We're All Soviets And Maybe Worse

 

History, say the experts, may not repeat but it does rhyme. Yes, and Nial Ferguson sees more than a little similarity between the US and late Soviet Russia. He writes about it in his Free Press column, We're All Soviets Now, and Helen Andrews at The American Conservative sums it up. Viz. "Gerontocratic leadership; bloated government; lack of trust in institutions; high death rates; and 'a bizarre ideology that no one really believes in.'"

Quite, but Helen doesn't think Nial goes far enough, here's a longish excerpt:

In the case of the economy, for example, is the most Soviet thing about America really that our projected federal deficits exceed 5 percent of GDP, as Ferguson notes? Ferguson bemoans that the “insertion of the central government into the investment decision-making process” represented by “the Biden administration’s ‘industrial policy.’”

Surely that’s small potatoes compared to the fact that one sixth of the American economy is devoted to health care, a sector where, as a recent piece by TAC’s own Jude Russo hilariously details, the numbers are all fake. The amount of money sloshing around insurers and hospitals is absolutely massive, yet the prices involved bear no relation to utility or even reality. In exchange for devoting such a big chunk of our economy to medicine, what do we get in exchange? The occasional miracle, and a lot of overtreated octogenarians and routine care at inflated costs.

Higher education is another incubus sitting atop the American economy. It employs 4 million people and is responsible for $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, yet a layman struggles to see where any value is being created at all, much less value proportionate to the expense. As with health care, higher ed produces a small number of genuine miracles—groundbreaking research or brilliant scholarship—dwarfed by a vast army of functionaries whose net value to society is, frankly, negative. Everyone can tell that the system is rotten, yet schools still have the power to squeeze middle-class parents for every penny they’re worth.

Beyond “eds and meds,” what other growth industries are politicians betting their states’ and cities’ future prosperity on? Legalized weed and gambling. That is New York’s plan for making up its post-pandemic revenue shortfall. Many states are banking on sports betting as a source of fresh taxes. Even if these vice industries created as much revenue as their advocates promised—and early evidence suggests that they do not—they would still be pernicious, destroying more value than they create. 

The essence of a late Soviet economy is not that the state plays a big role. It is that the average citizen looks around and thinks, This can’t possibly continue forever. The whole system is fake and insane. That is why Ferguson is wrong to look for evidence for his thesis in budget projections rather than the industries like health care and higher ed, which are neither capitalist nor socialist but mutant combinations of the worst of each.  

This can’t possibly continue forever. The whole system is fake and insane. Right on, to the tune of 1TN$ every 100 days. Like no kidding, our debt mounts up by a trillion, yes, a trillion dollars every quarter. It is, indeed, fake and insane. But driven insane by what?

Helen doesn't say, but I'll throw one out there. By Satan. Here again history rhymes. The Bolsheviks attacked the icons of Christ and his saints, gouging the holy images with their nails like enraged beasts. Their descendants go one further, defacing the image of God in all of us by creating blasphemous parodies of men and women in the name of freedom.

You will note, dear readers, that their rage when confronted is approximately equivalent to that of the Red Terror of yesteryear. History most certainly rhymes and smart people are reading Dostoevsky's Devils.

Your Old Country Pal,

LSP

Asset Traitor

Could it be that the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church is some kind of CIA asset? What a ridiculous conspiracy theory. Here's the American Conservative:

Everyone knows that the Moscow Patriarchate is in bed with the Kremlin. Few realize that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is deeply beholden to the United States government. 

This ignorance is surprising, given that many Greek Orthodox leaders are quite proud of the fact. In 1942, Athenagoras Spyrou—the Archbishop of America for the Greek Orthodox Church—wrote to an agent of the Office of Strategic Services. “I have three Bishops, three hundred priests, and a large and far-flung organization,” Athenagoras wrote. “Every one under my order is under yours. You may command them for any service you require. There will be no questions asked and your directions will be executed faithfully.” 

In 1947, the OSS was rechristened as the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA. One year later, Athenagoras was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodoxy. 

One might point out that, when Athenagoras reached out to the OSS, his native Greece was under Nazi occupation. It is understandable that a Greek bishop in America would support the American war effort. But it was more than that. Athenagoras was a strong supporter of American exceptionalism and encouraged Washington’s militarist foreign policy. The U.S. Consul in Istanbul recounted a conversation with Athenagoras in 1951: “As usual, he talked at some length of his belief that the United States must remain in the Near East for several centuries to fulfill the mission which had been given it by God to give freedom, prosperity and happiness to all people.”

(These quotes, by the way, are pulled from a talk given by an Orthodox historian called Matthew Namee at Holy Cross Hellenic College, the Greek seminary in Boston. These are not malicious forgeries peddled by Russian propagandists—the Greek Orthodox are quite proud of their association with the American deep state.)

Athenagoras was not merely an Americanist. He was also known as a renovationist, as liberal Orthodox are known. In 1964, he met with Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem; together, they officially lift the mutual excommunications placed by their predecessors in 1054. This gesture sparked outrage across Orthodox world. Athenagoras was accused of compromising the Orthodox Faith for the sake of a paper union with Rome.

The current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, is cut from the same cloth as Athenagoras. He is very close to Pope Francis; the two share a passion for mass immigration and environmental activism. Also like Athenagoras, Bartholomew shares a close relationship with the U.S. government—a partnership that has proven mutually beneficial.

 

You can read all about it here.

0ἶκος

LSP

War Money And America's Future

 

Col. Douglas MacGregor writes in The American Conservative:

When Richard Nixon lost the election to John F. Kennedy, Nixon told supporters, “I know Jack Kennedy. He’s a patriot.” Nixon knew that the nation would be safe in President Kennedy’s hands.

Most Americans do not have the same confidence in President Biden. In April 2023, fewer than four in ten U.S. adults (37 percent) said they approved of Joe Biden’s job performance as president, with six in ten saying they disapproved. By a 2-to-1 margin, American voters now believe controlling the U.S. border is more important than helping Ukraine fight Russia. For the first time in 30 years, the U.S. Government’s interest payments on the sovereign debt equal defense spending. 

These revelations would shake the confidence of any White House, but there is much more for Washington and its NATO Allies to consider. Alleged efforts by the Department of State to freeze the conflict in Ukraine are dismissed out of hand in Moscow by every knowledgeable observer of the Russian government. In the absence of a freeze, Washington has no idea how to end the 600-day conflict. 

 

The astute and honorable Colonel concludes:

The Washington uniparty (corporate oligarchs, public health officials, mainstream media, social media, deep state agencies, academia, Hollywood, and an assortment of dubious international agencies like the UN/WHO/WEF) swiftly invested trillions to advance globalization with U.S. military power. Whenever the armed forces were committed to action, a series of administrations were always ready to defer to ineffective, even failed, military commanders. 

Wasteful defense spending, excessive redundancy in capability, and resistance to badly needed change in force design and modernization are now revealing that the U.S. Armed Forces are ill-suited to modern high-end conventional warfare. The fighting in Ukraine demonstrates that Washington can no longer ignore the influence of geography, culture, and economics, all of which operate as constraints on the use of American military power. 

The age of abundant wealth and unconstrained defense spending is nearing its end. How Washington reacts to these realities will determine America’s future.

 

Wow. Reflect, readers, and I quote: "The Washington uniparty... swiftly invested trillions to advance globalization with U.S. military power." I say again, invested trillions to advance globalization with US military power. Right in the X Ring, Colonel. And at what cost?

Beyond hideous. Hundreds of thousands dead over the last two decades and tens of thousands piling up in Ukraine every month, each one of them a mother's child. Beyond awful. So wherein lies the blame? MacGregor calls it, the DC Uniparty, that Man of Blood, intent on its enrichment at the psychotic expense of everything and everyone.

What amazes me is the way modern Leftists champion and cheer the killing machine, how blind they are to state agitprop. But perhaps I'm naive, maybe they were for this all along, see Lewis' Abolition of Man.

Cheers,

LSP

PS. Here's MacGregor chucking his monkey into the fight, via RHT:

Poland - Revenge!

 

Draw Your Own Conclusion

Birds sing, roosters crow, someone's grill fills the air with the smokey aroma of BBQ and all's well with the world. Well, not really, but this little part of it's doing alright even though gas has shot through four bucks a gallon and looks set to climb higher still.

Whatev, here in the North Central Texas Military Zone all's pretty much under control, for now. But what about Poland? Here's this, from the American Conservative:

 

Ten weeks after the conflict began, it is instructive to re-examine the strategic picture. The war against Russia in Ukraine has evolved, but not in the way Western observers predicted. Ukrainian forces look shattered and exhausted. The supplies reaching Ukrainian troops fighting in Eastern Ukraine are a fraction of what is needed. In most cases, replacements and new weapons are destroyed long before they reach the front.

Confronted with the unambiguous failure of U.S. assistance and the influx of new weapons to rescue Ukrainian forces from certain destruction, the Biden administration is desperate to reverse the situation and save face. Poland seems to offer a way out. More important, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have both expressed the desire to erase the borders between Poland and Ukraine.

Unconfirmed reports from Warsaw indicate that after Washington rejected the proposals for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, along with the transfer of Polish MIG-29 aircrafts to Ukrainian pilots, the Polish general staff was quietly instructed to formulate plans for intervention in the Ukrainian conflict by seizing the western part of Ukraine. Naturally, military action of this scale would require Kiev’s approval, but given Washington’s de facto control of the Zelensky government, approval for Polish military intervention should not be a problem.

 

OK, Col. Douglas Macgregor takes a dim view of the Ukraine's chance of success but his point is that Poland, with tacit US approval, moves to, ahem, assist the embattled NATO proxy and so widen the scope of the war. Big drinks, massive checks all 'round and thank Gaia Raytheon's so green.

By way of context. There's little love lost between Poland and Ukrainian nationalists. Cast your mind back to the Volyn Tragedy of 1943 onwards, in which the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) tortured and killed between 50,000-100,000 Polish men, women and children, mostly women and children. Stepan Bandera, once and present Ukrainian nationalist hero, leader and Nazi collaborator encouraged this ethnic cleansing. Why? 

Because he wanted a pure Ukrainian state and Poles weren't part of this vision, partly because of that nation's history of control over large parts of what we now call Ukraine. "They ruled and enslaved us," thought Bandera and now we kill them. His people sure did. 

Yes indeed. Poland hasn't forgotten Volyn, or the Russians. Again, I leave you with this:

Cheers,

LSP

Apocalypse China And Everywhere Else

By now we all know the Coronavirus has reached Europe, with some 50,000 people quarantined in Northern Italy. Good luck Lombardy, to say nothing of Iran, Lebanon, South Korea, Japan and everywhere else. This thing obviously isn't contained, but what about here in the US?

Rod Dreher writing at American Conservative quotes, at length, an American doctor whose Chinese wife is keyed into apocalyptic conditions in her homeland, where they're running out of medicine. The doctor slams the "elites" of "both parties" who've "failed and betrayed" us. Read on:

Now: to what is going on in the USA...

And as a physician, the first instances of medication shortages are now happening in earnest. A memo from the hospital’s pharmacy committee arrived yesterday. It specifically named the following drugs – IV antibiotics such as gentamicin, tobramycin and streptomycin – IV drips from the ICU dobutamine, dopamine, and norepinephrine – and the following pill medications – diltiazem, verapamil, amlodipine, losartan, valsartan and irbesartan. Also mentioned were all of the usual narcotic opioids used for pain – morphine, dilaudid, hydrocodone and fentanyl among others. The memo stated that while there was stock in the hospital on all of these at this moment — the intermediate suppliers had sent warnings that supplies were quickly diminishing — and that further supplies from the manufacturer were not going to be reliable into the foreseeable future. Therefore, we were strongly urged to immediately begin making sure that every prescription was appropriate — and to replace it with something else if possible.

Well, some of these things are not replaceable. Some of them are — but with much more dangerous alternatives. And just try doing surgery without morphine — I dare you. All I can say is you have been warned. This is here — this is now and this is real and very likely to get much worse. Shipping all your critical drug manufacturing to another very unreliable country is so dumb that only the elites could have thought of it. And all you snowflakes thinking that we can just magically build factories here immediately — well you are oh so wrong. First of all — manufacturing drugs on a large scale takes immense engineering, and will not be done on a whim. Secondly, when we exported all our manufacturing away, all the jobs went away as well. There is a human know-how that is critical to this kind of enterprise, and that went away when the factories went to China. And it takes years — maybe decades — to get that back. MY FELLOW AMERICANS — YOU HAVE BEEN FAILED AND BETRAYED BY THE ELITES IN BOTH PARTIES – PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND IN THE COMING MONTHS.

YOU HAVE BEEN FAILED AND BETRAYED BY THE ELITES IN BOTH PARTIES – PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND IN THE COMING MONTHS. 

You can and should read the whole thing here. Perhaps our traitorous, transnational, Illuminati, tasseled-loafer, club-chair-sitting, Mammon worshiping asset-strippers need to be brought to account. Did I say "nooses down the Mall"? No, you must've imagined it.

In the meanwhile, you are a fool if you haven't at least begun to lay in a month's worth of food, water, and necessary supplies. Look at it this way, if worst comes to worst and the escaped ChiCom bioweapon hits, say, Dallas in the next month you'll be able to eat. If it doesn't, well and good, you can cook up the food and shoot the ammo at leisure.

Pray this doesn't get any more out of hand, more on prepping for the Eschaton as the spirit moves.

Stay safe,

LSP

*****

Via Zero:

*South Korea reports 123 new cases, 1 new death
*Italy announces 79 cases, declares "national emergency"; Nothern  Italy put on lockdown.
*Japan cases triple in a week to 121
*Japan confirms "seriously ill" patient in Tokyo
*Hubei reports daily numbers
*Chinese scientists find virus in urine
*Experts propose 27 day quarantine, say 14 days likely not long enough
*Cases outside China go exponential
*32 UK and European citizens arrive back in UK on evac flight
*Outbreak reported in South Korean psychiatric ward
*WHO team visits Wuhan; will give Monday press conference
*Iran reports 10 new cases, deaths climb to 6
*San Diego says 200 under 'medical observation'
*Young woman infected five relatives without ever showing symptoms

*South Korea cases surge 8-fold in 4 days to 433; country reports third death