[BB] On Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” host Jesse Watters suggested the White House needs “more Darth Vader” as Democrats prepare to assume control of Capitol Hill in 2027.
Watters said the tactic is appropriate, noting President Donald Trump’s decision to name Stephen Miller his new chief of staff on Friday.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Daniil Pelymov
[Regnum] On November 7, 1941, Red Army regiments marched across Moscow's snow-covered, frozen Red Square. Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin stood on the Mausoleum's podium, while just a few dozen kilometers from the capital's center, fighting raged. German advance motorcycle patrols were already peering through binoculars at the Kremlin towers through the November gloom. Moscow was living under siege, under brutal blackouts, nightly bombing raids, and the ringing of a seemingly predetermined catastrophe.
At this critical moment, the Soviet leadership made a decision that, from the perspective of classical military logic, seemed risky. But in the context of strategic planning and psychological warfare, the parade became a powerful asymmetric response.
Preparing for the parade was both a logistical and counterintelligence task.
ENEMY AT THE GATES
Operation Barbarossa, which began on June 22, 1941, called for the capture of Moscow within 10-12 weeks of the operation's launch—that is, no later than the end of September. This was the objective set by Adolf Hitler. But the Red Army's resistance forced the Nazis to revise their plans.
On September 19, the German command approved the plan for Operation Typhoon: the troops of Army Group Center were ordered to bypass Moscow from the north and south and take the city in a pincer movement.
The operational situation, while unfavorable for our troops, gave the Germans hope. In mid-October, the enemy occupied Kalinin (now Tver), and by the end of the month, Volokolamsk was captured. Fighting continued in Naro-Fominsk, near Ruza, and Borovsk. But most importantly, the Germans were pushing the front line toward Moscow.
Heavy defensive battles were waged by forces on two fronts—the Kalinin Front, commanded by Ivan Konev, and the Western Front, commanded by Georgy Zhukov. The Germans advanced, but for every kilometer captured, they paid in manpower and equipment. In early November, an operational pause ensued at the front. At this time, the transfer of reinforcements—Siberian and Far Eastern divisions—to Moscow was being completed.
And in this situation, the world learned that the Soviet leadership not only hadn't fled the capital, but was actually hosting a military parade. This later became known, including the participation of Siberian soldiers.
In SECRECY MODE
Any leak of information about the impending mass buildup of troops and equipment in the heart of the capital could have turned Red Square into an ideal target for German aircraft and artillery.
Until the very last moment, even the immediate commanders of the units included in the list of participants were unaware of the country's leadership's plans to hold a parade on the 24th anniversary of the revolution. Officers summoned to Moscow assumed they would be transferred to new defensive positions near Istra or Volokolamsk.
Only late in the evening of November 6, after the ceremonial meeting of the Moscow City Council, which took place at the Mayakovskaya metro station, did the commanders receive clear orders.
Enforcing the order to camouflage important Moscow sites (the State Defense Committee issued this directive back in July) required a massive effort. The Kremlin's ruby stars had been extinguished and covered with plywood back in the summer.
The towers and walls were repainted, and the outlines of ordinary residential buildings were painted on them to disorient German pilots. By early November, the sets had fallen into disrepair. The Kremlin Commandant's Office urgently renewed the camouflage nets and fake wooden roofs.
To protect the area from Luftwaffe attacks, our aircraft launched preemptive strikes on the airfields where German bombers were based the day before.
The parade's start time was moved from the traditional 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.—the two-hour shift disrupted enemy aerial reconnaissance schedules. By the time the German command realized what was happening in Moscow, it was already too late.
Nature also played a role in the besieged city's favor. Early in the morning of November 7, a severe snowstorm lashed Moscow, gusty winds kicked up, and temperatures dropped to -10 degrees Celsius. Thick gray clouds hung low over the city, completely eliminating the Luftwaffe's ability to operate. The foul weather, which, according to recollections, was a true curse for soldiers near Volokolamsk and Mozhaisk, became a saving shield for those walking the cobblestones in front of the Mausoleum.
"ALL THE RADIO STATIONS ARE SAYING..."
The atmosphere that reigned in the Soviet rear and at the front by early November cannot be ignored. The October panic in Moscow, the evacuation of government institutions and factories to Kuibyshev, and rumors that the leadership had also gone there—all this created a crisis of confidence. Goebbels' propaganda exploited these fears, with the "fall of Bolshevism within days" becoming a leitmotif.
But on the morning of November 7, the clear beat of a metronome rang out from loudspeakers across the country, followed by the familiar voice of Yuri Levitan : "All radio stations in the Soviet Union are speaking. The central radio station in Moscow is beginning broadcast of the Red Army parade..."
The parade was attended by cadets from the artillery and infantry schools, as well as rifle divisions of the people's militia, formed from Moscow workers, scientists, and students.
According to recollections, the rumble of heavy equipment caused particular awe among the few spectators. T-34 tanks and heavy KV-1s, many of which had been repaired or assembled at Moscow factories just a few days earlier, rolled across the square. The crews drove their vehicles, keeping their hatches half-open due to the snowstorm, and plumes of gray smoke billowed from their exhaust pipes, instantly dissolving in the falling snow.
BETTER THAN 1918
The key moment of the parade was Stalin's speech. Many memoirs note that the first impression was a striking difference from the pre-war ceremonial speeches, with their emphasis on achievements and "great turning points."
Stalin first outlined the grave situation: "The treacherous attack of the German bandits and the war forced upon us have created a threat to our country. We have temporarily lost a number of regions; the enemy has found itself at the gates of Leningrad and Moscow." The head of the party and state emphasized "temporarily" and then spoke of "temporary setbacks."
Stalin emphasized that the war was no longer a blitzkrieg: " The enemy counted on our army being scattered and our country being brought to its knees after the first blow. But the enemy miscalculated gravely." The country rallied to defeat the invaders with the army and navy.
Stalin went on to recall that the country had gone through more difficult times:
"Remember 1918, when we celebrated the first anniversary of the October Revolution. Three-quarters of our country was then in the hands of foreign interventionists. Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East were temporarily lost.
We had no allies, we had no Red Army—we had only just begun to create one. We lacked bread, we lacked weapons, we lacked uniforms… And what happened? We defeated the invaders, recaptured all the lost territories, and achieved victory."
The Soviet leader pointed out that the situation in 1941 was better than in 1918: a capable army existed and was mobilized, resources and industrial capacity were under control, and the country was not confronting the enemy alone. Indeed, Britain repelled German air attacks in late October, and the United States was on the brink of entering the war with the Axis powers—and did so in December 1941.
Stalin spoke of the vulnerability of the enemy, who was suffering heavy losses and depleting his reserves: " The enemy is not as strong as some frightened intellectuals portray him. The devil is not as terrible as he is painted."
REHABILITATION OF THE PAST
But perhaps the most important—and new—thing in Stalin's speech was the appeal to images from the "pre-1917" era. Comparisons with a "young Soviet republic surrounded by fronts" were clearly insufficient.
"Let the courageous image of our great ancestors—Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov—inspire you in this war!" Stalin urged.
For comparison, 11 years earlier, Komsomol poet Jack Althausen published a poem with the following lines:
I propose to melt Minin, Pozharsky.
Why do they need a pedestal?
It is enough for us to praise two shopkeepers...
By the end of the 1930s, the ideological narrative had already begun to change noticeably, and with the onset of the war, the heroic past was rehabilitated—and the leader of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) spoke not only of the “victorious banner of the great Lenin,” but also of the princes canonized by the church, the Nizhny Novgorod Duma nobleman, and the generalissimo and field marshal of the Russian Empire.
And the poet and war correspondent Altauzen, who had not written ultra-revolutionary poetry for a long time, died heroically in battle near Kharkov in May 1942.
SUCCESS OF THE OPERATION
Eyewitnesses recalled people crying near the loudspeakers. The psychological operation was flawlessly executed.
Firstly, the country became convinced that if a parade was held in the capital, if Stalin stood on the Mausoleum and addressed the troops, it meant that Moscow was holding, the government was in the Kremlin, the army was holding the front, and the enemy would be defeated.
Secondly, the morale of the soldiers of Army Group Center suffered no less a blow. By November 1941, reports of the grave physical condition of soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the trenches near Moscow (including cases of frostbite) were reported.
The understanding that the parade in Moscow was not a “lie of the Judeo-Bolshevik commissars,” but a fact, undermined confidence in the success of Typhoon.
After radio stations around the world broadcast the news of the parade, orders came from Berlin to launch an airstrike on Red Square. But pilots of the 6th Fighter Corps and Moscow's anti-aircraft gun crews met the German squadrons at the distant approaches. Thirty-four German aircraft were shot down.
The Red Army soldiers had only half an hour to an hour's march to reach the front line from the Kremlin walls. Many of those who marched in front of the Mausoleum that November morning died in the following weeks, forever lost in the snows of the Moscow region. But they won their main battle there, on Red Square, proving to the world that the country possessed an unbreakable will to resist.
The third target was the Allies and neutrals. Until then, the world's capitals had been in a state of expectation. Turkey, which had not yet entered the war, and Japan (with which the USSR had a neutrality pact of April 13, 1941) were closely monitoring the outcome of the Battle of Moscow, prepared to join Germany if Moscow fell.
In Tokyo, the admirals' point of view prevailed: the war should be waged against the British and Americans in the Pacific Ocean, and there should be no confrontation with the USSR.
A symbolic coincidence: it was on November 7, 1941, that Franklin Roosevelt signed the document officially extending the American Lend-Lease Act to the USSR.
[Jpost] Moody’s decision to keep France’s credit rating well above Israel’s raises a question: How much weight does the agency put on each country’s economic performance?
The US-based credit rating agency affirmed France’s sovereign rating at Aa3 over the weekend. Israel remains at Baa1, four notches lower.
----------
Summary of facts in opinion piece:
Israel has less debt per capita, a stronger currency, a better GDP growth rate and a few other advantages.
Sure, but it’s the only Jewish state, whereas France is a plain vanilla, historic Western democracy.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/08/2026 00:00 ||
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[BB] A former top spokesman for Rep. Jim Jordan said Republicans need a “wartime consigliere” to lead them in the House minority and defend President Donald Trump from the onslaughts Democrats are preparing to launch.
Speaking with host Matthew Boyle on Breitbart News Saturday, Russell Dye, a Republican strategist at Watchtower Strategy who spent nearly a decade as communications director for Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee, said the party should hand its top post to the Ohio Republican (R-OH) over current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).
Dye said the next leader has to be built for the fights ahead against a Democrat majority that will spend the next two years on oversight.
“We need that wartime consigliere. We need a fighter,” Dye said.
He said Democrats will open investigation after investigation into Trump, his family, and anyone who has worked with the president, and said no one in the conference is better equipped to counter them than Jordan.
“If you ask Democrats and Republicans in D.C. who the best congressional investigator is … it is Jim Jordan,” Dye told Boyle.
Dye pointed to incoming Democrat committee leaders who have already signaled they will conduct aggressive oversight, including one who told Republicans to “lawyer up.” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, released a two-word statement once the results were called: “Lawyer up.”
Jordan entered the race Wednesday, the same day Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told staff he would not run for the job. In his letter to colleagues, Jordan said he is “battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook.”
Scalise, the chamber’s current majority leader, launched a competing bid, warning colleagues that “socialists are coming to Washington with a radical agenda” and pledging to win back the majority.
Republicans lost the House on Tuesday in what CBS News projected as a Democrat sweep that also flipped the Senate. Jordan told Breitbart News Daily in April that the midterms came down to two sentences, “They’re crazy. We’re not,” and predicted Democrats would use a majority to tie up the president for two years.
Dye said Democrats would rather face Scalise, who he said has never handled a serious congressional investigation, and called for “new blood” atop the conference.
The contest is a rematch of the 2023 leadership fight that spilled into the open after Republicans removed then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, when Scalise won the conference’s nomination but withdrew and Jordan failed to secure the votes on the floor.
During the week of November 10 House Republicans will choose their next leader by secret ballot.
#1
The Republican House minority leader should be managing and planning at the strategic level, not do the investigating himself. I don't know who is the better choice for House minority leader, but if Jordan is that good of an investigator, he would be wasted in the Minority leader position.
[Jpost] Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh produced agreements spanning energy, health and military cooperation, with Saudi financing earmarked for Syrian power, water and housing projects.
Syria is seeking to expand its international relationships as President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government moves to consolidate its position almost two years after the fall of the Assad regime.
A flurry of diplomatic meetings in Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , Europe, and Damascus this week shows how the new Syrian leadership is trying to reshape the country’s regional role while attracting investment and rebuilding state institutions.
Saudi Arabia has been a key supporter of the new Syrian government and has paved the way for friendlier ties between Syria and the US. Syria’s diplomatic activity also highlights a larger shift in its foreign policy.
Under the Assad regime, Syria depended heavily on Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Russia while straining its relationships with many Arab and Western countries. Now, the new government is seeking a broader network of partnerships that can provide economic support, security cooperation, and international legitimacy.
One of the most important developments came on Wednesday, when Sharaa traveled to Riyadh to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists... The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and regional security before overseeing the signing of agreements covering development, infrastructure, energy, housing, health, industry, agriculture, environmental protection, military cooperation, and financial services, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Syria’s official news agency, reported.
These subjects, however, are too vague. What matters is what was said privately and how the two countries are improving their ties.
Riyadh is leading the new Mecca Pact with Pakistain and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , and both countries are also friends of Damascus.
The composition of the Syrian delegation was equally significant. Sharaa was accompanied by bigwigs responsible for foreign affairs, defense, finance, industry, and intelligence. This suggests Damascus views its relationship with Riyadh as extending beyond reconstruction and will include strategic and security cooperation.
RIYADH’S GROWING ROLE
Saudi Arabia has become an important partner for Syria since the Assad regime’s fall in December 2024. Riyadh was Sharaa’s first foreign destination as president in February 2025, and Saudi Arabia subsequently played a role in diplomatic efforts to ease sanctions and restore Syria’s access to international financial institutions.
In April 2025, Saudi Arabia and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... agreed to settle Syria’s estimated $15 million in arrears to the World Bank, enabling the institution to resume activities in the country.
Saudi involvement has since expanded. A Syrian-Saudi investment forum in July 2025 produced 47 agreements and memorandums of understanding valued at more than $6 billion, SANA reported. The latest agreements suggest cooperation is shifting from diplomatic commitments to specific reconstruction projects.
Saudi development financing is intended to support rehabilitation of the Aleppo power station, installation of 300,000 smart water meters in Damascus and Idlib, construction or rehabilitation of 25 Civil Defense centers, and repairs to hospitals and 10,000 damaged housing units, SANA reported Thursday.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if these will be effective.
These projects matter because Syria’s new government faces pressure to deliver real improvements to daily life. Syria must prioritize the rebuilding of electricity networks, water supplies, and public services. These are not only economic priorities; they will also determine whether the government can gain the public’s confidence.
Saudi Arabia's growing role also illustrates how regional powers are seeking to shape Syria’s future through investment and institutional cooperation.
While Syria’s leader was meeting Saudi officials, Syrian diplomats were presenting Damascus’s changing priorities to European representatives. On Thursday, Qutaiba Kadish, director of international cooperation at Syria’s Foreign Ministry, addressed the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... ’s Mashreq/Maghreb Working Party in Brussels.
Kadish said Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... should be viewed as more than a source of financial assistance, SANA reported. He described it as a natural partner in building regional stability and supporting Syria’s recovery.
Kadish said Damascus had changed its role since the Assad regime, particularly regarding drug trafficking, terrorism, and international security, the report said.
These issues matter to European countries concerned about regional instability, migration, and the risk of holy warrior groups exploiting weak state institutions. In addition, Syria says it is cracking down on drug smuggling.
Syria’s economic recovery, however, also depends on rebuilding financial links with Europe. Kadish called for removing remaining obstacles to bank transfers, trade financing, and investment, saying practical banking restrictions continue to limit reconstruction.
He also criticized Israeli military operations in southern Syria and called on European governments to support Syria and pressure Israel to stop raids into Syria near the Golan Heights.
LOOKING EAST: CHINA AND PAKISTAN
Syria is also reaching out to China. On Tuesday, Sharaa met representatives of Chinese companies and business organizations in Damascus. The discussions focused on investment opportunities in industry, construction, and reconstruction, SANA reported. The meeting coincided with a Syrian-Chinese Economic Development Forum in Damascus.
China’s potential involvement matters because Syria needs substantial investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, and transportation. Meetings with business delegations, however, do not necessarily mean that major investments will materialize.
This may raise concern in Washington. Syria will still need to demonstrate that projects are financially viable and that investors can operate within a predictable legal and security environment.
Damascus is also exploring military relationships with Pakistain. On Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra met Pakistain’s military attaché to Syria and Iraq to discuss possible bilateral military cooperation, SANA reported.
TURNING DIPLOMACY INTO RESULTS
Although the announcement provided few details, it suggests that the Syrian government is seeking to diversify its defense relationships as it rebuilds its armed forces.
Taken together, these developments illustrate that the Syrian government is attempting to reposition itself within the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is providing a route on the way to reconstruction, financing, and renewed Arab economic integration. Europe offers potential institutional cooperation, investment, and diplomatic engagement. China represents another possible source of infrastructure investment, while contacts with Pakistain point to efforts to broaden military relationships.
Damascus’s central challenge is turning these diplomatic initiatives into concrete results. Syria continues to face internal security problems, destroyed cities, economic hardship, and tensions involving gangs. Its ability to attract investment will depend partly on whether the government can establish stability and effective institutions.
The emerging foreign policy also represents a departure from the Assad era, when Syria’s relationships with Iran and Russia shaped much of its strategic orientation.
Sharaa is seeking a more diversified set of partnerships. Whether this produces a real transformation will depend on the agreements signed and whether Syria can rebuild its economy and consolidate authority at home.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/08/2026 00:00 ||
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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 kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
