Sep 012022
 
 September 1, 2022  Posted by at 7:51 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,


Frank Walton Crows on a beach 1884

 

Era of Fake Money is Gone – Egon von Greyerz (USAW)
Europeans Face Mass Poverty – Expert (RT)
European Gas Prices Surge As Russia Reduces Supplies (RT)
Russia Has Enough Gas For At Least 100 Years – Gazprom (RT)
Hungary Signs Deal With Gazprom For Extra 5.8bn Cubic Metres Natural Gas (EN)
German Companies Shutting Down In Response To Record Energy Prices (ZH)
Most Germans Want Talks With Russia – Poll (RT)
Northern EU Sees The Light (K.)
Ukraine: Somewhere between Afghanization and Syrianization (Escobar)
Western Propaganda and its Aftermath (AT)
Ukrainian Officials Accused Of Stealing Trainloads Of Aid (RT)
Russian Foreign Ministry Explains Who Is Dividing The West (RT)
US Life Expectancy Plummeting (RT)
Western Allies Sabotaged Tentative Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal… In April (ZH)
DOJ Alleges That “Obstructive Conduct Occurred” at Mar-a-Lago (Turley)

 

 

The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again. And we will never be tormented by the boredom of eternity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half the country.
Karine Jean-Pierre says that people who voted for Donald Trump are “a threat to our democracy, to our freedom, to our rights.”

 

 

 

 

Ashley

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You have to remember when the debt collapses, all the assets that were supported by this debt will collapse. You will have an implosion of values, I expect 90% plus.”

Era of Fake Money is Gone – Egon von Greyerz (USAW)

“I did forecast that . . . the stock market is going to fall at this particular point. The 1,000-point drop on the DOW last Friday came right on cue. Fundamentally, the markets should have crashed a long time ago. . . . It appears clear to me we are going to see a 30% or so fall in the markets in the next one to two months. That’s the first fall, but that’s just the beginning. . . . Markets will fall, in real terms, by 90% to 95% in the coming years. That’s not going to happen overnight, but if it does happen overnight, then all bets are off and there will be a total disaster. The world is going to shut down. . . . Then there will be some extra money printing and people will be optimistic for a while. There is no money anymore because the money that is printed will make zero difference.

There will be nothing that will drive the world forward. All the decisions on top of the with energy, climate change, sanctions, etcetera, will mean it all will crash a lot faster. . . . The world is going to see a collapse that it has never seen before in history, and there is absolutely no remedy for that. They are not going to be able to do anything. Everybody who is not in power is going to promise something that they can’t deliver. When they get into power, they will be thrown out because they couldn’t deliver. So, the era of Shangri-la and money printing and saving the world by fake money—that era is totally gone.”

EvG goes on to say, “I am not a prophet of doom and gloom, but it may sound like it. I am just someone who just looks at risk. This is why I got into gold 20 years ago. Gold was the best solution to a risk situation in the financial world. . . . We almost had a collapse in 2008, and it was patched up temporarily. This time they won’t succeed . . . . We have a situation nobody can solve. . . . Initially, there will be money printing, but adding new debt to pay old debt is not a great solution to the problem. I don’t think there will be any orderly reset at all . . . . At some point, there will be an implosion of the system. There has to be. . . . You have to remember when the debt collapses, all the assets that were supported by this debt will collapse. You will have an implosion of values, I expect 90% plus. Stocks crashed in 1929 to 1932 by 90%. The risk back then and the magnitude of the problems then were nothing compared to what we have today. Remember, today it’s global, and it’s every single country in the world. . . . It’s everywhere, and no one can escape what’s coming.”

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“..in Belgium, households on average will be paying $10,000 a year for power and heating.”

Europeans Face Mass Poverty – Expert (RT)

Rising energy prices could lead to mass impoverishment in the EU, Professor at the University of Liege in Belgium Damien Ernst told French news site Atlantico on Monday. He warned there is no indication that the situation will improve after this winter. According to him, “the perfect storm” that has formed in energy markets is expected to have a major economic impact on households and businesses. Ernst suggested that in Belgium, households on average will be paying €10,000 ($10,000) a year for power and heating. The energy crisis will be far worse than the 2008 financial crisis and the oil shocks of the 1970s, he said, adding: “This will have economic consequences, especially for purchasing power, and lead to financial constraints.” With such a jump in energy prices, “it will be impossible to control inflation,” Ernst warned. Power prices in Europe have continued to reach record highs, intensifying the region’s energy crisis and stoking fears about access to electricity and heating as the weather begins to cool.

Kyle Bass
https://twitter.com/i/status/1564962742259400705

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I think prices have come down a bit. Not that it matters much anymore.

European Gas Prices Surge As Russia Reduces Supplies (RT)

European spot prices for natural gas rose in early trading on Wednesday after Russian energy major Gazprom shut down supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. According to the Intercontinental Exchange data, the price of October gas futures on the TTF hub in the Netherlands rose 5.5% to €280 ($280) per megawatt-hour, or $2,906 per thousand cubic meters, at around 07:00 GMT, after falling below $2,600 the day before.= Earlier on Wednesday, Gazprom confirmed the temporary halt of natural gas deliveries to Europe via Nord Stream 1 due to scheduled maintenance.


Unless there are technical setbacks, the gas flow will be resumed on September 3, with supply volumes restored to 33 million cubic meters per day, or roughly 20% of the pipeline’s full capacity. Following Gazprom’s announcement on August 19 regarding the temporary suspension, gas prices reacted sharply. Last week, the price of September futures exceeded $3,500 per thousand cubic meters. However, after German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced that the country’s underground gas storages were 85% filled ahead of schedule, the gas price rally somewhat subsided.

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And the west wants it.

Russia Has Enough Gas For At Least 100 Years – Gazprom (RT)

Russia has huge natural gas reserves that could last for more than a century, the head of state-owned Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said on Wednesday at the International Business Congress. “Our consumers, Russian citizens, will have access to [this] cheap, reliable energy resource. It is especially important to note that they could be optimistic about the country’s gas future. Why? Because we are provided with reserves for 100 years ahead,” Miller said, noting that some of Gazprom’s fields will still be providing gas even in 2120. The energy giant’s chief executive attributed such an optimistic forecast to the development of the vast resources in Russia’s northern Yamal Peninsula, adding that Gazprom is currently preparing to launch the Kharasavey gas field and has also started developing the deep deposits of the Bovanenkovo field. Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, estimated at 48 trillion cubic meters, or roughly a quarter of the global total.

Read more …

Move to Budapest while you can. It’s a pretty city.

Hungary Signs Deal With Gazprom For Extra 5.8bn Cubic Metres Natural Gas (EN)

Hungary says it has signed a deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom for 5.8 billion cubic metres of extra natural gas. Zoltan Kovacs, international spokesman for Hungary’s government, said it would be on top of the country’s current supplies. “Hungary’s energy supply is safe,” he added. Hungary’s foreign affairs minister also announced the deal with Gazprom on Facebook during a break from his meeting with other EU ministers. Péter Szijjártó specified that in September and October, Gazprom will deliver a maximum of 5.8 million cubic meters more natural gas per day to Hungary via Serbia than what was specified in its long-term contract. EU foreign affairs ministers were meeting to debate a possible visa ban on Russian tourists in response to the war in Ukraine.


Szijjártó added that during the foreign affairs meeting, he spoke out against a possible visa ban on Russians. The announcement comes as Europe scrambles to cut energy consumption and cope with a reduction in supply of Russian gas. The Russian state-owned energy company had increased supplies to Hungary earlier this month even as it stopped flows to other European countries. Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Europe’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline earlier on Wednesday for maintenance. The company also said it had suspended gas flows to French gas company Engie “due to failure to pay for July supplies in full.”

Read more …

“..the entire German economy is about to get its plug pulled..”

German Companies Shutting Down In Response To Record Energy Prices (ZH)

It’s not just European smelters shutting down due to soaring energy prices: the entire German economy is about to get its plug pulled. While a handful of macro tourists rejoice that record European year-ahead electricity prices plunged by 50% to levels not seen since… last week… Europe is facing economic devastation and depression at a scale that will make 2008 seems like a walk in the park. As the FT reports, German manufacturers are halting production in response to the surge in energy prices, a trend the government has described as “alarming”. German economy minister Robert Habeck said industry had worked hard to reduce its gas consumption in recent months, partly by switching to alternative fuels like oil, making its processes more efficient and reducing output.

But he amusingly clarified, some companies had also “stopped production altogether” — a development he said was “alarming”. “It’s not good news,” he said, “because it can mean that the industries in question aren’t just being restructured but are experiencing a rupture — a structural rupture, one that is happening under enormous pressure.” Habeck said rising gas prices were affecting everyone from big industrial companies to small trading firms and the medium-sized enterprises that make up the “Mittelstand”. “Wherever energy is an important part of the business model, companies are experiencing sheer angst,” he said. And since energy is a crucial part of every business model, one can only imagine the chaos, fear and loathing hammering the largest European economy right now.

Confirming that Trump was right all along, the German minister said the business model of large parts of German manufacturing was based on the abundance of gas from Russia that was cheaper than gas from other regions. That competitive advantage “won’t come back any time soon, if it ever comes back at all”, Habeck said. Whether he was aware of it or not, Habeck effectively echoed what Zoltan Pozsar said over the weekend, that Europe is facing a Minsky moment triggered by excessive financial leverage “and in the context of supply chains, leverage means excessive operating leverage: in Germany, $2 trillion of value added depends on $20 billion of gas from Russia… …that’s 100-times leverage – much more than Lehman’s.”

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Their gov’t has explicitly said they don’t care what the voters want.

Most Germans Want Talks With Russia – Poll (RT)

The majority of Germans want the West to take concrete steps to initiate talks with Russia to end the Ukraine conflict, a recent survey has indicated. Published on Wednesday, the poll commissioned by Germany’s RTL/ntv-Trendbarometer was conducted from August 26 through August 29, with 1,011 people taking part. According to the survey, some 77% of Germans believe that the West should make concrete efforts to try to launch negotiations with Russia, which could help bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Only 17% would oppose such talks. When asked whether it is the right thing for Western leaders to keep phoning Russian President Vladimir Putin, 87% of the respondents replied in the affirmative, with 11% against.


Regarding the extent of German aid to Ukraine, 43% said they are content with the current state of assistance, while 26% want Berlin to do more and a quarter believe the country is already doing too much in this respect. The latter sentiment is particularly prevalent in eastern Germany and among supporters of the Alternative for Germany party, the researchers noted. Although some politicians from the ruling ‘traffic-light’ coalition are calling for continued deliveries of heavy weaponry to Ukraine, even at the expense of Germany’s own military, 62% of the respondents expressed skepticism about whether this would be a prudent move, while only 32% would welcome such deliveries.

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The way the EU’s been going, they can only make it worse.

Northern EU Sees The Light (K.)

The EU is rushing to intervene in the electricity and energy markets to prevent a further price escalation, now that the crisis is threatening to destabilize the biggest European economies, especially the highly dependent on Russian gas Germany. Those who loudly and with more than a hint of contempt pushed back on proposals by Greece and other southern European countries for a price ceiling on natural gas and the decoupling of gas prices from electricity rates, are now at the forefront of efforts for immediate intervention on exactly these issues, seven months late. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made public Monday the EU’s intent for an “emergency intervention and a restructuring of the electricity market” and, on Tuesday, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner sent a message to his EU colleagues that Berlin was open to considering a price ceiling on natural gas in the emergency meeting of EU Energy Ministers on September 9.


Across Europe and at EU headquarters, in Brussels, officials are weighing the pros and cons of the price ceiling and the decoupling, proposals that Greece had first made, through Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in October 2021. The task is to find the most effective mix of policies that will restore a certain equilibrium in the natural gas market and will lead to a price de-escalation. Moreover, these measures must be agreed upon by all 27 EU members. In this complicated effort, Europe is certain that, whatever decision it takes, it will lead to a Russian reaction. Also, and independently of what it decides about natural gas, Russia will keep reducing flow, under a variety of pretexts, continuing a policy that begun with demands that it be paid in rubles and whose latest manifestation was Tuesday’s reducing of supply to France’s Engie.

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“..Monsanto, Cargill and Dupont have already bagged 17 million hectares of prime, fertile arable land – over half of what Ukraine still possesses..”

Ukraine: Somewhere between Afghanization and Syrianization (Escobar)

The Russian military never made a conscious decision to interrupt the multi-channel flow of western weapons to Kiev. Methodically destroying those weapons once they’re in Ukrainian territory – with plenty of success – is another matter. The same applies to smashing mercenary networks. Moscow is well aware that any negotiation with those pulling the strings in Washington – and dictating all terms to puppets in Brussels and Kiev – is futile. The fight in Donbass and beyond is a do or die affair. So the battle will go on, destroying what’s left of Ukraine, just as it destroyed much of Syria. The difference is that economically, much more than in Syria, what’s left of Ukraine will plunge into a black void. Only territory under Russian control will be rebuilt, and that includes, significantly, the bulk of Ukraine’s industrial infrastructure.


What’s left – rump Ukraine – has already been plundered anyway, as Monsanto, Cargill and Dupont have already bagged 17 million hectares of prime, fertile arable land – over half of what Ukraine still possesses. That translates de facto as BlackRock, Blackstone and Vanguard, top agro-business shareholders, owning whatever lands that really matter in non-sovereign Ukraine. Going forward, by next year the Russians will be applying themselves to cutting off Kiev from NATO weapons supplies. As that unfolds, the Anglo-Americans will eventually move whatever puppet regime remains to Lviv. And Kiev terrorism – conducted by Bandera worshippers – will continue to be the new normal in the capital.

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“Russians Targeting Kids’ Beds, Rooms With Explosives: Ukrainian Bomb Team”

Western Propaganda and its Aftermath (AT)

The western propaganda we’re currently experiencing is nothing new. Today’s President Putin joins yesterday’s Middle East “monsters” as current Ukrainian Nazi militias become “freedom fighters” and the Russians become “Nazis.” Likewise, the previous Middle Eastern terrorist groups became “moderate Islamist’s” but only if they were fighting for a US led NATO in Iraq and Syria. Yet such is the power of belief on an already stupefied majority western population that it’s become factual. In our upside down world, reality has long vanished to 15% of our western leaders who regard themselves as the “international community.” On August 24th, only 54 countries out of 193 supported a UN resolution which condemned Russia for not stopping its intervention in the Ukraine, which begs the question of why, if the majority population loathe today’s western politicians, do they passionately and often even fanatically believe their every word?

Supplying weapons and financial aid to the Ukraine which enables Russia to get bogged down in an endless war with mounting casualties, coupled with sanctions to bring down Russian middle-class living standards is just another attempt at regime change. Moreover, having failed to control the Middle East oil producers, it has not gone unnoticed that Russia is itself a major gas and oil producer. Bathsheba Crocker, US Ambassador to the UN warned in the New York Times on February 21st before the incursion occurred that Russia had a ‘hit list’ of people destined for arrest, detention and torture including “vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.” How she knew that is not explained, but the inclusion of homosexuals as a vulnerable group now appears mandatory in any media story.

From allegations presented as facts by Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova and picked up by The British Daily Mail and the US New York Times in May, of multiple repeated child rapes and murders near Kiev. Meanwhile, Newsweek also in May ran the headline “Russians Targeting Kids’ Beds, Rooms With Explosives: Ukrainian Bomb Team”; what kind of sick minds dream this up?! Although written in a news format, both headlines carried disclaimers that the content remained unverified. In which case, why report it as news? One assumes that in time these stories will join Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and the Ghost of Kyiv hoaxes.

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Fraud. The only infrastructure still in place in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Officials Accused Of Stealing Trainloads Of Aid (RT)

Ukrainian officials in the eastern Zaporozhye Region are being investigated for allegedly stealing massive amounts of humanitarian aid sent to them. They are accused of looting hundreds of freight cars’ worth of goods. Raids at offices and addresses associated with the suspected embezzlers were reported on Tuesday. Agents of the SBU, Ukraine’s successor to the KGB, and the anti-corruption agency NABU conducted the operations, according to a statement by the agencies. The region is mostly controlled by Russian forces, but its capital Zaporozhye and some of the surrounding areas are under Kiev’s control. The raids targeted the Kiev-appointed administration and members of the city council, according to the SBU and NABU. The agencies also reported confiscating what they believe to be narcotics and illegal firearms while searching the premises.

While the official statement offered few details, a more comprehensive account of the ongoing probe came from Ukrainian public figure Evgeny Shevchenko, who is widely described by the local media as an unpaid agent for the NABU. The agency had previously confirmed working with him. According to his post on Facebook, the suspected grifters made off with “almost all humanitarian aid” sent to the region, selling the goods through local retail chains. The total volume of what was stolen amounts to 22 sea transport containers, 389 freight train cars and 220 trucks, Shevchenko claimed. The activist named several senior officials in Zaporozhye Region as suspects and shamed them for posing as Ukrainian patriots while profiting at the expense of the country.

Shevchenko is a controversial figure in Ukraine. He emerged from the radical wing of the so-called Maidan protests of 2013-2014 and made a name for himself as an associate of militia commander and former MP Konstantin Grishin, who prefers to be called by his nom de guerre Semyon Semenchenko. Last year, Shevchenko and Semenchenko were arrested on allegations of involvement with an illegal militia. The arrests came after Shevchenko had accused the office of President Vladimir Zelensky of derailing an intelligence operation aimed at luring a group of Russian security contractors to Ukraine and detaining them. Shevchenko believes that his arrest and that of Semenchenko were an act of revenge by Zelensky’s chief-of-staff, Andrey Ermak. In his post about the raids in Zaporozhye Region, he linked the suspects with the president and the head of his office, pointing out that the officials targeted had been appointed by Kiev.

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“Zakharova compared the EU to the group of blind men in the painting ‘The Blind Leading the Blind’ by Dutch Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder.”

“..“strange suicidal initiatives that are attributed to the EU, but are actually imposed or planted” by an outside force..”

Russian Foreign Ministry Explains Who Is Dividing The West (RT)

Russia does not pursue a foreign policy aimed at dividing the West, or the EU in particular, despite claims to the contrary, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said. However, the bloc could benefit from being more tolerant of dissenting voices, considering how much it has hurt itself with its ‘united’ approach to Russia, she said in a radio interview on Wednesday. Zakharova compared the EU to the group of blind men in the painting ‘The Blind Leading the Blind’ by Dutch Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. “They are united. No one in this group, who are being led towards a ditch, voices any doubt, objects, asks questions or protests,” she said.

Brussels’ approach towards Russia is similar, the spokeswoman suggested, noting the “strange suicidal initiatives that are attributed to the EU, but are actually imposed or planted” by an outside force. She added that when it comes to Russia, the bloc does not tolerate dissenting voices – which is surprising, given that the EU claims to cherish democracy, a system in which opinions that differ from the dominant line of thinking are supposed to be appreciated. While many Western politicians claim that Russia wants to divide the bloc with its policies, this is not the case, Zakharova said. “If anything, our goal is to return common sense into international relations.”

Her remarks came during a discussion in the radio interview on the EU’s proposed ban on visas for Russians. The plan is promoted by Ukraine and some Eastern European member states, but Western European nations such as Germany and France believe less radical restrictions should be adopted. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested this week that an implosion within the EU could occur unless all member states follow the hardline Russia policy that Warsaw has adopted.

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Yeah, yeah, Covid…

US Life Expectancy Plummeting (RT)

The average American’s life expectancy notably dropped between 2019 and 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed in a report published on Wednesday. It is the first two-year drop recorded since 1961-1963. Over the last two years, the US life expectancy decreased by 2.7 years, leaving the average lifespan at 76.1 years – the same as it was in 1996. According to the CDC, the primary factor in driving down life expectancy was the Covid-19 pandemic, which has contributed to the deaths of over one million Americans. “Unintentional injuries” – a category that includes overdoses and other drug-related misadventures – as well as heart disease were also major factors contributing to the decline.

Before the pandemic, heart disease had long been the top-recorded cause of death in the US, while the opioid epidemic has led to record numbers of overdoses for several years running. Breaking the CDC’s numbers down by race yields even more alarming trends. Native Americans suffered a 6.6 year drop in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, compared to about four years for black and Hispanic people and 2.4 years for white people. The statistical burden disproportionately fell on males, whose life expectancy has declined to just 73.2 years, while females can still expect to live a comparatively long 79.1 years.

The report found most of the decline in life expectancy took place during the first year of the pandemic for nonwhite populations, while white Americans suffered the worst losses during the second year. Similar studies have found that Covid-19 worsened an already-yawning gap between the US, which has the most expensive healthcare in the world, and other developed nations in terms of life expectancy. Americans can now expect to live five fewer years than their European counterparts. Researchers studying the decline in life expectancy have blamed high rates of preexisting conditions like obesity and heart disease for the US’ outsized losses during the pandemic compared to 19 of its economic peers.

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“..the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee..”

Western Allies Sabotaged Tentative Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal… In April (ZH)

There’s mounting evidence that the war in Ukraine could have been over by this point, but key Western backers of Kiev sought to sabotage the potential for peaceful settlement through negotiations. That’s precisely what regional Ukrainian media reports concluded as early as May, soon after the UK’s Boris Johnson showed up in the capital on a “surprise” visit to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time the month prior This is what a bombshell story in Ukrainska Pravda said at the time, but which was almost completely ignored in Western mainstream media: According Ukrainska Pravda sources close to Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, who appeared in the capital almost without warning, brought two simple messages. The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with.

And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they [the UK and US] are not. Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to “press him.” The Ukrainian media English-language report went on to emphasize that Three days after Johnson left for Britain, Putin went public and said talks with Ukraine “had turned into a dead end”. At the time the Istanbul peace talks, which saw top officials from each warring side gather in the Turkish capital, was hailed in some corners as “the quickest way to end the war in Ukraine” – according to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s words, who was seeking to mediate between Moscow and Kiev.

But as the invasion ordered by Putin pressed on, Britain especially was the earliest out front in making large weapons and munitions deliveries to Ukraine via military transport planes a high priority. UK press reports also took note of the ‘convenient’ timing of London going all-in hawkish on Ukraine given Prime Minister Johnson’s enduring ‘Partygate Scandal’ at home. Again, recall the tone of Ukrainian media following the arrival of the British prime minister in Kiev (and it should be noted Johnson was the first leader of a G7 country to visit, coming two weeks after Russian forces withdrew from suburbs around Kiev) on April 9: “Following the arrival of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Kyiv, a possible meeting between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin has become less likely.”s

Read more …

A President’s impunity is almost limitless.

DOJ Alleges That “Obstructive Conduct Occurred” at Mar-a-Lago (Turley)

Last night, Department of Justice Tuesday filed in opposition to the appointment of a Special Master in Florida. It used the filing to add new facts and allegations to the public record, including the statement that “obstructive conduct occurred” at Mar-a-Lago by concealing or moving documents. The Department makes many of the same claims that it used to opposed the release of a redacted affidavit, claims shown to have been misleading and exaggerated after the magistrate ordered the release. Notably, this filing contained details that were likely redacted in the affidavit but just released on the public record. In the most direct challenge to the former President’s public claims, the Justice Department claimed that he and his staff had failed to turn over classified material and that the Department had no choice but to search areas outside of the storage room. Indeed, it says that it found three classified documents in Trump’s desk without indicating the level of classification or subject matter.

It also said that the Trump staff barred the FBI from looking at documents in the storage room after turning over classified information to them. “As the former President’s filing indicates, the FBI agents and DOJ attorney were permitted to visit the storage room. See D.E. 1 at 5-6. Critically, however, the former President’s counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room, giving no opportunity for the government to confirm that no documents with classification markings remained.” The filing also adds new disclosures on past claims of declassification by Trump. It states that “[w]hen producing the Fifteen Boxes, the former President never asserted executive privilege over any of the documents nor claimed that any of the documents in the boxes containing classification markings had been declassified.”


That was in January 2022. It then alleges that, in the June 3, 2022 meeting, “neither counsel nor the custodian asserted that the former President had declassified the documents or asserted any claim of executive privilege.” It is not clear if or when the Trump team made the declassification claim. The filing also includes this notable allegation: “The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.” The Justice Department told the court that it was vindicated in its suspicions and that “the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Not a fan of the man, but he’s right here.

David Icke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undefeated
https://twitter.com/i/status/1565077573863985159

 

 


The long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) is found throughout Europe and the Palearctic. Photo Hajime Nakatsuka

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle September 1 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 102 total)
  • Author
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  • #114839

    Frank Walton Crows on a beach 1884   • Era of Fake Money is Gone – Egon von Greyerz (USAW) • Europeans Face Mass Poverty – Expert (RT) • European
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle September 1 2022]

    #114841

    #114842
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Greg Hunter’s guest, Egon von Greyerz was utterly wrong when he said the money-printing wasn’t exponential between 1971 and 2019. Of course it was!

    But never mind, he’s right in that it is now hyper-exponential. And he’s quite right that economic growth is over.

    That’s really bad when you’re running a global Ponzi scheme.

    #114843
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Ha! That was a good joke by the German FM about politicians being ‘democratic’ !!!!

    It would be hilarious, but for the fact that we are not members of ‘the Big Club’ that she is in, the one that is totally screwing us.

    #114844
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Special report: Ukrainian commando raid to seize the nuclear power station and take international inspectors as hostages!

    Intercepted, but not resolved, so an ongoing crisis.

    #114845
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    New Zealand based consulting engineer Bryan Leyland acquired an unenviable reputation for being a prize wanker and ‘idiot’ -he was actually shouted down by the group at the University of Auckland technical analysis forums, for his unending support for ‘Clean Coal’ (obviously on someone’s payroll).

    So it’s good that he has recently said something sensible about the impracticability of electric car charging.

    #114847
    EoinW
    Participant

    University students shouting down a lecturer. That happened to Jordan Peterson at Queens.

    I didn’t know one was a wanker and idiot because some ignorant students won’t allowing him to express his opinions. Were the students wearing brown shirts?

    This was the reason I quit Naked Capitalism. Back in 2016 they were in favour of shouting down Trump. In a typical hypocritical leftest way, NC was saying Trump shouldn’t be allowed to campaign. They were pretending that shouting down was their expression of free speech! I get to shout at you but you don’t get to say anything. That’s free speech? More like the initial sign of Cancel Culture.

    Sooner or later a liberal will always show his true colour. But to talk about college students – the most brainwashed people on the planet – like their thoughts and actions matter? That is too much.

    #114849
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    @EoinW: well said.

    #114850
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    bl

    #114851
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #114853
    aspnaz
    Participant

    RIM said

    German FM: I will put Ukraine first “no matter what my German voters think” or how hard their life gets.

    Because he knows that Germany is not a democracy, it is an oligarchy and he has bosses to please.

    #114854
    John Day
    Participant

    Last night’s late comments were good again, and Sigmund Freud was able to copy and paste the FORBIDDEN 403 Strategic Culture article by Alastair Crooke. I read it, and this seemed important:
    “The present gas crisis has its origins in the Chinese-driven surge in gas consumption during 2021. Demand grew so rapidly that it was only available for European and Asian purchase at very high prices.”

    #114855
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Now totally convinced that Afewknowthetruth is a bot or a paid commenter. Kind of complimentary if paid, TAE has made it to the big time, as in deflationista 2, but I suspect it is a bot.

    #114856
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #114857
    John Day
    Participant

    Oops, “Figmund Sreud”. Must have been a Freudian-slip… second coffee, now.

    #114858
    Oroboros
    Participant

    #114859
    Oroboros
    Participant

    #114860
    John Day
    Participant

    AFKTT constantly creates new human content, with a consistent “voice” and with very good information depth.
    People can have strong, expert views, but they are ultimately human, and nobody can be “right” or even “expert” on every single thing.

    #114861
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Rising energy prices could lead to mass impoverishment in the EU, Professor at the University of Liege in Belgium Damien Ernst told French news site Atlantico on Monday. He warned there is no indication that the situation will improve after this winter.

    Another paid academic encouraging the people to believe the government and pretending that there is no solution to this problem which the government created.

    #114862
    Oroboros
    Participant

    He was in fantastic shape, up until he wasn’t.

    No reason, he just died. Cause of death, well, it just happened.

    Mountain biker Rab Wardell dies just two days after winning Scottish championship

    ” Mountain biker Rab Wardell has died just two days after winning the Scottish championship.

    The 37-year-old tragically died in his sleep overnight, it has been confirmed. Wardell, who lived in Glasgow, won the elite men’s title at the Scottish MTB XC Championships in Dumfries and Galloway at the weekend.”

    .

    #114863
    zerosum
    Participant

    TAE is shinning the light on important observations that our rulers don’t want us to know about.
    ——–

    You cannot buy any energy, at any price, if it does not exist.
    Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Europe’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline earlier on Wednesday for maintenance. The company also said it had suspended gas flows to French gas company Engie “due to failure to pay for July supplies in full.”
    Unless there are technical setbacks, the gas flow will be resumed on September 3, with supply volumes restored to 33 million cubic meters per day, or roughly 20% of the pipeline’s full capacity.

    The buyers want to tell the suppliers that they will not pay more than XXX for energy.
    Hahahha

    German Finance Minister Christian Lindner sent a message to his EU colleagues that Berlin was open to considering a price ceiling on natural gas in the emergency meeting of EU Energy Ministers on September 9.
    ———-
    Russia wants “paid in rubles”.
    How do you get a supply of rubles?

    ———
    • German Companies Shutting Down In Response To Record Energy Prices (ZH)
    ————-
    Who bought … who sold …. with Guns? … with ??? in a foreign bank account? …
    • Ukraine: Somewhere between Afghanization and Syrianization (Escobar)

    Ukraine – has already been plundered anyway, as Monsanto, Cargill and Dupont have already bagged 17 million hectares of prime, fertile arable land – over half of what Ukraine still possesses.
    ————
    Yet such is the power of belief on an already stupefied majority western population that it’s become factual.
    ———-
    Fraud. The only infrastructure still in place in Ukraine.

    • Ukrainian Officials Accused Of Stealing Trainloads Of Aid (RT)
    The total volume of what was stolen amounts to 22 sea transport containers, 389 freight train cars and 220 trucks, Shevchenko claimed. The activist named several senior officials in Zaporozhye Region as suspects and shamed them for posing as Ukrainian patriots while profiting at the expense of the country.
    ————

    #114864
    John Day
    Participant

    The exchanges last night about growing and sustaining human populations over the last 300 years were thoughtful and instructive. It has been a long climb up to our current populations. The case of English food provision to grow English population was very well detailed, but the way down is always different from the way up.

    We are each and all so extremely dependent upon the electrical grid in order to keep living. Without it there is no communication, no food distribution, probably no city water and city gas almost anywhere, no internet, no economic coordination, nothing…
    One of the very big threats to any country, and to the world is a nuclear EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device, detonated about 50 miles up. It burns out the electrical grid and wires below, a manmade “Carrington Event”. The “Starfish Prime” test, 250 miles up, knocked out streetlights in Hawaii, over 900 miles away, accidentally.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime
    All nuclear powers have devices like this, some of the easiest to use, since they don’t need to re-enter the atmosphere. North Korea presumably has these.

    #114865
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Empire of Lies life expectancy continued to slide in 2021.

    According to provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics released on Aug. 31,
    life expectancy dropped by 0.9 years in 2021.

    Dropped almost a YEAR in one year in Duh-merica, sweet!

    Craptastic!

    Leading to a total decrease of about 2.7 years between 2019 and 2021—the largest two-year decline in a century.

    Meanwhile in the Land of the Rising Sun

    The current life expectancy for Japan in 2022 is 84.91 years, a 0.14% increase from 2021.

    The life expectancy for Japan in 2021 was 84.79 years, a 0.14% increase from 2020.
    The life expectancy for Japan in 2020 was 84.67 years, a 0.14% increase from 2019.
    The life expectancy for Japan in 2019 was 84.55 years, a 0.14% increase from 2018.

    The MediaWhores will spin this as Japanese faces a demographic crisis because people live to long.

    The MediaWhores will spin the Empire of Lies decreasing life span as a blessing, we don’t have to pay out benifits for that long, we’re WINNERS!

    #114866
    zerosum
    Participant

    Update

    https://www.rt.com/russia/561943-ukrainian-troops-seize-zaporozhye-nuclear-plant/
    Ukraine launches raid near Zaporozhye nuclear plant – Russia
    Two commando groups landed nearby while amphibious teams were intercepted en route, Moscow has said

    https://www.rt.com/russia/561967-ukraine-troops-captured-zaporozhye/
    Ukrainian troops captured during raid on nuclear plant – official
    Three soldiers involved in an attempt to storm the Zaporozhye facility were taken alive, a local administration official has said

    #114867
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The life expectancy for someone born in 2021 was 76.1 years, down from 77 years in 2020.

    The decline was greater for men than for women; the life expectancy for males was 73.2 years, down an entire year from 2020, and 79.1 for females, a 0.8 year loss.

    #114868
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Japan life expectancy 84.91 years and rising

    Empire of Lies life expectancy 76.1 years and falling

    Wait until Jo-bama hands out FREE Fentanyl

    #114869
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Where is Kamala? I don’t watch TV, but just realized I haven’t seen her in a clip or headline in awhile now. Wth with this political environment. Things are more than just a half a bubble off. Looking at you Joe Biden with his recent statement that there is no room for “defund the police, defund the FBI”. Huh? What? Dems advocated defund the police month after month after month starting in 2020. Cognitive dissonance? That seems an understatement. Do these people (not just biden, who obviously has no idea what he says from one minute to the next) … but, you know, non-demented people … do they not remember what they said just yesterday? It’s incredibly confusing.

    #114870
    aspnaz
    Participant

    John Day said

    We are each and all so extremely dependent upon the electrical grid in order to keep living. Without it there is no communication

    Communication does not travel down the electrical grid, communication travels mostly via satelite. As for dependence on the grid, should we not be using green power instead of a grid, such as solar panels? As a believer in solar panels who needs a power grid? You will just connect to the web when the sun comes up, or, completely destroy some third world country and build yourself a battery.

    #114871
    John Day
    Participant

    That Military Summary video about the Russians getting out of the power plant for the IAEA inspectors, and the Ukrainian commandos staging an assault, perhaps to use the inspectors as hostages, has to be the lead-story today.

    Importantly, something like this can change the signals that people all over the world receive, as did the Iran-Hostage-Crisis in the US. Just as the EU pivoted off “Green” for “Ukraine War”, they can pivot off “Ukrainian Heroes” for something else, and it will open the door for more practical policy between nations.

    #114872
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Naked cat fighting? Is this now a thing?

    #114873
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Random thoughts from JoBama

    .

    .

    #114874
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Red Pill

    .

    OR

    The Rainbow Transgender Pill

    Your choice

    .

    #114875
    John Day
    Participant

    The “official narrative” is that the inspectors got through to the plant despite commando attack and shelling of the plant.

    The UN-IAEA convoy was seen being waved through Russian checkpoints in the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar en route to the site amid “increased military activity in the area”. Each side is blaming the other for the fresh shelling. An IAEA spokesperson said the mission had been delayed for three hours as the team was held up on the Ukrainian side of the frontline before being given permission to pass.

    In its latest statement, Russia’s defense ministry has denounced the efforts of Ukrainian “saboteurs” alleged to have attempted to seize the plant just as the IAEA was en route.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/un-team-arrives-ukraine-nuclear-plant-shelling-prompts-reactor-shutdown

    #114876

    Starfish Prime was also mucking around with the Van Allen radiation belt(s). I stumbled onto this interesting objective “they” are trying to deal with: getting rid of space radiation so satellites won’t fritz out.
    HAARP, and the extraordinary lightning storms of the last few years (which here produce very little rain) seem to fit into this picture.
    For maximum damage from a blown-up Zap nuclear plant, one ought to wait for October, when the European windy season starts.

    #114877
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There are so many ways to tell a lie that it’s almost pointless to list them, but some ways are so much more clever (or effective!) than others that they warrant special mention.

    First and foremost in terms of ubiquity and effectiveness is the straight up, full frontal, direct eye contact, bold faced, earnest and sincere falsehood. It’s really hard to beat when done well, but people are so sensitive to the fine nuances and micro-perceptions of human-to-human communications that the absolute LIE is prohibitively difficult to perform well enough to fool all of the people all of the time. Most folks who go that route get caught sooner rather than later, and I cannot recommend to the general public except as a last resort when caught red-handed and time is short. Best leave this technique to the professional clinical psychopaths who can get away with it.

    Like the great actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. said, “The secret to great acting is sincerity. Once you can fake that the rest is easy.”

    The next, and perhaps the most clever way to prevaricate is what I call the Distributed Lie. It’s especially useful and efficacious in pulling off The Big Lie in circumstances wherein the lie is virtually certain to be exposed as a huge and deliberate falsehood or scam. In those cases what is most important is not the concealment of the lie itself because exposure is a given certainty. What’s important is who the blame gets pinned on.

    If the lie has been “distributed” among a cohort of partial perpetrators, no single one of which can be proven personally responsible for the entirety of the consequence of their collaborative action, then it is often possible for all of the perps to walk. This your basic “I was only following orders which, by law, were not legally possible for me to disobey” defense strategy commonly called Nuremburg Nazi Defense. Notably and furthermore, if I may speak frankly, it almost always works like a charm.

    The only hard part is that it requires both elaborate conspiracy and tremendous resources to construct. Once it is all put together, however, the incredibly lucrative bonus is that it pays for itself because all of the expenses are paid for by its victims. It costs the liar nothing (in fact it makes them rich) because he’s always and only spending other people’s money.

    Any of the above look familiar yet?

    No?

    Alright, in that case I’m going to reveal the hands down BEST way to lie.

    The most effective, and definitely the most easy and effortless way to lie, is to never be asked about it.

    “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

    There are innumerable ways to arrange things so that no one gets to ask the liars if they lied. Some of those ways are devious and some of them are brutal. Oh, let’s face it, some of them are lethal. But all of them together add up to the same thing : the perpetrator(s) of the lies which make them rich and powerful will NEVER be made to answer for any of it, and thus will never have to be bothered with being asked. Which is to say, “Ask them no questions and they’ll tell you no lies.”

    That should do it. Now you know exactly what I’m talking about.

    #114878
    John Day
    Participant

    Sneak Attack blog post is up with a picture of Jenny in the lush garden after 3 weeks of August rains. https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/sneak-attack

    I had a long stack of links, which I still do, and I’ll sure include them, but the IAEA Inspection of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant jumps to the front because of a daring Ukrainian commando assault on the plant when the Russian soldiers left the plant to let the inspectors have complete access to the Ukrainian civilian employees. It is unclear if the Ukrainian commandos intended to hold the IAEA inspectors hostage, but it would allow them to hold the plant against Russian forces, if they did. The situation may be in flux. The Military Summary Channel has the story. Thanks AFKTT.

    ​ ​The UN-IAEA convoy was seen being waved through Russian checkpoints in the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar en route to the site amid “increased military activity in the area”. Each side is blaming the other for the fresh shelling. An IAEA spokesperson said the mission had been delayed for three hours as the team was held up on the Ukrainian side of the frontline before being given permission to pass.
    ​ ​In its latest statement, Russia’s defense ministry has denounced the efforts of Ukrainian “saboteurs” alleged to have attempted to seize the plant just as the IAEA was en route.​..
    ​..Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government is accusing the Russians of trying disrupt the IAEA visit, also following accusations that Ukrainian personnel at Zaporizhzhia were tortured in order to cover up the true status of the plant’s operations.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/un-team-arrives-ukraine-nuclear-plant-shelling-prompts-reactor-shutdown

    Alastair Crooke, Russia & China’s ‘Financial War’ on the West Thanks Eleni:
    ​..T​oday Russia and China are offering the Global South, Africa and Asia a release from the Western ‘Rules’. They are encouraging the ‘Rest-of-World’ to assert its autonomy and independence — à la Bandung.
    ​ ​Russia, in partnership with China, is building these widespread political relationships on the control of global fossil-fuel supplies and much of the world’s food and raw materials. To further increase Russia’s influence over energy sources upon which the Western belligerents depend, Russia is stitching together a gas ‘OPEC’ with Iran and Qatar, and has also made welcoming overtures to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join together in taking greater control of all key energy commodities.
    ​ ​Further, these big producers are joining with big buyers to wrest precious metal and commodity markets out of the hands of London and America – with a view to ending Western manipulation of commodity prices through derivative paper markets.
    ​ ​The argument advanced by Russian officials to other states is both hugely appealing and simple: The West has turned its back on fossil fuels and is planning to phase them out entirely — in a decade or so.
    They have chosen this track under intense US pressure — a path which, in the case of Europe, will impose misery on their peoples for years to come.
    ​ ​However, unpalatable though it be for some, the fact is that world economic growth still requires fossil fuel production. Without more investment and exploration, there is unlikely to be sufficient supply in the medium term to meet likely demand. What is not available anywhere, is a quick means for increasing the physical supply of energy.
    ​ ​Russia’s message to its partners is that you do not have to join with this masochistic ‘sacrifice politics’. You can have oil and natural gas at a discount to what Europe has to pay. The “Golden Billion” have enjoyed the benefits of modernity, and now they want you to forego it all, and to expose your electorates to extreme hardship, too.
    https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/russia-chinas-financial-war-on-the-west

    #114879
    John Day
    Participant

    First strike nuclear warfare has been the US policy since the Cheney-Bush administration. It is a serious policy. The history goes back to 1945 (Churchill/Truman), but it has been active since the GWOT.
    ​“Preemptive Nuclear War”: The Historic Battle for Peace and Democracy. A Third World War Threatens the Future of Humanity
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/preemptive-nuclear-war-a-third-world-war-spells-the-end-of-humanity-as-we-know-it/5772695

    This looks at the dependence of world-leading German industry upon Russian feedstocks of oil and gas. This is a kill-switch for global-finance, as well as German industry.
    ​ ​Whether he was aware of it or not, Habeck effectively echoed what Zoltan Pozsar said over the weekend, that Europe is facing a Minsky moment triggered by excessive financial leverage “and in the context of supply chains, leverage means excessive operating leverage: in Germany, $2 trillion of value added depends on $20 billion of gas from Russia… …that’s 100-times leverage – much more than Lehman’s.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/structural-rapture-german-companies-shutting-down-response-record-energy-prices

    Pepe Escobar has another good perspective piece, Ukraine, Somewhere ​B​etween Afghanization and Syrianization ,and I swipe this nugget out of it:
    ​ ​Ankara allows Moscow to evade the avalanche of western sanctions and embargoes.
    ​ ​Turkish businesses – literally all of them with close connections to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) – are making a killing, and relishing their new role as crossroads warehouse between Russia and the west. It’s an open boast in Istanbul that what Russia cannot buy from Germany or France they buy “from us.” And in fact several EU companies are in on it.
    ​ ​Ankara’s balancing act is as sweet as a good baklava. It gathers economic support from a very important partner right in the middle of the endless, very serious Turkish economic debacle. They agree on nearly everything: Russian gas, S-400 missile systems, the building of the Russian nuclear power plant, tourism – Istanbul is crammed with Russians – Turkish fruits and vegetables.
    ​ ​Ankara-Moscow employ sound textbook geopolitics. They play it openly, in full transparence. That does not mean they are allies. It’s just pragmatic business between states. For instance, an economic response may alleviate a geopolitical problem, and vice-versa.

    Ukraine: Somewhere between Afghanization and Syrianization

    ​More on that in this article: American Firms Want to Dodge Sanctions and Secretly Trade With Russia Through Turkey
    ​”The US Ambassador to Ankara Jeffry Flake, who assessed the visit, said that 5,000 US companies preparing to leave Russia have listed Turkey as their address. American companies that are trying to take advantage of Turkey’s warm relations with Russia also want to benefit from effective logistics capabilities of Turkish companies in the region,” the report added.
    https://sputniknews.com/20220830/american-firms-want-to-dodge-sanctions-and-secretly-trade-with-russia-through-turkey-report-claims-1100153612.html

    Moon of Alabama has this. Remember that advanced weapons systems are a form of global currency, like oil, convertible to gold, Rubles, $US, anything, even other weapons.
    Ukraine – A Frontline Report – Vanishing Foreign Weapons
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/08/ukraine-a-frontline-report-vanishing-foreign-weapons.html#more

    #114880
    John Day
    Participant

    Kishida is a Japanese nationalist, like his recently assassinated mentor, Shinzo Abe. Japan needs reliable electricity and has to maintain engineering capabilities by building nuclear power plants.
    Japan’s nuclear revival in a race against time
    PM Kishida signals nuclear policy shift just as the shuttered industry’s manufacturing and technical expertise is slipping away

    Japan’s nuclear revival in a race against time

    Chinese experts are advocating shooting down Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites on national-security grounds. They have noticed how it is being used in Ukraine.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-threatens-destroy-elon-musks-starlink

    Colonized African countries were helped by the USSR to throw off that yoke, and many Africans got educated in the USSR, later Russia. Africans are determined to stop being bled by the west.
    ​ ​A recent gathering of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has expressed its displeasure with recent legislation making its way through the United States Congress which is aimed at punishing the continent for its diplomatic and trade relations with the Russian Federation.
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/sadc-rejects-anti-russian-bill-united-states-congress/5791859

    ​Consciousness of Sheep has a very good article. This writer advocates using remaining fossil–fuels as prudently and sparingly as possible to descend gradually to whatever will later be possible.​
    Net Zero is Dead, So Now What?
    ​ ​The problem with both sides of the growing political chasm around net zero is that they don’t understand energy. The greens who advocate even more low energy density NRREHTs fail to understand that these cannot provide more than a small fraction of the surplus energy required to power a modern economy. Thus, following that route leads us to a short-term cascading collapse which is guaranteed to wipe out a large part of the population. The growing anti-net zero side, on the other hand, fails to understand that high energy cost fossil fuel extraction also deprives us of the surplus energy required to power a modern economy. So, they too will end up destroying the economy and killing off a large part of the population along with it.
    ​ ​Perhaps we are fortunate insofar as a large part of the current crisis is artificial. If cooler heads were to prevail, and given that one way or another, the invasion of Ukraine – which currently looks a lot like the attritional warfare of 1916 – has to end with some kind of negotiated settlement, we could probably still persuade Russia to turn the gas back on… although the more the rest of the world turns to the emerging BRICS system, the harder that is going to be for the western minority to obtain the energy and commodities we depend upon. But even if we could restore the gas supply from Russia – which is surely preferable to reverting to coal or fracking large swathes of northern England – the underlying energy crisis resulting from depletion and declining surplus energy, together with the need to prevent too much more environmental damage requires that we find another way to end our addiction to fossil fuels.​ (“Addicted” to survival, not heroin, at this point.)

    Net zero is dead – so what now?

    ​Does this signal a reversal is about to happen?
    German Foreign Minister Says Support For Ukraine Will Continue “No Matter What Voters Think”

    German Foreign Minister Says Support For Ukraine Will Continue “No Matter What Voters Think”

    #114881
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    We are going to change our low down lying ways. I’m not saying that we should or should not change. I’m saying that we SHALL change.

    Either we change before the collapse so as to avert it, or we change during or after the collapse as a consequence of it. In either case we exit the event in a much changed condition.

    We ARE going to change our low down lying ways.

    #114882
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks , DBS, for the primer on the more effective sorts of lies.

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