Autor: João

Russia and USAmerica

Por | 28 maio, 2019 | , |

Conventional Military Balance   The Saker Jul. 24, 2015   In a recent column for the Unz Review I wrote that “under any conceivable scenario Russia does have the means to basically completely destroy the USA as a country in about 30min (the USA, of course, can do the same to Russia). Any US war planner would have to consider the escalatory potential of any military action against Russia.” This still begs the question of whether Russia could challenge the USA militarily if we assume, for demonstration’s sake, that neither side would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, including tactical ones. If, by some mysterious magic, all nuclear weapons were to disappear, what would the balance of power between Russian and the US look like? Why Bean Counting Makes Absolutely No Sense The typical reply to this kind of question resorts to what US force planners call “bean counting”. Typically, journalists use the yearly IISS Military Balance or a source like Global Firepower and tallies of the number of men, main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry combat vehicles, combat aircraft, artillery pieces, bombers, missiles, surface ships, submarines, etc. presented by each side in a chart. The reality is that such bean counting means absolutely and strictly nothing. Let’s take a simple example: if a war happens between, say, China and Russia then the fact that China has, say,...

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SI

Por | 27 maio, 2019 | , , |

Situação Internacional   João da Silveira     Seg. 20 USAMÉRICA : GUERRA TECNOLÓGICA : Com ajuda dos políticos, Google joga a Huawei no congelador (VestiNews)… Bloqueada pela Google, Huawei corre para instalar seu próprio sistema operacional (ZeroHedge)… A ofensiva de Washington contra a Huawei afeta o setor de tecnologia à medida que a desaceleração econômica se aproxima (David P. Goldman)… GUERRA AO IRÃ : Ameaças dos EUA contra Teerã nunca vão quebrar a República Islâmica (Aram Mirzaei)….   Ter. 21 GOVERNO BOLSONARO : VICE-PRESIDENTE MOURÃO VAI A BEIJING : Para pedir perdão [pelas agressões gratuitas e tolas de Jair Bolsonaro durante a campanha, até] porque a América Latina já está na Nova Rota da Seda. (Paul Antonopoulos)….   USAMÉRICA E SUA QUERRA TECNOLÓGICA : Xi manda sinal para Trump de que aí vem interdição no comércio de terras raras. (ZeroHedge)… Por que a captura da Huawei não é vitória na guerra tecnológica (Pepe Escobar)….   USAMÉRICA E A GUERRA AO IRÃ : A breve instrução de Mike Pompeo aos europeus caiu como um balão de chumbo. (Daniel Larison)….   USAMÉRICA : FARSA DO RUSSIA-GATE : Roger Stone joga nova luz sobre a farsa do Russia-Gate. (Mattew Ehret)… PETRÓLEO RUSSO : Em maio de 2019, as importações americanas de petróleo russo chegaram a cerca de cinco milhões de barris, enquanto as refinarias americanas importaram um total de 7,5 milhões de barris em todo...

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Bill Bonner’s Diary

Por | 26 maio, 2019 | , |

America’s Debtball Express Picks Up Speed   Van Bryan May 26, 2019 This week, dots were connected. Claptrap was busted. Bill looks to the woeful tale of Venezuela… the revival of the same old mistakes from the Great Financial Crisis… and even gives a firsthand account of Ireland’s red-hot real estate market. But, like a satellite around a star, much of Bill’s attention orbited the thoughts of one dear reader, who suggested that Bill should just hop on the Trump bandwagon. “Well,” begins Bill, “it’s really quite simple.” As our editor explains, President Trump took office in early 2017. He became head conductor of America’s Debtball Express. The Donald could have thrown on the brakes and sounded the alarm. But he didn’t. He stoked the flames and pushed the engine for more. Now, the old locomotive is picking up speed. And the tracks are coming undone. Ireland’s “Great Crumble” For decades, many of Ireland’s homes were left to fall into disrepair. This “great crumble” left many great estates a shadow of their former selves. But now, investment is flooding into the Emerald Isle once again. House prices are on the rise. And that’s caught the attention of Ireland’s “world improvers.” How America Goes Full-Venezuela As Bill so often says, Venezuela is an “economic basket case.” This country was once the richest in Latin America. Now, it’s destitute. What happened?...

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USAmerica’s Attack on China

Por | 25 maio, 2019 | , , |

America’s Delusional Attack On Huawei And The Start Of A New Era   Matthew Ehret May 25, 2019   American policy makers continue their delusional bid to control the world exhibiting a scale of denial that would make Hitler’s belief in Germany’s possible victory during his final days in the bunker appear to be totally reasonable. The most recent foray into delusion includes the recent executive order passed by the White House putting an effective ban on Huawei’s entry into the USA and slashing of American business relations with the telecommunications giant. The executive order declares a state of emergency due to the “unacceptible risk posed to american interests” by the fact that China’s intelligence agencies apparently control Huawei and are at the heart of cyber-espionage and sabotage of America’s greatness. The 5 Eyes/Deep State Attack on China The forces who have led this McCarthyite attack on China over the past years are directly tied to the deep state structures that controlled the Obama presidency and began this attack on the potential cooperative platform of USA-China scientific partnership in earnest with the 2011 banning of China’s involvement with NASA. This act, which led to China’s elimination from the International Space Station (ISS) forced an incredible leap to technological self-sufficiency when China created its own space station (Heavenly Palace) and ambitious Chang-e space program that has quickly made it a...

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USAmerica’s Dictatorship and Democracy

Por | 21 maio, 2019 | , |

D Is for a Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy   John W. Whitehead May 7, 2019   “When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death is a clear possibility.” — Professor Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Discourse in the Age of Show Business What characterizes American government today is not so much dysfunctional politics as it is ruthlessly contrived governance carried out behind the entertaining, distracting and disingenuous curtain of political theater. And what political theater it is, diabolically Shakespearean at times, full of sound and fury, yet in the end, signifying nothing. Played out on the national stage and eagerly broadcast to a captive audience by media sponsors, this farcical exercise in political theater can, at times, seem riveting, life-changing and suspenseful, even for those who know better. Week after week, the script changes (Donald Trump’s Tweets, Congress’ hearings on Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, the military’s endless war drums, the ever-widening field of candidates for the 2020 presidential race, etc.) with each new script following on the heels of the last, never any let-up, never any relief from the constant melodrama. The players come and...

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