Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sometimes taking care of yourself can be a full time job!


****

Picked some late season tomatoes for salads. I'll be sorry to see them disappear. So much better than store bought!

First infusion treatment coming up Thursday, which I'm absolutely dreading. It will put a long term (multi year to potentially permanent) dent in my immune system, and a huge crimp in my activities.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sometimes taking care of yourself can be a full time job!


****

Picked some late season tomatoes for salads. I'll be sorry to see them disappear. So much better than store bought!

First infusion treatment coming up Thursday, which I'm absolutely dreading. It will put a long term (multi year to potentially permanent) dent in my immune system, and a huge crimp in my activities.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

It is for sure.

Take care of yourself SIG. Hold the line.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sometimes taking care of yourself can be a full time job!


****

Picked some late season tomatoes for salads. I'll be sorry to see them disappear. So much better than store bought!

First infusion treatment coming up Thursday, which I'm absolutely dreading. It will put a long term (multi year to potentially permanent) dent in my immune system, and a huge crimp in my activities.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

It is for sure.

Take care of yourself SIG. Hold the line.

---

Aye aye!


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
No shit.

THUGR, why don't you educate yourself on what a "fact" is, instead of posting lies, opinion, and rumor 24/7/365?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Making some huge progress on my project. That's about it though recently.

There's still a long way to go, but it's been nice crossing off so many things from the to-do list and wrapping up certain segments of it entirely.

Like I said before, this is a project that could technically go on forever. The portion I'm hyper-focusing on is only one large part of a much greater whole too. But I believe the quality of what I will be releasing will be so strikingly high compared to anything that has come before, that among those who make use of it there are bound to be at least a small percentage of mad lads out there who would want to take my mold and apply it elsewhere.

Part of what I'm doing now is also streamlining things. Part of that process is eliminating work that I'd put quite a bit of time into at one point or another. But enough time has passed that I can let that stuff go. Stuff that took an exorbitant amount of time/effort with little payoff or things that just hit dead-ends and could never be completed for one reason or another. None of this work is easy or fast, but bogging it down with superfluous "flare" on the outskirts only serves to put others off from picking this up one day. The intentions of the project when I wrap it up and get it out there need to be crystal clear as well as what needs to be done in the future with steps all laid out for how to go about it.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So BRENDA, what's with the chat? I posted something to it, but every time I load the page it seems to land on it at random spots. I did land on 1927 Kansas City lyrics tho. I like that song.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for my walk in a bit.

Yesterday I went to get a refill on my new seizure med and they shorted me again. I will have to go back in another week or so to refill Keppra, so will pick up what is left then.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for my walk in a bit.

Yesterday I went to get a refill on my new seizure med and they shorted me again. I will have to go back in another week or so to refill Keppra, so will pick up what is left then.

---

Oh, that can be so frustrating. I guess the only good ghing is that you need to go back for something else anyway.

Our family, collectively, needs a lot of meds. I try to get all the refills on the same day bc even with a car I hate going back. The fly in the ointment is that you can get refills for non controlled substances 5 days early each time, but controlled substances are only 3 days.

I take FULL advantage of those, bc I'm building up an emergency stash of meds for earthquake emergency. I can't forget the ppl of New Orleans who were without meds for weeks bc of hurricane Katrina. And honestly, if we had a full blown earthquake emergency, I doubt it could be handled any better here. But that means that the two sets of meds are on diverging schedules. And every once in a while, the pharmacy tosses a monkey wrench into the works.

I liked the lyrics of that other song, too. Gonna have to look it up.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Making some huge progress on my project. That's about it though recently.

There's still a long way to go, but it's been nice crossing off so many things from the to-do list and wrapping up certain segments of it entirely.

Like I said before, this is a project that could technically go on forever. The portion I'm hyper-focusing on is only one large part of a much greater whole too. But I believe the quality of what I will be releasing will be so strikingly high compared to anything that has come before, that among those who make use of it there are bound to be at least a small percentage of mad lads out there who would want to take my mold and apply it elsewhere.

Part of what I'm doing now is also streamlining things. Part of that process is eliminating work that I'd put quite a bit of time into at one point or another. But enough time has passed that I can let that stuff go. Stuff that took an exorbitant amount of time/effort with little payoff or things that just hit dead-ends and could never be completed for one reason or another. None of this work is easy or fast, but bogging it down with superfluous "flare" on the outskirts only serves to put others off from picking this up one day. The intentions of the project when I wrap it up and get it out there need to be crystal clear as well as what needs to be done in the future with steps all laid out for how to go about it.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

Not knowing what you're referring to, in general I think hubby would say "simplify, simplify, simplify", whether it's hardware, firmware, or software.

So you're probably on the right track.

---

Quote:

---

There's a lot of good things I will be cutting, for sure. Some of them simply just need to be cut because they were obtained 20 or so years ago by somebody with some highly-specialized skills who just isn't around anymore. Stuff that he was able to automate 90% of the work leaving me only the tasks of proper naming conventions and verifying what was done (and initially just bug-testing his idea before that).

It's not that I couldn't continue on with that part without him, but it would require manually scouring thousands of pages on various sites and collating that data by hand

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

There's a lot of good things I will be cutting, for sure. Some of them simply just need to be cut because they were obtained 20 or so years ago by somebody with some highly-specialized skills who just isn't around anymore. Stuff that he was able to automate 90% of the work leaving me only the tasks of proper naming conventions and verifying what was done (and initially just bug-testing his idea before that).

It's not that I couldn't continue on with that part without him, but it would require manually scouring thousands of pages on various sites and collating that data by hand

---

IBM had at one point developed a product that sounds like it would have done that sounds like. It was basically a database for textual material. Not only was it self-indexing ... i.e. identify all of the key words in a document and index them ... it would also index their synonyms as well. For example, if the document contained the word "suitcase", then "suitcase" became an index word. But so did luggage, carry on, travel bag, valise etc etc. So you didn't need to know the exact word to search for the relevant text, a related word would do. I don't think anything like that is available for us serfs, but I'm sure the NSA, CIA, FBI etc are using something like that.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
People are quite smart, and collectively can accomplish a lot. That's the genius of Linux.

And that sounds like a project to devote a lifetime to. I used to program a little. I loved the logic puzzle of it all. If I wasn't such a tard at learning languages of all kinds, even computer languages (I almost flunked German at University. That really brought down my GPA!) I would have loved to have been a programmer.

Glad you're working on something of general benefit, SIX. If not you, then who?

---

It's a great project for me to work on when I'm lacking motivation otherwise. I kind of hit a brick wall once early summer came and I was wasting a lot of time watching youtube and TV shows and movies. I probably watched more TV shows and movies in 3 months than I have in the last 7 years combined.

I figured as long as I wasn't in the mood for getting anything productive done in my real life, I may as well spend some time on this.

If you remember my initial goal was just to offload everything I've done and dump it out there, but I really am so close (relatively) to wrapping up one huge part of it that would be a mold for all the other parts to aspire to. I've got to see at least this part through after all these years.

It's not all just mindless coding and repetitive tasks with file names. There's quite a bit of artistry necessary too, and I've become quite proficient at digital editing just from self-teaching over the years. Overall, this part is really fun. The only problem is that there's just SO much to do that it's still overwhelming. But at least everything is heavily documented as I go along and double work is an impossibility. I just need to stop thinking about how much more there is to do.


Honestly, in a perfect world I would have saved all of this work for winters and worked on the house during the nice weather, but I guess I didn't feel like doing that this summer. And I think I'd be really lucky to be done by the end of winter if I just worked straight through on this. But if I did that, I would finally be at a point where I can almost see the end of this.



--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You do what you can when you can. Same for me and BRENDA.

Your project sounds a bit like what I was trying to do at work, which was to create a -literally- common file system for everyone to use so we would know where to find the raw data files, the calculated results of each individual analysis (example: solids content, density, percent water, solvent content etc) into a final report

The trick was to create a file naming system that would have enough identifiers in it (instrument type, date etc) bc I had enough people doing the same analyses on different instruments that they were tripping over each other's filenames without realizing it.

EDITED TO ADD

Eventually I was hoping to get all of our data into one of our agency's numerous databases instead of our division's server, which would have been more secure and searchable. Then I could have eliminated the rooms of hardcopy.

Yanno, everything had to be findable. The final report had to reference the analyses and instrument calibration data. The analyses and calibration data had to reference the original (handwritten) preparation notebooks. The sample and calibration preps had to reference the reagent lot numbers and makers, and sample IDs. Everything had to be signed by the analyst and dated. And it had to be possible to not only trace everything backwards to its origin, but also forwards, because if there was a bad reagent, or a calibration that was "off", I had to be able to ID all of samples that may have been affected. I even bought special pre-numbered lab notebooks bc our lab notebook names were beginning to duplicate each other.

One curious thing: So many people in my section had names that began with "J". For example, John, Joe, Judy, Juan ... when we intialed something, the "J" was real clear, butbit was sometimes hard to figure out what the rest was. The lab was big enough that we had some people with the same first name, so we resorted to names like John and Johnny, or Dan and Danny, or Steve [last name], Steve [last name], and Steven.

Since most of the data (except handwritten notebook data) was electronic, it didn't make sense to me that it had to be printed out and signed. I had started a long term project where the data could be securely saved, reviewed, modified, and signed off in one of our agency databases. But health issues got the better of me, so I retired b4 it could be completed.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
You do what you can when you can. Same for me and BRENDA.

Your project sounds a bit like what I was trying to do at work, which was to create a -literally- common file system for everyone to use so we would know where to find the raw data files, the calculated results of each individual analysis (example: solids content, density, percent water, solvent content etc) into a final report

The trick was to create a file naming system that would have enough identifiers in it (instrument type, date etc) bc I had enough people doing the same analyses on different instruments that they were tripping over each other's filenames without realizing it.

EDITED TO ADD

Eventually I was hoping to get all of our data into one of our agency's numerous databases instead of our division's server, which would have been more secure and searchable. Then I could have eliminated the rooms of hardcopy.

Yanno, everything had to be findable. The final report had to reference the analyses and instrument calibration data. The analyses and calibration data had to reference the original (handwritten) preparation notebooks. The sample and calibration preps had to reference the reagent lot numbers and makers, and sample IDs. Everything had to be signed by the analyst and dated. And it had to be possible to not only trace everything backwards to its origin, but also forwards, because if there was a bad reagent, or a calibration that was "off", I had to be able to ID all of samples that may have been affected. I even bought special pre-numbered lab notebooks bc our lab notebook names were beginning to duplicate each other.

One curious thing: So many people in my section had names that began with "J". For example, John, Joe, Judy, Juan ... when we intialed something, the "J" was real clear, butbit was sometimes hard to figure out what the rest was. The lab was big enough that we had some people with the same first name, so we resorted to names like John and Johnny, or Dan and Danny, or Steve [last name], Steve [last name], and Steven.

Since most of the data (except handwritten notebook data) was electronic, it didn't make sense to me that it had to be printed out and signed. I had started a long term project where the data could be securely saved, reviewed, modified, and signed off in one of our agency databases. But health issues got the better of me, so I retired b4 it could be completed.


-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They still use the filing system, but AFAIK the database part was never completed. OTOH the data processing.... the heavy duty part where you take the peak areas of each compound, multiply it by the instrument response factor for that compound, factor in the sample dilution, sample density etc and come up with a final sample value, has progressed from programmable spreadsheet to an honest to God program ... I think written in Python. The supervisor that came after me is very computer literate, another guy was an absolute genius getting instrument digital output into a computer thru either serial or parallel ports. And to think, I had to initially press some people into using a spreadsheet instead of hand calculating each value and writing it into a notebook!

But it drove me bugnuts to see how poorly our own sample tracking database was implemented. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

*****

Did some other fun stuff, too. Developed a lot of analysis methods. The one method we developed for analysis of trace organics using split sample gas chromatography mass spectrometry and flame ionization turned out to be the same method that OPCW uses to analyze chem warfare agents. It got one of my staff a plum job in Finland where she is now lab director of one of OPCW's Finnish labs.

I really liked my job.
Well, most of it, anyway.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, you DO realize that Joe isn't doing jack shit anymore. He hadn't held a Cabinet meeting in a year, and when he finally did he introduced his wife, left the room, and Jill held the meeting.

---

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

---

You're right. Given the censorship, diviseness, justice system manipulation, focus on Ukraine and Russia at the expense of America, open border policy, media manipulation, etc etc I would agree that the DNC and it's media, neocon and deep state partners have been vengeful, authoritarian, anti -democratic, and anti -American.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

---

T

Crockett PERFECTLY EXPOSES Trump Ties to Project 2025 During Hearing

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, you DO realize that Joe isn't doing jack shit anymore. He hadn't held a Cabinet meeting in a year, and when he finally did he introduced his wife, left the room, and Jill held the meeting.

---

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

---

You're right. Given the censorship, diviseness, justice system manipulation, focus on Ukraine and Russia at the expense of America, open border policy, media manipulation, etc etc I would agree that the DNC and it's media, neocon and deep state partners have been vengeful, authoritarian, anti -democratic, and anti -American.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

---

T

Crockett PERFECTLY EXPOSES Trump Ties to Project 2025 During Hearing

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They still use the filing system, but AFAIK the database part was never completed. OTOH the data processing.... the heavy duty part where you take the peak areas of each compound, multiply it by the instrument response factor for that compound, factor in the sample dilution, sample density etc and come up with a final sample value, has progressed from programmable spreadsheet to an honest to God program ... I think written in Python. The supervisor that came after me is very computer literate, another guy was an absolute genius getting instrument digital output into a computer thru either serial or parallel ports. And to think, I had to initially press some people into using a spreadsheet instead of hand calculating each value and writing it into a notebook!

But it drove me bugnuts to see how poorly our own sample tracking database was implemented. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

*****

Did some other fun stuff, too. Developed a lot of analysis methods. The one method we developed for analysis of trace organics using split sample gas chromatography mass spectrometry and flame ionization turned out to be the same method that OPCW uses to analyze chem warfare agents. It got one of my staff a plum job in Finland where she is now lab director of one of OPCW's Finnish labs.

I really liked my job.
Well, most of it, anyway.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

---

T

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, you DO realize that Joe isn't doing jack shit anymore. He hadn't held a Cabinet meeting in a year, and when he finally did he introduced his wife, left the room, and Jill held the meeting.

---

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

---

You're right. Given the censorship, diviseness, justice system manipulation, focus on Ukraine and Russia at the expense of America, open border policy, media manipulation, etc etc I would agree that the DNC and it's media, neocon and deep state partners have been vengeful, authoritarian, anti -democratic, and anti -American.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

---

T

Crockett PERFECTLY EXPOSES Trump Ties to Project 2025 During Hearing

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, you DO realize that Joe isn't doing jack shit anymore. He hadn't held a Cabinet meeting in a year, and when he finally did he introduced his wife, left the room, and Jill held the meeting.

---

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

---

You're right. Given the censorship, diviseness, justice system manipulation, focus on Ukraine and Russia at the expense of America, open border policy, media manipulation, etc etc I would agree that the DNC and it's media, neocon and deep state partners have been vengeful, authoritarian, anti -democratic, and anti -American.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

---

T

Crockett PERFECTLY EXPOSES Trump Ties to Project 2025 During Hearing

---

---

T

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND, you DO realize that Joe isn't doing jack shit anymore. He hadn't held a Cabinet meeting in a year, and when he finally did he introduced his wife, left the room, and Jill held the meeting.

---

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.

---

You're right. Given the censorship, diviseness, justice system manipulation, focus on Ukraine and Russia at the expense of America, open border policy, media manipulation, etc etc I would agree that the DNC and it's media, neocon and deep state partners have been vengeful, authoritarian, anti -democratic, and anti -American.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

---

---

T

Crockett PERFECTLY EXPOSES Trump Ties to Project 2025 During Hearing

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They still use the filing system, but AFAIK the database part was never completed. OTOH the data processing.... the heavy duty part where you take the peak areas of each compound, multiply it by the instrument response factor for that compound, factor in the sample dilution, sample density etc and come up with a final sample value, has progressed from programmable spreadsheet to an honest to God program ... I think written in Python. The supervisor that came after me is very computer literate, another guy was an absolute genius getting instrument digital output into a computer thru either serial or parallel ports. And to think, I had to initially press some people into using a spreadsheet instead of hand calculating each value and writing it into a notebook!

But it drove me bugnuts to see how poorly our own sample tracking database was implemented. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

*****

Did some other fun stuff, too. Developed a lot of analysis methods. The one method we developed for analysis of trace organics using split sample gas chromatography mass spectrometry and flame ionization turned out to be the same method that OPCW uses to analyze chem warfare agents. It got one of my staff a plum job in Finland where she is now lab director of one of OPCW's Finnish labs.

I really liked my job.
Well, most of it, anyway.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

THUGR, you should read this for two reasons

1) It's a true account. I've been keeping up with news of the Soviet Union's collapse. Have listened to Jeffrey Sachs, one of Russia's original (American) economic advisors. Watched from a distance how crooks and gangsters took over Russia's economy and appropriated its resources. Speculated on and off with friends about Putin's progress in rebuilding Russia from the ground up and withstanding the various aggressions that were conducted on Russia's border. What's written tracks with what I've been able to figure out over the past 30 years. This is not history rewritten into a convenient (for you) narrative.

2) We may need to be able to rebuild ourselves some day. We certainly have a lot of damage to repair. This example might be useful.

Quote:

---

Russia Wins, Europe Loses, Washington Lets Brussels Down
Thursday, Sep 19, 2024 - 11:00 PM

Authored by Peter Hanseler via VoiceFromRussia.ch,

In order to understand Russia’s current strength, stance and strategy, it is necessary to understand developments since 1990. Only then will it become clear why President Putin is doing what he is doing and why he will be successful.

Development since 1990

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia was devastated. Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president, did not succeed in lifting the country out of its misery. There were solid reasons for this, both inside and outside Russia.

In an article by Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Matt Tahibi entitled “Economist Jeffrey Sachs Reveals How Neocons Subverted Russia’s Financial Stabilization In Early 1990s”, the explosiveness and importance of which cannot be overestimated, both transparently reveal the US strategy towards the Soviet Union and Russia from 1990 onwards.

The West – under the leadership of the US – pursued an unequivocal strategy of destruction. Sachs provides first-hand evidence that Poland, which later became an EU and NATO member, was helped back on its feet from 1989 with billions in aid from the G7, the IMF and other Western institutions – and very successfully so.

The approach to Russia was completely different. Russia was never supposed to become a partner of the West and Professor Sachs shows how, as an advisor to Gorbachev and then Yeltsin, he failed to organize support from the West. The US’s goal was not the recovery of Russia, but the disintegration of the country into small, digestible portions, which would then be taken over by puppets from the US. This plan is still being pursued today with enormous effort and is currently culminating in the war in Ukraine. We already reported on this last summer in an article entitled “The planned dismemberment of Russia”.

Russia after the planned dismemberment

The high point on the road to Russia’s destruction came in the late summer of 1998, when Russia’s economy collapsed, the rouble lost 99.9% of its value and the state could no longer service its debts. [Russia] was almost at the end of its rope.

Things turned out differently – a previously inconspicuous and little-known man came to the levers of power – Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s development under President Putin

President Yeltsin first appointed Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister in 1999. On the last day of the same year, he was then inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin, the new president, was faced with the ruins of a once dreaded world power. The economy was in ruins, the infrastructure practically non-existent, the people disillusioned. A few oligarchs who, with the help of American investment banks, had snatched up Russia’s prime assets, controlled politics in order to steal even more at the expense of the general public. The army – at all times the backbone of the Russian state – was a mere shadow of its former self and NATO’s eastward expansion was in full swing.

In short, Russia was in a deplorable state and many observers did not give the country much chance of survival as an entity.

President Putin achieved the almost impossible. First of all, he removed the oligarchs from power politically in a way that was highly publicized. He ensured that wages, salaries and, above all, pensions were gradually paid again – regularly and in accordance with the law. In doing so, he created a basis for later trust. As a result, the foundations were laid in all areas of life and the economy, which enabled the subsequent upswing.

These few words describing this unprecedented process of change do not begin to convey the colossal problems that had to be solved. It took years for the first successes to become visible and tangible for the population and this development continues to this day.

The course of the young president’s first years in office are the source of the phenomenon that the political West simply cannot understand and is not willing to comprehend, and which can be described in its own way as basic trust in Putin. Putin ensured wages, pensions, food, basic compliance with the law, stability and prosperity – the basis for modern Russia.

In terms of foreign policy, President Putin initially sought proximity to the West and pursued a policy aimed at making Russia a partner of the EU on an equal footing and developing friendly relations with the US. After 9/11, Putin even allowed the US to use Russian airfields.

Munich speech – Georgia – Maidan – Syria

In his famous address in Munich on 10 February 2007 at the Munich Security Conference, President Putin criticized for the first time the monopolistic dominance of the US and its almost unchecked use of force in international relations as well as the unstoppable eastward expansion of NATO. A surprising turn of events for the West. It was forced to acknowledge that Russia would no longer accept this development.

Georgia’s 2008 attack on its breakaway territories under Russian patronage – organized and orchestrated by the US – meant that Russia was forced to reassess the structure and armament of its military in light of the given threat situation. Under the pretext of reclaiming former Georgian territories, the real aim of the aggression was to create the conditions for the admission of new countries to NATO – namely Georgia and Ukraine and thus, above all, to weaken Russia.

The admission of Georgia and Ukraine was to be approved at the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008. Surprisingly, Russia was also invited to the summit as a guest – proof of how weak the US considered the Russian Federation to be at the time.

All these events forced Russia to devote a great deal of energy to rebuilding its military. This was only possible because the economic and political conditions had been created in the meantime.

Maidan 2013/14 and an eight-year covert war by the West against the ethnic Russian Donbass confirmed the decisions Russia had made in 2008.

Non-compliance with the Minsk I and II agreements – initially expressly welcomed by Russia, in reliance on Germany in particular, as an effective instrument for settling the cruel intra-Ukrainian disputes – ultimately put an end to any trust Russia had in the political leaders of the West and Western diplomacy as a whole. They did not want a peaceful solution.

Russia first demonstrated its new military strength in Syria in 2015. Through its intervention, the American plans to destroy Syria as part of the Wolfowitz Plan of 1992 failed. Russia achieved the turnaround in Syria with a skilful military approach using a very manageable force.
The strategic capabilities of the Russian leadership

Clearly defined overall strategy is being consistently implemented

President Putin sees the war in Ukraine as just one piece in a big chess game that began with the fall of the Soviet Union with its 64 squares spanning the entire globe. He repeatedly referred to this in his speeches. In my opinion, it borders on imbecility that the West does not give President Putin’s speeches the attention they deserve. Unlike many Western leaders, Putin is a prime example of strategic transparency. He implements exactly what he articulates in his speeches. This may come as a surprise to the West.It is also becoming increasingly evident that Western strategy is limited to being against Russia. As a result, the West has no strategies at all for its own interests. The economic and social downfall of Germany as a de facto colony of the US is a prime example of this. See my article “Germany is a naive pawn of the US with no power to turn things around”.

The fact that Russia is stronger today than at any time in its recent history is based on a rational, systematic and forward-looking long-term strategy, not just by Putin, but by the entire Russian leadership over the last 24 years.

The reasons why Russia has not only survived the biggest sanctions storm ever organized by the West, but has actually prospered, can be found precisely in these factors. The Russian leadership anticipated the West’s policy and made the necessary and, above all, correct political and economic decisions years in advance. Today, despite the Western sanctions storm, Russia has healthy economic and social foundations that allow it to react quickly and efficiently to any new economic attacks.

The result has astonished the West: Russia is one of the few countries without net debt. This year it can boast economic growth of over 5%. In contrast, the US and the EU are effectively in recession and bankrupt by any balance sheet standard, which is becoming increasingly evident as the manipulation of economic figures becomes less and less effective at disguising the truth.

The political West’s view of President Putin as a dictator who does and controls everything himself cannot be any further from reality. Putin has gathered a team around him that largely consists of absolute top people who understand their tasks and can fulfill them competently. In recent months in particular, this has included an uncompromising fight against corruption throughout the country, which does not even stop at ministers and takes place very publicly. The consistency shown here is extraordinary and shows that Russia is preparing for a long conflict, even if not all the swamps have been drained yet.

In addition to the economic strengthening during this crisis and the clear military victory on the front, Russia has managed to become the foreign policy and diplomatic heavyweight of the Global South alongside China. Russia’s partnership with China is reflected in an increasingly effective coordination of their decision-making. With the BRICS and SCO organizations, these two giants are forging economic and security policy organizations that will bid farewell to the hegemonistic system of the West and turn this world into a multipolar community of states.

Kursk and further Western escalation

Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region caught Russia by surprise. The reaction of the Russian leadership and the population made it clear almost from the outset that even this action, which was simply impossible without Western coordination and material support, would not be able to divert Russia from its path. It will be weeks before the Ukrainian troops are driven out, but ultimately the invasion of Kursk will only accelerate the end of the current political Ukraine. The operation has already failed and will probably go down in history as being the last stand of a loser.

This is also reflected in the fact that Kiev is constantly trying to re-explain the purpose of this military suicide mission. If the declared aim was to obtain a bargaining chip by occupying the Kursk nuclear power plant, for example, this aim was not achieved. The explanations were then changed to the effect that the aim was to force the Russians to withdraw their units from the Donbass to Kursk in order to ease the pressure on the Ukrainian troops. This did not happen either and the actions of the Russian troops even accelerated.

The aim of terrifying the Russian population was also not achieved. The fact that Russian territory was attacked for the first time since 1941 had the opposite effect on the Russian population. Estimates show that up to almost 30 thousand Ukrainians and Western mercenaries invaded Kursk and that over 12,000 of them have already been killed. It can be assumed that the remaining troops will be wiped out over the coming weeks and months. These forces are now missing at the front in the Donbass; they were the best that could still be assembled.

I expect the Americans to escalate the conflict further. The Americans will probably supply the JASSMs, which can be fired from the F16s. This weapon will – depending on the design – theoretically be capable to reach even Moscow; theoretically, because to reach Moscow it would be necessary to bring an F-16 to the east of Ukraine, which is not impossible due to the dense Russian air defense, but should be associated with considerable difficulties – and impossible without Western logistical support.

Such long-range weapons will go down in history as the next new wonder weapon, which will change the course of the war, but – like all others – will have no influence on the course of the war. We already explained this 18 months ago in our article “Wonder weapons, weapon systems and gibbeerish” and we were right.

Will President Putin allow himself to be provoked by these ultimately militarily ineffective provocations, which will have no influence whatsoever on the final outcome?
True strategists have endless patience

The patience of President Putin is repeatedly pondered – by both pro-Western and pro-Russian exponents. One commentator on our article “Kursk: invasion, start of war, distraction, pledge?” quoted the proverb “Beware the fury of a patient man.” by John Dryden.

In my opinion, however, describing the attitude of President Putin and his team as patient is an oversimplification and in no way captures the essence of Russian strategy. A chess player without patience inevitably loses. A gifted chess player creates the conditions for victory over his opponent by patiently implementing a strategy once it has been recognized as correct.

Putin’s chessboard stretches as far as Russian interests extend. He will not change his strategy, which has proven its worth over the last 24 years, by reacting emotionally to the events in Kursk or the missile strikes in Russia, which are very painful for the affected population. In my opinion, anyone who believes that Russia can be provoked in this way is wrong and has – once again – failed to understand Russia’s strategy and its implementation. The fact that the entire West is pursuing this course of provocation and believes in it is by no means an argument for its success, but rather shows that the West has no strategy at all. The lack of strategy is easily demonstrated: In our article “The consequences of the intercepted German Luftwaffe conversation mean war”, we described a possible target for Russia in response for the use of Taurus. Let’s assume that Russia would carry out such a strike, which, by the way, would be unproblematic. What would Germany’s reaction be? – Screaming, nothing more. The whole of NATO in Europe would have no instruments to respond in a serious manner. NATO would have no chance in a conventional conflict. That is not an assertion, but a fact. NATO has been getting a bloody nose in Ukraine over the past two and a half years, at the expense of the Ukrainians. The NATO forces themselves do not have any serious armed forces in Europe, neither in terms of size nor quality. The only first-class army in NATO is that of Turkey and it will certainly not march against Russia. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 with an army of almost four million men, and the Soviet Union was poorly prepared militarily at the time. The result is a well-known fact. What would happen if NATO were to invade Russia with a few hundred thousand soldiers from various NATO member states, a Russia that has never been so militarily strong and war-tested? A downright ridiculous thought.

Thoughts on Russia’s next steps

Fundamental principle

Any reaction by Russia must be understood in the context of the overall situation on the global chessboard. With regard to Ukraine, President Putin’s goals are known in principle and have been clearly communicated time and again since February 2022: Denazification, demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine (NATO) and the retention of Crimea (Istanbul 2022) as well as the retention of the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Saparoshia, and Kherson (Istanbul+) by Russia.

As President Putin is aware of the US’s long-term strategy (dismemberment of Russia) and the broken agreements (1991 and Minsk I + II), Russia will not be willing to agree to a ceasefire followed by negotiations. Negotiations will take place at the earliest when there are no more Ukrainian soldiers on Russian soil; this includes the four regions mentioned above, which are now part of Russia.

These goals are currently within Russia’s grasp. The situation in Kursk, i.e. the deployment of Ukrainian troops, has accelerated in recent days and it can be assumed that this suicide mission by the West will very soon be history. If one follows the developments on the Donbass front, one can see that the advance of the Russians is accelerating daily and it is only a matter of time before the Russian forces are on the Dnieper. The Ukrainian armed forces are virtually disintegrating. There is a shortage of soldiers and material.

Diplomacy

Trump’s candidate for the vice presidency, Senator Vance, explained the peace proposal that Trump would probably put forward: (1) A demarcation line along which the then existing front line would run and be fortified so that the Russians could not attack again; (2) Guarantee of Ukraine’s neutrality towards Russia, i.e. no membership in NATO or other allied institutions. (3) The Germans and other European countries should finance the rebuilding of western Ukraine.

By November, the Russians will probably be on the Dnieper and thus have achieved militarily what Vance and Trump intend territorially – or even more.

(President) Zelensky will be fuming if this plan is implemented. He himself exercises his power without a legal basis because his term of office expired in May and he did not stand for re-election. How could he? He no longer has any popular support and the war is lost. He must fear not only for his power, but for his life. Anyone who believes that he will lead a sweet life in exile – for example in Miami – with his stolen billions does not have a clue about the Americans. The American plan in Ukraine has failed, so the US no longer needs this man in Kiev and the heavily cocaine-addicted Selenski knows too much. He will probably suffer the same fate as Ngo Dinh Diem, who was executed – probably on US orders – on November 2, 1963. Problem solved.

The typical end of an American puppet: Ngo Dinh Diem

Europe, especially Germany, will be furious. As a loyal vassal of US interests in Ukraine, Germany has ruined itself economically and socially and contributed to the destruction of Ukraine with its military and financial support. If Trump becomes president, he will abandon Germany and leave the bill for reconstruction on the table in Berlin.

However, the peace plan is not only a disaster for Selenski and Europe, but also for the deep state in the US. Trump realizes that the US cannot afford a war against Russia, not even financially, and he would accept another foreign policy and military defeat. The deep state does not. I explained why in my article “US Elections Decide War or Peace”. The aforementioned plan to dismember Russia would be set back decades or made completely impossible by a Trump-style peace. The fact that the Deep State is doing everything it can to prevent a Trump election was already evident in this week’s debate: the two ABC “journalists” who were supposed to conduct this debate neutrally were actually fighting for Kamala Harris, who has close ties to the head of ABC.

It is not clear who will win this election, but I suspect that Donald Trump’s life is in danger.

American pressure on BRICS countries

It is obvious that the U.S. is putting massive pressure on the BRCS countries – especially Brazil and India – to get Russia to negotiate. These countries, which do business with both the Global South and the Collective West, are trying to pass this pressure on to Russia.

China is also being pressured, with the result that payment transactions between Russia and China are currently being disrupted due to pressure on Chinese banks. China’s relationship with Russia is characterized by strong economic cooperation, but strategically – especially for the Chinese – it is military. China’s interest in a Russian victory over NATO in Ukraine is vital to the survival of the Middle Kingdom. As the declared main enemy of the U.S. in its struggle to maintain its hegemony, China will only be able to withstand this pressure as long as Russia is strong on its side. China’s chances of winning this battle – which will be fought over the next few generations – depend militarily on Russia. Although China has a very large army, which is constantly being expanded, and an impressive high-tech arsenal of weapons, China has no experience of war – in stark contrast to Russia. Andrei Martyanov convincingly argues that Russia today has the only armed force in the world that masters “combined warfare,” an indispensable prerequisite for winning a real military conflict. Real means against a serious enemy. This is precisely why Ukraine – even with the active help of NATO – has no chance against Russia.

Russia is certainly taking these calls from its BRICS partners seriously at the diplomatic level, but will not deviate from its strategy in any way.

. . .




President Putin does not see the "permission" of the US and the UK to use Western long-range weapons against Russia as permission, but as a clear and direct entry of NATO countries into a war against Russia. He justifies this view with the fact that these attacks cannot be carried out by Ukraine without NATO support. On the one hand, Ukraine has no satellite reconnaissance of its own and, on the other, it does not have the personnel to provide technical support for the weapons systems.

President Putin’s conclusion verbatim:

If this decision is taken, it will mean nothing other than the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine. This is their direct involvement, and this, of course, significantly changes the essence, the nature of the conflict.

It means that the NATO countries, the United States and the European countries are at war with Russia. And if that is the case, then given the changed nature of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will arise for us.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75092

These statements by President Putin are once again a brilliant move. They automatically provide him with a legal basis for an attack on any NATO member in the event that these long-range weapons are used. He doesn’t have to – but he can – at any time.

Conclusion

President Putin is well aware of the long-term U.S. strategy toward Russia: the dismemberment of Russia.

During his first 22 years in office, Putin tried to solve this problem diplomatically by refraining from the use of armed force until February 2022. On the one hand, this prolonged use of diplomatic means by Putin is hushed up by the West or interpreted as weakness. On the other hand, this angelic patience is sometimes blamed on him within his own ranks.

In the period up to 2022, Russia flourished thanks to an unprecedented economic and social policy that can only be compared to Germany’s postwar recovery after World War II, although the comparison is not entirely accurate: Germany was backed by huge resources, mainly from the US, to make its success possible. Russia did not have this privilege, but achieved it on its own, which makes Russia’s recovery since 2000 all the more impressive.

Putin’s strategy is a holistic, global chess game, balanced down to the last detail and based on such a stable foundation that even the biggest storm of sanctions ever initiated by the West not only failed to damage the Russian economy, but actually led to an economic upturn.

Militarily, Russia today has no opponents: the West has no strategy – neither geopolitical nor military – but uses propaganda as its main weapon and is embarrassing itself on the battlefield to such an extent that it would make you laugh if schadenfreude were appropriate – it’s not: countless people are dying as a result of these cynical games organized by a few sociopaths, and the media in the West are either bought or so stupid that you can’t laugh.

Russia is going to end this war and dictate the terms. What’s amazing is that according to Vice Presidential candidate Vance, a possible President Trump would come very close to the Kremlin’s terms. However, it’s anyone’s guess whether Trump will live to see the election, as the Deep State will do everything it can to keep the war ball in play; it can only succeed without Trump.

My guess is that the attacks on Russia with drones and missiles – including long-range missiles – will continue and intensify. Like the Kursk adventure, these actions will have no impact on the overall military situation. The situation on the main front is increasingly becoming a disaster for Ukraine: Russian territorial gains are developing rapidly, and Ukrainian losses are mounting as conscripted soldiers desert in increasing numbers. This has even been reported by CNN, another indication of the catastrophic situation in which Ukraine finds itself.

I do not rule out a Russian attack on a NATO base outside Ukraine – one should never do that – but I think it is unlikely at this point. However, if long-range attacks on Russia were to be staged from Poland or Romania, they would also be legally justified.

The Russians are known to react unconventionally, so American bases in the Middle East are obvious targets that the Russians could attack – this time through their proxies.

Let’s hope for some residual sanity in Western decision-making centers so that things don’t take a turn for the worst.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

THUGR, you should read this for two reasons

1) It's a true account. I've been keeping up with news of the Soviet Union's collapse. Have listened to Jeffrey Sachs, one of Russia's original (American) economic advisors. Watched from a distance how crooks and gangsters took over Russia's economy and appropriated its resources. Speculated on and off with friends about Putin's progress in rebuilding Russia from the ground up and withstanding the various aggressions that were conducted on Russia's border. What's written tracks with what I've been able to figure out over the past 30 years. This is not history rewritten into a convenient (for you) narrative.

2) We may need to be able to rebuild ourselves some day. We certainly have a lot of damage to repair. This example might be useful.

Quote:

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Russia Wins, Europe Loses, Washington Lets Brussels Down
Thursday, Sep 19, 2024 - 11:00 PM

Authored by Peter Hanseler via VoiceFromRussia.ch,

In order to understand Russia’s current strength, stance and strategy, it is necessary to understand developments since 1990. Only then will it become clear why President Putin is doing what he is doing and why he will be successful.

Development since 1990

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia was devastated. Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president, did not succeed in lifting the country out of its misery. There were solid reasons for this, both inside and outside Russia.

In an article by Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Matt Tahibi entitled “Economist Jeffrey Sachs Reveals How Neocons Subverted Russia’s Financial Stabilization In Early 1990s”, the explosiveness and importance of which cannot be overestimated, both transparently reveal the US strategy towards the Soviet Union and Russia from 1990 onwards.

The West – under the leadership of the US – pursued an unequivocal strategy of destruction. Sachs provides first-hand evidence that Poland, which later became an EU and NATO member, was helped back on its feet from 1989 with billions in aid from the G7, the IMF and other Western institutions – and very successfully so.

The approach to Russia was completely different. Russia was never supposed to become a partner of the West and Professor Sachs shows how, as an advisor to Gorbachev and then Yeltsin, he failed to organize support from the West. The US’s goal was not the recovery of Russia, but the disintegration of the country into small, digestible portions, which would then be taken over by puppets from the US. This plan is still being pursued today with enormous effort and is currently culminating in the war in Ukraine. We already reported on this last summer in an article entitled “The planned dismemberment of Russia”.

Russia after the planned dismemberment

The high point on the road to Russia’s destruction came in the late summer of 1998, when Russia’s economy collapsed, the rouble lost 99.9% of its value and the state could no longer service its debts. [Russia] was almost at the end of its rope.

Things turned out differently – a previously inconspicuous and little-known man came to the levers of power – Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s development under President Putin

President Yeltsin first appointed Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister in 1999. On the last day of the same year, he was then inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin, the new president, was faced with the ruins of a once dreaded world power. The economy was in ruins, the infrastructure practically non-existent, the people disillusioned. A few oligarchs who, with the help of American investment banks, had snatched up Russia’s prime assets, controlled politics in order to steal even more at the expense of the general public. The army – at all times the backbone of the Russian state – was a mere shadow of its former self and NATO’s eastward expansion was in full swing.

In short, Russia was in a deplorable state and many observers did not give the country much chance of survival as an entity.

President Putin achieved the almost impossible. First of all, he removed the oligarchs from power politically in a way that was highly publicized. He ensured that wages, salaries and, above all, pensions were gradually paid again – regularly and in accordance with the law. In doing so, he created a basis for later trust. As a result, the foundations were laid in all areas of life and the economy, which enabled the subsequent upswing.

These few words describing this unprecedented process of change do not begin to convey the colossal problems that had to be solved. It took years for the first successes to become visible and tangible for the population and this development continues to this day.

The course of the young president’s first years in office are the source of the phenomenon that the political West simply cannot understand and is not willing to comprehend, and which can be described in its own way as basic trust in Putin. Putin ensured wages, pensions, food, basic compliance with the law, stability and prosperity – the basis for modern Russia.

In terms of foreign policy, President Putin initially sought proximity to the West and pursued a policy aimed at making Russia a partner of the EU on an equal footing and developing friendly relations with the US. After 9/11, Putin even allowed the US to use Russian airfields.

Munich speech – Georgia – Maidan – Syria

In his famous address in Munich on 10 February 2007 at the Munich Security Conference, President Putin criticized for the first time the monopolistic dominance of the US and its almost unchecked use of force in international relations as well as the unstoppable eastward expansion of NATO. A surprising turn of events for the West. It was forced to acknowledge that Russia would no longer accept this development.

Georgia’s 2008 attack on its breakaway territories under Russian patronage – organized and orchestrated by the US – meant that Russia was forced to reassess the structure and armament of its military in light of the given threat situation. Under the pretext of reclaiming former Georgian territories, the real aim of the aggression was to create the conditions for the admission of new countries to NATO – namely Georgia and Ukraine and thus, above all, to weaken Russia.

The admission of Georgia and Ukraine was to be approved at the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008. Surprisingly, Russia was also invited to the summit as a guest – proof of how weak the US considered the Russian Federation to be at the time.

All these events forced Russia to devote a great deal of energy to rebuilding its military. This was only possible because the economic and political conditions had been created in the meantime.

Maidan 2013/14 and an eight-year covert war by the West against the ethnic Russian Donbass confirmed the decisions Russia had made in 2008.

Non-compliance with the Minsk I and II agreements – initially expressly welcomed by Russia, in reliance on Germany in particular, as an effective instrument for settling the cruel intra-Ukrainian disputes – ultimately put an end to any trust Russia had in the political leaders of the West and Western diplomacy as a whole. They did not want a peaceful solution.

Russia first demonstrated its new military strength in Syria in 2015. Through its intervention, the American plans to destroy Syria as part of the Wolfowitz Plan of 1992 failed. Russia achieved the turnaround in Syria with a skilful military approach using a very manageable force.
The strategic capabilities of the Russian leadership

Clearly defined overall strategy is being consistently implemented

President Putin sees the war in Ukraine as just one piece in a big chess game that began with the fall of the Soviet Union with its 64 squares spanning the entire globe. He repeatedly referred to this in his speeches. In my opinion, it borders on imbecility that the West does not give President Putin’s speeches the attention they deserve. Unlike many Western leaders, Putin is a prime example of strategic transparency. He implements exactly what he articulates in his speeches. This may come as a surprise to the West.It is also becoming increasingly evident that Western strategy is limited to being against Russia. As a result, the West has no strategies at all for its own interests. The economic and social downfall of Germany as a de facto colony of the US is a prime example of this. See my article “Germany is a naive pawn of the US with no power to turn things around”.

The fact that Russia is stronger today than at any time in its recent history is based on a rational, systematic and forward-looking long-term strategy, not just by Putin, but by the entire Russian leadership over the last 24 years.

The reasons why Russia has not only survived the biggest sanctions storm ever organized by the West, but has actually prospered, can be found precisely in these factors. The Russian leadership anticipated the West’s policy and made the necessary and, above all, correct political and economic decisions years in advance. Today, despite the Western sanctions storm, Russia has healthy economic and social foundations that allow it to react quickly and efficiently to any new economic attacks.

The result has astonished the West: Russia is one of the few countries without net debt. This year it can boast economic growth of over 5%. In contrast, the US and the EU are effectively in recession and bankrupt by any balance sheet standard, which is becoming increasingly evident as the manipulation of economic figures becomes less and less effective at disguising the truth.

The political West’s view of President Putin as a dictator who does and controls everything himself cannot be any further from reality. Putin has gathered a team around him that largely consists of absolute top people who understand their tasks and can fulfill them competently. In recent months in particular, this has included an uncompromising fight against corruption throughout the country, which does not even stop at ministers and takes place very publicly. The consistency shown here is extraordinary and shows that Russia is preparing for a long conflict, even if not all the swamps have been drained yet.

In addition to the economic strengthening during this crisis and the clear military victory on the front, Russia has managed to become the foreign policy and diplomatic heavyweight of the Global South alongside China. Russia’s partnership with China is reflected in an increasingly effective coordination of their decision-making. With the BRICS and SCO organizations, these two giants are forging economic and security policy organizations that will bid farewell to the hegemonistic system of the West and turn this world into a multipolar community of states.

Kursk and further Western escalation

Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region caught Russia by surprise. The reaction of the Russian leadership and the population made it clear almost from the outset that even this action, which was simply impossible without Western coordination and material support, would not be able to divert Russia from its path. It will be weeks before the Ukrainian troops are driven out, but ultimately the invasion of Kursk will only accelerate the end of the current political Ukraine. The operation has already failed and will probably go down in history as being the last stand of a loser.

This is also reflected in the fact that Kiev is constantly trying to re-explain the purpose of this military suicide mission. If the declared aim was to obtain a bargaining chip by occupying the Kursk nuclear power plant, for example, this aim was not achieved. The explanations were then changed to the effect that the aim was to force the Russians to withdraw their units from the Donbass to Kursk in order to ease the pressure on the Ukrainian troops. This did not happen either and the actions of the Russian troops even accelerated.

The aim of terrifying the Russian population was also not achieved. The fact that Russian territory was attacked for the first time since 1941 had the opposite effect on the Russian population. Estimates show that up to almost 30 thousand Ukrainians and Western mercenaries invaded Kursk and that over 12,000 of them have already been killed. It can be assumed that the remaining troops will be wiped out over the coming weeks and months. These forces are now missing at the front in the Donbass; they were the best that could still be assembled.

I expect the Americans to escalate the conflict further. The Americans will probably supply the JASSMs, which can be fired from the F16s. This weapon will – depending on the design – theoretically be capable to reach even Moscow; theoretically, because to reach Moscow it would be necessary to bring an F-16 to the east of Ukraine, which is not impossible due to the dense Russian air defense, but should be associated with considerable difficulties – and impossible without Western logistical support.

Such long-range weapons will go down in history as the next new wonder weapon, which will change the course of the war, but – like all others – will have no influence on the course of the war. We already explained this 18 months ago in our article “Wonder weapons, weapon systems and gibbeerish” and we were right.

Will President Putin allow himself to be provoked by these ultimately militarily ineffective provocations, which will have no influence whatsoever on the final outcome?
True strategists have endless patience

The patience of President Putin is repeatedly pondered – by both pro-Western and pro-Russian exponents. One commentator on our article “Kursk: invasion, start of war, distraction, pledge?” quoted the proverb “Beware the fury of a patient man.” by John Dryden.

In my opinion, however, describing the attitude of President Putin and his team as patient is an oversimplification and in no way captures the essence of Russian strategy. A chess player without patience inevitably loses. A gifted chess player creates the conditions for victory over his opponent by patiently implementing a strategy once it has been recognized as correct.

Putin’s chessboard stretches as far as Russian interests extend. He will not change his strategy, which has proven its worth over the last 24 years, by reacting emotionally to the events in Kursk or the missile strikes in Russia, which are very painful for the affected population. In my opinion, anyone who believes that Russia can be provoked in this way is wrong and has – once again – failed to understand Russia’s strategy and its implementation. The fact that the entire West is pursuing this course of provocation and believes in it is by no means an argument for its success, but rather shows that the West has no strategy at all. The lack of strategy is easily demonstrated: In our article “The consequences of the intercepted German Luftwaffe conversation mean war”, we described a possible target for Russia in response for the use of Taurus. Let’s assume that Russia would carry out such a strike, which, by the way, would be unproblematic. What would Germany’s reaction be? – Screaming, nothing more. The whole of NATO in Europe would have no instruments to respond in a serious manner. NATO would have no chance in a conventional conflict. That is not an assertion, but a fact. NATO has been getting a bloody nose in Ukraine over the past two and a half years, at the expense of the Ukrainians. The NATO forces themselves do not have any serious armed forces in Europe, neither in terms of size nor quality. The only first-class army in NATO is that of Turkey and it will certainly not march against Russia. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 with an army of almost four million men, and the Soviet Union was poorly prepared militarily at the time. The result is a well-known fact. What would happen if NATO were to invade Russia with a few hundred thousand soldiers from various NATO member states, a Russia that has never been so militarily strong and war-tested? A downright ridiculous thought.

Thoughts on Russia’s next steps

Fundamental principle

Any reaction by Russia must be understood in the context of the overall situation on the global chessboard. With regard to Ukraine, President Putin’s goals are known in principle and have been clearly communicated time and again since February 2022: Denazification, demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine (NATO) and the retention of Crimea (Istanbul 2022) as well as the retention of the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Saparoshia, and Kherson (Istanbul+) by Russia.

As President Putin is aware of the US’s long-term strategy (dismemberment of Russia) and the broken agreements (1991 and Minsk I + II), Russia will not be willing to agree to a ceasefire followed by negotiations. Negotiations will take place at the earliest when there are no more Ukrainian soldiers on Russian soil; this includes the four regions mentioned above, which are now part of Russia.

These goals are currently within Russia’s grasp. The situation in Kursk, i.e. the deployment of Ukrainian troops, has accelerated in recent days and it can be assumed that this suicide mission by the West will very soon be history. If one follows the developments on the Donbass front, one can see that the advance of the Russians is accelerating daily and it is only a matter of time before the Russian forces are on the Dnieper. The Ukrainian armed forces are virtually disintegrating. There is a shortage of soldiers and material.

Diplomacy

Trump’s candidate for the vice presidency, Senator Vance, explained the peace proposal that Trump would probably put forward: (1) A demarcation line along which the then existing front line would run and be fortified so that the Russians could not attack again; (2) Guarantee of Ukraine’s neutrality towards Russia, i.e. no membership in NATO or other allied institutions. (3) The Germans and other European countries should finance the rebuilding of western Ukraine.

By November, the Russians will probably be on the Dnieper and thus have achieved militarily what Vance and Trump intend territorially – or even more.

(President) Zelensky will be fuming if this plan is implemented. He himself exercises his power without a legal basis because his term of office expired in May and he did not stand for re-election. How could he? He no longer has any popular support and the war is lost. He must fear not only for his power, but for his life. Anyone who believes that he will lead a sweet life in exile – for example in Miami – with his stolen billions does not have a clue about the Americans. The American plan in Ukraine has failed, so the US no longer needs this man in Kiev and the heavily cocaine-addicted Selenski knows too much. He will probably suffer the same fate as Ngo Dinh Diem, who was executed – probably on US orders – on November 2, 1963. Problem solved.

The typical end of an American puppet: Ngo Dinh Diem

Europe, especially Germany, will be furious. As a loyal vassal of US interests in Ukraine, Germany has ruined itself economically and socially and contributed to the destruction of Ukraine with its military and financial support. If Trump becomes president, he will abandon Germany and leave the bill for reconstruction on the table in Berlin.

However, the peace plan is not only a disaster for Selenski and Europe, but also for the deep state in the US. Trump realizes that the US cannot afford a war against Russia, not even financially, and he would accept another foreign policy and military defeat. The deep state does not. I explained why in my article “US Elections Decide War or Peace”. The aforementioned plan to dismember Russia would be set back decades or made completely impossible by a Trump-style peace. The fact that the Deep State is doing everything it can to prevent a Trump election was already evident in this week’s debate: the two ABC “journalists” who were supposed to conduct this debate neutrally were actually fighting for Kamala Harris, who has close ties to the head of ABC.

It is not clear who will win this election, but I suspect that Donald Trump’s life is in danger.

American pressure on BRICS countries

It is obvious that the U.S. is putting massive pressure on the BRCS countries – especially Brazil and India – to get Russia to negotiate. These countries, which do business with both the Global South and the Collective West, are trying to pass this pressure on to Russia.

China is also being pressured, with the result that payment transactions between Russia and China are currently being disrupted due to pressure on Chinese banks. China’s relationship with Russia is characterized by strong economic cooperation, but strategically – especially for the Chinese – it is military. China’s interest in a Russian victory over NATO in Ukraine is vital to the survival of the Middle Kingdom. As the declared main enemy of the U.S. in its struggle to maintain its hegemony, China will only be able to withstand this pressure as long as Russia is strong on its side. China’s chances of winning this battle – which will be fought over the next few generations – depend militarily on Russia. Although China has a very large army, which is constantly being expanded, and an impressive high-tech arsenal of weapons, China has no experience of war – in stark contrast to Russia. Andrei Martyanov convincingly argues that Russia today has the only armed force in the world that masters “combined warfare,” an indispensable prerequisite for winning a real military conflict. Real means against a serious enemy. This is precisely why Ukraine – even with the active help of NATO – has no chance against Russia.

Russia is certainly taking these calls from its BRICS partners seriously at the diplomatic level, but will not deviate from its strategy in any way.

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President Putin does not see the "permission" of the US and the UK to use Western long-range weapons against Russia as permission, but as a clear and direct entry of NATO countries into a war against Russia. He justifies this view with the fact that these attacks cannot be carried out by Ukraine without NATO support. On the one hand, Ukraine has no satellite reconnaissance of its own and, on the other, it does not have the personnel to provide technical support for the weapons systems.

President Putin’s conclusion verbatim:

If this decision is taken, it will mean nothing other than the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine. This is their direct involvement, and this, of course, significantly changes the essence, the nature of the conflict.

It means that the NATO countries, the United States and the European countries are at war with Russia. And if that is the case, then given the changed nature of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will arise for us.
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75092

These statements by President Putin are once again a brilliant move. They automatically provide him with a legal basis for an attack on any NATO member in the event that these long-range weapons are used. He doesn’t have to – but he can – at any time.

Conclusion

President Putin is well aware of the long-term U.S. strategy toward Russia: the dismemberment of Russia.

During his first 22 years in office, Putin tried to solve this problem diplomatically by refraining from the use of armed force until February 2022. On the one hand, this prolonged use of diplomatic means by Putin is hushed up by the West or interpreted as weakness. On the other hand, this angelic patience is sometimes blamed on him within his own ranks.

In the period up to 2022, Russia flourished thanks to an unprecedented economic and social policy that can only be compared to Germany’s postwar recovery after World War II, although the comparison is not entirely accurate: Germany was backed by huge resources, mainly from the US, to make its success possible. Russia did not have this privilege, but achieved it on its own, which makes Russia’s recovery since 2000 all the more impressive.

Putin’s strategy is a holistic, global chess game, balanced down to the last detail and based on such a stable foundation that even the biggest storm of sanctions ever initiated by the West not only failed to damage the Russian economy, but actually led to an economic upturn.

Militarily, Russia today has no opponents: the West has no strategy – neither geopolitical nor military – but uses propaganda as its main weapon and is embarrassing itself on the battlefield to such an extent that it would make you laugh if schadenfreude were appropriate – it’s not: countless people are dying as a result of these cynical games organized by a few sociopaths, and the media in the West are either bought or so stupid that you can’t laugh.

Russia is going to end this war and dictate the terms. What’s amazing is that according to Vice Presidential candidate Vance, a possible President Trump would come very close to the Kremlin’s terms. However, it’s anyone’s guess whether Trump will live to see the election, as the Deep State will do everything it can to keep the war ball in play; it can only succeed without Trump.

My guess is that the attacks on Russia with drones and missiles – including long-range missiles – will continue and intensify. Like the Kursk adventure, these actions will have no impact on the overall military situation. The situation on the main front is increasingly becoming a disaster for Ukraine: Russian territorial gains are developing rapidly, and Ukrainian losses are mounting as conscripted soldiers desert in increasing numbers. This has even been reported by CNN, another indication of the catastrophic situation in which Ukraine finds itself.

I do not rule out a Russian attack on a NATO base outside Ukraine – one should never do that – but I think it is unlikely at this point. However, if long-range attacks on Russia were to be staged from Poland or Romania, they would also be legally justified.

The Russians are known to react unconventionally, so American bases in the Middle East are obvious targets that the Russians could attack – this time through their proxies.

Let’s hope for some residual sanity in Western decision-making centers so that things don’t take a turn for the worst.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I see THG is being a dick, again.

Yanno THG, this website would be a lot more attractive without clowns like you shitting it up.



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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They still use the filing system, but AFAIK the database part was never completed. OTOH the data processing.... the heavy duty part where you take the peak areas of each compound, multiply it by the instrument response factor for that compound, factor in the sample dilution, sample density etc and come up with a final sample value, has progressed from programmable spreadsheet to an honest to God program ... I think written in Python. The supervisor that came after me is very computer literate, another guy was an absolute genius getting instrument digital output into a computer thru either serial or parallel ports. And to think, I had to initially press some people into using a spreadsheet instead of hand calculating each value and writing it into a notebook!

But it drove me bugnuts to see how poorly our own sample tracking database was implemented. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

*****

Did some other fun stuff, too. Developed a lot of analysis methods. The one method we developed for analysis of trace organics using split sample gas chromatography mass spectrometry and flame ionization turned out to be the same method that OPCW uses to analyze chem warfare agents. It got one of my staff a plum job in Finland where she is now lab director of one of OPCW's Finnish labs.

I really liked my job.
Well, most of it, anyway.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I see THG is being a dick, again.

Yanno THG, this website would be a lot more attractive without clowns like you shitting it up.



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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Americans support America

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He's losing his mind right now. He knows that there are no numbers to support any of the news headlines he posts. Plus, he honestly believes it's the end of the world if Harris isn't elected, so he believes his very life is at stake on November 5th.

He'll be alright.

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Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Yeah. I noticed THUGR never has the courage of his convictions.

He never puts an END DATE for those endlessly ticking clocks!

Yes, some day Putin will get sick and die. As will we all.

Yes, some day Russia will fall apart. Eventually all nations do.

Yes, some day Putin's rule will end.

I'm putting my money on 2030.

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