Sep 082022
 
 September 8, 2022  Posted by at 7:34 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Joan Miró The farmer’s wife 1923

 

Western Elites’ “Sanctions Fever” Will See European People Freeze – Putin (ZH)
EU Gas Price Cap Plan Is ‘Foolish’ – Putin (RT)
Czech Republic Weighs In On Russian Gas Price Cap (RT)
NATO Will Pay A Price But We Must Stay The Course On Ukraine (Stoltenberg)
“Counter-Offensive” – You Keep Using That Word (Schryver)
Putin Comments On IAEA Report (RT)
Charles Gave: Europeans Are “Mad With Anger And it Will Worsen” (SN)
Truss Becoming PM Signals ‘Crisis Of Democracy’ In UK – Moscow (RT)
‘One Freak After Another’ – Ex-Russian President On UK Leaders (RT)
Can China Transition to a Consumption Economy? (Balding)
Why Disney Didn’t Buy Twitter (Vox)
Judge Orders Fauci, Others to Produce Records For Censorship Lawsuit (ET)
Former FBI Boss Warns Trump Search Warrant Might Be Tossed Out Entirely (JTN)
The US Army Special Operations Command Weaponizes Social Media (Helmer)
Silencing the Lambs — How Propaganda Works (John Pilger)
The Rise of the Key Opinion Leaders: End of Politics as we Know it? (Ugo Bardi)
Vaccines Are Taking An Average Of 5 Months To Kill People (Kirsch)

 

 

The European division of Russia’s oldest tour operator Intourist started offering winter tour packages to Russia for EU citizens. Package includes: unlimited hot showers, daily visits to Sandunovskaya Banya, and a heated room with electricity.

 

 

Permanent deindustrialization

She has to go

 

 

 

 

A metaphor for life itself.

 

 

 

 

“It will be no surprise when the market shares of European businesses, both in the continent and globally, will be taken by their American patrons.”

Western Elites’ “Sanctions Fever” Will See European People Freeze – Putin (ZH)

Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the ongoing “sanctions fever” in the West in a wide-ranging speech before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, in the country’s far east, where as we described earlier the Chinese delegation was the largest in attendance. Top Chinese legislator Li Zhanshu was in attendance when the Russian leader stressed, “no matter how much someone would like to isolate Russia, it is impossible to do this.” Instead, he said the blowback from EU and US-led sanctions and attempts at decoupling from Russian fossil fuels is wrecking lives in the West. “Now we are seeing how production and jobs in Europe are closing one after another,” Putin said, stressing that this is happening as “Western elites, who would not, or even cannot acknowledge objective facts.”

His theme, like in a number of prior major speeches, was Western elites’ inability to recognize the inevitable shift from a unipolar to multipolar world (literally the name for this year’s forum is “On the Path to a Multipolar World.”), or away from “the world order that benefits only them, forcing everyone to live under the rules, which they invented and which they regularly break and constantly change depending on the situation,” he said according to a state media translation. That they “would not, or even cannot acknowledge objective facts” about global changes reveals their “growing detachment” from the common people they claim to represent. And yet now, European populations could “freeze” while being denied crucial Russian energy by leaders who shortsightedly want to lash out in emotional response to the Ukraine invasion:

“The [coronavirus] epidemic has been replaced by other global challenges that threaten the entire world,” Putin told the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok. “I’m referring to the West’s sanctions fever,” he said, criticizing “blatant and aggressive” attempts to “subjugate” countries that have not imposed economic restrictions on Russia. He dismissed as “nonsense” the widespread allegations that Russia using gas as an energy weapon, saying it’s as simple as releasing the necessary parts for the safe and proper functioning of pipelines operated by Gazprom. “Give us turbines and we’ll turn on Nord Stream tomorrow, but they won’t give us anything,” Putin told the audience, further addressing the latest global headlines of an EU-mulled price cap on Russian oil and gas, calling the proposal “another stupidity.”

He suggested the dilemma remains simple: “There are contractual obligations and if there are any political decisions that contradict them, then we simply won’t fulfill them. We won’t supply anything at all if it contradicts our economic interests, in this case. We won’t supply gas, oil, coal or heating oil.” Part of the aforementioned objective facts Western leaders refuse to acknowledge is that nations importing Russian energy “are in no position to dictate their will.” Putin said he’s still “confident we haven’t lost anything and won’t lose anything [after invading Ukraine]. Our main gain is strengthening sovereignty.” s

Putin Ukraine grain

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A former communist country teaches former capitalist countries lessons on markets.

EU Gas Price Cap Plan Is ‘Foolish’ – Putin (RT)

The proposal by the EU to place a price cap on Russian natural gas imports is a foolish, non-market-oriented plan that has no future, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. “Faced with what is happening now, EU politicians are thinking how to get away with it [paying market prices for gas], and to limit the price by administrative decisions. Another foolish notion, nonsense that will lead to further price increases in the global markets, including Europe,” Putin said during a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). According to the president, it is impossible to solve anything to do with the economy and world trade with administrative decisions, which “only lead to distortions and higher prices.”

Putin stressed that the situation in the gas market is the result of sanctions and other actions taken by Brussels, including the switch to spot-market trading, while Russia has always preferred long-term contracts for gas exports. “We have always insisted that prices be formed on the basis of long-term contracts and be tied to such a market category as the price of oil and petroleum products… The EU forced us to link to spot prices. Now they’re trying to backtrack by setting price caps,” he said. According to Putin, accusing Russia of using energy as a weapon is “nonsense.” He stressed that Russia fulfills its contracts, while the current supply shortages are the result of decisions made by other countries – including Ukraine, which shut down one of its gas transit pipelines; Poland, which also shut down part of its section of the pipeline; and Canada, which delayed the maintenance of turbines for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The president added that Russia is still willing to supply energy to those who need it, though Moscow no longer considers the EU to be its main export destination. “By receiving natural gas from Russia, the economies of the leading European countries have for decades enjoyed obvious competitive advantages,” Putin said, in reference to the lower gas costs paid under long-term contracts. “If they think that they don’t need these advantages, that does not bother us at all, because the need for energy resources in the world is huge.”

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“..a political tool, not a solution to the energy crisis..”

Czech Republic Weighs In On Russian Gas Price Cap (RT)

The Czech Republic will seek to take the issue of imposing a price cap on Russian gas off the agenda of an upcoming meeting of EU energy ministers, the nation’s minister of industry, Jozef Sikela, said on Wednesday. Speaking to the country’s Senate committee on the economy, Sikela indicated that he doesn’t want to discuss the issue at the meeting because it is “a political tool, not a solution to the energy crisis.” “It is not a constructive proposal, according to me. It is more another way to sanction Russia than an actual solution to the energy crisis in Europe,” he stressed.

On Friday, EU energy ministers are set to meet in Brussels to discuss how to rein in soaring energy prices. According to Sikela, among the issues he wants to raise is potentially separating electricity and gas prices. Doing so, he said, may lower electricity prices for the general public. The Czech minister said the recent shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline did not come as a surprise to him. “It’s part of the energy war we’re in… The decisive battle will be fought this winter,” he stated, adding that the country has done its best to prepare for it. “However, prices will go down only when Europe finds a way to break away from gas,” he reiterated.

On August 31, Gazprom completely shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, later announcing that it would remain closed indefinitely due to an oil leak in the turbine. This malfunction can only be remedied in Canada, which has imposed sanctions against Moscow. The technical issues on the main gas supply route to the EU have resulted in skyrocketing gas prices, exacerbating the energy crunch on the continent. Sikela’s comments come on the heels of massive protests in Prague that erupted this past weekend. Demonstrators urged the government to resign over high energy prices and inflation, with demands also having been heard to drop anti-Russia sanctions.

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NATO won’t let go of its new-found reason to exist. Perpetual war it is. Ergo: Stoltenberg must go. And no, NATO pays no price: the people do.

NATO Will Pay A Price But We Must Stay The Course On Ukraine (Stoltenberg)

The war in Ukraine is entering a critical phase. Winter is coming and it will be hard. Hard for the Ukrainian people and armed forces who are fighting for their freedom, and hard for those of us who support them. Our unity and solidarity will be seriously tested, as families and businesses feel the crunch of soaring energy prices and costs of living caused by Russia’s brutal invasion. We face a difficult six months, with the threat of energy cuts, disruptions and perhaps even civil unrest. But we must stay the course and stand up to tyranny — for Ukraine’s sake and for ours. We do pay a price for our support to Ukraine. But the price we pay is counted in dollars, euros and pounds, while Ukrainians are paying with their lives. And all of us will pay a much higher price if Russia and other authoritarian regimes believe they can invade their neighbours and trample on international law with impunity.

If Russia stops fighting, there will be peace. If Ukraine stops fighting, it will cease to exist as an independent nation. We have a moral responsibility to support this independent democracy at the heart of Europe. The price we pay in supporting Ukraine also benefits our own security. Vladimir Putin has clearly stated that he wants to wipe the country from the map and rewrite the European security order. Russia is temporarily occupying about 20 per cent of Ukraine — four times the size of Belgium, or half of the UK. Emboldened by any success, Russia could risk further aggression against other neighbours, and even an attack on Nato allies.

So we have a choice to make about the world we want to live in. Nato allies are committed to each nation’s right to choose its own destiny. That is why we are providing unprecedented financial, humanitarian and military assistance to help Ukraine prevail as a sovereign independent nation. Since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, allied countries have provided billions of dollars of support for Ukraine’s security sector and institutions, and trained tens of thousands of troops, including special forces. This helped to make the Ukrainian armed forces stronger, better led and better prepared for Russia’s renewed invasion.

Since February, allies have rallied to Ukraine’s side with unprecedented military, humanitarian and financial support. In June, Nato leaders agreed a strengthened package of assistance, with fuel, food, medical supplies, military gear, secure communications and equipment to counter mines and drones. We are preparing more than a dozen new projects to help Ukraine face the winter. And we will continue to help the country strengthen its defence and security sector for the longer term, and transition from Soviet-era weapons to Nato-standard capabilities.

Hillary

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“They’re just the ones not rich enough, clever enough, or fast enough to elude the conscription gangs..”

“Counter-Offensive” – You Keep Using That Word (Schryver)

One thing few seem to appreciate is that what Ukraine has done over the past several days near Kherson and Kharkov does not even come close to what constitutes a “counter-offensive”. They’ve done nothing but launch highly localized severely under-powered probes which, sooner than later, become nothing but cramped kill zones for massed Russian artillery and air strikes. The leaders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine now command: effectively zero air power, sparse artillery with acute ammo shortages, limited UAV capability – and, to add insult to injury, Russian “battlefield hackers” are now proving able to commandeer many of their precious quadcopter surveillance drones, thereby blinding them completely in the midst of a battle.

Worst of all, the overwhelming majority of the soldiers are battle-naïve conscripts. Their tanks are few and far between; their troop carriers are obsolete and highly vulnerable; many if not most are compelled to march into battle on foot – and these are not Seal Team 6 physical specimens who do 20k runs on their day off. They’re just the ones not rich enough, clever enough, or fast enough to elude the conscription gangs. The AFU’s sole apparent advantage is that there are substantially more of them that can be brought to bear on a narrow front than there are Russians defending it. And yet all of these attacks so far have been tentative affairs with relatively small concentrations of force and firepower.

In the lexicon of battle, a “counter-offensive” is an entirely different animal. The German Ardennes counter-offensive in December 1944 consisted of: ~400,000 troops ~500 tanks ~700 mobile artillery ~1300 troop carriers, 4000+ artillery pieces, 1000+ aircraft THAT was a counter-offensive. The Tet Offensive in Vietnam consisted of 300,000+ troops attacking more or less simultaneously. What we are witnessing in Ukraine is categorically NOT a “counter-offensive”. Ukrainian operations over the past several days are, to the contrary, strongly indicative of the extremely limited mobility and firepower capacity of a severely depleted army whose combat-effectiveness is a fraction of the Russian and allied defenders whom they face on the field.

Oh, to be sure, their numerical superiority in troops can achieve a temporary advance within a narrow salient, and inflict some serious harm on isolated groups of Russian defenders in the process. That should come as no surprise to anyone – particularly the abundant Russian “doomers’ on Telegram who descend into inexplicable despair whenever the Ukrainians achieve any tactical success, however meagre and strategically meaningless. However, if you zoom out the map to reveal the entire front line of this war, you can readily see that we’re talking about a handful of teeny-weeny pimples protruding into the Russian-held side: territory in which the Russians have numerous highly mobile operational reserve units – infantry and artillery – that can be dispatched with relative alacrity to any quadrant of the battle map, utilizing the always significant advantage of interior lines of communication.

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“..Putin noted that the agency is under pressure from the US and other Western nations, and therefore cannot directly accuse Kiev of attacking the nuclear plant. ..”

Putin Comments On IAEA Report (RT)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can’t openly state that the attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) are being carried out by Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday, the Russian leader praised the agency as being a responsible international organization with a very professional leader, and stated that he trusts the IAEA’s latest report on the ZNPP. However, Putin noted that the agency is under pressure from the US and other Western nations, and therefore cannot directly accuse Kiev of attacking the nuclear plant.

“But this is obvious. We control the station, our servicemen are stationed there. What, are we attacking ourselves?” Putin said, calling the notion completely absurd and adding that the area around the power plant is littered with the remains of HIMARS rockets and other Western munitions. Putin also addressed the IAEA’s request that Russia remove its military equipment from the premises of the ZNPP. He insisted that there is no such equipment at the plant and explained that the only forces stationed there are the Russian National Guard, which is protecting the perimeter and the premises of the station itself. “We can even call journalists there tomorrow, including European and American journalists, to see for themselves,” Putin said, noting that it is obvious the strikes on the power plant and the city of Energodar are coming from across the reservoir where Kiev’s forces are located.

Putin further explained that Russia’s military equipment, which is engaged in counter-battery combat, is not located anywhere near the station and has in fact been moved quite far beyond the perimeter of the facility. The Russian leader also expressed his bewilderment at Kiev’s attempts to create a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the power plant, stating that “the Ukrainian side is creating threats to undermine nuclear security.” “Why they do this, I honestly don’t really understand. Just to draw more attention to their situation and create an additional crisis?” He also revealed that Kiev’s operatives have attempted to carry out terrorist attacks on Russian territory, targeting high-voltage power lines connected to Russian nuclear power facilities.

“They purposefully work in this direction. What for? What is the point of creating a nuclear threat for the whole of Europe? I do not really understand, but they are doing this.” Putin’s comments come after the IAEA released a report on Tuesday regarding the state of the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The agency demanded that all attacks on the facility “be stopped immediately”and called for a cessation of any military activity within or in the vicinity of the plant. The report did not identify those responsible for shelling the plant.

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“They [Europeans] even believe that it is the bad Russians that have closed the tap of oil and gas, while it is our own leaders in Europe that have stupidly imposed these sanctions..”

Charles Gave: Europeans Are “Mad With Anger And it Will Worsen” (SN)

Predicting that cost of living protests in the Czech Republic and Germany will spread around the continent, a prominent economist warns that European citizens are “mad with anger and it will worsen.” On Saturday, over 70,000 people took to the streets of Prague to demand an end to weapons supplies and neutrality regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Numerous demonstrations are also set to take place in major German cities over the next month as energy bills and inflation soar as a result of sanctions on Russia and over dependence on green energy. “The demonstrations in Prague and Germany are only the beginning. The price of gas and consequently of electricity are driving the European citizens mad with anger and it will worsen,” French economist Charles Gave told Sputnik.

Gave went on to assert that many Europeans aren’t buying the narrative that the situation, which culminated in the shut down of gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, is all Vladimir Putin’s fault. “The European governments and the European Commission speak of a ‘manipulation’ by Russia, but people perceive very well that the decision to stop importing Russian gas and oil was a European decision, taken by Brussels without even thinking of the impact it will have on the European economy,” he said. The economist blasted European leaders for their obsession with net zero and climate change hysteria, which has left the continent totally lacking in self-sufficiency.

“For the last 15 years, our European leaders have gone into a climate craze, promoting magic mirrors and windmills as the solution. It does not work. These solutions demand the same capacity in gas power plants,” Gave said. The economist firmly blamed globalist technocrat leaders for sacrificing the interests of Europeans on the altar of prolonging a war that will cause economic devastation. “They [Europeans] even believe that it is the bad Russians that have closed the tap of oil and gas, while it is our own leaders in Europe that have stupidly imposed these sanctions that are destroying the European economy. We, Europeans, are bringing stagflation onto our head. Before the people realize it, it will be too late. Macron, [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz, von der Leyen and the like will never admit they were wrong and present excuses,” he asserted.

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“Zakharova later mocked what she called the “mind-blowing stupidity” of Truss.”

Truss Becoming PM Signals ‘Crisis Of Democracy’ In UK – Moscow (RT)

The selection of Liz Truss as prime minister signals a “crisis of democracy” in the UK, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. Asked by TASS whether Truss will be a disaster for Britain, Zakharova replied that if “shop owners are decorating the window in this way, then they believe this is the best item they have in stock today.” Sometimes, the spokeswoman claimed, countries with large populations and long-standing democratic traditions make you wonder if they really do not have anyone that can “adequately, professionally, and intelligently represent the various branches of government.” Perhaps the problem is in the crisis of British democracy, because this ‘result’ has nothing to do with the direct choice of the British people, since the system of indirect elections dominates the Anglo-Saxon duo.

Truss, formerly the foreign secretary in Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, officially became prime minister on Tuesday. The day before, she was revealed as the winner of the Tory leadership election. She received 81,326 voters, while her competitor, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, was backed by 60,399. A YouGov poll published on the same day showed that half of the people in the UK are ‘disappointed’ about Truss taking over as prime minister, with one-third ‘very disappointed.’ Even among members of the ruling party, 54% do not have much confidence in Truss’ ability to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, and around one-third are ‘disappointed’ that she will lead the government.

Truss’ visit to Russia in February – amid tensions in Ukraine in the run-up to the launch of Moscow’s military operation – was remembered by many for a gaffe made by the then-foreign secretary. Truss confused the Russian regions of Voronezh and Rostov with Ukrainian regions, and told her counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that London would never recognize Russia’s sovereignty over these areas. According to reports, she was then allegedly corrected by Deborah Bronnert, the UK ambassador. Lavrov described the meeting with the foreign secretary as talking “to a deaf person.” Zakharova later mocked what she called the “mind-blowing stupidity” of Truss.

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Ha ha! “It seems that in Britain, which is famous for its traditions, a new tradition has emerged..”

‘One Freak After Another’ – Ex-Russian President On UK Leaders (RT)

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the new UK prime minister, Liz Truss, will continue the “tradition” started by her predecessor Boris Johnson by finishing her tenure “in disgrace.”Truss, formerly the foreign secretary in Johnson’s Conservative government, officially became prime minister on Tuesday. Taking to Telegram on Wednesday, Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, commented on the succession of governments in the UK: “Out goes the freak guy, in comes the freak lady.” He described the new PM as “an incompetent and mediocre thermonuclear Russophobe who has no elementary ideas about politics, history, geography, but wants to defeat Russia in everything.”


The former president added that Truss, the third female prime minister in British history, is trying to imitate the first, Margaret Thatcher, “without having even 5% of her abilities,” and hopes to address the energy crisis and rising food inflation, which are “the result of her own crazy sanctions exercises.” In her first statement at Downing Street, Truss claimed that the energy crisis was caused by “Putin’s war.” “She will quarrel with everyone, fail in everything, and leave in disgrace, like her predecessor, shaggy Boriska. It seems that in Britain, which is famous for its traditions, a new tradition has emerged,” Medvedev wrote.

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Still not. “Highly indebted—with a large percentage of their income being used to service debt—Chinese households simply do not have the financial flexibility to ramp up spending.”

Can China Transition to a Consumption Economy? (Balding)

The great economist Michael Pettis at Tsinghua University has noted for years the importance for the Chinese economy to shift its growth dependency away from investment and toward greater consumption. As China faces its weakest sustained economic period in modern history, it bears worth asking, can China shift toward a more consumer-focused economy? The Chinese economy is unique among major economies due to its low share of the household sector within the macroeconomy. Most economies typically have a household sector that accounts for 60-75 percent of activity. The United States, for example, hovers around 70 percent. In China, however, households account for only about 45 percent. This difference creates a wide variety of problems, from misunderstanding basic economic data to how to solve policy problems like shifting activity.

The first problem this creates is when analysts compare cross-country data on debt to GDP in various formats, such as household debt to GDP. Due to the starkly different shares of income between households in China and other countries, Chinese households have significantly less income to repay debts than households in other countries. In fact, if we adjust household debt levels for household income rather than GDP, Chinese households are some of the most indebted in the world, even more than the United States and most OECD countries paying a significantly higher share of their income toward debt servicing due to interest rate differentials.

This simple, often overlooked adjustment has significant implications for how we conceptualize a move away from the investment infrastructure-driven growth model toward a consumption-driven growth model. While the 45 percent household share gives the superficial appearance that Chinese consumption can increase significantly, the reality is very different. The Chinese consumer simply does not have the financial capability to increase consumption share. Real estate sales are down with nominal sales of retail goods and services flat, meaning that after accounting for surging inflation, Chinese consumers are purchasing less than they did a year ago. Highly indebted—with a large percentage of their income being used to service debt—Chinese households simply do not have the financial flexibility to ramp up spending.

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“I went home, contemplated it for a weekend, and thought, ‘I’m not looking at this as carefully as I need to look at it.’”

Why Disney Didn’t Buy Twitter (Vox)

Elon Musk wanted to buy Twitter. Then he decided he didn’t. Bob Iger can relate. In 2016, Iger, then the CEO of Disney, had convinced himself that his company should own Twitter because it would be an excellent way to distribute Disney’s content around the world. Then, shortly before the 2016 US presidential election, he bailed out. Iger has told parts of this story before, but it always seemed confusing to me: In his 2019 memoir, he said the boards of both Disney and Twitter had agreed to the deal, but then he had second thoughts because of the “nastiness” rampant at Twitter. Really? Wasn’t the nastiness readily apparent to anyone who’d ever used the service for a second, let alone to someone who was ready to spend billions on it?

But today we got a longer version of the story, relayed by Iger at the Code Conference, in response to a question from The Verge’s Alex Heath. In this one, Iger says that Twitter would have been a “phenomenal” distribution platform for Disney but that it would have come with too many headaches. Among them: bots. (Sound familiar?) Here’s Iger, in his own words: “We were intent on going into the streaming business. We needed a technology solution. We have all this great IP. We weren’t a technology company. How do we get that IP to consumers around the world? … And we were kicking tires left and right. We thought about developing ourselves. Five years, $500 million. It wasn’t the money, it was the time, because the world was changing fast. And at the same time, we heard that Twitter was contemplating a sale.

“We enter the process immediately, looking at Twitter as the solution: a global distribution platform. It was viewed as sort of a social network. We were viewing it as something completely different. We could put news, sports, entertainment, [and] reach the world. And frankly, it would have been a phenomenal solution, distribution-wise. “Then, after we sold the whole concept to the Disney board and the Twitter board, and we’re really ready to execute — the negotiation was just about done — I went home, contemplated it for a weekend, and thought, ‘I’m not looking at this as carefully as I need to look at it.’ Yes, it’s a great solution from a distribution perspective. But it would come with so many other challenges and complexities that as a manager of a great global brand, I was not prepared to take on a major distraction and having to manage circumstances that weren’t even close to anything that we had faced before.

“Interestingly enough, because I read the news these days, we did look very carefully at all of the Twitter users — I guess they’re called users? — and we at that point estimated with some of Twitter’s help that a substantial portion — not a majority — were not real. “I don’t remember the number but we discounted the value heavily. But that was built into our economics. Actually, the deal that we had was pretty cheap. “Then you have to look, of course, at all the hate speech and potential to do as much harm as good. We’re in the business of manufacturing fun at Disney — of doing nothing but good, even though there are others today that criticize Disney for the opposite, which is wrong. This was just something that we were not ready to take on and I was not ready to take on as the CEO of a company and I thought it would have been irresponsible.”

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“Doughty ordered Fauci and Jean-Pierre to comply within 21 days.”

Judge Orders Fauci, Others to Produce Records For Censorship Lawsuit (ET)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and other top Biden administration officials who were resisting efforts to obtain their communications with Big Tech companies must hand over the records, a federal judge ruled on Sept. 6. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, ordered the government to quickly produce documents after it was sued by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri over alleged collusion with Big Tech firms such as Facebook. The initial tranche of discovery, released on Aug. 31, revealed that more than 50 government officials across a dozen agencies were involved in applying pressure to social media companies to censor users.

But some of the officials refused to provide any answers or answer all questions posed by the plaintiffs. Among them: Fauci, who serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. The government claimed that Fauci shouldn’t be required to answer all questions or provide records in his capacity as NIAID director or in his capacity as Biden’s chief medical adviser. It also attempted to withhold records and responses from Jean-Pierre. In the new ruling on Sept. 6 breaking the stalemate, Doughty said both Fauci and Jean-Pierre needed to comply with the interrogatories and record requests.

“First, the requested information is obviously very relevant to Plaintiffs’ claims. Dr. Fauci’s communications would be relevant to Plaintiffs’ allegations in reference to alleged suppression of speech relating to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin, and to alleged suppression of speech about the efficiency of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns. Jean-Pierre’s communications as White House Press Secretary could be relevant to all of Plaintiffs’ examples,” Doughty said, referring to examples such as the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 presidential election and censorship of claims COVID-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory. Doughty ordered Fauci and Jean-Pierre to comply within 21 days.

Fauci, additionally, must provide complete answers to questions regarding his role as NIAID director. “We know from the previous round of discovery that efforts to censor the speech of those who disagree with the government on covid policy have come from the top. Americans deserve to know Anthony Fauci’s participation in this enterprise, especially since he has publicly demanded that specific individuals, including two of our clients, Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, be censored on social media,” Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance and a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “It is time for Dr. Fauci to answer for his flagrant disregard for Americans’ constitutional rights and civil liberties.”

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A pattern of judges fighting back?!

Former FBI Boss Warns Trump Search Warrant Might Be Tossed Out Entirely (JTN)

The FBI warrant to search former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago may be thrown out entirely in court, according to former FBI boss Kevin Brock. News broke over Labor Day weekend that Trump had been granted a legal win when a federal judge ordered a special master to review the documents seized from Trump’s home. “I think the government would be concerned as well, because there’s concern that the the search warrant itself was overly broad from the get-go,” Kevin Brock said on “Just the News, Not Noise” Tuesday evening. “Because the scope that they were looking for was every single document generated during the Trump administration — that just seems too inexcusably overbroad.

Now there’s indications that they (the FBI) collected much more than they were authorized to collect.” Brock said that he believes that the search warrant could be suppressed entirely. “If I’m a prosecutor, I am concerned going forward that this search warrant could be suppressed and for those types of reasons, and they would lose access to anything that was collected throughout the search as a fruit of the poisonous tree,” Brock continued. “So I think that’s got to be in the back of their minds.” Brock also criticized how the FBI raided Trump’s home and how usually when the FBI does investigations, they try to take the least intrusive route possible at first.


“You go into a home, you set up a system where those things that you seize are assiduously documented,” said Brock, explaining how FBI searches typically work. “They’re given a specific tracking number, a barcode and each piece is gone through meticulously before you leave the premises to make sure that it’s within the scope of the document.” “And that’s only part one,” he continued. “Part two is the warrant is not to be overly broad as to what parts of the residence can be searched. You can only search those things where it’s reasonably expected you would find the type of evidence that you are looking for.”

Webb – Peter Strzok

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Well, they try: “..several hundred million dollars’ worth of cyber warheads..” “The average tweet received 0.49 likes and 0.02 retweets.”

The US Army Special Operations Command Weaponizes Social Media (Helmer)

The US Army’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has been firing several hundred million dollars’ worth of cyber warheads at Russian targets from its headquarters at MacDill Airforce Base in Florida. They have all been duds. The weapons, the source, and their failure to strike effectively have been exposed in a new report, published on August 24, by the Cyber Policy Center of the Stanford Internet Observatory. The title of the 54-page study is “Unheard Voice: Evaluating Five Years of Pro-Western Covert Influence Operations”.

“We believe”, the report concludes, “this activity represents the most extensive case of covert pro-Western IO [influence operations] on social media to be reviewed and analyzed by open-source researchers to date… the data also shows the limitations of using inauthentic tactics to generate engagement and build influence online. The vast majority of posts and tweets we reviewed received no more than a handful of likes or retweets, and only 19% of the covert assets we identified had more than 1,000 followers. The average tweet received 0.49 likes and 0.02 retweets.” “Tellingly,” according to the Stanford report, “the two most followed assets in the data provided by Twitter were overt accounts that publicly declared a connection to the U.S. military.”

The report comes from a branch of Stanford University, and is funded by the Stanford Law School and the Spogli Institute for Institutional Studies, headed by Michael McFaul (lead image). McFaul, once a US ambassador to Moscow, has been a career advocate of war against Russia. The new report exposes many of McFaul’s allegations to be crude fabrications and propaganda which the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has been paying contractors to fire at Russia for a decade. Strangely, there is no mention in the report of the US Army, Pentagon, the Special Operations Command, or its principal cyberwar contractor, the Rendon Group.

It is unclear who paid for the new investigation which was co-authored by Graphika. This is a New York consultancy without an office address, staffed by US, French and British intelligence analysts, and financed in part by the US Senate Intelligence Committee and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Graphika advertises its Russia war-making credentials in the mainstream and IT media, as well as on its Twitter account. Notwithstanding, the new report explicitly targets news faking and other information warfare tactics by the US Army forces aimed primarily at audiences in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Afghanistan.

Read more …

“..to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival, a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”

Silencing the Lambs — How Propaganda Works (John Pilger)

At its summit in Madrid in June, NATO, which is controlled by the United States, adopted a strategy document that militarises the European continent, and escalates the prospect of war with Russia and China. It proposes “multi domain warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitor.” In other words, nuclear war. It says: “NATO’s enlargement has been an historic success.” I read that in disbelief. The news from the war in Ukraine is mostly not news, but a one-sided litany of jingoism, distortion, omission. I have reported a number of wars and have never known such blanket propaganda.

In February, Russia invaded Ukraine as a response to almost eight years of killing and criminal destruction in the Russian-speaking region of Donbass on their border. In 2014, the United States had sponsored a coup in Kiev that got rid of Ukraine’s democratically elected, Russian-friendly president and installed a successor whom the Americans made clear was their man. In recent years, American “defender” missiles have been installed in eastern Europe, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, almost certainly aimed at Russia, accompanied by false assurances all the way back to James Baker’s “promise” to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in February 1990 that NATO would never expand beyond Germany.

Ukraine is the frontline. NATO has effectively reached the very borderland through which Hitler’s army stormed in 1941, leaving more than 23 million dead in the Soviet Union. Last December, Russia proposed a far-reaching security plan for Europe. This was dismissed, derided or suppressed in the Western media. Who read its step-by-step proposals? On Feb. 24, President Volodymyr Zelensky threatened to develop nuclear weapons unless America armed and protected Ukraine. On the same day, Russia invaded — an unprovoked act of congenital infamy, according to the Western media. The history, the lies, the peace proposals, the solemn agreements on Donbass at Minsk counted for nothing.

On April 25, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew into Kiev and confirmed that America’s aim was to destroy the Russian Federation — the word he used was “weaken.” America had got the war it wanted, waged by an American bankrolled and armed proxy and expendable pawn. Almost none of this was explained to Western audiences. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is wanton and inexcusable. It is a crime to invade a sovereign country. There are no “buts” — except one. When did the present war in Ukraine begin and who started it? According to the United Nations, between 2014 and this year, some 14,000 people have been killed in the Kiev regime’s civil war on the Donbass. Many of the attacks were carried out by neo-Nazis.

In the same month, dozens of Russian-speaking people were burned alive or suffocated in a trade union building in Odessa besieged by fascist thugs, the followers of the Nazi collaborator and anti-Semitic fanatic Stepan Bandera. The New York Times called the thugs “nationalists.” “The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment,” said Andreiy Biletsky, founder of the Azov Battaltion, “is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival, a crusade against the Semite-led Untermenschen.”

Read more …

“I have the impression that Zelensky took Salvini as a model; the same beard, the same style of dressing in sweatshirts, the same populist rhetoric. Not the Nutella, though.”

The Rise of the Key Opinion Leaders: End of Politics as we Know it? (Ugo Bardi)

In ancient Japan, a “kagemusha” (shadow warrior) was an impersonator who took the aspect and the role of the actual leader. It was simply a decoy to be used in battle but, in our times, the problem for leaders is not so much to avoid bullets but to avoid the much more powerful propaganda techniques that may destroy them. The result is the rise of a new kind of kagemusha, the KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). The KOLs do not impersonate the true leaders, but express their ideas and plans in public, taking the blame for the failures and the mistakes that may result. The real leaders, instead, remain in the shadows. The KOLs operate in many fields, not just in politics. For instance, they are popular in science. But, their presence in politics is becoming more and more evident.

[..] The KOLs may now be spilling into politics. The first actor to become a high-rank politician was Ronald Reagan, but he was far from being a “puppet president”, although he profited from his experience as an actor to manage his public image. In recent times, though, we are seeing actors becoming frontmen for figures who remain backstage. A good example is Vladimir Zelensky, president of Ukraine. Independently of what you think of what’s happening in Ukraine, Zelensky is clearly a modern kagemusha: an actor playing the role of the president. The way he dresses, the short beard, the posture, all are part of a character that could have starred in a movie, except that the war in Ukraine is all too real. Because of the dangers involved in the current situation, it is understandable that the Ukrainian powers that be much prefer a kagemusha as president rather than to appear themselves on stage.

So far, Zelensky remains a relatively isolated case. But it is possible that the KOL fashion will spread to other countries and other leaders. As an example, I can cite Mr. Matteo Salvini in Italy. As the leader of the League, he became deputy prime minister in 2018, and he is still a member of parliament. Salvini is popularly known in Italy as “Captain Nutella,” owing to his penchant to present a public image of himself while eating junk food. He was never an actor, but he started his career as a participant in a TV game show, and he does not have much more than that in his professional CV (**). Incidentally, I have the impression that Zelensky took Salvini as a model; the same beard, the same style of dressing in sweatshirts, the same populist rhetoric. Not the Nutella, though.

I would not be surprised if Salvini, or some other equally shallow kagemusha-style character, will soon take the job of the prime minister of Italy. This winter we are going to see a serious crisis in which many Italians will find themselves without heating at home and with no fuel, no electric power, and no jobs. At that point, the Nutella will hit the fan, as they say. I don’t envy the person who will find him or herself in the role of the prime minister at that moment. The job could become as dangerous in Italy as it is in Ukraine now and, as you know, in Italy we already had a case of a prime minister hanged upside-down. Surely, during the coming hard times, the really powerful people will prefer to take a low-profile role.

Read more …

Steve has tons of graphs. Of course.

Vaccines Are Taking An Average Of 5 Months To Kill People (Kirsch)

The key point is this: The UK data shows statistical proof of causality of deaths (p<.001): the vaccine doses track with the excess deaths 23 weeks later. Dose dependency is key to showing causality. If no one can explain this, the precautionary principle of medicine requires any ethical society to halt the vaccines now. Executive Summary: Many people assumed the vaccine kills you quickly (in the first two weeks) because that’s when people notice the association and report it to VAERS. This is still true; it does kill some people quickly: half of the deaths reported in VAERS are in the first few weeks. But the key words are “reported in VAERS.” It turns out that if we don’t have that restriction but are just wondering when most of the deaths after COVID vaccination happen, the answer is different.

Thanks to a helper who works at HHS, we can now clearly see that most of the deaths from the vaccine are happening an average of 5 months from the last dose. That is for the second dose; it may be getting shorter the more shots you get but there are arguments both ways (since there can be survivor bias). Using data from the UK, we can see more clearly that the delay time is around 23 weeks (so a bit more than 5 weeks). We’ll dive into that shortly. This delay explains why the life insurance companies got off-the-charts all-cause mortality peaks for people under 60 in Q3 and Q4 rather than right after the shots rolled out.

The five month delay is also consistent with death reports where people are developing new aggressive cancers that are killing them over a 4 to 6 month period. The 5 month death delay was also confirmed using only European data. That analysis was posted Aug 11, but I learned about it after I wrote this post. So when you hear of a death from stroke, cardiac arrest, heart attack, cancer, and suicide that is happening around 5 months after vaccination, it could very well be a vaccine-related death.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Webb test kits

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle September 8 2022

Viewing 28 posts - 41 through 68 (of 68 total)
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  • #115477

    But also:

    “Please be respectful when talking about the Queen. She was a head of state, a monarch, a mother to multiple pedophiles and most importantly a devoted cousin to her husband.”

    King Charles III, nobody wants. Queen Camilla, less than nobody. Good luck with half the country freezing and hungry.

    #115478
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    For newcomers to TAE and those still unprepared, a 40% drop in home prices has been flagged.

    Clearly, with the worst effects of toxic jabs yet to come, 40% might well be an underestimate, despite the rapid devaluation of the purchasing power of fiat currencies.

    Freak show gets more freaky.

    #115479
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    RIM Thanks. I’d kind of forgotten about that one. Cool Sex Pistols.

    “No future.”

    It took longer than we thought for the prophetic words to morph into a short time-frame reality we are now experiencing.

    Also, thanks for the revelations about Jimmy Saville. Back in the day (1966ish) we thought he was just a harmless eccentric.

    #115480
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘”to trick the public, that’s all this is”

    #115481
    John Day
    Participant

    The last official act of Queen Elizabeth-II appears to have been asking Liz Truss to be PM.
    The queen is dead at 96 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/queen-elizabeth-iis-heath-causes-concern-among-doctors

    #115482
    John Day
    Participant

    Big war in one year as dollar is dethroned as reserve currency, Charles Nenner prediction
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/there-simply-no-way-out-charles-nenner-warns-anti-dollar-global-war-h2-23

    It depends on when the BRICS trade system is set up well enough to be a near-term threat, right?
    Biden as “war president” like GW Bush? Where is Cheney?

    #115483
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Fascinating.

    “Den of thieves”

    #115484
    Bill7
    Participant

    Josquin- Deploration on the Death of Ockeghem (1497): https://cinemaphile.com/watch?v=GlpyCoXFh_U

    I think the images go well with the music and text.

    #115485
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    #115486
    Bill7
    Participant

    “[Joel] Kotkin makes the case that our society is reverting to a feudal state, in which there is a small number of “big winners” who control everything and in which there is no longer an influential middle class. Propertyless “serfs” are also growing as a percentage of the population and there is no longer much social mobility. In other words, society is divided into feudal castes, with the aristocracy in complete power.

    The book has been greeted enthusiastically. The magazine Quillette called it “persuasive” [The Coming of Neo-Feudalism—A Review, , by Adam Wakeling, June 11, 2020] while UnHerd’s Ed West claimed to be annoyed that Kotkin had beaten him to writing the book he’d long wanted to write himself [2020 and the coming of neo-feudalism, June 17, 2020].

    My view: it’s an example of what has been termed “bravery signalling.” The book is a kind of Academic Establishment safety-valve. It admits what is happening—so that people don’t feel completely lied to—and it asserts that what is happening is bad and should be overturned. But it morally condemns anything which might actually overturn the system, and, in explaining what is taking place, it doesn’t invoke parsimonious explanations if these question the current Woke dogmas. In effect, it very subtly upholds the system, while seeming to oppose it..”

    https://www.unz.com/article/joel-kotkins-neo-feudalism-just-bravery-signalling/

    That’s how I’ve been seeing most of what’s promulgated- particularly via electronic media- for awhile now; and not just by the MSM.

    #115487
    John Day
    Participant

    Saying that the Ukrainians who sank the Moskva, did it with a Harpoon anti-ship missile, provided by the US, after training to do so over the Memorial Day weekend, in the US, is a public challenge to Russia to respond to the US declaring that it crossed this red line. The US seeks to get Russia to react against US forces.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagon-admits-us-behind-ukraine-forces-sinking-russian-warships-training-happening

    #115488
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Chevalier John Taylor (c. 1703 – 1770 or 1772) was an early British eye surgeon, self-promoter and medical charlatan of 18th-century Europe. He was noted by Samuel Johnson, and associated with the surgical mistreatment of George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, and perhaps hundreds of others.

    Taylor’s career was destructive. His general approach included bloodletting, laxatives, and eyedrops of blood from slaughtered pigeons, pulverized sugar, or baked salt.

    Prior to performing each surgical procedure, he would deliver a long, self-promoting speech in an unusual oratorial style.

    Dutch ophthalmologist R. Zegers mentions that “after his training, Taylor started practicing in Switzerland, where he blinded hundreds of patients, he once confessed”.

    Writer Samuel Johnson said of Taylor that his life showed “an instance of how far impudence may carry ignorance.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(oculist)

    #115489
    Redneck
    Participant

    Maxwell Quest
    “I guess this is why I was so impressed with Prof Desmet’s mass formation theory when it first appeared on the scene over a year ago.’
    I listened to the interview with Tucker in my shed over the din of my power tools. What I found most interesting and refreshing was the Prof’s Segway into non-duality. He was rather coy about admitting to who influenced his new understanding and was trying hard not to sound religious , but it was great stuff.
    As someone once said, ” To seek reality by thinking about it is the greatest mistake” and ” the great perfection is non-conceptual awareness ” plus ” the more we talk about it , the further we move away from it “.

    #115490
    Bill7
    Participant

    I wonder what’s happening in Ukraine.

    #115491
    WES
    Participant

    Bill7:

    Hundreds of Ukrainians died today to gain a wee bit more time. The west is spending billions each day to hurt their own people, all just to punish Russia. Russia is waiting for old man winter to arrive. Then the Ukrainians will have no forests to hide in. Same game plan as always.

    #115492
    WES
    Participant

    The 5,100 Russian KIA is likely accurate. It is based upon the number of local death notices in Russia.

    #115493
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A classy act

    .

    #115494
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Former US Marine Brian at the excellent New Atlas gives a great wrap up in Ukraine.

    Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for September 9, 2022

    – Kherson offensive appears to have ended;
    – The Western media admits to the massive losses suffered (10,000KIA) by Ukraine outside Kherson
    owed to the inferiority of Ukrainian forces versus Russian capabilities

    #115495
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Notice how von der Leyen expresses a very brief smile, duping delight, when she says “flatten the curve”. We all know these people are psychopaths, but she is getting a lot of pleasure from screwing us over and getting away with it.

    #115496
    slimyalligator
    Participant

    Bill7 I wonder what’s happening in Ukraine, Thousands getting slaughtered. Response, ‘my cell phone bill doubled, gasoline price is down and the NFL regular season starts this weekend ‘

    #115497

    Then there’s this: from Chudov, from somewhere else.
    Let’s hope this loathing to vaccinate children spreads.

    #115498
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    And so, here we go, … the latest article published by a Canadian independent media:

    This journo’s article – classified as “ANALYSIS” – is widely based on bunch of bits and bytes on qualifiers like, “may have killed”, “the authorities know”, “killed more than”, “looks like”, “will likely surpass”, ‘n such other scientifically indisputable descriptors.

    Should We Shrug at COVID? These Numbers Say No
    https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/09/08/Numbers-Say-We-Should-Not-Shrug-COVID/

    … fwiw,

    F.S.

    #115499
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Putin’s favorite love song wish to Eurotardistan this winter!

    SmoochSmoochSmooch!

    .

    #115502
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    In a recent speech about Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Plant , Vladimir Putin said:

    “They purposefully work in this direction. What for? What is the point of creating a nuclear threat for the whole of Europe? I do not really understand, but they are doing this.” Putin’s comments come after the IAEA released a report on Tuesday regarding the state of the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.”

    No matter how critical one might be of Vladimir Putin, no matter how much anyone hates him (personally, I rather like the guy) no one thinks that he is either naive or a fool. Much to the contrary. Everyone acknowledges that he is one smart cookie. But he’s a lot more than that. He is also as experienced, and very well informed . . . . . and as street savvy as any intelligence chief who ever walked an earth that is as filled to overflowing with lies, subterfuge and “Main Stream Media” as this one.

    And yet he says in all candor, “I do not understand [why] they are doing this.”

    The “this” he refers to of course is the continued bombardment of the nuclear plant by “Ukraine”,and by “Ukraine”, is meant of course, the entire Western Imperial mashup, led by the USA and England.

    I also want to direct your attention to something that Hillary Clinton said in the news video interview she gave in support of Ukraine and its (pathetically bad) president Zalenski. More precisely, it’s not the detail of any one thing she said but the fact that she said them at all. No one called her out for the fact that every item this powerful woman proclaimed as truthful was instead an enormous, important, and transparent FALSEHOOD about hugely important things (such as provoking nuclear war, for instance). Her assertions were deliberate LIES, and very very big ones at that, and yet no one uttered a peep of objection.

    Those two seemingly completely separate events are in fact so closely related that it would be fair and accurate to say that they are VIRTUALLY the same thing: they are the manifestation (in action) of the incapacity to accept the reality of a plain fact. When Putin spoke and when Hillary spoke we were observing what it looks and sounds like when a self confidant and powerful person is in full blown DENIAL of obvious factual truths that they don’t want to see because of what they would then have to do about it.

    Putin knows that there is only one possible answer to the question of why anyone would want to “… creat[e] a nuclear threat for the whole of Europe?”.

    The same as you know it.

    Like Hillary and her ‘fluffer’ interviewer know it. The same answer as to how she could proclaim such outrageous falsehoods and not be called out for it.

    And the answer is this: They are in the state of “denial” of the factual reality that there is some sort of Cabal of real individual persons who desire, and are energetically engaged upon, ending the lives of (killing) 7.5 billion human beings within less than the next 10 years. If you have a macabre sense of humor you might call year 2030 the “deadline”.

    It is worth noting that they are so far being rather SUCCESSFUL in implementing their plan of bringing down planetary civilization as we have known it, although it it also worth noting that breaking things is a lot easier than making things. And yes, I did say PLAN, as in the English language word which means: An intended course of action that is all worked out and written down as a series of detailed action steps, and distributed to all concerned parties for compliance. You know, a PLAN kind of plan. Like in the fucking dictionary.

    “Oh, my! one cries, but that’s a CONSPIRACY THEORY ! Anyone who does that must be mentally deficient, or even crazy, because just everybody knows that one must NEVER , NEVER. . . EVER. . . assign to malice that which can be explained by incompetence! If it can be explained by incompetence then incompetence is the definitive reason, period. Even when the incompetence clearly stems from bad intentions. Even when malice is professed in writing, and broadcast to the world. Therefore ( and to be considered normal by all of one’s normal associates) one must dismiss the very idea that such a thing as an explicit PLAN to exterminate 95% of the human race is a real thing.

    Oh, really? And where, pray tell, in the myriad tomes on logic and reasoning, does it say anything even remotely like that? And puh-leez don’t tell me Occam’s Razor! Occam’s alleged “the simplest answer is the true one” rule of thumb is just that: a rule for thumbs. Useless at best. It helps lazy idiots form a Conditional Guess when working upward to a hypothesis, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with forming an actual theory, or experimental testing of the theory, or anything like that. Not a damned thing.

    Oh, and by the way (going along with the Occam’s razor approach) the SIMPLEST explanation for events of the past few years is that there is some sort of Cabal of real individual persons who desire and are energetically engaged upon ending the lives of 7.5 billion human beings within less than the next 10 years.

    Here is the bottom line. There is a “Tiger in the jungle” (metaphorically speaking) that means to kill you because it wants to for reasons that don’t make sense and don’t matter, because they DO want to, and that’s what matters. The more time you waste explaining why you needn’t pay it any attention, then the more time that it has to close the small remaining gap and just gobble you up (speaking metaphorically once again, of course).”

    Consider this most basic of all basic duties of a protecting force like a Military or Defense Service. If there is an adversarial threat to security then any Military or Defense person worth a tinker’s damn is going to examine that threat to see if it is one, and if it is a threat to then figure it out and neutralize it. A true Defender does NOT ignore it or deny its very existence merely because the possibility makes them emotionally uncomfortable. (THAT sort of emotionally sensitive war monger should seek employment elsewhere, maybe a position with the Joint Chiefs of Staff perhaps, or NATO).

    But even a tough cagey old chieftain like Putin can blink when the factual reality . . . that is in plain sight for all to see. . . . is bad enough to shake one’s fundamental esteem for the species.

    But I would tell Putin this, just as I’m telling all of you geezers (and geezerettes) here on TAE: That ol’ Tiger is as real as real gets. My “tiger in the jungle” figure of speech is metaphorical, but that Cabal of people who are trying to turn you into a carcass are NOT. Tracking them down and neutralizing (nonviolently if possible) their capacity to do further harm is not misguided or inappropriate or mentally deranged in any way. It’s just common sense.

    Such pursuit is not an error. What it is, in the final analysis, is emergence from a state of denial into the state of consciousness . . . . in this case conscious acceptance of the fact that the destruction we see playing out planet-wide in lock step to a unified script and resulting in millions (so far) of dead people . . . . is simply real, that’s all.

    Once acceptance of reality is reached the sheer importance of the situation is staggering.

    That’s why even the tough guys usually blink.

    Time to open up the ol’ peepers. It’s time to finally move up out of denial, weep for the dead, and accept reality.

    Does it make any difference one way or another whether you choose to do that or not? I mean after all it’s just a sort of an “opinion” about what’s real and what’s not real, right?

    Well yes, in a manner of speaking, it is. One’s belief or disbelief in whether some aspect of reality exists or does not exist IS just a matter of opinion. That particular opinion, however, also happens to serve as one’s only grip on reality itself, so best not to disparage its importance to day-to-day existence.

    Also, consider the ramifications. The question is: are there organized, coordinated, collaborating individuals acting upon the explicitly planned out goal to proactively end the lives of billions of humans? Hmmm. Given the current circumstances that seems like a legitimate and pertinent question. Sure are a lot of dead people stacking up. Certainly worth conclusively finding out.

    So, yeah, it does sort of make a difference “one way or another” whether there is or is not such a collection of homicidal psychopaths intent upon stopping your clock. If there is NOT, then great! Toss another shrimp on the Barbie, grab a fresh brewski, sit back and catch the next episode of “Rings of Power”.

    But if there IS such a “tiger in the woods” however, (and there is) then you better know about it, because a tiger in the woods that one refuses to look for or even admit to exist as a possibility, is almost certainly going to succeed in eating its fill.

    Please note that at this stage no one is asking anyone to actually, tangibly, DO much of anything. Nobody really expects elusive Joe Public get up off his ass and tip his prudently hidden cards by VISIBLY revealing which side he favors. No civil war, no marching in the streets. No storming the castle with pitchforks, torches and AKs. No need to change ANYTHING, really, except one’s mind.

    Here is what individual need to do, and it is all that they need to do : Rather than denying the truth, accept the truth. That’s it and that’s all. It’s a solo flight in a one-seater. Everything is entirely up to you.

    Despite all the theatricality and breathless hyperbole to the contrary, the actual situation, to a very large extent, is just a state of mind, because once everyone knows and acknowledges factual reality then all will be well.
    People can choose, if they so choose, to rule this world with truth, which is a metaphysical or even spiritual endeavor at its core. Or they can choose to not do that, and just let it roll, in which case material physics and the forces of nature alone shall rule. And the tiger (and buzzards) will feast.

    #115503
    zerosum
    Participant

    …. engaged upon ending the lives of 7.5 billion human beings within less than the next 10 years.

    Not working
    You forgot to describe/explain ….supply lines, the harvesting, consumption, recycling, reusing, the warehousing and the infrastructures

    #115504
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @zerosum

    I’m not sure that I understand your question/comment, but take it to mean my essay was a little lean on details. True, it is, but most of the chronic commentariat on TAE are already well informed on HOW the Cabal intend to achieve their objective of reducing the population to a small fraction of what it is now. Basically they are acting to destroy (both violently and otherwise) every part currently under their control of the enormous inter-dependent systems necessary to feeding, housing, moving, warming, informing and employing and protecting people . . . . down to a level where it (civilization) can only SUSTAIN a fraction of the current population. The others will simply die. They’re also using the parts they own and control to harm and destabilize the parts that they don’t own and control . . . . which strategy serves as a “force multiplier”.

    I hope this answers part of what you wanted. I’m happy to answer more if I better understood your query.

    #115505
    Red
    Participant

    Cognitive conditioning.

    #115506
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Bridge players will appreciate this:

    Putin and his partner bid 4 hearts for a score of 420 not vulnerable.

    The US and UK, vulnerable, make a sacrifice bid of 5 clubs to prevent Putin and partner playing in 4 hearts.

    Putin doubles [for penalty], and he and his partner take US-UK down, five light, for a score of minus 1300.

    They declare to their supporters that they have been very successful because they got 5 tricks out of the possible 13.

    Whenever I watch an Andrei Martyanov analysis, he always tells me what I already know, that the western ‘leaders’ ae imbeciles who could not oragnise a drinking party at a brewery, and western economist do not know what they are talking about first thung about economics.

    We are still left with the unanswered question: Are they acting under orders, or are the ongoing catastrophes the product of pure incompetence -Dunning-Kruger and all that.

    I still believe, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the Central Banks run the show on behalf of their unseen, never mentioned owners.

    ‘The UST 10 year is now at 3.31% and back up +8 bps’

    99% of the populace remain clueless, as base rate increases push up mortgage rates and houses become both more unaffordable, because of costs, and more affordable, because of falling valuations.

    They’re still ripping up countryside around here to build more overpriced houses. Contracts agreed to months ago.

    Nice weather for garden work.

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