Most men can remember back to a time on the schoolyard when two kids got into a confrontation and one of them kept promising to do something bad to the other if the other did not stop whatever it was he was doing. The threat of consequences was supposed to deter the other, but the other kid was undeterred, and the result was a fight, with the kid making the threats getting the worst of it. Bullies often come to a bad end like this as their bullying is based on threats.
If you are a member of the managerial elite, it is unlikely that you have such a memory as you were raised by women, so no school yard fights. As a result, the logic of the bully, issuing escalatory threats, makes perfect sense. After all, if you can conjure something worse than the other guy is conjuring, then you win! Therefore, success is determined by who has the greatest mastery of escalatory dominance, the alleged ability to escalate a conflict beyond that of an opponent.
This is the engine that has been driving the war in Ukraine. For close to a decade the Russians have objected to what Washington has been doing on its border in Ukraine, but Washington has responded with the promise of more of what the Russians found objectionable, rather than search for a compromise. Once the Russians crossed into Ukraine, Washington unleashed the sanctions war and promised even more punishments, including the promise of regime change.
Throughout the war, the approach from Washington has been to create some artificial red line for themselves or Russia, and then cross it in such a way as to suggest all future red lines will be crossed. Currently NATO is having a debate about launching long range missile attacks on Russia, from NATO countries or with NATO personnel, while pretending it is being done by Ukraine. This is the bully threatening the kid who refuses to back down with something worse than backing down.
Unreported in the West, Ukraine has been using Western supplied drones to attack early warning radar stations in southern Russia. These are part of Russia’s nuclear defense system. They play no role in the Ukraine war, but Ukraine’s handlers are having them do this as a form of escalatory dominance. The point is to signal to the Russians that the West is not afraid of nuclear war. The madness of this is obvious, but to a great degree that is the point, to seem mad.
We see a similar thing shaping up with China. Washington is going out of its way to provoke China over the issue of Taiwan. Various officials have been sent to the island for no other reason than to antagonize the Chinese. A big package of weapons has been shipped to Taiwan and Washington has increased the number of military personnel on the island. Washington regularly talks about how it is actively preparing for a war with the Chinese over the issue of Taiwan.
A great example of how the concept of escalatory dominance controls how American ruling elites deal with the world is the last trip by Anthony Blinken to China in which he went out of his way to insult the Chinese. The State Department insisted on Blinken visiting China, where he held meetings with Chinese leaders. He then went out of those meetings and threatened them with sanctions. This was done to let the Chinese know that there is no red line Washington will not cross.
This is not just a foreign policy strategy. The reason Trump is waiting to hear a guilty verdict is the regime has always assumed that if they cross enough red lines with regards to the rule of law, Trump or his supporters will fold. For going on four years, it has been ever increasing violence against both the rule of law and the customs that have controlled our politics. The point of each new escalation is to warn that there is no limit to what they will do unless you obey.
It is the unquestioned assumption in Washington that there is always some threat they can issue that is so terrifying that the other side will back down that has led them into a crisis for the regime. Half the country now thinks the courts are corrupt beyond reform thanks to the lawfare unleashed by the regime. We are remarkably close to the point where a majority of Americans think we are ruled by lawless gangsters, which even in easy times is an impossible state of affairs.
The crisis gripping the West is due, in large part, to the fact that the system now selects boys and girls with no practical knowledge. Never having had their bluff called and walking away with a bloody nose or a black eye, they just assume such a thing is impossible, so they are free to escalate their threats. It is not so much that their threats work, but that they ought to work. In the artificial reality in which these people live, the ought is the same as the is.
The Trump trial is a good bit of foreshadowing for how this widely held delusion about escalatory dominance will end. At some point, the bluff is called, and the bluffer has to either follow through or their raison d’etre evaporates. This is the story of the bully who finally has to fight and gets beaten. It is not the beating that ends his reign as a bully, but the fact that someone stood up to him. This is what is happening with the lawfare against Trump, who has called their bluff.
Unlike the schoolyard, the end of a regime that relies on escalatory dominance is not so simple and tidy. The regime now has to hope the Trump trial ends in a hung jury so they can maintain their stance. An acquittal has them looking like fools and a guilty verdict has them in a crisis far worse than Trump winning the election. Soon, the bluff will be called over Ukraine and Taiwan. Once this happens, the regime has no answer other than the unthinkable.
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The spirit of the age is girl power and the usual suspects fit right into this spirit with their verbal skills. It kind of reminds me of the deception of Eve. There really are principles in that book worth considering. The deception is that they can do all this crap without the use of brute physical force. Once the only option is brute force both at home and abroad well we know that those nations of peoples whom still operate with a masculine spirit may do the unthinkable and slap the feminine spirit of our age. At one time in… Read more »
It is telling that Sweden and Finland both signed up for NATO at exactly the same time, when they were both swayed by GAE propaganda, and the prime minister of each was a bimbo girlboss.
“At one time in our culture slapping a hysterical woman was not unthinkable.”
That would be a mild response at that. Hysteria, a form of panic, in the military gets you shot. The few times I witnessed such, it was a woman responding to some sort of accident which required immediate action. Heaven help you—in such a situation you’d die in the arms of a crying woman.
> Hysteria, a form of panic, in the military gets you shot.
I still remember reading “With the Old Breed” and the author tells of a time a soldier simply loses it in the foxhole, to the point the other soldiers have to kill him to keep enemy forces from finding their location.
The writer has nothing but sympathy, and those soldiers likely had a mental wound that never healed. Still, they did what they had to.
The spirit of the age was perfectly encapsulated by that young girl who was standing confident and proud against the charging bull, in front of Wall Street. Complete and utter obliviousness to the real world.
These two statues have now been moved apart, though. I was actually surprised that happened.
The girl kept getting “defaced” from what I hear – adult toys and obscene signs attached to her advertising her “services”, though people stopped short of graffiti. Hellofit was the bull gets the same, but more punked and more prankish stuff than anything borne out of disdain.
I forget what statue was where but the girl is still in front of the famous facade. The bull is like 3 blocks away.
It kind of reminds me of the deception of Eve. There really are principles in that book worth considering.
— Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Our frontier settler foremothers were not hysterical girlbosses. They were badass! Ditto the Boer women of the Great Trek and Boer Wars.
When the ape-men and aliens write the history of the American empire in 1000 years, I think Antony Blinken will play a prominent part in the chapters on the downfall. He’s such a perfect emblem of the decayed rot of the empire. It’s obvious his career in government is because of who he is and who he knew (like his stepfather), he has no skill or talent, he got his job as a reward for setting up the Hunter Biden laptop “hallmarks of Russian disinformation” letter for Brandon, he cares more about playing guitar than conducting diplomacy, and the only… Read more »
I look forward to the Ape-Man History of the US.
From Chimptonius’s Lives of the 12 Presidents:
And one Antonius Blincenus, who was a nebbish managerial type, from Judaea, and had depraved sexual tastes, did have the confidence of Josephus Bidenus, who himself did lose his bowels in public.
Of course we will get the account of Ape-Man Edward Gibbon, no funny name required, 1500 years later.
“The society that separates its scholars from it’s warriors will have it’s thinking done by cowards and it’s fighting done by fools.”
Seeing the end result of a culture that is massively overweighted towards female thinking and conflict resolution in real time.
Nobody will remember Blinken.
“he cares more about playing guitar than conducting diplomacy”
That is one of the most cringe thing I’ve ever seen from a state official. A unique boomer-clown combination.
I clearly recall noting (back in ’08!) that “not only is Barry Soetoro the type of obnoxious d-bag you expect to see holding court at the West End (Columbia Bar) on a Saturday night, he’s never, ever been in in a schoolyard tussle, and therefore should never, ever be elected President – of anything.”
In the artificial reality in which these people live, the ought is the same as the is. You nailed it right there. The People in Charge (kind of, they are indeed just managers) have no connection to or perception of limits. They thought they could meme MAGA, Putin and now China out of existence. Unlike delusional conservatards who vote harder, these types meme harder. It is the same delusion all the way down. There probably actually are a few folks among the real TPTB who realize an economic war with China would impoverish them, so that is less likely to happen than a… Read more »
Red lines crossed are precedents set.
Bought up by women. That is funny, and true.
We used to refer to the mouthy pricks as NBPE’S – Not been punched enough!
The philosopher Tyson was correct that nothing straightens a chap up quicker than a punch in the mouth.
The GAE needs a couple of good hard ones!
“Soon, the bluff will be called over Ukraine and Taiwan. Once this happens, the regime has no answer other than the unthinkable.” Well that is a cheery thought. But I cannot say you are wrong. Our rulers are irrational about the current state of the country, especially its military capabilities. They seem blind to the failure of their actions vs Russia, both on the Ukranian battlefield and sanctions. President Puddin’head frequently says, “we’re the USA, of course we can do that.” Whether it’s fight Russia and China and the middle east, absorb millions of aliens or spend trillions on the… Read more »
They may not be interested in limits but limits are interested in them.
The attack on the Russian long range ICBM warning system is a HUGE red line.
Their tech in this department isn’t all that great anyway. But blinding the world’s largest nuclear power to an incoming attack forces them to assume the worst.
And respond accordingly.
It’s madness.
The USA has been a bully since the days of Theodore Roosevelt and his ” bully pulpit.” Trouble is that the USA doesn’t know how to speak softly anymore. We’re at the point of put up or shut up but the usual suspects don’t know how to shut up and they don’t have the big stick they thought they had. This is going to get interesting.
I recall the Looney Tune where, aping politicans, Bugs does Teddy with the famous phrase “I speak softly, but I carry a big stick.”
To which Yosemite Sam says “Oh yeah? Well I speak LOUD, and I carry a BIGGER stick. And I use it too!” [clubs Bugs].
> Trouble is that the USA doesn’t know how to speak softly anymore.
And our “Big Stick” is increasingly rainbow-colored and shaped like something you’d find in Victoria Nuland’s nightstand.
I keep wondering at what point will the Russians say enough is enough? While I find it hard to imagine them attacking a NATO target or targets as that would truly kick off WW3, with all these pussies (real or soy) talking tough about launching long range missile attacks deep into Russia, the evidently unexpected may come to fruition. Hell, maybe that’s what TPTB want anyway – wipeout western civilization. Maybe Russia realizes this and is acting accordingly – at least for now.
At what point? Lol dude, like more than 24 months ago when they crossed the border into Ukraine and since then solidified alliances with China.
Like Rick James, AINO is a habitual line stepper…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9yQq4NxyOE&ab_channel=ar4386
In the immortal words of Harold “Dirty Harry” Callahan, “go ahead — make my day.”
Apparently the way that Red Hot Chili Peppers came into being was that one day in school Flea was bullying some random kid by holding him in a headlock, when Anthony Kiedis, then new at the school, saw what was happening and told Flea to let the kid go or he was going to get his ass beat. Flea took one look at Anthony, decided he was serious, and let the other kid go. They became lifelong friends and formed one of the biggest rock bands ever together. I wonder if things like that can happen anymore. I feel bad… Read more »
And then, one day, for no reason at all…….
Good analysis. I would say that things are probably even worse that you state; because the Western leadership class are not pretending to be mad dogs in order to attain particular objectives – but ultimately, those who wield most power really are *literally* insane (and not in a nice way!). By insane, I mean “they” are incapable of being truthful (when truth is the common sense of normal people – such as that mass-starvation, -disease and -violence are bad things we ought to try and avoid); incapable of keeping agreements; and indifferent to horrible real-world consequences of their actions –… Read more »
All this would seem to necessarily end with selected areas turned to glassy mesas and, to put it somewhat euphemistically, a dramatic reduction in the standard of living for all concerned.
The carelessness, the lack of stewardship and restraint, the whole refusal to ask “should we really do this?” continues to surprise; shame on me for that.
The regime and its adherents just don’t get how important legitimacy is to any government.
Or accountability. Above a certain level in government and big business, nobody is responsible for anything, it seems.
Escalatory dominance and presumption of abundance are kind of the same thing. The latter manifests economically, in all kinds of silly ideas, like the climate “industrial” complex, UBI, reparations, and endless loldollars. Having never known deprivation or even modest failure, since only economic success has ever been known, it is unfathomable that anything can destroy the economy. Since the people who ran the economy of the past were racist white men, then ipso facto our ideas, whatever they are, must be better. And certainly they have to be different, because we can’t do the same things the evil racist white… Read more »
The question that the victim currently being taunted by the bully needs to ask himself is this: when the time for vengeance comes, do I merely stop at delivering a black eye and bloody nose, or do I put in the effort to settle the problem, once and for all?
And that is why little billy writes his manifesto…in earleir times, they would fight off the schoolyard after class, and some father or male adult would crack their heads together and make them shake hands-
The problem with this analysis is the fact that the targets of Western “bullying” have so far failed to establish a credible deterrent, and therefore they are enabling the West to get away it. It would be nice if someone actually stood up to the bully, but those who have (or had) the power to do so have been very reluctant to defend themselves. In the first case, we have Donald Trump. If he just would have put a little more effort into actually enacting the platform that he originally campaigned on and won on, he would not be in… Read more »
That wouldn’t have ended anything, it would have only escalated it, then or now. Russia knows this, which is why they haven’t done it. What, you think that if the Russians sack Kiev/kill Zelensky, then the GAE is just going to say tough break mate, let’s go home, we’ll get ’em next time?
That is an overdetermined objection that would apply to anything Russia could do or might do.
Correct in that it does apply to most anything Russia might do. They are in a very difficult position, in which they had no choice but to act, yet there was no choice they could make which would lead to “victory,” at least not in the short term.
They don’t because they’re cowardly bullies themselves.
Did you get your military education from Reddit?
America’s Strategic War Plan with China:
We can’t possibly lose.
This is actually believed, too, not just parody.
Dr. StrangeJew: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Jew the Debt Bomb.
“There is no limit to what they will do unless you obey.”
Would make a great bumper sticker.
… unless you Disobey.
du Welkommen;)
American foreign strategy is like that of Israel, but scaled up to the whole world. Everybody is a bad guy oppressing America, but America will deal with them by any means necessary. It remains to be seen how it all ends.
As for Trump, the process is also a good test for the MAGA crowd and core Americans. How will they react if Trump is thrown in jail? Will they go beyond impotent rage?
Will they go beyond impotent rage?
My money is on doing nothing at all.
The White Hats will start with retaliatory arrests 2 weeks after Trump’s conviction.
Q
All the political terrorism of the last 10-15 years has rested on the assumption nobody will shoot back at them. That’s Ukraine in a nutshell. They assumed Reddit and Twitter could beat bullets and artillery and air strikes. The Government Party isn’t completely wrong, domestically. Nobody shot back at them during all the riots. Those who did try to push back were quickly arrested and charged with phony baloney crimes. Ala Trump, J6, and that kid up in Minnesota. The general consensus here is that nobody will shoot back. I think this is right, at least for now. Most people,… Read more »
The problem with Americans (the core demographic) is that they are the nicest people in the world. Nice people can take a lot of abuse before they even notice that something is wrong.
True. But once they blow, they blow! And people better run.
But are they ever going to “blow”? Time is running out.
US-supplied HIMARS ‘completely ineffective’ against superior Russian jamming technology, report says (msn.com)
As the great Bob Marley once sang, “We JAMMIN’…”
I think Taiwan is the much scarier proposition. Fortunately, most of the military people I have heard comment on the subject believe China is not yet ready to attack Taiwan and won’t be in the near to medium term. I don’t believe Japan and South Korea are going to help either with Taiwan or the Philippines. I would think Kim would allow the Chinese military to invade South Korea through North Korea should South Korea get involved in a conflict with China. The idea of reunification under North Korea would be too tempting for Kim Jong Un. Time is definitely… Read more »
The whole MIC/Foreign policy apparatus is the proverbial “self-licking ice cream cone”. We provoke by day and arm ourselves with expensive weapons of dubious utility by night while we monitor and suppress dissent 24/7/365.
The escalation ladder noise is kept at maximum volume so the Grillers think their sirloin is being coveted by some foreigner.
This is the main feature of the grift. If no crisis exists, they invent one: Coof, St. George, Ukraine etc.
The problem is how much computerization has infiltrated society. The powers that’d be think things operate logically and inflexibly, like a computer program. The powers that be also think that they can waive their magic wand and make things happen, in the same way they can design a computer program. One of the more amusing things to me is how they think they actually think they have the power to make self-driving vehicles work. I mean, there are literally billions of different types of decisions drivers have to make depending on what some other drivers do, and they think they’re… Read more »