Russia is freaking out about China's slowdown

Readers here have been tuned into this issue for quite awhile. The problem stems from the fact that the progressive model has finally begun  to eat itself in the first world. The US economy is on extreme low simmer, Europe is only on extreme low simmer in a few of the best performing countries like Germany, while most of the rest are either room temperature, or in the ice box! The BRICS were knocked out by a solid shot on the chin, although India is only now sliding out into hard times. The rest of the world is puttering along, but there is not enough oomph to motivate anything like the world economy. 

​Read more below!

Potemkin Villages

​. . . er, doorstop, good luck Vlad, you are going to need it if you ever decide to stand down the US.

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BrothersJudd Blog: THE BEAR IS DEAD:

Well, not quite dead yet, watch as the pip squeaks! It's a carnival show, come and see the show, it's a dynamo . . . 

Puty Put will be so mad!

"The Georgian army began two weeks of military exercises with the United States and Britain on Wednesday, drawing an angry response from former Soviet master Russia which called the war games "a provocative step".

About 650 soldiers from the United States, 150 from Britain and 500 from Georgia were taking part in the maneuvers, with Washington dispatching an entire mechanized company including eight Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and, for the first time, eight M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks.

Georgia's Defence Minister Tina Khidasheli said the drills were an important event for the South Caucasus republic.

"This is one of the biggest exercises that our country has ever hosted, this is the biggest number of troops on the ground, and the largest concentration of military equipment," Khidasheli told Reuters.

But the exercises went down badly in Moscow where the Russian Foreign Ministry last week warned they could destabilize the region, a charge denied by Georgian officials."

Georgia begins U.S.-led military exercise, angering Russia

Of course, this went down badly in Russia. Putin can barely project power a few miles into Georgia, while the US, at the drop of a hat can plunk down 8 Bradley fighting vehicles, and 8 Abrams tanks. This make Russia look like a wimp. 

​"The United States' European missile defense shield goes live on Thursday almost a decade after Washington proposed protecting NATO from Iranian rockets and despite Russian warnings that the West is threatening the peace in central Europe.

Amid high Russia-West tension, U.S. and NATO officials will declare operational the shield at a remote air base in Deveselu, Romania, after years of planning, billions of dollars in investment and failed attempts to assuage Russian concerns that the shield could be used against Moscow.

"We now have the capability to protect NATO in Europe," said Robert Bell, a NATO-based envoy of U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "The Iranians are increasing their capabilities and we have to be ahead of that. The system is not aimed against Russia," he told reporters, adding that the system will soon be handed over to NATO command."

Not only can the US project power, it can all but completely cut off the Russian ability to project phantom power through missile threats. 

Roll over Puty Put, common roll over! Heh! Show us your muscles, big guy . . . Piker.

Beijing and Moscow Object to U.S.–Korea Missile Defense Collaboration

. . . don't call us, we'll call you, don't let the door slap your ass on the way out.

Pikers!

Dear US government, more please, and faster! 

This is how to negotiate with China over the South China Sea issue. Now let's do a second verse of this song with the Philippines. Yes, we need to remain in control of this technology, but still, expanding it to the others in the anti-China coalition in the South China Sea will put pressure on China to act in a mature, reasonable manner.

We need to have Congress hold hearings on whether we should end the Chinese Most Favored Trading Nation status as well. We don't need to go to the trouble actually cutting China loose, but they could use some pressure. 

As for Russia, I don't much care, it is a dying nation with a truly tiny economy, which has ensnared itself in Ukraine, Georgia, Chechnya, Syria, among other places. It's actions are making it a pariah among pretty much every other nation bordering it, and among the first world nations. Putin is settling into dictatorshiplite nicely. And it is entering an existential recession/depression due to its economy being all but entirely reliant on energy. 

The Hollow Men
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Smile and wave, it might be your last chance.

A beaver reportedly took a man hostage in Latvia

Talk about a dream scenario turning horribly wrong!
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This reminds me of my favorite YouTube video:

This video is an acid trip. It starts in a weird Russian version of an electronics store, Shifts to a bear treeing a man, but the cameraman is so bored he sighs, and shifts his attention to a bunny, then some crappy old Russian cars. Before panning quickly over the treed man again.

​Only in Russia.

It's a horror movie without the quality acting, and plot . . . 

Was he trying to save or kill the cat? I like that he practices the broken windows electroshock therapy model of cat recovery. After watching it a few time, I am pretty sure he could not have done anything else wrong. This rescue was Russian perfect!

At its core, foreign policy/international relations is straightforward, the Anglo-spheric, the Scandinavian, the Germanic, and a few other nations all play by adult rules, for the rest it is just like kindergarten.

Russian Jets Buzz U.S. Navy Ship at 30 Feet

Putin is a big kindergartner. And like all kinders he will push until he finds the limit. President Obama is like a yielding parent, always unhappy with the fact that the child is unruly, and unwilling to listen or obey. This is a problem with the parent not the child.

It is time to take Russia to task for its boundary pressing maneuvers, and China as well for its incursions into the South China Sea. As Mead suggests new protective treaties, including US or NATO troops could do the trick. We need to strengthen our support for the opponents of China's incursion into the South China Sea as well. Each of these proposals would sting, and would serve to discipline these recalcitrant nations. 

The real problem is that such actions must be actions, and not threats. President Obama has a history of drawing lines in the sand, and when his adversary steps over the line, he simply draws another. Policy without consequences, is like parenting without consequences. It is incompetent and does not result in the desired results. Once the line is drawn, a consequence must flow from breech. Every. Single. Time. 

These actions are likely to be effective and do not risk a more serious international crisis. 

However, splashing a couple of planes is more dramatic, and cathartic. I can say that because Obama does not have the constitution to execute.

I suspect this problem will fester until we have a new President. With the current pool of candidates, I am at wits end over foreign policy. Hillary is the architect of the Obama foreign policy, it has been a disaster. Trump is an unknown, as is Cruz, as is Sanders. 

Now would be a good time for a brilliant Cincinnatus with both foreign policy, and domestic policy experience to pop out of  the woodwork, and steal the presidential election.

A guy can dream!