Andrei Martyanov — Hm, Something Is Missing....

How the West rewrites history. Andrei Martyanov sets the record straight.

Reminiscence of the Future
Hm, Something Is Missing....
Andrei Martyanov

Edward Lozansky — How to avoid WWIII while celebrating the victory in WWII

Edward Lozansky talks some sense. Washington is not listening.

Speaking about paranoia one would probably should be more afraid of a volcano eruption on the Neptune planet because whatever you think of Putin he is not a madman to start a war with NATO. He is well aware that the Northern alliance is a lot more powerful economically and militarily and in case of nuclear war there will be a total annihilation of the civilization as we know it.…

I would add China to that. And approaching Russia and China's borders (read "red lines") is even more reckless and irresponsible. It's imperial hubris.

The Washington Times — Analysis/Opinion
How to avoid WWIII while celebrating the victory in WWII
Edward Lozansky | President of the American University in Moscow

See also

Hybrid War, a Beltway concept, has even been turned upside down by the conceptualizers. NATO, affecting puzzlement at the very existence of the concept, interprets the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine as Hybrid War. That serves prime Hybrid War purveyors such as the RAND corporation to take it further, peddling war game scenarios of Russia being able to invade and conquer the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — in less than 60 hours.…

This is the ultimate, ongoing 21st confrontation that will keep generating multiple, localized hybrid warfare forms – as it takes place not only across Eurasia but across the whole Global South. It’s all interlocked – from Maidan to the secret TTIP negotiations; from provoking China in the South China Sea to an oil price war and an attack on the ruble; from the NSA spying on Petrobras feeding a slow motion, legalistic regime change process in Brazil to an EU ravaged by twin plagues; a refugee crisis ultimately provoked by NATO’s wars (and instrumentalized by Turkey) coupled with Salafi-jhadi terrorism also spawned by the same wars.…

Sputnik
The New Normal: Cold War 2.0Pepe Escobar

All of the Pentagon’s investments are limited to offensive weapons designed to execute the invasions of other countries. For example, who needs stealth aircraft to defend their territory? Washington is the only owner of nuclear aircraft carriers escorted by dozens of cruisers, destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and nuclear attack submarines capable of attacking any point on the globe. The US also wields a huge fleet of over 500 heavy cargo planes specifically designed to carry armored divisions tens of thousands of kilometers away from the American continent. Russia, surrounded by NATO military bases, is seen by Washington as a huge booty given its huge territory on which 60% of the Earth’s mineral resources, drinking water, land suitable for agriculture, and forests are located.

After the collapse of the USSR, when the United States was left as the only superpower in the world, the cliché was established whereby Washington proposes a military invasion of another country. First it creates a psychosis among public opinion that the given country is on the verge of attacking and occupying its neighbors. When in fact the US military is invading the target country, this process of psychological warfare conducted intensively by subservient media presents US military aggression as eliminating the threat of the neighbors’ target state. As for the US, in reality the "cold war” never ended, and over the past two years has triggered a psychological war against Russia and managed to oblige the EU and other vassal states to impose economic sanctions.

Hybrid warfare is already underway, with information war and economic war, along with NATO buildup and advance toward Russia's borders intent on testing Russia's red lines.

The military analysis is detailed. Not Star Wars yet, other than satellite information systems, but impressive gear both sides have assembled that goes far beyond previous conventional warfare, and nuclear warfare is taking a hypersonic twist.

Any military invasion of Russia could be executed successfully by USA only before 2018, after which the chances of success drop dramatically given the Pentagon’s loss of technological superiority in many fields compared to the Russian Army and the possibility of the conflict turning into a global one involving the use of nuclear weapons.

Katehon
Nato’s Future Blitzkrieg Against Russia: The Battle For Air Supremacy
Valentin Vasilescu 

The author is a Romanian military analyst, former deputy commander of Otopeni Airport (Romania). Translated by Katehon.com from Romanian

Counter-Hegemony In The Theory Of The Multipolar World

Alexander Dugin

Christopher Black — May 9th: Russian Victory, NATO Defeat

Historical backgrounder.

New Eastern Outlook
May 9th: Russian Victory, NATO Defeat
Christopher Black, international criminal lawyer based in Toronto, member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and known for a number of high-profile cases involving human rights and war crimes

Spiegel — Nazi Extortion: Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans

Is Germany liable to Athens for loans the Nazis forced the Greek central bank to provide during World War II? A new study in Greece could increase the pressure on Berlin to pay up.

Spiegel Online International
Nazi Extortion: Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans
Manfred Ertel, Katrin Kuntz and Walter Mayr

Sputnik International — China and Russia to Jointly Commemorate WWII, Promote Own View on History

Beijing and Moscow are planning to hold joint commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War; experts note the countries are openly promoting their view on the historic event, debunking the myths created by West... 

Both countries sustained severe massive casualties, on a scale that could hardly be imagined by the West. While the war claimed the lives of 418,000 Americans, 600,000 French nationals and 450,000 Britons, the USSR's casualties amounted to 27 million and China's – to almost 20 million deaths. 

However, the publicist Paul Letters noted that many more could have been killed by Nazi military forces and their allies in these strategic Eurasian regions. For comparison's sake Germany, who launched the war, lost a total of 7.3 million people while Japan lost 2.7 million, according to some estimates.

Sputnik International

China and Russia to Jointly Commemorate WWII, Promote Own View on History

Ria Novosti — Whitewashing Nazis in Eastern Europe Equate Nazism to Communism: Simon Wiesenthal Center director

Eastern Europeans, who attempt to whitewash Nazi war crimes, try to liken Nazism to communism to create an illusion that the Soviet Union is as responsible for what happened during World War II as the Third Reich, Ephraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, warned in a discussion hosted by Radio VR’s moderator Dmitry Babich.…

The expert dwelled upon the situation in Ukraine with respect to the rehabilitation of Nazism. He underlined that the current Ukrainian government is sending the wrong message to its people. “Just a few days ago, the Ukrainian president [Petro Poroshenko] called members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) heroes. One may remember how [Nazi collaborator Roman] Shukhevich was posthumously honored by Yushchenko’s government. The presidential decree was revoked by the Yanukovich administration, but still this is a problem in Ukraine,” Zuroff said. 

If UPA members are considered heroes and statements to this effect are made by the government, then “this is definitely a wrong message,” the expert insisted. Zuroff also said he was concerned about education in Ukraine. “If the children in Ukraine are taught that Shukhevich is a hero and Stepan Bandera is a hero, that is a huge problem!” he said.

Ria Novosti
Whitewashing Nazis in Eastern Europe Equate Nazism to Communism: Expert

Bill Black — GM’s Cartoon Version of von Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” – on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day

Libertarian takedown. Eisenhower's failure: he was a government employee and not a CEO. Democracy's failure: the majority rules.

New Economic Perspectives
GM’s Cartoon Version of von Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” – on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day
William K. Black | Associate Professor of Economics and Law, UMKC

D-Day and deficits

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. June 6, 1944 was a day of unbelievable self sacrifice and devotion in the name of democracy. The iconic image of American GI's charging fearlessly into the salty spray of Atlantic sea water and German bullets always makes me question if I, or anyone else I know, would ever have the courage to make such a sacrifice. I find it difficult to ever answer "yes" to that question, especially in this era where self-sacrifice in the name of larger human cause is often denounced as socialism. Thankfully for the most part, it seems that Americans back in 1944 had no such qualms about service to their country. 

But what is rarely mentioned is the dry, bureaucratic work that went on behind the scenes, which managed the unprecedented mobilization of resources that made such an invasion possible. The bold leadership of men like Federal Reserve Chairman Marriner Eccles  played a crucial role in the military success of the United States. In countless letters, speeches, and testimonies before a confused Congress, Eccles calmly and clearly explained how in a post-gold standard world, the only thing standing in the way of total victory for democracy was real resources. Mr. Eccles' insistence that leaders in Washington focus on the real production capacities and constraints of the US economy, and not on the book entries known as "money", undoubtedly gave the US an advantage it had never before enjoyed. Emancipation from the gold standard and fixed money thinking, of which Eccles was a leader, deserves at least some credit for the emancipation of Europe from fascist occupation. Finally freed from self-imposed financial constraints, this new, functional approach to public finance allowed the allies to produce a war machine of unprecedented size and strength. Had the United States remained on a gold standard, and not had thought leadership from men like Eccles to clear out this old thinking, its hard to see how the massive deficit spending and resource mobilization during the war would have been possible. 

The military buildup before and during WWII was a massive, unprecedented mobilization of resources, which was almost completely managed and funded by the federal government. This war produced two types of massive debts-- one which we can never pay off, and another which takes only keystrokes.What I would give to go back to that spirit of the New Deal- a time when this country was fighting and dying and putting all of our resources on the line to defend democracy. We had incredible leadership, incredible sacrifice, and we smashed the Germans and Japanese in less than four years! That's why I get so angry when I hear Republicans saying “ we cant have a high speed rail system in America" or "we cant have universal health care in America", or "we cant have a green energy revolution in America”. This makes me think that its a damn good thing these people weren't around during WWII. Things looked so bad in 1941 that I might have been easy to say "the Axis is too powerful, we can't afford to take them on." But we did! We knew that we were Americans, and that we were firmly in control of our own destinies, and we made amazing things happen. Thats the spirit that this country desperately needs to return to. If a bunch of 20-somethings back in 1944 could charge headfirst into open German machine gun fire, surely its not too much to ask today's Americans to open their minds to the realities of modern public finance.

Dan Kervick — Market Myths and the Real Drivers of American Progress

Dan does the numbers to show that market fundamentalism is a hoax and the real driver of US prosperity has been cooperation among all factors and led by government.

Rugged Egalitarianism
Market Myths and the Real Drivers of American Progress
Dan Kervick
(crossposted at New Economic Perspectives)

J. D. Alt — Mobilization and Money

How MMT won WWII.

New Economic Perspectives
Mobilization and Money
J. D. Alt

UPDATE: Warren Mosler comments at The Center of the Universe:

The way I say it is the funds to pay taxes and buy tsy secs come from govt spending/lending.
That is, govt is best thought of as spending first, then ‘collecting’ taxes and ‘borrowing.’

And, as a minor correction, govt doesn’t ‘issue money, then spending it’ but in general just instructs the Fed to credit a member bank account.