“The Withdrawal from Kiev Is Russian Escalation. It’s the…Transformation from a Psychological Operation to a Textbook War”: Interview with Marko Marjanović

I don’t know what de-militarization or de-Nazification mean. I don’t know that Russia knows what they mean. I think these alleged demands are aired to give voice to Russian wrath. They are not practical demands for Ukraine to meet. They are slogans meant to ensure the war continues.

I see no evidence as of yet that Russia has given up on any war goals it entered into the war with. People do not understand that the withdrawal from Kiev is Russian escalation. It’s the final step in the transformation from waging a dreamy psychological operation to waging textbook war. So far when Russia has hit a wall in Ukraine it has always escalated to the next order of business. I don’t mean just in this war but looking at it holistically since 2014.

If the war stalls again Moscow will be at another crossroads. Whether to wind down the fighting or escalate again by placing the homefront on a war footing and issuing a call to arms.

I don’t know which of the two Putin would or will pick. I don’t know why he has been reluctant to mobilize the Russian society for the war so far. But I do think that if he does so the nature of his regime will have to change. 

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Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dead at 50: The inside story on what likely caused his death

Here is a summary of the evidence I’ve pieced together from both public and private sources (who knew him personally).

You can draw your own conclusions. The evidence is consistent with the primary cause being vaccine-induced myocarditis. It fits the facts like a glove. No other hypothesis I’m aware of can explain the evidence. His drug use, which as far as I have been able to determine was limited to smoking weed, played only a minor role.

PolitiFact says that the vaccine didn’t cause his death, but AFAIK they are always wrong on their fact checks, so that is additional confirmation.

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The Great Russian Restoration: The Kremlin’s Post-Soviet State Ideology

…when Putin talks about Russia being a “normal country” in his video addresses to the West, he means a country that isn’t committed to one messianic political/economic theory or another like, say, the U.S., which is committed to crusading for its religion of Liberal Human Rights Democracy Freedom around the world. “Normal” just means a country that acts in the interests of itself and its people first and foremost and tries to get along with other countries as well. One could even call this “nationalism” if one were so inclined, but Russian civil society has an aversion to this word, preferring to brand their enemies with it instead. Again, the preferred term is “normal” and that means that you will often hear phrases like “Russia is not a nationalistic country, Russia is a normal country” because that’s the official state line.

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This is insightful overview of Russian state ideology or lack thereof and why. ABN

Geert Vanden Bossche: Predictions on the coming evolution of the Covid 19 pandemic

I SERIOUSLY expect that a series of new highly virulent and highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) variants will now rapidly and independently emerge in highly vaccinated countries all over the world and that they will soon spread at high pace. I expect the current pattern of repetitive infections and relatively mild disease in vaccinees to soon aggravate and be replaced by severe disease and death. Unfortunately, there is no way vaccinees can rely on assistance from their innate immune system to protect against coronaviruses as their relevant innate IgM antibodies are increasingly being outcompeted by infection-enhancing vaccinal Abs, which are continuously recalled due to the circulation of highly infectious Omicron variants. In contrast, Omicron’s high infectiousness would enable the non-vaccinated to train their innate immune defense against SC-2 while the infectious and pathogenic capacity of the new SC-2 variants would be debilitated in the non-vaccinated for lack of infection-enhancing Abs in their blood.

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Vanden Bossche has made this point many times. He has seen this result in large domestic animal populations. The weakened immune systems of the vaccinated coupled with their non-sterilizing synthetic vaccine antibodies, in his view, creates a perfect breeding ground for the evolution and spreading of even more malignant forms of SC-2. So far, his predictions on vaccine outcomes and problems have all come to pass. ABN

Pollyanna’s Laws

Virtue-based decisions or actions never feature unintended consequences.

The actual presiding wisdom of today’s science applied in the public interest. More people in power follow this set of Laws than we realize…

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How Mariupol Will Become a Key Hub of Eurasia Integration

…So the grand North-South design spells out fluent connectivity from the Russian mainland to the Caucasus (Azerbaijan), to West Asia (Iran) all the way to South Asia (India and Pakistan). None of these key players have demonized or sanctioned Russia despite ongoing US pressures to do so.

Strategically, that represents the Russian multipolar concept of Greater Eurasian Partnership in action in terms of trade and connectivity – in parallel and complimentary with BRI [Belt and Road Initiative] because India, eager to install a rupee-ruble mechanism to buy energy, in this case is an absolutely crucial Russia partner, matching China’s reported $400 billion strategic deal with Iran. In practice, the Greater Eurasia Partnership will facilitate smoother connectivity between Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.

The NATO universe, meanwhile, is congenitally incapable of even recognizing the complexity of the alignment, not to mention analyze its implications. What we have is the interlocking of BRI, INTSC [International North South Transportation Corridor] and the Greater Eurasia Partnership on the ground – all notions that are regarded as anathema in the Washington Beltway.

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Excellent overview of what’s coming in Central Asia and beyond. ABN

FLASHBACK 2011: “The goal is not to completely subjugate Afghanistan. The goal is to wash money out of the tax bases of the US and EU through Afghanistan and back into the hands of the transnational security elite. The goal is to have an endless war…”

Notice that the endless war in Afghanistan was replaced almost immediately by what may become the endless proxy war in Ukraine, with ample room for mission creep. Compare Julian Assange to Joe Biden and how our society assess and rewards them. Shows how far off we are, how profoundly lost we are. The senile serial crook is president while the brave journalist is dying in prison. ABN