Listen to a reading of this article:
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It’s so surreal how we’re closer to nuclear war than we’ve been since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it’s only continuing to escalate, and yet hardly anyone seems to notice and almost everyone is just going about their lives thinking their usual thoughts and having their usual conversations.
Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert and has issued threats of nuclear retaliation should western powers try to intervene in Russian military operations in Ukraine. The Biden administration’s first Nuclear Posture Review will be out soon and will likely mirror the changes in Russia’s nuclear posture in some ways. The probability is skyrocketing of a mass extinction event which could easily block out the sun for years and starve everyone to death who isn’t lucky enough to be killed quickly in the initial inferno.
A recent New York Times article titled “The Smaller Bombs That Could Turn Ukraine Into a Nuclear War Zone” discusses the danger of Russia using a so-called “tactical” or “low-yield” nuke if the war isn’t going well for Moscow, making the calculation that using one of its much less destructive nuclear weapons might succeed in intimidating its enemies into backing down without resulting in full-blown nuclear war.
An excerpt:
“It feels horrible to talk about these things,” Dr. Kühn said in an interview. “But we have to consider that this is becoming a possibility.”
Washington expects more atomic moves from Mr. Putin in the days ahead. Moscow is likely to “increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength” as the war and its consequences weaken Russia, Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
A truly sapient life form would read those two paragraphs and immediately say, “Oh well we obviously can’t continue along this trajectory anymore. Let’s negotiate a ceasefire by whatever means necessary and move toward detente as swiftly as possible.” But rather than move to de-escalate, all we’re seeing is continual escalation with increasingly shrill calls to escalate further.
It is worth noting here that experts have been warning for years that these “low-yield” nuclear weapons pose a horrifying threat to our species because of the risk of somebody making the calculation that they could get away with using them, as we see in this 2019 article by James Carroll titled “The Most Dangerous Weapon Ever Rolls Off the Nuclear Assembly Line“. Such warnings just didn’t get much attention before because they were about the United States manufacturing those weapons and did little to amplify Russia hysteria.
New from @rjsmithnatsec and @publicintegrity: A technology retrofit is improving the accuracy and destructive power of the United States' nuclear arsenal. It brings new risks as well. https://t.co/upBeEjeHLd
— Matt DeRienzo (@mattderienzo) October 29, 2021
It is probably also worth noting that the US has been updating its nuclear arsenal with advancements which make its nuclear-armed rivals more likely to calculate the need for a full-scale nuclear first strike. As R Jeffrey Smith explained last year for The Center for Public Integrity, improvements in the ability to perfectly time a nuke’s detonation make it much more destructive and therefore capable of destroying underground nuclear weapons, which would necessarily make a government like Russia more likely to launch a preemptive strike in a moment of tension to avoid being disarmed by a US strike.
Others worry, however, that those leaders — knowing that many of their protected, land-based weapons and associated command posts could not escape destruction — might be more prone to order their use early in a crisis or conflict, simply to ensure they are not destroyed when incoming warheads arrive, promoting a hair-trigger launch policy that could escalate into a general cataclysm.
Physicist James Acton, who co-directs the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and has written extensively about the need to avert unnecessary conflicts, said that efforts to modernize the nuclear arsenal should be more focused on ensuring the weapons’ safety, security, and reliability, and less on goosing their accuracy.
“If China or Russia believe in a conflict or a crisis that we are going to attack or destroy their nuclear forces and command posts, that gives them an incentive to use nuclear weapons first, or to threaten their use. They have strong incentives to take steps that would further escalate the crisis and create new dangers,” Acton said.
New air- and sea-launched cruise missiles also place Russia on hair-trigger alert, Smith writes:
New air- and sea-launched cruise missiles in particular, [Nuclear Weapons Council chair Andrew Weber] said, are not necessary, and will undermine deterrence because they are stealthy, surprise-attack weapons that will make opponents nervous enough to adopt hair-trigger launch policies. Since they can be deployed with both conventional and nuclear warheads and it’s impossible for opponents to tell the difference, their use could cause unintentional escalation from a conventional to a nuclear war.
Will Humans Be the Next ‘Freedom Fries’
by Ray McGovern@raymcgovern #nukes #NuclearWar #Russia #Ukraine #UkraineRussianWar https://t.co/2cqhLwVoxo pic.twitter.com/dZVPuoVHbY— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) March 23, 2022
And while everyone’s talking about the fear that Putin may make a calculated decision to initiate a nuclear exchange should he feel backed into a corner, at present the primary risk of nuclear war remains what it’s been for about as long as we’ve had these infernal weapons on our planet: that the explicit understanding in Mutually Assured Destruction will be set into motion by a nuke being discharged by either side due to miscommunication, miscalculation, misunderstanding or malfunction, or some combination of these, amid the chaos and confusion of escalating brinkmanship. Which nearly happened many times during the last cold war.
As Nuclear Age Peace Foundation president David Krieger explained back in 2017:
Nearly 15,000 nuclear weapons are currently under the control of nine countries. Each has a complex system of command and control with many possibilities for error, accident or intentional use.
Error could be the result of human or technological factors, or some combination of human and technological interaction. During the more than seven decades of the Nuclear Age, there have been many accidents and close calls that could have resulted in nuclear disaster. The world narrowly escaped a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Human factors include miscommunications, misinterpretations and psychological issues. Some leaders believe that threatening behavior makes nuclear deterrence more effective, but it could also result in a preventive first-strike launch by the side being threatened. Psychological pathologies among those in control of nuclear weapons could also play a role. Hubris, or extreme arrogance, is another factor of concern.
Technological factors include computer errors that wrongfully show a country is under nuclear attack. Such false warnings have occurred on numerous occasions but, fortunately, human interactions (often against policy and/or orders) have so far kept a false warning from resulting in a mistaken “retaliatory” attack. In times of severe tensions, a technological error could compound the risks, and human actors might decide to initiate a first strike.
As Ray McGovern explains in a new article for Antiwar titled “Will Humans Be the Next ‘Freedom Fries’?“, the early launch detection system Russia relies on for nuclear deterrence is so technologically lagging and prone to error that could easily lead to a nuclear war as the result of a simple mistake. He discusses an instance when Russia’s early detection equipment falsely reported a potential nuclear attack as recently as 1995, when relations between Washington and Moscow were as warm and cozy as they’ve ever been. It seems reasonable to say that a similar incident would have a good chance of being interpreted and responded to in a very different way should it repeat itself in 2022.
McGovern says that launch-to-target time has shrunk so much with the advancement of technology that there are now probably multiple subordinate commanders out in the field with the authority to launch a nuclear strike:
Here’s the thing: the Russians have good reason to be on hair-trigger alert. Their early-warning radar system is so inadequate that there are situations (including those involving innocent rocket launches) under which Russian President Putin would have only a few minutes – if that – to decide whether or not to launch nuclear missiles to destroy the rest of the world – on the suspicion that Russia was under nuclear attack.
“If that”? Yes, launch-to-target time is now so short that it is altogether likely that the authority to launch nuclear weapons is now vested in subordinate commanders “in the field,” so to speak. Readers of Daniel Ellsberg’s Doomsday Machine are aware of how the US actually devolved this authority during the days of the first cold war. I, for one, was shocked to learn that. Worse: today the subordinate commanders might be non-commissioned computers.
“U.S. pundits and strategic experts seem blissfully unaware of how close we all are to being fried in a nuclear strike by Russia,” McGovern writes.
For a lot more information on how dangerously close we’re getting to the brink, check out former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter’s epic rant toward the end of his recent chat with The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté, where he talks about all the horrible US government decisions and shredded treaties which have led us from a rare moment of relative nuclear safety to the precarious position we now find ourselves in:
I’m always stunned at how, whenever I talk about the way all this brinkmanship is bringing us ever closer to a precipice from which there is no return, people will often tell me “Yeah well if it happens it will be Putin’s fault for starting it.” Like that’s in any way a sane response to our plight. People are so confused and compartmentalized about this issue they seriously think “If nuclear war happens it will be Putin’s fault” is a complete position on this issue.
I always want to shake them and ask them, “If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, would the words ‘It was Putin’s fault’ give you any comfort? Or would you, perhaps, wish measures had been taken early on to prevent it from getting to this point?”
It’s a useful thought experiment that can be applied in many areas, while we sit here on the brink waiting to see what happens.
If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, how good would you feel about the decision not to guarantee Moscow that Ukraine would never receive NATO membership?
If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, would you be able to say you tried everything you could to prevent this from happening?
If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, would you feel okay about how you’ve been treating the people you care about?
If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, would you feel okay about how you’ve been spending your time?
If you looked outside right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing in the distance, will you wish you’d spent more time at the office? Wish you’d participated in more social media drama? Wish you’d taken fewer chances? Wish you’d loved with less abandon?
The swelling likelihood of imminent armageddon draws everything into focus. Helps clarify your priorities. Helps you figure out how to live your life from moment to moment.
And from where I’m sitting this clarity brings with it a sense of responsibility as a human being. A responsibility to really be here now. To truly live our lives with presence and appreciation. To drink deeply of the cup of human experience. Because the only thing worse than everything ending would be if it ended without having been seen and valued while it lasted.
We have control over so very little in this insane little pickle we’ve found ourselves in. But one thing we can definitely control is whether we’re really showing up for however much time we’ve got left on this amazing blue planet.
“Treasure each moment” is something you hear so often in life that it becomes a cliche and loses all its meaning. But there has never been a better time to take another look at it with fresh eyes and begin putting it into practice.
Treasure each moment, because there might not be very many of them left. This is the moment. This is our moment. If this does wind up being humanity’s last scene on this stage, let’s at least help make sure we shine as radiantly as possible before the final curtain.
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60 responses to “Being This Close To Nuclear War Should Change How We See Things”
Since 1945 (Operation Unthinkable) Heaven is holding back the wind of the WW3. And so it will be until the appointed time. In the Book of Daniel, we read, “And both these kings [Great Britain and Russia], their hearts (will be) to do mischief, and at one table (they) will speak a lie; but it will not succeed. Indeed yet (the) completion to (the) appointed time. And [the king of the north] will go back (to) his land with great wealth [1945]; and his heart (will be) against the holy covenant [Soviet Union introduced state atheism and believers were repressed]; and will act [it means a lot of activity in the international arena]; and go back to his own land [1991-1993. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The troops from the Soviet military bases returned to their country]. At the appointed time [he] will return back [Russian troops will return to where they were previously stationed. It also means the big crisis, plus the break-up of the EU and NATO], and will enter into the south [because of ethnic conflict (Matthew 24:7)], but it will not be as the former [Georgia – 2008] or as the latter [Ukraine – now. It also will not evolve into WW3. This will happen only later], for the dwellers of coastlands of Kittim [the distant West] will come against him, and (he) will broke down [mentally], and will go back.” (11:27-30a) This time it will be a world war not only by name. “The great power sword” will also be used. (Revelation 6:4) Jesus characterized him in this way: “A frightening things both and extraordinary (related to unusual phenomena) from sky powerful will be.” (Lk 21:11) Because of the use of these terrible weapons there will be significant tremors along the length and breadth of the regions [of strategic importance] and famines, and pestilences. Some ancient manuscripts contain the words “and frosts”. The Aramaic Peshitta: “and will be great frosts”. (Luke 21:11) We call this today “nuclear winter”. In Mark 13:8 there are also words of Jesus: “and disorders” (in the sense of confusion and chaos). The Aramaic Peshitta: “and confusion” (on the state of public order). This extremely detailed sign fits only one war. Jesus stated: “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)
The amount of CNG refueling stations has nearly quadrupled in Russia since 2015 !
Powering cars – buses – trucks !
There is a simple solution for Europe’s future energy needs !!
Russian GAS !
Will have to be paid for in roubles though – that’s the only European ‘self inflicted’ hitch 🙂
A must watch I think for anyone interested in how we got here, and where we might be going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3uegH-t-mE
The Trump stuff is hard to take. I mean at best he represented what? Neo-liberalism with a twist? His original cabinet consisted of the very same geniuses that designed the China peg for fuck’s sake, and the rest of his various cabinets were revolving doors for neo-con nutjobs. But whatever. What can one man with a vague idea do inside the Beltway Complex?
Not much, according to our hosts. Which leads to me what I see coming for my country, either one, a nuclear first strike, go for the whole enchilada, because we don’t do two decade plans, or two, the military steps in and cleans house.
Or burns down the house down trying to clean it.
Australia blacklists 22 Russian journalists, mass media employees
Persons under sanctions include “senior editors from organizations including Russia Today, the Strategic Culture Foundation, InfoRos and NewsFront,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said
Petrified of the TRUTH getting out !
Of course it will get out on MAY 9th when Russia declares victory on victory day !
Then all HELL will break loose – especialy in the FAKE markets !
https://syrianews.cc/russian-military-operation-in-ukraine-is-not-slow-it-is-planned-to-end-on-9-may-victory-day/
Russia is now the largest agriculture poruucer in the world ( having overtaken the US ) and it is ALL organic !!!
Russia wiped out ISIS
Russia saved Venezuela
Russia booted the ZIO/US/NATO from Afghsnistan ( if you think the Taliban retook Kabul in ONE week – bloodlessly and unopposed – well – you have ZERO analytical skiills !)
Russia saved Syria
Russia rescued Iraq
WHAT is not to like about Russia ???
“Russia is home to vast tracts of farming and arable land, but only a tiny percentage is exclusively organic.
385,140 hectares is organic agricultural land in Russia. That’s just 0.2% of total nationwide farming acreages.”
https://yugagro.org/Articles/heres-how-russia-is-planning-to-shake-up-orga
The US is planning onn killing you all anyway !
THIS is the WAR !
China poses some serious questions !
Yeah – why is the Pentagon involved in Bio Weapon labss in Ukraine ????
China’s Ministry of Defense Thursday called on the U.S. to give the world an explanation on its “military biological activities.”
Wu Qian, the ministry’s spokesperson, told reporters that the U.S. seriously lacks transparency on this regard.
“The U.S. has 336 biolabs in 30 countries around the world, and conducts more military biological activities than any other country,” he said.
During its “special military operation,” Russia found multiple U.S.-controlled biolabs in Ukraine, and released documents saying the U.S. is researching on bioweapons in the labs.
Bioweapon is a type of weapon of mass destruction that can bring huge damage to not only people but also the environment.
Multiple sources inside and outside the U.S. suspected that the COVID-19 pandemic started from a biolab in Fort Detrick in the state of Maryland. But neither the U.S. government nor the U.S. army made any explanation.
“We just can’t stop asking, what is the U.S. doing these researches for?” Wu said. “Why don’t they disclose details related to these researches?”
Wu also questioned the necessity for the Pentagon to be deeply involved with scientific researches in Ukraine.
“The U.S. owes an explanation on these serious questions,” Wu told reporters. “They cannot just weave them out by saying ‘fake news.’”
China used to be the victim of bioweapons and stands firmly against the making and use of any weapon of mass destruction.
The bible says 1/4 will die by starvation, 1/4 by war and 1/4 by disease and pestilence. Give you one guess who will unleash the disease and 336 guesses from which location.
Soon you will all realise that the ZIO/US/NATO are just piss and wind now !
When Russia completes the 10 week operation on MAY 9th ( victory day ) – well – you will see the TRUTH !
The only thing the US has left is their lying Rothschilds owned media who bought Reuters in the 1800s and Associated Press soon after !
They control EVERYTHING you are told and have for the last 250 years !
Everyday I read RT – Sputnik – TASS – China news networks – Iran news network – Yemen news network – Iraqi news network – Syrian news network – Libyan news network – because almost everything else is controlled by the Rothschilds media !
Being a ‘reader’ of the Rothschilds owned and controlled media will just fill your head with a whole lot of SHIT !
If you want the TRUTH – to REALLY know what is going on !
You have to be an analyst !
ZIO/US/NATO are not capable of engaging Russia !
The Taliban retook Kabul ( after 20 years of ocupation ) in ONE week – bloodlessly and unopposed !
Do you think that was ORGANIC ????
It cannot possibly be !!!
You sound like a nutter, adding nothing to the conversation.
RT, Sputnik and Tass are easy to link to but the others are not due to the fact there are too many to choose from when doing a google search. Can you narrow these down for us, as the best and most reliable for each country? Thanks. btw/ I agree with you totally. Good comment!
I believe the smartest thing for all the nuclear armed nations to do would be to at least agree to the sharing of the most advanced early warning technologies. If the Russian radar systems currently deployed for the purpose of detecting a US nuclear missile launch are vastly inferior to those of the US, then l can’t see any advantage to the US in this. The opposite is the case. US security is greatly lessened so if the goal of nuclear weapons is deterrence then it should also follow that minimising the chances of your enemy ever launching a nuclear attack is the best way to increase your own security. If the world is going to be forever burdened by the existence of nuclear weapons then all nuclear armed nations should work together on making sure that all have access to the best missile launch detection technology because is it realistic to really expect that nuclear weapons will ever be eliminated? It is realistic to work towards improving safeguards though which would certainly be an advancement over our present trajectory.
Philosophy ain’t easy stuff. I pass quickly on modern Western philosophy which ain’t worth shit but even ancient one like Heraclitus (“every phenomenon is in motion toward its opposite”) is difficult to grasp.
And Eastern philosophy is another kettle of fish altogether. Not even “what’s the sound of one hand clapping” or “where were you before your parents were born” but just run of the mill stuff like “have the courage to change what you can change, the strength to bear what you can’t change and the wisdom to know the difference” – which is of course the most important part.
Yet one of the thoughts I found most challenging is “Act as if you were going to die tomorrow and live a hundred years”.
Talk of opposites! And yet it’s true that if we don’t live as if we were going to die tomorrow, we miss a lot of things, starting with intensity. We tend to escape the present moment to drift into speculations… Can be dangerous… As Montaigne said, “I’ve suffered a lot in my life of things that never happened”. This I keep on the same shelf as Mark Twain’s “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”
In other words your inner peace depends on… your inner peace. Catch-22.
Another advantage of living like you were going to die tomorrow is that one day, you’re going to die tomorrow. So it can be considered target practice.
On the other hand, to act as if you were going to live a hundred years also carries interesting stuff like you will build – instead of destroying or getting stoned out of your mind – things that you will be able to enjoy as if you were going to die tomorrow. You will try to love and make peace instead of attempting to kill your neighbor because he’s been repeatedly leaving tree yard debris near your property line with him. Foolish illustration? It happened to Rand Paul in 2017.
And this is not in contradiction with acting as if you were going to die tomorrow. Why would you bother to try and kill your neighbor if you were going to die tomorrow considering there’s a lot more interesting things to do in that short period of time – like finish the washing up – and he ain’t going to bother you anymore anyway?
You would also try not to pollute if you were going to live a hundred years. And how is that compatible with what you’d do if you were going to die tomorrow? Why wouldn’t you leave an enormous carbon footprint, like a nuclear mushroom, if you were going to die tomorrow for instance?
Because then you would die today. Catch-22 again…
A bit like Aristotle’s sailor who lands on an island where he’s told a law says “Those who lie will be beheaded and those who say the truth will be hanged” and asked to make a statement. And he says: “I’ll be beheaded”.
Keynes once famously said, “In the long run we are all dead…”
~
Whoever speaks for the American Empire is now saying, “Why wait for the long run?”
~
No more maddeningly unpredictable alleged choices to be made ever again by anybody. Is that what we want? Could’ve fooled me if you said “no.”
I also like ZeroHedge’s motto: “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero”.
@Pascal – That’s actually a quote from a book (and movie) called “Fight Club”, by Chuck Palahniuk.
Coincidentally, Palahniuk has Ukrainian ancestry (hence his surname).
I have been aware of predictions that the world would face an oil supply crisis in 2023 since late 2021. It seems to me that the price shock early this year will reduce the demand for oil at these high prices by depressing economies. That “heads it off at the pass”, softening the hard supply-inadequacy shock.
The control-narrative of war-with-Russia is tried and true, worked well for the “owners” for most of my life, and has now been fully-rehabilitated for the peak-oil crisis.
Last June Gail Tverberg had this analysis: Where Energy Modeling Goes Wrong
Summary: The economy is approaching near-term collapse, not peak oil. The result is quite different.
The modeling that comes closest to being correct is that which underlies the 1972 book, The Limits to Growth by Donella Meadows and others. This modeling was based on physical quantities of resources, with no financial system whatsoever. The base model, shown here, indicates that limits would be reached a few years later than we actually seem to be reaching them. The dotted black line in Figure 1 indicates where I saw the world economy to be in January 2019, based on the limits we already seemed to be reaching at that time.(I think that line is drawn at 2010, myself.) https://ourfiniteworld.com/2021/02/03/where-energy-modeling-goes-wrong/
There is a control-narrative scramble to herd people into a response to the end-of-cheap-energy, as pollution, global warming, and global shortages of critical minerals for batteries, chips and electric motors break the finely tuned global economy and supply chains.
“We” tried Global-Warming/climate-change, but it was hard to get people motivated to change, and businesses still had to maximize profits and compete, so buying an electric car, solar panels and wind turbines happened, but there was no reduction in mining or burning.
Climate change is happening, but it’s less of threat than running short of oil, which is slated to happen first.
https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/google-censors-narrative-threats?s=w
The WAR-With-Russia control-narrative can be “turned up to eleven”, and evokes the rational fear of nuclear Armageddon. Russia and Europe seem to be cooperating. What could go wrong?
War could go wrong, of course, but there are a lot of economic and financial details to work out. There is going to be a “new” world financial order, and all of the players want to control it so that it sends them rent payments without fail. I commonly see the threat of the Chinese Yuan/renminbi displacing the dollar as global reserve currency shot down, but it is a straw-man threat.
What the Chinese, Russians, other Asian countries, Iran and others are looking at is a specific global trade currency, such as John Maynard Keynes described in the 1930s-1940s, but which was not adopted at Bretton Woods. It would be backed by commodities, like gold, oil, wheat, rice and soybeans, and actual industrial output from factories. Saudi Arabia is making it clear that it is happy to consider divorce from the $US, as that “protection” deal looks like it might better be serviced by Russia and China soon.
What the global banking friends would like to see is global digital currency, and they are willing to give us free-money in a digital account so that we will become reliant upon it. California seeks to be an innovator, but the EU is all over it, too.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/newsom-wants-give-400-debit-cards-california-car-owners-because-putin-invaded-ukraine
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabo-gasoline-stimulus-checks-how-you-return-70s-style-wage-price-spiral
Yes, the currency will hyperinflate this way, but novel “fixes” like eliminating your money will become available to central bankers.
https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/google-censors-narrative-threats?s=w
Oil prices are the biggest recurring scam ever perpetrated. They’re purely due to speculation, i.e. to the fears the media can instill into the speculators. Psychological capitalism.
No sense worrying or discussing subjects you cannot control. It just builds anxiety. The world population will be halved in the next three years by starvation, disease and nuclear exchange. This is all part of the Great Reset. Accept it and make whatever preparations you can now.
Writing with authority about what you don’t and can’t know.
The US and NATO are using Ukrainians as human shields. That’s terrorism.
I can’t disagree with that.
As I read recently: “We will fight the Russians until the last Ukrainian is dead.”
1) Europe did not want to become the future battle ground between the US and the Soviet Union. Thus NATO.
2) The US funded an Afghanistan border war with the Soviet Union in order to bankrupt the Soviet Union and give it its own Vietnam. Successfully.
3) Russia does not want to have a war with NATO.
4) The 2014 US coup in Ukraine was intended to suffocate Russia just as did the US backed Afghanistan border war with the Soviet Union did previously.
5) Russia is the world’s largest grain grain exporter.
6) US and its puppet NATO wanted to use Ukraine to suffocate Russia with a border war (as in item 2).
7) Russia can survive a grain and oil shortage by diverting its own grain and oil to domestic consumption.
8) Russia need not supply grain or oil to NATO in ways economically unfavorable to it.
9) The blockade of Russian grain and oil to NATO will break the will of NATO.
10) The attempted repeat of using Ukraine (as was Afghanistan) to collapse Russia is a failure.
I do not see a unified Europe nor the Euro surviving much longer. Pricing energy to a gold backed Ruble will begin the decline of western fiat currencies. Once China joins with a gold backed yuan, the decline will accelerate. Then when western financial systems lose control, gold will skyrocket.
Seems plausible to me.
Nuclear disarmament will require people to be brave and unselfish for the common good, just like getting vaccinated against covid. I hope it works.
I expect many of those who think covid vaccines are lethal feel safe and secure knowing thousands of nuclear warheads could be on their way at a moment’s notice.
“Safe and effective” Covid vaccines actually protect you against nuclear warheads. What they don’t protect you against, according to Worldometers’ numbers, is Covid-19.
Yep, I am afraid nuclear blasts appear as entertainment in the US media and youtube etc.
So what feels threatening to people who did not grow up in a violent comics culture, is entertaining to Americans. Basically American culture is soaked in violence.
Sociologists studied kids in different cultures found that American kids are more aggressive than Chinese, for example.
Get a grip Caitlan – you have become a paranoid alarmist !
There won’t be a a fvcking WAR !!
Russia wiped out 400 thousand ZIO/US/NATO sponsored ISIS terrorists in Syria and all the ZIO/US/NATO could do was WATCH !
Russia – even without China’s help are WAY too sophisticated for NATO !
Grow some fvcking BALLS and look at what your own country is doing to you !
Russia can stop ANYTHING the US/NATO has before they even leave the SILOS !
US cruise missiles travel at 0.65 MACH !
Russian hypersonic missiles can travel at 11 MACH +
It is NO contest and would be over before it began – PERIOD !
Russian SH!T flies so fast it would give the ZIO/US./NATO a COLD !
None of that’s any reason to suppose there won’t be a war, by which I assume you mean one directly between the US and Russia. If what you say is true, Russia would ‘win’, and rapidly, but even if that is the case, those with their fingers on the button in the US might not realise it.
And is more testosterone really what we need right now?
What can we do about it though, pray? Send Putin and Biden simultaneously a tweet saying “Since there’s a good chance you never gave the matter the slightest thought, please allow me to advise you not to push the button”? There’s as much arrogance in thinking we can do anything about that as there is in thinking we can open the Red Sea with a walking stick. Moses was lucky, that’s all…
What would you suggest ??
Diplomacy ??
ZIO/US/NATO and their allies killed 2.5 million in Iraq !
Their sponsored ISIS army killed 500 thousand in Syria – maimed and displaced another an additional 2.5 million !
Russia had to go into Syria 2015 and kill 400 THOUSAND ISIS !!
This from Russia’s former President !
Medvedev has recently been known for his both tough and ironic statements when it comes to the behavior of the Western countries.
Earlier, he said that anti-Russian sentiments, which have boomed since the launch of Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, have apparently been hidden for the last 30 years behind “the hypocritical white-toothed smiles of politicians and diplomats who said one thing and did something completely different.”
Often translated in the past as “pale faces speak with forked tongue”.
Most of Ukraines weapons for already been destroyed by Russia – Including their ENTIRE AF of well over 350 aircraft !
They have NOTHING left to go to war with !
Nothing can get past the S400 and S500 missile defence systems !
It’s over and the ZIO/US/NATO is Incapable of launching anything that Russia couldn’t deal with !
Besides that the ZIO/US/NATO would just be humiliated and they won’t RISK that !
” while everyone’s talking about the fear that Putin may make a calculated decision to initiate a nuclear exchange should he feel backed into a corner.”
Putin has already shown how he will react if backed into a corner. this war would never have happened, if the U.S. and NATO had merely assured him that the Ukraine would never be admitted to NATO. When they did not, he felt backed into a corner. So now we have much of the advanced world believing in the narrative that Putin is the devil and the U.S./NATO are white knights come to save us.
If you believe that narrative, Please get in touch with me. I’ve got got deeds to a few bridges that I can let you have at bargain prices.
re: Scott Ritter’s epic rant …
It that what it seemed? These were the very calm and rational conversations I would have Ms. Johnstone, when I would sneak out of class for a smoke with my friends, when I was in the 7th grade. The 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed that year, and their was a unamimous consensus amongst us, there was now a better than 50/50 chance that we would not be vaporized by a Soviet warhead in our lifetimes. The destabilizing (MAD shattering) 3rd piece had been eliminated from the nuclear chessboard, for all time it seemed; meaning, there were only two pieces remaining, the king and the queen, and as any chessplayer of even limited skill could tell you, king and queen endgames can only end in a draw, unless one side makes a blunder for the ages.
Note: Much has been made of the Russian’s new superweapons, the hypersonics, and the Poseidon tsunami torpedo, which is fine, but as 7th graders in another era could reassure today’s adults that are terrified by them, those are counter-strike weapons my fellow Americans. Relax. What you should be concerned about, is the recent guidance upgrades to our Trident warheads, called the super-fuze, which has effectively tripled overnight the firepower contained within the missile bays of our 14* Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.
And to my knowledge, no one has ever claimed the Ohio’s are anything other than a first strike weapons’ system.
*Wink. Wink. Isn’t the true figure 18? After all, the other four Ohios, the one’s limited by treaties from carrying nukes, can be quickly retrofitted back to their orginal purpose, should said treaties no longer be considered valid.
— Thanks once again for evoking some fond memories, Ms Johnstone. You would have been most welcome in our class skipping discussions. You didn’t have to smoke, or even have a keen interest in preventing armegeddon, you only had to be willing, to entertain reality.
What on earth is the purpose of your ridiculous comment?
Good question.
I think mainly it was to send a message to Max and Aaron that they need to interview Scott Ritter again, and flesh out slowly and in much greater detail, the basic concepts of nuclear war that Mr. Ritter was trying to impart to them, and to the audience, in last few minutes of the podcast.
For me, as a long time student of nuclear war, nothing he said seemed rushed or in the slightest way unconnected, but looking at it again, Mr. Ritter was breathlessly tying get so much information out there in the short time that was left to him, that it is undertandable why it might be perceived as an “epic rant,” when it was anything but, or for the 99.999% of the audience that is not nearly as knowledgable as Ms. Johnstone, complete gobbledegook.
If we are to avoid nuclear war, then it is imperative that we understand everything about it. And there is NOT THAT MUCH TOO UNDERSTAND. That is my point about the 7th grade. I knew this shit cold 50 years ago, when I was twelve, and nothing has changed.
If I, and many other of my classmate were able to undertand it then, at the age of 12, it seems to me adults should be able understand it now.
The only thing preventing them, it intellectual cowardice.
Not to keep picking on Krystal and Saagar, but they are perfect example of the utter nonsense being spewed by our media surrounding this subject. One host is saying everyone will be vaporized should there be a full nuclear exchange, the other is saying no, no, no, only 95 million will be dead within the first few hours, according to a recent study.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2GC9ybN7UU
Chrystal, just you know, 95 million dead is a green light for nuclear war planners on all sides, Jesus Christ woman, wake the fuck up!
Why don’t you interview Scott Ritter, and give him the time necessary to explain this simple concept to you.
You keep telling me you’re trying not be mainstream, well, prove it.
Don’t you find it amazing how movie scripts can sometimes illustrate problems with the present watever-you-want-to-call-it “system” far better than anything else? Here is just one example among many. (Turn up your audio volume beforehand so that you can make out the first few words.)
How we see things, we being the American public, is through the lens of so-called reality (fantasy) shows, corporate sports, facebook and the rest of the internet sewer, and action/fantasy/superhero movies. War in another land is just another media show for mass consumption, with a malign villain (Putin) and hero (Zelensky). Facts and events that don’t fit the dramatic, simplistic, binary narrative are simply ignored, dropped down the memory hole. The question a few of us ask is ‘how can this march toward all out war be stopped?’ while the question most Americans are asking is ‘how do we teach Russia a lesson, and give Putin his comeuppance?’ A nuclear explosion is just one more impressive bit of film magic, not a real thing that kills real people.
Great comment!
Speak for yourself. I don’t watch television, having got rid of my TV 10 y ears ago. I do not follow sports and the propaganda and militarism promoted by most sporting events. I do not watch action/fantasy/superhero movies at all and never have. In other words, your over-generalization makes a lot of assumptions seemingly based on your own personal habits.
Good for you. I don’t watch much TV, but can see what’s on there, same for the internet, and can say that the programming is a mile wide and an inch deep. The reason this kind of programming dominates is because that is what people watch, not because I’m making broad generalizations based on my personal habits.
“But there has never been a better time to take another look at it with fresh eyes and begin putting it into practice.”
And what do you do after you wake up and “take another look at life with fresh eyes and begin putting it inot practice”? Specifically, how do you “put it into practice” when you walk into a voting booth, or doesn’t that matter?
What, exactly, does the word “revolution” mean? Is there universal agreement on what the word “revolution” means? If there is, please tell me precisely HOW people “revolt”? What would the BEHAVIOR of “revolting” be? Would We, the Woke, We Who Already Understand What’s Going On be picking up guns and running down the streets with our hair on fire, each of us yelling in perfect synchronicity with the collective “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!”? Would We, the Woke, We Who Already Understand What’s Going On be guillotining some VIPs on the White House lawn? Would We, the Woke, We Who Already Understand What’s Going On be marching hand in hand down Penn. Ave. demand, demand, demanding that the Elite behave better, or else? (“or else” just exactly WHAT?!)
Here’s what 80+ million of you, me, We, the Woke, We Who Already Understand What’s Going On are eventually going to HAVE TO DO because
there. is. no. other. way. to remove our warmongering, false-narrative-creating oppressors’ 536 Rs and Ds from federal elected positions of power. (If you know of another way, please spell it out, right here, right now and, BTW, reading another hundred really great books that tell you who’s holding the reins of power in one hand and your balls in the other, wishing upon a star, dream, dream, dreaming; hoping and praying and deep, deep, deep self-study and drug-trips are not going to do that job.)
THIS is how you “revolt”. If you do not want More Of The Same that you’ve gotten after every election in the past, do not vote for another R or D, ever, no matter what an R or D promises! Jimmy Dore explains EXACTLY why. OTOH, if you DO want More Of The Same, when you walk into the voting booth, just vote for another R or D, makes no difference which. (The latter is what the tens of millions of direct and indirect employees of, and the investors in, the MIC are going to do. They’re going to vote for No. 1 and they don’t give a shit if doing that ultimately leads to WWIII; they know precisely what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. )
Read Lenin and Trotsky for that information.
Voting doesn’t make any difference but not voting or voting for a marginal party doesn’t make any difference either. The question is: is there boxing because there are boxers, because there are boxing managers or because there’s a public for it? Subsidiary question: if we suppressed the public and the managers, would boxers still fight to find out who’s best like the gunslingers in western movies?
If I imagined the mushroom cloud (as I do of late) and what I was thinking then, I would say complete anarchy would have been better for us than any known form of government.
Any form of government that is based on violence will inevitably lead to a violent ending.
We have to change all of our systems including education, to be based on nonviolence principles.
What can we do right now is to learn non-violent communication. And turn off all the news, do not read or hear them, leave them in their own violent bubble.
I would never quote any military strategist in my writings, even for contrast, because their twisted thinking poisons us with fear of actual humans: “If we did this, they would do that, then we may lose, therefore we have to kill them now”. If everybody ignored them, they would have to find a different occupation. Unfortunately people who print paper money and then want to collect rent for it employ violent individuals to make their “dream come true” of collecting rent for pieces of paper. Why cant’ use rolls of toilet paper as money, then we would not need central bankers, and a new nonviolent era can begin.
Remember how all the toilet paper disappeared from the shelves at the outbreak of Covid-19?
Those pushing for war – and juicy profits, will never see things…except their way.
According to this recent Consortium News piece by Joe Lauria, the Pentagon’s been leaking information about Russia’s actions and intentions in an attempt to counter the more demented pro-escalation propaganda.
‘ The Pentagon is engaged in a consequential battle with the U.S. State Department and the Congress to prevent a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could unleash the most unimaginable horror of war. …
These Pentagon sources confirm what Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense have been saying all along: that instead of being “stalled,” Russia is executing a methodical war plan to encircle cities, opening humanitarian corridors for civilians, leaving civilian infrastructure like water, electricity, telephony and internet intact, and trying to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible. ‘
and
‘ Reuters reported: “The United States has not yet seen any concrete indications of an imminent Russian chemical or biological weapons attack in Ukraine but is closely monitoring streams of intelligence for them, a senior U.S. defense official said.” It quoted the Pentagon official as saying, “There’s no indication that there’s something imminent in that regard right now.” ‘
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/23/pentagon-drops-truth-bombs-to-stave-off-war-with-russia/
or, if that’s inaccesible, https://archive.ph/pyzTd
Scary times indeed if the Pentagon is a voice of relative moderation.
These are the two articles Lauria refers to:
Putin’s Bombers Could Devastate Ukraine But He’s Holding Back. Here’s Why
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-s-bombers-could-devastate-ukraine-but-he-s-holding-back-here-s-why/ar-AAVnuAJ
and
No Indication of Imminent Russian Chemical Weapons Attack in Ukraine -U.S. Defense Official
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-03-22/no-indications-of-imminent-russian-chemical-weapons-attack-in-ukraine-u-s-defense-official
Good to see the USA’s super-fuzes getting noticed at last. The Federation of American Scientists and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote about them five years ago, both pointing out that they effectively give the US a nuclear first-strike capability, enabling the destruction of Russian missiles in their bunkers and silos before they can be launched. For reasons I can’t fathom, few in the West have shown much interest until now.
Warhead “Super-Fuze” Increases Targeting Capability Of US SSBN Force
https://fas.org/blogs/security/2017/03/super-fuze/
How US nuclear force modernization is undermining strategic stability: The burst-height compensating super-fuze
https://thebulletin.org/2017/03/how-us-nuclear-force-modernization-is-undermining-strategic-stability-the-burst-height-compensating-super-fuze/
i think we’re safe from Nuclear War. The US Empire would be the initiators. Except, the “motivators” and “brains” of the Empire would be the first to be vaporised in retaliation.
The US Empire is absolutely fine with mass murder, destruction and misery as long as it’s far away from the personal space of the motivators and brains of the Empire. They’re even fine with the local serfs being reduced to hamburger. But they’re abject cowards when it comes to their personal comfort and life.
The atmosphere of nuclear war angst we’re going through is more Empire Illusion pressure against Russia and China’s insistence on independent existence. eg .. to influence Russia/China population fear generated opinion and decision making: the illusion of: if Russia and China insist on being independent of the US Empire, then the Empire is crazy enough to wipe us all out with Nuclear War.
But we know different. The motivators and brains of the Empire are the target for nuclear retaliation. And their whole purpose of existence is themselves. The whole nuclear war fear is manufactured illusion.
It’s what Moshe Dayan called the mad dog strategy: let everybody believe you’re crazy enough to blow up the whole planet if they as much as lift one finger against you, which Israeli military experts have since called the Samson option. All bluff though… Or maybe not… Funny Ladbrokes doesn’t give odds on the chances of nuclear extinction. It’s a serious mistake because they could pocket a lot of money and the winners, in case of extinction, would be unable to collect. So it would be all profit! I’m surprised die-hard capitalists, for whom capital is more important than human lives, don’t realize that :o)
the ‘motivators’ and ‘brains’ of the empire act like they can survive or this has gone into a mechanical stage where there are no real human brains in control. there’s an iron-clad logic developing and i fear there are no humans able or willing to stop it. it may sound strange but i think the west also overestimates the humanitarianism of the russian people, imo, as they are testing limits.
I totally agree with this post. I’m an ex-pat Brit resident in Romania and Bulgaria for the past decade and am staggered by how diffident we all seem to be to this prospect. Dave Pollard remains my voice of sanity – even if he is an “extinctionist”. But am deeply disappointed that another such character – Dmitry Orlov – has upped anchor and returned to Russia from where is posting poison.