I stumbled across an interesting Indian news channel called CRUX. They were interviewing this John Mearsheimer guy, a professor at a major uni who is being pushed hard by the YouTube algorithm because he’s right in the political middle of the spectrum in the debate over the troubles.

In essence he says: This is a proxy war pure and simple, between Russia and the US/NATO.

The loser of the war will be Ukraine, because their country will be devastated no matter what.

The winner of the war will be … China.

Which is a much more sensible analysis to me than any amount of flag-waving, jingoism, self-righteousness, Putin-puppetry, or Putin-bashing we’re being fed by the propagandists east or west.

I have no more interest in scaring you with a Chinese dragon than I do in listening to brain-dead drivel about the bad Russian bear.

But that the stupid squabbling will only accelerate China’s rise to number one in the power rankings seems inevitable.

Biden’s presidency is going to be remembered as the turning point, not in building back better, not in making murica great again, but in the Empire losing its perch atop the unipolar, globalized world.

One batch of oligarchs slipping a little, a new batch of oligarchs made the new boss. A pox on all their houses, wherever they are, whoever they are. Don’t talk to me about freedom, or rule by the demos. I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night, unlike so many of my cheerfully neotonous peers and countrymen.