The Krug woman certainly looks like the owner of a freshly punched nose. May this one day turn out to be more than an appearance.

The United States in falling apart It’s “in a worse state than Russia”

In the 30’s South Africa let in a lot of persons who were escaping the NAZI’s. Persons who were not being accepted anywhere else. The children of these NAZI escapers all ended up supporting the ANC.

On a similar note one can view the events of 33-45 in Europe as a darwinian filter. The smart persons all got out. Only the slow and the weak got caught. Those who could not help themselves, that is. This might explain a lot

Comparing Germans to persons from the sub continent raises issues that have nothing to do with economics

Look at the headline again. Then read the joke again. They are talking about the same thing. It is very funny. One of the best jokes I have read this year.

“second time” – brush up on your reading skills

This article so wrong in so many ways and I am far too lazy to detail it all. I’ll limit myself to:

CO2 is good. Maxi net benefit all over, especially more food.

Global warming is good, if indeed it is actually happening. Maxi net benefit all over, especially more food.

Dangers of a nuclear war between the Paks and the Indians massively exaggerated for all except the Paks and Indians themselves. Much of this nuclear winter stuff has been debunked. These two only have a few hundred smallish nukes between them anyway. Barely enough to spare a few for the Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Chinese. See nothing to worry about at all!

I did cast my eye over this article a second time to make sure it was not an April fools piece, but alas it seems the author is being serious. Perhaps this is an artifact in support of the Dunning Kruger Theory

Is the letter “S” in short supply?

Well that was cheerful

An excellent article. I would like to see the author revisit this theme in a year or two when he is more used to his village.

I read this as a satire. If it is not then?

Russian equipment has been good enough for conflict against the likes of Georgia and Ukraine. Not so much anywhere else.

The Germans were convinced all the way to the end of WWII that they would come with “super weapons” to save the day. It never happened. Russian vapourware is in this category which is a shame because sooner or later they will feel real pressure from the Chinese.

Siberia is a vast empty treasure trove right next to the most populated nation on earth and the Chinese are arming themselves fast. Russia will never be able to keep up. I do not see much discussion about the multiple between Chinese and Russian military expenditure

Let us not forget Russia/USSR and China have already fought serious battles in this area in the not so distant past.

USA is starting a “Space Command”. For how long after that will ICBM’s be relevant?

If you want to see how a war against Russia would go look at what happened to Sadam’s 5000 tanks. The Russian have 20 000. The video game would be even more fun

Very good first paragraph

Equating British, American and French soldiers as equals is a bit rich. If you want to know how it was with the Americans read “Catch 22”, “The Naked and the Dead” or any number of others. An utter disgrace. Truman dropped the bomb because he did not trust his army to fight in the field.

The French, well I can politely say that they have not been able to defend the independence their country at any time since their revolution.

The British on the other hand have a very long track record of tenacity even in the most hopeless situations which usually happen because their leadership is low IQ. The bright and innovative are considered subversive in the British army. Ordinary British soldiers have have been the match of any, that includes the Germans.

Equipment that was better than the Germans: Submarines, air craft carriers, P51, Heavy bombers, , bren gun, jeep, 12.5mm machine gun, asdic/sonar, radar, artillery to name a few. Obviously some of the German equipment was the best, but this was not across the board.

The big German weakness was sequential strategic and tactical miscalculation to the point where no recovery was possible. Think Stalingrad, Russia summer campaign 1942, Tunisia, the Final Solution, Battle of Kirsk, the alienation of the populations of Ukraine and others to name a few. All massive miscalculations. Errors were not only the NAZI’s, but the General Staff too.

The Germans lost because Hitler always wanted it that way and he did everything he could to make it happen. He set the whole world against little old Germany and it was destroyed. The Germany of history is gone and in its place we have the Angela Republic

No amount of raging on your part will change anything.

Oh dear. I quite understand your frustration. So sorry

@ Nick Diaz

By 1943 the U boat threat was over – utterly defeated, beyond hope, finished, done, busted, kaput.

Paul Krugman is a man who would expect one and all to bend over and spread their cheeks ready to receive whatever it is that he is pushing at any particular time and if any are unwilling he is happy to question those persons right to speak at all. He is a truly loathsome specimen.

Good essay. Couldn’t agree less though on some of the stuff.

For all their arrogance East Asians still have not learned basic things. Their societies have only prospered to the degree they have aped the west. There is nothing new coming out of there. Japan has still not digested their 90’s bubble nearly 30 years on. China is on a speedy vector to the same place.

Over the last 800 years it is only the West that has been able to continually renew itself from its own internal creativity. The sense of chaos which now abounds arises from the current round of renewal. The marxist disease of the last 100 years is at last being fully and permanently rejected by the host.

Likely this will be another Anglo Saxon century. You know, like the five preceding ones.

Germany lost the war on Sept 3 1939. Everything after that was a dead man walking. That was the day the British converted Germany from a world power to a landlocked European power. That is: a regional power. From this point onwards, without the Japanese it would never have been a world war.

Less than a year later in June/July 1940 Germans were stopped dead in the west with the battle of Britain. Any offensive in the west was now impossible for the Germans. British production of aircraft, ships and other critical technology outpaced the Germans throughout the war.

Germans next tried going South and were stopped dead in North Africa and the Middle East. They were in a trap. East was all that was left, so they were desperate enough attack their ally Stalin. That is what Stalin was up to this point.. Germany’s ally. He supplied the German war machine against the British. From 1939 to 1941 Stalin and Russia were Hitlers bestus buddies. Never forget this all you Russia lovers!

That the Russian managed to hold the Germans in the east was only possible due to the massive infusion of material from Britain and the United States. That the Germans were short of fuel always was down to the British and Americans. That the Russians lost 20 million was mostly down to absolute incompetence of their system and the fact that their leadership put no value on Russian lives. I mean Stalin murdered more Soviet citizens than this by some margin.

In the end the British/American way of war in 1944/5, namely freezing German armies in place and then destroying them would have prevailed no matter the quantity of wermacht.

Many people say the big mistake was stopping at the Elbe. British/American power was such that Vladivostok was a very doable objective and we would all be better off today had that been the case, even the Russians