Author Archena Posted on December 26, 2022December 26, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , , ,

It Ain’t About Biden

I know, I know. Monday is foreign relations day. I’m getting there, you’ll see. There are a lot of conservatives that are not happy about the US’ support of Ukraine. This is not because they support Putin or that they wish ill towards the Ukrainian people. In my opinion, it’s largely related to the corruption links between Hunter Biden and Ukraine. Ukraine is not an innocent baby nor is it a little devil. Ukraine has a major problem with corruption, … Continue reading “It Ain’t About Biden”

Author Archena Posted on December 23, 2022December 22, 2022Categories Current, FridayTags , , , , , , ,

It Ain’t About NATO

I know, normally I talk American politics on Friday. Well, that’s what I’m doing. Hang on, you’ll see – but first I need to kill off the stupid elephant in the room. To the best of my knowledge the ‘NATO expansion problem’ theory originates with Mearsheimer . I’ve heard him give one talk about it. It seemed a well reasoned position and he argued it compellingly. Before the invasion, it made a great deal of sense. It just happens to … Continue reading “It Ain’t About NATO”

Author Archena Posted on December 6, 2022December 6, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Failure of Realpolitik

Political Scientists like to think they are real scientists. Sometimes, they even are. Most times, they are analysts. But since the field has science in the name, they try very, very hard to be a sciency as possible. The results can be fairly comical. Scientist or analyst, they still need frameworks to work from. America has 330 million people and 22,000 plus governments. Making sense of that without some kind of framework is impossible. The world has 195 countries, not … Continue reading “The Failure of Realpolitik”

Author Archena Posted on November 21, 2022November 21, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , ,

The Post Russo-Sino World, Part II

Okay, when last we left our hypothetical, the world had NOT ended in a fireball. The US was busily trying to corral nuclear proliferation and both Russia and China had fully collapsed. Nation-states can multi-task. They aren’t great at it because humans aren’t, but unlike your Supermom, nation-states really do have many people who can be directed to do different things. This is a good thing because the US is gonna be really distracted, as it was in the Nineties, … Continue reading “The Post Russo-Sino World, Part II”

Author Archena Posted on November 15, 2022November 16, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , ,

The Post Russo-Sino World

Yeah, yeah, I know. I was the one forecasting a Democrat Party collapse and then there wasn’t really a red wave. Actually, I still think the Democrat Party will collapse but the Republicans may beat them to it. Party system shifts happen that way. Political parties, like nation-states, can be stubbornly resilient little buggers. Government and politics often are glacial in their timeframes – unless they are doing something that you don’t like. They seem to manage to speed up … Continue reading “The Post Russo-Sino World”

Author Archena Posted on October 31, 2022October 31, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , ,

Russian Disarmament: Doing it the Hard Way

Seriously, Russia, are you nuts? Mutually agreed disarmament with a well thought out peace agreement in place is a wonderful idea. Throwing everything you have including the kitchen sink at a country that clearly isn’t going to give in is idiotic. You know this. It’s time to face facts: you already lost. Nuclear weapons can’t help you. They are great deterrents and terrible battlefield weapons. I don’t mean terrible in terms of their destructive power, as true as that is, … Continue reading “Russian Disarmament: Doing it the Hard Way”

Author Archena Posted on October 24, 2022October 24, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recovering Libertarians are Recovering

Ten years ago libertarianism was all the rage in conservative circles. The short version was they didn’t like ‘losing’ the culture war all the time and thought they could just skip all that culture stuff and worry about important things like freedom and not spending ourselves into oblivion. Didn’t actually work so well. Turns out, culture informs politics more than politics informs culture. This little tidbit is what is destroying the Democrats at the moment. While over time politics can … Continue reading “Recovering Libertarians are Recovering”

Author Archena Posted on October 17, 2022October 17, 2022Categories MondayTags , , , , , ,

Dear Russia, Suck it up. You Lost. Go Home While You Still Can.

No, I don’t expect it will be that easy. It seems to me to be true enough but even assuming that the Russians agree, that doesn’t mean they are ready to quit. Far from it. Nor is it just that their pride will be hurt, Russia will lose not only prestige internationally, but influence regionally and its status as a peer power to the US. Russia will become a developing nation that other nations feel sorry for, not the proud … Continue reading “Dear Russia, Suck it up. You Lost. Go Home While You Still Can.”

Author Archena Posted on October 10, 2022October 10, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , ,

Russia is Losing. World is not Ending. Calm Down.

Dear Tim Pool, Love your work. You can relax though. We aren’t having a civil war in the US and we’re not going to have a nuclear war, or even WWIII. Love, QS Y’all want details again, don’t you? Here goes: Russia cannot beat Ukraine militarily unless NATO and the US quit sending stuff to Ukraine. Russia doesn’t have enough stuff on hand for a real mobilization and their guys have decided not to play the cannon fodder game. Ukraine … Continue reading “Russia is Losing. World is not Ending. Calm Down.”

Author Archena Posted on October 7, 2022October 7, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , ,

The Highly Successful Russian Mobilization

Oh, stop laughing – they have been incredibly successful in mobilizing their manpower. Estimates are that at least 300,000 men are already on the move. Oh wait, Forbes thinks it’s 700,000.* To other countries. As fast as they can. This might not have been quite what the Russian government had in mind when they instituted the mobilization. But it is definitely what they got, more men fleeing the draft than answering the call. Ukraine’s ‘I Want to Live’ hotline has … Continue reading “The Highly Successful Russian Mobilization”