Boghul & Acephale

The purpose of laws is not justice. The purpose of laws is the management of conflict. – The Saker

When democracy, capitalism, and warfare are becoming obsolete at the same time, watch out, here comes Militarized Dumbo! aka Pax Americana, aka the messianic hegemon fouling things up almost everywhere with a military 13 times the size of the next largest force, Mother Russia (Dumbo, $585B to Uncle Volodya, $45B, https://www.wearethemighty.com/lists/the-25-most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-2018). The Commander-in-Chief of this awful power is Donald J. Trump.

Sad to say, the magnitude of our president’s ignorance and corruption is so appalling that every one of us is polluted. Everything around him is polluted. People we love are polluted. We’re utterly blinded by it.  If a new world order is truly Russia/China’s goal then our president is a very willing expediter. The silver lining to his resistance to anyone telling him when to poop is that he won’t buy the neocons’ Messianic wares if he doesn’t have to. That’s why we get to see our president being bounced on Ping’s knee, Saudi Sam’s knee, Netanyahu’s knee, L’il Rocket Man’s knee, Uncle Volodya’s knee, Macron’s knee. Otherwise, everything suspected of him is true. Treason. Conspiracy. Money laundering. Everything. He’s a monster. 

Is he an expediting monkey or is he a collaborator? Or really, is he just too stupid to be up in our business that way? If you kick China/Russia out of the comic book villain business, certain facts emerge. (Everything I’m writing here is based on a guest appearance by The Saker on a Guns n Butter podcast, April 18, 2018.) To begin with, Russia has a substantial military force without much these days in the way of political cache or economic clout to bend the world to her will. China on the other hand has only a small military now entering the cusp of respectability while they have immense political and economic capital around the world and sound diplomatic relationships everywhere all day.  A partnership makes perfect sense.

In the Levant you have Timothy Q Mouse (Israel) riding Militarized Dumbo down the Zionists’/neocons’ messianic hegemonic bunghole in existential conflict with Iran. Tim wants Dumbo to bomb the fuck out of Iran because he can’t survive a real war. Lions eat mice for lunch. Israel has nuclear weapons while Iran doesn’t, by the way.  Russia has a large military investment in Syrian sovereignty but the commitment is unwieldy because it’s so far from home. Russia you may have noticed doesn’t have much in the way of boots on the ground anywhere else, couple of places, Ukraine where you can throw a rock in Russia and hit a Ukrainian wino in the head, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan. Mostly neighbors. A radio station or two. So what’s Uncle Volodya’s play in Syria?

The Saker makes two observations that stand out. First, Uncle Volodya likes to fuck with the US of A and Syria is prime real estate for that. It’s another gift that keeps on giving, like Bush handing Iraq over to the Shia. Every day of US inaction and ineptitude demonstrates the ineffectiveness and diminished authority of the US in the Levant while Russia’s authority grows. Second, Syria is ground zero for the proxy war between Israel and Iran. Although Dumbo has plenty of missiles to bomb Syria with, he doesn’t have an effective ground force. In fact, neither he nor Tim nor Mo bin Salman have an effective fighting ground force, while Iran, Hizbollah, the Syrian army, Russia, and Turkey all have seasoned troops there. Dumbo and the dumbo-ettes haven’t got a chance in a conventional war. That in a nutshell is Dumbo’s dilemma.

Russia’s dilemma is a bit different. Since all Dumbo really has is heavy military equipment like missiles and bombers, any offensive or retaliatory action probably will provoke airstrikes. Direct hits and/or Russian deaths have to be answered, and with escalation, the likely course of the war will probably become nuclear. The danger of this is rather high in Syria while we have our bagels and cream cheese at Starbucks, so Uncle Volodya really has to take a hit or two without responding militarily. Russia needs to provide Babyface Bashar with missile defense to make the threat of US attacks moot. The Saker expected Uncle Volodya to send tons of Pantsir-S1 air-defence missile-gun systems as a deterrent and hopefully quell Dumbo’s glowing nuclear ardour. The insane bumbling bombthrowers Pompeo and Bolton will not get their hideous World Cup of Death qualifying performance there.

The alliance Russia has with Turkey and Iran is determining the character of the peace in Syria, with absolutely no US input. These local players have real influence in the Levant and serve to represent Uncle Volodya’s objectives, while Russia provides overwhelming global offensive capabilities in case Dumbo gets frisky with the nuclear or Timmy the Mouse feels like pasting Iran with a lovely A-bomb. The balance of destructive forces aligned in Syria reminds me of those images of Death dancing. Take off your skin and dance in your bones!

Ok. The Saker says, “So there’s this tension between this messianic ideology of the one world hegemon and the reality which is built every day today which is a world which is multipolar, and by consensus the countries creating that alternative do agree on the crucial principle which is there are different paths to development and each one gets to choose his own, sovereignty is crucial, you do not interfere in the internal affairs of a country, and relationship between those countries shall be ruled by international law. These are three principles which are absolutely, emphatically not acceptable to the Anglo-Zionists, and they consider them, and I would argue correctly so, as existential threats to their way of life.” Where are Uncle Ping and Uncle Volodya and Uncle Sam, Timothy Q Mouse and the rest of the one world hegemon contestants in this wonderful bloodsoaked opera that ends in disappointment, tragedy, and annihilation? Stuck in stupid.

As the stiff Mr. Eliot once quipped,

“This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Well, maybe a big bang.