The previously recommended Fehrenbach may not have literally used the chessboard as an analog, but you can sacrifice pawns all day long, none of them is worth a fight be itself. But then it’s Check, and, to avoid Mate, you kick over the board, which is to say, go nuclear. There’s a lot more to “This Kind of War” than this, but Korea—-bang up history of the war and many historical references and the first use of “jihad” I’d seen is the centerpiece.

But that’s better than shipping weapons to a regime whose immediate history rewards historical prospectors with…something or other…to justify abandoning it.
Right?

xi has little opposition

This is manifestly untrue, and the fact that the CCP has been so successful in downplaying the level of opposition XI personally and the regime as a whole face is probably one of their greatest successes. Dozens of major protests happen every single day in the PRC, but they are largely kept under control by censorship and divide and conquer.

But the “Zero Covid” policy has pushed that to the breaking point.

and he’s bought the stage over here,

He’s certainly tried and had a good amount of success.

could you imagine a kgb station operating openly here is a major us city,

Yes, yes I absolutely can. Look at basically any Soviet Embassy or Consulate; those by design had GRU and “Chekist” attaches and usually full blown stations. The justifiably infamous “Washington Station” is the most well known in today’s day and age but you also had a host of underground ones. I’d suggest looking through Venona Records; they’re a tough read and are dense but give you some idea.

or the bogus indictment against I don’t know walter krivitsky, (the gru general, that made whittaker chamber get out of the cold)

It wouldn’t be the first time. FDR flat out quasi-exiled people who did research showing Katyn was done by the Soviets, though most were never actually charged. And that’s before we get into the intricate networks of double agents and triple agents.

Unfortunately some that is old is also new, even in current year.

the babylon bee is about 20 minutes ahead of the cycle,

Agreed there. The Bee is practically prophetic. Certainly better quality news than most others.

grievances are what are for breakfast lunch and dinner in the balkans, in the caucasus, in the middle east, that’s why al queda built its brand, on those pieces of territory,

Sure, but we shouldn’t and mostly DON’T center our policies around trying to appease the grievances of AQ or the Jordanians, and frankly we should do it less.

meanwhile xi plays for keeps

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/05/where_is_the_missing_biden_witness_gal_luft.html

Indeed. I don’t know what to make of Luft or his claims yet, but just about nothing Biden is tied up with can be trusted. Ditto Xi. Fortunately XI is going to be struggling to keep control of his home front for now. But Trump was right that we should push de-tangling.

Good thing Latin America is not prone to grievances.

Vlad’s vehicles are marked with “Z” and Vlad may be feinting from the Zaporizhzhia
region back to Crimea, so there is that.

But on to more pertinent information, Sunday Russo-Ukraine war analysis:

Ukraine’s Planned Counteroffensive – force readiness, leaks, politics & expectations – Perun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIYC_WUSw4c

Timestamps:

00:00:00 — The Counteroffensive
00:01:59 — What Am I Talking About?
00:03:08 — Assessing the April Fighting
00:09:33 — The Intel Leaks
00:22:11 — Casualties & Force Quality
00:34:36 — Initial Actions
00:39:53 — Expectations & Implications
00:47:43 — Replacements & Support
00:54:26 — Towards a Longer War?
00:58:35 — The Why
01:07:57 — Conclusions
01:08:46 — Channel Update

But enough serious stuff, here is some dark humor, Cope Cages Version 2

Cope Cage 2.0 With ERA! Can FGM-148 Javelin And NLAW Defeat it? – EngineerReact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JbW5I6dmKQ

He is from Sweden, but may not be a chef.