Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Mark Leshkevich
[REGNUM] 225 years ago, on January 30 according to the new style or January 18 according to the Julian calendar, 1801, Emperor Paul I signed a manifesto on the annexation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, a state in the east of present-day Georgia with its capital in Tiflis (Tbilisi), to the Russian Empire.
On September 24 (September 12, Old Style) of that same year, 1801, the new Tsar, Alexander I, signed a decree establishing a new system of government. It was envisaged that the Georgian province would gain autonomy, with the local ruler joining a local government under the authority of a Russian governor-general.
But in reality, the former kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti never became a special territory within the empire, like the Grand Duchy of Finland (established in 1809) or the Kingdom of Poland (which appeared in 1815).
At first glance, the papers signed by Paul I and Alexander I, following one another chronologically, look like links in a single, coherent process—one that began under Catherine II, if not earlier, and had the goal of absorbing the ancient kingdom.
In post-Soviet Georgia, especially under its first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and its third, Mikheil Saakashvili, these events were interpreted precisely in this way.
The Romanov Empire, they say, deliberately “annexed” the Georgian states because such is the eternal imperialistic nature of Russia.
On closer inspection, the plot appears more complex and ambiguous.
LAND OF DIVISION AND DISCORD
Firstly, let us note that in 1801 the talk was not about the annexation of Georgia, but about the incorporation of only part of the Georgian lands into Russia.
The golden age of unified statehood, associated with the names of David the Builder and his great-granddaughter, Queen Tamar, spanned the late 11th to early 13th centuries. At the end of the 15th century, when the Grand Dukes of Moscow were gathering the Russian lands, the Georgian Kingdom split into four parts: the kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, and the Principality of Samtskhe. The Megrelian princes of Dadiani had already broken free from the kings of Imereti. In present-day Abkhazia, the Sharvashidze (Chachba) princes ruled as sovereigns.
But most importantly, from the 16th century onward, fragmented Georgia, like all feudal domains in Transcaucasia, fell under the control of two regional powers. The Ottoman Empire established itself on the Black Sea coast. The Persian shahs took control of Kartli-Kakheti and other eastern Georgian states.
In 1555, another Turko-Persian war ended with the Treaty of Amasya. By it, the sultan and shah delineated borders in Iraq, Kurdistan, and Transcaucasia. Tiflis and its environs, however, remained a bone of contention—in 1578, the Ottomans recaptured the city and all of eastern Georgia from the Persians.
ADVANCE TO THE SOUTH AND THE GEORGIAN PROJECT
Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Persia perceived the southward expansion of the Russian state as a threat and, accordingly, were a threat to us. Russian history records five Russo-Persian and 12 Russo-Turkish wars (not counting local clashes).
The Orthodox kings of Kakheti began to seek the protection of their co-religionist Moscow back in the time of Ivan the Terrible, when, after the capture of Astrakhan, the Russian border moved south.
But during the Time of Troubles, Russia's political contacts with Transcaucasia were severed. As early as 1722, during Peter I's Persian campaign, the King of Kartli, Vakhtang IV Bagration, appealed to the Russian Tsar for an alliance against the Turks and Persians. But Vakhtang was overthrown by his Persian-aligned relatives, and the Tsar was forced to flee to Russia.
Under Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II, the process of Georgian nobility entering Russian service became systematic, bringing members of the Bagration royal family to Russia. A Georgian hussar regiment was even formed, which actively participated in the wars of that era.
Thus, Alexander Suvorov’s student and hero of the war of 1812, Pyotr Bagration, was born in 1765 in Kizlyar, Astrakhan province, into the family of the second major of the Russian army, Prince Ivan Bagration.
But the question of Russia's attitude towards the Georgian kingdoms remained open.
Catherine the Great was more inclined to see Georgia become a unified Christian state – a buffer between the empire and the Muslim powers.
Such a buffer in the South Caucasus would have been useful, given that Catherine's reign included two Russo-Turkish wars (1768–1774 and 1787–1791) and one Russo-Persian war (1796). But the empress's "Georgian project" never materialized, nor did her Greek project.
Firstly, the implementation of policy in this direction was complicated by the fact that the Greater Caucasus Range is located between Russia and the Christian peoples of Transcaucasia.
And the mountains, from Circassia to Dagestan, were held by peoples who were ready to formally recognize only the authority of the Caliph of the Faithful - the Ottoman Sultan, but not the Russian tsars (this problem would have to be resolved before the 1860s, until the end of the 47-year Caucasian War ).
Secondly, at the end of the 18th century, the Georgian rulers of Kartli, Imereti, Guria, etc. could not agree on joint actions against the “Mohammedans”.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, Catherine sent a detachment under General Gottlob von Totleben to assist the King of Kartli and Kakheti, Heraclius II Bagration (he was a Persian vassal, but sought an alliance with Russia).
Totleben reported to St. Petersburg that the Kartli ruler was a weak and unreliable ally. Erekle complained about Totleben, saying the general had abandoned him without support, so that at the Battle of Aspindza on May 3, 1770, the Tsar was forced to single-handedly defeat the combined Turkish and Dagestani forces.
Be that as it may, the annexation of Georgian lands was not the goal of the war of 1768–1774. The Treaty of Küçük Kainardji, which ended the war, which was successful for us, did not mention Georgia.
WHY WAS THE TREATY OF GEORGIEVSK NEEDED?
Nevertheless, even during the war, in 1773, King Heraclius sent his son, Prince Levan, and his brother, Catholicos Patriarch Anthony, to Russia with a request to accept Kartli-Kakheti under Russian protection. Moreover, this request was made under the same conditions of dependence that the Georgians had enjoyed under Persia—including a generous tribute and the surrender of one of the princes as a hostage.
The Kartli king's letter was forwarded to the chief of diplomacy, Count Nikita Panin. He responded rather sharply: "These are strange and ill-timed proposals."
Irakli II again approached Catherine II for a protectorate in 1782. The Tsar reasonably believed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for his people to preserve their religious, cultural, and political identity.
At that time, Russia faced what we would now call new challenges.
The Turks sought revenge for their defeat in 1774. A decisive battle for Novorossiya was imminent, and it began in 1787.
Against this backdrop, St. Petersburg gave the go-ahead for negotiations with Kartli. Simultaneously, construction began on the future Georgian Military Road and the Vladikavkaz Fortress.
In 1783, a treaty was signed in the Georgievsk fortress (now in the Stavropol region) – an agreement on Russia's patronage and supreme authority over the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti.
The Russian Empire was represented by Prince Grigory Potemkin, and Erekle II by Princes Ivan Bagration-Mukhrani and Gersevan Chavchavadze. The treaty stipulated the presence of a Russian contingent in Kartli-Kakheti while maintaining the authority of the local king.
The document began with the statement that “from ancient times, the All-Russian Empire, in common faith with the Georgian peoples, served as a defense… against oppression,” and ended with the statement:
"The agreement is made for perpetuity; but if anything is deemed necessary to be changed or added for mutual benefit, it shall take place by mutual agreement."
The treaty lasted only four years and was not terminated by mutual agreement.
What happens without Russian cover?
First, on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War in 1786, Irakli began separate negotiations with the Turkish Pasha of Akhaltsikhe (Akhaltsikhe is a city in the south of modern-day Georgia), Suleiman. General Count Pavel Potemkin, a second cousin of the Serene Prince, who was stationed in the Caucasus, received messages: Irakli apologized for being forced to negotiate with the Turks, who were threatening to devastate his lands.
Secondly, Russia, trying to prevent a clash with Turkey, was ready to allow the treaty to be broken.
Be that as it may, in 1787, when Russia was already at war with Turkey, Irakli, through the Akhaltsikhe Suleiman Pasha, concluded an agreement with the Sultan: the Treaty of Georgievsk was annulled, and the Russian garrisons were forced to leave Kartli.
Opening a "second front" against the Turks in Transcaucasia without control of the North Caucasus was difficult. Russian garrisons relocated to Vladikavkaz.
Turkey lost the war. By the Treaty of Jassy in 1791, the Sultan not only recognized Russian authority over Crimea and the Black Sea region but also agreed to the restoration of the Treaty of Georgievsk. But restoring the treaty de jure is one thing, and restoring a de facto Russian presence is quite another.
Meanwhile, a new threat has emerged in Transcaucasia.
In Persia, Agha Muhammad Qajar, a military leader who sought to restore the greatness of the Iranian empire, was striving for power. He was not a Persian himself, but a member of the Qajar Turkic tribe, which lived in modern-day Azerbaijan and controlled Karabakh.
The ambitious military leader was certain that Russia must return to the terms of the 1735 Treaty of Ganja, according to which all of Eastern Transcaucasia should belong to Iran.
Qajar considered the Treaty of Georgievsk, concluded with Russia by the Persian vassal, the king of “Gurjistan” (Georgia) Heraclius, to be a betrayal.
Having thus made peace with the Turks, but left without Russian protection, the ruler of Kartli-Kakheti received a blow from the Persians.
In 1795, Agha Muhammad launched a campaign against Tbilisi, where only warriors from Kartli-Kakheti and the neighboring Kingdom of Imereti were stationed. Erekle II decided to accept battle.
The Kartlians bravely defended their capital—4,000 Georgians and 13,000 Persians perished during the siege. But Agha Muhammad captured Tbilisi, the city was ravaged and destroyed, and 22,000 inhabitants were taken into slavery.
In 1796, Agha Muhammad seized power and founded a new Qajar dynasty (which ruled until Reza Khan Pahlavi seized the throne in 1925).
It is not surprising that, having received the crown in 1796, Qajar immediately declared war on Russia for “ his ” Transcaucasian possessions.
Erekle II, however, could not bear the shock of the sack of Tbilisi and died soon after. His son, George XII, ascended the throne of the devastated and essentially destroyed kingdom.
In 1799, he sent a letter to his ambassador in St. Petersburg, one of the “signatories” of the Treaty of Georgievsk, Gersevan Chavchavadze, which stated:
“Give… my kingdom and my domain as a sincere and righteous sacrifice and offer it under the protection of the highest Russian imperial throne.”
ST. PETERSBURG CONTEXT
Paul I did not consider territorial expansion necessary, but he took into account that the danger from Turkey and Persia remained.
In St. Petersburg, they also could not help but understand that the quarrel between the French Republic and the Turks (due to General Bonaparte's expedition of 1798–1801 to Egypt and Syria) was not eternal—and Paris would soon restore its traditional alliance with the Sultan.
This is what happened in 1805, after Paul's death. And in 1807, Emperor Napoleon signed a treaty with Persia—against Russia and Britain.
In this context, Russia's consolidation in Transcaucasia was not at all unnecessary. Paul first gave the go-ahead for the dispatch of a Russian contingent under General Ivan Lazarev to Tbilisi in 1799, and in 1800, he approved George XII's petition.
But the emperor set a condition: the Georgian king must not limit himself to behind-the-scenes negotiations, but must publicly announce his petition to his subjects and the world. This, however, was problematic: King George XII was gravely ill and near death.
The country is ruined, the heir, Tsarevich David Georgievich, is unpopular, and there is a high probability of invasions, Lazarev reported.
Having confirmed that no rebellion ensued in Kartli following the Tsar's announcement of his decision to join Russia, Russia demonstrated its friendly force. Soldiers from Lazarev's detachment helped defeat the forces of Prince Alexander, a pretender to the Kartli throne, who was supported by Omer Khan of Avar.
On December 7, 1800, George XII wrote to Lazarev: " Our lands belong to His Imperial Majesty." And on December 20, the last king of Kartli and Kakheti died. General Lazarev demanded that after the funeral, none of the princes attempt to seize the throne until the Emperor of All Russia's decision was announced.
Following this, on January 18 (30), 1801, Paul I issued a manifesto declaring Eastern Georgia part of Russia. Tsarevich David Georgievich was appointed ruler (but not monarch).
On March 6, 1801, a decree was issued: Georgia was to be organized as a governorate divided into provinces, and governance was to be established through a common command, which would combine civil and military authority. This was a typical imperial technique for a "border" region—for example, Crimea and Bessarabia, annexed in 1812.
But on March 24, 1801, the assassination of Emperor Paul changed the game.
Having ascended to the throne after the coup, Alexander I began foreign policy from scratch (promising that it would be like under his grandmother Catherine), including in the Georgian direction.
The accession was almost "nullified".
Opponents of the project were Counts Alexander Vorontsov and Viktor Kochubei, key figures of the new reign (one soon became chancellor, the other the first head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs).
On August 8, 1801, Vorontsov and Kochubei presented a report to the young emperor, which stated that Empress Catherine, his grandmother, had no intention of annexing Eastern Georgia; the Treaty of Georgievsk had only been about patronage.
Firstly, the annexation would be financially burdensome, and secondly, fraught with war with Persia, and then with the Ottoman Empire, Kochubey and Vorontsov argued.
The Tsar's opinion was determined by a special envoy, General Karl von Knorring, who made an inspection visit to the site.
He reported to St. Petersburg: the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti would be unable to defend itself against the Turks and Persians. Without Russia's intervention, its capture was inevitable. In any case, new Russo-Turkish and Russo-Persian wars were also inevitable. And Alexander I gave the go-ahead for the process to continue.
QUEEN MARIAM'S REVENGE
The first step was to remove the reigning House of Bagration from power. In May 1801, Tsarevich David, who lacked the capacity for governance, was deprived of his position as ruler. The post was not given to any of the other tsareviches, as it would have risked civil strife. General von Knorring was appointed ruler.
On September 12 (24), 1801, the Emperor's decree defined a specific procedure for "internal governance in Georgia." Even at that time, a certain autonomy was still preserved in the Georgian province.
The accompanying documents stated that if the “order that exists in Russia” were “directly” transferred to Georgia, this would result in a “significant revolution.”
The plan envisioned a division into five districts and the establishment of zemstvo courts, where one commissioner would be appointed by the government, and assessors could be drawn from local princes and nobles. Civil cases were to be conducted according to Georgian customs, while criminal cases would be assigned to a separate jurisdiction.
Until the system was finally established, a provisional government operated under General Lazarev. It included Russian officials and Georgian nobles who had held positions under Erekle II. Civil courts were retained "in accordance with the customs of the country," except for emergency and criminal cases.
When taking an oath or performing a public act, parity was created: “two Russian and two Georgian officials.”
But almost immediately everything went wrong.
The Russian commander in the Caucasus, Prince Pavel Tsitsianov (a Russified Georgian), insisted on the expulsion of the former royal family. The Dowager Queen Mariam refused. General Lazarev was tasked with persuading her to leave for St. Petersburg. But the conversation failed—the widow of George XII grabbed a dagger hanging on the wall and fatally stabbed Lazarev.
Emperor Alexander, having learned of the general's murder, limited himself to a less severe punishment: "to the Georgian Queen Maria, who committed murder out of revenge and malice upon her departure from Georgia," a lifelong "residence in the Belgorod Nativity Monastery."
Why wasn't the province made a kingdom again?
This marked the end of the "romantic" part of the accession process, and the even less inspiring routine began. Reports of local governance inefficiencies, corruption, and bribery began to pour into St. Petersburg: "They take money... without any humanity."
But the imperial problem was compounded by local specifics: a confusion of Russian laws, local customs, and church law, as well as the areas of competence of Russian officials and Kartlian nobles. Georgian advisers were criticized for their poor training and ignorance of the Russian language.
Given the impending wars in Transcaucasia (the Persian Agha Muhammad Shah attacked Russia in 1804, the Turks in 1806) against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the special order of governance was rather quickly curtailed.
Integration into the imperial system of governance proved more effective, and the numerous local princes were integrated into the Russian nobility. A separate "Kingdom of Georgia" was not established on this "frontier."
Victories over the Turks and Persians changed the entire map of Transcaucasia. In 1804, Russia annexed the Georgian states of Guria and Imereti, and in 1805–1806, the empire absorbed former Persian possessions in what is now Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan: the khanates of Karabakh, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbent, and Baku. In 1810, Russian troops occupied Abkhazia.
The Treaty of Turkmanchay with Persia in 1826, negotiated by Alexander Griboyedov, brought Russia control over the former Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates. For nearly a century, peace and tranquil development were guaranteed in Transcaucasia, with Tiflis (Tbilisi) becoming its capital.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Ivan Markov
[REGNUM] Eighty-one years after Guards Senior Lieutenant Parfeny Varygin was shot down while assaulting German positions near the German village of Kalholz in what is now the Kaliningrad region, two of his military orders will return to the hero's family.
A unique discovery by Kaliningrad searchers, made last November, revealed the story of a pilot who served throughout the war, flew a total of 526 combat missions, was shot down on March 26, 1945, endured a brief period of captivity, and then returned to his own people.
Until the end of his life, Parfeny Ivanovich had two gaps in his "iconostasis"—the Orders of the Patriotic War and the Red Star, which the Germans took from him and he was unable to restore. Now his descendants will have a complete set—in memory of their grandfather.
A FIND IN A GERMAN TRENCH
On the shore of the Kaliningrad Gulf (formerly Frisches Haff), north of the ruins of the Teutonic castle of Balga, Vladimir Chugunov, a member of the Kaliningrad search squad "Sovest," discovered two Soviet awards in the sandy soil. The find was made in a location that the experienced searcher identified as a former solitary cell of a German rifleman.
The trench was partially dug by the "diggers," but they didn't get to the awards. They were likely confused by the abundance of false alarms, as a scattering of shell casings from a German Mauser carbine was also discovered at the bottom of the hole.
Naturally, the question immediately arose as to where the Germans had acquired such unusual items. The theory that the awards had been accidentally lost was dubious: both were on screw fastenings, and the nuts on the medals remained in place.
After some time, the owner's identity was established using the medal numbers. He turned out to be Guards Senior Lieutenant Parfeny Varygin, a pilot of the 75th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the 1st Guards Assault Aviation Division, who had been drafted into the army in 1939 from Krasnoyarsk.
According to documents, his Il-2 aircraft failed to return from a combat mission on March 26, 1945. His air gunner/radio operator, Guards Sergeant Andrei Mishin, also went missing.
The entry about his departure from the military service record on Varygin's "Memory of the People" portal gave hope—a note from December 14, 1945, hinted that he had survived, might have been in captivity, and was undergoing a special check.
That's how it turned out in the end.
BATTLE RECONSTRUCTION AND DOUBLE RESCUE
A search and rescue researcher from Pyatigorsk, Gennady Polubedov, with whom the Sovest searchers collaborate, after studying archival data, established that on March 26, 1945, Varygin's crew took part in an assault on the encircled German group in the area of Cape Kalholz.
According to the combat log of the 1st Guards Assault Air Division, the aircraft caught fire over the target, the crew parachuted out, and "landed in enemy territory." The operational summary of the 1st Air Army headquarters clarified: the Il-2 was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery, and the crew "bailed out."
Further details were reconstructed thanks to recovered memoirs and documents. In the Penza newspaper "Moskovskaya Street," local historian Pavel Arzamastsev, a former student of Varygin's (after the war, he worked as a military instructor at a technical school), wrote down his account in detail.
"I flew an Il-2 attack aircraft, completing 46 combat sorties in total. On March 26, 1945, I was shot down over East Prussia and parachuted out. Immediately after landing, I was captured, but managed to tear off my Order of the Red Banner and medal and hide it in my boot. I didn't have time to remove my Order of the Patriotic War and the Order of the Red Star, which were attached to the screws, and the Germans, of course, took them," Arzamastsev quotes the pilot's recollections from memory.
During the jump, the parachute canopy was damaged by shrapnel, causing the pilot to twist his ankle upon impact. His pistol holster snagged and came off, saving his life. In a note written by the senior lieutenant on July 2, 1945, to the commander of the 75th Guards ShAP, which remains in the family archive, he recounts how a gunner who attempted to fight off the Germans was immediately shot.
The pilot was dragged to his position, and it was there, in a German trench, that the medals he hadn't had time to remove were likely torn off his captive. He was then transported, with stops, to Pillau, from there to the port of Swinemünde, and then on to Berlin, Dresden, and south to Karlsbad.
Thanks to Arzamastsev's good memory, we learned of another important episode. As it turns out, it was the Germans who rescued Varygin the second time. And from the Germans, no less.
"I arrived in Berlin before the Red Army even entered, " the military commander recalled with a smile. " I and several other prisoners were being transported through the city in an open truck. Enraged German women attacked. If the guards hadn't fought them off with rifle butts, we would have been torn to shreds."
Varygin remembered those German guards by name and spoke very highly of them. Although it wasn't entirely clear what was more important: "Was it the absolute fulfillment of the order to deliver the prisoners where they needed to be, or the premonition of the end of the war and the faint hope that it would somehow be credited to them," Arzamastsev wrote.
On May 1, 1945, Varygin was liberated by American troops. On May 2, from the city of Weiden, which served as a collection point for Soviet prisoners of war, he and other officers set off in a captured German vehicle to Leipzig, from where they crossed over to their own people on May 9, 1945.
There, however, he had to wait a bit—it took a couple of weeks to clarify the circumstances of his capture and prepare the documents. Then came his return to his native regiment at the request of the legendary pilot Valentina Grizodubova. Next came a special background check, which lasted for about six months (until December 1945), but Varygin passed it successfully.
POST-WAR FATE AND UNFINISHED HISTORY
After the war, the pilot was reinstated in his rank, but was soon dismissed from the army—the armed forces were significantly reduced.
He was not issued duplicates of the medals he lost during his brief captivity, although they remained listed in his award documents. Parfeny Ivanovich chose Penza as his new place of residence because he had already served in the Volga region before the war, and it was in this city that he underwent his military inspection in 1945. He worked as a military instructor at a mechanical engineering technical school.
The pilot's son, Alexei Parfenievich, and his grandchildren now live in Penza. They know the family history well and eagerly await their grandfather's award—a number of formalities must be completed before it can be sent. Unfortunately, many years ago, after the hero's death in 1982, the family moved from one apartment to another, and the documents for the orders and medals were somehow lost.
But what remained were “Memories of Childhood, for the Memory of Children and Grandchildren, as a Lesson to Appreciate Life,” which Parfeniy Ivanovich himself typed on a typewriter in 1977, when he retired.
"Of course, we were delighted that it all happened this way, " his grandson, Andrei Varygin, told Regnum News Agency. "We knew the whole story very well, but we never imagined it would happen, or that we'd get any rewards."
Andrei said he'd long considered replenishing his grandfather's collection of medals. For example, he once noticed that the "Guard" badge was postwar, so he bought a military version, without the fringe, at a flea market. "I never even dreamed of replenishing the medals. They're numbered. Buying someone else's would have been wrong, dishonest, and even illegal. But this time, it just so happened that it couldn't have been better!" says Varygin.
The pilot's grandchildren plan to come and collect their medals and visit sites of military glory in the spring. They've already begun planning their vacation and saving for the trip.
The story that began with the discovery in the trench has been almost completely reconstructed. However, it remains unfinished: radio operator Andrei Mishin remains missing in action. The Varygins hope that the remains of their grandfather's comrade will also be found. They hope to one day meet his descendants.
Searchers intend to continue their work at the crash site to find its possible burial site and put an end to the story of the crew, who did not return from a combat mission just over a month before the Great Victory.
[Newsmax] China's sudden removal of top military leaders has thrown the Communist Party's command structure into disarray, creating new uncertainty over Taiwan and raising the risk of reckless military action, China expert Gordon Chang said on Newsmax Thursday.
"The Central Military Commission of the Communist Party, which controls the military, has been decimated," Chang told "Wake Up America."
"There are now only two people on it: Xi Jinping himself and the political commissar of the army. That means the operational people are not there."
Oh. That’s a little more than merely decimated.
Chang said several of the ousted officers, including Gen. Zhang Youxia, had previously slowed Xi's plans to invade Taiwan — acting as internal restraints within China's military leadership.
"There are no political brakes on him right now," Chang said. "That means that he could go out and get a compliant general or admiral to launch an ill-advised strike on another country."
Sure. But on the other hand, who remains to execute that order?
While Chang does not expect China to launch a full-scale air, land, and sea invasion of Taiwan in the near term, he said the leadership vacuum makes Beijing unpredictable.
"There is complete chaos right now at the top of the Chinese military," Chang said.
"That will take some time to be resolved. But when it's resolved, China could be even more dangerous than it is now."
China's Ministry of National Defense confirmed over the weekend that two generals have been placed under investigation, Chang said, adding that they are almost certainly detained.
Reports circulating in Beijing suggest Zhang may not be in custody, but Chang said he does not believe those claims.
"There are rumors flying fast and furious around Beijing right now," he said.
Chang also criticized recent moves by Western leaders to reengage Beijing, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to China this week and similar outreach by French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian officials.
"This is not a good development," Chang said. "What we have are Western leaders trying to make separate deals with the Chinese, and the Chinese right now are in no mood to end up in constructive discussions with anybody."
He said China's economic weakness limits its leverage, noting that 2025 import numbers were flat, signaling Beijing's continued resistance to fair trade.
"The U.S. economy, thanks to President Donald Trump, is booming," Chang said. "Countries are going to need the U.S., and they're not going to be needing China."
Chang also backed Trump's warnings about growing Chinese and Russian activity in the Arctic, citing joint military exercises and Chinese submarine operations beneath the Arctic ice cap.
"This was preparation for Chinese ballistic missile submarines to patrol the Arctic," Chang said.
"That means they'd be much closer to Canada and the United States. President Donald Trump is right: We need far more defenses in Greenland and the Arctic," he added.
#4
^3. I tend to agree with Mercutio, the military is telling Xi that an invasion of Taiwan will at best be very costly and at worst could result in defeat. I rather doubt Xi likes hearing that.
As an aside, while the Chinese military looks pretty good on paper I question how good the servicemen and leadership are. Communist militaries do not encourage initiative and having to run all decisions through a political commissar hasn't proven to be effective.
[EugyppiusSubstack] A hospital spokeswoman has urged Berliners to attach spikes to their shoes and try "walking like penguins" to avoid falling in the treacherous conditions that have plagued the city for weeks.
Repeated snowfall and freezing rain have coated the open-air insane asylum known as Berlin in a thin sheet of slippery ice since the beginning of January. To spare plants, city environmental laws have long forbidden using salt on pedestrian paths and stairways, and so residents have been falling and injuring themselves at such high rates that emergency rooms have had trouble keeping up:
Berlin’s emergency rooms are working flat out due to the icy conditions. At the BG Accident Hospital in Berlin, staff are "close to the limit," press spokeswoman Angela Kijewski told Apollo News. On Thursday alone, there were 100 injuries due to slippery sidewalks and roads. These included bruises, broken bones and traumatic brain injuries. One patient has even suffered paraplegia.
As the press spokeswoman reported ... in the last few days since the ice storm, staff have typically had to treat 50 to 70 patients a day who have been injured due to the slippery conditions. The hospital is responsible for work-related accidents and accidents on the way to work and is therefore prepared for large-scale emergencies — with the appropriate equipment and personnel. But even there, the slippery conditions are pushing them to their limits.
"Our surgeons are operating into the night," Kijewski said .... Many of the patients require immediate surgery, while in other cases, fractures must first be immobilized with a cast and allowed to heal before further treatment can be given.
For weeks, politicians have resisted relaxing their salt prohibition, despite the danger to life and limb. SPD "environmental expert" Linda Vierecke, for example, pronounced herself "sceptical" about any changes because the salt is bad for the trees. Somehow the extensive salt that the city already uses to de-ice motorways, other public transit routes and bike paths is okay though....
#2
Coarse sand is environmentally friendly, surely, to make the surface gritty. Or fine gravel made from local stone, or even recycled concrete. Chemical melting agents are not the only option.
[Bee] America woke up this morning to the chilling news that journalist Don Lemon had been arrested by the Department of Justice, sending a terrifying message that if you break the law, you too might also be arrested and face the strong arm of totalitarianism.
If they can come for someone as legitimate and professional as the revered Don Lemon, a man who is both gay and black, just imagine what they can do to you if you break the law. Arrest? Due process? A fair trial? These are all signs of an authoritarian regime running unchecked into fascism.
Lemon was clearly exercising his First Amendment rights when he burst into a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, last week and yelled at worshippers despite being asked to leave. We all know the First Amendment supersedes trespassing laws and the FACE Act, and if Lemon can get arrested for something as simple as breaking multiple laws, imagine what the authorities can do to you if you do something similar.
So be on the lookout, because the only thing that was standing between your law-breaking activities and being held accountable was Mr. Don Lemon. Now he's out of the way. They're coming for you next.
If you break the law.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/31/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1778 views]
Top|| File under: Mob Rule
#1
I got locked for saying "bullshit" in my own kitchen 1 time.
Posted by: chris ||
01/31/2026 4:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Chilling.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2026 6:52 Comments ||
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#5
I know this is satire, but honestly it'sa real problem for a lot of people. Not POS like him but for others.
Posted by: chris ||
01/31/2026 9:09 Comments ||
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#6
Does anyone remember when we didn’t have government overreach during the Clinton years except for Waco and when they seized Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2026 9:50 Comments ||
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#7
Lemona is going to be at the City Winery in NYC this coming week for two days..the title of the show is "Anything Goes".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A hospital spokeswoman has urged Berliners to attach spikes to their shoes and try "walking like penguins" to avoid falling in the treacherous conditions that have plagued the city for weeks.
[Bee] America woke up this morning to the chilling news that journalist Don Lemon had been arrested by the Department of Justice, sending a terrifying message that if you break the law, you too might also be arrested and face the strong arm of totalitarianism.
