Slouching Towards Bethlehem

In what I think was an underreported story, Russian has announced the following:

Russia will make changes to its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in response to what it regards as western escalation in the war in Ukraine, state media quoted deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Sunday.

The existing nuclear doctrine, set out in a decree by President Vladimir Putin in 2020, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state. Some hawks among Russia’s military analysts have urged Putin to lower the threshold for nuclear use in order to “sober up” Russia’s enemies in the west. Ryabkov’s comments on Sunday were the clearest statement yet that changes would indeed be made. “The work is at an advanced stage, and there is a clear intent to make corrections,” state news agency Tass cited Ryabkov as saying. The decision was “connected with the escalation course of our western adversaries” in connection with the Ukraine conflict.

The above should not come as any real suprsie, given the proxy war currently being fought in the Ukraine between the U.S. and Russia. Nonetheless, it is a sobering start to the post-Labour-Day week, isn't it?

In other news,  a war of another kind looks increasingly likely after the next U.S. election. Peter Stone reports that Trump and his cabal are busy laying the groundwork for civil war.

Donald Trump and election denialist allies at Turning Point USA, True the Vote and other Maga stalwarts are spreading conspiracy theories about election fraud in order to lay the groundwork for charging the election was rigged if Trump loses, warn election experts and some veteran Republicans.

 John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa Arizona who spoke at the Democratic national convention in August in support of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s campaign for the presidency, said that former president Trump and his allies “will throw everything at the wall and see what sticks”, if Trump loses.

He added: “They’ll claim everything went wrong if they lose. I’d be surprised if Trump doesn’t try to foment insurrection if he loses the election.”

The endgame is in sight: 

“A lot of false claims are masquerading as efforts to change policy to improve election integrity when in actuality they’re just designed to sow distrust in our system if Trump loses,” said David Becker who leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research. “This is all designed to manufacture claims that if Trump loses, the election was stolen and to sow discord, chaos and potential violence.”

Voter suppression also is part of the plan:

Although they lack the resources of Kirk’s well funded operations, Texas based True the Vote has long played a role in pushing election conspiracies about voting fraud at drop boxes and other bogus charges, and the group is once more working to sow doubt in Wisconsin.

Catherine Engelbrecht, who founded True the Vote in 2009, in an interview on 30 July with Christian nationalist and self-styled prophet Lance Wallnau, said her group was partnering with a few sheriffs in Wisconsin to monitor drop boxes for voting fraud using camera equipment that the group plans to provide.

Given the general low level of awareness and intelligence that exists in the U.S., expect anything but a smooth transition should Kamala Harris and her party succeed in November.