“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

When leaders get scared Asia Times Stephen Bryan March 22, 2022

While it may look like the United States is being tough and forceful in Ukraine, the reverse is true. The US is showing incredible weakness, and it is wearing it on its sleeve.

Let’s start with Ukraine. The US has gone all out to try and help Ukraine win a victory over the Russians.

The Biden administration wants this to happen for two reasons: to show that Biden is not a wimp and won’t cut and run like he did in Afghanistan (and on this the 20th anniversary of the War in Iraq, like his predecessor Obama did by pulling US forces out of Iraq) and that he wants to “strengthen” NATO by eventually putting a NATO army in Ukraine.
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Right now, neither the US nor its NATO partners (rather, it should be said, very junior partners) have the wherewithal to defend the territories of NATO before the latest expansion to Finland and Sweden; and when Ukraine is added the situation becomes even riskier.

Indeed, perhaps the key accomplishment of Biden and his friends in Europe, has been to put huge sanctions on Russia. This has removed Russia as a trading, commercial, and resource partner for Europe, meaning the Russians have little to protect in Europe by way of investments and supplier and trade agreements.

Even more critically, Russia has reoriented its economy to China and India, which together are well over 2.2 billion people (not counting Russia which adds another 150 million).
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A second major consequence of US and EU sanctions on Russia is that Russia’s strategic partnership with China has now expanded, and will continue to grow.
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One of the first big byproducts is the China-brokered Saudi-Iran deal restoring diplomatic ties between the two states.
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The Saudis also agreed to shut down the anti-Iran propaganda they support, and the Iranians agreed to slow down, if not stop, shipping weapons to the Houthis in Yemen, probably also pushing them to take part in peace negotiations in the country.
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The icing on the cake was a meeting at the Ben Gurion airport in Israel between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Austin affirmed that the US would “never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon” he made no concrete commitment and, according to unauthorized accounts from the meeting, told Netanyahu the US would not support any attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, a major setback for Israel’s security.
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There are some indications that Taiwan may be looking for a way to accommodate China, lest the US not support them in crunch time as China moves more forces around the island. Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, from Taiwan’s Kuomintang (Nationalist) party, once headed by Chang Kai-shek, is off to China, the first visit to the Chinese mainland by a former Taiwan President since 1949.
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Obviously, his visit is more than a private, sentimental journey to see old relatives and visit family temples; he almost certainly will be carrying messages both ways.
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In the meantime, despite US rhetoric, critical defense equipment isn’t being delivered to Taiwan, either because we don’t have it to deliver, or the Biden administration has decided to hold up deliveries.
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In short, this is what happens when allies and friends see the handwriting on the wall. How long will it be before NATO countries start to run for cover?

A little background on the author, Stephen Bryen, who is a regular contributor to Asia Times. C99 member Battle of Blair Mountain wrote a series of articles The Usual Suspects and has one covering Bryen's background.

I wrote more on Wolfowitz
The Usual Suspects Pt 5: Paul Wolfowitz, High Priest of Neocon

https://penspages.wordpress.com/2016/06/11/the-usual-suspects-pt-5-paul-...

What he calls Straussians, I called The Usual Suspects in my series.

The Usual Suspects Pt 3: Dr. Stephen Bryen

Unlike the previous two Suspects, Richard Perle and Michael Ledeen, the average American has probably never heard of Stephen Bryen. If they had, the average American would be scared shitless.
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After Perle became Assistant Secretary of Defense, he named Bryen as deputy assistant secretary of defense in charge of regulating the transfer of US military technology to foreign countries.

Bryen, like Ledeen and Perle, was thought to be a spy for Israel.
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In 1992, the first Bush Administration was concerned about the transfer to China by Israel of U.S. Patriot missiles and/or technology. In response they launched a broad inter-departmental investigation into the export of classified technology to China. The Pentagon discovered that the export to Israel of advanced AIM-9M air-to-air missiles was being promoted from out of Paul Wolfowitz’s office. Since Israel had already been caught selling AIM 9-L missiles to China, in violation of their agreement with the U.S., the Joint Chiefs of Staff intervened to cancel the deal.

The AIM 9-L, the Harpy anti-radar attack UAV, the TOW-2 anti-tank missile, the F-16, all found their way from the U.S. to Israel to China.
In April 2001, at the urging of Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Bryen was appointed a member of the China Commission by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. In August 2004, his appointment was extended through December of 2005.

One former senior FBI counter-intelligence officials reaction to his appointment was:

My God, that must mean he has a ‘Q‘ clearance!

A Q clearance is required to gain access to nuclear technology.

More of Stephen Bryen's thoughts on China, Taiwan and world affairs can be found on his Substack page Weapons and Strategy.

How will the Ukraine crisis change world order? (CGTN 29:26 min) from 2 weeks ago so about March 11, 2023.
First 16:16 min Pepe Escobar Includes discussion of G-7 of the east, second half of video is an interview with Fraser Cameron, senior advisor from the European policy centre in Brussels. His outlook is totally different, matching Western talking points.

In Moscow, Xi and Putin bury Pax Americana The Cradle by Pepe Escobar March 22, 2023

What has just taken place in Moscow is nothing less than a new Yalta, which, incidentally, is in Crimea. But unlike the momentous meeting of US President Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in USSR-run Crimea in 1945, this is the first time in arguably five centuries that no political leader from the west is setting the global agenda.
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Chinese diplomacy works like the matryoshka (Russian stacking dolls) in terms of delivering subtle messages. It’s far from coincidental that Xi’s trip to Moscow exactly coincides with the 20th anniversary of American ‘Shock and Awe’ and the illegal invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq.

In parallel, over 40 delegations from Africa arrived in Moscow a day before Xi to take part in a “Russia-Africa in the Multipolar World” parliamentary conference – a run-up to the second Russia-Africa summit next July.

The area surrounding the Duma looked just like the old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) days when most of Africa kept very close anti-imperialist relations with the USSR.

Putin chose this exact moment to write off more than $20 billion in African debt.

In West Asia, Russia-China are acting totally in synch. West Asia. The Saudi-Iran rapprochement was actually jump-started by Russia in Baghdad and Oman: it was these negotiations that led to the signing of the deal in Beijing. Moscow is also coordinating the Syria-Turkiye rapprochement discussions. Russian diplomacy with Iran – now under strategic partnership status – is kept on a separate track.

California farmers might be part of the solution of recharging aquifers during times of high rainfall.

California farmers flood their fields in order to save them Reuters March 24, 2023

When Don Cameron first intentionally flooded his central California farm in 2011, pumping excess stormwater onto his fields, fellow growers told him he was crazy.

Today, California water experts see Cameron as a pioneer. His experiment to control flooding and replenish the ground water has become a model that policy makers say others should emulate.
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This mimicking of nature - letting water flow across the landscape - is the most cost-effective way to manage peak flood flows, experts say, while banking the surplus for drier days.
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There is no statewide monitoring of on-farm recharge, but Sustainable Conservation is keeping track of four water districts in the San Joaquin Valley that recorded 260 farmers replenishing their aquifers this year, returning at least 50,000 acre-feet (61.7 million cubic meters) back into the ground as of mid-February.

California, which has a strategic goal of adding 4 million acre-feet of storage, recently provided $260 million in grants to Groundwater Sustainability Agencies established under SGMA. The state received applications seeking $800 million, indicating demand for projects, said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of the state's Sustainable Groundwater Management Office.

Besides cost, growers face other obstacles to on-farm recharge. A farm must have access to the water, cannot hurt endangered species and cannot flood land subjected to certain fertilizers or pesticides or dairy farm waste.

Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict from different perspectives.

Russia China and the future of Ukraine - fmr CIA Ray McGovern (19:16 min) March 21, 2023
Also discuss events leading up to the Iraq War and war crimes.

Is it China & Russia against the US in Ukraine? - Scott Ritter (22:23 min) March 23, 2023

How Does China Change the War in Ukraine? - Larry Johnson (27:28 min) March 23, 2023
Larry did little follow-up on part of the disscussion on his own blog.

I was again honored to be invited for a virtual sit down and chin wag with Judge Napolitano. One of the things we discussed was a recent comment by retired CIA officer Jack Devine, who described the Russian military as incompetent and unprofessional. I will explain my remarks about Jack below.

The misinformed arrogance displayed by Mr. Devine is not unique. That same attitude and misunderstanding of Russia is rampant today in the U.S. intelligence community. Jack Devine, in my opinion, is a prime example of the mindset and attitude that still plagues the CIA. And that is dangerous for America’s national security.
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The misinformed arrogance displayed by Mr. Devine is not unique. That same attitude and misunderstanding of Russia is rampant today in the U.S. intelligence community. Jack Devine, in my opinion, is a prime example of the mindset and attitude that still plagues the CIA. And that is dangerous for America’s national security.

I have never included Jack Devine's interviews due to the high level of propaganda to drive an agenda. The interview the clip originated was from March 16, 2023 (22.50 min)

Re-Shuffling of Powers - China, Russia, U.S. around Ukraine - Tony Shaffer (23:46 min) March 23, 2023

Weakening Russia still a Good Idea? Col Doug Macgregor (21:10 min) March 15, 2023

Col Macgregor dismissal of the dangers of depleted uranium ammunition is a common technique of limiting focus of discussion. He totally ignores the longterm effects of birth defects, nonviable fetuses and increase in leukemia in populations where depleted uranium weapons have been used.

What is on your mind today?