Neronian Ruling Classes Fiddles while West Burns

Above Nero plays while Rome burns. The claque Of Neros leads us in West.

I don’t approve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that their aggression is succeeding. They have done it. Why? The West can’t afford to keep waging this war against Moscow. Item:

A major Vienna energy supplier announced the other day that it was facing bankruptcy due to losses in energy futures. Now, in late August, another European monolith of gas is struggling:

In Poland, homeowners are lined up in their cars for days, hoping to buy enough coal to last the winter. Excerpt:

Artur’s household is one of the nearly 4 million in Poland that rely on coal for heating (granted, these households are probably in better shape than the ones relying on nat gas whose price is rising by 10-20% every day and is now almost literally in the stratosphere) and now face shortages and price hikes, after Poland and the European Union imposed an embargo on Russian coal following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The bloc ordered that they be wiped out by August. Poland had banned all purchases in April.

While Poland produces over 50 million tonnes from its own mines every year, imported coal, much of it from Russia, is a household staple because of competitive prices and the fact that Russian coal is sold in lumps more suitable for home use. Soaring demand forced Bogdanka, and other state-controlled mines, to restrict sales or offer fuel online to individuals in small quantities. Artur did not wish to be identified because he said that he collected documents from extended relatives in order to get all his fuel allocations.

Yesterday, in Rome I spoke to two Poles about their fear of winter. Polish people have firewood and are stocking up. But very many Poles do not. They cannot even burn coal for heat in their flats. They don’t know what they will do. They aren’t sure.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Russia is rolling in cash from selling oil and gas in this current market. David “Spengler”, Goldman, states what is obvious. This is not obvious to American and European leaders but is becoming increasingly painfully obvious to Europeans.

Capital Economics estimates that Russia can sell 1/5 of its pre-war volume of hydrocarbon exports and make the same money. Russia sanctions must be ranked as the most important goal of any living person.

— David P. Goldman (@davidpgoldman) August 29, 2022

Even though the West may be rich, the West can’t heat its citizens in winter without burning money. European householders are being asked if they want to freeze in the darkness for Ukraine. Although this is unlikely to occur to Americans, you can think of how you’d react to it if you were there, as well as your parents and children. This is not the world Putin would prefer, although he is a fool.

Meanwhile, in today’s Wall Street Journal:

The war in Ukraine has depleted American stocks of some types of ammunition and the Pentagon has been slow to replenish its arsenal, sparking concerns among U.S. officials that American military readiness could be jeopardized by the shortage.

It might have been worth it, if the Russians were to prevail. We don’t. But they are fighting for what they consider their territory. Russia is a large country and makes a lot of money by selling oil and gas in the distorted market that has been created by Western sanctions. While it is not an insult to the Ukrainians’ valor which is impressive, it does highlight that they do not have sufficient resources to win.

Let us look at Iraq. The Green Zone was overrun in 2003 by the supporters of Muqtada Al-Sadr (radical Shiite cleric):

“Democracy! Whiskey! Sexy!” ‘Memba that? Yes. George W. Bush’s government and he led America into the disaster. This was possible because we spent blood, and large sums of money on it. Because see, we are America, we are the West, and as Karl Rove told the New York Times on background back in 2004, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. “

The Taliban want to speak out about this. Please call the Kabul government headquarters. Muqtada Al-Sadr is open to adding to this conversation. Russia, above all else, would love to contribute.

Never forget who caused these disasters. The ruling class in most Western countries is the culprit (Hungary being a notable exception). The humiliating defeats we suffered in Afghanistan and Iraq were largely due to the leadership of the United States, primarily Republicans but also most Democrats. I don’t have time to spare Republican partisans who are blaming Biden today for Afghanistan’s shitshow; while I am happy for him, we must not forget that Afghanistan wasn’t winnable. If we refer to establishing stable, liberal democracies. The Biden Administration has been pouring weapons and money into Ukraine with the support of Republicans in the Senate. It’s the US political leadership as well as that of the European Union that have pushed this disastrous policy to impose energy sanctions against Russia. This policy is going to decimate Europeans and their economies this winter.

I can’t stress this strongly enough to American readers: this is really happening in Europe. What if you were facing the winter with the prospect of rolling blackouts, not knowing if you will be able to heat your home or cook your food? Imagine if your job was at risk due to economic collapse. Imagine if you had to shut down your business or close the factory that employs you because energy costs are prohibitive. This is what’s happening in Europe. This is not wild speculation. It’s a fact that Europe feels like it’s on a freight train.

Nothing in it is enough to justify what Vladimir Putin did and continues doing in Ukraine. It does however reveal the limitations of Western ideallism and wishful thinking.

Viktor Orban said earlier this summer:

Western strategy in this war is based on four pillars. This strategy is sensible on paper and may even have numbers backing it up. First, Ukraine can’t win war against Russia by itself. But it can with the help of NATO and training with Anglo-Saxons. This was the first assertion.

The second claim was that the sanctions would destabilise Moscow’s leadership and weaken Russia. The third strategic aspect was that, although sanctions would affect us as well, we would still be able deal with them. This would mean that we would suffer less and they would feel more pain.

The fourth strategic element was to have the whole world behind us because we were right.

Today, we find ourselves in a car with 4 flat tires, a consequence of our excellent strategy. This is a clear indication that war can’t be won.

The Ukrainians won’t win the war against Russia without American weapons and training. The Russian army is asymmetrically superior.

The second reality we need to face is that sanctions aren’t destabilizing Moscow.

The third fact is that Europe has been in serious trouble. Not only is it facing economic and political difficulties, but they are also causing problems with the stability of Russia. The British, Italian, Bulgarian, and Estonian governments all fell within a matter of days after the start of war. We are still in autumn. In June, energy prices increased by more than two-thirds. This was the big price increase. We have lost four government governments already, so the effects on our lives are just starting to show.

And lastly, the world isn’t with us. The Americans were able to identify an evil empire in history and call for the whole world to do the same. This phrase is a bit troubling to us, since this was what communists have always stated. The American ability to get everyone on the correct side of history and the world to follow them is gone. The majority of the world does not agree with this side, not South Africa, South Africa or the Indians. The vast majority of the world refuses to participate in the war. This is not because the West is wrong, but rather because there are other issues that matter to them and that need to be solved. This war may be the one to end Western dominance, which used various methods to bring about world unity and defeat certain players on particular issues. This era is ending and, in the rhetorical language of politics they are predicting a multipolar world order.

Did any of these things happen in America? It’s unlikely. The only thing the US media cared about was Orban’s remarks about how Europe doesn’t need to be “mixed-race” (by which he meant that members of the Islamic nation should not be imported into Europe). It’s insane. It was insane. Here was an European leader voicing the alarm about the West losing the war and walking away from the cliff. But our stupid media class only cared about a throw-away comment it had misinterpreted. When the media is ideologically controlled, journalists tend to care less about reporting on the actual world than managing the Narrative.

Does it make sense? Are you seeing how much we’re being duped? Are you able to see the lies being told by our politicians — both Democrats and Republicans — as well as in media and cultural institutions?

You might be laughing, but this is the connection: the lies our media tells us and ourselves about the Ukraine conflict, as well as the lies our ruling classes tell us and us about racism and transgenderism. The popular Twitter account Libs Of Tik Tok has been removed from Twitter due to Chaya Raichik’s insistence that they don’t believe the claims made by children’s hospitals about whether or not their “gender confirmation surgeries” are mutilating children. What got her booted was that she posted audio of having phoned the Children’s Hospital of Washington, pretending to be the parent of a dysphoric 16-year-old, and asked if they perform “gender-affirming” hysterectomies on children. Two employees — two! They said they did. Raichik uploaded the audio. Twitter fired Raichik for saying the truth using words from the hospital employees.

The rot is deep. It’s going to all end when the lies cannot be maintained. A French woman told me over the weekend that she and her family have begun to make concrete plans for how they will support each other and themselves in the coming crisis. No one trusts government any more. They are aware that they can’t trust the government anymore. Their government is full of liars that prefer to protect the progressive Narrative over the concrete interests the French people.

America is somewhat protected from such an event because it doesn’t have to deal with the same terrible energy crisis as Europe. Are you sure that America will be fine if one of our biggest trading partners collapses? We will crash, too. My fellow conservatives, if you believe that the Trump return will be enough to address what’s here and what’s coming, then you’re almost as deluded than the libs. As much as the Narrative is a prisoner for you, so are they. It’s bad and bad news, and things will only get worse.

And I did not even mention coming food shortages. It’s okay, affirmative action is available in the senior financial leadership.

Leadership at the Federal Reserve has become its most diverse ever. There are more female, Black and gay officials contributing to the central bank’s interest-rate decisions than at any time in its 109-year history. . https://t.co/rJBRXMpJVY

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 27, 2022

Blake Masters is the GOP Senate Candidat in Arizona. He tweeted a critique of this mentality. Our media, being ideologically crazy, accused Masters of accusing us all of “diversity”. Masters responded:

“I don’t care if every single employee at the Fed is a Black lesbian as long as they’re hired for their competence and not because of what they look like or who they sleep with,” Masters said. “News for Joe Biden: We are done with this affirmative action regime.”

I agree! The damage is done. Media, who live by lies, is more interested in destroying a RACIST then with truth or dealing with Masters’ substantive point about how ideology can not substitute for competently dealing with reality. Here’s a link to the video in which Masters explained himself.

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So – Despite my resentful expressions, Russia has won the war against Ukraine. The war will continue for much longer but it is clear that the West cannot stop supporting Ukraine. We will see large numbers of angry Europeans in the streets this winter demanding answers about why their governments have destroyed their economies and endangered the lives of their people. What then?

Our leaders are lying and ideologues that are trying to destroy the West. People are being betrayed by the ruling class, including the state, media, financial sector, universities and woke capitalism. It isn’t just internet speculation. This is happening right now. As far as I know, it’s actually being done. This is about to get literal in Europe. This clip is Tucker Carlson’s, one of few journalists to tell the truth. He is pointing out the fact that Americans don’t hear that Europeans are on edge of disaster.