Pretty significant opinion shift during this Mearsheimer debate against acknowledging NATO overreach and Russian security interests. Shows how willing people are to accept bad intelligence propaganda.

https://youtu.be/EhgWLmd7mCo

Ukraine is not a formal NATO member, but it is a real NATO member due to deep NATO entrenchment: flooding the country with weapons, command, and militants. Similarly, Sweden and Finland may become formal NATO members without being real members. Real mobilisation will be the great question - then a Russian response will be necessary. Inability to distinguish formal and informal laws renders much of the legal debate pointless, and shows how far we've moved from the "rules-based order". This is only an illusory representation of law to continue the subversive mobilisations and incursions into new regions.
If the Scanrinavians make it a formality alone the move could be tolerable; although I doubt this will only be a formal membership for propaganda purposes.

When Hannibal arrived at the Rhône river in southern France, he was met there by a hostile tribe of Gauls intent on challenging his crossing. He came up with a ruse. He ordered his troops to very loudly and very openly make their preparations for the coming crossing. At night he sent a detachement of picked troops up north to cross higher up the river, far away from the prying eyes of the waiting Gauls. These troops arrived three days later on their striking position in the rear of the oblivious Gauls. They sent their signal to Hannibal, who upon reception immediately began crossing the river. While the Gauls on the shore and the Carthaginians on the rafts where taunting each other, the hidden detachment struck the Gallic encampment. The Gauls were taken completely by surprise. They now had to face troops from two directions advancing towards them. Some Gauls froze, some rallied to the defence of the camp, most fled. All cohesion amongst them was lost, and Hannibal successfully crossed the river.

"Japan said it scrambled jets after Russian and Chinese warplanes neared its airspace while Tokyo was hosting the Quad leaders. Tokyo called the drills a provocation.

It was the first joint military exercise by China and Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to a senior U.S. official, and it came at the end of Biden's four-day trip to South Korea and Japan."

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-05-24/russian-and-chinese-jets-conducted-joint-patrol-moscow-says

"Civilization May Not Survive" - George Soros Tells Davos Crowd, Defeat Putin (And Xi) Or Else

"What do the two dictators Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have to show for themselves? They are tied together in an alliance that has no limits. They also have a lot in common. They rule by intimidation, and as a consequence they make mind-boggling mistakes. Putin expected to be welcomed in Ukraine as a liberator; Xi Jinping is sticking to a Zero Covid policy that can’t possibly be sustained.

Putin seems to have recognized that he made a terrible mistake when he invaded Ukraine and he is now preparing the ground for negotiating a cease fire. But the cease fire is unattainable because he cannot be trusted. Putin would have to start peace negotiations which he will never do because it would be equivalent to resigning.

The situation is confusing. A military expert who had been opposed to the invasion was allowed to go on Russian television to inform the public how bad the situation is. Later he swore allegiance to Putin. Interestingly, Xi Jinping continues to support Putin, but no longer without limits.

This begins to explain why Xi Jinping is bound to fail. Giving Putin permission to launch an unsuccessful attack against Ukraine didn’t serve China’s best interests. China ought to be the senior partner in the alliance with Russia but Xi Jinping’s lack of assertiveness allowed Putin to usurp that position. But Xi’s worst mistake was to double down on his Zero Covid policy."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/civilization-may-not-survive-george-soros-tells-davos-crowd-defeat-putin-and-xi-or

What did they mean by this Großraum meme?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl959QnD3lM&t

What?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgaBAnb_qc

After a hellish march with bitter cold, hunger and the depredations of hostile tribes as their constant companions, Hannibal’s diminished army straggled onto the fertile Italian plains. Hannibal immediately set out to invigorate his men and prepare them for the hard battles to come. He needed to boost the confidence of his troops and gain the compliance of the local Gauls, they would have to provide him with supplies, new sources of recruits, and most important, a tranquil rear. The one required battlefield success, the other the application of a little terror. Hannibal devised a way to achieve both with one stroke. He allied with the Insubres and set out to crush their bitter foes, the Taurini. Hannibal besieged their oppidum and razed it. The prisoners he took, he killed. After this action, the Po Gauls quickly become friends of Carthage and supplied troops for the coming campaigns deeper into Roman territory.

Just a note that the May discussion group had to be delayed due to scheduling conflicts. I will hopefully have an update on this soon.

"The smoking gun proving U.S. involvement in the 2014 coup in Kiev has been removed from YouTube after eight years. 

It was one of the most watched versions of the intercepted and leaked conversation between then Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, the then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, in which the two discuss who will make up the new government weeks before democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a violent coup on Feb. 21, 2014."

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/05/25/nuland-pyatt-tape-removed-from-youtube-after-8-years/

"Throughout the city people were dying of hunger in large numbers, and enduring unspeakable sufferings. In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life. No respect was paid even to the dying; the ruffians [anti-Roman zealots] searched them, in case they were concealing food somewhere in their clothes, or just pretending to be near death. Gaping with hunger, like mad dogs, lawless gangs went staggering and reeling through the streets, battering upon the doors like drunkards, and so bewildered that they broke into the same house two or three times in an hour. Need drove the starving to gnaw at anything. Refuse which even animals would reject was collected and turned into food. In the end they were eating belts and shoes, and the leather stripped off their shields. Tufts of withered grass were devoured, and sold in little bundles for four drachmas.

But why dwell on the commonplace rubbish which the starving were driven to feed upon, giver that what I have to recount is an act unparalleled in the history of either the Greeks or the barbarians, and as horrible to relate as it is incredible to hear? For my part I should gladly have omitted this tragedy, lest I should be suspected of monstrous fabrication. But there were many witnesses of it among my contemporaries; and besides, I should do poor service to my country if I were to suppress the agonies she went through.

Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezuba (the name means "House of Hyssop"). She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved with the siege. Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such foods as she had been able to procure, was being carried by their henchmen in their daily raids. In her bitter resentment the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity. She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was ever fiercer than famine. So, driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature. Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, "My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine? Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both. Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of cold horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews." With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, swallowed half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place. But the rebels were on her at once, smelling roasted meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it. She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight. But she said, "This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink away from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well." At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, although they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother. The whole city soon rang with the abomination. When people heard of it, they shuddered, as though they had done it themselves."
~ Josephus, Jewish War

Iran seizes 2 Greek tankers in Persian Gulf as tensions rise

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized two Greek oil tankers Friday in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf, officials said. The action appeared to be retaliation for Athens' assistance in the U.S.

https://www.empireadvance.ca/world-news/iran-seizes-2-greek-tankers-in-persian-gulf-as-tensions-rise-5413998

Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned

"Stuck in their trenches, the Ukrainian volunteers lived off a potato per day as Russian forces pounded them with artillery and Grad rockets on a key eastern front line. Outnumbered, untrained and clutching only light weapons, the men prayed for the barrage to end — and for their own tanks to stop targeting the Russians.

“They [Russians] already know where we are, and when the Ukrainian tank shoots from our side it gives away our position,” said Serhi Lapko, their company commander, recalling the recent battle. “And they start firing back with everything — Grads, mortars.

“And you just pray to survive.”"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/26/ukraine-frontline-russia-military-severodonetsk/