Jun 082022
 
 June 8, 2022  Posted by at 7:54 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Pablo Picasso Napping 1932

 

The Very Special Operation (Batiushka)
Biden Works to Prolong Ukraine War (Craig Murray)
The West and the Rest (Münchau)
‘I Don’t Blame Myself’: Merkel Defends Legacy On Russia And Ukraine (Pol.eu)
Studies Show Link Between Prion Brain Disease and Covid-19 Vaccine (GP)
This Is Why It Doesn’t Work (Denninger)
FBI Seizes Retired General’s Data Related To Qatar Lobbying (AP)
White House Refuses To Comment On Hunter Biden Pictures (Radar)
Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Bought $2.1M Worth Of Apple, Microsoft Shares (NYP)
Civil Liberties Are Being Trampled by Congress’s 1/6 Committee (Greenwald)
Peter Navarro: Jan. 6 Panel’s Tactics Designed to Stop Trump Before 2024 (NM)
Trafigura Warns Oil Prices Could Reach ‘Parabolic State’ In Threat To Economy (FT)
Is Our Time Together Running Out? (Stella Moris)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trump

 

 

“When evil comes disguised as progress, celebrated in ignorance as righteous, when truth triggers vitriol & disgust, as the good are slandered & silenced, and when the sick are hailed as heroes, while the natural state of things is ridiculed, then truly we are in dangerous times”

 

 

“Either Russia is victorious in this Very Special Operation or else we shall enter a Dark Age..”

The Very Special Operation (Batiushka)

A Russian Orthodox priest and cultural historian, who has lived in several Western and Eastern European countries, including Russia and the Ukraine, I cannot fail to feel great sorrow at the events unfolding today. But I also feel great hope. The process of barbarous injustice that began in 1914 and ended the Old Europe and has been through all manner of fateful dates, 1917, 1929, 1939, 1945, 1968, 1989, 1991, 2014, to name but a few, is now further unfurling and reaching a global crescendo. As Nikolai Patrushev has stated, the Special Operation is not just a military event, it is far, far more profound than that, this is military, political, economic and cultural. This is why it took so long, eight years, to carry out the necessary painstaking preparations for the Operation, in view of the high probability that the West would refuse to get off its high horse of hubris and negotiate like reasonable people do.

Since the West did refuse to negotiate, the battleground is for now the ultra-militarised Eastern Ukraine. However, the War is not between brother Ukrainians and brother Russians, but between Washington with its NATO/EU vassals and Moscow with its Donbass Allies. There is no doubt that Russia will win in the Ukraine, as it has complete air and naval superiority. The Russian-speaking East and South of the Ukraine, Novorossija, part of Russia until 1922, is being liberated by a smallish expeditionary force of the Russian Army together with local troops. However, the Operation was never planned to be a short one, most knew that it would take months and perhaps, on account of possible NATO meddling, a year or more.

The War is longer because the Kiev Army has been preparing for it for eight long years. It has been building trenches and fortifications, arming itself with a huge amount of NATO training and weaponry, which the Russian Armed Forces are being forced to destroy, together with Ukrainian Nazis, Western mercenaries and NATO instructors. From this conflict a new Ukraine will be born. Perhaps it will once more be called Malorossija or perhaps it will keep its ‘Borderlands’ name. In any case it will be a smallish country, with a population of perhaps some 15 million, centred on Kiev. Whatever its name, it will effectively be the Kievan Protectorate, part of the Union State with the Russian Federation, Belarus and probably others.

[..] Let us be honest. Either Russia is victorious in this Very Special Operation or else we shall enter a Dark Age, from which there will be no end because it will be an Orwellian One World Government. Such One World Dictatorship will brook no opposition, all who challenge it will be repressed. This is our last chance to resist and strike back against the aggression that began in 1914, aggression that was military, political, economic and cultural, a totalitarian aggression that leads to total death, the death of body and soul. But according to all the military reports, let alone the prophecies, Russia will be victorious.

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“..it is actually blocked in by Ukraine’s own mines, which they currently refuse to allow Turkey to remove.”

Biden Works to Prolong Ukraine War (Craig Murray)

I was in Turkey to try to further peace talks, as an experienced diplomat with good contacts there, and as a peace activist. I was not there as a journalist and much of what I discussed was with the understanding of confidence. It will be probably be some years before I judge it reasonable and fair to reveal all that I know. But I can give some outline. Turkey continues to be the centre of diplomatic activity on resolving the Ukraine war. It is therefore particularly revealing, and a sign of Western priorities, that I did not come across a single western journalist there trying to follow and cover the diplomatic process. There are hundreds of Western journalists in Ukraine, effectively embedded with the Ukrainian authorities, producing war porn. There appear to be none seriously covering attempts to make peace.

There was a sea change two weeks ago when Ukraine shifted to a public stance that it would cede no territory at all in a peace deal. On 21 May, Zelensky’s office stated that “The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Previously while they had been emphatic that no territory in “the East” would be ceded, there had been studied ambiguity about whether that referred to Donbass alone or also the Crimea. The new Ukrainian stance, that there will be no peace deal without recovering the Crimea, has ended for now any hopes of an early ceasefire. It appears to be a militarily unachievable objective – I cannot think of any scenario in which Russia de facto loses Crimea, without the serious possibility of worldwide nuclear war.

This blow to the peace process was a setback in Ankara, and I should say that every source I spoke with believed the Ukrainians were acting on instructions conveyed from Washington to Zelensky by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who openly stated he wanted the war to wear down Russian defence capabilities. A long war in Ukraine is of course massively in the interest of the US military industrial complex, whose dripping roasts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have gone rather off the heat. It also forwards the strategic objective of severely damaging the Russian economy, although much of that damage is mutual. Why we live in a world where the goal of nations is to damage the lives of inhabitants of other nations is a question which continues to puzzle me.

Turkey has for now turned towards the more limited goal of ensuring that grain supplies can be shipped out from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus. This is essential for developing nations and essential for world food supplies, which were already under pressure before this war began. Turkey is offering to clear sea lanes of mines and to police the ships carrying grain from the port of Odessa, which is still under Ukrainian control. Russia has agreed to the deal. Ukraine is objecting to this plan to export its own wheat, because it objects to the removal of the mines, which I should be clear were put down in the sea lanes by Ukraine to prevent amphibious attack on Odessa. There is monumental hypocrisy by the West on this, blaming Russia for preventing the export of the grain while it is actually blocked in by Ukraine’s own mines, which they currently refuse to allow Turkey to remove.

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“..did we think we can adequately address a global starvation crisis by pointing the finger at Putin?”

The West and the Rest (Münchau)

The pandemic and the war taught me something I sort of knew, but not really. It is a one thing to say that the world is interconnected, as a cliché. It is quite another to observe what actually happens on the ground when those connections get torn apart. The western sanctions were based on a formally correct but misleading premise, one that I believed myself at least up to a point: That Russia is more dependent on us than we are on Russia. Russia has more wheat than it can eat, and more oil than it can burn. Russia is a provider of primary and secondary commodities, on which the world has become dependent. Oil and gas are the biggest sources of Russian export revenues. But our dependency is most acute in other areas: food and also rare metals and rare earths.

Russia is not a monopolist in any of the categories. But when the largest exporters of those commodities disappears, the rest of the world experiences physical shortages and rising prices. Russia is the world largest exporter of gas, accounting for just under 20% of global exports. Russia is the largest exporter of oil, after Saudi Arabia, and accounts for 11% of world exports. It the largest exporter of fertilisers, and of wheat. Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a third of global wheat exports. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of palladium, a metal that is critical in the production of catalytic converters and fuel cells. Russia is also the largest world exporter of nickel, which is used in batteries, and in the production for hybrid cars. German industry is warning that it is reliant not only on Russian gas, but on other critical supplies from Russia.

Did we think this through? Did the foreign ministries that drew up the sanctions discuss at any point what we would do if Russia were to blockade the Black Sea and not allow Ukrainian wheat to leave the ports? Did we develop an agreed-upon response to Russian food blackmail? Or did we think we can adequately address a global starvation crisis by pointing the finger at Putin? The lockdown taught us a lot about our vulnerability to supply chain shocks. It has reminded Europeans that there have only two routes to ship goods en masse to Asia and back: either by container, or by rail through Russia. We had no plan for a pandemic, no plan for a war, and no plan for when both are happening at the same time. The containers are stuck in Shanghai. The railways closed because of the war.

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“..she said Ukraine “was not a democratically consolidated country” then, still strongly influenced by oligarchs and plagued by corruption..”

“Then”? But not now? What changed?

‘I Don’t Blame Myself’: Merkel Defends Legacy On Russia And Ukraine (Pol.eu)

Angela Merkel defended her diplomatic legacy as German chancellor Tuesday, rejecting accusations that her policies while leading Europe’s largest economy for 16 years were indirectly to blame for Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine. In her first public interview since leaving office in December, Merkel argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have fully invaded his neighboring country much earlier if she and other allies had not taken controversial decisions such as blocking Ukraine’s membership bid for the NATO military alliance in 2008, or negotiating the Minsk peace accords in 2014 and 2015, which Ukraine viewed as disadvantageous for its own security. “I don’t blame myself,” Merkel told an audience at the fully sold-out Berliner Ensemble theater in the German capital.

“I have tried to work in the direction of preventing mischief. And if diplomacy doesn’t succeed, this doesn’t mean that it was therefore wrong. Thus I don’t see why I should say: ‘That was wrong.’ And therefore I won’t apologize.” However, Merkel — who condemned Putin’s invasion as “a brutal assault in defiance of international law for which there is no excuse whatsoever” — also showed some cautious self-criticism: She said she had failed during her tenure “to create a security architecture that could have prevented this [war] from happening.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April called out Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing their longstanding policy of “concessions to Russia” and opposition to putting Ukraine and Georgia on a path toward NATO membership had encouraged Moscow to think “they are allowed to do anything they want” with Ukraine and commit “even the most horrific war crimes” such as in Bucha.

Yet Merkel on Tuesday defended her decision not to grant Ukraine the so-called NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the alliance’s Bucharest summit in 2008, citing two reasons: First, she said Ukraine “was not a democratically consolidated country” then, still strongly influenced by oligarchs and plagued by corruption. Second, Merkel said she was convinced taking such a step would have certainly led to war. “I was very sure that Putin would not just let [Ukraine’s NATO membership] happen. That would have been … a declaration of war for him,” she said, arguing that the Russian leader would have used the NATO accession process, during which Ukraine probably would not have yet benefitted from the alliance’s mutual security guarantees, to “do something.”

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It’s getting very scary.

Studies Show Link Between Prion Brain Disease and Covid-19 Vaccine (GP)

Two new clinical studies – one peer-reviewed by researchers in Turkey, and one pre-print by researchers in France – have begun to establish an alarming link between an incurable, degenerative brain disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and the experimental Covid-19 vaccine. CJD is a “rare” disease that is caused by abnormal infectious proteins in the brain called “prions,” according to NHS. Although the presence of prions is not necessarily dangerous or deadly, the proteins will cause degenerative brain damage if they become diseased or misfolded. Once this process begins, the malfunctioning prions will continue to corrupt other cells, leading to a prognosis that is always fatal.

As of right now, CJD is uncurable. There are zero treatment options available. The diagnosis is essentially a death sentence, but symptoms are traditionally dormant for several years before manifesting into a deadly complication. Unfortunately, with the new cases of CJD that have been linked to the vaccine, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The disease is progressing at an alarming and unprecedented rate. So much so that the team of French researchers highlighted their concerns of the experimental mRNA vaccines contributing directly to creating a new, more aggressive type of CJD. According to the French study, a total of 26 cases of vaccine-linked CJD were included in the research.

At the time of the study’s publication, a whopping 20 out of the 26 CJD patients had already passed away from the disease. Additionally, researchers found that there were “more than 50 cases” of the fatal disease that appeared after taking the experimental vaccines. Despite traditionally taking as much as a decade to manifest with symptoms, the study found symptoms in these new cases began appearing just 11.38 days post-vaccination. In these cases, the disease is killing the affected individuals in under 5 months’ time (4.76 months).

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Everything “green” is falling apart.

This Is Why It Doesn’t Work (Denninger)

Folks, right here: “To meet the nation’s clean energy goals, the US must develop a robust manufacturing capability to produce solar energy panels and components. It can do that by providing financial incentives to US manufacturers to help offset higher domestic production costs, which have been estimated to be 30% to 40% more than imports.” That is the problem. Congress handing out money will not solve it; forcing Americans to pay that 30-40% more simply bankrupts Americans but through a different way. There are many things we can do but they don’t make any sense to do. The only reason someone does it is that there’s a boot on someone’s neck (they’re a slave), the environment is destroyed without care (remediation costs money) and similar.


That’s the beginning and end of it, when you get down to facts. This is not just limited to solar panels. Its also true for EVs; you have to dig half a million pounds of earth up to make just one battery, and there is no economically viable means of recycling them either. Yes, technically they can be recycled, but then you get to pay even more. If the industry will collapse if the 30-40% has to be paid by the end consumer of the product then whatever you’re proposing does not work. Why would you pay 30 cents/kwh for power you can have for 10? Do you understand that this is exactly what we’re talking about here? At 30-40% more the panels are non-economic to put in and use; they’re simply not competitive. At 300% more than what you pay now for electric power you can’t heat or cool your house and eat at the same time.

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Craziest story of the day?! The head of the Brookings Institution.

FBI Seizes Retired General’s Data Related To Qatar Lobbying (AP)

The FBI has seized the electronic data of a retired four-star general who authorities say made false statements and withheld “incriminating” documents about his role in an illegal foreign lobbying campaign on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. New federal court filings obtained Tuesday outlined a potential criminal case against former Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before being tapped in 2017 to lead the influential Brookings Institution think tank. It’s part of an expanding investigation that has ensnared Richard G. Olson, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan who pleaded guilty to federal charges last week, and Imaad Zuberi, a prolific political donor now serving a 12-year prison sentence on corruption charges.


Several members of Congress have been interviewed as part of the investigation. The court filings detail Allen’s behind-the scenes efforts to help Qatar influence U.S. policy in 2017 when a diplomatic crisis erupted between the gas-rich Persian Gulf monarchy and its neighbors. “There is substantial evidence that these FARA violations were willful,” FBI agent Babak Adib wrote in a search warrant application, referring to the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Allen also misrepresented his role in the lobbying campaign to U.S. officials, Adib wrote, and failed to disclose “that he was simultaneously pursuing multimillion-dollar business deals with the government of Qatar.” The FBI says Allen gave a “false version of events” about his work for Qatar during a 2020 interview with law enforcement officials and failed to produce relevant email messages in response to an earlier grand jury subpoena.

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Just keep publishing them. Hunter will have to resurface at some point.

White House Refuses To Comment On Hunter Biden Pictures (Radar)

White House officials and representatives of Hunter Biden remained mum in the wake of Radar Online reports showing President Joe Biden’s son naked with an illegally obtained gun. Officials from the White House, Hunter’s criminal attorney Christopher Clark and Hunter’s lover, Hallie Biden, all ignored requests to comment after the Radar report. Hours after being asked, all three had yet to respond about the pictures or possible legal charges in the case. A White House press office representative told Radar to email its request for comment, but that email has gone unanswered. On Monday, Radar published a series of stories about new photos. The images showed a naked Hunter Biden in October 2018. They also showed him holding a gun, including his finger on the trigger.

The gun was illegally obtained as Hunter lied on an application about his past drug use. His substance abuse addiction has long been documented and he has spoken about it, but he put “no” on a form when asked if he had an issue. The photos also showed apparent drug use and a prostitute as Hunter Biden engages in sex games. Making a false statement on a federal criminal background check, known as ATF Form 4473, is a violation of federal law under Section 922(a)(6) of the U.S. criminal code. It also could violate Section 922(g)(3), which prohibits a drug user from possessing a firearm with ammunition. Hunter was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after he tested positive for cocaine.

Eleven days after Hunter illegally purchased the weapon, his lover Hallie, the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, threw the gun into a supermarket garbage can, triggering a Secret Service, FBI, and Delaware State Police investigation. The photos are the latest in a string of wild behavior for the President’s son, including questions on his business dealings. His current partner, Hallie, is the widow of Hunter’s brother Beau, who died years ago. The newest gun pictures also come at a time when the White House is calling for new gun control measures after a series of mass shootings across the country.

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Infallible stock tip. Your chance to do some insider trading.

Nancy Pelosi’s Husband Bought $2.1M Worth Of Apple, Microsoft Shares (NYP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband bought up to $1.5 million worth of Apple stock as well as up to $600,000 in Microsoft shares, according to recent financial disclosures submitted by the powerful Democratic lawmaker. The periodic transaction report, which was posted on the House of Representatives’ website, indicates that Paul Pelosi bought Apple call options between $500,001 and $1 million on May 13. Eleven days later, the venture capitalist bought additional Apple call options worth an amount between $250,001 and $500,000, according to the disclosure forms. That same day, Paul Pelosi also purchased Microsoft call options worth as much as $600,000.


A call option, or “call,” is a financial contract that gives the option buyer the right to purchase the stock at a certain price. In December, Nancy Pelosi, 82, revealed in filings that she and her husband made as much as $30 million in stock trades involving Big Tech firms. The financial windfall spurred lawmakers from both parties to push forward legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading in stocks. The latest disclosures come just days after it was learned that Paul Pelosi, 82, crashed a new Porsche just five miles from their multimillion-dollar Napa home and vineyard while allegedly under the influence of alcohol. Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, has been accused of profiting off companies which she is responsible for regulating.

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The circus starts tomorrow.

Civil Liberties Are Being Trampled by Congress’s 1/6 Committee (Greenwald)

[..] ever since the pro-Trump crowd was dispersed at the Capitol after a few hours of protests and riots, the same repressive climate that arose after 9/11 has prevailed. Mainstream political and media sectors instantly consecrated the narrative, fully endorsed by the U.S. security state, that the United States was attacked on 1/6 by domestic terrorists bent on insurrection and a coup. They also claimed in unison that the ideology driving those right-wing domestic terrorists now poses the single most dangerous threat to the American homeland, a claim which the intelligence community was making even before 1/6 to argue for a new War on Terror (just as neocons wanted to invade and engineer regime change in Iraq prior to 9/11 and then exploited 9/11 to achieve that long-held goal).

With those extremist and alarming premises fully implanted, there has been little tolerance for questions about whether proposed responses for dealing with the 1/6 “domestic terrorists” and their incomparably dangerous ideology are excessive, illegal, unethical, or unconstitutional. Even before Joe Biden was inaugurated, his senior advisers made clear that one of their top priorities was to enact a bill from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — now a member of the Select Committee on 1/6 — to import the first War on Terror onto domestic soil. Even without enactment of a new law, there is no doubt that a second War on Terror, this one domestic, has begun and is growing, all in the name of the 1/6 “Insurrection” and with little dissent or even public debate.

Following the post-9/11 script, anyone voicing such concerns about responses to 1/6 is reflexively accused of minimizing the gravity of the Capitol riot and, worse, of harboring sympathy for the plotters and their insurrectionary cause. Questions or doubts about the proportionality or legality of government actions in the name of 1/6 are depicted as insincere, proof that those voicing such doubts are acting not in defense of constitutional or legal principles but out of clandestine camaraderie with the right-wing domestic terrorists and their evil cause.

When it comes to 1/6 and those who were at the Capitol, there is no middle ground. That playbook is not new. “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” was the rigidly binary choice which President George W. Bush presented to Americans and the world when addressing Congress shortly after the 9/11 attack. With that framework in place, anything short of unquestioning support for the Bush/Cheney administration and all of its policies was, by definition, tantamount to providing aid and comfort to the terrorists and their allies. There was no middle ground, no third option, no such thing as ambivalence or reluctance: all of that uncertainty or doubt, insisted the new war president, was to be understood as standing with the terrorists.

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“..no senior White House official has ever been put in leg irons for a contempt-of-Congress charge.”

Peter Navarro: Jan. 6 Panel’s Tactics Designed to Stop Trump Before 2024 (NM)

Peter Navarro, former trade adviser to former President Donald Trump, had some choice words for the federal government Tuesday on Newsmax in terms of its conduct with his arrest from last week and subsequent indictment on contempt-of-Congress charges, after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. On “Eric Bolling The Balance,” Navarro characterized last week’s arrest and indictment experience as “beyond appalling,” before sharing a daily timeline of pre-arrest events with host Eric Bolling: On Tuesday of last week, Navarro said, he filed a lawsuit against the Jan. 6 House panel, which he called a “kangaroo committee.”

The rationale for the lawsuit: Navarro says the committee’s “illegal and unenforceable subpoenas” should never carry more weight than a senior White House official’s right of executive privilege. Also, Navarro bluntly says the Jan. 6 committee’s primary purpose isn’t to investigate the events leading up to the Capitol attack. Instead, their “No. 1 job is to stop Trump from running” for president in 2024. On Wednesday, Navarro says he penned a letter to the Jan. 6 panel’s deputy attorney, explaining that his executive-privilege rights would preclude him from speaking formally to the “witch hunt” committee. Later in the day, Navarro called the same FBI agent who visited his home the previous week, and said he’d be willing to surrender under “peaceful” circumstances.

Fast-forward to Friday morning: The feds apparently allowed Navarro to eat breakfast and pack for a quick domestic plane trip before making a “showy” arrest at the airport — with five FBI officials apparently taking Navarro down in public. After the arrest, Navarro said, federal officials didn’t let him make a phone call. Law enforcement officials also put Navarro in leg irons, strip-searched him, and provided no food or water, he said. Navarro’s perspective: This was akin to being in “solitary confinement.” In American history, Navarro said, “no senior White House official has ever been put in leg irons for a contempt-of-Congress charge.” He then added: “I remember thinking, while being held up in the cell, ‘This feels like Stalin’s Russia.'”

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We’re not done.

Trafigura Warns Oil Prices Could Reach ‘Parabolic State’ In Threat To Economy (FT)

The head of Trafigura has warned that the oil market could reach a “parabolic state” this year with prices surging to record highs and triggering a slowdown in economic growth. Jeremy Weir, chief executive of the commodity trader, said that energy markets were in a “critical” state as sanctions on Russia’s oil exports following its invasion of Ukraine had exacerbated already tight supplies created by years of under-investment. “We have got a critical situation,” Weir told the FT Global Boardroom conference on Tuesday. “I really think we have a problem for the next six months…once it gets to these parabolic states, markets can move and they can spike quite a lot.” A parabolic move in markets is generally defined as when a price that has been rising suddenly surges to hitherto unseen levels, mimicking the right side of a parabolic curve.

Weir added it was highly probable that oil prices could rise to $150 a barrel or higher in the coming months, with supply chains strained as Russia tries to redirect its oil exports away from Europe. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, which is trading near $120 a barrel, hit an all-time peak of $147 on the eve of the financial crisis in 2008. The Trafigura executive was the latest to warn that the economy has not yet seen the worst of the energy crisis, with little way of lowering prices as already-squeezed global supplies are likely to get scarcer if Russian production falls further. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, warned last week that prices could reach $150 or $175 a barrel this year. Analysts at Goldman Sachs are forecasting oil could average more than $140 a barrel in the third quarter, when the US summer driving season is at its peak.

Weir said the rising price of other commodities, including metals such as copper and lithium, was also likely to weigh on global economic growth and could ultimately trigger a slowdown to curb demand. “If we see very high energy prices for a period of time we will eventually see demand destruction,” he said. “It will be problematic to sustain these levels and continue global growth.” Russian oil production had already declined by as much as 1.3mn barrels a day — or more than 1 per cent of global demand — with the country’s output of refined products of diesel and gasoline also falling by a similar amount, Weir said.

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Moving. I don’t think we can afford to lose Julian Assange. Because we will lose ourselves.

Is Our Time Together Running Out? (Stella Moris)

When Julian is taken from his cell to the prison yard he tilts his head up so his eyes can focus on the distance. If he narrows his eyes, the double razor wire above becomes a blur. Beyond is the open sky. Julian recently discovered a family of nesting magpies. He spotted their home subversively nestled between the razor wire. I think our family is like those magpies. When we are together, we are always a few metres from their nest. Our children — Gabriel, who is five, and Max, three — only have memories of their father within the brutal surroundings of Belmarsh prison. We don’t know how long our children have left with their father. We don’t know if we can visit him or even talk to him on the phone. If the extradition goes ahead, US authorities retain the right to put Julian in conditions so cruel that no one in his position is likely to survive.

It is impossible for Julian and me to escape a feeling that he is on death row. Our weekly visits may be the only time we have left together. But for how much longer? A few months more, a few weeks, a few days and then only a few hours? I fear in the end we will count the minutes and the seconds. Were it not for our children, this approaching catastrophe would be all-consuming. But Julian and I know these may be the only memories that our children will have of their father. We make our visits as joyous as possible. I don’t need to explain to Gabriel and Max the reality of this place where we go to visit their father. They live it. The children walk under razor wire and past layers and layers of security to reach their daddy.

Guards search inside their mouths, behind their ears and under their feet. The prison dogs sniff them head to toe, front and back. Last week, Gabriel slipped some daisies he had picked by the prison walls into his pocket to give to his father. After he passed through the metal detector his daisies were confiscated during the pat-down search by one of the guards, albeit reluctantly. During visits, our family is allowed to embrace at the beginning and end. We can hold each others’ hands across the table. Julian and I are not allowed to kiss. But Julian would rather kiss his wife and be penalised than have that taken away from him too. So, we kiss.

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George Webb

 

 

 

 

Norm McDonald

 

 


Secretary bird

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 8 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)
  • Author
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  • #109261

    Pablo Picasso Napping 1932   • The Very Special Operation (Batiushka) • Biden Works to Prolong Ukraine War (Craig Murray) • The West and the Rest
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 8 2022]

    #109262
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Pablo Picasso Napping 1932

    I remember this from a while back; it harkens to a more mellow time that is increasingly being lost by us…
    We’re lost in the miasma of the current/present insanity that surrounds us…
    Get out while you can; while it’s still possible…while you still recognize reality…….

    #109263
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Epic tweet-storm. Read the whole thing.

    #109264

    Interesting from RT (which I can get on my phone but not laptop, so no link)

    Oil ban exposes US ‘hypocrisy’

    The supply of Russian crude to the US has almost doubled despite Washington’s claims of giving up on it, the parliament speaker says

    The US has revealed its “hypocrisy” by announcing a ban on Russian oil, while continuing to purchase it in large quantities, Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian State Duma speaker said.

    The US moved to restrict all imports of Russian crude oil, some petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal in early March as part of sanctions imposed on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.

    “Russian oil will no longer be accepted at US ports,” US President Joe Biden vowed back then. But the statement wasn’t backed by action, Volodin pointed out in a post on Telegram on Wednesday.

    The data from the US Department of Energy suggests that “oil deliveries from Russia almost doubled in March compared to February – from 2,325 to 4,218 million barrels, respectively,” the parliament speaker wrote.

    #109265
    Germ
    Participant

    “People aged under 40 are being urged to have their hearts checked, because they may potentially be at risk of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)”

    SADS? – Hahahaha.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10895067/Doctors-trying-determine-young-people-suddenly-dying.html

    #109266
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    Most of my clients closely attached to the university are spending big to modify, remodel, enlarge, etc their homes to the latest fashion. They are feeling “wealthy” on their salaries, stock holdings and pensions. They are aghast at the delays in some formerly easy-to-atrain materials and the prices, but move forward.

    Simultaneously, I hear them talk about “so many interim positions” at the university, and bringing back retired faculty as “adjuncts” instead of hiring new, young faculty into tenure track positions.

    Curiously, for these very bright and educated people, the messages being sent from our marketplace are seemingly not being heard. Or acknowledged.

    Solidly Democrat and left-leaning, they see no connection between President Biden and the current state of our world. It’s all about the need to keep Trump down.

    My working class clients are a little more in tune to energy prices and a sense of turmoil and fragility. Several are focused on insulating their houses, better windows and doors… And, planting gardens. Many are implementing “workarounds”, or simply ignoring, with regard to nonsensical rules (clotheslines, gardens, poultry).

    Interesting to observe the response as I move between these two worlds.

    #109267
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    SADS? – Hahahaha.

    That’s a wee bit macabre; don’ cha think???

    #109268
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    It’s very SADS that so many people refuse to realize what’s actually happening here.

    #109269
    Dr. D
    Participant

    This was pretty good:

    https://www.unz.com/aanglin/the-status-of-the-globalist-agenda-has-been-escalated-from-confused-to-chaotic/

    Among other things: “my overarching theory about what is happening with the Western elite is that the systems that civilizations run on now are extremely complex. You have too much compartmentalization without any effective grand strategists. Without a clear view of all of the compartments, if any compartment fails to accurately assess the situation, or fails to deliver the results it promised, the entire thing fails. What’s more, the compartments have their own internal drives, which can conflict with each other.”

    Then using the example of Ukraine. Source warning.

    “eight years, to carry out the necessary painstaking preparations for the Operation, in view of the high probability that the West would refuse to get off its high horse of hubris and negotiate”

    And they were correct. I’ve been reading the West and Russia ‘negotiating’. I don’t think so because the West is “not agreement capable”. That’s what that word means and why they had to invent it. No treaty, no negotiation matters, might as well not be written, which means all things that happens must be installed and enforced by Russia alone, against all opposition, long-term.

    …But I thought I read a story that Russia had no war plan? They had no idea why they were there, and didn’t expect Ukraine would shoot back at them, they’d be greeted with flowers. Oh wait, that’s just narcissistic projection Americans do 99% of the time, or 100% of the time they open their mouths. 8 years of planning and grim resolve.

    Lloyd Austin, who openly stated he wanted the war to wear down Russian defence capabilities.”

    And keep profits rolling for his personal company Raytheon. Like Hank Paulson did for Sachs. The government, by, for, and in service to Sachs. And Raytheon. No cost is too high as long as somebody else is paying it. When you have a merger of corporation and state, there’s a direct line vacuuming money from the people at gunpoint to the boardrooms of those with access.

    Hudson: Is US/NATO (With WEF Help) Pushing for a Global South Famine?”

    Yes, as this article in Turkey attests. But I just realized the U.S., by killing everyone, killing that 25M WEF, UN, and The Economist promised, they are attacking and cutting off the allies and supporters of Russia. Same as if they just openly bombed them. In fact, far better. For Raytheon. Gee, would that be a war crime? Voluntary wars of aggression and engineered mass-starvation of brown people?

    ..did we think we can adequately address a global starvation crisis by pointing the finger at Putin?”

    No, but why would we address a starvation we WANT, created, and nurture? This is their true love, cherish, protect this tiny, fragile famine from anyone who would prevent or harm it. Deep Love of the heart is reserved only for murder and death.

    “But when the largest exporters of those commodities disappears, the rest of the world experiences physical shortages”

    Manchau misses something more important. Although Russia is only the exporter of 20% and 11% of gas and oil, that’s not abstract, theoretical, perfectly distributed. Burkina Faso may not care about Russian oil, gas, or wheat in the slightest. However, the Russian supply is 80-100% of what can be delivered to many EUROPEAN countries. They don’t have 11% dependency, I think one of the central Euro states had 100% dependency.

    Details matter. “Did we think this through?” No, because as inbred morons protected from consequences of their stupidity for 7 generations they are incapable of rational thought. They also have no grit to endure and zero “grim resolve” to do or die. Why should some part-time plumber in Salsburg sacrifice with grim resolve when he can just make up with his fellows in St. Pete and they both carry on with mutual prosperity and cooperation? After checking Brussels into the channel?

    “It can do that by providing financial incentives to US manufacturers”

    Constantly, they think that ‘money’ = ‘things’. That the map is the territory. The report of the person is the person themselves. That is, they’re g-d insane. They have the intelligence of a 5-year-old. Doc McStuffins is a real doctor inside their TV somewhere.

    The only way history has for a 30% over-valuation of the currency, which 100% of the time hollows out the core empire economy so that it collapses, is to STOP having the world reserve currency and returning to being one nation among many. Then all “exorbitant privileges” are halted, and all the oligarchs lose their power of their “Blood money funnel”. So pretty clearly the USD is 30% overvalued. (I bet much more). No individual corporation can overcome such a headwind, which is why it’s such a “giant sucking sound”. As known and planned. As we told them, as we were right 30 years in a row, and they still don’t care.

    “Why would you pay 30 cents/kwh for power you can have for 10c?”

    There are possible reasons, but I just heard they had gas streetlights throughout NYC in 1900, they didn’t outlaw them in Congress. Electric was just cheaper and worked better. The conversion does itself. If it doesn’t, it’s not “economically” viable, meaning BTU viable, better according to the laws of physics. They are naturally in rebellion to the laws of physics, which is what subsidies and edicts are. #AntiLogos, by definition. Against the Way. The Wu Wei.

    People look at the wasteful surberia stretching out like a cancer across America. Strip malls, nail salons, broken down 3-lane highways with unused traffic lights. That’s BY LAW. The laws we wrote REQUIRE it to be built in this and only this way. Ask around. People try all the time to do something different, but it’s literally illegal. The code enforcement and the city council will stop you, single you out for destruction, refuse all code variances. Then they blame “Capitalism” for the closed-up nail salons that laws written in 1963 demand be created. Suit yourself. The city can vary most anything they want, write any law they feel like, and refuse to enforce everything. They do all the time for their friends and donors. It’s their club. But they won’t. ONLY more roads, ONLY more houses, and ever-shorter, more disposable are permitted. Literally “permitted”. Go to Phoenix suburbs and build a self-cooled, water-recycling earthship and see what happens. They’ll complain about the overloaded grid, the water shortage, then BY LAW do Every. Single. Thing. They can think of to insure that collapse and bankruptcy happens. And therefore everyone dies, with their city, and even themselves. Like Vegas. They cry, “Why, Oh. God? Why????” We hates God who did this to us for evah!!!

    I can’t stop them. I can even tell them but they neither comprehend nor care. “That’s the law” they say, while not following it themselves and running down every city, every town, every structure, grid, or system in America. Okay then.

    “White House Refuses to Comment on Hunter Biden Pictures (Radar)”

    But, but, gun control! But the police will save you! As these individuals ALSO let the gun out of their custody and onto the streets of … Baltimore I think… which is how we heard of the whole thing. When the Secret Service – which I don’t think was supposed to be covering him, as Hunter is not a Senator, nor was his father a presidential candidate, then committed serial felonies to cover up his crime for him.

    No one was charged. As if I need to say that.

    But I’ll g-d charge you if you put a wood stove and water recycling in your building, with GOD as my witness!!! You will go DOWN, mister! Flaunting the law by refusing to freeze to death! “How DARE you???”

    Yeah, ‘Merica. Funny place.

    “Mainstream political and media sectors instantly consecrated the narrative,”

    Why? Why did they do this? Who sent the memo? How was the memo distributed so that “everybody knows”? If we knew that, we would find the name of the memo sender(s).

    right-wing domestic terrorists now poses the single most dangerous threat to the American homeland,”

    Homeland” Hahahaaha! Makes me giggle, you cross-dressing fascists. Anyway, yeah, like we told them on 9-12 about the “Patriot” act. Meaning, like all other laws, like the “Net neutrality”, like “Disinformation” board that it will do the exact #Opposite and target people who DARE to obey Federal law (The Constitution) instead. They didn’t listen, of course, and bombed Baghdad like Jesus said.

    Anyway, if he doesn’t mention it, they are so off base that the 1/6 Committee is ILLEGAL. Yes, it was never legally called and constituted and is pretty transparently a rogue Star Chamber. Which I always do when I’m completely honest and trying to find the truth of course. Call in all and only be friends and allies and arrest anyone else who gets near or points out my totally illegal, anti-Congressional actions.

    But this is Congress, in DC, in ‘Merica, so we don’t follow no laws. I quoted a Congressmen just the other day saying “Don’t you DARE bring up the very second federal law to me!”

    “no senior White House official has ever been put in leg irons for a contempt-of-Congress charge.”

    Much as I don’t want to tolerate the hourly felonies these guys perform, that would be a bad precedent, preventing government from ever functioning again. Thereby letting the bad guys win. No cooperation, no trust = evil reigns.

    And they are in a cross-fire subpoena war right now, arresting each other daily, the precursor to open Civil War.

    …If you haven’t heard, civil wars happen when OLIGARCHS fight. Nobody gives a s—t when the actual little people fight or not. That’s the twin of the phrase “all wars are banker wars.” Not bankers, but rich idiots, but the rich idiots can’t shoot other rich idiots without securing financing first.

    “Of course people don’t want war. Why should a poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best thing he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece?” — Goring

    He says of course that then you have to LIE! And tell him the country is under attack and keep him in a state of perpetual anxiety and fear of all the fake, false stuff you’re LYING! About the other oligarchs. Then he’ll die for you. Joy! …Sound familiar?

    Right now the best lies that will kill the most people are about climate. Behold the Green horseman of the E-pocylypse

    Biden says this, the high oil prices and shortages are a GOOD thing. Everything is going according to plan and will get worse for every person in America and probably the world. The WEF promised.

    “If the extradition goes ahead, US authorities retain the right to put Julian in conditions so cruel that no one in his position is likely to survive.”

    Gosh humans are weird. Constantly saying “Gee, if we don’t look out, things could get bad.” Like right now: “if we don’t look out, we could find ourselves in an authoritarian police state run by fascists who arrest the innocent, keep them solitary for political stunts, steal all the jam and leave us with shortages while killing millions with destroyed small businesses and food shortages. They might even fly our daughters to small islands and sniff their hair.” I mean, really?

    No, U.S. Federal prisons will not be worse than Belmarsh. Maybe not better, but not worse either.

    NOW is the time you need to prevent. That you can cope with it is great. But they always say “I’ll get off the couch later, when things get bad.” Since 1953. As good as never.

    #109270
    zerosum
    Participant

    How the world works
    How our social/economic system works

    “I don’t blame myself, therefore I won’t apologize.”
    ———
    Old/New gun laws won’t apply/save everyone.

    https://radaronline.com/p/white-house-hunter-biden-gun-photo/
    By: Alex Lang
    Jun. 6 2022
    White House Refuses To Comment On Hunter Biden’s Naked, Illegal Gun-Toting Pictures
    ————
    Tomorrow has arrived

    “Either you are with us, or you are with the right-wing domestic terrorists”
    ———–
    • Peter Navarro: Jan. 6 Panel’s Tactics Designed to Stop Trump Before 2024 (NM)
    ———-
    White racists agenda, engineered mass-starvation of brown people?

    #109271
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for more good late-night entries, Commenteers, especially TAE Summary!

    PRION DISEASE: Watch this space, folks. mRNA vaccines cause your cells to become spike-protein-making-Energizer-Bunnies, for at least 6 months. mRNA is typically gone after 30 minutes of work, but they needed this stuff to work longer, so they modified it to resist degradation in the cell. Who knew how long it would stay active? No time to do the full test, until Robert Malone MDs group reported in July 2021 that 6:6 people they tested for spike protein in the bloodstream, 6 months after Pfizer/Moderna jabs, still had circulating spike protein…
    It build up in “Amyloid deposits”, like giant fat islands in a London sewer.
    These may be Prion-Globs, as it now appears. Before the “vaccines” were released some theoretical concern was voiced that some of those sequences corresponded to prion-sequences. It could be a problem later…
    Is this what Luc Montagnier meant when he predicted the jabbed with spike-protein-making “vaccines” would be “dead in 2 years”? Did he leave some better notes?
    I followed a patient with Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease down the tubes as a senior medical student. It took almost a month to make the diagnosis. Weirdest disease I ever saw. Brain biopsy told the story.
    Will 2/3 of westerners die this way? All my kids?
    I’m just asking. We will all wait patiently.

    Dr.D brings up the high cost of American Labor in solar panel manufacture. That’s why socialized-medicine, socialized safety-net, social-security and things like that were devised, according to Michael Hudson, to reduce effective costs of labor and facilitate export competitiveness. Farmers on combines growing 5000 acres of wheat are the most productive laborers, but they are all bankrupt, losing the farms to Bill Gates, who will have drones farm it for him. The US lost Kissinger’s food-as-weapon dominance and now needs to sanction food-exporting Russia.
    Sanctions work great when you have the global reserve currency, and can also make it disappear POOF! when it belongs to bad-guy Putin, or bad-guy Xi, or bad-guy Bin-Salman…
    Sanctions don’t work when you don’t print the global reserve currency. Venezuela can’t sanction anybody, or even keep their own gold.

    Solar cell manufacture in the US:
    Works if labor costs are much lower. Losing reserve currency status can do that. Socializing the life support system for society might help, but maybe the feds are not the right ones to do that.
    A not-secret, told to me by a NASA friend is that patents on the triple-layered PV cells expired. They have been licensed for “only in space”, but now they can go on your roof. They are much more efficient, and a little more expensive to make. Wouldn’t it be nice to make them in the USA?
    It’s a “strategic industry”. There is no way to avoid a command-economy as America re-industrializes.
    Financier-planned-economy fed the parasites and killed the living flesh. We’ll have to get back to that one later, right?

    #109272
    zerosum
    Participant

    For free? No strings?
    Ukraine is getting loans, credit, and supplies from the west.
    Who will be paying those loans/taxes back?
    Of course, it will be those that could not leave/escape to other countries.
    Those remaining will find ways of not paying taxes or go bankrupt.

    #109273
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Great interview with Brett Weinstein:

    #109274
    John Day
    Participant

    I liked what came out, so it’s on the blog now. Pre/post tomato-canning pics from last night, too.
    https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/as-time-goes-by?s=w

    PRION DISEASE: Watch this space, folks. mRNA vaccines cause your cells to become spike-protein-making-Energizer-Bunnies, for at least 6 months. mRNA is typically gone after 30 minutes of work, but they needed this stuff to work longer, so they modified it to resist degradation in the cell. Who knew how long it would stay active? No time to do the full test, until Robert Malone MDs group reported in July 2021 that 6:6 people they tested for spike protein in the bloodstream, 6 months after Pfizer/Moderna jabs, still had circulating spike protein…
    It build​s​ up in “Amyloid deposits”, like giant fat islands in a London sewer.
    These may be Prion-Globs, as it now appears.
    Before the “vaccines” were released theoretical concern​s​ w​ere​ voiced that some of those sequences corresponded to prion-sequences. It could be a problem later…

    ​ ​Is this what Luc Montagnier meant when he predicted the jabbed with spike-protein-making “vaccines” would be “dead in 2 years”? Did he leave some better notes?
    I followed a patient with Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease down the tubes as a senior medical student. It took almost a month to make the diagnosis. Weirdest disease I ever saw. Brain biopsy told the story.

    TWO New Studies Show Link Between Incurable, Degenerative Brain Disease and the Experimental Covid-19 Vaccine


    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358661859_Towards_the_emergence_of_a_new_form_of_the_neurodegenerative_Creutzfeldt-Jakob_disease_Twenty_six_cases_of_CJD_declared_a_few_days_after_a_COVID-19_vaccine_Jab

    ​ ​Will 2/3 of westerners die this way? All my kids?
    I’m just asking. ​I’ll wait patiently.

    ​ “Joe Biden” will reduce the import tariffs​ on Chinese solar panels, but is also invoking the Defense Production Act to induce US manufacturing of solar cells to resume. It costs more here, 30% more, or so. It is a strategic industrial capability. It looks like American manufacturing can’t compete without government help these days.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-invokes-defense-production-act-accelerate-solar-fuel-cells-latest-flailing-attempt

    ​ ​Solar cell manufacture in the US​ c​an work economically​ if labor costs are much lower. Losing reserve currency status can do that. ​Reducing effective labor cost was why socialized-medicine, socialized safety-net, social-security and things like that were devised​ in industrial nations​, according to Michael Hudson​.​ ​Taking the parasites off of the social-utilities ​facilitate​s​ export competitiveness.​ The Federal Government might not be the best manager of these utility functions, though…​

    ​ ​A not-secret, told to me by a NASA friend is that patents on the triple-layered PV cells expired. They have been licensed for “only in space”, but now they can go on your roof. They are much more efficient, and a little more expensive to make. Wouldn’t it be nice to make them in the USA?
    It’s a “strategic industry”. There is no way to avoid a command-economy as America re-industrializes.
    Financier-planned-economy fed the parasites and killed the living flesh. We’ll have to get back to that one later, right?

    #109275
    John Day
    Participant

    ​Farmers on combines growing 5000 acres of wheat are the most productive ​American ​laborers, but they are all bankrupt, losing the farms to Bill Gates, who will have drones farm it for him. The US lost Kissinger’s food-as-weapon dominance and now needs to sanction food-exporting Russia.
    Sanctions work great when you have the global reserve currency, and can also make it disappear POOF! when it belongs to bad-guy Putin, or bad-guy Xi, or bad-guy Bin-Salman…
    Sanctions don’t work when you don’t print the global reserve currency. Venezuela can’t sanction anybody, or even ​retrieve​ their own gold​ from London​.

    ​ Keep watching Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has had working relations with Russia since the mid 1950s, and abstained from the UN vote against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian oil will now flow to bankrupt Sri Lanka. Who is footing the bill? China? This is a premier opportunity for Russia and China to rescue a starving country with a new alternative to the $US and IMF debt-slavery. China might even pay off Sri Lankan debt, and transfer it to a new Eurasian-World-Bank if such a thing comes into being soon. China has all of those US T-bills to invest better, until they go POOF! Russia used to.​
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cash-strapped-sri-lanka-looks-russia-quench-thirst-oil

    ​ ​There was a coup/assassination attempt by Turkish military officers against “Sultan” Erdogan in 2016
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/04/turkish-court-finds-soldiers-guilty-erdogan-coup-assassination-plot .
    ​ ​All the best rumors are that the US/CIA were behind this, and that Russia informed Erdogan at the last minute, saving his living-ass and foiling the coup. It was clear to Erdogan which way the ill-wind was blowing. Turkey is a “NATO member” now. Erdogan knows which parties are “agreement capable”. He’s a shameless opportunist, but he’s NOT STUPID.
    ​ ​I presume there is Byzantine diplomacy between Erdogan and Putin. They are going to cooperatively de-mine the black sea for wheat-transport ships.
    Playing nicely…​ Turkey Calls On Ukraine To Cooperate With Russian ‘Grain Corridor’ Plan To Unblock Ports
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/turkey-calls-ukraine-cooperate-russian-grain-corridor-plan-unblock-ports

    ​”Mostly Peaceful”: Armed Man Arrested Outside Brett Kavanaugh’s House; Planned To Kill Supreme Court Justice
    ​https://www.zerohedge.com/political/armed-man-arrested-outside-brett-kavanaughs-house-planned-kill-supreme-court-justice

    ​ ​EU politicians are rational-actors , guided by bribes and threats from the western deep-state-swamp and its owner-financiers.
    Their real job is to deliver the people willingly to the orders of Their-Masters.
    It’s getting hard to deliver people “willingly” to these schemes, ​current plans are​ not “winterized” without Russian natural gas.
    ​I’m pretty sure that’s what Kissinger has been saying. “The West” has to negotiate now or lose access to strategically-necessary Russian energy and exports.​
    He said it to the press, then he said it at Davos. Kissinger is a messenger for Rockefeller interests.

    American “Gas crisis” is “Policy” (Corn Ethanol in gas, degrades engine life, raises prices of gas and corn and reduces corn supply for food.) Tom Luongo
    ​ ​A couple of months ago there was a little announcement that the Biden administration would raise the cap on ethanol blending into gasoline stocks beyond the 10% limit in order to alleviate the ‘gas shortage.’
    ​ ​On the surface that idea made a kind of simplistic sense, along with the releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, if we were no longer going to buy crude oil from the Russians.
    ​ ​But, there’s only one problem with that, namely there isn’t enough ethanol to blend into the gas. Oh, and that SPR release? It all went to Europe while prices rose here.
    ​ ​Moreover, that same fuel needed to produce nitrogen fertilizer which is needed to produce the corn is part of the same supply shortage that we’re supposedly trying to help overcome.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bidens-food-and-fuel-crisis-its-policy-stupid

    #109276
    John Day
    Participant

    S​urvey results (Russian friendly website Alert) ​ ​Most Americans Accept “Ukrainian Defeat”: Opinion Poll
    One of the largest American think tanks, Democracy Institute, recently carried out an opinion poll on some topics concerning the Ukrainian issue…
    [The Democracy Institute is a think tank based in Washington, DC and London. It was founded in 2006. According to the University of Bath’s Tobacco Tactics project the institute has taken part in pro-tobacco activities and has previously received funding from the tobacco industry.]
    ​ ​The data shows how Americans are tired of seeing their government involved in a conflict whose results will not bring any improvement to the people. Only 36% of the respondents said they supported Biden’s policy in Ukraine, while 53% said they were against it.
    ​ ​The numbers concerning other questions asked to the respondents corroborate the Democratic President’s unpopularity. For example, 45% said they would be fine if the US “allowed” the Ukrainian defeat, stopping sending military aid and letting the conflict end with the inevitable Russian victory. In the same vein, 50% of respondents were against the billion-dollar aid packages for Ukraine, and only 5% claimed to see Kiev as a priority for the US.
    ​(Wait, how did this question get into that survey?)
    Furthermore, 16% of respondents claimed that they would like to see Russian President Vladimir Putin as the leader of the US. ​ ​https://www.globalresearch.ca/most-americans-accept-ukrainian-defeat/5782676

    ​Here is a Ukraine War update (excerpted) from the Russian Minister of Defense:
    ​ ​As for today, 97% of the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic has been liberated.
    ​ ​Residential areas of Severodonetsk have been fully liberated. The takeover of its industrial zone and neighbouring settlements continues. The offensive in the Popasnaya direction is developing.
    ​ ​51 units of foreign military equipment have been destroyed during the last 10 days of the special military operation.
    ​ ​In five days, 126 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine surrendered, their total number is 6,489 people.
    ​ ​In Mariupol, water and electricity supply to residential areas is being restored in stages, streets are being cleared and the first social facilities have started to function.
    ​ ​The Azovstal plant, including its underground facilities, has been completely cleared of mines.
    ​ ​Berdyansk sea port has started to operate. On behalf of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief they are ready to load grain at these ports.
    ​ ​The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporozhye, which can generate up to half of all nuclear power generation capacity of Ukraine, is operating normally.
    ​ ​33 coal mines, 2 oil fields and 14 gas fields taken over by Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics during the special military operation continue to operate normally. The liberated territories are home to 57% of Ukraine’s steelmaking capacity.

    Teleconference: National Centre for State Defence Control chaired by General of the Army, Sergei Shoigu

    Julian Assange’s wife Stella Moris reveals how they raise children together while he is in jail waiting an extradition decision
    ​ ​When Julian is taken from his cell to the prison yard he tilts his head up so his eyes can focus on the distance. If he narrows his eyes, the double razor wire above becomes a blur. Beyond is the open sky.
    ​ ​Julian recently discovered a family of nesting magpies. He spotted their home subversively nestled between the razor wire. I think our family is like those magpies.
    ​ ​When we are together, we are always a few metres from their nest. Our children — Gabriel, who is five, and Max, three — only have memories of their father within the brutal surroundings of Belmarsh prison.
    ​ ​We don’t know how long our children have left with their father. We don’t know if we can visit him or even talk to him on the phone. If the extradition goes ahead, US authorities retain the right to put Julian in conditions so cruel that no one in his position is likely to survive.
    ​ ​It is impossible for Julian and me to escape a feeling that he is on death row. Our weekly visits may be the only time we have left together.​..
    ​..​Were it not for our children, this approaching catastrophe would be all-consuming. But Julian and I know these may be the only memories that our children will have of their father. We make our visits as joyous as possible.
    ​ ​I don’t need to explain to Gabriel and Max the reality of this place where we go to visit their father. They live it. The children walk under razor wire and past layers and layers of security to reach their daddy.​..​
    ​..​During visits, our family is allowed to embrace at the beginning and end. We can hold each others’ hands across the table.
    Julian and I are not allowed to kiss. But Julian would rather kiss his wife and be penalised than have that taken away from him too. So, we kiss.​ (Prison rebellion​ ;-}
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-08/stella-moris-my-life-with-julian-assange-extradition/101132624

    #109277
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Note to myself (English is my 2nd lang) – mindless re-post of an article about the plight of Assange’s family that was already included in TAE list was explained to me as an “overlap with a reason” in reply to my previous inquiry about the practice that, in my opinion, shows that poster is barely reading what’s offered on this site.

    #109278
    zerosum
    Participant

    New sexually transmitted disease – monkeypox

    #109279
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    “Mainstream political and media sectors instantly consecrated the narrative,”

    Why? Why did they do this? Who sent the memo? How was the memo distributed so that “everybody knows”? If we knew that, we would find the name of the memo sender(s).

    It’s a *BIG* club CULT & you’re *NOT* in it!

    As many may recall, I was once a credentialed “in-house” journalist within a large .GOV press-room, surrounded by minions from every “news” corps imaginable.

    But yet, I wasn’t one of “them”. I was NOT sorted, picked & groomed by a skool of “journalism”. I was there due to entrepreneurial skillz, that utilized the “web” to create an industry from scratch.

    The retainers were both perplexed & intrigued, like a tabby observing a mountain lion…

    Over the following decades (immediately after my stint in the Christian Patriot Fax Network), I observed these Manchurian operatives as they “reported” (more like regurgitated) local events, always gathering for impromptu meetings to compare notes, to conspire re: “The Narrative” ~ No, I am NOT kidding.

    Early on I made it clear that I only would report the facts, to the best of my ability, that I wanted no part of “The Narrative”. This led to a constant campaign of belittlement, dismissal of status, at times outright harassment….

    That was fine by me. Having been a cog in the MIC I was prepared for abuse, although that was usually more in your face. I knew I could never trust THEM!

    Eventually after 15 years they finally deduced that we had carved out a unique, profitable niche & hired lower level minions in a failed effort to push us out. They lost. Billion $$$ corps couldn’t compete against our genuine hard work, intelligence & honest product. NOt to mention an impeccable track record our clients relied upon…

    The straitjacket of proglodyte brain wiring was no match for real reality American ingenuity, ethics & resolve.

    The reaction to failure was a litany of lies, hate-filled provocations, then befuddled resignation to defeat.

    One apparatchik journalist was so far over the NPD line of demarcation that she exuded the presence of a walking migraine carrying a hand grenade. Even the other CULTists were afraid of her, acquiescing to her tirades of toxic PC newspeak, in an effort to diffuse, rants that would make a Karen blush…

    Since she was an Ivy League edumakated “journalist” (affirmative action latina du jour), no one questioned her status, nor her judgment (hate everything not PC!), even her bankster spouse cowered before her like a beaten dog. Her son, last time I saw him, was a toxic cesspool, no doubt on his way to a physic break.

    I could site hundreds of stories of card carrying pathological “journalists”, but the point is they ALL play by the same rules. NO individual thought, initiative, imagination or ethics allowed!

    ALL sorted for compliance by journalism kamp Kommandants…

    I, of course, came from a non-journalism indoctrination background.

    Also since I was an independent self-starter, with a thirst to learn FAR more than my fellow “students”, I was a foreign thinking “American” in their CULTure of fantastical insanity & hate…

    Thankfully my life’s experience prepared me to deal with such an insidious CULTure, forsaking personal attachments, having no desire to play their demented reindeer games.

    I also kept my cards close to my chest, knowing the lying, cheating, scummy disposition of the “IN” crowd, that they would scour for any chink in my armor of unique individuality…

    In summation, “Mainstream media” is the province of group think, newspeak fantasy, #anti-freedom lies, hate & indoctrinated propaganda. Then there is the infiltration of intel ops into the editorial suites, the shadowy apparitions of which I will not comment.

    I’m afraid the experiment of self-government has been poisoned & co-opted from within, with the masses slowly mind poisoned to follow the Pied Pipers of dystopian evil into their cages, then death…

    Be aware, love & care for one another, the future is upon us!

    Praying for all,

    Gary

    #109280
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    AddendumB: Since about 1994 my personal quest became the cause of restoring America’s Democratic Republic, under Natural Law, as founded by the Sons of Liberty…

    About 1997 I realized the futility of that cause due to majority indoctrination under Imperial Emergency Powers, which blocked any such attempts from the bottom up 😕

    Switching gears, I began searching the populace for awareness of real reality, which was then extended to a broad swath of journalists, lawyers, judges, politicians, various executives & banksters…

    I found that the 99% of word monkeys were totally oblivious to the legal concept, knew next to nothing about Locke & Hobbs (just like the general populace), complete ignorance of where the American Revolution + Declaration of Independence was derived.

    Unlike gen pop, once I explained the history & ramifications, most of the “journalists” were hostile to the concept, true totalitarian sycophants, lackeys & toadies to the very core 😕

    Only the older, pregeneration X grokked the significance of the dilemma, with later generations seemingly in agreement that America needed to be cleansed of all influence from white supremacist slave owners…

    Of course the only demographic with exposure/knowledge of Natural Law was among lawyers/judges, who viewed the concept as antiquated & without merit ~ Law schools almost ALL teach a fawning devotion to Imperial elites & their anointed operatives. THAT is where the money & power is!

    I’m sorry to report, from my informal canvasing, that for recent generations the indoctrination is near fait accompli…

    #109281
    WES
    Participant

    Yesterday the Ukraine had a really winning day.
    Only 780 Ukrainians got totally cancelled.
    However the number of partly canceled Ukrainians is not known.

    So far in this war only 6479 lucky Ukrainians have managed to escaped being totally cancelled. That speaks to the effectiveness of the neo-nazis control over regular Ukrainian constrips. We know hundreds of Ukrainians have been shot in the back of the head.

    Since this is mostly a, one sided, long range artillery fight, opportunities for regular Ukrainian constrips to surrender are slim as most are holed up in trenches and bunkers with no Russians in sight. But the neo-nazis can see them clearly. So terror surrounds them from both front and behind. SADS at it’s worst with seemingly only one way out.

    NATO’s “no retreat” Ukranian strategy makes perfect sense. It is prolonging the war. This is agreeable to the Russians too because it reduces their casualties, keeps feedings them neo-nazis, keeps the war locally contained, and low keyed.

    Evidence of war crimes committed by two British and one Moroccan mercenaries (we didn’t shoot nobody) has been completed. The death penalty waits.

    Yes, a good war being fought to the last Ukrainian.

    #109282
    zerosum
    Participant

    Stop the bullshit.
    Look at where the grain elevators are located. Russia does not control the grain. All the grain must be trucked out. It will not be enough to avoid starvation. It must be truck.
    https://latifundist.com/en/novosti/53725-nazvany-krupnejshie-linejnye-elevatory-ukrainy-v-2020-godu
    Highest storage capacity grain elevators in Ukraine 2020: rating
    29 January 2021

    #109283
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #109284
    Autonomous Unit
    Participant

    https://youtu.be/UrxRJ9HlfZkThere is only so much oil in the ground

    Sooner or later there won’t be much around
    Tell that to your kids while you’re drivin’ round downtown
    That there’s only so much oil in the ground

    We can’t cut loose without that juice
    Can’t cut loose without that juice
    If we keep on like we doing
    Things for sure will not be cool
    It’s a fact we just ain’t got sufficient fuel
    Cause there’s only so much oil in the ground
    Sooner or later there won’t be none around
    Alternate sources of power must be found
    Cause there’s only so much oil in the ground

    Yes, there’s only so much oil in the earth
    It’s a fact of life – for what it’s worth
    Something every little girl and boy should know from birth
    That there’s only so much oil in the earth

    There’s no excuse for our abuse
    No excuse for our abuse
    We just assume that what we use
    Will not exceed the oil supply
    But soon enough the world will watch the wells run dry

    There’s no excuse for our abuse
    No excuse for our abuse
    We just assume that what we use
    Will not exceed the oil supply
    But soon enough the world will watch the wells run dry

    Cause there’s only so much oil in the ground
    Sooner or later there won’t be none around
    You can tell that to your children while you’re drivin’ round downtown
    That there’s only so much oil in the ground
    And there’s only so much oil in the earth
    Sooner than you think there’s gonna be a heavy duty dearth
    And there won’t be too much time, for no merriment or mirth
    Cause there’s only so much oil in the earth

    We can’t cut loose without that juice
    Can’t cut loose without that juice
    If we keep on like we doing
    Things for sure will not be cool
    It’s a fact we just ain’t got sufficient fuel

    (There is only so much oil)
    (There is only so much oil)

    (There is only so much oil)
    (There is only so much oil)

    #109285
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    “my overarching theory about what is happening with the Western elite is that the systems that civilizations run on now are extremely complex. You have too much compartmentalization without any effective grand strategists. Without a clear view of all of the compartments, if any compartment fails to accurately assess the situation, or fails to deliver the results it promised, the entire thing fails. What’s more, the compartments have their own internal drives, which can conflict with each other.”

    Another theory, which I subscribe to, is that the decline of the people in government is no different to the decline of the people in the mass population, the sheep. We do not have leaders any more which is how WEF has installed WEF whores in all the governments in the west. Do WEF really believe that those people can lead or do they believe those people will obey instructions? It is a hierarchy of sheep and the sheep at the top are as useless as the sheep on that Reddit thread that Dr D posted yesterday (https://old.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/v0xbah/what_do_you_think_of_the_united_nations_report/).

    Talking of that reddit thread – which provided me with so much entertainment and an unusual feeling of superiority, similar to that felt when listening to kids talk about getting drunk – the most enjoyable section was this:

    Consider Dr. Fauci, who is a real scientist who respects the scientific method. Dr. Fauci was able to explain a complex scientific concept (pandemic) using ordinary words regular people could understand, and he was unbiased, meaning he changed his recommendations as new information became available. We don’t have a Dr. Fauci of climate science. We have struggling academics fighting for name recognition by out-competing each other on doomsday rhetoric. It’s not the same thing at all.

    Oh dear I said as I looked at the hole in the engine block where the piston had escaped. Repairable? I don’t think so: maybe Pfizer will terminate these people.

    #109286
    WES
    Participant

    Bosco:

    Since a GMO is basically a lab created bioweapon, it should not be a great surprise that it could be more subseptabĺe to being targeted by a second lab bioweapon!

    The first bioweapon naturally creates the opening from which the second lab bioweapon can exploit!

    Interestingly Russia has banned all GMO plants and animals! I wonder why?

    #109287
    zerosum
    Participant

    Think ….
    The grain needs to be sent to where the Ukrainians have gone, (Poland), to be fed.

    #109288
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Bit of the ‘off topic’ stuff: RealEstate: Two part vid.Worth hearing it all out!

    Part 1: https://youtu.be/LHJpbBm0vyQ
    WORSE THAN 2008? This Housing Crash will have MEGA PRICE DROPS

    Part 2: https://youtu.be/TNJWP24iQL0
    Will Home Prices Crash As Much As In 2008? “Increasingly Possible” Housing Firm Reventure Consulting

    Best,

    F.S.

    #109289
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    I suspect most Ukrainian refugees won’t be staying in Poland for very long!
    Poland doesn’t have very good welfare benefits but Germany sure does!

    #109290
    WES
    Participant

    Finally someone has written a Canadian children’s book on Trudeau stealing the people’s “Freedom”!
    It is a parody of the Canadian Trucker’s Freedom Convoy written along the lines of Dr. Suisis’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
    Number one best seller on Amazon Canada.
    I wonder how long before it will be banned?

    #109291
    chooch
    Participant

    But according to all the military reports, let alone the prophecies, Russia will be victorious.

    “To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: To lose a general in battle is surely a misfortune; but lose a general in battle every single week over the course of 14 weeks, and it starts to look like carelessness.”

    June 7th, 8pm: Heroic defense of the Donbas’ keeps Russia from gaining over last day.

    June 8th, 10am: Ukrainian forces could pull back from embattled eastern city.

    Severodonetsk will decide Ukraine’s future. (No it won’t, the high ground on the other side of the river will)

    https://unherd.com/2022/06/severodonetsk-will-decide-ukraines-future/?=frlh

    Visualizing the first hundred days.

    #109292
    chooch
    Participant

    Ukrainians are behind the 8 ball. Looks grim.

    It now turns out that Germany won’t send the M270 MLRs Scholz promised to Ukraine until much later than thought. The Germans say the weapons system lacks a software update making it possible to fire American and British missiles.

    A reliable source tells me (Gary Kasparov) that US howitzers are still arriving slower and in smaller quantities than promised, and without the electronics needed to be more accurate. I’d like to know who is in charge of sabotaging US weapon shipments.

    A RIA Novosti source claims that four Russian Su-57 fighters took part in targeting air defenses in Ukraine while operating in a single information network. The 4th and 5th “production model” Su-57 were recently delivered to the Russian Air Force.

    #109293
    chooch
    Participant

    Ukraine has ample recruits, but not enough people to train them; there’s one-month waiting list to join the Ukr forces.

    I read there has been something like 18 Russian military recruitment centers torched.

    #109294
    chooch
    Participant

    Noodle this. Irkutsk is 3300 miles (driving by car) to Severodonetsk.

    My favorite open sources have been mum for about a week, but Telenko had this to say recently. Could be related.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1534291035924340736.html

    #109295
    TAE Summary
    Participant

    If you take a nap in the open
    Make sure you keep both cantaloupe in
    If one should fall out
    There isn’t a doubt
    Some Biden will soon come a’ gropin’

    #109296

    Communications have increased;
    Our little worlds and lives have ceased.
    We know so much of everywhere
    It’s hard to live without a care.

    Connected thus, we think too much
    Of things that we can never touch.
    It makes us all inadequate.
    It makes us less compassionate.

    #109297
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    All weapons are bioweapons. Some are just a lot more indirect and complicated than others.

    #109298
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The operative questions include whether people were harmed, injured or killed and if the weapon (or weapons) were used inadvertently, or by criminal negligence, or downright intentionally. In regard to motive and forethought, the only reason we need to know about those things is that knowing about those things helps in discovering the other facts of the matter, and in making a final determination about who was actually responsible and what we should do about it.

    #109299
    WES
    Participant

    Chooch:

    The US doesn’t want their 155 mm gun electronic control system to fall into Russian hands so they have been removed.
    However Canada is supplying it’s 155 mm gun electronic gun control systems instead.

    In a country as vast as Russia, everything moves by rail. Russian railways use a wider track gauge than Europeans do. This was done deliberately as a military defensive measure, to make it much harder for anyone to invade Russia!

    However Ukrainian railways use the same track gauge as Russia does, making it easier for Russia to invade the Ukraine.

    I remember the Trans Siberian railway from my stay in a Siberian coal mine!
    However Irkutsk is still a few time zones further east than where I was!
    This is just Russia bringing in new fresh units to replace a current unit due for a rest.
    Those are some really mean looking long barreled 152 mm guns on that Trans Siberian train!

    #109300
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    It is not possible to tell anyone anything that they do not already know, but at times it is possible (with luck and some skill) to remind them well enough that they become aware again of what they have actually known all along.

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