Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on June 15, 2015
Kunstler: Jeb and Hil
T he Floridian clod seeking to don the mantle of Millard Fillmore made an amazing foreign policy speech at an economic conference in Berlin last week. Inveighing against Russian President Vladimir Putin, he gave a very vivid impression of a man who has no idea what he is talking about.
“Russia must respect the sovereignty of all of its neighbors. And who can doubt that Russia will do what it pleases if its aggression goes unanswered?”
Jeb Bush was averring elliptically to the failed state formerly known as Ukraine, trying to put over the shopworn story that Russia was needlessly making war on its neighbor (and former province).
“Bush called for increased clarity on what type of sanctions would be imposed on the country if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does not back down against a united international front…. ‘I don’t think we should be reacting to bad behavior [Bush said]. By being clear what the consequences of “bad behavior” is in advance, I think we will deter the kind of aggression that we fear from Russia. But always reacting, and giving the sense we’re reacting in a tepid fashion, only enables the bad behavior of Putin.’”
Note, by the way, that here is yet another scion of the Bush clan who was inexplicably brought up speaking Ebonics: “What the consequences… is?” Say what?
Ukraine became a failed state due to a coup d’état engineered by Barack Obama’s state department. US policy wonks did not like the prospect of Ukraine joining Russia’s regional trade group called the Eurasian Customs Union instead of tilting toward NATO and the European Union. So, we paid for and enabled a coalition of crypto-fascists to rout the duly elected president. One of the first acts of the US-backed new regime was to declare punishment of Russian language speakers, and so the predominately Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine revolted. Russia reacted to all this instability by seizing the Crimean peninsula, which had been part of Russia proper both before and through the Soviet chapter of history. The Crimea contained Russia’s only warm water seaports and naval bases. What morons in the US government ever thought Russia would surrender those assets to a newly-failed neighbor state?
Was Vladimir Putin acting irresponsibly in this case? The opposite would be a much more logical conclusion. And what interest does the United States have in Ukraine? Surely no more than Russia would have in Texas. And when else in the entire history of the USA all the way back to George Washington did any government official declare Ukraine to be America’s business? Answer: Never. Reason: we have no legitimate interests in that corner of the world. So why in the early 21st century are we making this such a sore spot in our foreign relations? Because our waning influence in the world, in turn a product of our foolish inattention to our own economic problems and failing polity at home, is driving America batshit crazy.
The rest of the world sees this for exactly what it is, friends, former friends, and adversaries alike. I wonder what the Germans thought of Jeb’s intemperate and idiotic speech. Eyes must have rolled in the meeting hall. After all, Russia is their natural major trading partner. How do US-orchestrated economic sanctions against Russia work in their interest? Answer: they don’t. The Germans have been making a lot of discreet noises the past year about dissociating from America’s stupid program of antagonizing Russia. Perhaps Jeb’s jingoistic utterances in Berlin will finally push them over the line.
Meanwhile, Hillary (no last name required) steps out of the starting gate this week, too, pretending to be the incarnation of Robin Hood, as if she would ever shut down the financial rackets that have at once impoverished the former middle-class and enriched grifter opportunists such as Hillary herself. Her event on Roosevelt Island, New York City, looked like unintentional self-satire, as if it were staged by the late-great director Robert Altman for one of his wacky political movies. Hillary’s handlers missed one touch though: a cape would have gone nicely with that electrifying blue pant-suit. As for the speech itself, a bigger bundle of platitudes and insincerities has not been served up since the heyday of Nixon. As the politicians are so fond of saying these days, make no mistake, Hillary is the New Nixon.
16 Comments on "Kunstler: Jeb and Hil"
HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 2:53 pm
“Meanwhile, Hillary (no last name required) steps out …pretending to be the incarnation of Robin Hood, as if she would ever shut down the financial rackets that have at once impoverished the former middle-class and enriched grifter opportunists such as Hillary herself.”
Another fine Kunstler summation of what passes for “democracy” in the U.S. It amazes me how many CA self described liberal/progressives I know insist that HRC is our last best hope and how supporting anyone else is just “throwing your vote away”.
How is voting for an oligarch figurehead who is only *slightly* less hostile to you and your family’s interests vs. the other shill not “throwing your vote away”? Why aren’t Americans taking to the streets en masse to demand publicly financed elections and and end to quid pro quo kleptocracy?
Talk about the bigotry of low expectations!
Outcast_Searcher on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 3:11 pm
Should we listen to the prognosticator who claimed that “Y2K will rock your world”, even as he was selling vastly overpriced Y2K “doom” prep items like ordinary buckets with a ridiculous mark-up?
I don’t think so.
Not that I like either candidate…
Plantagenet on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 3:36 pm
Trying to blame Obama for the overthrow of the sort pro-Soviet regime in Ukraine is ridiculous.
Did Kunslter miss the 1980s when pro-Russian puppet state after protrusion puppet state broke free? People in eastern European countries don’t want to be ruled by Russian puppets.
Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:07 pm
Outcast_Searcher
Anecdotal fallacy – using a personal experience or an isolated example instead of sound reasoning or compelling evidence.
Nony on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:11 pm
Kunstler’s failed Y2K prediction.
http://kunstler.com/mags_y2k.html
Nony on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:13 pm
There’s a pattern with failed end of the world types:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3001/how-do-doomsayers-cope-when-the-world-doesnt-end
Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:16 pm
Why did it not happen nony-marm? Did the world sit around and take no action and simply waited to see if it would come to pass? Or were billions of dollars spent and millions of man hours put in to try to prevent a bad outcome?
Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:21 pm
marm-nony there is also a well proven pattern to what happens to the bio-sphere and the life that depends on it when CO2 levels start to get to the levels we have put them at. 14 extinction periods.
Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:28 pm
nony-marm, you got a comparable. Any doom predictions from any cult or a sensationalist media based on sound scientific evidence of the planets history? We are in uncharted territory for humanity.
Ice-Free Arctic in Pliocene, Last Time CO2 Levels above 400 PPM
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ice-free-arctic-in-pliocene-last-time-co2-levels-above-400ppm/
The Last Time CO2 Was This High, Humans Didn’t Exist
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/the-last-time-co2-was-this-high-humans-didnt-exist-15938
HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:30 pm
“Trying to blame Obama for the overthrow of the sort pro-Soviet regime in Ukraine is ridiculous.”
Is it my imagination or did Planter just defend Obama? Wow…
Davy on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:36 pm
NOo, when and if the end does happen there will be no looking back. That is it. It will happen own its own terms and timeline. Humans, especially like you Econ types live by the quarter. You can’t think beyond a year if you tried. 10 years is an eternity for Econ 101’ers. What we talk about here now will be forgotten but 10years is around the corner.
Rational and sane doomers and preppers are not calling this the end of the world. This is the end of BAU and it could unfold over several years or 1 week. Climate change may come to be the end of the world but I am talking BAU here.
NOo, all civilizations die why should ours that is by far one of the most unsustainable and non-resilient in modern history be exceptional and avoid it?
Everything about us rests on oil in some way shape or form. Oil is depleting NOo if you want to discount that in regards to give or take a few years fine but you cant dismiss it.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:48 pm
“Oil is depleting NOo if you want to discount that in regards to give or take a few years fine but you cant dismiss it.”
Wanna bet?!
🙂
Nony has demonstrated a remarkable capability to completely dismiss obvious fact and focus instead on microscopic data points that may or may not be relevant, but which mostly aren’t. Nony doesn’t seem to be a “big picture” type of guy. He’s a master of minutia, but the real world is not allowed into his protective bubble.
GregT on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 5:03 pm
“Trying to blame Obama for the overthrow of the sort pro-Soviet regime in Ukraine is ridiculous.”
Absolutely, it was Hillary (CFR cover girl) Clinton’s assistant, Victoria Nuland. The same Victoria Nuland who’s husband cofounded the ‘Project for a New American Century’.
Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 5:23 pm
Both potty mouth Victoria Nuland and her husband are Jews, but they had no problem using Ukrainian Nazis to further their ambitions. Unboundless hypocrisy of empire.
Makati1 on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 10:24 pm
Only war mongers will be allowed to run in this “sock puppet” race. The billionaires will put the one THEY want into the role as they have done for the last few decades. Voting is now just a distraction for the masses, nothing real.
Another bit of entertainment to keep the sheeple from seeing the shepherd sharpening his knives for the slaughter ahead. The American middle class is being bled dry and they don’t even seem to notice the bankster leeches.
charmcitysking on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 7:31 am
GregT on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 5:03 pm
“Trying to blame Obama for the overthrow of the sort pro-Soviet regime in Ukraine is ridiculous.”
Absolutely, it was Hillary (CFR cover girl) Clinton’s assistant, Victoria Nuland. The same Victoria Nuland who’s husband cofounded the ‘Project for a New American Century’.
———-
Spot on, GregT!! Was going to post this, but then I read it.
+1