Category War with Russia

Apr 8 2023

About that New York Times Story Concerning the “Online Leak” of U.S. Ukraine and Geopolitical Plans


Posted originally on the CTH on April 8, 2023 | Sundance

By now people are familiar with a New York Times (original source) story of a leak of sensitive classified information regarding U.S. operations in Ukraine and other geopolitical efforts.  The New York Times was the first with the story, as shared with them by “senior Biden administration officials.”

WASHINGTON — Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russian troops were posted this week on social media channels, senior Biden administration officials said. (more)

Now, let’s use this opportunity to expand our knowledge base, overlay the known frameworks that operate within our government, and simultaneously give a perspective that will not surface anywhere else.

First, the story surfaces from the New York Times.  What does that tell us?  It tells us the stakeholders in a background narrative surrounding the issue as constructed are domestic intelligence interests.  If there was a State Dept stakeholder interest, the story would have been presented by CNN.  If there was a U.S. foreign intelligence operation stakeholder interest, the story would have surfaced in the Washington Post.

The story surfaces in the New York Times, indicating a U.S. domestic intelligence interest; and the story is sourced directly to the White House via “senior Biden administration officials.”  What does that mean?  It means the narrative that flows from the story has a direction to shape opinion from the perspective of U.S. government domestic public relations.  It means the narrative is intended to sway a domestic audience with a motive toward something else.

Secondly, and in full alignment with the first point, the centerpiece of the story is focused on a leak that surfaces in “social media.”  This fits perfectly with the domestic intelligence stakeholders (DHS, National Security Council, etc).   We know domestic intelligence operates in the backbone of social media platforms.  An example is DHS and domestic Intelligence Community (IC) work as outlined in the Twitter files.

Put them together, a domestic IC product surfaced (being called leaked) into social media platforms containing portals controlled by domestic IC.

The domestic IC then report on the leaks to the outlet used by the domestic IC.   See how these fit?

If you follow the bouncing ball, what you immediately suspect is the domestic IC planted the ‘classified information’ in the platforms they can access, then turn around and report on the leak of the classified information to media they use for domestic narrative engineering.

♦ Motive – But why would the IC plant classified information, then turn around and report on the classified information they planted?  This is where you need to learn how the motives work, against a bigger picture.

The leak (planted information) and then the telling of the leak (NYT story) creates an opportunity for the domestic IC to frame a Russian dis/mis/mal-information narrative.

But why would the IC want to immediately stir up a misinformation or disinformation narrative against Russia?

♦ Answer: 18 hours before the leak/story construct.  Two Russian gremlins, perhaps state sponsored, or perhaps just state aligned, tricked former French President Francios Hollande into admitting the U.S. government and western alliance were behind all of the events in Ukraine after 2014, with the expressed intention to construct a proxy war against Russia using Ukraine.

Russian Pranksters Vovan and Lexus, posing as former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, got French ex-President Francois Hollande to admit the Minsk Accords were a NATO ruse to militarize Ukraine, and Western nations overthrew Ukraine’s democratically-elected government in 2014. (Full YouTube Conversation)

As noted by Gonzalo Lira, “François Hollande, former president of France, confirms that the 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine was part of a long-term plan to have Ukraine fight a proxy war against Russia. The Americans have been preparing this war since the Obama administration—it is now confirmed beyond doubt.”

The admission by Hollande aligns with every element of the U.S. effort to use Russia as a bad guy, including the use of Russia against Donald J Trump.  A proxy war against Russia was in the works going all the way back to the Euromaidan efforts, the color revolution in Ukraine, as constructed by the U.S. State Department, and facilitated by U.S. allies in Europe.

This is the most explosive dose of geopolitical sunlight in years, and obviously these statements by Hollande were a serious issue for the White House and U.S. Intelligence Community.   Hollande was tricked by two Russian pranksters into spilling the real story about Ukraine and U.S. involvement therein.

Now do you see the need?  The Hollande admission is an urgent problem.

Less than one news cycle later, the IC has dropped the Ukraine counteroffensive strategy in the platforms the IC has access to (a purposeful leak).  Then the IC tells the story of the classified strategy leak to the New York Times and begins framing a Russian mis/disinformation campaign.   The intent is to mitigate any issues with the Hollande story, fall under the same claims of Russian mis/disinformation.

The leak of classified intelligence, and the attribution to Russian misinformation, is like a brushback pitch toward the heads of the media on the explosive Francios Hollande story.  It worked.  Have you seen the admissions by Francios Hollande in any MSM?   Unified UniParty interests at play.

That’s how the control agents operate.  Deflection and adverse information removal is what IC narrative engineering is intended to control.  This was a successful IC operation.

Once you see the strings on the DC marionettes, you can never return to that moment in the performance when you did not see them.

Apr 8 2023

Who’s “They”?


Posted originally on the CTH on April 7, 2023 | Sundance 

A follow up to a series of events that is soon to get very deep in this site…

The second most asked question when talking about national political corruption is the question, “who’s they?”   We often hear the opaque term “they”, but no one seems to give accurate context to it, so I will.

However, before getting to that point, allow me to begin with the end in mind.

If you want to know the most important thing you can do to save Our Republic, then first – get right with God.  Get right with the purpose of the mission, before you even think about packing a bag to begin the effort.  You ain’t got to be perfect, far from it, scruffy and messy works well; but you have got to be dead-plumb raw in admitting and accepting your fallible disposition. In many ways this is what “living your best life” is all about.  As eloquently shared:

…”There is nothing more powerful in the universe than being connected and aligned with power of infinite truth, infinite strength, infinite well-being, infinite love, infinite joy, and all the other positive emotional feelings and desires that we humans desire.”

If you want to harness that power for your own life and purpose, get right.

Now, having read the responses to the previous question, it’s obvious we have a lot of new friends here.  As I dive into sharing the details of our current national political construct, a baseline about party politics is needed.

If you think “Republicans” are the solution, then you don’t understand the construct of the ‘Big Club.’

Political parties were created to present you with: (1) a controlled outlet for your focus (pro-tip the Big Club “they” control it); and (2) the illusion of choice.

Now there are some differences between the two political parties – between the two wings of the same DC vulture.

• The DNC wants power. The RNC wants money.
• The DNC uses money to get power. The RNC use power to get money.
• The ideology of the DNC drives their donor activity. The ideology of the donors drives the RNC ideology.

This is the essential difference in their business models.  This is also how the system works when you think about ‘money’ and raw ‘ideological power’.

Let me give you an example in current culture, around “wokeism“.

The social and cultural ideology of the left-wing is clear; they are pushing ideology.  However, when you look at the right-wing corporate response, notice the focus is on money.  The left is pushing a cultural revolution; the right is seeking to gain money in (a) corporate alignment, or (b) velvet-gloved combat against it.

The leftist ideology advances. Notice there is no ideological pushback against the cultural revolution from Congress.  Why?… Money

Democrats know if they want to advance ideology, simply find a mechanism to pay Republicans.  Easy peasy.

♦ Ukraine.  IDEOLOGY: The agenda of the left-wing (Dems) is clear; they are pushing for an expanded totalitarian globalist agenda.  MONEY: The right-wing response to the Ukraine ideology, is money.  Congress funds the industrial military machine, the military contractors.  The contractors repay politicians.

The globalist ideology advances.  Notice, there is no ideological pushback against the White House and U.S. State Dept foreign policy from Congress.

Why?… money.

If you are an institution (or individual) and your enterprise needs power to advance your interests (think Big Tech), you align with Democrats.   If you are an institution (or individual) and your enterprise needs money to advance your interests (think Wall St), you align with Republicans.

The left-wing wants power to advance ideology. The right-wing wants money.  That’s why the Republicans never stop any of the Democrats’ ideological gains.

♦ Elections. IDEOLOGY: The ballot-harvesting agenda of the left-wing (DNC/dems) is clear; they have thousands of networked groups funded by donor activity (Zuckerbucks etc.), organized in every community to assemble ballots.  MONEY: The right-wing response is to see the opportunity for fundraising…. Meanwhile, a massive network known as True The Vote, Catherine Englebrecht, with an army of skilled voter integrity grassroots operations, easily retooled to a ballot collection network, sits untapped.

This is the nature of the system that distracts us.  Two wings of the same vulture. This is the inherent nature of U.S. politics in the big picture, and I can get as granular and specific as anyone might need – including the propositions for why club candidates are selected within the ‘illusion of choice’ game.

Back to the question: “Who’s they?“

♦ Consider the scale.  Donald Trump is falsely prosecuted for a non-existent crime and tens of thousands of Americans send money to his campaign to show support.  According to media outlets, Trump raised over $10 million in a few days from the average MAGA American.   There are also claims that Ron DeSantis raised $30 million in the last few months from billionaires, hedge funds, Wall Street and multinational corporations during his not-a-campaign book tour.

Sounds good right?  Well….

For scale, former Dianne Feinstein staffer Dan Jones, left the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in order to work as the liaison between private interests, contractors and government officials in the stop-Trump campaign. Within a week, Dan Jones created the Penn Quarter Group and raised $50 million to spend on the effort….

…. “They” gave it to him.

There are various “theys” within the system.   One set of ‘theys” are the multinationals and billionaire donors who control the levers of power behind the Potemkin village we call Washington DC.   George Carlin called them ‘the big club.’

The other set of “theys”, that few people talk about, are the operatives who work as the guards for the system.   This is where the United States intelligence community, various opaque government agencies, and federal intelligence contractors come into play.   I have met the participants.

The guards are paid to run domestic surveillance operations that are then funneled into the U.S. Justice System for official targeting operations conducted by the DOJ and FBI.  These are tradecraft agents within quasi government agencies, most federal contract agencies, that target politicians and influential people with the specific intent on gaining leverage, blackmail, information etc, for use by those who retain and protect the system.

You could call these the “seven ways to Sunday crowd”, as defined by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.   Or you could call these people the “FBI contractors” who have access to the NSA database as part of their operational mission to conduct surveillance and create the files that ultimately end up with the “seven ways to Sunday crowd.”

It matters not what you call them, these men and women conduct targeting operations against U.S. citizens and U.S. businesses.  They also create the files that are used by political operatives like Dan Jones.  That’s why $50,000,000.00 was/is needed for the Trump operation.

All of the puppets, players and politicians within the Potemkin village are under this network of surveillance, and at any time they can be targeted by a host of tradecraft operations to ensnare them.

If you start digging into the actual corruption, schemes or a specific granular episode that highlights risk to the DC operation, you end up like former CBS news investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, with “TSCI” material in a hidden file within your computer for the FBI to randomly find.

Former DAG Rod Rosenstein and FBI official Shawn Henry ran that specific operation against Attkisson.  Shawn Henry went on to work for Crowdstrike in their “proactive and incident response services” division.  That’s the intel security company that investigated the DNC “hack” and told the FBI it was Russians who did it…. at least that’s the claim from the FBI who never investigated the “hack”, a claim later denied by Crowdstrike.   See how that works?

Yesterday you might have read that 40 intelligence and law enforcement “confidential human sources” were in the J6 Proud Boy’s operation at the DC capitol.  That’s another example of the “theys” that function as contractors to the system within the larger intelligence apparatus.  It all falls under the Director of National Intelligence and Dept of Homeland Security (DHS).

Another example of the “theys” in the system are the FBI and various “Intelligence Community” officials and contractors you see exposed in the Twitter files.  Essentially, embeds in the Big Tech social media system.  It sure makes datamining operations easier when the federally contracted ‘miners’ are inside the communication platforms, able to review all the private discussions and report that information back to the DHS central command.  Things making sense now?

I have met these people.  I know exactly who they are.

This is the reality of our situation.   So, when you respond to my initial question about, “What do you want me to do?…. use this context.

And believe me, I’ll do it.  I’m right with what matters!

~ Support CTH Research and Mission Here ~

Apr 7 2023

Who is Funding Ukraine? 


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 7, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Every week, there is a new announcement of the US pledging additional aid to Ukraine. Biden has provided Zelensky with a blank check to fund this war while his own country’s infrastructure crumbles. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative led by the Department of Defense is providing Ukraine with another $2.1 billion for funding. The announcement came the same day that Finland joined NATO, and Russia promised retaliation. This means Zelensky will have both hands out begging for more at your expense.

“Russia alone could end its war today,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement. “Until Russia does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Longtime warmonger Blinken knows that Russia will never retreat. The war will go on until something catastrophic occurs. It is hard to determine how much the US has spent on Ukraine but the CBO estimated the amount was around $113 in 2022. If there are 131.2 million households in America, that means each household paid around $861 to fund a war that does not involve America or any of America’s allegiances. Obviously some pay more and some pay less based on the constantly changing tax brackets. Those who read this blog understand, but for those who think the money is coming out of the politicians’ pockets…

YOU ARE FUNDING UKRAINE! Your name is on the blank check! When you file your taxes this year, know that a portion of what the government withheld went directly to a foreign war. In fact, every day you work, you’re giving a piece to Zelensky. There is no account of exactly how they are using these funds. Meanwhile, American infrastructure is crumbling. Our schools are underfunded, homelessness is rampant, shelter costs have soared, poverty rates are rising, our medical system bankrupts families daily, millions of unaccounted aliens are crossing into our country, and your taxes are rising to pay for it all!

You will pay more money every year that this senseless war wages on. So if someone with no personal connections to Ukraine waves their yellow and blue flag and claims Biden is defeating big bad Russia, ask them if they’d like to pay your portion of the proxy war effort. The people never voted for these measures that have gone far beyond any aid we have sent to a foreign war effort.

Apr 5 2023

Japan Secures Oil Deal with Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Trade Re-Posted Apr 5, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Japan is an energy-dependent nation that relies on imports to function. Despite being a G7 member, Japan has remained largely silent on the Russia-Ukraine war and is the only member to deny Zelensky’s pleas for weapons. The prime minister was the last in the alliance to visit Ukraine amid the war. The G7 nations set a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude but granted Japan a pass.

Japan has purchased nearly 748,000 barrels of Russian oil for $70 a piece in the first two months of the year alone. All of the MSM headlines read: “JAPAN BREAKS ALLIANCE WITH WESTERN ALLIES,” as if there were an alternative. Even conservative outlets are saying that Japan has broken ties with the West. Japan is unwilling to deliberately allow its nation to crumble from an energy shortage, unlike the “Build Back Better” nations.

Oil prices surged on Monday after OPEC+ announced plans to limit production, which will lead to a rise in global prices. Energy costs affect the cost of everything from the supply chain to food. Yet, the countries that have the ability to drill, such as the US and Canada, are refusing to do so despite energy prices significantly contributing to overall inflation and economic instability.

The West chastised India and China for purchasing Russian oil. They don’t want to lose their Japanese ally and are attempting to give them a “free pass,” but only until September. What happens then? Will Japan be forced to break its alliance with the G7? The West was hoping that longstanding tensions between China and Japan would push them into this proxy war, but the Japanese government is not willing to implode its economy. Let us also remember that Japan was forced to close numerous nuclear power plants after the earthquake hit in 2011. They are completely reliant on imports. It seems that only nations willing to surrender their economies in the name of abandoning fossil fuels, with no alternative, are ousted from the West’s good graces.

Apr 5 2023

Finland Officially Joins NATO Creating the Largest NATO Land Border Directly Attached to Russia


Posted originally on the CTH on April 4, 2023 | Sundance 

CONTEXT:  There is no currently visible outcome where the Build Back Better collective western global alliance energy policy can succeed without escalating to a direct NATO war against Russia.

The economic outcomes of the BBB agenda are currently being felt via western, energy driven, supply side inflation.  The monetary countermeasures to that inflationary damage, raising central bank interest rates, creates instability in finance and subsequent banking collapse.

Simultaneous to the ‘western’ central bank intervention, the BRICS alliance members are withdrawing from dollar dependency as a trade mechanism.  When all those unneeded dollars return home, the dollar value collapses – and all western economies attached to the dollar as a trade currency collapse along with it.

The Western bankers need a war to generate the industrial economic activity that uses the returning dollars.  Unless and until the dollar is digitized, there is no currently visible outcome where the Build Back Better agenda is not dependent on an expanded war with Russia.

(Via Axios) – Finland became the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday — a once-unthinkable step that significantly changes the security landscape in Europe.

Why it matters: Finland’s membership more than doubles NATO’s borders with Russia and formally ends Helsinki’s decades of official nonalignment. It’s also a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin who, in launching the Russian invasion of Ukraine, vowed to block the alliance’s eastward expansion. It’s the alliance’s ninth enlargement since its founding in 1949.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg sent a message to Moscow while officially welcoming Finland into the alliance: “President Putin wanted to slam NATO’s door shut. Today we showed the world that he failed, that aggression and intimidation do not work. Instead of less NATO, he has achieved the opposite: more NATO. And our door remains firmly open.”

Finland President Sauli Niinistö said it was a “great day for Finland” but also an important day for the security and the stability of the alliance.

[…] Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier Tuesday called Finland’s NATO accession an “encroachment on Russia’s security” that would require Russia to take unspecified countermeasures.

Putin had previously said that Russia had no “territorial differences” with Finland or Sweden, so it was “up to them” whether they joined — but Russia would respond to any deployments of NATO military units or infrastructure to their territories.

The Russian embassy in Sweden issued an even more pointed warning last week, saying on Facebook that any “new members of the enemy block will become a legitimate target” of “Russia’s retaliatory measures,” including those of military nature. (read more)

Apr 4 2023

The End of the Petrodollar?


Armstrong Economics Blog/World Trade Re-Posted Apr 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Another oil deal has been initiated without the use of the dollar. The India Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that their latest trade deal with Malaysia would be settled in Indian rupees. “This initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aimed at facilitating the growth of global trade and to support the interests of the global trading community in Indian Rupees (INR),” the formal statement noted.

Indian has benefitted from the West’s distraction from the Ukraine war. The RBI is allowing 18 counties to open Vostro accounts and has been attracting new deals in trade and manufacturing. New Delhi and Moscow have strengthened their relationship as India is not imposing sanctions.  The Indian Commerce Ministry said its five-year plan is to “encourage” the use of the rupee on an international scale, while also planning to expand exports $2 trillion by 2030. Trading in rupees will also allow India to save on conversion spreads and limit the country’s dependence on the volatile dollar.

The BRICs treaty (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) remains strong and oil giants Saudi Arabia and Iran would like to join the partnership. The Saudis stated at the beginning of the year that they were open to settling trade in currencies other than the USD. “There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan said during Davos. As we have seen in recent months, Saudi Arabia is aligning itself with China over the US.

The Vietnam war and other government missteps made it impossible for the US to maintain the fixed price of gold established under Bretton Woods. The USD relative to gold fell as the supply of dollars grew, pushing Nixon to abandon the Bretton Woods system entirely. US government debt was rapidly rising as confidence in the dollar plummeted. America needed an enticing way to sell its debt, and that was when Nixon convinced Saudi Arabia, the largest crude exporter, to purchase Treasurys in dollars in exchange for military aid. Hence the “petrodollar” was born. The creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) only further enhanced the dollar’s dominance in energy purchases.

Here we are yet again amid another war and a high budget deficit. The Saudis no longer need protection from America, and siding with Western interests would be a deterrent to its international deals with countries in the BRICs alliance and some in the OPEC+. Despite the green agenda, the world cannot operate without oil. The major oil exporters are now aligning and cutting out the US as their middleman.

Apr 3 2023

The US Begins to Arm Taiwan


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The evidence of the coming global war is overwhelming. In a move that will prompt a direct response from China, the US announced that it would deliver 400 Javelin man-portable anti-tank systems to Taiwan. The delivery is strategically planned to begin during the second half of this year into 2024. Reports claim that this deal was created under Trump, of course, but the timing could not be more on point for the international conflict our computers have been indicating.

These advanced weapons can penetrate armor 800 millimeters thick and come equipped with fire-and-forget technology. Ukraine has used these American-made missiles to repel troops and they are extremely effective. This is not intended to prevent China from invading. It is in preparation for when they do invade.

China will never relinquish Taiwan. It would be considered a great shame for the nation and an embarrassment on an international scale. They will do everything possible to keep Taiwan under the One China policy. China is taking notes on how Russia is operating in Ukraine. Russia had little time to prepare, whereas China has had 75 years. China is the second-largest economy in the world and will surpass the United States. The US is no longer a feared nation as it has lost every war since the second world war. The woke ideology prominent in American politics makes our nation appear weaker than ever before. America became the financial capital of the world after the second world war; China will secure that title after the third.

Apr 3 2023

Has Bakhmut Fallen? Zelensky the Real War Criminal


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Apr 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

There are yet unconfirmed reports that the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced late on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023. that his forces have raised the Russian flag over the administration building of the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine. There is no question that Bakhmut will fall. Zelensky has sent over 100,000 men to their death there desperate to keep the money flowing into Ukraine. It is a sad state of affairs when a high-heel dancing idiot orders generals to fight to the death all for his pride and money. The fall of Bakhmut is simply inevitable and the West’s propaganda that Russia would be defeated and that they were weak was all wishful thinking of the Neocons who can think of nothing but war.

Zelensky should be charged with treason and bribery. He was elected promising to end the war and broker peace. Once he got in, he sold his soul o the Neocons and filled his pockets to live forever comfortably. Some Ukrainians are wondering if he did this to punish Ukraine for its persecution of Jews.

He hid being a Jew before the election. Even made jokes about persecuting the Jews. This has a lot of people very confused since he suddenly became Jewish after the election. He married a non-Jew and had his children baptized. He jokes about the confiscation of property of Russians and Jews.

By the time he is finished, 500,000+ Ukrainian will have died because of him and his greed! He could swap his high heels for an army helmet and always appear in an army T-Shirt to get money. That did not give him the experience to win a war. Pray for all the Ukrainians he sent to their death.

CNN wrote:

The Kremlin saw Zelensky’s predecessor, outgoing President Petro Poroshenko, as representing the “party of war,” and the election results in Ukraine were greeted by official Russia with what could be described as cautious hope for a reboot in relations.

“There are chances to improve Ukraine’s interaction with our country,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook. “What is needed for this? Honesty. And we need a pragmatic and responsible approach.”

The day before Putin launched his special operation, Zelensky announced to the world he would seek nuclear weapons to force Putin’s hand. This was all choreographed by the Neocons who always want war. They will never stop.

Apr 3 2023

Europe Wants War At Any Cost


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Apr 2, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Federal Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren of the Netherlands has handed the Netherlands Army to be subordinated by Germany. He put out the standard propaganda that he did so because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. They ignore the fact that it has been the West who started the civil war and propped up this fake leader in high-heels to send waves of Ukrainians to their death. All because the Western monetary system is collapsing and they desperately need war especially after keeping interest rates NEGATIVE since 2014 wiping out banks and pension funds throughout Europe. The “complete integration of all three Dutch army brigades into Bundeswehr structures” is a “milestone” they have declared.

On top of that von der Leyan will most likely take over NATO. She sold out all Europeans to Pfizer buying billions of doses of their vaccine using an executive order denying the people or parliament to even vote. They will never be used. What did she get in return? She will be a puppet for the highest bidder in the Neocon world. How such people can even look at themselves in the mirror has always astonished me.

NATO will now stage the largest military exercise in history by June. It will most likely create some excuse to wage war against Russia. They need this war desperately to restart a new monetary system that they have been planning with Bretton Woods II. There is no remorse for those who die in battle. They do not care about the families driven from their homes. This is all in the political game of kicking the can down the road and always blaming someone else.