Setting the Theatre

The US military is promising to do for Japan and the Philippines what it has done for Ukraine.

The US and Japanese armed forces are rapidly integrating their command structure and scaling up combined operations as Washington and its Asian allies prepare for a possible conflict with China such as a war over Taiwan, according to the top Marine Corps general in Japan.

The two militaries have “seen exponential increases . . . just over the last year” in their operations on the territory they would have to defend in case of a war, Lieutenant General James Bierman, commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) and of Marine Forces Japan, told the Financial Times in an interview.

Bierman said that the US and its allies in Asia were emulating the groundwork that had enabled western countries to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia in preparing for scenarios such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

“Why have we achieved the level of success we’ve achieved in Ukraine? A big part of that has been because after Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we earnestly got after preparing for future conflict: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations.

“We call that setting the theatre. And we are setting the theatre in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations.”

The thought of “achieving the level of success” the US military has “achieved in Ukraine” should absolutely terrify everyone living in Japan or the Philippines. The Ukrainian military is now down to teenagers, Poles, and US soldiers disguised as “foreign mercenaries” and the NATO-Russian War isn’t even one year old yet. And 12 percent of the Ukrainian population has already fled the country, so where are 15 million Japanese and 14 million Filippinos going to go, and given that both are island countries, how are they going to get there?

I’ve predicted that the USA would collapse sometime around 2033 since the turn of the century, but I never imagined that it would be the result of a military debacle as comprehensive as the coming one appears it’s going to be.

But at least we can answer one question raised by Lieutenant General James Bierman, commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF). Xi Xinping owns the starting pistol for the next stage of WWIII.

DISCUSS ON SG


Foreigners Defend Fake Democracy

Clown World has obviously found a playbook it likes.

Two years ago our Capitol was attacked by fanatics, now we are watching it happen in Brazil.

Solidarity with Lula and the Brazilian people.

Democracies around the world must stand united to condemn this attack on democracy.

Bolsonaro should not be given refuge in Florida.

It would be more accurate to say that fake democracies around the world must stand united to condemn popular protests against stolen democracy.

These clowns are going to be in for a real surprise if they continue engaging in war against Russia. The only thing that is preventing the US Capitol – there is no “us”, Ilhan – half the cities on the East Coast from resembling Mariupol is that Vladimir Putin and Xi Xinping don’t see a direct conflict with the US military as furthering their objectives yet.

But the time does appear to be drawing nigh, probably because the US think tanks, which are literally always wrong, asserts the US military will win a war over Taiwan with China due to their simulations.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report, titled ‘The First Battle of the Next War,’ estimates that the US would lose at least two aircraft carriers and that 3,200 American troops would be killed in three weeks of combat, according to CNN, which viewed an advanced copy.

The simulations were run 24 times. Taiwan survived as an autonomous entity in most scenarios, but with heavy losses to all parties. “The United States and Japan lose dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft, and thousands of service members,” the report predicts.

China’s navy would be left “in shambles” and Beijing could lose 10,000 troops, 155 combat aircraft and 138 major ships.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s military would be “severely degraded” and left to defend an island “without electricity and basic services.” Japan could also lose approximately 100 aircraft and 26 warships as US bases on its territory come under attack from China.

Perhaps they’re right, for once, but I very much doubt it. I would be absolutely willing to bet that the variables utilized don’t even begin to account for all of the current supply and special forces shortages due to the active support being provided for Ukraine. The simulation obviously also didn’t include North Korea attacking South Korea to further dilute the US military’s resource once the invasion of Taiwan begins. This is likely an optimistic scenario which will be used to justify a) more money for the Navy, b) a draft, c) continued belligerence on the part of US foreign policy, and d) prevent the Taiwanese from striking a Hong Kong-style deal with the Xi administration.

The simulation report can be downloaded here. I’ll read it soon and review it on the Darkstream. Notice that the summary tends to confirm my prior expectations.

CSIS developed a wargame for a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan and ran it 24 times. In most scenarios, the United States/Taiwan/Japan defeated a conventional amphibious invasion by China and maintained an autonomous Taiwan. However, this defense came at high cost. The United States and its allies lost dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft, and tens of thousands of servicemembers. Taiwan saw its economy devastated. Further, the high losses damaged the U.S. global position for many years. China also lost heavily, and failure to occupy Taiwan might destabilize Chinese Communist Party rule. Victory is therefore not enough. The United States needs to strengthen deterrence immediately.

What I’d like to see is a simulation that accounts for China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran all acting in concert. Because that is what I expect to see happen when WWIII expands and moves into a more active phase.

DISCUSS ON SG


Too Little, Too Stupid, Too Late

The Prometheans have belatedly realizing that they’re going to lose, and lose very badly, due to their decades-long war on masculinity in general and white men in particular. From the chans:

l’m a staffer for a major news network in Australia. We’ve been instructed by the government to begin a long term military recruitment campaign. We’re about 2-3 years away from a massive war. This campaign will be long and gradual.

Phase 0 was the never ending coverage of Ukraine.

Phase 1 will be a gradual increase in news of the weaponry our country has.

A lot of the intermediate phases seem mundane, but the whole process is to get as many men as possible comfortable and desensitized to war. The last phases will involve teaching women to be ashamed of and to shame non-military men. There will soon be ninja-warrior type of shows but in the military training theme. They’re going to try to make military sexy.

Basically, manipulate women to desire it, which pushes men to go into it.

Someone brought up the issue of “sites like 4chan”. Some old boomer said there will be teams dedicated for those kinds of websites.

Massive war = China takes Australia. If I was living in Australia, I would start studying Chinese.

Don’t fight for Clown World, no matter how Globohomo suddenly hides its rainbow flags and begins loudly proclaiming its love and patriotism for the very nations it has feverishly sought to destroy. The enemy within the West is far more pernicious, far more evil, and far more to be opposed than the purported enemy without.

And inoculate your sons against the lies they will be relentlessly told. Because the Empire of Lies is coming for them. Let Clown World’s sacred diversity defend it, if they can.

Second- or third-generation foreign immigrants may appear outwardly to be entirely assimilated, but they often constitute a weakness in two directions. First, their basic human nature often differs from that of the original imperial stock. If the earlier imperial race was stubborn and slow-moving, the immigrants might come from more emotional races, thereby introducing cracks and schisms into the national policies, even if all were equally loyal. Second, while the nation is still affluent, all the diverse races may appear equally loyal. But in an acute emergency, the immigrants will often be less willing to sacrifice their lives and their property than will be the original descendants of the founder race.

Fate of Empires, Sir John Glubb

The irony is that it is only the vaccinated young men who will be stupid and gullible enough to fall for the coming campaign.

DISCUSS ON SG


Dialogue 2022

The Sino-Russian alliance is observably stronger than ever. Contra the incessant mainstream media nonsense about both nations, this is clearly not a conversation between two leaders who are desperate or believe that their geostrategic positions have weakened in the last year:

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, President Xi Jinping, my dear friend. I am delighted to see and greet you.

We are creating a very good tradition – to hold a videoconference at the end of the year to review our work and map out plans to build up Russia-China relations and strategic partnership and to exchange views on the most topical international issues.

But first of all, I would like to congratulate you and all our Chinese friends on the successful completion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and you personally on being re-elected as General Secretary of the of CPC Central Committee. Your guiding role and the CPC’s leadership are essential for the sustainable socioeconomic development of the country and the strengthening of its positions on the global stage. I wholeheartedly wish every success to you and the friendly people of China.

In the context of growing geopolitical tensions, the importance of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership as a stability factor is growing. Our relations have passed all the tests, demonstrating their maturity and stability, and they continue to grow dynamically. As both of us pointed out, our current relations are enjoying the best period in their history and can be regarded as a model of cooperation between major powers in the 21st century…

President of China Xi Jinping: President Putin, my dear friend.

I am delighted to see you again.

A videoconference with you ahead of New Year’s Eve has become our good tradition. This year, we had two in-person meetings and spoke over the phone multiple times. We maintain close strategic contacts. After the success of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, you immediately sent me warm greetings. It was greatly appreciated.

Under our joint leadership, the overarching Russia-China partnership and strategic cooperation demonstrates maturity and ability to withstand challenges in this new age… In the face of the challenging and largely ambivalent international situation, we are ready to build up strategic cooperation with Russia, providing each other with development opportunities and remaining global partners for the benefit of our countries and in the interests of stability in the entire world.

The full transcript isn’t available at the link yet, so if anything interesting pops up in the sections added later, I’ll note them here.

DISCUSS ON SG


The Chinese Listened

I was reading an old Jerry Pournelle anthology from the 80’s – the first Imperial Stars book – one that could be characterized as There Will Be Government in Space, when I was struck by a remarkable passage, the significance of which had eluded me in previous readings, from the concluding essay by Dr. Pournelle entitled The Stars at War.

Military establishments, ours among them, have always been inefficient, and better organized for the last war than the next. If we wait for perfection, we may well wait forever.

Thus three facts stand out:

  1. The Soviets have an enormous military establishment, and we are not going to match it tank for tank and gun for gun.
  2. Our present course of buying some of this and some of that, more tanks here and more planes there, isn’t an adequate, or indeed reasonable, response to the threat, and “reform of the Pentagon” and other efforts to “trim the fat and reduce waste” aren’t likely to succeed very quickly, if at all.
  3. We have to do something and soon.

This reasoning was the starting point for Lt. General Daniel O. Graham’s strategic analysis. If what we’re doing isn’t going to work, and we have to do something, where can we go? Graham concluded that we needed a bold new approach, a strategic sidestep; that we had to stop competing with the Soviets in areas in which we can’t win, and begin to compete where we have the advantage.

The Stars at War, Jerry Pournelle, 1986

In other words, 13 years before the two Chinese colonels published Unrestricted Warfare, Jerry Pournelle was already writing about a US general’s strategic analysis that essentially laid the foundation for the Chinese defeat of the US military.

Because this is the essence of the asymetric strategy that underlies the decades-long Chinese implementation of unrestricted warfare: stop competing with the Soviets in areas in which we can’t win, and begin to compete where we have the advantage.

That’s exactly what the Chinese have been doing since 1999. This is perhaps the most important material difference between China and Clown World. China pays close attention to the best minds of the East and the best minds of the West. Clown World ignores the best of the East and attempts to silence the best of the West.

DISCUSS ON SG


Drawing Lines in the Sand

Xi makes it abundantly clear that China stands with Palestine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed dissatisfaction Friday with the injustices suffered by Palestinians and affirmed China’s support for an independent Palestinian state. “It is not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinians,” the Chinese president said at the opening of the Riyadh-Gulf-Chinese Summit for Cooperation and Development in Saudi Arabia.

Xi emphasized the necessity for granting Palestine “full membership in the United Nations” and said Beijing “supports the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

He said he considered the Chinese-Arab summit a “defining event in the history of Chinese-Arab relations.”

Relations between the two “are based on mutual interest in peace and harmony,” he said. “The Chinese and Arab sides should strengthen solidarity and cooperation and build a community for a closer future,” he said as he welcomed Arab participation in the global security initiative.

If Israel is the USA’s “greatest ally’, then it stands to reason that China, which has been engaged in unrestricted warfare against the United States for two decades, would eventually find common cause with that greatest ally’s greatest enemy.

It also explains why Soros and the other architects of Clown World fear Xi even more than they do Putin.

The intriguing question is when the Israelis will abandon the USA and the imperialist neocons in an attempt to appease the Chinese. Because that is probably the right strategic move in the long term; the Israelis are obviously aware that the Diaspora won’t hesitate to sell them out if necessary. And it’s not going to be possible to be the financial masters of both sides of The Great Bifurcation.

Beijing will work to make energy purchases in yuan instead of US dollar signalling another step towards shifting further away from the greenback, China’s President Xi Jinping told Gulf Arab leaders as cited by Reuters.

China’s leader highlighted the necessity of the move while speaking at a Chinese-Arab summit that was hosted by Saudi Arabia earlier this week. Xi had held separate talks with the heads of the Persian Gulf states at the summit that reportedly brought together 30 leaders from across the region.

The world’s biggest crude importer, China in November ramped up purchases of oil by 12% year-on-year, marking the 10-month high despite the severe pandemic-related restrictions.

As the world’s biggest buyer, China now has the ability to dictate how it pays for oil. And it has already begun paying for Arab goods in its own currency, as evidenced by this interview with a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry:

The Paper: We noted that the first RMB cross-border payment transaction between Saudi Arabia and China’s Yiwu city, known as “the world’s supermarket”, was completed ahead of the first China-Arab States Summit. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: I also noted this good news. The cross-border RMB payment has played an important role in boosting trade between China and Arab states. This is also a telling snapshot of trade and investment facilitation between both sides. Over the past decade, China-Arab states economic and trade cooperation has scaled new heights. China is Arab states’ biggest trading partner. In 2021, China’s FDI stock in Arab states hit $23 billion, a 2.6 times increase over 10 years. The trade volume topped $330.3 billion, 1.5 times more than 10 years ago. In the first three quarters of 2022, China-Arab states trade reached $319.295 billion, up 35.28 percent year on year and close to the total of the whole year of 2021.

This is precisely what the US invaded Iraq and Libya to prevent. But it’s not going to invade Saudi Arabia and it can’t invade China. It is safe to expect that other countries, particularly Russia and Venezuala, will follow suit in short order.

DISCUSS ON SG



Dr. Doom Confirms WWIII

It’s rather intriguing to observe that economist Nouriel Roubini, the man who most famously predicted the financial crisis of 2008 – as did Steve Keen and I – is now also in agreement with me that WWIII has already begun and that the global economy is going to bifurcate:

Last week, the New York University professor was interviewed by Der Spiegel and listed some of the world’s most acute problems.

Recalling a recent event hosted by the International Monetary Fund, he referred to historian Niall Ferguson who “said in a speech there that we would be lucky if we got an economic crisis like in the 1970s — and not a war like in the 1940s.”

When speaking about major global threats, Roubini mentioned the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, adding that Iran and Israel are “on a collision course” as well.

“I read that the Biden administration expects China to attack Taiwan sooner rather than later,” the economist said, summarizing that “World War III has already effectively begun.”

The rivalry between Washington and Beijing is driving tension to a large degree, Roubini noted, adding that the US has banned the export of certain semiconductors to China and is pressuring European nations into cutting trade ties with the country on national security grounds. He believes that a breakup of the globalized world is looming.

“Trade, finance, technology, internet: Everything will split in two,” he predicted.

It was not clear if non-allied nations would pick the US side in the confrontation, he said. “I asked the president of an African country why he gets 5G technology from China and not from the West. He told me, we are a small country, so someone will spy on us anyway. Then, I might as well take the Chinese technology, it’s cheaper,” the economist revealed to Der Spiegel.

There simply isn’t any reason for any self-interested third party to choose the side of what Vladimir Putin describes as the Second West. Unlike the USA, which has been attacking countries, undermining their currencies, and murdering their leaders for decades, the Chinese are mostly content to simply do business with other countries. And while that may change, and the massive Chinese diaspora is not exactly popular in countries such as Indonesia, Australia, and Canada, the fact is that the Chinese track record concerning foreign relations is considerably better than that of the USA or of its representative in Asia, Japan.

DISCUSS ON SG


Australia is the New Ukraine

The US appears hell-bent on making sure that the Chinese are incentivized to not only take Taiwan, but attack Australia as well.

The US military has devised a plan which would see nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers deployed in Australia on long-term rotational missions, and turn the country’s Northern Territory into a crucial military hub in Washington’s standoff with Beijing, the national broadcaster reported on Monday.

The Pentagon reportedly seeks to build a “squadron operations facility,” which would include a maintenance center and enough parking area for six B-52s at the Royal Australian Air Force military air base Tindal, according to ABC’s Four Corners investigative program.

The air base expansion could cost up to $100 million and is expected to be finished in late 2026. The new facilities are “required to support strategic operations and to run multiple 15-day training exercises during the Northern Territory dry season for deployed B-52 squadrons,” the report said, citing US documents.

An “enhanced air cooperation” between Australia and the US was discussed during last year’s AUSMIN ministerial meetings, but while the sides agreed on “rotational deployment of US aircraft of all types,” there was no official confirmation of plans to deploy B-52s at Tindal.

“The ability to deploy US Air Force bombers to Australia sends a strong message to adversaries about our ability to project lethal air power,” the US Air Force reportedly told the program.

To say that the US military is behaving in an overtly provocative manner would be an understatement. It’s not at all unreasonable to wonder if the predominantly foreign elite dictating the US military’s actions in Europe and Asia are pursuing this course of action, not because they are crazy or stupid, but in order to ensure the destruction of the US military.

DISCUSS ON SG


The Empire Flees China

You won’t be told what’s actually happening by the globalist media, and you definitely won’t be told why it is happening. But their coverage of events is usually sufficient to alert the informed observer as to what is actually going on.

As the FT writes, today, “thousands of wealthy people across China are headed for the exits as President Xi Jinping secures a third term, making him and the ruling Chinese Communist party even stronger than before.”

Recall that just hours after Xi not only was declared dictator for life but unceremoniously and in full view of the entire world had his centrist, globalist and pro-reform predecessor Hu Zintao escorted out of the building, guaranteeing that the rest of his rule will be a radical departure from heretofore accepted norms, and calling for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” based on revitalizing the CCP’s role as the economic, social, and cultural leader, Chinese stocks cratered to multi-decade lows and the yuan plunged to a record low as the growing realization of the horror that is coming swept across the land.

As a result, China’s wealthiest were met with market turmoil on Monday when Chinese stocks crashed the most since 2008. According to Bloomberg’s billionaire list, the 13 richest Chinese lost $12.7 billion in just one day after mounting fears about Xi’s consolidation of power. But of course, it wasn’t just them looking terrified at the glowing green color on their screens (as a reminder, in China stock colors are inverted as red means up and green means down): it was everyone.

In any case, as hundreds of millions of Chinese savers now scramble to move as much of their assets as far away off shore from the lunatic fringe in Beijing as possible, we have been flooded with reports that wealthy families across Hong Kong and China are at a “tipping point” about triggering so-called financial “fire escape plans” to avoid the wrath of Xi and CCP, according to David Lesperance, a Europe-based lawyer who works with elite Chinese businessmen and who spoke with Financial Times.

“Now that ‘the chairman’ is firmly in place . . . I have already received three ‘proceed’ instructions from various ultra-high net worth Chinese business families to execute their fire escape plans,” Lesperance said.

Ignore all the rhetoric and the neo-liberal economic assumptions and focus on what the various parties mentioned are doing. What’s actually taking place is that The Empire That Never Ended, which intended to transfer its global center of power from Washington DC to Beijing, has finally abandoned its attempts to do so.

Xi Xinping was seen as an impediment, not an implacable obstacle, but the confirmation of his continuing power in the CPC and his ongoing anti-corruption campaign means that the imperial plans for China have failed. Ukraine appears to be the backup plan, but that is failing too, thanks to the Russians and their stubborn refusal to submit to the imperial order.

DISCUSS ON SG