Will this term be better, worse, or about the same as his first term? My guess is the latter. In the words of John Prine, "Pretty good, not bad, I can't complain but actually, everything is just about the same". My hope is he pivots from global domination to domestic development, and focuses on this country. One thing's for sure, I'm glad that Biden, Blinky, Jake the Snake, and the rest of that disastrous administration is out of office. However, administrations come and go, but the oligarchs largely remain the same. Meanwhile we have raging fires in the west, a colossal unpayable national debt, and a tentative ceasefire in Gaza. More domestic and global news below the fold...

Accepting Defeat?

In the first clip below the fold, Pepe discusses a French intellectual's new book. The writer suggest Trump's job in the first two years will be to help America (NATOstan) accept that Russia defeated us in Ukraine. Somehow I can't see Trump selling that notion. This week Alex Krainer asks (below) 'will the US continue it's bullying posture or act like a polite guest at the world table of equal nations?' I simply don't see that happening given US arrogance and false sense of superiority. In fact it seems just the opposite in the new found neo-colonial attitude of Trump to acquire Panama, Greenland, Canada, and the "Gulf of America". My guess is he will first target Venezuela and Nicaragua because their leadership continues to serve their peoples needs and not US corporate interests. All that and much more below the fold.

The Demise of Western Democracy?

We've known the US is an oligarchy not a democratic republic from the Princeton Study..."analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts." That's old news. The issues today revolve around the blatant hypocrisy of so called democratic countries canceling elections that will see nationalists win office as in Romania where it was actually the opposition party NOT Russia which was interfering., The refusal to step down after defeat as was the case in Georgia and France. The rigging of elections by controlling who has access to the ballot box as was the case in Moldavia. The attempt to eliminate the AdF party in Germany. There was an attempted military coup in S. Korea, and this week the police attempt to arrest the impeached president was thwarted by his personal military guards. And of course all the usual Western tricks of coups and color revolutions as in Bangladesh. Not to mention the US/UK/Israeli support of HTS and other terrorist groups to conduct the coup in Syria on their behalf. I ask what democracy and rule of law does NATOstan support. Looks to me like authoritarian dictatorship rather than democracy.

Peace Remains Elusive

I've been wondering this week if human nature is so tribal that we will never have peace. TPTB are doing everything possible to prevent the Donald from cutting a peace deal with Russia over Ukraine. Syria is spinning out of control and may spell a conflict between Türkiye and Israel. Speaking of Israel, the Houthis and Hamas have been hitting the IDF and Israeli infrastructure, including a weapons manufacturing facility. The Houthis also chased a US carrier out of the Red Sea, sank a Israeli ship in the Arabian Sea, and shot down a US fighter jet (as did Russia) this week. A Russian cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean by some sort of underwater drone or mine. So in the season of peace, there's plenty of conflict to go around.

Welcome to Winter

The days will begin to grow longer, and the news will keep churning. This week we had a Russian General assassinated, a marathon press conference by Putin, Biden and company trying to spread chaos by firing missiles into Russia, Ukraine losing badly on the battlefield, the continued dissolution of Syria, and the on going genocide in Gaza and the west bank. A US government shutdown was avoided with an emergency stop gap funding bill, but Germany's government has fallen and new election slated. Canada may be next. Macron's government in France managed to survive and a new centrist PM was installed. All these stories and more below the fold.

Black Flags Over Damascus

This moment reminds me of the US celebrating bin Laden and al Queda for ridding Afghanistan of the USSR. Later he declared war on the US. I suspect HTS and al Golani will play out in a similar manner. No matter, the nation state of Syria is no more. Of course it was a post world war (1946) creation itself, although Damascus is quite old. Many scholars believe that, among the ancient cities of the world, Damascus is perhaps the oldest continuously inhabited. Over the centuries, Damascus has been conqueror and conquered, wealthy and destitute, and capital of empire and small states. Sadly it's pluralistic culture is likely to be dissolved. (excellent article)

Bully, Bribe, Bomb

Today's title is courtesy of Chas Freeman's description of US diplomacy and foreign policy. I think the big news this week is the sneak attack in Syria, but there are many pieces being moved around the global chessboard. There was the episode in S. Korea when the president attempted martial law...and was foiled. There was a vote of no confidence in the Macron government in France. There was Hunter's broad sweeping pardon by Biden. Tucker went to Moscow this week and interviewed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia continues to advance in Ukraine, and the genocide in Gaza grows with food and aid blocked. The INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & McGovern : Weekly Wrap touches on many of these stories and has a good rant by Larry.

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Game Changer

Many changes are afoot, but the title primarily refers to Russia's new hypersonic missile, Oreshnik or hazelnut. Many analysts suggest it is as significant a development as the atomic bombs of the 1940's. Will the incoming Trump administration be a game changer? Judging from the bulk of his nominees, I don't think so, but I'm willing to wait and see. Will BRICS+ change the world and financial order? They've certainly begun the process. All these changes and more below the fold...

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Controlling Farms, Food, Health, and War

The globalists seem to try experiments in various countries to expand their control. In the Netherlands they were shutting down and taking farms, but that didn't play well with the public. Now in the UK they have a new strategy to slap farms with a high inheritance tax forcing families to sell their farms to corporations like Blackrock. We'll see how that plays out this year. To my mind COVID was used as a global control experiment. Tobacco corporations became big food and used their understanding of addiction to make foods which were not only addictive but unhealthy. RFK says there's nothing more profitable than a child with a chronic disease. And the big news of the week was the escalation of NATOstan's war with Russia. Will the pentagon manage to halter the Biden regime and prevent WWIII? All that and more below the fold.

Lessons Learned?

Trump seems to have selected Trump loyalists for his cabinet. Many are Israel first people. There's plenty of China and Iran war mongers in the group as well. No doubt we'll have to wait and see, first if they make it through the senate after McConnell installed Thune as a poison pill, and secondly if they live up to their claims of challenging the system. Did Trump learn from his first term of disastrous appointments?