206 Comments
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Feral Finster's avatar

Pretend Russia or any other country were lobbing missiles at the United States. How would the US respond?

The West sees Russian forbearance as contemptible weakness and responds accordingly.

Our lives are a sacrifice that the rulers of the West are happy to make to maintain global hegemony.

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russian_bot's avatar

And look for squeals from Americans and their poodles elsewhere re "why do they hate us? They hate us for our freedoms."

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Robert Billyard's avatar

Yes, Bush ll was ultimate useful idiot among so many others.

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

👏🤢

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Ellen MHa's avatar

I'd like to know what Freedoms? The ones they pretended we had before Israel told them to show us the truth of those supposed Freedoms by dismantling the First Amendment and the actual power of the Police State via the Terrorist Act they have been augmenting since 2001?

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Robert Billyard's avatar

By their "forbearance" Russia and China become our de facto leaders. Our own having betrayed us as they cannibalize our nations to wage war on the world. It is unfortunate too many millions are indifferent to the greatest betrayal ever.

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Feral Finster's avatar

No, as neither Russia's nor China's orders are obeyed.

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Selina Sweet's avatar

Could be contemptible weakness or could be macho neo con freakin’ bully and bull dozer we are supreme we’ll show you how it’s done mentality. He’s really been a blight on Gaza and probably has been in Biden’s ear pushing him to not budge on stopping the killing stuff to Israel. Blinken is a Zionist for goodness sake and a neo con. What in his wake would we imagine him doing anything differently?

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Starry Gordon's avatar

I don't think Kamala and the other ones really want to be cooked. In war, as more than one general has noted, anything can happen, and one thing that can happen is losing the war. In the case of nuclear weapons, losing means losing with extreme prejudice. I'm just wondering what will happen when these jokers peer into the Abyss and notice that the Abyss, as promised, is peering back at them. Where do they think they're going to go?

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The Revolution Continues's avatar

To their bunkers in New Zealand. That's where all the millionaires/billionaires have their bomb shelters I'm told.

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Susan T's avatar

like that would save them.

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The Revolution Continues's avatar

They're betting on it. That's why we should have a supply of concrete ready to pour down their air vents once they seal themselves in.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

There's NO way that they'll survive, even in their bunkers. They can't plant their clubs deep enough because the deeper they go the hotter they get. The planet is heating up the earth itself, so they would theoretically have to put their clubs further from the surface. It's a no win on that account. But say they solve that problem, when any of them or their descendants want to come up there won't be anything to come up for. The planet will be a waste. No humans to maintain the poisons being held back in tanks and caverns. No humans to maintain the nuclear reactors that we use for energy. No sun for solar energy because the weather would be so otherworldly that storms will likely be constant like they are on Jupiter or maybe there will be an atmosphere like Venus, which is what Carl Sagan thought would be the result of this run away climate disaster.

So I guess they will roast in hell as they should.

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Dx's avatar
Sep 13Edited

But doesn't hiding in tunnels make you 'Hamas' ? - and therefore legitimate targets!

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Oracle's avatar

And Hawaii! Don't forget Zuckerberg has a bunker there

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Amelia Anderson's avatar

Gotta love the absurdly wealthy building underground structures on islands that are slowly being swallowed by rising ocean levels. Lmao

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Ellen MHa's avatar

Volcanic, too. : D

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Jane Baker's avatar

I think those top USA bods are still under the illusion that they "have the technology" and they also have the overwhelming force and the financial strength. But we know what happened to Goliath.

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Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

It’s the Rapture! Hallelujah! Apparently they’re hedging their bets. If they can’t get in Palestine, by golly, they’ll get it anyway they can.

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JennyStokes's avatar

No slaves to work for them though.

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Jane Baker's avatar

That's us!

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Feral Finster's avatar

Ever see "Don't Look Up!:?

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Elisabeth's avatar

Watched it again yesterday - simply wonderful - such a mirror of our STUPID 'civilization'! (what is left besides giggling like crazy and be toasted??)

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russian_bot's avatar

The actual red line has been reached, it seems. Fasten your seatbelts.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

Yeah, hegemony over what? A broken world smoldering in radioactive ruins? What a noble thing to aspire to!

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Feral Finster's avatar

Nobility has nothing to do with it.

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

👏👏

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Julius's avatar

The really obvious issue is that for the larger audiences statements by Russian and Chinese leaders get lost in translation, or rather are purposely never translated. Putin asked to join NATO because (as he said in Russian, but nobody dared translate, let alone publish) he "hoped and expected they could and would help destroy the nuclear arms arsenal both sides are abusing for imaginary stability between former enemies", and (yes, he actually said this) “all this is, is a weapons arsenal from days when leaders were suicidal emotional maniacs”, and “we are presumably above that now, we have more existential problems to solve, like a warming planet and pollution”.

There’s another Putin for you that you will never hear or read about. Right after NATO turned down his third proposal to have Russia join, he noted that the nazi–affiliated groups in Ukraine, who were murdering thousands of innocent russian speaking people in Ukraine were a big problem for NATO. Adding that he “does not understand why NATO even still exists”, and that his “quest to join NATO was merely a way to prove NATO is a useless cold war relic, a museum piece that should be rendered useless for a globally united humanity”. After all; More than half of the uranium being used by US nuclear power plants today has been imported from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. And the US is purchasing over 100000 barrels of crude oil from Russia PER DAY, still (in 2024)! Talk about hypocrites unlimited. So much for the NATO/EU/US war-monger 'sanctions', which are more like trade-wars. It's all so sad, this weird 'the others versus us' mentality by NATO, so incredibly stupid and sad.

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Julius's avatar

and FYI, my mother was a Russian language teacher here in The NL, a Slavic languages/cultures scientist and expert, which is how I got this translation, who I got this text from. Right before she died in 2015 by the way, from a cancer that had its roots in fall-out from the nukes that were once dropped in Nagasaki/Hiroshima because as a child she was in camps in Hindia-Belanda during WW2. Talk about faith..

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John Day MD's avatar

Gilbert Doctorow, Putin to reporter Pavel Zarubin: 'NATO will be at war with us and our response will be appropriate to the perceived threat'​

Pavel Zarubin, a journalist who seems to follow Vladimir Vladimirovich everywhere to gather material for his weekly Sunday evening show 'Moscow, the Kremlin, Putin' put to him the question that is as much on the minds of Russians as it is on the mind of us here in the West: how will Russia respond to the expected American and British go-ahead to Zelensky for use of their missiles to attack the heartland of Russia. Putin gave his answer speaking in a calm and deliberate tone. What he said has been picked up by global media, many of which have presented it to world audiences as being bellicose. It was not bellicose but it was open to various interpretations because its essence is that Russia's response will be calibrated to the level of threat to itself that it sees in any coming attacks from Ukraine.

​ But before getting to the 'punch line' that everyone awaited, President Putin explained Russia's understanding that what is at issue goes far beyond mere permission for Ukraine to use Western supplied long-range offensive weapons as it sees fit. Per Russian military evaluation, Ukraine by itself does not possess the satellite reconnaissance capability necessary to program the NATO-supplied missiles to target. For this it is totally dependent on NATO countries. More important still, Ukraine does not have the training, the skills to maintain and launch these missiles on its own. Two or three weeks training is utterly inadequate to manage these highly sophisticated weapons systems. Accordingly all of those functions must necessarily be carried out by technical people from the NATO country manufacturers of the weapons. For these reasons, Russia concludes that the missiles effectively represent NATO's direct involvement in the conflict. The status of the conflict moves on from a proxy war to a full-blown war by NATO countries on Russia. That change in the nature of the war requires a change in the way Russia conducts itself. As Putin said, Russia will calibrate its response to any attack to the level of threat it perceives. Period.​..

..The fact is that Russia is mentally prepared for anything that the West can throw at it today via Ukraine, up to and including, for example, a missile attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant. Due to its unprotected outer structure, a strike there could result in a leakage of radioactivity similar to the Chernobyl catastrophe. We should not doubt that a Russian response to such an incident will be memorable if any of us survives it.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/putin-to-reporter-pavel-zarubin-nato

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Feral Finster's avatar

We've heard a lot of idle Russian threats over the past two plus years.

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Elisabeth's avatar

True on the one hand (and that is exactly what these 'western morons' are counting on) BUT the old saying is: the jar goes to the well until it breaks - der Krug geht solange zum Brunnen bis er bricht! - I think Mr Putin is under rising pressure to change his rather rational and reluctant strategy ... (as heard by so many well informed level headed (real) experts, the 'western' governments are INSANE!

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Michael  Lynch's avatar

This is the insanity of the US Government and the NATO alliance. The Russians have been underestimated and dismissed as irrelevant for too long. This is the "house that Biden, Blinkin and Nuland built". That house is about to come down on all of our heads.

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Kojo's avatar

Ray McGovern has come out and flat out called them stupid. Plain and simple.

America has once ceased to be run by its smartest. Now it's the rule of stupid thugs and ideologues.

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Michael  Lynch's avatar

Amen Brother. Ray McGovern, Col. Doug Macgregor, Scott Ritter, Larry Johnson, Prof. John Mearsheimer and a few others have made this point almost continuously for over two years. Our country has been hijacked by Identity politics, DEI and political ideologues.

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Klonda56's avatar

Wrong.

The country is hijacked by Zionists and right wing ideologiues.

“.. DEI and Identity politics..” are not the problem in America.

Biden, Blinken, Schumer, Sullivan, Mike Johnson, the Kochs, the Pritzkers, Waltons, Adelsons, the Rockefellers, the CEOs are. They are who controls America. They are who ruins America.

You know what those are? Old men and Zionists who think they are “white”

If identity politics is the issue, then it’s a white supremacy identity problem.

It’s not “DEI” or “identity politics” that gets you numbskulls like Biden, Sullivan, Nuland & Blinken failing upwards their entire careers. It’s Zionist connections, amorality and zealotry about manifest destiny - that’s the nexus of the right wing and the Zionists.

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Michael  Lynch's avatar

I should not have limited "Ideologues" to the "far left" alone. I made that edit to my comment. Thank you for pointing that out. For the record, I consider "Zionists" as ideologues as they clearly fit that definition. However, DEI and Identity politics are a serious issue, at least here in the States. They are, at least, major contributing factors to US Problems.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

Wrong. That's the Spin of Culture Wars to keep your eye off the correct hand, the hand that MIGHT have the pea, though most of the time there's no pea. It's a Distraction you're falling for.

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CrumpledForeskin's avatar

Not really. They have nothing to do with the oligarchs in charge of our country. They are made up argument points that the sheep like to focus on, but have nothing to do with the failures of our political and economic systems.

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Third-Eye Roll's avatar

You're both right. Identity politics are an intentional distraction to keep the masses from noticing the criminality of the ruling class, while providing a gloss of virtue. It's function as a useful, highly effective distraction is what makes identity politics also part of the problem. Sure, DEI would be beside the point were it not for the fact that we live in an age when victimization has become a virtue --- the new status symbol --- which puts identity politics at the forefront of discussion. And we can't expect peoples who've been historically marginalized to simply ignore DEI talking points. But now we have new categories of victimization, and the list keeps growing like a metastasizing cancer on our consciousness, taking our awareness away from much larger, more urgent problems.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

Those cause you list are TALKING POINTS to divide us. It's part of the manipulation. Those aren't causes of the fall of our empire.

The Fall of our Empire is the mindset of those that are running the table. The mindset is always do a Zero Sum play... Always. That's leads to Zero Sum in totality!

Look at it. No diplomacy in at least 30 years. Yes maybe lip service, but NO actual talking to our competition. Competition is good it spurs growth. Crushing your competition kills growth, the killer has no reason to excell at anything. You see this country decimating the schools, replacing actual facts and science with pseudo belief systems. That's not growing an intelligent nation. As it is, we have to steal brains from countries that invest in their future.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

That's what happens to Plutocracies. Their children don't mature, gain wisdom or get a decent education because they are coddled. It all turns into a Kakocracy. Which is what is happening now. Very very stupid people in charge. I've, all of us have, seen this happen to businesses, organizations, even the Mafia and families that hand the reigns to their children who are not qualified and the elders can't see what their descendants are out right stupid.

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Diana van Eyk's avatar

The arrogance, stupidity and brutality of the west never ceases to amaze me. Western elites don't have to be like this, but I guess they just don't know how to be any other way.

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Kevin Flynn's avatar

Yes. - Wouldn’t it be easier to just do the right thing, do what’s sensible and stay on the right side of history?

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Azirahael Jones's avatar

Easier? For who?

You? Me? sure. and better too.

But not for the ruling class. They make their money destroying the economy.

Yes, they will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, they already did it.

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Susan T's avatar

lotta good their money is gonna do them if this scenario plays out as badly as it could

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Paula's avatar

They make their money also by destroying the earth, taxing the poor, using those taxes to enrich themselves. Corporate welfare is real and so is a caste system that treats the majority of humans as Dalits in India who because of their caste are forced to clean public latrines with their hands and all they have to protect themselves is oil rubbed on the skin. Humanity is evolving alright, in the wrong direction. Monsters like Hitler and now the Zionists of Israel who are competing with Hitler and Stalin as major monsters.

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Azirahael Jones's avatar

Remove Stalin from the 'monster' list and you might have a point.

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Paula's avatar

Have you not read about the forced starvation of millions in Ukraine, Romania, elsewhere. Stalin was a monster. Educate yourself.

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Azirahael Jones's avatar

I did educate myself. That's why I said that.

Stalin was a hero of the working class.

.

And he sure did not pay the clouds to not rain.

Famine is real.

Deliberate genocide by Stalin is not.

.

Ukraine is famous for killing its own people and blaming Russia.

Get some education outside liberal western media.

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CrumpledForeskin's avatar

That is mostly western propaganda. Just like today, we’re told that China and Russia are so evil, and they want to destroy our he United States. These things aren’t true, and if you can separate yourself from the propaganda, you’ll see the killers, criminals, and thieves are in the US government.

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russian_bot's avatar

Are you a "holodomor" pusher? Ukrainian Nazi tales?

What is "forced" starvation? If you're talking about famine then indicate everywhere it took place. Prove that only Ukrainians suffered and that because of the deliberate Stalin's policy of their extermination. And don't bother bringing up Ukrainian tales which are the main part of their claims of having been discriminated against.

Next thing you're going to bring up Bucha and other Uki nazi bullshit.

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Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

I read about the forced starvation in Ireland.

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TEAJRLV's avatar

So much respect, admiration and love to you Caitlin. Thank you for being in our lives... in truth.

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unwarranted's avatar

The more I contemplate the sheer contempt that the American regime has for 1) the will of the people; 2) diplomacy; 3) human life; 4) its own legacy; 5) the rule of law, the more surreal these past few years have felt.

Scott Ritter has written and spoken about the sea change in how American elites officially look at the deployment of nuclear weapons.

Where, for many years, deterrence was a revered nuclear posture, the abdication of multiple treaties, and the messianic self-image of the warmongering neocons who see provocation as a positive tactic, have resulted in preemption as a favored posture.

Preemption is absolute madness. It has the underlying logic of the “stand your ground” laws that identify a shooter’s state of mind as a legal justification for being an aggressor. If Russia believes that the U.S. will seek to harm it seriously, I would expect America and its NATO allies to to all be targets of retaliation. This would be preemption in action.

When the Russian concerns about their sovereignty and national security are simply ignored, the aforementioned surrealism gets ramped up. Where does this approach to governance come from? It is “because we can” stupidly. It makes no attempt to make sense. Surreal is too vague a word. It really feels like the red hour before a tragic reckoning.

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Jane Baker's avatar

The terrifying thing is that 'the Elites" have ascertained that The World can survive a nuclear attack even if WE dont. But we don't matter to them. We just clutter up and disfigure what could be a pristine,rewilded world just for them and a low level population of neccesary serfs for any labour not done by AI. So get a degree in cleaning toilets. Thanks to their CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT at Chernobyl,yes CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT,they,and we,know it's not a "nuclear winter". Thus this new relaxed,shrug of shoulders attitude to nukes. No ones organizing peace marches. But if they do thanks to all the new laws slipped in during COVID theyll all go to jail. Except we are told there are no prison places left available. Even I know shrug and say "Oh bloody well got on with it then and stop threatening us (via the news) all the time. Of course USA wants to provoke Russia into acting first so they can pretend they are murdering in self defence. This Tony Blinken is a disgusting MAFIA style Slime Ball. I've heard his voice on the radio (I dont have tv),it's one of those cheesey and greasy slime ball USA voices a Snake Oil salesman. Every word sounds like the LIE it is. And to think Abortion was legal when he was concieved.

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Meredith Hobbs's avatar

Russia has a no 1st strike policy for nukes. The USA does not. Agreed that this is madness.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

All these policies can change at any time (for any of these countries). Such "policies" are useless (and more for posturing a position than anything else). What matters is reality on the ever-shifting ground.

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russian_bot's avatar

That is not true. The doctrine states that if there's such a danger that the very existence of the country is threatened, then nukes will be used.

Now it should be clear why Obama wanted to get rid of all nukes everywhere. Because then NATO would be able to overcome anybody with conventional means.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

The US has said and it was printed in one of their mouth pieces, the New York Times, that we now have a Strike First Policy. The plans are to strike Russia, China and North Korea at the same time no matter what the thing is that makes a brain damaged President Flinch.

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russian_bot's avatar

Even if they didn't advertise it the US has always been in such a mode. As long as they are confident they won't get hit back.

We are getting there, there's no stopping. Slowly but surely.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

I hope you're mistaken. I fear you're not

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Susan T's avatar

Everywhere I turn, there are crazy people in "control" who are pushing us to a position that will be impossible to control or survive. I continue to go to demos. To sign petitions. To speak out against killing people. In Gaza. In Ukraine. The empire is out of control. I think they know it and that makes them even more dangerous because like a child who does not want to go to sleep they will try anything to get what they want. Or think they want. Or don't care about at all. I am not able any longer to really understand what or why this is all happening. And if I did fully understand, perhaps that would be even worse.

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russian_bot's avatar

If you study history then you're not surprised. And you do understand.

One of the reasons I hang out here is an amusement at people waking up. Like they've discovered something new for themselves and think it is new universally. Whereas in fact nothing is new. It all happened before and this is just another iteration.

And the most frustrating thing is that if this iteration does not end in nuclear annihilation, then whatever relief is achieved will expire in another 80-100 years. And it'll repeat again. Because the majority of people do not want to care.

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𝓙𝓪𝓼𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯𝓮's avatar

Oil and minerals. Oh and 💰. They're killing people for profit.

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Ellen MHa's avatar

They think they, themselves will survive in the cushy bunkers. That's absolutely not true. They've been sold horse manure and they're eating it like it's caviar. No One will survive. If they hurry up and build a civilization on another planet, they might survive, but no, not a single human will survive in the long term.

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Paula's avatar

Primo Levi survived Auschwitz and his words ring true today concerning the genocide of the Palestinians; "It happened, therefore it can happen again ; this is the core of what we have to say." One should read Isabel Wilkerson's book, Caste, to understand it is not racism, but caste that shares common systems and traits between what is happening in Gaza, what happened in Germany, the caste system of India, and 400 hundred of years of slavery. How many know, I wonder, that Germany studied the US and it methods and tactics of dehumanization in Deep South slavery before implementing and the genocide of the Jews.

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Meredith Hobbs's avatar

An important point that German Nazis took inspiration from US South's Jim Crow regime. And then Israel.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

So true! And the book you recommend "Caste" is a wonderful and eye-opening book (that I think everyone should read).

Thank you!

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russian_bot's avatar

James Q. Whitman's "Hitler's American Model" goes into detail on that.

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Jane Baker's avatar

I know. But nobody in power seems my advice,lol

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Rhys Jaggar's avatar

It's very important to point out that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is a Jew. A Jew that wants to start World War III. Jake Sullivan, another warmonger, is also a Jew. Victoria Nuland, a genocidal psychopath, is also a Jew. Keir Starmer, puppet PM of the UK, needs to prove his warmongering credentials to the US Jews, is a Jew. Volodomyr Zelensky, who wants to engage in murderous bomb raids into Russia, is a Jew.

The State of Israel, currently carrying out genocide in Gaza, is a Jewish State.

Is it unreasonable to say that the current trajectory toward World War is entirely the responsibility of Jews, who represent under 1% of the world's population?

What should the 99% majority do about a 1% minority that wants millions upon millions of non-Jews to die????

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

This is not about Jews. This is about global Capitalism, US Empire management, and the 1% doing what the 1% do to maintain the status quo (regardless of their religious beliefs or ethnicities).

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

👏Good on you Chang!

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Jane Baker's avatar

19th century Germany kept its Jewish population out of positions of industrial and political power. Britain and America did not. I have read an interpretation of History that says Germany by 1910 looked set to overtake USA+ Britain in industrial,financial and thus political power but was not under Jewish control and thus World War One was fomented by USA + British Jews,the rich ones to destroy German power that they did not control. The subsequent Holocaust was both a revenge by some who knew this "secret" but also was funded by those same rich Jews in order to create such a powerful pretext for the creation of Israel as no one could deny. This is an interpretation and I don't know if it's true but it makes a lot more sense to me than the standard narrative of WW1+2.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

You should start writing fiction books - not much in your comment reflects real history.

(1) Germany by 1910 overtake USA? Any documentation or sources? or just "someone's interpretation"?

(2) WW1 was formented by US and British Jews? Seriously? On what logic? What sources? Any verifiable/credible sources?

(3) The Holocaust was due to "revenge" because Jews caused WW1? Some who "knew this secret"? Same rich Jews (that caused WW1) funded the holocaust? Do you realize how ridiculous and unhinged that sounds?

>>"This is an interpretation and I don't know if it's true"

No, its not. Read up on real history (rather than select/dubious interpretations)

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Jane Baker's avatar

Maybe your knowledge of history is not so deep and wide as you think. Have you worked in actual archives,ordered original documents,handled papers of those eras etc. I'm not a professional historian. Also I did not say that I claim this interpretation to be true. I said I have read this interpretation and it makes more sense than the conventional narrative. In a recent podcast series on the lead up to World War One MAINSTREAM and acknowledged historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook have told us how very different the truth is,and more complex than the accepted narrative and neither of these men are conspiracy theorists.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

>>"Maybe your knowledge of history is not so deep and wide as you think"

(1) How do you know how deep my knowledge of history is or is not?

(2) >>"Have you worked in actual archives,ordered original documents,handled papers of those eras" -> That's a red herring. One doesn't need do "what you think they should do" to understand history. That's what historianians are for. They synthesize such material for others.

(3) Have you heard of historical revisionism by biased parties? Eg. revision of real American history, revision of Israel/Palestine history, etc.

(4) >>"podcast series on the lead up to World War One MAINSTREAM and acknowledged historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook have told us how very different the truth is" -> does "how different the truth is" equate to fictional histories? Did they specifically mention "your interpretations"?

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Jane Baker's avatar

It's as the saying goes ...you can't fix....yes,it hurts to THINK..

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Susan T's avatar

It is also about colonialism. Zionism. The Europeans came to America and committed genocide because they thought they had the right and now the Zionists in Israel are doing the same thing. Wonder how much it has to do with the fact that most Zionists in Israel are descended from or are directly Jews from Europe.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Yes, colonialism is covered under Capitalism, just as imperialism is covered under Capitalism.

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Susan T's avatar

my reply was to Jane, hoping to get her to replace the term "Jews" with Zionists as it is Zionists that wanted to create Israel, not Jews.

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Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

Zionists, not Jews. You’ve just stepped into the conflation trap they set for us. Better read some Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, and Glenn Greenwald, for starters. Then join me in voting for Dr. Jill Stein. You’ll feel so much better.

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Susan T's avatar

maybe the responsibility of Zionists?

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Darkstar's avatar

Well,Susan, you hit the nail on the head !

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Susan T's avatar

try replacing "jews" with Zionists and you will be more accurate

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russian_bot's avatar

Here's more on what Putin said: https://www.rt.com/russia/603934-putin-warning-nato-weapons/

And actually, what NATO has done crossed the line drawn by Putin right before Feb 2022 long ago. Putin just had to reiterate. There's too much pressure on him in Russia. He can't continue to stall.

We're getting close, folks. There seems no escape.

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Paula's avatar

I think the claim that Iran sent missiles to Russia is bullshit. Why would well armed Russia need Iran missiles? I haven't read any proof either; it's just a claim by these propagandists as an excuse to escalate the war. And frankly, the way the collective west is behaving, they deserved to be bombed. I just hope Putin targets the right places because most civilians in all countries don't want these wars. Even without bombs, these wars are hurting all of us economically or in some of way if you have relatives in Palestine or Ukraine and even if you don't, it is painfully shattering to watch what these fuckers are bringing to the entire world. Without the West, maybe we could a little peace in this world.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

>>"I think the claim that Iran sent missiles to Russia is bullshit."

I doubt it. Why are people surprised when Iran (or any other country like North Korea or China) supply weaponry to Russia?

Artillary is needed, drones are needed, missiles are needed, human fighters are needed. The rate of attrition for these weapons is really high - faster than they can be manufactured by the current processes in Russia alone.

Remember, the WHOLE Western world is supplying weapons to Ukraine. So why shouldn't Iran, N.Korea, China, or anybody else supply weapons to Russia?

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Jane Baker's avatar

I'm sure you are right. And why shouldn't they. It's legitimate business. In World War Two,so far as I know,Hitler did not send telegrams to Mr Churchill asking permission to bomb the East End of London or inform Mr Churchill of his next troop movements. Only on my radio the tone of voice used by the news reporters implies that Putin really should ASK PERMISSION before he does anything,of his Elders and Betters. And we as a culture seem to have forgotten the RECIPROCAL nature of War. Sadly.

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Azirahael Jones's avatar

Why would Iran send missiles to Russia?

Because the short range missiles that Iran has are unlikely to be useful in the coming fight. the range is too far.

But Russia has much closer targets.

And it saves Russia building them.

Also Iran gets to find out in battlefield conditions if they work.

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martin's avatar

iirc, some iranian parlementarian stated something in that regard, western press jumped on it, extra sanctions, russia half denied afaik. west noticed russia kinda reluctantly switched to war economy, outpacing entire current western war-industry.

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Selina Sweet's avatar

Blinken should not have the authority he apparently is given. He’s demonstrated his ignorance and prejudice regarding Israeli genocide and Gaza. He has no business messing with Russia. He’s going to kill us all. Typical neo-con - never fought a war on the ground with a gun as a soldier in his whole life and now ….such a lightweight

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The Revolution Continues's avatar

"Status quo politics are quite literally driving us to armageddon."

Exactly. We can't pretend it's politics as usual anymore. These capitalist bastards want to get us all killed. Fight back. Vote outside the box. Stand up against genocide.

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Jane Baker's avatar

Because they want a clear out so they can rewild the world.

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Amelia Anderson's avatar

That's not how nuclear war, climate crisis, and a global economic collapse would work out at all bud. There's no 'secret bunker' strategy to outlast a dead planet.

It's literally Continued Existence or Suicide By Capitalism right now.

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Erwin Warth's avatar

The evil empire knows that it's an economic basket case. Global war would be a handy distraction

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Kevin Flynn's avatar

Isn’t it amazing that just doing the right thing would make so much more sense and be so much easier.

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Jane Baker's avatar

Margaret Thatcher used that device.The Falklands "conflict" was a useful political survival strategy for her.

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RON RODARTE's avatar

The scenario rhymes historically with the Nazi and Italian Fascist testing of weapons and maneuvers on the Basque in 1937 Spain at the invitation of Francisco Franco. America seems to be engaged in exactly the same war preparation maneuvers while it pushes aggressively against Russia in the proxy war and weapons line to Ukraine to target deep into Russia.

Looking at history, corporate America has always supported such violent insanity. Only the actions of humanitarians have kept the amoral capitalist wealth accumulators from waging war on an entire planet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Compassionate_Spy

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

“Genocide in the foreground, world war looming in the background.” Once again Caitlin gets it right. The world is perilously close to a war of annihilation. Sane people should ask why has the world come to this?

The Israeli/US/West war in occupied Palestinian land is a settler colonial project which is supported by the old settler colonial states. What they did to most Global South countries is what Israel is now doing to the Palestinians. Israel also is doing the vital work for the empire in destabilising the whole Middle East - willing and greedy for expansion and with no qualms about a genocide.

By now we are aware that more vital is the preservation of US empire and its vassal states hegemony, which they perceive as being under threat from a rising China. The undercurrent of racism and white supremacy cannot be denied.

It is nakedly obvious the reason for US/NATO aggression against Russia - its refusal to roll over and get balkanised. So Russia has to be punished and diminished. Very conveniently the fascist Ukraine was willing to sacrifice its own. Ukraine's insatiable appetite for more and more weapons keeps the Military Industrial Complex happy.

With Russia preoccupied with the horror of an existential war, the empire could ramp up its aggression of isolating and encircling China. We see this happening everyday with tariffs, sanctions, propaganda and any number of provocations.

Accidents can happen with nuclear threats. Judging by the farce of a debate, the quality of the US ruling class is nothing but cringeworthy. It was not only bizarre, xenophobic, racist and crude when Trump came out with his " eating cats and dogs ". For this kind of leadership to be in charge of pressing the nuclear button is a nightmare from which we may not wake up!

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Contrarian 33's avatar

Living in a country which has as its claim to fame a total subservience to everything American, it is so hard to reconcile what is happening in the world right now to feelings of interest in and respect for both China and the 1.4 billion Chinese and Russia and the Russian people.

Perhaps if one reflects on past decades and past American and British military dalliances and based on the results from those disgraceful exploits and what they didn't achieve of value to literally any country anywhere, but decades of successful and unwanted hegemonic results, perhaps the same feelings being felt now should also have been felt then.

Politicians in the countries who supported America then were far more easily respected. They weren't necessarily little puppets then as they are now. But now? They are so disrespected as leaders with their blatant support for the Israel genocidial murderers, as just one example and their fawning reaction to the dictates of the world's worst criminal country in history. The USA.

What kind of a threat was Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and the dozens of other US targets during the last 100 years. Hitler, yes. He started the wars in Germany and other European countries and he needed to be stopped. That was certainly different.

But nothing since that date has been a threat to anyone but the USA's drive for world dominance.

For that the whole world suffers.

So my sympathies are clear. I defy any person to say that anyone who doesn't hate the Russians and the Chinese is disloyal to his or her country in September 2024 and there is nothing that will happen now or in the future if and after the USA hits the WWIII button, that will change my mind.

Nothing. Neither China or Russia have done anything to warrant my hatred of their countries or their people. In fact what China has achieved since the end of WWII is nothing short of a miracle. From a peasant country to a world power in 75 years is a record unequalled in history.

As for Russia their contribution to the successes in WWII make them one of the most respected countries in history, their losses and sacrifices during that period were far worse than any other Allied power. Their contribution to the removal of a dictator, the most effective

But the USA leaders and the pathetic examples of most other leaders in the Western world in 2024 with their sickening subservience to the criminal apartheid stolen state of Israel together with the total arrogance of America and other Western hangers on, they are different. They are weak,

They are criminal in every respect. In the main, they are disliked by their populations as well.

That's disdain for the weak leaders only. The people, like people everywhere are the pawns without a true voice and driven to their control by corrupt politicians by a corrupt media.

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Patrick Powers's avatar

"But nothing since that date [1945] has been a threat to anyone but the USA's drive for world dominance."

I'd say the Korean and First Iran Wars were successful defenses against unjustified aggression.

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pretzelattack's avatar

what's the first Iran War? The US committed genocide in Korean, too.

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Amelia Anderson's avatar

Much like the Balkan countries and Ukraine, the US has been a consistently active and malevolent influence in the region for roughly just short of a hundred years now.

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RON RODARTE's avatar

They say money talks. Capitalism in America, the neoconservative insanity of an excuse to kill nations, babies and all creation for the lifeblood of corporate capitalism, profit - is the manager of elected and appointed positions in American power, and the owner of all legislation to reach either floor of Congress. Money doesn’t talk it screams insanities at the moral consciousness of People stunted and demeaned in the unconscionable travesty of America the Corporate. There is no respite in media, it is psychological warfare on the soul of human beings to render the smallest wish and dream into a product aimed at the meager earnings allowed by Duopoly corporate rule. Only a Third Party can break the chains of profit, über alles. A corporate free political party exists and is on the ballot of nearly all American states. That party is being systematically bankrupted by the Democratic hue of Duopoly, and the use of Lawfare, a warfare on justice so imbued in Republican MAGA defense of an indefensible Donald Trump, is waging legal warfare on the Green Party to bankrupt the corporate-free donations of American citizens abhorrent of the disasters caused and to come of corporate rule. Figure the vote for either Duopoly party to be the act of a sniper, a political sniper who figures the vote for either Democrat or Republican will salve the wounds of injustice, yet it will kill the last chance for a corporate free America, denying the future of a nation of People, where Citizen is the highest office in the land - ended by an unconscionable vote.

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S Lowrey's avatar

Unbearable….why aren’t the (few?) sane people in government protesting loudly? Madness is about in the land.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

The few, sane people in Government ARE protesting, but they are being SILENCED (in multiple ways). It's the nature of the beast (the US Empire) and the power structure - SANE people are systematically SILENCED or PURGED.

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Patrick Powers's avatar

Not to mention imprisoned, tortured, assassinated, and genocided.

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Amelia Anderson's avatar

Anyone remember those journalists in Panama or Libya? I still do.

People in the know *are* protesting, but the internet is so strangled into walled gardens now it's hard to hear anything over the endless roar of ads and exploration.

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S Lowrey's avatar

Yes, of course…but senators and representatives could be protected after speaking out.

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S Lowrey's avatar

I was warned not to get into a discussion on social media because of unpleasant people. Sorry to say they were right.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Protected from what? career suicide? Because that's what happens when you speak out against the system - just as it applies to whistleblowers in corporations and the government. There are no protections - especially when the ones doing the protecting ARE the problem that you are fighting against. The only protection are the PEOPLE (like you and me).

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S Lowrey's avatar

Yes, it is courageous to speak out to power. However our elected officials swear to uphold our laws, wild horses

would not be able to stop them from running for office, and part of their obligation is to speak out when necessary.

And now is necessary with our tax money committing genocide and putting us in the way of nuclear war. This may

sound insensitive but they swore an oath and choosing to ignore that puts all in danger. (There are body

guards available to protect official persons in danger.)

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Your comment indicates 2 things:

(a) you seem to be living in your own reality (and not the real world)

(b) you have an erroneous/incomplete perception of how the world (various systems) work.

It would take too long to explain it all, so I'll say what I can:

>>"However our elected officials swear to uphold our laws"

The world doesn't work on "swears". It doesn't matter what someone swears or doesn't swear.

>>"would not be able to stop them from running for office"

It's really easy to stop people from running from office. Money influences elections. All one has to do is finance the opposition (take the example of AIPAC spending money to elect officials that answer to their interests).

>>"our tax money committing genocide..."

This is a statement made by many people that don't understand the fiscal and monetary policies and the working of the Federal Reserve, Central Banks, and the US financial system. Even if ALL taxation were stopped immediately, the Fed could print as much money as it needs (through various strategies) for whatever it needs. It doesn't need "TAXES" to fund things. As an example, the US debt is over $25 trillion -> through the selling of various government bonds and securities and the interest-rate system. This is how the Govt. creates money to fund projects, not through taxation. Taxation has other purposes.

>>"putting us in the way of nuclear war"

The people don't have a choice. The elected representatives (senators, representatives) DON'T represent the interests of the people. They represent the interests of the Power Elite, Empire Managers and Oligarchs. Until you understand this, you will continue living in your "la-la land".

>>"but they swore an oath and choosing to ignore that puts all in danger"

Are you 5 years old? That is so naive. Swearing an oath means NOTHING.

Sorry to say, but your comment reflects a naive understanding of human psychology and the way the world works and does not even remotely reflect reality.

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