Dec 23, 2023·edited Dec 23, 2023Liked by Karl Sanchez
Another excellent article.
Reading the first part on railroads, I reflected to 2011 when the newly elected Republicans governors of Ohio and Florida cancelled federal funds for high speed rail in their state.
Then as I read on and on of the plans and ongoing progress in Russia, I reflected that when I graduated HS in 1960 there was a similar wide open field of options. And optimism. Maybe it was Sputnik that shook the US out of its self assurance, but in any case there was a lot of progress and hope.
The US also successfully scrapped the rail they had in cities like LA and continued to go with the distributed transportation system which led years ago to 10% of the land in Los Angeles was used for freeways and fleets of delivery trucks where there could have been rail for freight.
And that is just comparing Russia and US from the first part of the article.
Then the article goes on and on about progress and plans. And the president is engaged. And the focus is on self sufficiency and supporting people.
Given the US political situation, and the real power in finance and Big Business, what is described here is impossible in the US. Which means that not only can we not understand Russia because it is evil, or something, but the US will continue to decline relative to other countries and it is already declining compared to itself. But we have defeated socialism!!! Hooray for us!!! Look at our medical system to see what private enterprise can do!! We are heading for 20% of GDP on health care for a sick society!!
I don't know if you've read it. Rusia is now content to just let the West stew in its own sewage. The New Ryabkov interview is revealing and repetitive.
Dec 23, 2023·edited Dec 23, 2023Liked by Karl Sanchez
Yes Hudson makes the point much stronger than my words
" ...America’s hubristic drive for unipolar world dominance could only have been dismantled so rapidly from within. The Biden-Blinken-Nuland administration has done what neither Vladimir Putin nor Chinese President Xi could have hoped to achieve in so short a period. Neither was prepared to throw down the gauntlet and create an alternative to the U.S.-centered world order. ..."
Thanks for the link to the outstanding article ... he continues
"What has occurred is a change in consciousness. We are seeing the Global Majority trying to create an independent and peacefully negotiated choice as to just what kind of an international order they want. Their aim is not merely to create alternatives to the use of dollars, but an entire new set of institutional alternatives to the IMF and World Bank, the SWIFT bank clearing system, the International Criminal Court and the entire array of institutions that U.S. diplomats have hijacked from the United Nations.
The upshot will be civilizational in scope. We are seeing not the End of History but a fresh alternative to U.S.-centered neoliberal finance capitalism and its junk economics of privatization, class war against labor. The idea that money and credit should be privatized in the hands of a narrow financial class instead of being a public utility to finance economic needs and rising living standards is finally facing its reckoning."
I picked up the 2008 book by Morris Berman "Dark Ages America: The Final Stages of Empire" because I recalled that he said that when an empire is on the way down they choose leaders which accelerate the collapse. When the book was written W Bush was the target. Now it is Biden.
I had written notes in the margin and found "5 ways the ideology against the Soviet Union was used to get us into Iraq."
"The role of the former Soviet Union in all this, as a kind of ghost at the banquet, is quire remarkable" ..."As James Mann shows in 'Rise of the Vulcans', Bush's war cabinet grew up steeped in Cold War ideology and never managed to get off that track. They never stopped fighting the Cold War, ..." page 212
Yes, quite correct, which is why the Chinese harp on the need for the Empire to cease its "Cold War mentality." But that's not the whole of it as Hudson explains; it's the Neoliberalism that's intertwined with the Imperialism, what I term the addiction to Pleonexia and Megalomania to which Hudson agrees. Thanks for the book hint; I'll check it out.
Apparently, Berman wrote a trilogy with "Dark Ages America: The Final Stages of Empire" being the final installment. Have you read the others?
Dec 23, 2023·edited Dec 23, 2023Liked by Karl Sanchez
The first book "The Twilight of American Culture" was published in 1960. It is a cultural historian's treatment that claims that there is no hope to stop the cultural collapse. "..the levers of substantive social change are nonexistent..." and "most of the future will take place outside of the united states' (2 quotations from preface to 2006 edition.)
The first book I read was 2008 "Dark Ages America" which again says no chance to avoid collapse. It was a struggle for me with almost no background in Roman History and nco-con politics. The book was a best seller and got good reviews. I read it hoping that the presidency of W Bush was over and the US was going to get back on track. That is why even though critical, one could read it as good days ahead. Looking at it today, it could be read as predicting what is happening now in the proxy war with Russia and the support of the Zionists. ( A thought as I type this: how many Americans are like Zionists? In other words is it more than money in politics?)
I didn't get a copy of his 2012 book until 2022 and by that time I was no longer captured by the mythology of the US. This book was a publishing flop. How dare he say that the US has always been hallow, merely a hustling culture? This insult should be sidelined, not taken seriously because we are #1. (snark)
From flyleaf: "At the center of Berman's argument is his assertion that hustling, materialism and the pursuit of personal gain without regard for it effects on others have been powerful forces in American since the Pilgrims landed. Right from the beginning, we have been a culture of hustling, materialism, and the pursuit of personal gain without regard for its effects on others."
He makes the point that the South had a different culture, a less capitalist culture, that was taken to be a traditional culture that it was morally right to destroy. He points out threat the Civil Was is still bitterly contested which, in my view, characterizes inherent contradictions in America. Colonialization of the South. "...why the cause of Civil War so popular: it fits completely with the narrative of the national identity as the growth of freedom"
"... framework of modernity. That is to say, these nations defined themselves as modern, in contras to those who hey labeled "backward"; and colonialization and imperialism followed from a worldview that apotheosized the new mode of existence. On this schema, those people who lived in accordance with different realities were viewed as unenlightened, and thus fair game for Western (Occidental) control. "
Berman is a good writer but the reality of colonialism's last stand and America's decline is well covered in many other places today.
Thus the Palestinians and the Russians are the "other" that the US has the moral obligation to destroy. On the other hand, Russia says it has the right to exist among nations and the fake morality of the US is on display in our support of genocide.
22 December 2023 Karlof1 Russian development Meeting of the Council for strategic development and National projects
This is even more important than your regular reports and document/meeting transcriptions & translations, which are already many times more informative than documents or figures referred to/quoted in the non Russian press or media
You mention there are other meetings planned, the one on the Artic would be crucial
The long term planning docs 40-50 pages you could not post! But some western based 'Russia Council' should construct a library of such
But all you already publish gives the lie to the facile what passes for reporting in the western press, Russia is bankrupt and so on – the Sonnenfeld syndrome
Is (are) there anyone anywhere who has produced overall and precise and sourced figures for industrial production by sector, for armaments production, for labour rates and wage increases by sector, for imports and exports, and so on?
Once again mes hommages, you are an essential worker
PS One quibble: the opening statement
‘Our railway network ranks first in the world in terms of usage, providing 87 percent of the country's cargo turnover and about a third of passenger traffic.
can not be true, surely India must have more railways passengers
PPS The Year of the Family and the various programs to foster larger families have been the butt of much scorn in the woken west – but, coming from a continent where large families are still the norm, one can say that this is extremely significant
That the social systems developed by large families, the accrued importance and authority of the family, the clans which develop in parallel, and consequent notions of autonomy and multiple sources of authority provides a radically different (and ‘larger’) view of the world, one in which ‘individualism’ is rendered mute
Compared to miserable fate of declining populations etc etc, South Korea e.g., and now a panic in England about the drastic decline in native birthrate towards extinction
Other sections of Russian government also compile stats.
I've looked at the possibility of creating a bibliography, but it appears it would currently need to be its own separate substack.
The key term is "usage," although it's not clear how that stat is obtained.
Russia has an acute demographic problem that I've written about resulting from the great 20th Century upheavals, the one during the 1990s being the most recent and just as bad as WW2. For Russia to accomplish AND sustain its national goals, it must have a larger population; 200-250 million would be good, but there's plenty of room for many more. The Woke pukes will cancel themselves via lack of replacements.
Glenn Diesen wrote an excellent book about Russian Conservatism that explains a great deal, "Russian Conservatism: Managing Change under Permanent Revolution."
Apart from the family plans announced, are there any other programs designed to plan for a population increase to 200M? Extensive immigration from…? There are various rumours of agreements with China in in the far east
Thank you for the Rosstat site address
+ for the Ryabkov interview....they surely will not dare to confiscate the CBR assets....or?
Immigration and contract immigrant workers are an item currently within Russian politics. Russia's ambassador to Tajikistan was asked about this during his interview with TASS 4 days ago. Here's that Q&A:
" Question: Labour migration is an important part of economic relations between the two countries. A representative office of the Moscow Migration Center has been operating in Dushanbe for a year now. Has it been effective? Are there any projects planned in the field of migration in the coming year?
"A: Labour migration is an important mutually beneficial area of Russian-Tajik relations. More than 90% of Tajikistan's migrant workers work in Russia. For many, Russian companies are the first place to gain work experience and professional knowledge. Our enterprises confirm their high interest in Tajik employees.
"Common priorities for Russia and Tajikistan are the development of organized, legal and skilled labor migration, the simplification of bureaucratic formalities with a simultaneous increase in the regulation of all aspects of the migration process, as well as the building of responsible relations between employers and employees. A constructive bilateral dialogue on these issues is in line with the migration policy of the Russian Federation, which is currently being updated.
"The representative office of the Multifunctional Migration Center, opened on November 9, 2022 in Dushanbe, is an important element in the development of the system for recruiting labor migrants. He not only trains organized groups, but also explains the procedure for staying and working in Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as assists in the selection of personnel for our companies.
"In total, more than 14,000 residents of the republic, as well as 72 Russian organizations, have already contacted the representative office on various issues. I am sure that as the functionality of the representative office expands, its activities in Tajikistan will acquire an increasing scale.
"As for the information background around labor migrants in Russia, its negative component is largely introduced by external forces. As one respected member of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation put it, "Tajiks are being turned against Russians, and Russians against Tajiks." This should not be forgotten by those who want to "contribute their two cents" to the discussion of this ultra-delicate topic."
"Russia must of course pay towards the vast costs of rebuilding Ukraine. The G7 has pledged to keep Moscow’s assets frozen until Russia compensates Kyiv for the damage — which could be potent leverage in a future settlement. But it is no coincidence that the idea of Russian asset seizures has gained momentum just as US and EU support for Kyiv’s war effort is hitting political roadblocks. It risks becoming a mechanism for western democracies to shirk their own responsibilities. Having stayed out of direct military engagement, they have a profound duty to keep funding Ukraine’s defence of European security and values.
Proponents of using Russian assets argue that “western taxpayers won’t pay”. But the world’s wealthiest economies, and their financial institutions, ought together to be up to this task — and to making the case to their electorates for why this must happen. With careful preparation, and by building the broadest possible coalition in support, there may be ways to lessen the risks of confiscating Moscow’s reserves. As 2023 moves into 2024, however, it is on unblocking and locking in their own financial support for Kyiv that western leaders should focus their efforts.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023. All rights reserved.
Ha! The guilty party is the West! They have no purchase in any court and they know it. To do otherwise would be to further amplify the initial mistake/crime that began with the 2014 Coup, for which the USA has already confessed its guilt.
Russia is incredibly large. The (Western) Europeans have no clue how big the US is and the US has no idea how big Russia is.
My sister came over to Western NY (Rochester) for my wedding in the early nineties, staying for less than a week. They wanted to visit Boston, New York, Washington DC and Chicago. Without a word I gave them the keys to one of the cars, provisioned with maps. They left by late morning to return by 11 PM, having made it less than half way across New York. They had no idea the country was that big.
In my earlier articles on Siberian and Far Eastern development are some maps and photos along with the reports. Yes it's big and the Mercator map projections make it look even bigger.
Another excellent article.
Reading the first part on railroads, I reflected to 2011 when the newly elected Republicans governors of Ohio and Florida cancelled federal funds for high speed rail in their state.
Then as I read on and on of the plans and ongoing progress in Russia, I reflected that when I graduated HS in 1960 there was a similar wide open field of options. And optimism. Maybe it was Sputnik that shook the US out of its self assurance, but in any case there was a lot of progress and hope.
The US also successfully scrapped the rail they had in cities like LA and continued to go with the distributed transportation system which led years ago to 10% of the land in Los Angeles was used for freeways and fleets of delivery trucks where there could have been rail for freight.
And that is just comparing Russia and US from the first part of the article.
Then the article goes on and on about progress and plans. And the president is engaged. And the focus is on self sufficiency and supporting people.
Given the US political situation, and the real power in finance and Big Business, what is described here is impossible in the US. Which means that not only can we not understand Russia because it is evil, or something, but the US will continue to decline relative to other countries and it is already declining compared to itself. But we have defeated socialism!!! Hooray for us!!! Look at our medical system to see what private enterprise can do!! We are heading for 20% of GDP on health care for a sick society!!
Back in late June, Dr. Hudson published this essay, "America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire" https://michael-hudson.com/2023/06/america-has-just-destroyed-a-great-empire/
I don't know if you've read it. Rusia is now content to just let the West stew in its own sewage. The New Ryabkov interview is revealing and repetitive.
Yes Hudson makes the point much stronger than my words
" ...America’s hubristic drive for unipolar world dominance could only have been dismantled so rapidly from within. The Biden-Blinken-Nuland administration has done what neither Vladimir Putin nor Chinese President Xi could have hoped to achieve in so short a period. Neither was prepared to throw down the gauntlet and create an alternative to the U.S.-centered world order. ..."
Thanks for the link to the outstanding article ... he continues
"What has occurred is a change in consciousness. We are seeing the Global Majority trying to create an independent and peacefully negotiated choice as to just what kind of an international order they want. Their aim is not merely to create alternatives to the use of dollars, but an entire new set of institutional alternatives to the IMF and World Bank, the SWIFT bank clearing system, the International Criminal Court and the entire array of institutions that U.S. diplomats have hijacked from the United Nations.
The upshot will be civilizational in scope. We are seeing not the End of History but a fresh alternative to U.S.-centered neoliberal finance capitalism and its junk economics of privatization, class war against labor. The idea that money and credit should be privatized in the hands of a narrow financial class instead of being a public utility to finance economic needs and rising living standards is finally facing its reckoning."
Yes, and that assessment is now 6 months old to which a new episode has been added. Try this, https://strategic-culture.su/news/2023/12/22/2023-year-world-saw-us-emperor-as-naked-and-grotesque/
Incredibly clear indictment of USA barbarism.
I picked up the 2008 book by Morris Berman "Dark Ages America: The Final Stages of Empire" because I recalled that he said that when an empire is on the way down they choose leaders which accelerate the collapse. When the book was written W Bush was the target. Now it is Biden.
I had written notes in the margin and found "5 ways the ideology against the Soviet Union was used to get us into Iraq."
"The role of the former Soviet Union in all this, as a kind of ghost at the banquet, is quire remarkable" ..."As James Mann shows in 'Rise of the Vulcans', Bush's war cabinet grew up steeped in Cold War ideology and never managed to get off that track. They never stopped fighting the Cold War, ..." page 212
Yes, quite correct, which is why the Chinese harp on the need for the Empire to cease its "Cold War mentality." But that's not the whole of it as Hudson explains; it's the Neoliberalism that's intertwined with the Imperialism, what I term the addiction to Pleonexia and Megalomania to which Hudson agrees. Thanks for the book hint; I'll check it out.
Apparently, Berman wrote a trilogy with "Dark Ages America: The Final Stages of Empire" being the final installment. Have you read the others?
The first book "The Twilight of American Culture" was published in 1960. It is a cultural historian's treatment that claims that there is no hope to stop the cultural collapse. "..the levers of substantive social change are nonexistent..." and "most of the future will take place outside of the united states' (2 quotations from preface to 2006 edition.)
The first book I read was 2008 "Dark Ages America" which again says no chance to avoid collapse. It was a struggle for me with almost no background in Roman History and nco-con politics. The book was a best seller and got good reviews. I read it hoping that the presidency of W Bush was over and the US was going to get back on track. That is why even though critical, one could read it as good days ahead. Looking at it today, it could be read as predicting what is happening now in the proxy war with Russia and the support of the Zionists. ( A thought as I type this: how many Americans are like Zionists? In other words is it more than money in politics?)
I didn't get a copy of his 2012 book until 2022 and by that time I was no longer captured by the mythology of the US. This book was a publishing flop. How dare he say that the US has always been hallow, merely a hustling culture? This insult should be sidelined, not taken seriously because we are #1. (snark)
From flyleaf: "At the center of Berman's argument is his assertion that hustling, materialism and the pursuit of personal gain without regard for it effects on others have been powerful forces in American since the Pilgrims landed. Right from the beginning, we have been a culture of hustling, materialism, and the pursuit of personal gain without regard for its effects on others."
He makes the point that the South had a different culture, a less capitalist culture, that was taken to be a traditional culture that it was morally right to destroy. He points out threat the Civil Was is still bitterly contested which, in my view, characterizes inherent contradictions in America. Colonialization of the South. "...why the cause of Civil War so popular: it fits completely with the narrative of the national identity as the growth of freedom"
"... framework of modernity. That is to say, these nations defined themselves as modern, in contras to those who hey labeled "backward"; and colonialization and imperialism followed from a worldview that apotheosized the new mode of existence. On this schema, those people who lived in accordance with different realities were viewed as unenlightened, and thus fair game for Western (Occidental) control. "
Berman is a good writer but the reality of colonialism's last stand and America's decline is well covered in many other places today.
Thus the Palestinians and the Russians are the "other" that the US has the moral obligation to destroy. On the other hand, Russia says it has the right to exist among nations and the fake morality of the US is on display in our support of genocide.
'
22 December 2023 Karlof1 Russian development Meeting of the Council for strategic development and National projects
This is even more important than your regular reports and document/meeting transcriptions & translations, which are already many times more informative than documents or figures referred to/quoted in the non Russian press or media
You mention there are other meetings planned, the one on the Artic would be crucial
The long term planning docs 40-50 pages you could not post! But some western based 'Russia Council' should construct a library of such
But all you already publish gives the lie to the facile what passes for reporting in the western press, Russia is bankrupt and so on – the Sonnenfeld syndrome
Is (are) there anyone anywhere who has produced overall and precise and sourced figures for industrial production by sector, for armaments production, for labour rates and wage increases by sector, for imports and exports, and so on?
Once again mes hommages, you are an essential worker
PS One quibble: the opening statement
‘Our railway network ranks first in the world in terms of usage, providing 87 percent of the country's cargo turnover and about a third of passenger traffic.
can not be true, surely India must have more railways passengers
PPS The Year of the Family and the various programs to foster larger families have been the butt of much scorn in the woken west – but, coming from a continent where large families are still the norm, one can say that this is extremely significant
That the social systems developed by large families, the accrued importance and authority of the family, the clans which develop in parallel, and consequent notions of autonomy and multiple sources of authority provides a radically different (and ‘larger’) view of the world, one in which ‘individualism’ is rendered mute
Compared to miserable fate of declining populations etc etc, South Korea e.g., and now a panic in England about the drastic decline in native birthrate towards extinction
There's a government statistics ministry, Rosstat. Here's its English page, https://eng.rosstat.gov.ru/?ysclid=lqguvxwaif409894639
Other sections of Russian government also compile stats.
I've looked at the possibility of creating a bibliography, but it appears it would currently need to be its own separate substack.
The key term is "usage," although it's not clear how that stat is obtained.
Russia has an acute demographic problem that I've written about resulting from the great 20th Century upheavals, the one during the 1990s being the most recent and just as bad as WW2. For Russia to accomplish AND sustain its national goals, it must have a larger population; 200-250 million would be good, but there's plenty of room for many more. The Woke pukes will cancel themselves via lack of replacements.
Glenn Diesen wrote an excellent book about Russian Conservatism that explains a great deal, "Russian Conservatism: Managing Change under Permanent Revolution."
Thank you for this extensive reply
Apart from the family plans announced, are there any other programs designed to plan for a population increase to 200M? Extensive immigration from…? There are various rumours of agreements with China in in the far east
Thank you for the Rosstat site address
+ for the Ryabkov interview....they surely will not dare to confiscate the CBR assets....or?
Immigration and contract immigrant workers are an item currently within Russian politics. Russia's ambassador to Tajikistan was asked about this during his interview with TASS 4 days ago. Here's that Q&A:
" Question: Labour migration is an important part of economic relations between the two countries. A representative office of the Moscow Migration Center has been operating in Dushanbe for a year now. Has it been effective? Are there any projects planned in the field of migration in the coming year?
"A: Labour migration is an important mutually beneficial area of Russian-Tajik relations. More than 90% of Tajikistan's migrant workers work in Russia. For many, Russian companies are the first place to gain work experience and professional knowledge. Our enterprises confirm their high interest in Tajik employees.
"Common priorities for Russia and Tajikistan are the development of organized, legal and skilled labor migration, the simplification of bureaucratic formalities with a simultaneous increase in the regulation of all aspects of the migration process, as well as the building of responsible relations between employers and employees. A constructive bilateral dialogue on these issues is in line with the migration policy of the Russian Federation, which is currently being updated.
"The representative office of the Multifunctional Migration Center, opened on November 9, 2022 in Dushanbe, is an important element in the development of the system for recruiting labor migrants. He not only trains organized groups, but also explains the procedure for staying and working in Moscow and the Moscow region, as well as assists in the selection of personnel for our companies.
"In total, more than 14,000 residents of the republic, as well as 72 Russian organizations, have already contacted the representative office on various issues. I am sure that as the functionality of the representative office expands, its activities in Tajikistan will acquire an increasing scale.
"As for the information background around labor migrants in Russia, its negative component is largely introduced by external forces. As one respected member of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation put it, "Tajiks are being turned against Russians, and Russians against Tajiks." This should not be forgotten by those who want to "contribute their two cents" to the discussion of this ultra-delicate topic."
And that's just a small portion. There's much more to it all, some of which is within prior articles. Patriarch Kirill and others talked about it at length here, https://karlof1.substack.com/p/plenary-session-of-the-world-russian
Thank you for this information, I will read up
(They will not dare to confiscate!)
(please excuse this intrusion, feel free to delete)
Even the FT Editorial Board has come out against confiscation, after long dithering
https://www.ft.com/content/b46a3308-b048-44fd-b619-0b92c404c379
"Russia must of course pay towards the vast costs of rebuilding Ukraine. The G7 has pledged to keep Moscow’s assets frozen until Russia compensates Kyiv for the damage — which could be potent leverage in a future settlement. But it is no coincidence that the idea of Russian asset seizures has gained momentum just as US and EU support for Kyiv’s war effort is hitting political roadblocks. It risks becoming a mechanism for western democracies to shirk their own responsibilities. Having stayed out of direct military engagement, they have a profound duty to keep funding Ukraine’s defence of European security and values.
Proponents of using Russian assets argue that “western taxpayers won’t pay”. But the world’s wealthiest economies, and their financial institutions, ought together to be up to this task — and to making the case to their electorates for why this must happen. With careful preparation, and by building the broadest possible coalition in support, there may be ways to lessen the risks of confiscating Moscow’s reserves. As 2023 moves into 2024, however, it is on unblocking and locking in their own financial support for Kyiv that western leaders should focus their efforts.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023. All rights reserved.
Ha! The guilty party is the West! They have no purchase in any court and they know it. To do otherwise would be to further amplify the initial mistake/crime that began with the 2014 Coup, for which the USA has already confessed its guilt.
Here's another article on the topic, https://sputnikglobe.com/20231223/us-will-sacrifice-the-dollar-if-it-hands-russian-assets-to-ukraine-1115760833.html
Russia is incredibly large. The (Western) Europeans have no clue how big the US is and the US has no idea how big Russia is.
My sister came over to Western NY (Rochester) for my wedding in the early nineties, staying for less than a week. They wanted to visit Boston, New York, Washington DC and Chicago. Without a word I gave them the keys to one of the cars, provisioned with maps. They left by late morning to return by 11 PM, having made it less than half way across New York. They had no idea the country was that big.
Satisfying.
Funny story. I'll probably drive the Al-Can before I get to traverse Russia since that road is somewhat nearby.
I didn't realize that Russia had eleven time zones. What a huge project, and it sounds like lots of great work is getting done.
In my earlier articles on Siberian and Far Eastern development are some maps and photos along with the reports. Yes it's big and the Mercator map projections make it look even bigger.