Sep 272022
 
 September 27, 2022  Posted by at 8:33 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Marcel Duchamp About young sister 1911

 

This Is the Way the World Ends (Jim Kunstler)
Ukrainian Territories To Be Absorbed Into Russia By Week’s End: Lawmaker (ZH)
All the Young Dudes, Carry the -Russian- News (Escobar)
Zelensky Reveals US Pays Ukraine $1.5 Billion Per Month (RT)
Putin Considering Talks With Kiev On New Conditions – Turkish FM (RT)
German Energy Apocalypse Update V (Eugyp)
Germany Suspects ‘Targeted Attack’ On Russian Gas Pipelines (RT)
The US Is Winning Its War On Europe’s Industries And People (MoA)
West Should Treat Us With Respect – Putin (RT)
Poland Slams ‘Scandalous’ Von der Leyen Warning (RT)
Russia And The US Still Have Time To Prevent A Nuclear War (Trenin)
Orban Says EU Sanctions on Russia Have ‘Backfired’ (R.)
Moscow Tells US To ‘Back Off’ With ‘Aggressive’ Course (RT)
Moscow Grants Russian Citizenship To Edward Snowden (AP)
Roger Waters Pens Open Letter To Putin (RT)
Trouble About The Corona Vaccine Deal: Why Is Von Der Leyen Stonewalling? (MP)
Just 1.5% Of Eligible Americans Have Gotten Updated COVID Booster (ZH)

 

 

 

 

Meloni identity

 

 

 

 

Net Zero
https://twitter.com/i/status/1574280761913524224

 

 

This one is a bit older.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Madame von der Leyen’s fellow Germans have already been sent to their room without so much as a kartoffelklop, plus no heat or hot showers for you, Hansel and Gretel.”

This Is the Way the World Ends (Jim Kunstler)

The bond market has gone south, and that spells The End for the great game of financialization. The bond market is Moby Dick compared to the little blowfish that is the stock market. The global money system is based on bonds, which are… what? That’s right: loans… promises to pay you X at some future moment. So, what happens when a daisy-chain of promises-to-pay gets broken? Or, perhaps more precisely, when all those promises lose their last shred of plausible reality? Why, the money that these broken promises are denominated in loses its essential cred. Trick question: how much is worthless money worth? (Answer: not enough to pay for a can of Schrödinger’s cat food.) Which is where all this folderol leaves a lot of ordinary people all over Western Civ (and beyond!) trying to scratch up enough increasingly worthless money to feed the family and pay the landlord. Many will never understand what happened. But they will not be any less pissed off at the result.

This is the way the world ends for the hapless phantom known as “Joe Biden” the child-sniffing ectoplasm that haunts the White House these days of late empire. Somehow, the bamboozled nation has so far passively accepted the pranks and punishments laid on them by the backstage managers behind the Figment-in-Chief. Eight-plus percent inflation? No problemo, right? Eighty-five thousand new IRS agents on-board to drive you batshit while destroying your household and your posterity (ha!)? Half the population of South America flooding across the border? (The vibrancy! You no like?) A hundred dollar fill-up at the gas pump, and no heat for you this winter? (But… Netflix!) Drag queens to amuse and edify your children about the delirious realm of sexual pathology. All that…and how about a Russian hypersonic nuclear missile up your ass if the preceding somehow failed to move you? (Because: Russia, Russia, Russia…!)


Meanwhile, a trend is manifesting in other lands. The people of, first, Sweden and now Italy are voting in “right wing” nationalist governments — the horror — sending their equivalent of our Party of Chaos to the showers. This has irked the President of the European Union, one Ursula von der Leyen, no end. She has threatened to send Italy to its room without supper for the effrontry. Of course, Madame von der Leyen’s fellow Germans have already been sent to their room without so much as a kartoffelklop, plus no heat or hot showers for you, Hansel and Gretel. Embrace the suck.

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No way back.

Ukrainian Territories To Be Absorbed Into Russia By Week’s End: Lawmaker (ZH)

With four occupied regions of Ukraine currently in the midst of a five-day referendum on whether to join the Russian federation, a Kremlin lawmaker told state media over the weekend that the territories are likely to be absorbed by Russia on September 30. “Taking into account the preliminary results of the referendums and Russia’s readiness to acknowledge them, the accession of the territories is likely to take place as early as on September 30,” the unnamed member of Russia’s State Duma said to TASS. Voting is set to conclude Tuesday in Donestk, Luhansk and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, meaning as early as Wednesday or even Thursday announcements of results are likely to trickle out, paving the way for a potential Friday official declaration.


While Russian forces do not yet control the entirety of each of these territories, their annexation would constitute Ukraine losing almost 20% of its geographic territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin might himself make the proclamation following the referendums, which Ukrainian leaders along with Washington have dismissed as a “sham” – saying they won’t be recognized. Russian media reports indicate: The lawmaker said Russian President Vladimir Putin could take part in the procedure on September 30. “I don’t know if he will [participate], but he is likely to do so,” the MP said. Given that on Saturday Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed new territories would be under Russia’s “full protection” – there is more than likely to be a major uptick in the intensity of fighting to follow the referenda results announcement in eastern Ukraine.

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“..after so many years, Moscow is finally fully committed to supporting Donbass all the way to the baby bears coming to Mama for good.”

All the Young Dudes, Carry the -Russian- News (Escobar)

Moscow’s rerouted strategy takes maskirovka – mask, feint, fool the enemy – to another level, actually dropping the mask, plus the velvet gloves. Now it’s all very clear: this is turbo-charged Sun Tzu (“May your plans be dark and impenetrable like the night, and when you move, strike like lightning.”) There will be plenty of strikes like lightning ahead in the Ukrainian battlefield. This is the culmination of a process that started in Samarkand, during the SCO summit last week. According to diplomatic sources, Putin and Xi Jinping had a very serious conversation. Xi asked tough questions – as in you must finish this off – and Putin arguably explained how things would reach the next level.

Yoda Patrushev was on the road to China immediately afterwards – meeting with his Yoda counterpart Yang Jiechi, head of the Foreign Affairs Commission, and the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee, Guo Shengkun. Following-up on Samarkand, Patrushev outlined how Moscow will help Beijing militarily when the Empire tries anything funny in the next battlefield: Asia-Pacific. That should happen under the framework of the SCO. Crucially, the Patrushev meetings were requested by the Chinese. So the Russia-China strategic partnership is about to achieve full-fledged cooperation before the going gets tough in the South China Sea. It’s as if Russia-China were on the brink of creating their own CSTO.

And that is happening even as the Chinese leadership continues to express – mostly in private – that war in Russia’s western borderlands is very bad for business (BRI, EAEU, SCO, BRICS+, all of them) and should be wrapped up a.s.a.p. The problem is a swift wrap-up is off the cards. Foreign Minister Lavrov, in New York for the UN General Assembly, has stressed how. “Ukraine has eventually become a totalitarian Nazi sort of state” – unconditionally supported by the collective West. NATOstan has predictably doubled down on its tactics since the non-response response to Russia’s demand for a serious discussion on indivisibility of security, in late 2021: it’s always about shelling Donbass. This could not possibly be tolerated anymore by the Kremlin and Russian public opinion.

Thus the partial mobilization – forcefully proposed by the siloviki and the Security Council for quite a while now, with Kostyukov at GRU, Naryshkin at SVR and Bortnikov at FSB on the forefront. The symbolism is powerful: after so many years, Moscow is finally fully committed to supporting Donbass all the way to the baby bears coming to Mama for good. There are – unconfirmed – rumors in Moscow that the decision was accelerated because GRU has intel on the Americans soon transferring long-range missiles to Kiev capable of striking Russian cities. That’s beyond a red line for the Kremlin – hence Putin’s express mention that every weapon available in Russia’s mighty arsenal will be used to protect the Motherland.

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Lowballing.

Zelensky Reveals US Pays Ukraine $1.5 Billion Per Month (RT)

The Ukrainian government is being heavily supported with American money, with Washington contributing $1.5 billion per month to the budget, Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky has revealed. The sum was mentioned by the Ukrainian leader during an interview with CBS host Margaret Brennan for the ‘Face the Nation’ program, which was aired on Sunday. Currently Kiev runs “a deficit of $5 billion in our budget,” Zelenksy said, adding that “the United States gives us $1.5 billion every month to support our budget to fight” against Russia. Zelensky argued that arming and otherwise helping Ukraine militarily is a “win-win” for the US. He pledged that once Russia is defeated, the Ukrainian people will return to their home country and start paying taxes there, relieving the burden on American taxpayers.

“For the United States, it will be significant savings, but for us, it will be an opportunity to secure our territory and make it safe for our population,” he stated. US President Joe Biden has pledged to help Ukraine “for as long as it takes” to secure a strategic defeat of Russia, which he declared Washington’s ultimate goal in the conflict. Many Americans do not share the president’s view that the situation in Ukraine is crucial. According to the conservative election pollster Rasmussen Reports, it failed to make the top-ten list of issues of concern for likely voters. Earlier this month, the Biden administration asked Congress to authorize some $12 billion in additional aid for Ukraine, including $4.5 billion to support the Kiev government financially beyond September. It asked for $2 billion on top of that, to help Ukraine offset rising energy prices.


The package is expected to be approved on Friday, but some political analysts question whether the cash flows to Ukraine can be sustained after the midterm elections in November. “America can’t afford to provide a blank checkbook to Ukraine when we have inflation, gas prices, a supply chain crisis, all of the above, going on at home,” a GOP lawmaker told Politico, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “That’s what I’m hearing from my voters.” The outlet predicted that if the Republican Party wins the House, Biden will face more resistance to his requests for emergency aid to Ukraine.

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“In the course of negotiations with our president, Putin announced the possibility of returning to negotiations with Kiev, but on new conditions that have appeared,”

Putin Considering Talks With Kiev On New Conditions – Turkish FM (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering resuming talks with Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. The top diplomat made the remarks during a press conference in Tokyo where he’s attending the funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in July. According to Cavusoglu, Putin floated the idea during a conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. “In the course of negotiations with our president, Putin announced the possibility of returning to negotiations with Kiev, but on new conditions that have appeared,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying, He didn’t elaborate on the “conditions” specified.

The minister also reiterated Ankara’s desire to stage direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. “Our president will continue his contacts with Putin and Zelensky. Our aim is to bring the two leaders together to ensure that decisions are made at the level of the leaders,” Cavusoglu said. Top Russian officials have repeatedly said Moscow has been ready to talk with Kiev, pinning the blame for the stalled negotiations on the Ukrainian side. Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said dialogue is “of course needed,” adding that Putin had already explained that “Ukraine left the negotiations several months ago.”


Apart from declaring the goal of defeating Moscow on the battlefield, Ukrainian officials have also reacted angrily to the referendums on joining Russia, currently ongoing in the Donbass republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions in southern Ukraine. On Sunday, Zelensky warned that should Russia complete the vote, it would “make it impossible, in any case, to continue any diplomatic negotiations” with Moscow.

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“Normally” Eugyppius writes on Covid. But he’s in Germany…

German Energy Apocalypse Update V (Eugyp)

Germany has nationalised the gas importer Uniper, to save it from insolvency in the face of the Gazprom gas stoppage. Robert Habeck’s earlier scheme to save Uniper and other importers involved the imposition of a gas surcharge of 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour on all consumers, but the government appears ready to scrap this plan just days before it was set to go into effect. Instead, some politicians are now talking of capping gas prices, though as far as I can tell, nobody has any idea how. As the pressure builds and the first closures begin, Germany is entering an economic recession, and there are everyday renewed cracks in the political edifice.

Minister President of Saxony Michael Kretschmer (CDU) – no fringe political figure – recently remarked that Germany “cannot do without Russian gas” and acknowledged that EU sanctions are to blame for the shortage, but he stopped short of demanding that Nord Stream 2 be opened; instead, he hopes for a return to Russian gas after the Ukraine war has ended. The Greens in government remain committed to taking Germany’s last nuclear power plants offline by the end of the year, hoping that enough French nuclear plants will return to service over the winter to cover any resulting shortages. It is hard to imagine a more farcical approach to nuclear energy.

Meanwhile, the head mayor of Berlin has suggested that two- or three-hour periods of load-shedding may be necessary to keep the electrical grid functional over the winter. Other experts, while downplaying the risk of uncontrolled outages, have raised the possibility load-shedding as well, confirming that these are very real contingency plans and that we’re being prepared for them. The stated concern is invariably that local or regional gas shortages will cause the widespread activation of electrical heaters and overwhelm the grid, though how exactly this could be anticipated far enough in advanced for scheduled outages is unclear to me. Prices have increased vastly across the economy, and estimates are that up to 60 percent of German households are now committing their entire monthly income to cover the rising cost of living.

The depth of the crisis isn’t fully known, as loan defaults and similar economic signals won’t begin in earnest until 2023. And that’s it. There are no plans from the government, beyond doubtful price-tinkering, regulatory schemes and targeted financial assistance. If you look at those news outlets most guilty of Corona hysteria, like the state-funded Tagesschau or the Süddeutsche Zeitung, you find extremely muted reporting on the crisis. Instead, hyperventilation about Ukraine continues to dominate headlines; pieces on the energy apocalypse are either misleading items like this one, hailing a dip in gas prices, or trivial write-ups about whether cities should cancel their Christmas lighting this year.

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Well, the Russians don’t blow up their own pipelines…

Germany Suspects ‘Targeted Attack’ On Russian Gas Pipelines (RT)

While the loss of pressure in three natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany is still officially being investigated, Berlin is reportedly no longer convinced it was a coincidence, and suspects a “targeted attack” on behalf of either Ukraine or Russia, the newspaper Tagesspiegel reported on Monday evening. Pressure in one of the Nord Stream 2 lines dropped sharply overnight, followed by the same happening to both Nord Stream 1 pipes on Monday afternoon. Denmark announced that a gas leak was spotted off the coast of Bornholm island in the Baltic Sea and closed the area for maritime traffic, but could not confirm if this was what caused the pressure loss.

According to Tagesspiegel, the German government and agencies investigating the incident “can’t imagine a scenario that isn’t a targeted attack,” according to an anonymous source familiar with their assessments. “Everything speaks against a coincidence.” The outlet explained that a deliberate attack on the bottom of the sea has to involve special forces, navy divers or a submarine. Berlin is reportedly examining two possible scenarios. In the first, Ukraine or “Ukraine-affiliated forces”could be behind the attack. The second option is that Russia did it as a “false flag,” to make Ukraine look bad and drive the EU energy prices even higher.


With Nord Stream offline since late August, Russian gas can only be delivered to Germany and central Europe via the older pipelines going through Poland and Ukraine, Tagesspiegel noted. “We are in the process of clarifying the situation here,” a spokeswoman for the federal ministry of economics told the outlet. “We don’t currently know what caused the pressure drop.” Nord Stream 1 was built in 2011. Construction on Nord Stream 2 began in 2018, and took much longer due to political pressure and economic sanctions from the US. NS2 was finished and pressurized by September 2021. However, two days prior to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the German government put its certification on indefinite hold, and has categorically refused any suggestion from Moscow – or its own people – to unblock the pipeline.

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“Instead of a real military threat from Russia and China, the problem for American strategists is the absence of such a threat.”

The US Is Winning Its War On Europe’s Industries And People (MoA)

On February 7 Professor of Economics Michael Hudson explained why America’s Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies: “What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment. If there is no Russian or Chinese plan to invade or bomb them, what is the need for NATO? And if there is no inherently adversarial relationship, why do foreign countries need to sacrifice their own trade and financial interests by relying exclusively on U.S. exporters and investors?

These are the concerns that have prompted French President Macron to call forth the ghost of Charles de Gaulle and urge Europe to turn away from what he calls NATO’s “brain-dead” Cold War and break with the pro-U.S. trade arrangements that are imposing rising costs on Europe while denying it potential gains from trade with Eurasia. Even Germany is balking at demands that it freeze by this coming March by going without Russian gas. Instead of a real military threat from Russia and China, the problem for American strategists is the absence of such a threat.” What the U.S. needed was to provoke Russia, and later China, into reacting to U.S. arranged threats in a way that would oblige its ‘allies’ to follow its sanction policies. The rather dimwitted European leadership fell for the trick.


The U.S. arranged for a Ukrainian attack on the rebel held Donbas region. This started on February 17 with intense artillery preparations against Donbas positions as recorded by the OSCE observers at that border. Russia had to react or see the ethnic Russians in those areas getting maimed and killed by Nazi devoting Ukrainians. There was no way to prevent that but by other than military means. On February 22 Russia recognized the Donbas republics as independent states and signed defense agreements with them. The same day the German chancellor Olaf Scholz canceled the launch of the undersea Nord Stream II pipeline which was to transport Russian gas to Germany’s industries and consumers. The Europeans launched a sequence of extremely harsh economic sanctions against Russia which, prodded by the U.S., had been prepared months in advance. Russia’s Special Military Operation, under Article 51 of the UN Charter, commenced on February 24.

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“Without that we won’t even talk to them. Nobody is going to tolerate humiliation..”

West Should Treat Us With Respect – Putin (RT)

Russia and Belarus are countries that are prepared to work with the West but only if there is mutual respect, presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko agreed during a face-to-face meeting in Sochi on Monday. Speaking on tv channel Rossiya 24, Lukashenko said he believes the West’s future lies with Russia, which has “everything they need.” On the other hand, he added, the West has things Russia and Belarus need and are willing to buy, including certain technologies. “What else do they want? They just need to make responsible decisions,” he said said. Putin agreed with the Belarusian leader, insisting the West must “treat us with respect.”

“Without that we won’t even talk to them. Nobody is going to tolerate humiliation,”Lukashenko continued, noting that both Moscow and Minsk were open to working with those who want to live side by side, building relations based on mutual respect. The Russian leader has previously suggested that the West was essentially waging a hybrid war against Moscow and was looking to “weaken, disunite and ultimately destroy”Russia. In a televised address last week, Putin claimed that Western countries openly admit that they “managed to break up the Soviet Union in 1991”and were now aiming to “split Russia into many regions that would be at each other’s throats.”


As a means to that end, Putin claims the West has been intentionally fostering Russophobic sentiments in countries like Ukraine, where he accuses the US and its allies of installing a hostile government and of turning the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder by pushing them into war with Russia. Putin has also warned Western leaders who openly call for a military defeat of Russia that Moscow is prepared to use any means at its disposal to defend itself and to ensure its territorial integrity. US President Joe Biden has hit back at Putin, accusing him of “making irresponsible nuclear threats to use nuclear weapons.”

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“..the president’s remarks were not an attempt to interfere with Italian domestic politics but rather meant to underline the body’s role “as guardian of the [European] treaties with regard to the rule of law.”

Poland Slams ‘Scandalous’ Von der Leyen Warning (RT)

A warning by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Brussels has tools to discipline Italy if its prospective center-right government fails to cooperate with the EU was “scandalous,” according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The remark was a wake-up call for member states, the head of the Polish government said on Sunday, as quoted by state news agency PAP. “Is this the kind of Europe we want? Is this democracy and rule of law? That Eurocrats in Brussels decide what a government should be?”Morawiecki asked. He was responding to von der Leyen’s suggestion that, should the new Italian government fail to meet the EU’s policy expectations, the country could be disciplined.

The top official said “whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we’re working together,” adding that “if things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools.” Von der Leyen spoke about Italy on Thursday at Princeton University, after it was suggested that people friendly to Russia could come to power in Rome after the election on Sunday. She was asked what the EU leadership plans to do about it. Morawiecki interpreted the remark as a promise to punish Italy, unless its new government is “in favor of Brussels.” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said that the president’s remarks were not an attempt to interfere with Italian domestic politics but rather meant to underline the body’s role “as guardian of the [European] treaties with regard to the rule of law.”


A center-right coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FI) party looks set to form a new cabinet following a snap election in the country. The outcome was consistent with opinion polls ahead of the ballot. In mid-September, the European Commission recommended suspending some €7.5 billion of emergency funding to Hungary over alleged erosion of the rule of law in the country. A similar punishment was imposed on Poland last year over controversial judicial reforms adopted by its conservative government.

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“..if – God forbid! – the Kremlin will face what the Russian military doctrine calls “a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation,” its nuclear weapons will not point to some location on the European continent, but more likely across the Atlantic.”

Russia And The US Still Have Time To Prevent A Nuclear War (Trenin)

This October marks the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, which drew Moscow and Washington into a nuclear showdown that threatened the immediate annihilation of the world. Luckily, the leaders of the time – Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy – had the wisdom to step back from the brink, and then engage with each other on first steps toward jointly managing adversity in the nuclear era. Given the current conflict in Ukraine, which is steadily escalating toward a direct military collision between Russia and the United States, there is a hope that the lessons of the past can also help to end the present confrontation on a peaceful note. However, we should also be mindful of the major differences between the two crises.

On the surface the root cause of both confrontations has been acute feelings of insecurity created by the expansion of the rival power’s political influence and military presence right to the doorstep of one’s own country: Cuba then, Ukraine now. This similarity, however, is almost as far as it goes. The salient feature of the Ukraine crisis is the vast asymmetry not only between the relevant capabilities of Russia and the United States, but even more importantly between the stakes involved. To the Kremlin, the issue is literally existential. Essentially, it is not only the future of Ukraine, but that of Russia itself that is on the table. To the White House, the issue is definitely important, but far less critical. What is in question is clearly US global leadership (which will not collapse within the Western world, whatever happens in Ukraine), its credibility (which can be dented but hardly destroyed), and the administration’s standing with the American people (for whom Ukraine is hardly a top concern).

[..] The problem is that its highly pro-active policy on Ukraine is based on a flawed premise that Russia can indeed accept being ‘strategically defeated’ and, should nuclear weapons be used, their use would be limited to Ukraine or, at worst, to Europe. Americans have a long tradition of ascribing their own strategic logic to their Russian opponents, but this can be fatally misleading. Ukraine, parts of Russia and Europe being hit by nuclear strikes – while the US emerges from the conflict unscathed – might be considered a tolerable outcome in Washington, but hardly in Moscow. [..] So many of Russia’s so-called red lines being breached without consequence from the start of the Ukraine war have created an impression that Moscow is bluffing, so that when President Vladimir Putin recently issued another warning to Washington, saying that “it is not a bluff,” some people concluded that it was precisely that.

Yet, as recent experience demonstrates, Putin’s words deserve to be taken more seriously. In a 2018 interview he said, “Why do we need a world in which there is no Russia?” The problem is that Moscow’s strategic defeat, which the US is aiming for in Ukraine, would probably ultimately result in “a world without Russia.” This probably suggests that if – God forbid! – the Kremlin will face what the Russian military doctrine calls “a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation,” its nuclear weapons will not point to some location on the European continent, but more likely across the Atlantic.

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“Hungary to hold a referendum on the EU’s sanctions imposed on Russia, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announces.

“The sanctions were not decided democratically, but were decided by Brussels bureaucrats and European elites,” he said on Monday.”

Orban Says EU Sanctions on Russia Have ‘Backfired’ (R.)

Hungary should prepare for a prolonged war in neighbouring Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday, sharply criticising European Union sanctions imposed on Russia which he said have “backfired”, driving up energy prices. Orban, long at odds with the EU over some of his policies seen in Brussels as anti-democratic, urged a ceasefire to end the war and said the sanctions against Russia were dealing a blow to Europe’s economy. Orban, who was reelected for a fourth consecutive term in April, now faces surging inflation, plunging consumer confidence and the prospect of a recession next year.

He told parliament it was no surprise that governments were falling in Europe, referring to the Italian election on Sunday following which Giorgia Meloni looks set to lead Italy’s most right-wing government since World War Two. “We can safely say that as a result of the sanctions, European people have become poorer, while Russia has not fallen to its knees,” Orban said. “This weapon has backfired, with the sanctions Europe has shot itself in the foot.” “We are waiting for an answer, the entire Europe is waiting for an answer from Brussels on how long we will keep doing this,” he said, adding it was also time to discuss the sanctions with the United States. Orban, whose government is in talks with the European Commission to secure billions of euros in EU funds blocked over rule-of-law concerns, said his government would launch a “national consultation” asking Hungarians about sanctions.


Orban has previously used this campaign tool to shore up domestic support for his Fidesz party on policies such as gay rights or migration. Orban said his government had revised its long-term energy strategy and aims to overhaul the power system and extend the lifespan of the Paks nuclear power plant, with a total of 32 big investments planned to be financed using EU funding. “If the Brussels bureaucrats do not give us this money, which Hungary is eligible for, then we will get the necessary funds from other financial sources,” Orban said, adding Hungary had started talks with the EU and “other international partners”. He did not elaborate.

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“Dozens of nations representing half of humanity either backed Russia’s position on Ukraine or at least acknowledged the merits of Russia’s reasoning..”

Moscow Tells US To ‘Back Off’ With ‘Aggressive’ Course (RT)

The US is taking an increasingly aggressive stance towards Moscow, but no amount of economic sanctions and political pressure can sway it from defending its national interests, a top Russian diplomat said. Moscow’s diplomacy regarding the US is an exercise in “crisis management”, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview on Russian television on Monday. He described US behavior as being “increasingly confrontational and worrisome.” “We can see how [the Americans] are trying to mobilize their satellites, their vassals to confront Russia in a more aggressive and hardline manner,” the diplomat said. “Washington’s irresponsible, extremely aggressive, extremely assertive course is bringing us all to the dangerous line. We are warning against maintaining this course.”

The brinkmanship has been evident not only when it comes to the crisis in Ukraine, but also in the all-important issue of nuclear non-proliferation and reduction, Ryabkov said. Washington has pretty much dismantled the entire architecture of strategic arms control and is threatening the last remaining bilateral treaty of that kind with Russia, the New START, he pointed out. The core of the problem, the diplomat said, is that the US “does not need agreements, which had been signed on the basis of parity, served not only the security interest of the group [of nations] led by the US, but strengthened the security of entire regions and the world in general. They are not in line with the hegemonic course that the US pursues in the international arena.”

The deputy minister said he didn’t expect US policy towards Russia to change anytime soon, because “there is an anti-Russian consensus of the elites” in the US. But the only viable solution is for Washington to recognize that Russia will not be bullied and act accordingly, Ryabkov added. “Time and time again we’ve told our American interlocutors, to use the most neutral term, that they have to back off and stop escalating the situation,” he said.

European nations, which sided with Washington’s anti-Russian drive, are suffering because of it, the Russian diplomat pointed out. In fact, their subservience to Washington makes them vulnerable to American exploitation, Ryabkov said. “[The Americans] are undermining Europe’s competitiveness, pumping their products into European markets, be they military equipment or hydrocarbons, which the Europeans would rather get from alternative sources under different circumstances,” he said. But Washington lacks global support, regardless of what American officials claim Ryabkov said. Dozens of nations representing half of humanity either backed Russia’s position on Ukraine or at least acknowledged the merits of Russia’s reasoning about it, he explained.

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One of 75, but the only one who gets attention.

Moscow Grants Russian Citizenship To Edward Snowden (AP)

President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed by the Russian leader on Monday. Snowden is one of 75 foreign nationals listed by the decree as being granted Russian citizenship. The decree was published on an official government website. Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the U.S. after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs. He was granted permanent residency in 2020 and said at the time that he planned to apply for Russian citizenship, without renouncing his U.S. citizenship.


Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti that the former contractor’s wife Lindsay Mills, an American who has been living with him in Russia, will also be applying for a Russian passport. The couple had a child in December 2020. Snowden, who has kept a low profile in Russia and occasionally criticized Russian government policies on social media, said in 2019 that he was willing to return to the U.S. if he’s guaranteed a fair trial. He hasn’t commented on being granted Russian citizenship.

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“Just because NATO and the US get to “invade other sovereign countries at the drop of a hat, or for a few barrels of oil,” doesn’t mean Russia shouldn’t hold itself to a higher standard..”

Roger Waters Pens Open Letter To Putin (RT)

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has penned a blunt open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking guarantees that Russia will not expand beyond the Donbass and Crimea and will never “invade anyone ever again.” Posted to Facebook on Monday, the missive follows similarly frank open letters to Ukrainian First Lady Elena Zelenskaya. In the letter, Waters asks Putin to affirm he wants an end to the war – something the Russian president has already said on other occasions. He also demands a guarantee that Russia’s “territorial interest” stops at the “security of the Russian speaking populations”of Crimea and the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, citing the need to reassure “some people who think you want to overrun the whole of Europe, starting with Poland and the rest of the Baltic states.”

If Russia does have territorial ambitions beyond eastern Ukraine, Waters writes, “f*** you, and we might as well all stop playing the desperately dangerous game of nuclear chicken that the hawks on both sides of the Atlantic feel so comfortable with, and have at it.” It wasn’t immediately clear if the referendums in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions on joining Russia qualified for this response. Moscow would also have to promise “not to invade anyone ever again,” Waters told Putin, complaining the launch of Russia’s special military operation in February was not just a “heinous war of aggression,” but an unexpected one to boot. Just because NATO and the US get to “invade other sovereign countries at the drop of a hat, or for a few barrels of oil,” doesn’t mean Russia shouldn’t hold itself to a higher standard, he explained.

“If you were to reply to me,” Waters wrote to Putin, “I would mightily respect you for it, and take it as an honorable move in the right direction towards a sustainable peace.” The progressive rock guitarist’s appeal to Putin followed his previous open letters to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s wife Elena, in which he urged the Ukrainian First Lady to “demand the implementation of your husband’s election promises and put an end to this deadly war,” a reference to Zelensky’s campaign pledge to “end the civil war” in Donbass. He told Zelenskaya she was “tragically mistaken” in her belief that western “support for Ukraine” – namely the continued supply of weapons – would shorten the conflict.

Zelenskaya responded to the musician earlier this month on Twitter, blaming Russia for “invading” Ukraine, “destroy[ing] cities and kill[ing] civilians.” She insisted that if Ukraine stops fighting it will mean the end of its existence, and urged Waters to address his peace appeals to the Russian president instead.

Read more …

Google translation from German outlet Morgenpost.

The “talks” between Ursula and Bourla were in WhatsApp (or a similar app), and she gave herself permission to delete all of it. Dead end.

Trouble About The Corona Vaccine Deal: Why Is Von Der Leyen Stonewalling? (MP)

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is under pressure because of a multi-billion dollar mega contract for the delivery of Biontech-Pfizer’s corona vaccine. According to information from our editorial team, the budget controllers of the EU Parliament are preparing a formal reprimand, the displeasure in Parliament is great, the first MPs call for the public prosecutor. It is by far the largest contract in the European Union for the procurement of corona vaccines: In May 2021, i.e. five months after the start of the vaccination campaign, the Commission agreed on the delivery of up to 1.8 billion doses of the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine ( 900 million as an option) for the years 2022 and 2023. According to insider information, the purchase price is a gigantic 35 billion euros.

Not only the volume is spectacular. It is also unusual that von der Leyen apparently personally arranged the contract in talks with Pfizer boss Albert Bourla – the European Court of Auditors speaks of “preliminary negotiations”. Nevertheless, the President of the Commission adamantly refuses to provide any information about her exchange with the Pfizer boss. Now von der Leyen even rebuffed the Court of Auditors – and may have overdone it. The auditors took an interest in the deal as part of a special report on European vaccine procurement. According to her account, von der Leyen conducted the preliminary negotiations with the Pfizer boss in March 2021 without involving the joint negotiating team, as would have corresponded to a Commission decision on the procedure.

The auditors asked the Commission for information about the preliminary negotiations, such as experts involved, timetable, records, details of the agreed terms. After all, this contract will “shape the EU’s vaccine portfolio until the end of 2023”. But the examiners received a rejection: “No information was transmitted,” they write. Internally, the inspectors are stunned: “This behavior is extremely unusual, something like this has never happened before,” says the authority. However, the Court of Auditors cannot enforce anything in this case. The EU Parliament has the lever in its hand. There threatens from the Leyen Trouble. The chair of the Budget Control Committee, Monika Hohlmeier (CSU), calls it “very worrying” that the Commission is refusing to give the Court of Auditors central information for evaluating the preliminary negotiations, especially because of their influence on the proper award procedure.

According to the Court of Auditors, the tender only contained what had previously been informally agreed, Hohlmeier told our editorial team: “The Committee on Budgetary Control will reprimand the Commission here and insist that information relevant to the audit must always be shared with the Court of Auditors without restrictions.” The lack of transparency in the multi-billion dollar contracts has long been an issue in the EU Parliament, also because it plays into the hands of anti-vaccination campaigns. Von der Leyen’s blockade is fueling all sorts of speculation among critics, such as an alleged preference for the US company Pfizer. The Washington-based consumer organization SumOfUs accuses von der Leyen of agreeing to a hefty price increase in her talks with Bourla, even though a discount would have been obvious given the enormous quantity. In fact, with the deal, the price per Biontech vaccine dose rose from EUR 15.50 to EUR 19.50 – the then Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borrisov revealed this out of annoyance at the high costs.

Read more …

It’s over.

Just 1.5% Of Eligible Americans Have Gotten Updated COVID Booster (ZH)

Only 1.5% of those eligible to receive the new Covid booster jab – which was tested on just 8 mice, not humans, before the FDA approved it – have taken the updated shot, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 4.4 million people have taken the tweaked booster shot from Pfizer and Moderna after they were rolled out three weeks ago around Labor Day weekend. The bivalent shots were designed to target both the original Covid-19 strain, and the currently circulating Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, NBC News reports. “I would expect a much higher proportion of Americans to have gotten the booster by this point,” said Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist, Dr. Scott Robers, who said the relatively low uptake was “demoralizing.”

“The fact that this booster came out days before Biden said the pandemic is over is a huge mixed message,” said Roberts, who added that a lack of public awareness surrounding the shots – or the ‘prevailing narrative that the pandemic is ending’ might have hindered the rollout. “Now it’s going to be that much harder to convince those at risk who are on the fence to get a booster.” As of Tuesday, the US had shipped over 25 million boosters to tens of thousands of sites. Approximately 80% of the US population has received at least one shot of the primary Covid vaccine, and almost 68% are considered ‘fully vaccinated’ by the CDC – meaning they’ve received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna’s offering, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.


“[..] experts are still gathering real-world data, since the shots were distributed without results from human trials. Laboratory studies found that the boosters generated strong antibody responses against BA.4 and BA.5, and human trial data showed that a similar vaccine yielded a strong antibody response against the initial omicron strain, BA.1. Authorization of the bivalent boosters for children ages 5 to 11 may be just weeks away, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at an event this week with the Covid-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project.” -NBC News Word of the slow uptake comes after Denmark recommended that only those over the age of 50, or who are at risk of developing severe Covid-19, receive the vaccine.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle September 27 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 75 total)
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  • #116978

    Marcel Duchamp About young sister 1911   • This Is the Way the World Ends (Jim Kunstler) • Ukrainian Territories To Be Absorbed Into Russia By We
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle September 27 2022]

    #116979
    Germ
    Participant

    Watch this. We won! It’s over.

    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/dr-aseem-malhotra-promoted-covid?sd=pf

    Congratulations to all of you who resisted the tyranny of coercive gene therapy injections.

    Prayers for those among us who didn’t.

    #116980

    #116981
    Dr. D
    Participant

    10-year now 4%. It can rise faster now because in % terms its not doubling like it just did from 2% to 4% Each point is only 25%, then 20%, then 10%…

    “The combined market value of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate bond index and the MSCI World index has dropped $29 trillion”

    I’m sure it’s nothing. Everything will be fine. Prices will go up infinitely on a finite world and lead us all to automatic space communism.

    Bill Gates has now publicly promised that the next election won’t happen, it will be contested and cause a civil war. How does he know? Like Cobra Commander, He knows! He knows! Although he has nooooothing to do with it, hasn’t heard anything, doesn’t need to call the FBI with specific information, he just knows. The election won’t go through. It will cause a civil war. (Which also doesn’t follow and doesn’t make any sense. I mean we’ve screwed elections since 2000, and half-dozen times before that.)

    Well just like – was it AOC? – said “if the Democrats don’t win the midterms, it’ll mean civil war.” Sheesh, a lot of civil war around here for a half a million red hats who didn’t bring a single gun between them. And if the Republicans win, they’ll start a civil war? Because they won? I think you mean in that case the Democrats are the domestic terrorists…nevermind. Said before.

    Nope, Bill Gates knows. …But doesn’t know anything specific. And he’s sure there’ll be a bad election. …Although he doesn’t have any plans or have anything to do with it.

    …Just like Event201, October 2019, 60 days before it happened. Sept 20 + 60 days = Oh! I know! Nov. 20. Just when all the election lawsuits will begin.

    “Sullivan Vows Decisive Response, Catastrophic Consequences If Russia Uses Nuclear Weapons”

    Who? Is he important? They’ll do an Ursula and sanction them again. Yeah they can tell Russia what to do because I saw they just landed 300,000 Marines at Kalingrad.

    Dark Matter, yes confirming both of those allegations is very worth hearing.
    “Russia Enacts Lengthy Prison Sentences for Wartime Desertion & Refusal to Serve”
    15 years in prison for “voluntary” surrender, also amid reports Putin is preparing to issue travel ban for military age males.”

    While very common, and we have them too, I have to feel they would not be enacted unless something was driving it. Probably kids think their leaders suck and have no confidence in them worldwide. Recalibrating as the border reports remain persistent.

    “‘Defund the Police’ Movement Now Suffering Horrendous Crime Wave”

    Gee, I wonder why. ACAB. Shouldn’t crime go down? “FBI Misled Judge, Then Seized $86 Million In Cash From Beverly Hills Safe-Deposit Boxes” Which is amazingly even worse than the title suggests. They drilled into (and ruined) 5,000 safe deposit boxes and stole all the contents against the express orders of the judge. If you showed up as an innocent person to claim your (stolen) property, you were immediately investigated for being innocent. None of it had any premise or evidence of any crime. Because – don’t be ridiculous, we don’t start with a CRIME and then investigate, that’s so last century – we search everyone and then fabricate a crime. Against people we don’t like that have a lot of money to take.

    Note in neither case do we arrest criminals, deny bail, then prosecute and jail them for theft and violence. For known crimes, and known criminals. Nothing has happened to either the FBI or the Judge.

    For Ukraine, I guess we see why they withdrew, even before claiming all the provinces in question: they needed the troops for internal election security. Since generally none of us predicted this, will anyone recalibrate their view or accusations about winning/losing because of it? Since this appears to be the case, what happens when the election is over? Frozen lines, retaking to the provincial borders, or keep on plowing to Odessa in winter?

    “Moscow Grants Russian Citizenship to Edward Snowden (AP)”

    This was against Putin’s original wishes. Snowden is there exclusively because of US, not Russia. While in transit, the U.S. pulled his passport, making him unable to travel through any world border using normal conditions. He was therefore stranded in a Russian airport, like “The Terminal” (2004). To allow him out of the airport lobby, he was granted Permanent residency as a practicality. The U.S. never changed, so the situation has merely persisted until now. Think what you want of it, that is the official and most plausible story.

    Orwell is describing the “Overton Window” in that quote. Classic narcissist control, as constant active violence really draws attention. The abused need to normalize and self-regulate their codependent behavior.

    #116983
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Professor of Economics Michael Hudson

    Why do people listen to this guy? He’s an economist, so I do not expect much, and I get what I expect, but why has this person become an alternative news celebrity? He is as full of crap as the other economists. Sure, he can talk about debt, but having worked in finance, that is kind of the business of finance and nothing he says is news. Nothing he says enlightens me to anything.

    #116984

    Feel so much better/safer after watching this.

    Not a word about what causes these clots these days.

    #116985
    Oroboros
    Participant

    So they managed to combine the Green Nazi thing with the Sexual Perversion Trans thing

    Sweet

    .

    #116986
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #116987
    Cetzer
    Participant

    “Luckily, the leaders of the time [Cuban missile crisis] – Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy – had the wisdom to step back from the brink”
    Their wisdom was (partly) earned by their very personal experiences in World War II, Khrushchev for example took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. Nowadays many so called leaders (leaderesses ?) earned their only experience of war through computer games: They know that there is always a next life and blood will never splatter beyond the computer screen.

    #116988
    John Day
    Participant

    @Aspnaz: Michael Hudson actually learned about global capital flows working for a bank, and barely passed an economics class he was taking at the time, because he argued facts with the professor, who only knew theory, which was wrong.
    Wikipedia: “Hudson graduated from the University of Chicago (BA, 1959) and New York University (MA, 1965, PhD, 1968) and worked as a balance of payments economist in Chase Manhattan Bank (1964–1968).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hudson_(economist)

    Hudson backed-into working for a bank while studying music; he wanted to be a conductor, but he had this weird ability to experience international capital flows as a symphony, to experience the whole thing and each part, all at once.
    His analysis commissioned by his bank, then rejected by the US Treasury (which wanted it at first), was that the US gold balance was intact for all trade except for war funding. All the gold basically leaked out through Vietnam. He was right, of course.
    He wrote “Super Imerialism” in 1972, as the US defaulted on gold, pointing out that oil was already a backing for the currency, which cost the US essentially nothing. His whole printing sold out in Washington, and Nixon/Kissinger ran to Saudi Arabia to formalize the petro-buck as policy, which was a huge success.

    Hudson won’t talk to economists, because they won’t look at reality, only theory, which is wrong…
    Nobody disparages economists more vigorously than Michael Hudson.
    China hires him to teach courses.

    #116989
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    ‘Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has penned a blunt open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking guarantees that Russia will not expand beyond the Donbass and Crimea and will never “invade anyone ever again.”

    Dipshit.

    #116990
    zerosum
    Participant

    @TAE Summary September 27, 2022 at 6:10 am# 116959REPLY


    A Tale of Two Narratives, Ukraine Edition

    Very good executive summary
    Now, we need to know why.
    The leaders of the west appears to have made their choice based on “racism/nazit/white suprematism/intolerance/emotional responses/lies/propaganda/missinformation/manipulation/ignorance
    ————

    #116991
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ aspnaz

    Michael Hudson gets what is going on, has been going on and is able to communicate it in a way that even I can understand. And how things could be better arranged for greater fairness and benefit in this world

    His latest book here at my side, yet to be read but there are many interviews online that are enlightening.

    The Destiny of Civilization:
    Financial capitalism,
    Industrial capitalism,
    or
    Socialism

    MICHAEL HUDSON

    #116992
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Time for the annual “looming government shutdown”.

    Oh, promises, promises. But maybe they really WILL shut it down this time. Hope springeth eternal.

    #116993
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘The biggest madness about Net Zero is that Australia’s emissions are already at… net zero. Our forests and oceans already absorb many times what is produced by humans’

    That is very clever use of words and very subtle cherry-picking to generate an entirely false narrative.

    The key component of the falsehood is ‘what is produced by humans’.

    What is produced by humans is a miniscule portion of the entire carbon budget. I would not like to present and exact figure because I am not privy to the entire emission profile of the Australian economy. But a reasonable guess for ‘what is produced by humans’ would be of the order of 1% of the total emissions that need to be accounted for.

    Almost everything in so-called climate analysis is fakery, bullshit and legerdemain, characerised more by what is left out than what is included.

    “So it goes.” -Kurt Vonnegut

    And it has to be bullshit and misrepresentation, until the completely fake globalised industrial money-lender system that we endure collapses.

    That collapse is clearly on the horizon. 2032 at the latest. Probably well before then.

    #116994
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    One can see this impulse ever trying to express itself here, but no one clique gains enough dominance to effectively censor unorthodox views.

    I post this with gleeful trepidation, since it’s becoming hard to deliver dire weather forecasts without stepping into some tedious old climate disruption argument.

    Anyway, looks like it’s gonna be a wobbly winter.

    #116995
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Michael Hudson is quite good for an ‘economist’. I have been following his work for about 15 years. But he does not get what’s going on: he just gets some parts of what is going on a hell of a lot better than the vast majority of ‘economists’, who are by-and-large completely off the planet. Indeed, mainstream economists inhabit an alternative universe in which energy, the availability of resources, and the effects of pollution can be ignored, and all that matters is the movement of fake fiat currencies around the system.

    It has to be that way, of course: the banksters demand it. Any economist who starts speaking too much truth to power is quickly out of a job.

    Michael Hudson only goes a little way down the rabbit hole.

    #116996
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    Sabotage of NS1 & NS2

    There is only one possible culprit that comes to mind – the US

    #116997
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    CHS

    ‘And what organizations dominate the planet? Hyper-centralized franchises, states and corporations alike. The selective pressure favors protecting the franchise from innovation, because innovation could upset the entire apple cart. So centralized organizations only support innovations that increase the power of centralized authority.

    But that’s not how innovation works. As the franchise decays and the supreme leaders start believing their own PR and making catastrophically misguided decisions in an echo-chamber of cheering toadies, the whole system slips into a non-linear dynamic that ends in a dramatic phase change, the collapse of the franchise and all those who clung to it as no-risk and permanent.

    Stifle decentralization and dissent and you stifle innovation. With potentially threatening loonshots safely buried, the system has only one pathway: decay and collapse.’

    https://www.oftwominds.com/blogsept22/loonshots9-22.html

    #116998
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Russia Enacts Lengthy Prison Sentences for Wartime Desertion & Refusal to Serve”
    15 years in prison for “voluntary” surrender, also amid reports Putin is preparing to issue travel ban for military age males.”

    The desertion restriction is probably focused on prevent NGOs from sowing too much dissent over the war.

    The travel ban is pretty much going to be de facto soon, with or without rulings. War is hard on tourism, one might say.

    No voluntary surrender is actually a kindness, from what I know of Ukrainian actions in the killing fields.

    I submit that Putin is also fighting to maintain sovereignty internally, hence the major dissension amid a war that is patently necessary if Russia wants to remain Russian. No more Pussy Riots for you!

    In the sites I frequent that question the Russian narrative from an insider Russian perspective, the number of anti-Russian commentators (alleging to be Russian or authoritative somehow on Russian matters) has gone sky-high of late, most of them one-note Johnnies, a trait we often associate with troll-bots.

    I am of course generally dismissed as a Putin apologist.

    Desertion

    #116999
    zerosum
    Participant

    • Germany Suspects ‘Targeted Attack’ On Russian Gas Pipelines (RT)

    the loss of pressure in three natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany
    the Nord Stream 2 lines dropped sharply overnight, followed by the same happening to both Nord Stream 1 pipes on Monday afternoon.
    ——–
    • Orban Says EU Sanctions on Russia Have ‘Backfired’ (R.)

    Read more …
    https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-09-26/hungary-pm-orban-says-eu-sanctions-on-russia-have-backfired

    (check out the cartoons)
    —————
    ’m left without any doubt that the mRNA product was a likely contributory factor in the sudden cardiac death of my father, Dr Kailash Chand Malhotra ( Honorary Vice President of the British Medical Association)
    Quote Tweet
    ———
    Think about it.
    A civil war by those who didn’t bring a single gun

    ————
    Let’s cause a price increase/oil shortfall
    Sell your reserves to China and I’ll cut my oil output
    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/oil-surges-after-russia-proposes-1-million-barrel-opec-output-cut
    Oil Surges After Russia Proposes 1 Million Barrel OPEC+ Output Cut
    ———

    #117000
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #117001
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Michael Hudson only goes a little way down the rabbit hole.”

    Another trend I’ve noticed of late is a major increase in judgments of whose pundit is “really” real, likewise bickering over same. Not that I have any firm opinion on how far Hudson or others go down the rabbit hole. At this point, limited hangouts grow grow longer and more common everyday: then truth can’t be hidden or controlled anymore; strategic retreat via gradual acknowledgement of this fact is the only game left outside of manufacturing new problems t distract from the old.

    When we get to the point where the only effective distraction is a nuclear exchange, we’ll know just how crazy or inept are those with the power to initiate such an event. We may not know it for very long, but we’ll know it. 😉

    IMO, one of Dylan’s finest moments:

    #117002
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Look what’s headed for one of the populated states of the US

    #117003
    boscohorowitz
    Participant
    #117004
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/italys-next-prime-minister-giorgia-meloni-why-do-they-hate-her-so-much
    Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni: Why Do They Hate Her So Much?
    ( sub title – Why Do They Love Her So Much?
    – Why Did They Vote for Her So Much?)

    “Yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death, no to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people.”

    Do you see …. Title and sub title can apply to Trump

    #117005
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    The US war on Russia seems be going nuclear soon.

    #117006
    zerosum
    Participant

    How to make a profit for dummies
    https://www.rt.com/russia/563616-predatory-west-food-putin/

    Putin blasts West’s ‘predatory’ food ‘swindle’
    The US and its rich allies are causing a global food crisis by draining the market, the Russian president said

    #117007
    John Day
    Participant

    Picture of Sunday morning in the shade of the pecan tree… https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/hating-humans-and-bombing-germans

    Moon of Alabama (German) has perspective on the sudden, simultaneous occurrence of 3 ruptures in 3 Nordstream-1 & 2 pipes in international waters of the Baltic Sea.
    Nord Stream II was created to make Germany independent from pipelines running through Poland and the Ukraine. Blocking it was the most stupid thing for Germany to do and thus chancellor Scholz did it.
    In the following months Poland blocked the Yamal pipeline which also brought Russian gas to Germany. Ukraine followed up with cutting off two Russian pipelines. The main compressor stations of the Nord Stream I pipeline, which the German company Siemens had build and has the maintenance contract, failed one after the other. Sanction are prohibiting Siemens from repairing them…
    ..​If Russia were to cut pipelines in the Baltic Sea it would damage those that bring Norwegian gas to Europe, not the pipelines it owns and which give it some leverage.
    ​ ​Russia thus surely has no plausible interest in sabotaging the Nord Stream system. Others though do have such interests. They likely want Germany to ‘stay in line’ with their war to Decolonize Russia. The major potential actors behind this are the U.S., the British, the Ukrainian and the Polish government or a mixture of those.
    ​ ​Geography, and the shallow depth of the Baltic Sea, seem to exclude that a U.S. or British submarines did the damage. Ukraine does not have access to the Baltic Sea. Poland, which had already tried to prevent or hinder the Nord Stream II construction, is the most likely actor behind this though I doubt that it would dare to act alone.
    ​ ​Consider this from April 2021:
    ​ ​The developers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline have accused foreign naval forces of “provocative” activity in the vicinity of construction work. The controversial pipeline is about 93 percent complete, and two Russian pipelay vessels are on station and working on the project in Danish waters.
    ​ ​Andrei Minin, the branch director of Gazprom-run Nord Stream 2 AG, told TASS that “foreign warships and vessels were demonstrating higher activity” near the operation, and that “such actions are provocative and can lead to gas pipeline damage.” He also accused Poland of deploying a military M-28 patrol aircraft to survey the site.
    ​ ​”The Polish Navy is not conducting provocative operations and has been carrying out its statutory tasks in agreement with international laws,” responded the Polish Army’s central command in a social media post. “M-28B Bryza planes regularly conduct patrol flights in the Baltic Sea region.”
    ​ ​Poland strongly opposes the development of Nord Stream 2, which will give Gazprom a subsea alternative route for supplying natural gas to Western European customers. At present, that gas has to pass through overland pipeline networks in Poland and Ukraine, bringing in valuable transit fees and providing both nations – which do not always have cordial relations with Russia – a measure of energy security.​..
    ..On February 7 Biden stated (vid) that he would decided if Nord Stream II opens and on February 27 he sanctioned the company owning it.
    Under its current rightwing leadership Poland has been extremely hostile to Germany. This month it even renewed is demand for war reparations from Germany, an issue that had been settle decades ago.​..
    ​..​It is high time for the German government to wake up and to recognize that a war has been launched against its country.
    And no. It is not Russia that is waging it.
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/09/the-war-on-germany-just-entered-its-hot-phase.html#more

    ​The official line lags MoA:
    ​ Nord Stream AG, the operator of the NS pipeline system, published a statement Tuesday that read, “the destruction that happened within one day at three lines of the Nord Stream pipeline system is unprecedented … and impossible now to estimate the timeframe for restoring operations of the gas shipment infrastructure.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/damage-nord-stream-pipelines-unprecedented-may-have-been-sabotaged

    Ah, “EXPLOSIONS”: (Maybe this is what was supposed to happen Saturday?)
    ​ ​Swedish broadcaster SVT reported that the Swedish National Seismic Network detected two underwater explosions near the Nord Stream pipeline system on Monday.
    “One of the explosions had a magnitude of 2.3, and was registered at as many as 30 measuring stations in southern Sweden,” SVT said.
    Bjorn Lund, a professor in seismology and director of the Swedish National Seismic Network, said these two seismic events were explosions.​..
    ​..AFP News reported the US is ‘ready to provide support’ to Europe after the Nord Stream pipeline system leaks.
    There was no further information on what type of support, but one can only imagine it would involve increased LNG cargo shipments to the EU.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/damage-nord-stream-pipelines-unprecedented-may-have-been-sabotaged

    German Energy Apocalypse Update V​ (The situation just before the pipelines were blown up)
    ​ ​As the pressure builds and the first ​(German factory) ​closures begin, Germany is entering an economic recession, and there are everyday renewed cracks in the political edifice. Minister President of Saxony Michael Kretschmer (CDU) – no fringe political figure – recently remarked that Germany “cannot do without Russian gas” and acknowledged that EU sanctions are to blame for the shortage, but he stopped short of demanding that Nord Stream 2 be opened; instead, he hopes for a return to Russian gas after the Ukraine war has ended.​..
    ..​Meanwhile, the head mayor of Berlin has suggested that two- or three-hour periods of load-shedding may be necessary to keep the electrical grid functional over the winter. Other experts, while downplaying the risk of uncontrolled outages, have raised the possibility load-shedding as well, confirming that these are very real contingency plans and that we’re being prepared for them. The stated concern is invariably that local or regional gas shortages will cause the widespread activation of electrical heaters and overwhelm the grid​..​.. estimates are that up to 60 percent of German households are now committing their entire monthly income to cover the rising cost of living.
    https://www.eugyppius.com/p/german-energy-apocalypse-update-v

    #117008
    John Day
    Participant

    ​To strike within Russia (US/NATO have pre-approved each missile target): Ukraine Confirms Receipt Of Longer-Range Missiles It’s Long Sought From US
    According to a CNN report in June, “Ukrainian officials have asked for the missile defense system, known as a NASAMS system, given the weapons can hit targets more than 100 miles away, though the Ukrainian forces will likely need to be trained on the systems, a source said.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-confirms-receipt-longer-range-missiles-its-long-sought-us

    ​ Gilbert Doctorow has been living in St. Petersburg. He is fluent in Russian.​
    News from the home front: Russia under conditions of partial mobilization
    ​ ​In today’s essay, I want to direct attention first to Russian radio, in particular commenting on the national broadcaster “Business FM” which is based in Moscow but has national coverage and puts on air reports from all around this vast country that are of interest not only to stock brokers but to the general public. I listen to them daily over breakfast and their slogan “Radio not in words but in facts” is well justified by the originality of their news management. Politics and politicians are not on their agenda. The impact of new laws, regulations and government programs on the population and especially on the business community is their main interest. Sales figures, company profits, challenges in recruiting and keeping personnel: all of these subjects are dealt with by presentation of concrete facts from concrete companies and localities, and the result is a very informative mosaic.​..
    ..I can point first to the dramatic decision earlier today of the prospective Buyer of our dacha in the south of Petersburg, already under contract of deposit, to suspend the deal, first in the hope of squeezing a further discount from us due to post-mobilization uncertainties and then with demand for more time to see the fall-out of the referendums in Donbas.​..
    ..Otherwise, the assortment and pricing of meats, poultry, fruits and vegetables in the Russian stores at all market levels are unchanged from what they were some months ago…
    ​..​At the Food Court on the 4th floor, I enjoyed a couple of hamburgers in McDonald’s replacement as fast food operator ‘’Вкусно – и точка’’ (Tasty – period). Quality and price were both unchanged. Then on the ground floor I followed up with a visit to the Starbucks replacement, which is named “Star Coffee.” All the design elements remain the same as before and my coffee Americano was excellent.
    ​ ​All the design elements of the Apple store just opposite Star Coffee also are unchanged. To be sure, the store legend “Apple Reseller” now reads “Premium Reseller.” The product assortment seems to be unchanged.​..
    ​..Finally, a personal observation about the exodus across the Finnish border. Yesterday, I tried to book tickets for our departure by bus from Petersburg to Helsinki. All seats on all buses of the two competing bus operators were sold out until October 6th, five days later than we had planned to leave. To be sure, there are only five or six buses making this trip each day, and each has only 50 seats. In fact the great majority of those crossing the border are doing so in their private cars. They are the ones suffering the seven hours of lost time spent in queues and in individual processing. Buses such as we will be using go to the head of the line and are typically processed within an hour or an hour and a half, which is a nuisance but not yet a misery.
    News from the home front: Russia under conditions of partial mobilization

    ​ Orban pretends it is accidental. He will ask the Hungarian people what they think in a referendum.
    Hungary PM Orban Says EU Sanctions on Russia Have ‘Backfired’
    ​ ​”We can safely say that as a result of the sanctions, European people have become poorer, while Russia has not fallen to its knees,” Orban said. “This weapon has backfired, with the sanctions Europe has shot itself in the foot.”
    ​ ​”We are waiting for an answer, the entire Europe is waiting for an answer from Brussels on how long we will keep doing this,” he said, adding it was also time to discuss the sanctions with the United States.
    ​ ​Orban, whose government is in talks with the European Commission to secure billions of euros in EU funds blocked over rule-of-law concerns, said his government would launch a “national consultation” asking Hungarians about sanctions.​..
    ..”If the Brussels bureaucrats do not give us this money, which Hungary is eligible for, then we will get the necessary funds from other financial sources,” Orban said, adding Hungary had started talks with the EU and “other international partners”.
    https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-09-26/hungary-pm-orban-says-eu-sanctions-on-russia-have-backfired

    ​ ​A warning by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Brussels has tools to discipline Italy if its prospective center-right government fails to cooperate with the EU was “scandalous,” according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
    ​ ​The remark was a wake-up call for member states, the head of the Polish government said on Sunday, as quoted by state news agency PAP.
    “Is this the kind of Europe we want? Is this democracy and rule of law? That Eurocrats in Brussels decide what a government should be?” Morawiecki asked.
    ​ ​He was responding to von der Leyen’s suggestion that, should the new Italian government fail to meet the EU’s policy expectations, the country could be disciplined.
    ​ ​The top official said “whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we’re working together,” adding that “if things go in a difficult direction, I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools.”
    https://www.rt.com/news/563545-morawiecki-leyen-italy-tools/

    ​ ​So much for European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s threats from days ago, which Italians clearly ignored as Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing bloc is celebrating its historic, if largely expected, victory and a clear majority…​
    ​..This brings us to the question of ​ ‘why do they hate her so much’?
    ​The below 2-minute clip of Meloni giving a prior event speech which went viral this weekend as the votes in Italy were being counted provides a glimpse of why they must be on suicide watch in Brussels. The new Italian Prime Minister describes eloquently that Italians and human beings in general are not mere identity-less consumers and economic playthings of the ivory tower technocrat class, but belong under God, country and family…
    G​iorgia Meloni;
    ​”Please answer me these questions. This is about what we are doing here today. Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it is our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to be perfect consumer slaves.”
    ​ ​”And so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identify, they attack family identity. I can’t define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No.”
    ​ ​”I must be citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer.”
    ​ ​”That’s the reason why. That’s why we inspire so much fear. That’s why this event inspires so much fear. Because we do not want to be numbers. Will will defend the value of the human being. Every single human being. Because each of us has a unique genetic code that is unrepeatable. And like it or not, that is sacred. We will defend it. We will defend God, country and family.”
    ​ ​”Those things that disgust people so much. We will do it to defend our freedom, because we will never be slaves and simple consumers at the mercy of the financial speculators. That is our mission. That is why I came here today.”
    ​ ​”Chesterton wrote, more than a century ago… ‘Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four.’ Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.'”
    ​ ​”That time has arrived. We are ready.”
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/italys-next-prime-minister-giorgia-meloni-why-do-they-hate-her-so-much

    #117009
    John Day
    Participant

    Under what specific circumstances would the US military be able to thwart a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan?
    Aircraft carriers are easy targets for China. Fixed bases in Guam are too.
    Arm all American bombers with long range anti-ship missiles, which might last a week with projected stockpiles. This changeover would take 2-3 years.
    This is based on war games. Nuclear weapons are not addressed directly.
    The USAF doesn’t want to load all those strategic bombers with anti-ship missiles.
    DEFEAT CHINA’S NAVY, DEFEAT CHINA’S WAR PLAN​ , ​ROBERT HADDICK

    Defeat China’s Navy, Defeat China’s War Plan

    ​ Ed Snowden (now a Russian & US citizen) looks at the CIA:
    ​ ​For 75 years, the American people have been unable to bend the CIA to fit the law, and so the law has been bent to fit the CIA. As Biden stood on the crimson stage, at the site where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and adopted, his words rang out like the cry of a cracked-to-hell Liberty Bell: “What’s happening in our country is not normal.”
    If only that were true.

    America’s Open Wound. The CIA Is Not Your Friend

    ​ One human typically runs 10 troll-bots, to keep them looking human.​
    Bots are flooding social media with pro-US propaganda demonizing China, Russia & Iran, studies show
    Scientific studies show huge numbers of bots are spreading pro-Western disinformation on social media, demonizing China, Russia, and Iran. 90% of bots posting about the proxy war in Ukraine push pro-NATO propaganda.

    Bots are flooding social media with pro-US propaganda demonizing China, Russia & Iran, studies show

    ​ Investment strategist, Kyle Bass, ​has opened Texas real-estate as an entire investment category recently, and is investing heavily himself.
    California To Ban Natural Gas Heaters By 2030
    https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/California-To-Ban-Natural-Gas-Heaters-By-2030.html

    #117010
    zerosum
    Participant

    You decide on your definition of democracy
    https://www.rt.com/russia/563612-eu-referendum-donbass-sanctions/

    EU threatens foreign observers over Donbass referendums

    “There would be consequences for all people, who participate in the illegal, illegitimate referendums,” Stano warned on Tuesday, the fifth and final day of voting.

    #117011
    John Day
    Participant

    ​Steve Kirsch: ​FDA tells the vaccine injured: “Thanks for sharing”
    20 vaccine injured travelled to Washington DC to meet with lawmakers and the FDA. Peter Marks was too busy to meet with them in person, so they met on a 1-hour zoom call.
    https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/fda-tells-the-vaccine-injured-thanks

    Furin-cleavage-sites do not occur in coronaviruses (until 2019). They are an effective mechanism to “weaponize” a virus,. Walter Chesnut
    THE PURPOSE OF THE FURIN CLEAVAGE SITE AND THE GP120 INSERT IS TO INDUCE SYSTEMIC FIBROSIS AND CANCER VIA THE ENDOTHELIUM: SPED GP120 AND FURIN. THE FURIN FEEDBACK LOOP. FIBROSIS AND ONCOGENESIS.
    FURIN expression as the unifying determinant of COVID-19 and Spike Protein pathology severity and pathogenesis
    https://wmcresearch.substack.com/p/the-purpose-of-the-furin-cleavage

    #117012
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Edward Snowden appears to be ungrateful to the country that accepted him and sawed his life. He would return to the US given the “promise”. Being in odd with the rest of the world it is no wonder that most of Americans are incapable of living
    abroad. The same bunch would be at loss if dumped in,say, Havana, given spending cash and being told that hotel and food is payed and will be picked up in two weeks – just have fuc**ng fun! That sorry existence will be clouded with the suffocating thought that they are in C-O-M-U-N-I-S-T country. Wide eyed and nail butting they would scream at the site of Che’s mural that is just about everywhere. There, I said it.

    #117013
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    NATO’s precisely limited sabotage damage to Nordstream is diabolically brilliant in one sense, and suidal (as usual) in another sense.

    Here’s the brilliant part: Russia has made one hell of a lot of profit FULFILLING CONTRACTS to deliver gas to Europe through Nordstream. The only gas they get paid for, however, is the gas that actually gets delivered. They don’t get paid for any billions of cubic feet that “accidentally” get pumped out into the North Sea.

    Because the pipeline is merely damaged, not utterly destroyed, it can still deliver the contracted amount of gas, regardless of the leak, just so long as Russia keeps the pumps running . . . which, by law, they are obliged to do. Of course by keeping the pumps running they are also pumping uumpty uump millions of cubic feet of their valuable natural gas into the north sea, for no return payment.

    Thus, NATO pulled off a piece of brilliant economic hardball warfare. Economically speaking in the short term. Russia is being kicked hard in the crotch by that fabulously costly Nordtream leak. Financially speaking it’s like a hemorrhage of the coronary artery.

    Yeah, well, so much for the “brilliant” part. Now for the drooling-on-shoes stupidity.

    NATO has literally bet the farm that Russia will yield and comply with all of NATO’s demands that Russia be dismantled and removed from the world stage. That IS what the collective West is demanding. It is demanding sovereignty OVER Russia. BUT it has , by sabotaging Nordstream, removed any reason that Russia might have previously had for surrendering.

    If Russia bankrupts itself by keeping the Nordstream pumps running (feeding Europe AND feeding the leak) then it is tantamount to surrender. Russia will bankrupt and the Collective West will scoop it all up via the “probate court” of the Collective West’s financial system. If Russia no longer owns and commands the affairs of Russia, then Russia as a sovereign nation is no more. It might retain the place names on maps, like they do with old half forgotten empires, but it won’t be a sovereign state.

    If surrendering equals 100% certainty of death as a nation, and fighting has a 50 % chance of victory, then choosing to fights is not a difficult choice for a currently sovereign nation to make. What’s the worst that could happen, “surrender”?

    Talk about the ultimate no brainer. Of course they will fight, AND ( if you look at the game board with the cold eye of unflinching reason ) they are also going to WIN the fight. Knowing that they are going to win is yet another pretty damned good reason to choose fighting over surrendering. I mean , DUH!

    One way they could win (and there are many ways) is that they can simply close the pipelines for repairs. This exempts them liability for failure to fulfill contracts (Force Majeure, ya know?) , and it does not cost them even one red ruble more than the current state of affairs is costing them. In fact, they actually SAVE money by saving the gas which (because they were saved) can then be sold at some time in the future for even MORE advantageous prices.

    Thank you Mr. NATO, why bother to fight when we’ve enemies like you to do it for us?

    It’s all over but the hospice. And be sure to sign up early for good seating at the burying .

    #117014
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    A blast from the past that is so appropriate now.

    Watch the video.

    Back to Peak Oil

    #117015
    John Day
    Participant

    @Kultsommer: We found Luong Prabang, Laos to be one of the most charming places on our family bike-and-backpack expedition around the world in 2005-2006. We sold the house and cars and spent the money traveling.
    We heard about Luong Prabang from some seasoned travelers.
    People commented everywhere that we were unusual Americans…
    (Use mosquito repellant. I got malaria, but I treated it promptly and kept going.)

    #117016
    John Day
    Participant

    @DBS: This was more of an attack on Germany than on Russia, I think. Germans have been making more and more noises about needing Russian gas this winter. They are blocked by this move.
    Did Poland do the deed? Poland won’t tell, and the US won’t either.
    It could happen again.
    The big thrust of UK policy was always to keep Germany and Russia from joining forces, and preferably at war with each other.
    How can that keep working after 150 years?

    #117017
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I feel one thing related to climate-whatever is this: anthropocentric weather disaster.

    For whatever reason, we’re having our share of wild erratic weather, something that happens a lot over the small-change millennia.

    We notice it much more than before because there are so many of us, living in so many places, of which many places are especially vulnerable to weather extremes, with more of the humans than not dependent on a large complex technosphere itself reliant on local, regional, national, multi-national, and even global hierarchic systems.

    Paradoxically, at the same time, we gradually grow immune to reports of these disasters. Another massive flood wi[ping out most of a nation’s crop. Ho-hum. Yet we still amplify these events through our respective echo-chambers: a) See? I told you global warming was real. b) Periods of bad weather happen all the time; no big deal.

    A single death is a tragedy, several million deaths is just a statistic. A single major hurricane is a disaster. A slew of them is a statistic to debate online, I guess?

    Too many people too many places dependent on too many things they can’t provide for themselves creates an economic/cultural climate that can’t stand much bad weather, even if it’s “only” natural” and “only” for a decade or three.

    #117018
    John Day
    Participant

    Oops: “Luang Prabang” (sp)

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