Faced with looming defeat in Ukraine, NATO wants WW3 to prevent it
By Drago Bosnic | January 22, 2024
Lasting nearly half a century, the (First) Cold War brought the world to the edge of a new abyss, one that would’ve made WW2 look like a bloodless skirmish in comparison. Despite not starting it, in order to prevent the total destruction of the world, Russia initiated its end. It willingly dismantled the Warsaw Pact and the USSR, renouncing immense power, a historically unprecedented move no other superpower in history ever made. And how did the political West see it? Merely as a sign of supposed “weakness”. Not only did the US-led belligerent power pole proclaim victory in the ideological struggle (Moscow renounced communism), but it also wanted a total defeat for Russia and its people. In the 30+ years, everything the United States and its vassals and satellite states did was in line with this goal. The world’s most aggressive military alliance expanded approximately 1000 km to the east.
It should be noted that this was done despite clear promises “not to move an inch” toward Russian borders. Even many Western politicians, experts and pundits expressed concern and protested NATO’s eastward expansion, warning that this would inevitably force Moscow to respond. However, leaked information suggests this is precisely what the political West wanted, as evidenced by revelations published by WikiLeaks. How do we know this is true? Well, its founder is suffering a horrible fate for publishing the secret data. And yet, despite the world knowing all this, NATO is determined not only to continue its aggression, but is also openly escalating it. Namely, on January 18, Dutch 4-star Admiral Rob Bauer, Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, publicly stated that the belligerent thalassocractic alliance is preparing for war with Russia and that people in Europe should do so as well.
Bauer is one of the highest-ranking NATO officials and his announcement should be taken extremely seriously. Although he assessed that the coming conflict would happen in the next 20 years, the moves that the belligerent alliance is making indicate that such a conflict could come at any point. Following a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Bauer told reporters that Western governments should start preparing for war with Russia, including by training civilians how to act when it starts.
“We have to realize it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we are preparing for a conflict with Russia. […] But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role,” he said, adding: “It starts there. The realization that not everything is plannable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years.”
Apart from demanding everyone in Europe to get ready for war with a nuclear-armed superpower, Bauer pointed out the example of Sweden, a de facto NATO member for decades at this point. Namely, he praised Stockholm for enforcing ludicrous and pompously announced measures for a mythical Russian invasion, an eventuality that’s effectively beyond any real possibility. However, the Scandinavian country needs to justify its unpopular NATO membership somehow, so it’s putting up this laughable “show of force”.
“We need to be readier across the whole spectrum. You have to have a system in place to find more people if it comes to war, whether it does or not. Then you talk mobilization, reservists or conscription,” he said, adding: “You need to be able to fall back on an industrial base that is able to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to be able to continue a conflict if you are in it.”
In line with Bauer’s announcement, NATO is to launch a massive military exercise, dubbed Steadfast Defender 2024. Scheduled to begin on January 31, it will include at least 90,000 troops, making it NATO’s largest military exercise since the end of the (First) Cold War. It should be noted that the belligerent alliance officially restarted the conflict in 2022, after decades of its crawling aggression pushed Russia to respond in Ukraine. This was done after numerous US-orchestrated destabilization projects in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, all of which were aimed against Moscow. NATO itself is merely an extension of America’s strategy of the so-called “full spectrum dominance” and the same goes for the European Union which has repeatedly proven its subservience to US interests. To accomplish its strategic goals, Washington DC is ready to support all sorts of extremist ideologies and individuals.
Worse yet, in an attempt to defeat Russia, it has shown willingness to use banned weapons such as biological (including deadly pathogens) and AI-powered. The latter are particularly important as Americans are increasingly uninterested to serve in the US military, especially as the belligerent thalassocracy is adopting an extremist ultra-liberal ideology that’s simply repulsive to anyone remotely sane. America’s decline is unstoppable at this point, so its political elites are pushing the entire world into yet another abyss, one that it would likely never get out of. Washington DC’s virtually simultaneous aggression against several global and regional powers is making it nearly impossible to prevent such a horrible scenario. This includes pushing the world into a commodities crisis, which can also be interpreted as “preparing everyone” for war, as Bauer already stated. This is an important segment of America’s global strategy.
US actions in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America also indicate other countries will be targeted, including China, Iran and Venezuela. However, with its unrivaled strategic arsenal, new hypersonic weapons, as well as resurgent conventional military power, precisely Russia is NATO’s top rival. Unable to fight Moscow directly, the US-led belligerent alliance is using proxies and creating new ones to enforce its so-called “containment” strategy against the Kremlin. This includes the reactivation of the old members of its WWII-era geopolitical (and increasingly ideological) predecessor. Fully aware it can’t take the Eurasian giant head-on, to this end, the political West is stoking Russophobia everywhere it can, as it needs to create enemies on Russian borders. It’s important to note that the warmongers in Washington DC don’t care about the destructive consequences for Europe.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.
Lawmakers Push Funding to Replace Weapons Used in Yemen
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | January 21, 2024
As the White House has started an open-ended and unauthorized war in Yemen, some members of Congress are pushing for legislation that would provide funding to replace the munitions dropped on the Middle East’s poorest nation.
Politico reports, “As American warships burn through expensive missiles against Houthi targets in the Red Sea and Yemen, lawmakers, lobbyists, and the Navy are angling to use a multibillion-dollar national security supplemental to replenish the military’s inventory of munitions.”
In November, the Houthis announced that Yemeni forces would target Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea until Tel Aviv ends its military campaign in Gaza. Two weeks ago, President Joe Biden, without consulting Congress, authorized strikes on the Houthis.
In response, the Houthis began targeting American-linked shipping transiting the region. The White House is ordering attacks on Yemen nearly every day. However, the White House claims it is not at war with Yemen, and it does not need Congressional authorization for the operations.
Biden’s war in Yemen could drag on for some time. US officials told the Washington Post the administration has “no end date” and “little exit strategy” for its military operations in Yemen. President Biden has admitted that the strikes are not deterring the Houthi attacks.
Additionally, the US operations against Yemen are expensive. Washington has combated drone and missile attacks from Yemen on ships in the Red Sea by using expensive interceptors to down the inexpensive Houthi munitions. The White House has largely relied on ship-fired Tomahawks to hit targets in Yemen. Some lawmakers worry the operations against the Houthis will impact Wasington’s ability to dominate the globe.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said fighting in Yemen means Congress needs to add further spending for munitions to a supplemental military funding package. “As I’ve warned for weeks, using million-dollar missiles to defend against thousand-dollar drones strains an already insufficient inventory of long-range capabilities,” he added. “The supplemental is our chance to expand our capacity to meet the national security challenges we face.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) argued that additional missiles are needed to confront China. “We’re looking — one of the parts of the supplemental is to make sure we have the rounds we need, whether it’s [the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile] or possibly things like [the] Tomahawk that we have for the Western Pacific.” He continues, “And that is a capability we would need if we ever got in a conflict with China.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said “a big plus up” in munitions funding is imperative for Tomahawks, Naval Strike Missiles, and Harpoons. He also explained that the weapons are needed for global dominance. “And those kinds of weapons systems are critical everywhere, Taiwan in particular,” the Senator said.
Politico notes that Pentagon officials and lobbyists for arms makers are also pushing for increased funding for munitions production in a supplemental defense spending bill.
Why Are Almost 40 Percent of US Nuclear Attack Subs Out of Service?
By Oleg Burunov – Sputnik – 21.01.2024
Eighteen fast attack submarines are being temporarily decommissioned for repairs, a move that is fraught with far-reaching consequences for the US, experts told Sputnik.
On January 21, 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut.
SIxty-nine years later, a congressional report has revealed that something has gone wrong with the US Navy’s nuclear-powered fast submarine fleet. Of the 49 multi-purpose attack submarines (SSNs) in the navy, 18 are currently out of service for repairs, per the report.
So how did this happen? Sputnik explores.
What’s in the Report?
As of 2023, at least 37% of the entire fleet of SSNs have been temporarily decommissioned for repairs, according to previously undisclosed navy data published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The report cited 18 SSNs that are either in depot maintenance or awaiting maintenance, known as idle. The number is significantly higher than the navy’s target of having a maximum of 20% of all fast attack subs undergoing maintenance at any one time and zero submarines sitting idle and waiting to begin repairs.
The maintenance backlog has “substantially reduced” the number of the SSNs operational at any given moment, reducing the “force’s capacity for meeting day-to-day mission demands and potentially putting increased operational pressure” on fast attack submarines that are in service, CRS naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke said in the report.
The Naval Sea Systems Command responded by blaming “planning, material availability, and shipyard execution.” The service has launched several initiatives to address these “primary maintenance delay” factors, the command added.
Which Subs Need Maintenance?
The inactive SSNs are not the nuclear ballistic missile Ohio-class submarines, “but fast attack boats, including the Seawolf-class, that can fire torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missile at vessels and land targets, and perform stealth missions such as surveillance,” Bloomberg earlier reported.
As for SSNs, it is the US Navy’s hull classification symbol for a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine.
‘Severe Blow to US Admirals’ Pride’
Taking almost 40 percent of US fast attack submarines out of service is “quite a big blow to the pride of American admirals and sailors,” Vasily Dandykin, a Russian veteran military analyst and retired Russian Navy captain 1st rank, told Sputnik.
The reasons why the 18 SSNs have been temporarily decommissioned should be discussed in light of the US’ self-declared victory in the Cold War, Dandykin insisted.
“After announcing this win, Americans turned a blind eye to maintenance-related issues,” the analyst said, adding that “the delayed repairs shorten the lifespan of a submarine.”
When asked about the condition of the SSNs in service, the analyst pointed to a spate of problems with the maintenance and qualifications of crews, which he said resulted earlier in various navigational incidents.
Connecticut Sub Crash
One of the major incidents happened to the USS Connecticut in the South China Sea in October 2021.
A subsequent navy investigation into the crash of the Seawolf-class submarine into an underwater ridge in the sea found that the incident was “preventable” and that it followed navigation planning and risk management mistakes, as well as other errors.
The failures “fell far below US Navy standards,” and the incident left the fast attack submarine unable to operate “for an extended period of time” because of the damage, the probe pointed out. The Connecticut reportedly won’t be back in service until early 2026 at the soonest.
Another incident dates back to January 9, 2005, when one crewman died after the US nuclear submarine San Francisco ran aground off Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Twenty-three crewmen were injured in the incident.
In February 2001, the USS Greeneville’s rudder tore through the Japanese fishing boat Ehime Maru’s lower deck during a fast surface maneuver, sinking the vessel within minutes. Nine people aboard died, including students and instructors in commercial fishing.
Repercussions
Operational pressure on the SSNs that are still in service is almost sure to increase, which means that their life span may be reduced and the construction of more such submarines will be needed, Dandykin meanwhile went on to say. This will, in turn, lead to spending hefty sums from the US’ defense budget, he added.
He was echoed by Earl Rasmussen, a retired lieutenant colonel with over 20 years in the US Army, who told Sputnik that the fact that 18 SSNs are now out of service means that the US Navy will have to limit its operations in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the South China Sea.
“Almost 40% of the SSNs being decommissioned will impact our capability to deploy our reach and to deploy the defensive capability,” Rasmussen pointed out. The US Navy is “below its optimal or even projected readiness capability,” the US expert concluded.
Not Ready for the Big Leagues
Patriot Missile Launcher
By William Schryver | imetatronink | January 20, 2024
According to the best information I can gather on short notice, I have been able to ascertain that current US production of the PAC-3 missiles typically used in the Patriot air defense systems is about ~500 per annum, at a cost of 4 – 6 million dollars each.
There are aspirations of increasing that rate to 650 per annum within the next year.
As for current US stocks of PAC-3 missiles, for the sake of argument, let’s allow for the possibility there are 5000 units (there aren’t near that many).
The consensus seems to be that the US can currently field ~500 operational launchers.
A single Patriot battalion typically consists of 6 batteries with 6 launchers each. Each of the 36 launchers can hold up to 16 PAC-3 missiles. So up to 576 PAC-3 missiles in a single-load of a Patriot battalion.
To prosecute war against Russia, China, or Iran, protection of the major forward bases of the United States Air Force would be the prerequisite upon which success would be predicated.
To adequately cover even one of these large airbases against missile strikes of just 100-200 units of high-performance drones, cruise-missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic missiles — plus numerous decoys — would easily require an entire Patriot battalion.
Even with a 100% interception rate, a pair of 100-missile strike packages over the course of a day would still compel a PAC-3 burn rate of at least 300 missiles, given that, as a general rule, two PAC-3 missiles are launched at every incoming target.
But of course, the interception rate would be considerably lower than 100%. And given that the Patriot command, radar, and launcher units — along with missile storage sites — would be primary targets, there would be a substantial attrition rate of the highly immobile Patriot systems themselves. (The Russians have already clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of the Patriot systems to counter-battery missile strikes. At least three Patriot batteries have been destroyed in Ukraine.)
In an attempt to cover just three large airbases against a series of salvos of 100+ missiles of various types, the entire US stockpile of PAC-3 interceptors could very conceivably be exhausted in little more than a week or two.
Current annual production could easily be consumed in little more than a day or two.
This is the reality of 21st century high-intensity conflict against an adversary with the capability to shoot back — a kind of war for which the United States military is woefully ill-prepared, both materially and doctrinally.
France’s and Germany’s Lack of Independence Forces Them to Continue Bankrolling Ukraine
Sputnik – 20.01.2024
While Western powers’ lavish financial and military contributions to Kiev’s war effort have so far failed to produce any meaningful results, many leaders seem eager to keep bankrolling Ukraine until it runs out of manpower.
The EU may be looking to amend the mechanism used to provide military support to Ukraine by creating a new fund in addition to the European Peace Facility (EPF) that has so far been used by Europe to funnel arms to Kiev.
According to Bloomberg, the new fund may have an annual budget of €5 billion but EU member states are yet to come to a consensus on how this initiative is going to work out.
Commenting on this development, Gabor Stier, senior foreign policy analyst at the conservative Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, told Sputnik that whatever shape and form this new fund is going to take, it will ultimately harm European states.
According to him, the EU leadership is essentially trying to come up with a plan to bankroll Ukraine regardless of what Hungary might think about it, with Stier referring to attempts by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to come up with a plan to provide aid to Ukraine without harming the EU budget in the process.
Orban’s proposals – that involve dividing the aid to Kiev into smaller tranches and keeping track of exactly how this money would be spent – are very much disliked by Brussels, Stier said. The EU leadership is reportedly concerned that the Hungarian prime minister might veto options he does not like (as decisions to allocate funds under the auspices of EPF require unanimous agreement).
“There will be a new fund but with what money?” Stier inquired. “The first option would be a new fund where money from the EU budget would go into. This does not solve the issue with the Hungarian veto. The second option would involve creating a fund outside the EU budget. The problem with this option is that it would take too long as each (EU) country and its respective parliament would have to vote on it separately. There will be arguments and it will all drag on. While this would go on, Ukraine would already suffer a defeat.”
Thus, Stier suggests, the new fund will likely be filled with money from the EU budget.
“It is already clear that this fund will be designed through discussions within the EU, which is clear in light of the new strikes in Germany or in France. It seems that everyone is either not too keen to trust Ukrainian politicians or have reconsidered their approach to the allocation of funds,” he mused.
Stier also noted that some European states use Orban as “cover” by making it look like he is the lone obstacle on the way to agreeing on the Ukrainian aid issue.
“There are internal frictions, this much is clear. Earlier in Budapest, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico voiced his agreement with Orban on everything related to Ukraine,”
he said. “Austria is also on the same wavelength as Orban. But when it comes to voting in Brussels, no one besides Orban says that they are against (the funding of Ukraine).”
According to Stier, even France and Germany essentially use Orban to “force Ukraine, who is brazenly spending all resources of the Western powers, to slow down somewhat.”
Only Poland, the Baltic states and the Scandinavian states wholeheartedly support Ukraine, he argued, along with the “Benelux and the Netherlands,” though the latter two have some “internal problems.”
He did note, however, that even though Germany, France and Italy may not be thrilled by the prospects of continuously financing Ukraine, they simply cannot stop doing so.
“This is how their dependence on the United States manifests,” Stier explained. “Europe is going to bear the financial burden in the future, that much is obvious.”
The analyst also claimed that this year is going to be “critical” for Ukraine in terms of financing, and that “more justifications are required to amass so much money everywhere” to support Kiev.
A ‘pro-Russian monster’ or a force for common sense? A new party is reshaping the German political landscape
By Tarik Cyril | RT | January 20, 2024
Germany is in severe crisis. Between a tanking economy and an increasingly unpopular government, the country has begun to show just how much stress it is under. Half a year ago, the head of German carmaker Volkswagen warned that “the roof is on fire,” while The Economist concluded that “disaster,” meaning not just the decline but collapse of the German car industry, is “no longer inconceivable.”
At this moment, the wintry beginning of 2024, German farmers are staging large-scale and escalating protests and forcing the ruling coalition into concessions, the trains are not running on time due to a strike, the country’s wholesale sector has dropped to pandemic-level pessimism, “dampening hopes of a rapid rebound in Europe’s largest economy,” as reported by Bloomberg, residential property prices are in record decline, and the office real estate market “has collapsed,” according to leading German news magazine Der Spiegel.
The Economist finds Germany to be “down” politically as well – in fact, self-relegated – from its status as leader of Europe (or, at least, the EU) to less than second fiddle (that would be France, perhaps): while “Angela Merkel was the continent’s undoubted leader, Olaf Scholz, has not taken on her mantle.”
That is a very British understatement. In reality, in the toxic yet key relationship with the US, Germany, with its hapless attempt to transfer the management concept of “servant leadership” to geopolitics, has now subordinated itself so thoroughly to American neocon-type interests that it has no leverage left at all. Because once you make your loyalty unconditional, you will be taken for granted: Selling oneself may be inevitable for any but the greatest powers. Selling oneself for free takes a special lack of foresight.
We could go on heaping up examples of malaise. But the gist is simple: Germans may love to lay it on thick when it comes to venting their misery and “angst” (I should know, being German), but, clearly, something has to – and will – give. The question is what.
One political force that stands to gain from the crisis has just been established. (Another fairly new party that is profiting is the AfD.) Long rumored and in the making, 8 January saw the official founding of a new party, the Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit (Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht – Reason and Justice), or BSW for short. Its leader Sarah Wagenknecht used to be the most popular top politician of the hard-Left party Die Linke, which she left with a bang.
As the name BSW suggests, the new party is, in part, a vehicle for Wagenknecht’s considerable personal political acumen and charisma. Opponents of “Red Sarah,” as the popular, generally right-leaning newspaper Bild still calls her, like to stereotype her as an “icon.” Yet, wiser from the failure of an earlier attempt to strike out on her own (under the label “Aufstehen,” roughly: “Stand Up”), this time, Wagenknecht has gone out of her way and made sure to do her homework, preparing a well-crafted organization, a set of junior leaders around her, and, last but not least, a solid program. This is politically significant: Unlike “Aufstehen,” the BSW will not fold quickly under the weight of its own problems.
On the contrary, the party’s chances of making a strong impact from the get-go are very good, as polls consistently indicate. The most recent one – commissioned by Bild and carried out just days after the party’s founding by a top pollster – shows that 14% of Germans would vote for the BSW in a federal election.
For comparison: the SPD, traditionally one of the core parties of Germany and the political home of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, reaches 14% as well. For the BSW this is an impressive figure, but for the SPD it is catastrophic. Meanwhile the Greens, the second partner in Berlin’s governing “Ampel” coalition, are at 12%. The FDP, the third “Ampel” component, would fail to get any seats at all (due to not crossing Germany’s electoral threshold of 5%). Sarah Wagenknecht’s own former party, Die Linke, would suffer the same fate. The only two parties that would do better than the BSW are the traditional center-right CDU (27%) and the populist-right/far-right AfD (18%).
In sum, with BSW, we are witnessing not the making of a fringe but a core movement in what seems to be emerging as Germany’s re-shaped party system, consisting of three traditional parties (SPD, CDU, and the Greens) and two new forces. The latter are coming from the right and left periphery but are likely to re-define the center, directly and by their pressure on the traditional players.
Representatives of the threatened traditional parties and their expert and mainstream media surrogates often denounce the challengers from the wings as extremists or, at least, irresponsible populists (just another way of saying “demagogue”). But they only have themselves to blame: The true cause of this tectonic movement is the failure of the traditionals. The challengers’ rise marks a reaction to it. Wagenknecht is right about this: Germany’s “democracy is imperiled most of all” by government policies that make ever more citizens feel left alone or alienated.
Against that background, the BSW promises more generous social policies, such as on education, wages, and pensions (and higher taxes for the wealthy). As Germany is doing badly economically, this will resonate. And Wagenknecht, a political “natural,” knows how to signal: She has just taken the side of the protesting farmers – as do the majority (68%) of Germans, according to polls.
Mainstream media are making desperate attempts to frame the rebellious farmers as serving extremists and somehow playing into the hands of – guess which country! – Russia. The ever more besieged minister of the economy Robert Habeck has even detected financing by – guess who! – “Putin!” (without, of course, providing any evidence). This time, these tired scare tactics are failing to catch on. Wagenknecht’s public call for chancellor Olaf Scholz to apologize to the farmers will fare better.
Crucially, Wagenknecht and the BSW have combined socially left approaches with a set of traditionally conservative stances, challenging, for instance, the hypertrophic development of new gender categories or, in general, “symbolical struggles” over hyper-sensitive terminology, so fashionable with what Wagenknecht dismisses as the “lifestyle Left.”
While this push-back against political correctness is a largely symbolic, though effective, operation, migration is a more substantial field. There as well, Wagenknecht has adopted positions closer to the right and center than the liberal left, stressing the need for control and limits. The fact that she herself had a Persian father and that prominent BSW heads are also non-ethnic Germans gives her a strong starting position for this kind of debate, shielding her points from dismissal as racist or xenophobic.
Given how many Germans feel, left alone in an economic crisis and also alienated by especially Green attempts at re-education in the spirit of urban upper class multiculturalism and gender obsessions, it will be hard to counter the BSW’s brand of socially left but otherwise centrist and even conservative policies. No wonder then that opponents are trying to portray Wagenknecht as a monster, along with the new party. Their playbook is predictable and boring: namely to smear them as being pro-Russian or even working in the service of Russia.
In reality, Wagenknecht has positioned her new party to resist the push for ever more confrontation with Moscow, especially with regard to Ukraine. At this moment, for instance, she is speaking up against the delivery of German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which is the latest fad among the insatiable “miracle weapon” addicts. More generally, she is demanding to shift from a policy of military confrontation by proxy to one of negotiation and compromise, which makes, of course, perfect sense.
For her enemies, there is an irony waiting to catch them: They may hope that accusing Wagenknecht of being too friendly toward Russia will weaken her appeal. Yet that ship has sailed. The days of making hay with unbridled neo-McCarthyism are ending. It is more likely, fortunately, that the BSW’s reasonable approach to foreign policy will only get it more sympathy and voters. As it should. Because remember: At this point, Germany is so dependent on the US that it is treated not only like a vassal, but like a vassal whose wishes and interests do not count. Even Germans who distrust Russia will come to understand that this is fundamentally unsound. In its own national interest, Germany must re-establish some balance by rebuilding its relationship with Russia.
Tarik Cyril Amar is an historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul.
An Epoch of Great Changes Is upon Us
Russian Avangard Hypersonic Missile
By William Schryver | imetatronink | January 19, 2024
One of my current X followers posted earlier today:
“I am against the Ukraine war from the very beginning (mainly because for the first time a foreign war can actually get ME killed with Russia’s missiles), but at this point I also think we can’t just let Russia win which means we lose and that would mean a lot of negative things.”
I will not speak to his fears of “Russia’s missiles”, except to say I am convinced Russia will not strike anyone that hasn’t done something to provoke it in a manner that warrants such a response — at least not so long as the Putin regime remains in charge.
In any case, Russia WILL win this war. Decisively. She will dictate the terms of its cessation. Russia will emerge from this war significantly more powerful than she was just two years ago, and on a trajectory to become even more powerful in coming years.
As I wrote in a recent article:
“… the Russian armed forces, fighting on their own ground, on and under their adjacent seas, and in the air above their spheres of control, constitute the most potent and battle-hardened military force on the planet.”
As for the US empire’s European vassals: at no point in the last 500 years has Europe been more militarily, politically, socially, and spiritually debilitated. If the entire current military capacity of Europe were combined, it would not stand a chance of defeating Russia in a war. Rather, it would be systematically and comprehensively slaughtered.
And, as I have argued in crescendo over the past several years, the long-pervasive belief in American military supremacy is a myth; a mirage; a fallacious narrative fashioned from fables and Hollywood films.
The US military has not won a war since WW2. They have mercilessly bombed the crap out of many smaller, weaker countries, killed millions of people, and yet never once achieved strategic victory.
Not since WW2 have they faced anything even faintly approximating high-intensity warfare.
Indeed, never at any time in history has the US military fought against a great power adversary at the height of its strength.
And now, here in 2024, the US military has never been in a more weakened state relative to any of its potential great power adversaries — namely, Russia, China, and Iran.
Iranian Shahed-238 loitering cruise missiles, three variants.
As I repeat often, I am convinced the failed US/NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine will produce the following results:
— It will greatly accelerate the decline of the American Empire.
— NATO will cease to be a credible military/political alliance.
— The EU will cease to be a credible monetary/political alliance.
And, as the broken hegemon rapidly recedes, political, economic, and social chaos is certain to engulf much of the world as the major and minor players on the planet scramble to secure their respective spheres of influence and establish new centers of global and regional power.
An epoch of great changes is upon us.
No More Research on Cellphone Radiation and Human Health, Government Says
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | January 18, 2024
The National Toxicology Program (NTP) has no plans to further study the effects of cellphone radiofrequency radiation (RFR) on human health — even though the program’s own $30 million study that took about 10 years to complete in 2018 reported evidence of cancer and DNA damage.
The NTP said in an updated January 2024 fact sheet that it was abandoning further investigation because “the research was technically challenging and more resource-intensive than expected.”
For decades, the NTP has been the premier governmental testing program for pharmaceuticals, chemicals and radiation, according to Devra Davis, Ph.D., MPH, a toxicologist and epidemiologist who served on the board of scientific counselors for the NTP when it was launched in the 1980s.
Commenting on the news, Davis said, “It is the ultimate arrogance and folly to stop doing research on this major growing environmental pollutant, precisely when we have ample evidence of harm.”
Davis has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications in books and journals, ranging from The Lancet to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In February 2023, she and her colleagues published a review of more than 200 studies that linked wireless radiation to negative biological effects including oxidative stress and DNA damage, cardiomyopathy, carcinogenicity, sperm damage, memory damage and other neurological effects.
They will soon publish a “major new article” in Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development journal about “new science” on RFR and call for precaution, she said.
Davis — who also is the founding director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology of the U.S. National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences and the founder and president of Environmental Health Trust — called out the U.S. government for failing to ensure that wireless radiation is safe:
“The government’s decision to stop funding research on cellphone radiation is consistent with the Chinese proverb ‘If you don’t want to know, don’t ask.’
“The US government has a variation of that in the policy of, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ If you don’t want to know whether cell tower radiation is having a biological impact, stop doing the research!”
Miriam Eckenfels-Garcia, director of Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) and Wireless program, told The Defender :
“Discontinuing government-funded research because it is ‘technically challenging’ and ‘resource-intensive’ is not what we expect from government agencies that are supposed to protect people from the harms of big industry.
“This research is important so that people can make informed decisions when it comes to the use of technology.”
W. Scott McCollough, lead litigator for CHD’s EMR cases, agreed. “I am concerned that the absence of evidence will be contorted into a claim of evidence of absence.”
As of early last year, the NTP was still conducting RFR research. A February 2023 fact sheet said scientists had “overcome several technical issues” and developed a better system for exposing animals to RFR for their studies.
NTP said researchers were “now making progress” on four research goals:
- Determining the impact of RFR exposure on behavior and stress.
- Conducting physiological monitoring, including evaluation of heart rate.
- Investigating whether RFR induces heating.
- Further evaluating whether RFR exposure causes DNA damage.
In its January 2024 fact sheet, the NTP reported the researchers had “tested the new exposure system using in vivo rodent studies” and that their research was “complete.”
The NTP did not say whether the researchers had achieved those four research goals and, if so, what the results were. It did, however, make clear that its previous studies — which used 2G and 3G cellphones — “do not apply” to 4G or 5G technologies.
The Defender reached out to NTP’s press office for clarification about why the new fact sheet appears to contradict the NTP website (updated Jan. 8, 2024) on cellphone radiation research which says NTP still has “current research efforts,” however NTP did not respond by our publication deadline.
The NTP’s discontinuation of its RFR research suggests the U.S. government has no intention of studying the possible biological effects of 5G.
Meanwhile, researchers such as Davis continue to say there is reason for concern. Davis pointed out that infertility clinics ask men about their wireless devices and cellphone habits:
“They tell them to take these phones off their bodies and out of their pockets because there is evidence … where the greater the exposure, the lower the sperm count, and the poorer the sperm quality.
“This has been repeatedly shown in studies with human sperm done under controlled conditions, as well as cross-sectional studies.”
“In fact,” she added, “whether the government stops doing the research or not, there is a massive study underway because we have billions of people being exposed to ever-increasing levels of wireless radiation throughout the world. Millions of American children are exposed every day in classrooms.”
“The only problem is there is no control group anymore, which will make it difficult, but not impossible, to discern the impacts of wireless radiation,” Davis said.
What NTP’s 2018 study found
As The Defender previously reported, NTP researchers in 2018 concluded there was “clear evidence” that male rats exposed to high levels of RF similar to those emitted by 2G and 3G cellphones developed cancerous heart tumors, and “some evidence” of tumors in the brain and adrenal gland of exposed male rats.
Davis said NTP’s conclusions were consistent with and corroborated dozens of other studies. “It wasn’t like it [the NTP study] was a one-off study,” she said.
Once the word got out that the findings of the NTP study were positive — meaning the government researchers had found an association between cellphone radiation and the growth of cancerous tumors — the telecommunication industry “started its tactics” to suppress the findings, Davis said.
Davis has been researching those tactics for more than a decade. She is the author of “Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family.”
Instead of the NTP study report being released in 2016, when it was first ready, she said, the telecom industry exerted pressure to subject the study’s conclusions to an unprecedented level of scrutiny.
“When the first drafts began to circulate internally, it was elevated for a peer review unlike any that has ever been conducted in the history of the entire program — and I can say that with great certainty. No other compound or substance [studied by the NTP] has ever been subject to this level of peer review,” Davis said.
A panel of external scientific experts convened for a three-day review of the study and its conclusions in March 2018.
However, rather than downplaying the study’s conclusions, the experts concluded that the scientific evidence in the study was so strong they recommended the NTP reclassify some of its conclusions from “some evidence” to “clear evidence” of carcinogenic activity.
To date, more than 250 scientists — who together have published more than 2,000 papers and letters on the biologic and health effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produced by wireless devices, including cellphones — signed the International EMF Scientist Appeal, which calls for health warnings and stronger exposure limits.
Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., is a reporter and researcher for The Defender based in Fairfield, Iowa.
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
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From the Archives
Newly Released FBI Docs Shed Light on Apparent Mossad Foreknowledge of 9/11 Attacks
By Whitney Webb | MintPress News | May 17, 2019
NEW YORK — For nearly two decades, one of the most overlooked and little known arrests made in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was that of the so-called “High Fivers,” or the “Dancing Israelis.” However, new information released by the FBI on May 7 has brought fresh scrutiny to the possibility that the “Dancing Israelis,” at least two of whom were known Mossad operatives, had prior knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Center. … continue
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