Aug 022022
 
 August 2, 2022  Posted by at 9:35 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Edward Hopper The long leg 1935

 

Germany Counts Cost Of Russian Gas Cut-off (RT)
Europe Has Lost The Energy War (Fazi)
Ukraine Limiting Russian Gas Flow To EU – Gazprom (RT)
Brandon Shifts The Narrative On Banderastan (Saker)
Anti-Russia Sanctions Don’t Reflect Global Reality – Putin (RT)
West Will Run Out Of Money To Support Ukraine – Macgregor (RT)
Hundreds Of ‘Petal’ Mines Reportedly Found In Donetsk (MSO)
Spain Comments On Kosovo’s Independence (RT)
Russia ‘Absolutely’ Supports Serbia – Kremlin (RT)
Supposed Killing Of Al Zawahiri Is Suspect, Weird And Fishy (CTH)
The Day Anthony Fauci Wrecked American Freedom (Tucker)
Atonement (Jim Kunstler)

 

 

 

 

Graham McCain 2016
https://twitter.com/i/status/1554088190637740033

 

 

Ukraine produces 3.1% of global wheat. Let’s all panic!

 

 

 

 

“German inflation may well exceed 10% by the end of the year..”

Germany Counts Cost Of Russian Gas Cut-off (RT)

German inflation may well exceed 10% by the end of the year if gas supplies from Russia are cut off, Deutsche Bank head Christian Sewing said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, published on Saturday. “If Russian gas continues to flow [into Germany], we should reach an inflation rate of around 8% by the end of this year. But inflation would be higher if the gas stopped flowing. Then 10% or more is possible,” Sewing said. The CEO pointed out that losing gas supplies from Russia “would have a significant impact on economic growth in Germany” and the country “will definitely slip into recession.” He noted that “with the right interest rate hikes and the right policies, there is still a chance to bring [inflation] down to 5-6% next year, and then get close to the actual target of 2% again in 2024.”

However, such measures “will take time, so we should not give people false impressions,” he added. Commenting on the recent move by the European Central Bank (ECB) to hike interest rates, he said the ECB “is moving in the right direction.” “Currency devaluation is poison for people. I am grateful that the ECB is well aware of the problem and has now given a clear signal to raise the rate by 0.5 percentage points. We have been saying for a long time: higher inflation is not a temporary phenomenon, and it needs to be dealt with seriously,” Sewing stressed. He warned, however, that the worst may still be ahead for the German economy.

“The biggest burden for many people is yet to come. If monthly expenses exceed income, people will consume less and the mood of the country will deteriorate as well. It’s all the more important that the right steps are taken early on,” the banker stated. Inflation in Germany soared this month, jumping to 8.5% year-on-year in July after dropping to 8.2% in June as a result of government relief measures. This comes as elevated food prices and surging energy costs continued to plague the country. In a poll published by the newspaper Bild earlier this month, half of respondents said they feel their economic conditions are deteriorating, seeing rising prices as a heavy burden and fearing being unable to heat their homes this winter.

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It doesn’t feel like they ever tried to win.

Europe Has Lost The Energy War (Fazi)

After a decade of financial austerity, is Europe now on the brink of a new age of energy austerity? The city of Hanover has recently introduced strict energy-saving rules that include cutting off the hot water in public buildings, swimming pools, sports halls and gyms, banning mobile air conditioners, fan heaters or radiators, switching off public fountains, and stopping illuminating major buildings such as the town hall at night. Meanwhile, several countries across Europe are considering dimming or switching off public lights, and even adopting “energy curfews”, with early closures for businesses and public offices. And more drastic measures are under consideration — including gas rationing for energy-intensive industries such as steel and agriculture.

These measures are part of an EU-wide Gas Demand Reduction Plan, ominously titled Save Gas for a Safe Winter, to reduce gas use in Europe by 15% until next spring. Among the proposals is a provision that officials in Brussels impose fines for non-compliance if they decide the crisis is escalating dangerously. All of this comes amid growing fears that dwindling Russian gas supplies may plunge Europe into an energy crisis this winter. Overall, Russian gas exports to the EU are at about a third of last year’s levels, falling steadily since the invasion of Ukraine. While several European countries have been reducing their Russian gas imports, Russia itself has been reducing gas flows to Europe through Nord Stream 1, the continent’s biggest pipeline, citing mainly technical issues.

Just the other day, citing equipment repair, Russia announced yet another reduction in the amount of natural gas flowing through Nord Stream 1, which is now operating at only 20% capacity.This has caused natural gas spot prices to surge to levels not seen since early March; they are now almost 10 times higher than they were two years ago. In most countries, electricity prices have risen accordingly. Soaring energy prices are already fuelling record inflation — currently close to 9% and rising in the EU — squeezing people’s spending power, plunging thousands into poverty, and placing a huge burden on industry. This is especially true for Germany, which is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas imports. Indeed, the country’s industrial production has been contracting for over three months. Astonishingly, 16% of industrial German companies have reduced production or partially stopped their activities due to rising energy prices. This helps explain why last month Germany became the first country to escalate its warning over gas supplies to the “alert level”.

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Humor: Nord Stream 2 turbines come from Iran, not Germany.

Ukraine Limiting Russian Gas Flow To EU – Gazprom (RT)

Russia’s EU-bound natural gas supplies, pumped via Ukraine, are limited to one remaining entry point, while Kiev refuses to reopen a second transit station, energy giant Gazprom said on Monday. “Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through Ukraine in the volume confirmed by the Ukrainian side through the Sudzha gas metering station – 41.7 million cubic meters as of August 1. The application to reopen the Sohranovka gas metering system has been rejected,” Gazprom’s representative told reporters. Ukraine shut down transit through the Sokhranovka station, which handles about a third of the Russian gas flowing through Ukraine to Europe, in early May, citing “interference by the occupying forces.”

Kiev argued that is gas transit operator GTSOU could not control the Novopskov border compressor station in Lugansk Region due to Russia’s military operation, and considered the situation a force majeure. However, Gazprom at the time said it did not see any grounds for halting gas flows. Kiev asked the Russian firm to transfer all gas transit to the Sudzha pumping station in the Kursk Region, which Gazprom ruled out as technically impossible. Meanwhile, Russia has also been forced to reduce its gas flow to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, due to turbine malfunctions. Gazprom has blamed the issue on the German company Siemens, which produced and maintains the equipment, accusing it of failing to fulfil its commitments.

The drop in Russian supplies has led to a surge in gas prices in Europe. In July, futures contracts for deliveries in August and September traded on the Dutch TTF exchange in the range of $1530-2385 per thousand cubic meters. In comparison, at the same time last year the spot price was less than $500.

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“And now “Biden” “generously” will allow Putin to stay in power. Yes, “Biden”, not the fact that the Russian population fully support Putin, and the SMO.”

Brandon Shifts The Narrative On Banderastan (Saker)

President “Biden” (i.e. the “collective” Biden, not the actual Bradon) penned an interesting article for the NYT entitled “President Biden: What America Will and Will Not Do in Ukraine“. The entire things is behind a paywall, and it is not really worth reposting it here. But I do want to comment on a few of “Biden’s” theses. First, I will ignore the obnoxious habit of calling the USA “America”, when just Canada and Brazil alone are almost as big as the USA. Furthermore, the USA is only 9,833,520 km2 (3,796,742 sq mi) while the total area of the Americas is 42,549,000 km2 (16,428,000 sq mi). Finally, there are 35 countries in the Americas but, fine, okay, if saying “‘Murica” evokes imagines of Captain America and waving (Chinese made) flags – then fine. Let’s look at a few key sentences:

“America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression (…) We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow“. Now that is a HUGE change. In Russian, there is this expression of “changing shoes while in mid jump” which refers to situation when a person suddenly make a full and instantaneous 180 after pompously insisting on a goal which is now dropped. The initial plan was simple: to smash the Russian economy, have Putin overthrown in an insurrection of some kind, break apart Russia and then turn towards China and crush it.

And, considering the absolutely extreme demonization of Putin, he was clearly designated as the object of total hate by “all of progressive and freedom loving mankind”. And now “Biden” “generously” will allow Putin to stay in power. Yes, “Biden”, not the fact that the Russian population fully support Putin, and the SMO. How stupid does “Biden” think that we all are? Anyway, let’s continue, “We will also continue reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank with forces and capabilities from the United States and other allies. And just recently, I welcomed Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, a move that will strengthen overall U.S. and trans-Atlantic security by adding two democratic and highly capable military partners“This entire paragraph can be summarized in all sorts of colorful ways, I will just call in counter-factual and delusional nonsense. Where do I even begin here?

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“..unfair competition, a bid by the West to hinder Russian businesses and reconfigure world markets in their favor…”

Anti-Russia Sanctions Don’t Reflect Global Reality – Putin (RT)

The West’s decision to sanction Russia over the Ukraine conflict was made for the sake of opportunistic political interests which do not reflect global realities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. Addressing a virtual meeting on Russia’s metals industry, the president noted that the sector continues to face challenges in light of the Western sanctions. He highlighted the problem of limited access to international markets and the ban on buying foreign equipment for the production of fittings, rolled metals and steel sheets in Russia. “As I have already said, these decisions were made by Western countries for the sake of political interests, moreover, current, opportunistic ones and not reflecting the realities either in world politics, nor in the world economy,” he claimed.

Vladimir Putin argued that the Western sanctions failed to take into account “obvious consequences”, such as the rising cost of building materials on the international market, and the spurring of global inflation.“The decline in well-being and the quality of life of ordinary citizens, first and foremost in Europe, is of no interest to politicians, not to mention such things as adherence to the principles of the World Trade Organization. These things have been simply tossed into the trash,” the Russian leader added. Putin described attempts to limit Russia’s metals industry as a blatant manifestation of unfair competition, a bid by the West to hinder Russian businesses and reconfigure world markets in their favor.

Western countries including the US and EU members have imposed sweeping sanctions on nearly all aspects of the Russian economy since the launch of Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine in late February. The measures include limitations on Russian oil and gas, goods and financial services.Last month, Putin branded the sanctions illegitimate, saying they ignore the fundamental principles of respecting another nation’s sovereignty and non-interference in its internal affairs. He insisted that such actions not only damage relations between states and peoples, but undermine the global legal system. Putin also reiterated Moscow’s stance that it will always be a reliable and responsible partner for those who are committed to mutually beneficial, predictable business cooperation. He pledged, however, that Russia will not work to its own detriment with “those who are clearly unfriendly towards us.”

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Will the support last till Christmas? Or will they be too occupied with China by then?

West Will Run Out Of Money To Support Ukraine – Macgregor (RT)

The West will eventually lose interest in the Ukraine conflict and run out of resources to support Kiev in its war against Russia, a top former US military official said. “There is no strategy. What we have is impulse,”retired Colonel Douglas MacGregor told Judge Andrew Napolitano on his YouTube channel on Friday. In a wide-ranging interview, MacGregor said much of the military aid earmarked for Ukraine never reaches the country itself. “Most of the money goes to the Department of Defense to compensate the armed forces for the movement of equipment and resources over to Europe. That money in turn is then transferred to the defense industries, the contractors who support and provide the replacement equipment,” he said, adding that the “whole circular operation enriches everyone who is important to Capitol Hill in terms of re-election.”


MacGregor called the situation a “shell game”that enriches the military-industrial complex, the same people who help politicians get re-elected in Washington. “My own view is that this war in Ukraine will not end with a bang but with a whimper, that eventually we will just sort of quietly run out of resources,” he said, adding that domestic problems in the West will overshadow the conflict. “We’ll have so many problems at home here in the United States that we’ll no longer bother with [Ukraine],” he said. In a combination of aid packages, the US is sending roughly $54 billion to Ukraine in both economic and military aid, with approximately $12 billion of that in weapons. At the same time, the US economy shrank 0.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, which is the second consecutive quarter of economic contraction, which technically meets one definition of a recession. Coupled with the highest inflation since 1981, the US economy faces a period of “stagflation” – defined as low growth with high inflation.

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Why?

Hundreds Of ‘Petal’ Mines Reportedly Found In Donetsk (MSO)

Ukrainian forces were accused of shelling residential areas of the eastern city of Donetsk on Saturday night with hundreds of so-called petal mines littering the streets in the aftermath. The tiny bombs, which are shaped like small flowers, were found in the centre of Donetsk, areas close to the city’s university, recreational areas and others.Journalist Eva Bartlett, based in Ukraine, heard the shelling start on Saturday night. “This morning I saw these mines in a heavily populated western Donetsk district,” she said. “They tear off limbs but don’t necessarily kill. Nasty war crimes to add to the list of Ukraine’s manifold war crimes.” Local authorities issued a warning to residents asking them to “watch your step carefully, walk only on asphalt” and to call emergency services if they spot one of the deadly mines.


Civilians were advised to only walk on open routes and to avoid shortcuts after the latest attack as the mines are difficult to spot in grass or other areas. The Lepestok cluster mines are banned under international humanitarian law and their use is deemed a war crime under the Geneva Convention. They were widely used in Afghanistan where children often mistook them for toys, and were seriously injured or killed after handling them. On Saturday, Donetsk authorities said that a large number of the petal mines were found by a school in the city’s Kirov district. The overnight shelling occured shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered troops and civilians to urgently evacuate from Donetsk. Transport networks were suspended across the city today as clear-up operations were under way.

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“Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 was illegal and can’t be recognized by Spain..”

Spain Comments On Kosovo’s Independence (RT)

Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 was illegal and can’t be recognized by Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday during a visit to Albania’s capital, Tirana. As Sanchez met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama amid his tour of the Balkans, he stated that the “unilateral declaration of independence, in the view of the Spanish government and with respect to the Albanian government, was a violation of international law”and therefore “unacceptable” to Madrid. The Spanish PM also told Rama that Madrid fully supports Albania’s bid for European Union membership, citing the applicant’s “commitment and the reforms it has made.”

His comments come after tensions flared up over the weekend on the border between Serbia and its breakaway province, officially called the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian constitution, which received recognition by several Western powers in 2008. The government in Kosovo planned to ban the use of Serbian-issued license plates and ID papers starting from August 1, and was to use its police force to enforce the measure. Belgrade officials called it an attack on Kosovo’s Serbian population as President Aleksandar Vucic accused Pristina of violating the rights of local Serbs.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti in turn has accused local Serbs of opening fire on police, and claimed his government is facing “Serbian national-chauvinism” and “misinformation” from Belgrade. On Sunday, Serbs in the north of the breakaway province set up roadblocks and rang alarm bells as heavily armed Kosovo special police took control of two administrative crossings with Serbia. The situation received a temporary resolution after Washington called on Kosovo officials to postpone the implementation of the controversial law until September 1. Pristina agreed, on condition that Serbia remove barricades from the de facto border. Vucic has said that he hopes for tensions to ease and promised that Belgrade would do everything within its power to preserve the peace through compromise.

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“..one-sided, spontaneous decisions aimed at squeezing [the Serbs] out of Kosovo..”

Russia ‘Absolutely’ Supports Serbia – Kremlin (RT)

Moscow fully backs its ally Belgrade in the dispute with Kosovo over the decision by the breakaway province to ban Serbian license plates and identification papers, the Kremlin press-secretary Dmitry Peskov has said. “Of course, we absolutely support Serbia,”Peskov replied, after being addressed on the issue by journalists on Monday. The decision by the Kosovo authorities to outlaw Serbian license plates and IDs was“absolutely unreasonable,” he stated. On Sunday, Serbs in the north of the breakaway province set up roadblocks and rang alarm bells as heavily armed special police took control over two administrative crossings with Serbia, preparing to implement the order by Pristina.

As tensions mounted, Kosovo’s prime minister Albin Kurti announced late in the day that the ban had been postponed at the request of the US ambassador to the province. However, Kurti stressed that the measure, which according to Pristina was needed to impose “law and order,”has only been delayed, not canceled. “Thank God, the escalation was avoided tonight, but this situation has only been postponed for one month, so it’s paramount for all sides to show prudence,” the Kremlin press-secretary pointed out. Russia’s ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko also warned on Monday that “it was difficult to see the conditions for finding sustainable solutions to those issues that caused the current spike in tension.”

The lack of agreement on license plates and IDs, and many other similar matters, are “being used by Pristina to make one-sided, spontaneous decisions aimed at squeezing [the Serbs] out of Kosovo,” he added. According to Peskov, Moscow believes that that the Western countries, which recognized the mainly Albanian-populated Kososvo in 2008,“should now use their influence to warn the authorities in Kosovo against making any ill-conceived steps,” he said. Serbia considers Kosovo a part of its territory, and is backed in doing so by Russia, China and the UN in general, who haven’t recognized the territory as an interdependent entity.

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“Since when does al-Qaeda wait 48+ hours to denounce hostile action in their territory?”

How many times has he been killed now?

Supposed Killing Of Al Zawahiri Is Suspect, Weird And Fishy (CTH)

Everything about the supposed killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri is suspect, weird and fishy. First, Al Zawahiri has been reported as killed or dead at least a half dozen times in the last 10 years; including by natural causes. Second, Ayman Zawahiri was very old. Western citations put his age at 71 (born 1951), however, that is suspect (sounds like his younger brother’s age). Third, the location of his reported killing in Kabul is odd. Zawahiri was known to avoid large populations, and even with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan the tribal conflicts with factions of the Taliban would have been an issue.

Fourth, somehow the Taliban waited until after the U.S. intelligence community leaked the strike to the media before they issued a statement condemning the drone attack. Since when does al-Qaeda wait 48+ hours to denounce hostile action in their territory? Coordinating and timed joint press releases between the White House and ‘Taliban‘ to western media outlets is seriously sketchy. Fifth, absolutely no official outline from the Pentagon or White House on this “successful counterterrorism strike“? Despite a primetime presidential address, the White House has no announcement, no official statement, nothing, on their website. Additionally, Biden leads off saying the attack was on Saturday, the Taliban waited 48-hours to denounce a U.S. drone strike?

Think about it. Doesn’t add up. More sketchy. Sixth, and seemingly just an oddball addendum, Fox News breaks the story using Jennifer Griffin as lead reporter. As I noted several days ago, Griffin had been missing from Fox News since she went bonzo in March attacking Tucker Carlson over his cynicism of the official State Dept and Pentagon narrative in Ukraine. May, June, July, nothing from pentagon deep state promoter Jenn Griffin at all. Then, suddenly, on the same day Griffin resurfaces, after months of nothing, there’s a major terrorism strike in Afghanistan, killing Zawahiri and she’s leading the coverage?…. With Brett Baier cheerleading? C’mon man. Sketchy, all of it.

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Trump was trumped.

The Day Anthony Fauci Wrecked American Freedom (Tucker)

Fears of a virus from China had been rising for two months in the spring of 2020. The White House under Donald Trump had already weathered two impeachment crises and was turning its attention toward reelection in November, which seemed assured. The virus was an enormously complicating factor. Trump surrounded himself with a small team of people among whom included supposed infectious disease experts such as Anthony Fauci from the National Institutes of Health and Deborah Birx of the Centers for Disease Control. On the recommendation of his vice president and son-in-law, Trump trusted them.

Trump had already closed travel from China but now his scientific advisers were urging him to do more: stop travel from Europe, UK, and Australia. That was March 12. He made the announcement in a prime-time address. In that brief speech, he misread the teleprompter and said that the travel ban would include goods. He meant to say that it would not. The stock market tanked and the White House had to issue a clarification the next day. Already there was chaos in the air. Over the weekend, Trump spent most of his time in huddles with close advisors. The main influence over that period became Deborah Birx, whose job it was to convince Trump of the need for a two-week lockdown of the entire American economy.

Trump agreed to do the deed. He would appear with Fauci and Birx at a press conference on Monday, and preside over the call for a lockdown. “If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now,” Trump said, “we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus and we’re going to have a big celebration together.” Later Birx admitted that she knew that two weeks “was a start, but I knew it would be just that. I didn’t have the numbers in front of me yet to make the case for extending it longer, but I had two weeks to get them.”

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“..first they will have a lot of money that’s worthless and then they will have no money, like everybody else..”

Atonement (Jim Kunstler)

News flash to Boston: Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine is all over except the shouting. Plus, nobody in the USA cares about it anymore, and if they do, probably for the wrong reasons. The right reason to care is that the “Joe Biden” regime’s insane campaign to destroy Russia has only brought Western Europe to the brink of collapse and ruin, thereby threatening the continuation of Western Civilization altogether.

You don’t hear much chatter about this emanating from, say, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government because, apparently, they’re all-in on the demolition of Western Civ. It is the ultimate act of atonement, and atonement for the sins of culture and politics is the currency for personal status in Woke Elitedom. America’s elites are secretly disgusted with themselves, especially about the wealth they have been able to grift out of all the racketeering that has replaced honest work in our country — and nowhere is the racketeering more grotesque, or more pretentiously caparisoned, than in the Ivy League universities. Status drives Wokery because Woke Elitedom has more money than it knows what to do with, so just having a lot of money means less than it used to — just ask Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Don’t worry. Soon they will have a lot less money. Or rather, first they will have a lot of money that’s worthless and then they will have no money, like everybody else. The demoralizing inflation underway leads to the destruction of credit and when enough credit is destroyed, there will be no money, since our money is based on credit. When that happens, see what your self-proclaimed moral purity will buy you.

The credit-driven money system is a metaphor representing the expectation that we will always have more of everything. That was surely the consensus in 1913 when the Federal Reserve was born. 1913 was the last year of the Belle Époque, the beautiful era preceding the First World War. It was also the coming-of-age of economies based on oil. In that moment, Western Civ stood in amazement at its achievements and in thrall to its glittering future. The slaughter in the trenches of WWI shattered that confidence, nowhere more deeply than in Germany, which afterwards lurched from the degeneracy of the Weimar Republic to the depravity of Hitler’s Third Reich, and from there back to ruin in the Second World War.

Today’s Woke Elitedom of Europe, led by Germany, is deliberately driving the EU nations into a ditch without bothering to go to war. They certainly don’t have the military mojo to prosecute a war with Russia — which is what they would be doing if NATO intervened actively in Ukraine (ain’t gonna happen). Instead, they have torn-up reams of trade agreements and imploded a richly-constructed supply network of basic operating resources like oil, natgas, minerals, and grains in an absurd act of atonement, in obeisance to the experts at the World Economic Forum and the fiends behind “Joe Biden.” And lately, they are bent on destroying their food supply with cockamamie campaigns against their farmers, in line with WEF hallucinations about climate change.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 2 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 48 total)
  • Author
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  • #112683

    Edward Hopper The long leg 1935   • Germany Counts Cost Of Russian Gas Cut-off (RT) • Europe Has Lost The Energy War (Fazi) • Ukraine Limiting Ru
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 2 2022]

    #112685
    Carlos
    Participant

    “Holy mother of god!” I am clueless to where this phrase came from but after reading The Saker’s “Brandon shifts the narrative on Banderastan” it is the most appropriate thing to say. We are in the year of the Chinese Tiger where it was foreseen that there would be great conflict and grave economic loss. We all see this now. Next year is the year of the Rabbit, whose main theme is reconciliation. We can see this coming.
    Finally something good is coming through even if the next months will continue to show direness. The most dangerous thing about any force when it is dying (in this case the USA/NATO machine) is its unleashing of all its might. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.

    #112686
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Pelosi’s on it. So if we’re in a fake world, with nothing but fake, managed stories, how about this? Pelosi is not only offronted by China, but actively grounded and kidnapped. Put on trial with Wuhan, Ukraine, Hunter, etc. I mean, we are in an open economic war, trying to blame China for the virus still, and since NATO utterly lost to start an active war in Taiwan. The loss of confidence and faith crashes the markets that won’t break, so that gets done.

    Then Trump negotiates a release and settlement after the midterm losses. Classic Carter-Bush scenario. Which also may unite America in X worst Republicans saving X worst Democrats when it’s on the line.

    Why not? Everything else is fake, made-up, and pre-planned. Why not this? How do we get Nancy to go? Well, she was going for Dr. Day’s reasons, we in the military just greenlight it, saying we don’t recommend but it’s an acceptable risk. Then arrange the next steps to go badly. Maybe just with orders “We heard China will nuke San Diego if you shoot at them, so therefore be extra-mild.” What do we give? We merge Taiwan under “special” conditions, since we don’t want WWIII but have zero chance of defending it in a large or small. Any war in that area goes nuclear and that’s unstable and bad for business. But we also can’t just say “Well, sucks to be you!” to Taiwan after all this; that’s a step too far. We need to save face as much as China does. And everyone needs the chips.

    The only real losers are the Defense Contractors not selling more hardware that won’t stop China and not starting WWIII they always want. Hopefully non-general Milley goes down with the ship.

    Just keeping everyone lively, looking to see what the latest stage show is. Sort of like community theatre for the retarded group homes, but it’s Congress.

    “Would Eliminating Bots Really Fix Twitter?”

    No, the company would cease to exist. Like most modern companies if truth is added. But since we’re doing theories, let’s look at this theory: In I dunno, 2005, Media was making the final changes from paper that would finish destroying all independents and verticalizing control Clinton started in 1998 with removing the media restraints – same time as stopping Glass-Steagal, opening China, and criminalizing Student Loans. But with the new technology, for the first time they could add “Bots”, vast farms of people at first that need to be grown organically in meat-space, but slowly robotic accounts that could auto-generate comments the way that robots now auto-write sports stories.

    Naturally, this was not for your, or anyone’s good. It was a paid service to influence people into buying what they wouldn’t buy, and believing what they would never believe. Amazon themselves got caught last week with 10,000 – THOUSAND – fake accounts that fabricate good online reviews. That’s a vast system of lying for money, and just one layer that got caught.

    Obviously, this system run by Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon, WaPo, and NYT wasn’t very Republican. In fact they were mad as h—l about the GOP openly buying info from Cambridge Analytica. FB was served a fine in fact, although this same data is sold to the opposite side every day since Facebook was born. Only if it helps the GOP is it illegal. Point being next: this system is generally and overwhelming run by the Left, not to say that the Right wouldn’t use it if they could.

    So what does this vast and growing content-fabricators (i.e. “Liars) do? Well obviously, they post comments boosting the DNC on every page. We used to see this on MSNBC, Slate, and other sites before they were so overwhelmed with people p.o’d about their lies they had to shut comments off, maybe after 2016. The commenters were better reporters than the paid journalists, and were popping holes in their constant fabrications. And as we can see, they’ve doubled-down multiple times now, like 2^8 power, 256x. Still getting to my point.

    Okay great, we can see it’s mostly working, half the nation believes the most ridiculous things that are neither sensible nor logical, and reverse from day to day or contradict themselves in the same sentence. So paying these guys – now non-human “bots” — is working adequately, although falling apart a little lately.

    So we have a system where in 2005 or so, a wide-ranging system tried to pull the whole country and electorate Left for their own reasons. Like this:
    LeftMovingFarLeftChart
    (The Economist)
    https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/EconomistGraphic.png

    Tim Pool covers this somewhat painfully here (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt2QbaSbHPo

    But only half or less of the electorate is susceptible for whatever reason, perhaps where they commonly got news growing up. This is despite the overall drift to the Left, where the GOP is openly gay marriage and supports marijuana for example. They are still Roe v Wade and allowing exemptions for rape, incest, and medical which are not ideological but foundationally a practical compromise.

    So I think what you see is these bots appear, and the media, living in bot-world, where they and their own comment section, Twitter, and Facebook as their feedback, see an steady increase in support for Leftist viewpoints. That’s their lived reality. So they adjust their articles and presentation to capture this changing audience, not realizing that 30% or something are fake, paid-for propaganda accounts. This DOES have the desired effect: politics IS moved Left, and the electorate DOES vote more often for the promoted people and policies. So the Bot-buyers do it more.

    The media then sees the commenters getting even MORE radical, leftist. And as it’s pretty well-known journalists are communists and activists from liberal college and biggest Blue cities, this seems perfectly normal to them, and therefore move further left in an increasing feedback loop. Over and over and over for 20 more years.

    How can I tell? Because if they were accurate, they would be keeping their readership and not steadily losing viewers. As said, you wouldn’t have on one side, suddenly in a single year flipping to universal gender surgery and allowing men attack women in bathrooms is normal, while on the GOP side they’re promoting gay marriage. That’s not the advertised drift to the “Radical Right”. Top “Far-Right” pundits are openly gay, Jewish, and minorities, not noting that for the pundits’ sake, but that they have a large AUDIENCE, meaning they have no resistance and deep support from the “Right” base and electorate. I.e “Not Far-Right”. On the flip side, Bernie was considered far-left, ultra-Socialist only a year ago in 2016. Now he’s considered a centrist or a Nazi. (Literally, this has been written. Salon, Jacobean, Atlantic, etc)

    You can see for yourself and agree with me about this paid drift. Still to the point here.

    WHO is running these bot campaigns? Well clearly 90% the Left, and clearly the oligarchs who have the money, the access, and are trying to keep power. Not AOC for instance. And the oligarchs’ narrow ownership of Media through their editors who are overwhelming non-Right, non-Conservative. (And P.S. Oligarchs who are primarily white. European. And male.) This does seem to be getting in the candidates they prefer to some extent: pro Neo-Lib, corporate Democrats and not say, actual far-Left, workers’, peoples’, candidates, as we note much annoyance from them with AOC and total blackout of Amazon organizers and People’s Party candidates.

    Here’s the problem: THEY’VE SO POISONED THEIR OWN WELL THEY NO LONGER KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON.

    Their Bots have now baffled themselves. They can’t account for the Bots because they are invisible, fraudulent by design. The bots are making more bots. The drift is causing more drift. So leading up to 2016 for example, the Bots make them think they are 10 points ahead in the election, there is no problem, no worry, no course adjust. And that Hillary is what the people really want, what they can get away with by a few points. Why? Because they themselves PAID for the media and commenters to appear that way. And it’s only gotten much worse since then.

    Here’s the thing though: the Oligarchs have completely blinded themselves. By shutting off all comments, all honest media, they can’t tell how big or small, how influential the non-oligarch people are. They can’t measure if they have buy-in for BBB and the WEF, for $10/gal gas or not. To them it looks like they’re pretty close and they do, because it’s their bent reporters reporting and their bent websites that they’re measuring. …Or do they go measure the 5,000 fly-by-nights they’ve expelled, shut down, and driven the middle electorate to? All the sub 100k podcasts since YouTube bans all dissenting voices at exactly the 100k level? And those guys have shifted to now using code, euphemisms, and implication to baffle the algorithms from banning them. Measure how?

    So that’s how we got here, and why they – Schwab, Pelosi, Beto — think they’re in the CENTER. Because that’s what all their measurement tools are feeding them now. If that were true, then yes, those other guys WOULD be “far-right”, and in the minority. This is what Trudeau said of the Truckers, who are instead an overwhelming MAJORITY. Such a majority, every heartbeat in the country knows they’re a majority. And if the Oligarchs Minions in Congress and Media only got out of their cars and went to any grocery store in America, they could re-calibrate. This bafflement requires an airtight seal to the donor classes’ nether oriface. But they won’t. Not a single day knocking on doors of trailers, asking people. Not a minute of asking truckers what’s going on. Or in blue-collar or ghettos either. Not a minute reading the other guys’ point of view. Never, or they would know and change.

    So as always in life and history, their lies have backfired on them and they are now baffled and believe all their own bulls—t they wanted to baffle and break other people with. Hoist, meet Petard.

    So the Bots are running things right now. This is your AI-run world they dreamed of: better, smarter, scientific. Like AI, they have a created reality, an unexpected and unstoppable control and feedback loop that is attacking people and killing them quite literally in fact. Just as expected by people experienced with computers, data, and AI. I know this seems subtle but it’s very important what’s going on and how it works. If like Skynet, if as seems likely, the bots cause a civil war that kills 100,000 people a day you can think about it then and about how the robots arranged it, and how it all stems from lying and not protecting our institutions with duty and integrity. Trusting “Experts”, “Systems” instead of your own experience and lying eyes.

    The comment that said they set up AI’s to get people to do anything without question? Just by tweaking the parameters so that the wanted actions come out? In this case the guys thinking they are running things with the tweaking are being tweaked themselves. Their own bulls—t is running them, happens every time, but now with the power and speed of computers.

    If they’re blind – and dumb – let’s take advantage of it. They’ll never see us coming, and you can tell every day by their action they’re deeply confused where all this shooting is coming from. They think it’s a couple very far-right people shooting white-hot when really it’s the whole country barely bothering with even a few pot shots. Laws of large numbers. So they’re also badly misjudging how much trouble they’re in, and how much control remains for them. Answer? More bots!

    “And then one day it was over, just like that.” – Forrest Gump.

    “ • West Will Run Out Of Money To Support Ukraine – Macgregor (RT)

    The West will eventually lose interest in the Ukraine conflict and run out of resources to support Kiev…”

    “Money” and “Resources” are wildly different things. We will never run out of “money”, it just won’t be accepted by anyone. We didn’t “eventually” run out of resources, we ran out of resources like Javelins and shells in the first three weeks. We got nothin’.

    “The Lepestok cluster mines are banned under international humanitarian law and their use is deemed a war crime under the Geneva Convention.”

    That’s why the U.S. uses them all the time, are used in Yemen, and we are one of the sole remaining producers of them. ‘Cuz: Warcrimes R Us.

    ““Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 was illegal and can’t be recognized by Spain..”

    But Ukraine’s violent, openly paid coup wasn’t?

    #112688
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Dr D. Thank you for the musings and deep dive offerings of late. The recap on raw power and emergent/planned Lenin-based wet dream of the technocratic “I’m so special” types was like Coonawarra Shiraz – deep and not to be rushed.

    Today’s bot piece was a hopeful twist to the tale of Capitalism’s murder.

    Oligarchs are like giant forest trees feeding off detritus from the busy activities of the forest floor – the workers of the world. They produce (the workers) enough surplus fertility to allow for the emergence of ‘seedling’ business’s that grow and proliferate gaining some light till eventually the debt build up in the system is so high that the number of businesses, companies and householdings of debt is like huge tracts of dying or skinny leafless saplings under the canopy of the ancient (think Rothschilds) monsters.
    A fire comes through and destroys all mid canopy and singes the earth killing all that is visible but Giants with their long roots into the earth and thick bark.

    But what was invisible was the earthworms, the wombats, the moles, the snakes, the vast array of unexposed life in the earth.They survive.

    The meek shall inherit the earth. But also the shithead Warlords too.

    #112691
    oxymoron
    Participant
    #112693
    John Day
    Participant

    Very nice Hopper painting this morning, Sir.

    🙂

    #112694
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Pelosi scheduled to land in Taiwan less than two hours. They just unplugged the live flight tracking as the plane came around the Philippines.

    If I am a general/admiral in the PLA, I use this as an excuse to cross the line and move warships into Taiwanese waters – and keep them there permenently. What will the US/Taiwan do about it? It’s the perfect excuse to make the next advance.

    #112695
    The Markster
    Participant

    That video of Graham and McCain wringing their hands with bloodlust and Russophobic hate in Ukraine from 2016 should be mandatory viewing for every US Citizen, immediately after watching WikiLeaks’ Collateral Murder video from 2010. We are ruled by a petulant criminal cabal of evil children.

    So when’s Daddy gonna show up and lay down the law? Clearly Trump was not up to the job. Maybe Russia and China can help? Thermodynamics? Petrodollar collapse by Christmas?

    #112696

    “Taiwan media is reporting that ROC authorities tried to revoke Pelosi’s invite to the island because of the risk involved, but that she called the Taiwan “ambassador” and insisted on going so that she could do something “historical.”

    #112697
    zerosum
    Participant

    Proof
    Biden has just announced that he destroyed,( by using an expensive smart drone/missile), an ancient challenger as a warning to all others that he is the “top dog”.
    (An old man living in isolation, in a 3rd rate care home, accused of many crimes while being part of a 20 year old, defeated organization. )
    Are you a lone wolf or do you belong to a “pack”
    Don’t self delusion and bullshit yourself, there are “top dogs”, “alpha males”, “snobs”, and “elites” in all our social/economic systems that continuously think that they must continuously prove that you got to be reminded to stay/keep in your place.
    Read more ———–
    1. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/08/01/report-cia-claims-to-have-killed-ayman-al-zawahiri-president-joe-biden-to-deliver-speech-at-730pm-et/
    REPORT, CIA Claims to Have Killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, President Joe Biden to Deliver Speech at 7:30pm ET
    August 1, 2022 | Sundance | 292 Comments

    Joe Biden Delivers a Jumbled Word Salad after Claiming, Under Extremely Suspect Circumstances, the U.S Killed Ayman Al Zawahiri


    2. Joe Biden Delivers a Jumbled Word Salad after Claiming, Under Extremely Suspect Circumstances, the U.S Killed Ayman Al Zawahiri
    August 1, 2022 212 COMMENTS
    ————-

    Retired colonel claims funds meant for Ukraine end up in the hands of the military-industrial complex and will eventually dry up
    https://www.rt.com/news/560026-west-money-ukraine-macgregor/

    MacGregor said much of the military aid earmarked for Ukraine never reaches the country itself. “Most of the money goes to the Department of Defense to compensate the armed forces for the movement of equipment and resources over to Europe. That money in turn is then transferred to the defense industries, the contractors who support and provide the replacement equipment,” he said, adding that the “whole circular operation enriches everyone who is important to Capitol Hill in terms of re-election.”

    MacGregor called the situation a “shell game” that enriches the military-industrial complex, the same people who help politicians get re-elected in Washington.
    ———–
    An explanation by a “lone wolf”

    Atonement


    • Atonement (Jim Kunstler)
    Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine is all over except the shouting. Plus, nobody in the USA cares about it anymore, and if they do, probably for the wrong reasons. The right reason to care is that the “Joe Biden” regime’s insane campaign to destroy Russia has only brought Western Europe to the brink of collapse and ruin, thereby threatening the continuation of Western Civilization altogether.
    ———

    #112698
    zerosum
    Participant

    New definition of “Safe Vaccines”
    1. As of now, 50% do not get negative results/side effects/long covid/adverse reaction
    2. Does not kill you
    3. Keeps you out of the hospital
    4. Symptoms are reduced to drippy nose, head aches, and cough

    #112699
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I’m feeling puckish this morning (maybe it’s the stimulating smell of burning empire in the morning), so instead of essaying the whole idea in my usual annoyingly pedantic detail (everyone needs a style) Imma just going to roll out an enigmatic one-liner . . . and leave it at that.

    There are several “Broad Brush” paradigms which could be said to explain this Mother Of All Global Crises that we have now come to call today’s world. One of those catch-all metaphors is :Top dogs don’t die of natural causes.

    The end does not gently transpire in one’s own bed, with boots off and surrounded by loving friends and family.

    Top dogs can either leave the choice of time and place for the event of their departure to a challenger, or they can attempt to bolster their own chances in the inevitable contest by selecting a time and place of their own choosing

    #112700
    The Black
    Participant

    re: Dr D’s bot matrix theory, I might add that “polling” in this country would be an analog example of TPTB “poisoning their own well and no longer knowing what’s going on”. Polling was “broken” in 2016 wasn’t it? Yet here we are 6 years later still seeing “polling” to support the idea that there are still people (some 30%) who believe “Biden” is doing a good job.

    #112701
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @Boogaloo

    Yeah, that could work. Kills three birds with one stone (save’s face, projects strength, and shapes the future battlefield . . . without actually killing any birds.

    Two things, at least, remain certain.

    China must control Taiwan so that it can’t be used against them yet again (as happened three times in the 20th Century alone).

    The West must control Taiwan to contain China.

    Time and current events are on China’s side, so for the West this is a Tom Jones worthy “It’s now or never” sort of moment.

    We’re not watching a train wreck in slo-mo (although it sure feels like that). We are riding on the gawdam train.

    #112703
    kultsommer
    Participant

    That last “text image”, right before the comment section, I approve and even more so for it’s strategic location on the scroll down.

    #112704
    Oroboros
    Participant

    From perky ‘please deflower me’ oh JFK to

    .

    a grifting psychopathic mummified meat muppet lush

    Nancy Pelosi oozes charm like a boil on the ass.

    .

    #112705
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Another great Round Table by Lira

    Roundtable #8: Alexander Mercouris, New Atlas’ Brian Berletic, Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism

    #112706
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Looking back over the past 3 years ( and the Leftist Cabal’s batting average of at least 950 at mortally injuring literally everything they touch ) makes me wonder if those lunatics have adopted a long term strategic rationale of, “So long as we continue to proactively lose, then we have not yet totally lost . . . and therefore could still win.”

    #112708
    Dr. D
    Participant

    How about this: Pelosi disappears – let’s not worry how – and Biden suddenly dies of monkeypox from all the swinging sex he’s been having. Kamala who? obviously: she doesn’t function and her cabinet has jumped ship. If she slipped on a banana peel and was found strangled by the White House curtains, no one would investigate. That’s all three leaders! Congress has full authority to elect ANYBODY THEY WANT. How about Hillary? How about Nuland? How about people with no qualifications whatsoever like Michele? How about non-citizens like Arnold? Or Harry and Meghan? Why not? Sky’s the limit, removing all those annoying steps I was talking about the other day.

    China is the one setting it all, because they would be the agent of removal PLUS the one paying Congress to put in their fav. Pelosi plays along since her fortune was founded on Chinese sellouts and insider trading which Beijing can give the check stubs. The DNC, clearly quite merged with China, solves their immediate problem. Everyone important wins!

    …Except Joe, Harris, Nancy, and us.

    Now why does this set me off? Finally there are some comments on the extreme peculiar nature of…everything. First, Congressmen visit Taiwan all the time to sell out their country. China doesn’t care. Second, Nancy could and should have just shown up and China couldn’t have done anything. There wouldn’t be time to do more than object. She’s going? News to me; where did this come from? Third, China has instant PR response? That’s odd, didn’t they have to plan sensitive communications in committee? So the news was, she’s not officially going but she’s going. And she’s not going, which is why even idiots like me have heard about it days in advance, even more than I have to hear about what sooper-secret we-jus-wanna-be-private-citizens like Meghan and Harry have for breakfast every morning. I mean, have we had as big a PR leak since RussiaRussia, morse-code servers in Trump Tower? Shhh top secret security: nobody knows except everybody down to Preschool.

    Then they’re on it this morning with planes, with statements, ugh! What is this s—t? An irrelevant douchebag rides on a a private jet every day. Why would I care? Why would China? Why would it make WWIII? Ever?

    …And so why has everyone lost their reasoning powers and SAY WWIII will happen, all in unison, one Saturday morning in late July?

    Yeah, they’re both up to something, and China is part of it. Nancy knows what that thing is, because she doesn’t look nervous or alarmed but happy with the press it’s getting. So it’s all a pre-planned vaudeville show. Pratfalls and all.

    Garbage: can we talk about something important now? Like Chertoff taking over the disinformation board or whatever? Like Germany about to die but still claiming “Don’t make me stop this car, mister! We’re going to put Germany on a BOAT and float it to Taiwan to support them and fightfightfight all 2,000,000,000 Chinese in hand-to-hand combat to support them!” although they haven’t got a single plane or tank or baby goat for their own backyard, and are just about to stop baking bread and running water. Open mouth? As long as it’s a lie they don’t have to back up, they’re happy.

    They’ve got a plan. And it’s BORING. I’m already not watching or caring.

    #112709
    willem
    Participant

    The Dr. D. theory about bots is an interesting one. I guess that would be the hi-tech social media equivalent of believing your own press, but that particular failing is usually not a group-wide phenomenon.

    BTW, I think you’ll find that after the Top 3 (down through Pelosi) are taken out, there are yet more in the line of presidential succession. Next on the list after Pelosi would be the President of the Senate Pro Tempore, which right now is (I believe) Patrick Leahy. A quick search revealed that after him there is a long list of cabinet members. See https://www.voanews.com/a/us-presidential-line-of-succession/4674320.html.

    #112710
    Bill7
    Participant

    We are repeatedly informed, lately, that this or that country or geographical entity is “committing suicide”.
    I thought suicide was something that one could only inflict on one’s self.. it seems like a careful
    misunderstanding of what’s going on. May I opt-out? ; if not, it’s not “suicide”, it’s something else..

    A rectification of names is in order, I think.

    #112711
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @Bill7

    I think most of the “suicide” being committed is of the variety experienced by Jeffrey Epstein.

    #112712
    Bill7
    Participant

    Is Mr. Epstein dead? I do not know.

    #112713
    Bill7
    Participant

    There really is something special about Edward Hopper’s paintings. I see a similar quality in some of Richard Diebenkorn’s.

    #112714
    Mr. House
    Participant

    Listening to the roundtable, Gonzolo does himself a disservice having Yves Smith on. The woman is a shrew, and if she did have insights into things, those years are long gone. They all talk about how they’ve never seen a disinformation campaign as bad as the Ukraine, and nobody mentions Covid? Perhaps Yves might have banned them from their own roundtable if they didn’t agree with her, because she has been 100% wrong about covid from the beginning and should be forced to apologize before she sheds this mortal coil and asks to buried in her mask.

    I still find it strange that she moved out of NYC a few months before covid began, and now she’s talking about moving out of America. Love people who run at the first sign of trouble, such moral fortitude 😉

    #112715
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Some good news!

    Russian forces have made substantial gains in the special operation to liberate eastern Ukraine from the fascists:

    The bad news: the American and British fascists seem to be intent on fighting to the last Ukrainian willing to die for a futile course of action (desertions are increasing).

    #112716
    Bill7
    Participant

    Apropos of nothing except the guy being some kind of benchmark for some of us oldsters- Ed Bradley interviews Bob Dylan in 2004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOas0d-fFK8

    Dylan seems clinically depressed there, to me. Some quite revealing stuff from him.

    #112717
    Mr. House
    Participant

    If you ask Wolf at Wolfstreet.com if the authorities lied about the causes and solutions of the 2008 GFC, he will delete your comment.

    #112718
    Bill7
    Participant

    The Wolfstreet guy seems just as myopic as the proprietors (and most of the commenters, too) at NC, post 3/2020. Lots of sites seem no longer reality-based, to me. It’s kind of interesting.

    #112719
    John Day
    Participant

    “Noting that the US government should have restrained Pelosi’s unscrupulous move and prevented her from going against the historical trend but instead indulged her and colluded with her, which exacerbates the tension in the Taiwan Straits and seriously damages China-US ties, Xie said the US must pay the price for its own mistake. China will take necessary and resolute countermeasures and we mean what we say.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pelosis-plane-avoiding-south-china-sea-taiwan-pla-surges-forces-just-across-strait

    #112720
    John Day
    Participant

    Taiwan makes computer chips thatchina andthe west need.
    taiwan is a goose, laying golden eggs.
    it’s easy to kill the goose, easy for anybody.
    Everybody wants all the golden eggs, not just their share and not none of them.
    What’s the worst scenario?

    Uh, let’s play chicken and see who wins !

    #112721
    zerosum
    Participant

    Uh, let’s play chicken and see who wins !

    Hand up waving frantticaly …. pick me …. I know …. I know

    the supplier of natural resource …. just like in EU/Ukraine/Russia

    #112722
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #112723
    aspnaz
    Participant

    When Covid arrived, the Africans were synical and a few African leaders ripped huge holes in the WHO testing scam. Westerners were divided between the horribly over-emotional sheep, the fiercly logical and those that didn’t know what to think and are ripe for persuasion. The Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, China) just believed anything the USA told them – and still do – taking western products such as the Pfizer jab, and pushing them in a “better Chinese way” (all Chinese believe that the west invented stuff but the Chinese improved it … ha ha ha), an authoritarian Chinese way, locking the new western based policies into the “saving face” trap where now the Chinese politicians cannot back out of their stupid policies without appearing to be super weak.

    The world is an interesting place and having moved back to Taiwan I am reminded of the difference in driving culture. The typical westerner drives to the rules, knowing what is his right of way and when he should give way, the whole thing is couched in terms of my “rights”. The typical Chinese driver drives to only one rule which is to avoid all obstacles ahead of me and to ignore anything behind me. The Chinese never look behind them when they pull out from the side of the road or change lane, the reason being that they know that the people behind them will avoid them regardless of who’s right of way it is. This difference in driving behaviour reflects a big difference in the cultures: the west has rules and rights, the east works around others to get where they want to go. The trouble with the eastern approach is that politicians can introduce stupid rules and the people will work around them, they are not interested in whether they make sense, they just navigate to where they are going and ignore the reasons for the rules. Unfortunately that makes the Chinese people appear docile and so they tend to collect and tolerate many stupid rules. The west also collects stupid rules, but the west will worry about how stupid the rules are rather than just navigating around them in the knowledge that the people who created the rules are fallible humans. The Chinese way shows contempt for authority, the western way grants to much gravity to authority.

    Another driving example: In Vietnam, the land of scooters, you can walk across a busy main road despite a sea of scooters heading towards you. The scooters will avoid you when they see you in the road whereas a western driver would scold you for crossing the road when it is not clear. It takes a bit of nerve the first time you do it, but it soon becomes natural and is both convenient and safe.

    #112724
    Bill7
    Participant

    Sorting out what’s theater from the bit that’s definitely not, is difficult for me.

    #112725
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Plunking’ Alberta! Calgary got missed, … this time! North of Calgary no such luck, …

    Crazy tennisball sized hail storm in Alberta Canada! Even tornado and flooding footage

    … this shirt happens more and more frequently. Larger and larger hailstones, …air temperature swings from +30C down to +10C in about 5 min.

    F.S.

    #112726
    WES
    Participant

    F.S.

    Back in the late 1970s one of the service engineers I worked with in Southern Saskatchewan, had the sheet metal on his company leased car completely beat to a pulp by large hail stones plus windows broken. The car looked like a complete write-off but the insurance company repaired it!

    #112727
    Bill7
    Participant

    Roy Jones Jr. v James Toney, full fight:
    https://cinemaphile.com/watch?v=3vdHJFJeijw

    Jones is super talented and fast as can be, but old-skool James Toney is my man, big time.

    #112728
    WES
    Participant

    Mr. House:

    Don’t feel bad about your comments being deleted on Wolfe Street. I have been deleted so often I no longer bother to comment or read his articles anymore. You can’t mention anything about covid either!

    #112729
    Bill7
    Participant

    I’m surprised peopole are taking the Pelosi-Taiwan brouhaha seriously. How many days has it been now that that’s been The Story? Mmm..

    kayfabe, as far as I can tell. Maybe I’m wrong.

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