb Syria? All we have are the claims by corporate media outlets (which lie regularly), by Israel (which lies even more regularly) and by various bloggers.
There are so many lies regarding Syria that it’s hard to know what to believe, unless we actually go there. This confusion is why Russian actions seem “complicated.”
In August 2008, Georgia attacked and invaded the South Ossetia oblast. Russia immediately counter-invaded, crushed the Georgians, drove them back across the border, and established a new sovereign nation (the Republic of South Ossetia). Later, Russia annexed Crimea, but not eastern Ukraine.
Why does Russia act in one place but not another? I propose that average people on the Internet (like me) are not given enough information to make sense of this.
I have called the Russians “pu**ies” and “little b*tches,” but are they really? Honestly I don’t know. I don’t have enough information.
Israel is much easier to understand, and is much more predictable. Israel has always acted like a cancer, and always will. Israeli lies are 100% transparent, and their evil is 100% obvious to all.
No one sincerely believes Israeli lies. Average Israelis themselves don't believe their own lies.
Outside Israel, everyone publicly condemns the people around them as “anti-Semites,” and uses the “holocaust”™ as a political weapon against their competitors, but no one actually believes that absurdity. No one is confused regarding Israel.
“Putin and Xi are playing the long game. It's far from finished.” ~ Tom Hickey
Yes. That much is clear.
It is also clear that the U.S. Empire has been hollowed out by inequality, corporate greed, and sheer stupidity. Why risk war with the Empire, when the Empire’s death is accelerating every day?
Cancer produces nothing but waste products, Likewise the U.S. Empire produces nothing but weapons, debt, and awful movies.
But I think he also presumes or guesses at somethings that he can't know.
But overall, he has it pretty much in terms of the Russian dynamic, which is not equatable with "Putin," although he is "the decider" (G. W. Bush). But the decider has to weigh a lot of things and he doesn't just shoot from the hip.
I read that Saker article per your suggestion, and I agree with the Saker that, “There are roughly two camps vying for power inside the Kremlin: I call them the Atlantic Integrationists and the Eurasian Sovereignists.”
Yes.
[[ Incidentally, I hold that this same situation also occurs in Iran, where two camps are vying for power. One camp consists of neoliberal oligarchs who want to boost their fortunes by integrating with the West, and by making up with Israel. Many of these rich oligarchs are clergymen. An example is the current president Rouhani. The rival camp consists of sovereigntists such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and people like ex-president Ahmadinejad. The sovereigntists do not bow to the West or Israel. Therefore the West and Israel call them "terrorists."
The two rival groups in Iran blame each other for Iran’s problems. Caught between the two groups are middle and lower class Iranians, who regard both power groups as corrupt and self-serving. This is why there have been more and more riots and disturbances in Iran. It is a result of internal politics. For centuries the Iranian economy was based on agriculture, but a prolonged drought has pushed rural Iranians into the cities where there are no jobs for them. The neoliberal oligarchs and the upper class just want to get richer, while members of the other group (the sovereigntists) justify their privileges by claiming to be Iran’s only protection against Israel and its toadies, such as the USA. Average Iranians call bullshit on both groups. When Trump reneged on the Iran deal, he handed a PR victory to the Iranian sovereigntists, and a PR defeat to the neoliberal Iranian oligarchs. I interpret this U.S. attack to be more targeted at Europe than Iran.]]
Getting back to Russia, the Saker says the Atlantic Integrationists in Russia are pro-Israel. This is also my reading.
Likewise in Iran, the Atlantic Integrationists (i.e. the oligarchs) are pro-Israel, but they are more muted about it. As oligarchs, they just want to get richer. If this requires them to collaborate with Israel, then so be it. The oligarchs wish that the Saudis and Gulf Arabs would ease up, and stop handing PR victories to the Iranian sovereigntists. However the Saudis and Gulf Arabs are just as insane as are the Israelis. The Saudis claim to speak for ALL Arabs, and they will tolerate no dissention.
Qatar is a bit of a wildcard, since Qatar does a great deal of business with Iran’s oligarchs. This is why the Saudis have effectively cut off Qatar.
Further on, the Saker says of the Eurasian Sovereignists that some are profoundly anti-Zionist, while others are indifferent. Again I agree with him.
When I visited Russia, I noted that most people were indifferent about Israel. I assumed that all Russians were that way, until a Moscow museum announced an exhibition of paintings by Jewish painter Marc Chagall. When I asked a local Russian if he had any interest in that, he looked disgusted and said, “F--k that Jew sh*t.”
So yes, Russian attitudes regarding Israel run the full spectrum, but most Russians tend to be pro-Israel, or else indifferent.
Meanwhile Western attitudes are fanatically pro-Israel, since the West is Judaic in its essence. The more atrocities and genocides that Israel indulges in, the more Israel “has a right to defend itself.” The worse Israel becomes, the more Israel’s victims are automatically labeled “terrorists,” “human shields,” and “anti-Semites.”
I do not agree with the Saker on everything. He writes, “Faced with the modern wave of rabid russophobia, many Russians say ‘we are the new Jews,’ meaning that everything evil on the planet is blamed on them regardless of fact or logic.”
This nonsense feeds the Western lie about Jews being eternal “victims.” Throughout history, the more Jews have victimized others, the more Jews have claimed to be “victimized.” The annual Purim festival celebrates Jewish “victims” exterminating 75,000 Iranians in the Old Testament book of Esther. Jewish “victims” also wiped out the Amalekites, and killed every living thing in Jericho, and so on. Israelis claim to be “victims” of everyone they victimize.
The Saker writes, “The past couple of years have been terrible for the Zionists, both in the US and in the rest of the world.”
Nonsense. In most of Europe you will be imprisoned for questioning the “holocaust”™ or for advocating BDS against Israel. The U.S. congress is considering a bill that will fine you a million dollars, and imprison you for 20 years, if you express support for BDS.
Israel and its toadies rule. (At least for now.)
A lot of people who worship Trump (including the Saker) suffer from the childish delusion that “Jews hate Trump.” This is more nonsense. Trump defends Israel even more than Obama did. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to occupied Jerusalem, and declared Jerusalem to be the “Jewish capital.” The opening ceremony occurred while unarmed Palestinians were being gunned down. Trump’s biggest campaign donor was Sheldon Adelson, a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth Zionist.
Further on, the Saker writes, “A (comparatively) tiny contingent of Russian forces completely derailed the Empire’s plans for the entire Middle-East.”
More nonsense. The U.S. has stolen the eastern third of Syria for the Kurds (the part of Syria that has oil) and intends to make it a sovereign nation called “Rojava.” Since the Kurds are 100 percent allied with Israel, many people refer to “Rojava” (i.e. eastern Syria) as “Israel 2.0.” The place already crawls with U.S. troops, and with Israelis. (Kurdish Iraq is also infested with Israelis.) Throughout the entire world, people who demonstrate for Kurdish independence always carry the Israeli flag next to the Kurdish flag.
Russia has not stopped this project, or even slowed it down, although Turkey is causing problems for the project.
Further on the Saker writes, “The sad reality is that Russia, unlike Iran, never took a principled position concerning the nature and behavior of the state of Israel. I consider it a shame, but this shame is shared by every single country on the planet except Iran, Bolivia and, maybe, to some extent Turkey.”
Other exceptions include the governments of Nicaragua and Venezuela, which always condemn Israeli atrocities. Malaysia’s new Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, unabashedly calls himself an “anti-Semite.” And now that Hezbollah controls the Lebanese Parliament, Lebanon too has orbited out of Israel’s control. Chile’s government is pro-Israel, but there are half a million Palestinians in Chile who are not. (Most of those Palestinians in Chile are Christian.)
The Saker makes a very good point that in order to defeat the Anglo-Zionist Empire, it is not necessary to destroy the Empire; only to survive it.
“The biggest and the fatal weakness of the AngloZionist Empire is that its survival depends on the colonization or destruction of every other country out there. Every independent country, whether big and powerful, or small and weak, represents an unacceptable challenge to the hegemony of the ‘indispensable nation’ and the ‘chosen people.’ This is an Empire whose power generates its own demise.”
Yes. Most Americans (perhaps all Americans) secretly understand that the U.S. Empire’s days are numbered. Israelis certainly know that their days are numbered. The AngloZionist Empire’s extinction is inevitable Therefore Israel’s extinction is inevitable. Israelis are terrified of BDS because BDS hastens Israel’s extinction by starving the Israeli parasite.
It should be clear that Putin has been positioning Russia as the adult in the room and the only one capable of brokering a deal among the many parties with interests in the region. Natanyahu gets this.
Putin as even invited the US to join but the US elite has apparently decided to shut itself out and rely on power politics aka bullying.
Russell 'Texas' Bonner Bentley is a writer at Fort Russ News, and based in Donetsk, Novorossia since December 2014. From January to June 2015 he served in the Essence of Time combat unit of the Novorussian Armed Forces (NAF). He served at the Donetsk airport and Spartak as a rifleman and RPG gunner. Today he is an information warrior, and previously wrote for DONi News. "The war in Donbass is only one Front in a global war."
21 comments:
The Empire’s claims about Syria are so ludicrous that they might as well be pecked out by Fatt Stanko, who contributes gibberish to this blog. Perhaps this is intentional. With so many lies about Syria floating around, the public doesn’t know what to believe, and therefore tunes out, letting the Empire do whatever it wants.
Perhaps the Empires deliberately makes its lies stupid. After seven years, many people ignore them (just as they ignore Stanko). And when a story vanishes (e.g. the Skripal poisoning hoax) people just shrug their shoulders. There are more important things to think about, like what Meghan Markle wore to her royal wedding rehearsal.
Speaking of the Skripal poisoning hoax, the UK Guardian is now claiming that “almost 100 police have received psychological help” after the non-existent poisoning.
Evidently it can be traumatic having to constantly cover for a lying government.
“Some policemen reported feeling disorientated and anxious, while others were concerned about the possible long-term health effects on the public.”
Imagine being forced to repeat government nonsense, knowing that if you tell the truth, you will lose your job and be reduced to living in a cardboard box with the rest of the homeless. UK police departments are already cutting more and more jobs. One word of truth out of your mouth, and you’re done. Surrender your badge and get out.
On 20 April 2018 the UK government claimed to have apprehended the suspects behind the hoax. Eleven days later (1 May 2018) the UK government said there were no suspects behind the hoax.
Those poor UK policemen. Not knowing which lie to tell, and worried that they might tell the wrong lie at the wrong time.
“I wasn’t coping well at work or at home; I wasn’t sleeping well, I was anxious and irritable, I felt angry, guilty and sad – a whole host of emotions – and I could see that my work and family were suffering.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/17/almost-100-police-have-received-psychological-help-after-salisbury-attack-wiltshire-force
Konrad; I always read your remarks. Thanks for posting them.
So do I, very well written, fab!
Konrad, if the water is muddy enough nobody knows what to believe. Except that nothing can be believed. It's all fake news! And there is nothing new about it. Same shit has been going on forever - read George Seldes.
One thing is for sure and that is you guys certainly do not know wtf is going on....
What I find interesting (and I am sure Bashar al-Assad finds annoying) is how Russia allows Israel to bomb, at will, Syrian, Hezbollah and Iranian forces inside Syria -- forces, like Russia itself -- committed to the destruction of the jihadists.
Let's think about it for a sec. Geo-politically speaking, how often do we witness a country -- Israel in this case -- that gets to simultaneously yank the testicles of both the US and Russia?
Truth be told, it is an amazing feat to behold.
Btw ... who is Fatt Stanko? Sorry, I have been away a bit :(
There is a lot more to this than most people realize, even some of the top analysts I read regularly.
It would take a few pages to explain it in terms of all the balls in the air.
It's much more like a game of go with many players than a chess game with two, which is the usual metaphor and game approach. That is to simplistic. Moreover, there is also a lot of wishful thinking, magical thinking, and group think involved. An indication of this is the many opposing narratives and explanations based on wildly different implicit presumptions and explicit assumptions, leading to oppositional conceptual models.
Russia plays a pivotal role as it stands at the junction of Europe, East Asia (China), Central Asia (the "stans"), and the Middle East. Russia is not equatable with Putin. He has to balance different cohorts of the elite and also the Russian people. The "Russian world" is divided into cohorts that are the constituencies of the various elite cohorts. Most people don't appreciate that Russia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society that is well integrated, much better than the US "melting pot" is. Moreover, Russia has a strong connect to the Middle East through its Byzantine culture that distinguishes the Orthodox Christian tradition from Roman and its offspring Protestantism.
Netanyahu and Likud are following the Zionist playbook laid down by the Zionist founders of Israel. Israel has the backing of various wealthy and powerful cohorts in the US, UK, and Europe and Russia, some Zionist, some Christian fundamentalists, and some for geopolitical reasons that see Israel as the key to domination of MENA.
This is a very complicated game with many interests involved and a lot of control of territory, resources, etc. at stake. It is also a complex games owing to reflexivity and emergence. This requires adaptability, agility, and the ability to coordinate, even if it means switching sides or comporting with enemies should the need arise.
To succeed at this game requires a lot of expertise and a high level of intelligence and skill, especially when this is the geography where the interests of all the "great powers" intersect.
Of the bunch — Trump, May/Johnson, Macron, Merkel, Putin, Netanyahu, Xi — Trump, May/Johnson, Macro appear to me to be outclassed, unless they are playing 4D go, which if true, is extraordinarily disguised beneath a veneer of apparent stupidity and arrogance. But they are also the most powerful. This spells danger, since they can easily take false steps that put the world in jeopardy.
The danger now is that Netayahu and the Zionists that control politics in Israel at present can pretty easily manipulate Trump, May/Johnson, Macron, and Merkel.
Xi is biding his time in the background.
So it falls to Putin to balance this. I think he is probably up to it but there are a lot of wild cards in the pack, and Putin doesn't have as free a hand as most believe. He also has to consider the domestic situation in Russia and balancing the interests of the various factions of the elite.
Those that think they understand this game don't, unless they are mindreader and have a working crystal ball regarding the unfolding of multiple contingencies that influence each other.
@ lastgreek: I have complained about this myself. I once referred to Russia as “Israel’s little b*tch” for having invited Netanyahu to be honored in Moscow while Israel was bombarding Syria. And for obeying Netanyahu’s orders to not give the S-300 defense system to Syria. I said that Putin would not have hurt Russia’s interests if Putin had declined to stand beside Netanyahu during the May Day parade. This was disgusting, distasteful, and disgraceful.
Still, let’s keep two things in mind…
[1] Israel and corporate media outlets tell non-stop lies. For example, on 8 Feb 2018, a stray U.S. bomb accidentally killed half a dozen Russian mercenaries who had not engaged in any combat in Syria. The corporate media outlets inflated this, boasting that the USA had triumphantly killed 1,000 Russian mercenaries in Syria.
See this for more info…
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/american-fury-the-truth-about-the-russian-deaths-in-syria-a-1196074.html
In 2000 Hezbollah forced the cowardly Israeli occupiers to flee Lebanon. Israel declared a “victory.” Six years later the cowardly Israelis, seething with rage, shame, and humiliation, invaded again, only to be decimated even worse by Hezbollah. The Israelis dropped their weapons and fled back across the border while soiling their trousers and crying for their mommies. They had been crushed, yet they again declared their total defeat to be a “victory.”
So when Israel and the corporate media outlets brag about another Israeli “victory” in Syria, we don’t always know what’s true and what’s a lie.
Syria is a land of lies. A land of gassing hoaxes, “moderate” head choppers, and bloodthirsty “white helmets” terrorists. A land where the USA arms, funds, and trains the jihadists that the USA claims to be fighting. A land where a democratically elected President (Assad) is a “dictator” who “exterminates his own people” for fun. A land that Israel claims to bomb every other day.
[2] This same phenomenon may also be involved with Russian weapons systems. For example, why would the Russians obey Israeli orders not to give the S-300 defensive system to Syria? Is it possible that the Russians don’t want the S-300 to be used in combat? Is it possible that the vaunted S-300 system is junk, and the Russians don’t want anyone to know?
Oh, and regarding your question, every blog has at least one troll. This blog’s troll is Fatt Stanko. See this…
https://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145
I suggest reading The Saker, sMaking sense of Russian political ambiguities
I would concur with most of it, but I think he may miss some of the nuance owing to emotional involvement, being of Russian descent. But he is in the right ballpark.
This is a complex, fast-changing, and highly nuance historical process that is unfolding in terms of a dialectic that involves many players and all the great powers, at least behind the scenes.
Moral: Don't get carried away by the moves. Look at the big picture in terms of the unfolding dynamic.
For example, all competent strategist know that to win it's not necessary to win all the battle or even most of them. Winning require being victorious only the last one and making it stick. The qualifier is signifiant because the US has been successful in winning wars and losing the peace — Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.
Putin and Xi are playing the long game. It's far from finished.
@ Tom Hickey: I agree with what you said, but your comment also seems to have a bit of a cop-out that goes like this…
QUESTION: Why does Russia let Israel repeatedly bomb Syria?
ANSWER: It’s complicated.
Maybe you're right, but I look at it this way…
QUESTION: Why does Russia let Israel repeatedly bomb Syria?
ANSWER: How do you know that Russia lets Israel repeatedly bomb Syria? All we have are the claims by corporate media outlets (which lie regularly), by Israel (which lies even more regularly) and by various bloggers.
There are so many lies regarding Syria that it’s hard to know what to believe, unless we actually go there. This confusion is why Russian actions seem “complicated.”
In August 2008, Georgia attacked and invaded the South Ossetia oblast. Russia immediately counter-invaded, crushed the Georgians, drove them back across the border, and established a new sovereign nation (the Republic of South Ossetia). Later, Russia annexed Crimea, but not eastern Ukraine.
Why does Russia act in one place but not another? I propose that average people on the Internet (like me) are not given enough information to make sense of this.
I have called the Russians “pu**ies” and “little b*tches,” but are they really? Honestly I don’t know. I don’t have enough information.
Israel is much easier to understand, and is much more predictable. Israel has always acted like a cancer, and always will. Israeli lies are 100% transparent, and their evil is 100% obvious to all.
No one sincerely believes Israeli lies. Average Israelis themselves don't believe their own lies.
Outside Israel, everyone publicly condemns the people around them as “anti-Semites,” and uses the “holocaust”™ as a political weapon against their competitors, but no one actually believes that absurdity. No one is confused regarding Israel.
“Putin and Xi are playing the long game. It's far from finished.” ~ Tom Hickey
Yes. That much is clear.
It is also clear that the U.S. Empire has been hollowed out by inequality, corporate greed, and sheer stupidity. Why risk war with the Empire, when the Empire’s death is accelerating every day?
Cancer produces nothing but waste products, Likewise the U.S. Empire produces nothing but weapons, debt, and awful movies.
@ Konrad
Read the Saker post. He explains it.
But I think he also presumes or guesses at somethings that he can't know.
But overall, he has it pretty much in terms of the Russian dynamic, which is not equatable with "Putin," although he is "the decider" (G. W. Bush). But the decider has to weigh a lot of things and he doesn't just shoot from the hip.
@ Tom Hickey...
[PART 1 of 3]
I read that Saker article per your suggestion, and I agree with the Saker that, “There are roughly two camps vying for power inside the Kremlin: I call them the Atlantic Integrationists and the Eurasian Sovereignists.”
Yes.
[[ Incidentally, I hold that this same situation also occurs in Iran, where two camps are vying for power. One camp consists of neoliberal oligarchs who want to boost their fortunes by integrating with the West, and by making up with Israel. Many of these rich oligarchs are clergymen. An example is the current president Rouhani. The rival camp consists of sovereigntists such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and people like ex-president Ahmadinejad. The sovereigntists do not bow to the West or Israel. Therefore the West and Israel call them "terrorists."
The two rival groups in Iran blame each other for Iran’s problems. Caught between the two groups are middle and lower class Iranians, who regard both power groups as corrupt and self-serving. This is why there have been more and more riots and disturbances in Iran. It is a result of internal politics. For centuries the Iranian economy was based on agriculture, but a prolonged drought has pushed rural Iranians into the cities where there are no jobs for them. The neoliberal oligarchs and the upper class just want to get richer, while members of the other group (the sovereigntists) justify their privileges by claiming to be Iran’s only protection against Israel and its toadies, such as the USA. Average Iranians call bullshit on both groups. When Trump reneged on the Iran deal, he handed a PR victory to the Iranian sovereigntists, and a PR defeat to the neoliberal Iranian oligarchs. I interpret this U.S. attack to be more targeted at Europe than Iran.]]
Getting back to Russia, the Saker says the Atlantic Integrationists in Russia are pro-Israel. This is also my reading.
Likewise in Iran, the Atlantic Integrationists (i.e. the oligarchs) are pro-Israel, but they are more muted about it. As oligarchs, they just want to get richer. If this requires them to collaborate with Israel, then so be it. The oligarchs wish that the Saudis and Gulf Arabs would ease up, and stop handing PR victories to the Iranian sovereigntists. However the Saudis and Gulf Arabs are just as insane as are the Israelis. The Saudis claim to speak for ALL Arabs, and they will tolerate no dissention.
Qatar is a bit of a wildcard, since Qatar does a great deal of business with Iran’s oligarchs. This is why the Saudis have effectively cut off Qatar.
Continued below...
@ Tom Hickey...
[PART 2 of 3]
Further on, the Saker says of the Eurasian Sovereignists that some are profoundly anti-Zionist, while others are indifferent. Again I agree with him.
When I visited Russia, I noted that most people were indifferent about Israel. I assumed that all Russians were that way, until a Moscow museum announced an exhibition of paintings by Jewish painter Marc Chagall. When I asked a local Russian if he had any interest in that, he looked disgusted and said, “F--k that Jew sh*t.”
So yes, Russian attitudes regarding Israel run the full spectrum, but most Russians tend to be pro-Israel, or else indifferent.
Meanwhile Western attitudes are fanatically pro-Israel, since the West is Judaic in its essence. The more atrocities and genocides that Israel indulges in, the more Israel “has a right to defend itself.” The worse Israel becomes, the more Israel’s victims are automatically labeled “terrorists,” “human shields,” and “anti-Semites.”
I do not agree with the Saker on everything. He writes, “Faced with the modern wave of rabid russophobia, many Russians say ‘we are the new Jews,’ meaning that everything evil on the planet is blamed on them regardless of fact or logic.”
This nonsense feeds the Western lie about Jews being eternal “victims.” Throughout history, the more Jews have victimized others, the more Jews have claimed to be “victimized.” The annual Purim festival celebrates Jewish “victims” exterminating 75,000 Iranians in the Old Testament book of Esther. Jewish “victims” also wiped out the Amalekites, and killed every living thing in Jericho, and so on. Israelis claim to be “victims” of everyone they victimize.
The Saker writes, “The past couple of years have been terrible for the Zionists, both in the US and in the rest of the world.”
Nonsense. In most of Europe you will be imprisoned for questioning the “holocaust”™ or for advocating BDS against Israel. The U.S. congress is considering a bill that will fine you a million dollars, and imprison you for 20 years, if you express support for BDS.
Israel and its toadies rule. (At least for now.)
A lot of people who worship Trump (including the Saker) suffer from the childish delusion that “Jews hate Trump.” This is more nonsense. Trump defends Israel even more than Obama did. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to occupied Jerusalem, and declared Jerusalem to be the “Jewish capital.” The opening ceremony occurred while unarmed Palestinians were being gunned down. Trump’s biggest campaign donor was Sheldon Adelson, a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth Zionist.
Continued below...
@ Tom Hickey...
[PART 3 of 3]
Further on, the Saker writes, “A (comparatively) tiny contingent of Russian forces completely derailed the Empire’s plans for the entire Middle-East.”
More nonsense. The U.S. has stolen the eastern third of Syria for the Kurds (the part of Syria that has oil) and intends to make it a sovereign nation called “Rojava.” Since the Kurds are 100 percent allied with Israel, many people refer to “Rojava” (i.e. eastern Syria) as “Israel 2.0.” The place already crawls with U.S. troops, and with Israelis. (Kurdish Iraq is also infested with Israelis.) Throughout the entire world, people who demonstrate for Kurdish independence always carry the Israeli flag next to the Kurdish flag.
Russia has not stopped this project, or even slowed it down, although Turkey is causing problems for the project.
Further on the Saker writes, “The sad reality is that Russia, unlike Iran, never took a principled position concerning the nature and behavior of the state of Israel. I consider it a shame, but this shame is shared by every single country on the planet except Iran, Bolivia and, maybe, to some extent Turkey.”
Other exceptions include the governments of Nicaragua and Venezuela, which always condemn Israeli atrocities. Malaysia’s new Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, unabashedly calls himself an “anti-Semite.” And now that Hezbollah controls the Lebanese Parliament, Lebanon too has orbited out of Israel’s control. Chile’s government is pro-Israel, but there are half a million Palestinians in Chile who are not. (Most of those Palestinians in Chile are Christian.)
The Saker makes a very good point that in order to defeat the Anglo-Zionist Empire, it is not necessary to destroy the Empire; only to survive it.
“The biggest and the fatal weakness of the AngloZionist Empire is that its survival depends on the colonization or destruction of every other country out there. Every independent country, whether big and powerful, or small and weak, represents an unacceptable challenge to the hegemony of the ‘indispensable nation’ and the ‘chosen people.’ This is an Empire whose power generates its own demise.”
Yes. Most Americans (perhaps all Americans) secretly understand that the U.S. Empire’s days are numbered. Israelis certainly know that their days are numbered. The AngloZionist Empire’s extinction is inevitable Therefore Israel’s extinction is inevitable. Israelis are terrified of BDS because BDS hastens Israel’s extinction by starving the Israeli parasite.
Here is another.
John Helmer, CONSPIRACY AND SILENCE — HAS DEFENCE MINISTER SHOIGU BEEN DISMISSED BY PRESIDENT PUTIN?
Fort Russ, Israel vows allegiance to Moscow after random attack on Russian equipment
It should be clear that Putin has been positioning Russia as the adult in the room and the only one capable of brokering a deal among the many parties with interests in the region. Natanyahu gets this.
Putin as even invited the US to join but the US elite has apparently decided to shut itself out and rely on power politics aka bullying.
Lavrov and Shoigu to keep their posts. Rumors of their dismissal premature.
Putin keeps his circle close, new government is almost unchanged
Another more nuanced view.
Russell Bentley, ‘The Saker’ Isn’t Just Wrong, He’s Irrelevant – Putin’s An Excellent Warrior
Russell 'Texas' Bonner Bentley is a writer at Fort Russ News, and based in Donetsk, Novorossia since December 2014. From January to June 2015 he served in the Essence of Time combat unit of the Novorussian Armed Forces (NAF). He served at the Donetsk airport and Spartak as a rifleman and RPG gunner. Today he is an information warrior, and previously wrote for DONi News. "The war in Donbass is only one Front in a global war."
Vlad is a product of fetal alcohol syndrome ... lock it...
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