Oleg Makarenko at The Saker – The Total War to Cancel Russia

“Europe has chosen its fate. And chose fate for Russia. What you are seeing now is the death of Europe. Even if it does not come to nuclear strikes on industrial centers, Europe is doomed. In a situation where European industry is left without cheap Russian energy sources and raw materials – and China will begin to receive these same energy carriers and raw materials at a discount, there can be no talk of any real competition with China from Europe. As a result, literally everything will collapse there – after industry, agriculture will collapse, welfare and social security will collapse, hunger, banditry and chaos will begin.”

John Michael Greer:

“America is still young, and pregnant with the future; centuries from now, long after the European veneer has been thrown off, she will give birth to something else wholly new.”

We knew Europe was doomed when liberals failed to stop emigres from the Syrian Diaspora in 2015.

There is a big difference between young disaffected Muslim males flooding Europe and the Latin Catholics illegally entering the US.

The US has more in common with Russia, which spent ten years throwing off the bankers before installing a responsible government.

Michael Hudson at The Saker – The Dollar Devours the Euro

“China’s growth was recognized as posing the Ultimate Terror: prosperity through socialism. Socialist industrialization always has been perceived to be the great enemy of the rentier economy that has taken over most nations in the century since World War I ended, and especially since the 1980s. The result today is a clash of economic systems – socialist industrialization vs. neoliberal finance capitalism.”

“Ukraine has been subjected to a U.S.-backed civil war for eight years, since the 2014 Maidan coup, and offered the chance for the greatest first victory in this confrontation against China, Russia and their allies.”

“European trade and investment prior to the War to Impose Sanctions had promised a rising mutual prosperity between Germany, France and other NATO countries vis-à-vis Russia and China. This bilateral trade and investment is now stopped – and will remain stopped for many, many years, given NATO’s confiscation of Russia’s foreign reserves kept in euros and British sterling, and the European Russophobia being fanned by U.S. propaganda media.”

“Since the eurozone has been created with monetary handcuffs limiting its ability to create money to spend into the economy beyond the limit of 3 percent of GDP, why not simply throw in the financial towel and adopt the U.S. dollar, like Ecuador, Somalia and the Turks and Caicos Islands?”

“For the United States, this is Dollar Hegemony on steroids – at least vis-à-vis Europe. The continent would become a somewhat larger version of Puerto Rico.”

“Many African and Latin American countries – especially North Africa – face a choice between going hungry, cutting back their gasoline and electricity use, or borrowing the dollars to cover their dependency on U.S.-shaped trade.”

 Bitcoin and the Ruble fix this.

From Vanessa Beeley on Telegram:

“The Tochka-U missile that fell on Kramatorsk station yesterday has a series number 9M79-1.

Exactly like a Tochka-U that fell near Debaltsevo in 2015 (photo).

The end of their serial number differs only by 13 (Sh 91566 and Sh 91579), indicating they belonged to the same military unit. We already have good evidence that the Tochka-U was launched South-West from Kramatorsk, meaning from Kiev-controlled territory, this looks like another element proving Kiev is once again responsable for yet another terroristic action against the population of Donbass.”

Andrew Cockburn:

“If the Russian leader may not lose sleep over the F-35s currently poised on Nato’s front line, the same can very certainly not be said for families living around Burlington International Airport, home to the Vermont Air National Guard’s 20 F-35s.

The air force itself defines noise levels of 65 decibels or above as “incompatible with residential use.” According to the air force’s own calculations, at least 6,000 people living close by the airport fall within the 65 decibels-plus zone. Every 10 decibel increase is perceived by the human ear as a doubling in sound level. Burlington’s F-35s regularly generate levels of 110 decibels or more. They do that four days a week.”

“Just 54% of the F-35A fleet (costing at least $109 million per copy) is fully mission capable, on average, at any one time. (The figures for the B and C models, used by the Marines and Navy respectively, are far, far, worse.) This is well below the 80% fully mission capable rate considered necessary for an effective aircraft fleet.”

“Chamberlin Elementary School, which sits less than half a mile from the runway, has now installed a “positive ventilation system,” so as to avoid opening the windows, ever.”

The F-35 is so too effective – Against Americans.