Seems like just yesterday that everybody was razzing the Russians cause we kicked their commie asses in the Cold War. For a while, they even seemed to drift off the world stage... A superpower reduced to the status of a bum. Meanwhile, the US was taking laps around the stadium and waving the flag, while the home crowd chanted "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
That whole period is likely to be a source of great amusement for the Russians in the near future. With their massive remaining fossil fuel endowment (#1 in gas reserves, #2 in coal reserves, pumping 8.8mbd of crude while only consuming 2.7mbd), now it's America that's starting to look like the bum. The whole resource war option is off the table: nobody's going to be taking Russia's fuels, because anybody who tries is going to get a nuclear bloody nose. Ain't no options left, except to beg. In fact, all the bums are queueing up: Europe, China, Japan, the US. Yes, that's gonna be real satisfying when the US puts out its shaky junky palm for a hand-out. In the spirit of Francis Fukuyama, we might call that the "Denouement of History" -- you know, the witty chapter after the "End".
It does make you wonder how long the fiction of the "free" crude/gas market is going to last. The Russkies have damn near cornered the market, and it's only a matter of time til they start dragging their feet, exercising their cartel powers, and vacuuming out the wallets of their addict customers. Personally -- if I were a commie, and not the red-blooded stars & stripes American that I am -- I wouldn't release a drop until the whole G7 lined up and kissed V. I. Lenin's freeze-dried bunghole.
Reagan was right. Those Russians are evil. A bunch of conniving commie chess players. They totally faked us out with geopolitical Rope-a-Dope... Pretending like they collapsed for 15 years, so they could come back and whip us in the last round.
Let's just hope the place doesn't devolve into the totalitarian state it once was...
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let's hope the US doesn't either
ReplyDeleteRW: You’ve suggested, in your writings and talks, that American political culture is more and more resembling fascism. What recent evidence do you see?
MR: The list of things happening within the U.S. is truly frightening, in terms of both volume and speed. Congress is moving to throw out the 25th Amendment, which imposes a two-term limit on sitting presidents; the FBI can now issue its own subpoenas, without court involvement; It has just been proposed that U.S. military intelligence should work with local law enforcement agencies to weaken "posse comitatus"; Congressman James Sensebrenner has now introduced legislation—HR 1528—to impose a mandatory five-year prison sentence for failing to inform on family members or friends guilty of marijuana possession or minor drug use; I predict we will soon see a national draft, and Canada will not harbor U.S. deserters as it did during Vietnam, as it is now a virtual U.S. colony. The list goes on and on.
http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/091505_world_stories.shtml#1
Scary stuff! Run up here to Canada while you still can...!
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