JHK’s Three-Act Play
And so it’s back to the Kardashians for the US of ADD. As of Sunday The New York Times kicked Ukraine off its front page, a sure sign that the establishment (let’s revive that useful word) is sensitive to the growing ridicule over its claims of national interest in that floundering, bedraggled crypto-nation. The Kardashians sound enough like one of the central Asian ethnic groups battling over the Crimea lo these many centuries — Circassians, Meskhetian Turkmen, Tatars, Karachay-Cherkessians — so the sore-beset American public must be content that they’re getting the news-of-the-world. Perhaps one of those groups was once led by a Great Kanye.
Secretary of State John Kerry has shut his pie-hole, too, for the moment, as it becomes more obvious that Ukraine happens to be Russia’s headache (and neighbor). The playbook of great nations is going obsolete in this new era of great nations having, by necessity, to become smaller broken-up nations. It could easily happen in the USA too as our grandiose Deep State descends further into incompetence, irrelevance, buffoonery, and practical bankruptcy.
Theories abound about what drives this crisis and all the credible stories revolve around the question of natural gas. I go a little further, actually, and say that the specter of declining energy sources worldwide is behind this particular eruption of disorder in one sad corner of the globe and that we’re sure to see more symptoms of that same basic problem in one country after another from here on, moving from the political margins to the centers. The world is out of cheap oil and gas and, at the same time, out of capital to produce the non-cheap oil and gas. So what’s going on is a scramble between desperate producers and populations worried about shivering in the dark. The Ukraine is just a threadbare carpet-runner between them.
Contributing to our own country’s excessive vanity in the arena of nations is the mistaken belief that we have so much shale gas of our own that we barely know what to do with it. This is certainly the view, for instance, of Speaker of the House John Boehner, who complained last week about bureaucratic barriers to the building of new natural gas export terminals, with the idea that we could easily take over the European gas market from Russia. Boehner is out of his mind. Does he not know that the early big American shale gas plays (Barnett in Texas, Haynesville in Louisiana, Fayettville in Arkansas) are already winding down after just ten years of production? That’s on top of the growing austerity in available capital for the so-far-unprofitable shale gas industry. That’s on top of the scarcity of capital for building new liquid natural gas terminals and ditto the fleet of specialized refrigerated tanker ships required to haul the stuff across the ocean. File under “not going to happen.”
Even the idea that we will have enough natural gas for our own needs in the USA beyond the short term ought to be viewed with skepticism. What happens, for instance, when we finally realize that it costs more to frack it out of the ground than people can pay for it? I’ll tell you exactly what will happen: the gas will remain underground bound up in its “tight rock,” possibly forever, and a lot of Americans will freeze to death.
The most amazing part of the current story is that US political leaders are so ignorant of the facts. They apparently look only to the public relations officers in the oil-and-gas industries and no further. Does Barack Obama still believe, as he said in 2011, that we have a hundred years of shale gas?” That was just something that a flack from the Chesapeake Corporation told to some White House aide over a bottle of Lalou Bize-Leroy Domaine d’Auvenay Les Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru. Government officials believe similar fairy tales about shale oil from the Bakken in North Dakota — a way overhyped resource play likely to pass its own peak at the end of this year.
If you travel around the upper Hudson Valley, north of Albany, where I live, you would see towns and landscapes every bit as desolate as a former Soviet republic. In fact, our towns look infinitely worse than the street-views of Ukraine’s population centers. Ours were built of glue and vinyl, with most of the work completed thirty years ago so that it’s all delaminating under a yellow-gray patina of auto emissions. Inside these miserable structures, American citizens with no prospects and no hope huddle around electric space heaters. They have no idea how they’re going to pay the bill for that come April. They already spent the money on tattoos and heroin.
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“What happens, for instance, when we finally realize that it costs more to frack it out of the ground than people can pay for it? I’ll tell you exactly what will happen: the gas will remain underground bound up in its “tight rock,” possibly forever, and a lot of Americans will freeze to death.”
Don’t forget the environmental costs of fracking, which are becoming more well known and to which more people are objecting–earthquakes from waste water injection wells and groundwater contamination, for starters. They may not be enough to stop fracking by themselves, but roll the mitigation of them into the cost of production, and it might tip the price over into prohibitive territory.
http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2014/03/fracking-hazards-earthquakes-and.html
Even an executive of Exxon has filed suit to keep fracking out of his neighborhood. NIMBY, literally.
True and truly hilarious, James!
Of course, if it weren’t so frightening!
Hey, long time no see. I’m glad to read that you’re taking advantage of your location to blog about the Ukraine situation and the West’s efforts to demonize Putin. We need that perspective.
No I disagree we will invade Venezuela to liberate them and steal their oil and gas. Then we do the same to Mexico and Canada. The Neo Con men will be trigger happy waving flags and telling the tattoo masses that we do this or they die. They also will tell them that food stamps will be eliminated and cable TV will have to shut down. That will be enough to demand WAR!
The high cost of Fracking and transporting that oil and gas to market or refineries has elevated costs due to the small amounts withdrawn from any given area so no pipelines can get funding even if they wanted to. Transport is by rail car that should tell everyone that what is there is short lived. No banks will loan for the pipeline construction because the life of the production is to low.
The pipeline companies that are close to these areas of the Backen and others have elected to reverse flow some old pipelines that were used for gas to handle Backen crude. If the fields had suitable lifespans there would be no resistance to funding from the banks. The banks now have record reserves and no one wants to borrow. This tells me we are soon in for a major problem with supplies.
Don’t invest in Dakota real estate those towns will end up like the old gold and silver rush ghost towns out west.
Where would you go to live in the USA when the SHTF?
There was a story I recall reading of the toxicity of the frack waste that is supposed to be contained in water-chemical-proof barriers behind containment berms at the pad, and trucked to a treatment facility licensed to receive and process/store the waste. The story in particular I’m recalling was how in North Dakota a truck decided to just open its spigot on the side of a road while the crew ate lunch so they could avoid paying the processor, and go back and get another poisonous load. The resulting spill literally sterilized fifty acres of prime farmland – it will never grow food fit for humans (or animals) for hundreds of years. North Dakota is the wild-wild west of fracking, with no laws abridging the shale conquest. Contrast that with Louisiana and Texas – they have company-busting fines for any allegation of such a deed.
It’s not just North Dakota, either. Pennsylvania was allowing depositing of fracking waste at municipal treatment plants – but I think this has been stopped, perhaps not.
the bottom line will always outweigh the environmental interests in the minds of the lords who get to ultimately enjoy the benefits of environmental ruin.
Never to fear, those who live in the Northeast will suddenly realize it’s trees or freeze – when oil which the majority of the eastern seaboard uses to heat their homes becomes unaffordable. It won’t be long before the nude hills of Appalachia will remain as a reminder of our hubris in these days of waning energy resources.
As the politicos of both US parties buy into the lie of “energy independence” and “a century of shale gas,” I just turn away.
I’m more optimistic than JHK: I suspect we’ll see two decades of gas and oil production, with attendant environmental harm.
And perhaps more pessimistic: we’ll see a Third World War, fought over a relatively energy-rich powderkeg or strategic point yet to blow. Does anyone think Putin will stop until he’s solidified power over any energy-rich areas within the former borders of the USSR? He may not start such a war, but someone will blunder us all into it.
China, what remains of Russia, and some other emerging nations will fight it out, with the declining US and EU playing sideline roles. I even will venture a signature moment in US thinking: we’ll lose a Nimitz-class carrier and the Kardashian-obsessed fatsos in the US will have a new slogan to put up there with Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and “Remember the Maine.”
Pick the Persian Gulf, the waters off China, the melting Arctic icepack, or the Black Sea region for the next “Guns of August,” a century later.
This time, however, there will be no Marshall Plan. We’ll all have to live in the squalor and maybe emerge wiser for it.
You know Jim, I took note of that, Sunday NYT front page featured story (albeit a sad one) about handicapped men in Iowa forced to work in meat processing plants in Iowa, under appalling conditions.
I was thinking, “Crimea already off the front page. That didn’t last long”.
–BRH
Is no one going to point out that Jim used the loaded term “deep state”? This is code for TPTB, power elite, New world order, neo-con, Trilateral, etc.
It also suggests that top-level politicos like Bush, Obama and others before them were merely actors, amiable dunces who could help sway an electorate comprised of uninformed and easily confused sheep to help legitimize legislative/executive action.
If Jim is beginning to think this way, then he might be the last holdout amongst the pantheon of first tier bloggers. It’s difficult for one not to reach a conclusion of coordinated control after evaluating/analyzing the vast amount of information available.
I noticed that too. Let’s hope so. Nothing ties everything together except Conspiracy Theory. The Founding Fathers believed in them – and were Conspirators themselves.
Who is funding the Ukrainian Revolution? Indeed, who funded the Communist Revolutions, which also promised Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity? The Bankers. This basic simple knowledge has been desperately discredited generations now.
My son lives here in the Capital region, commuting a ridiculous distance from Albany to Canaan to counsel wayward youth in the Berkshires on the Mass border. With a newborn son of his own, I wonder how long the juggernaut of the American economy will lumber on, affording them income and plenty of heat and food. My wife and I have retired to North Carolina, migrating from a rural backwater Charlotte “suburb” (and gettin’ my edjucation in Nascar, guns and Jaysus) to the no less car-crazy Beltline go-round of Raleigh. The growing resistance to tracking in this remnant of the Old Confederacy is encouraging.
I left the hardscrabble clime of northernmost New York after 57 years and now wander in the marginally progressive Triangle of NC, and expect 3% interest rates to remain long enough to buy a house by this summer. When I read Jim’s take on our Deep State, the security of a NYS teacher’s pension becomes increasingly precarious, coupled with the cost of everything hyper-inflating at some point. The least I can do is find a place with enough space to grow a garden, and enjoy the ride on the way down with our doomed Deep State.
fracking
Though I’m currently a Mid-Westerner my roots are in the North-Eastern Megalopolis. I dearly love the NE but I’m afraid that area of the country will be unable to withstand even the most modest cutbacks in natural gas supplies – such cutbacks being all but inevitable in the long term.
But I, too, have developed connections in the South, and, I must say, my elitist bias against that section of the nation has largely dissipated. The people down there have treated me graciously, and they seem to enjoy a pace of living that is less harried than what I’m used to up north.
However, the real advantage that the South enjoys gets back to the natural gas issue – it simply takes a lot less of it to keep warm in Dixie. True, a lack of air conditioning is a hardship in the hot zones, but a lack of heating can kill you in the cold zones.
This winter has pretty much convinced me…I’ll likely be moving south in a year or so.
Jamyang,
Your excellent post strikes a familiar chord. I’ve been warning my now grown and heavily commuting child about what’s likely in store in spite of our national blindness to it. You are wise to your situation but you don’t whine about it. If I end up eking out a living in the south I can only hope for neighbors with your sensible outlook.
“Does Barack Obama still believe, as he said in 2011, that we have a hundred years of shale gas?”
He certainly does not and it’s doubtful he did in 2011. I suspect he was briefed on the dire state of affairs during the transition before he took the oath of office. The staff in the Eisenhower EOB has a lot of data at their disposal and I’m certain they’re fully aware of the facts. Although I’ve uncovered no evidence to back up my suspicions, there does seem to be a concerted effort to stifle discussion of any factoids that could serve to alarm the public.
http://www.thesisa.org
I waffle back and forth between being sure they believe their own propaganda to thinking that they are all just very talented actors. Towards the top of the Power Elite, I’m sure it’s a mix and everything is on a need to know basis. One imagines situations like the moment when they clued Truman in about the bomb happen at least once or twice every presidency. I’d lay heavy odds that Bush’s brain must have nearly exploded when they told him 1) Mohammed Atta had been a creature of German Intel, Mossad, and al Qaeda all at the same time, and 2) where the anthrax in those letters really came from (a bit of our history that has been almost completely relegated to the memory hole).
BTW, the last line of Mr. Kunstler’s otherwise fine piece is an unnecessary tarring with too broad a brush of the hardship that many non-addicted people are facing after this cold winter. Not all poor people are as addled and awful as he sometimes implies they are.
Well, there are those in responsible positions of authority in government who know and those who don’t. Since colonial times the corporate oligarchy that owns and rules the realm does so on the backs of an eager and expendable middle class, a middle class from which many Boy Scouts emerge who actually believe in all we’re supposed to believe in. When these true believers are told that some organization, termed Al Qaeda exists (which curiously mirrored in its organization the organization of the very organizations the Boy Scouts were conditioned to) they do their best to uncover facts that probably never existed, sometimes through torture, an action that was only used previously very sparingly given the inaccuracies that arise. This divided culture of those who know and those who don’t also exists in the Ike EOB as the various groups are divided by their access to sensitive information: not only must they possess a security clearance, they also must possess the appropriate access.
I suspect the black budget sectors of the Deep State will not go gently into that dark night. They are well armed, and charges of incompetence may be wishful thinking.
The economy erodes toward phase change reminding us of Hemingway’s wealthy acquaintance who went broke slowly then all at once. Even Wal-Mart is contemplating closing low-performing rural superstores — the same superstores that decimated Main Street. Another marker: Shell is pulling back from North American drilling and exploration because the price structure does not reward the risk.
At what point the inertia of a $12T economy succumbs to the death from a thousand cuts is anyone’s guess, but to keep the myth of Progress alive the tech wizards better get cracking because the finance wizards are just about out of magic. History is ultimately a matter of timing.
Yes, and Shell is pulling out of the North Sea as well, where grandiose new schemes to squeeze hard-to-get reserves from that depleting source seem forever on hold. A few days ago an MSNBC talking head glowingly prophesized that oil would be down to $80 a barrel within two years. It seems that Shell has little interest in selling $100 oil for a lousy eighty bucks…go figure.
Before his death, Matthew Simmons said it would be like this: that the oil majors would incrementally divest thru mergers and acquisitions, by shedding exploration in favor of simply selling, and by converting hard assets into cash – cash to keep bottom lines fluffy and stockholders sated.
Apparently the big boys have scant appetite for the dice roll that characterizes petroleum exploration and extraction in today’s high-risk energy game. But who will take their place?
Very good, F.P.
Vaporware and myths, on top of one hell of a lot of pretending, just isn’t going to cut it anymore. The piper has been waiting to be paid for some time now, and his mood is not improving with the delay, since the festivities have long been over and the desperately hopeful flea markets have nearly all dried up and blown away.
Just for one example, check this:
“To be on the safe side, last week, the European Union made a decision to increase the volume of the gas purchased from Russia by 15%. In response, Josh Earnest, who is the US White House Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary, hurried to calm Europeans. He says that the American government has no information that would make it possible to conclude that Europe may face any lacks of natural gas in the foreseeable future. However, if such lacks do take place, the US would help Europe with its own liquefied gas, although it would be able to start deliveries of this gas to Europe not earlier than from the very end of 2015.” -TAE
Not only is this a laughable promise (ie. “lie”) on its’ very face, check out the name of the poor sap delivering it! “Josh Earnest”; in juxtaposition with his title, it’s just too rich!
Better get cracking with those giant refrigerated tankers/lumbering targets as well. Who did we promise would pay for this, BTW?
Thanks Jim for a great post today. I’ve missed your perspective, and it’s good to be back.
I take solace in the fact that at least some people are really waking up to these realities.
My bright spot today is the discovery that the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board is promoting car-free tourism in LA! True, these are baby steps in the big scheme of things, but positive nonetheless.
It’s that sort of good news which bolsters my faith that some people in this country are shifting their thinking to better harmonize with the reality that the party’s indeed over.
“Lalou Bize-Leroy Domaine d’Auvenay Les Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru”
I had to look it up — it actually does exist — $1,000/bottle. (I thought Jim had made it up, and I thought – “Whoa… a bit over the top”)
http://static.wine-searcher.net/images/labels/22/37/lalou-bize-leroy-domaine-d-auvenay-mazis-chambertin-grand-cru-cote-de-nuits-france-10462237.jpg
Now I want to change my profile photo…
File under “not going to happen.”
Yup, right next to the dusty old file marked “hydrogen economy” trumpeted by Bush et al not so long ago. Is anyone still holding their breath?
I’m ashamed of all you people. So much complaining and so few ideas. I say we send a deputation to Disney World. Surely there are some answers and ideas to be found on Main St, or somewhere else in the Magic Kingdom. Or maybe we can wish upon a star! That’s what JHK would do.
Buenos Dias Jim:
When I can’t sleep, I reach for my iPAD to catch up on the news – currently anxious to understand if WWIII is about to start. Surprisingly, I notice a dearth of information about the so called “crisis” in the Ukraine. The same happened when Syria crossed the “redline”. When the US starts to look like a buffoon country and the leadership (Obama & Kerry) complete idiots, the MSM goes off the air. Is freedom of the press in the US being suppressed by the government or collective by some higher authority? I know you don’t believe in conspiracy, but something is sure fishy.
Jim:
I got my answer today from Dmitry Orlov:
“The US State Dept. gave 5 billion to Ukrainian neo-Nazis who used some of the money to hire mass murderers who massacred protesters, policemen and bystanders in order to provide a rationale for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Ukraine and installing an anti-Russian puppet government.”
Will you publish? It seems like most MSM won’t.
James,
“They already spent the money on tattoos and heroin”
I like that line, scary though it is, that people can afford tattoos and not rent, or maybe beer and not rent. Now I like beer, or in my case Hard Cider, but I get the rent paid first at least. And I don’t have tattoos, or do I do drugs, though I do buy my medicines from non-usa makers.
Ukraine is going to get the US Dollar shoved off the reserve stack faster than anything, and some people in the power halls, saw it as a dire warning from Russia, that if we did something stupid they’d tit for tat, and knock a peg out from under the Federal Reserve’s foundation. At least I hope that is one of the reasons Kerry shut up.
And not that they are just going to bomb something soon and didn’t want to warn anyone accidently.
Well maybe a few more months so that I can at least buy seeds and plants for my garden……..
Charles.
Or a cell phone plan.
JHK says ” They already spent the money on tattoos and heroin.” so true. The war on drugs has gone the way of Afghanistan, WE LOST! I know/ knew two young healthy men that went to meet their maker in the past month. Hard workers both of them but big pharma got their hooks into them with oxicontin and when they could not afford the 50 dollar pills they switched over to the big H. Sumthin’s gotta give. This shit can’t stand.
Its an epidemic, Rip. They’re dropping like flies out in the Torrington-Winsted area.
–BRH
we just lost my brother in law two years ago for the same thing. He hurt his back at work they put him on those oxicontin. He lost his insurance and went to the big H. First time he OD and died. 45 yrs old wiped out. The Phony WAR ON DRUGS was only to let Big Pharma become the head dealer on the block.
I try to stay away from prescriptions and their pushers the MDs. Its all a big racquet backed by force from the federal government.
If you take the USGS’s most recent estimates of recoverable oil and gas in the Bakken, and the layer beneath it, and divide it by the nation’s consumption of oil and natural gas, I calculate that the Bakken can satisfy our nation’s thirst for oil for about one year, and only 3-4 months with regards to natural gas. Not significant, in the long run.
The good thing about the rapid depletion of the available oil reserves is the largest single user the US Military will be constrained with their adventurism.
The bad news is they will resort to more fuel efficient means of mass destruction and murder. NUKES and Weather Modifications. Soon we will he the capability to vaporized targets from Space Lasers. I know the news has said that NASAs budget has been slashed and the Shuttle done for good but they have been launching three times more from the Space Center all under control of the Air force. What does that tell you.
The Air force does not send up cell phone and tv missions. They have military means of destruction as a core value
JHK,
Great post. While driving around the capital district this past weekend and listening to NPR I was riveted by this story in the latest Boston Magazine, dealing with a triple homicide in Waltham back in Sept.’11 in which the ” dead bomber” might very well have been involved ( but for whatever reason the police really didn’t pursue until after the bombing… with tragic consequences).
We will be coming up to the 1 year anniversary of the Marathon bombings and the press will be out doing their thing.Great time to rally us all around the flag. So many unanswered questions. The entire episode sure made it convenient for the authorities to usurp even more power, all in the name of ” keeping us safe”. False flag?
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/02/25/waltham-murders-boston-marathon/
JIM
I live down here in Orlando, FL home of the Mouse and the most pedestrian fatalities in the nation. We had an incident as you must know with the FBI interrogating a suspect in those three murders in Boston. the Suspect was executed while the interrogation was in progress. No reasonable explanation was given by the FBI why this person had to shot in the head from point blank range.
The family is suing the Feds for this incident and subsequent cover up
Voyage to the Center of the Bottom of the What?!
I think that there may be something wrong with American society?
If you look at the white people, you’ll notice that the men and the women look almost exactly the same. They would be exactly the same but for gender. They seem to try to minimize any gender difference and sexuality. Almost like hermaphrodites.
In contrast, the American dating and “hookup” websites display American women who are feminine. Strange….
Yes, how did the Human Race even make it this far? Are women supposed to be chunky and weigh 250 pounds at 5 foot 5? Cavewomen probably used flint blades to shave their legs and armpits in a desperate attempt to look less like Cavemen. I mean if we don’t look different, half of our mating attempts will be for naught in terms of progeny. Vive la difference!
Tattoos and heroin! That sounds like the name of a band. As far as “deep state” goes, isn’t that a Peter Dale Scott coinage? Not that I disagree with anything you said. I don’t.
American women are quite attractive when they’re not trying to look like men. I’m not sexually interested in women who look like men. Quite frankly, it rather “freaks-me-out”.
Women all across America are rejoicing today with relief and excitement to find out, at long last, what turns you on.
Should I change my name to “Fabio”?
Women that look like men are most likely not interested in you
Brilliant… and very funny! Great punchline8
Russian Marines are digging in, laying tank and anti personnel mines at the Crimean-Ukraine border, and stringing not a little barbed wire. It doesn’t look like they’ll be going anywhere, anytime soon.
And this in spite of the stern warning issued by the EU, and Secretary Kerry’s sharp insult, calling Putin’s actions “So 20th century”. Touche! Tale that, Putin.
–BRH
We sent a full fleet of F16s in manuvers over Ukraine today. Another bluff move by the bankrupt USA. Someone please impeach John “insane” McCain and his little stooge Graham in SC. These two never see a place that cannot be better without WAR
take that, Comrade Putin
All this talk of WWIII. Not yet, my friends…not yet.
Why?
The pathetically transparently scripted dynamic (along with other reasons too numerous to mention) of Inverted Totalitarian America says that Neolib Obama CANNOT be on the throne when 9-11 #2 is run by the intel arm of the Axis of Evil (CIA/Mossad/Saudi Intel plus framed patsies is my best guess, though we can never know for sure) against Chicago (also my best guess – one big asset is already in place).
Obama and the Neolibs, though run by the same people as the Neocons, represent the deft “left jab” of the Brzezinski Mode of “Rule the World”. The upcoming 9/11 #2 False Flag and subsequent “righteous” WWIII, in which it is America’s turn to be the Nazis (Corpzis), requires a Neocon be sitting upon the throne (Jeb?) wielding the roundhouse right of Kissingerian “Death to Millions of Innocents” bloody jaw-breaking, teeth-smashing fist in the face.
So, we’re safe until 2017, maybe 2019, though as I said years ago, things are moving too fast for it to wait much longer than that. Whoever and whatever actually runs the West (Wall Street, City of London, BIS using the intelligence services as initiator and muscle, also wielding Corpzi Hollywood and Corpzi MSM as the de facto Office of Behavior Modification) seems to be in a hurry to get things going in earnest before the tapestry of lies and financial fraud unravels.
Notice how Iran is being set up for the downed Malaysian airliner? Yawn. Standard propaganda op. It’s all part of the multi-year Propaganda Offensive that will culminate in 9/11 #2 which will give the Axis of Evil the popular support and complete shutdown of critical thinking and opposition to start WWIII (just like the American Corpzis’ spittual antecedents, the Nazis and the “enemy Poles” who attacked their radio station, lol).
I say this just to get it on record. The closer we draw to 2017-19 and 9/11 #2, the more obvious the script seems to be “in the pipe 5×5”.
Do I think anyone will “change their mind” based on this poast and the unfolding layered propaganda ops spanning many years required to turn that 12% American Sheeple FOR WWIII into a righteously howling 90%?
HELL NO! I don’t even expect you to believe after it happens right before your eyes, because for almost everyone you know and have ever met, truths that direct and painful, no matter how complete the picture of connected dots, will be rejected by the human mind (doubly so for the marinated in lies and propaganda from cradle to grave American Subjects, so docilely doglike).
So, everyone, I would suggest you beat the rush and practice your looks of shock and horor for the next 9/11, which by the Rules of Marketing will have to be bigger and badder than the original in the upcoming sequel.
Practice shutting off your minds and begging the TV to tell you who to hate, who to go to war with (HINT: Russia, Iran, or both).
And if anyone should point out the inconsistencies in The Official Story, which like the original 9/11 will be set within days, possibly hours, and never change one iota, practice rolling your eyes and quickly dismissing them as a crazy conpiracy theorist.
Throw in a good “harrumph” for good measure and to demonstrate your high dudgeon that our apple-cheeked NSA and CIA boys could EVER do such a dastadly thing.
(BRH/Marlin, I’m looking at your sheepish cyber-face)
And where are the two missing nukes that were transported without papers to SC? You know the incident a few months back that got the commander of all Nuke forces and the Assistant canned by O’Sluma. They are sitting somewhere ready for the word to KABOOM and then it gets real folks no Dorito’s at Publix. Mickey Ds shuts down and TV is commandeered for the emergency network broadcast 24-7. The Zombies will be in the streets looting and then Marshall law is declared. And this will happen under O Sluma book it
Good to hear from you again, Hancock. Its been awhile.
–BRH
That’s some theory you got going there, very complex.
I had to read it 3 times.
–BRH
It’s a complex world – lots of dots to connect and I by no means mentioned ’em all.
In the end it’s simple. The Obama Script is basically a redux of the old Clinton Script, aka “The Calm Before the Storm”.
It’s all about marketing – the calm normalcy makes the coming 9/11 #2 all the more shocking to the system, creating an even more malleable American Subject Populace (if such a thing is possible).
After all, the Obama Script had it’s “OKC Bombing” in Boston, among other similarities.
It still sticks in my mind how you, so typical of the “Good American” (or Good German, if you will), wouldn’t even listen to the idea or look at the ample photographic evidence of the black & khaki-clad Craft International Boys with their big black bacpacks, so different from the small and loose-hanging (not at all how they would look if they had pressure cookers chock full of ball-bearings and black powder) backpacks carried by The Patsies.
How you responded in high dudgeon that you simply could not believe our ruddy-cheeked boys were in on it, or had anything to do with it. How you would hear nothing else. Reminds me of that old line, “I won’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I shant believe it.”
Just like The Reichstag Fire, The Maine, The Gulf of Tonkin incident and a hundred others, going back into the mists of history. It always works. Always.
Of all the photographic evidence from Boston, the most telling is the wide-angle shot post-explosion, where everyone, literally everyone, is scrambing and/or rushing to the scene to help…except for the small circle of black-and-khaki-clad Craft International Boys standing calmly in the center of it all by their unmarked van, hiding in plain sight.
I’d say go look up the photos, which are probably still around, hiding in plain sight, but I know you won’t. Even if you did, you’d look right through them or you’d fall back into “I won’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I shant believe it.” Mode.
Futility in the extreme on my part to even suggest you look.
It’s a shame. You’re probably a nice guy, other than your willful denial, and maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on you.
But for someone who made it to JHK’s site, you are so damned naive and gullible when it comes to genuflecting before corrupt authority.
A pity, but you are far from alone.
In any case, just prepare your shock, horror and outrage for 9/11 #2, and get ready to take orders from your TV about who to make war upon with the rest of the Good Americans.
The day creeps ever closer. Everything is beng set up for it, the long, slow propaganda build-up, and the rest.
Now I know I am not alone. Excellent truthful post. Thank you for standing up
For the record, I think this is nonsense.
Reassuring that someone is watching the direction of the “wind”.
Interesting POV, Hanckock.
I remember PCR wrote a bit about that event and took the same position as you. PCR also posted a fantastic new 9/11 documentary on his site round the same time. I was always much more skeptical of the rigged towers idea until after watching that piece. lot’s of legit questions properly laid out in that thing.
Anyhow, I’ve often wondered why the mass media didn’t stick with the Tsarnaev trial… not a single word of it from any ordinary people I know, until you happened in. Just Googled it now and found some boring updates.
What’s the extended theory about those two guys? How were they supposedly set up?
Thanks
*Hancock…. apologies.
UFIA, Tsarnaev hasn’t been tried yet. When his trial date comes up the media will be there to cover it. Even tho he faces State and Federal charges, the Feds get 1st crack at him, and the death penalty is on the table. Mass. has no death penalty. Either way, this kid will never again see the light of day as a free man.
Then again, he might not be executed. One of the 8 German spies landed off submarines on the East Coast in 1942 was not hung because he was barely in his 20s. In 1951 he was sent back to Germany.
Like Norman Mailer said, America has always been a hard place.
–BRH
Of course. Sheer coincidence that they just chose to have a bomb test at the Boston Marathon. What’s a marathon without a bomb test!
Hard place? Yeah, full of soft people with hard hearts. When was the last time you took a hard look at yourself?
How exactly they were set up calls for lots of speculation, more than even I am comfortable with, though I suppose there are specific theories out there if you look for them.
For me, there are certain dead giveaways that pop up, combined with the skepticism that comes from basically being lied to constantly by corrupt authorities for 14 years and probably more.
One characteristic is the verifiable “local report” that isn’t picked up by MSM. For starters, and I’m sure it’s searchable, there was the local report of a Southern Track Coach (University of Mobile, AL, maybe?) who remarked that though he’d been to dozens of marathons over the course of more than a decade, Boston 2013 had the most securitry by far including rooftop snipers AND EXPLOSIVE-SNIFFING DOGS AT THE FINISH LINE.
Quite a coincidence, eh? An explosion at the finish line where there are bomb-sniffing dogs.
Then there’s the photos I mentioned and the many black backpacks. That seems to be a running theme on these false flag ops, like on 9/11, the many drills that were running simultaneously, hindering what defensive attempts there might have been with “fake bogeys” and other noise. Photos from Boston (they couldn’t control the pictures like they did with 9/11 because so many were filming the finish line at the moment of explosion) show these Craft International Mercs with black punisher-logo ballcaps ALL with big heavy packs (much heavier than the puny Tsarnev packs).
Just like 9/11s “plane plane which is the true plane?” in Boston it was “backpack, backpack, which is the true backpack?”.
There was a CIA connection, one of the Patsies’ uncles was, I believe (you’d have to look it up to find out the exact details) a son-in-law of an intel bigwig with ties himself. He’s the one who looked and sounded like he was reading from a hammy condemnatory script. Bad reality TV.
Oh and let’s not forget the patsies’ friend who was “shot while trying to escape” eight times once in the head, despite being unarmed and surrounded by eight, I believe it was, interrogators.
Or the fact that the patsies were taken across town to Mossad Hospital, ahem, I mean Beth Israel, in spite of the fact that there were several hospitals closer. The reason given was that the Mossad, ahem, I mean Israeli doctors there were “shrapnel specialists”, except Patsy Tsarnev was shot, which I guess there were no doctors at the several closer hospitals who had experience in gunshot wounds.
Or how Tsarnev’s gun was the excuse for Lockdown, but then it turned out he never had one.
As to how specifically, they were set up, I couldn’t guess from the outside looking in. Were they “handled” by someone they thought was on their side but was really CIA/NSA/FBI, like so many other “terror arrest” setups in which the plots were both initiated and foiled by American Intel/FBI using incompetent patsies in the years 2003-2012?
We can’t know the details like that. Hell, we still don’t know exactly how Lee Harvey Oswald was set up 50 years later.
But the stink of an Intel Op remains.
Also, lol, is the patsy Tsarnev on trial now? I didn’t even know.
I think there is a big difference between what governments create and what they exploit. Where I think the most valuable efforts lay are in the explication of and resistance to the way government uses these events to further its own aims of channeling anger, silencing dissent, and pushing through draconian legislation and international adventures.
What we have to fight is the mentality of a Michael Lind, who agrees that the Gulf of Tonkin was a fraud and the Vietnam War full of bloody atrocities, but still thinks it was worth it because of the need to blunt the spread of communism by showing that you might, after incredible efforts and sacrifices, “win” a war to oust Uncle Sam, but the cost would be so high that it was better to join us than to beat us. Too many intelligent people like Lind think that even if these events were sponsored by our government, the unity at home and military action abroad they engender are salubrious. That’s what we’ve got to fight.
They are trying to perfect their skills apparently. And the best way is always a mixture of truth and falsehood. Apparently one of the explosions was real and killed and maimed real people. The other was fake and involved actors.
Are you for the Nation State now? Then you must eschew Capitalism, Socialism, and Capitalism since all these are economic philosophies and since the economy is now global, they are all against the Nation. Only Fascism tells the Truth: real Nations aren’t Markets – they have Markets. The Marketplace must be subordinate to the Vineyard.
Hancock — if you keep this paranoia thread going, I’ll kick you off the list. It’s an embarrassment.
Don’t feed the *trolls*!!!
Jim, great writing today!
You are back in the saddle with your great way with words … and I hope that means your physical challenges are lessening, giving you more energy for writing.
They already spent the money on tattoos and heroin.
And cheese doodles. Sad. Deep State Descending indeed.
Al Jazeera will be doing a three part special on Heroin in rural Vermont. Saw the preview today. Looks like Jim is right on the money in what he says.
I’m interested in that; do you have a link?
Journey to the Bottom of the Center of the What?
Hello James. Been following your writings and blog for a long time, but never commented. Your post here I find well worthy of comment after reading it over at ZH. Your reference to decay in America strikes a chord with me, as I live in a small town which is rotting into decay and poverty, even as Obama trumps recovery. I see what you see in your upstate NY area. I am in far upstate Minnesota, and we are in a long decline, losing population every year since I was born in 1951. Jobs are few, the only good ones left are government jobs or a few mining and railroad jobs. All else is minimum wage. I love you references to rotten housing stock, drugs and tattoos! Jesus, I drove cross country for 300 miles across Minnesota to my brother’s for Christmas. Vast areas of small rotting villages and rural hell holes. Praying my car wouldn’t brake down.
The wealth I do see still in America is centered around finance capital, i.e. Banks, around military bases, around military industrial areas, like San Diego. But the heart of America, where you and I live, is worse or as bad as many rotten decaying areas 500 miles North East of Moscow. Yes, I have traveled around the world, I know how America stacks up! When I fly back from a month in Sweden, it is like entering a third world nation!
Keep telling the truth Jim, the FOX crowd goes nuts when they hear it! Keep well.
Good post, JB. Yes, the heartland has collapse too, which doesn’t bode well for the future. Some here would say what future?
As far as Sweden goes, we’ll see how long they’ll be able to maintain their vaunted Welfare State, and as tens of thousands of Muslim and black African immigrants pour in yearly, who knows how long Sweden will look like it does. Of all the western countries with a death wish, Sweden is right on top.
–BRH
Good point, I am not a tourist in Sweden but a visitor to friends and family there. What you say about immigration is only too true. I have seen it all going in a bad direction in Sweden. The immigrants have now been taken by the state to all regional cities and set up segregated areas. The state plans to move them to small towns next, and finally out to villages!
Does this create a better nation? I thought long and hard about it. My answer is “No”. Perhaps limited immigration is fine, but this mass migration of people that are looking for free housing, health care and cash payments? We all know how that ends.
Sweden, Denmark, Norway are all at risk at this point.
You have to think long and hard about it? That’s telling – and tragic. How could bringing Somali Muslims into a Liberal Nordic country possibly be good for that country or its people? It’s difficult to imagine two peoples more different. One extremely liberal and peaceful, the other violent and intolerantly religious. Someone really hates the Swedish people – and they are in power in Sweden. The Swedes need to revolt or they will lose their nation. The same situation faces Ukraine if it joins the EU. They will flood it with Non Whites and Muslims. The same fate faces the United States. Somebody doesn’t like White People and Western Culture. And those people are in power.
Archbishop Dolan says bravo to Homosexuality. The “Pope” isn’t the only one who wants to be loved by the sick people. Good rant here. Vintage Barnhardt.
http://www.barnhardt.biz/2014/03/09/as-i-have-been-screeching-for-years-timothy-dolan-is-a-complete-and-total-jackass/
“…[The authors] Bulgakov, Mann and Roth understood that here is no real political ideology among decayed ruling elites. They knew that political debate and ideological constructs for these elites is absurdist theater, a species of entertainment for the masses. They warned that once societies enter terminal decay, in the end it is the blunt forces of censorship, relentless propaganda, coercion, fear and finally terror that keep a subdued population in check. Those who hold power in such systems are thieves who run a vast kleptocracy.” -Chris Hedges
No, not even the neo-nazis febrile, heart-swelling dream of a fascist state ruled by ultra-devout, ascetic X-tian monks shall avail to reverse the Unwinding. Evidence of Man’s deep-rooted venality and mounting cruelty abound.
It appears that the game must be spun out to completion, ending in the oligarchs cannibalization of each other. Will they destroy/poison/use us all in the meantime? That is the salient question, and with the levers of manipulation and control of the populace at the fingertips of the very most corrupt, how will we tell when the outriders and cattle chutes approach?
This is why I would wish for a the mountains-of-lucre-for-nothing financial schemes to be the very first thing to collapse into its’ own moldering underpinnings. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that this would reveal the true value of things (something that the current Masters of the Deep State don’t want their slaves to know anything about).
Mr. Kunstler,
Long time reader, here. Can I ask where you got your figure concerning the Bakken passing peak by the end of this year? Arthur Berman just did an interview with OilPrice.com (reposted at zerohedge) in which he places the Bakken’s peak year out at 2017, if I remember correctly.
The comment fom Jack Burton seems to say what I feel on my many visits to the USA
An Australian with a son residing in the USA ,we come to visit him and his chuild(our oly grandson) and they live well in a ,major city where he has a senior post in IT
But we travel on our visits to various locations in the USA(we much like to use AMTRAK…as a way to see the country in comfort and safety)
WE see much poverty and decay in so many small towns and cities and it shocks us
Australia has managed to avoid such penury,and low income folks do better with a social security framework to save them from the kind of poverty now so commom in the USA.
We have an excellent National Health system,which gives us all acess to health care without cost(paid for by a tax levy…and Govt rub)
I couid on occasions weep; for the way the USA has somehow lost an oppurtunity to build a Great Society on its immense wealth ….a wealth not shared by so many Americans …who live on the edge
Interesting post Deblonay. There is no doubt that economic stratification is the rule and not the exception in the current U.S.A. And that trend was amplified with an exclamation point in the 1980 presidential election. The bigger mystery, or at least for me, is why certain people who sucked on the governmental tit during their own working years (there are a few on this blog as I recall) now champion the conservative economics of a Limbaugh? In short, the U.S.A. is a mentally ill country, and not just the people shooting smack.
On the other hand, rural poverty and economic decline are not a recent phenomena, or at least not out West. I recall riding through Medicine Bow, Wyoming back in the late 60s’ and thinking who would ever want to live in such a forlorn, dreary expanse of wind-howling waste. Check out “The Last Picture Show” for a good portrayal of small town doldrums.
Ironically, Larry MacMurtry actually loves the isolated Texas towns he wrote about in “The Last Picture Show”. He grew up in one. And he lives in one right now, with Ken Kesey’s wife, Kay.
–BRH
EF
Good question. I wonder if reaching “peak” has relevency anymore since costs and abuses continue to rise, benefits, profits(and prophets!) will continue to fall. I wonder if the government has looked closely at industrialized water usage and contamination and placed it’s value appropriately in our worlds great entropic hiccup?
I’ve got myself a new line of work, picking up hubcaps on the side of the road. Pot-holes are outta’ control around here! Infrastructure is a disaster in Western MA. I get about 25 bucks per cap on flea-bay! Happy days are here again. I can’t drive a mile without seeing a cap on the side of the road!
Is one of ’em from an F250?
BRH
I don’t know, could be. I have a couple Ford Caps. What size are your wheels? All my own vehicles have alloy wheels. Hubcaps are flying like hotdogs at Fenway around here! My daughter shredded two tires and cracked two rims to the tune of about 5 bills. Welcome to New England and Pot-hole city!!
JHK said:
“Hancock — if you keep this paranoia thread going, I’ll kick you off the list. It’s an embarrassment.”
===================================================
Go ahead, then. It’s your prerogative. I believe I said that once before to you and it’s even less skin off my nose now than it was then, when I posted regularly.
Your nonsensical idea about gold price manipulation, or your paranoiac mention of a “Deep State” is OK, eh? But not mine.
Bet you thoght the idea of LIBOR manipulation was nonsensical and paranoid…until it wasn’t.
As that notable conspiracist, J. Edgar Hoover once said, “The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.”
But what would he know about it? Just another tin-foil-hat-wearing paranoid, that one.
Bet you believe in stuff like COINTELPRO, and that Hoover was spying on Dr. Martin Luther King.
How nonsensical, paranoid, and embrassing of you.
Do what you must…or don’t. It makes no difference to me.
“If you travel around the upper Hudson Valley, north of Albany, where I live, you would see towns and landscapes every bit as desolate as a former Soviet republic.” – jhk –
Yep, same here, JHK. Small towns are either dead or dying. The exceptions are those that are close enough to urban cores to be slowly absorbed. Or those that are close to colleges, military installations, or some sort of extractable resource. Apparently, there’s something in the human gene pool that attracts us to the big cities – I don’t know what it is.
Is it some genetic defect – that pulls us to population centers?
Is it some drive to capitalistic nirvana – embedded in the TEEVEE?
Is it plain old laziness and dread of boredom?
Guess we can’t talk about it here – might break another rule.
Prog,
The death of our collective nat’l. identity (by a thousand cuts and Madison Ave. fakery and manufactured “necessities”) has been a fascinating thing to watch, if not more than a little frightening. But, I’ve noticed, one has to be a bit of a “non-participant” to see the creeping decay. It begs the question: Would we do anything about it if we thought things were falling down in anyplace other than the environs of Detroit? (According to our vaunted news outlets, everything is either robust or improving.)
Americans seem to be distinctly/deliberately unaware. Do they think that the hungry beast of entropy will go away if it’s just roundly ignored?
Is this a result of conditioning? Is it better to face the facts, or is a steady diet of powdered unicorn horn, wafted by rays of sunshine up our butts a superior “strategy”? (Well, that’s rhetorical, you already know my thoughts on that. ;o)
As to the clambering into the monkey-barrel of the big cities, I think people tend to think there is more opportunity for profit and ease (exploitation of their fellow close-packed humans) to be found. In the end, these areas are quite simply incubation chambers madness and the next big plague.
Could that be a glaring “gene selection” error along with a glut of energy slaves? We see what overcrowding and overpopulation do to other species that have to live within the confines of their natural world… they don’t fare well. Humans are [by far] the cruelest, most nihilistic animals on the planet. We kill each other with a frequency unknown in any other species. Yes, there is something VERY wrong here when the least altruistic rise to the positions of the most power. (This might be where having to live within natural constraints will have a huge impact on our makeup in every regard. What we can do for each other will become the thread that determines whether we survive or perish.)
To sum up, I have no wish to see “society” continue on its’ present suicidal course of exploiting every and all things that come within our greedy grasp. If you’ll notice, this is what the happy-talkers actually propose!! MORE of what we’re already doing will fix everything; how insane is that, I ask you? (That’s why I find it so distasteful and, at its’ root, unexamined and simply foolhardy. As the evidence provides, a recipe for self-made, foregone disaster and violent collapse.)
These are a few of MY personal reasons that lead me to agree with JHK that it’s imperative that we “change the way we inhabit the landscape” [tm]. (He may not share some of them in degree or concept.)
**(Sorry for rambling; there are just so many things Clusterfucking all at the same time that it’s getting to be a bit stunning in its’ specific definition. Will our epigraph be: “SNAFU”? Such a waste.)
Ukraine is about Nat Gas?! What a crock of baloney! One has to study the history of the last few hundred years to see in plain view that all foreign invasions against Russia had a path going through Kiev. Last one were Nazis – Kiev was the first Russian (yes RUSSIAN, not Ukrainian) city to get bombed by Hitler’s Luftwaffe.
So Russians view an attack on Kiev by paramilitary Right Sector (SS abbreviation in Ukrainian spelling) force trained by American “specialists” from the Blackwater (or whatever the hell they call themselves these days) as an opening salvo of attack against Moscow. Of course they’re going to fight.
“The bigger mystery, or at least for me, is why certain people who sucked on the governmental tit during their own working years (there are a few on this blog as I recall) now champion the conservative economics of a Limbaugh? In short, the U.S.A. is a mentally ill country, and not just the people shooting smack.”
– buck stud –
I’m working my way through the comments, using “11,” as a search term – to find today’s posts. And you are correct that 1980 was the watershed election that put us on this path to Hell.
I do believe that you are deliberately picking a quarrel*, though. There’s nothing about being a government employee (“tit-sucker,” in your delightful prose) that should make one favor unbalanced budgets and money-printing forever – which is our present unsustainable course, to the chagrin of Mr. Limbaugh and others.
*now forbidden, under the new CFN rules.
“Does this create a better nation? I thought long and hard about it. My answer is “No”. Perhaps limited immigration is fine, but this mass migration of people that are looking for free housing, health care and cash payments? We all know how that ends.
Sweden, Denmark, Norway are all at risk at this point.”
– jack burton –
Who is responsible for this madness?
What is the endpoint – looking out 50, 100, or 1000 years?
“Go ahead, then. It’s your prerogative. I believe I said that once before to you and it’s even less skin off my nose now than it was then, when I posted regularly.” – hancock, to jhk –
“Do what you must…or don’t. It makes no difference to me.”
– hancock –
Hey, Hancock! I’ll miss you, man. You have been one of the best thinkers I’ve ever “met?” at CFN. You are a conspiracy theorist and I am not. JHK’s writings attract conspiracy theorists in droves. Up until now, this has been a good place for people like you and people like me to have some meaningful discussions.
And now you (and, thus the rest of us) have discovered yet another one of JHK’s unstated-until-just-now rules, “Thou shalt not discuss conspiracy upon the CFN website.”
Go figure.
Take care, you ol’ bluebelly, you. 😉
And remember you’ve got my email address.
JHK said: shale oil from the Bakken in North Dakota — a way overhyped resource play likely to pass its own peak at the end of this year
Eamon Farrelly said: Can I ask where you got your figure concerning the Bakken passing peak by the end of this year?
Eamon, isn’t peak just the halfway point? Production goes up and up, until it peaks, and then it goes down and down. So peak is the half way point.
Oil was first discovered within the Bakken in 1951 (60+ years ago) and production has steadily increased since then. If the peak is reached this year, then there would be 60+ years of decreasing yield left.
No since the on the down slope the oil is too deep to get out efficiently and with a profit. Ultimately it will take as more or more energy to get it out as the oil would provide. Same thing in nature: a wolf pack goes after the weak and sick so as to maximize its eroei – and to minimize risk. The wolves wont enjoy their elk steak after losing half their face to antlers or one of their eyes to hooves.
Hope that clears it up for you. Pretty elementary. You need to invest the time in reading JHK’s books or you wont reap much reward here.
Eamon, one other point about the declining production numbers in sites mentioned by JHK this week: Production of natural gas may appear to be falling when actually producers have made a decision to reduce production, in response to low gas prices or more lucrative drilling opportunities elsewhere. They may make a decision to wait to export the gas when prices rise in other places, in Asia for example.
Janos said: “No since the on the down slope the oil is too deep to get out efficiently and with a profit.”
Janos, Hubbert’s Peak is a bell curve. Bell curves have a downside. Production does not stop when peak is achieved. Peak was thought to have been achieved in the USA in the early 1970s. So, according to what you are saying we should have hit the EROEI wall 40 years ago. Yet for 40 years we have continued extraction on the downside. I think you are forgetting about technological advance. Contrary to Hubbert’s peak theory, EROEI has not yet been reached because recent advances in extraction technology have meant continued extraction is both possible and profitable … on the downside … for 40 years after reaching peak. Hope that clears it up for you. Pretty elementary.
For those of you who are more visual, here is a chart of Hubbert’s Peak.
Note production from 1949 to 1969 equals production on the down slope from 1969 to 1989, proving my assertion that production continues on the down slope of the bell curve. In those 20 year periods before peak and after peak the production level is about equal. No EROEI bogey man stopped production when peak was reached.
There is correlation of oil production with rock music quality.
No causal relationship is asserted.
http://www.overthinkingit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/rs-500-us-oil-production1.jpg
P2C, Conspiracy Theorists, with their crank manifestos and crazy ravings, most of which involve the CIA, Israel, Republicans, and the US Govt. itself, never were welcome here. JHK has made that clear many, many times.
They appear anyway; peak oil theory seems to attract them, along with the America haters, a division of the ‘Blame America (and Israel) for everything” crowd. I read what they have to say and just blow it off.
Sometimes I get a good laugh out of it. That’s where I disagree with JHK. Let them say what they want, for entertainment value if for nothing else. But its his site.
From ‘1913, In Search of the World before The Great War’, Charles Emmerson, 2013:
“The United States Geological Survey reported that (in 1913)
the United States being omitted, California produced more oil than any other nation; and if Russia and the US are omitted California far surpasses the production of all the rest of the world, including Mexico, India, Rumania, Galicia, Japan and SAmerica”.
Then there’s this, (in 1913)
‘The Economist’ reported that ‘the associated automobiles clubs of the world have decided to offer a prize of $20,000 to anyone who will produce a suitable substitute for petroleum.’
So it seems fretting about petroleum is not new.
–BRH
Game set and match
Check out the whole thing and look over the urls embedded.
Quotes from interview Paul Craig Roberts posted yesterday re Ukraine and the US plans to take control over part of the Black Sea.
US Abandoned International Law, Follows The Law Of The Jungle Willy Wimmer…
where he posts an interview between Willy Wimmer and RT:
Willy Wimmer …[is what this well-informed member of the European Establishment]
[Western powers are following an agenda to partition the map of the European region under which a portion of the Black Sea territory will be under US domination, former vice president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Willy Wimmer, told RT.]
…[top leadership of the US State Department, they made a proposal to draw a line between Riga on the Baltic Sea, Odessa on the Black Sea, and Diyarbakir. All the territories west of this line should be under US domination, and the territories east of this line – they might be the Russian Federation or somebody else. That was the proposal – and when we see developments since then, I think it’s like a schedule which had been presented to the conference participants; everything happens exactly as it was on the timetable in Bratislava.]…
……[RT: Why is the legality then not being questioned and indeed the nationalist, the extremist element within the Kiev government?WW: Because these new Nazis are our ‘good Nazis’ now and this is disastrous for all of Europe.]
These plans were made during Clinton’s time. Yes, I keep saying that each POTUS moves in accordance with “Deep State” agendas.
So here it is, American leadership, including the military, have well and truly taken leave of their senses.
Martin Dempsey, according to some on-line news sources, said that the US is ready to back up the Ukraine and Euro allies with military actions. This way is madness. More evidence that nobody ever bloody learns.
It’s stupid when you don’t learn from your own mistakes. It’s twice as stupid when you don’t learn from the mistakes of others. Especially given that these lessons come to you free of charge. Like what happened to other powers when they went blundering into Russia?
So what has Dempsey accomplished here? Does he think the Russkis are quaking in their boots? Does he think he’s weakened Putin?
What is the US prepared to do exactly? Send a few jets and ships on a promenade? Are they prepared to confront young men defending their home turf and their national honor and this time with a whole lot more than just rudimentary weapons and improvised bombs?
This was a gift to Putin and his cronies. I’ll bet they’re rubbing their hands in glee, lifing a glass to Obama and his idiots in the Pentagon.
There’s no morale lifter like an outside threat. A societal mission it is, it gives Russian men a focus and reason to live and gets them off the vodka. Fight, fight, fight for Mother Russia. After the Russian propaganda machine gets done with this I can imagine 18 year olds picturing themselves in Cossack uniforms. Nothing like trumpets, drums and flags to perk up bored and aimless youngsters.
Like other figures in history, Obama and Dempsey will learn the hard way all about Ivan.
Volodya said: “Martin Dempsey, according to some on-line news sources, said that the US is ready to back up the Ukraine and Euro allies with military actions. This way is madness. More evidence that nobody ever bloody learns.”
Whoa! You are jumping to conclusions. Nobody is talking about military action against Russia. It is not just Dempsey and Obama talking, and they are not talking about boots on the ground against Russia.
Military threat (nationalism) is obsolete. We are in the globalized 21st century now. Dempsey and Obama are not talking alone. They are supported by the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, along with the European Council and the European Commission. They are speaking with one voice. And their combined economic might can crush Russia … nonviolently … without firing a single shot. They are not making idle threats against Putin. They CAN and will bring Putin’s economy down if he persists with his macho schoolboy antics. The no-insignia “non-Russian” paramilitary forces (if you believe Putin on that, I have a bridge to sell you) are on a fool’s errand (one which further weakens Russia economically). No way is Ukraine going to become a soviet satellite again. The sooner Putin learns this, the better.
I think if they could “weaken Russia economically” they would do it long time ago. I have no doubt they did try.
It would be without billions of our tax money going to support these “peaceful protesters” with molotov cocktail. I wish our government works on resolving internal issues. 5 billion spent on coup in Ukraine and precious little to show for it there and here.
Oh! I see how it works now… if you are a newly-installed satrap of “duh west” and things aren’t looking too healthy for your future prospects of “rulery”, then you quick load up all your bullion and your butt and head for the friendly climes of the good ol’ tough guys in the u.s. of a. What’s “Our Man Yats” doing here, instead of taking care of serious bid’ness in Ukraine? Huh, strange that.
…Then suddenly your National Press Club speech gets a sudden cancellation… oh well, time to golf, big Bear invasion be damned.
Yap, yap, yap, but Yugoslavian precedent will now come around to bite, and bite again. Rhetorical FAIL, yap away.
Wait a minute, Oz. It was the Russian installed satrap, Victor Yanukovich, who decamped not west, but east, into Russia, and before he left he confiscated the bullion, in fact the entire treasury for real.
There aren’t too many good guys in the whole situation.
–BRH
Well, we all hear different rumors; latest I heard was the Ukie bullion was suddenly ensconced in the NY Fed…
And what about all that self-determination shit? Early elections in May, if you’ll recall — then a sudden suspension of all that due to the meddling of the state dept. What about all that? Now Obama wants the Crimean referendum stopped! (I told you this is Yugoslavia coming around to bite, and bite hard; ah, the sins of the fathers’, or your preceding political deciderers. In this shaky case, Clinton.)
Of course you’re right; this is not about any good guys whatsoever, this is about who has the most solid backups and the smarts and geopolitical gamesmanship to employ them. Who might that be, hmm? Recall two missiles, fired from US destroyers that never made it into Syria if you will. Plus, as we’ve seen time after time, wars are not about who’s good or bad, they’re about attrition and other nice euphemisms for mass slaughter.
(Another case for stopping with all the pretending. Bluster and bluff will come to naught in this.)
Hey, wait a minute! Sorry, BRH, I have to apologize for veering off-topic.
This little kerfuffle in Ukraine is no longer in the media, so I’d guess it’s no longer any of us little people’s concern. The state dept. and joint chiefs will handle everything so we can kick back and relax…….. right? ;o)
ajmuste, Volodya was a bit emotional, but frankly neither US nor EU has it what it takes to take on Russia in its own back yard. Neither military nor economically. US is but a shell of former itself.
Times changed. Russia has resources that everybody wants. and resources is a real wealth not GDP which mostly consists of service industry.
are you implying that taking in each others laundry, foodstamps and section 8 vouchers, looking at pixels on a screen, marketing cell phones, slinging burgers, making pizzas, oil changes, bagging groceries and serving drinks doesn’t create as much wealth as harvesting grain, mining iron, pumping petroleum and natural gas out of the ground, driving cattle, making steel, raising wheat and corn, manufacturing tanks by the thousands???You better think again.
So hearing a story on NPR today about the Alberta tar sands I learned that it takes 2 tons of the sand to get one barrel of oil. Granted, 2 tons of heavy sand is a relatively small amount, probably the amount that could fit into the bed of a full-size pickup truck, but how could there possibly be a positive EROEI on that? I imagine EVERYTHING, all of the cost, that goes into getting that sand out of the ground and then the arduous process of extracting crude oil from it and I just can’t see the money in it? And then there are all of the costs associated with it that are not immediately measurable, such as the environmental degradation to the air, water and land. It seems to me like the exploits of a society grasping for straws to keep feeding its addiction. Sad.
Chikot, the recent trend has been toward reconciliation and trade with Russia … until now, thanks to Putin’s blundering moves. But what can you expect from a hapless KGB guy?
The USA and EU have yet to begin to seriously apply sanctions. They are hoping Putin will come to his senses, though Merkel might be right that Putin is in another world, kind of out of touch with certain economic realities. Of course, economic sanctions will hurt both sides. But if you look at the numbers, Russia has 15 percent of its G.D.P. depending on trade with Europe, Europe only 1 percent. That means that the reliance on a functioning business relationship with Europe is much, much bigger in Russia. Russia will be the biggest loser, thanks to Mr. KGB Putin.
Sorry but those were blunders on EU and US side. They should not have meddled in Ukraine affairs. Without their intervention there would not be any moves by Putin. You need to understand that Ukraine is Russia’s red line. Crimea always was Russian after it was taken from Turks in 18th century. I was born in Ukraine and lived there before leaving so I have some understanding of what’s going on. The country is by all means a failed state now. Putin is doing what he has to do in current situation.
Regarding sanctions. They will not make much damage to Russia and US can suffer very serious damage especially considering creating vast space form Baltic to Pacific which is mildly not very friendly towards US. it includes both Russia and China. it is extremely dumb move son US part. BTW, I have been reading Russians are talking about their own measures which can hit US where it hurts the most. Like USD reserve currency status and some other measures that can hurt US. The best US can do is just pretend nothing is going on. For her own good.
“To sum up, I have no wish to see “society” continue on its’ present suicidal course of exploiting every and all things that come within our greedy grasp. If you’ll notice, this is what the happy-talkers actually propose!! MORE of what we’re already doing will fix everything; how insane is that, I ask you? (That’s why I find it so distasteful and, at its’ root, unexamined and simply foolhardy. As the evidence provides, a recipe for self-made, foregone disaster and violent collapse.)” – O3 –
Nice post, ozone. I excerpted my favorite part, but the whole thing is pretty good. Now we’ve got the “happy talkers” arguing that Russia will be forced to knuckle under to economic pressure.
First question – why do such people even CARE what happens in Ukraine? It can’t be desire for US hegemony – since our happy talkers generally are opposed to such. It must be a desire for cultural destruction and unlimited EU-style immigration of the world’s peoples into Ukraine. That certainly motivates our resident happy talker, anyway.
Second question – what sort of bizarre mindset leads one to think that “economic sanctions” leading to “slower economic growth” is something that will make Putin and his Russians quail in fear as they run screaming from the Crimea.
Worship of “economic growth” is an European, and especially an American, fetish. I’ll be glad when this fetish dies. And it will.
I’ll be danged. I’m at the top of the second page.
Thorium power is an unworkable pipe dream.
There is a limit to the number of people we can love.
Russians launched BN-800 type fast breeder reactor in Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station (Yekaterinburg, Urals) that works on Thorium or U-238 (even more common than Thorium).
All that Dmitry Orlov’ style hysteria that we are running out of cheap energy is just for selling books to lovers of doom-porn, we have more cheap energy that we could consume.
Just don’t fall for Internet PsyOps regarding Thorium automobiles and do your homework.
Prog,
“First question – why do such people even CARE what happens in Ukraine? It can’t be desire for US hegemony – since our happy talkers generally are opposed to such. It must be a desire for cultural destruction and unlimited EU-style immigration of the world’s peoples into Ukraine. That certainly motivates our resident happy talker, anyway.”
IMHO, this is an extension of the [unsubstantiated] belief that total globalism and a slavish dependence on a huge “big daddy” centralized bureaucracy will lift all barges and bring the best possible outcome for all peoples. I see it as simply lazy (and lazy-minded) bargaining for more of something for nothing. IOW, it’s a dangerous psychological construct to be absolved of both responsibility to do the work of contraction and blame for bad outcomes from continued BAU (anonymity in the milling herd).
##############################
“Second question – what sort of bizarre mindset leads one to think that “economic sanctions” leading to “slower economic growth” is something that will make Putin and his Russians quail in fear as they run screaming from the Crimea?”
a.) The Russians are holding the winning hand in this particular poker game… and KNOW it. No amount of bluffing and posturing will change who rakes in the pot. All they need do is keep raising until their opponents stakes have dwindled to nothing. How much of the remaining stakes will our “leaders” push into the center of the table before finally folding is the only question.
Here’s a nasty little factor in this game of strictly bluff; the neo-cons haven’t gone anywhere “away”, they’ve just been biding their time in undisclosed locations and think-tank lairs. These are but one cadre belonging to the current confederation of dunces, and are the most likely to go “all in”.:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37952.htm
b.) See Deblonay’s post below on what the upshots of these “crippling sanctions” might possibly be.
c.) We should wonder what the EU heads have been promised/threatened with to mouth Washington’s lines in this regard! Now that would be instructive.
d.) As you’ve mentioned Greer’s ADR, I think the most important aspect of this week’s essay is the psychological hoops that those who do not wish to lose their kingly lifestyles are willing to jump through to support their denial that anything has to change. (I think it fairly easy to assume they won’t survive the vicissitudes of the “crocodiles of reality”… and if they should, it will be as willing, groveling slaves, endlessly hoping for a better position/status in the slave strata.)
Also (just for a bit of “re-focus”) listen to JHK’s podcast with Charles Hugh Smith and also read JHK’s short essay posted to the Chris Martenson blog. This is reality-based speculation that I consider most productive. (Front page of kunstler.com)
“The USA and EU have yet to begin to seriously apply sanctions.”
There will be NO real sanctions, there will be a war or US and EU will have to swallow it, and I doubt that US has any stomach to start a shooting war with Russia just right now.
But, if there are still enough KGB agents in US Congress and they will manage to make Russia a favor and isolate Russia from parasitical US banking system, that would be a real riot for Russians and Chinese so they would finally be able to dump US “evergreen” paper and start trading in rubles and yuans or, perhaps, in some new trade notes backed by gold on net settlement basis.
Go ahead, make Putin’s day
Exactly Be. Nazis and Al Qaeda are “good” if they are ours. And Conservatives often think that Obama is worse than Clinton, but in fact, it’s just later in the process. He builds upon what Clinton did – just as Hillary will build upon what Obama had done.
The Nazis might be good if they are able to shoulder the Internationalists aside. As it is right now, they are just being used.
Re: Ukraine
Follow the money.
Putin is putting Russia’s central bank in danger, and Putin is risking a banking system collapse. Capital flight is already happening in record numbers. When the rich of the Russian oligarchy feel their well being is being threatened by Putin … well, buh bye Putin. Assassination.
Analysts are worried that should economic sanctions materalise or the regional conflict broaden, a major economic crisis could emerge, leaving the central bank with few options but to focus on financial stability at the expense of other goals. “Then, it will be important to keep the banking system from collapsing and the population and firms from hurrying to withdraw their funds,” ING’s Polevoy said. “In such a situation hardly anyone will think about inflation at the end of the year, or how to save face as a regulator, or the trustworthiness that the central bank has gradually earned.”
They will be thinking about how to rid Russia of Putin. Obama will bring them to that point rather quickly once the screws begin to tighten on Putin.
Russia’s plans to increase its energy hold over Europe through new gas pipelines, including one that is a pet project of President Vladimir Putin, could be the latest casualty in the fallout over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
The top energy official of the European Union, Gunther Oettinger, said that due to the situation in Ukraine, the E.U. will hit the brakes on further negotiations to bring the planned South Stream pipeline into compliance with E.U. regulations. Conversations over the pipeline “will be delayed,” the E.U. energy commissioner told German newspaper Die Welt.
That veiled threat comes at the same time that European officials are pushing back against Russian plans to get greater access to other gas pipelines that reach into the heart of Europe, such the Baltic Sea link known as OPAL. The European Commission was meant to have finalized negotiations over increased Russian access to the pipeline by Monday.
And so Putin’s death by a thousand cuts begins. Putin is going to be in a world of hurt soon. And not one USA or NATO soldier will die to accomplish Putin’s inevitable demise.
“Putin is going to be in a world of hurt soon.”
Is he now? Just like during August 2008 Georgia war over South Ossetia when then-president Mikheil Saakashvili with blessing of his Washington puppet-masters shelled positions of Russian peacekeepers provoking Mama Russia to advance her troops.
Was lots of talk similar to what we hear now, no action.
Besides a substantial portion of US budget is comprised from the contributions Russia pays through corrupt petrodollar system. Putin just waits for excuse to dump it.
“Conversations over the pipeline “will be delayed,” the E.U. energy commissioner told German newspaper Die Welt.”
Yeah, yeah… What they’re going to do? Buy non-existent US shale gas from non-existing terminals? And freeze their pinky euro-asses of during the next winter?
Besides, China would gladly buy all that Russian Oil and Gas and resell it on Hong Kong energy market for yuans,
You said it, FTM. That natural gas and petroleum piped into Europe could easily be diverted to China, who would gladly buy all they could get, leaving Europeans, quite literally, out in the cold.
Ajmuste, dude, give it up. All the happy talk is placing you in Scroll Over Territory.
–BRH
In the cold??? freakin” 10 degrees F here Almost the middle of March and I still have a foot of snow on the ground.. WTF?? We’ve had late storms before but I don’t remember snow on the ground like this.
Ya, and the 40mph wind brings temp. down to about 0.
rip, whats with all the house fires in Springfield, Hartford, New Haven etc? Not a day goes by somebody getting burned up, often whole families.Those section 8 condo projects are like tinderboxes. What’s the deal? Aren’t there fire codes?
–BRH
Yo BRH, the city of homes,the SFD AKA the Springfield FD catches fires up the yazoo .It is a lot of work. The younger guys in my “Former Dept” wish for more fires so as to get experience. I don’t know about you but if you have ever seen a good house fire, people lose everything,.Cloths, pictures, everything in their life. It is a tragic.
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-transgender-troop-ban-faces-scrutiny-120113921.html
Take that you Bigot. It is the last stroke of doom. I love it! I’m all over the place – my mind is in dissolution. I stand undismayed before a thousand universes. Is it the Universal Form? Jimi Hendrix went to Hell for that album cover.
“Ajmuste, dude, give it up. ” — BRH
OK, BRH.
CFN=KGB+ODS
ADIOS
Does that mean you’re not coming back?
So according to the WSJ this fine morning Putin’s approval rating in Russia is at 71.6%, a three year high. Interfax says the same thing. This is on the heels of all the goings on in the Ukraine and Crimea.
Another neat thing, depending on which source you read there’s either 10,000 or 80,0000 or 150,000 Russian troops massing on the border with Ukraine. Plus hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks.
Now, in situations like this, there’s a lot of mis-information swirling, some of it deliberately spread, some of it not. I doubt the Russkis will be too forthcoming about the real number or what their real intent is, even if you ask nicely, naturally prefering to keep everyone wondering.
But, if Dempsey’s blustering about military action was supposed to frighten the Russkis or weaken Putin’s position, it apparently didn’t.
No matter, regardless of actual numbers, I would urge the big heads in the US and the EU to think things through very carefully before they open their holes. Simply because the Russkis have shown they don’t give a shit about casualties, military or civilian. Over and over they’ve proven this. No better predictor of future behavior than past behavior.
US leadership – ie Obama, Biden, Kerry – is real good at chin wagging. If you like your policy you can keep your policy, “red lines” etc. Not that they would listen to me but a more useful skill is to STFU.
Big talk about red lines in Syria proved to be a real embarrassment.
More embarrassing still will be threats of military action against Russia. The US doesn’t have the national will for more than symbolic action. Nobody is fooled.
Least of all the Iranians. Loud-talk-no-action has consequences. The beards there take the measure of the men in the White House and Pentagon.
So again, to Mr Obama and Mr Kerry, don’t make things worse by, what’s the vernacular “talking out your ass” or is it “talking through your hat”? Better to shut up.
Ya Putin will be sh-tting in his pants when he finds out the US is planning on enlisting tranvestites into the Army. His tanks are probably turning around as I type this.
The latest news, tho, is that tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks are massing on the Ukraine Russia border. I don’t know, maybe Obama’s New Model American Army (primarily ladies, Trangenders and homosexuals) doesn’t really impress him much. I can’t understand why that would be.
–BRH
JHK’s reference to incompetence in his post strikes a chord here: Thank God we have Obama in the White House and Kerry at State. If Romney had won the world would likely be a burning cinder by now.
It is reported that Dempsey has supported the Ukraine by sending over MRE’s.
Wanna bet they are beyond expiration date? Or no, they are supposed to send the expired meals but they’ll send the most recent. The quartermaster will receive a promotion.
I will miss AJ’s purity. A genuine True Believer.
Catching up… re Hancock and Conspiracy Theory: Gore Vidal is said to have replied when accused of conspiracy theorism – “I am not a conspiracy theorist, but a conspiracy analyst!” Despite the claim we hear often that The State is so bureaucratic and therefore so incompetent that it cannot tie its shoes, sometimes things smell, sometimes a cigar is not just a cigar.
The photographic evidence of Kraft International is fact, provided by the same security-type cameras the FBI relied upon when, requesting public assistance, said “no, not there! Not those guys. Look here! Those are the bad guys!” (It could be that the FBI did not have the same intelligence that the CIA is reputed to have had regarding the Tsarnaev brothers – hence, the Bureaucratic Incompetence Theory explanation.)
The reported observations of the University of Mobile Track Coach are fact.
The FBI murder in Orlando of the Tsarnaev acquaintance is fact. Maybe this got more play in Florida, but it smells most of all.
The shutdown of suburban Boston by para-military police pointing weapons at folks looking out their windows is fact. Ironically, Incompetence Theory was again on display as the unarmed Tsarnaev brother who had somehow evaded this mighty show of force hid outside the military perimeter – perhaps proving there is still hope for the individual against The State. As for the inhabitants of the affected area who chanted USA! USA! following apprehension of the suspect, they might as well have bent over and exposed bare haunches while chanting NSA! NSA! Speaking of which, since the NSA knows everything, how could this possibly have occurred in the first place? More Incompetence Theory?
Or maybe they should have chanted CIA! CIA! Whether the elder Tsarnaev was on the CIA payroll is not so far as I know in the fact category. It was reported the Russians warned the US about the brothers messing about in Chechnya. Is this fact?
Something smells here. Maybe it’s just cigar smoke.
Janos/ Vlad your a smart dude. Smarter than me that’s for sure. I hope you were not referring to me in your recent post. 3/13/14 3:00pm I am not a bigot!! I am a lover of all people!! Sheet I have been caring for strangers for 33 years.
Just another comment for F$$ks Sake. Nobody wants a 60 year old FF trying to pull there ass down the stairs and out the door. It is a young mans job. I loved it when I was was 25. I’m too old for that shit. Hell I’ll run the engine all day but I’m not up to entry now a days. We got guys in the gym that eat that shit for breakfast
Hi Stel. No I was just joking with BRH. Would you do mouth to mouth on a bum (male or female) if you didn’t have an intermediary device? St Francis licked the sore of lepers.
Yeah, backrow –
Maybe I overreacted a little in defense of Hancock. A little. So, sorry about that JHK.
But I don’t understand. Hancock is a very intelligent guy with a background in biology. He’s a good writer and thinker. He and I had some very good discussions on here – changed both of our minds about some things; which is the whole fscking point of discussion. Had it not been for Hancock and a couple of others – on this discussion thread – I never would have known that conspiracy theorists could really exist as intelligent and thoughtful individuals.
I suspect that we now have sociopathic leaders – because such people have always existed, and have always risen to command their societies. This mattered less when we all lived in tribal bands of 200 individuals. And I suspect that the sociopaths were held in check by the paranoid and the conspiracy minded. Which was easier to accomplish when there really WAS a saber-toothed tiger behind the rocks.
But now the cautious voices have been marginalized, and the sociopaths have glued the throttles to the firewall – as we all head for some probable disaster. As Janos said, “we bright-side everything in America.”
All of this is a roundabout way of saying I’ll miss Hancock’s specialized voice of doom – at this peak everything website.
On a happier note – this week’s piece by JHK has close to 25,000 views at ZeroHedge, and 5 or 6 pages of commentary. So the word does get out.
I don’t know that I’d characterize our leaders as sociopathic. The President, my local mayor and state governor, even guys like Kerry and Boehner – these are all good and decent men. They are simply over their heads.
When the overall fabric of the economy and culture is sound, leaders have the luxury of planning and acting on the grand scale. This is true of individuals as well. But when society starts collapsing, more immediate needs come to the fore: the next election, the next stockholders meeting, the next quarterly bottom-line. the next pay check, the next food stamp allotment, the next meal, the next drink, the next fix, etc…
This myopic focus on the here-and-now creates a condition that I’ll dub ‘mock-sociopathy’. This response can best be seen in alcoholics and drug addicts, but its self-serving manifestations can extend deep into the core of society.
Nichole Foss (NTBM) writes about the “receding trust horizon” that occurs when times get tough. This phenomenon may be caused, at least in part, by a ‘receding ability horizon’. This is what our bedraggled leaders are up against…as are we all.
So in other words, the individuals aren’t sociopathic, they just act as if they were. In order to get ahead in a sociopathic society, you have to act like you were one too. So how is that different than being a sociopath? Being a sociopath is genetic and acting like one is a choice? Isn’t that worse in a way?
Kennedy knew he was selling America down the river by opening the borders. And Boehner knows the Amnesty will change America into a One Party Third World State. He is going ahead with it just as Kennedy did. Decent people have been far too muddled and slow to react – like the guy who had to struggle to admit that a million Somali Muslims aren’t good for Sweden. I salute him – most Liberals still haven’t come to this kind of realization. But the fact that he had to struggle mightily shows the depth of the programming. Most people don’t care to struggle and so they aren’t going to wake up anytime soon. The Sociopaths got control of our Media and School System a long time ago and they programmed the population – the “well educated” population – to be zombies. The clearest people are often the least educated now days. Allan Ginsburg yelled out to the cop, “We’ll get your children.” And he was right, they did.
Janos,
In answer to your first paragraph: a society cannot be sociopathic, it can only be dysfunctional. But, yes, dysfunctional societies are breeding grounds for mock-sociopathic responses. Strictly speaking, sociopathy is understood to be a character disorder affecting certain predisposed individuals regardless of their circumstances.
I don’t fully understand your second paragraph – it seems well stated but I’m not sure of what to make of it. I’ll simply relate that, back in 1967, I attended a poetry reading given by Allan Ginsburg at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Ginsburg was entertaining, but a little scary – a bit too paranoid for my taste – his work (‘Howl’ was the featured piece) a tad over the top. Sarah Palin elicits a similar negative feeling in me.
I think Hancock, or any of us, potentially cross the line when we indulge in speculation rather than fact. The comments about the hospitals and the ethnicity of the doctors fall into this category – unless documentary evidence can be produced which supports the thesis. The Kraft International personnel captured on camera were inadvertently produced by crowd-sourced sleuthing in response to requests for public help from law enforcement. LE said “look for folks with backpacks” and dang if they weren’t here and there in the field of view. The FBI subsequently derided the crowd-sourcing. I would veer into speculation if I claimed that the FBI knew who they were looking for all along and their on-again off-again press conferences were a response to a rapidly-developing situation over which they had lost control. Likewise I would veer into speculation if I claimed the behavior of the Tsarnaev brothers after the bombing (that is, not leaving town) was not indicative of folks who are guilty of something; it was at the least very odd.
But the theory of Bureaucratic Incompetence is also a speculation. Personally I think the “dedicated professionals” who run the Deep State agencies are quite capable of planning and executing an event such as the Boston bombing for reasons only they know. They likely thanked the keystone cops for their incompetent manhunt. Great cover, especially if unscripted.
“The reported observations of the University of Mobile Track Coach are fact.
The FBI murder in Orlando of the Tsarnaev acquaintance is fact. Maybe this got more play in Florida, but it smells most of all.
The shutdown of suburban Boston by para-military police pointing weapons at folks looking out their windows is fact. Ironically, Incompetence Theory….” – florida power –
Nice post, FP. And – – to let me attempt to stay under JHK’s radar concerning conspiracy – there is zero doubt that the government knows things that are never allowed into public discussion. Kinda like 9/11 – where 19 Saudis attacked with box cutters; followed by BushII spiriting many highly placed Saudis out of the country; followed by our immediate attack on Saudi Arabia. (oops, I mean Afghanistan and Iraq.)
So, I’ll add the desire of sociopathic leadership to do what THEY want to do – to your idea of “Incompetence Theory,” as I search for some sort of benign explanation for hideous and inexplicable occurrences.
I’ll add one more thing, that goes to the Florida shooting you referenced. Some of today’s law enforcement procedures and training and down-right scary.
And I come from an extended family of cops; and I count a couple of LEO’s among my very close, personal friends.
But some of these (mostly younger) guys cannot get outside of their training. And many of them were trained for our wars in Whereeverthehellistan, and have brought that training home. And some of these guys are getting pretty far up the chain of command. Which may explain the overreach in Boston, to some extent.
Here’s an oblique example – followup on a tragedy that hit the news this morning:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/03/13/watch-dash-cam-video-shows-sc-deputy-sobbing-after-shooting-70-year-old-veteran-who-was
Oh c’mon, he did what he had to do. That cane might have been a gun. The Deputy saw it as a gun and reacted. You would have done the same thing if you were him. To be a cop now you have to be or pretend to be a sociopath in order to get along with the other cops. PTSD helps with this since it takes away the existential choice.
The weeping is unfortunate and just shows his training isn’t perfect and he is still part human. He has to be reminded that nothing is more important than his safety – and that the public are just scum anyway. He works for the State, not the scum.
The incompetence theory is a canard—Through these debacles, some are making money hand-over-fist. It’s a criminal system that works for the top eschelon.
Let’s just say it’s a raging success for them, why should they ever stop?
The real war is the one where the globalists can turn modern nation states into privatized, securitized colonies of the transnationals and banks. Oh, notice that BP is back in the Gulf of Mexico.
Of course they use the military might, and hire their private contractors to nation-build. But then they smash the public sector—that’s the people and the social contract with them. Its all about the money/power—and some would kill many for it.
Listening to Ted X lecture by William K. Black who wrote the book, “The best way to Rob a Bank is to Own a Bank.
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/category/william-k-black
Just how powerful are these bank, Ibendet? My God, they can’t even get jose in East Hartford, and tens of thousands of other joses, joes and freds to pay their $1000 per month mortgage on time, or at all. What kind of power is that?
Also, being in NYC, where do you come down in the charter school matter?
–BRH
BP, formerly the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, needs to be in the Gulf of Mexico. They’re the biggest player in those undersea oilfields. If BP doesn’t get that oil out of there and bring it to market, nobody else will.
–BRH
If the government spent money on mass transit infrastructure, it would greatly help most Americans financially by allowing them to get away from car dependency.
“The average median-income household can no longer afford to purchase the “average-priced” new car or truck in 24 of the country’s 25 largest metro areas, according to a new study by the financial website Interest.com. The exception is Washington, D.C., according to the study, which also found that in 16 cities, median family incomes fell at least $10,000 short of what it would take to buy the typical new vehicle.”
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/average-american-can-no-longer-afford-%E2%80%9Caverage-priced%E2%80%9D-new-car-or-truck–and-why-it-s-getting-worse-013001053.html
Zuck called Obama to complain and apparently didn’t get anywhere. Everyone gets the red pill in a different way and time. But I’m amazed one can rise so high and not know. But he is very young and WAS an ardent Obama supporter. IT is unique in its quick path to the heights. His complaint was based on the work of Snowden, the gift that just keeps on giving. Betrayal of Rogues is virtuous. Obedience to them is non-virtuous.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/13/technology/security/mark-zuckerberg-nsa/index.html
I heard a pretty compelling case that this is just PR on Zuckerberg’s part. That, and a search for plausible deniability.
Remember that Facebook makes its money mining data.
And that Government actions may damage their bottom line.
Just to throw this out there, what the hell happened to that 777?
–BRH
“Oh c’mon, he did what he had to do. That cane might have been a gun. The Deputy saw it as a gun and reacted. You would have done the same thing if you were him.” – janos –
Yeah. Maybe. Possibly.
It would come down to instinct, perception, and training. I see both sides of this one. But – I hope I’d never shoot an old man armed only with a cane. Just like I’d hope to never shoot a pregnant woman armed with a umbrella. I think they need to look at their training.
One of our deputies up here shot a woman on her front porch about a year ago now. She was out there already armed with her shotgun when he pulled up. His dashboard cam shows him yelling at her “DROP THE GUN – PUT THE GUN DOWN, etc” over 20 times.
She finally brings up the weapon toward him, at which point he fires once, killing her.
To me – I’d rather see LEO’s react more like this second guy. It’s civilian law enforcement. Training should reflect this; first, last, and always.
Unfortunately – this seems to be becoming less and less the case.
Take Boston. Please.
I was being sarcastic. I hoped that by saying “if you were him, you’d do the same thing” – which is a nonsensical statement since it is true by definition – would be enough to tip you off. Alas not. Of course the officer was wrong to the point of insanity. He’s hallucinating on the job.
Check this out: on the occasion of Tom Hayden’s son’s marriage to a Black Woman, he said he was happy since he wanted to see the disappearance of the White Race. They are seldom so open about it. Now how did this creep into Socialism/Communism which is supposed to be all scientific and all? If “Whiteness” means power, that’s was only true in a relative sense, in a certain time and culture. Not intrinsically and absolutely. They’ve made it into an absolute principle for all times – which is irrational. Much more like a tenet of a Religion in fact. Do you think Kdog, Zip, or Ozone has any problem with this? I don’t. They’ll just express outrage that it is brought to light.
http://ozconservative.blogspot.com/2011/06/tom-haydens-wedding-speech.html
“I don’t know that I’d characterize our leaders as sociopathic. The President, my local mayor and state governor, even guys like Kerry and Boehner – these are all good and decent men. They are simply over their heads.” – gk –
Interesting. I’d counter that it’s a continuum – with stone cold sociopaths at one end and decent men in over their heads at the other. Unfortunately – people in power may be able to slide back and forth on the continuum as the need arises.
I’ll have to think about this one.
A poster named derv left this about sociopathy @ ADR.
“….to impoverish others for my gain. The US has been doing this for a good long while, as you’ve repeatedly pointed out. But the second is to get rid of the other guy, who in this case is a few billion extra people.
I’m not saying I think that this will happen, mind you, but only that it’s an alternative that must come to mind among some of our grand leaders, many of whom are unburdened by the silly notion of conscience. See, for instance, overthrowing a legitimately-elected government to install one run by neo-nazis, or funneling billions into the hands and guns of al-qaeda. That’s just in the last year.
Your view assumes that we’re all in this together. A person with no conscience, a great deal of power, and a number of opportunities to see his guy win out in a zero sum game is a dangerous thing. We may well be seeing the beginning of the new resource wars and the inevitable dissolution of globalism right now.
When there isn’t enough bread for every starving peasant in the line, people don’t agree to go with half a loaf. They storm the trucks and beat each other up. Moreover it gives the IDEAL cover for economic crises (our economy would be fine if the dang *insert ethnic slur*s hadn’t decided they hate freedom!). I don’t like it, but such is the real world. That’s a mess even harder to predict, but I think now more than ever it deserves some thoughtful consideration.
A bomb here, a nuke there, and pretty soon you’re talking real surpluses again.” – derv –
P2C, a slew of books are appearing right now about WW!, and more interestingly, the years leading up to WW1.
All the great personages of that era, the billionaires, world leaders, generals, authors, kings, prime ministers, artists, philosophers, important then, forgotten now. For example, JP Morgan was perhaps the richest man in the world at the turn of the last century. He was from Hartford, CT, and when he died in Rome in 1913 he was brought back to America and buried in Hartford. I went looking for his grave; it was quite impressive, but it was located in a relatively untended cemetery in the middle of a dangerous ghetto.
The world really was wrecked in 1914, and it has never really been put back together.
Most importantly, then, and I suspect now, politicians do not control events; history has a will and a life of its own. Events control politicians. –BRH
Wow, a slew of WW1 books – about 50 years after *they’re* all *DEAD* – curious, *INDEED*. Hell, a WW2 book *total-SLEW* would be just about the same (I.E. no verification of facts [a couple of *them* still alive from WWII, tho])…
What I want to know, is how airplane GPS are disable-able? I mean – why would you ever turn off the airplane GPS? I know GPS might result in altitude *ISSUES* – but let’s be frank, there’s not a single airliner out there without a GPS installed (toggle-able?)…
TOTAL DISTRACTION. What’s the real issue, they *MASK*?!? OZ might actually have an *answer*. I suspect it has something to do with the remaining *FERTILE* oil fields…
I used the term ‘mock sociopathy’ in a previous comment. Maybe ‘situational sociopathy’ would be more descriptive. You must pardon me; I have zero credentials in psychology, sociology or any related field. But I’m certain that sociopathy is a clinical designation and perhaps should not be tossed about so cavalierly. Still, I like your characterization of the sociopathic response existing within a continuum – I guess from the small self-serving fib to mass torture.
Though I don’t recall him making use of the word ‘sociopath’, Dimitry Orlov describes the situational variety to a ‘T’ in the latter chapters of his book, The Five Stages of Collapse. It’s a dense read but I recommend it. Orlov describes mankind as a social creature, fully at the mercy of cultural, social and economic circumstances. At the bottom line, self-preservation rules all.*
I will add two points: (1) I believe this ‘bottom line’ is fully subjective – the Hindu renunciant will find it at a different level than the corporate executive, in accordance with their own respective cultural presuppositions and personal dispositions. And (2) the clinical sociopath will find it anywhere he looks.
*nor am I a book reviewer.
We are in a world of hurt. Our insane policy to be the world’s police man has cost us more $$$ and lives than I can count. Now we are trying to control the world energy supply over OPEC because we are exceptional – god I hate that attitude! Thank you James for pointing out that this whole “fracking” charade is going belly up – hopefully before they start drilling the entire Hudson Valley!
When we use resources like water to create a bogus resource like gas and oil it is about the same thing as fattening chickens by feeding them steroids! The cost down the line will be greater than we realized but hey who gives a Fu$& since we are the nation of instant gratification. How will we save ourselves from ourselves?
Sanctions are a two edged sword
The Russians have made it clear that if hey are imposed on Russia there will be counter-effects
understand that theer will be a demand that Euro states all pay for their gas in GOLD bullion
Not great problem for them,,,except that means NO US DOOLLARS are used in these daiily transactions and the US dollar will fall. sharlyin value..on the markets….thus .pushing up the cost to all Americans of ALL IMPORTS usiong the now devalued currency
This will effect the cost of living very sharply on all imports,including oil
The second measure will be to take over ALL US busainesses that operate in Russia…McDonalds/Coke/ KFC/US banks…the whole lot ..and to run them… but with no profits to the US owners….OUCH
There are no Russian businesses which operate in the USA so the scheme will have no effects on the Russians
Few Russian have foreign currency or stock markets bonds/stocks
so attacks on the Russian Stock market will be no use
I understand that in recent days vast sums of money have been withdrawn from Euro banks by wealthy Russians(of which are many now)
The banks in Cyprus are much used by Russians and have had a run on them this week,so as to avoid any US Banking sanctions
So watch what happens…like so much else theUSA may well be caught flat-footed again
BTW The Russian money being taken out of Euro/US banks is being safely placed in the many Chinese banks which now operate in Russia…so easy?
why are our leaders so dumb to think that they are more clever than oter people and Govts
I suspect it is a US failing !
Here’s what JFK said to google this week.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-YhDnQKIGbE
Espionage has a lot to do with the questions about who is a “true” patriot.
I am not a patriot but that doesn’t make me a spy. If you are a patriot it doesn’t make you a spy. A spy is supposed to be nobody, unidentifiable and describes a one time act anyone is capable of at any time for any or no reason. Since the horror of sept 2001, everyone has been put on guard to be “aware” and “vigilant” of the deeper, invisible states. The recent disappearance of a 777 has put everything everybody thinks they know about international airline travel into question. If it’s not subzero temps, fuel prices or volcanic ash…it will terrorism that brings commercial aviation to a standstill. Time magazine had entire article about who the guy or guys behind the curtain canceling your flights. That’s powerful stuff.
Ukrainian gold reserves (40 sealed boxes) were loaded on an unidentified transport aircraft in Kiev’s Borispol airport on March 8, 2014. The board took off immediately.
A source in the Ukrainian government confirmed that the transfer of the gold reserves of Ukraine to the United States was ordered by the acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk.
I bet that Ukrainian gold would be safer in JPM volts than under the Kremlin.
I don’t know about you, but the story with Malaysian flight 370 has all makings of another giant PsyOp setup, just like 911, the Western intelligence is playing against clueless public. MM coverage is way over the board.
Recently came about U-tube video by that “useful idiot” Bill Still (the guy who thinks that technicalities of money system could actually change anything) – his “conspiracy theory” blames Iran.
Is our venerable establishment planning another provocation in the Middle East?
“IMHO, this is an extension of the [unsubstantiated] belief that total globalism and a slavish dependence on a huge “big daddy” centralized bureaucracy will lift all barges and bring the best possible outcome for all peoples.”
– ozone, on US support of non-Russian control of Crimea –
Thanks for the response, O3. I almost didn’t see it.* In fact, I wouldn’t have seen it had I not done a search for “”15,”” to find newer posts back in older sections of this week’s thread.*
And I agree with you, as regards the “happy talkers.” All they can see is US hegemony leading to destruction of all -other- nationalisms, leading to one-world government, leading to their version of nirvana. Maybe that’s what they see, maybe not.
Not going to matter – because it’s not gonna’ work out.
This NASA study hit the news recently. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists
*Note to JHK – consider this discussion thread a garden. You’ve done an admirable job of PRUNING away much of the unhelpful overgrowth and deadwood. But gardens take continuous work. The way your software threads responses, especially onto multiple pages – means that your posters can’t find each other – to develop the necessary layer of mulch to fertilize ideas – or something like that. If you even care what grows here, as long as it’s not overly theoretically conspiratorial in nature. haha!
Thanks for the week’s work, anyhow!
“I was being sarcastic. I hoped that by saying “if you were him, you’d do the same thing” – which is a nonsensical statement since it is true by definition – would be enough to tip you off. Alas not. Of course the officer was wrong to the point of insanity. He’s hallucinating on the job.” – janos –
Yeah, ok. Did you notice it the audio how the(white) officer who shot the old (white) man was immediately counseled by a (black) officer who told him, “You did what you had to do. You felt your life was in danger.” (This is an analysis of the accents on the tape, by my memory from one viewing – could be wrong.)
“You felt your life was in danger.” This is standard training, these days, – coaching if you will – for after incident verbal responses and testimony.
Non-law enforcement shooters are beginning to do the same thing.
BTW, that Oz link of yours to that Australian writer has some interesting ideas and commentary. Thanks!
OK, speaking of coincidences that look like conspiracies:
“If the 2016 presidential election were around the corner, a new poll would have good news for Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry and Mike Huckabee.”
Seriously, what are the odds that all these Repub front-runners would have initials “R” and “P” in their names? And when you add in the fact that Ron Paul is the father of Rand Paul, and that Rue Paul is a well-known transvestite comedian – – –
I find the whole situation pretty confusing. Looks like Mike Huckaby will face Somebody Clinton; since that’s the only name out of the whole bunch that is the least bit rememorable.
http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2014/03/16/rand-paul-2016-presidential-race-poll-ryan-perry/
“I used the term ‘mock sociopathy’ in a previous comment. Maybe ‘situational sociopathy’ would be more descriptive. You must pardon me; I have zero credentials in psychology, sociology or any related field.” – greg k –
Greg, I think we’re on to something here. And credentials may be a hindrance, since credentials enforce existing vocabulary usage – and what we need is a new word to describe some of our leadership. Let’s start with a standard definition:
“sociopath
noun
noun: sociopath; plural noun: sociopaths
1. a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.”
Our first problem is that most leadership, especially political leadership, is quite adroit at APPEARING to be pro-social; affable, likeable, and charismatic. Maybe even credentialed professionals would be mislead by surface characteristics such as these – even though they might mask an extreme “lack of conscience.”
My least favorite president lately has been George BushII. Was the man always a sociopath, or did he become one while in office. Or was he just an affable man that anyone “would want to have a beer with,” who just got a tiny little bit too much bad advice? (Read “Bush on the Couch,” for a more professional analysis.)
I don’t know. And any layperson’s answers to questions such as these will be colored by socioeconomic status and political inclinations. But, as the US slides into the future – examination of our leadership becomes more important; even as such examination becomes less and less likely.
BTW – I just tried to post the pronunciation of “sociopath” with embedded diacritical marks from an on-line dictionary. My post was 403’ed. If I were paranoid, I would have thought JHK was suddenly out to get me – or that he was being actively hacked by the NSA et al, to stop my TRUTH from getting out!!!!!!!!
But – It’s just the CFN blog software presets.
Carry on.
P4W,
If I were to take a stab at the question of sociopaths, I would say it simply doesn’t actually matter. It’s the way the group think goes.
It’s the system. A sweeping international system that destablizes, destroys and builds for privatized interests.
Once you use a combination of soft (fianncial/Neoliberal) and hard power (MIlitary/NeoConservtism) to achieve world hegemony you are no longer interested in running a country sanely. It’s all about the game of risk.–good luck to us all.
I remember hearing Justin A. Frank discussing his book during an interview, Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Although there are some interesting insights on how his family handled a death of one of his siblings and the drinking, I don’t think anything would have turned out differently if he were a perfectly well adjusted individual.
I see all our presidents as PR persons-Chief. I believe they are told what the next step is and what’s been planned to take place in their terms.
The Ukrainian coup was planned as far back as 1997. Bzig and Clinton. Remember Yugoslavia?
The entire gas pipeline system of the Ukraine will be handed over to Chevron for free, btw. The gas price doubles and the electricity will go up 40%. Gasoline 60%. Fares on transportation 50%. Healthcare will no longer be free—medicine.
Farmland–sold to foreigners and the Ukranians will be driven off the land. Get the picture?
Is Obama a sociopath? Is Bush a sociopath? Is Clinton a sociopath? Is anyone in the PODUS position one? I don’t think it matters.
Watch carefully what happens in the Ukraine. It’s the shock doctrine at work in real time.
Putin has acted with extreme restraint up to now. Maybe he’ll even let western Ukraine go to the West. But not Crimea and probably not the East and South. If the NWO is wise, it will be content with their partial victory.
Crimea is voting to stay with Russia.
http://news.yahoo.com/crimeans-overwhelmingly-vote-secession-203613036.html
Hey BT –
You’re arguing that it doesn’t matter; that if Gandhi, himself, were to have become Pres. instead of BushII (hypothetically reversing the US citizen rule, and the have-to-be-alive rule for US presidents) that he would have behaved the same way as BushII did.
I’m arguing that Gandhi could NOT have become President unless he already had some sociopathic tendencies that I postulate are necessary for being in politics. (I’ll leave it to Janos to supply proof that Gandhi actually was a sociopath. haha)
And, I suppose we’re both right, BT – in that humanity gets to the same place regardless.
==========================
I’m no Obama fan; but I will say that he’s behaving in a less sociopathic manner than BushII likely would have regarding Syria, Ukraine, and maybe Libya.
Some will argue that Obama is simply a sociopath with different goals compared to Bush, with Obama’s goal being the destruction of the US as a coherent nation.
As often happens – I see both sides of this question also.
Wonder what Romney would have done?
I’m thinking more like Bush than Obama.
But we’ll never know.
You’re assuming that India and the Hindus were as sick as we are. Gandhi wasn’t a sociopath but a decorated British war veteran who fought against the Blacks in South Africa. His tactic of non-violence against the British was a fine idea for avoiding bloodshed. Gandhi also deeply admired the British and wanted them to leave as friends.
He did have a deep irrational streak though. He was always completely sure of himself but would then utterly reverse his opinion – without any loss of confidence. For example, at first he believed that only people of the same caste should marry – which is the Orthodox Hindu position. Then he reversed and said he wanted his people to only marry outside their caste. This infuriated the Orthodox and of course was irrational and confusing to his followers.
“It’s the system. A sweeping international system that destablizes, destroys and builds for privatized interests.” – bt –
I don’t disagree, BT. But – was the system built by and for sociopaths?
How did it evolve, otherwise?
Good stuff! I’ve got to quit for the night, but I’ll check for responses on Monday.
As Be said. Read about the Great Game. And know that none of the players will ever risk their lives or lose any son in the fighting.
http://www.infowars.com/obamas-former-foreign-policy-adviser-said-in-1997-that-the-u-s-had-to-gain-control-of-ukraine/
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, by the turn of events in the Crimea.
I remember when Gov. Romney was mocked when he stated, in one of the presidential debates, that Russia was potentially our greatest foreign policy challenge.
I remember the ‘Russian reset’, that was supposed to occur after the 2012 election.
Does anybody recall the avalanche of peace, love and understanding that was going to descend upon the world after Jan. 2008, culminated by the Nobel Peace Prize later that year?
Putin sized this president up, took his measure, and found him wanting. Its like in the 1930s when Stalin was informed by Kaganovich that the Pope was opposed to one his policies (in this case dynamiting Catholic Churches, which many of you atheists would not oppose) and Stalin enquired, “How many Divisions does the Pope have?”
–BRH
Actually, speaking of foreign policy challenges, just about a month ago Kerry was travelling around Asia giving speeches announcing Global Warming was the greatest challenge is State Department was facing right now. Global Warming!! That must have gotten some good laughs in Peking, Moscow and Tehran.
–BRH
Well now……….
Dateline, Ukraine:
What happens if you can’t get the military to kill or corral those you want killed and corralled? (I don’t think Xe, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days, are going to get the job done very well amidst a very hostile populace in the throes of IMF privations. I see dreams deferred and serious blowback emerging…) The hasty coup-sters pronouncements of a Nat’l Guard made of of the cream of the “protester” thugs isn’t going to be well received. Buckle up, Mr. Kerry, this isn’t going to go as smoothly as you and you’re pals thought, ESPECIALLY if you import a shit-load of weaponry.
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2014/03/is-anyone-really-in-control-in-ukraine.html#more
BRH, I dropped it. Now you are bringing it back. You say: “Putin sized this president up, took his measure, and found him wanting.”
Really? It took Putin 5 years to size up Obama? Putin took a big risk not acting as soon as Obama got into office. Putin did not know if he would be facing a President Romney in 2012, so he would have acted sooner … if he had found Obama wanting. I don’t think that’s the case and that is why Putin did not act in the first five years of Obama’s presidency.
Bush did not have a big “coalition of the willing.” Bush did not have coalition building skills. Bush had to act alone. Bush had no patience. Bush was willing to sacrifice thousands of USA soldiers for nothing.
Obama has 28 countries with him. Obama will not act alone. USA soldiers have not died in Syria, in Iran, in Libya, in Iraq, in Crimea, etc. because Obama is a bit more intelligent and more strategic than Bush. There will be a response, but the response will not (necessarily) be military. Patience is a virtue. Obama has patience.
Putin has miscalculated.
In a meantime, Putin screws $20bln out of Wall Street.
The “drop” of the Russian stock market presented Putin’s government with greatest financial opportunity to quickly make $20bln in couple of days by buying back discounted stock of Russian oil and gas companies.
Putin waited a week while huge dividend-paying stocks went below the lowest levels in years and then pounced gobbling all he could eat.
Nice going with sanctions, US. Could Russia, please, have some more of it?
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