"The bottom line is simple: we’re already divided in everything but name."

 

That's the punch line to a recent article by Restricted Daily on X.  I think it makes good sense, although it doesn't offer solutions.  I think it's important enough that I'm going to re-publish it here in full, hoping that the author of Restricted Daily will permit that.

We keep pretending this is just another rough chapter in American politics, but deep down everyone knows that’s a lie. This isn’t disagreement anymore. This is disillusion. This is two completely different nations trapped inside the same borders, pretending we share values when we don’t. The Declaration of Independence was written when people finally admitted they could no longer coexist under a system that no longer represented them. That same feeling is back, whether people want to admit it or not.

We don’t argue over tax rates or road funding anymore. We argue over reality itself. Over biology. Over speech. Over history. Over whether borders matter. Over whether personal responsibility even exists. One side believes the country should be preserved, protected, and handed down stronger to the next generation. The other believes it should be dismantled, reprogrammed, and endlessly apologized for. You cannot reconcile those worldviews. You can only delay the inevitable by pretending compromise still exists.

Every election now feels like an existential threat, not a policy debate. Every law feels like an act of force instead of representation. People don’t feel governed anymore, they feel ruled. And when a large portion of the population feels that way for long enough, the social contract is already broken. You can wave flags and sing songs all you want, but unity doesn’t come from slogans. It comes from shared beliefs, and those are gone.

The truth nobody wants to say out loud is this: forcing people who fundamentally despise each other to live under one federal system is not unity. It’s pressure. And pressure always finds a release. History doesn’t care about feelings. Empires don’t fall because people stop loving them, they fall because they stop believing in them. When laws feel illegitimate and elections feel meaningless, separation stops sounding radical and starts sounding logical.

Maybe it’s not about hate. Maybe it’s about honesty. About admitting that the experiment has split into incompatible outcomes. About recognizing that peaceful separation is better than perpetual cultural warfare, political revenge cycles, and a federal government that half the country views as hostile. Coexistence requires mutual respect, and that left the room a long time ago.

You can call it the Declaration of Disillusion. You can call it dissolution. You can call it whatever you want. But pretending we can duct tape this together forever is the real fantasy. The bottom line is simple: we’re already divided in everything but name. The only question left is whether we keep lying to ourselves, or finally have the courage to admit it.

I fear the author is correct.  I don't see how we can restore unity to a nation so far divided as ours has become.  It's a lot more difficult than during the American Civil War of the 19th century, because there are many issues dividing us, not just one central debate.  Furthermore, we don't have neatly divided states:  we have representatives from multiple perspectives in every state.  Big cities tend to be "blue", smaller towns and rural areas tend more towards "red", but overall the states are "purple" - and I don't see any practical way of satisfying all the blended colors in our present political melange.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."  Jesus Christ said that.  Abraham Lincoln made it the focus of his famous "house divided" speech almost two millennia later.  It's as true today as it's ever been.  Unless we find a way to bridge the gaps between us - and I have no idea what that way might be - our house, our nation, is probably going to fall.

Peter

Population collapse threatens China - perhaps much more, and much sooner, than we think

 

A few days ago, the New York Post published an article headlined "China is facing a demographic bomb— and it could handcuff Beijing’s ambitions".  Here's an excerpt.

Last week, Beijing’s release of China’s national birth count for 2025 left demographers stunned.

The national birth total plummeted by over 17% from 2024 to 2025, the PRC disclosed.

That sort of precipitous drop is almost never seen in stable modern societies, where births tend to inch up or down from one year to the next.

A decline of this magnitude qualifies as a demographic shock of the sort typically associated with dire calamities like famine or plague — a sign that a disaster or convulsion is taking place.

And these are only the latest readings from the astonishing birth crash that’s commenced under Xi Jinping’s rule: a drop by over half in just eight years that shows no sign as yet of abating.

Tumbling birth rates have already thrown China into depopulation, with over four deaths for every three births in 2025.

With fewer than 8 million new babies in 2025, China is not only down to the lowest level of natality since the Communists took power in 1949.

It’s actually back to birth levels last seen three centuries ago, in the early 1700s, when the national population may have been no more than 225 million — less than a sixth of China’s current 1.4 billion.

. . .

If this continues, the next generation of Chinese will be only be 44% as large as their parents’ cohort — and the following generation will be smaller still.

There's more at the link.  It's worth reading the article in full.

That news was bad enough, from China's perspective.  However, it may be a whole lot worse.  Yesterday I came across a Web site called "Lei's Real Talk".  She's a Chinese lady living in the USA who analyzes events and developments in China, and has developed quite a large following.  I know nothing more about her than what she says on her Web site, but she presents carefully thought out and cogent analysis of China's real population in the video clip below.  The kicker?

She thinks China's population might already be a third to a half less than what it officially claims.

If that's true, it makes the warnings in the article above even more ominous.  See for yourself.  This is well worth watching, and listening carefully.

If Lei's claims are true, they provide an entirely new perspective on China's aggressive words and policies directed against other countries and alliances.  They might be no more than bluff and bluster, demographically speaking . . . might.  We won't know for sure unless and until Lei's calculations can be confirmed in some way.

Nevertheless, it's enough to make one think, isn't it?

Peter

Minneapolis and Minnesota: a "color revolution" in the making

 

Some readers may not be familiar with the term "color revolution".  American Thinker outlined the concept in an article last December.

A“color revolution” ... is a modern form of orchestrated political upheaval designed to replace an existing government without traditional military invasion or civil war ... These operations follow a remarkably consistent playbook, refined over two decades by Western NGOs, intelligence-linked foundations, and State Department-affiliated entities (Open Society Foundations, USAID, etc.).

Authors describe seven stages of a color revolution. The stages include these tactics, which I’ll list in approximate chronological order:

• Portray the target government as illegitimate, authoritarian, corrupt, or “fascist.”
• Front-load allegations: accuse incumbent of planning the crimes the opposition intends to commit (rigging, regression, dictatorship).
• Fund and train NGOs, student groups, and opposition politicians to repeat a unified message.
• Create/amplify a unifying symbol or theme (e.g., Orange Man Bad).
• Manufacture an electoral crisis.
• Street mobilization.
• Public appeals to and moral blackmail of the military and police: “You’re with the people, not the regime.”
• Promises of immunity, future positions for defectors.
• Threats to those who support target government.
• Provoke a response, flood media with images of “peaceful protesters” being attacked.
• International legitimation as foreign governments and media recognizes opposition leaders as “legitimate” authority.
• Sanctions, frozen assets, diplomatic isolation applied to sitting government.
• New elections scheduled under international supervision.

There's more at the link.  Notable examples of color revolutions may be found in the so-called "Arab Spring" uprisings, the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia in 2003, the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine in 2004/5, and a number of others.  Not all of the factors listed above were present in all the color revolutions, but most of them made multiple appearances.

A noteworthy common factor is that external (i.e. foreign) non-governmental organizations (NGO's) were involved in organizing and supporting almost all color revolutions over the past two to three decades.  Most of those NGO's were left-wing or progressive in orientation, and appear again and again in multiple uprisings.  Keep that in mind as we consider the current uprisings in Minneapolis and Minnesota.

The situation in Minneapolis right now is clearly an organized uprising against the enforcement of US immigration law by ICE.  It shows many of the signs of a typical color revolution in the making.  It is not random or haphazard:  it is professionally planned and executed, and run very like a military operation by its organizers.  As evidence, consider:

• The far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm's way, then made him a martyr
• "What’s unfolding in Minneapolis right now isn’t 'protest'. It’s low-level insurgency infrastructure, built by people who’ve clearly studied the playbook."
• "Look at the training 'MN Ice Watch' (which Renee Good belonged to) gives"
• Left-Wing Activists Run Shadow Police Force On Signal To Target ICE In Minneapolis
• What The Left Doesn't Want You To Know About Alex Pretti, The Man That Border Patrol Shot

I could post many similar links, but those above contain all the important information you'll need to make your own judgment.  If you're in any doubt about what I say here, follow them for yourself and learn the truth.

Next, keep in mind that violence against ICE is not widespread.  As Kevin Bass points out (his methodology is here), a mere nine counties (out of 3,143 in the entire USA!) have produced two-thirds of all such incidents over the past year.  Click the image below for a larger view.

That's hardly the widespread violence and unrest that the progressive left (and its lackeys in the mainstream news media) are trying to portray, is it?  That shows very clearly where the left is most organized and active.  However, they're bringing activists into those places from all over the country, not just to help their protests, but to learn from them how to do it and then "export" similar unrest to other cities around America.  Be prepared for that.

It's also clear that the anti-ICE demonstrations are attempting to divert attention away from the massive fraud uncovered in Minnesota's Somali community, and in which a large number of Minnesota's political figures are apparently implicated.  Prof. Glenn Reynolds says this.

The state’s Democratic political machine is reacting like a spooked squid to revelations that the machine and its clients are complicit in multi-billion-dollar frauds against the federal government.

And the “ink” being squirted is the not-at-all spontaneous wave of riots erupting against federal authorities in Minneapolis.

. . .

The House Oversight Committee this month found that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison were not innocent bystanders to the fraud, but actually took part in the cover-up, taking active steps to silence whistleblowers.

And it all centered on communities of illegal immigrants and refugees, some of whose members siphoned money from federal taxpayers and in turn gave campaign contributions and political support to state Democrats — a self-licking ice cream cone of graft.

. . .

These are not spontaneous uprisings of the aggrieved, but organized actions featuring out-of-state actors and organizations, detailed training programs for demonstrators, and large amounts of intentionally murky funding from organizations like Indivisible, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and others.

They’re coordinating their anti-ICE operations — identifying, chasing and blocking agents to keep them from arresting illegal-immigrant criminals — through highly organized chat groups on Signal, a secure communications platform, Fox News reported.

And Minnesota government officials are proudly touting their involvement in this coordination ... That’s making these often violent, deliberately obstructive demonstrations look less like a civil rights sit-in and more like a government-backed insurrection.

. . .

Whatever investigators determine about how Pretti’s death unfolded, the fact remains that a cynical and corrupt political machine has fostered for its own purposes a situation that’s dangerous for its own supporters, and for the political future of our nation.

There's more at the link.

As a human being, I'm deeply saddened by the deaths of Renée Good and Alexander Pretti in Minneapolis.  May their sins be forgiven them, and may they rest in peace:  and may their families receive what comfort is possible.

HOWEVER . . .

Let us not forget that both died while actively interfering with law enforcement personnel in the execution of their duties, in situations where tempers and emotions were running high, and where misunderstandings in the heat of the moment could readily be foreseen and expected.  In both shootings, it is possible that the law enforcement officers concerned over-reacted to visual stimuli that - under the stress and tension of the circumstances - they did not have time to adequately process.  On the other hand, the actions of the victims actively contributed to that stress and tension, and therefore they were at the very least not blameless in their deaths.

It is also possible - although yet to be determined by legal process - that the shootings were justifiable under the laws and jurisprudence governing the conduct of the law enforcement personnel concerned.  Until all the facts emerge, and can be evaluated by competent authorities and ruled upon in court, I won't attempt to assign blame.  I could wish that others would be slower to judge, and be willing to wait for all the facts to come out.  By failing to do so, they're inciting and inviting further violence and bloodshed - which is, of course, exactly what some of them appear to want.

What is now effectively beyond doubt is that both Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti died as part of an uprising against the constitution and laws of the United States of America.  It's no good denying that - the evidence (as cited and provided above) is clear.  The ultimate responsibility for their deaths sits squarely at the door of those who planned, instigated and organized this unrest.  I can only hope that they will be called to account for it.

Peter

Quick post-storm update, and preliminary thoughts on Minneapolis unrest

 

The world outside is blanketed with a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain, which have combined to bed down into a 3" to 4" thick layer over everything.  One can walk on it if one's careful about one's balance, but put a foot wrong and it's slip slidin' away . . .

I won't go out today, because with my spine injury, balance is sometimes hard to maintain - and I don't want to have to call for an ambulance while lying in that icy, snowy blanket on the ground!  My wife has had to go to work, but it's only a couple of miles from here, and she's from Alaska!  She's been grinning broadly at all the complaints from locals about how snowed-in we are, and how difficult it is to drive, and so on.  Needless to say, her comparisons between here and Alaska have been great fun!  She should have no trouble driving to work and back.

I guess readers in the north-east are still getting the snow, sleet and freezing rain that left here a day or two ago.  Stay safe up there, please.  I know you're more used to this than we are, but Mother Nature is still a stone cold bitch who'll kill you at the drop of a hat (and sometimes drop it herself, if she's feeling that way inclined).

I've had a few e-mails asking me why I'm not commenting at greater length on the situation in Minneapolis right now.  Three points:

1. The 72-hour rule applies:  wait three days for the details to be established before you say something that might not be accurate.  I'll write about it tomorrow.
2. There's so much organization and purpose behind the civil unrest in Minneapolis that it qualifies as an insurrection, by any classical definition you choose.  This is not an angry public protesting - it's an organized militant group playing on public emotions and manipulating many (most?) of the protesters.  It's also a very clear attempt by the Minneapolis/Minnesota authorities to divert attention from the immense fraud perpetrated upon the people of Minnesota by criminal elements, including some of those authorities.  There's a lot more to come out about all that.
3. I am deeply, deeply concerned about the ruthlessness and purposefulness of the organizers behind these protests.  They remind me of the unrest in Southern states prior to the Civil war - think attacks on state militia troops passing through Baltimore, the Southern seizure of Federal property, and firing on a Federal installation.  As Divemedic (rightly, in my opinion) warns:  "At this point, we are closer to a Civil War than we have been in more than 60 years."

Pray for peace, but prepare for this uprising in case it spreads to your area.  If you live in a large city (particularly with left-wing politics) or anywhere nearby, that goes double for you.

Peter

Not so fast, buddy...

 

It's been claimed that China is "sending thousands of future military pilots posing as civilians to the United States to learn how to fly".  It's not quite as simple as that.  I'm sure some of the Chinese pilots training in the USA are, indeed, going to fly with the Peoples' Liberation Army Air Force, but not all of them.  Many are here for a different reason altogether.

All over the world, nations set their own standards as to what qualifications their civilian pilots should hold.  Many of them are so lax in their enforcement of training standards (for example, most African nations) that their pilots aren't allowed to fly in more advanced aviation environments (such as most First World countries).  A pilot's certificate from one of the low-standard nations is effectively a local qualification only, and I wouldn't feel safe flying with such a pilot.  Indeed, many qualifications are fraudulently obtained:  for example, in 2022 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) found that 457 of its staff had fake degrees or pilot certificates.  An earlier investigation revealed that"more than 260 of [Pakistan's] 860 active pilots had either fake licences or had cheated in their exams."  (Remind me never, ever to fly PIA!)

There are other nations, usually in the First World, who insist on pilot training and standards similar to, or close to, those in the USA.  Pilots with those licenses can usually fly aircraft in, to and from such countries and others their aviation authorities trust.  For example, any pilot licensed by the European Union can fly to other EU nations, and also internationally to most other countries.  However, the US pilot license and other advanced aviation qualifications are the only ones that are valid worldwide (except for North Korea and Iran, which don't like us at all!  AFAIK, they're the only nations on earth that don't recognize our flying qualifications.)  Basically, apart from those two countries, if you have a US pilot qualification of appropriate skill and seniority, you can fly in all other nations and get an aviation job there, if you wish.

That means there are a very large number of foreign pilots who come to this country every year, from all over the world, to get a US pilot qualification.  They often have to start from the very beginning, despite some of them having thousands of hours in the air on very large airliners, because the Federal Aviation Administration (on the basis of bitter experience) refuses to recognize almost all foreign flying qualifications.  I'm sure the students find that demeaning, but it is what it is.  They have to go through the whole process:  Student Pilot, Private Pilot, Instrument, Commercial, and on through Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) if they want to fly for the airlines.  It can take as little as nine months for an experienced student, or a year or three for someone less experienced (or a complete beginner who has to build up enough hours in the air to qualify to take each successive level of licensing).  Once they have their US qualifications, even if they can't get a resident visa here, they can still go almost anywhere else in the world and be hired as a pilot, at a salary usually rather more than an entry-level pilot without US certification would earn.

That's where many, perhaps most, of those Chinese pilots come in.  They are often pilots already, flying for Chinese or Far Eastern airlines.  They save up vacation hours and their dollars, do what studying they can in advance, then come over here to knock out one or two licenses over a month to six weeks.  Two or three trips like that and they can qualify as a US ATP.  After that, the world is their oyster.  They can leave China, go anywhere else they can get a visa, and be reasonably sure of getting an aviation-related job.  (I know about this from a source in the pilot training industry, who's spoken highly of their perseverance and determination.)

So, yes, I'm sure some Chinese military pilots are coming over here to get civilian pilot training, because the standards of training here remain the highest and most demanding in the world.  However, I'll be surprised if the numbers are as great as claimed;  and I don't think the majority of them are, or will become, military pilots.

Peter

Minnesota: Both sides are caught on the horns of a dilemma

 

Keep a careful eye on Minneapolis.  Things are getting bad enough there that they remind me of the virtual civil war that reigned for months in some of South Africa's worst-hit areas during the last years of apartheid.  The radicals on the left are trying to force the issue - and it can only be a matter of time before radicals on the right respond in kind.  As Rod Dreher points out:

Things are fast getting out of control in Minnesota. Leftist mobs are going after innocent people they think might be pro-ICE — including a tourist driving a rental car with Texas plates. The mob figured Texas plates surely must belong to an ICE agent. State and local authorities there have put themselves openly against federal law enforcement. It’s as if they’re all but begging Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act — and you know, if all this isn’t an insurrection, what is it?

What these fools don’t understand is that things like invading and disrupting a church service compels many Christians and others, who might have been doubtful about the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, to rush towards Trump for protection from the mob. They are hardening sides. Frankly, I hope the feds swoop in with force and start mass arrests, starting with Don Lemon. Again: the protesters crossed a bright red line yesterday in going into that church.

This is how civil wars start. I’m serious. Here is a clip of an anti-ICE leftist standing on the streets of Minneapolis with a rifle in hand, ready for civil war. He says he’s standing on his block “to protect my people.” OK, but is he ready for Christian men to stand around the perimeter of their churches, with rifles, to protect their people?

There's more at the link.

The trouble is, the radical left wants that sort of confrontation.  They're doing all they can to provoke it.  They'd like nothing better than for President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, because then they could proclaim that it proves he was what they've called him all along - a fascist, a Nazi, another Hitler.  Eko explains:

January 15, 2026. Tore Says monitors document simultaneous Zoom calls across every major activist network in the United States. Sunrise Movement. Federal employee resistance groups. Military reservist networks. Senior Executive Service officials. Antifa organizers. Ideologically opposed groups, different platforms, never having worked together publicly.

Jake broadcasts intent to burn a Quran to provoke the left.

Pink broadcasts alerts about an “anti-Muslim rally” to mobilize the Left.

They both specify the exact time. They both name the location.

On the surface, they are enemies. In the intelligence chatter, they are the same network. One operative amplifies the threat. The other provides the violence. Two hands of the same foreign-funded clock.

Every Zoom call Tore documented discussed the same objective: create sufficient unrest that the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Upper-level conversations revealed specific instructions.

    1. Stage provocations at mosques.
    2. Arm counter-protesters.
    3. Ensure cameras capture everything.
    4. Coordinate media amplification across all platforms.

Then further instructions surfaced:

Promote the Insurrection Act subversively through conservative outlets. Embed in right-wing media. Make supporters demand the mechanism that will remove Trump.

The Left creates chaos to force federal crackdown.

The Right demands emergency powers thinking they’ll crush the opposition.

The synthesis advances through the collision. The moment Trump invokes the Act to restore order, the narrative locks. He becomes the strongman they warned about for a decade. Every news chyron, every influencer post, every talking head will say the same thing: You see? He IS the dictator.

The truth is irrelevant. Perception is the verdict. The justification for his removal is written by his own signature.

. . .

The timeline

    Day 1: Deployment orders. Media goes 24/7 crisis mode.
    Day 3: First judicial injunction filed. International condemnation starts.
    Day 7: Cabinet members leaking concerns to press.
    Day 10: Congressional emergency hearings announced.
    Day 14: 25th Amendment whispers in mainstream coverage.
    Day 21: Politically radioactive. Legally cornered.

Three weeks. That’s the window from finally crushing them to removing him for instability.

There won’t be time to organize. To protest. To vote.

By the time we realize the mistake, he is gone and the emergency powers are permanent.

. . .

They have called us fascist for eight years. Violent insurrectionists. Threats to democracy.

Now they engineer the conditions where we demand authoritarian powers. Where we cheer military force. Where we justify emergency rule.

They are making us become the thing they accused us of being.

Take the bait and the soul of this movement is gone. We become their lie.

This is spiritual war.

Our grievances are legitimate. The solution being sold is our suicide.

Again, more at the link.  I highly recommend that you read the whole thing.

Friends, the radical Left is not interested in compromise (except as a short-term tactic while they prepare their next attack).  They aren't interested in placebos or palliatives or politicians' pablum.  They will gouge and chip away at the established order until they've disestablished it - which will be their excuse to mount an all-out takeover bid, probably invoking the 25th Amendment.  Democrat representatives in Congress and the Senate will be joined by RINO's, and even if they get only a razor-thin majority in both Houses, that's all they need.  If they do, it's a very short step to taking over both Houses in the November 2026 elections, and blocking the rest of the Trump agenda permanently.

Think it's impossible?  I don't.  There's a legal, legislative, judicial and constitutional minefield dead ahead.  Any knee-jerk reaction by the right (particularly an armed, violent reaction) will lead us right into it.  We have to emphasize the rule of law, while recognizing that some aspects of that might be more of a problem to us than a solution to the current situation.  It's a very fine line to walk.

Peter

Am I a prophet, or what?

 

In an article last week on how the progressive left is trying to turn ICE's anti-illegal-alien sweep into another George Floyd-like uprising, I advised several precautionary actions for my readers, including this one:

Expect there to be another run on firearms and ammunition, just like 2020/21, as those who hadn't prepared in time try to do so at short notice.  If your own supplies are a little threadbare, beat the rush and stock up now, while prices are still relatively low.

In their latest e-circular, received yesterday, SG Ammo, my favorite suppliers, had this to say:

We have seen a sharp increase in consumer demand for bulk ammo orders over the past 8 days. Daily sales volume initially rose 25% to 35%, and now 35% to 45% over the past 3 days when compared to the daily averages of the first week of this month. This also represents an even larger increase from demand in December. While some of this should be expected, as the busy season for selling ammo is generally November to April with a peak in March as income tax refunds get spent, we feel that the elevated demand signals a widespread urge by the consumer to stock up on ammo. In my opinion, it would be wise to stock up now if you need ammo while depressed market pricing lingers from 2025 and before 2026 price increases from the factories begin to force widespread increases in the retail market.

Yep.  It's as I predicted.  People are seeing what's going on in Minneapolis (where the George Floyd riots started in 2020) and realizing that "it's déjà vu all over again".  Many had become complacent since the last ammo shortage, and failed to maintain their stocks;  and others, new to firearms ownership since then, hadn't realized how rapidly ammo supplies can dry up.  They're looking at what's going on and realizing that forewarned had better be (ballistically) forearmed, and they're stacking it high, wide and deep.

I respectfully submit that at a minimum, if you're serious about preparing to defend yourself and your loved ones, you should have 100-200 rounds of quality defensive ammunition, plus another 400-500 rounds of training ammunition (enough for one to two years' practice sessions), for every defensive firearm you own.  Some can't afford that:  for them, I'd advise buying the quality defensive ammo right away (it's always the first to disappear off store shelves), and then accumulating training ammo one or two boxes at a time.

Buy in bulk if you can, because it's cheaper.  If you can't afford to do that on your own, get together with your buddies and put in a single group order so that you all save money.  I usually buy in bulk from either SG Ammo (free shipping over $200, which saves money) or Palmetto State Armory, but there are many other vendors out there.  Shop around and compare prices (not forgetting shipping costs).  However, don't forget to also patronize your local gun store(s).  They're more expensive, sure, but they need to make a profit to survive, and you want them to survive and be available in case you need something in a hurry.

If you're in any doubt about how tight supply can get, read the 2021 Shooting Illustrated article I linked above.  If you haven't yet assured your own reserve supply of ammunition, I strongly suggest you do so as quickly as possible.  I have no doubt that urban crime and unrest is going to escalate further, and may spill over from the cities to smaller towns and rural areas.  Remember the time-honored, age-old truth:  "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it but not have it".  Truer words were never spoken about defensive weapons and ammunition.

Peter

I agree

 

As regular readers will know, I have literally decades of experience in environments of civil unrest, terrorism, and societal conflict, ranging from more-or-less peaceful demonstrations right through to the worst terrorist acts you can imagine.  I'm frequently astonished at the complacency and ignorance of people who think that "It can't happen here!"  I assure you, it most certainly can.

The expatriate American living in the Philippines, blogging at Come And Make It, appears to understand the reality of our situation, from a different-but-similar perspective.

There was a noticeable lag—roughly a year—[in Iraq after the war] between the collapse of central authority and the full emergence of widespread insurgency.

I see troubling parallels in the United States today. We're in that uneasy "lag" phase: deep instability is already here, with large numbers of people armed and ideologically primed for violence, yet most still hesitate to cross the line into open, sustained conflict. Instead, we see the precursors: fireworks thrown as provocations, screaming crowds, disruptive "stupid games," and tantrum-like escalations when people don't get their way. These are the behaviors of spoiled children testing boundaries.

So far, it's mostly individuals or small groups acting out. But the pattern is clear: one or two incidents beget more, then more still, until the tipping point arrives—and suddenly we have IEDs on interstate highways, coordinated attacks, and true insurgency.

A great deal of money—funneled from foreign governments, wealthy donors, and outside interests—has been poured into inflaming divisions, arming radicals, and eroding trust in institutions. These investments are designed to create exactly this kind of volatile tinderbox.

We are now one stray footstep away from triggering an avalanche of violence that could be very difficult to stop once it starts.

There's more at the link.

I warned earlier this month that the unrest being fomented over ICE and illegal aliens is reminiscent of the artificially-whipped-up demonstrations over George Floyd's death in 2020.  It seems many others agree.  See, for example:

• Minneapolis ICE Shooting Shows Left Wing's Protest Industrial Complex Wants Another 'George Floyd'-Type Riot
• The horns of the ICE dilemma (recommended reading)
• Stumbling Towards A New Civil War

See also the links provided in my earlier article.

El Gato Malo provides this succinct assessment.  Note:  he eschews capitals in his articles.

the "activists" they pay to run around trying to stop ICE are just upping the ante and taking even more unreasonable actions to try to protect the original incursions.

and they are creating incredibly dangerous situations.

on purpose and as a matter of policy.

and when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

this issue is being used to try to drive an irreconcilable social fracture.

it’s being managed like an insurgency in the same city that keeps spawning these (and whose governor and congressional rep (this took place in omar’s district) both look like they’re about to get indicted for massive corruption around immigrants they flooded the area with to sway voting.)

it’s more than a little curious how these folks were all so ready for this within hours.

there is coordination here.

. . .

there’s an actual insurgency being run here by the same political junta that caused the immigration mess.

but this is not going to be 2020. you can feel the national mood turning. people have had enough of being held hostage by these out of control hysteria cohorts.

and at a certain point, you stop trying to convince and realize that you’re basically just at war over a set of fully unreconcilable worldviews.

Again, more at the link.

Note the last sentence above.  It's true.  No reconciliation is possible between the two sides of the illegal alien debate.  One side sees it as a fundamental threat to what it has always meant to be an American.  The other side sees it as a wedge issue to redefine what it means to be an American.

Rudyard Kipling put it well, in a different context:

East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet

That's what we have here - and unless sanity and facts prevail over emotions and feelings, it's going to get much, much worse, more quickly than most of us can imagine.

Peter

Robotic crooks? AI con artists? Computerized criminals?

 

An article at Futurism suggests that we can expect all of the above, and then some.

In a new report, pan-European police agency Europol’s Innovation Lab has imagined a not-so-distant future in which criminals could hijack autonomous vehicles, drones, and humanoid robots to sow chaos — and how law enforcement will have to step up as a result.

By the year 2035, the report warns that law enforcement departments will need to deal with “crimes by robots, such as drones” that are “used as tools in theft,” not to mention “automated vehicles causing pedestrian injuries” — an eventuality we’ve already seen in numerous cases.

Humanoid robots could also complicate matters “as they could be designed to interact with humans in a more sophisticated way, potentially making it more difficult to distinguish between intentional and accidental behavior,” the report notes.

Worse yet, robots designed to assist in healthcare settings could be hacked into, leaving patients vulnerable to attackers.

Rounding out the cyberpunk dystopia vibes, according to the report, is that all the folks who were put out of a job as a result of automation may be motivated to commit “cybercrime, vandalism, and organized theft, often targeted at robotic infrastructure” just to survive.

Law enforcement needs to evolve rapidly to keep up, Europol says. For instance, a police officer may need to determine whether a driverless car that was involved in an accident did so after receiving deliberate instruction as part of a cyberattack, or whether it was a simple malfunction.

. . .

Advanced weapons have already “spilled over into organised crime and terrorism, impacting law enforcement,” the report reads. “There has also been a reported increase in the use of drones around European infrastructure, and there are examples of drone pilots selling their services online, transforming this criminal process from crime-as-a-service to crime-at-a-distance.”

In short, it’s a troubling vision of the future of crime, facilitated by rapidly evolving technologies.

There's more at the link.  The original Europol report may be found here.

This is hardly surprising, of course.  Criminals have always used every technology ever invented, as soon as it's come along (and often before law enforcement has thought about its criminal misuse, or considered countermeasures).  Today, however, the threat is greater than ever before.  There must be enough well-trained and -experienced drone operators in Ukraine and Russia alone that every criminal organization in Europe could hire a troop of them.  As that knowledge and experience proliferates, particularly in South American drug cartels (who are already using drones as offensive weapons against each other and against law enforcement, and using them to fly drugs and other contraband across the US border), we're sure to see police forces and other agencies setting up their own specialist units to tackle the problem.

I remain equally concerned about the use of drones by "ordinary" criminals to survey streets and neighborhoods, looking for targets of opportunity.  Examples:

• There are a number of gangs stealing cars to order.  If you want a specific make and model of car, you let the gang know, and they'll find one to steal for you.  A number of high-end autos have been exported in response to such interest.  A drone-equipped operator can fly over neighborhoods all across a city to find the vehicle(s) he wants, and choose those in the most vulnerable areas or homes for further attention.
• If a given suburb is popular with wealthier people, gangs can fly drones over it to check on security systems and precautions they use.  If they find a more vulnerable home, they can plot ways to approach the house under cover of garden vegetation, or plan rapid egress routes after they've broken in.  They can also monitor the frequency and routes taken by security patrols.
• Left-wing and progressive groups are doxxing the names and addresses of ICE agents and other law enforcement personnel.  If you happen to live near one, you and your family might find yourselves caught up in (potentially violent) demonstrations against that address and those living there.
• Kidnapping and human trafficking are in the news almost every day.  Using drones, the perpetrators can look for likely victims and observe them for long periods, to establish their patterns of life and determine when they will be most vulnerable to attack.

Those are just a few of the ways in which criminals can benefit from technology, or we can suffer because they have access to it.

Peter

The organizers behind the anti-ICE protests

 

Following this morning's first article, in which I argue that we're seeing a deliberate attempt to turn illegal immigration into a cause célèbre like George Floyd's death in 2020, City Journal has this exposé of one of the driving forces behind that attempt.

The People’s Forum is a “movement incubator” and “a home” for over 200 left-wing groups. Its Manhattan location offers “co-working space, conference rooms, a theater for film screenings, a media laboratory, a lending library, and [the] People’s Café,” as well as an art space, “ideal for art builds, poster making, screen printing.” Part of what makes the organization so quick to respond is that outsourcing isn’t necessary—everything is in-house.

. . .

The group has drawn congressional scrutiny for its behavior and alleged Chinese connections. Last year, Senator Chuck Grassley contacted the Department of Justice about TPF’s “reported Chinese Communist Party ties.” Representative Jason Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, urged the IRS to revoke TPF’s tax-exempt status, citing its role in “inciting riots and violence, supporting illegal activity, and conducting other activity contrary to the public good.”

Elected officials are right to worry. One of TPF’s most radical allies is Nodutdol, a pro-North Korean organization that hosted its end-of-year fundraiser at TPF’s space. In April 2025, TPF hosted a Nodutdol-facilitated event on “Socialism and Sovereignty” in what it referred to simply as “Korea,” in which it denounced “the constant demonization of North Korea” and deemed “reunification” of the Koreas “a vital front in the global anti-imperialist struggle.”

Newer organizations also rely on The People’s Forum as a volunteer hub. That includes groups like ICE Out of New York, which has staged direct actions, such as a disruptive protest inside a Manhattan Home Depot over the corporation’s failure to condemn deportations occurring on its properties.

. . .

While TPF is based in Manhattan, its influence extends far beyond Gotham. Its classes use a hybrid format, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to participate. TPF’s in-house press and bookstore, 1804 Books, prints, publishes, and distributes all manner of “socialist literature and revolutionary theory.” And as it fundraises for a major renovation, the group’s reach and operational capacity appear poised to expand.

This weekend’s rapid, coordinated protests make one thing clear: the anti-capitalist movement is growing. The People’s Forum is just one node in a massive militant network that opposes the American experiment. Officials must keep watch—and when lawbreaking occurs, take action.

There's more at the link.

Friends, that's just one group, in one city.  There are literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of smaller groups in most liberal left-wing cities, and they're all fed by "umbrella" organizations such as The People's Forum.  George Soros and his Open Society Foundations is another funder and coordinator of such activities, as is Hansjorg Wyss and his eponymous Wyss Foundation and the Berger Action Fund.  There are many more like them.  They're pouring hundreds of millions of dollars every year into US politics in an attempt to derail the Trump administration's policies, and prepare to take back political power as quickly as possible.

They're all funding and organizing and coordinating the anti-ICE activities we're seeing on our streets.  They're all doing their best to make it impossible to control those activities, by any means necessary.  We haven't yet seen ICE officers ambushed and assassinated while doing their duty, but I think it's only a matter of time until we do.  After all, from their insular and blinkered perspective, ICE just killed one of their own protesters, so such a response would be no more than ICE deserves.

Tragically, such extremism is beginning to make its presence felt on the right, conservative wing of US politics as well.  Remember Newton's Third Law of Motion?  "Every action causes an equal and opposite reaction."  Extremism begets more extremism, swinging and see-sawing to and fro.  Most of the victims don't really care that much about the extremes - they just got in the way.  They're useful cannon fodder to be exploited for propaganda purposes.  The BBC went so far as to headline, "Two starkly opposed Americas laid bare by deadly ICE shooting".

We are not, repeat, not a United States at this time.  We're far from it.  We can't expect everyone to support common-sense courtesy and decency, because few extremists are willing to do so.  That puts every moderate in the cross-hairs of one or other (or both) sides.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Peter

Shades of 2020... are we seeing George Floyd redux on the left?

 

When it comes to politics, I'm not a great believer in coincidences.  When headlines, proclamations and exhortations pop up like weeds around the same subject, there's always some form of coordination behind them.  If anyone denies that, they're most likely part of the coordination effort.

That's what we're seeing now in connection with ICE's immigration enforcement:  a concerted, organized effort to paint the agency as evil, and its agents as villains and demons, and to use both as levers to attack President Trump.  It's shades of the George Floyd riots all over again.  Consider these headlines (and click on any one to read the article concerned):

• Renee Nicole Good was Minneapolis ‘ICE Watch’ ‘warrior’ who trained to resist feds before shooting
• Crockett warns of nationwide protests over ICE shooting: 'State-sanctioned execution'
• WALZ’S REBELLION: Minnesota Governor ... Threatens to Activate National Guard Against Federal Law Enforcement
• ‘Stoking the Grievance Industry’: Leftist Groups Mobilize After ICE Shooting in Minneapolis
• Chaos!: Democrats Use Minneapolis Shooting to Push Their Anti-Trump 2026 Campaign Theme
• Just how insane did Democrats become on immigration?
• Who Is Helping Low IQ Migrants Defraud American Taxpayers?

Those are just a few examples of the torrent of articles (from both left and right wing authors and sources) about the present political and social situation.

If you can't see parallels between the riots of 2020 and those of 2026, I fear you're living in cloud cuckoo land.  The left, progressive wing of US politics is trying to whip up fear, anxiety and doubt around the issue of illegal aliens and illegal immigration (although they're very careful never to use, or accept the legitimacy of, either of those terms).  They want to make it a standard around which to rally support, and to undermine the policies and actions of the Trump administration. To achieve that end, demonstrations and riots, public violence, even looting and trashing other people's property, are merely tools in their toolbox.  The "restraints" of law, common decency, and ethical and moral behavior are a joke to them.  They use those things against those who believe in them.

In South Africa we used to say that the left wing (meaning, in that country, the anti-apartheid forces during the 1980's) were trying to make the country ungovernable.  To a considerable extent, they succeeded, leading to that country's first-ever democratic elections in 1994.  They used violence, controlled and uncontrolled, as just another method of applying pressure.  It cost us tens of thousands killed, possibly hundreds of thousands - we'll never know - and they still haven't stopped.  Stress kills, even after many years and many miles.  (See, for example, my 2008 article about the death of a good friend.)  I'm convinced that my heart attack in 2009, out of the blue with no warning, was just such a delayed-effect reaction to all those years.

With that experience behind me, I can say with absolute confidence that precisely the same tactics (particularly intimidation and aggression) are being used against conservatives, and against law enforcement officers and agencies (with particular emphasis on the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency).  The lyrics are different, but the tune is the same.  The fatalities here are a lot less, too . . . for now.

Folks, remember how disrupted things became in 2020 and 2021?  Expect it to happen again.  If you live in cities (and I sincerely hope many of you heeded my earlier warnings and left big cities behind you), you're going to be right on the spot.  Think it won't affect you?  I have news for you . . . the success of the left depends on you feeling their wrath personally, and being afraid of them, and therefore voting the way they want in order to "make it stop".  They won't leave you alone.

If you're still city-bound (and even if you're not), pay extra attention to the following:

• Make sure your emergency preparations, food and ammo stocks, etc. are as ready as possible.  Expect there to be another run on firearms and ammunition, just like 2020/21, as those who hadn't prepared in time try to do so at short notice.  If your own supplies are a little threadbare, beat the rush and stock up now, while prices are still relatively low.  Service and lubricate your firearms, and load your spare magazines!  There's nothing quite so useless in a defensive emergency as an unloaded magazine... or, perhaps, an empty fire-extinguisher when your house is burning.  (You do have fire-extinguishers - quality ones, of a reasonable size - in your home, don't you?  When did you last check them?)
• Design, prepare and practice emergency drills with your spouse and children, and anyone else who lives with you.  Be ready for an emergency if one arrives unannounced.  Liaise with your neighbors, and arrange with those of them who are realists to help each other if the need arises.  Keep your vehicle(s) serviced and at least half-filled with fuel, ready to leave in a hurry, and have at least 72-hour bug-out bags packed for every member of your household.
• Have spare cash on hand, as much as you can afford.  In an emergency, some vendors are likely to refuse credit cards, and/or the card charging systems might be out of service.  Cash is king!

Finally, if Minneapolis 2020 looks like it's coming to your neighborhood, be somewhere else!  Let insurance pay for repairs and replacement for any damage they do to your home and vehicles.  That's what insurance is for.

Peter

Order, counter-order and disorder in Venezuela

 

That seems to be what's happening in Venezuela at the moment.  There's only been one major media report of which I'm aware, over at Gateway Pundit, plus a passing mention on CNN, but it appears a coup d'etat is being attempted at present.  Stony silence from the rest of the mainstream media as I write this on Monday evening;  we'll see if there's more news tomorrow morning.

However, I'm not limited to the mainstream media.  I have a certain amount of what's colloquially known as "back-channel" news coming through.  No less than seven reports have reached me, from different parts of Venezuela, indicating some serious (and violent) disagreements between Maduro loyalists and thugs, and locals who were celebrating his overthrow.  In several cases, gunplay ensued, with civilian victims reported.  On the other hand, the armed factions (including the armed forces) aren't always on the same page.  I've had at least three reports of armed groups fighting each other in an attempt to take over local power structures and/or deny them to other groups.  Again, casualties are reported.

Nobody really knows how this will play out.  Chavez, and then Maduro, armed as many young gangs as they could, totaling perhaps a million people if you believe some reports.  These so-called "colectivos" were relied upon by the Maduro regime as enforcers of their political will, and many are criminals and murderers.  It wouldn't surprise me if they - and/or some of their leaders - tried to seize greater power now that Maduro is out of the way.  It'd be no more than self-defense on their part;  if the Big Boss isn't there any more, they're going to want to protect themselves against any reaction against them by the people or by Maduro's replacement, whoever that ends up being.

This article gives a good perspective on the scale of the problems confronting Venezuela, and also the USA as it tries to control what happens there.

Venezuela, says Robert A Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and one of America’s leading academic experts on political violence, has “perfect terrain for insurgency and terrorism”, as well as multiple armed militias and criminal networks numbering in the tens of thousands.

“Venezuela hosts numerous armed groups, including colectivos, who are pro-government militias used for repression; Colombian guerrillas like the ELN [National Liberation Army] and remnants of FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]; major criminal networks like Tren de Aragua; and elements of the Venezuelan military operating semi-autonomously,” Pape tells The Telegraph.

“America will discover enormous apathy and significant opposition among the mass public. Ordinary people don’t like their resources going to benefit a foreign country. Trump’s gleeful promise to send in US oil companies to ‘operate’ Venezuela’s oil smacks of Western imperialism that is sure to trigger the worst images of the ‘ugly American’ that so many in the region know all too well,” he adds.

Let’s assume Rodríguez, whom Trump has also said is “willing to do whatever the US asks”, is a willing client.

What happens if she lacks the ability or the means to deliver the change America wants, or simply to hold the country together?

Venezuela is not going to be easy for anyone to fix.

Trump “is correct in saying this is a deeply corrupt regime, and it’s a deeply factionalised military and state structure engaged in all sorts of illicit activities, who would be hard pressed to part with their ill-gotten gains, prestige and positions, and literally put their necks on the line,” says Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House.

The country is staring down the barrel of hyperinflation and a never-ending debt crisis. As Pape notes, the ELN controls patches of the border with Colombia, as well as gold and rare-earth mines in the southwestern provinces of Amazonas and Bolívar.

And Maduro and Hugo Chávez, his predecessor, bought loyalty by carving the state into fiefdoms from which their various clients could extract rents, impoverishing the nation while creating powerful rival power centres.

“Now the head is gone, as we see when you have dictators die, you end up getting a lot of rivals under the leader jostling for power. So don’t be surprised if somebody in the military shoots the vice-president. That’s part of the disintegration,” says Pape.

There's more at the link.

Frankly, I'm glad I don't have to worry about governing Venezuela in its present state.  That job may be impossible!

Peter

Let's do the Venezuela polka!

 

I'm thoroughly enjoying the left-wing/progressive meltdown over President Trump's attack on Venezuela and arrest of that country's (illegitimate) President and his wife.  By the time you read these words, they may be facing their first court hearing in New York City.

Here are some of the thoughts I've been having on the matter, in no particular order.

• Remember how upset the loony left was when a conservative Republican bought Dominion, a provider of automated electoral systems?  One of its biggest rivals, Smartmatic, had provided technology that was used to fraudulently influence Venezuelan elections, allowing Chavez, Maduro et al to take power.  It's also alleged that the company assisted in "manipulating" the 2020 USA election results.  With the leadership of Venezuela now decapitated, how much longer will it be before we learn all that the Venezuelan government knows about that?  And will that lead to more criminal charges in the USA, on top of those already pending?  Pass the popcorn...
• The Democratic Party is losing its collective mind over the attack.  One wonders why they didn't become this engaged when President Obama encouraged and supported the "Arab Spring" revolts that led (among other things) to the murder of Libya's Moammar Ghadafi, or when he authorized drone strikes that killed American Citizens on foreign soil without trial.  What's the old saying?  "If it weren't for double standards, they'd have no standards at all."
• China, Russia and Iran have lost their most reliable ally on the South American continent, and in the process their much-vaunted military technology has been shown to be toothless in the face of a truly high-technology opponent.  Israel has proved that in the Middle East on numerous occasions.  Now it's been demonstrated yet again in Caracas.  All those billions Maduro spent on anti-aircraft radars and missiles, and high-technology strike aircraft with anti-ship missiles?  Not a peep out of them - and I suspect there are rather fewer of them in Venezuela today than there were on Saturday morning.  Did any of them come back to the USA for examination?  It wouldn't surprise me.
• Poor Hugo Chavez.  His mausoleum was intended to serve as a South American equivalent of Lenin's Tomb in Moscow during the days of the old USSR:  a place of pilgrimage, a monument to socialism and all its works.  Well, it (and his body) appear to have been fairly thoroughly demolished during the attack.  They should leave it as it is now - a much more appropriate monument to where socialism always leads.
• Cuba's in a world of hurt.  It had about 20,000 "enforcers" in Venezuela helping to maintain Maduro's illegitimate regime, and in return most of its oil and food came from Venezuela at very low "friendly" prices.  It now has to get all those "enforcers" back home, and is facing the loss of most oil and food supplies.  Can the Cuban government survive without that?  The general consensus is that it can't, unless someone else steps up to the plate with free or low-cost donations of all it needs.  Did President Trump plan for that as a useful side effect of his strike?  I wouldn't be surprised.  He sees wheels within wheels.  What price a collapse of government in Cuba within the year - maybe even a completely new, non-Communist revolution?  I daresay there are Cubans in Miami who would very much like to see that, and I suspect they have a friend in the White House.

Interesting points all, and they're far from complete.  From a geopolitical perspective, this affair is going to be making waves around the world for months, even years to come.

I've also been getting rather annoyed with the so-called "strategists" who are complaining that Trump is focusing far too much on regional affairs (Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, the war on drugs, etc.) than he is on world politics and tensions.  Folks, there's a very, very old strategic dictum that's held up for not just centuries, but millennia:

If you try to be strong everywhere, you will be strong nowhere.

If you're trying to cover everything, you're spreading your resources and your forces too thin.  They can be defeated in detail anywhere an enemy chooses, before you can concentrate your forces to face the attack.  You have to choose what to defend as your first priority, and that means your base and the region in which you live.  If you're strong there, other powers will have a hard time mustering enough resources and forces to attack you, and you can venture out from your strong base to give them a hard time.  You might even build up enough forces to project power worldwide - but if you haven't got a strong base from which to operate, you're a paper tiger.

You also have to choose your points of concentration.  Another strategic dictum is that if you want to force an engagement with the enemy, you have to either attack something they have no choice but to defend, or defend something they have no choice but to attack.  Pick those points, and put enough resources at or near them that you can be sure of being able to prevail if it comes to a fight.  Right now, the USA does not have enough forces to do that around the globe.  We're having to encourage our allies and partners to pony up the money and resources to do that for their own vulnerable points.

While they're doing that, we're rebuilding, but we've got a long way still to go.  It'll take years, not months - decades, in some cases.  We've let our armed forces and our industrial base run down to such an alarming extent that we're spread too thinly to be effective all around the globe.  Worse still, we've depleted our war reserve of weapons and ammunition to give them to Ukraine and other allies when they needed them.  Given the tempo of modern war against a first-level opponent, I don't know that we could operate for more than thirty to sixty days without running out of fuel, ammunition and equipment;  and we'd lose so many of our first-line forces that we wouldn't be able to replace them.  Our shipyards and factories would be run off their feet trying to repair our weapons, let alone build new ones - and in an age of long-distance, highly accurate missile warfare, there's no guarantee those shipyards and factories would be around to do so.

The current world situation may cost us dearly.  If China decides to invade Taiwan, I honestly don't think we have enough forces to stop them, or get there in time to make them pay a heavy price.  China knows this, I'm sure, and knows how weak our industrial base is in terms of replenishing and expanding our military forces.  It knows it's got the edge right now in terms of hardware, and in terms of raw numbers, it's ahead there too (although we don't know the quality of its personnel).  I won't be at all surprised to see China trying to humiliate the USA with a quick strike that will gain victory against a US ally without our being able to help in any effective way.  That would also give it a major psychological and propaganda victory to use at home to bolster the image and reputation of the Chinese Communist Party.

Give President Trump and his successor(s) (presuming they're good successors) a decade to turn things around, and that will change.  Do we have a decade?  I personally don't think so.  I hope I'm wrong.  However, the President's decisive action against Iran, and now against Venezuela, must give pause for thought to rival strategists and politicians, and may buy us time.  One hopes they will continue to do so.

Peter

Oh, nicely played, sir!

 

It seems Ukraine's secret services (whatever they call themselves) have scored one for the home team against their Russian equivalents.

As far as the Russians were concerned, they had got their man.

Denis Kapustin, one of the most prominent anti-Putin Russians fighting on behalf of Ukraine, was reported dead on Dec 27, assassinated by a drone on the southern front.

He had long been hunted by Moscow and the price on his head reflected this: Russian intelligence services had offered $500,000 (£370,000) to anyone who killed him.

Russia paid this out after news broke of the successful hit this week. But what Vladimir Putin’s intelligence services did not know was that they had handed the money directly to Ukraine.

. . .

Mr Kapustin re-emerged – alive and unscathed – in a video posted by Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR).

“Welcome back to life,” Gen Kyrylo Budanov, head of HUR, said with a wry smile. He congratulated Mr Kapustin and his team on a successful operation to deceive their Russian adversaries.

It turns out HUR, along with the RDK, had hatched a plan to fake Mr Kapustin’s death and claim the $500,000 bounty from Russia for themselves, to be used in Ukraine’s war effort.

There's more at the link.

I wonder how many drones Ukraine will buy with that money?  Last I heard, I seem to recall that their locally-manufactured FPV drones were about $4,000 per copy.  If so, $500,000 will buy 125 of them . . . enough to administer rather a lot of explosive headaches to Russian forces across the front line.  I wonder what the soldiers on the receiving end will have to say about their intelligence service's donation to the enemy?  If we could hear them, we might learn some interesting new Russian words . . .

Peter

So much for tolerance

 

Brandon Smith, whom we've met in these pages on several previous occasions, points out that our excessive and inappropriate tolerance has led to the exploitation of our culture by the Third World, at grievous expense to ourselves.

The “melting pot” has been poisoned with a rancid cocktail of nefarious agendas. Any positive vestiges of the ideal have been lost. Any value the melting pot might have once had is gone. All that is left is an army of parasites looking for blood; a swarm of mosquitoes rushing in to latch onto a vein. Few if any of these people or institutions care about the “American Dream”, they only see the US as an easy target ripe for conquest.

. . .

No other culture on Earth worships tolerance like westerners do, and there’s a good reason for that. In the case of the US, our ancestors ... garnered us enough riches that we can afford to virtue signal, but not for much longer.

The people that want to give our civilizational wealth away are people who lack respect for the trials and tribulations required to obtain it.  They have no clue what it will take to earn that success back.

Another problem is that our tolerance often goes unappreciated because it is not a virtue for any other culture, either. The third world sees tolerance as weakness and opportunity. Many foreign social belief systems, from Judaism, to Hinduism to Islam, carry an ancient code of tribalism, an insider/outsider mentality of supremacy which is admonished in modern western thought but tolerated in immigrants.

For third worlders, a culture which is tolerant is fair game for exploitation and perhaps even invasion. You will consistently see foreign groups in the US argue that they are indeed American, but at the same time they will declare allegiance to their nation of origin. Their love of America is based on their love of the WEALTH they can derive from America. They’re laughing all the way to the closest Western Union.

Most have no interest in our principles and our heritage. They see America as an economic zone, a global commons with resources to be tapped. In other words, foreigners see immigration as a fishing business, a means to gain access to a largely unprotected wealth pool created by a culture with more historic merit and more success. They have been gathering their nets for quite some time.

In 2024 the US government under Joe Biden spent over $72 billion on foreign aid with another $26 billion in supplementals. India and Mexico transfer around $100 billion total in remittance from the US each year (foreign workers sending money back home). A number of officials with ethnic roots in these countries regularly argue in favor of continued visas and mass immigration while claiming it’s “for the good of Americans.”

Again, their loyalty is to their culture of origin first and America last.

For progressives and globalists immigration is also about wealth, primarily the redistribution of it from middle-class and upper-class Americans into foreign coffers. They see the common American people (conservatives) as a thorn in their side that needs to be removed. The draining of our buying power and living standards is a stepping stone to cultural deconstruction.

Mass immigration is a tool for social change. Multiculturalism erases national pride and the concept of protected borders. For if we are overwhelmed by the third world, who is going to care about maintaining the borders of our nation anymore? We might as well let the whole thing collapse, right?

They openly admit to this agenda, it’s not a secret. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

There's more at the link.

I'm very much in favor of tolerance, provided that those to whom it is extended reciprocate by assimilating into our culture and national norms, and actively seek to give back to the society that has accepted them.  Tolerance is very much a two-way street.  I've tried very hard to live that since coming to the USA myself, almost thirty years ago.  I hope I've succeeded.

However, many immigrants from the Third World have not done so . . . precisely the opposite, in fact, as exemplified by recent revelations about Somali fraudulent activities in Minnesota and Ohio.  For them, I daresay our tolerance has played out its string - and not before time.  Let them take such attitudes and practices back to Somalia, where they belong.

Peter

Immigration from the Third World

 

We've all heard variations of the meme that "If you import the Third World, you become the Third World".  To a large extent, it's true - just look at the crime, welfare and health statistics of most enclaves of such immigrants and they tell their own story.  Unfortunately, it's regarded as racist to point out that reality.

Lawdog has written a blunt, in-your-face summary of Third World reality.

When you import the 3rd World, you get 3rd World values

He's only the latest to point out that reality - and although he's writing about Somalia, you can extend his conclusions to cover the whole of tribal Africa.  I've written about that at length myself:  see my article "What to do about Africa?" for an in-depth discussion.  (For an overseas perspective, The Spectator's Australian edition published earlier this year an article titled "Importing the third world: The cost of accepting immigrants who don’t share our values is too high".  It's also worth reading.)

Like Lawdog, I grew up in Africa, and I've worked in most sub-Saharan African states.  I entirely agree with him.  The whole continent is a colossal mess, and probably will remain so, because nobody is ready, willing or able to impose a working system of ethics and social standards upon the existing morass.  It's no wonder so many are trying to flee the continent by any means possible, even risking their lives to do so - because staying put will be just as great a risk to their lives, if not greater.  Many will quite willingly commit murder if that's the only way to get here.  I know.  I've seen it happen.

Far too many of our illegal immigrants come from backgrounds like this.  Only by removing them from our midst will our own crime, welfare and health burden be eased, because they're a very large part of the reason why it's so heavy.

Peter

A very timely reminder about emergencies

 

The former Secretary-General of NATO, Lord Robertson of Britain, is not complacent about the danger of war in Europe.  He warns that Britain, and by extension every other country in NATO, needs to better prepare its citizens for what might happen.

Robertson has a torch [flashlight] on his key ring, in case the lights go out, and some spare money, in case the ATMs stop working in London.

“We are under attack,” Robertson, 79, said. He is now a Labour peer and has met Putin nine times.

“He (Putin) is a very different individual to the one that I did business with.”

. . .

“I think we are being tested. They’re going to the edge of what they think is acceptable. They won’t go across that line, at this point,” Robertson said of Russia.

Targeted assassinations, cyberattacks, sabotage and disinformation campaigns are all examples of Moscow’s so-called grey zone activities.

“That’s the way in which you undermine western societies. There is no doubt at all, there is a challenge to the West,” he added.

. . .

“With our adversaries becoming bolder and our critical national infrastructure becoming more fragile and much more on a knife edge, we need to be much much better prepared than we are today,” he said “It won’t be enough to wait to until the lights go out and the hospitals shut and the data centres melt because the air conditioning has gone out and the traffic lights have stopped and the ATMs don’t work anymore.

“At that point, people will expect government to have done something,” he said.

. . .

Robertson was as “ready as I could be”, with torches [flashlights] in every room, a battery-powered radio and a stockpile of food and water.

He said it was also the case in the UK that the public needed to have “resilience” in case there were civil emergencies or financial disasters.

Following Knighton’s speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) this week, he suggested the government could start to engage the public by issuing booklets to prepare UK citizens for war, such as Sweden’s recent If Crisis or War Comes.

There's more at the link.

All the risks he highlights are likely to occur in the USA as well.  We've already had concrete evidence of the dangers:

• Known terrorists identified and arrested within our borders, some even legally admitted due to lax background checks;
• Foreign students trying to smuggle dangerous bacteriological material into the USA (and don't tell me it's for "research" - if it was, they could legally obtain all they need within the country, without smuggling.  They can only have been planning to position it to do as much damage as possible if and when released);
• Foreign criminal gangs and drug cartels actively setting up cells and groups in almost every major US city, including smuggling weapons, illegal narcotics and other dangerous substances across our borders.

Such people, and/or those they've influenced, could very easily disrupt a city by the simplest of sabotage activities.  I'm not going to go into details, for obvious reasons, but back in the day, I was a sector officer in civil defense for one of South Africa's largest cities.  I know whereof I speak.  The ease with which ordinary, everyday services and utilities could be disrupted was enough to make for sleepless nights, and now that everything's dependent on computer systems and (increasingly) artificial intelligence, they are even more vulnerable.  That's why China, among others, is trying to deliberately infiltrate as many industrial, commercial and control networks as possible - so that it can disrupt them at the flick of a switch if it should become necessary to them.

I'm not a doom, gloom and disaster merchant.  I don't run around crying "Wolf!"  However, the evidence of these dangers is all around us, and I don't have to make up a thing to justify improving our personal and family preparedness for the sorts of problems and disruptions that may occur.  I daresay most American households could not survive serious shortages or systemic breakdowns for as little as a week;  a month is probably out of the question for most of them - yet I (and many others) regard a month as a minimum period to be able to get by without outside assistance.  Attitudes toward preparedness need to change, and change quickly, if we're to be able to withstand the sort of problems raised by Lord Robertson, the Swedish government, and so many others.

A timely reminder indeed.

Peter