Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The Emperor's New Clothes, 2025. 

- From the archives: Sam Altman on how to be successful.

- VDH: Putin, Trump, and the elusive peace. He's not wrong.

- Interesting plan for Italy and NATO.

An End to the Ukraine War?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

-  The Kirk Cousins situation in Atlanta explained.

- Profile of Kash Patel and the need to reform the FBI

- Niall Ferguson on Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin. I take it with a grain of salt when I remember Ferguson was for the longest time an advocate for "Chimerica" (a term he coined).

- Regrets of the dying. Always something to keep in mind when making New Year's resolutions.

Some Memes You Might Enjoy

Some Memes You Might Enjoy

- White dudes for Kamala.

- Heh Heh

- Sounds plausible.

- Some Biblical humor

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Thinking of reserving one of these.

- The case for solar power. I like the AOTA idea and must say that I do know a solar sales person who does quite well in helping people convert their homes to solar.

- How popular snack logos have changed over time.

- Fact checking Russian history. (HT Execupundit)

Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest.

- Heh Heh

- The world according to Joe Biden.

- The Carlson-Putin interview.

- Analysis true!

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Disney not even trying to hide their racism.

-  Disney (ESPN), Fox. and  Warner Brothers/Discovery will launch a new sports streaming service this fall.

- Tucker Carlson on why he's interviewing Vladimir Putin

- Ronna McDaniel is reportedly stepping down as RNC chair after South Carolina primary. Would anyone be surprised if this turned out to be a false flag operation?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Dan Wetzel on Dabo Swinney. Have a gut feeling tat Clemson isn't done yet.

- Harvard is named worst school for free speech - getting 0 out of a possible 100 points. However, on the Harvard grading slope that's a B.

- Was Wagner boss's assassination business or revenge?

- VDH on what the Left did to our country. He does not spare Barack Obama from being crucified. 

Heh Heh

How Does the Russo-Ukrainian War End?

Interesting analysis on the situation in Ukraine and the possible endgame. Agree with the author that use of even a single nuclear device is unlikely, According to the author, "The war ends when Ukrainian military victories alter Russian political realities, a process which I believe has begun."

"...as the instability created by the war in Ukraine comes home, Russian leaders who wish to gain from that instability, or protect themselves from it, will want their power centers [troops] close to Moscow, And this, of course, would be a very good thing, for Ukraine and for the world."

Sounds plausible. Bit of a long read but I thought it worthwhile.

HT Stephen Landry.

Is China About to Turn on Russia?

Interesting analysis on whether Xi Jinping and China will turn on Vladimir Putin and Russia.  Realpolitik would suggest this is the most likely scenario. Both nations are weakened by the War in Ukraine and world events plus historically they have been luke-warm allies at best.

Most forget but in 1969 Russia and China were very close to an all-out war. According to Henry Kissinger, it was this fact that spurred much of the US's policies towards both countries with Nixon supporting China because he "decided that it was against American national interest to have China defeated."

What would be in America's best interest today? We can start with staying out of nuclear war. Other than that - the path forward is hardly clear.

The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Sabotage?

As far as conspiracy theories go - this one that the US torpedoed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is pretty convincing. Backed up with some questionable verifiable actions on the part of the Biden Administration and the military (HT to American Digest for the link). 

To me the Occam's Razor explanation still remains that Russian "maintenance" and what happens to pipelines not properly maintained sounds like the correct explanation but...

Given Joe Biden's track record this new conspiracy theory gives me pause. Take for example Joe blocking Trump's plan to refill the SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) at $24 a barrel only to now have to empty the SPR because OPEC+ has given him the middle finger and oil is now hovering around $100 a barrel. And more importantly Biden's actions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline itself where one of the first things he did as President was remove the sanctions Trump had put in place that was preventing the completion of the pipeline in the first place. 

From a Glenn Greenwald article from May 2021:

Trump - even as he was shrilly depicted as an agent of the Kremlin - was obsessed with stopping the Russian pipeline and thus sabotaging Putin's key geopolitical project.

Greenwald's choice of the word "sabotaging" is certainly ironic given the circumstances. It would be par for the course for Joe Biden to remove the hurdles to Putin to get the pipeline completed only to later have to risk an act of war with Russia to destroy it.

As Barack Obama once said, "Never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up." 

Finland and Sweden : Reinforcing NATO's Northern Flank

Finland and Sweden are seemingly fast-tracking potential membership into NATO. I don't like that idea at all!

To me it isn't reinforcing NATO's northern flank - instead it would be an unforced error of escalating tensions unnecessarily.  Putin claimed Ukraine's potential of joining NATO putting NATO troops on Russia's doorstep as one of his justifications for invasion. Having Finland and Sweden join NATO would allow Putin, with some truth, to tell the Russian people, "See I was right! NATO is trying to surround us!"

Don't like this idea at all.

Democracy's Superpower?

Interesting essay suggesting that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine "has restored democracy's image and its mojo." 

Russia's debacle in Ukraine underscored the fact that democracy's guarantee that leaders are regularly replaced is actually the system's most important advantage. It turns out that our power to throw the bums out could end up saving not just the West, but the world.

That could be hyperbole but the point that an autocrat like Putin in power for so long - doesn't have anyone around him that could tell him "No" - is not beneficial. The plans to invade Ukraine were handled by only a handful of trusted military planners to help keep it secret. How do you become a "trusted" military planner? You support the boss at all turns. Likewise the military and intelligence services are led by people who got their positions not through competence but through loyalty. And we are seeing the fruits of that in the quagmire Ukraine has become for Russia. 

The essay also points out that China's President Xi Jinping is following a similar trajectory as Putin. Though Xi has been in office only half as long as Putin he has consistently concentrated his own power (just like Putin) but at the cost of all the things that were making China's economy a powerhouse. Business leaders in the West would be wise to decouple from China now because the longer Xi remains in power the more disengaged from reality he'll become. Just like Putin.

Please note that I disagree 100% with the author's assessment of Biden and Trump but that does not invalidate his many good points made in the essay.

Heh Heh

Via

Could Sanctions on Russia Backfire?

Interesting perspective from a reporter based in Moscow. The sanctions on Russia from the West may backfire and actually harden the military resolve regarding Ukraine. 

One area that was not discussed in the article was how the sanctions and the contraction of the Russian economy could affect pension payments. Russia is an older nation with millions on pensions today. Rampant inflation is bound to hit these folks the hardest. As you can see in the below graph - the Russian people tend to trust Vladimir Putin the most during times of "special military actions" (see the rise of Putin's popularity during the invasion of Crimea) but least when people's pensions are threatened (see what happened to how people's trust in him greatly dropped when he proposed raising the pension age back in 2018). Just something to keep in mind.

Russia is Dying Out

Putin is terrified of his nation's demographic crisis - and with good reason. 

At the time of its dissolution, the Soviet Union was the home of 290 million people, 50 million more than the USA. Today, the Russian Federation has les than half that number - and less than half of the USA's current total.

...the Russian men who fell fighting the Germans in the Forties were from families of six or seven siblings; those who fell fighting the Afghans in the Eighties were from families of two or three. Those falling now, fighting in Ukraine, are likely to be only-children or one of two siblings.

Russia used to be a vast land of millions, with vast oil and gas wealth, and a military that was feared the world over. Now it is still a vast land, but now the nations of the world will only buy its oil and gas reluctantly and as a last measure. And its military is now no longer feared (except for its nuclear stockpile). Hundreds of thousands of Russia's youngest, best and brightest are fleeing Putin's Russia because of the war and the accompanying sanctions. A cynic could say that the only thing Putin will get from the war in Ukraine is the infusion of refugees to help bolster the dying Russian population. Too bad he forgot that he'd also need to feed the refugees and provide jobs.

HT Jordan Peterson

Seems About Right

You may need to have come of age in the 80's to get the reference.

Heh Heh

So Anti-Frackers are Actually Pro-Putin?

Matt Ridley on how Russia and Putin spent millions spreading fake news about fracking in England. Keep prices high and keep shale gas in the ground was the goal. It worked.

In the US the foreign oil and gas interests just hand millions to the children of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.