The Universe Smiles

Date: February 13, 2025
Canonical: 33578
Archive: 33578 [history]
Categories: Foreign Affairs , Politics

Tomorrow the Trump team arrives in Germany to participate in the Munich Security Conference, where they are expected to inform the Europeans of their plans to bring Project Ukraine to an end. No one knows what Trump is planning, but the Europeans are braced for bad news. That bad news is either a plan for peace brokered without them or a plan that hands the whole mess over to them. Team Trump had made clear that their first priority is accounting for the money.

As a general rule, anytime the guy giving the money starts making angry noises about accounting for the money, the guy receiving the money is in trouble. This type of scene is always part of gangster movies for a reason. It means the giver is unhappy with the receiver and has come to a conclusion about the arrangement that is going to be bad for the receiver. Imagine some DOGE kids stuffing Zelensky into a locker and you have a good idea of what is coming.

To make matters worse, Trump just had a long call with Putin and both sides described it in very positive language. There has been an exchange of prisoners, with Trump indicating the Russians asked for little in return. He was making clear that he understood their gesture and was ready to reciprocate. It is the sort of thing that is done when two sides are looking to build a larger relationship. You do small deals to build trust and develop a process for larger deals.

What is clear is that Trump has looked at his options with regards to Ukraine and did not see a deal worth pursuing. The Russians are not interested in anything but the deal they feel was done in Istanbul in 2022, plus some extra to cover the costs of litigating it on the battlefield for the last two years. They will get that deal either at the table or on the battlefield and there is nothing to be done to prevent them. Trump seems to understand this and accepts it.

Deal making always starts with discovery. You must first learn if there is a deal to be had, otherwise you are wasting your time. The number one rule in deal making in the private sector is that time is your most precious asset. The best salesmen maximize their time by not wasting time chasing bad business. For Trump, Project Ukraine, as constructed by his predecessor, is bad business. The goal now is to get this off the agenda as quickly as possible.

Most likely, the starting place this week is to inform the Europeans and Zelensky that the deal for them right now is Istanbul plus some other things. If they are ready to take that deal, then the Trump Team will hammer out the deal with the Russians and at some point, the Ukraine government will be invited in to sign it. Who the representative of that government is will be determined by elections to be held immediately. That means Zelensky will not be part of the signing ceremony.

This is why they are talking about the money. Imagine the bosses from Chicago coming out to Las Vegas to talk to the guy they sent out to oversee their operations, and their first question is, “Where’s our money?” Zelensky made the fatal mistake of saying he will never be able to account for it. That sealed his fate. There is simply no way Trump will do business with the guy. It now means any support requires elections and repayment of the money.

Like the guy who cannot pay in the gangster films, this leaves Zelensky and the Europeans in an impossible position, which is the point. Team Trump is prepared to work with the Russian on other issues, even if they cannot get a deal on Ukraine, so they are prepared to walk away from Ukraine entirely. If Europe wants to keep the United States engaged, then it means elections and an accounting of the hundreds of billions sent to Kiev over the last three years.

Now that the Trump plan is coming into focus, the girl boss running EU foreign policy issued a statement declaring the unconditional support for Ukraine. Not having come to grips with what is happening in Washington, she seems to think Team Trump will sit down with her to talk it out and come to a compromise. Instead, this will be used to justify handing the whole mess over to the Europeans so Trump can move onto matters far more important than Project Ukraine.

This is the other thing coming into focus. The war caused the Russians to rethink their relationship with Europe. They stopped taking calls from people like Macron and Schultz, because there was no point in speaking with them. The Chinese have gone out of their way to humiliate European leaders who turn up in Beijing. Men close their doors to the setting sun and that is what is happening to Europe. The emerging great powers of the new world order are ignoring Europe.

Now we are seeing Trump do the same thing. Vance was in Paris this week, in advance of the Munich meeting, and he told the Europeans in no uncertain terms how things are going to be going forward. They were properly offended, and that was most certainly the point of his speech. Friday, the Trump delegation is going to tell the Europeans how it is going to be with regards to Ukraine. If they do not like it, they can go it alone, but everyone knows they lack the ability to do it.

It is proof that the universe has a sense of humor. Four years ago, the Eurocrats were congratulating themselves along with Biden people, telling each other stories about the new world order and how they would build back better. Now, the guy they thought they had vanquished will be telling them their place in the new world order. The guy building back better, will be the guy they were sure was the final boss in their quest to spread the managerial revolution around the globe.

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Comments (Historical)

The comments below were originally posted to thezman.com.

237 Comments

Severian #443986 February 13, 2025 9:18 am 65

I have nothing to add, but…Munich, man. Really. Did ithave to beMunich, of all the cities in Europe? Trump is Hitler, Putin isalsoHitler, and now the one Hitler is going to be “appeasing” the other Hitler… in Munich. We will never hear the end of it.

RealityRules #443991 February 13, 2025 9:33 am 53

On the other hand, perhaps it was chosen for just that reason. In Munich the disaster of the 20th century was coddled and fortified. Perhaps the symbolism is that this is a ceremonial breaking of the spell on the ground where it was cast. That was then. This is now. The 21st century has begun, and its great task is to undo the 20th. It started in Munich. It ends in Munich. Food for thought.

Jack Dobson #444014 February 13, 2025 10:03 am 54

I don’t know that to have been the intended effect, but it is the reality. The conference location will mark the end of the post-World War II consensus. Western idiots will try to frame it as a repeat of the last big event there, but it is the final chapter of the OG. The GAE is downsizing, and it will be a better world for both the Europeans and the North Americans–the actual people rather than the clown leadership–as a result.Ukraine was the greatest self-own of recent history. It would be amusing but/for the hundreds of thousands of casualties. The war criminal ghouls in D.C. and London and Paris and Berlin and Ottawa stole trillions and are mass murderers. They richly deserve to be publicly hanged. We probably will have to settle for their humiliation.Z points out from time to time how the neocons rise from the dead like vampires. This time they were caught out in the daylight. Let’s hope they feel tremendous pain before they burst into flames.

Arthur Metcalf #444063 February 13, 2025 11:01 am 42

Yes. It is ending now. We are living through the closing of the books on the Cold War, at long last. By 2028 it will be for us old men to sit around and reflect upon. I’ve waited for these times since 1991-2.

Jack Dobson #444094 February 13, 2025 11:38 am 10

Amen.

NoName #444171 February 13, 2025 4:11 pm 13

Bobby Jr just got confirmed for HHS. 52-48 vote. B!tch McConnell [of course] casting his vote with the sh!tlibs. With any luck, maybe now thangs are finally gonna get real. John Campbell: “We need complete freedom to discuss why we are burying and cremating people in what should be the prime of life.” https://tinyurl.com/m7pbkvrw

james wilson #444189 February 13, 2025 6:00 pm 13

I am impressed that the quislings been cowed into submission. Kennedy has a potential equal to DOGE in blowing up their schemes.

Dutchboy #444102 February 13, 2025 11:47 am 26

It’s great but I also reflect on the waste of lives and resources in the last thirty years. It’s infuriating. I would love for those responsible to be punished but that does not seem to be in the cards.

Arthur Metcalf #444117 February 13, 2025 12:02 pm 25

Yes, I was a Pat Buchanan staffer for two of his campaigns, and was right there at the beginning in NH in December 1991 as he walked in the snows outside of Manchester NH factories that are now lofts for Boston-based power couples. After 9/11 I understood that any hopes I had for the future of the US would be dashed much later in life, unfortunately, when I likely to be at my physical weakest in some hospital with Belize-tier standards in the 2050s.This is all I have left, basically. Tomorrow night I may buy some great beer from a craft brewery brewed in the Munich style and watch some documentaries. No dog or fire to keep me company, unfortunately.

I.M. Brute #444178 February 13, 2025 5:12 pm 9

I was a big Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot fan back in the day! Who knows, maybe things could have been different had they won.

james wilson #444190 February 13, 2025 6:05 pm 10

Very unnlikely. The Borg would have deterred them as they deterred Trump ’16. And, there were no serious internet alternatives to inform the public. A far greater percentace of the public is (somewhat) wised up to the game now, and they are not feeling charitable about it.

RealityRules #444093 February 13, 2025 11:37 am 19

Yes. In this sense with modern communication we have the ability to give the optic its meaning. This is the whitepill if you will of the time and the opportunity we have been given. You define the optic as the 21st century has finally begun knowing that an oligarch has used this exact phrase and expressed it as a good. (Peter Theil)This gets around and you tag Theil and Musk … … If they see it and endorse it, we, not the GAE Regime have given it the symbolic meaning.This is the beauty of what is happening now. So much is happening it is insane. Musk is giving live updates to ME conferences on the state of DOGE and the meaning of the reforms. This thing has been well thought through and seems so far to be extremely well organized.We won’t get everything we want, but some convulsions will be so large that there will be huge opportunities to take things and make things outright.

Jack Dobson #444108 February 13, 2025 11:53 am 16

I’ve been reluctant to make any definitive statements on it until now, but the last three weeks have been a sea change.

Hemid #444166 February 13, 2025 3:39 pm -9

Marginal sea change.A new concept.The antifa guys I know haven’t stopped getting paid, and they’re the ones who get paid like CEOs.Since USAID was taken out (it wasn’t), 4chan has more fake activity than ever, and efforts to “slide” (censor via drowning) real threads havegreatlyintensified. The bot/jeet/jidf/whatever-blue spam has shifted its emphasis. It now pretends to be (or has revealed itself to be) libertarian-partisan-Democrat (againstanyreform, public or private, like Reason magazine) instead of just posting black dicks or bot-training threads with pictures of Japanese girls and mental apples.Etc.Trump was overthrown via military coup, I guess I should remind us. It has not been undone.

pyrrhus #444024 February 13, 2025 10:10 am 21

Munich was inevitable because Britain and its allies had no ability to defend the Sudetenland, which was ethnic German anyway…As usual, Europeans wanted an outsider to defend their interests…

rasqball #444099 February 13, 2025 11:45 am 2

Nice…!

manc #444144 February 13, 2025 1:44 pm 3

The Munich Security Conference has been around since the 1960s; I first heard of it in a Len Deighton novel. You’re right about it probably being past its “sell by” date.

thezman #443992 February 13, 2025 9:33 am 38

I must admit, I was going to make a joke about it too, but I wanted to keep it serious. My Lord. The universe does have a sense of humor.

karl von hungus #444047 February 13, 2025 10:42 am 21

did you notice they also released a group statement titled “Weimar+”?! talk about on the nose…

RealityRules #444095 February 13, 2025 11:38 am 1

Link please. That is amazing.

karl von hungus #444182 February 13, 2025 5:29 pm 3

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/ukraine/statement-weimar-support-ukraine_en

Citizen of a Silly Country #443995 February 13, 2025 9:38 am 24

Maybe this finally closes the 20th century. Let’s hope.

Jack Dobson #444016 February 13, 2025 10:05 am 16

That’s my thought. It will be seen in time as the final chapter of the post-World War II consensus rather than a repeat of the OG. The court historians no longer have a lock on the framing.

Citizen of a Silly Country #444019 February 13, 2025 10:07 am 23

Yep. The 20th century is over when the loons scream “Hitler! Munich! Hitler!” and everyone just laughs or, even better, no one even notices because no one is listening to them.

Jack Dobson #444027 February 13, 2025 10:14 am 13

Most people under 40 outside the small number who are hyperpolitical now respond with “who is Hitler?” Policy, always a lagging indicator, is just now catching up to the political and social reality.

Piffle #444060 February 13, 2025 10:58 am 10

We even still talk about H-man because WWII is the public obsession of largely the Boomer generation. That’s even to the expense of the Vietnam War, which by rights should be what they talk about. Gen X generally has not sought out alternative thoughts, although most of them are more indifferent to the topic.

Steve #444090 February 13, 2025 11:30 am 11

Forgetting the past isn’t exactly a good idea, so long as it’s really the past, and not the mythology. Even mythology serves a purpose, but like @Zman said not too long ago, ripping down Chesterton’s Fence has consequences. The lessons of a Great War with a 20-year cease fire must not be lost, particularly with modern weaponry.

Dutchboy #444106 February 13, 2025 11:51 am 16

When I was a boy in the fifties, somebody polled American children about who were America’s greatest enemies. The hands down winners: Germany and Japan. All those WWII movies did the trick.

Steve #444134 February 13, 2025 12:58 pm 0

Really? Y’all were hiding under your desks from the nips and the krauts? And you never once doubted that, despite all the newsreel footage of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, etc.?

ZFan #444174 February 13, 2025 4:27 pm 10

The boomer generation, me included, was thoroughly propagandized. I was completely disabused of it when reading history in college, though skeptical even as a kid. One of my sisters likes to read Evangelical “historical” fiction and related to me that German soldiers in World War II tossed babies on bayonets, which I recognized as a propaganda line from WWI. God bless her, she had fallen before for for the hoax of the Iranians shooting down their own airliner (missile from the USS Vincennes) and the ’90s bullshit that the initials CIA really meant “Christians In Action). We really are a gullible generation and gullible people. I think she is coming around, at least regarding Ukraine, but Israel is sacrosanct.

Steve #444215 February 14, 2025 8:56 am 5

Thank God I was from rural South Dakota. Ex., my German instructor was from Germany, in his mid-teens when Berlin was taken. He was planning on joining the Wehrmacht so his little sisters would get the extra food for being a military family. (His older brother had already done so, but after being killed, the extra rations ended.) So I was already immunized against the Holoscam. Everyone was going hungry. It wasn’t until years later that I realized not everyone had a similar background.

Dutchboy #444104 February 13, 2025 11:49 am 22

My standard joke is that Hitler is the most popular politician in American history. Why? Because the Dems have been running against him for eighty years.

Pickle Rick #443996 February 13, 2025 9:42 am 20

Exactly my first thought. That was deliberate on some Eurofag’s part. I would have insisted the meeting be held someplace without those historical connotations, anyplace rather than that cursed city. If I were in charge, I would have held the negotiations on board a USN warship, if only to humiliate the Eurofags and also keep the media whores off the ship, because if there’s one thing that is sure to happen, is media whores trying to turn it into a circus.

Steve #444021 February 13, 2025 10:08 am 20

Any schadenfreude they gain will be quickly lost. This is their appointment with reality and with someone who is head and shoulders above them. For someone who has the onerous task of rubbing shoulders with globalists on a daily basis, I can’t wait to see their faces ground into the midden.

TempoNick #444124 February 13, 2025 12:12 pm 4

We call them Eurofags they call us Ameriniggers.

Compsci #444164 February 13, 2025 3:16 pm 7

Of only they did. I’m hearing they have negrophilia as we do over here.

TempoNick #444181 February 13, 2025 5:29 pm 2

I don’t know, a cousin’s husband, his parents were Italian, but from the center and north. They sneered at everything in the southern part of Italy. From them and from others I’ve encountered, I get the feeling over there they think everything here and in the Americas is mulatto at least to some degree and they look down on us for that. The countries like France and the Netherlands, who had/have black colonies seem to be fond of their black citizens.

BigJimSportCamper #444201 February 13, 2025 8:45 pm 5

Fond. That’s one way of putting it…

Xin Loi #444219 February 14, 2025 9:55 am 1

“They sneered at everything in the southern part of Italy.” In Milan, they call the Southern Italians “terroni”, slang translation “the dirt people”. They say, “Where does Africa begin? Termini”, Termini being the main railroad station in Rome.

Ride-By Shooter #444009 February 13, 2025 9:59 am 10

Eighteen years ago, at the Munich Security Conference,Putin gave his important speech.

Arshad Ali #444017 February 13, 2025 10:06 am 14

Munich is where the security conference is traditionally held — this one will be the 61st. That it was a stronghold for the Nazis and Hitler’s favorite city is purely coincidence. The neocons will probably draw some parallel with Chamberlain’s famous statement in Munich in 1938 about “peace in our time” and equate Trump with Chamberlain.

Jeffrey Zoar #444026 February 13, 2025 10:13 am 23

If the neocons are equating someone with Chamberlain, that means it’s Thursday. Or Monday. Or any other day of the week.

Alzaebo #444034 February 13, 2025 10:26 am 18

There must’ve been a reason I was watching Man In The High Castle clips and reminiscing about a better world that might have been…

Hemid #444139 February 13, 2025 1:15 pm 5

It’s a conundrum. The mythic imagery of Whiteness™—slavery and Auschwitz—originates as much in pornography as reality, so If you’re not making something truly sleazy you’re mishandling the material. You’rehiding the true horror of itorlost in sentimentalityor whatever. There’s never been an artistically good Holocaust or slavery movie—in which those thingsactually appear.So what to show? WhitenesscircaWW2—which everybody likes. Art deco, pretty blonde, tended lawn, fitted suit, sidewalk without turds (or persons of turd) on it, etc.With ominous music.The original novel, which has a different idea than being “antifascist”—anti-German or anti-Japanese at the time, anti-white now—does convey the sense that something is really wrong with the world and the characters can’t properly inhabit it. Hollywood™ doesn’t know how to convey that*. Draw utopia, call it hell.*David Lynch did, so he spent more of his career as anaccused fascistthan as a working director, and his work makes no sense to the “media literate.”

Dutchboy #444107 February 13, 2025 11:53 am 5

The actual Nazi stronghold was Nuremberg.

Danny #444145 February 13, 2025 1:46 pm 3

Thank you – that was my recollection as well.

Pozymandias #444185 February 13, 2025 5:36 pm 7

I’m sure the AI generated video of Trump waving a piece of paper on an airfield is already made. That’s the great thing about the pomo Left. They freely pilfer memes from the whole political spectrum. So here they are pretending to be old school jingoists attacking “appeasers” as if they were Bush or Rumsfeld fans in 2003. Just yesterday the EFF (remember them?) sent me an email attacking DOGE for revealing “sensitive” information. Aren’t you guys supposed to be cyber-libertarians in favor of openness and transparency? As I unsubscribed to their spam list I told them they were clearly just partisan hacks. It must be nice to haveNOfixed principles other than lust for power. These guys are like the Predator. All you can see of them is a little shimmer in the background.

Vegetius #444046 February 13, 2025 10:41 am 18

The mythology surrounding Munich, Churchill and Auschwitz are the three legs upon which the creaky boomer truth regime rests.

BigJimSportCamper #444167 February 13, 2025 3:39 pm 8

Not for this boomer. But ok.

Xin Loi #444220 February 14, 2025 9:57 am 2

NABALT

mmack #444057 February 13, 2025 10:54 am 4

They were going to use Compiègne, France. Until someone found out the railway coach wasn’t there. 🤦‍♂️ I won’t worry too much about someone holding up a piece of paper and proclaiming “Peace for our Time” either.

Filthie #444068 February 13, 2025 11:06 am 9

Interesting comment. It’s always fun to put on the historian’s hat and scream about old ghosts coming back to haunt us. But the world has irrevocably changed. Consider:Hitler’s Revenge is now complete. Western powerhouses are now under the thumb of the international jewry. Opposing them will be the so-called BRICS. Europe has undermined itself for half a century, and we here in North America for at least half that. Russia is no longer a backward country of rural peasants and farmers. Nor are the Chinese. In the Middle East and the Arab world, formidable enemies are rising and uniting against our greatest friends and allies in Israel. India is even flexing significant muscle. In the Pacific Rim, Japan could do as Germany once did – going from a broken country to a first rate military and industrial power in the blink of an eye.The point is that the game board looks nothing like it did in the 1930s. Anything is possible right now… Something has to be done about the jews. Something has to be done about Africa. What will that look like? Will Europe rise to prominence again or fold itself into the rising Russian empire?It’s too much for this old fart. This is where I crack a beer and start singing “Tomorrow Belongs To Me”…😂

Jannie #444077 February 13, 2025 11:12 am 2

Maybe they just wanted to catch a Bayern game and see Harry Kane score…

Duttchmn007 #444084 February 13, 2025 11:20 am 2

Shame the Burgerbräukeller no longer exists or they could have the meeting there! ;<)

fakeemail #444113 February 13, 2025 11:58 am 19

Maybe we’re at the end of WWII/Holocaust Narrative? Is Hitler now up for review? Or will he always be the one-testicled, gay, half-Jew, rejected by jewish girls for dates, blood thirsty monster who wanted to conquer the world and gas jews with masturbating bears and eagles inside a lampshade?

fakeemail #444116 February 13, 2025 12:01 pm 16

Shoot, I forgot art school reject, hiring the Red SKull to put jews on electrified roller coasters, and being the original super-villain of the DC and Marvel Universes!

TempoNick #444121 February 13, 2025 12:07 pm 13

1. Don’t you love whoever writes all those statements coming out of the EU? They use such hackneyed English … “Unconditional support” … “ever closer union.” It’s kind of Orwellian in a way.2. Don’t you just love how US foreign policy changes with every administration. One administration bumbles into a war, the next one pulls out. Kind of like what Republicans always complained about before except now we are the ones pulling out. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for pulling out.3. With USAID money drying up, perhaps that will put an end to the neocon military industrial complex. They won’t have this echo chamber brainwashing the American public anymore.4. What these idiots with Ukrainian flag avatars don’t get is that Ukraine to Russia is like Canada to the United States, but with military enemies on the other side. What the United States and the EU tried to pull in Ukraine would not be tolerated if Russia or China tried to pull the same thing in Canada. The powers that be know it, but the American people are too stupid to figure that out on their own.

manc #444143 February 13, 2025 1:35 pm 10

So many Hitlers…according to the Shiites, Trump is the 12th Hitler.

Rkb100100 #444184 February 13, 2025 5:32 pm 10

I am simply relieved a step towards peace is being made. I don’t care if they had the conference in Antarctica. For four years a senile narcissist was carrying the nuclear football and I was afraid.

Jeffrey Zoar #444188 February 13, 2025 5:55 pm 3

Who is actually in charge of the nukes remains one the regime’s deepest secrets. Cause I guarantee you it wasn’t him. I’m pretty sure Trump wasn’t either. I’m not sure if he is now.

Bartleby the Scrivner #444187 February 13, 2025 5:45 pm 4

…it’s Chinatown…..

Dinodoxy #444207 February 14, 2025 12:12 am 3

Did it have to be Munich. First time a tragedy, second time a farce.

usNthem #443988 February 13, 2025 9:29 am 44

It really is remarkable how tone deaf and unable to read the tea leaves so many of these European leaders are – to say nothing of the libtards in the US. The game has changed, there’s a new sheriff in town and they can’t deal it, but will be forced to. On a related note, I see a “peaceful asylum seeking migrant” has plowed into another crowd of Germans. It’s hard to believe the AfD isn’t at 50% by now..:

Hun #444001 February 13, 2025 9:51 am 42

Germans are broken people, mentally abused from the moment they are born. It’s difficult to wake up from that. And even then, their best option is AfD, a party that has been mostly neutered.

Steve #444008 February 13, 2025 9:57 am 34

The irony of Germany is that their quest to atone for their crimes and completely destroy their identity will probably lead to the return of forces very similar to those of the guy with the little moustache.

Alzaebo #444035 February 13, 2025 10:28 am 26

Boo hissWhat crimes

Rented mule #444070 February 13, 2025 11:07 am 5

So be it.

Tired Citizen #444081 February 13, 2025 11:18 am 8

From your mouth to God’s ears.

Duttchmn007 #444092 February 13, 2025 11:37 am 20

Problem is they have WWII & the Holocaust shoved in their faces every five minutes from the moment they’re borne! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Atone – atone for your sins!!! It’s a mantra. Know I’ve made this point before here but reading between the lines of WWII histories, the Allies were so thoroughly humiliated by German prowess in the military arts (knocking out France in 6wks, kicking Britain out of Europe 4x – Dunkirk, Norway, Greece, {& Dieppe in 1942} then inflicting 3.5 million casualties on The Red Army in as many months ’having advance units in the town of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea) that they decided Germany would be crushed & along with it the Prussian spirit. Somehow they see Prussian military spirit as “Nazi” when it was the Prussian aristocracy that attempted to take out Everybody’s Favorite Austrian©️.It’s no wonder Germans have no confidence in themselves & jump @ every shadow. And it’s a shame. They have a rich & proud history well before The Third Reich but even that is tainted as any nationalism is tagged as Nazi by the usual suspects.Friend who’s a native borne German & veteran of the DeutschesMarine (Navy) describes his country as being full of “eunuchs”. He lives over here btw,

Ben the Layabout #444172 February 13, 2025 4:14 pm 7

Food for thought: the youngest possible Holocaust Survivor™ today would have to be 80 or more years old. In another generation there will be nobody alive who participated in the events of World War II in any way shape or form. Similarly, Germans may someday start to ask themselves why are they being made to atone for the the sins of people who died long ago.

Hun #444183 February 13, 2025 5:31 pm 12

Being a Holocaust Survivor™ is a heritable trait.

S K #444208 February 14, 2025 1:20 am 4

Don’t worry, the jews will remind them of it 24/7.

Wolf Barney #444023 February 13, 2025 10:08 am 26

I think you’re right. My niece lives in Germany and she mentioned that her young kids really get “holocaust education” drilled into them a lot at school. She’s a complete normie, and thinks it’s extremely excessive.

Alzaebo #444040 February 13, 2025 10:31 am 18

We wondered when we wandered away from reality…I’ll tell you when. The entire latter half of the 20th Century was a vast fantasia to hide the Great Lie that the adrenochrome peddlers could never dare admit to.

Ride-By Shooter #444050 February 13, 2025 10:44 am 7

Why not help her to flip the script of Holocaustianity? Your niece and the kids could start withSimon Wiesenthal’s five million myth, then move on to an exposition of many shrill newslaper headlines and reports about this and that six million Jews allegedly at risk. The latter pattern began in the late 1860’s or 1870’s, although I think that the 6m figure has been cited in the context of Simon Bar Kochba’s revolt. At one point, it was alleged that 10m innocent Jews were killed during the war to make Evrope safe for Jewish power in Palestine. Somehow, as if by coincidence, crank historians like Yehuda Bauer settled on the magic number.While your niece is teaching her kids about the Jews’ memory problems and number mysticism, encourage her to elicit questions about the gigantic genocide which the usual suspects carried out against Greeks. That was during theKitos Warduring the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Local rebbes could be invited to explain their reasons for that. They will be thinking of course about their sense of entitlement to establish a unipolar world government with all the nations bowing and scraping before Zion.The kids are being schooled to believe in the Holy Weimar Reich. So why not have neice and kids look into the character and mentality of oneHugo Preuß, a Jewish busybody whose centralizing constitution was needed to bring the Nat Socs to power? That con was the basis of Nat Soc rule until their destruction. You will know that the kids are all right when they start speculating about the amount of wealth that Jewish supremacists need to pay Germany as reparations. Let the kids be prodded to think also about Israel’s ancient defamation against Egypt for an enslavement which never happened. Do not nonarab Egyptians, too, have a valid claim on Israel’s wealth?

Wolf Barney #444125 February 13, 2025 12:13 pm 10

I did ask her if the schools teach the kids about Dresden, which she replied with a confused look….what?

Templar #444156 February 13, 2025 2:58 pm 6

Somehow, as if by coincidence, crank historians like Yehuda Bauer settled on the magic number. Sounds like the “incredible meeting of minds” and “consensus -mind reading” by which Raul Hilberg tried to explain away the German NSDAP government somehow coming up with an incredibly complicated plan to exterminate Jews while having left behind no paper-trail whatsoever. Jewish projection at its finest.

Winter #444038 February 13, 2025 10:30 am 27

If there’s any justice in this world,“holocaust education” will someday include inconvenient math and facts, allowing the Germans to reclaim their pride and heritage. But of course, sunlight must first penetrate the propaganda.

Compsci #444051 February 13, 2025 10:45 am 35

I suspect their “Holocaust education” is the equivalent of our continued indoctrination wrt slavery in our past. It works to demoralize the White population and render them impotent in political discourse and decision making. You can substitute White for German in most of the above commentary and apply it to us.

Vaari #444053 February 13, 2025 10:49 am 42

They are indeed a broken people. I was in Germany last summer and every tour guide groveled about being German and well you know who was German too. It was disgusting to see a once proud and strong people reduced to this from years of public education and media propaganda. I met one Austrian tour guide who wasn’t ashamed of his genetic heritage and it was in stark contrast to all of the others. You can’t hate the media and public educators enough!

Piffle #444066 February 13, 2025 11:04 am 4

The attitude is just the inverse of open pride. It’s not humility. They still aren’t forgetting themselves to forgive their own mistakes and be human. No, they are slaves for the moment to “ruining the world”, which sounds a lot like they were and still are in charge.For the record, I don’t want to see Germans like that. They should have the healthy sort of pride that comes with with nation and family, one of God’s many creations. Unfortunately, Northern Europeans still are bitten by a pride that is destructive.

Compsci #444086 February 13, 2025 11:21 am 5

It would be interesting to take the common German and educate him on just how many of his fellow countrymen from America (literally millions) fought against him in WWII. Germans are not inherently evil or bad. They took a wrong turn in WWII, but to say that it is inherent, or of the “blood”, is pure propaganda set on demoralization and destruction of a great nation.

Steve #444101 February 13, 2025 11:45 am 7

Mustache Man just made a bad strategic decision. He should not have declared war on the US in response to Dec 7. Rather just let FDR know that how US and Japan work out the Pacific is fine with Germany. If MM had said he would pressure Japan to focus on Indonesia and SE Asia and leave the greater Pacific alone, that would have been a hard deal to turn down, particularly if those details became known to the public.

LineInTheSand #444127 February 13, 2025 12:42 pm 15

We can Monday morning quarterback moustache man, but he still perceived the world more accurately than anyone else.

Steve #444135 February 13, 2025 1:08 pm -4

Depends on what you mean by that. If you include his autarky and state control of all the things lunacy, no. Granted it would have been Germany’s downfall anyway, but Germans would have suffered longer than they did.

LineInTheSand #444137 February 13, 2025 1:11 pm 5

“state control of all the things lunacy” No normal legacy German was inhibited in the least. Only the subversives felt threatened.

Steve #444140 February 13, 2025 1:16 pm -1

Oh, so the Junkers didn’t lose their aircraft factory?

Templar #444159 February 13, 2025 3:04 pm 10

Walt Disney Studios was occupied by the U.S. Army from December 8th, 1941 (curious timing, that; almost as if the move had been prepared in advance of the “surprise” attack on Pearl Harbor) until the end of the war.

Steve #444216 February 14, 2025 9:06 am -1

OK, but the Nazis took over Junkers 5 years before the war. That’s a little different.

Ben the Layabout #444173 February 13, 2025 4:21 pm 4

That sounds well and good but even with my limited knowledge of World War II history I’m aware that that there were various hidden powers in Europe and America that were steering the the US to intervene in World War II well before 1941.

Steve #444217 February 14, 2025 9:12 am 1

Sure, and there were forces in the States to keep America out. They were winning, which is largely why FDR ended up needing to goad Japan into attacking, and facilitating their success.It was the German declaration of war that brought the America Firsters down. Had Washington not counter-manded Short and Kimmel, the planes would have been spread out, and within striking range of the Jap flattops. Kimmel had his flattops positioned not too far from where the Nips parked theirs before he was ordered to return to harbor. A very different outcome.

Jack Dobson #444059 February 13, 2025 10:56 am 5

Germans have been broken badly and bounced back for centuries. It was humiliated in the Franco-Prussia war almost as badly as the world wars and was a leading power half a century later, and before that was knocked on its heels by Napoleon, and before that survived almost half a century of religious wars. Propaganda allowed this slap down to go on longer but in time, if the demographic war is won, Germany will rebound. Demographics are destiny.

Jannie #444079 February 13, 2025 11:16 am 15

Seems like you need a history lesson. Germany won the Franco-Prussian war!Germany didn’t exist as a united nation during Napoleon’s time: it was the Prussian military which played a vital role in his defeat.

Jack Dobson #444098 February 13, 2025 11:44 am 4

I do! That was a brainfart.

Templar #444161 February 13, 2025 3:09 pm 10

Germany won the Franco-Prussian war! In fact, they won so hard that it kicked off a half-century of British paranoia that Germany was going to displace them as European top-dog, resulting in a twisting tangle of continental alliances that ultimately helped bring about WWI.

Harbatkin #444109 February 13, 2025 11:54 am 36

As a german myself, i want to say that there is a lot of truth to it. But there are also a lot of people (myself included), who were never members of the cult of guilt and shame. There are a lot of people in the younger generation, which are fed up to the hilt with the Reductio ad Hitlerum. But you don’t see them on the official news channels. I’m quite hopeful for the future of the Vaterland. Germania will rise again. And i’m thankful for Trump, the destroyer of the old order.

james wilson #444191 February 13, 2025 6:14 pm 10

Everyone here is cheering for you.

Captain Willard #444028 February 13, 2025 10:18 am 16

This is the Davos and CNN effect. The same folks sit in Davos BS-ing each other. They are very disconnected from reality. Meanwhile, you have a generation in Europe that has grown up watching CNN. I regularly meet senior European financial and business executives who have a Scarsdale housewife’s view of American politics. I’ve said here before that it will take generational change to fundamentally alter European politics. We’re seeing this in real time.

Steve #444100 February 13, 2025 11:45 am 13

“A Scarsdale housewifes view of American politics.” 🤣 you could not have picked a demographic more deserving of scorn and derision!

BigJimSportCamper #444203 February 13, 2025 8:55 pm 1

“moved out to ScarsdaleWhere the hell am I?”

Lakelander #444170 February 13, 2025 4:00 pm 7

It’s remarkable until you realize that Euro leaders are primarily a collection of girl bosses and effeminate men. Perhaps after they’re done completely destroying Europe and it’s role in the world, strong, intolerant men will come to power and right the ship. As much as I enjoy seeing the Eurocrats humiliated, this ultimately means further degradation for hundreds of millions of White Europeans. Let’s just hope the hard times create the strong men that are so desperately needed over there.

Hi-ya #444226 February 14, 2025 10:41 am 0

That individual should not have done that to those other individuals

karl von hungus #443987 February 13, 2025 9:22 am 40

if i were trump (or putin) i would make the eu reps serve drinks and clear plates, at the meeting. but not let them talk. the baltic chihuahuas would provide entertainment via skits and tumbling. honestly, just humiliate the shit out of these deluded poseurs. oh, and i would hold the uk responsible for repaying all US costs re; ukraine. that country really needs to be slapped down hard; make them give us Windsor castle (put it in Disney World). and to think i used to be an anglophile.

General Giap #444004 February 13, 2025 9:54 am 29

Before you take Windsor you might think about taking back California and Texas.Or New York,Chicago,L.A. etc. The UK is not responsible for the Ukraine war. Victoria Nuland is your compatriot, not mine. Also, the idea that the EU is driving the “Managerial Revolution” rather than the permanent bureaucracy in Washington is an interesting take.

Hun #444013 February 13, 2025 10:01 am 28

The UK needs a good slapping no matter what.

ZFan #444020 February 13, 2025 10:07 am 35

It’ll be for their own good. Starmer has maybe the most “face needing slapped” I’ve ever seen.

Alzaebo #444048 February 13, 2025 10:43 am 16

Backpfeifgesicht, isn’t it?(“A face begging for a fist”)

Templar #444162 February 13, 2025 3:10 pm 2

Yes.

Jeffrey Zoar #444030 February 13, 2025 10:21 am 18

On the list of who bears responsibility for the Ukraine war, the UK is in fact pretty high, even if they aren’t #1.

Compsci #444052 February 13, 2025 10:48 am 9

Correct. How can they avoid responsibility when they played the role of such a willing accomplice to American shenanigans in the region?

Pozymandias #444206 February 13, 2025 10:49 pm 1

The US and UK are a dysfunctional gay couple who fight over who gets to be the “top”. They take out the resulting frustrations by going to straight bars and starting fights where they get their asses kicked. They quite enjoy the beatings.

Jack Dobson #444039 February 13, 2025 10:30 am 21

The City of London owns this one. Obviously the same types/tribe in D.C. were fully onboard and supplied the grease but the dark underbelly of Britain bears major responsibility here. The same was true to a lesser degree with Iraq when the evil Blair had a hapless and stupid W at his disposal. All of us do need to concentrate on our home countries but confession is good for the soul, as they once said long ago in a confident West. A return to that West if it is at all possible is the only thing that matters.

Ride-By Shooter #444128 February 13, 2025 12:43 pm 2

A return to that [confident] West if it is at all possible…Sure it’s possible, but it would be a fool’s voyage. The social and political foundations of the old regime were intrinsically unstablebecause false. The confidence was unearned, as it always is when dependent upon obvious lies and a great guilt trip.The modern state of Israel has very much the same legitimacy problem given the lies and guilt trip used to establish it and to perpetuate it. Wrecking the confidence of its confused enthusiasts is a necessary task here. If you find the people whom we call leftists destroying that confidence and getting credit for that, you may know that they are (probably) coming to power again in a big way. Do you want to prevent this outcome? Well, then, the project to be managed is only too obvious.

karl von hungus #444044 February 13, 2025 10:40 am 18

remind me again which country sent their PM to turkey to scuttle peace talks in 2022? also, you owe us for burning down the original White House.

Steve #444103 February 13, 2025 11:48 am 9

You also owe us for not burning the new one down in 2021…

RealityRules #443989 February 13, 2025 9:30 am 35

Morning Z. A little errata in paragraph two: “has come to a concussion about the arrangement”I have to say I appreciate and admire the work you put into making this blog. You have been doing it consistently for a long time at a high level of quality. Well done.I caught a clip of Hegseth in Europe yesterday. He got straight to the point with the pillow biters and fem bots. For me, his reasoning for putting Europe on its own, with responsible disengagement, was that America needs to protect its homeland. I pray that this means not what Cheney/Kagan/Kristol/Bush… meant by homeland. I pray that it means our blood and our soil above all. It will take some time, but Israel is next.Hegseth was a great choice for this role. He is a soldier. He is spirited. He has poise. He has decorum and he is trained in the art of presentation and public speaking. Best of all, he is a sledge hammer to managerialism. He didn’t go to the institutions and get the degrees, (eyepatch Dan), and zig zag around the sinecures and think tanks and money centers.He drank. He fucked. He fought. His service and spirit have been rewarded, and he has his chance. Managerialism is very afraid of the world seeing the power of a man who doesn’t have all the credentials wielding power with strength, dignity and competence. A man who isn’t a coward. He exposes the fragility and entirety of the lie that paper can be a buttress for civilization.Vae Victus!

Bartleby the Scrivner #444007 February 13, 2025 9:57 am 15

Could it be we are entering the “strong men create good times” phase of the cycle? Im cautiously optimistic, as are most of the posters here. We will know things are really progressing when Hegseth responds to a gotcha question from the press with “Back Satan”!

Jeffrey Zoar #444031 February 13, 2025 10:22 am 13

We haven’t even had the hard times yet

Compsci #444055 February 13, 2025 10:52 am 4

But regardless, we’ve really not seen any significant, nor lasting results of the BOM rein. Hopeful signs sure, but nothing that approaches a substantive fix. All these things have yet to mature and solidify. The signs are promising, but only time will tell.

G Lordon Giddy #444029 February 13, 2025 10:19 am 8

Hegseth is also a Christian Zionist with a blindness towards Zionist Israel.He is a decent man, while wearing a eye patch that might cause him to fall down some stairs.

Ride-By Shooter #444073 February 13, 2025 11:10 am -13

Hegseth is dazed and confused, like commenter ray, the one who ran away like a timid little dog to Latin America long before the shoe of Christian crusading was on the other foot in Anglophone North America. (Note: The shoe isstillnot on the other foot.) Much good could be done for Hegseth’s mental disorder through a massive movement oftruththrough the ranks and files of enlisted personnel in every service branch. The object is a public beatdown of him and several of his dirty, rotten officers.

iForgotmyPen #444130 February 13, 2025 12:49 pm 4

To me Hegseth is the worst pick of them all. I’ve always thought of him as a bumbling fool, another talking head tough guy who loves reminding everyone what a badass he is, while being an absolute tool. Beyond that though, he will be in no way a reformer, which is exactly what the DoD needs. Yes, get rid of DIE and the woke nonsense, that is great, but the DoD needs a buzzsaw taken to its core, and Hegseth is not the guy to do it. I’m becoming concerned that Trump will not be either, as it appears he’s still in the “more military, more better” mindset of a civnat.

Steve #444138 February 13, 2025 1:12 pm 4

Think about the Pentagon as if it were a business. Because it is. You don’t need a reformer as CEO to reform a company. You just need a CEO to hire consultants who come in and make the recommendations for reform. The same for your fears about Trump. He wants an effective military, which is not what we have.

iForgotmyPen #444194 February 13, 2025 7:08 pm 3

You need a CEO that is inclined to agree with reformers. That is not Hegseth. He is totally fine blowing a trillion dollars a year on the military, just make sure there’s no embezzlement and graft and we’re fine? Nope, we simply don’t need that much military. And the fear is that Trump’s definition of effective military means just blowing more money and inserting ourselves in every conflict worldwide. Effective is relative. Effective to accomplish what mission? We need to shift our thinking away from having a military budget 10-15x greater than the developed world is necessary. It leads to constant meddling.

ray #444154 February 13, 2025 2:48 pm 3

Buzzsaw is right. Both military and DoD. Remember, woodchips make a fruitful mulch!There still is a scattering of savvy vets around, whose experience from the inside would aid the nation enormously in cleaning out that Augean stable. They’d bring the Deluxe woodchipper (with trailer) for sure, but they’d also know who to recommend for leadership.There are vets, mostly NCOs, inside the U.S. capable of fixing most of the military’s manifold problems, many of which are self-inflicted by human nature gone rabid and predatory.I know nada about Hegseth, I’m just saying the necessary folks are available, at reasonable motivation.

RealityRules #444155 February 13, 2025 2:58 pm 7

Time will tell. Do you want Lloyd Austin in there or Pete Hegseth?The changes coming are along multiple attack vectors. The tech oligarchs led by Anduril and Palantir and other emergent companies like Radiant are an attack on old school DoD contracting and equipment practices and sclerosis.To be sure there are many hornet nests that will be stirred up. The audiences at Hegseth’s initial internal speeches and meetings are filled with head scratching visuals. A lot of POCs, beenie caps, fat womyn, Chinese national looking figures … … The ratio of uniform to non-uniform in those meetings is also interesting. A lot more disheveled looking plain clothesxirs than uniforms.It could be a bad interpretation. Things look bad. Hegseth needs a chance if only because he isn’t Austin. His presence alone may signal the end of CQ Brown and other POC White pogram pushers. Hegs can speak plain English, has charisma and presence. The Zionist thing… I know. I know. Change on that front is coming but not for a few more years. Don’t forget that many of the young White conscripts they seek have been on this side of the divide. Getting them in and holding at bay the pogrom wolves will be of long term benefit both in terms of having more of our guys in and many of them are now past the ZOG expiration date. Even better, I suspect a good number are past the point of indifference on such matters.Let’s be patient.

iForgotmyPen #444195 February 13, 2025 7:22 pm 4

Come on man! You dog faced pony soldier! That’s a false choice- Austin or Hegseth. How about neither? How about a SecDef who wants to reduce the DoD down to size and cut out the 100s of billions of BS weapons programs that only enrich defense companies? How about a SecDef who understands we don’t need a standing multi-million man force? Someone who wants to focus on ohI don’t know, actual defense and not meddling the world over? (This is from someone who spent some significant time in field so I have some opinions about this.)

Filthie #444041 February 13, 2025 10:34 am 27

Ughhh. I’m up in Canada, surrounded by clueless morons that think Orange Man Bad is going to invade us and make us into the 51st State. I’m not kidding either – most of them think we could militarily push the evil Americans back, storm across the border and burn down the Whitehouse just like we did in 1812.😖But first we have to kick your asses in this trade war! Yep – we’re all gonna BOYCOTT you stupid Americans and FORCE you into penury and submission!!! THAT’LL learn ya!!! Learn ya REAL good!!!Some idiot seriously proposed giving America the finger and aligning economically with the EU! Ya can’t make this shit up! I’ll bet dollars to donuts the average Euro is equally as deluded. The “effing around” phase of all this is almost over. Shortly the “finding out” phase will begin.For some.

Piffle #444072 February 13, 2025 11:10 am 8

My Canadian relatives routinely displayed an inferiority/little brother complex about the US. It seems like they can’t account for a)better weather, b)more natural resources, and c) a way bigger population from some very productive founding stock. For some reason Canada was supposed to be just like big brother and taken very seriously on the world stage.It appears what was mostly a rude argument inside a family has become a society self delusion. They are about ready to find out it appears.

Templar #444169 February 13, 2025 3:48 pm 8

For some reason Canada was supposed to be just like big brother and taken very seriously on the world stage.Personally, I’m quite happy living in America’s shadow, and withthe perception of Canada as a sort of weird-yet-tolerated younger sibling (it certainly seems preferable to the sort of ancestral hatreds that persist between certain European nations). I think it’s been of tremendous (and mostly unappreciated) benefit to us throughout most of Canada’s history, and this idea that not onlycanwe compete directly with the U.S. politically and economically, but that weshouldis just madness to me, grown out of the same disconnection from reality as everything else pushed by the current ruling Liberal/NDP diarchy.

Filthie #444202 February 13, 2025 8:54 pm 6

Some of that is a holdover from times when we were better people. We had the fourth largest navy in the world at the conclusion of WW2 – albeit most of them were supply/support ships – we kept you and the Brits and everyone else in the fight when your supply lines stretched thin. Our squaddies distinguished themselves in the European theatre well. We pulled our weight for our size and historically we had a reputation for being there when needed.But in the 60s Turdo The Elder discovered he could gut the military’s budget and use the money on pork to buy votes… and use what was left as an employment agency for cronies, fart catchers and connected turdies… and the military was doomed.Laugh as you will… but it is a truism. Freedom isn’t free.

Tars Tarkas #444105 February 13, 2025 11:51 am 15

You should point out how Canada has been invaded, just like the US! Only I think I think it’s worse in Canada when adjusted for population. Americans and Canadians should team up and clean both countries out.

Jkloi #444129 February 13, 2025 12:45 pm -11

That joke about burning down our fucking white house negates any good feelings about Canadians who still have a dumbass king as their head of state. Our national anthem celebrates our fight against the monarchist north. Let those fucking snowbird Ontario douchebags try again and they’ll get the same treatment as that loser pakenham who died for “king” in Louisiana.

Jkloi #444176 February 13, 2025 5:09 pm -9

Since they swore loyalty to that bitch queen and her asshole son and they were and still are loyal monarch worshipping ass kissers, the south park guys were and are right. They aren’t a real country anyways. Bring on the fight Toronto and Montreal shitheads. How many monuments do they have to Benedict arnold again?

Steve #444011 February 13, 2025 9:59 am 25

The only deal the Russians will do will be after they’ve taken at either all of Ukraine or, at the very least, the part of it East of the Dnieper and including Odessa. Then they will hand them a bit of paper and a pen and say “This is where you sign”. The Russians are done with us.

Compsci #444067 February 13, 2025 11:05 am 4

“The Russians are done with us.” If they are smart. Putin is smart, however all depends if Russia is weakened by the conflict more than let on. I doubt, but who knows?

Alzaebo #444082 February 13, 2025 11:18 am 1

I’m quite fuzzy on the details, but didn’t our Navy place itself uninvited in Sevastapol on the Black Sea? If so, possible bargaining chip.

Mike #444110 February 13, 2025 11:54 am 8

Sometime after the Maidan there was a contract proposal circulated by the Pentagram for improving the facilities at the Russian base there after Russia was kicked out and the USN and NATO were invited in. We never had anything there, we were just greedy and gave the game away too soon.

august #444813 February 19, 2025 2:55 pm 0

Thanks for mentioning that little episode. A formal “Request for Bids” was indeed posted online by the US Navy for the remodeling of an older school building into “US Navy HQ – Sevastopol”. I suspect this was a rather big straw on the camel’s back for Russia.

george 1 #444118 February 13, 2025 12:04 pm 9

The Russians have said as much. Earlier this week one of Lavrov’s deputies basically said, paraphrasing: “It is all well and good to have a dialogue with the Americans, we are in favor of such talks. The truth is how can we make any substantial security agreements with the Americans or Europeans when we know they are agreement incapable?” I take that to mean you can’t make deals with liars. I think most of the negotiations by the Russians will be on the battlefield.

Zulu Juliet #444131 February 13, 2025 12:50 pm 15

No doubt, Putin has the winning hand, but there is much to be said for not humiliating your opponent. I hope Trump tells the Euros it’s their problem. “We’ve got our own problems and we’re broke. Good luck to ya.” Then Putin offers the Euros a deal that won’t humiliate them. Unfortunately, it seems the Euros are insane, so they might not take the deal, and might well get the humiliation they so richly deserve.

ProZNoV #444006 February 13, 2025 9:57 am 23

Collectively, the EU has a GDP that dwarfs Russia and has significantly more manpower (450 million people vs. 165 million). There is no reason NATO, which is primarily manned and paid for by the US to exist. “Keep the Germans down, the Russians out and the Americans in” needs to be updated to the true underlying reality: “Look Europe, we’re done spending treasure and manpower keeping you from murdering each other. Knock yourself out.” Next time the UK and France want to team up against Russia and Germany, we’ll get the highlights from X. If we care.

Evil Sandmich #444018 February 13, 2025 10:07 am 26

Collectively, the EU has a GDP that dwarfs Russia and has significantly more manpower (450 million people vs. 165 million) What kind of “manpower”? What is the GDP measuring?It makes me think domestically where if those metrics were one-to-one then we’d be beating Russia on the battlefield with our fleets of heavily financed taco trucks.

S K #444209 February 14, 2025 1:26 am 4

You’ve not seen power until you’ve heard 225 million soy boys shrieking.

The Wild Geese Howard #444078 February 13, 2025 11:13 am 9

The EUSSR has one huge problem that limits any reindustrialization and military buildup. That problem is – No cheap energy.

BigJimSportCamper #444204 February 13, 2025 9:04 pm 4

UK and Germany have beaucoup coal but we all know that’s icky…

karl von hungus #444211 February 14, 2025 7:38 am 4

they didn’t just shut down their coal fired power plants, they also dismantled them?! so while they may have coal, they do not have the capability to use it as fuel.

Alzaebo #444091 February 13, 2025 11:33 am 14

We didn’t keep them from murdering each other.We de facto disarmed them, leaving them wide open to migrant conquest.We might as well have gone house-to-house first, rather than waiting for USAID fronts to get it done for us.Let me explain that sentence- the reason for funding arcane projects like studying trans parakeets in Madagascar. That is actually funneling money to radical niche groups likely to vote the way we want them to, under cover of a pet cause.Done for the purpose of destabilizing or influencing elections, for reasons either commercial (Pepsi-Cola bottling in Allende’s Chile) or military (Bangladesh’s female PM didn’t want to allow us to install a US base there).Corrupting elections is USAID / NED’s reason for existence. The more they disrupt, the more needed they are. After the Cold War ended, they didn’t know what to do with themselves, so they stayed in business despite the downstream effects on cultures (including our own.)Democracy is a weapon to weaken, disrupt, or destabilize state competitors.__________________________________This is why the Jewish Century saw democracies or faux socialist ‘democratic people’s republics’ replace traditional monarchies (and nationalists) everywhere except the Middle East.There, oddly, we strengthened the Semitic emirs rather than overthrow them, or we replaced secular regimes with mullahs (the Ayatollahs, the Taliban, HTS, etc.) under Semitic religion. Also note that Woke or Communist regimes are as much a State-enforced religious state as any Islamic one, as all three have the same culture of origin.

Karl Horst #444071 February 13, 2025 11:08 am 21

The Europeans did basically nothing for the duration of this conflict. But of course they will want to be included in any decision for a peace proposal so they can virtue signal to the world how wonderful they all are. Starting with that miserable excuse for an EU President, followed by the various and loud mouths and do nothings across Europe. EU ‘leadership’ is really nothing more than a human centipede. I’m pretty sure Trump’s deal is going to be the same as the dinner choices my mother gave me growing up as a kid… Take it or Leave it!

Steve #444120 February 13, 2025 12:06 pm 4

I don’t think so. Not if he listens to his advisors. Tulsi will push for peace, and Hegseth will probably at least tell him we can’t take Russia. Not now, maybe not ever again.

Mike Tre #443990 February 13, 2025 9:32 am 20

“Imagine some DOGE kids stuffing Zelensky into a locker and you have a good idea of what is coming.” A locker? Or the plastic lined trunk of a Lincoln Continental?

thezman #443993 February 13, 2025 9:35 am 24

Whenever Trump talks about Ukraine money I think about the scene where they collected money from Maury the wig maker.

Tom K #444012 February 13, 2025 10:01 am 5

Maury thought he was a deal-maker. He should have stuck to managing his gambling habit.

Tars Tarkas #444069 February 13, 2025 11:06 am 19

Putin would be a fool to deal honestly with President Trump. Trump may be an honest broker looking for a win-win with Russia/Putin, but America isn’t. America’s signature isn’t worth the paper it’s not printed on. We will hold up our end of the bargain for exactly as long as it serves the managerial elite to uphold it. The minute it becomes advantageous to rip up the treaty, we will renege.

Compsci #444074 February 13, 2025 11:11 am 19

Exactly. Putin is no dummy. He has hard liners he is holding back. Any “peace” deal has little to nothing to do with Ukraine. He’s got just about everything he wants directly from Ukraine. Peace treaty is really between Russia and the West. Putin is not going to settle for a peace deal where there continues to be an undeclared war between Russia and the West via sanctions and such.

Steve W #444165 February 13, 2025 3:36 pm 5

True. Putin has been in charge a long time, and his foreign policy doesn’t vary much from that of traditional Russian and even Soviet leaders. He’s watched all the gyrations in AINO policy, over the 25 years he’s been near or at the top of Russian leadership. This means he’s been subjected to Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, and of course Cheeto Jesus.That said, my guess is that “we” – meaning AINO – scare the shit out of Putin, because he is a practical and hard-headed man, and all he gets from us are various flavors of wtf? We are the deranged cowboys. It scared off Khruschev…Remember the expression: “Beware of old men in a hurry.” Putin is 72, Trump is 78. We all know about the Donald’s ego; one assumes that Putin is pretty committed to being a “world historical figure” just like Trump. From very different routes, they are an equal match.

usNthem #444119 February 13, 2025 12:05 pm 18

I’d suggest Ms Kaja “Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity are unconditional” Kallas grab a Ukrainian flag, bare her breasts and lead the glorious charge to martyrdom. I’m sure Vlad is shaking in his boots.

Citizen of a Silly Country #443994 February 13, 2025 9:37 am 16

I’m surprised that the Russian would take the Istanbul plus a little on top deal. I’d think after three years of brutal fighting, they’d want a lot more. I would have thought that the Russians would want all of eastern Ukraine to have the river as a natural buffer along with a demilitarized and neutral Ukraine. Would the Russians really settle for just the Donbas at this point?

thezman #443997 February 13, 2025 9:43 am 22

It is a good question. The Russians do not want land populated with mostly Ukrainians, as they see that is a long term problem, not dissimilar to what the Israelis face with the occupied territories. The four oblasts that they claim now, are Russian. They could demand everything east of the Dnipre, including Odessa, but they may settle for less if they get everything else they want.My guess here is the Russians see two possibilities. One is Trump fails to get the Europeans and Ukraine to agree to a deal at that point he walks away and leaves the Russians to do what they like. The other is the Europeans bend the knee and they do a deal with Trump. Meanwhile, they keep grinding along on the battlefield.

Citizen of a Silly Country #444002 February 13, 2025 9:51 am 18

Yeah, the Russians have made it clear that they don’t want to rule over non-Russian areas. However, they also need a security on the ground. Tough spot. The Russians also have made a lot of noise about Odessa being a Russian city. However, Putin has to keep an eye on domestic public opinion. It sounds like the Russian people are in no mood for a weak deal when they’re winning on the ground. Finally, there’s Ukr. I agree that Trump would be happy to just walk away if the Ukrainians won’t play ball. That’s not a loss for him.

Zulu Juliet #444132 February 13, 2025 12:54 pm 6

I don’t think the Russians are so concerned about security as they are about taking care of fellow Russians in lands that are historically Russian. But I’m not Russian, so I am only guessing. Whatever happens, it will be interesting and can’t be any worse than the current situation.

Evil Sandmich #444015 February 13, 2025 10:04 am 8

Unfreezing of assets and normalization of trade would be two huge scores for Russia that might make up for some concessions.

Citizen of a Silly Country #444022 February 13, 2025 10:08 am 6

Somewhat. But Russia’s economy is now growing at 4.5%. The sanctions leverage might not be as much as people think.

Jack Dobson #444054 February 13, 2025 10:50 am 22

I think the longest and most negative fallout for the West will be how the war revealed it no longer can sanction a country into compliance. Russia took a hit but survived with little damage. The United States as a safe place to invest was thrown into question and Switzerland shit its bed in that regard.

Ben the Layabout #444180 February 13, 2025 5:18 pm 4

Switzerland was strong armed into being America’s bitch well before 2022.

karl von hungus #444212 February 14, 2025 7:42 am 3

the only thing the sanctions proved is you cannot trust eu or US to hold your assets. brics is not going to end just because the ukraine mess goes away.

Compsci #444062 February 13, 2025 11:01 am 7

The sanctions lifting seems a must. It is thesine qua nonsof a true peace between Russia and Ukraine (the West). If Putin fails to demand such, then he admits to weakness in the eyes of his Western and home adversaries, which includes Trump (from official pronouncements directly from Trump). Such agreements may be done “unofficially”, but Russia was fooled before so that avenue may not be available this time.

Steve #444112 February 13, 2025 11:57 am 6

Just imagine the reaction if Trump started the negotiations with, “OK, what concessions are you willing to accept if we lift sanctions, the US backs out of NATO, and you get everything east of the Dnieper plus Odessa?”

Ben the Layabout #444179 February 13, 2025 5:16 pm 1

If you believe in statistics like that I have a bridge to sell you in The Crimea 😁

Alzaebo #444075 February 13, 2025 11:11 am 13

The knockout blow to win the media war and the moral high ground is to demand removal of the biowarfare labs, under international supervision.

Tars Tarkas #444087 February 13, 2025 11:22 am 8

The West needs Russia if we’re to contain China. From what I understand, the “no-limits partnership” of Russia and China is quite strained. With Russia on “Team West,” China is much more contained. Our leadership needs to come to terms with the fact that Russia is not the Soviet Union and is a natural part of Europe. How this could be done I do not know.

thezman #444089 February 13, 2025 11:27 am 14

China and Russia have never been closer.

ray #444157 February 13, 2025 3:00 pm 6

Pushed together by incompetent (and worse) America.

Zaphod #444197 February 13, 2025 8:20 pm 2

And what’s done is done. Nobody will trust American undertakings or agreements for a generation at least. Regardless of who rules, all evidence suggests that the USA is an untrustworthy and unreliable partner. If you think that the present Russo-Chinese alliance is going to be pried apart by superior American diplomacy and geo-strategic tactical genius anytime soon, well I can get you in on the ground floor of a ice-making plant venture in Harbin. Guaranteed money-maker. Interested?

Templar #444175 February 13, 2025 5:08 pm 1

That’s really not saying much LOL.

karl von hungus #444213 February 14, 2025 7:45 am 3

true, but that is the flip side of they have actually been close to all out war in the recent past (1969). and then there is the mongol invasion thingy. both russia and china know the other very well, and will only co-operate when truly pushed by current circumstances.

Piffle #444146 February 13, 2025 1:56 pm -1

Russia has never been a natural part of Europe, right down to being Christianized by the Greeks, rather than the Latins. They are Caucasian, but they quite used to dealing with the neighbor to the East.

Templar #444177 February 13, 2025 5:11 pm 4

Russia has never been a natural part of Europe… More from circumstance than lack of desire or common ties, though.

Hun #443999 February 13, 2025 9:46 am 12

Kiev should be part of Russia too. Only the western third should remain as a buffer state, with the capital in Lvov.

Tom K #444005 February 13, 2025 9:55 am 6

The Russians have insisted all along that Ukraine be “denazified”. What that means to them is that it be purged of the Banderites. In practical terms doesn’t it mean that they control whatever regime is put into place in Kiev?

The Infant Phenomenon #444056 February 13, 2025 10:53 am 4

Yes.

Tom K #444076 February 13, 2025 11:12 am 1

Thank you.

Jeffrey Zoar #444032 February 13, 2025 10:24 am 1

They have to have some amount of war fatigue themselves. It’s been 3 years. Longer really

Captain Willard #444037 February 13, 2025 10:29 am 22

A few points:1) They learned from us. Occupying hostile populations is expensive and futile2) They have to consider China’s opinion. China wants this mess to end. India does too.3) They won. They broke the German economy. They made the future cost of messing with Russia unbearably high.

Jack Dobson #444049 February 13, 2025 10:43 am 8

All true. Related to your third point, and the aspect that will have the longest impact, Russia withstood Western sanctions and showed them to be somewhat irrelevant now. Russia felt some squeeze but not all that much. Also, the United States as a safe place to invest is now seen as dubious, and Switzerland shit the bed in that regard. The United States and the dollar remain the economic focus of the world but the Ukraine war showed that has limits and will end sooner than was assumed.

The Infant Phenomenon #444058 February 13, 2025 10:54 am 11

The Germans broke the German economy.

Zaphod #444198 February 13, 2025 8:22 pm 3

Nobody gives a tinker’s damn what India wants or thinks. Except for the nest of cuckolds in the UK, Canadian, and Australian governing establishments.

Zaphod #444199 February 13, 2025 8:25 pm 5

This notion of India being a player is as much a figment of the wishful imagination as the Brussels/Davos types’ fantasy that Ukraine is thrashing the shovel-wielding Russian hordes. We want a counterweight to China… so let’s imagine that India is it. Clap yourhands Children and Tinkerbell will live!

The Wild Geese Howard #444080 February 13, 2025 11:16 am 3

Citizen- I tend to agree. Strategically and territorially, Istanbul still seems like a loss for Russia. In 1991 Ukraine was still well-inside the Russian sphere of influence. Additionally, there is no guarantee Vance wins in 2028. What if Trump rebuilds the US military and they manage to install Newsom or Whitmer in 2028?

Steve #444115 February 13, 2025 12:01 pm 3

I’d hope the rebuilt .mil remember that they swore an oath to the Constitution, not to the (P)resident.

karl von hungus #444214 February 14, 2025 7:49 am 4

it’s been a very long time since any US military person has defended the constitution. plenty of lip service though…

Arshad Ali #444025 February 13, 2025 10:11 am 12

“That bad news is either a plan for peace brokered without them or a plan that hands the whole mess over to them.” I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall listening to the Europeans getting their orders from the Americans on what precisely they are going to say and do. They have no agency in this interaction between the USA and Russia. They are expendable fodder. Buffer states. I can’t help feeling someschadenfreudeat the discomfiture of Starmer, Macron, Scholz, and von der Leyen. They are going to take it up their rear ends without lube.

Alzaebo #444083 February 13, 2025 11:20 am 16

Me, I’m waiting for the NATO audit by DOGE.

pyrrhus #444000 February 13, 2025 9:50 am 10

I’m pretty sure that there will be no deal, because there’s no reason for the Russians to make any concessions, and it’s better politically for Trump to just walk away and leave the collapse to the Europeans…The Istanbul deal was a bad deal, like the Minsk treaties, and Putin can’t do any more of those, because the Russian public and Security Council won’t allow them…

c matt #444126 February 13, 2025 12:41 pm 2

Russia gets Ukraine (or as much of as they want). US gets a cut of rare earths or $$ back from Zelensky & crew. EU gets its cheap Russian gas. Win win win.for the most part, what Russia would get when it wins the war, but we can call it a “deal” to save face.

Thomas Mcleod #444141 February 13, 2025 1:18 pm 7

This happy hopeful version of The Z Man is really throwing me for a loop.

WCiv911 #444148 February 13, 2025 2:15 pm 5

Me too, Tom. Just one thing worries me – the Middle East.Wars that never end there could unravel all the wonderful progress we are making domestically. Even the Ukraine war is winding down. The ME could be Trump’s Covid or his Waterloo. The successes we have seen so far could all be tragically undone if we get entangled in Middle Eastern wars.

Templar #444186 February 13, 2025 5:44 pm 1

Just one thing worries me – the Middle East. For me, it’s China.

Zaphod #444200 February 13, 2025 8:29 pm 3

I think your precious bodily fluids are not of much interest to Hypersonic Fu Manchu Man. He’s more into Rhinoceros Horns and various unmentionable body parts of divers endangered species. But America being America will keep prodding and poking the Dragon and will act all shocked and hurt one day when Suddenly for No Reason at All… Well you know how the script goes by now.

Templar #444248 February 14, 2025 11:33 am 0

I think your precious bodily fluids are not of much interest to Hypersonic Fu Manchu Man. I think you’re projecting your own personal concerns onto me.

pecosbill #444168 February 13, 2025 3:44 pm 4

Fitting that Team Trump attend the security gab in Munich, the location of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 aimed at collapsing the degenerate judeo-communist Weimar Republic. Thanks to the odious FDR and the Greatest Naive Generation, the Weimar won WWII. Trump and the west are left to continue that war against the Weimarians (AKA Globohomoians) who have taken over America and the West. Since the elites believe Trump is Hitler and Hitler is Trump, Team Trump should request a tour of the Beer Hall uprising site just the drive the crazies crazier.

Jack Boniface #443998 February 13, 2025 9:46 am 4

Maybe now Europe can find some way to unite in some post-American order.

Clayton Barnett #443985 February 13, 2025 9:16 am 4

“…and has come to a concussion about the arrangement that is going to be bad for the receiver.” Clever, in context.

Tarl Cabot #444085 February 13, 2025 11:20 am 3

A pessimistic scenario: Europe and Ukraine decide to “go it alone”, as much to avoid financial and political accountability as anything else. European “peacekeepers” enter Ukraine, and are inevitably drawn into conflict with Russian troops. Russia eventually attacks logistical nodes in Poland and elsewhere, and/or European naval units in the Black Sea. Europe invokes Article V, and the United States is faced with either war with Russia or breaking the NATO Alliance.

karl von hungus #444088 February 13, 2025 11:23 am 21

do you really think the US military is going to let the nutless eu peanuts wag the dog? far more likely the US leaves nato under that scenario

Steve #444122 February 13, 2025 12:08 pm 4

Yep. And we dominate the market in popcorn.

Tarl Cabot #444123 February 13, 2025 12:09 pm -2

Breaking NATO would clearly be lesser evil, but its demise would still represent a categorical loss of US power and prestige, and a third great war in Europe would be a catastrophe for the White race.

Steve #444133 February 13, 2025 12:54 pm 10

“[NATO’s]demise would still represent a categorical loss of US power and prestige…” I already said I was in favor. You don’t have to sell me on it. Seriously, though, as I reflect on the post-war order, and particularly post cold-war order, I’m not seeing that all that power and prestige was a good thing.

Steve W #444151 February 13, 2025 2:30 pm 20

A categorical loss of US power and prestige? You mean like losing a humiliating colonial war in Afghanistan, or Chinese spy balloons floating unmolested across the fruited plain? Or a demented half-wit wandering around stages across the world, calling himself President, who in his final months almost seemed to invite war with Russia? I didn’t know that AINO had more power and prestige to lose.NATO is not only pointless; it is dangerous. It’s ongoing existence – let alone its relentless expansion – can only be justified by there being a common enemy, and that enemy, apparently, is and always will be, Russia, the existential enemy of the Kagans.On the one hand Russia is a dying, corrupt and impoverished wreck of a nation; on the other hand it is a fearsome expansionist beast that must be stopped at all costs from swallowing the peaceful peoples of middle and western Europe.Or por que no los dos?

Zulu Juliet #444163 February 13, 2025 3:10 pm 11

There won’t be a third war between major European nations. Russia just wants Russians be left alone. The Euro elites can bluster and blow as long as the US is behind them paying the bills and shaking the big stick at the Russians. If the U.S. leaves the Euros deal with their own issues, which is to be very much wished for, then the Euros may very well continue to bluster and blow hard, but Russia can and will safely ignore them. It’s about time for the Europeans to grow up.

Steve W #444147 February 13, 2025 2:00 pm 8

Three more awesome proposals by the Donald I’d love to see: 01 to pull out from NATO; (hey, France did it in 1966)02 Withdrawal from the UN; (and kicking it out of NYC)03 Renaming the Washington football team the ‘Redskins’. Crank it to 11, Mr President, and keep it there.

Steve #444152 February 13, 2025 2:36 pm 11

Crank it to 12. Suggest that Israel replace the US on the Security Council. Explain that in the interests of efficiency, we are getting rid of the middleman. Watch the heads explode. Doesn’t matter if he’s serious. Just the mere mention would be sufficient.

Jack Dobson #444114 February 13, 2025 11:59 am 6

Like all “international law,” Article V is a fantasy. If Turkey and Israel go at it, does anyone really think NATO will have Erdoğan’s back?

Steve W #444158 February 13, 2025 3:00 pm 4

The span of NATO, like the schools in the “Atlantic Coast” Conference, is beyond ridiculous. In addition to actual members of the Organization, there are countries such as Armenia “partnered” with NATO, though not actual members. How does this work? What if the USA is attacked by well-armed drug gangs from the border and Congress declares war on Mexico (not in NATO)? Can we expect the Estonians and Turks, the Danish and the Finns, the Italians and the Swedish, to send their armies? We’d have Mexico 32-1. Article V baby!

james wilson #444193 February 13, 2025 7:01 pm 1

Putin is way too cagey to be drawn into that.

karl von hungus #444061 February 13, 2025 10:59 am 3

zman, did you see this:https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/swamp-apocalypse-wednesday-february ties in with your recent posts on defunding the blob. strongly recommended to all commenters here…

james wilson #444192 February 13, 2025 6:59 pm 4

Great link. Thanks. I keep waiting for the fallback but it appears Trump has really learned who his friends are. Clearly none of this is a product of his mind but it does suggest he has been persuaded by a diffferent class of people that he chose to surround himself this time. Not in any way a criticism, delegation to sharper minds is an art, and these people are artists.

The Wild Geese Howard #444205 February 13, 2025 10:38 pm 3

kvh- Seconding the thanks for this link. I like the points they made about Speaker Johnson. I still don’t trust him, but he’s been pretty good to date. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn into a massive piece of crud like Ryan who did massive damage to the Trump 45 administration.

Jeffrey Zoar #444036 February 13, 2025 10:28 am 3

My only real question is if they will take another one of those ridiculous group pictures they take every time they have one of their supposedly consequential get togethers, but this time with Trump

Pickle Rick #444064 February 13, 2025 11:02 am 14

Well at least they don’t have to worry about the President shitting himself or wandering off like a child at the photo session this time…

Vegetius #444003 February 13, 2025 9:53 am 3

Vincent Borelli: Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that the money we’re robbing is bein’ robbed? That somebody’s robbing from us? We go through all this fckin’ trouble, and somebody’s robbin’ us? Remo Gaggi: Eh? John Nance: Like I said, you know, it’s part of the business. It’s considered leakage. Americo Cappelli: Leakage my balls,I want the guy who’s robbin us.

mmack #444010 February 13, 2025 9:59 am 4

Nicky Santoro: You know, I think you got the wrong impression about me. I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance tomorrow morning I’ll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and… walk in and see and, uh… if you don’t have my money for me, I’ll… crack your fucking head wide open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I’m coming out of jail, hopefully, you’ll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I’ll split your fucking head open again. ‘Cause I’m fucking stupid. I don’t give a fuck about jail. That’s my business. That’s what I do. And we know what you do, don’t we, Charlie? You fuck people out of money and get away with it.Charlie Clark: You can’t talk to me like that.Nicky Santoro: Hey, you fat Irish prick. You put my fucking money to sleep. You go get my money, or I’ll put your fucking brain to sleep.Charlie Clark: Sam…Nicky Santoro: Never mind fucking Sam. This is personal. I’ll be there in the morning. You can fucking try me, fatso. You fucking try me.

Snooze #444328 February 14, 2025 7:39 pm 0

Casino

Jeffrey Zoar #444045 February 13, 2025 10:40 am 0

the guys inside the senate appropriations committee were all slipped in there to skim the joint dry

RealityRules #444111 February 13, 2025 11:56 am 2

Musk’s update is laying it on the line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LOoxK4j4A We are going to have a lot of people free to pick tomatoes. We may find out if there are jobs that Americans wouldn’t do, or didn’t have to do.

ZFan #444149 February 13, 2025 2:15 pm 1

Unfortunately, the fields needing picked and the slaughterhouses needing cleaned are not close by this labor surplus of punks and women. Thinking of them fighting over shift manager positions for Starbucks and Panda Express is amusing.

Steve #444153 February 13, 2025 2:40 pm 8

That’s fine. $750 was enough for Maui and North Carolina after losing their homes, so it should be enough for bureaurats to resettle where the work is.

ray #444160 February 13, 2025 3:09 pm 9

Karen selling her pantsuits and picking tomaters truly would herald a New America. Handmaid’s Tale hats optional.

karl von hungus #443984 February 13, 2025 9:13 am 2

“has come to a *concussion*”. auto-spell strikes again.

Hi-ya #444224 February 14, 2025 10:33 am 1

DOGE kids stuffing Zelensky into a locker come for the racism stay for the zingers! or vice versa what do I care

RPJ #444096 February 13, 2025 11:42 am 0

To take the Chicago example a bit further, is Zelensky the Bugsy Seigel character? Is so ……..!!

The Infant Phenomenon #444097 February 13, 2025 11:43 am -5

Here’s a quite different take: https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/double-decker-special-hysteria-ignites “This is clearly a step back rather than forward, and the desperate meaningless Putin conversation was likely the patch-up job meant to give the appearance that Trump’s big brawny peace initiative was still proceeding.”

karl von hungus #444210 February 14, 2025 7:32 am 0

i read Simplicius regularly and this was his weakest post ever. not that he is ever particularly insightful; usually just has a ton of copy-paste/pics/links. his twitter feed is decent for up to date info.

Ronehjr #444136 February 13, 2025 1:10 pm -7

If the author’s take on the situation is correct, than I cannot help but be disgusted with the duplicitous blame shifting the Trump faction is engaged in.(I refuse to believe Trump is is anything other than a front man for one faction of the ruling elite) This whole Ukraine mess was a plan that originated in the US, and now the blame is being foisted on the EU and the hapless and inept Zelensky. Unless the ruling elite in America is not changed, another variation of this mess will happen again, perhaps somewhere else, or maybe Ukraine again.Anybody who takes seriously the pretend desire of peace with Russia is too naive to live.

Steve #444142 February 13, 2025 1:21 pm 3

Got news for you. Even if the “ruling elite” were changed, it’s going to happen again anyway. Any system that allows one to exercise power is going to result in self-selection of people who enjoy doing so, and, as with any other gang, the worst of the worst are going to end up wielding that power. You need to think somewhat larger.

WCiv911 #444150 February 13, 2025 2:21 pm 2

What may save us Steve is insolvency and the collapse of the bureaucracy. A sparse, underfunded underpopulated government may save us.

Ben the Layabout #444218 February 14, 2025 9:45 am 1

…and while it remains to be seen how successful they’ll be, all power and glory to Musk and Trump in their attempt to prune the Deep State.

Zarchive

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