The Diem Option

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In the autumn of 1963, the Kennedy administration was made aware of a plot against the president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem. There had been growing unhappiness within the elite of South Vietnam over his handling of the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong insurgency. Earlier in the year a plot had been hatched by junior officers, but it had been suppressed. This new plot had the support of the generals.

Unhappy with Diem’s leadership, the Kennedy administration, upon learning of the pending coup, sent a cable to the American ambassador in Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, instructing him to inform Diem of their unhappiness with him and to let the generals know that they would not intervene in a coup attempt. This, in effect, gave Washington’s stamp of approval to the plot.

On November 1, 1963, the coup was launched, led by General Duong Van Minh, the senior general in the army and the main coup plotter. Diem’s loyalists were quickly scooped up by the army and then Diem and his brother were arrested. Instead of just deposing him, which was the plan communicated to the American government, both were executed in the back of an America armored personnel carrier.

The reason that this long forgotten bit of 20th century trivial still matters is it led directly to what Americans refer to as the Vietnam War. Instead of realizing that they had no idea what they were doing in that part of the world, the Kennedy administration plunged the country into a guerilla war in Asia. The result was a calamity for both the military and the political class of the United States.

In one of life’s great ironies, the people who cut their political teeth in the domestic revolts over the Vietnam War now find themselves in the same situation. This time they are the people in charge and the client state is Ukraine. Similar to 60 years ago, the American government has to deal with an erratic and reckless leader who may not be long for this world. That leader is Volodymyr Zelensky.

Contrary to all of the happy talk in Western media, the proxy war against Russia is not going well for the West. On the battlefield, the Russians are slowly grinding down the Ukrainian army, which has become a blackhole for Western arms. Everyone is waiting for the winter offensive that the Russians have been planning for months. This promises to put the Ukrainian army in an even more difficult position.

The Russians are also systematically dismantling the infrastructure of Ukraine with waves of missile and drone strikes. The Ukrainians have no way to defend against these attacks and contrary to the predictions of Western planners, the Russians are no where near running out of missiles. If anything, it appears they have ramped up their production of missiles and drones.

This promises to unleash a humanitarian disaster on the rest of Europe as Ukrainians flee the collapse of their country. Current estimates say that as many as eight million Ukrainians could make their way to Europe this winter. Europe is teetering on the abyss economically because of soaring energy and food costs, so waves of migrants from Ukraine could not come at a worse time.

This is where the Zelensky – Diem comparison comes into play. Like Diem, Zelensky is becoming a serious problem for Washington. They built him into a folk hero who must be supported at all costs. The trouble is Zelensky is a loose cannon who seems to be hell bent on escalating the war. The most recent example is the Ukrainian missile that landed in Poland. Zelensky still insists it was the Russians.

To make matters worse, Zelensky has surrounded himself with ultranationalist and Bandera fanatics. Even if Washington could find a way to have him agree to negotiations, the fanatics would probably kill him. Zelensky understands this perfectly well, which is why he continues with the overheated rhetoric. There is only one way out for him and that is getting NATO directly involved in the war.

This is an impossibility for Washington. The military sees that the foreign policy establishment badly miscalculated. There is zero appetite for getting involved in a war for which NATO is clearly not prepared. Compounding it is a growing Ukraine fatigue around the West, as the cost of this debacle begins to bite. Not only is there no appetite for escalation, but everyone is also growing tired of Zelensky and Ukraine.

This is where the Diem solution could become an attractive option. If something unfortunate were to happen to Zelensky, then that would solve a lot of problems for Washington and the collective West. They would be free of this folk hero they created and maybe have a villain on whom they could blame the defeat. Those nationalists around Zelensky would be easy to characterize as the bad guys.

It may seem a bit farfetched given the way in which the collective West has behaved over the last year, but they have no better options. Russian public opinion has shifted steadily against negotiations. The pressure on Putin to unleash the full fury of the Russian war machine on Ukraine grows daily. The destruction of the Ukraine energy grid is just the beginning of what lies ahead this winter.

This means the West has two options at this point. One is to find a way to keep Ukraine going as a civil society, which will cost hundreds of billions. This may not even be possible, given the complexity of the problem. The other is to accept the inevitable collapse of Ukraine, millions of refugees flooding into Europe and a total defeat of the Ukrainian army. In other words, the West can bleed to death or commit suicide.

That is why Zelensky will have to go and go soon. It offers a third way out of this problem that allows everyone to save face. Washington can blame the fanatics for his demise and the collapse of Ukraine. The Europeans will be free to abandon the ruinous sanctions regime. Worst case scenario Russia installs a new government. Best case scenario Russia is stuck with a failed state and thousands of armed lunatics.

Whether or not there is anyone in Washington smart enough to understand what is happening is hard to know. It may be left to the Europeans to save Washington from itself or maybe the Ukrainians make the same error as the Vietnamese. At some point someone with the power to make it happen is going to figure out that the way out of this quagmire is to get rid of Zelensky.


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Vxxc
Vxxc
1 year ago

Per Douglas MacGregor; Ice Solid mud frozen Dec 10-19. RU has on border 540K troops, 5000 armored vehicles, 1000 rocket artillery launchers, several hundred aircraft and several hundred helicopters. Offensive likely 12/10-12/19. Now Ukraine is done, fighting with old men conscripted, no gas, heat, fuel, water infrastructure many cities, all the way to Lyov in West near Poland. Russians finally took out infrastructure. And frankly I disagree Z. A quite valid option is letting the Russians win, since it can’t be stopped, and negotiate peace under their conditions. Remember in February Biden et al thought Ukraine would be defeated in… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
1 year ago

Had to share an OT find.
https://youtu.be/w4GMkCUufp8?list=PLOhwF35oMoz5Gvy00yxAqYpp12YlZMaFg

Who knew Captain Von Trapp was an oil driller?

Who knew??

Bilejones
Member
1 year ago

It’s always a hoot to read Zman’s Anti-Libertarian ravings. No matter has he finished pointing out their utter lack of practicality than someone slaps together this. https://tomwoods.lpages.co/school-of-life-2023/ “WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL LIBERTY SUMMIT? We love speeches about libertarian theory as much as anyone, but our movement already has plenty of that. The practical liberty summit is for people who have mastered the ideas, and are now ready to take action. How do you thrive and flourish in a hostile world? That’s our focus at this summit, whose every presenter will teach you something practical that can be implemented in your… Read more »

Gespenst
Gespenst
Reply to  Bilejones
1 year ago

(Cue clown horn sound)

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  Bilejones
1 year ago

Bilejones, your conference sounds interesting. Please report back.

I think that libertarianism is persuasive only to the extent that one lives in a model of what reality should be rather than the world that is. For this reason, a libertarian conference that focuses on a hostile world might be productive.

Ask the people you talk to:
* Why does (right) libertarianism only appeal to white men of above average intelligence and almost nobody else?
* For a libertarian society to preserve itself, doesn’t it need to suppress people in that society that want big government?

Bilejones
Member
Reply to  LineInTheSand
1 year ago

I’m not a Libertarian, it’s not my conference.
I do believe that the Libertarian ethic should be the first lens through which a new program/solution should be viewed.
Is it one that consists of informed men working together or is coercian involved? If so, is that aspect entirely necessary and how can that power be prevented from metastasis.

RealityRules
RealityRules
1 year ago

Just caught a glimpse of the new Dem House leadership caucus. Jeffries spoke ; then Kathleen Clarke then Pete Aguilar Symbolism noted. Jeffries is going to fight extremism; Clarke is going to unite America and stand up for her families; Aguilar is warning against the Republicans who go to white nationalist conferences. Jeffries looks like he is going to fall over searching for the next word. I think if you get him rambling on about reparations he can go on all day, any other topic and he struggles. It doesn’t matter, he is angry and his people have been annointed… Read more »

TomA
TomA
1 year ago

For those who haven’t read it yet, there’s a good overview of John Calhoun’s Mouse Utopia experiments and parallels with modern society over at Mike Adam’s blog (thetruthseeker). Anyone still praying for “muddle through” to save us would do well to take heed.

ShiYen
ShiYen
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

I couldn’t find it… link?

TomA
TomA
Reply to  ShiYen
1 year ago
karl von hungus
karl von hungus
1 year ago

i haven’t seen it mentioned here, in the comments, so i’ll just throw in that JFK didn’t have to wait too long, before he had his own Diem moment; something like 3 weeks. were they connected? are there parallels with POTUS Mushbrains?

Alzaebo
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

Ooo. Yikes, yikes, yikes.
Just felt a chill go up my spine.

Lots of current problems, could be “solved”, no? Since we’re ruled by mobsters, anyhoo…

Uncle Joey! Don’t go to the spaghetti joint!

Mencken’s Ghost
Mencken’s Ghost
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

Malcolm X got in trouble with Elijah Muhammad when he pointed this out. It’s what led to his final break with the NOI.

krustykurmudgeon
krustykurmudgeon
1 year ago

Anyone here think that it’s going to be weird over the next ten years when a lot of the classic rock icons will probably be dead? It’ll be a shame I think. Like will some of the star groups like the Beatles, Floyd, Zep end up as remembered as well as Perry Como or Patti Page (i.e. basically forgotten)? The reason i’m saying that is because it just got out that christine mcvie died.

usNthem
usNthem
Reply to  krustykurmudgeon
1 year ago

It’ll be fast and furious over the next few years – we all have to go sometime – but yeah, it’s going to be a little weird when a lot of the big names start checking out.

Gespenst
Gespenst
Reply to  usNthem
1 year ago

Seems like only yesterday we lost J.S. Bach. Time flies.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  krustykurmudgeon
1 year ago

Christine McView (Fleetwood Mac) passed today 🙁

Alzaebo
Reply to  krustykurmudgeon
1 year ago

Oh no! “Rumors”, 1977, the greatest album rollout of the 20th century

A Landmesser
A Landmesser
1 year ago

Great article, CNN would print it in an instant as would the NY Times. Who knew the Russians have blitzed the Ukes without loss. Great to know that. How is the morale of the Russian military doing skippy? The Russians are doing so well they are shopping North Korean, Iranian, and Chinese arms! Sounds like a winner to me. Best of all to demonstrate their grinding down of the Ukes the effective and efficient Marxist state is reconditioning the T-64, a tank so bad it was refused by Mozambique. This is occurring because the same people who delivered tens of… Read more »

RealityRules
RealityRules
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

I am dense, so it is hard for me to follow this post so that I can learn something from it, which is why I read the posts here.

Are you saying that the smart thing to do is to wage unlimited war against Russia, and that anyone who doesn’t think so is an idiot?

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

Come back when you learn how to write coherent paragraphs and string them together in logical fashion.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

“Who knew the Russians have blitzed the Ukes without loss. Great to know that. How is the morale of the Russian military doing skippy?”

Sign of a troll here. Nothing but unsupported assertions, straw man and ad hominem argument. Not to mention his first posting.

Forget him. Otherwise, you’ll wind up “wrestling with a pig” as they say.

Neon_Bluebeard
Neon_Bluebeard
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

The stupid is strong in this one.

Go home. You are too short for this ride.

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

Maybe you meant Georgia, and not Armenia. Are you by any chance taking geography lessons from Liz Truss? Well, these place names both end in “ia”, so close enough.

Some people never learn.
Some are unteachable.

Fellow Zblog posters, they’re not sending their best. But maybe they are…

Alzaebo
Reply to  JerseyJeffersonian
1 year ago

If this is their best, then Zelenskyy’s victorious victory is guaranteed!

george 1
george 1
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

And how are Russia’s dams and oil fields going to blow up? I assume you mean via NATO/U.S. missiles and/or combat aircraft and naval vessels? Well they could try. Russia has the best air defense systems on the planet guarding Russia proper. After the attempt, no matter the outcome, Russia and Putin would no doubt be somewhat upset. So I would guess that much of the EU/NATO infrastructure would be attacked and attacked enough to make the missile attacks in Ukraine look like a picnic. If some of those missiles came from U.S. Navy ships, I would not want to… Read more »

Igor
Igor
Reply to  A Landmesser
1 year ago

Zelenskyy? Volodymyr Zelenskyy? Is that you?

Xman
Xman
1 year ago

“Similar to 60 years ago, the American government has to deal with an erratic and reckless leader who may not be long for this world. That leader is Volodymyr Zelensky.”

Well, this is the sort of thing that happens when the president’s crackhead, stripper-impregnating, sister-in-law-fucking son takes bribes from a foreign government so that the old man will go to war against a nuclear adversary on behalf of a Jewish clown who played piano with his penis onstage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oua0Puihrkc

Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
1 year ago

“…the Diem solution could become an attractive option. If something unfortunate were to happen to Zelensky, then that would solve a lot of problems for Washington and the collective West…”

Who ya’ gonna’ call that has the experience and the ability to pull off that caper?
I’d call on the experts at Hillarycide, Llc. Then blame the mean white macho nationalists around Zelensky – if the suicide angle can’t be foisted on John Q Public.

Problem solved.

pyrrhus
pyrrhus
Reply to  Stranger in a Strange Land
1 year ago

Given that the President and VP are non compos mentis, and the State Dept is run by a gang of crazed Russian Jews, and Zelensky is a Jew, I predict that nothing will be done to stop the bleeding until the Russians have destroyed the place, and much of Europe has collapsed…

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  pyrrhus
1 year ago

let me introduce you to PM Rabin…

Vegetius
Vegetius
1 year ago

I doubt the junta wielding power from inside the Green Zone is going to go along with shooting their fellow tribesman in the head. Our rulers are more likely to get elesnky made an honorary citizen and have him browbeat a joint session of Congress while the junta watches to see which puppet stops clapping first. Practically speaking, the time when such a morally-justified killing might have made a difference passed seven or eight months ago. At this point, I don’t know that the Russians have any incentive in entering into serious talks until their army is on the Dnieper…… Read more »

miforest
miforest
Reply to  Vegetius
1 year ago

you clearly don’t understand that part of the world . for the right price , any of his “fellows” would shoot him and their mother .

Horace
Horace
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

I agree. Elenskyyyy is ‘little people’ and they get thrown under the bus if it is necessary for the good of the tribe.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Vegetius
1 year ago

“…a cheap way to further destabilize the globalist regimes in western Europe.”

Did I just feel a small surge of hope?

dearieme
dearieme
1 year ago

God’s reaction to the American-backed assassination of the Diem brothers was the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. Take heart from that thought!

On the other hand who on earth would bother assassinating Lezgo Brandon?

Compsci
Compsci
1 year ago

“… the Russians are no where near running out of missiles. If anything, it appears they have ramped up their production of missiles and drones.” What we are seeing is a failure of US war planners and their prediction of future war scenarios. Heretofore, we had planned for a short and decisive war between major powers. The ability to rearm and the industry capacity to so were of less concern than to have a (small) supply of the most sophisticated technical weaponry on hand. This supply would be enough to fight a “short” war in which our sophisticated, technological weapons… Read more »

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

The German jets sure made the difference in WWII and the French heavy cavalry really showed those pesky Brits at the Battle of Crecy.
Imagine: those idiots thought they could beat jets with propeller planes and a mounted knight with yew branches.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

“They’ll fold when we take their Twitter and Google away” -Some dolt in D.C.

TomA
TomA
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

The US military is designed for targeted decapitation warfare, not massed forces slamming into each other on a field of battle. Backing that up is a game of chicken involving nuclear weapons. And don’t forget the geographic asymmetry. The US is guarded by two oceans (Mexico and Canada are irrelevant). No ground force is going to cross either ocean and invade our homeland. That is why Russia has chosen to rot out the US using cultural warfare and 3rd world refugee invasion. If the US had to fight a real war, the first step would be to nuke DC and… Read more »

Anna
Anna
1 year ago

The 2 biggest problems with stopping European support for Ukraine are UK and Poland. Their historic hatred toward the Russian Empire is alive and well and comes through in their newspapers and comments. Just couple of days ago a sophisticated British Telagraph was drooling over Olena Zelensky calling for a Nurenberg style trial for Putin. Poles seemed to forget the cruel mass murders Ukrainians subjected them to at the end of 17th century while breaking away from the Polish-Litwanian Commonwealth. The hatred toward Russians takes precedent over all other considerations. There is an official number of 1200 Polish soldiers already… Read more »

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Anna
1 year ago

” Just couple of days ago a sophisticated British Telagraph was drooling over Olena Zelensky calling for a Nurenberg style trial for Putin.”

Of all the narratives of the civic religion, the Nuremberg trials are up there with the Civil Rights era as a sacred cow that must be destroyed.

Low hanging fruit too. Only the most bloodthirsty would argue testicle-crushing is a legitimate interrogation procedure of our Rules Based Order.

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

The “Voice of Reason” over at the Military and Foreign Affairs Network is saying a military defeat is a possibility for Russia in the next six months. He said the Ukrainians have a good chance of crossing the Dnieper River and cutting off Crimea and this would effectively end any chance of Russia winning.

He also talks about the lack of air superiority of Russia and how disappointing Russian air power has been.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Russia will not accept loss because they understand it means the long, slow death of their nation to a hostile west that robbed them blind the last time they let them in. They will depose Putin and put in a hardliner if necessary, and the Russian masses will cheer.

The issue is, many factions of the MIC in the States and Britain also will not accept defeat, especially after getting embarrassed in Afghanistan.

Anna
Anna
Reply to  Chet Rollins
1 year ago

Russians have only 1 thing they achieved in the 20 century to be proud of: victory over the Nazism.
And proud they are: the Victory Day celebrated on May 8 is presently the biggest national holiday.
When the Russian hear of Ukrainian Nazis their blood boils.
Just a few days ago a major Ukrainian city renamed a Leo Tolstoy Street into Bandera Street.
Ukrainians know that Russian culture and achievements a waaaay superior to their own. That knowledge makes them hateful creatures.

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Anna
1 year ago

“Russians have only 1 thing they achieved in the 20 century to be proud of:”

Talk about an overstatement.

In the 20th century, Russia went from a backwards peasant country to the 2nd economic and military superpower of the world. Their technological and scientific achievements were great too.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

True, these people are not stupid. What hampered them in the 20th century was a failed political ideology. If they’d have been more capitalistic, they’d be way ahead of the game by now. On the other hand, we see where we are via capitalism.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Additionally, Prokofiev’s oeuvre alone outstrips the enitre musical output of the US in its entirety. And no American painter is the equal of Kandinsky.

Bourbon
Bourbon
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Ostei Kozelskii: “Prokofiev’s oeuvre alone outstrips the enitre musical output of the US in its entirety”

I find it fascinating that the early twentieth century Great Awakening in the United States [with Pentecostal preachers such as Aimee McPherson, in Los Angeles], was transpiring at more or less exactly the same time as the Imiaslavie was ripping apart the church of Constantinople.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

They made it into space and to the goshdamn Moon, even though they were the freezing slaves of the Soviet system.

Heck, who’s space station are we using?

KikeNaught
KikeNaught
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
1 year ago

Lysenkoism. What a fine achievement.

Soviets were uber fails.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Anna
1 year ago

One of the [alleged] dirty little secrets of history is that Western (e.g. Jewish) money bankrolled the Bolsheviks. Why? I can think of at least two plausible reasons. Even in the early 20th century, there were plenty of [former] East European Jews who despised the Imperial Russian government. No doubt they’d suffered persecutions, real and imagined. Another, perhaps more salient point however: The wealthy of the West (again, disproportionately Jewish) knew that unchecked, Russia was modernizing, in other words, a potential capitalist competitor. As they say, paybacks are hell, it didn’t cost the financiers much, and it took a potential… Read more »

Big Dissident
Big Dissident
1 year ago

Zelensky is far more of a soft puppet than Diem. If he is asked to leave by Washington, he will do so. No need for Euromaidan mk II here, he can “retire” and then hit the speech circuit (he’s already doing this while the war is still going on) for $50k a pop and just be given well paid sinecures as a thank you for his service.

Altitude Zero
Altitude Zero
Reply to  Big Dissident
1 year ago

Yes, Zelensky make Diem look like a combination of George Washington and Patton. Diem was actually the only South Vietnamese leader who had a chance of possibly winning the war, they were elated in Hanoi when Washington was stupid enough to remove him. The “Buddhist Crisis” was mostly a creation of the American media.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Altitude Zero
1 year ago

“they were elated in Hanoi”

Huh. Almost as if secret sympathizers in the State Dept. saw a chance to make some real money.

miforest
Member
Reply to  Big Dissident
1 year ago

zelenski is worth something like $4 Billion . he has a $45 million florida home and many other properties throughout the world . It pays well to be a connected money launderer for the Western politicians . We have sent ukraine north of $70 billion . zelenski and the gang get thheir cut , and the rest is laundered back to the coffers of the western GAE political complex

Altitude Zero
Altitude Zero
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

Yes, he did lots of stupid things, but Diem actually loved his country. He employed some corrupt people, but was not corrupt himself, according to most reports. Compare to Zelensky.

Big Dissident
Big Dissident
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

I did not know he was that rich. Then it means he can just step down without the sinecures. He’s not going to put his life on the line for this war.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Big Dissident
1 year ago

Gab:
“Sam Bankman-Fried the corrupt kike is walking around free with a billion dollars in Panamanian accounts while grandmas who walked through the Capitol on 1/6 rot in jail.”

Whiskey
Whiskey
1 year ago

Z-man I think you fundamentally misunderstand the power dynamics in Washington. With the election “fortification” there is no reason or need for the neocons to change course. Its being reported that McCarthy has not got the votes to be Speaker and it will be Hakeem Jeffries with various RINOs as Speaker. Once the Professional Managerial Class can cheat its way into power they will never ever leave. Not ever. NOTHING will make them stop, because nothing ever has. And Ukraine is like Twitter, or Disney. Bob Chapek got fired for trying to crack down on woke and make some money.… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

“Blinken, Sullivan, Nuland, Bolton, Pompeo are convinced. And they are the only ones who matter.”

They are just the help. In other circumstances, they would be sex workers.

Mike
Mike
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Apparently Bolton has been moonlighting as a sex worker for a while already. There was a story about Bolton, his ex and a sex club online this week.

Le Comte
Le Comte
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Umm…Nuland would starve as a sex work even in a nursing home.

Sid
Sid
Reply to  Le Comte
1 year ago

Oh, I don’t know. I’d probably grudge f*ck her.

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  Whiskey
1 year ago

There will be no draft.

Half (at least) of potential draftees are obese.

The other half won’t have to flee to Canada; they’ll “transition” into women, which at the very least will shield them from actual front line fighting units. I certainly would if I were eligible…I’m not dying because a few politicos don’t want to get a small fine for Ukraine kickbacks and general corruption.

The days of large scale mobilization with national armies in the millions are over world wide, but especially in the GAE west.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  ProZNoV
1 year ago

The demographic disaster has made the draft untenable under even the best of circumstances (which this is not). The very people they would need to draft they would also need in a civilian capacity to keep the inputs of the war machine running. Crap is already breaking down due to a shortage of capable people, what would it then look like if those people were scooped up and sent to the front line?

Bourbon
Bourbon
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
1 year ago

If the worst case scenarios concerning the V@xxines prove to be true [i.e eventuated], then 70% or more of the conscripts will die in basic training from myocarditis/pericarditis & blood clots & the like.

usNthem
usNthem
1 year ago

When you think about how long this (former) country’s government has been murderously meddling in other country’s affairs over the decades, it is horrifying. One usually wants to think well of one’s country, but in this day and age, it’s become impossible.

I guess Uncle Spam showering those other governments with unlimited billions or trillions of dollars makes it all better – the resident dirt people be damned or slaughtered.

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  usNthem
1 year ago

> One usually wants to think well of one’s country, but in this day and age, it’s become impossible.

People assume one’s country and one’s people are the same. That’s no longer the case. Once the mental separation is made, your sentiment will be directed at the correct object.

MBlanc46
MBlanc46
1 year ago

Zelensky is not the problem. The DC Regime is the problem. They’ve declared to the world that their goal is the destruction of the Russian regime. Anything less will be a defeat. They can tolerate a defeat by the Iraqis. They can tolerate a defeat by the Afghans. Those simply go down the memory hole. They cannot tolerate a defeat by the Russkis. They’re more likely to escalate than they are to seek a way out.

Tired Citizen
Tired Citizen
Reply to  MBlanc46
1 year ago

I would argue that it is both. Zelensky is a scum bag beyond all recognition and deserves what he is going to get. That being said, I feel the scum bags in DC also deserve the same fate, so there is that.

Hun
Hun
1 year ago

I think there will be a coup, Zelensky will be allowed to escape and create a government in exile, while the real government (the coup organizers) negotiate with Russia.
Russia will then take over the Ukraine, either whole or just the eastern part, while the western part stays as a client state (maybe sans some areas next to Hungarian and Polish borders).
Zelensky’s exile government will continue to bark from London/Tel Aviv/Berlin and do occasional photoshoots.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

i think not. how does zelensky living help the new govt? he has sealed his fate, and now it’s just a matter of time before he receives his just reward. hopefully there will be video of it…

Hun
Hun
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

The coup will be quietly supported by the West. Zelensky living and barking from abroad will benefit all the usual grifters and propaganda in the West, while the new government will get secret promises from the west to let certain things slide.

Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

I tend to agree that Zelensky will somehow, someway be disappeared from leadership, which includes being allowed to become an exile. However, I do not believe that Putin wants to physically reincorporate Ukraine into the Russian Federation. Whereas the USSR had a unifying principle in International Communism, contemporary Russia lacks such a unifying element. The ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians, although similar in so many ways to our western ways of perception, are utterly foreign to each other, and have a long history of hostility that would preclude a peaceful reintegration. Many Ukies (from whom I am descended on one… Read more »

Hun
Hun

Yes, but Kiev is important to Russian history. I doubt Russians would want to turn that city into a bombed out hellscape.
At the same time, it’s not part of the eastern provinces with Russian population…
Lviv would be happy to join Poland, IMO.

miforest
Member
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

gonzolo lira has been saying that this is exactly how this will end since about a month into it . unfortunately he has disappeared again . I hope he is OK , but once they put you on the list there , it’s a matter of time . since the SBLU hauled him in they know where he lives.

Hun
Hun
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

Could you provide a link to where he talks about it? Or the title of the article, since links may be blocked here. Thanks!

Auld Mark
Auld Mark
Reply to  miforest
1 year ago

Lira was on U tube just this morning with 1 of the Alexander’s from The Duran.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

I don’t think Putin will take the whole of Ukraine. Why take on a basket case? Leave it to the EU, US and UN “peacekeepers” to sort out their mess.

Igor
Igor
Reply to  Hun
1 year ago

Russia does not want western Ukraine. That is where the Ukrainians live, and most are Catholic, not Orthodox. Also, there are many Rumanians, Hungarians, and Poles still living in parts of western Ukraine. Russia will leave that hot mess to Europe. I’m guessing the above-mentioned nations will simply carve up the Ukrainian rump state for their own.

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
1 year ago

As I recall the coup leader in Vietnam, who became Prime Minister, eventually ended up owning a liquor store in Orange County. That may be what we’re selling in the background to whomever will do it. “Hey, even if things go south for you there’s a quiet life of liquor store ownership in the OC. You can even cheat on your taxes and underreport your income.”

The world is strewn with the dead bodies of externally empowered leaders who didn’t know their place on the chess board played by imbeciles who happen to be much bigger fish.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

all things considered, that’s a pretty soft landing :). probably got a house or two out of it, as well.

Abelard Lindsey
Abelard Lindsey
1 year ago

It’s called being “diemed”. Zelensky will be diemed.

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
Reply to  Abelard Lindsey
1 year ago

The only way out that I can see for him under this President is if he says “look old man, anything happens to me I have your banking records over here in my dropbox.” Of course, the DNC could say hmmmm…if we want this old man to step aside, and Jill doesn’t want to go anywhere and has his ear…this may force his hand. That’s unlikely though. Ten tier chess is only for the movies, and empty Trump promises.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  JR Wirth
1 year ago

and just who will publish those banking records? the NYT? Assange? no Condor, that option is not a threat to President Dementia…

Mike
Mike
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

Remember, there are several factions of the Juggalos. They wouldn’t hesitate to throw away another faction if their survival depended on it, or just for sport.If there is anything incriminating out there it will be deployed if there is any advantage to it. You can see a situation in which Brandon is thrown under the bus and Schumer, Pelosi, et al. are shocked, shocked that the Biden crime family was corrupt and they should be thrown under the jail. My hope in all this is that Zelinsky gets what he deserves. I can’t think of anyone I’ve ever known who… Read more »

Barney Boggs
Barney Boggs
Member
Reply to  Abelard Lindsey
1 year ago

Zelensky is a ‘diem’-a-dozen

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
1 year ago

Guess I’ve assumed from the beginning Zelensky is a puppet being pulled in two directions, hence the erratic behavior. A comic installed after a color revolution, so you figure there’s a CIA/neocon connection somewhere. Interesting that the Pentagon/NATO are at odds with the neocons. In recent history that seems to happen under Democratic administrations, Republican not so much. E.g., Syria or the first go-round in Ukraine. Maybe the Georgian war, didn’t watch that one too closely, though. Looks like factions within factions. I want to dismiss the Ukraine-as-new-Zion idea, but I can’t shake it. Grudges run deep in that part… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
1 year ago

This obviously is a different world than 1963. The arrogant narcissists in the Kennedy Administration still were patriotic men who had fought and won World War II. The United States was very powerful, had an enormous industrial capacity, and could manufacture adequate weapons for a prolonged war. The wind was at the back of the United States then. We are now led by greedy sociopaths who will loot everything they can and only then stop. They have no allegiance to the hollowed-out nation or its people, and those in power have no qualms about inflicting mass murder if and when… Read more »

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Israel and New Zealand won’t be great powers, barring some incredible change in conditions. If the empire thinks they’re escape hatches, it’s already admitted defeat. More likely I’d guess they’re for the medium sized fish.

Could be wrong, but I think somebody’s making a big play, all-in, much more than the usual cat and mouse business.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Paintersforms
1 year ago

It may be a big play, but the end goal still is wealth and resource extraction along with domestic looting. Those who are engineering this have no allegiance and are citizens of the world. The bolt holes only matter in that they represent an assured comfortable life.

I would like to think there is a grand strategy outside of personal enrichment and empowerment but highly doubt it.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

That’s true. It could be simply maximum looting on the way out.

Shouldn’t say it, but maybe the devil’s taking back what was always his.

Reply
Reply
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

Playing with house money, then adding in Playing with occupant money.
Those doing all that playing never had, or have, to face consequences. Their flights of fancy, manipulated decisions or other misguided attempts at, well, something, point toward a system that condones, nay, encourages idiotic self-destructive behaviors.

dr_mantis_toboggan_md
Member
1 year ago

The problem with the West is as our host said about the differences between sea and land powers. A sea power is obsessed with eliminating their enemy as fast as possible, because ships can’t stay deployed indefinitely. They need repairs, their crews need rest and the longer the supply lines, the greater the chance of an enemy disrupting them. During the Pacific War, the Japanese operating concept for their submarines was asinine in that they prioritized going after warships rather than supply ships and tankers as our submarines did. It was also a function of their martial philosophy that sinking… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  dr_mantis_toboggan_md
1 year ago

The limits of technology are on full display here.

angelus
angelus
Reply to  dr_mantis_toboggan_md
1 year ago

And they will learn nothing from it either..

Carl B.
Carl B.
Reply to  dr_mantis_toboggan_md
1 year ago

Allow me a little pedantry here. The phrase “going Winchester” applies to a fighter aircraft which has expended all its air-to-air missiles and must resort to, if so equipped, guns(usually a 20mm cannon)only.

roo_ster
Member
Reply to  dr_mantis_toboggan_md
1 year ago

If kept in bunkers with thick earthen walls and kept dry & cool, simple munitions (arty, rifle, tank, etc.) can store INDEFINITELY.

OTOH, items with a significant electronics component may have issues. Software “bit rot” and hardware issues, too. Again, kept dry & cool will extend shelf life.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  dr_mantis_toboggan_md
1 year ago

does your heart break for Ukes? you might want to fix that…

Alzaebo
Reply to  karl von hungus
1 year ago

The Ukes are now what the MAGAs will be in 2050.

AntiDem
1 year ago

Fate had revenge for Diem in the end – Gen. Duong Van Minh, known to friend and foe alike as “Big Minh”, ended up being the general who surrendered South Vietnam to the NVA twelve years later. All of his compatriots in the coup, like Generals Thieu and Ky, got out while they could, and left poor old Big Minh holding the bag. After the communists forced him to sign the surrender documents, they marched him off to house arrest. Eventually they let him leave the country, and he ended up in Pasadena, where he lived in obscurity and died… Read more »

Glenfilthie
Glenfilthie
Member
Reply to  AntiDem
1 year ago

Maybe, maybe not. If I were in charge, and thought I might need a blood sacrifice to the ignorant mobs…I’d put Zelensky on a leash by keeping his family in custody.

Will the Russians let him walk away? If he does… I can see him getting Epstein’d at a later date. At this point he knows far too much about everyone….

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Glenfilthie
1 year ago

Zelensky’s murder, like the war, will be by proxy. He surely realizes it is D.C. that will have a bullet put into him when the curtain falls.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Jack Dobson
1 year ago

If Zelensky gets a bullit, it will be a blessing. I note here that Russian enemies seem to have ended up with horrible, mysterious poisonings.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

they fall out of buildings a lot, too.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Compsci
1 year ago

The Ossetia school guys ended up as vanloads of 3″ boxes delivered to their relatives.

TomA
TomA
1 year ago

Russia has been systematically destroying the primary high voltage transmission transformers of the national electrical grid. These are expensive and difficult to replace. Ukraine has been scouring the world for replacements, installing them as fast as possible, and then Russia persistently destroys the replacements. Soon the only electricity in Ukraine will be via small diesel powered generators.Ditto for natural gas transmission and supply networks. So, no electricity, no natural gas (residential heating), no water (pumping systems require electricity), and no sanitation because toilets require water to operate. In addition, the Ukraine military is sucking up all the diesel, so no… Read more »

Back Away Slowly
Back Away Slowly
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

Once the Ukraine infrastructure is wiped out, the country lies in ruins, and Europe is flooded with millions of refugees who have abandoned the place, watch for swarms of Jewish investors to buy up gazillions of acres of primo Ukrainian farmland for less than a penny on the shekel. The remaining Slavs will then be their slaves.

As planned. The real purpose of the (((war))).

Glenfilthie
Glenfilthie
Member
Reply to  Back Away Slowly
1 year ago

Holy chit! Yeah… I can totally see that!

Hmmmmm…. the only fly in the ointment to that conspiracy theory would be Vlad…consider: Putler basically ran the jews out on a rail and tied the Ruble to the gold standard. (((For some inexplicable reason the Ruble is suddenly the third strongest currency in the world today))).

Will he tolerate them if they do that? I know I wouldn’t in his place…

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  Glenfilthie
1 year ago

Comsidering all of the trouble already traceable to uncontrolled Jevvish oligarchs in Ukraine (the Pale of Settlement in Empire days) in recent years, they might not be leading charmed lives anymore.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Glenfilthie
1 year ago

Well, filthie, if you had a buffer state to the west, wouldn’t you want the one least likely to be bombed?

I guess the question is, will they still allow the organ harvesting of 2-6 year-olds and biolabs on their soil.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Back Away Slowly
1 year ago

so after the neocons do their thing, Vlad is going to sell their brethren Ukraine on the cheap? really?

Alzaebo
Reply to  Back Away Slowly
1 year ago

Cargill, ADM, Monsanto already have the contract leases printed, as they probably do for the Netherlands, as well.

No need to ask about these companies’ founders. Yup.

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

Sounds like you have outlined the financial incentive for US oligarchs to pressure the Potomac Regime into a deal. They don’t need to lobby for an American infrastructure project, they can do it in Ukraine with no oversight or controls.

Sounds like the NPCs are being prepped for a new Current Thing – an infrastructure bill for Ukraine, which they will surely hoist their flags, spraypaint sidewalks and push new profile pics for.

Tired Citizen
Tired Citizen
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

“…which they will surely hoist their flags, spraypaint sidewalks and push new profile pics for.”

I don’t know if they’d be willing to cover up the BLM sidewalks. I still think the criminal race takes them on the victim level, especially since Ukrainians are white.

I still find it incredibly strange that the NPCs hate whites so much yet they have this undying need to support Ukraine. Perhaps just part of the insanity of this era.

Ploppy
Ploppy
Reply to  Tired Citizen
1 year ago

NPC mentality isn’t exactly anti-white. It manifests as anti-white in the US and Europe, but it’s nature is more that of a compulsion to side with whichever side best acts as a whiny self-righteous victim.

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  TomA
1 year ago

Large electrical grid transformers are over half a million pounds of equipment (assembled) and take a minimum of six months to fabricate…more like a year.

It was a kindness for Russia not to destroy these first. If this is truly happening now (?), Russia took the gloves off.

(I think. Maybe in the “Commission to Assess the Threat to the US from EMP Attack” back in 2008 and/or the WF book “One Second After)

TomA
TomA
Reply to  ProZNoV
1 year ago

This is what you do in preparation for a major offensive. The US military did this exact same thing in the run-up to both Iraq wars; they called it “shock and awe.”

And yes, the destruction of this equipment is real. Photographs of destroyed equipment is all over the internet if you look. Telegram is a good source.

Finally, as you point out, it will be a long time before full power is restored to Ukraine, even if the war ended tomorrow.

Eloi
Eloi
1 year ago

Two things. First, if you have never read about the last couple days of the Diem brothers, you should check it out. Secret tunnels, disguises, hiding in churches, etc. It is incredibly fascinating. Two, the Ukraine War is just another example of the age-old truth: it’s always the average person who suffers. Imagine those poor people in Ukraine – not the Zelensky’s or Washington Stooges, but the average person just trying to scrape by. It is sickening that, for the greed of the powerful (and I do think this is mostly, if not entirely, the West’s fault), the average person… Read more »

Terry Baker
Terry Baker
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Dear Eloi, there are approximately 320 million people in the USA. From all over the world. Do you despise all of us, or some of us, or just a few of us?

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  Terry Baker
1 year ago

When I say “USA,” I typically mean the Government. As another poster noted, think how many people around the world have been killed by US meddling. I’m not talking generals. Think of Iraq/Tunisia/Egypt/Libya/ Syria: I’m no Mooslim apologist, but I just like to think that most people in the world are probably just trying to live their lives as you and I do. I saw a video from the Syrian “Civil” War. Three generation: grandma, parents, kids (kids were adolescent). Lined up against a wall in their own basement. The problem: they had “helped” the enemy. What this probably means… Read more »

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  Eloi
1 year ago

Ja, we’re all wee, little, timorous beasties in one way or t’other nowadays.

Rage, coupled with a sense of one’s limitations in opposing the foul flood tide and its likely consequences on all that one loves and reveres squats behind my eyes observing the depressing vista. But in my own way, I rage against the dying of the light. Be like unto that little sleekie, and make the best of it, not paralysed by overmuch guessing and fearing.

sneakn
sneakn
1 year ago

As my window into the Ukraine-Russia conflict is twitter I am mostly exposed to the slava ukraini types who insist Russia’s army will die frozen in a foxhole, Ukraine will liberate Crimea, and Putin will be deposed. I’m exaggerating only slightly but I’m sure it’s propaganda.

Like many issues of our age, the popular line is to ignore reality in favor of the narrative. Here, I find a different view. Thank you.

Vizzini
Member
Reply to  sneakn
1 year ago

“As my window into the Ukraine-Russia conflict is twitter”

*facepalm*

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  Vizzini
1 year ago

Well, the one-sidedness of Twatter heretofore may not hold if the censorship/deplatforming regime is weakened. But time and events will prove, won’t they?

David Wright
Member
1 year ago

This Diem option you speak of, would that work in the US also? Probably not since the government is finally ridding us of the potentials with seditious conspiracy verdicts.
You know, like the ones with no weapons.

Just think of all the human carnage and the millions of lives ruined because of all of this. One almost has to be supremely stoic not to give into total despair watching all of this unfold. Same feeling I get watching WW1 documentaries.

Geo. Orwell
Geo. Orwell
1 year ago

Let us never forget we are discussing a regime that put a male psychopath in a dress, who taught classes in perversion and steals purses in airports, in charge of spent nuclear materials at the Department of Energy. It makes JFK’s crowd look like a pillars of sobriety.

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  Geo. Orwell
1 year ago

It’s hard not to think sanely. You put yourself in the position of the regime, look for a way to win the war, and in the absence of that, you look for a way out of it. But the regime doesn’t want to win, or even to lose. It wants normal people to suffer and die. Whenever one of our guys says that America/globohomo is weak or scared or failing or whatever, it’s on a false premise. Rape isn’t a marriage proposal gone wrong. A regime that fails to rule competently, never appears legitimate or rational, doesn’t see to the… Read more »

mikey
mikey
1 year ago

At least one of the goals of the US sponsored Ukrainian revolution was to castrate the Russian economy. That has already succeeded to some extent by the destruction of the two gas lines to Germany, whose own economy and society will be in an increasing stage of degradation. This destruction isn’t cheap. The Yankees planning and implementing this affair are writing checks on the accounts of people with no real interest in or knowledge of the realities of post-Soviet affairs. But they themselves and their stooges in Ukraine are laundering the funds as has been the case in every modern… Read more »

Arshad Ali
Arshad Ali
Reply to  mikey
1 year ago

“That has already succeeded to some extent …” You’ve got to be kidding. This whole fiasco reminds me of an episode from the British sit-com, “Till Us Do Part,” where everyone except the main character Alf Garnett is invited to a party next door. When the lights suddenly go out, he starts gloating only to discover that the lights have only gone out in his house. The party next door continues in full swing. The Europeans are suffering big time. The Russians are doing just fine. The post US-centric world continues to develop and take shape. A senile old buffoon… Read more »

Tired Citizen
Tired Citizen
Reply to  Arshad Ali
1 year ago

“The post US-centric world continues to develop and take shape.” Indeed. Even before I knew I was on this side of the great divide, I was secretly longing for the time when this would finally happen. Once you see the truth about AINO you cannot unsee it. I find the USA to be a reprehensible nation (at this point). Everything I was taught and indoctrinated to believe as a young man was a lie. This is no longer a “noble” country. It is high time that the rest of the world realizes it too. One upon a time, when the… Read more »

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  mikey
1 year ago

Hard to say how badly this has hurt the Russian economy. We won’t really know that for a long time. However, we do know that this war has severely damaged Europe’s economy and, in particular, Germany’s economy. One of the key pillars of Germany’s entire business model was below-average cost energy inputs. It now faces above-average-cost energy inputs. That’s a huge problem. German heavy industry will need to either: 1. Somehow find a way to get incredibly efficient to offset the higher energy cost. (Unlikely since if those improvements were available, they would have used them already.) 2. Cut wages… Read more »

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 year ago

Good news: the wsj.com today trumpets the Eurozone inflation rate went down last month!

Now it is only 10% per annum, instead of 10.6%.

I can’t believe I used to read that paper, almost every section, 5-6 days a week.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
1 year ago

3. Move production

They’ll have to move it within the EU proper- Eastern Europe is depolulating, lall the workers are moving west.

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
1 year ago

“Whether or not there is anyone in Washington smart enough to understand what is happening is hard to know.”

This is the key issue. The MIC/Neocons in charge obviously accept no feedback on Ukraine from the voters, from reality or anything/anybody else. So why would they pivot if the war is still showing a profit?

This war will end when the Ukraine troops in the field mutiny or when the war no longer is a profitable business venture for the Neocon sponsors. That’s it.

Arshad Ali
Arshad Ali
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

“The industrial capacity to make enough weapons to supply a war of this sort does not exist.”

Absolutely. The US is being exposed as a paper tiger. That’s one key difference between today and 55 years ago. This hollowed-out country lacks the industrial wherewithal for protracted military conflict. But again, nothing new. Such is the trajectory of declining empires. Spain and Britain have both gone down this road as different times.

Bozeman
Bozeman
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

Who is ready for the big B21 reveal Friday?

How much money will be spent developing this new plane only for its production to be cancelled after only a few copies are made.

They need it because the B2 project was canned after only 20 planes were made.

There is also talking about retiring the F22, because are too few of them to practically maintain them as an operating force.

They are licking their chops at the next fighter jet development program where the art of the grift was perfected in the f35

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

But isn’t that the plan for the US military. From what I’ve seen, they are absolutely convinced that our technological advantage would wipe the floor with the Russians. (They don’t seem as confident about the Chinese.) The assumption is that our air force would quickly dispatch Russia’s air force, which, admittedly, has looked pretty ineffective in Ukraine, and then a combo of our planes and missiles would destroy Russian forces from afar. In essence, we don’t need a huge stockpile because our weapons are so precise that we’d quickly destroy any force they faced. Basically, our military seems to assume… Read more »

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

As much as it pains me to say this, Bozeman’s comment made me think that this description sounds eerily similar to a black run city or country – with the sole difference being the ability to at least plausibly develop extremely sophisticated technology.

Then my day is ruined thinking of Maryland’s new governor and his motto, “Our time is now”, as a massive wave of Haitian refugees flee gangster run cities Haitia’s military can’t defeat, the Dominican Republic has erected a wall and harsh anti-Haitian migrant measures, and we … …

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

@Citizen of a Silly Country
Worth highlighting again that the military itself in the form of General Miley doesn’t seem to think that and would rather avoid all conflict with any near-parity foe as he knows the score. The civvies might be like “just do what you did against Saddam” but the numbers are so bad that even yes-men like Miley cannot ignore them.

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

Spoken to retired pilots who were in during the Barry O years.

They swear that the requisition system for spare parts for planes was so bad that the mechanics were literally taking parts out of the “aircraft on a stick” displays in front of the bases to make the planes fly.

100% right Zman. Billions for new and novel weapons system, pennies for the nuts, bolts, and lube needed to keep everything running.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

I think even the days of the State Department taking the lead in wars have long passed. Transnational intelligence services, which run the national security state(s) and have no allegiance or accountability to them, call the shots. We saw domestic glimmers of this with the Trump-Russia Collusion hoax and internationally with the formation of ISIS in Syria and the various fuckery there. What differentiates the immediate situation is the presence of nuclear weapons and no one accountable for the consequences. That is fraught with peril.

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

In terms of to what extent Zelensky’s role in Ukraine comes to an end, I think a Diem style ending with some overzealous praetorians would be a good thing. It could have some negatives, but on the whole, aside from some Karmic justice for the phallus piano guy to the NPC Current Thingers, there could be a host of positive effects from a dissident perspective. There could be some negative consequences too, but it is harder for me to see them. Curious to see smarter people here comment on that. In any case, I am stocking up on my popcorn… Read more »

Lucius Sulla
Lucius Sulla
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

Given that Zelensky is of the chosen, I find it highly unlikely that the (((US State Department))) will countenance his assassination. Maybe deposed and exiled to Israel or some island, with his opulent existence funded by Adelson/Soros money, but not assassinated.

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
1 year ago

Hey Lucius Sulla –

I expect that whoever the GAE installs next will result in the sorts of celebrations by the sorts of folks who celebrated penis-on-the-keys, comedy boy’s installment. In the end, their guy, rubs their nuts in everyone else’s faces while we pay their businesses to rebuild Ukraine. That is probably a given.

In terms of my post, do you have thoughts on if a Diem ending has positive ramifications or negative ones that outweigh any positives?

Alzaebo
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

Ghislane Maxwell’s father, media baron and “Israel’s #1 superspy,” fell off his yacht.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
1 year ago

Your argument has an air of plausibility. But I can think of recent counter-examples. Jeff Epstein comes to mind. I’m sure that more could be found.

Alzaebo
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
1 year ago

The Handsome Epstein has a straight nose, full hair, good skin, and a strong chin-

While the Epstein in the very few court photos was sallow, paunchy, with a receding hairline, no chin, and a noticeably hooked nose. Quite an ugly fellow, really.

Ponsonby
Member
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
1 year ago

His opulent existence should be set through the billions he’s skimmed from us, invested globally including mansions in Italy, Miami, Switzerland etc. He’ll have his choice of elegant boltholes assuming he’s allowed to live. But realistically his only threats are Mossad and Russian polonium.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
1 year ago

Of the people I know whose opinions are controlled by the media, I wonder if they notice a parallel between all the stories in 2015 of, “This is it! Trump is finished! Hillary will win for sure!’ and today’s “Putin is down for the count this time! Zelensky will win for sure!”

Probably not 🙁

Member
1 year ago

Of course, there could be the “Valkyrie Option” by a faction of the Ukrainian officer corps who attempt to remove the increasingly delusional fanatics in the Zelenskybunker before final, catastrophic defeat in order to salvage some territory and finally negotiate a peace rather than unconditional surrender. It could probably be handled with deposition and exile, since Zelensky is not a die in the rubble of his capital while Russian infantry are a few hundred yards away type like the Mustache Guy was in 1945. The situation in South Vietnam in 1963 was based on a very different set of war… Read more »

Member
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

For a client state like Ukraine, perhaps the historical analogy is the summer 1943 coup that toppled Mussolini.

Ant Man Bee
Ant Man Bee
Reply to  thezman
1 year ago

“sane voices in the Pentagon and CIA”.

Heh.

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  Ant Man Bee
1 year ago

Ja, what do you think Obama was doing through his bloodbath of upper ranks in the military during his time? Nothing if not installing ideologically-compliant tools down with the globalist/leftist program. Thoughtful nationalists? Not hardly, and not in any sector of the governmental or quasi-governmental apparatus. And now he’s kicking back and enjoying his handiwork, and still moving pieces on the board in conjunction with members of his prior cabal.