RUSSOPHOBIA

DON HANK—The people who make decisions about war and regime change in Washington – primarily the lawmakers, White House officials, Pentagon and State Department – are almost all believers in the doctrine of the indispensable or exceptional nation, and to them, this special status they have assigned themselves, entitles them to deny other countries their own sovereignty, subjugating them to the US and its policies and view of the world.

JOHN RACHEL—Russia only has nine foreign military bases. This is in contrast to what many estimate to be 700-800 in at minimum 80 countries by the U.S. A cursory glance at a world map shows that a substantial number of these bases form a ring around Russia. Even the most impartial observer would not view this as a coincidence and would at least appreciate why Putin and company see much of what America does as provocative, if not blatantly confrontational — why some analysts on both sides conjecture that America is preparing to launch a “preemptive” nuclear attack on Russia, begging the question what such an attack would preempt other than the continuation of the human species.

D. JOHNSTONE—Western media put all the blame for everything on the Serbs, evoking the inevitable Hitler analogy to describe Serbia’s besieged leader, Slobodan Milosevic, as a “dictator” and to liken his failing efforts to keep Yugoslavia together with the Third Reich’s massive invasion of the rest of Europe. 

“Heroic little Serbia” was transformed into the Pariah of the Western World.

GARLAND NIXON—Garland, outclassing Columbo, quickly sorts out the logic behind the moves of the perpetrators of the Moscow concert massacre, arguing that, far from being ISIS, as loudly proclaimed by the Western media, they are probably connected to Ukraine’s military and security services, currently chiefly under the command of Kyrylo Budanov. “Their escape route pointed toward Ukraine,” notes Garland. “Most criminals, after committing their crimes, tend to go home.”

EDITOR—A high point of the episode is a discussion about climate change. Chris Black is extremely pessimistic, believing that the assertion that climate change is a hoax needs to be reexamined carefully. The idea this is a hoax has become popular, of all places, notes Black, among the world’s left, and progressive statesmen, which may be a huge miscalculation. Leaders around the world keep talking about this issue but do little, with Russia and China doing the most, but still not enough, and the West doing the least, or next to nothing. We are at a point where a few more degrees may spell the death of all life on this planet due to the collapse of agriculture and plant life in general, says Black. 

Ben Toth replies that a Russian scientist recently advised Putin that humanity had a “Window” of about 10,000 years to solve this problem. This may be wildly optimistic. In Siberia the problem may be extreme, as permafrost (thought to be “eternal”) is now melting away at ever faster rates, in the process releasing methane.