Sep 202022
 
 September 20, 2022  Posted by at 8:55 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Salvador Dali Cadaques 1923

 

Russia Is Seeking Swift End To Ukraine Conflict – Turkey (RT)
Ukraine is Not a New Afghanistan (Batiushka)
German Politician Predicts Fate Of Nord Stream 2 (RT)
< Germany Boosting Russian Imports – Trade Mission (RT)
The European Union Is About to Rupture (Malinen)
French Warned Of Winter Blackouts (RT)
Dire Winter Scenario In Sight For EU (RT)
UN Chief Supports Moscow’s Aid Proposal (RT)
The Unintended Consequences Of The EU Energy Emergency Plan (OP)
Ukraine Claims Missile Hit Area Near Nuclear Power Plant (RT)
Why the World Economic Forum’s Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved (Shurk)
Whistleblower: FBI Uses Jan. 6 Cases To Create Illusion Of National Crisis (JTN)
A Walk on the Wild Side (Kunstler)
Why So Many Cling to Covid Panic (Oshinskie)

 

 

At least hundreds of Canadians have posted their life stories with the #TrudeauMustGo hashtag. He now calls them Putin puppets. It’s hard to show less respect for your own people. Twitter is now shadowbanning the hashtag.

 

 

 

 

Devine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1571879054936100866

 

 

 

 

Veneto, the richest region in Italy.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1570650331595542528

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erdogan the peacemaker. Lovely.

Russia Is Seeking Swift End To Ukraine Conflict – Turkey (RT)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to see a swift conclusion to the conflict in Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday in an interview with the PBS NewsHour program. Erdogan said he held “extensive meetings with Putin in Uzbekistan” during last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. “I realized that they are actually trying to finish this as soon as possible. This situation is a big problem,” the Turkish leader said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine. Erdogan, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to talk directly, in order to find a solution to the conflict, which has been underway since late February. “We have a persistent desire to bring these leaders together. Let’s bring them together. I want to hear everything from them. We haven’t succeeded yet, but I’m not without hope,” he stated.


The Turkish president claimed to have told both Putin and Zelensky that a negotiated end to the fighting is needed because “nobody will be winning at the end of the day.” The Kremlin earlier said the Russian and Ukrainian leaders should only meet to sign concrete agreements prepared for them by their negotiators. Turkey has maintained contacts with both Moscow and Kiev throughout the hostilities. It condemned the use of force by Russia, but at the same time refused to join the international sanctions against Moscow and continued dealing with the country. Ankara was also involved in the UN-brokered deal to allow export of grain from the Ukrainian ports, achieved between Russia and Ukraine in July. Russia recently complained that the part of the agreement, which calls for removing obstacles for shipments of its food products, remained unfulfilled by Western countries.

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“There’s an east wind coming all the same. Such a wind as never blew…. It will be cold and bitter….and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”

– His Last Bow, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, October 1917

Ukraine is Not a New Afghanistan (Batiushka)

[..] we have two quite different and incomparable countries: Afghanistan at the centre [of the Eurasian Heartland] and the Ukraine on the Western margins – which is what its very name means. The Afghans live in inaccessible mountains, the Ukrainians on open steppes. The Afghans have a very strong identity, even if, like other mountain-dwellers, as in the Scottish Highlands or the Swiss Alps, they are divided into fiercely different and warring tribal clans and different languages according to the valley they live in. However, the Ukrainians in their open land are swayed one way and another, largely depending on who makes the best offer, on what way the wind blows and the tide flows.

The USA has constantly tried to chip off, occupy and control marginal pieces of Eurasia, islands like Iceland, the British Isles and Ireland, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, peninsulas like South Korea, South Vietnam and Western Europe. In 1975 it was humiliated and chased out of South-East Asia when Saigon was at last liberated. Other areas it occupies, like Taiwan and Korea, are under threat. In 2021, after it had dared to occupy not a marginal area, but the very centre of the Eurasian Heartland in Afghanistan, it was humiliated and chased out. It was a classic example of hubris and overreach. ‘We’re American, we can do anything’. Actually, you can’t.

Now the USA is trying to cling on to Western Europe by shoring up its literal borderland, the Ukraine. This is one of the last US attempts to keep power in Eurasia. The USA fears Eurasia, for Eurasia is much stronger than it and the USA is isolated on its big island, placed, as if for quarantine, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. One day it will reluctantly be forced to admit that Eurasia is geographically indivisible, however much it tries to divide it politically and occupy it militarily. Then it will retire to its isolation on its big island, rejected by Afro-Eurasia, Oceania and Latin America, and start doing some very serious soul-searching about its own history. It is called repentance.

The USA has been expanding eastwards across the Atlantic for over three generations now. It has controlled the UK since 1942, from where it invaded the rest of Western Europe in 1944 and invaded Central Europe since 1989, using puppet elites, making assassinations and fiddling elections. Portugal under Salazar, Spain under Franco, Italy under every possible fraudster, Greece under the Colonels, France after it deposed the Last Frenchman, De Gaulle, the UK under the Conservatives, are only examples of its manipulations. [..] Exactly a generation after taking over Central Europe in 1989, since 2014 the USA has been trying to expand into Eastern Europe. We are now at an irreversible point. History books will be written as events ‘Before 2022 and After 2022’.

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“..this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed”. “..Stephan Weil said Berlin would never be able to trust Moscow again as a reliable energy supplier..”

But Berlin is a reliable customer?! Can you even hear yourself?

German Politician Predicts Fate Of Nord Stream 2 (RT)

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was intended to pump gas from Russia to Germany, is doomed to remain idle indefinitely, the head of Germany’s Lower Saxony region has suggested. Stephan Weil said Berlin would never be able to trust Moscow again as a reliable energy supplier. In an interview with Germany’s DPA news agency published on Monday, Governor Weil said the pipeline project would not be revived even after Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves office. “The loss of trust is so fundamental that there will never again be a situation in which a German federal government can rely on energy from Russia,” the official noted. According to Weil, the “Nord Stream 2 will never go into operation.” The governor claimed that the Kremlin has burnt its bridges and that “this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed.”

Weil concluded by proclaiming that the “West will recover from [the situation] faster than Russia.” The construction of the second leg of the existing Nord Stream pipeline began in May 2018. The project was expected to double Russian gas supplies to Germany. Despite opposition from the US and some EU member states, the German government staunchly defended the project, and the pipeline was completed. However, Berlin put its launch on hold indefinitely on February 22, after Russia recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, days before Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine.

In July and August, Russia incrementally reduced gas supplies to Germany via Nord Stream 1, before shutting it down altogether in early September. Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cited technical issues caused by Western sanctions. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has made it clear that the pipeline will not resume operation until Western sanctions are lifted. sMeanwhile, Berlin has accused Russia of weaponizing gas supplies. Soaring prices coupled with the closure of the Nord Stream 1 saw the German government put in place emergency measures to ensure the country has enough energy to survive the winter. Earlier this week, President Putin suggested the West should give the green light to the Nord Stream 2 “if it’s that bad.”

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Yeah, yeah: “..this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed”.

Germany Boosting Russian Imports – Trade Mission (RT)

The volume of German imports from Russia has risen over the first seven months of this year by 32.6% in annual terms, amounting to $27.9 billion, the Russian Trade Mission in Berlin told RIA Novosti on Monday, citing data from Germany’s federal statistical office, Destatis. According to the Russian trade representative in Germany, Andrey Sobolev, the rise in imports of fuel and energy products through July was 40.5%. Purchases of Russian gold have risen more than tenfold, while the volume of silver imports jumped by almost five times. The EU country has also boosted purchases of other metals from Russia, including copper, aluminum, and nickel.


The report also indicated that German exports to Russia decreased by 43.6% to $10.2 billion compared to the same period last year. Declining exports caused a $17.7 billion trade imbalance for Germany. The trade representative explained that, despite the general decline in exports to Russia, “there was an increase in supplies from Germany of pharmaceutical products, seeds and fruits.” Russia accounted for 2.3% of total German foreign trade and was the fourth most important country for German goods outside of the EU in 2021. In April, US analytics firm S&P Global warned of a possible financial shock if there’s a “trade rupture” between the two countries.

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It has become a prison.

The European Union Is About to Rupture (Malinen)

The functioning of the EU has, until recently, been built on two political pillars that now appear to be crumbling. Primarily, German growth has made possible the joint financing (through low-cost debt, the EU budget, and the central banks’ clearing system) of unsuccessful economies without the EU forcing them to commit to politically unacceptable reforms. Beneficent global developments have made possible the concentration on economic integration while going slow on the much more contentious integration of cultural, social, and foreign policies. The deterioration of the global economy, together with EU policies, now threaten industry and living standards in EU member states, reduce the scope of joint economic support, and force member states to rapidly evaluate their readiness for possibly radical reductions in their political self-determination.

This is most evident in Italy. The yields of Italian sovereign debt have reached levels that can be considered unsustainable, given the country’s high indebtedness and low rate of economic growth. For example, the yield of the Italian 10-year bond breached the 4 percent line late this past week. The maturity structure of Italian debt is also rather unfavorable. At the end of June, for example, Italy had issued only 52 percent of its needs for external financing in 2022. In addition, 35 percent of her outstanding debt will come due already in 2024. Half of her total debt will come due within five years. Without active country-specific support from the ECB, which the newly introduced Transmission Protection Instrument is designed to facilitate, Italian debt is unsustainable at current yields.

Disagreements among member states on the wisdom of filling the ECB with Italian bonds is bound to weaken the glue keeping the EU together as before. The energy crisis is also sowing seeds of serious inner conflict. The politics in the EU are becoming less forgiving as difficulties mount. Both Hungary and the Czech Republic have objected to the plans for a price cap of Russian gas, which now looks unlikely to be enforced. The European Commission is also planning to cut funding for the Hungarian government of Victor Orban due to “rule-of-law concerns.” This is unlikely to increase the incentives of Hungary to stay in the union. More generally, as funding is made conditional on countries meeting the test of adhering to “European values,” one can expect the list of such essentially political requirements to grow as economic conditions worsen and demands for uniform policies grow.

For example, Poland is fed up with constant extra demands from the EU, like the demand to walk back from the changes Polish government was planning to the judicial system, considering the distribution of funds from the Recovery Fund to its government. Krzysztof Sobolewski, the governing party’s secretary-general, has warned that without a clear change in the actions of Brussels, “We will have no choice but to pull out all the cannons in our arsenal and open fire.” Since a number of contentious decisions still require unanimity, such a threat might be unwise to take lightly. [..] Reports state that Russia is preparing a first shipment from its new liquefied natural gas plant to Greece. Hungary, as an outlier, is buying additional gas from Russia in accordance with their new agreement. It will be interesting to see what Germany may choose to do if the impact of energy scarcity on its economy and population is as large as some reports suggest.


CPI lags PPI: “German Consumer Prices (CPI) are likely to rise further after Producer Prices (PPI) increased by almost 46% in August, the strongest increase since 1949.”

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“We thought that we could gradually replace nuclear energy with renewable energy sources, but now we understand that we will need more energy. We need both sources..”

French Warned Of Winter Blackouts (RT)

Private households in France may face power outages this winter in the event of severe frosts, the head of the energy regulator CRE, Emmanuelle Wargon, told France Info radio on Monday. “Under no circumstances will there be gas shutdowns in private homes. But on the electrical side, we may be faced with having to make difficult decisions about limited shutdowns,” she said, adding “These can last for several hours and will be very local – at the commune or district level – with prior notification to citizens.” The regulator noted that shutdowns would not affect critical infrastructure, including hospitals. Extreme measures could be avoided if the winter is relatively warm, she added.


Wargon also admitted that the decision to close the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, decommissioned in 2020, “could not have been taken in the current crisis.” “We thought that we could gradually replace nuclear energy with renewable energy sources, but now we understand that we will need more energy. We need both sources,” she stressed. France relies on nuclear energy more than any other European country, generating about 70% of its electricity that way. However, about half of its 56 nuclear reactors have been shut down for maintenance, notably to repair corrosion problems.

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“..70% of nitrogen fertilizer production capacities in the EU have already been stopped, aluminum production has been reduced by 25%, and steel production by 5%.”

Dire Winter Scenario In Sight For EU (RT)

Reducing dependence on Russian natural gas supply is impossible for the European Union in the coming year without a massive production halt, RBK business daily reported on Monday, citing a study by McKinsey’s former Russian division, consulting company Yakov & Partners. Their research showed that, despite reports that EU stores are full, the bloc has not yet overcome its reliance on Russian energy and will not be able to get through the coming winter and next year “without maintaining gas supplies from Russia or a [effecting] significant reduction” in consumption.

The report outlined that, in order to meet their needs until the end of 2022, European countries will either have to maintain imports from Russia or reduce gas consumption by an additional seven to 12 billion cubic meters, “which is possible only with a complete or partial shutdown of a number of industries.” The deficit may grow to 20-30 billion cubic meters if China’s demand for LNG recovers or if the winter is cold and long, or in the event of disruptions in supply chains, it adds. Yakov & Partners indicated that 70% of nitrogen fertilizer production capacities in the EU have already been stopped, aluminum production has been reduced by 25%, and steel production by 5%. The authors of the study suggested that the decline in production is likely to continue “even in the event of a mild winter.”

“In the perspective of 2023, the rejection of Russian gas means a deficit of 40-60 billion cubic meters for European countries even while maintaining the current rate of gas savings for the whole of 2023,” said Elena Kuznetsova, a partner at the company. She explained that 60 billion cubic meters of gas is comparable to the annual gas consumption of France and Poland combined, or the total annual gas consumption of such industries as fertilizer production, petrochemistry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and all engineering. Stopping these industries will further affect other related industries, from agriculture to services, Kuznetsova warned.

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Guterres is doing some good work.

UN Chief Supports Moscow’s Aid Proposal (RT)

The UN chief has pledged to help Russia donate some 300 tons of fertilizers stranded in European ports to developing nations. “If Russia wants to provide fertilizers free of charge to developing countries, I believe the World Food Programme will be able to implement that desire,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which was published on Monday. He acknowledged that EU nations will first have to be convinced to allow free the export of Russian fertilizers through their ports. The offer to donate an estimated 300 tons of Russian fertilizer, unable to leave EU ports due to anti-Russian sanctions, came last Friday from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In late July, the UN co-mediated an arrangement with Ukraine and Russia, which allowed the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. As part of the deal, the organization pledged to help ease Western restrictions on international trade that Russia says prevent it from exporting its food products and fertilizers. “This week I had an intensive series of contacts with the leaders of the EU. And I hope there will be a positive change with regard to the possibility of distributing Russian grain and fertilizers without obstacles through Europe to other markets,” Guterres told RIA Novosti in another part of the interview, which was published on Saturday.

Putin previously criticized the grain deal, saying that while it was touted as a way to help poor countries deal with surging global food prices, in practice Ukrainian exports mostly went to rich EU nations. The abundance of grain and other food products from Ukraine on European markets has apparently angered local producers, who are struggling to compete with the cheaper imports, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. The EU previously had quotas and steep tariffs for Ukraine trade, protecting its own farmers and forcing Ukrainians to export most of their produce to other places. But the restrictions were lifted after Russia attacked the country in February, and European governments rushed to support Kiev with various forms of assistance.

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“..the last three years included two pandemic years when a lot of companies in the oil and gas industries struggled to stay afloat, let alone post a profit..”

The Unintended Consequences Of The EU Energy Emergency Plan (OP)

This week saw the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen do something that would have probably been considered the opposite of democracy just a few years ago. She proposed that governments impose a ceiling on certain energy producers’ revenues and add a windfall profit for Big Oil majors. Called “a solidarity contribution” or “a crisis contribution,” the windfall tax’s aim is the same as the aim of the revenue ceiling: manage energy costs in a runaway inflation environment and get some additional money to, according to the plan, distribute among those who most need it. Like all grand plans, however, unintended consequences abound with this one, and one of the gravest is the discouragement of oil and gas investments at a time when global oil and gas investments are already lower than they should be in light of demand projections.

JP Morgan’s head of global energy strategy said it this week in an interview with Bloomberg. “If you’re planning your capital budget, you have to think twice now that you have a new risk,” Malek told Bloomberg. “It encourages majors to return cash to shareholders as they use that free cashflow that could have been used in investment.” Per plans, the EU seeks to “raise” some $140 billion from windfall taxes on non-gas electricity generators and oil gas, and coal companies for their “extraordinary record profits benefiting from war and on the back of consumers,” to quote Von der Leyen. Reaction from the industry was swift. Austria’s OMV said the consequences of such measures could be huge, adding that it was unfair to base the windfall levy proposal on oil companies’ profits from the last three years since these were not normal times, Reuters reported, quoting CEO Alfred Stern.

“We will keep an eye on that, as it can already have a massive impact,” Stern told media, noting, however, that the exact impact was difficult to glean because the proposal has yet to be fleshed out. Per von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech, in which she listed the windfall tax among measures to cope with the energy crisis, the idea is to tax oil and gas companies with 33 percent of any current-year profits that were 20 percent above the company’s average earnings for the last three years. OMV’s Stern noted that the last three years included two pandemic years when a lot of companies in the oil and gas industries struggled to stay afloat, let alone post a profit, with oil prices falling as low as $25 per barrel.

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Different plant, same tactics.

Ukraine Claims Missile Hit Area Near Nuclear Power Plant (RT)

A missile has hit a location in Ukraine’s Nikolaev Region close to the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, President Vladimir Zelensky has claimed. The incident happened early on Monday morning, according to the president. The projectile landed some 300 meters from the facility, causing damage to windows and briefly disrupting power supplies to the grid, he wrote on social media. Zelensky posted surveillance footage purportedly showing the strike. The video shows a powerful explosion against the backdrop of the night skyline and was apparently filmed by a malfunctioning digital camera. The frames appear to be out of order, and the timestamps go back and forth. The president’s post also included photos of broken windows, presumably caused by the blast.


Zelensky accused Russia of “endangering the world” and said it should be “stopped, before it is too late”. The South Ukraine nuclear power plant is located near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk, deep inside Ukraine-controlled territory in the south of the country. The facility has been operating since 1982 and has three VVER-1000 reactors. Zelensky’s accusations against Russia add to a long list of nuclear-related allegations. Kiev and Moscow have for weeks been pointing the finger at each other over attacks on the Russian-controlled city of Energodar, which hosts the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited the facility earlier this month, confirming damage caused by multiple shelling incidents, but declining to attribute them to either side.

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100 years ago, the battle was for sharing the surplus. Now, it is for sharing the lack of it.

Why the World Economic Forum’s Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved (Shurk)

Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, appeared with David Gergen in 2017 at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and openly boasted of his influence over many national leaders: “I have to say when I mention names like Mrs. Merkel, even Vladimir Putin and so on, they have all been Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, but what we are really proud of now is the young generation like Prime Minister Trudeau, the President of Argentina and so on. So we penetrate the cabinets. So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of his cabinet or even more are Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum…. It is true in Argentina and it is true in France now….”

When the chairman of an international economic body publicly brags about his leverage over the leaders of sovereign nation states, he can hardly be mistaken as defending the merits of “democracy.” In a somewhat farcical display of the World Economic Forum’s control over individual nations, it has become eerily commonplace these last two years to hear the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States all parroting the same “Build Back Better” slogan propagated by Klaus Schwab’s economic club. With wealth and political power bonded densely into such haut monde cabals, the insular prerogatives of the WEF have succeeded in dominating government policies throughout the West.

Both in their immediate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and their planned response to the harsh economic repercussions dovetailing from prolonged lockdowns, Western nation states have taken many of their cues directly from the World Economic Forum’s policy edicts. Whatever vestige of “democracy” still casts a shadow across North America, Europe, and the South Pacific, it has become unmistakable that plutocracy — rule by a wealthy elite — is fast assuming total control over the West’s future. Notably, today’s plutocrats have little interest in truly free markets. Unlike J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and other late-nineteenth-century industrialists and business magnates who made their fortunes in the heyday of economic growth before the massive expansion of the regulatory State, those with great wealth today often champion government intervention in markets.

The World Economic Forum, for instance, demands governments take urgent action to combat or address climate change, cybersecurity, online misinformation, artificial intelligence, overpopulation, the use of hydrocarbon energy, farm ownership, food supplies, the elimination of private vehicle ownership, and the imposition of citizen-control protocols to defend against future pandemics. Regulation of people and markets is now of paramount importance to those with wealth and power.

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“manipulative case-file practice”

Whistleblower: FBI Uses Jan. 6 Cases To Create Illusion Of National Crisis (JTN)

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee said Monday a whistleblower has come forward detailing how the FBI is manipulating cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to create “the illusion” that domestic violent extremism is a widespread problem in the United States. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that the “manipulative case-file practice” was being conducted by the bureau’s Washington field office, which was instructing local FBI offices to open up cases on their books that were in fact simply related to the Capitol breach. “The FBI’s case categorization creates the illusion that threats from DVE are present in jurisdictions across the nation, when in reality they all stem from the same related investigation concerning the actions at the Capitol on January 6,” Jordan wrote.

“Such an artificial case categorization scheme allows FBI leadership to misleadingly point to ‘significant’ increases in DVE threats nationwide,” he added. The Republican lawmaker said the whistleblower’s description is “consistent with disclosures we have received from other whistleblowers that high-ranking FBI officials — including a senior WFO official — are pressing front-line agents to categorize cases as DVE matters to fit a political narrative.” The activity comes as President Joe Biden and his team try to make the case that supporters of Donald Trump are creating a crisis of extremism in the United States, a case he made in a widely panned speech in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.

Jordan said the FBI’s shifted focus is coming at the expense of other crimes, including the investigation of child sex exploitation. “The whistleblower disclosed that the FBI is sacrificing its other important federal law-enforcement duties to pursue January 6 investigations,” Jordan wrote. “The whistleblower recalled, for example, being told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies.

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“Ultimately, the Left will choke to death on its many crimes and we can return to being a people who confidently know the difference between right and wrong.”

A Walk on the Wild Side (Kunstler)

What is the answer when faced with a large-scale religious disturbance in society, especially one displaying all the earmarks of overt, archetypal evil? You call in an exorcist. That has been Donald Trump’s true role in this millenarian mega-crisis. He is seeking to cast out evil spirits afflicting this sore-beset national community and the evil spirits are frantic to stop his ministrations by any means. He is, of course, a most untoward avatar in this war of good against evil. He came out of the infernal circle of New York real estate development. The assumption all along is that he must be tainted by dirty dealing with the mobs who ran the construction unions, but after six years of relentless investigation by the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, the legions of hell came up with… nothing.

How was this possible? Well, they tried their darndest, and now they’re trying again with some double-jeopardy maneuvers. The law, to these degenerates, is just an instrument of their own will-to-power. Chugging toward the 2022 mid-term elections, Mr. Trump is out there giving moral support and focus to so-called “domestic terrorists” seeking to crush the Woke demonic religious persecution. He leads the substantial demographic of Americans who are determined to not play along with Woke absurdities, and they love him for it. Mr. Trump may or may not be the Republican nominee in 2024, but he is helping the country with a literal House-cleaning in advance of that, and it will open the door to a deluge of corrective truth-telling about what has gone on the past several years, in everything from the Covid 19 scam to the Green New Deal aimed at wrecking what’s left of Western Civ’s economies.

Americans, except for the very old, are not disposed to attending church, meaning they are not reminded at regular intervals, and formal rituals, that good and evil exists in all of us, and that we have a duty to our sacred consciousness to tend to the right side, to “the better angels of our nature,” Lincoln put it. Ultimately, the Left will choke to death on its many crimes and we can return to being a people who confidently know the difference between right and wrong.

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For the same reason they cling to believing in Santa.

Why So Many Cling to Covid Panic (Oshinskie)

The government and media have spent the past 30 months disingenuously building Corona fear and implementing a range of talismanic measures like lockdowns, school closures, masks, tests and shots to convince us that they were magically—yet always “Scientifically!—” protecting us all from death. Just as any thinking six-year-old figures out that Santa simply can’t put all of that toy freight into one sleigh, any thinking adult should have known that none of the hoary Corona crew: neither the elfin Fauci’s, Birx’s nor Biden’s rhetoric or theater made any sense, either in theory or in real-life outcomes; nor did similar alarmism or interventions by younger, hipper “liberal” governors, mayors and prime ministers. But just like my parents’ efforts to preserve the Santa myth, governments won’t let go of the Corona theater—especially the shots—and the media desperately continues to portray as experts those who “masterminded” the mitigation.


All of the empirical data have corroborated what was known on Day 1 of the lockdowns—namely that this virus threatens almost no one but the very old and infirm, that none of these interventions works and that each of these have caused–and will continue to cause–widespread, terrible secondary and tertiary damage. Instead of admitting this, governments and media persist in their campaign of terror, lies and bogus zero-Covid measures. Because to stop lying now would be to admit that it’s all been a delusion. And politically and morally, they can’t bring themselves to do that. A five-year-old might not know a scam when they see it. But even a ten-year-old does. Or at least should. They’re counting on adults to be like five-year-olds. It might work.

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Biden 8.3

 

 

Stop calling it clean energy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle September 20 2022

Viewing 36 posts - 41 through 76 (of 76 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #116363
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks Phoenixvoice:
    Human engagement manifestations in life are a spectrum, kinda’ like gender, right?

    🙂

    @DBS: Yeah; of course the Donbass referenda are a strategic move now, but the rumor is “something like 9/11”, and as Dr. D points out, it’s on an ancient 7 year cycle of debt repudiation day thingie.

    BOOM!

    #116364
    willem
    Participant

    @boscohorowitz: I read “The Road”, in this case a few years after seeing the film. I did think the film was pretty well done, but as is almost always the case, the book was much better. I’m a bit prejudiced here, since Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite fiction authors. But speaking more in general, I’ve read lots of books that films were based on, some before and some after seeing the film, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that I thought was better than the book.

    I’ve noticed in particular that the resemblance of the film and the book often ends with the title (Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi and Steven King novels both come to mind–I read the Philip K. Dick story that Blade Runner was based on, and I could barely recognize it.) And Hollywood is especially outrageous about completely changing the endings. (Watch Robert Redford in “The Natural” and then read the Bernard Malamud story.)

    Sometimes truly great books defy the filmmakers. McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” has defied the filmmakers for years, and it was easy to see why once I’d read it.


    @chooch
    : I hope you’re going to let a troll or two chase you away–I get something out of almost every serious post, yours included.

    #116365
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “upon which most conspiracy theorists” agree.

    ***

    as when”

    ***

    :Entities like the USA/Euromerican officials

    ***

    “Considering that Putin has appeared weak the past year or so, although seems to be back in good health.” I’m inclined to think he’s lost his touch.

    ***

    “decimation-puls” plus

    ***

    “cyber-warfare being the most ” is

    #116366
    John Day
    Participant

    Boscohorowitz makes a lot of salient point, closing with this summation, basically about how the imposition of order is a very expensive and energy-demanding ongoing task, which might not keep happening to anything like the degree we have known.

    “I can’t even get my hospital’s billing cyber-structure to accept the update of debit card info it needs to collect a substantial debt from me.”

    #116367
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    This article, already shared above, gives me hope. Living in a major USA city, I am likely to be euthanistically vaporised should things go nukular, but also have the option of our area not being nuked: I know of no major military installations here.

    #116368
    John Day
    Participant

    @Willem: I recall the movie “Cast A Deadly Spell” as being most entertaining, back in the early 1990s
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101550/
    https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Cast_a_Deadly_Spell

    I can’t tell for sure if it is actually or loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s work.

    Back to flooring…

    #116369
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    If any of the contested regions in Donbass become sovereign Russian soil before Sept 23-27, then there will probably be kinetic WW3 before Sept 23-28. Although its remotely possible, I suppose, that the NATO gag could just throw in the towel and surrender (not).

    https://sputniknews.com/20220920/kherson-region-public-council-proposes-to-hold-referendum-on-joining-russia-1100997757.html

    #116370
    willem
    Participant

    @John_Day: I never saw or read that one, but much of the Lovecraft that I have read (mostly when I was much younger) would be challenge to do justice to in film. I think the imagination is often much more powerful than the screen.

    #116371
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    bosco: “I can’t even get my hospital’s billing cyber-structure to accept the update of debit card info it needs to collect a substantial debt from me.”

    If we had a “lol” with tears, I’d post it. Recently took me 5 or 6 tries to pay a medical bill, trying online, by phone (machine driven), AND … talking to a live person. Literally couldn’t pay my bill. What’s wrong with this picture.

    #116372
    Bill7
    Participant

    There’s adequate energy at lower levels of human population, and that seems to be the plan.

    #116373
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    phoenixvoice

    On this matter of cooperation versus competition, the news is pretty bad.

    If you were to go back 50,000 years, as a member of a tribe or band or group, you would cooperate extensively with those in your tribe or band or group. The men might take on a large animal, with a view to killing it and sharing the meat, bones and hide amongst the group. The women would collect fruits and tubers etc. to share amongst the group.

    But the tribe or band or group on the other side of the hill were your competitors. In times of plenty you would tolerate them. You might even trade with them and acquire stuff you could not otherwise get.

    But in times of scarcity, you would attempt to steal what they had, and attempt to kill them before they killed you.

    It was all a matter of preserving genetic lines, and survival of the most cunning, and the most deceitful, and the most brutal, as well as survival of the most cooperative.

    Once civilisations emerged, all the old ‘rules’ went out the window and into the trash can.

    In a ‘civilised society’, you cooperate with those higher up the power structure because if you don’t, they have mechanisms for making you feel pain, for ruining your life, and if they choose, for killing you and saying that the murder was ‘fully justified’.

    “Come and fight for us in our attack on another empire, because if you don’t we will lock you up and take away all your rights.”

    Or in the case of those who signed up and then found out what war was really like: “How dare you stop fighting for us. Firing squad!…. Anybody else want to mutiny?”

    When I was young there were the regular ‘battles’ between the Mods and the Rockers on Margate beach and elsewhere. When asked whether he was a Mod or a Rocker, John Lennon replied: “I’m a Mocker.”

    Back in those days tribal confrontations were expressed in the activities of soccer hooligans. Supporters of ‘The Sants’ would get on trains and take a trip to Portsmouth to have street fights with supporters of ‘Pompey’ for away matches. For home matches, ‘Pompey’ supports would travel to Southampton for a ‘rumble’. Railway carriages got smashed. I suppose the rail company reckoned the profit from sale of tickets exceeded the cost of repairs.

    In New Zealand there was never the same kind of fanaticism for soccer. It was always about rugby and the ‘All Blacks’ showing the world who was boss. People would buy made-in-China flags and made-in-China nick-nacks to demonstrate their patriotism.

    There was also an idiotic meme with respect to motor racing concerning whether Ford or Holden (now defunct Australian company) was superior. Such memes were usually accompanied by debates about which kind of international corporate beer was superior.

    The phony names of the NZ corporatised rugby teams created 30 or so years ago reveal the true nature of the mind control. ‘The Warriors’, The Crusaders’ blah, blah ,blah

    I must admit, I was caught up in it as a late-teenager, such is the power of group-think. Back in the day, one really did not want to associate too much with people who rode Vespas, when one rode a Lambretta. Then I grew up.

    Right now we are supposed to be support ‘team Ukraine’, you know, the ‘brave heroes who are standing up to Russian aggression’, as depicted by ‘the evil dictator Putin’, who regularly commits ‘war crimes’, as reported by the NATOstan troll who visits TAE to spread misinformation.

    He/she really need not bother. The Guadian (or maybe that should be Guadi an) does a far better job of promulgating lies and stoking tribal warfare on behalf of the international money-lenders.

    I suggest that anyone who has not read ‘The Selfish Gene’ by Richard Dawkins do so. It’s all there.

    By the way, it’s not a lot of fun living in a society in which the government and its agencies relentlessly attack the general populace, and squander rapidly declining resources, because that is what they are paid to do.

    We have a fake election coming up, in which everything is rigged to ensure there is no freedom and democracy, and to ensure that sociopaths and psychopaths can continue to loot the till while there is still something left to loot.

    #116374
    zerosum
    Participant

    Will the fighting continue?
    Referendums to join the Russian Federation will be held in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) from September 23 to 27.

    Would this be attacking Russia?
    Would the response by Russia be different?

    #116375
    Bill7
    Participant

    Joan Armatrading, Down to Zero, 1976: https://cinemaphile.com/watch?v=7147pAjGbpU

    Producer Glyn Johns says ‘Joan Armatrading’ was the best album he was ever associated with.

    #116376
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Chooch said:

    Most likely my last post. Take care.

    Maybe switch to Zelensky’s offline army? Good riddance.

    #116377
    upstateNYer
    Participant

    Just had a debate with my brother RE: 2020 election and he mentioned the gallows erected at the capitol building. I don’t watch TV or do social media so had no idea what he was talking about. A duck duck search (yeah, I know, I haven’t switched yet) only popped the usual: nbc, npr, etc., etc.

    Does anyone have a source for balanced reporting about where these were erected, by whom, etc.?

    Oh, and he also said the FBI arrested the person responsible for the pipe bombs. Is that true? Am I that out of touch at this point?

    Thanks!

    #116378
    Dr. D
    Participant

    That’s silly. Chooch is right: what’s the point of having discussions if you can’t have differing opinions? And just one differing opinion disallows us to meet and have — or not have — discussions on other subjects?

    This makes no sense. Even when I disagree, I’m sure Russia cannot be having a great time because no army does. His generals are making mistakes because they all do. They have failed to choose wisely and capitalize on opportunities because that always happens. And so far we’re not hearing them snap shut that cauldron, so was it really a trap?

    And we agree that cooperation is half of life, while in tribal worlds you’d have to go out of your way, walk 100 miles to meet the other guy, the competition, the rival tribe. Sounds like it must have been overwhelmingly cooperative and not competitive nearly at all. Funny that’s not what they put in the history books, but pretend Og was clubbing Gog all day long, when they — literally — know nothing about it and have nearly no way to measure it. There are still a few tribes in existence, but do they ask how violent and competitive the !Kung tribe is? Nope, because it would show the Professors, and all modern people, to be evil, endlessly violent, barbarians. And the more suits they own, the more barbaric and thoughtless they behave.

    #116379
    oxymoron
    Participant

    I really enjoyed the exchange between Chooch and D Benton. Both had the courage to speak their minds which allowed ego to express without denigrating it. Both put the thoughts out there and then both had the love and spirit to address corrections to thinking when discovered – which would not have occurred without the exchange. We are allowed to change the thinking of our minds as new information or awareness presents itself.
    It showed great maturity and courage and humbled me.

    I thank them and all for the tireless attempts to aim for goodness even through the frustration of seeing so much badness.

    #116380
    oxymoron
    Participant

    D Benton – from yesterday, your thoughts and cogitations re give and take were powerful.

    There is a power outside of the physical which defies some the laws you described.
    This power increases by giving away all it has. It is the power of the non-physical. It is outside of the laws of this world and it never cease to amaze me how little I have applied it in my life, but if I love you, or I forgive you or I hate you then I receive the feeling/thought in the measure I apply it.

    All I give is given to myself.
    So today I am going to try to give humble acceptance that we are all flawed, all bound to awareness of a body/ego/self and all still one in truth.

    I’ll more than likely be a judgey fucker and think of boobs and chocolate etc but I will try yet again to get my mind to accept the thoughts that offer more help to me than those that do not.
    What else ya gunna do.

    Your musing really helped me think through some of this stuff.

    Big ups to Chooch too – you are welcome here.

    #116381
    Redneck
    Participant

    Different plant, same tactics.
    Not sure what you meant by this. DPA said that Russia has confirmed they fired on the nuclear plant which is in Uky Territory. They destroyed a ware house three hundred meters from the nuclear plant claiming the Ukys were storing military hardware there.

    #116382
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I have no prob with anyone speaking their minds, even those I might perceive as trolls. Nor do I have any prob expressing my opinion to them, even my opinions about their contributions. Whatever and ever amen, already. Oy, the drama!

    #116383
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Vid: Vaxtalk on Moneytalk, … by Toronto Dominion Bank

    Has vaccine effectiveness finally reduced the toll of COVID-19?

    … interesting, in particular starting at about 3 min. mark

    F.S.

    #116384
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    To all us Russia/Ukraine war-watchers, let us (yet again) remember Sun Tzu’s wise words: never interfere with your enemy when it is busy destroying itself.

    Some shit-lipped genius named DMitry Orlov said that the reason Russia doesn’t just kick ass and all that is because it would seem unsportly (words to that effect). Seriously. Dmitry’s insight and analysis are often breath-takingly penetrating of insight but he still seems to enjoy stepping in his own poop and then sticking his foot in his mouth.

    Anyway, Ukraine seems to be doing a fine job of annihilating itself as a political entity. Meanwhile, there is the Donetsk/Donbass referendum just days away. Plenty of time for Russia to boil the cauldron if the Ukranatonazis decide to be as foolish as they appear to be.

    #116385
    zerosum
    Participant

    Did you hear …. Trudeau said that they will not recognize a democratic vote to join Russia……..

    Referendums to join the Russian Federation will be held in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) from September 23 to 27.

    #116386
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    fwiw, one of my fave commentators at another site had this to say about the current Russia/Ukraine situation:

    “In favor of my analysis of the situation in Kharkov region in earlier comment under this article, where Russian troops were withdrawn even from the towns in the north, near Russian border, where they were not attacked by Ukrainian forces. This was now confirmed to be a “consolidation of strategic assets” game that I suspected was the key reason for a rapid and secretive withdrawal without much fight by Russian troops. Now events in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are starting to develop rapidly and we can note three main themes:

    1. In Russian parliament they have just voted in the new law amendments that address the war time measures by making punishments harsher and introducing new types of punishable offenses during war time. This law was voted in in one session without much debate or corrections.

    2. Belarus is elevating conflict readiness level by conducting mobilization drills

    3. Referendums with a question whether to join Russia are going to be conducted in LPR, DPR, occupied (liberated) parts of Zaporozhye region and in entire Kherson region. Here is the summary of referendum plans from the Russian military analyst Colonel Cassad

    ————————————————-

    Summing up by referendums.

    1. Referendums will be held from September 23 to 27 in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

    2. Referendums will be held both in person and in absentia (with house visits) for security reasons.

    3. After the referendums, all territories will apply for membership in the Russian Federation, which will be considered as a matter of priority.

    4. After consideration of applications, all territories will become part of the Russian Federation – de facto, 4 new subjects of the Russian Federation.

    5. The DPR and LPR retain their names and flags. It is still unclear about the regions. Zaporozhye is proposed to be called the “Zaporozhskiy Krai”.

    6. According to opinion polls, you can count on 70-85% for joining the Russian Federation, with turnout in the region of 65-75% on average.

    7. The United States, NATO and Germany have stated that they do not recognize the results of the referendums. In Ukraine, they immediately became hysterical that holding referendums would negate the slightest chance of negotiations.

    8. Of course, the war in Ukraine will not stop, but now it will have a qualitatively different context. We are waiting for the announcement of specific measures to optimize how SMO is conducted.

    ————————————-

    From myself I’d like to add that what prompted such, almost unexpected, urgency of these actions was yesterday’s shelling of the city of Donetsk where rounds of 155mm howitzers hit the corner store and 13 people have died, many ripped to pieces. Many more were wounded. This left a very grave impression on the Russian society so that even official media was showing footage of a bloodstream going for meters from a killed dismembered person down to a city street drain, asking a question: “Is this enough of a red line?”. Ukrainian media habitually was blaming Russia for shelling of the city under Russian control, but the evidence , including fragments of shells with NATO markings, certainly point in a certain direction that is not Russia. This “they shot themselves” storyline was a favorite way by Ukraine to cover their intentional crimes against civilians for over 8 years, starting with attacking peaceful city hall in Lugansk in 2014 with jet fighter rockets, but, interestingly enough, many Ukrainians, including some of my relatives in Kiev believe in it because it is so convenient for them to maintain that believe!”

    #116387
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #116388
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for the video of massive Northern hemisphere nuclear exchange, Michael Reid.

    #116389
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Thanks for the video of massive Northern hemisphere nuclear exchange, Michael Reid.”

    (old-timer voice) We didn’t have that kind of thing when I were a kid…

    #116390
    John Day
    Participant

    @Boscohorowitz: The “red line” of blood in the street video can be seen on The Saker blog, also. It’s pretty clearly a popular cause, a rallying cry. This does make all of these territories “Russia” again, with all which that implies.
    Thanks for cross-posting that analysis/comment.

    #116391
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I don’t think that going nuclear is on Russia’s mind. It has zero.zip need to. If Euromerica’s retards-in-charge decide to go out in a blaze of glory that takes us with them, oh well. Ain’t a whole lot I know to do about that. We’re a silly species in that regard. We think we know what we’re doing. We think so to the point that we argue with each other over whose crazy scheme to avoid-disaster-and-prosper is better than whose, as if anyone had a clue how to deal with groups of homo saps larger than Dumbar’s numver.

    I’m not saying that we know what we were doing in groups smaller than Dunbar’s number, either, but I do believe that groups that small have too much mutual visibility to allow nasty psycho/socio-paths run things.

    All that changes, alas, when times get hard and tribes become competitors, as someone pointed out earlier. That means war, and war naturally elevates and glorifies psychopaths into positions of power. Meanwhile, the logic of Grow Big or Die takes over, and presto chango, here we are today, giant warring virtual tribes enthralled by cretinous creeps with a thing for baby sex. (That is some weird shit.)

    As much as I want to dismiss the risk of nuclear war, that is based on emotional wishful thinking powered by the usual logical fallacies. When I remove my emotional bias and remove the logical fallacies, I must concede that nuclear war is eventually inevitable, and we seem to be approaching a zone of maximum inevitability.

    When the Bomb Drops

    But I prefer this perspective:

    Goodbye Old Paint

    #116392
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    We are getting very strong hints about the ‘really big event’ that will change the world on or about 25th September; a set of referendums that will allow disputed regions to join the Russian Federation and officially become part of Russia, thereby meaning any military action by Ukrainian or NATOstan forces would amount to a direct attack on Russia, and would incur an appropriate response.

    “We have only just begun,” said Putin a few weeks ago

    #116393
    zerosum
    Participant

    Do the time line.
    Trudeau has a team giving him the info, analysis, response. Trudeau is at the UN meeting.
    ….. Trudeau said that they will not recognize a democratic vote to join Russia……..

    #116394
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #116395
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    @Mr House

    @Bill7

    I got kicked off of NC because of a comment I made that Bitcoin is the future and CBDCs are inevitable. I do not think they are opposed to each other. Once people learn how to use CBDCs, I think it will accelerate Bitcoin adoption. Nobody will want to hold the CBDCs — instead they will exchange them for Bitcoin. But I think that CBDCs will displace the existing stable coins, where there is always a concern whether the stable coins are sufficiently backed by actual dollars.

    #116419
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    That’s silly. Chooch is right: what’s the point of having discussions if you can’t have differing opinions? And just one differing opinion disallows us to meet and have — or not have — discussions on other subjects?

    Really? Chooch is not right: discussion is right and promoting proaganda is not right. Chooch is not trying to find the answer to a problem, he is telling you what the answer is while he ignores the question. Chooch is sending you the propaganda, the same way the BBC sends you the propaganda – no discussion, we know what’s right. I am frankly amazed that Dr D – the spout of very good comments – would support such a blatantly obvious spout of shite. Dr D, are you drunk?

    #116420
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    This makes no sense. Even when I disagree, I’m sure Russia cannot be having a great time because no army does. His generals are making mistakes because they all do. They have failed to choose wisely and capitalize on opportunities because that always happens. And so far we’re not hearing them snap shut that cauldron, so was it really a trap?

    And we agree that cooperation is half of life, while in tribal worlds you’d have to go out of your way, walk 100 miles to meet the other guy, the competition, the rival tribe. Sounds like it must have been overwhelmingly cooperative and not competitive nearly at all. Funny that’s not what they put in the history books, but pretend Og was clubbing Gog all day long, when they — literally — know nothing about it and have nearly no way to measure it. There are still a few tribes in existence, but do they ask how violent and competitive the !Kung tribe is? Nope, because it would show the Professors, and all modern people, to be evil, endlessly violent, barbarians. And the more suits they own, the more barbaric and thoughtless they behave.

    You are drunk. This means nothing, but is very nicely phrased.

    #116421
    aspnaz
    Participant

    oxymoron said:

    I really enjoyed the exchange between Chooch and D Benton. Both had the courage to speak their minds which allowed ego to express without denigrating it. Both put the thoughts out there and then both had the love and spirit to address corrections to thinking when discovered – which would not have occurred without the exchange. We are allowed to change the thinking of our minds as new information or awareness presents itself.
    It showed great maturity and courage and humbled me.

    Get a fucking room.

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