Commentary on Ukraine & Syria & Big Picture

Today’s Simplicius article focused on Zelensky’s dilemma to lower the draft age to satisfy the blood-hungry Outlaw US Empire politicos who demand such an act in exchange for more weapons that don’t work, thus making clearer than ever their policy of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian. And then there’s the fact that Europe will be forced to pay for its own defense which is one of the main causes for the political chaos we’re seeing. Here’s my comment:

What we haven't seen is mass kidnaping of people in far western Ukraine for military servitude, which is also where the bulk of Ukraine's remaining economy resides. However, as I've commented here before, the best Ukie soldiers are now deployed in the major cities that are already or soon to come under attack. Outlying areas can thus be rapidly advanced over since what troops are there lack will and means--a company holding a village is reduced to a platoon or two that then retreats to the next village to augment the company that's there, and the situation gets repeated over and over. This is seen a lot, which enables Russia to allow rather large flank areas thinly defended for long periods. The methodical advancement in Toretsk and Chasov Yar suggest Russian taking few casualties while almost all Ukie resistance is KIA'd via bombardment. A slow-moving Pac Man gobbling up everything is an a-visual analog to what's happening on the ground. And the Russian advance seems slow because the high frequency of rotation, which keeps down casualties--fresh, warm, alert troops fight better and safer as they don't need to take big risks.

Politically, EU/NATO is proving to all that it's a liberal totalitarian entity as Rutte demanded all EU/NATO states give up social spending to support the war. Macron went to Poland because he has no government in France. The majority of Europeans have no will nor reason to fight Russia--it's only those bribed by the Outlaw US Empire or EU/NATO freaks who insist. Many are thinking that they didn't get freed from Soviet Colonialism to become serfs to US Colonialism. And we haven't even entered the deeper half of Winter yet. Richard Wolff said it well today that Europeans are being forced to do something they don't want to do and enter a future very few want, and the only way to avoid both is to revolt.

Syria is and will remain a tragedy for an unknown amount of time. Pepe Escobar wrote a very dark article on the situation, which also explains why Assad was never able to reconstitute the Syria that existed before 2010—the vast multitude of factions most of which could easily be bought and owned to be used as proxies. Nothing like Hezbollah or IRG existed in Syria that could form the power core for the political class. Politically, the situation was similar to Lebanon but much worse factions-wise: There’ were never enough unifiers and still aren’t. And for the ordinary apolitical people, it’s either go along to get along or become a refugee—neither of which will be easy to do. And as Escobar notes, the Zionist advance into Syria exposes Hezbollah’s left flank, which it probably never considered needed extensive defenses; now it does. More than ever the economic siege on the Genocidalists needs to be kept and escalated. That Hamas congratulated HTS is significant, but to what degree remains unknown.

Many interesting points were again made by the Hudson/Wolff duo on Nima’s show this morning that’s linked to above. One item I caught while looking for news was Medvedev’s visit to China for talks with Xi using his position as head of the United Russia party instead of his Security Council position. IMO, the ruse didn’t fool anyone as Putin has a very heavy domestic calendar, more of which will be posted later. Today he was very busy presenting state awards. One of the issued discussed by Hudson was should BRICS become a military alliance to counter NATO? Now, both Russia and China have made great efforts to note that neither the SCO or BRICS is or intends to become a military alliance. SCO already has a very potent anti-terrorism program—and we know who the #1 terrorist is—which is ready to confront the Outlaw US Empire’s Terrorist Foreign Legion. I agree that the only real power projection ability remaining for the Empire is its Terrorists, thus BRICS and the Global Majority only need to prepare themselves to combat that, not full-scale military operations. Having missiles capable of keeping the USN at bay as Ansarallah has shown ought to be enough for most nations. That leaves far more capital available for development.

In a recent comment, I suggested people needed to reacquaint themselves with Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, which was published in 1988 just before the USR’s implosion. His key point as well as mine and the one Hudson raised today is that virtually even Empire, large and small, has imploded from the inside due to domestic contradictions and corruption. while external forces played a role but weren’t primary. That’s precisely why the USSR fell, and those will be the reasons why the Outlaw US Empire will implode as we see happening in slow motion. And given the class of people running the Empire, they will do nothing to halt the implosion since the polices they’ve emplaced to enrich themselves are precisely those that are causing the implosion. An easy example relates to economic competitiveness. Current healthcare costs are now close to 20% of GDP—but those costs are added as productive revenues, which is utterly incorrect. If GDP is claimed to be $25 Trillion but healthcare costs are 20% or $5 Trillion, then that cost must first be subtracted because it’s not productive revenue, and then because it’s a cost, it must be subtracted again. So, the claimed $27 Trillion GDP is reduced to $15 Trillion based on healthcare costs alone—and there are many more costs that must also be applied to arrive at a genuine GDP showing the actual economic strength of the Outlaw US Empire. When you do the math, China becomes the most powerful global economy by far, while genuine US GDP is reduced to about $10 Trillion. Currently, the cost of paying the interest on the debt is about $1 Trillion, which is counted as a positive when it must be subtracted as a cost. Then there’s the 100% unproductive cost of the overseas empire of bases, which also costs about $1 Trillion annually, which again is added as a positive when it must be subtracted. All the campaign contribution s to politicians and lobbyists are also counted as positives when ideally when election machinery ought to be a public utility and campaigns for office lasting only a few months at most—not years. All the above are big drops in the bucket to be combined with the many smaller ones that tell the truth about what has happened to the USA’s once productive economy. Hudson’s Killing the Host that calls out Neoliberalism for what it is—Financial Parasitism—is yet another must read for those living in Neoliberal afflicted nation, for it works the same everywhere.

Neoliberal Parasitism works on national economies in a manner similar to how termites work or a wood-framed house: it weakens it until it eventually collapses. This is most visibly manifested in the UK, which was once the workshop of the world and had an empire upon which the sun never set. It wasn’t the two world wars that have undone the UK’s economic viability, although they helped. Rather it wasn’t until Neoliberal Parasitism began gnawing away at the timbers in the 1980s that began killing what remained viably productive. Yes, one of the main reasons politically was to break the power of Labor. And we see that as a universal trait—politicians who say they’re prolabor are usually already compromised and when elected enact anti-labor legislation. And if someone slips through the cracks and becomes popular, all the forces that can possibly be marshaled are gathered to destroy that person’s credibility via lies and other falsehoods—Jeremy Corbyn is the example here. And when it comes to those trying to tell the truth when media and/or government refuses—whistleblowers with Julian Assange being the prime example—the full power of the state is used against them—Assange was very fortunate to escape with his life.

Still, the one major weapon the hoi polloi have is their numbers if they can attain solidarity. If democracy is now to be refused as we’ve seen in Moldova, France, Germany, and Romania, then the only remaining to is popular revolt that throws out the usurpers so real democratic government can be enacted, social support measures reinstated, military spending cut to the bare necessities, and revenue raising returned to the backs of the wealthy and corporations, while all natural monopolies must be made public utilities beginning with the financial system. Neoliberalism must have its spine broken and tentacles severed to such a degree where it will never be able to rise again. If this sounds to the reader like a call for a Class War, well then you’re partly correct. The reason why only partly correct is because the Class War is already happening and has for 4,000+ years—Creditors versus Debtors. That’s perhaps the best kept secret of the rich, along with the truth that most of their income is unearned. The Biggest Lie of all time is that all income is earned. Yes, there are other very potent Big Lies, but they don’t have the same relation to the Class War.

So, what’s the relation of the Class War to events in Ukraine, Syria, Taiwan, Africa, and elsewhere? What class benefits from Imperialism? Look at Ukraine; what class is doing the dying there? Who employs the Terrorists? Why do the Globalists running the Outlaw US Empire deem Russia and China their biggest enemies-rivals? Why did Hitler want to subjugate Russia? Why did Tojo want to do the same with China? Why did the English Colonists want to eliminate the natives in North America along with the Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuese? Do you see the Big Picture of the last 550 years—even longer when we look more closely at Europe and the Levant?

BRICS, ASEAN, CSTO, SCO, and others are showing what’s required to change the Big Picture, and it all begins with solidarity and humans accepting we are essentially all the same and we share the same enemy—Imperialism and the Class that drives it. Those are the three primary premises that must be agreed upon by Humanity. Those trying to interject other stuff are not in solidarity and are likely in the pay of the enemy. It’s that simple, yet it seems so hard.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!