Thursday, September 8, 2022

Links — 8 Sep 2022

India Punchline
Timely assertion of India’s strategic autonomy
MK. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and former ambassador.

The Vineyard of the Saker
Germany’s energy suicide: an autopsy
Pepe Escobar
Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
China Opens Record-Breaking Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Able to Reproduce Mach 33 Speeds

Andrew Batson's Blob
What will self-reliance mean for China?
Andrew Batson

CaitlinJohnstone.com
Our Entire Civilization Is Fake And Stupid
Caitlin Johnstone

14 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Monarchs Belong in the Dustbin of History - Chris Hedges
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/monarchs-belong-in-the-dustbin-of

Peter Pan said...

Any bets on how long it'll take Camilla to poison King Chuckles III ?

sidchem said...

Tom

Where are all the stories of Ukrainians being supported to die in the war? I miss all that information on how their weapons would fail them soon and the Russians would take out the Nazis.

Glad to see you have gotten back to Econ instead of fake Russian News, it is worse than ours by a long shot.

Stay focused

Peter Pan said...

Economics is not going to change the world.

Tom Hickey said...

@ siddem

I am keeping up on this. Don't rush to conclusions.

The major takeaway to today is that Russia has apparently concluded that it is now at war with the US and all that implies. According to the link below, generals on both sides have said that tactical nukes are on the table. Previously, Russia was denying planning such use.

Russia was also not attacking infrastructure as part of the SMO. This could be the transition from SMO to war, which is what a lot of the Russian public is now calling for.

Russia has taken done dual-use infrastructure, specifically thermal electrical plants, across Ukraine, interdicting Ukrainian logistics. This also leaves the affected populations in the dark, without heat and electricity, and some population centers without water. Europe should be prepared for a surge of refugees as Ukrainians seek safer ground as the conflict escalates.

This portends to be a major escalation that is open-ended at this point, being existential for both sides. Scott Ritter is turning out to be correct about NATO (US) involvement being a game changer.

It's why you don't contend with a nuclear peer as matter of choice rather than necessity unless you are bat-shit crazy. This could have been handled by giving Russia security guarantees. Now it is too late. Neither side can back down. Parlous times.

https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/ukraine-the-situation-september-12-2022/

I stand by my forecast of a major culling of humanity coming. This what happens when a class A predator doesn't have a natural check. It ends up culling itself.

The four horsemen have mounted up.

Tom Hickey said...

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/09/russia-retaliates-for-ukrainian-strikes-on-russian-controlled-electricity-networks.html

Tom Hickey said...

https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/09/12/ukraine-war-day-201-new-defense-line-no-more-mister-nice-guy/

Remember what Biden said about no US troops in Ukraine because "that's WWIII"? Well, here we are.

Peter Pan said...

Paul Craig Roberts has been urging Moscow to take the gloves off for months.

Tom Hickey said...

Paul Craig Roberts has been urging Moscow to take the gloves off for months.

Well, that is what the Russian hardliners were saying in 2014, and now that are saying, "see." There's a lot of them. The comments I see are fierce. Those who wish Putin gone should be careful for what they wish for. The Western-oriented liberals in Russia are gone now. What remains is Putin-backers and Russian "patriots" (nationalists).

The Russian leadership would liked to have settled this the easy way, first asking for security guarantee and then launching a limited SMO. But the way I read it Russia willing to go all the way to full-scale nuclear war if it comes to that, and than means targeting the continental US.

Same goes for China.

The US/UK leadership looks to be choosing the hard way instead. That leaves Europe to put the brakes on, and Japan and S. Korea in Asia.

Tom Hickey said...

The latest is that Russia only temporarily disabled the electrical infrastructure. This appears to have been a warning rather than a wipeout. It also disrupted logistics for the offensive.

http://thesaker.is/ukromedia-decommunization-of-the-infrastructure-has-begun/

Peter Pan said...

Russian hardliners should be careful what they wish for.

Ukrainian hardliners have lost territory, displaced millions, to the tune of 250,000 casualties. Compared to the deal they could have had prior to February 2022, this is "winning" ?

Ahmed Fares said...

The Saker links to a new blog called "Big Serge Thoughts" with a link below.

Here in this article is talk of "salients", which, as the article describes, is three-quarters of the way to a cauldron. A couple of selected quotes:

In military parlance, a “salient” simply means a bulge in the frontline, where one side has achieved some level of penetration at a particular point. A salient is a classically vulnerable position - a glaringly obvious operational focal point, because simultaneous attacks at the base of the bulge can easily cut it off and trap the forces inside. Essentially, a salient is a position where a force is already encircled on 3 sides, leaving only the exit to be snapped shut.

In short, the Ukrainian advance has been too slow and lacks a clear path to reach operational objectives. Already, Russia has begun to deploy huge reserves to this theater, and fear is beginning to show among the more operationally aware Ukrainians. One Ukrainian journalist at the front had this to say:

“There is heavy fighting near Kupyansk, worse than Balakleysky. We are taking heavy losses. The enemy is transferring a bunch of reserves by air. The “Wagnerites” have already arrived in the city itself. The sky is filled with aircraft. Hearing about all this, a haunting feeling of an ambush arises in the soul. What if this all really turns out to be a strategic level ambush?”


As the article states, this is not a planned ambush, but the Russian will respond accordingly.

source: Ukraine Counterattacks!

Peter Pan said...

Mars Attacks!

Peter Pan said...

Most of the analysis read today indicate that Russia will escalate the pressure on the Kiev regime. Big Serge's substack is no exception.