May 242022
 
 May 24, 2022  Posted by at 8:27 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Giovanni Bellini Pietà 1474

 

We’re in It Now for Sure (Kunstler)
False Russia Collusion Story Began And Ended With Hillary Clinton (JTN)
FBI Alfa-Bank Inquiry Based On DOJ ‘Referral’ That Came From Sussmann (WE)
Durham Puts FBI Investigators On Stand (JTN)
What It Means That Hillary Clinton Did It (AT)
A Major National Embarrassment Is Being Hidden From Ukrainians (Storozhenko)
UK Backs Lithuania’s Plan To Lift Russian Blockade Of Ukraine Grain (G.)
A Breakdown Of The Ukraine Aid Bill (Semler)
In Davos, Ukrainians Host “Russian War Crimes House” (Y!)
Republicans Will Target ‘Public Health Bureaucrats’ When In Majority (JTN)
Pfizer Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit From COVID-19 Vaccine Trial (ET)
Supermarkets Could Soon Urge You Not To Use Cash Or Card To Pay (MEN)
Albanese Squandering Leverage on Assange (Lauria)

 

 

 

 

Tulsi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1528687472359575552

 

 

 

 

Build Back Amish.

We’re in It Now for Sure (Kunstler)

Lately, a new derangement is overtaking Western Civ, for the excellent reason that Western Civ gave birth to techno industrial societies and is now first to undergo the alarming demise of that system. I speak of the World Economic Forum (under one Klaus Schwab) and its stated ambition to Build Back Better — based on its unstated premise that the current system must be nudged to its death sooner rather than later, and on-purpose. All the governments of Western Civ nations seem coordinated on this. But it’s not going to happen as Mr. Schwab and his followers hoped, for at least a couple of reasons. First, as already stated, God is a prankster and likes to throw knuckleballs at the human race.

Anyway, the “better” that Mr. Schwab expects is an ultra-techno-industrial “trans-human” scheme that is unlikely to come about if the support system of the older techno-industrial system is no longer available to support it. As currently conceived, BBB depends on electric power, and that is one of the major sub-systems of our system that already looks like it’s going janky. You get the idea, I’m sure, so I’ll cut to the chase for now. About a year ago I had my French easel set up on a country road nearby and was busy painting a motif at-hand when along came a horse-drawn wagon filled with four men in severe black-and-white clothing, wearing beards.

They were apparently a bit surprised by the strange sight of me painting a picture and they stopped to chat. They were Amish and had lately moved to the county from down in Pennsylvania, which was running out of farmland for their fruitful people. Not a half-hour later a second horse-drawn wagon passed by. I admit, the incident gave me a thrill — not just the sensory pleasure of the horses’ ripe animal smell, and the gentle rhythm of their clip-clopping along. But since I had lately been writing a bunch of novels about life in a post-economic collapse town like my own (the World Made by Hand series), I enjoyed the strange delight of being transported briefly into a scene of my own imagining — the prequel of my own books.

Many more Amish are landing in the county these days. I hear they go around to the failing or inactive farms with bundles of cash and make an offer, just like that. Evidently the method works. It’s given me a business idea: to start an Amish skills school, buy a few acres with a barn and hire some Amish men to teach all us non-Amish how to do a few things that might be good to know in the years ahead, like how to harness horses to a cart or a mule to a plow. (The Amish like to make a bit of cash-money when they can.) That’s my idea of how to build back better. What do you think?

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Put Obama on the stand as well.

False Russia Collusion Story Began And Ended With Hillary Clinton (JTN)

In an era where the hunt for disinformation has become a political obsession, Hillary Clinton has mostly escaped having to answer what role she played in spreading the false Russia collusion narrative that gripped America for nearly three years. On Friday, that dodge ended with a most unlikely witness: her former campaign manager Robby Mook, who was supposed to be a witness helping the defense of her former campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann on a charge of lying to the FBI. Instead, under cross-examination by Special Counsel John Durham’s team, Mook was forced to concede two extraordinary facts. First, the Clinton campaign wasn’t “totally confident” about the accuracy of computer data suggesting Donald Trump had a secret communications channel to the Kremlin via Russia’s Alfa Bank.

And second, Hillary Clinton herself personally approved spreading the story to the news media, despite the concerns about its accuracy. “I discussed it with Hillary as well,” Mook testified. “I don’t remember the substance of the conversation, but notionally, the discussion was, hey, we have this and we want to share it with a reporter,” Mook said. Prosecutors asked Mook if Clinton approved leaking the story to the media. “She agreed,” Mook testified. The testimony confirms what CIA Director John Brennan told President Barack Obama secretly in July 2016 and what the CIA later told the FBI two months later: There was intelligence that Clinton had approved a plan to dirty up Trump with Russia allegations to distract from her own email server scandal.

Kevin Brock, the FBI’s former assistant director for intelligence, called Mook’s revelation a “startling piece of testimony, particularly since he was a defense witness.” “On the surface it looks like a major victory for John Durham,” Brock said. “Don’t forget he’s trying to paint an overall picture here. Sussmann is just one pixel on that photo. “The trial is the vehicle that Durham is using to help bring out the truth, to tell a story of a political campaign that in two instances pursued information that was totally fabricated or at least misinterpreted with the Alfa Bank connection to Trump and use that disinformation to mislead the American voter,” he added.

Slowly over six years, the Russia collusion story has been exposed for what it was: a three-legged political dirty trick in which highly credible figures with deep law enforcement, intelligence and news media ties were paid by the Clinton campaign to flood the FBI, the CIA and the public with unproven allegations that Trump was secretly colluding with Russia to steal the election from Clinton.

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Who investigates the FBI?

FBI Alfa-Bank Inquiry Based On DOJ ‘Referral’ That Came From Sussmann (WE)

The FBI opened a full-fledged counterintelligence investigation into since-debunked Trump-Russia collusion claims just four days after Michael Sussmann pushed the allegations to the bureau. The electronic communication marking the opening of the investigation cited a “referral” from the Justice Department rather than saying the Alfa-Bank allegations came from a lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The opening communication, titled “Alfa Bank,” was authored by FBI agents Curtis Heide and Allison Sands, both of whom may testify this week, and the investigation initiated on Sept. 23, 2016, four days after Sussmann’s meeting with FBI General Counsel James Baker.

Sussmann was indicted in September for allegedly concealing his clients — Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Executive-1,” former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe — from Baker when he pushed since-debunked claims of a secret back channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty. Sussmann had worked at the Justice Department in the past, and testimony from Baker last week stated that he had a badge that allowed him access to the FBI. The case identification was “Alfa Bank, Russia — Contacts / Agents, Sensitive Investigative Matter,” and the opening document said it “documents the opening of a Full Field Investigation into the network communications between a U.S.-based server and the Russian ALFA BANK organization.” Enclosed was a “White Paper.”

“On or about September 19, 2016, FBI received a referral of information from the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, detailing an unusually configured email server in Pennsylvania belonging to the TRUMP ORGANIZATION,” the FBI wrote in September 2016. “In that referral, the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE provided the FBI with a white paper that was produced by an anonymous third party. According to the white paper, a U.S.-based server that is owned by the TRUMP ORGANIZATION has been communicating with the Russian-based ALFA BANK organization in Moscow, Russia.”

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Trying to cover their asses.

Durham Puts FBI Investigators On Stand (JTN)

In the trial of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, prosecutors on Monday called two FBI witnesses who testified that clarity regarding the source of allegations of a secret hotline between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank would have influenced the bureau’s investigative approach to the now-debunked collusion allegations. Special Counsel John Durham alleges Sussmann lied to former FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 when he said he was not representing any clients as he fed the bureau information purportedly revealing a Trump Organization backchannel to Moscow through Russia’s Alfa Bank. At the time, Sussmann was a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm and representing the Democratic National Committee and a tech company executive, according to the prosecution.

Sussmann has pleaded not guilty to the charge of making a false statement to the FBI. As part of its effort to substantiate the materiality of Sussmann’s alleged lie to the FBI, the prosecution brought FBI agent Ryan Gaynor and former FBI agent Allison Sands to the witness stand on Monday. Both were involved in the investigation into the Alfa Bank allegation Gaynor testified that had he known Sussmann was representing the DNC, he likely would not have volunteered to assist in the investigation. He also said that if Sussmann was paid by the DNC or the Clinton campaign, it might have impacted how the investigation was opened and the close-hold he says was placed on Sussmann’s identity, which prevented him from being able to discuss it with the Chicago branch.

Sands testified that she was informed the investigation began with a referral of information from the Department of Justice. Only later did she find out that the information actually came from then-FBI General Counsel James Baker. After that, she eventually learned that an anonymous third party gave Baker the data. Sands said that knowing the source of the information would have helped her assess its credibility. Sands explained that believing the information came from the DOJ gave it more weight than if someone just walked into the FBI with the data. She said that if the information hadn’t come through the Justice Department, then she didn’t know if it would have triggered a full investigation.

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“..the Clinton-Obama attempted takeover of the government. (Call it the COAT campaign.)”

What It Means That Hillary Clinton Did It (AT)

[..] the Journal explained how the Clinton campaign used the self-generated news of the investigation and the initial Slate article that came of it, both of which they had planted, as the basis for making tweet after tweet to the press about the Slate report to churn up mass coverage about it in the press and convince the public that the investigation was about something serious.

The concluding paragraphs of the editorial are worth quoting in full: “In short, the Clinton campaign created the Trump-Alfa allegation, fed it to a credulous press that failed to confirm the allegations but ran with them anyway, then promoted the story as if it was legitimate news. The campaign also delivered the claims to the FBI, giving journalists another excuse to portray the accusations as serious and perhaps true. Most of the press will ignore this news, but the Russia-Trump narrative that Mrs. Clinton sanctioned did enormous harm to the country. It disgraced the FBI, humiliated the press, and sent the country on a three-year investigation to nowhere. Vladimir Putin never came close to doing as much disinformation damage.”

The harm done to the United States by the perfidy of the Clintonistas cannot be overemphasized. That “three-year investigation to nowhere” represented the Clinton-Obama attempted takeover of the government. (Call it the COAT campaign.) With congressional Republicans unwilling to prevent the COAT campaign, the Trump administration was blocked from putting U.S.-Russia relations on a rational, mutually beneficial footing, to the point that, under the present Senate leadership, the specter of war with Russia is no longer an unthinkable thought. The COAT campaign succeeded in keeping the Ukraine pot boiling, with the water first heated by Obama’s stirring up of anti-Russian feelings in Ukraine, leading to the Maidan revolution that ousted the legitimately elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

A political opposition ready to lie about Donald J. Trump, supported by a media prepared to believe the worst about Mr. Trump has given us the current reality where the deep state is using NATO as an instrument to humiliate Russia, and Republican leaders in Congress are going along with the plans of the deep state to make the globe an unsafe place except for the globalist hegemony. Most of the press will indeed ignore disclosure of the source of the baseless accusations of Trump-Russia collusion — it is no accident that the New York Times ignored the Mook testimony in its May 20 editions. It is, moreover, unlikely that the press will be humiliated by its mendacious coverage of Hillary Clinton; the media, on the contrary, wears its mendacious coverage of Clinton and the anti-Trump neo-totalitarians as deserving of journalistic honors.

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“Not an evacuation, not an exit, not an “extraction”, but captivity.”

A Major National Embarrassment Is Being Hidden From Ukrainians (Storozhenko)

The myth of heroic 82 day defense is already actively promoted by Ukrainian media, even though since late March that defense consisted largely of Azovite efforts to break out of the trap. First on helicopters, then with the help of Macron and Erdogan. And recently they’ve tried to involve everyone who came to mind: Israel, UN, Doctors Without Borders, the Pope, and Elon Musk. In the end, on May 16 and 17 we saw what we were fated to see. Some of the Azovites and AFU soldiers came out of Azov Steel underground, existed using the corridor specified by Russia’s military, were searched and sorted (the wounded to hospitals, the rest to filtration points) and…went into captivity.

Not an evacuation, not an exit, not an “extraction”, but captivity. A simple Russian word, though not a merry one. But that’s what we saw. The Ukrainian viewer saw and was told something entirely different. The Ukrainian language also contains a word for captivity. But Ukrainian media try to avoid it at all costs. Azov’s commander was actually the first. Already on the evening of May 16, as if anticipating questions, he said he’s implementing a decision by top military authorities. OK, but what decision? We know, but Ukrainians viewing his statement in a Telegram channel could not understand a thing and said as much. Then came Zelensky. He mentioned the AFU, UN, ICRC, and at the end: “…soldiers were transported to occupied territory for future exchange.”

Who did the transporting? Not a word about that. But instead we learned this is called an “operation to preserve the lives of Azov Steel defenders.” Russians think they took someone prisoner. But in reality there’s an ongoing military operation, so stop panicking. And it’s not just any operation. No, it’s an operation by Ukraine’s military intelligence (that’s how it was officially reported)! These announcements were picked up by not only Kiev-controlled media but also the most authoritative (well, until recently) world media platforms, including CNN. They also don’t use the word “captivity”, only “evacuation”!

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The craziest plan to date.

UK Backs Lithuania’s Plan To Lift Russian Blockade Of Ukraine Grain (G.)

Britain has backed in principle a proposal by Lithuania for a naval coalition “of the willing” to lift the Russian Black Sea blockade on Ukrainian grain exports. The Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, proposed the plan during talks with the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, on Monday in London. “Time is very very short. We are closing in on a new harvest and there is no other practical way of exporting the grain except through the Black Sea port of Odesa,” he told the Guardian. “There is no way of storing this grain and no other adequate alternative route. It is imperative that we show vulnerable countries we are prepared to take the steps that are needed to feed the world.”

Landsbergis proposed that a naval escort operation – not run by Nato – could protect the grain ships as they headed through the Black Sea and past Russian warships. He suggested that, apart from Britain, countries that were affected by the potential loss of grain such as Egypt could provide the necessary protection. “What we have seen now is just the beginning. The worst is yet to come in the next five to seven weeks when the first harvest arrives and there is no place to put it, so that means people in northern Africa, the Middle East and south-east Asia will be paying exorbitant prices for wheat, corn and the other commodities they need to put food on their table”. He said Ukraine needed to export 80m tonnes of wheat alone this year and the only option was through Odesa,.

His plan, under gestation for weeks, would require demining parts of the Black Sea to ensure safe passage, as well as the agreement of Turkey, which guards the entrance to the Black Sea. “This would be a non-military humanitarian mission and is not comparable with a no-fly zone,” he said. “In this endeavour military ships or planes or both would be used to ensure that the grain supplies can leave Odesa safely and reach the Bosphorus without Russian interference. We would need a coalition of the willing – countries with significant naval power to protect the shipping lanes, and countries that are affected by this”.

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More such bills will follow.

A Breakdown Of The Ukraine Aid Bill (Semler)

Joe Biden signed a bill over the weekend that provides $40.1 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine. The Senate passed it on Thursday and the House had passed the thing the week before. It was a bit touch and go in the Senate following an objection by Rand Paul (R-KY), but all told the legislation practically flew through Congress, at least by Washington’s standards: Biden submitted the funding request to Congress on April 28 and it was sent back to his desk just three weeks later. Based on the bill text, I counted $40.1 billion worth of provisions; $24.6 billion for military programs and $15.5 billion for non-military ones.

Not all of the funding provisions are for aid. The money for for the Department of Treasury and Department of Justice to seize and track Russian assets aren’t, for example, and neither are a portion of the funding for the Pentagon to develop and procure weapons. Moreover, a good bit of the included appropriations covers the operating expenses and overhead of US agencies implementing the aid and not for the aid itself, like for the deployment and hazard pay of US troops to eastern Europe or extra operating expenses for USAID. Of the provisions that are unmistakably for military and non-military aid, it’s tough to say how much will end going to Ukraine, for two reasons. First, there’s a “…and other countries” suffix following most of the major economic, humanitarian, and military assistance provisions.

Second, the bill raises the legal limit on existing authorities that allow the executive branch to authorize additional aid transfers, which could raise the top line amount given to Ukraine (and/or other countries). I estimate that for-profit military contractors will derive about $17.3 billion in revenue from the bill, which exceeds the total amount of non-military aid included in the legislation ($15.5 billion). This doesn’t mean that the money going to military contractors isn’t going to Ukraine. It’s just that giving military aid to Ukraine (or wherever) means giving money to military contractors. The funds given to the Pentagon by Congress through the bill are generally to provide Ukraine either with goods (weapons, equipment) or services (logistical support, intelligence, training). Military contractors get paid by the Pentagon for both, to varying extents.

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Welcome to the WEF.

In Davos, Ukrainians Host “Russian War Crimes House” (Y!)

With Russians banned from Davos, their den in the Swiss mountain resort was taken over by Ukraine and given a new name: “Russian War Crimes House”. The “Russia House” was traditionally used by Russians to hold events and network during the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps. But organisers excluded them from the meeting of the world’s business and political elite following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead of a place to entertain, the house with red shutters on Davos’ main street is now used by Ukrainians to display the atrocities the say Russia is committing. It features photos of cemeteries, people in body bags, a bloodied hand on a pavement, a child in a respirators in a hospital, a baby in a soldier’s arms, buildings in ruins.

Ukrainians are using the building to hold several events during the four-day Davos summit as part of efforts to win more support against Russia, three months after the invasion began. “If we tell the story of this tragedy as wide as possible, maybe it will save some lives,” said Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, whose foundation is among the organisers of the event. After the presentation at the “House of Russian War Crimes”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy used the WEF congress to plead for more weapons for his country, and more sanctions against Russia. A parade of Ukrainian lawmakers and officials attended other events on the summit’s first day to hammer home the need for weapons and sanctions to defeat Russia.

At the “Russian War Crimes House”, the goal is to bring attention to the alleged atrocities committed by Russia. Next to the photos, an entire wall is covered by a map that lists the “war crimes” committed by Russia. On top, a toll as of May 6: 4,177 civilians killed, including 226 children, and 4,378 wounded, including 417 children.

WEF

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Promises promises.

Republicans Will Target ‘Public Health Bureaucrats’ When In Majority (JTN)

Republicans plan on holding public health bureaucrats such as Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable after the 2022 midterm elections, according to a Republican Study Committee (RSC) memo on Monday from Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.). While many of the left’s COVID-19 policies “went unchallenged… public health authorities soon started issuing nonsensical, contradictory directives and embracing partisan rhetoric,” according to the memo. “If Congress fails to hold the Fauci clique accountable, and fails to reform public health agencies, we will be giving far-left bureaucrats a blank check to shut the country down whenever they want,” Banks said. “We need to send a message that the restrictions, the mandates and the school closures can never happen again.”


Republicans are likely to take back the House and gain what Banks has claimed will be a “historic majority.” As the RSC is the largest ideological congressional caucus, Banks’ memo may be a preview into GOP actions after midterms. “Holding partisan public health bureaucrats accountable should be a major oversight priority for House Republicans after 2022,” he wrote in the 4-page RSC memo. “Leftists have abused Americans’ willingness to make sacrifices for public health. They have sought to define everything from racism to policing to gun rights to the minimum wage as public health issues,” he noted. Republicans plan on reigning in the CDC’s “mission creep” by refocusing the agency on emergency public health response and requiring it to “be transparent,” among other things. The GOP will also consider restoring the basic science mission at the National Institutes of Health, which oversees Dr. Fauci and his National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases department.

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Laws do not apply to Pfizer.

Pfizer Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit From COVID-19 Vaccine Trial (ET)

Pfizer has asked a U.S. court to throw out a lawsuit from a whistleblower who revealed problems at sites that tested Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Brook Jackson, the whistleblower, alleged in a suit that was unsealed in February that Pfizer and associated parties violated clinical trial regulations and federal laws, including the False Claims Act. In its motion to dismiss, Pfizer says the regulations don’t apply to its vaccine contract with the U.S. Department of Defense because the agreement was executed under the department’s Other Transaction Authority (OTA), which gives contract holders the ability to skirt many rules and laws that typically apply to contracts. That means that Jackson’s claim that Pfizer must still comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulations “is simply wrong,” Pfizer said.

Warner Mendenhall, a lawyer who is working on Jackson’s case, said in a recent interview that Pfizer has “clearly not followed federal procurement laws.” “And now they’re saying, ‘of course we didn’t follow federal procurement laws, we didn’t have to—this was just for a prototype,’” he added. Mendenhall, who declined an interview request, said lawyers for Jackson are working on figuring out legal ways to counter Pfizer’s argument. “We may lose on this issue because their contract imposes … none of the normal checks and balances on quality control and consumer protection that we fought for decades in this country,” he said. [..] The government agreed to pay up to $1.9 billion for 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine pending U.S. regulatory clearance.

That included the manufacturing of the vaccine on top of researching and developing it. The contract was granted under the “prototype” provision, which falls under the OTA. The rules for prototypes state that just one of four conditions must be satisfied. The condition that was satisfied in the Pfizer contract was the involvement of a “nontraditional defense contractor.” Federal law defines nontraditional defense contractors as “an entity that is not currently performing and has not performed” a contract or subcontract for the Department of Defense for at least one year preceding the solicitation of the OTA agreement. Pfizer has dozens of contracts with the military.

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How to cancel people completely.

Supermarkets Could Soon Urge You Not To Use Cash Or Card To Pay (MEN)

Supermarket giants across the UK could soon ask shoppers to ditch cash and card payments, and instead use their face or fingerprints at the checkout. A trial is in place to increase shopper security at the tills, though some may see it as a step closer to a cashless society. Mastercard is trialling a biometric payment system that could see customers just use their face rather than contactless cards, smartphones or PINs. Shoppers would be able to smile or wave a hand at a scanner to pay for their shopping. It is understood that a customer would be able to scan their face or fingerprint using a supermarket’s smartphone app and link their likeness to a bank card. Payments Card and Mobile website says it would work in a similar way to Apple’s facial ID.

The Telegraph reports how Mastercard, the payments company, wants to roll the programme out worldwide for small and large retailers. Ajay Bhalla, the president of cyber and intelligence at Mastercard, was quoted in the Telegraph as saying: “The way we pay needs to keep pace with the way we live, work and do business, offering choice to consumers with the highest levels of security. Our goal with this new programme is to make shopping a great experience for consumers and merchants alike, providing the best of both security and convenience.” A pilot programme is currently under way in Brazil at five St Marche supermarkets in Sao Paolo. More trials are also planned for Asia and the Middle East.

The biometric facial recognition software would lead to shorter queues, be more hygienic than tapping in a pin, and less vulnerable to fraud linked to credit and debit cards, Mastercard said. It said: “No more fumbling for your phone or hunting for your wallet when you have your hands full – the next generation of in-person payments will only need a quick smile or wave of your hand. The trusted technology that uses your face or fingerprint to unlock your phone can now be used to help consumers speed through the checkout. With Mastercard’s new Biometric Checkout Programme, all you will need is yourself.”

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A vassal state.

Albanese Squandering Leverage on Assange (Lauria)

Anthony Albanese, the newly-elected Australian prime minister, has what might be the best opportunity he will ever have to exchange Julian Assange’s freedom for Australia’s continued cooperation with U.S. aims in the Pacific region. Albanese is set to have his first bilateral meeting on Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden after a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit in Tokyo, when the leaders of the four nations — Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. — meet to discuss relations with China. But in remarks made on Monday before he even left for Japan, Albanese already said his Labor government is fully on board with the Quad’s agenda, as the previous government of Scott Morrison had been. Perhaps more importantly, Albanese said Australia would sign on to Biden’s just announced creation of a new, 13-nation Asian economic bloc aimed at opposing China’s economic dominance in the region, according to reports in The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Biden had only just announced the new bloc on Monday. Even before he was sworn in, Albanese apparently told Biden about Australia joining the bloc during a telephone conversation they had on Sunday as Biden flew to Japan. Albanese was quoted in The Australian as saying that “he would ‘send a message to the world that there’s a new government in Australia’, while reassuring partners there would be “continuity in the way that we have respect for democracy and the way that we value our friendships and long time alliances.” Albanese also spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Herald reported:

“Albanese spoke to UK counterpart Boris Johnson while flying to Tokyo on Monday. A spokesman described the conversation as friendly and positive. The discussion with Johnson included a commitment from Albanese to support the AUKUS alliance on nuclear submarines and talks on climate change.” Apparently asking for nothing in return, Albanese gave away the store to Biden and Johnson, not even raising Assange’s name, according to these reports. He had the leverage of asking Biden to drop the case and Johnson to block the extradition in exchange for continuity from the Morrison government on AUKUS, the Quad, and on joining Biden’s new economic bloc. Of course, not everything discussed between the leaders was reported. There remains an outside chance Albanese did raise Assange. But there has been no movement on Assange after Albanese gave Biden and Johnson what they wanted.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle May 24 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 65 total)
  • Author
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  • #108385

    Giovanni Bellini Pietà 1474   • We’re in It Now for Sure (Kunstler) • False Russia Collusion Story Began And Ended With Hillary Clinton (JTN) • F
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 24 2022]

    #108386
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Giovanni Bellini Pietà 1474

    Frankly; I’m bored with these Pieta’s…
    The art is of course exemplary; but the subject becomes boring…

    What most disturbs me is the ongoing bullshit regarding the parade of diseases parading across the intertubes which is suppose to keep us in line; under control; the boot on our face!!!!!!!

    #108387
    Red
    Participant

    Mastercard is trialling a biometric payment system that could see customers just use their face rather than contactless cards, smartphones or PINs.

    Fuck mastercard and all the rest of these companies that survive because most cannot do a simple monthly budget. They’re all about to become fossilized dino shit and worth a lot less than a real fossil. They can put their plastic where the sun never shines. People stop using this crap and it will wither and vanish. No monthly payment schemes beyond a place to live.

    #108388
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Read the entire thread.

    #108389
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Biden “Misspeaks” In Vow To Respond Militarily If China Attacks Taiwan, White House Walks Back”

    “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war in his country could only end at the negotiating table, and signaled talks with Russia could begin soon. …Directly contradicting Zelensky, he said talks would not begin until Russian forces completely withdrew from Ukraine. Podolyak said, “The (Russian) forces must leave the country and after that the resumption of the peace process will be possible.”

    All Russia has to do is unconditionally surrender to Ukraine’s lack of an army, and then there’ll be peace.

    Anyway, what we’ve learned of this is that neither Biden nor Zelensky run their countries. Nor anything else. So who is?

    “Several NATO states have discouraged Ukraine from making an agreement with Russia. During his visit to Kiev, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed Zelensky not to negotiate with Russia. Johnson “urged against any negotiations with Russia on terms that gave credence to the Kremlin’s false narrative for the invasion but stressed that this was a decision for the Ukrainian government,” according to Johnson’s office.

    Significantly, Italy has proposed a new four-point peace plan that each side is said to be examining…” one that involved Russia completely surrendering to NATO, including giving up Crimea.

    “Putin’s Blockade of Ukraine Ports a “Declaration Of War”, UN Warns”

    But blockading THEIR ports is NOT an act of war. “It’s not fascism when we do it!”

    “Unfortunately, the vaccination scheme has gone very much awry, and now millions face a future with damaged immune systems. The horror of that is too awful to comprehend, especially by government, which caused the problem in the first place and can’t possibly admit it without demolishing its legitimacy…” –Kunstler

    This is of course the whole POINT of the engineers. By making fighting and delegitimizing everything, there is nothing left to turn to. No actions then have meaning or order. No solutions can therefore be found or agreed on. They are, of course #AntiLogos, which is their religion, and it is the last act before introducing their replacement #god. Also made-up, engineered. A movie. Then they stop screwing everything up on purpose and say “See??? He fixed it! He’s the King!!! The Angel of Light. The new messiah of WOKE!” OMG so dum.

    Anyway, that’s why it doesn’t matter which side you’re on, as long as there is fighting and not unity, as long as there is doubt and suspicion, not love and forgiveness, they win.

    Blackmailing people into doing wrong things and delegitimizing all institutions and experts is the whole method and plan. Keep an eye on it. But THAT is why…they don’t care. They don’t care that you know; they WANT you to know. They NEED you to know. That’s the whole POINT: knowing and being helpless. So don’t be.

    Want the reverse? The government isn’t “Them”; the government is “US”, “We the People.” Are we going to de-legitimize ourselves? Seriously, that’s stupid. Same with speaking. So we’re going to trust the same people from the Iraq War WMD all the way to RussiaRussia to lecture US on disinformation? Only WE can figure that out, by discussing it like we always have.

    I think we’ve jumped the shark:
    “US Trader Bot App. This algorithm trades based on what stocks U.S. Lawmakers are trading.”
    Corruption so entrenched, so endemic, you can bet on it and win every time.

    UN Food Head warns “it is all hands on deck to pull millions back from the brink of famine.”

    By doing exactly nothing. Embargoing ourselves, preventing peace talks. Maybe shut down some baby food factories, a few fertilizer plants, blow up a railroad, who knows? We and Congress haven’t pre-bought stocks on it yet.

    How’s that “Stable Prices and full employment going”? (Check charts), Nope! $22 Trillion erased by the Fed in just 5 months. Just for Americans. Much more than that lost over the whole world. I’m shocked they haven’t come into GFC 2.0 yet. The Fed is 20% behind the curve and has no control. Due to the structure they themselves set up, all actions break things and do not fix them. The Bernank says they are not in control of the economy or the supply chain. Gee, that’s funny, why not? I thought it was your money that directed investment to needed sectors more efficiently (for theft), central-planning style.

    As usual, Cramer says, “The Fed doesn’t understand this, they don’t know what it’s like out there.” Hahahha. They know perfectly well what they’re doing and always have. They are taking money from the only place it CAN be stolen from: workers and the middle class. Michael Pento says “Mr. Powell and the Fed cannot turn dovish imminently. … But record-high inflation is the primary problem facing consumers and corporations. Chair Powell finally understands this. [T]he Fed has been forced to adopt the most aggressive tightening monetary policy since 1980…precisely because an economy cannot function properly while inflation is extremely high.

    In spite of this, the Fed, along with its lackeys in MSFM, are busy trying to convince investors why this current tightening cycle won’t end in recession and a stock market meltdown like nearly every other time in history.”

    ‘Cause: reasons. ‘Cause “I’m a special snowflake” and “This time it’s different.”

    They quote the ‘94 raising (because they have to say something therefore they have to lie) where the Fed raised rates 2.5%. Not TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT. Not twenty TIMES the starting rate: 20X. And they also bought assets on the sly, while Summers had just released his White Paper on breaking the thermometer by selling out Ft. Knox and rigging the gold price, then was put in position to do it as a way to hide inflation signals and control bondholders. Oh and P.S. we ALREADY have negative GDP; last month.

    The chances of a soft landing in the economy are near zero” –Pento. He’s being generous. As the long Hudson-RT interview says, the U.S. is going into a “Long Depression”. 20 years or something as we stop spending on everything and also rebuild work and industry. https://www.dollarcollapse.com/michael-pento-powell-crash-landing/

    Depression? Insider Jim Rickards: “I don’t believe many people grasp the enormity of the global food crisis we’ll be facing in the months ahead. But the world could be on the verge of a massive humanitarian crisis.” The UN and The Economist promised. By breaking everything, then doing nothing, preventing all us workers from fixing what are transparently obvious, easily-fixed, unnecessary and totally wasteful, #Anti-profit problems. When your collapse is self-inflicted, nothing could POSSIBLY be easier than fixing it: stop doing meth and handing your nation’s fortune to Hunter Biden. Boom: 30 minutes later, it’s fixed.

    29% of All Wheat Exports in Jeopardy”

    (P.S. Rickards, being a finance-guy, is a moron. He repeats several times that wheat is planted in April, which has passed. Most wheat is “winter” and it’s planted in late summer/fall. Mostly only soft pastry wheat is Spring. Ask questions, find out. “Time is very very short. We are closing in on a new harvest” –today’s UK quote We don’t plant and harvest in adjacent months.) They have promised widespread unrest and banks are bracing to control and put down the masses for the problems they created, and the people have correctly identified.

    “How dare you make me take the consequences of my actions!?! This “Cause and Effect” must be stopped! If I had to get paid according to my merit, I’d be a janitor living in a halfway house, not a Congressman or Columbia journalist anchoring CNN. I pick stocks, then MAKE the stocks go up and down with Congressional bills and SEC investigations into Elon.”

    Kunstler: The Amish are wildly successful because they don’t have debt. They don’t waste money. They don’t backstab and undermine each other. Just like America from sea to sea used to be, back when we were successful. But hey, gotta go, Netflix is on. CSI Miami is going to teach me new way to lie and murder people for sex and profit.

    “the Clinton campaign created the Trump-Alfa allegation, fed it to a credulous press that failed to confirm the allegations but ran with them anyway, then promoted the story as if it was legitimate news.”

    The Media does anything HRC and DNC tell them. Anything. WikiLeaks proved that HRC personally demanded the whole media cover Trump non-stop and give him billions in free campaign coverage as part of her “Pied Piper” plan. “Don’t let people know I’m a hack” – NY Times journalist, on accepting such biased and essentially illegal (campaign finance fraud) orders from HRC.

    Is that illegal? If they were in coordination with say, Russia, China, or England, i.e. at the express direction and coordination of foreign powers, to wrongfully wrest the power of the whole U.S. nation from the legal vote, what federal crime would that be?

    “Republicans Will Target ‘Public Health Bureaucrats’ When In Majority (JTN)”

    Hahahaha! Republicans doing something! You slay me! Oh wait: they’re being serious?

    “Pfizer Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit From COVID-19 Vaccine Trial (ET)”

    Point taken but irrelevant. Fraud erases the contract under which it was requested and paid and unless Pfizer was paid nothing, is germane to the U.S. and the Pfizer fraud case. …Although that might require re-filing a different sort of accusation.

    “Supermarkets Could Soon Urge You Not to Use Cash or Card to Pay (MEN)”

    I can’t even IMAGINE all the yummy ways to hack this. Has nobody ever checked anything? Top MythBusters, opening a high-tech safe. Put on rubber fingerprints. The end. Works instantly without trouble. Where do I get your fingerprints? Since it’s “everyone” how about a 40-ounce malt from the bottle return? This is 100x easier than hacking the bluetooth on your Tesla, which is already easier than any car theft since 1954. What technology have people ever used that would make them think this would work?

    I’ll tell you what you’ll need to buy food: a 2-pound padlock and the cashier calculating the price at the register, minute-by-minute. That’s if you’re so lucky as to not need baby formula, of which we have none. And you wonder why they tried to kill 25M of their own citizens?

    #108390
    Red
    Participant

    The White House has become increasingly aware of the “worrisome decline” in diesel inventories in the Northeast. According to sources cited by CNN, the White House is considering a release of strategic stockpiles to combat the crisis. Given the reduction in East-coast diesel inventories of ~45mb, and given the size of the strategic “home heating oil reserve” of ~1mb, its unlikely the measure will fix existing imbalances.
    https://seekingalpha.com/news/3841709-white-house-considers-burning-home-heating-oil-reserve-to-reduce-diesel-prices

    Ahh that’s it boys, burn through next years stocks cause the plebes don’t need no stinkin’ heat next winter they’ll all be dead according to the plan.

    #108391
    Red
    Participant

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK, US — Global wheat inventories currently stand at about 10 weeks of global consumption, a food supply expert said during a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council on May 19.

    Sara Menker, chief executive officer of Gro Intelligence, an organization that gathers and analyzes global food and agricultural data, said she disputes official government agency estimates that put global wheat inventories at 33% of annual consumption, countering inventories are closer to 20%.

    https://www.world-grain.com/articles/16941-food-supply-expert-paints-grim-global-picture

    #108392
    EoinW
    Participant

    Is it just me or is anyone else wondering: “what Russian blockade?”

    I thought the ships were remaining in Odessa because 1) Ukraine won’t let them leave or 2) rogue Ukrainian mines are floating in the Black Sea.

    At least we can see the next narrative twist: “Russian blockade responsible for starving the developing world!”

    #108393

    When you’ve realized you’ve killed yourself,
    There’s nothing left to lose-
    So you’re really pissed at everyone you see.
    You figure- what’s the difference? As you raise a glass of booze
    With a toast: Here’s to the start of World War Three!

    #108394
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @our host

    “Put Obama on the stand [ as well ].

    Damn right and leave out as well.
    Here’s how to do it.
    Put him on the stand and verify the members present in his Oval Office for January 5th 2017 Insurrectionist meeting of the principals that launched Russiagate Cover-Up.
    Examine each of those principals to the Insurrectionist Cover-Up under oath.
    Bring back Barack for the cross examination of the century.
    Let’s see how well the monumental prick operates without a teleprompter, the CIA or Chicago school financiers propping him up.

    #108395
    Susmarie108
    Participant

    RE: Giovanni Bellini Pietà 1474 (including the other three offerings this week)

    They provide an opportunity to consider/contemplate the act of giving one’s life for something greater than oneself. You don’t have to believe in Jesus as Christ to get to the essence of the moment these works of art are depicting. The gift is in where a “response” may take you.

    The Artist’s choice to take on the painting/sculpting of that moment is to be recognized. It is one thing to paint/create from real life – and another to do it from the Heart.

    Ilargi indicated awhile back that these are random art selections, and not to draw conclusions as to how he’s seeing/feeling/the world. What we can do is view them as if they are messages, like turning up Tarot cards. Translate as YOU see fit or not.

    LOVE to All.

    #108396
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ citizenx
    Right on
    Racism rears it many heads in many ways
    We are a minority that speak of peace

    ” .. wishing death and illness on Citizens who will not submit” (to our wish),…..
    ————-
    Giovanni Bellini Pietà 1474
    Racist question: Were the people painted “brown” or is that because of the age of the painting?
    ————-
    Instead, Let’s talk peace

    The “Build back Better ” goal is a racist, nazi, snob, elitist, grandiose statement/objective
    ….. “the current system must be nudged to its death sooner rather than later, and on-purpose. “
    ———–
    The purpose of “Election Campaigning” is to mislead the American voter to steal the election

    ———
    A better solution,
    Talk peace
    Talk cease fire

    The USA was allowed to operate a sea blockage, as it did against Cuba, etc., but the Russian Black Sea blockade on Ukrainian grain exports is not allowed because it is effective tool of war for Russia.
    ————-
    Peace is very expensive
    Peace will require more than the $40.1 billion of funding to Ukraine.

    Joe Biden signed a bill over the weekend that provides $40.1 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine.
    ———-
    Do you still believe
    “Journalism is not a crime, it’s essential to preserving our, democracy”
    (new meaning, for we, who are in power)
    ———-

    #108397
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Probably stating the obvious here, but it would appear that the salad days of US financial markets are over. One major symptom of stock markets in trouble is a series of huge swings both upward and downward with an overall downward trend. If today’s losses in the NASDAQ hold at closing-time, it will have lost more than 30% of what it had at its height.

    #108398
    John Day
    Participant

    The new-Amish-kids stopping to talk to Kunstler-the-Elder as he painted the landscape was cool.
    Serendipitous?
    🙂

    #108399
    zerosum
    Participant

    Peter Schiff: The Recession Is Already Here And It Won’t Be Mild
    Zerosum: The shit has already hit the fan. Everybody will eventually get hurt

    #108400
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Then impeach him

    #108401
    John Day
    Participant

    This opens the door to Russian one-upsmanship, which would fit the Russian style currently being displayed. Russians could assure the grain getting to the most needy countries, while also making certain that another “holodomor” is avoided in Ukraine.

    ” The Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, proposed the plan during talks with the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, on Monday in London.

    “Time is very very short. We are closing in on a new harvest and there is no other practical way of exporting the grain except through the Black Sea port of Odesa,” he told the Guardian. “There is no way of storing this grain and no other adequate alternative route. It is imperative that we show vulnerable countries we are prepared to take the steps that are needed to feed the world.”

    Landsbergis proposed that a naval escort operation – not run by Nato – could protect the grain ships as they headed through the Black Sea and past Russian warships. He suggested that, apart from Britain, countries that were affected by the potential loss of grain such as Egypt could provide the necessary protection.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/23/lithuania-calls-for-joint-effort-on-russia-black-sea-blockade

    #108402
    John Day
    Participant

    @Dr D Rich: Obama is fully as competent as Tony Blair, a good speaker and a quick and foresightful thinker.
    “Joe Biden” is the designated fall-guy.
    B.O. quote: “You know you don’t have to do this, Joe…”
    I think it will be under the next Republicant administration that such deposition of B.O. will be considered, but it may never get done…
    Obama is like an establishment super-hero.

    #108403
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Biometric supermarket checkouts
    This is beyond STUPID. Who said that I always want to be the one buying groceries on my account? Shall we go over how frequently I ask someone else to go pick up something in the supermarket?

    #108404
    chooch
    Participant

    Whatever you consume will consume you.

    [..] Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

    [..] For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.

    [doubting..] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

    #108405
    John Day
    Participant

    “I hope the Ukrainians will match the heroism they have shown with wisdom,” Kissinger warned an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding with his famous sense of realpolitik that the proper role for the country is to be a neutral buffer state rather than the frontier of Europe.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/blue-checks-furious-after-henry-kissinger-says-ukraine-should-cede-territory-peace

    #108406
    John Day
    Participant

    Henry-the-K doesn’t say stuff that backfires on him next week.

    #108407
    John Day
    Participant

    Pre-emptive PR strike?
    Ukraine convicts Russian POW of killing unarmed civilian on ordersofsuperior officer, sentences to life in prison. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-soldier-given-life-sentence-ukraines-first-war-crimes-trial

    #108408
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @John Day

    I agree on the Big O

    #108409
    chooch
    Participant

    #108410

    I’ll feature Orlov’s latest in the Rattle tomorrow, but I won’t have the space it deserves. So read today how the west made Russia strong:

    https://thesaker.is/the-secret-american-plan-to-make-russia-great-again/

    #108411
    teri
    Participant

    The Supreme Court released some of this session’s rulings. No, they didn’t release the official ruling on Roe yet. I read about this one at 4 a.m. Eastern time, and it has since disappeared from the news compilers. It basically does away with the idea that a defendant is entitled to adequate representation, and also says that even if you are later proven innocent, you can still be put to death. The majority opinion was some blabber about how the original guilty finding has to be honored even if it turns out you had a shitty attorney who didn’t bother to present evidence that would prove your innocence. Does away with the idea of adequate representation and means that the appeals process pretty much doesn’t exist any more.

    ************
    The Supreme Court Just Said That Evidence of Innocence Is Not Enough

    […] On Monday morning, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court concurred: Barry Jones’ innocence is not enough to keep him off of death row. The state of Arizona can still kill Jones, even if there exists a preponderance of evidence that he committed no crime. […]

    https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-just-said-evidence-024506252.html

    **********************

    #108412
    zerosum
    Participant

    “If you have an alternative explanation, I’d like to hear it.”
    https://thesaker.is/the-secret-american-plan-to-make-russia-great-again/

    I cannot add anything new. I can only repeat a summary of other comments.
    Opinions of our leaders
    – narcissism
    – psychopaths

    I’m the selected anointed one, I’m the expert, I know more than you, don’t bother explaining you alternative I know best, I’m a racist
    Also, if war can make you rich, then, after the destruction, the peace will make you 10X richer.

    #108413
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Orlov is right again, as usual, but he could have saved himself a lot of time and trouble in arriving at his conclusion by simply saying that the precise situation that exists at this very moment is always (and can only be) the predictable consequence of the beliefs and actions of the people who believed and did things based on the facts they accepted as true, and the solutions that they thought would work. If Russia is now strong and America weak because America succeeded in implementing bad solutions and failed at implementing good ones is simply to re-state the self evident.

    Whether those beliefs and actions were due to conspiracy OR NOT, is rather irrelevant. The only things which are relevant are the beliefs and the acts themselves, along with the assignment of responsibility for each belief and every deed to individual people.

    “Eliminating the impossible” is just another way of saying “identifying the actual.” When lies and errors are removed from data, all that’s left is facts and those darned facts just land where they land and that’s all there is to it.

    Conspiracy theories?

    Everything is theoretical until it happens (at which point it becomes too late to change) , and all interactions between collaborators are conspiracy (to either one side or the other in a conflict). That irrefutable truism pretty well covers the bases. In other words, ALL human interaction is applied conspiracy theory.

    Like Sir Doyle’s super-deducer Holmes liked to say, “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

    It would behoove the species at this time to discover and report exactly who did what, with which and to whom. . . eliminating the impossible on the fly as we go. Once that’s all out in the open there won’t be any questions about which parts were conspiratorial (or not) in the naughty sense of the word.

    And the bonus is that if we get right on it and do a good job then we might just still be alive to experience the fruits of our labor.

    #108414
    zerosum
    Participant

    Wrong! Our Civilization will not survive the destruction. Nothing will rise from the ashes.

    “Civilization May Not Survive” – George Soros Tells Davos Crowd, Defeat Putin (And Xi) Or Else
    “The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible.
    That’s the bottom line”

    #108415
    John Day
    Participant

    @Teri: “Innocence of evidence” now trumps “evidence of innocence”… 🙁
    Red Queen: “No, sentence first, THEN verdict!”

    No right to “representation” has existed for 30 years, and there is a backlog of injustice. Now it is declared to be the constitutional status.
    As Dr.D says, “Words mean what I determine them to mean”.

    #108416

    Yay!

    “Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus re-elected as WHO chief for second five-year term”

    https://news.yahoo.com/tedros-child-war-two-term-071926981.html

    Can we talk about the accusations against him now?

    #108417
    John Day
    Participant

    Zerosum said:
    Our Civilization will not survive the destruction. Nothing will rise from the ashes.
    “Civilization May Not Survive” – George Soros Tells Davos Crowd, Defeat Putin (And Xi) Or Else
    “The best and perhaps only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible.
    That’s the bottom line”

    Maybe, just maybe, it is Mr. Soros who will not survive and will fail to rise from the ashes.

    I would distinguish a difference in his words to the Davos crowd:
    “The best and perhaps only way to preserve OUR CIVILIZATION is to defeat Putin as soon as possible. That’s the bottom line”.

    Nice-Mr-Soros seems to be talking about the “civilization” owned by the Davos attendees, perhaps not every-possible-civilization.
    Some outliers might even consider Russia to have a “civilization”, even an ancient civilization, evolved from that of Byzantium, but now I’m just talking-crazy.

    #108418
    zerosum
    Participant

    I can only repeat.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/556015-russia-operation-slowdown-explanation/
    Moscow explains Ukraine operation slowdown
    The move is intentional and allows civilians the chance to evacuate, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu says

    Unlike the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Shoigu said, Russian troops are not carrying out strikes on civilian infrastructure where there may be people nearby. Instead, identified firing positions and Ukrainian military facilities are being hit with “high-precision weapons,” he added.

    Russia attacked its neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

    #108419
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ John Day
    We are on the same page, trying to dot the “I”

    #108420
    zerosum
    Participant

    Canada has a helpful finance minister for her Native country of Ukraine.
    No conflict of interest.

    Canada buys ammunition from US to send to Ukraine
    Canada has purchased 20,000 artillery rounds of NATO standard ammunition for Ukraine to support it in its defense against Russia’s invasion, Defence Minister Anita Anand has said.
    The ammunition was bought from the United States for about C$98m ($76.32m) and would soon be delivered to Ukraine.

    #108421

    #108422
    John Day
    Participant

    Sergey Lavrov on emerging multipolar world:
    The trend consists of the strengthening of this multipolar character, because new centres of economic growth and financial might are appearing in reality (have already appeared). This process is accompanied by increased political influence: China, India, Brazil and South Africa are BRICS countries. They are part of the G20 where both G7 and BRICS are represented, as well as other states that are gravitating towards BRICS. This is the format where the West has to talk with the new centres of the world growth. There is no doubt that the final victory will belong to life rather than artificial attempts to curb the advance of a historical process. They can reach their targets for some time. Now the West is feverishly trying to impede these processes agonising in its response to Russia’s actions in defence of its lawful interests but life will gain the upper hand. There is no doubt that the world will be multipolar. The large self-respecting nations will not settle for the role that the West wants to allot to them, the role of obedient observers. No colonial regime in history lasts for a long time and remains sustainable.
    https://thesaker.is/foreign-minister-sergey-lavrovs-remarks-and-answers-to-questions-during-a-meeting-with-the-new-horizons-educational-marathon-participants/

    #108423
    John Day
    Participant

    On Orlov’s “Make Russia Great Again” essay.
    This is sarcasm, well done.
    However, what is the “actual” reason for the result that Russia has become stronger, more competent and the most self-sufficient country, despite attempts by western financial capitalism and military maneuvers to exploit Russia’s vast resources and dispossess her?

    That is actually a difficult question, which bears directly upon what one supposes the mechanisms are which guide the workings of human affairs in the world.
    Is there an actual strength to be found in modest virtue?
    I’m not answering for you, but Orlov clearly poses the question in an oblique way.

    I assert that we should all have an internal model of how the world actually works for humans as they carry out their affairs. Is there “karma”, or is the function a fancy clockwork of some sort/?
    How would “karma” possibly function?
    How quickly could one become certain that one had developed the right and reliable understanding?

    What might be the best and least risky approaches to gaining understanding of how this complex human world works to punish and reward human decisions and actions?

    If I tell you, I might well be wrong, and how would you determine that?

    #108424
    John Day
    Participant

    @Dr D Rich and Zerosum. Thanks for not taking offense. None was intended.

    🙂

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