Category: Curiosities

Schwarzenberg

Karl VII of Schwarzenberg is dead. At his funeral he defined his ass as the Duke of Krumlov, Landgrave of Klettgau, and Count of Sulz. While the two latter titles refer to lands in Germany and Switzerland, the first refers to territory here in the Czech Republic. And from what I can gather using noble titles is forbidden, even in private. But I guess the current Czech authorities do not have anxieties about the return of monarchy like the interwar Czechoslovakia, when these anti-nobility laws were enacted, so nobody cares…

Karl was a globalist shill, he attended the Maidan in Kiev in 2013, and was a member of the Green Party here in the Czech Republic. He supported Black Lives Matter but not so much Me Too because he loved the ladies. He said that he does not want flowers at his funeral and they ought to send the money to Ukraine instead.

He did have flowers at his funeral. And they fucked up the tricolor.

“For Putin, Crimea is the appetizer, Georgia will be the soup, and Ukraine will be the main course.”

Have you seen Russia have any interest in Georgia? Russia has only recognized break away republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 after Georgia attacked the Russian peace keepers. Otherwise, Georgia is of little interest to Russia unless they threaten Russian security. And the same can be said about most of Ukraine.

Serbia Against Violence

According to the above map, Serbia Against Violence is only really popular in the capital Belgrade. I would say the core is formed by beneficiaries of Western NGO funds. The problem with Vučič is that he is too friendly to Russia. Although…

Vučič is OK with Ursula too…

“Normal country” means globohomo protectorate. They also want Russia to become a “normal country”.

Serbia against violence…

Starving Taiwan Out

So, I found an interesting thread on X…

I would not say I know much about China-Taiwan relations but I know the case of Ukraine very well. I think it was in 2015 that I listened to either Putin or Sergei Glazev saying, in reaction to Victoria Nuland’s 5 billion for the democratization of Ukraine quote, that the Russians pumped into Ukraine 200 billion green papers over the years. And he added that they did not target the right things.

While Russia was pumping billions into industry and trade, the Americans were sponsoring activists, journalists and other opinion makers. In the end Russia is forced to fight a bloody war. Now, this soft power has its limits. While the regimes such as the one in Taiwan or Ukraine welcome American NGOs, they are hostile to any such efforts coming from Russia, or China for that matter. Russia tried this economic punishment with Georgian wine, or Borjomi water, and it did not make the Georgian elite more pro Russian.

Obviously, giving trade privileges to regimes that spread propaganda against you is stupid but I believe the key is in buying influence. Wealthy Taiwanese that do business in the mainland might also sponsor the media or NGOs, as they normally do. I believe that the targeting of business should be contingent on cooperation. Simply put, you will not do business in China unless you are pro-Chinese.

Somehow in the Russia-Ukraine case, this was never really implemented. Or rather, the separatist governments in East Ukraine did expropriate possessions of Ukrainian oligarchs but the latter were able to do business in Russia proper even though their TV channels spread vile Russophobia.

Javier Milei

WTF?

This is Karlin’s post…

So, Argentina has elected a new president. He ran on a right wing libertarian platform. He loves Israel, wants to convert to Judaism. He also loves Ukraine, he is a shill for Washington, and will not join the BRICS on 1 January 2024. He will make Israel great again, I am totally certain of this.

That said, he has an interesting right wing economic program that I kinda like. Especially his thinning of the government, where he wants to abolish several ministries. I actually felt bad because I myself am technically an employee of the Ministry of Culture, and I am glad the object I work in belongs to the state and not to some private owner or even the municipality. They would turn it into a Disneyland. But then again, this country has much longer history and richer heritage than Argentina.

Clearly there is no need for a Women’s ministry anywhere in the World. But as I grow older, I do not think statism is all that bad. All the private sector cares about is short term gain. Some projects and industries take long to develop and cost money. I also do not think the ascendancy of a figure like Milei is possible outside basket case economies like Argentina with 140% inflation. This is some Weimar level bullshit.

Drones Revisited

Last month, I have pondered the idea of drones replacing tanks. But I have reconsidered this idea since then. I have seen what the Russians call radio electronic warfare in action and this is a potent means against all types of electronic equipment. It can literally take the drones out of the sky. I recall seeing reports on both Ukrainian and Russian TV featuring some guys in a garage repairing drones. So the drones can potent when the enemy has nothing to counter them with. If he does, these same drone might soon be flying in your direction.

Is This the End of Tanks and Armored Vehicles?

Tanks and armored vehicles seem to suffering in modern warfare. I have seen countless of videos of Russians destroying Ukrainian tanks and vice versa. I have even seen Hamas destroying an Israeli Merkava tank with an FPV drone. There just seem to be so many weapons aimed at destroying the tank. Alongside the FPV drones there are the classic land mines, anti-tank rockets, drone navigated artillery and finally aviation. Any attacking side seems to suffer heavy losses in armor during offensives.

The tank however is still very useful. It is a mobile firepower that is indispensable say in city fighting for taking out snipers. But in the city it is most vulnerable together with its crew. In the future, the infantry might go for smaller vehicles that would be remote controlled and would perform the same task as the tank.

It reminds of a historical precedent. In the fourteenth century, the armored knight was the king, until the latter ran against longbow men or firearms. And then it took another two centuries to phase the knights out. The same way the tank seems to be the staple of the twentieth century world wars, and in today’s world it is becoming obsolete or rather its use has to be modified from the previous wars.