May 182022
 


Pablo Picasso Young girl throwing a rock 1931

 

After the NATO War is Over (Batiushka)
The War in Ukraine. Scott Ritter’s Switcheroo (Whitney)
Fate Of Hundreds Of Ukrainian Soldiers Unclear As Azovstal Resistance Ends (G.)
‘Defenders of Mariupol Are The Heroes Of Our Time’ (G.)
‘Conflict Observatory’ to Document Evidence of Russian War Crimes (Celente)
McConnell Says Congress Hopes to Approve Sweden’s NATO Bid by August (ET)
EU Diplomat: ‘We Are Reaching Our Limits With Sanctions Against Russia’ (Euractiv)
Orbán Warns West is Subjecting Itself to “Suicide Waves” of Decline (SN)
Putin: EU Oil Sanctions “Economic Suicide” Ordered By “American Overlords” (ZH)
Over 120,000 Hunter Biden Emails Uploaded To Searchable Database (ZH)
‘The Real President Is Whoever Controls The Teleprompter’ – Musk (Fox)

 

 


Manhattan Project

 

 

Stella

 

 

Mercouris

 

 

“Just days ago it was announced that Russia expects record grain production this year (130 million tonnes). Russia may yet demand payment in roubles for all this as well.”

After the NATO War is Over (Batiushka)

Make no mistake about it: The tragic war that is currently taking place on Ukrainian battlefields is not between the Russian Federation and the Ukraine, but between the Russian Federation and the US-controlled NATO. The latter, also called ‘the collective West’, promotes an aggressive ideology of organised violence, a politically- economically- and militarily-enforced doctrine euphemistically known as ‘Globalism’. This means hegemony by the Western world, which arrogantly calls itself ‘the international community’, over the whole planet. NATO is losing that war, which uses NATO-trained Ukrainians as its proxy cannon fodder, in three spheres, political, economic and military.

Firstly, politically, the West has finally understood that it cannot execute regime change in Moscow. Its pipedream of replacing the highly popular President Putin with is CIA stooge Navalny is not going to happen. As for the West’s puppet-president in Kiev, he is only a creature of Washington and its oligarchs. A professional actor, he is unable to speak for himself, but is a spokesman for the NATO which he loves. Secondly, economically, the West faces serious resistance to the 6,000 sanctions it has imposed on Russia and Russians. Those sanctions have backfired. In the West, we can testify to this every time we buy fuel or food. The combination of high inflation (10% +) and even higher energy prices, caused almost solely by these illegal anti-Russian sanctions, are threatening the collapse of Western economies, much more than threatening Russia or China.

As a result of this reverse effect of sanctions against Russia, the rouble is at a three-year high, standing at about 64 to the US dollar and rising, though immediately after the sanctions it had briefly gone down to 150 to the dollar. After strenuously denying that they would do it, already most countries in Europe (at least 17 for now), including Germany and Italy, have agreed to open accounts with Gazprombank, as Russia advised them to do and to pay for oil and gas in roubles. And this number is growing by the week. The problems will be even greater with food shortages, as the world food chain is highly integrated and the agricultural production of Russia and the Ukraine (now controlled by Russia) is at least 40% of the world’s grain production. Just days ago it was announced that Russia expects record grain production this year (130 million tonnes). Russia may yet demand payment in roubles for all this as well.

Read more …

I had not see this when I wrote my piece yesterday. A curious turn around.

The War in Ukraine. Scott Ritter’s Switcheroo (Whitney)

On Sunday, the foreign policy blogs were abuzz with the news that Scott Ritter had done “an about-face in his assessment of the war”. It appears that the ex-Marine had examined recent developments in Ukraine and concluded that it’s going to be much harder for Russia to win than he had originally thought… Naturally, the news of Ritter’s reversal sent shockwaves across the internet, especially among the people who follow events in Ukraine closely and who greatly admire his even-handed analysis. Some of these people clearly felt betrayed by Ritter’s comments and blasted him as a “concern troll” which refers to a person who feigns sympathy while actually feeling the opposite. This is a terrible way to treat a guy who’s devoted so much of his time to informing people about an issue of which they might know very little without his research. Besides, Ritter is no hypocrite. Quite the contrary.

It’s fair to say, however, that Ritter has probably been the most outspoken proponent of the “Russia is winning” theory, a hypothesis that runs counter to everything we read in the legacy media or see on the cable news channels. Unfortunately, Ritter’s views on the matter have changed dramatically, and that’s due almost entirely to developments on the ground. As Ritter candidly admits, “The military aid the west is providing to Ukraine is changing the dynamic and if Russia doesn’t find a way to address this meaningfully… the conflict will never end.” That’s quite a turnaround from a statement he made just weeks earlier that, “Russia is winning the war, and winning it decisively.” So, what changed? What are the so-called developments that led to Ritter’s volte-face?

Here are a few excerpts from the interview that triggered the fracas. Ritter was joined by Ray McGovern and host Garland Nixon on Saturday Morning Live. (The quotes are copied from video. I accept blame for any mistakes.) Scott Ritter (start at 47:50 minute mark) — “The thing that frustrates me… is that, it was my assessment that it would be very hard for Ukraine to absorb this new equipment and material (Material– the additional lethal weapons that have recently been shipped to Ukraine) but the howitzers are already operating against Russia. (And) They are having an effect in the Kharkov region. Not all 90 of them, but they have several batteries in place that are being used. How did this happen?

And this is why I have radically changed my overall assessment, because I had been operating on the assumption that Russia would be able to interdict the vast majority of this equipment, but Russia has shown itself unable or unwilling to do this and– as a result– the Ukrainians are having meaningful impact on the battlefield. Not in the areas of main contention, like the Donbass, but on the periphery. This is why Russia has carried out tactical withdrawals north of Kharkov, because in order to match Ukraine’s best capabilities, Russia would have to divert resources from its main effort which Russia has decided not to do. So, they are re-configuring the battlefield. (trading land in different areas)…

Read more …

The Guardian. Rewriting history. Update: “959 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered at Azovstal since Monday: Russian ministry”

Fate Of Hundreds Of Ukrainian Soldiers Unclear As Azovstal Resistance Ends (G.)

The fate of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers who have ended weeks of resistance at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol remains unclear, after the fighters surrendered and were transferred to Russian-controlled territory. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said they would be swapped in a prisoner exchange, but some Russian officials said on Tuesday they could be tried and even executed. MPs in Russia’s State Duma said they would propose new laws that could derail prisoner exchanges of fighters who Moscow claims are “terrorists”. Russian investigators have said they plan to interrogate the soldiers and could charge them with “crimes committed by the Ukrainian regime against the civilian population in south-east Ukraine”.

On Tuesday evening, seven buses carrying Ukrainian soldiers left the Azovstal plant in the port city and arrived at a former prison colony in the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka in Donetsk, Reuters reported. Russia called the Azovstal operation a mass surrender, while the Ukrainian army said the soldiers defending the steel plant had “performed their combat task” and that the main goal was now to save their lives. For weeks, hundreds of troops have been holed up in a warren of tunnels and bunkers underneath the steelworks, as Russian forces took control of the rest of the city after turning much of it into an uninhabitable wasteland. Many of those stuck at Azovstal had serious injuries, with limited medical care and dwindling supplies.

In the last few weeks, civilians who had also taken cover in the plant were rescued after a deal was brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross to allow them to leave for Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukraine had been pushing for a deal that would also allow the fighters to retreat to Ukrainian-controlled areas, or for their evacuation to a neutral country. However, with that not forthcoming, Ukrainian officials announced in the early hours of Tuesday that the defence of the plant was in effect over. Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, promised that the fighters who surrendered would be treated “in accordance with international standards”, but this was immediately undermined by statements from two other Russian officials.

Leonid Slutsky, a Russian MP who took part in negotiations with Ukraine earlier in the war, suggested Russia should lift its moratorium on the death penalty for fighters from the Azov regiment, one of the main forces defending the steelworks, calling them “animals in human form”. “Nazi criminals should not be exchanged,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, one of Russia’s most powerful officials and the chair of the State Duma, during a speech on Tuesday. “Our country treats those who surrendered or were captured humanely. But with regards to Nazis, our position should be unchanged: these are war criminals and we must do everything so that they stand trial.”

Read more …

More Guardian. What is wrong with these people?

‘Defenders of Mariupol Are The Heroes Of Our Time’ (G.)

Cut off from the world and low on food and ammunition, many of the hundreds of defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mauripol were wounded, some missing limbs. Their capitulation had been inevitable for weeks. That moment came late on Monday as more than 260 – bearded, filthy, emaciated, and including 51 severely injured – laid down their arms and were evacuated amid a wider concession of defeat after 82 days of fighting in the besieged port city. “The ‘Mariupol’ garrison has fulfilled its combat mission,” the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement. “The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel … Defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time,” it added.


And while several hundred fighters remained inside the plant, their commanders admitted their mission had “concluded” while officials continued with negotiations to “evacuate them”. Late on Monday, five buses carrying troops from Azovstal were seen arriving in nearby Russian-controlled Novoazovsk. In one, marked with a Z like many Russian military vehicles in Ukraine, men were stacked on stretchers on three levels. In a long-denied victory for the Kremlin, a battle that has gripped the world’s attention appeared finally over, leaving a city in ruins and perhaps thousands of civilians dead. With its urban areas sprawling along the coastline of the Sea of Azov in the shape of a comma, the siege of Mariupol came to define one of the most brutal episodes in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Read more …

“Wouldn’t it be worthwhile for the department to set up another website devoted to allegations of war crimes committed under the Obama, Clinton, Bush, and Biden administrations in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Syria?”

‘Conflict Observatory’ to Document Evidence of Russian War Crimes (Celente)

The U.S. State Department announced the launch of the “Conflict Observatory” program that will document evidence of war crimes committed by Russian troops during the Ukraine War to use in possible future prosecutions. The intention of the program is to “capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russian-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” the statement read. The website will share this “documentation to help refute Russia’s disinformation efforts and shine a light on abuses.” “This new Conflict Observatory program is part of a range of U.S. government efforts at both national and international levels designed to ensure future accountability for Russia’s horrific actions,” a statement read. Wired reported that outside organizations, and international investigators would be able access the program’s database.

Ned Price the State Department spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that the program is important because “no country – no matter how large, how potentially powerful, what types of weapons they may have in their arsenal – can escape accountability for the types of atrocities that we have seen Russia’s forces perpetrate against the Ukrainian people.” Ukraine has accused Russian forces of atrocities and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes, Reuters reported. “However long it takes, those responsible for war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine will be brought to justice. A new, publicly available Conflict Observatory will collect open-source evidence for future prosecutions,” he tweeted later.

ConflictObservatory.org resembles a news site. One of the headlines read, “Evidence of Widespread and Systemic Bombardment of Ukrainian Healthcare Facilities.” The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which is part of the effort, along with Esri, Alcis, and Quiet Professionals LLC, reported that it identified 22 healthcare facilities in Ukraine “that sustained damage from apparent Russia-aligned bombardment between 24 February and 29 March 2022.” “The HRL verified damage through cross-corroboration of very high resolution satellite imagery and open source information. Based on a review of nearly 300 facilities across five cities and regions, the HRL has concluded that Russia-aligned forces have engaged in widespread and systematic bombardment of Ukrainian healthcare facilities.”

[..] NBC News published a report in April that challenged Washington’s claim that Russia was planning a chemical attack against Ukrainian forces, with one unnamed official going as far as to say that the claim was an effort by the U.S. to get into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s head. The report cited three U.S. officials who said there is no evidence that Russia is planning a chemical attack against Ukraine. While the mainstream media has generally ignored the latest D.C. lies, Antiwar.org was the first to point out the contradiction in the NBC News report that included a U.S. official who said the intelligence tied to chemical weapons was not “rock solid.” So the State Department wants to create a website built on evidence that is not rock solid? Wouldn’t it be worthwhile for the department to set up another website devoted to allegations of war crimes committed under the Obama, Clinton, Bush, and Biden administrations in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Syria? Don’t hold your breath.

Read more …

Who benefits? Not Finland and Sweden, they’re just painting targets on their own backs. Raytheon for the win.

McConnell Says Congress Hopes to Approve Sweden’s NATO Bid by August (ET)

“We hope to approve it before August,” he said. “We are confident it will be approved.” McConnell also shared a statement on Monday following his visit to both Sweden and Finland where he reiterated his support for both nations joining NATO, stating that both would “bring tremendous value as new NATO members and would strengthen the alliance significantly.” “Sweden and Finland already have long track records as two of the United States and NATO’s most capable friends and partners, even from outside the alliance,” the Senate Republican leader said. “Both countries have massive geographic importance, professional and well-equipped armed forces, strong military industrial bases, and significant interoperability with U.S. and NATO forces. Both nations’ robust commitments to defense funding mean that their accession would directly address longstanding concerns about burden-sharing and the financial contributions of our allies,” McConnell said.

He added that he would do “everything in my power to ensure that our part of their accession process moves smoothly and expeditiously.” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters in Stockholm on Monday that the decision to join NATO was driven in part by Finland’s recent move to join the alliance. Finnish leaders, with backing from lawmakers in the country, announced plans to officially seek NATO membership over the weekend. “Should Sweden be the only country in the Baltic Sea region that was not a member of NATO, we would be in a very vulnerable position. We can’t rule out that Russia would then increase pressure on Sweden,” Andersson said. The vote to approve new membership into NATO must be unanimous among all members.

However, Turkey has threatened to block the bid by Sweden and Finland, citing their alleged willingness to support terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and followers of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of being behind the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey. “Neither of these countries has a clear, open attitude toward terrorist organizations,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a joint news conference with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Monday. “How can we trust them?” Erdogan also described Sweden as an “incubation center for terrorist organizations,” and claimed that some members of Sweden’s Parliament supported the PKK. He also pointed to the fact that both Sweden and Finland imposed arms export embargoes on Turkey in 2019 after its incursion into Syria.

Read more …

Oh, you’re well past your limits…

EU Diplomat: ‘We Are Reaching Our Limits With Sanctions Against Russia’ (Euractiv)

“If there was such a mess with Russia’s oil, imagine what would happen with a proposal to ban gas”, an EU diplomat told EURACTIV after the end of the EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday. “The 7th package of sanctions against Moscow will be extremely difficult […] We are very close to reaching our limits. What will the 7th package include?” the diplomat wondered.The diplomat explained that at the foreign affairs meeting yesterday, although there is ongoing progress in talks with Hungary to lift its veto over Europe’s proposal for an embargo on Russian oil, the atmosphere indicated that “we even took a step back”. “Hungary is doing everything to get guarantees […] essentially to get the money from the Recovery Fund and even more than that”, the diplomat said.


According to the diplomat, a deal between the Commission and Budapest is highly likely after the executive presents on 18 May its REPowerEU plan to phase out Russian fossil fuels. “It’s in no one’s interest to take the issue to the EU summit level […] Viktor Orbán knows he will be under huge pressure there, so he also wants a solution before that”, the diplomat noted. The diplomat stressed that Orbán’s stance on the matter brings other governments in a difficult position back to their homes, considering that if Budapest gets what it wants, it would be hard for others, such as Bulgaria, to explain why they did not get similar concessions. “The same happened with Spain and Portugal when they got the gas price cap,” the diplomat concluded.

Read more …

“They forget that man alone can never be free, only lonely..”

Orbán Warns West is Subjecting Itself to “Suicide Waves” of Decline (SN)

In a speech to mark him taking the oath of office, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that the west is subjecting itself to “suicide waves” of decline in the form of self-inflicted economic wounds, mass migration and an obsession with identity politics. Orbán’s conservative Fidesz party swept to victory in the election last month with another two-thirds majority, despite a massive effort by globalist interests to derail his candidacy. During a speech in parliament, Orbán cautioned that the continent faced perilous times ahead. “Everything that has happened since 2020 points in one direction: Europe and the Hungarian people in it have entered an age of danger,” said Orbán. “The decade began with the coronavirus epidemic and continued with the war. The sanctions from the war brought an economic downturn.”

“The war and sanctions policy caused an energy crisis, and U.S. interest rate hikes brought an age of inflation,” he added. The Hungarian leader went on to lament that Europe was entering an “age of economic downturn” and a worsening mass migration problem. Orbán said we are now witnessing the “suicide waves of the Western world” characterized by the replacement of Christianity with a vacuous cult of identity politics. “Such is the program of the great European population exchange, the essence of which is to replace the missing Christian children with migrants. Such an experiment is a program of gender madness and a liberal Europe that transcends nation-states and Christianity, and puts nothing in their place,” said Orbán.

“They forget that man alone can never be free, only lonely,” he added.

Read more …

“Of course, such an economic suicide is a domestic affair of the European countries..”

Putin: EU Oil Sanctions “Economic Suicide” Ordered By “American Overlords” (ZH)

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that EU countries are committing “economic suicide” by refusing Russian energy resources amid a push to impose an oil embargo, but which has been thus far blocked by Russian energy-dependent Hungary and a handful of others. As quoted in RIA Novosti, Putin described that the oil sector is busy undergoing a “tectonic shift” which will only be made worse by “ill-thought-out” sanctions by the West. The address was given virtually to an energy conference of the country’s industry heads. “Changes in the oil market are tectonic in nature and doing business as usual, according to the old model, seems unlikely,” he said. “In the new conditions, it is important not only to extract oil, but also to build the entire vertical chain leading to the final consumer.”

He called out the current EU-US trajectory of seeking to inflict maximum punishment on Moscow as a strategy ensuring higher energy prices and higher inflation. That’s when he observed: “Of course, such an economic suicide is a domestic affair of the European countries,” based on the AFP translation. At the same time, Putin additionally pointed out, Europe’s “chaotic actions” would eventually serve to boost oil and gas revenues for Moscow, also as Russia diverts energy supplies to “friendly” countries. He urged Russian industry authorities to be more proactive in leveraging the situation for the nation’s benefit. Putin described a scenario of Europe feeling the brunt of the crisis worst, according to state media:

“Rejection of Russian energy resources means that Europe will systemically become the region with the highest energy costs in the world. Yes, of course prices will rise and resources will go to this region, but it will not be possible to radically alter the situation. This will seriously – and according to some experts irrevocably – undermine the competitiveness of a significant part of European industry, which is already losing the competition to companies in other regions of the world,” Putin said, speaking at a meeting with officials devoted to energy issues on Tuesday. He added that Western officials and populations had long been overconcerned with “climate issues” – betting too big on the effectiveness of alternative energy, in a theme the Russian president has stressed for years.

Read more …

But key ones are missing?

Over 120,000 Hunter Biden Emails Uploaded To Searchable Database (ZH)

A former Trump White House staffer has uploaded more than 120,000 emails found on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop to a searchable database this week, which can be found at the (slowly loading) website: BidenLaptopEmails.com. In addition to searching, visitors can download the emails as well. Set up by former Peter Navarro aide Garrett Ziegler, who worked in the Trump administration Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, the emails contain infamous hits such as the “10 for the big guy,” in which Hunter Biden’s business partner James Gillar suggested he should hold 10% of a multi-million-dollar deal with the Chinese. Ziegler posted the emails through his organization, Marco Polo.

“Another email in the database, previously published by DailyMail.com, shows Hunter describing an extraordinary apparent quid pro quo with a Mexican billionaire’s son, outlining how he got him into the White House and inauguration, and thanking him for visits to his villa. Some messages did not appear to be included in the database. One email published by DailyMail.com shows Hunter inviting his foreign business partners and associates to a 2015 dinner at Washington DC restaurant Café Milano. In the email he reveals that his father will secretly be joining – and says that the dinner is ‘ostensibly to discuss food security’. The White House at first denied the then-vice president was there, but eventually admitted it when photographs emerged from the event.”-Daily Mail

That said, the Daily Mail notes that the above email is not included in Ziegler’s database, which contains 14,603 fewer emails than a batch of 142,838 analyzed by cyber forensic firm Maryman & Associates last year for the Mail. “Here are the 128k emails from the Biden Laptop, which is a modern Rosetta Stone of white and blue collar crime under the patina of “the Delaware Way,”” reads the website, referring to a term frequently used by Joe Biden. “Prior to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a number of ancient languages were mere gibberish and hash marks. Similarly, the emails on the Biden Laptop illuminated previously convoluted webs of the people you see leading the charge for global governance; truly, the emails can be considered a translation tool for Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) gathering.”

Read more …

“The path to power is the path to the teleprompter.”

‘The Real President Is Whoever Controls The Teleprompter’ – Musk (Fox)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose purchase of Twitter remains ongoing, slammed President Biden in a podcast interview Monday and warned that if the government continues printing money, inflation will get worse and the U.S. might follow the path of Venezuela. Musk, who said he has voted “overwhelmingly for Democrats,” slammed the Democratic Party and Biden in particular. He suggested that Biden is something of an empty suit. “The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter,” the Tesla CEO said. “The path to power is the path to the teleprompter.” “I do feel like if somebody were to accidentally lean on the teleprompter, it’s going to be like Anchorman,” the CEO added, referencing the 2004 film in which Ron Burgundy reads whatever is written on the teleprompter, even if it would ruin his career.


“This administration doesn’t seem to get a lot done,” Musk said. “The Trump administration, leaving Trump aside, there were a lot of people in the administration who were effective at getting things done.” He also claimed that the Democratic Party is “overly controlled by the unions and by the trial lawyers, particularly the class action lawyers.” He argued that when Democrats go against “the interests of the people,” it tends to come from the unions and the trial lawyers, while when Republicans do that, “it’s because of corporate evil and religious zealotry.” “In the case of Biden, he is simply too much captured by the unions, which was not the case with Obama,” Musk said. The Tesla CEO defended Obama as “quite reasonable,” but insisted that Biden prioritizes the unions ahead of the public.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle May 18 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 55 total)
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  • #108112

    Pablo Picasso Young girl throwing a rock 1931   • After the NATO War is Over (Batiushka) • The War in Ukraine. Scott Ritter’s Switcheroo (Whitney
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 18 2022]

    #108114
    chooch
    Participant

    So the fat lady hasn’t sung and Ritter is no longer a Z-tard.

    Speech given by Ukraine defense minister to EU defense ministers. Ukrainians are prepping for attritional fighting this summer.

    https://www.mil.gov.ua/en/news/2022/05/17/oleksii-reznikov-at-the-eu-foreign-affairs-council-on-the-level-of-defense-ministers-with-the-participation-of-the-nato-secretary-general/

    Here is a recent interview with Ukrainian DoD intelligence chief.

    In Russia it is illegal to refer to the special operation as a war or invasion. (Does that mean Putin has only committed special operation crimes?)

    Putin needs soldiers but how does he do that if they are not at war?

    I think Putin is looking for on off ramp, I doubt the steel plant victory is going to generate a surge in new recruits. China/India likely see the writing on the wall.

    Here is a damning assessment of the “special op” aired on Russian TV.

    #108116
    Dr. D
    Participant

    NATO Pledges Open-Ended Military Support for Ukraine Ahead of US Senate $40BN Aid Vote”

    Sounds like we’re in the war.

    NY Times Blasted for Writing Ukrainian Fighters “Evacuated”, Didn’t Surrender”

    Remember, “Gentleman and a scholar, loving husband and father of three” for the ISIS terrorist Bagdadhi? Good times! Ah NY Times, you so funny! No wonder you post North Korea as your beacon of freedom and hope.

    Anyway, no literally, they wrote Azov “Ended their combat mission” and were therefore “Evacuated”.

    Says Ukraine: “Mariupol’s defenders have fully accomplished all missions assigned by the command,” said Hanna Maliar,”

    “Mariupol fighters in Russian hands; both sides claim wins …” –Denver Post

    “pretty much everything coming out of Western media about the tactical progression of the war is a distortion. They’re operating within an impenetrable superstructure of ideology” -Journalist Michael Tracy

    Speaking of “Impenetrable Ideology”: “Biden gives emotional speech after Buffalo shooting: ‘White Supremacy Is a Poison’”

    Completely forgetting his ‘94 Crime Bill is the greatest single reason for Black oppression, poverty, and family destruction in the last 30 years. Plus helping Barry kill all those black people in Africa, and steal their houses for Wall Street back home.

    From “Yuval Noah Harari | What to Do with All of These Useless People?” yesterday:

    ““OK, these rich people they have it good but they’re going to die, just like me.”
    “but the rich people, in [50 or 100 years] they also get a exemption from death.”

    Same old stories: “Ye will not surely die,” the serpent told her. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” That’s like Genesis 1. Yet they still believe it, recycling stupid. Don’t believe me? “Never fight a land war in Asia.”
    Inconceiveable
    https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/60/7/95877758-classic_blunders_vizzini_the_princess_bride_land_war_in_asia_motivational_posters_sicilian__death_funny_filthy_hot.jpg

    And so found this one:
    Helping
    https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F46%2F80%2F2f%2F46802f3e2201afd6f2e864e3e8430919.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

    Not done with recycling stupid, he adds this: “Once you really solve a problem like direct brain-computer interface … that’s it, that’s the end of history”

    Talk to your pal Fukayama about that. Again, what’s he saying? “You will be as God.” Why does this work, or does it only work for low-IQ inbreds like our “elite”? If I came down and said, “Buy Slick Ray’s Miracle Snake Oil and Eternal Life Elixir today! Only $1B and the deaths of 100k per bottle!” Would they buy it? Because that’s what they’re doing.

    “After millions of years of evolution, suddenly, within 200 years, the family and the intimate community break; they collapse. Most of the roles filled by the family and by the intimate community for thousands and tens of thousands of years are transferred very quickly to new networks provided by the state and the market.”

    You guys didn’t have anything to do with that, did you? And isn’t that reversing already? Families are living together.

    “The most interesting place today in the world in religious terms is Silicon Valley. … This is where the new religions are being created now by people like Ray Kurtzweil and this these are the religions that will take over the world.”

    So now we know what he’s doing, his goal: he is religious zealot, an acolyte. He is promoting and installing a religious theocracy run by corporations and billionaires, renting out the government’s army to use against the People.

    Join today!

    Both for this, and commenting on Elon yesterday, where Twitter will do ANYTHING to lose money:

    “”Our jobs are at stake; he’s a capitalist and we weren’t really operating as capitalists, more like very socialist,” –Twitter Engineer Siru Murugesan

    Exactly as Tim Pool has said:
    “Ideologically, it does not make sense like, because we’re actually censoring the right and not the left. So, everyone on the right wing will be like, “Bro, it’s okay to say it; just gotta tolerate it.” The left will be like, “No, I’m not gonna tolerate it. I need it censored or else I’m not gonna be on the platform.”

    In other words, conservatives are willing to engage in the give and take of an open society with free speech. Leftists, however, hate that and will shut it down for everyone.

    The Right is losing because they have normal human acceptance and tolerance while the Left are intolerant religious extremists.

    “Twitter’s model is not set up to make a profit, leading him to believe that it’s actually being sponsored by…” Somebody, who may not be the U.S. Federal Government but is clearly the Derp State. Who else in keeping them in business at a perpetual loss?

    “Macron: “We are not at war with Russia” – but White House still appears uninterested in negotiations.”

    We are trying to get Europe to abandon and reject us, the United States, to grow some balls and exist. But so far they won’t and would rather commit suicide. “We” do this – that is our White Hats – because if we don’t break it, the next election they will just pop up and do it again. This needs to be a permanent break, a sea change. That means Europe has to be irrevocably done with us. Thank God. “No foreign entanglements in Europe”, the Geo. Washington version of “No land wars in Asia.”

    #108117
    Polder Dweller
    Participant

    I’m a bit conflicted about Ritter since learning (from Dexter White talking to Tom Luongo) that he’s a twice-convicted paedophile. That should be unlikely to affect his military judgment but the sudden 180 makes me wonder if he isn’t somehow being leaned on.

    #108118
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I didn’t highlight it so let me repeat it:

    “new religions are being created now by people like Ray Kurtzweil and this these are the religions that will take over the world.”

    They are violent religious extremists.

    #108120
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #108121
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #108122
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Every and every unit of gas, gasoline, diesel or oil that Eurotardistan buys in Rubles from the Russians WEAKENS the Euro as a currency via the increased demand for rubles and the corresponding lesser demand for the Euro.

    Hey, it’s Math and common sense, ganging up on inbreds.

    #108123
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The English hatred towards Russia is because they have historically produced better writers and better scientists and have 78 TRILLION dollars worth of stored and buried natural resources on their land.

    It’s a uniquely English form of Penis Envy.

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WerDmY2fEnk

    Editor’s note: Penis Envy shrooms are among the most famous and controversial mushrooms in existence. Many regard them to be the strongest strain of Psilocybe cubensis currently known.

    #108124
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    IMHO, Scott Ritter is gradually adjusting to the idea that the conflict in Ukraine is not a just regional skirmish between two quarrelsome neighbors, nor is it a proxy-war between NATO and Russia. No. Ukraine is the first phase of a broader plan for crushing Russia, collapsing its economy, removing its leaders, seizing its natural resources, splintering its territory, and projecting US power across Central Asia to the Pacific Rim. Ukraine is about hegemony, empire, and pure, unalloyed power. Most important, Ukraine is the first battle in a Third World War, a war that was concocted and launched by Washington to ensure another unchallenged century of American primacy.

    I recommend Whitney’s write-up for a balanced view on the true status of the war on the Eurasian steppe. As much as I value Gonzalo Lira’s perspective, I think he does let just a little bit to much Russian propaganda seep into the things he says in his videos. And as we all know, truth is the first casualty of every war ever fought. I think Russia can win, but they’re going to need rather more manpower to pull that off.

    #108125
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @RaulIlargiMeijer “But key ones are missing?”

    Apparently so, and therefore the $64,000 question is who has the intention, the power and the finesse to actually make those key emails go missing. Not to even mention (Heaven forbid !) the unspeakably vile porn and other evidence of human (child) trafficking/abuse/worse by the same individuals who are currently having a go at crushing Russia.

    If I were Vladimir Putin for a day I would use my vast spy network to hit “The Collective West” where they are the weakest : their CRIMES of every sort. Dangerous work, but, hey, what’s he got to lose?

    #108126
    Field Able
    Participant

    “So the fat lady hasn’t sung and Ritter is no longer a Z-tard.”

    Ritter’s is not “flipping” as he was never a “Ztard” to begin with.
    He is questioning the unrealistic attempts by the Russian command to limit the conflict to a “SMO’ when the US led NATO coalition is openly running a proxy war aimed squarely at destroying the Russian state as it exists now.

    #108127
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @FieldAble

    I agree, but would add this : of the two approaches (full-on war waged by the Western cabal versus Limited Special Military Operation waged by Russia) , which one burns through the respective party’s finite resources the fastest ? In other words, which side runs out of vitally necessary stuff first?

    My own opinion is that Putin (and a large bunch of other realistic Russians) is fully aware and fully willing to play the game all the way to “Last Man Standing.”

    It’s one helluva game of chicken, but I’m placing my bet on the side that has gas, oil, coal, iron, wheat, fertilizer and manufacturing capacity (and relatively sane realists as citizens) versus the side with stacks of counterfeit money and mentally ill vaccinated criminal drug addicts holding most key positions from sea to shining sea.

    It’s going to get spicier, for certain, but the Western Cabal (and its Eastern Cohort) will eventually lose world war 3 . . . and everybody else will win.

    #108128
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    “I had not see this when I wrote my piece yesterday. A curious turn around” Raúl

    It’s hard for everyone to keep up.

    Ritter engaged in the same behavior with regard to SaddamHussein. So why shouldn’t Ritter’s nonsense continue?

    As to why anyone pays attention to him, y’all will have to take a look in the mirror because Ritter’s game has been transparent. Most people recognize Marine Intel is an oxymoron and not a credential.
    Tom Clancy = Scott Ritter? Perhaps…

    😑🥝

    #108129
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Reading Batiushka’s piece on the Saker blog in contrast with what we have recently learned reveals that what you read on that blog is to a very large extent Russian war-propaganda. That may contain a much larger grain of truth than what the US press is pumping out, but it is propaganda nonetheless. In Chris Martenson’s video on YouTube last week, he revealed that embargoes against Russian oil have hurt the Russian economy because Russia’s ability to get oil the Chinese and Indian customers who are willing to buy it is rather limited. Changing that situation will likely require a substantial investment in some new infrastructure. Also, it’s fair to say that Batiushka is not accurate when he claims that Russia “controls” Ukraine now. At most, Russia is on its way to controlling only the easternmost oblasts of Ukraine bordering Russia.

    #108130
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Russia is about to fully liberate both Donetsk and Luhansk. After a short period, I expect both to vote to join the Russia Federation.

    This is a done deal at this point.

    This was objective number one on the Russian agendaand it is in sight.

    Because the sock puppet Zelensky refused to negotiate in good faith, Russia will now also take the entire Black Sea coast of Ukraine, land locking the Rump Ukraine into an agricultural backwater with no coast and no industry. Good luck with that.

    I trust Andrei Martyanov’s military analysis more than Scott Ritter’s.

    Any ‘heavy’ western weapons, like tanks, cannot arrive at the eastern front on ANYTHING less than railways.

    Those railways are not working in the center and east of Ukraine, the key rail bridges and sub-stations have been blown up big time.

    A Ukrainian tank driving across the Ukraine from West to East will be destroyed by Russian Air Superiority, period.

    The Ukronazi have NO MOBILITY at this point, none. They re using civilian cars and SUV’s to ‘move troops’. What a joke.

    So how can they move thousands of tons of weapons to eastern Ukraine, vehicles disguised as deliver bread trucks?

    Here’s a Ukronazi civilian SUV ‘moving troops’ that caught the eye of a Russian tank.

    The Ukronazi are stuck in place, if they have to come out from hiding behind civilian human shields into the open, this is their fate.


    U.S. Has M777 Shipping Accident

    #108131
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Well, Gonzalo Lira claims that the complete collapse of the Ukrainian military as a fighting force in imminent. While I am skeptical of that, I am really trying to keep an open mind as I attempt to piece together what is happening through the fog of war from the other side of the planet. So if Lira is right, this is something that should happen by US Memorial Day or shortly after that. If this does happen, then I probably would reconsider whether or not I should listen to Scott Ritter in the future.

    #108132
    John Day
    Participant

    A perspective which I find helpful in understanding the war in Ukraine is that NATO set it up since 2014 to exhaust and drain Russia, and was finally ready to pull the trigger , even if Russia did not take the bait and pull the trip-wire by invading.
    Russia knew this, and knew that NATO could attack Russia if Russia became weakened.
    Russia reserved the best troops and weapons to counter an overt NATO attack, and still does this.

    Russia “invaded” with 1/3 the force of the “defenders”, who were arrayed to attack, then hunker-down and drain Russia. Russia had to re-engineer modern warfare this way, working hard to wear down the foe, without being worn down.
    This continues.
    It looks different, and it is hard to use the usual metrics to define “winning” and “losing”.
    Russia still awaits the overt war against NATO.

    Russian forces appear to be meat-grinding Ukrainian forces in human terms. Howitzers are getting through, but not to critically contested areas. Russian artillery has a very high rate of fire and of accuracy, which these howitzers, in Ukrainian hands, so not begin to approach, maybe 1/3 of the rate of fire, and lesser (how much less?) accuracy.

    We will need to be patient and monitor the global economic situation.
    I am calling this a WW-3 because the global economic and financial systems must change.
    Neoliberalism did not win quickly. The Ruble rebounded. Western financial capitalism has not clearly lost yet, either, but morale in the EU is rapidly declining, since EU citizens are the ones who will have to suffer the most, and already had a bad winter, followed by a spring of insecurity.

    I am with Michael Hudson on this. I think the western global financial capitalist machine, which needs to expand into Russia or admit collapse/failure is being thwarted at a critical moment in history. It is already in overshoot. It is already eating itself. It has long since destroyed most of its own industry, except Tech, military, American-farming and oil. It really, really needs TROTW to keep paying those $US debts, but TROTW now glimpses a real alternative, just at a time when it must choose between paying $US debts and importing oil and wheat to feed and fuel the citizens of the debtor countries.
    The choice is not obvious, though it seems obvious to me. Some countries will choose each side of the choice, and next year TROTW will monitor how the “leaders” of those countries fare, siding with globo-cap or siding with their own people and “national interests”.

    We will no doubt stay tuned-in here, too.


    @Boscohorowitz
    : Howdy! 🙂

    #108133
    zerosum
    Participant

    TAE does not sensor your opinions
    • After the NATO War is Over (Batiushka)

    This battle is over, but the war has just started, the conflict will never end.
    live within the resources boundaries
    an uninhabitable wasteland
    serious injuries, with limited medical care and dwindling supplies.
    Immigration to a better land
    Families are living together.
    ———-
    recycling stupid
    evidence of war crimes
    Racism, the chosen people
    • Fate Of Hundreds Of Ukrainian Soldiers Unclear As Azovstal Resistance Ends (G.)
    ————

    Russia diverts energy supplies to “friendly” countries. He, (Putin), urged Russian industry authorities to be more proactive in leveraging the situation for the nation’s benefit.

    ———–
    Does it exist if you don’t know it.
    “The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter …” – Elon Musk
    ———–

    #108134
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “So if Lira is right, this is something that should happen by US Memorial Day or shortly after that.”

    If this turns out to be true, just think what it will do to inflation!?!?!
    More confidence in our criminal leaders will vanish, and what is money today but confidence?

    #108135
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    The thing is, I tend to gravitate towards sources that seem to be providing the most nuance. Sources such as Gonzalo Lira and the Saker’s blog come off as so one-sided at times that I really have to wonder just how accurate of a picture I’m getting from them. We’ll see soon enough, I guess.

    #108136
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    If this turns out to be true, just think what it will do to inflation!?!?!
    More confidence in our criminal leaders will vanish, and what is money today but confidence

    {/shudders and crosses self}

    #108137
    zerosum
    Participant

    Disinformation board paused. Disinformation board could be disbanded.
    Disinformation board would not have anything to report if it could not counter Biden propaganda.

    #108138

    Sources such as Gonzalo Lira and the Saker’s blog come off as so one-sided at times…

    Anything in the western media does that 1000 times over, that is much more of a problem. Of course “1000 times one-sided” is a contradictio in terminus, but you get the drift.

    #108139
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Anything in the western media does that 1000 times over, that is much more of a problem. Of course “1000 times one-sided” is a contradictio in terminus, but you get the drift.

    Oh yeah, I would listen to the babbling of a crazy street-person before I would ever believe the smorgasbord of lies served up by our elite media institutions.

    #108140

    The UK gov’t is set to decide tonight -local time- whether to extradite Assange to the US, ending his work and his life. It makes my heart feel so heavy.

    #108141
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Scott Ritter is fashionable, not elite, right?

    #108142
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Scott Ritter is fashionable, not elite, right?

    {/shrugs} Well, you seem to have made up your mind about him.

    So is anyone looking at the financial markets today? I wonder if the PPT has any ammo left for another one of their famous helicopter-drops of printed money?

    #108143
    Mr. House
    Participant

    I found this to be interesting and think it ties in well with what we’ve seen from twitter in the last two years, not to mention their fear of musk buying it:

    https://sarahburwick.substack.com/p/who-is-risa-hoshino?s=r

    #108144
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “So is anyone looking at the financial markets today?”

    Don’t really look until 3:30 😉

    #108145
    willem
    Participant

    @chooch: You might want to read what Andrei Martyanov has to say about Khodaryonok today:

    https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/

    #108146
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    SOme may find this a useful read:

    The War Against Putin

    #108147
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Thanks, bosc. I downloaded that as a PDF and look forward to reading it.

    #108148
    willem
    Participant

    @boscohorowitz: Thanks for that download. I just saw that book referred to by a commenter on another blog a few days ago, but when I went looking for it, only expensive used copies were available. Looks like it might be out of print.

    #108149
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    @ Dr. John Day – We will need to be patient and monitor the global economic situation.
    I am calling this a WW-3 because the global economic and financial systems must change.

    ————————————-

    I’m fully in agreement!

    The U.S. currently is relying on full and unequivocal cooperation by Western European governments for undivided support to continue to push for a total balkanization of Russia, … but this support will soon be thwarted: … economic conditions in Western Europe are deteriorating rapidly!

    This changing economic deterioration will result in a rapid discontent: … demonstrations, uprisings, pitchforks and torches marches, et al. Average folk out there, … as much as they yearn to eventually become ‘Murican-like, … they will not tolerate this economic downswing without a fight!

    As a result, an overt, kinetic war will be triggered, … most likely by Polacks with a covert support by the Brits. Just watch, …

    F.S.

    #108150
    zerosum
    Participant

    Banker’s banquet
    Crisis-Hit Sri Lanka Defaults On Debt As It Runs Out Of Fuel

    “But the reality is we don’t even have $1 million,” the new prime minister said…

    #108151
    zerosum
    Participant

    Good Luck John
    After Calls For Conservation And Generator Failures, Texas’ Grid Survived The Weekend. It’s Still May

    “I remain very concerned about this summer.”

    #108152
    zerosum
    Participant


    Tomorrow is here
    Man made disaster

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/18/a-food-crisis-looms-in-sri-lanka-as-farmers-give-up-on-planting
    Sri Lanka faces ‘man-made’ food crisis as farmers stop planting
    Once self-sufficient nation reels from fall-out of ill-conceived shift to organic agriculture, compounded by fuel shortages.

    #108153

    Totally off topic, but for your viewing pleasure (video from a comment at zh):
    The Tonga undersea volcano. Remember that?
    (less than a minute)

    #108154
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Rather than let Ritter’s paradoxical or diametrically opposed ruminations distract, perhaps it’s time to engage a sophomoric technique in lay psychology and go:
    “Grey Rock Method? Disengage. The first rule is to disengage yourself.”

    If Scott Ritter is as elite an influencer as suggested on multiple websites despite his “vacillations”, then history judges Marine Rittter poorly for his historically bad first informed guess that led to Saddam Hussein’s torture, murder and the Iraq War’s destruction of 1 million people. Sure, then as now, Scott changed his mind but GWB, Colon Powell and Dick Cheney adhered to his first rumination since Scott wasn’t as persuasive enough with his regret, I suppose.
    God bless him

    🚮

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