The Evening Blues - 6-19-23
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features delta blues piano player Willie Love. Enjoy!
Willie Love - Lonesome World Blues
"The world is ruled by thugs and tyrants, the most thuggish and tyrannical of whom pour a tremendous amount of energy into convincing their populations that only other countries are ruled by thugs and tyrants."
-- Caitlin Johnstone
News and Opinion
Are nuclear weapons the next red line NATO will cross in Ukraine?
Nearly two weeks in, it is clear that Ukraine’s “spring counteroffensive,” promoted for months by the US media, has made no significant headway, while the Ukrainian armed forces have taken devastating physical losses. Ukrainian officials claim to have retaken 38 square miles since the start of the offensive. These scraps of territory have been purchased with as many as 1,000 casualties per day, putting the total at up to 12,000 since the start of the offensive. Russian officials have released video of armored vehicles being destroyed by missiles, drones and long-range artillery, including over one dozen advanced Leopard 2 tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
For the first year and a half of the conflict, the US and NATO powers have operated on the premise that they could prosecute the war by sending ever more advanced weapons to Ukraine, while letting Ukrainians serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield. With cold indifference to the catastrophic loss of human life, the Biden administration has sought to fight the war to the last Ukrainian. But the problem with this strategy is that NATO is running out of Ukrainians to send to their deaths. ...
Against this backdrop, the foreign ministers of NATO countries concluded a two-day summit Friday aimed at finalizing plans for a military alliance between NATO and Ukraine. On Thursday, a Biden administration official told CNN that they are “open” to an accelerated plan for Ukraine to join NATO. This will be the content of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, whether through Ukraine directly joining NATO or in the form of the provision of “security guarantees.”
The real issue, however, is not Ukraine entering NATO, but NATO “entering” Ukraine through a vast escalation of its involvement in the war. The only reason for accelerating Ukraine’s entry into NATO is to create the framework for such an escalation. ... What will be the next “red line” that NATO will cross in response to the deteriorating military situation in Ukraine? There are several possibilities: First, the creation of a “no-fly zone” and the direct engagement of Russian forces by NATO aircraft. Second, the direct deployment of NATO troops into the war zone. And third, the deployment or even use of tactical nuclear weapons by NATO to prevent a Russian victory in the conflict. ...
The 2022 US Nuclear Posture Review makes clear that the US reserves the right to use nuclear weapons to achieve any kind of national objective. It declares, “Although the fundamental role of US nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack, more broadly they deter all forms of strategic attack, assure Allies and partners, and allow us to achieve Presidential objectives if deterrence fails.”
The US and NATO powers have staked their entire credibility on the objective of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. To believe that they will not resort to the use of nuclear weapons to achieve their objectives is to overlook the lessons of history. It should be recalled that the United States is the only power that has actually used nuclear weapons in war. Amid a deepening social, economic and political crisis, combined with a crisis of American global hegemony, Washington is driven to ever more reckless and desperate actions.
Putin, signed peace deal. Siege of Kiev debunked. Counteroffensive crumbles. Dead spy master?
Zelensky Slams Trump for Saying He Would End the War in Ukraine
In an interview with NBC News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked former President Donald Trump’s pledge to end the war. He argued that if Kiev does not defeat Moscow, Russia will attack a NATO member state and force the US into a direct conflict.
Zelensky was asked about Trump’s claim he would immediately engage the Kremlin in talks and bring the war to a negotiated settlement. "Are they ready to start a war to send their children? Are they ready to die?" he said in the interview that was published on Thursday. "If Russia occupies Ukraine, they will move on to the Baltic countries, to Poland, to any NATO country, and in that particular case the U.S. will have to choose between dismantling NATO or fighting."
Kiev and hawks in Washington have asserted that Ukraine is a bulwark, protecting members of NATO from Moscow’s expansionist ambitions. However, there is no evidence that the Kremlin eyes attacking another country. Russian President Vladimir Putin views Ukraine as a unique security threat to his county and says seizing territory protects Moscow against the expanding NATO alliance.
Biden White House, project Ukraine policy shift
Fresh off The Guardian's propaganda catapult:
Ukraine takes village on Zaporizhzhia front, Russia-appointed official says
Ukraine has captured the village of Piatykhatky on the western edge of the Zaporizhzhia front, according to a Russia-appointed official and sources, the first village recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in nearly a week. In a posting on Telegram on Sunday morning, Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official for the region, said Ukrainian forces had taken the village under their “operational control” after what he described as fierce fighting.
The Russian military blogger War Gonzo also reported that Piatykhatky had been abandoned. War Gonzo and Rogov both said Russian forces were trying to counterattack with artillery in the hope that Ukrainian forces had become overextended. ...
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had repelled attacks across three sections of the frontline, adding that Ukraine was pressing most actively in the Zaporizhzhia region. The statement did not mention Piatykhatky.
The village is about 1.25 miles south-east of Lobkove, itself declared liberated by Ukraine last Monday, and is on a route to the key city of Melitopol, 90 miles to the south. If Piatykhatky’s capture is confirmed, it would demonstrate Ukraine’s continuing incremental momentum in its counteroffensive.
FBI CAUGHT Censoring American Journalists For Ukraine!
Russia Again Presses UN Security Council on Nord Stream Blast Inquiry
Russia again told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday it wants an international investigation into explosions last September on the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany that spewed gas into the Baltic Sea. Russia has said the West was behind the blasts. Western governments have denied involvement as has Ukraine, which is fighting Russian forces that invaded in February 2022.
Russia failed in March to get the U.N. Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry. Only Russia, China and Brazil voted in favour of the Russian-drafted text, while the remaining 12 council members abstained.
"We will seek international investigation and punishment of those who are behind this crime," Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters after raising the issue behind closed doors in the 15-member council on Thursday.
Worth a full read, there's much more at the link.
Judge Worked for Same British Government Departments That Have Pursued Assange
Jonathan Swift, the High Court judge who has rejected Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to the U.S., has a long history of working for the government departments that are now persecuting the WikiLeaks founder.
Swift, who ruled against Assange on June 6, was formerly the government’s favourite barrister. He worked as ‘First Treasury Counsel’ – the government’s top lawyer – from 2006 to 2014, a position in which he advised and represented the government in major litigation. Swift acted for the Defence and Home Secretaries in at least nine cases, Declassified has found. He also acted for the Cabinet Office, Justice Secretary and the Treasury, during his time as First Treasury Counsel. Swift also represented the Foreign Office in at least two legal cases, in 2011 and 2015.
While barristers are independent, those who regularly represent the government in the highest profile cases have to be “cleared” to do so, including via security vetting, Declassified understands. When he stepped down as First Treasury Counsel in March 2014, the attorney general’s office “expressed their appreciation for Jonathan’s valuable support, advice and advocacy during his period as FTC.” It was reported in 2013 that Swift had been paid nearly a million pounds – £975,075 – over the previous three years for representing the government.
Swift now presides over Assange’s extradition case being fought by the Home Office for whom he previously worked.
Blinken Declares NO Taiwan Independence In China
Spain’s PM warns of far-right danger after PP strikes coalition deals
Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has warned of the dangers of allowing far-right ideology to seep into the political mainstream after the conservative People’s party (PP) struck a series of coalition deals with the radical right Vox party ahead of next month’s general election.
Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), which has governed Spain alongside the far-left Unidas Podemos alliance for the past four years, suffered a drubbing in last month’s regional and municipal elections, while the PP made huge gains and Vox doubled its share of the vote.
The results, which prompted Sánchez to call a snap general election to be held on 23 July, have given rise to a string of agreements between the PP and Vox to rule the Valencia region and several major Spanish cities in coalitions.
While the polls suggest the PP will win next month’s election, it is likely to fall short of an absolute majority and have to rely on Vox’s support to form a government.
Sánchez, 51, who is hoping the prospect of a PP-Vox government will serve to galvanise leftwing voters and drive a huge turnout, said the parties’ Valencia deal offered a glimpse of what could lie in store for Spain.
Workers sue secretive elite club Bohemian Grove for wage theft
Workers at Bohemian Grove, one of the most elite and secretive clubs in the US, have filed a lawsuit alleging numerous unfair labor practices, including 16-hour workdays without breaks, and a failure to pay overtime and minimum wages to the workers.
Bohemian Grove, which attracts some of the world’s most powerful people to a mysterious gathering in the woods north of San Francisco, has long been the subject of fascination and conspiracy theories.
The lawsuit was brought by former valets who worked for several years at the club’s Monte Rio summer camp in Sonoma county, California. The secretive 2,700-acre camp near the Russian River has operated every summer for 150 years and is rumored to end in a ritual involving a human effigy and burning of a giant sacrificial owl. ...
The lawsuit alleges about 100 separate camps that comprise the club each have one or more captains who violate numerous labor laws every summer. The complaint includes an allegation that Bohemian Grove treasurer, Bill Dawson, has personally directed valets to “falsify payroll records and to work off-the-clock”. The lawsuit alleges valets were paid only eight hours despite working 16-plus hours a day without breaks for the duration of a 14-day summer camp.
Another allegation in the lawsuit claims a worker was directed to hide from a payroll employee when they made a surprise visit to the camp, as they were being paid under the table. “We just want this to stop,” said a former valet at the camps, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the club or members.
Biden Sends FBI After ABORTION ACTIVISTS; Probes Into 'Domestic Terrorism' Increased 10X: Report
Free Press Advocates Slam 'Blatantly Unconstitutional' Conviction of North Carolina Reporters
Press freedom and civil liberties defenders on Friday condemned what legal experts called the unconstitutional conviction of two Asheville, North Carolina journalists for violating a public park curfew while covering the police eviction of unhoused people on Christmas night 2021.
An Asheville jury deliberated for two hours following a weeklong trial in the case of Asheville Blade reporters Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit, who were found guilty of misdemeanor second-degree trespass for remaning in Aston Park after closing time. The journalists were ordered to pay $100 each plus court costs, the Asheville Citizen Times reports.
"We don't have secret police in the United States. Officers are not entitled to operate without press and public scrutiny just because it's dark out," Freedom of the Press Foundation advocacy director Seth Stern said in a statement. "The Constitution requires that journalists be given sufficient access to public land to report the news, no matter the time." ...
Despite informing the Asheville Police Department (APD) that they would working in the park, where many unhoused people live, on the night of December 25, 2021, the journalists were arrested. In police bodycam footage of the incident, one APD officer can be heard discussing arresting the reporters "because they're videotaping."
Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Tommy Davis instructed the jury not to consider the constitutionality of the charges against Coit and Bliss and denied their motion for dismissal on First Amendment grounds.
Calls for Systemic Transformation of US Policing Follow Damning DOJ Report on Minneapolis PD
Racial justice defenders on Friday said the Department of Justice probe of the Minneapolis Police Department—which detailed a pattern of excessive violence, racism, and civil rights violations—underscores the need for deep systemic transformation of U.S. policing.
The DOJ's 89-page report—the result of an investigation launched in the wake of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin—found that, as many community members have said for decades, the MPD and Minnesota's largest city "engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law."
"Our investigation showed that MPD officers routinely use excessive force, often when no force is necessary. We found that MPD officers often use unreasonable force (including deadly force) to obtain immediate compliance with orders, often forgoing meaningful de-escalation tactics and instead using force to subdue people," the report states. "MPD's pattern or practice of using excessive force violates the law."
The DOJ probe found that MPD:
- Uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and unreasonable use of Tasers;
- Unlawfully discriminates against Black people and Native American people in its enforcement activities, including the use of force following stops;
- Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech; and
- Along with the city, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance.
"We also found persistent deficiencies in MPD's accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law," the report states.
Gavin Newsom JOE BIDEN'S Plan B? CA Gov Media Blitz Fuels 2024 Talk: Report
Power companies spend millions to fight Maine’s proposed non-profit utility
Residents in Maine are about to be bombarded with a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign aimed at saving the state’s two dominant electric utilities from being voted out of existence in November. If Mainers vote yes, they will make history – endorsing a first-of-its-kind plan to create a state-level, public power company through a hostile takeover. But the parent companies of the existing utilities are spending millions to try and stop that.
It’s a vote which experts say could reverberate around the country as legacy, investor-owned utilities are being challenged to decarbonize while state officials adopt more aggressive climate agendas amid customer frustration at high rates and outages. “This is one ship they don’t want to see launched,” said Kenneth Colburn, a former consultant with the global energy policy firm Regulatory Assistance Project, speaking about investor-backed utilities across the US. “Because it could turn into an armada.”
Existing utilities want to maintain control over the poles and wires and the profits that flow from them while activists say a not-for-profit company managed by local people can bring about a transition that’s more reliable and less costly.
In Maine, the ballot initiative was launched by a citizens group called Our Power. Supporters want to buy out the assets of Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant Power – which distribute 97% of the state’s electricity – and replace them with Pine Tree Power, a new, not-for-profit distribution utility.
‘Countries are drowning’: climate expert calls for urgent rethink on scale of aid for developing world
The world must rethink its approach to the climate crisis, by investing trillions of dollars instead of billions in the developing world, and moving beyond conventional ideas of overseas aid, one of the world’s most influential climate economists has urged. “We need a complete rethink of the whole nexus of climate, debt and development,” Avinash Persaud told the Observer, before a key summit. “What we are seeing today is new – countries affected by climate disaster, this is happening now. Countries are drowning.”
He called for a tripling of the finance available from the World Bank and similar institutions, and a huge influx of cash from the private sector, driven by the careful use of public funds and regulation to remove the current barriers to investment. “This is the biggest financial opportunity in the world,” he said.
Persaud is economic adviser to Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, who is co-hosting a meeting of world leaders this week with French president Emmanuel Macron. More than 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend the summit in Paris this Thursday and Friday, including Lula da Silva of Brazil, Germany’s Olaf Scholtz and the Chinese premier Li Qiang. Rishi Sunak is likely to snub the conference. Joe Biden is sending his climate envoy, John Kerry.
In Paris, Mottley and Persaud will set out the “Bridgetown agenda”, named after the Barbados capital where it was first mooted last year. They will call for debt relief for some of the poorest nations facing climate catastrophe, a tripling of funding from the world’s multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, and new taxes to fund climate action, including, potentially, a levy on shipping. ...
Work by the distinguished UK economist Nicholas Stern, and Vera Songwe, last year found that about $2tn a year would be needed to transform the economies of developing countries to cut emissions and enable them to deal with the effects of extreme weather. While this sum seems large, it is not much greater than the investment that is currently poured into fossil fuels and high-carbon infrastructure.
Bug swarm: Nevada crawling with thick carpet of Mormon crickets
Millions of flightless insects known as Mormon crickets have descended across Nevada, alarming residents, blanketing roadways and buildings, and fueling nightmares.
Footage shared on social media and by local news outlets captures six Nevada counties under siege, with thick carpets of bugs moving slowly and efficiently across the state. A local hospital had to deploy brooms and leafblowers to clear the way for patients to get into the building, a spokesperson for the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, told local news outlet KSL.
Not only do the bugs make for terrifying plague-like images and videos, they make roadways dangerous when large numbers of them get crushed.
“They get run over, two or three come out and eat their buddy, and they get run over, and the roads can get covered with crickets and they can get slick,” Jeff Knight, an entomologist for the Nevada agriculture department, also told KSL. “The bigger issue is these afternoon thunderstorms and put a little water on that and it gets slick, we’ve had a number of accidents caused by crickets.”
a plague of crickets in nevada
the end is nighpic.twitter.com/8sWhk9ErFp— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) June 14, 2023
They lay eggs in the summer, which lie dormant in the winter and then hatch in the spring. But this year, due to an unusually rainy winter, the hatchlings were delayed. The large number of insects moving across Nevada can remain at their peak for four to six years, before being brought back under control by other insects and predators, Knight told the Guardian.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Seymour Hersh: Partners in Doomsday
On The Failure Of The Ukrainian Counterattack
Rus Says Ukr Offensive Attacks Fail; Disastrous Ukr Losses; Reports Rus Destroyed Key Ukr HQ
The USA’s Covert Empire: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Countries push back against US’s anti-China tech policy
Death from overwork: young Koreans rebel against culture of long hours
US Workers Can Swear at the Boss Again
The Google employee who helped Edward Snowden in Hong Kong
Discovering Largest Known US Slave Auction
The best way to raise cows sustainably? Set them free
Are the Canadian Wildfires Really “Natural” Disasters?
China Announces Support For Palestinian Statehood
Biden’s Latest Gaffe May Be The Worst Yet!
Dem Stacey Plaskett Solicited JEFFREY EPSTEIN For Campaign Donations In 2018: JPMorgan
A Little Night Music
Willie Love - Willie Mae
Willie Love - V-8 Ford
Willie Love - Take It Easy Baby
Willie Love & his Three Aces - Feed My Body To The Fishes
Willie Love - Vanity Dresser Boogie
Willie Love - Seventy Four Blues
Willie Love - Shout, Brother, Shout
Willie Love - Everybody's Fishing
Willie Love - Way Back
Comments
I’m pretty damn sure that I would have ignored that
.
I’m also pretty sure that order is grounds for an appeal on the verdict. But do people not know that should have been a consideration?
As for the Utah crickets, I drove through Nevada when they covered the road and good gawd the stench after a few miles and the nightmares. You hear them crunch under the tires! I imagined I could hear them scream….. As a youngster I often wonder what would have happened to the Mormons if the seagulls hadn’t saved their bacon. Remember that I grew up Catholic in Mormon country and after I moved to California I saw that a lot of their thinking affected me more than I knew.
About those cow farts….
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
evening snoopy...
i would imagine that the defendant journalists will appeal the decision, particularly since it is so obviously wrong and denies their fundamental rights.
heh, but since we don't need food and tires have to be burnt let's cut back on agriculture first.
That tire fire image should be branded on every tire,
like images of diseased lungs on tobacco packages. I’d rather smoke tobacco than be anywhere near a burning tire graveyard.
As if Kuwait needed more toxic stuff to suffer from.
Thanks again for the Eb's Joe!
this is funny, enjoy
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
It took me awhile to understand the joke
Yeah it’s Monday and it started off bad..that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
evening ggersh...
heh, they claim that jeebus turned water into wine, but could he turn a car into a cell phone?
I’m not impressed with Hersh’s essay
.
Seems that he’s buying into the bunk that Putin just started the war and that he wasn’t provoked into it. Or that it has been Biden and his NATO buddies that have armed Ukraine with increasingly deadly weapons and making sure that the war is dragged out for as long as possible no matter how many Ukrainians die. How is it that he isn’t aware of what Putin asked for months before the SMO started or that Ukraine was already bombing the Donbas BEFORE Russia crossed the border? Or that Zelensky said that Ukraine should have nukes or that America had been pushing for war with Russia since before, but especially after 2014?
Plus he seems to be taking the intelligence agency’s word that Russia blew up the dam. Hello, Seymour you are aware that they constantly lie to us about the reason why we must go into foreign countries and overthrow the leaders and destroy most of the countries whilst killing lots of civilians?
If you’re interested here is Gilbert Doctrow's essay on this article by Sergei A. Karaganov on why Russia should use nukes.
Sergei Karaganov’s latest controversial article in ‘Russia in Global Affairs’
I dunno, but I think Biden has a better idea of who blew it up. So far anyone who knows it was Russia hasn’t shown any evidence that they did it which I think they’d love to do. My point is that if Hersh is off on this issue then is he right about who blew up Nordstream?
In case it’s not clear the first essay linked goes to Sergei's and the second goes to Doctrow's.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Any moderately informed person
...knows that destroying the Kakhovka dam will destroy Crimea's water supply and Crimea's farmlands and rice-growing operations. There is no mystery here. This is a direct attack on Russia and it's sovereign territory, and on the single Home Port of Russia's navy, providing Russia's only strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, beyond.
What kind of dumb cluck can't figure that out?
And I do agree, Hersh does exhibit a strange stupidity, as if his knowledge of Ukraine comes from the mass-media cesspool instead of from history books and historical records.
One of the first things Russia did as soon as they could
was to restore the water going into Crimea so in what world would it make sense for Russia to put that back under threat? Plus there is the threat to the nuclear power plant which Russia has protected from day one so that Ukraine couldn’t meddle with it.
Yep it seems that Hersh is being lazy here if he just took the corporate media’s word for what is happening in Ukraine. I expect journalists like him to do what it takes to see what the truth is before repeating government talking points. And during Russia gate we scoffed at how many unnamed sources people used to tell the story that democrats wanted told and yet when Hersh wrote about the pipelines he used ONE unnamed source. It makes more sense that America blew them up, but that doesn’t mean that he has the right story on it. Especially after seeing his other thoughts on the war.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
yep...
i don't see why hersh is holding putin to a higher standard than the neocons, expecting him to "act like an adult" and allow ukrainian nazis to kill ethnic russians with impunity.
that said, hersh largely reports what the intelligence community thinks, so when he says:
it suggests to me that he doesn't necessarily believe that the first sentence is true and he's just reporting what he has found out. it seems to me that the way he wrote the piece on nordstream, he does believe his source, perhaps for reasons only known to hersh.
I think Hersh's article is very good --
but with Sy, one always has to factor in that he 1) protects his sources 2) his sources aren't whistleblowers 3) his sources have to view Sy as one of them 4) his sources are mid-level and therefore, can offer nuggets but not a full view. IOW, to use an example, he couldn't have broken the My Lai massacre if he's gone in as an Anti-Vietnam War reporter.
Sometimes the nuggets he gets are seemingly small. Sometimes he is able to build on those or throws them out there for someone else to build on. Sometimes he get a really big one -- Abu Ghraib. Hersh's own voice is carefully couched to allow readers (and sources) to see what they want.
wrt the paragraph that disturbed you:
I discounted the first sentence because the second one is strong and to the point.
There are a couple of nuggets in the piece: "Her departure has triggered near panic inside the State Department about the person many there fear will be chosen to replace her: Victoria Nuland....Nuland is now the undersecretary for political affairs and has been described as “running amok,” in the words of a person with direct knowledge of the situation, among the various bureaus of the State Department while Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on the road." IOW - Foggy Bottom is quite as brain dead as it has been appearing.
Then this: "It is believed within the American intelligence community that Russia destroyed the vital Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River." In is own voice he runs through several (implausible) reasons why Russia would have done that. Readers can conclude that American intelligence still sucks.
Then he extensively and approvingly quotes from an article by Sergei A. Karaganov. Let's him speak so he doesn't have to reveal uncomfortable information that he may have.
People who talk about nuclear weapons
....as "tactical" weapons are useless noise making fools. The Pentagon assuredly understands this type of stupidity-based, political insanity-fueled rhetoric. Thus, USians are forced to rely on the combined wisdom of leaders at the Pentagon to repel peak-madness and prevent a global catastrophe. The Pentagon is the only protection that Americans have from the suicidal wrath of the Neocon-controlled Federal government.
Nuclear weapons are "strategic" weapons. They only have the power to win a conflict or prevent armageddon if they are not deployed. Only a psychopath or a nitwit with a death wish would think of using a nuclear weapon as a war tactic.
.
As for Russia, a nuclear first strike is specifically forbidden by its nuclear doctrine. However, Russia does operate an enormous and largely invisible networked infrastructure perpetually ready with a second strike nuclear defense. Much of this strategic nuclear array is mobile — at sea, on land, and airborne — far away from populated areas and always on alert. Yet, even this is designed for strategic advantage, over-shadowing the tactical defense it provides. Russia's military development priorities focus on advanced technologies for detection and interception of attacks.
The only chance of an actual nuclear war occurring, is if the very large and very expensive American strategic defense establishment loses its collective mind and decides to commit suicide by Russia. And if the Pentagon does it job protecting the United States — that chance becomes very, very small.
how can this situation be resolved
perhaps convince the unconceptionable
folks in the govt.corp that life is better than
just power wagging stupidity?
question everything
evening pluto...
i find it disconcerting that we have to rely on the pentagon - a group of corrupt morons, whose primary activity is ingratiating themselves to military contractors so that they can retire into a golden sinecure - to prevent the civilian overlords from blowing up the planet and i seriously wonder at their capacity to rein in said lunacy having themselves stirred it up and profited from it for their working lives.
Even more alert now
Since NATO continued its war games close to the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Russia put its nuke force on high alert and sent more of its submarines to parts unknown. I’m betting that every submarine that has nuclear weapons on them are staying close to the phone just in case Russia calls.
There are lots of people in government who think that the world can survive a nuclear blast if they use one of the tactical nukes that Obama made a trillion dollars available for upgrade. And you are right that Russia has a system in place that would see all its nuclear weapons go off even if the Russian command center is wiped out. Anyone who suggests using a mini nuke should be removed from office and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
On another note, Blinken is in China telling the world that America follows the one China policy and has no intention of supporting Taiwan if they decide to attack China…I’m sure that Xi looked at him and thought that this dude speaks with a forked tongue. Biden already said that he would send US troops to Taiwan if China attacks them.
Biden’s foreign policy has seen Russia and China getting closer and even joining military drills. And he has watched as country after country joins with them and throw off the US dollar and he has sent the world realing with high interest rates and high inflation and Europe being deindustrialize and lots of companies closing down or moving away from their country. I’m sure that history will not be kind to the people in his administration…if there’s anyone left who will be able to write it. Way to go, Brandon!
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
I dropped a memo on the Blinken/China affair
...very early this morning in Weekly Watch. My notes are largely based on the BBC reporting:
.
I haven't checked the news on the meeting. Or looked at China's news yet.
I am very surprised to hear that the US is backing off on Taiwan. There's goes the war against China — right out the window. After years and years of think-tank lies in search of a cause. Rarely do State Department/CIA war policies turn on a dime like that.
The only thing that can stop a proposed US war is if the MIC couldn't make a killing on it. Now that I think about it, the US tends to go to war against poorer nations with peasant soldiers who are insufficiently armed. Perhaps the MIC finally did a profit and loss on going to war with a rival superpower. A few sunken aircraft carriers taken out by supersonic missiles, for which the US has no defense, would really hurt the bottomline.
Surely the neocons knew the risks, already. Maybe the turn-around is coming from a higher authority or someone with great influence. But I can't think of anyone who is sane, with that kind of power or influence, at the Federal level. Hmmm....
Any bubblehead will tell you
that the Navy name for any surface vessel is "target". If the conflict goes nuclear, every "asset" that we have riding on the surface will be on the bottom in the first few minutes- whether from supersonic cruise missiles or old-school torpedoes. And I'm sure that the Russians have a couple boomers ready to spout off out by George's Bank and the Monterey Submarine Canyon, so the coasts will get depopulated pretty quickly with short-haul SLBMs.
Here in the middle of the country, we'll have to wait a few minutes longer for the ICBMs to come over the pole. I'm counting on that for notice to change clothes- our warning will probably come from the low-orbit EMP burst that kills comms and the power grid, to kick things off. But I gotta tellya, it is getting harder and harder to keep the bottle of nice Scotch by the patio door to last long enough to get there: I'm having to replenish it pretty often these days. I'm not sure if it'll be the airburst that gets me, or liver failure, at this point.
This is utter madness, of course. But at least I know exactly how it will go, having experienced it in my dreams weekly (and sometimes nightly) for 60 years...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Hi bluesters
Hi all, Hey Joe, Hope its all good out there...
Local WU reporting stations today were showing 110 to 116 heat index. It's lovely, come on down.
Just got an email from Gates and Soros, said a day in the sun and those crickets would be ready2eat.
Actually hoping for a meme with a couple guys sweeping the crickets into boxes, Gates' and Soros' heads on the sweepers of course, and extra points for MS and WEF logos on the boxes...
Only chicken-hawks believe in tactical nukes. There ain't no such animal.
Thanks for the soundscape!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
evening dystopian...
i can hardly wait for the boxes of mormon cricket meatloaf to roll off of the production line.
try to stay cool and have a great evening!
Who needs a stove in summer, in central Texas to eat?
Maybe this is the time to go back to making and selling signs. I can so well imagine the WEF cricket one ; )
Re: Bohemian Grove Summer Camp
One would think that having been sued at least twice by worker for wage theft, etc. and having paid out multi-million dollar settlements at least twice, the BG would have figured out how to comply with labor laws. Not that catering to a hundred camps and their total 2,700 elite members for a two week period doesn't present many challenges.
Happen to know a man that has worked there every summer for many years. He's not about to give up the gig because the money is very good. Other than that, he declines to say anything else about the job.
evening marie...
heh, perhaps the settlements are less than they actually owe and represent a savings for the organization. or, maybe it's just hubris. perhaps they feel that their lessers should just feel honored to serve them.
Don't know. Would suggest that
they hire an experienced cruise ship manager to put together an operational plan. My guess is that they understaff because of limitations on staff accommodations and availability of workers for only two weeks. A high base wage rate and overtime pay with all employees expected to work sixteen hour days would go a long way to satisfying employees and labor laws.
Evening joe and bluesters
Thank you for the cow article. It sounds like a very enduring and heathy approach to raising cows and benefiting the environment. Another age old practice that works.
Somewhat cow-boy related ...
evening janis...
yep, there are rather a lot of more environmentally-friendly farming practices that could be exploited to help reduce carbon and methane emissions from agriculture. sadly, most of them don't fit into the government-approved model of industrial farming.
thanks for the tune!
The great salt lake isn’t the only one filling back up
.
Check out how much lake Oroville has filled since the drought years.
Yay for rivers of moisture!
If you missed it I posted a picture of how much the GSL has filled since last year in the photo essay. Last year the area surrounding the causeway was just dirt.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.