Aug 312022
 
 August 31, 2022  Posted by at 8:15 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Henri Matisse Bathers by a river 1909-16

 

UK Inflation May Top 22% Next Year – Goldman Sachs (RT)
Thousands Of UK Pubs ‘Face Closure’ Without Energy Bills Support (G.)
Greek PM: Resources Against Energy Hikes Not ‘Infinite’ (K.)
The Real Problem Is That Europe Doesn’t Have Any Energy Supplies (Every)
China Is Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas To Europe (ZH)
Poland Warns Of EU ‘Implosion’ Over Ukraine Conflict (RT)
US Urges Shutdown Of Nuclear Plant Slated For IAEA Inspection (RT)
Ukraine Targets Possible IAEA Route To Zaporozhye – Local Official (RT)
EU Has No Alternative To Russian Energy – ex Saudi Aramco VP (RT)
Promised “Major Ukrainian Counter-attack” Ends In Disaster (Saker)
Ukraine & the Politics of Permanent War (Chris Hedges)
France Accuses Russia Of Using Gas As ‘Weapon Of War’ (RT)
The SCO: Half The World’s Population To Forge The New World Order (Trenin)
FBI Put The Hunter Biden Story Right In Facebook’s Lap (Devine)
Top FBI Agent Resigns Amid Claims He Shielded Hunter Biden From Probe (NYP)
Three Ways the Psychotic Covid Panic Narrative Was Created (DS)
Fauci’s Presence Is No Longer Politically Sustainable (CHD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pizza Hut

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dies suddenly

 

 

 

 

Soon the Debt Rattle will live up to its original name again.

UK Inflation May Top 22% Next Year – Goldman Sachs (RT)

Inflation in Britain could jump above 22% in 2023 if gas prices continue to grow, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing Goldman Sachs analysts. The bank’s economists estimate that if prices keep rising, the UK may be forced to hike its energy cap by a further 80% in January, which would in turn push inflation up to 22.4% and cause a 3.4% drop in the country’s GDP. Moreover, even if energy prices stabilize, analysts say the peak inflation rate will be around 14.8% in January, which is enough to plunge the country into a recession. According to Bloomberg, investors expect drastic measures from the Bank of England in the coming months to battle inflation, including a key rate hike of up to 4.25% from the current 1.75%. Goldman Sachs’ inflation forecast tops the previous one made last week by Citigroup, which expects inflation in the UK to surge to 18.6% next year, and the Bank of England’s expectation of 13%.

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“..Let’s not forget that for most licensees the pub is not just their business but also their family home.”

Thousands Of UK Pubs ‘Face Closure’ Without Energy Bills Support (G.)

Thousands of pubs face closure without urgent government support to soften the blow from soaring energy bills, the beer industry has said, putting jobs at risk in a sector still battling to recover from the Covid pandemic. The bosses of companies owning almost half of the UK’s 47,000 pubs said tenants were already giving notice because they could not cope with energy bills, which are due to rise more than fivefold in some cases. Unlike households, businesses do not benefit from a cap on what suppliers can charge for gas and electricity, leaving many firms facing oblivion without state intervention. In a letter to the government and the Conservative leadership candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the British Beer and Pub Association said mass job losses were inevitable in the absence of help for an industry that employs 940,000 people.

Nick Mackenzie, the chief executive of the 3,100-strong pub chain Greene King, said the energy bill blow had come just as the sector was battling back from the ravages of the Covid-19 lockdowns, which hit hospitality particularly hard and left many with punishing debts. “While the government has introduced measures to help households cope with this spike in prices, businesses are having to face this alone, and it is only going to get worse come the autumn,” Mackenzie said. “Without immediate government intervention to support the sector, we could face the prospect of pubs being unable to pay their bills, jobs being lost and beloved locals across the country forced to close their doors, meaning all the good work done to keep pubs open during the pandemic could be wasted.” His counterpart at St Austell Brewery, Kevin Georgel, said thousands of pubs could be forced to call last orders for good.

Chris Jowsey, the chief executive of Admiral Taverns, said the impact was frightening. He said: “One of our licensees reluctantly gave notice to leave his pub after the cost of electricity increased by 450%, making it impossible to trade profitably. Let’s not forget that for most licensees the pub is not just their business but also their family home.”


“I got this electricity bill today, how in the name of God is this possible, we’re a small coffee shop in westmeath”

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Early warning: you’re on your own.

Greek PM: Resources Against Energy Hikes Not ‘Infinite’ (K.)

The Greek economy does not have “infinite” resources to keep offsetting the impact of skyrocketing energy prices, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told ministers on Tuesday, warning of a “tough” winter ahead. “Any steps we take will be measured so that temporary needs do not undermine national imperatives… If we have succeeded in supporting society so far, to the best of our ability, it is precisely because we exhaust the fiscal limits, without abolishing them,” the prime minister told a cabinet meeting at his office in Athens. The prime minister hailed the European Commission’s announcement on Monday that it intends to introduce a series of reforms to the energy market to contain runaway prices, but warned against delaying any such initiatives.


“Every day that passes without a joint approach to the energy crisis makes the problems for all Europeans grow,” said Mitsotakis, who had presented Brussels with list of such reform proposals earlier in the year. The energy crisis, added Mitsotakis, is a concerted assault against the West by Russia, which “is seeking to create social turmoil and political instability inside the countries opposing its plans by applying economic pressure.” He added that Greece is among the countries being targeted by Moscow for taking Ukraine’s side in Russia’s ongoing invasion. “Mr Putin is doing nothing to hide it, and neither is Mr Erdogan, who has publicly stated that he would like a different government in Athens,” Mitsotakis added, referring to Russian and Turkish presidents, respectively.

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“The brutal lesson is that neoliberalism is like a chocolate teapot..”

The Real Problem Is That Europe Doesn’t Have Any Energy Supplies (Every)

Of course, the real problem is that Europe doesn’t have any energy supplies to force state or private capital into – or at least not ones it is prepared to tap: indeed, Germany’s economy minister says the “bitter reality” is that Russia will not resume gas supply. Enjoy those stocks you have built up at huge expense, because there will be far less flow ahead. As such, what power source will the EU link electricity prices to? Solar panels, in winter when northern Europe’s energy requirements are at their highest? Burning the M&Ms that unicorns excrete? Underlining the point, Brent oil prices rose 4% to over $105 yesterday before retreating slightly (and wheat and corn went up 3-4% too, showing that central banks are still behind the curve on that front); Iraq slipped into chaos, with the US airlifting its personnel out of another Greater Middle East embassy(!); it was rumored OPEC+ may announce a production cut ahead; that the US might have to dip into its Strategic Petroleum Reserve even more – as if there can’t be a real crisis that demands its use ahead; and US Department of Defence spokesman Kirby warned he was concerned about the possibility of energy shortages ahead.

The brutal lesson is that neoliberalism is like a chocolate teapot – it looks amazingly sweet until things get ‘hot’, and then it serves no purpose at all. Yet industrial policy/corporatism/fascism/Common Prosperity also needs to be based on the real, and realpolitik, not the ideal. If the EU throws de facto MMT/printed money at energy subsidies within a neoliberal framework with no concrete, achievable plan for more energy supply (of what? From whom?) then it is simply going to drive global energy prices higher, many EM into the ground – some of whom are located close to Europe, EUR well through the parity floor, and inflation still into the sky. So let’s hope there is joined-up thinking behind their latest proposals. Relatedly, the title of today’s Daily, ‘The Power of the Powerless’ (which I have used before) addresses the energy situation in Europe, but was also the title of a political pamphlet by dissident Vaclav Havel against communist Czechoslovakia.

He argued the first step to bringing down the regime was for a powerless greengrocer not to place the state-backed sign saying, ‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ in his window. If Europe (and others) had done the same with certain neoliberal-approved signs they arguably would not be in the critical mess they are in now. Finally, and also linked to the Daily title –as even the ECB agrees with me!– military reports are that a Ukrainian Kherson counter-offensive has begun. Market participants who have read any history will know that watching the success or failure on that key front will likely also be key to the global geopolitical and inflation outlook longer term. Far more so than most central bank warble, regardless of how much power they like to think they have.

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“.. the move was to “protect the legitimate business rights and interests of the relevant importers and exporters..”

China Is Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas To Europe (ZH)

One month ago, we were surprised to read how, despite a suppressed appetite for energy amid its housing crash and economic downturn (for which “zero covid” has emerged as a convenient scapegoat for emperor Xi), China has been soaking up more Russian natural gas so far this year, while imports from most other sources declined. In July, the SCMP reported that according to Chinese customs data, in the first six months of the year, China bought a total of 2.35 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – valued at US$2.16 billion. The import volume increased by 28.7% year on year, with the value surging by 182%. It meant Russia has surpassed Indonesia and the United States to become China’s fourth-largest supplier of LNG so far this year!

This, of course, is not to be confused with pipeline gas, where Russian producer Gazprom recently announced that its daily supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline had reached a new all-time high (Russia is China’s second-largest pipeline natural gas supplier after Turkmenistan), and earlier revealed that the supply of Russian pipeline gas to China had increased by 63.4% in the first half of 2022. What was behind this bizarre surge in Russian LNG imports, analysts speculated? After all, while China imports over half of the natural gas it consumes, with around two-thirds in the form of LNG, demand this year had fallen sharply amid economic headwinds and widespread shutdowns. In other words, why the surge in Russian LNG when i) domestic demand is just not there and ii) at the expense of everyone else?

“The increase in Russian LNG could be a displacement of cargoes going to Japan or South Korea because of sanctions, or weaker demand there,” said Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. One thing that was clear: China wanted to keep its arms-length gas dealing with Russia as unclear as possible, which is why the General Administration of Customs of China stopped publicizing the breakdown in trade volume for pipeline natural gas since the beginning of the year, with spokesman Li Kuiwen confirming that the move was to “protect the legitimate business rights and interests of the relevant importers and exporters”.

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Bet on it.

Poland Warns Of EU ‘Implosion’ Over Ukraine Conflict (RT)

A burgeoning divide within the EU on the Ukraine conflict could implode the bloc, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told French media on Monday. This is because certain member states would prefer to seek peace rather than sticking with Kiev until it prevails in its fight against Russia, the Polish leader said. Speaking to Le Figaro newspaper, Morawiecki indicated that Russia would endeavor to persuade the West to end the hostilities in Ukraine and get back to “business as usual,” taking advantage of divisions among EU members on the matter. “So yes, a threat of implosion exists. That is why it is so important to maintain a dialogue between us, to find compromises and a common denominator,” he said.

On Monday, Morawiecki met with French President Emmanuel Macron. According to the Polish prime minister, the two discussed the Ukraine conflict, how to “force Russian troops to withdraw,” as well as the EU’s economic woes. The Polish leader said he and Macron share a common vision for strengthening the bloc’s military capabilities. However, Morawiecki admitted that he and the French leader have a number of differences over Ukraine, saying that while they both believe that European unity should be defended, Macron would do better to talk less to Russian President Vladimir Putin and more to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. “My view is that Zelensky deserves all the French support, because he is fighting for the most important European values, for freedom, justice, sovereignty. He should be the main recipient of phone calls from the Elysee Palace,” Morawiecki noted.

He also said that if Poland held the rotating EU presidency, it would push for the seizing of Russian assets, which are now just frozen, because “this type of sanctions could really threaten Russia.” Morawiecki’s comments come after the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, admitted on Sunday that the bloc would encounter “major challenges” due to the anti-Russian sanctions that it slapped on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, Politico reported on Monday that Germany and France had spoken against a full visa ban on Russian nationals, which has apparently frustrated some Russia hawks in the EU, who are calling for a stronger pushback against Moscow.

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Of course in an energy crisis, you shut down your biggest nuclear plant.

US Urges Shutdown Of Nuclear Plant Slated For IAEA Inspection (RT)

Senior US officials have urged a full shutdown of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control. A “controlled shutdown” of the facility “would be the safest and least risky option in the near-term,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told journalists on Monday. The same call came from an unnamed senior US defense official, who briefed journalists the same day. The power plant and the city of Energodar that hosts it have been under Russian control since March, though Ukrainian civilian workers continue to operate the facility. For several weeks now, the site has been under constant artillery and drone attacks. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of being behind the strikes.

Kiev has also claimed that Russian forces have used the Zaporozhye facility as a military base and have deployed heavy weapons there, which Moscow has denied. This week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, is expected to visit the plant for an on-site inspection. The agency’s delegation will be led by its head, Rafael Grossi, and may arrive at the site as soon as Wednesday. The Soviet-built Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is the largest facility of its kind in Europe. It hosts six of Ukraine’s 15 power-generating reactors, which are spread across four plants. The facility reached its full capacity of over 6,000 MW for the first time in December 2021, when all of its VVER-1000 units became operational at the same time.

At the moment, only reactors five and six remain online. Despite hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, the Zaporozhye plant supplies power to parts of Ukraine controlled by both sides, according to the head of the Russia-allied administration of Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov. The Russian military suggested in mid-March that shutting down the reactors could become necessary due to Ukrainian attacks on the plant. Such a proposal was voiced by Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who heads the unit of the Russian armed forces trained in dealing with the consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction, including radiation contamination.

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Surprise: Zelensky says it’s the Russians.

Ukraine Targets Possible IAEA Route To Zaporozhye – Local Official (RT)

Ukrainian forces are shelling a potential route of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, which is set to examine the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant this week, local authorities claimed on Tuesday. Zaporozhye Region council member Vladimir Rogov told RIA Novosti that “Ukrainian nationalists are targeting locations that could be visited by the IAEA mission in Energodar,” where the plant is located. He added that “[Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky’s regime also started a military operation in the south of the country,” which raises concerns for the safety of the IAEA mission. Rogov also said Kiev’s forces have shelled the NPP’s resort house that could accommodate the IAEA delegation.

On Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced that an expert group would visit the NPP this week to assess the damage sustained by the plant and check the safety and security systems. Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has been under Russian control since March. Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the plant, while warning that the shelling could trigger a disaster that would eclipse the Chernobyl incident. Kiev insists, however, that Russian forces are shelling the site while stationing military hardware there. On Sunday night, Ukrainian forces shelled Energodar, the city where the plant is located, local officials said.

They claimed that the attack, which injured nine people and deliberately hit a number of residential houses, was meant to torpedo the upcoming IAEA mission. “This provocation by Kiev-controlled militants is aimed at derailing the visit of the IAEA chief to the Zaporozhye NPP,” they said at the time. Also on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Kiev’s forces attempted a counter-offensive in Kherson in southern Ukraine, but “failed miserably.” The ministry went on to say that the Ukrainian army had attempted to attack in three directions, but made no gains and suffered “great losses,” which included dozens of tanks and armored fighting vehicles.

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“Russia may recover a lot sooner than Europe.”

EU Has No Alternative To Russian Energy – ex Saudi Aramco VP (RT)

There’s not enough capacity in the world to replace Russia’s gas supply to the European Union, while Moscow has plenty of markets to sell its energy to, the former executive vice president at Saudi Aramco, Sadad Al-Husseini, told CNBC on Monday. “The US doesn’t have the LNG capacity to replace Russia’s exports to Europe,” he said, noting that power bills across the EU are set to soar this winter. According to Al-Husseini, that could lead to serious problems on the global energy market. “This situation is a new world, and it’s not a very good one for energy,” he warned. “In any case, there isn’t enough LNG capacity in the world to make up for the Russian exports to Europe,” the former executive said, adding that, “It will take years for the EU to find resources to replace Russian supply.”


As regards to Moscow losing EU buyers, he noted that, despite Western sanctions, there are “plenty of alternative markets” for Russian energy, including China, Japan, or India. Meanwhile, Europe does not have alternative energy sources, he said, “while the US is maxed out already, North Africa has got problems,” and OPEC is also running out of spare capacity. “So, it’s a global problem,” he said. The official suggested that, while the Russian economy may suffer under Western sanctions, the rest of the world will be suffering with them. However, he stressed that “Russia may recover a lot sooner than Europe.”

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@imetatronink:
“• 48 tanks
• 83 armored vehicles
• ~1200 soldiers
A massacre.
This will be the final AFU “offensive” of the war.”

Surprise: Zelensky says it’s a big success.

Promised “Major Ukrainian Counter-attack” Ends In Disaster (Saker)

(machine translation) The Defense Ministry called the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the failed offensive of Ukraine near Kherson Ukrainian troops attempted an offensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, as a result, the AFU units suffered heavy losses, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters. “Today, during the day, on the direct instructions of Zelensky, Ukrainian troops attempted an offensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions in three directions. As a result of the active defense of the grouping of Russian troops, the AFU units suffered heavy losses,” TASS reports. The ministry added that “the enemy’s losses in manpower amounted to more than 560 servicemen, another attempt at offensive actions of the enemy failed miserably.”

According to the Defense Ministry, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed 26 Ukrainian tanks, 23 infantry fighting vehicles, nine other armored combat vehicles, shot down two Su-25 attack aircraft. Earlier on Monday, Deputy head of the administration of the Kherson region Kirill Stremousov said: the AFU has been shelling several settlements of the Kherson region since Sunday evening. Schools, social infrastructure were destroyed, residential buildings were damaged, the official confirmed. But there is no question of any APU offensive on Kherson, statements in the Ukrainian media – “this is some kind of illusion, a movie,” Stremousov pointed out.

As the head of the Kakhovsky district, Vladimir Leontiev, in turn, reported, the AFU inflicted more than 10 missile strikes on Novaya Kakhovka, including residential buildings and schools. Some strikes were carried out from HIMARS, residential buildings and a school were damaged, the head of the district said. Aviation, missile troops and artillery hit nine control points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the day, including on the territory of the Mykolaiv region, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, said on Monday.

‘Now is the time for Russian soldiers to flee’: Zelensky

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“Day and night, the drums of war never stop beating.”

Ukraine & the Politics of Permanent War (Chris Hedges)

No one, including the most bullish supporters of Ukraine, expect the nation’s war with Russia to end soon. The fighting has been reduced to artillery duels across hundreds of miles of front lines and creeping advances and retreats. Ukraine, like Afghanistan, will bleed for a very long time. This is by design. On Aug. 24, the Biden administration announced yet another massive military aid package to Ukraine worth nearly $3 billion. It will take months, and in some cases years, for this military equipment to reach Ukraine. In another sign that Washington assumes the conflict will be a long war of attrition it will give a name to the U.S. military assistance mission in Ukraine and make it a separate command overseen by a two- or three-star general.

Since August 2021, Biden has approved more than $8 billion in weapons transfers from existing stockpiles, known as drawdowns, to be shipped to Ukraine, which do not require congressional approval. Including humanitarian assistance, replenishing depleting U.S. weapons stocks and expanding U.S. troop presence in Europe, Congress has approved over $53.6 billion ($13.6 billion in March and a further $40.1 billion in May) since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. War takes precedence over the most serious existential threats we face. The proposed budget for the CDC in fiscal year 2023 is $10.675 billion while the proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $11.881 billion. Our approved assistance to Ukraine is more than twice these amounts.

The militarists who have waged permanent war costing trillions of dollars over the past two decades have invested heavily in controlling the public narrative. The enemy, whether Saddam Hussein or Vladimir Putin, is always the epitome of evil, the new Hitler. Those we support are always heroic defenders of liberty and democracy. Anyone who questions the righteousness of the cause is accused of being an agent of a foreign power and a traitor. The mass media cravenly disseminates these binary absurdities in 24-hour news cycles. Its news celebrities and experts, universally drawn from the intelligence community and military, rarely deviate from the approved script. Day and night, the drums of war never stop beating. Its goal: to keep billions of dollars flowing into the hands of the war industry and prevent the public from asking inconvenient questions.

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You put in the sanctions. That backfired. Well, you always know who to blame. Problem is, when people are cold and dark, they will look at you.

France Accuses Russia Of Using Gas As ‘Weapon Of War’ (RT)

French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher on Tuesday accused Moscow of using its gas exports as a weapon after a reduction of Russian supplies to France was reported. “Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies,” the minister told France Inter radio. EU governments are trying to fill up gas storages to avoid shortages during the fast-approaching heating season, and any supply shortfalls from Russia, which is still a large source of gas for the bloc, are met with increased worry.


Earlier on Tuesday, Le Figaro reported that, according to a press release from French energy supplier Engie, Russia’s Gazprom has cut gas supplies because of an unspecified contractual dispute. Furthermore, the Russian energy major is slated to halt supplies to the EU via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline due to maintenance from Wednesday to Friday. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday warned domestic companies that they would be the first to face energy rationing in the event of shortages of natural gas or electricity, and called on them to draft energy saving plans by September.

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Look at the future.

The SCO: Half The World’s Population To Forge The New World Order (Trenin)

Over 20 years after it began as an attempt at cooperation between five-Russian led post-Soviet states and an emerging China, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has become a major global institution, representing close to half of the world’s population. From September 15-16, Samarkand, one of the ancient centers of human civilization, will host the annual summit of the group. The Uzbek presidency’s priorities include strengthening the SCO’s capabilities in assuring regional security and stability; promoting friendship and good-neighborliness; raising its global profile; countering threats in the information and ideological spheres; expanding parliamentary links; energizing economic interaction; enhancing connectivity; intensifying cultural and humanitarian contacts; and raising the general effectiveness of the collective and its mechanisms.

All of this looks impressive, but quite anodyne, and the documents to be formally approved at the summit do not promise any major sensations – beyond the long-expected admission of Iran as the SCO’s ninth member state. Yet the environment in which the Samarkand summit will be held differs greatly even from last year’s gathering in Dushanbe. Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has led to a proxy war between Moscow and Washington. Meanwhile, Sino-US relations, already confrontational, have become palpably strained over the recent visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. sNATO’s new strategic concept adopted last June in Madrid describes Russia as the most significant and direct threat, and China – for the first time – as a challenge to Western interests, security and values. As a result, the international community has moved visibly closer to a Cold War-style division between two camps in an intensifying rivalry over the world order.

That said, the SCO is unlikely to become the non-West’s version of NATO. While the US-led bloc is now more united than ever in its effort to preserve the order built and developed in the heyday of its global dominance, non-Western nations do not display anything similar to that sort of unity, hierarchy, and internal discipline. Russia and China, although they both reject US global hegemony, pursue very different grand strategies and – despite their public declarations of a cooperation that “knows no limits,” and a partnership that is “more than an alliance” – are careful not to damage their other important connections – e.g., China’s with the US and EU; and Russia’s with India – as they cooperate with each other. Moreover, China and India, not to mention the latter and Pakistan, while all members of the SCO, view each other as major security threats.

Despite such diversity and complexity, however, the SCO, at the start of its third decade, is not only still in business, but is steadily getting more active and becoming more attractive to others. In 2001, it started at six; after 2017, the membership expanded to eight, with another 20 countries or so listed as observers, dialogue partners, or in the process of joining. Iran’s accession this year is spurring the interest of Turkey and a number of Arab countries, notably the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar. The SCO community could potentially include much of the Eurasian continent between Belarus and Cambodia. Such enlargement carries obvious risks in terms of even wider diversity of interest, conflict, and frictions between the countries that aspire to join. Yet, the example of China and Russia; India and Pakistan finding the SCO useful to their interests is a convincing argument for accession.

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“..how did the FBI know about our story weeks before it was published, maybe even before we were told about the laptop by Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer Bob Costello?”

FBI Put The Hunter Biden Story Right In Facebook’s Lap (Devine)

Since our story had nothing to do with Russian disinformation, what made Facebook think it was the “dump” the FBI warned them about? We asked Facebook: “Was there mention made in the FBI briefing of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Ukraine or a laptop?” Facebook’s answer was curious. “The FBI shared general warnings about foreign interference — nothing specific about Hunter Biden.” Note the omissions. Whatever was said, the briefing must have been specific enough for Facebook to recognize immediately that our story was exactly what the FBI was warning about and move at record speed to throttle it.

At 11:10 a.m. the morning the story went live, Democratic operative Andy Stone, Facebook’s communications manager, issued a statement on Twitter announcing “we are reducing its distribution on our platform” while the story is “fact checked by Facebook’s third-party fact checking partners.” All morning the bombshell story had been the subject of frenetic commentary from journalists on twitter. But Stone’s announcement killed it stone dead. Twitter followed Facebook’s lead and locked The Post’s account for two weeks. Mission accomplished. Polls show that the outcome of the election may have been different if the story had not been censored.

[..] the question is, how did the FBI know about our story weeks before it was published, maybe even before we were told about the laptop by Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer Bob Costello? Were they spying on John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the Delaware Mac repair shop where Hunter had abandoned his laptop in April 2019? Mac Isaac believed he was under surveillance after he first contacted the FBI on October 9, 2019, via his father, to tell them he had the laptop and was concerned about evidence of crimes he believed it contained. The FBI’s response was oddly hostile. sWhat followed was a curious visit to his Delaware home by FBI agents Mike DeMeo and Joshua Wilson of the FBI’s Baltimore office a month later, and again to his store on December 9, this time with a subpoena for Hunter’s water-damaged laptop and a hard drive clone of its contents which Mac Isaac had made.

[..] We don’t know whether Mac Isaac was under FBI surveillance. But we don’t have to speculate about Rudy Giuliani. We know the FBI spied on the former mayor’s cloud for two years from May, 2019, a month after he began working as then president Donald Trump’s personal attorney. A year after raiding Giuliani’s Upper East Side apartment last April, ostensibly over FARA violations, the FBI returned all his devices, without charging him, and told the New York Times he was no longer under investigation. So the FBI had access to all Giuliani’s emails and iMessages for two years. Were they spying on Giuliani in order to spy on Trump? Unfortunately for them, Trump rarely writes emails or texts so they came up empty there. But it is possible that they saw the email to Giuliani from his lawyer Bob Costello at 4.28 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2020, telling him of Mac Isaac’s “amazing discovery.”

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Instrumental in Russiagate, too.

Top FBI Agent Resigns Amid Claims He Shielded Hunter Biden From Probe (NYP)

A top FBI agent at the Washington field office reportedly resigned from his post last week after facing intense scrutiny over allegations he helped shield Hunter Biden from criminal investigations into his laptop and business dealings. Timothy Thibault, an FBI assistant special agent in charge, was allegedly forced out after he was accused of political bias in his handling of probes involving President Biden’s son, sources told the Washington Times on Monday. The agent was escorted out of the field office by at least two “headquarters-looking types” last Friday, the sources said. Thibault, a 25-year-veteran, had already been on leave for a month after the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), started raising concerns about whistleblower claims the FBI had obstructed its own investigations into the first son.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray in July, Grassley said Thibault and FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten were allegedly involved in “a scheme” to “undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.” Thibault also allegedly tried to kill off a valid avenue of investigation of possible Hunter Biden criminality up until at least one month before the Nov. 2020 election, according to Grassley. “Thibault allegedly ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required by FBI guidelines…. [and] subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future,” Grassley wrote. It was the same month The Post first started reporting on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, which included troves of emails related to his shady overseas business dealings.

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“..we counted 14 different ways of attributing deaths to COVID-19..”

Three Ways the Psychotic Covid Panic Narrative Was Created (DS)

Throughout restrictions which Lord Sumption called a “catastrophe”, we were exposed to the mantra of ‘follow the science’. But unfortunately, the only ‘science’ that seems to have been followed in the major decisions is that of modellers and government departments. Models are akin to opinions. If they are science, the evidence they provide sits on the lowest rung of the ladder. Modellers are accountable to no one; most have never seen a patient in their lives as they have no clinical background, which impedes their understanding of how people behave. Individuals are not herds of buffalos. Some modellers have a consistent track record of getting their predictions dramatically wrong with (again) catastrophic consequences.

Since the start, we have looked at the evidence underpinning the fear-generating narrative pushed by the Government, some politicians, the media and many Twitterati, who overnight forgot the principles of scientific investigation, equipoise or uncertainty and the work of many pioneers in respiratory virus epidemiology spanning a century. The psychotic narrative rests on three legs of what we call the Covid narrative stool. The first leg is the number of cases. We have shown that misuse of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on a superficial understanding amplified the number of ‘cases’ as many of these were not likely to be infectious at all. The second leg was the hospital pressure theme. Here using data which should have been available (but are not), we have shown that up to 40% of hospital cases were infected while in hospital, a phenomenon which shows no sign of abating. The data from three devolved nations and our interpretation have been serialised on our website.

Finally deaths. A death in epidemiology is the one inevitable outcome you can observe and tally. The question is: what caused it? This is called attribution. Looking at the data from freedom of information requests made by an alert public and the response at times by patronising authorities, we counted 14 different ways of attributing deaths to COVID-19. The first prize for the most bizarre was the Care Quality Commission’s: it left it to the care provider to decide the cause of death. So it is possible that administrators decided what role SARS-CoV-2 played in your grandmother’s death. In one health authority’s case, deaths of people who tested ‘negative’ were rolled into the Covid total.

Read more …

“..even if he was “only right five percent of the time,” it still means “we were lied to five percent of the time.”

Fauci’s Presence Is No Longer Politically Sustainable (CHD)

While Dr. Anthony Fauci claims he’s stepping down to “pursue the next chapter” of his career, an attorney who has been pursuing legal accountability for Fauci’s actions believes it’s because “his presence is no longer politically sustainable.” Fauci announced on Aug. 22 that he is stepping down from his positions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Laboratory of Immunoregulation and as chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. “The huge pop we are all hearing is the global opening of champagne bottles celebrating Fauci’s departure,” attorney Thomas Renz told The Epoch Times.

Renz is the lead attorney in several major cases brought against the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Biden administration and Fauci himself; regarding forced vaccine mandates, the COVID-19 lockdowns, mask mandates, business closures, alleged hospital negligence, vaccine injuries to military personnel and civilians and efforts to censor the truth about COVID-19. While his assertions have been dismissed as “false,” “rich in conspiracy theory” and “based on faulty data due to a database glitch,” Renz responded to critics that even if he was “only right five percent of the time,” it still means “we were lied to five percent of the time.”

According to Renz, the whole COVID-19 playbook used by the government and the liberal media to force compliance of restrictive protocols is filled with inaccuracies and inconsistencies. While Fauci demanded the use of masks and social distancing because these measures were supposed to prevent the spread of the virus, numerous studies and scientists say otherwise. The CDC admitted in August 2020 that “sustaining social distancing interventions over several months might not be feasible economically and socially.” Fauci himself has flip-flopped numerous times on the effectiveness of wearing masks. Democrat politicians who imposed mask mandates, lockdowns, quarantines and rules barring indoor personal-care services were frequently caught doing precisely what they forbade others to do.

UK Funeral Director John O’Looney

Read more …

 

 

 

The very first Calvin and Hobbes.

 

 

Biden WMD

 

 

 

 

Tucker Carlson – This isn’t bad policy; this is nuts

 

 

Kagu

 

 

Flying fox young bats ride clinging to their mother’s breast with their mouth, even though some young are two-thirds the weight of their mothers & quite capable of flying on their own. Photo: Hemant Kumar.

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 31 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 90 total)
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  • #114728

    Henri Matisse Bathers by a river 1909-16   • UK Inflation May Top 22% Next Year – Goldman Sachs (RT) • Thousands Of UK Pubs ‘Face Closure’ Withou
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle August 31 2022]

    #114731
    chooch
    Participant

    Good overview of all the legal actions regarding vaccine mandates for federal contractors.

    The COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Roller Coaster Continues: The 11th Circuit Ends The Nationwide Injunction Of The Government Contractor Vaccine Mandate

    https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/government-contracts-procurement-ppp/1225728/the-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-roller-coaster-continues-the-11th-circuit-ends-the-nationwide-injunction-of-the-government-contractor-vaccine-mandate

    #114733
    Red
    Participant

    @afewknowthetruth
    “The American Kleptocracy: A Government Of Liars, Thieves, & Lawbreakers

    Ditto New Zealand”

    Ditto the entire west!

    Climate change or weirding whatever, isn’t a believe system, no believers required. Unlike fiat currency and government, which require believers. If YOU believe you know what the system will do in the future than prepare accordingly. Blathering on about it won’t change the outcome.


    @my-parents-said-know

    “WES- in my neck of the woods the monarchs are flying south 2 weeks early; the orioles and blackbirds left last week. The wooly bears showed up three weeks early. The squirrels are already putting on their winter coats. The hostas bolted to flowers three weeks before normal. Though late august, it feels like mid-september. The window frogs never came. There were no moths- this was very disturbing (goes with no “June bugs” this spring.). Oh, and the sora are reading as orioles on the bird ID app on my mate’s phone.
    How are things going in your vicinity?”

    Where I’m at in Nova Scotia my wife’s flower gardens have flowers that came and went early and some that should have bloomed long ago and have yet to. Much the same storey in my veggie garden. Most everything has grown but is maturing early with less than expected volumes. More than enough for us due to my over planting just for such outcomes. It’s been years since there was any amount of June bugs here. A few on a couple of nights and then gone. Our weather here has been very humid and warm since mid July and no respite in sight yet.

    #114734
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    In Portugal (Lisbon area) no moths this year (last year there were some, not many, but still some). Flies used to be aplenty, now few appear and far between. Accordingly, not that many birds (other than pigeons.) A small creek nearby that used to have a Summer dawn frog chorus has none this season.

    Apparently, it’s not only at human level: an Earthly upheaval is afoot.

    #114735
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    Oh mr./ms. rich person: are you hiring your own personal,
    private army?
    Cometh the time, who is going to protect you from
    the protector?

    (Ultimately, in human affairs what counts is brute force, and the will to use it.
    Martial arts taught us that you can defeat a mightier opponent by adding his strength to yours but, all in all, victory remains a matter of brute force and the skill with which it is handled, not a matter of argumentation prowess.)

    #114736
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Germany’s economy minister says the “bitter reality” is that Russia will not resume gas supply.”

    Are these guys on commission and get a daily bonus for lying? The bitter reality is that GERMANY won’t resume the gas supply, and this economy minister is marching a few ten thousand of his citizens to the gas chambers. Why are you doing that?

    “California Senate Passes Bill To Create “Fast Food Council” With Wage-Setting Power”

    Your property is not safe. This is for franchise owners, who can only do what? Go bankrupt and sell to Blackrock at a loss? But this is the same for farmers: they said “Do this, “Do that”. Take up these fertilizer policies. Buy a $100k new spray rig that is more accurate, invest in $1M more centralized, specialized barns, a manure pond, and $100k tank spreader. Okay: are you up to your eyeballs to the bank for Green Tech? Now BOOM! We’re legislating you can have 60% of your herd.

    Instant. Bankruptcy.

    And to the people they say “Oh, these durn farmers, we only asked 30% drop in pure poison! Deadly pollution! Who could be against that? How unreasonable!” Knowing they would lose the farm on a 20% drop and added the extra ten just to be certain Blackrock…and Rutte’s brother…would get everything. For free. While you own nothing and like it.

    But no property is safe IF government can just wander around passing laws that help their friends, and ruin the cattle…i.e. us. Now this has been slow for decades, and opposed, where business-related people understand, but worker-related people somehow believe government is “Helping”, and this was a pivot point between party approaches, but now on turbo. Billionaire Corporations and insiders first, all other property is unsafe and about to be stolen. What other reason could you “Own nothing and be happy”? Since you won’t own it, THEY will. Generations of inheritance, as simple as passing down the family home, wiped out.

    People hate property rights. How guache. PEOPLE are more important than property, what a bunch of scrabbling scoundrels to write “Life, Liberty, and Property” in the rough draft. But “Property” is a sliding scale. Yes, it could be all of Mt. Vernon. But it is also the clothes on your back and the food in your cupboard. In this case, for the farmer and franchise owner, it is the cobbler’s hammer, ‘Property’ is the tools of their trade that they are stealing, insuring he can no longer work, and will go hungry.

    Next time you sit down to eat, instead of saying grace, say, “Thank you for this ‘Property’ that sustains us.” Especially since it’s about to be stolen. On purpose. For profit. Your government just ON PURPOSE shut off grain imports. Your government, ON PURPOSE is arresting farmers. And then during this? “German Green Party Minister Calls for Tax on Meat”

    Not property like your Camaro. Property like your Burrito. Stolen. Eminent domain needs approval and compensation, at the least.

    Mississippi Declares State of Emergency as Broken-Pump Leaves Capital without Drinking Water”

    Centralization. We need decentralization, because low-trust, no-trust culture now where no one can keep their word. And everyone is lying, cheating, and stealing, as above. That is problems as probably, to create their monopoly market, they made it ILLEGAL to do privately. Just as it’s illegal to collect a glass of water in Colorado and Arizona. That’s the King’s Water, peasant. God gave it to the KING, so that the king could SELL it to you. Appalling louts. Know your place. Or in modern parlance: “Check yourself.” “Check your privilege”.

    “Thousands Of UK Pubs ‘Face Closure’ Without Energy Bills Support (G.)”

    As above. Kill all small businesses, all productive humans, by any means necessary Part II. Company Store at the Peabody Mine worldwide. It’s going well. The people haven’t even decided this is intentional and are still fencing with the psychopath murderers’ bizarre excuses.

    “Greek PM: Resources Against Energy Hikes Not ‘Infinite’ (K.)”

    Especially when it’s all COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY. And at the same time you shut off food, and add food taxes like on meat. You’re telling me this is a coincidence, you never thought about? Well you did think about, because we and all farmers in Europe just told you. You’re just doing it anyway, knowing it’s not democratic and will kill everyone.

    “Every day that passes without a joint approach to the energy crisis makes .. problems”

    So his answer is a “Committee Meeting”. That is, a “joint approach.” You have one. Europe is already lying in 10 ways to ignore the rules, or re-import Russian oil at 5x markup. Why have a ‘joint approach’? You guys caused it for no reason, so Un-Cause it. Problem solved.

    Let’s put it this way: suppose Russia really was planning on taking Paris. Suppose Democracy really was at stake instead of Nazi Anti-Democracy. STILL the smart strategic move would be immediate appeasement to buy time to circle back and get Russia later. They don’t. Which means killing all European citizens is a feature, not a bug. They WANT it, and are not upset in the slightest. If they were at all upset they would do something.

    “China Is Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas to Europe (ZH)”

    This is so amazing we should re-post it every day. Amazingly stupid. When they stop it will mark a change in the weather. But you see, it’s more environmental to pipe Ural gas 10,000 miles to Beijing, to lose 20% in compression and be laded on a ship and floated 20,000 miles to Brussels. #Winning!

    “states would prefer to seek peace rather than sticking with Kiev until it prevails in its fight against Russia,”

    And also a change in the weather when they stop saying idiotic s—t like this. Until the Ukrainian flag flies over the Kremlin? Russia hasn’t even mobilized their army yet. They are selling you gas and haven’t even shut off your power.

    “how to “force Russian troops to withdraw,”

    Just like two little boys playing “House”. On a little cardboard stove with plastic pots. Newsflash: Nothing you say matters. Nothing you do has any effect. This is an army, and the only way to impress your will is for YOUR army to MAKE THEM. Okay, anyway, still waiting for reality to break through.

    It does have one advantage: because of Baghdad Bob, all 700 million of them, when the narrative collapses, it will be an epic shock you won’t miss. That will change things quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly for financial markets.

    EU Has No Alternative to Russian Energy – ex Saudi Aramco VP (RT)”

    They did. They were going to conquer Syria in ‘Bama’s Arab Spring and make a big pipe from UAE, etc. But these things take time and they lost. Also they barely own Turkey right now.

    “ Promised “Major Ukrainian Counter-attack” Ends In Disaster (Saker)”

    Same thing as Hitler. Rather than listen to winning generals like Rommel, Great Leader who knows nothing about this, just say “You Soldier: You go bang bang.” Essentially suicide, which is bad for morale. Army could be used Waaaaaaay smarter and more effectively, but Ze is in negotiations this week and needs a “Something”. Um, Mr. Ze, wouldn’t a “Something” that “wins” be noticeably better? “Don’t bother me with details!!! Winning, Losing: what difference does it make at this point?”

    Uh-huh. And the IRISH still exist now because…?

    “No one, including the most bullish supporters of Ukraine, expect the nation’s war with Russia to end soon.”

    Experts? Well in that case it will end soon. They also say Ukr will win, so Russia will win over Europe.

    “ France Accuses Russia of Using Gas as ‘Weapon of War’ (RT)”

    But France is not using embargoes…and stealing $300B as a ‘Weapon of war.” “It’s not Fascism when we do it.”

    “Gazprom says it will halt for lack of payment” Well I should think so! Remember back when this started Europe said “they expected gas to continue without them paying for it, Mister!” Uh-Huh. You and whose army?

    “That said, the SCO is unlikely to become the non-West’s version of NATO.” Uh, does this guy know what NATO is? No, it wouldn’t. Obviously. That’s like comparing the Marines and Wal-Mart. They are, you know, kinda different.

    “We know the FBI spied on the former mayor’s cloud for two years from May, 2019, a month after he began working as then president Donald Trump’s personal attorney.”

    The FBI spies on all attorney-client privilege. Got it. Armstrong said they regularly did this in every meeting room in Rikers. Just ‘cause. I mean, why not? Who’s going to arrest the police and State’s Prosecution for lying, cheating, and stealing, breaking all human rights as far back as the Magna Charta? No one in America, that’s for sure.

    “Top FBI Agent Resigns Amid Claims He Shielded Hunter Biden from Probe (NYP)”

    We’ve learned this is the total point of the FBI. That and killing annoying peaceniks like Dr. King. Golly, an organization with all the moral character of J. Edgar Hoover? What could go wrong. Clearly we must believe everything they say, and destroy anyone they don’t like. We love the police now, trust the FBI implicitly, and would never defund them.

    #114738
    EoinW
    Participant

    I had a moth in my house. Because I wouldn’t kill it, he had a great summer flying around.

    I did notice that the frogs and crickets seemed quieter this year. I’m not sure I can connect my silent summer evenings to the end of Mother Nature. Less crickets in my garden and less frogs at the pond is what it is and nothing more. I’m not going to be so arrogant to think that what happens in my tiny world has impact on the entire world. My default position continues to be that the natural world shall continue to do what it’s always done.

    I’m not meaning to make fun of the interesting info shared above. I appreciate such information. But I’ll never try to reach any all encompassing conclusions from such info.

    We’re about to see what the Chicken Little environmental activists are going to achieve with their hysteria. Nothing good. Being Irish it saddens me to realize that green will soon be the most despised colour.

    #114739
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Kinda interesting. I haven’t argued that there is no “man-made climate change.” I don’t personally know and mostly don’t care because, as I mentioned, it’s the least of our problems. 🙂 But the two sides are an interesting debate here.

    I still come down on the side of oxy: keep a light footprint, do the best you can to make things better.

    #114740
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    Not property like your Camaro. Property like your Burrito. Stolen. Eminent domain needs approval and compensation, at the least.

    But it doesn’t, so what are you going to do about it? Stop paying tax so that the IRS soldiers can come over and shoot you? I think they already suspect you will try that! Try to reason with them, like the Dutch farmers are hoping to do, in other words allow them to bullshit you for a year while they put you into dire financial straits? Masturbate over your guns? What’s the plan?

    They will take your stuff and if you resist they will lock you up in jail. Later they will pass a law that allows them to execute you. In court they will show false sale documents showing that you sold them your land. If you cause too much trouble they will just shoot you.

    Once your land is gone you will never own anything again and you will live in barns like cattle waiting for the farmer to walk you outside for a shit.

    I know, you think this is impossible, but read a bit of history and you will see that this would be an easy way out, the fanatics of the past have done much worse.

    #114741
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    @EoinW

    I am not suggesting Nature is reaching the end: perhaps an abrupt change is coming, the accumulation of all the gradual changes.
    But you’re right: maybe the insect Armageddon isn’t occurring, and what is really happening is more like an urban/suburban phenomenon, something related to radiation/atmospheric pollution.
    Thank you for the insights.

    #114742
    Dora
    Participant

    Edward Dowd:

    “UK ONS Excess Deaths for ages 1-14 and bio weapon inoculation uptake timeline. Notice that prior to uptake excess deaths were trending lower…then they rise as the government kills children. This is an age group that doesn’t tend to die due to drug overdoses, suicides or missing cancer screening treatments. Another smoking gun. ”

    https://gettr.com/post/p1oj8vmd2bc

    #114743
    Dora
    Participant

    another from Edward Dowd:

    Just a reminder that that Pfizer failed the All Cause Mortality endpoint in their absurdly short 28 day trial. Traditionally drugs are not approved by the FDA upon such a failure. The crime occurred then and was buried until FOIA revealed it last fall…we have the results and they are grim. The greatest crime ever committed in the history of the world IMHO.

    https://gettr.com/post/p1otdqeaff0

    #114744
    John Day
    Participant

    I just read the late-night entries from last night, and appreciated them.

    Our enemy is our owners, and our owners can own us by keeping is at each other’s throats.

    Whatever narrative gains some traction, true(ish) or false(ish) is a tool for them to direct our thoughts, actions and energies, and if something is divisive, that is also useful, especially in times of sudden change, turmoil, systemic-failure, leading into some kind of systemic reset.

    All of us have internal models of the world, which we use to decide what to do today, tomorrow, next month, and where to live. All of those models are imperfect, but some end up being more useful than others. We often make adjustments to our models, and sometimes we have to really drop one, but that may not be possible for a human.

    We are here at TAE, analyzing “SigInt”, signals intelligence. We know that vested interests push certain models-of-reality through the media communications channels.
    I personally assess that “deflationista” had that paid job, and moved on to other communications nodes, probably pushing other viewpoints, managing chatbots.
    It’s a job for lots of people.

    I have independently noticed that I am far more sensitive to sun-strength than to temperature in recent years, especially this year. I’m no wimp. I’m out in it working.
    I also, like Dr.D and others notice changes in the seasons. I am told that the Van Allen Belts, our shields are something like 20% weaker than a decade ago. I specifically agree with, and have independently made note of the seasons tracking the solar energy more, like April and August are more alike now.

    It is completely possible that heat and visible light are responding to greenhouse gasses, while UV intensity and even more energetic rays are responding to a reduction in shielding, all at the same time. My skin says the intense sunlight is harder to adapt to (but my skin is also older than it was). I’m an imperfect measurement probe, but I can correct for that somewhat.

    Back to narrative-control, SigInt, and herding us by maintaining a control-narrative. The control-narrative that was going to destroy the Russian economy and pillage Russia failed, and went negative. It needs to be replaced before the stagnation of winter, or our lords will lose “the initiative” (even further).

    I have been looking for changes in the signals, new signals, signals that test human responses to see what direction of narrative the humans will respond to positively and negatively. Also, actual power-position changes are important signals.
    I’m detecting both kinds of signals. I’m looking for a bigger “WAR!” control narrative signal, and it can’t be done in Europe. Russian chess has blocked an increase in European “WAR” narrative, so it needs to move elsewhere, where it is more sustainable.

    More than that, Russian gas and oil need to be accepted overtly, because they could not be replaced without destroying the European economic engines. Cover russian il and gas through India and China have been “busted”. India won’t budge, so India will keep exporting Russian oil as refined products. China reshipping LNG, sent as LNG from Russia to China, while China burns natural gas from new Russian pipelines, has now been outed.
    This is more of a force-move on Germany than an attack on China or Russia. Covert Russian gas is now attacked, as German politics asks for “peace negotiations” and overt/cheaper Russian gas (and oil).
    That is tension, so I have been looking for signals of what direction the tension may break, what pathway of action may be chosen by big-players to get Russian oil and gas, but revive the war-fear narrative, which has to be upgraded to bigger fear now.

    Pat Buchanan is a sly fellow and comes-to-bury-Caesar-not-to-praise him sometimes.

    Winners and Losers From the Ukraine War


    He makes a conservative-nationalist case for peace with Russia on humanitarian grounds here, not Kissingeresque, practical “realpolitik”. Not so new…

    Here is what is new, and it is Japanese-government signal, and what Shinzo Abe would have been working on, perhaps what he was assassinated for, but now it looks like policy. Japan has decided at the last minute to keep a stake in nearby Russian LNG project . This has been a long-term investment in something which is in Japan’s national interest, and not in US/NATO interests. This may be a pivotal decision, and it may signal a US/NATO pivot-to-China.
    Japanese Firm Signs New LNG Deal With Russia’s Sakhalin-2https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Japanese-Firm-Signs-New-LNG-Deal-With-Russias-Sakhalin-2.html

    There is a lot of tension to generate by lining up for major war against nuclear-armed China. China can use this tension and US/NATO/AUKUS/India/Japan/Korea can all use this tension. The problem is that the tension is based on a hair-trigger for global nuclear annihilation. Shit-happens sometimes…

    #114745
    zerosum
    Participant

    The truth requires adjustments to our opinions, etc.

    …… Henri Matisse Bathers by a river 1909-16 ….. I see a snake and hints of naked female bodies, (sexuality)

    ….. a copy-and-paste culture
    Here is what our bosses are doing
    ” Here are the facts that I prepared for you to see/to consider/to evaluate, before you decide what to do, before you make up your mind, before you realize the whole truth.”

    …… A person needs access to 2,000 – 5,000 of consumable/energy/calories/day
    At the moment, only reactors five and six remain online. Therefore, shut down the needed reactors.
    Also, shutdown the pipeline for maintenance.
    Increase the cost of energy and reduce the amount of income to consumers

    …….. Proof is in the photo shopped pictures and new graves( a gallon of white paint)
    • Promised “Major Ukrainian Counter-attack” Ends In Disaster (Saker)

    ……. Its goal: to keep billions of dollars flowing into the hands of the war industry and prevent the public from asking
    inconvenient questions.
    • Ukraine & the Politics of Permanent War (Chris Hedges)

    ……. democratic gov are there to help you/give to you
    ……. socialist gov are there to take from you
    ……. If there is nothing then gov. are not needed

    …… small business are too small to survive
    …… large business are too large too survive

    …… War is consuming my future energy needs
    ———-

    #114746
    zerosum
    Participant

    Money moves but does the equipment move out of the warehouses according to the paper trail.
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/08/ukraine-a-frontline-report-vanishing-foreign-weapons.html#more
    Ukraine – A Frontline Report – Vanishing Foreign Weapons

    #114747
    John Day
    Participant

    War Narrative Pivot (Oops, wrong war) Pictured mowing grass and thinking ’bout stuff
    https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/war-narrative-pivot

    ​ ​The management style of our ‘owners” (George Carlin ref.) is to preemptively stage a crisis ahead of any crisis they cannot forestall.

    ​That allows them to manage the societal-control-narrative going into the crisis, whatever it may be.​

    ​ The primary crisis is that global real economy stopped growing after summer 2018, and was contracting despite financial stimulus after that, leading to the “repo-crisis of August-September 2019, when the biggest banks in the world could not trust each other overnight with T-bills as collateral. ​ That indicated that they knew a “Lehman moment” was at hand. The Fed papered over that by taking over the repo-window, providing trillions of dollars in overnight liquidity. Then they played the “pandemic emergency” card, and mysterious $US trillions went directly into the reserves of the biggest banks and financial institutions, like Blackrock, which got mysterious government super-powers, which we don’t understand yet. Still, that was kicking the can down the road, because economic growth has fallen-and-can’t-get-up. The system implodes. It’s based on exponential growth.It has been supported by lies for 14 years already. The​-owners​ are ​now ​playing with fire with the “War” card, but it is a card they know well, and it can serve any need at any time, but the ante keeps rising…
    Europe is the ​current​ crisis-center​, but the problem has worsened faster than anticipated. The Russian economy didn’t tank. Russia appears to have gotten stronger by many measures.Russia has also been irritatingly reasonable, refusing to take all kinds of bait, continuing to offer oil and gas to Europeans.​ ​ ​It seems that the Ukraine-War crisis perception is dropping below that of economic-collapse and freezing to death​.If Russia had just gotten sick from the Ukraine-war bait, as was planned, things would be better. there would be hope for Globo-Cap to swallow Russian resources
    The failure of the Ruble would have paved the way for central bank digital currency to be coupled with electronic health-passports, and the European Central Bank could have sailed over the debris of the crumbling western financial order by leapfrogging it.

    That is not possible now. That rotting and wobbly order must be kept upright as long as possible. The BRICS Banking and international-trade mechanisms are up and toddling already.​
    If we assume that economic collapse (at least financial-collapse) is baked in, then ​the ​crisis level must escalate to meet it.​
    A high crisis level is necessary to justify whatever actions the-owners and bankers decide they need to take to maintain their power over western-societies, especially their freedom to act without restraint, however they see fit.​
    Russia was goaded to invade Ukraine by Ukrainian troop preparations to invade the Donbas region in February. Russia invaded to preempt that.
    What next?

    ​ ​That’s a tough question, because Europe can’t fight Russia. They just can’t do it. They are out of men and material. The Ukrainian army was built up for this war since 2014, and it is played-out. Nobody else has tanks and artillery left. Military aircraft await repairs. Factories take years to fill orders for military equipment…

    ​ ​How about fighting China? Maybe “fighting” China would be even better…
    A “war” of military posturing, threats and suspension of trade is possible.
    Preparations are already underway, and numerous steps have been taken to stop transfer of critical products ​to China.​ The US military has purportedly moved all production of critical military chips out of Taiwan, and is setting up the Taiwanese chip factories for demolition by factory teams, in event of ​Chinese ​invasion.

    ​ This will break global supply chains before any country is ready, but it is such an opportune time to launch an attack against a foe that it can’t really be missed.

    Time is of the essence to maintain escalation initiative in this war against regular-people.​

    #114750
    John Day
    Participant

    I’m just blocked from uploading stuff today, despite deactivating links. Still trying…

    Surplus Energy Economics notices what French (Rothschild-puppet) President Macron recently said about
    “The end of the age of abundance”. This arises from the cost of extracting energy resources like oil, coal and gas rising high enough
    to suppress the rest of the economy, and create cycling recessions, as we got in 2007, and never really left.
    https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress. com/2022/08/30/238-money-and-the-end-of-abundance/comment-page-1/#comment-31655

    What Moon of Alabama (German) does not come out and say here is that European “leaders” must follow orders from their masters.
    In Germany, that’s the US/NATO. The US uses a lot of bribes and blackmail on European politicians.
    Europe’s Economic And Social Suicide – Provoked by The U.S. And Helped Along By Europe’s Leaders
    https://www.moonofalabama. org/2022/08/europes-economic-and-social-suicide-provoked-by-the-us-and-helped-along-by-europes-leaders.html#more

    The long awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive happened yesterday, unreported by most.
    ​ ​The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), while trying to conduct an offensive in Mykolaiv-Krivoy Rog and other directions,
    suffered heavy losses, more than 1,200 soldiers were destroyed. This was reported to journalists by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
    ​ ​According to the ministry, Russian troops destroyed 48 tanks, 46 infantry fighting vehicles, 37 other armored combat vehicles,
    8 pickups with heavy machine guns.
    http://thesaker. is/russian-mod-updates-the-losses-of-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-after-the-failure-of-their-counter-offensive/

    ​ It’s time to try a new tack before the US military has no ammo left. Germany is already out.
    Pentagon Stockpiles “Uncomfortably Low” Amid Ukraine Transfers, Officials Admit
    https://www.zerohedge. com/military/pentagon-stockpiles-uncomfortably-low-amid-ukraine-transfers-officials-admit

    #114751
    John Day
    Participant

    Volodomyr Zelensky is about to become a tragic figure somehow. Winter approaches, Ukraine is just slowly losing,
    and the west can’t keep up supplies or appearances any more. The west has to take some kind of initiative, and it is likely to kill Zelensky’
    Ground beneath Zelensky’s feet is shifting​ , ​Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline
    https://www.indianpunchline.com/ground-beneath-zelenskys-feet-is-shifting/

    Exact dates for IAEA mission to ‘targeted’ nuclear site revealed ​
    ​Experts from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will examine the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant between
    August 31 and September 3, in an effort to assess the situation at the site amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
    https://www.rt.com/russia/561735-iaea-zaporozhye-nuclear-plant-ukraine/

    ​ Algeria, colonized by France, and treated disrespectfully ever since, can’t increase gas exports much at all.
    ​President Emmanuel Macron Warns of Cold Winter in Europe. Natural Gas Supplies and France’s Relationship with Algeria
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/president-emmanuel-macron-warns-cold-winter-europe/5791715

    This is absolutely NOT the desired societal-control-narrative, yet it keeps getting out.
    Exhaustive Study of German Mortality Data Finds Excess Deaths Tightly Correlated with Mass Vaccination
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/exhaustive-study-german-mortality-data-finds-excess-deaths-tightly-correlated-mass-vaccination/5791727

    #114752
    John Day
    Participant

    No, No, No! They were supposed to keep that SECRET!
    China Is Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas To Europe
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-aggressively-reselling-russian-gas-europe

    ​ Very well connected investment analyst, and China expert, Kyle Bass, says in opening sound bite that
    “the US DoD expects China to move on Taiwan in the next 1-2 years”.​. This is like the rumor I hear, that
    the US DoD has moved all Pentagon chipmaking out of Taiwan this month and is working with factories
    to set up destruction-mechanisms, controlled demolitions.
    China has been warned that this is suicidal, according to my rumor.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/kyle-bass-china-will-invade-taiwan-next-1-2-years

    Yes, Yes, Yes Japan has decided at the last minute to keep a stake in nearby Russian LNG project .
    This has been a long-term investment in something which is in Japan’s national interest, and not in US/NATO interests.
    This may be a pivotal decision, and it may signal a US/NATO pivot-to-China (or not).
    Japanese Firm Signs New LNG Deal With Russia’s Sakhalin-2
    https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Japanese-Firm-Signs-New-LNG-Deal-With-Russias-Sakhalin-2.html

    ​Nordstream-1 is shut down for 3-4 days for scheduled maintenance. Russia says it will start up again Saturday.
    ​https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russia-Officially-Halts-Natural-Gas-Flows-Via-Nord-Stream-1.html

    This sounds completely crazy, right? Texas almost lost the whole grid in February 2021,
    and now they are pitching cheap power to Bitcoin miners? The catch is, that the power gets shut off if the grid gets weak.
    Texas gets the backup power for the grid by increasing total capacity, and “shedding” it away from the cheap seats sometimes.
    ​ ​Texas Crypto Miners Ask To Use As Much Power As All Of New York State
    Texas officials have been urging crypto currency-miners to move their operations to the Lone Star State.
    The campaign is working so well that applications for power hook-ups are piling up to a level far above what state
    power authorities estimated just four months ago.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/texas-crypto-miners-ask-use-much-power-all-new-york-state

    #114753
    zerosum
    Participant

    Campers, in BC, have been complaining about the over abundance of mosquitoes in the campgrounds.
    ——
    John Day is enjoying early retirement or is it the life of “quiet quitting”.
    😉

    #114754
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I only saw one Palo verde beetle this year, which was quite odd. And it was a few weeks later than usual Usually, I see 10-15. They are 3 inches in length.
    palo verde beetle

    #114755
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D:
    Just as it’s illegal to collect a glass of water in Colorado and Arizona
    It IS illegal to harvest rainwater in Colorado — the waterways are so controlled because the precipitation (snowfall, mostly,) is the source of the Colorado River.

    However, this is not the case in Arizona. In AZ the groundwater (wells) are highly regulated in highly populous areas and lightly regulated in low population areas (a simple permit is required — ostensibly so that there is a record of where the well is.). Rainwater can be freely collected in AZ. Which is one of my projects this year.

    #114756
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Don’t worry, Aspnaz, we each do our own things, each in our own situation, but I’ve said what to do. 1) Stop working like everyone already did after Obamacare. 2) Bury your gold for 1,000 years like in Rome. 3) Go to the beach. “They pretend there are markets, and we pretend to trade them.” You have no assets, no income…visible.

    “I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in the up-building of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the up-building, fast money in the crack-up. Remember my words. Perhaps they may be of use to you some day. –Rhett Butler

    “But you are a blockade runner!” Rhett Butler: “For profit, and profit only.”

    Talk about decentralization? How decentralized, atomized, independently self-sufficient can you get? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Execute? A harmless, homeless guy like me? A helpless, ignorant ward of the state? Why no: I’ll get a medal for being the kind of citizen they like best! Completely unproductive, completely drawing on the wealth of the state. ‘Cause golly brother, times are hard, ya know? That beach ain’t gonna surf itself!

    Or maybe ten other options, I haven’t decided yet. Why should I?

    Actually, I was buoyed to see insects and frogs beginning to recover at last, but slowly. With the sun this intense, it’s surely cooking insects on sight. There were many calls of bumpers melting off cars and so on that were never seen before. Of course I’m sure this doesn’t exist because science says the sun hasn’t changed, we don’t burn faster, and I guess it was newly-escaped lava-monsters that are doing it now? Anyway, when you see and feel that you wonder how insects can possibly live. True to form, if you’re in the forest, grass, water, and deep shade, they seem to be closer to normal. Again, details: WHICH insects? Ants? They’re fine. Big thick bees? A little more trouble. Mosquitoes that frogs eat? Not so much. Same as WHICH citizens pay, and which are getting paid. “Holland” is not one thing and neither is the “FBI”.

    Money moves but does the equipment move out of the warehouses according to the paper trail.”

    This is like Afghanistan. We left $6B in weapons? O Rlly? How about $10M in weapons and $5.99B in paper weapons that were never created or delivered? And you wonder why they couldn’t withdraw, when those 50 tanks flown back to Ft Bragg suddenly become one tank, and the Base Colonel and Quartermaster General start asking big million-dollar questions? …Just like how we have no artillery shells. Where are they Brian? Where’s my money?

    We are soooooo far past the scam of making weapons. Waaay past overpricing weapons. Light years from shorting them on weapons. WE ARE PRODUCING NO WEAPONS, and charging TRILLIONS – $40 trillion? Missing? According to Federal accountants? – Zero weapons, infinite cost. Corruption “To Infinity…And Beyond!!!” Where no nation has gone before!!!

    “Japan has decided at the last minute to keep a stake in nearby Russian LNG project”

    Japan is flipping east. (West) They knew they had to and did before, but then that Fukushima tsunami accidentally came along and convinced them otherwise. But U.S./Europe/Nato are all useless, broke has-beens and their billionaires are inbred nobodies in the process of being crushed right now. Japan is very practical and may look awkward to be a fiefdom constantly, sold out to the Yanks and imitating us, but they are a small island and have to hire loyalty as is expedient for survival. They are very good at it and have lots of practice, always enduring as Eternal Japan so far. This time too, starting with Russia whenever it works best. They are moving the chip factories, which means definitely. Japan will move during that action at least.

    #114757
    Red
    Participant

    Not what the models were saying a few weeks back!

    “Scouts on this year’s tour forecast the 2022 corn crop at 13.759 billion bushels with an average yield of 168.1 bushels per acre. If realized, this would be the smallest corn harvest in three years and would measure far below the US Department of Agriculture’s Aug. 12 Crop Production forecast of 14.530 billion bushels and projected yield of 175.4 bushels per acre.”

    https://www.world-grain.com/

    From the same site:

    OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Canadian wheat production in the 2022-23 marketing year is forecast to increase 55% over the previous year to 34.6 million tonnes, according to the latest projections from Statistics Canada.

    If realized, it would be the third largest wheat crop in Canadian history.

    The increase is largely driven by better growing conditions in Western Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

    The agency said yields are expected to increase year-on-year by 41% to 51.1 bushels per acre. Harvested area also is expected to increase by 9.4% to 24.9 million acres.

    The increase in expected total wheat production is largely attributable to spring wheat, which is anticipated to rise by 57% to 25.6 million tonnes. This increase is a result of higher anticipated yields (up 40% to 52.7 bushels per acre) and higher harvested area, expected to increase by 12.5% to 17.8 million acres.

    Durum wheat yields also are expected to rise (up 101% to 40.6 bushels per acre), contributing to higher expected durum wheat production (up 113% to 6.5 million tonnes).

    The country’s other grain crops also are expected to see an increase in output, the agency said.

    Canola production is expected to rise by 42% to 19.5 million tonnes in 2022-23, as growing conditions in the Prairies improved considerably relative to 2021, pushing yields higher (up 48% to 40.5 bushels per acre).

    Models? That increase in wheat is going to happen despite the reduction of fertilizer? Me thinks someone forgot to input the fertilizer reduction amounts.

    #114758

    With their faces glued to phones, people do not look up and notice the chemtrails. Geoengineering is one place I agree that there is “manmade” climate change, and it’s nuts. Our biggest problems come from “fixing” our problems.

    Pheonixvoice- that is one handsome beetle!

    #114759
    Red
    Participant

    The opinion expressed here is just mind numbing. I don’t know where to start so I won’t, other than to say wind and sail is it and it won’t/can’t get green any other way.

    Underwriting decarbonisation: Financing key to steer shipping towards a green future

    #114760
    John Day
    Participant

    China might shoot-down Musk’s Starlink as a threat to national security.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-threatens-destroy-elon-musks-starlink

    #114761
    John Day
    Participant

    @zerosum: Fired for COVID-vaccine-refusal may become retirement in time.
    I am not particularly quiet, not quitting, but working on the homestead and this informational-analysis free-service that I do for living-beings.

    #114762
    Red
    Participant

    The following is from Eric Zuesse who i’ve read a fair bit over at Tom Dispatch.

    Any political ‘scientist’ who calls America a “democracy” is either corrupt or idiotic. But America’s billionaires need them, in order to be able to call their “enemy” nations “dictatorships” or “authoritarian regimes” (e.g.: Russia, China, etc., are ‘authoritarian’ ‘regimes’, etc.) such as America itself actually is, because of them — because they actually do rule here. The con is total, and might therefore be appropriately referred-to as being “totalitarian,” in that sense.

    https://www.greanvillepost.com/2022/08/30/why-any-political-scientist-who-calls-u-s-a-democracy-is-a-fake-no-scientist/

    #114763
    Red
    Participant

    The following is from Eric Zuesse who i’ve read a fair bit over at https://tomdispatch.com/

    Any political ‘scientist’ who calls America a “democracy” is either corrupt or idiotic. But America’s billionaires need them, in order to be able to call their “enemy” nations “dictatorships” or “authoritarian regimes” (e.g.: Russia, China, etc., are ‘authoritarian’ ‘regimes’, etc.) such as America itself actually is, because of them — because they actually do rule here. The con is total, and might therefore be appropriately referred-to as being “totalitarian,” in that sense.

    https://www.greanvillepost.com/2022/08/30/why-any-political-scientist-who-calls-u-s-a-democracy-is-a-fake-no-scientist/

    #114764
    John Day
    Participant

    Here is something from Helen of DesTry about narrative control during COVID:
    When You Read Alone, You Read With Hitler
    https://helenofdestroy.substack.com/p/when-you-read-alone-you-read-with?utm_source=substack&utm_medium

    #114765
    willem
    Participant

    @aspnaz and @Afewknowthetruth: This morning I caught the tail end of your discussion late yesterday, the gist of which is summarized by AFKTT: “We are, indeed, governed by thieves and professional liars who con the masses into believing completely fake narratives because the ignorant masses believe it is all for the greater good -rather the actual reason, which is to make money for banks and corporations and opportunists (which includes most politicians in the NATOstan countries) and keep the Ponzi financial system going a bit longer.”

    I certainly can’t say I disagree with this. But I’ve done a lot of thinking on it over the last couple of years, and have been forced to accept a number of truths about human behavior.

    Even if every person on the planet could be convinced that the planet has around 7B too many people, and that it is over its carrying capacity, thus requiring that global population be managed back down to 1B, few of them would believe that they themselves should be binned as one of the excess billions. That goes in triplicate for our would-be betters. Everyone wants to be one of the survivors, but not everyone has the means to win out in that struggle. Our would-be betters believe that they do, and whatever else their plans are for humanity, you can take it to the bank that they not only intend to be among the survivors, but believe that they are much more worthy of that privilege than the rabble.

    Going along these lines, if you personally recognize the need to reduce your impact on the planet, how much would you willingly give up or stop doing if you were not convinced that everyone else had the same understanding?

    Another thing concerns “trust.” The PTB are attempting to manipulate the masses with lies and censorship into doing what they think is a) good for humanity’s survival, and/or b) good for themselves. Even if the reason is the former, they are doing a poor job. This is because instead of engendering trust, their methods are actually destroying it. The question is: will more people dig their heels in against you when you convey unpleasant truths, or when you indulge in behaviors that cause large numbers of people to lose trust in what you are telling them?

    But what else should be done to get humanity on the right track? I remember one of our commenters some time back saying that this all might be a sincere attempt to “extend the shelf life of the human race” or something along those lines (which I don’t disagree with). But I think our peanut farmer president (Carter) was the last one that actually tried to level with people and tell them straight out what they needed to do, and he flopped miserably.

    #114766
    willem
    Participant

    I’d like to thank whoever posted, some weeks back, the link to a Tim Watkins article (I think it was a link to his writeup titled “The Complexity Trap”). Watkins has a lot of interesting things to say, and while I don’t agree with all of it, there are some things he writes about that I hadn’t really thought much about. I ended up reading his book “The Consciousness of Sheep”, an excellent read.

    #114767
    zerosum
    Participant

    Got nothing/no proof, just speculations/accusations, but found ways to keep the headlines hot.

    DOJ:DOCS “likely concealed and removed” to “obstruct” probe

    #114768
    WES
    Participant

    Trudeau is one of those who believes the little people should sacrifice themselves for his benefit. Flying in a Canadian made Challerger jet wasn’t good enough for him. Now his highness flies in a large Airbus jet plane.

    Do as I say, not what I do!

    #114769
    zerosum
    Participant

    “Do as I say, not what I do!”
    I can insult, tell lies, about Putin but you cannot call me out for that and/nor call out my VP finance minister Leleand who is an elites, ethnic, Ukrainian decent.

    #114770
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Red

    ‘If YOU believe you know what the system will do in the future than prepare accordingly. Blathering on about it won’t change the outcome.’

    I started preparations for what I knew was coming in the early2000s, but in the wrong location, Auckland, which I never wanted to shift to but was kind of forced to in the early1990s. Then couldn’t get out for a long time.

    The shift to Taranaki seemed like a good thing at the time -population 100,000 and lots of farmland and running water [due to the mountain ‘rain magnet’. However, for reason I won’t go into in detail but involving the totally corrupt and dysfunctional district and regional councils, I relocated again just under three years ago.

    Where I am now, in a region with a population of about 20,000 and abundant groundwater supplies and tolerably good surface water supplies -there is a steam running across my property- I started from scratch yet again 30 months ago.

    Although I don’t have everything I would like, I am sure I will endure the energetic-financial-economic-societal meltdown that the controllers have triggered better than most, whether that meltdown is the product of intention or just plain arrogance and stupidity (plenty of evidence for that).

    If need be, I can survive with no heating in the house, since it is quite well insulated, and the outside temperature rarely drops below minus 1 degree Celsius.

    I have put in heat control systems -roller blinds, awnings etc. to combat excessive heat. It has been in the mid-30s in summer since I came here, but is unlikely to get to the 40s, due to the proximity of the ocean, which has a cold northward flow along the coast, i.e. from the Great Southern Ocean next to Antarctica.

    Having converted all my fiat money into things I believe will be of value through the meltdown, I have no money and live from week to week, balancing the small benefit I get with outgoings.

    Dental work is a financial killer in NZ.

    I have no wood stove (but can do without for internal house temperature). Just extra layers of clothing. The same for outside work on frosty mornings. 4,5,6 layers.

    Interestingly, those who do have wood stoves are dependent on petrol-powered chainsaws and petrol or diesel vehicles to pull trailers stacked with wood. Could be a problem there in the near future, since NZ has no refinery and is totally dependent on imported refined products.

    The thing about the S.I. is that it does have plenty of hydro-electricity, and will continue to do so for as long as the distribution grid can be maintained. In the N.I natural gas and coal are burned to maintain supply -and keep the electric cars moving!

    You may regard providing vital information for the understanding of what is going on and why as ‘Blathering’ but I do not like the word.

    I will keep providing vital information for the understanding of what is going on a why as long as I can.

    Whilst nothing will change the outcome -an uninhabitable planet- it may affect the mechanism by which that point is reached and the living conditions of those who endure the consequences of all the greed, corruption and stupidity that have characterised life in the Empire of Lies for many centuries.

    #114771
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    John Day

    It is encouraging to participate in dialogue with someone who can see the big picture and who does not jump on ill-thought-out bandwagons.

    #114772
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    willem

    We are in a ‘progress trap’.

    In reality, there is no such thing as progress. There is only change. And most of the change since the commencement of the Industrial Revolution has been exceedingly bad.

    Sure, it seems better to not have go to a water source (well, river, pond) and collect water. It seems better to not have to chase rabbits and pheasants or trap them. It seems better to not have to collect firewood or build one’s own dwelling.

    But really, it’s all quite ephemeral.

    People who lived before humans began to mess things up big time were really alive.

    Now we have a huge population of zombies, within which lives a tiny minority who are really alive.

    #114773
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    willem

    The Chinese adopted a one-child policy in an attempt to bring population growth under control. I was an admirable response to a burgeoning predicament.

    However, the Chinse were vilified for it, especially by the utterly corrupt western nations, who were (and are) under the control of money-lenders. And money-lenders have only one prime agenda: making more money for themselves via increased population, increased consumption and increased ravaging of the Earth -all achieved via their social control and propaganda systems.

    We heard the stories of how the Chinese aborted females, resulting in school classes comprising of 28 boys and 4 girls.

    What a fine thing that turned out to be! because if there had been 16 of each, China’s current food and pollution and social predicaments would be far worse.

    But in ‘polite’ society one is not allowed to say such things.

    It all goes back to the 1960s: Catton’s ‘Overshoot’ and Hardin’s ‘Tragedy of the Commons’

    .

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