Mar 112022
 
 March 11, 2022  Posted by at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Pablo Picasso Three women at the edge of the beach 1924

 

The Sanction Backlash Will Push The ‘West’ To Accept Russia’s Demands (MoA)
Who Will Denazify The Ukraine? (Dmitry Orlov)
The Opinion Of A Professional About The Special Operation In Ukraine (Dubrovsky)
Ukraine Biolab Watchtower (Malone)
WHO Told Ukraine To Destroy ‘High-Threat Pathogens’ In Labs (ZH)
Moscow Retaliates Against Western Sanctions With Export Bans (R.)
Russia To Ban Fertilizer Exports To ‘Not Friendly’ Countries (ZH)
Russia Denies Bombing Maternity Hospital in Mariupol: ‘Fake News’ (ET)
Ukraine Worked With Democrats Against Trump in 2016 to Stop Putin (Sperry)
How Poland Avoided Hot Potato Of Being Dragged By US Into War With Russia (PM)
Germany Reactivates Coal Power Plants Amid Russian Gas Supply Threats (EuA)
Congress Inserts over 4,000 Pork Earmarks in Spending Bill (Turley)
Who Changed the Conclusions of a Paper that Could Have Saved Millions? (FLCCC)
US Dollar Being Used as “Instrument of War,” It’s the Endgame – Jim Rogers (SR)

 

 

 

 

WHO
https://twitter.com/i/status/1501879258079244289

 

 

Tulsi on Nuland

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubris.

The Sanction Backlash Will Push The ‘West’ To Accept Russia’s Demands (MoA)

President Biden has blamed Russia for the price increase that will inevitably follow. I don’t believe that mid-term voters will accept that reasoning. European countries can not follow that step as their economies depend of imports of oil and gas from Russia and will continue to do so for years to come. In a move that must have been quite humiliating for the White House the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE declined to take calls from the U.S. president. They want the U.S. to designate the Houthi movement in Yemen, which they have been unsuccessful to suppress, a terrorist group: One hopes that the Biden administration does not fall for these disgusting bribery schemes but he has backed himself into a corner, cutting off Russian oil to punish Putin for a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with no alternative but to horsetrade with autocrats over the fate of Yemenis a half a world away.

If this is geopolitics, heaven forgive us. I don’t think that the above is the only request the Saudis and UAE leaders will have. They are now in a situation in which they can demand ever more. Likewise humiliating is the administration’s opening of talks with Venezuela which it had sanctioned all around in its attempt to regime change the country. Caracas has released two U.S. nationals from prison. It is willing to talk. But before providing oil to the U.S. market it will demand the lifting of all sanctions and the return of all its assets the U.S. and UK have confiscated. Biden will have difficulties to find a Congress majority in support of such steps. The return of the nuclear deal with Iran, which would enable more oil output, hangs in balance as Russia demands sanction exemptions for its trade with Iran.

The U.S. had attempted to press Poland to deliver its old Mig-29 fighter jets to the Ukraine. In Russia’s eyes that would have been a direct Polish aggression against it. Warsaw found a smart way to avoid that. It offered to deliver the jets to a U.S. airbase in Germany. The tar baby would thereby stick to the U.S. itself. The Pentagon declined to accept that. The jet transfer is now most likely dead. The U.S. and Europe are only starting to feel the secondary consequences of the all out economic war they hastily initiated against Russia. The war will cause recessions not only in Russia but also all over the ‘west’. This while Russia has yet to announce its counter sanctions. There are many steps Russia could take to hurt the ‘west’ by withholding this or that resource. It is likely to start slowly to then increase the pressure step by step.


Cable from 2008 written by #CIA director William J. Burns, then US ambassador to Moscow

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“..the Ukrainian regime blithely trod across a very well established Russian red line that was guaranteed to trigger a military response.”

Who Will Denazify The Ukraine? (Dmitry Orlov)

Short answer: the Ukrainians will. Long answer: let me walk you down a very short memory lane, merely 16 days long, starting from February 22, 2022. On that day, the majority of Ukrainian forces were massed deep inside the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics—the two statelets populated by Russians, many of them Russian passport-holders. The Ukrainian forces were within striking range of their capital cities and (as recently obtained official documents prove) were planning an all-out attack on them. That would have been an act of genocide which Russia would have had no choice but to try to stop.

Since the Ukrainian regime does not dare to do anything major without first receiving an “all clear” signal from Washington, this attack would have been on strategy with Washington’s goals, which, perfectly clearly, were to mire Russia in a Ukrainian civil war. This war would in turn provide the rationale for international isolation which would crush Russia’s economy and force it to once again provide its natural resources to the West for almost nothing. Were this plan to fail, the West would collapse. The way it looks now, this plan is failing. I will return to this subject in a little while; by then the situation will have become clearer to a few more people. As people go through the inevitable denial-anger-bargaining sequence, it is best to hang back until the bargaining part is reached; only then does reasoned discussion become possible.

While the Ukrainian regime was frustrated in its efforts to join NATO by the fact that it does not control its own territory, it in fact surrendered the Ukraine to NATO forces, allowing NATO to order its military around and turning itself over to NATO’s use, thus bringing NATO within striking range of Moscow and driving NATO’s expansion east along the same route used by previous Western invaders—Napoleon and Hitler. Thus, the Ukrainian regime blithely trod across a very well established Russian red line that was guaranteed to trigger a military response. Given the vast disproportion in military strength, this was a delusional, suicidal move. To top all of this off, at the Munich security conference held this February the (former?) Ukrainian president Zelensky professed his desire to develop nuclear weapons with which to attack Russia.

Note that the Ukraine had sufficient nuclear materials, technologies and knowhow, inherited from the USSR, to rush through such a development program, especially if with US help. Although this would directly violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (“non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons”), he did not get any pushback from the assorted Western luminaries assembled there. Thus the Ukrainian regime thus did everything necessary to fashion itself into an immediate existential threat to Russia, sealing its fate.

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Via the Saker.

.. the honorable duty to drown Donbass in blood at the beginning of March. We beat them to it by a week or two

The Opinion Of A Professional About The Special Operation In Ukraine (Dubrovsky)

This is a war unfamiliar to us veterans. Especially when the sky is under your full control, airfields are packed with attack aircraft and bombers, operational and tactical missile systems are in service, there is a lot of heavy artillery. Now it has become clear even to civilians: the correct name for what is happening truly is “a special military operation for denazification.” And the demilitarization of Nezalezhnaya was completed by the end of the third day. The APU, as a single, manageable and effective structure, has ceased to exist. Today, there are dozens of groups of different numbers isolated from each other, hiding in cities and towns. No centralized supply, no air support, no approach of reinforcements. They are not able to act within the framework of any plans of the Ukrainian General Staff. Just crowds of armed men with orders to stand to the death.

The main groups “North” and “East” were beheaded and deprived of command — these are 22 brigades, which had been entrusted with the honorable duty to drown Donbass in blood at the beginning of March. We beat them to it by a week or two, starting our own special operation. Now 150 thousand people (together with national soldiers) are marinated in “cauldrons”, cut off from each other. For a second — this was done by smaller Russian forces… and in five days. There is no organized resistance in other operational areas. Separate parts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), national battalions, sabotage groups. Everyone acts at their discretion, with varying degrees of activity. There is no way to move in columns, regroup, replenish ammunition, fuel, equipment even in local warehouses, everything is systematically destroyed by high-precision weapons and aircraft.

In a week or two, 80% of the AFU will turn into detachments completely devoid of ammunition, fuel, medicines, and food. Mentally and physically exhausted, without a unified command, goals and objectives. For the army, this is a terrible thing – despondency and decay. Especially for the Ukrainian, which is held by fear, propped up by Bandera detachments. Servicemen fear for the fate of their families in the rear.

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“I believe that there is a significant risk that the Russian government has obtained documents or other evidence that (at a minimum) one or more of these laboratories have had biological materials the existence of which is likely to prove embarrassing to the United States. ”

Ukraine Biolab Watchtower (Malone)

Here’s my “assuming best intention” current “working hypothesis”: USA DoD/DTRA partnered with the government of Ukraine to (at a minimum) support collection, storage and monitoring of infectious biological agents and toxins by researchers in Ukraine, and there seems to have been some component of personnel training and facilities engineering involved with this. US State Department via the Embassy in Ukraine announced this DoD/DTRA effort in a transparent manner via a readily available web page. If I were working as an analyst for the Russian government, paid to perform and enable risk assessment, I would be skeptical that the US DoD/DTRA effort was limited to just collecting and archiving biological samples, and I would have to conclude that there is significant risk that these facilities were involved in (at a minimum) “dual purpose” research.

“Dual purpose” is a euphemism for “could be used to develop defensive capabilities or could be used to develop offensive capabilities”. Clearly, whether in sincerity or for propaganda purposes (time will tell if they provide the documentation and receipts), the Russian government is stating that the activities of these laboratories included bioweapon research which was coordinated with US DoD/DTRA. Prior to invasion of Ukraine, the government of Russia signaled that the presence of these DTRA-sponsored “biolabs” in this region was perceived as a threat to Russian national security and biosecurity. Again, if I were a Russian analyst, I would likely conclude that these laboratories represent a threat to national security. Based on information available to me, the US Government does not seem to have made any attempt to assure the government of Russia that these laboratories were performing benign activities.

One action which might have mitigated Russian concerns would have been to allow unannounced inspections, much as US and NATO have insisted on in the case of foreign nuclear enrichment or reactor programs. In my professional opinion, based on the language employed by Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, I believe that there is a significant risk that the Russian government has obtained documents or other evidence that (at a minimum) one or more of these laboratories have had biological materials the existence of which is likely to prove embarrassing to the United States. The language used appears to my ear to imply that there are biological materials the existence of which could damage US strategic and tactical geopolitical interests.

It is likely that the “chain of custody” or veracity of any evidence which the Russian government may present to support their case will not be clean, and that there will be a strong effort by western media and information sources (social media, tech) to delegitimize any communication by Russia (as a government) and by any persons (Russian or otherwise) who present or attempt to discuss such communication. Including myself. It is highly likely that management of any information concerning this topic is already being globally handled by the Trusted News Initiative organization, and that obtaining or discussing unfiltered and unprocessed “raw” information will soon not be possible. In other words, in my opinion, this is another topic that we will never be able to get to the bottom of, and we will never be able to discern something akin to objective “truth”. Best we can hope for is some sort of approximation of truth that is sort of like a kalidescope image viewed in a hall of mirrors.

Soviet bioweapons

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Why are there ‘High-Threat Pathogens’ inn one of the world’s most corrupt and instable nations, and how did they get them?

WHO Told Ukraine To Destroy ‘High-Threat Pathogens’ In Labs (ZH)

The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy ‘high-threat pathogens’ in the country’s public health laboratories in order to prevent “any potential spills” that might infect the population during the Russian invasion, Reuters reports. “As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills,” said the UN agency. The report comes after a tense back-and-forth between US and Russian officials over “dangerous” biolabs in the country – with Russia, and then China, accusing the US military of involvement in Ukraine’s biolabs.

On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova repeated a longstanding claim that the United States operates a biowarfare lab in Ukraine, an accusation that has been repeatedly denied by Washington and Kyiv. Zakharova said that documents unearthed by Russian forces in Ukraine showed “an emergency attempt to erase evidence of military biological programmes” by destroying lab samples. -Reuters The US has denied the allegations – issuing (among other things) a Thursday statement that “The United States does not have chemical or biological weapons labs in Ukraine,” adding that America “does not develop or possess chemical and biological weapons anywhere.”

On Tuesday, US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland acknowledged that Ukraine “has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.” Nuland’s answer made clear that whatever is inside Ukraine’s biolabs is a serious concern, however it should be noted that there’s no public evidence of bioweapons, nor did the WHO statement make reference to biowarfare – which is a separate issue from whether the laboratories contained, or contain, dangerous pathogens which could be used in a bioweapon.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1502094871217287169

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“..telecom, medical, auto, agricultural, electrical and tech equipment, as well as some forestry products..”

Moscow Retaliates Against Western Sanctions With Export Bans (R.)

Russia sought on Thursday to retaliate against Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine by banning exports of certain goods and agricultural commodities. Exporting telecom, medical, auto, agricultural, electrical and tech equipment, as well as some forestry products, will be banned until the end of 2022. “These measures are a logical response to those imposed against Russia and are aimed at ensuring uninterrupted functioning of key sectors of the economy,” the economy ministry said. Further measures could include restricting foreign ships from entering Russian ports and allowing Russian airlines to register jets leased from Western firms as their own property, the government said.

Interfax news agency cited a source familiar with legislation being prepared as saying Russia may temporarily ban grain exports to a group of ex-Soviet countries forming part of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) from March 15 to August 31, as well as sugar exports outside the EEU area. The measures come after Western sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that threaten to cripple Russia’s energy-dependent economy. Western companies have pulled out of Russia en masse as the United States, European Union and Britain imposed sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow’s access to funding. In response, a government commission on Wednesday approved the first step towards nationalising assets of foreign firms that leave the country.

The proposal to restrict foreign ships’ entry into Russian ports comes after Britain last week banned from its ports all Russian-operated ships. The European Union has yet to provide clarity on the prospect of a similar ban by the bloc.

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There are no replacements. Not for the combined wheat exports of Russia and Ukraine, and not for fertilizer.

Russia To Ban Fertilizer Exports To ‘Not Friendly’ Countries (ZH)

Russia’s war on Ukraine is continuing to boost food prices. While the US and European countries are engaged in economic warfare against Moscow, it appears Russia’s turn to strike back has emerged. On Thursday, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said Russia decided to suspend fertilizer exports. This comes when global food prices are at record highs, and European fertilizer makers are struggling to produce nutrients ahead of the spring growing season, increasing global food inflation risks. President Vladimir Putin said the fertilizer export ban was a move to ensure stable domestic food prices. This is another sign of growing protectionism worldwide as countries grapple with soaring food prices. Putin said fertilizer markets are deteriorating, making food a lot more expensive.

Making matters worse, Interfax, an independent Russian news agency, reported earlier that Moscow is considering retaliatory economic measures to ban exports of certain agricultural products to countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union. Interfax said Moscow could temporarily ban grain exports to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and ban sugar exports beyond the EEU. This may result in declining food supplies for those countries and soaring food costs. Add this to the fertilizer ban and Europe and maybe the West is headed for a major food crisis. Possible Russian retaliatory measures follow a series of Western sanctions on Russia, which have collapsed the ruble, locked the central bank out of a large chunk of its foreign-currency savings, and crushed its ability to trade with the outside world by removing certain Russian banks from SWIFT.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been quoted well before the invasion of Ukraine of the need to strengthen an emerging multipolar world order. “It is important to maintain and boost mutually respectful, constructive and effective cooperation globally, as well as to strengthen the emerging multipolar world order that consists of independent centers of economic growth and political influence, which certainly includes BRICS,” Putin emphasized.

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The combo of “War” and “children” (let alone babies) is only fake news 99.9% of the time.

Russia Denies Bombing Maternity Hospital in Mariupol: ‘Fake News’ (ET)

Russia asserted Thursday that the claim from Ukraine that Moscow forces were responsible for the bombing of a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol was “fake news.” “That’s how fake news is born,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Twitter. He said that Russia had said in a statement on March 7 that the hospital in Mariupol “has been turned into a military object” from which Ukrainian radicals were firing. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia shared Polyanskiy’s statement on its Twitter page. The March 7 statement was delivered by Russian Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the U.N. Security Council.

“Ukrainian radicals show their true face more distinctly by the day,” Nebenzia said. “Locals reports [sic] that Ukraine’s Armed Forces kicked out personnel of natal hospital #1 of the city of Mariupol and set up a firing site within the facility.” Russia has also previously denied targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure as part of its campaign in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials claimed that Russian aircraft bombed the children’s hospital on Wednesday, after which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of carrying out genocide. “Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?”

After the strike, the Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, called for a no-fly zone to be imposed over Ukraine. “Today I am asking the global community for help. Close the sky over Ukraine. Our will has not been broken, we will fight to the end,” Boichenko said in a video message posted to Telegram. “We have motivated soldiers and officers who defend our homeland. But today we need support.”

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Good deep digging.

Ukraine Worked With Democrats Against Trump in 2016 to Stop Putin (Sperry)

Six years ago, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country, the Ukrainians bet that a Hillary Clinton presidency would offer better protection from Russian President Vladimir Putin, even though he had invaded Crimea during the Obama-Biden administration, whose Russian policies Clinton vowed to continue. Working with both the Obama administration and the Clinton campaign, Ukrainian government officials intervened in the 2016 race to help Clinton and hurt Donald Trump in a sweeping and systematic foreign influence operation that’s been largely ignored by the press. The improper, if not illegal, operation was run chiefly out of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, where officials worked hand-in-glove with a Ukrainian-American activist and Clinton campaign operative to attack the Trump campaign.

The Obama White House was also deeply involved in an effort to groom their own favored leader in Ukraine and then work with his government to dig up dirt on – and even investigate — their political rival. Ukrainian and Democratic operatives also huddled with American journalists to spread damaging information on Trump and his advisers – including allegations of illicit Russian-tied payments that, though later proved false, forced the resignation of his campaign manager Paul Manafort. The embassy actually weighed a plan to get Congress to investigate Manafort and Trump and stage hearings in the run-up to the election. As it worked behind the scenes to undermine Trump, Ukraine also tried to kneecap him publicly. Ukraine’s ambassador took the extraordinary step of attacking Trump in an Op-Ed article published in The Hill, an influential U.S. Capitol newspaper, while other top Ukrainian officials slammed the GOP candidate on social media.

At first glance, it was a bad bet as Trump upset Clinton. But by the end of his first year in office, Trump had supplied Ukrainians what the Obama administration refused to give them: tank-busting Javelin missiles and other lethal weapons to defend themselves against Russian incursions. Putin never invaded on Trump’s watch. Instead, he launched an all-out invasion during another Democratic administration – one now led by President Biden, Barack Obama’s former Vice President, whose Secretary of State last year alarmed Putin by testifying, “We support Ukraine’s membership in NATO.” Biden boasted he’d go “toe to toe” with Putin, but that didn’t happen as the autocrat amassed tanks along Ukraine’s border in response to the NATO overtures.

The Ukrainian mischief is part of Special Counsel John Durham’s broader inquiry – now a full-blown criminal investigation with grand jury indictments – into efforts to falsely target Trump as a Kremlin conspirator in 2016 and beyond. Sources say Durham has interviewed several Ukrainians, but it’s not likely the public will find out exactly what he’s learned about the extent of Ukraine’s meddling in the election until he releases his final report, which sources say could be several months away.

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Well played Poland. Now Kamala’s there. WIll they change their stance?

How Poland Avoided Hot Potato Of Being Dragged By US Into War With Russia (PM)

The US’ attempt to get Poland to enter into war against Russia on their behalf has stalled, as Poland played, and won, a game of hot potato with Russian MiG fighter planes. On Human Events Daily, Jack Posobiec discussed how Poland managed to avoid being used as a pawn of war between the US and Russia. “We talk about the NATO hot potato when it comes to the Russian MiG, the Russian made MiGs from Poland. Poland said oh, we’re going to give them to the US,” Posobiec said. The US asked Poland to send fighter jets to Ukraine per Ukraine’s request for MiG fighters, which their pilots are trained to use. Poland said they would turn over the jets to the US at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, the US could do whatever they want with them. The US then would have to take those jets from Ramstein to Germany, piloted by US military personnel.


“The US said ‘no, no, no. Just give them to Ukraine.’ And [Poland] said ‘no we’ll give them to you, you can paint the US flag on them.’ And [the US] said ‘no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that’s too risky. We can’t do that.’ “And Poland said, ‘Well, if you can’t do that, if it’s too risky for you. Why isn’t it too risky for us to do it?'” This would have been a distinct escalation to the war in Ukraine, as it would mean that the US was flying fighter jets into Ukraine. The US wanted Poland to bear that burden of escalation. The US rejected the offer of the planes, though on Sunday Biden’s Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had said that yes, the planes transfer from Poland to Ukraine was given the “green light” by the US. But Blinken would not “green light” those same planes being given by the US to Ukraine. [..] “The United States government is trying to frame Poland for starting World War Three and we cannot overlook this,” Posobiec said.

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Cui bono?

Germany Reactivates Coal Power Plants Amid Russian Gas Supply Threats (EuA)

As Germany closes its last nuclear reactors, it is also reactivating old coal power plants to ensure electricity supply security amid Russian threats to turn off the gas tap. Germany’s attempt to simultaneously phase out nuclear and coal power just got significantly more complicated. Once envisaged as a transition fuel on the way to renewables, fossil gas is being reconsidered in Germany after Russia invaded Ukraine. “Coal will play a crucial role,” said Olaf Lies, the energy minister of Lower Saxony. “That we choose this phrase once again is certainly not entirely self-evident given the country’s plan to phase out coal by 2030,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday (8 March).

As Russia wages war in Ukraine and threatens to stop pumping gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Germany is experiencing a rude awakening. “We know, and we have to admit it, that in the last 20 years, we have manoeuvred ourselves into ever greater dependence on fossil energy imports from Russia,” said Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, who was speaking alongside Lies. “This is not a good state of affairs. All the efforts of the federal government, indeed of the country, are aimed at reducing this dependency as quickly as possible,” he added. In effect, that will imply firing Germany’s coal power plants back up. “If we want to be more independent, we will have to operate with coal,” Lies said, putting in clear terms what Habeck was reluctant to say outright.

Lies was speaking at a conference bringing together the energy ministers of Germany’s 17 states, who were meeting with federal minister Robert Habeck during an extraordinary consultation session. Germany currently has around 45 GW of coal power capacity in place. While some has been turned off, part of it is being held in reserve to ensure the country’s security of supply.

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“It is a familiar tactic on pork spending. You can hide an entire drove of pigs behind a single redeeming budget item.”

Congress Inserts over 4,000 Pork Earmarks in Spending Bill (Turley)

For years, Congress has dispensed with the pretense of informed legislative process when it comes to major bills and appropriations. The new $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, however, took the notion of blind legislating to a disgraceful degree. Democratic leadership dumped the almost 3,000 page bill on the members (and the public) on Wednesday with only a couple days to review the massive spending. That includes over 4,000 pork projects in earmarks. According to the Hill, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) alone has a long list of earmarks for his state ahead of his reelection bid. That includes 59 earmarks totaling nearly $80 million in the transportation and housing and urban development (HUD) section alone.

While Congress disavowed earmarks, the pork-ridden bill shows that both parties have abandoned the pledge. Spending trillions in the last couple years appears to have removed any sense of fiscal responsibility or accountability. We are now over $30 trillion in debt so what are a few pork items — or in Schumer’s case 142 such items. (Some argue that debt is really only $22 trillion and that debt does not matter). It was a clever move at a perfect time. With Ukraine raging and people traumatized over the war, leadership like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Cal.) kept bringing questions back to $14 billion in aid for Ukraine. Members stressed that there was no time to waste — or in this case to read — before voting. It is a familiar tactic on pork spending. You can hide an entire drove of pigs behind a single redeeming budget item.

What is most alarming is the level of duplicity. The bill was withheld by leadership to guarantee little time for the members, let alone the public, from seriously considering the specific expenditures. It shows utter contempt for the concept of public deliberation and debate in the legislation. One must accept the word of the leadership and vote in the blind. In the meantime, even before this package, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted that the debt-to-GDP ratio is at 101% and the total federal debt, including intragovernmental debt, may exceed 120%. Even if debt does not matter (as some have claimed) most citizens oppose pork barrel spending.

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Now we know who.

Who Changed the Conclusions of a Paper that Could Have Saved Millions? (FLCCC)

First, let’s set the stage: — Over one year ago, there were ample peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials that provided strong evidence on ivermectin’s efficacy as a treatment for COVID in every disease phase. — A paper considering these many studies was written by lead author Dr. Andrew Hill at the University of Liverpool for the World Health Organization’s COVID Guideline Development Group. Hill was an early and vigorous proponent for ivermectin. His paper showed that ivermectin could reduce deaths by 75% if used throughout the world. — Inexplicably, just days before its publication, the paper appeared on a pre-print server, with its conclusions changed. Instead of concluding that ivermectin—one of the world’s safest and most inexpensive drugs— should be rolled out globally, it now concluded that more studies on ivermectin were needed before it could be recommended worldwide.


Given the totality of scientific evidence for ivermectin, it was a stunning—actually shocking—reversal by Dr. Hill. —In an urgent Zoom call to Dr. Hill initiated by Dr. Tess Lawrie, Director of the Evidence-based Medicine Consultancy, Dr. Hill admitted to her that one of his study’s sponsors, Unitaid, had a say in the conclusions of his paper. But he would not divulge the name(s) of those who altered the paper’s conclusions. But now, “The Digger” on Substack (aka producer/director Phil Harper) has revealed the name of the person who could have edited the paper’s conclusions—which led to the WHO’s non-recommendation of the use of ivermectin. That decision could have led to the unnecessary deaths of millions across the world.

Mr. Harper studied the PDF of the paper, wanting to learn the identity of its “ghost” author. “The hope was that some artifact on the PDF would reveal something, maybe a font was different, maybe there was a hidden comment, maybe some tracked changes had been saved to the document,” said Harper. “None of those lines of inquiry came to anything.” Then it came to him. Was it in the PDF’s metadata? “Sometimes it’s the most obvious of things,” Harper writes. “The ‘v1_stamped’ version of the paper did indeed have metadata. It even had author information inside the metadata. Expecting to see Andrew Hill listed as the author, instead, I saw a name I recognized. Andrew Owen. “Unless someone used his computer, Andrew Owen has his digital fingerprint on the Andrew Hill paper.”


As it turns out, Andrew Owen is a Professor of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and co-Director of the Centre of Excellence in Long-acting Therapeutics (CELT) at the University of Liverpool. He is also scientific advisor to the WHO’s COVID-19 Guideline Development Group. Just days before Dr. Hill’s paper was to be published, a $40M grant from Unitaid, the paper’s sponsor, was given to CELT —of which Owen is the project lead. “The $40 million contract was actually a commercial agreement between Unitaid, the University of Liverpool and Tandem Nano Ltd (a start-up company that commercializes ‘Solid Lipid Nanoparticle’ delivery mechanisms)— for which Andrew Owen is a top shareholder,” says Harper.

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He blames it all on Victoria Nuland.

US Dollar Being Used as “Instrument of War,” It’s the Endgame – Jim Rogers (SR)

“The U.S. dollar will die,” and it will fall from its position as the world’s reserve currency sooner than expected, says Jim Rogers, best-selling author of “Hot Commodities.” In his first video appearance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rogers tells our Daniela Cambone that Ukraine being inducted into NATO is the underlying cause of Russia’s actions. “Now we’re paying a gigantic price,” for the actions taken by U.S. elected officials, he says, and when the war is over, Russian stocks will be an undervalued opportunity. Other sovereign nations are frantically “coming up with something to compete with the U.S. dollar” due to economic sanctions being ramped up in recent years, Rogers asserts. “I cannot see the world having 100% computer money,” he concludes, saying governments will use it to control the masses.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 11 2022

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  • #103962

    Pablo Picasso Three women at the edge of the beach 1924   • The Sanction Backlash Will Push The ‘West’ To Accept Russia’s Demands (MoA) • Who Wil
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 11 2022]

    #103963
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Pablo Picasso Three women at the edge of the beach 1924

    I actually like this Picasso…it’s interesting, but not so obtuse as to confuse…

    #103964
    teri
    Participant

    They are out of their minds.  This, on top of everything else that is causing inflation (including Trump’s tariffs on China, which Biden has continued) will cause extreme economic hardship across the US, Canada and the EU.  This is economic war against the citizens in all these countries.  The leaders of these countries must really hate their own people and intend to bleed us to death. All for the sake of some oligarchs and nazis in Ukraine, for God’s sake – although I really suspect if they hadn’t had Ukraine they would have used something else to hammer us with.

    G-7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

    The headline is mild and reads as some minor, boring issue. Perhaps they hope people won’t read past that. Stripping Russia of most-favored nation status allows the G-7 countries to put tariffs on Russian products. Tariffs are a stupid 19th century solution to a modern problem, and the people who pay for the tariffs are the consumers in the importing countries.

    Article highlights below:
    ————–

    U.S., G7 allies to move to strip Russia of ‘most favored nation’ status

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, together with the Group of Seven nations and the European Union, will move on Friday to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” status over its invasion of Ukraine, multiple people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

    President Joe Biden will announce the plans at the White House at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT), said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    The White House said Biden would announce “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine”, but gave no details.

    […] Stripping Russia of its favored nation status paves the way for the United States and its allies to impose tariffs on a wide range of Russian goods, which would further ratchet up pressure on an economy that is already heading into a “deep recession.”

    […] Each country must implement the change in Russia’s trading status based on its own national processes, two of the people said.

    In the United States, removing Russia’s “Permanent Normal Trade Relations” (PNTR) status will require an act of Congress, but lawmakers in both houses – and on both sides of the political aisle – have already signalled their support, two officials said.

    “President Biden and the administration appreciate the bipartisan leadership of Congress and its calls for the revocation of PNTR,” one of the officials said, adding that the White House would work with lawmakers on legislation to revoke Russia’s status.

    […] In 2019, Russia was the 26th largest goods trading partner of the United States, with some $28 billion exchanged between the two countries, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

    Top imports from Russia included mineral fuels, precious metal and stone, iron and steel, fertilizers and inorganic chemicals, all goods that could face higher tariffs once Congress acts to revoke Russia’s favored nation trade status.

    Biden on Tuesday had imposed an immediate ban on Russian oil and energy imports. […]

    https://www.reuters.com/business/biden-call-an-end-normal-trade-relations-with-russia-increased-tariffs-russian-2022-03-11/
    ——–

    #103965
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “the LME has closed the market for nickel, and canceled trades.”

    When is a default not a default? Any time it’s China. “A Wooster always helps out a Pal.”

    “Chinese Tycoon Who Faces $8 Billion in Margin Calls Tells Bank He Wants to Keep Shorting Nickel”

    And why not? When you can’t go bankrupt, always get bailed out and can’t default, why not keep going?

    Ol’ Joe, in the pocket of Putin. Howso? Well he stopped 2% of Russian oil sales but raised the price of their oil $20. Ka-Ching! No one helps Russia and China more than Joe and da boyz. Food? Gas? Bye-bye Europe, hope you brushed up on living like Romanians. Hello Shenjing, warm houses, yummy noodles. All the sanctions? Shut off aluminum to GE, no nickel for Tesla. If you want aluminum, better call Wuhan! Russia becomes more independent, more employed, more “Russian”, culturally, than ever.

    When you’re a violent abuser and a narcissist, and you tell all your friends they can’t see you anymore. Oh noes! Last week you were saying you’d run over my dog if I DIDN’T see you. Whatever shall I do? You win, I guess. P.S. these gas prices and 8% inflation were long before the invasion. The release numbers are by definition LAST month’s. This is the highest inflation probably ever, and certainly the largest rate spread (TIPS, Inflation vs bond rates) ever, by multiples.

    Energy Prices were soaring before Ukraine”

    Yes, and as energy is a REAL thing, it spikes when the CURRENCY fails. That was the 1970 petrodollar transition and this is the same thing again. Why not? A Transition like this 10-bagger for the rich. – 10x the poor. That’s a no-brainer.

    Dore follows Colbert saying we can’t get oil from Russia. To have a clear conscience, we need to buy it from cluster-bomb, Yemeni-killing, journalist-butchers like Saudis. Wild applause! Yaaaay, butchers in tolerant human rights democracies like Saudi!!! We so Woke! Pure Love. Think I’m kidding, watch the clip. There’s nothing Americans like better than dead Yemeni children.

    Non-stop articles about Putin losing because he didn’t blitzkreig Kiev and got “bogged down.” I didn’t know you were all war experts and also telepathic as to his plan! That’s an amazing combination! Did you notice he also locked up only the Azovs and are waiting for them to sally forth from their kettles, while holding the rivers, ports, and coast?

    “Russian red line that was guaranteed to trigger a military response.”

    The next genius these war professors cite is how NATO is so much bigger than Russia. Yes. And all of the U.S.’s hardware is somewhere else. All of France’s is somewhere else. All of Britain’s is somewhere else AND doesn’t work. Germany’s NATO power exists in the “somewhere else” of pure theory as they need parts. The only “Power” that matters is the power “In Theatre”. That can be supported with supply lines by the way. Russia has a ZERO supply distance from Crimea. But let’s say 600km. The U.S. has a trans-ocean distance of 6,000km with ZERO assets in theatre. We also own no merchant ships and almost no shipyards. Even our planes in Poland are 1200km away. Don’t worry: none of this matters when you’re sitting on your couch, ‘coz we beat them on Twitter.

    “We beat them to it by a week or two,”

    Yes, so we’ve heard the reason Azov is so fully kettled and completely f’d is because they were planning a “final solution” and invasion of Donesk that Biden – the real director of the war – was warning about, complete with bio-lab false flag. So the whole army was sitting there, pants down their ankles, shoelaces tied together. Russia picked Yanukovich Day, 22222, to send a message, cutting off the WHOLE ARMY, which isn’t much by the way, they’d been struggling with Donesk before Pelosi started chucking $13B a pop of Flint, MI’s money to them. Now the whole army is stuck where they shouldn’t have been, and the whole nation is nearly defenseless. …In national terms, of course. Otherwise, how could Russia just sit around the Samovar on the side of the road, no smoke or explosions anywhere? Because the ordinary Ukrainian doesn’t care. Most don’t like the Azov Nazis either.

    Tucker: It burns to have to watch Fox News as the more reliable news source. Do you not see how far we’ve fallen?

    “Russia to Ban Fertilizer Exports to ‘Not Friendly’ Countries (ZH)”

    There is some small relief as I said last year with soybeans. If China gets their food from Russia now, Egypt can get the food Russia would have sent them from Kansas, as China isn’t buying it. There are X people, and X acres. Too bad about the prices and disruptions though. “I Did That!” – Joe Biden

    “Russia Denies Bombing Maternity Hospital”

    As your own lyin’ eyes told you yesterday, this was a scam and fake. Apparently they had removed the patients and took over the hospital as a military HQ. Then Russia hit the building which was no longer a hospital, having no doctors and no patients.

    Mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, called for a no-fly zone to be imposed over Ukraine. “Today I am asking the global community for help. Please start WWIII and cause a thermonuclear death that will end life as we know it on earth. Please, we beg you. If you don’t, some of us may survive, even in Mariupol.” Fixed it.

    Well played Poland. Now Kamala’s there.” Cackling maniacally when asked about refugees and rubbing her fists together when she hears about “Burning chemical pits.” Poland says “Please! We’ll do anything you want. Just don’t send Kamala again.”

    Warren: She has the same solution as Global Warming / Green New Deal / Carbon Credits: if prices are high on poor people, add taxes and make them higher! I hear the Yellow Vests love that. Pete says if you have a problem with that just buy a new car! Simple! Takei says it’s your patriotic duty to buy $7/gal gas from civilian-strafing Saudi Arabia on a $15 minimum wage. If you don’t like it, you should have bought a $10M house in L.A. like he did. Then you could stay home like he does. Gawd! You’re all so stupid!

    “Given the totality of scientific evidence for ivermectin,” …Including Dr. Fauci’s paper specifically citing it as a cure.

    Smollett in the news today. Must be worried about Kamala and da boyz who put him up to it. Dr. Evil doesn’t like embarrassing national failures that draw non-stop attention to them. No mafia ever does.

    “Facebook, Instagram to Allow Calls for Violence Ethnic Cleansing against Russians over Ukraine Invasion”

    Fixed it. All my friends have no rulez. Everything my enemies do is stupid and illegal and I murder them. Simple! As yesterday, this is why you cannot “comply”. It’s literally impossible. If you COULD comply, psychos change the rules so you can’t so they can beat you.

    “US State Department Denies Russian Allegations of Biological Weapons in Ukraine”

    They should have a talk with Mrs. Nuland who said otherwise in very stark terms. And the WHO who told them to destroy the records and the evidence in the vials. And the actual lab samples and records Russia and China are going through right now.

    WHO: Funny how they didn’t care about the Yemeni cholera bio-attack or the Syrian refugees in Greek internment camps. Maybe they’ve all died right now, every last one of them, like the boy on the beach: it’s not reported and never will be. But they are not real people. Only people that MAKE US MONEY are real people. Only diseases that make us money are diseases. And the people applaud like trained seals.

    Daze

    #103966
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    It really seems like the human race will never rid itself of geopolitical insanity anytime soon…

    At least the COVID fiasco is resolving, no one forced my wife & I to get jabbed or starve to death.

    Wonder what’s the next shoe to drop in humanity’s addiction to psycho leadership, lying media + ignoring the wanton rape, pillage & plunder of the “meek” on planet Earth…

    One thing’s for sure, the Internet hasn’t changed a damn thing & it’s only made humanity less “human”.

    #103967
    Mr. House
    Participant

    I think the dollar has reached the end of its rope.

    #103968
    zerosum
    Participant

    Arm chair generals loosing the virtual war
    WWII stockpile/inventory/museum pieces for WWIII

    If you got it use it or lose it
    Straw that broke the camel’s back
    Siege, encirclement, economic war, security concerns, sanctions ,,,,,, nationalising assets of foreign firms
    ———–

    ———-
    • Who Will Denazify The Ukraine? (Dmitry Orlov)
    • The Opinion Of A Professional About The Special Operation In Ukraine (Dubrovsky)
    ———-
    The USA started the economic war with sanctions
    There are no replacements. Not for the combined wheat exports of Russia and Ukraine, and not for fertilizer.

    • Russia To Ban Fertilizer Exports To ‘Not Friendly’ Countries (ZH)
    ————–
    Anybody saying “capitalism” has hi/her hand in your pocket
    “It is a familiar tactic on pork spending. You can hide an entire drove of pigs behind a single redeeming budget item.”

    • Congress Inserts over 4,000 Pork Earmarks in Spending Bill (Turley)
    —————-
    Reminder
    The rule of 72 is essentially an estimation for determining the amount of years or the doubling time of an investment or of the effect of inflation
    ————
    Mediterranean refugees were abandoned. Ukraine refugees are evacuating with their best clothes, (fur coats), and their cell phones. The old and poor Ukrainians are still hiding in the basement shelters.

    #103969
    Oroboros
    Participant

    For Dr D

    #103970

    I think the dollar has reached the end of its rope.

    Not until there’s something to replace it.

    #103971
    Mr. House
    Participant

    If they had something to replace it with, would they tell you? 😉

    #103972
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Tulsi “The Manchurian Candidate” Gabbard

    Does anyone else see it, Dr. D? You know, her loosely fit Mask of Sanity conceals an internalized state of brainwashing, cult indoctrination and hypnotic delirium.

    Alright before the white knights mount their steady steeds in Tulsi’s defense, give me a minute to first gird my loins.

    #103973
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Once Putin finishes with the Ukraine, i expect China to take Taiwan. Once it is officially seen that the US is a paper tiger, how much do you think those dollars will be worth? Not to mention the USA doesn’t follow “rules” anymore which used to be a large argument for why the Yuan will never be a reserve currency. Can anyone even see a difference between the US and China anymore?

    #103974
    ezlxa1949
    Participant

    Yesterday the maternity hospital bombing was front-page news in The Australian, one of Murdoch’s stable. The photo looked bad, very bad. In the face of evidence like that, what’s the average reader to think?

    Talking of inflation, yesterday I filled the car with E91 petrol, i.e. 91 octane, 10% ethanol. The price has risen to 202.4 cents per litre. I put in 48.8 litres and paid out $98. Good grief. I remember when that much would have cost me $12 or so. Can I afford many, or maybe any, long trips any more?

    Diesel prices are rising comparably, and 90% of Canberra’s leafy greens and fruit comes from Sydney on diesel-powered trucks. One guess what food prices will do.

    #103975
    zerosum
    Participant

    Laughing out loud
    Cant fix stupid
    Iran and Russia are friends
    Iran and USA are not friends
    Iran has oil
    Russia has oil
    Negotiations on nuclear deal stopped
    Iran and Russia will keep its oil
    Next stop Venezuela
    Snobs laughing all the way to the banks.

    #103976
    John Day
    Participant

    @Ilargi: The $US is “at the end of it’s rope”, but not off the end yet. Grip weakening; slipping…
    Russia, China, Iran and Turkey can arrange something else, can’t they?
    They have it set up. They need to further-implement and debug it.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/enforcing-sanctions-russia-swift-may-commit-suicide

    @Dr. D. Rich: Time will tell about Tulsi Gabbard. She was right-on with me, maintaining complete eye-to-eye focus 3/2/20, when I explained to her at her Austin campaign stop about HCQ doses needed to treat Americans for COVID.

    I have been following her since 2010, when I became aware of her as an exceptional politician while working in Hawaii. I have watched closely. She is consistent so far.
    This is very hard to fake, almost impossible.

    The risk is that she advances politically and is then captured and turned.
    I am worried about the influence of “The Hindu Machine”, which is a thing in the world, though Americans don’t know it.
    Her security at the campaign stop appeared to be 100% competent, low-key, Hindu machine Indian guys, like you would see in Delhi.

    #103977
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #103978
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Breaking: Russia Convenes UN Security Council Meeting to Present BioLab Evidence — Friday at 11 AM

    Breaking: Russia Convenes UN Security Council Meeting to Present BioLab Evidence — Friday at 11 AM

    Friday is going to be a very bad day for the United States. Sixty years ago (yes, I was alive then) the United States roasted the Soviet Union in a UN Security Council meeting convened over the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is an old saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold.” Russia is going to dump a load of frozen food on the United States tomorrow at 11 am by exposing U.S. support to Ukraine over the last 17 years for research into biological and chemical weapons.

    U.S. intelligence analysts last week were alarmed when they obtained intelligence showing that Russian Chemical and Biological Weapons units were activated and moving into Ukraine. These analysts knew nothing of what the Department of Defense had been doing in Ukraine in terms of funding military bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine. Without that knowledge, they concluded that Russia was preparing to use chemical and/or biological weapons. Understandable, but wrong.

    The Russian units were deployed to secure those bioweapons labs. And in the process of securing them they have recovered a treasure trove of documents showing the United States has violated the international accord governing Chemical and Biological Weapons.

    #103979
    morongobill
    Participant

    China looks and acts rich, the US looks and acts like it has trouble rubbing two shekels together.

    #103980
    Mr. House
    Participant

    And now its Syria all over again. Though something tells me the west has more to lose in Ukraine for some reason.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-nato-russia-conflict-would-unleash-world-war-3-warns-russia-severe-price-if

    #103981
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Is the Security Council, with all the usual names, and CRISPR DNA that includes Covid, presented to the UN in a subpoena, under-oath way, the 311 surprise?

    If it is, remember the market and dollar are already dead and have been floating on nothing longer than I remember, like year? So if it changes it’s just a few hackers and a few traders making a few phone calls to make what already existed appear. That is as Frank Zappa said, lifting the curtain so you see the brick back wall of the theatre. The show is over.

    If so, we’ll know with a weekend bank holiday. They’re already calling force Majeure in Italy, and no doubt in Nickel. So trades of all pals get backsies so the traders who were right, honest, and correct don’t get paid, but our friends do. Waiting.

    #103982
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Virtual Signaling for the Ukronazis AND bio=weapons labs in Ukraine

    Quite a feat.

    As Foamy the Squirrel says:

    Be wary of those who signal their virtue

    #103983
    willem
    Participant

    “I think the dollar has reached the end of its rope.”…“Not until there’s something to replace it.”

    Commerce will always find a way. Although perhaps less internationally efficient, the replacement need not be the product of a Bretton Woods-style agreement.

    #103984
    Noirette
    Participant

    end of the rope theme. ……. 1/2

    We are coming into the end of an era. Post wwII nation-states, post the fall of the wall and the subsequent uni-polar world.

    Or perhaps we have already entered the new phase? What comes next?

    Idk! Help me out!

    There are many similarities between Covid and the Russian incursion into or invasion of Ukraine. Both were obviously planned, known about by those in the loop.

    Covid might not have been released or engineered with deliberate intent on a precise schedule, but the virus itself was most likely man-made and not natural, and it escaped (one disgruntled employee acting in revenge would be an escape) or was let loose.

    Imho, the virus was around quite a while before, perhaps ‘tested’ previous, but no matter. The ‘Plandemic’ scenario was activated at the point in time when the WHO could be pushed to declare a pandemic. WHO members, thru accords, though not stiffly legally binding, are ‘sort of’ obligated follow the action-plans that have been set up to effect a coordinated ‘response.’ Lock-downs and hyper-alarm followed. Predictions, then hysteria.

    While the Russians of course did plan the invasion, probably down to the last truck travelling from A to B in various scenarios, as is necessary in such a case, months before the Democrats were screaming about Russia invading Ukraine, as if they positively wanted it to happen. Ppl scoffed, oh this is just the Russia (3x) bad, etc. (Apparently some plans of invasion were leaked.)

    I have wondered for a long time what Biden and Putin discussed in Geneva. Putin was inordinately pleased, which was strange. Why did the Bidadmin call for this meeting? There are no credible made public reasons.

    What we have seen since the Bid-election is that the US is disengaging from its hegemonic role.

    It abandoned Afghanistan and is no longer rah-rah about Syria, as regime change there failed (care of Russia) and it doesn’t play any real (?) role in Lybia. Note, the disengage, quit, policy of the US was promoted by Trump, who junked the Iran JCPOA agreement, withdrew from the trans-pac. partnership, declared NATO useless, wanted nothing to do with Ukraine (though he did send arms at some point?) and wanted to bring manufacturing jobs home to his supporters.

    #103985
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #103986
    Noirette
    Participant

    2/2

    Trunp’s plan was to ally with Russia to counter the rising no. 1 rival, potential hegemon, China. He was prevented from moving forward in that direction by a whole host of parties. Dems, neo-libs, neo-cons (Russia haters), Iran supporters (Kerry..) Deep State, etc. etc.

    So now with the Russian invasion of Ukr. we see a confused back-and-forth reaction from the US (+ 5 eyes), as if it is lost on the prairie. Mega-sanctions against Russia must BE, but then, maybe not for all Russian banks, heh, not the main ones, and then in the vassal EU, not for oil and gas, etc. Fighter planes from Poland, but then.. No (care of the Pentagon.) There is no clear line, different factions are at odds. (Same in EU.)

    Typical Loser positions.. The consequences of Russia’s counter-sanctions loom, so the US wants Iran back on board to lower oil prices, and begs Venezuela for new trade (or whatever) to get crude oil. Heh.

    Covid was the same, in the sense of messing about, contradictory policies, lies, obfuscations, etc. It was masks-no masks, lock-down, which was totally useless, jabs *the greatest vaxx* mandated in some countries for a while; now no longer much recommended.

    What we saw was that all institutions in ‘Health’ (medecine, research bodies, med. journals, Gvmt. agencies, etc.) were corrupted by Big Pharma and Big Med, e.g. hospitals taking a premium for COV patients, and other affiliated (e.g. opportunists cashing in with e.g. Test and Trace programs..) which is accepted as even today nobody (or those who do are silenced) is denouncing the BS.

    Some call it late-stage Capitalism. Some call it the breakdown of Complex Societies. (see Tainter.) Some call it the inevitable result of an energy, fossil fuel, peak / crunch, leading to a break-down of the W Economy, and affiliated, due to lack of cheap energy, or, in other terms, it being too expensive to buy with not enough return on it.

    Other: some invoke a West – East cultural clash. Others see a breakdown of morals, ethics, encouraging greedy selfishness, hedonism, narcisstic parading, etc. cultural doomerism.

    There is an eerie feel of end-times, the W is spiralling down the drain, posturing, yet unwilling to concede one inch to its supposed ‘enemies’ ..

    #103987
    Mr. House
    Participant

    @Noirette

    Great comment and i agree with all of it. And just something to add when i find myself in despair this quote always makes me smile:

    “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
    “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

    #103988
    chooch
    Participant

    When hasn’t there been a Manchuria candidate/president? I get the vibe your talking about, totally measured and controlled almost like a Stepford wife, but married to who/what? Seriously though, she seems sick/done with this neocon BS.

    John,

    So this nefarious behind the scenes Hindu Machine that you speak of, do you have any links? Curious.

    #103989
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Dr. D Rich
    Regarding Tulsi Gabbard
    her WEF training has caused me to be uneasy about her. Sure, its *possible* that she has turned against the WEF. More likely, she is playing a long game, or is a willing pawn in a long game. My expectation is that the moment she gets any *real* power we’ll suddenly find out that she was with the globalists all along.
    The globalists like betting on both sides, so that no matter what happens — they win. Tulsi may be bucking the dominant trend — but she is *not* being canceled, which suggests that she is not really acting in a way contrary to the WEF.

    #103990
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Duplicate
    Was getting a 504 error when trying to post from one device, but worked from my laptop.

    #103991
    chooch
    Participant

    This made me chuckle. Does Penn know this?

    “I think it’s key here that it’s not particularly likely that this disinformation is *coordinated* between Beijing, Moscow, and QAnon lunatics/Tucker Carlson/Glenn Greenwald in the US – instead each has their own incentives for spreading and amplifying it.”

    I am still befuddled by Russia’s strategy in the air.

    “Ukrainians still have 50 fighter aircraft, 80 percent of their stock before the war began.”

    Or,

    “Ukraine only flying 56 fighter jets 5-10 hours per day due to Russian SAM coverage.”

    Interesting

    According to the Ukrainian military and civil servants, Belarus is preparing to invade Ukraine at 21:00 today – Ukrayinska Pravda

    It seems things are stuck/stalled.

    But on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces “continued concentrating in the eastern, northwestern and western outskirts of Kyiv for an assault on the Ukrainian capital in the coming 24-96 hours.”

    This is a message worth repeating.

    “We’re not at war with Ukraine and Ukrainians, but at war with the USA inside Ukraine.” 

    #103992
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Ukrainian Military Channels Dukes of Hazard

    A fierce some military force to be reckoned with.

    Drone From Ukraine War Travels Over Multiple NATO Countries Before Crashing In Croatia

    hahaha

    A drone crash in Croatia which is believed to have come from the nearby war in Ukraine is being described as “a serious incident” by the Balkan country’s president Zoran Milanovic. The Soviet-era Tu-141 “Strizh” reconnaissance drone, likely operated by Ukraine’s military (given as the Associated Press noted that it’s the only known country currently operating Tu-141 drones) crashed just outside the capital city of Zagreb on Thursday.

    Milanovic questioned “how a relatively unsophisticated drone flew for over an hour over NATO countries without being detected” – indeed it appears it flew across Hungary, possibly Romania, and over much of Croatia.

    #103993
    Mr. House
    Participant
    #103994
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @ John Day, chooch, phoenixvoice

    Now that’s great dialogue m/b disagreement, debate and discernment if not support for the general thesis. The preternatural calm on national stage/forum undermined by Natonal Guard bonafides (she authored her own award citations) reflects something other than ANG indoctrination and fully supports John Day’s report of Gabbard’s Hindu-financier backing.

    And as most folks attest, there’s no better sedative than guaranteed money, $10 million dollars worth.

    #103995
    John Day
    Participant

    @Chooch: Hindu Machine is ubiquitous and nobody knows anything about it, except people I talk to have seen it at work in the world, in the oddest places, like US-occupied Iraq.
    Most discreet.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organised_crime_in_India

    #103996
    Bill7
    Participant

    Mark Crispin Miller’s interpretation of the Nuland / Rubio “biolabs” interaction:

    “Looks like the next “pandemic” will be coming from Ukraine (and it’ll all be Putin’s fault!)
    In their duet on Monday, Victoria Nuland and Marco Rubio laid the (propaganda) groundwork for another plague (and war)

    The dramatic back-and-forth between Victoria Nuland and Marco Rubio the other day—about the US bio-labs dotting Ukraine, and the possibility that “Russian forces may gain control of” them—has Glenn Greenwald and other savvy commentators deeming it a bombshell revelation of the awful truth: i.e., that there are US bio-labs throughout Ukraine, as Russia and China have been saying (so it’s not a “conspiracy theory” after all); and that Russia will now seize them..”

    https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/looks-like-the-next-pandemic-will?s=r

    Fits the facts better than the more credulous observers do, I think.

    #103997
    Bill7
    Participant

    Gabbard is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (check some of the others), besides the WEF linkage.

    #103998
    Bill7
    Participant

    Gabbard is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (check some of the others), besides her WEF linkage.

    #103999
    those darned kids
    Participant

    ” Can anyone even see a difference between the US and China anymore?”

    in china, they have trains. and, they run on time.

    #104000
    John Day
    Participant

    No new picture today: https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/vulnerable-lifelines?s=w

    Cutting and choking supply lines has become the preferred means of warfare recently. It is less risky to use than bombers and tanks, and cheaper, too, but it loses effectiveness over time, due to work-around solutions to get supplies.

    Controlling and threatening to cut supply lines is much preferred in the long run, and it’s what the Petrobuck-Empire has long done in places like the Strait of Hormuz and the Panama Canal. The Petrobuck transaction system has assured that the world would trade goods-and-services for conjured petrobucks, and recycle profits into US government IOUs (T.bills). This kept the flow of “free” goods and services coming to Washington and New York. It paid for the US military global-currency-regime enforcers (Hi Iraq! Hi Libya! Hi Venezuela!)

    The Petrobuck system not only paid for America-the-Globocop, but it simultaneously fed “Globo-Cap” for free, since Globo-Cop was already paying for the system.

    Globo-Cap made the $US system even more expensive for global users by exploiting cycles of debt to lend-cheap in $US, then raise interest rates, collapse markets, and buy assets in tributary countries in bankruptcy for pennies on the lent-dollar. Countries like China and Thailand had to pay more for insurance of various forms against this predation, and/or become predators when they could.

    So the Petrobuck financial system gleaned something on the money side from every international trade across global supply lines, and the American Globo-Cop military

    across the globe enforced the continuity of the system without successful challenge (see Iraq, Libya; Venezuela).

    Te answer to this sucess was to extract more and more vigorously, and without end, and to bomb countries into the stone age if they sold oil for anything but $US, or threatened the Petrobuck-extraction-system in any other substantial way.

    The tribute from the empire made manufacturing in America too expensive by comparison, except for F-35s and nuclear aircraft carriers and subs. American Industry got shipped to China, which was good for Globo-Cap profits and Chinese industrialization

    Russia, China and Iran got tired of being milked in this scheme, and insulted for their efforts. So did other countries, but quietly. The rampant hubris of global imperialism was unchecked for decades, until it just could not subdue “The Graveyard Of Empires”, Afghanistan. Afghanistan had done nothing to insult the Petrobuck-Empire after helping Americans end the Soviet Empire, but got falsely accused of helping an American CIA asset from Saudi Arabia, Osama Bin Laden, who said he had nothing to do with 9/11, drop the WTC on that day of magic (see WTC-7 freefall at 5:20 PM).

    Afghanistan finally bade the empire farewell in September 2021, as the empire left parting gifts of planes, vehicles, weapons and money.

    Like any long-corrupted financial regime, especially one that requires exponential growth to remain stable, the Petrobuck regime has been very unstable at all levels since September 2008, managed on an increasing IV drip of faith-based-money from the Federal Reserve Banks.

    “Repo window” of overnight lending between big banks started to fail in September 2019, because they could not trust each other for a few hours on the good-collateral of T-bills. The Fed took it over. That means that faith-in-the-Fed is holding the global financial system together.

    Making sure that no alternative arises has been a big part of the defense of the system, but there are nascent systems in use between Russia, China, Iran and probably India, and they are being refined with use. At some point, some system will be a better choice, especially for a country that might someday disagree with Imperial policy.

    Some countries passed that point long ago. Russia just passed that point definitively, and China has her toe in the water…

    The problem now faced by Globo-Cop and Globo-Cap is that the legacy global financial system has lost the carrot, is all-stick and looks like it has fallen-and-can’t-get-up. The economic threats of being cut off from the system are being applied as an act of war to a critical mass of system participants, who have been making alternative arrangements for well over a decade, and have started using them. The crashing of the global financial system by these acts of war invites the activation of the existing alternative arrangements much more widely. https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/by-enforcing-sanctions-on-russia-swift-may-commit-suicide/

    Globo-Cap will no longer have the nations of the world backing the Petrobuck global financial regime, and assuring it’s cost-free (except bribes) skimming operation.

    This operation has also relied on cheap supply lines, long, complex, cheap, efficient supply lines across borders with shipping, trucks and rail. All of those require monetary coordination, governmental coordination, cheap fuel, ships, trains and trucks, and competent workers at all levels.

    Italian truck drivers will strike as high fuel costs make them unable to fulfill contracts. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/italian-truckers-declare-force-majeure-over-gas-pains-halt-deliveries-starting-monday

    Maximizing global profits has cut investments and resiliency in these chains. Oops!

    War is shocking oil prices, which have been climbing inexorably for 18 months, anyway.

    50 years ago most people ate things grown in their area, and staples like rice, beans and wheat, which stored and transported well. Cheapening of global supply chains led to competition from farmers thousands of miles away, even for fresh fruit. Globo-Cap profited, not the distant peasant-farmers. Meanwhile, factory-farmed wheat and corn from Kansas put small Mexican farmers out of business and they had to sell their farms (to Globo-Cap). Russia has had to become more self sufficient in the past 8 years of significant US and EU sanctions. Russia appears to have become the most self-sufficient country in the world, as the US was in WW-2.

    This remains bad for Globo-Cap. Globo-Cap keeps trying to break Russia and accidentally inducing Russia to become immune to it’s attacks.

    Now that global supply chains are weaponized in global-financial-warfare, Globalism is losing its luster. It always had a lot of hidden costs, born by others, especially national governments, supported by taxpaying workers/consumers. Those costs are now apparent as inavailability of necessities, due to broken global supply chains.

    Since Russia has become the most resilient country against global supply chain interdictions, Russia becomes the natural example to follow, but it could have been 1930s America, just as well. Nationalism, where national governments control border flows of goods, and collect tariffs, and make deals with other nations, reduces profits for Globo-Cap and increases local economic solutions to supply of the necessities of life.

    Currently, weaponization of the $US and weaponization of global-supply-chain vulnerabilities seem to mark the end days of the global Petrobuck empire and the resurgence of national, regional and local self-sufficiency as the antidote, which will allow for survival. There are inefficiencies and parasitic extraction introduced with each hierarchical layer of control. Local economy is more efficient without distant regulation and extraction. The need to get some things from afar will continue, and has to be dealt with, but that tail should not wag the dog of supplying humans with food, shelter, water, clothing and fuel, the necessities.

    We can do our part to meet our needs and the needs of friends, family and neighbors.

    Grow some vegetables. Do some favors.

    #104001
    WES
    Participant

    US/Ukrainian false flag operations continue daily.
    So many false flag attempts that I have lost count!
    Low poll ratings is ending the covid vaccine war.
    With rising inflation plus rising excess deaths.
    The cauldrons kettles’ continue to boil.
    But none of this is enough to excite gold.
    Gold merely yawns and continues slowly falling!
    The Fed you see has this all under under control!
    The US deep state knows exactly what it is doing!

    And I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale!

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