Oct 112022
 
 October 11, 2022  Posted by at 8:15 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Paul Gauguin By the stream, autumn 1885

 

You Can Always Dream (Jim Kunstler)
Ukraine’s ‘Nazi Regime’ Must Be Dismantled – Medvedev (RT)
A Nice Bridge You Got There… (Dmitry Orlov)
West Has Now Set A Course On Total Terrorist Warfare (Saker)
Terror On Crimea Bridge Forces Russia To Unleash Shock’n Awe (Escobar)
All Quiet on the Eastern Front? Not At All, Atlantis (Batiushka)
Russian MOD Comments On Results Of Strikes In Ukraine (RT)
Ukraine Halts Electricity Exports To EU (RT)
Dancing In The Streets…. (Denninger)
Hard Winter Ahead For Europe – Erdogan (RT)
Putin Meeting With Permanent Members Of The Russian Security Council (Saker)
Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It (GZ)
Global Pandemic Response was a House of Cards (McCullough)
Trump Shreds Four Former Presidents, Hillary Clinton (CB)
Julian Assange and Our Impunity Democracy (Bovard)

 

 

George Webb’s predictions are quite specific. A Kissinger initiated peace conferece will start – in about 10 days. After all the lights go out in Ukraine, and after Russia detonates a small neutron bomb -tennis ball size- along with some plutonium, deep underneath a steel plant like Azovstal. The west will pay well over $300 billion for its reconstruction.

 

 

 

 

Ladapo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lassalle
https://twitter.com/i/status/1579567313082544129

 

 

 

 

“Message: if you think we’re fucking around, consider this an attitude adjustment opportunity.”

You Can Always Dream (Jim Kunstler)

Forgive me for repeating what I’ve written more than once before: Russia will not benefit from having a broken, failed state on its doorstep. Such a situation would clearly just invite more international hugger-mugger. Rather, Russia will benefit hugely from having a neutral, functioning Ukraine next door, a state with ample agricultural resources that could plausibly feed its people and live in peace, perhaps even enjoy special trade privileges with its bigger neighbor to the east… a Ukraine that would be a geographical buffer between Russia and what is apt to be a very disorderly and distressed Western Europe on the other side. The Ukrainian leader, Mr. Zelenskyy, capped off the weeks of sabotage by appealing to the US and NATO to conduct “preemptive nuclear strikes” against Russia proper.

That’ll work in Ukraine’s favor, I’m sure. He promised to call German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and make the pitch for NATO jumping into the action on the ground. (And with whose army would that be?) Such cheek from this desperado! Going mad-dog is probably not a sign of confidence. As of Monday, October 10, Russia began delivering some disciplinary actions against Mr. Zelenskyy’s insolent regime. Russia sent missiles into at least 10 Ukrainian cities, targeting electric power generation, water, central heating, and other “key services” in Kiev and elsewhere. Message: if you think we’re fucking around, consider this an attitude adjustment opportunity.

The action is an overture to a strategic shift. Russia aims to speed up the game clock, consolidate its ownership of the Donbas provinces, destroy Ukraine’s remaining military capability, bust up enough stuff to perhaps prompt the Ukrainian people to ask whether continuing to follow Mr. Zelenskyy’s gang is a good idea, and leave no alternative to talks that will leave Ukraine neutralized. Mr. Putin is calling “Joe Biden’s” bluff. All of this could have been avoided, of course, if the maniacs of America’s deep state had simply abided by the promise made thirty years ago to not expand NATO. What part of that deal didn’t we understand? Apparently, all of it. On purpose. Because we have acted with conscious and arrogant dishonor.

Of course, our “president” could commence that nuclear war he affects to be so avid for. It would be a fitting career-capper for the Ol’ Dawg. The show-runner behind all this needless mayhem, former President Barack Obama, reminded us a while back: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up.” Roger that, BHO! Which gets back to that dream I had of the headline: BIDEN ARRESTED. It was good, but not enough. How about : BIDEN, OBAMA, AND 639 FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN NINE AGENCIES ARRESTED. What a strange moment in our long and steadfast history as an orderly Republic that would be. And yet, what a perfect ending to these years of perfidy and travail.

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No nukes, no NATO, no nazis.

Ukraine’s ‘Nazi Regime’ Must Be Dismantled – Medvedev (RT)

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday called for a “complete dismantling” of Ukraine’s “political regime.” Writing on Telegram, Medvedev, who now serves as deputy head of the Security Council, shared his “personal opinion,” claiming that the current “Nazi political regime” in Kiev will represent “a constant, direct and clear threat to Russia.” “Therefore, in addition to protecting our people and protecting the borders of the country, our future actions, in my opinion, should be aimed at a complete dismantling of the political regime of Ukraine,” Medvedev said. Commenting on the numerous missile strikes carried out across Ukraine on Monday morning, the former Russian leader said that that was a “first episode” and that “there will be others.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday confirmed that the major operation against Ukrainian infrastructure was in response to the October 8 attack on the Crimean Bridge. Moscow considers it an act of terrorism organized by the Ukrainian security services. Claiming that “the Kiev regime has been using terrorist methods for a very long time,” Putin warned Ukraine against further attacks on Russian soil. Otherwise, Kiev will face a response “on a scale corresponding to the threats created against Russia,” the president said. Meanwhile, Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crimean Bridge, despite the country’s top officials openly celebrating the deadly explosion.

The EU condemned Monday’s shelling of Ukrainian cities by Moscow, with the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell pledging to provide more military assistance to Kiev in response. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces had carried out multiple strikes “on objects of military command and control systems, communications and energy of Ukraine.” Kiev, Lviv, Kharkov, Odessa and other cities were targeted, according to the local authorities, while regions across Ukraine are facing blackouts and rotating power cuts.

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“..there was no land connecting Crimea to the rest of Russia; but now that Kherson and Donetsk are again part of Russia, traffic from Simferopol to Rostov can be sent around the northern shore of Sea of Azov..”

A Nice Bridge You Got There… (Dmitry Orlov)

A truck bomb exploded on the bridge that links Crimea with Krasnodar, shutting it down for almost a whole day. Oh, and before we forget, Krasny Liman, a railroad junction in Donetsk was temporarily surrendered to the relentlessly attacking Ukrainians (mostly Polish mercenaries, actually) who drenched it in their blood and festooned it with their billowing entrails in the process. These and other less significant events have caused some small but noisy part of Russian social media to explode in consternation, baying for revenge and generally acting dissatisfied with the progress made since the Special Operation was declared on February 22, 2022. Sure enough, plenty of these hysterical voices are actually paid Ukrainian agents tasked with spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt and, sure enough, the Special Operation will proceed regardless, so this is all just a temporary annoyance.

But I will comment on it because I feel that I have to, and then move on to more important things. The bridge across the Kerch Strait was under discussion for many decades. It was in the planning stages even while Crimea was still an autonomy within the constitutionally intact Ukraine, prior to the US-instigated violent coup of 2014. After Crimea rejoined Russia, it became extremely important to create a ground transportation link between it and the mainland, and the bridge was built in record time. It was a massive undertaking and is a high-prestige item for the Russian government. But there have also been some organizational issues. As it stands, yesterday a large tractor-trailer packed with explosives was detonated on the highway portion of the bridge just as a cargo train with cisterns of diesel was passing through.

The resulting explosion demolished two reinforced concrete highway spans and sooted up the rail bed. All train traffic and half of the road traffic were restarted that very day. There is equipment to X-ray all cargo passing through, but it wasn’t being used because of certain bureaucratic inadequacies; these, I am sure, will now be remedied. The reason the bridge was extremely important was because there was no land connecting Crimea to the rest of Russia; but now that Kherson and Donetsk are again part of Russia, traffic from Simferopol to Rostov can be sent around the northern shore of Sea of Azov (which is now an entirely Russian body of water); the difference is between 690km and 730km. The bridge is by means superfluous because the distance to Krasnodar, another regional hub, is 1030km by land and just 460km via the bridge. But the new land route from Moscow to Simferopol is 350km shorter.

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“.. the West’s “redirection” towards terrorism is an admission of military, economic and political defeat.”

West Has Now Set A Course On Total Terrorist Warfare (Saker)

From what I have read, a truck filled with explosives blew up, killing three people in a car nearby, and then the flames took over a train also crossing the bridge. That train was full of fuel. It is only thanks to the amazing speed at which the bridge crews reacted that the damage was limited to only 9 wagons and, therefore, to a much shorter segment of the rail tracks. Looking at the video, one would imagine that the bridge is in ruins. In fact, traffic was reestablished on both rail tracks and the road in less than 24 hours (with the exception of heavy trucks). In other words, this is yet another case of “it is humiliating, but not dangerous” But that is an increasingly mistaken notion: this time is also VERY dangerous.

It is self-evident that the Kiev regime would never have had the means, technical and political, to execute such an attack without being told to do so by its masters in the West. Such an attack, right on the heels of the attacks on of NS1/NS2 shows beyond any doubt that West has now set a course on total terrorist warfare. This makes sense, since for all the so-called “victories” of the NATO forces in the Ukraine, the reality is that they reconquered a few villages and towns while Russia liberated and then incorporated entire regions. And Russia did that while always being at a numerical disadvantage. And while inflicting 10:1 KIA ratios. In other words the West’s “redirection” towards terrorism is an admission of military, economic and political defeat.

While this is hardly a surprise, the West *always* uses terrorism against sovereign governments, this is still a very negative development for Russia. Simply put, there are always more targets than cops/guards. Furthermore, terrorists can always chose the time and location of their attacks. So far, the Ukronazi efforts in Russia yielded very little tangible benefits: the murder of Dugina made her into a martyr, the attack on NS1/NS2 really only hurt Germany and the EU, while the explosion on Crimean Bridge has proven that this is a very hard target which will be extremely hard to destroy short of using a tactical nuke.

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“The lightning strike de facto metastasizing of SMO into CTO means that the regime in Kiev and those supporting it are now considered as legitimate targets..”

Terror On Crimea Bridge Forces Russia To Unleash Shock’n Awe (Escobar)

So we had, in sequence, Ukrainian terrorists blowing up Darya Dugina’s car in a Moscow suburb (they admitted it); US/UK special forces (partially) blowing Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 (they admitted and then retracted); and the terror attack on Krymsky Most (once again: admitted then retracted). Not to mention the shelling of Russian villages in Belgorod, NATO supplying long-range weapons to Kiev, and the routine execution of Russian soldiers. Darya Dugina, Nord Streams and Crimea Bridge make it an Act of War trifecta. So this time the response was inevitable – not even waiting for the first meeting since February of the Russian Security Council scheduled for the afternoon of 10 October.

Moscow launched the first wave of a Russian Shock’n Awe without even changing the status of the Special Military Operation (SMO) to Counter-Terrorist Operation (CTO), with all its serious military/legal implications. After all, even before the UN Security Council meeting, Russian public opinion was massively behind taking the gloves off. Putin had not even scheduled bilateral meetings with any of the members. Diplomatic sources hint that the decision to let the hammer come down had already been taken over the weekend. Shock’n Awe did not wait for the announcement of an ultimatum to Ukraine (that may come in a few days); an official declaration of war (not necessary); or even announcing which ‘”decision-making centers” in Ukraine would be hit.

The lightning strike de facto metastasizing of SMO into CTO means that the regime in Kiev and those supporting it are now considered as legitimate targets, just like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra during the Anti-Terror Operation (ATO) in Syria. And the change of status – now this is a real war on terror – means that terminating all strands of terrorism, physical, cultural, ideological, are the absolute priority, and not the safety of Ukrainian civilians. During the SMO, safety of civilians was paramount. Even the UN has been forced to admit that in over seven months of SMO the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine has been relatively low.

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‘The entry of the four provinces into Russia is not the last’.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front? Not At All, Atlantis (Batiushka)

We are still having our minds blown by President Putin’s Speech over a week ago. How many times we have listened to it and watched it. If I may say something personal, I can say that I have not even dared dream for over 40 years that a Russian leader would make such a speech. I thought I would die long before it would happen, even if it did happen. I was waiting for the end of the world and now hope has been given us. The President said it all, summing up an evil millennium of Western history, starting with its worldwide plunder and ending in its shameful Woke ideologies, the denial and destruction of Spiritual Reality, National Sovereignty and Family Life. Yes, this is Satanism against any sort of Spiritual Tradition. And only Russia has dared to oppose this Satanism. Needless to say, we stand behind the Russian Federation 100%. As the President, our President, said: ‘Nothing will be as before’.

The results from the referenda on returning to Russia in four Russian-speaking Ukrainian provinces came in nearly two weeks ago: Donetsk: 99% Lugansk: 98% Zaporozhie: 93% Kherson: 87%. Thus, on 30 September these four provinces, the size of four Belgiums, duly joined the Russian Federation, following the example of the Crimea over eight years ago. The results were interesting, as they showed how popularity for the move ‘declines’ as you move westwards, with Kherson at ‘only’ 87%. However, nobody should be surprised that Russian-speaking areas overwhelmingly, even if ‘only’ 87%, wanted to return to Russia, which is where they belonged until 1922. The voting, ethnicity, linguistic and religious patterns are clear from, for example, the maps and analysis of the Eurasian Research Institute.

Nobody should be surprised, unless of course they have no common sense, or else their common sense has been blinded by their ‘West is Best’ ideology, which is in fact the essence of Nazism. Nearly 10,000,000 people, nearly one quarter of the population of the Crimea-less Ukraine (pre-War population) (more people than those in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Georgia combined), some 20% of the landmass of the Crimea-less Ukraine, an area nearly the size of England, joined the Russian Federation. Out of 25 provinces in the Ukraine before the violent, US-organised overthrow of the democratically-elected Ukrainian government (cost to the US taxpayer: $5 billion) in February 2014, 20 are now left. Who leaves next? As the head of the Republic of the Crimea, Sergei Aksjonov, said on 1 October: ‘The entry of the four provinces into Russia is not the last’.

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“The goal of the strike has been achieved. All designated objects have been hit..”

Russian MOD Comments On Results Of Strikes In Ukraine (RT)

A rocket barrage that targeted Ukrainian military objects and infrastructure has accomplished its goal, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday. The attack came after Moscow accused Kiev of orchestrating a deadly explosion on the strategic Crimean Bridge. Speaking at a regular briefing, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov noted that Russia had used high-precision and long-range weapons to hit objects on Ukrainian territory, including “military command facilities, communications and energy systems.”“The goal of the strike has been achieved. All designated objects have been hit,” he noted.

His comments came hours after Russia struck multiple targets in Kiev, with the city’s Mayor Vitaly Klitschko claiming that “critical infrastructure” had been affected. The attack also apparently hit Vladimirskaya Street, where the main office of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is based, according to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister. Apart from Kiev, several other Ukrainian cities were targeted, including Dnepr in east of the country, and Lviv in the west. Following the strikes, Ukrainian authorities reported blackouts in Lviv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkov and Ternopol Regions, adding that in other parts of the country power supply had been partially disrupted.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin warned Ukraine that if it orchestrates any new terrorist attacks on Russia, it “will respond firmly and on a scale corresponding to the threats created against” it. The attacks follow a powerful explosion that rocked the Crimean Bridge on Saturday, killing three and causing the partial collapse of the road section, as well as a blaze on the parallel railway span. While Ukrainian officials did not directly assume responsibility for the explosion, on Sunday Putin claimed that it was the Ukrainian intelligence service that had orchestrated the blast.

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“The cynicism is that the entire supply chain has been hit..” “It’s both electricity distribution systems and generation.”

Ukraine Halts Electricity Exports To EU (RT)

Damage to energy infrastructure caused by Moscow’s air strikes has forced Ukraine’s government to cut off electricity exports to the European Union, taking away a supply source that Kiev claims helped its partners reduce their reliance on power generated with Russian natural gas. “Today’s missile strikes, which hit the thermal generation and electrical substations, forced Ukraine to suspend electricity exports from October 11, 2022, to stabilize its own energy system,” the Ukrainian energy ministry said on Monday in a statement. The ministry noted that even after losing control of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to Russian forces in March, Kiev had been able to meet its export commitments to European partners, but Monday’s attacks were the largest of the entire conflict.

“The cynicism is that the entire supply chain has been hit,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko said. “It’s both electricity distribution systems and generation. The enemy’s goal is to make it difficult to reconnect electricity supplies from other sources.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday’s air strikes on Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities – targeting military, energy and communications infrastructure – came in response to Ukraine’s attack on the strategic Crimean Bridge on Saturday. “If there are further attempts to conduct terrorist attacks on our soil, Russia will respond firmly and on a scale corresponding to the threats created against Russia,” Putin announced. Galushchenko, however, accused Moscow of waging “energy terror” in retaliation for Kiev helping other countries reduce their dependence on Russia.

After joining European energy system ENTSO-E back in June, Kiev said it expected to earn some €1.5 billion from electricity exports to the EU by the end of the year. “That is why Russia is destroying our energy system, killing the very possibility of exporting electricity from Ukraine,”the energy minister claimed. Ukrenergo, the national power grid operator, claimed its specialists have been “engaging backup supply schemes” and repaired some of the damage by Monday night. In the meantime the ministry urged “all citizens of Ukraine to unite” and minimize their energy use during the peak demand hours, arguing that not only Ukraine is implementing measures to reduce power consumption, but the “whole of Europe is doing this now.”

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“..if you, ladies and gentlemen, support beyond that point the Government of Ukraine, either in word or deed you support the backing and outright commission of terrorism.”

Dancing In The Streets…. (Denninger)

Who remembers those that danced in the streets and cheered when 9/11 happened? You’re old enough to remember that, right? It wasn’t that long ago. I remember it quite well and the level of revulsion I had for those who participated was visceral and permanent; it remains even today. The detonation on the land bridge to Crimea at first looked like perhaps part of an act of War; special forces or something like that who managed to infiltrate into the area and blow it up. That happens during wars. Except… a closer look discloses that this was clearly not such a thing at all. Indeed it appears to be a simple truck bomb and it was primarily aimed at civilians and civilian infrastructure. In other words exactly as was Oklahoma City or the first attempt at the World Trade Center in the case of a truck bomb, and exactly as were two airliners aimed at the Twin Towers.


Those were all…… terrorism. Do recall that after 9/11 some of the cheerleading was done by government actors in certain other nations. Well, the government of Ukraine has officially endorsed the truck bombing that, near as we can tell, killed only civilians. According to the NY Times, it would appear, they not only endorsed it they orchestrated it. In other words Zelinskyy is reasonably compared against Bin Laden, the Blind Sheikh or Timothy McVeigh. So if you, ladies and gentlemen, support beyond that point the Government of Ukraine, either in word or deed you support the backing and outright commission of terrorism. I find your actions equally revolting — and I will forevermore — exactly as I found those who danced when the towers came down. And that’s a fact.

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“..the next one “will be even more difficult.”

Hard Winter Ahead For Europe – Erdogan (RT)

European countries are about to face significant difficulties this winter amid limited deliveries of Russian natural gas, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. Speaking at the TUGVA youth forum, Türkiye’s leader noted that the whole continent “is on fire now.” “The entire Europe is wondering: ‘How will this winter go?’” he said. Meanwhile, according to Erdogan, his country will have no issues with energy resources in the coming months. “Thank God, we have made all our preparations… we have prepared everything for our nation, both natural gas and coal,” he stated. He also noted that the main issue for the nation is “how to deliver natural gas to our citizens at more affordable prices,” adding that Ankara is doing its best to achieve this goal. Erdogan went on to explain that Ankara is acting as a leading mediator between Ukraine and Russia, which have been locked in conflict since late February.


Several months ago, Ankara and the UN brokered a deal between Moscow and Kiev that unblocked Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. Erdogan has also repeatedly urged the two parties to strike a peace deal. His comments come as Europe is reeling from an energy crisis fueled by skyrocketing gas prices due to sanctions the West has imposed on Russia over the conflict. While EU authorities have taken measures to cut energy consumption in a bid to alleviate the situation, various officials and public figures have warned of the desperate situation the continent may find itself. Earlier this month, Microsoft founder Bill Gates claimed that in a few months Europe may face a “very scary situation” as many could be unable to heat their homes. In late September, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson also predicted that this winter “will not be easy,” adding that the next one “will be even more difficult.”

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“..the Kiev regime, by its actions, has actually put itself on the same level as international terrorist groups, and with the most odious of those. It is simply no longer possible to leave crimes of this kind without retaliation.”

Putin Meeting With Permanent Members Of The Russian Security Council (Saker)

The President held a briefing session with permanent members of the Security Council, via videoconference. “Colleagues, good afternoon, You know that yesterday Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin reported to me on the first results of the investigation into the act of sabotage on the Crimean Bridge. The forensic and other expert data, as well as operational information, show that the October 8 explosion was an act of terrorism aimed at destroying Russia’s civilian and critical infrastructure. It is also clear that the Ukrainian special services were the organisers and perpetrators of the attack. The Kiev regime has long been using terrorist methods, including murders of public figures, journalists and scientists, both in Ukraine and in Russia.

And terrorist attacks on towns in Donbass, which have been going on for more than eight years. And also acts of nuclear terrorism, by which I mean missile and artillery strikes on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. This is not the whole story: Ukraine’s special services have also carried out three terrorist acts against Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, repeatedly blowing up the plant’s high-voltage lines. The third such terrorist attack damaged three of those lines at once. The damage was repaired in the shortest possible time and there were no serious consequences. However, there have been a number of other terrorist attacks and attempts to commit similar crimes against electricity generation and gas transportation infrastructure facilities in our country, including an attempt to blow up a section of the TurkStream gas pipeline system.

All this has been proven by objective data, including the testimony of the detained perpetrators. It is well known that Russian representatives are not allowed to take part in the investigation into the causes of explosions at and the destruction of international gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea. But we all know who ultimately benefits from this crime. Thus, the Kiev regime, by its actions, has actually put itself on the same level as international terrorist groups, and with the most odious of those. It is simply no longer possible to leave crimes of this kind without retaliation.”

Putin

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“..Britain’s evident interest in planning such an attack underscores the deep involvement of NATO powers in the Ukraine proxy war..”

Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It (GZ)

The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone. The Grayzone has obtained an April 2022 presentation drawn up for senior British intelligence officers hashing out an elaborate scheme to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge with the involvement of specially trained Ukrainian soldiers. Almost six months after the plan was circulated, Kerch Bridge was attacked in an October 8th suicide bombing apparently overseen by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence services. Detailed proposals for providing “audacious” support to Kiev’s “maritime raiding operations” were drafted at the request of Chris Donnelly, a senior British Army intelligence operative and veteran high ranking NATO advisor. The wide-ranging plan’s core component was “destruction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait.”

Documents and correspondence plotting the operation were provided to The Grayzone by an anonymous source. The truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge differed operationally from the plot sketched therein. Yet, Britain’s evident interest in planning such an attack underscores the deep involvement of NATO powers in the Ukraine proxy war. At almost precisely the time that London reportedly sabotaged peace talks between Kiev and Moscow in April this year, British military intelligence operatives were drawing up blueprints to destroy a major Russian bridge crossed by thousands of civilians per day. The roadmap was produced by Hugh Ward, a British military veteran. A number of strategies for helping Ukraine “pose a threat to Russian naval forces” in the Black Sea are outlined.

The overriding objectives are stated as aiming to “degrade” Russia’s ability to blockade Kiev, “erode” Moscow’s “warfighting capability”, and isolate Russian land and maritime forces in Crimea by “denying resupply by sea and overland via Kerch bridge.” In an email, Ward asked Donnelly to “please protect this document,” and it’s easy to see why. Of these assorted plans, only the “Kerch Bridge Raid CONOPS [concept of operation]” is subject to a dedicated annex at the conclusion of Ward’s report, underlining its significance. The content amounts to direct, detailed advocacy for the commission of what could constitute a grave war crime. Markedly, in plotting ways to destroy a major passenger bridge, there is no reference to avoiding civilian casualties.

Across three separate pages, alongside diagrams, the author spells out the terms of the “mission” – “[disabling] the Kerch Bridge in a way that is audacious, disrupts road and rail access to Crimea and maritime access to the Sea of Azov.” Ward suggests that destroying the bridge “would require a cruise missile battery to hit the two concrete pillars either side of the central steel arch, which will cause a complete structural failure,” and “prevent any road re-supply from the Russian mainland to Crimea and temporally [sic] disrupt the shipping lane.”

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4 pillars.

Global Pandemic Response was a House of Cards (McCullough)

The last and longest hearing occurred on January 24, 2022, the day after the Defeat the Mandates Rally in Washington where tens of thousands of Americans gathered to hear about the unjust mandates from doctors, nurses, scientists, religious leaders, employment groups, and entertainers and journalists. The January 24, 2022, hearing was co-moderated by Dr. McCullough and this time had dozens of doctors, nurses, patients, attorneys, and press in attendance. In a roundtable presentations were given, and questions were answered on the “Four Pillars of Pandemic Response.” These principles of how a nation should use its public health and clinical resources to respond to a novel infectious outbreak were presented and published by Dr. McCullough in the fall of 2020: 1) contagion control, 2) early ambulatory treatment, 3) late treatment in the hospital, 4) vaccination.

The reason why McCullough’s four pillars are so important is that a balanced approach would have provided the most immediate relief and care to those who are ill at the moment to reduce hospitalizations and deaths while developing a longer-run strategy. The four pillars should have been the framework for monthly updates from the White House Task Force and the CDC/NIH/FDA with input from teams of practicing doctors and experts on each of the pillars. So when doing an evaluation of how America and the world performed in the COVID-19 crisis, the four pillars of pandemic response is a vital framework upon which to craft the exercise.


This structure can also apply to any local community, hospital, health system or other jurisdiction. Every single organization who acted in a capacity of making decisions during the pandemic and took responsibility on policy decisions should take the time and effort to do a post-mortem evaluation using the four pillars—it is likely they will quickly see their imbalanced set of errors—largely ones of omission on the pillars of early and late treatment cost hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of avoidable hospitalizations. Without the four pillars, global pandemic response was a house of cards.

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“But almost as bad, crooked Hillary deleted 33,000 emails under congressional subpoena. She acid-washed them. … [It’s a] very expensive process. That’s why nobody does it.”

Trump Shreds Four Former Presidents, Hillary Clinton (CB)

Former President Donald Trump tore into three former presidents and President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice at his most recent rally. The former president was in Nevada on Saturday when he insisted that the raid on Mar-a-Lago and the way he has been treated would not have happened to any other president, and he claimed to have proof. “This is a new hoax: the document hoax. Just look at how every other president has been treated when they left office. Very interesting. They’ve been given all the time needed [to return documents] — because you’re supposed to have as much time as you need — and complete deference when it came to their documents and their papers. ‘Take as much as you need,’” he said.

“Barack Hussein Obama moved more than 20 truckloads, over 33 million pages of documents, both classified and unclassified, to a poorly built and unsafe former furniture store located in a bad neighborhood in Chicago. With no security, by the way,” he said. He then went on to former President George W. Bush. “George W. Bush stored 68 million pages in a warehouse in Texas and lost 22 million emails. Can you imagine if I lost two emails? They’d say, ‘This is terrible. It must have been nuclear in those two.’ … He lost 22 million. Can you believe that we’re talking about millions of pages and they’re coming after me? But they’re still looking for them. They’re still looking for those pages,” he said before going for former President Bill Clinton.

“Bill Clinton took millions of documents from the White House to a former car dealership in Arkansas … and kept classified recordings in his sock drawer. In fact, he supposedly put the information from the White House into his socks and left the White House with the information, so we call it the sock case,” the former president said. “If I did that, there’d be major trouble and NARA — you know NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration — ‘lost’ an entire hard drive full of information from the Clinton White House. They lost it. They can’t find it,” he said. He then hit his favorite target, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his opponent in the 2016 presidential election. “But almost as bad, crooked Hillary deleted 33,000 emails under congressional subpoena. She acid-washed them. … [It’s a] very expensive process. That’s why nobody does it. And then pounded her phones with hammers, making them totally unrecognizable to the naked eye. So she took those phones and she pounded the hell out of them,” the former president said.

He then went as far back as the late former President George H.W. Bush. “Meanwhile, George H.W bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant. … By contrast, I had a small number of boxes and storage at Mar-A-Lago — very small, relatively — guarded by the great Secret Service. And yet the FBI, with many people, raided my house. It’s in violation, by the way, of the Fourth Amendment, and many other things also,” he said. “The radical left thinks by doing all these sinister and venomous things, they’re making us weaker, but actually they are making us stronger and much more unified than ever before. I really believe that. I believe that,” the former president said.

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“Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government.”

Julian Assange and Our Impunity Democracy (Bovard)

When the federal indictment against Assange was announced in 2019, a New York Times editorial declared that it was “aimed straight at the heart of the First Amendment” and would have a “chilling effect on American journalism as it has been practiced for generations.” Unfortunately, Americans and foreigners continue to suffer because of the perennial cover-ups of U.S. foreign interventions. After Britain arrested Assange on behalf of the U.S. government in 2019, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) whooped that Assange “is our property and we can get the facts and the truth from him.” But Manchin had no recommendations on how Americans can “get the facts and the truth” from the federal government. Biden has ramped up U.S. bombings in Somalia: who exactly are we killing? It is a secret. Which Syrian terrorist groups are the U.S. government still bankrolling? It’s a secret. Why is the U.S. continuing to assist Saudi atrocities against Yemeni civilians? It’s a secret.

And then there’s the biggest and most dangerous secret operation on the horizon right now – the U.S. intervention in the Russia-Ukraine war. Folks can condemn Russia and support Ukraine without believing that Washington policymakers deserve a blank check to potentially drag America into a nuclear war. Are CIA analysts or Pentagon officials issuing warnings about U.S. government actions in this conflict could lead to a spiral that ends in catastrophe? Unfortunately, Americans won’t learn of any such memos until damage has been done. And if a disaster occurs, then we’ll see the same sham that occurred after the Iraq War – some Senate Committee blathering that no one is to blame because everyone in Washington was a victim of “group think.”

Federal prosecutors stress that Assange leaked “classified” information. But federal agencies are creating trillions of pages of new “classified’ secrets each year. Yet, any information which is classified is treated like a political holy relic that cannot be exposed without cursing the nation. Pervasive secrecy helps explain the collapse of trust in Washington. Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government. Adding Assange’s scalp to the Justice Department’s trophy wall will do nothing to end the mistrust of the political ruling class that has dragged America into so many debacles. Assange is guilty of lese-majeste – embarrassing the government by exposing their follies, frauds, and crimes. Assange declared years ago, “If wars can be started by lies, they can be stopped by truth.” Dropping the charges against Assange is the best way for the Biden administration to prove it is serious about ending excessive secrecy.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

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Athens 1959
https://twitter.com/i/status/1579440770939228160

 

 


In 2015, photographer Atif Saeed captured this intense photograph of a male lion moments before it launched an attack on him. He narrowly escaped with this incredible shot of a face-to-face with a lion about to kill.

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle October 11 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)
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  • #118185

    Paul Gauguin By the stream, autumn 1885   • You Can Always Dream (Jim Kunstler) • Ukraine’s ‘Nazi Regime’ Must Be Dismantled – Medvedev (RT) • A
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle October 11 2022]

    #118186
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Energy is the ‘master of the universe’, contrary to what Wall Street bankers, politicians and economist think and say.

    #118187
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    1959 was quite a good year in England; rationing was largely forgotten, bomb sites were fewer in number, much reconstruction had been completed, industry was back on its feet, and consumer goods were starting to become available.

    However, people were rather shocked to discover how far ahead of Britain/US the USSR was in the space race.

    And in 1959 they had little idea how quickly it would all turn to custard just 14 years later.

    #118188
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    I do occasionally leave the village, and on one fairly recent excursion saw the following amusing sign: “Kiln dried firewood’.

    I did not enquire, so cannot say whether the water in wet logs is driven out using electricity or natural gas.

    All good stuff: chop down trees using petrol-driven chain saws. Cut into lengths using petrol-driven chain saws. Split the rounds into fire-size logs using petrol-driven splitters or electrical splitters. Take the wet logs to a depot using diesel-powered vehicles. Dry the logs using electricity or gas. Deliver the logs to consumers using diesel-powered vehicles. Or invite customers to collect their ‘renewable energy’ using trailers pulled by petrol-powered or diesel-powered vehicles.

    And everyone involved in the process is kept alive via industrially-produced and industrially-distributed food.

    Sometimes burning coal is actually better than so-called renewables. And I hate having to say that, since I hate the mining and burning of coal. But coal does have an incredible ‘energy density’ – which is why it triggered the Industrial Revolution.

    In ‘Return to Olduvai’, Richard Duncan speculated that Industrial Civilisation would collapse around the year 2030 as a consequence of losing the ability to maintain electrical grids.

    It could be well before 2030 for Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Lebanon….

    Richard Duncan : Olduvai Gorge – Civilization ends when Electric Grids Permanently Fail

    #118189
    Redneck
    Participant

    Putin , “When we send our missiles to bomb you it is a Special Military Operation , when you strike back at us it is terrorism.” What a vast masturbator.

    #118190
    Polemos
    Participant

    153… slipped finger

    22022022. I just noticed that is the date of the SMO starting in the non-US format, and palindromes are appealing to me.

    Everyone should have known communism was not going to work. I mean, there were so many red flags.

    #118191
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I can’t believe they’re still at it: UK, Germany, printing “subsidies” for residential natural gas. Okay, great! The people finally get something other than war (because of the war). Problem? There are say 100k “Units” of gas in all Europe. That has to be divided between them. If they 2x the “money” available for it, they 2x the price. And there are still 100k “units”, no additional gas.

    So you CAN cause inflation, even hyperinflation, and you STILL can’t heat houses.

    This is not rocket science. …Unless Germany and UK are unfairly stealing their ration of gas from Italy and Spain?

    I guess I should add, in a “normal” subsidy (if there is such a thing) raising prices would then increase supply using a thing called “Capitalism” that Europe has outlawed. They would get the gas from “Gas Wells” and suppliers like Russia whom they have outlawed. Then the high prices would ration stupid uses, where reducing use they have outlawed. That’s why they have the subsidy: so you can keep using without rationing, even if you’re one Al Gore in one of his many 5,000sq ft houses.

    “France to Spend €100 Billion to… Fight Inflation” I say keep going. You won’t learn until they float the next Assignat.

    10-year bumping back on 4%, making a nice continuing chart that needs confirmation breakthrough.

    US$ approaching the long high of 120. Europe (and the UN) literally attacking us and the Fed because “we all need to devalue in unison or there’ll be inflation”. No, YOU’ll have the inflation you asked for. We’ll just have reality be obvious and admitted for a change.

    I think that means we’re headed in the right direction, and it’s having a deep effect that is too late for them to divert from. In other words: Davos is screwed. Their plans to take over the world and run it from the UN with Eco-fascism is unworkable. However, we still need the long, deadly march from Normandy to Berlin. I suspect they’ll get it in, get their 3 1/2 years of Tribulation before it all blows to h–l on them. That’s an Israeli-Euro prophesy not an American one. They’ve already killed more people than ever in history in just 2 years and no one notices, they demand it, eager for more.

    “This Is Serious”: Jamie Dimon Says S&P Could Shed Another 20%, Warns of US Recession In 6 To 9 Months”

    And who will survive? Where will global capital flow?

    Look at it this way: What does Dow, Gold, Bitcoin look like not here, where they’re flat to down, but in Pounds, in Europe? Yeah, that’s a 30% rise in BTC for them though a big zero for us Americanos. It looks like an AWESOME investment. These perceptions matter, strangely, because if you’re in England, Japan, Canada, you can spend that ‘perception’ in real dollars.

    PayPal Stock ‘Fined’ 6% after Flood of Users Cancel over $2,500 ‘Misinformation’ Debacle”

    This was fun: PayPal says they reserve the right to “Fine” you (their words) $2,500 for ANY bad words on ANY platform, anywhere, at any time, or in real life, at their sole discretion, with no process or appeal. And they’re not a court, where the word “fine” means something. That’s not the funny part. The funny part is, they said releasing this was “an accident” (an accident? You create grave, long-winded press releases for things you have no plans on doing, like your policy concerning PayPal use among Sasquatch?) No, the FUNNY part is, their statement on misinformation…is misinformation. So should they fine themselves 10,000 times and give the money to US? I think so. Cue the lawsuits.

    Who is “Disinformation” to Chad at Twitter? Oh, you know, Doctors, Nurses, Pharma Execs, State Surgeon Generals… All things “Not Us.” All things “not Ego”. All things “Not Profit”.

    It shouldn’t have to be said, but it seems the internet is saying blowing the bridge is a serious business, connects Russia to critical Crimea, etc, etc. Are we being real here? They JUST took 4 whole STATES and have a 100-mile wide land connection to Crimea. They have no need of the bridge at all, really, since clearly they have a stake in the ground in keeping the whole land bridge and don’t need the sea bridge.

    I’m sure bridges are very nice, direct route East, biggest in world, record time, all that, but really?

    It’s a war: barely worth keeping it functional except as a backup route.

    Pipeline, blown by “Washington”? Not so much. So we have a terrorist group blowing multi-billion dollar infrastructure, threatening the whole world, probably killing tens of thousands, far surpassing 911 and…nothing.

    Covid Booter shots refused: You know, the shots that don’t stop Covid and don’t stop the spread.

    Obviously they don’t like that because the Doctor saying it is Black. Must. Stop. All. Black. People. They must. Obey. White Karen. Biden decides who is Black or not, and you ain’t Black, Jack! (no, literally, Joe said this.)

    If Webb is right, would YOU negotiate peace if you were Putin? Why? They are “Not Agreement Capable”. The last two times they lost they threw a coup, then spent 8 years training a Nazi army of racist civilian killers (not an exaggeration). And you’d stop now for why? So they can re-reinforced Azov again? So you can just let them keep your $800B dollars they stole? They’re not giving it back, they’re “Not agreement capable.” They still have Ukraine, Libya’s, and Venezuela’s gold.

    Kunstler: “Maybe we’ve had enough of romancing death.” Nope. Love it more than ever. It is our one true love and sole desire.

    “shows beyond any doubt that West has now set a course on total terrorist warfare.”

    Nope: the word “Terrorist” like the word “Racist” now means all things, all nouns, verbs, adjectives, all math and all human actions in all time and space. That is to say: it means nothing. Thumbs down on Twitter? “Terrorist”. Vote against Joe Biden (while creating a worldwide nuclear holocaust and the end of humans on earth in a fiery, flesh-melting radiation)? You’re a Terrorist.

    Definition: Terrorists create “Terror”. That is to say, as a tactic they are dead-useless, accomplishing nothing, because otherwise, their tactic would be called “War”. Their tactic is ALSO dead-useless because YOU have to be a milksop, crying, whining p—-y, who is afraid of life and everything in it. That is YOU are WILLING, ready, anxious even, to experience “Terror” and get your Woke points on in the Woke Olympics, having hurt your feels. Because YOU having “Terror” is an INTERNAL PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE, which is controlled by YOU. Not them.

    None of this is “Terror”. At all. It isn’t randomly blowing up a school bus of children, holding them hostage then killing them one by one to wring it out as long as possible. –And if you were an Indian, you’d know it’s just a war, they’re just planning on killing your children anyway, someday, because that’s what “They” do, and today is just that day, and a good day to die. There is no “terror” in that, there is only inevitability. Because “they”, the dominant culture, just steals, attacks and kills ALL things (all things “Not them”, not “ego”) because that is what they do. So when your sworn enemy, who attacks and kills things every day, finally gets around to your town, your Indian school, your kids: that’s just war. No terror involved. And there’s no advantage, because only IF you fall into fear and abandon all your cultural principles does it matter if they’re trying to kill you – and your kids – AGAIN. If you are you, and have your principles, and don’t join cultures that kill everything they’ve ever met, then how can you fear? You simply respond because you already knew this was coming, and coming for 30 years. You just had a little off-base R&R first.

    Cutting your phone lines, not shipping those extra Twinkies, is not “terror”. Likewise, cutting your petrol is not “terror”. Cutting your Ukrainian Starlink is not “terror”. Cutting your natural gas is not “terror.” It’s war.

    So we have a War on Infrastructure, worldwide. And that is a War on all Civilians and Humans, worldwide. They are killing humans, maximum, because they hate all humans, maximum, and want all humans to die, maximum. Have you not read their papers? Then read their headlines: if all humans don’t die, RIGHT NOW, the Earth will burn up and vanish from it’s orbit around the sun, and then how will I golf on my favorite private course in Tuscon? I mean: Priorities, people! Let’s blow some s—t up right away! As many kids as possible! Let’s Light up some cities, man! (misspelled it yesterday) Nuclear exchange forever! When do we want it? Now!

    Okay, again, don’t let them float this word like “hate speech” “misinformation” or “terrorism” then expand it’s meaning to all items and people in the universe. Words have meanings. This word is being as misused as saying you want a “Watermelon” when really you meant “Respiration”.

    Worldwide War on Infrastructure. = Worldwide War on Humans. And a war against Life itself, on earth, in all forms. And all #Logos. Now what religion is that? What god? Yes, it sounds like I’m exaggerating when I say it, but I’m not. Deduce for yourself from their most vigorous actions.

    “Yes, this is Satanism against any sort of Spiritual Tradition.” From the next article. It sounds strange when he, they, say it, but what other accurate definition and conclusion could one draw?

    “I thought I would die long before it would happen, even if it did happen. I was waiting for the end of the world and now hope has been given us.”

    Yeah, me too waiting for any such speech at home here. Except “We’re arresting Hillary” speech. But that means we would have to ACT on such empty words and they haven’t. And Putin has only a leeeetle bit. Because he will ask YOU to act, and die, for it.

    “Ukraine Halts Electricity Exports to EU (RT)”

    Because nobody will tell the truth AND every reporter and Western person is a drooling moron, I can’t figure out what’s happening. But this response is beginning to make sense. Who is attacking? Europe and NATO. Why? Because without killing, dismantling, and selling off Russia, they collapse. Therefore, attack Europe and not Ukraine or whatever chihuahua is ankle-biting. How? By letting them die from non-bombs, economically.

    “exactly as were two airliners aimed at the Twin Towers. Those were all…… terrorism.”

    No they were not. Because I was not afraid, and also didn’t care. So a building catches on fire in NY somewhere? Happens every day. Fewer people died than die in traffic accidents. The only risk for such an astonishing non-action, and non-attack, was if we were to overreact. And thank God Osama wrote that his whole intention and war-plan was to make the U.S. overreact, destroy all our own laws and values, and bankrupt ourselves, so clearly we could avoid it. Right?

    It’s not terrorism if you’re not afraid. Man up, Daisy-Mae. And it’s not an “Attack” if if hits useless objects of no military or economic relevance, and therefore an organism as large as the United States is almost perfectly unscathed, as if a hive had lost two soldier bees. Get a grip. They did not, because they are not men, and also not Americans. They are men-shaped, General shaped objects like Milley is, deserving neither thought nor respect.

    “Trump Shreds Four Former Presidents, Hillary Clinton (CB)”

    Conservative Brief obeys all the Leftist adjectives and all the Left’s talking points. Which side are they on here? Trump must always “tear into”, “Rail against”, etc. You’re a journalist, therefore the only word we use is “Mr. Trump ‘Said.’” Except in unique conditions, any other presentation is propaganda. And you’re propaganda-persuading AGAINST yourself. What sense does that make? If you’re going to be an Activist, not a journalist (crazy, I know), then at least be an Activist for the right side. Very standard, which is why the Republican Party should and needs to be erased. Happily, all sides agree on this goal.

    “Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government.”

    Yes, and along with the fantasies they print at real – that any statement by any government should be credited at all – there are probably more people who believe in Flat Earth than there are KKK members. Or them and the Nazis combined. Or even what we used to call racists, back when words had actual meanings. That is, people who admit, are proud to be racist, and wouldn’t stay in the same room with other races. If you poll on that right now, no one will admit it, so there are probably fewer “racists” in America than transgender people. Want to test me? Look it up.

    Assange “But federal agencies are creating trillions of pages of new “classified’ secrets each year.”

    Yes, because they “Classify” everything. For no reason. They just don’t want any oversight, and don’t want you to look at it. No one reviews if if SHOULD be classified, ever. No one de-classifies. No one gets clearance and reads it to get oversight (like Congress). That is, the bureaucracy is an unaccountable, unelected government unto itself, who is a foreign occupier against YOU, against The People. The DGAF government. Pay me. Shut up or I’ll arrest you. Worse than pre-revolutionary France.

    From the Internet:

    “with allies like the USA, who needs enemies? And being the US’s ally also means you’re stuck being enemies with the US’s enemies. So you’ve got an ally that doesn’t treat you like an ally, and a bunch of enemies you didn’t make mad at you because you’re allies with the US. It’s increasingly hard to see the advantage…”

    Good way to put it.

    #118192
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Yes, Red, you would think they’d know better. They discredit themselves.

    #118193
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Polemos, strangely, after dead-on 222222 for the war — and these guys love their numerology and astrology — I am seeing them reliably report it as 2 – 24 for some reason. Do they think we didn’t notice? Or notice why? Why’d you change it, who are you covering up for? Stranger than just letting sleeping dogs lie.

    #118194
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Okay, let’s get the manufacturing consent and framing out of the way first AFKTT.

    The cutting down of a tree is the first cut in the process of docking so is of no use in splitting them into two actions unless you want to proceed to tell me how many of these cutting downs will then happen to said imaginary length. Is it ten or 100? How long is the tree? You haven’t specified so it is meaningless except as an abstract “petrol was used in the making of this firewood”. Also you say the wood is green? Says you. Not mine, dried dead in the sun on it’s own with nothing to do with me.

    You have ignored that coal can’t be dug up in your back yard and can only be used once.
    ONLY USED ONCE.
    Trees literally fall down and die begging to be used. Trees grow out my back door – I didn’t move to a coal mine. They can be grown for free and make oxygen and shade and fruit. Are you anti-fruit?

    If ya don’t want to cut down the tree or use petrol pick up sticks.
    If the fire isn’t burning efficiently enough for you build a rocket stove they are 10 times more efficient than a conventional wood burner.

    I’m trying real hard to not be disrespectful but you’re arguments are conceptual and not practical.
    So you are annoyed at the use of fossil fuels being wasted to yield REPLACEABLE BTU’s but are in favour of massive inputs to USE ONCE on non-replaceable BTU’s of energy.

    Forests keep growing and growing and growing and growing.

    I was at a beach today in the Cooloola great sandy national park. Giant bone-dry, dead hardwood Eucalyptus and Corymbia/Lephostamon, all heavily leaning backwards away from the dominant south eastern prevailing winds, tell the story as they stood underneath the canopy of coppiced newer trees (mostly brushbox).

    The story goes like this.

    Up until the early 1800’s when the local aboriginal people were wiped out by small pox and a touch of intended English genocide they lived in a fire-scape of subtropical coastal heath and mixed vegetation. To live there, they had to get meat (create grass out of forest for marsupials – thus burn new growth and suppress tree growth) and save themselves with adequate fire-break and low-fuel systems. Alternatively they could just die in a wildfire. Ah choices… so hard.
    Then they get killed anyway – at least at that time.
    Undergrowth rages back in their absence, all fire-loving. Banksia, callistemon, acacia, lamandra, cassuarina, calitris etc.
    It all burns and finally releases massive germination of seed set from the ancient wind-shaped hardwood mother trees
    Millions of young trees germinate up the coast all competing and creating very straight trees now the wind is gone. (they create their own wind break)
    The best out compete the worst and then the loggers arrive in the early 1900’s and take out the big trees.
    Now we have 50 years of no burning. No more logging but all coppice over the top of old grey long dead trees and holiday makers and tourists.
    Those trees gunna burn again my friend and I’d rather manage it in my fireplace than lose a tonne more towns like we did a few years ago.

    Unless of course you are a fan of releasing ridiculous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere via uncontrolled wild fire.

    You have a lot to learn about firewood.

    #118195
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    VietnamVet posted the following situation summary at the very end of yesterday’s stuff, and it occurred to me that many readers might miss it for that reason. The easy fix is for me to just do this. . . .

    “There is no doubt that WWIII between the Russian and Western Empires has started. The conflict is escalating and is probably approaching the “no holds barred” stage. There is no diplomacy. There is no way out. One side or the other will lose, or everybody loses in a global nuclear war including China that is the last functioning Empire left.

    Ukraine is carrying the war to Russia now. Russia must mobilize and create a new Red Army to defend of the Motherland. The Western Empire is so wrapped up in money, individualism and profiteering that they simply do not see the energy shortages and the collapse of the financial debt pyramid coming this winter. The West has nothing to mobilize. Industry is gone or shutting down due to energy shortages/high prices. Westerners are overweight, sick, and broke. The only alternative to the looming use of tactical nuclear weapons is an armistice and DMZ. The current politicians who got us into this mess are not going to get us out of it. All I can do, personally, is vote against all incumbents in this November elections.

    The Coronavirus & Monkeypox Pandemics, WWIII, and the Food and Energy Shortages all have the same root cause. A death cult that thinks that they will always be safe and wealthy are pulling the strings. Russia is the last source of cheap available energy and resources left. They cannot profit without it.

    There are no governments remaining that are run by and for the people.”

    #118196
    zerosum
    Participant

    You made me a liar.
    You told me a secret.

    ——–
    1. Do the current pictures from Ukraine show the autumn colors?
    ———-
    2. Now, you know. Now you are a liar.
    Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo:

    “If it had been known two years ago or so, that this vaccine would increase cardiac deaths in young men by 84%, would they have approved it? The obvious answer is no.”

    ———
    3. Zelenskyy tells lies.
    As of Monday, October 10, Russia began delivering some disciplinary actions against Mr. Zelenskyy’s insolent regime. Russia sent missiles into at least 10 Ukrainian cities, targeting electric power generation, water, central heating, and other “key services” in Kiev and elsewhere. Message: if you think we’re fucking around, consider this an attitude adjustment opportunity.
    ——–
    4. The FBI knows secrets. The FBI tells lies.

    ——–
    5. The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone. T
    ——-
    6. Trudeau, tells lies
    ——–
    7. Presidents of USA tells lies
    • Trump Shreds Four Former Presidents, Hillary Clinton (CB)
    ———
    8. You read Dr D.
    You know secrets.
    You are a liar by omission.
    “Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government.”
    ———–
    9. Retired generals are liars.
    ———-

    #118197
    zerosum
    Participant

    lies
    Degrowth/inflation/recession is good for you but not for me

    #118198
    willem
    Participant

    Dr. D’s dissertation on “terrorism” is on the spot. “The word “Terrorist” like the word “Racist” now means all things.” Since 9/11, the word has become increasingly abused to the point where it is now both alarming and at the same time just tiresome. But one thing I feel pretty confident of is that when two governments are conducting Modern War on one another, neither can really call any action its opponent takes against it “terrorism.”

    #118199
    willem
    Participant

    Regarding the government’s tendency to classify virtually everything, one big reason is usually overlooked–the fact that it is easy. Back in the 70s when I was getting trained by the military in nuclear technology, later subjects did indeed deal with details of the technology that were somewhat closely guarded. But the early part of the training was just math and physics, all stuff that you could easily find in college textbooks. But we were required to stamp every page of notes we took with a rubber stamp “CONFIDENTIAL-NOFORN”. It was just because no one could be bothered to review each page to decide if anything confidential might actually be on there.

    #118200
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Putin , “When we send our missiles to bomb you it is a Special Military Operation , when you strike back at us it is terrorism.” What a vast masturbator.”

    I think you should write a letter to Congress. Or Putin. Or someone. Tell them you don’t like how they’re doing war stuff. Or terrorist stuff. Or something. They’re not boom-booming right, right?

    Coming up next: Emperor Kerxes has the sea flogged by whips as punishment for bad weather ruining his nautical military plans:

    “Say what you want about Persian King Xerxes I, he knew how to fight a battle. That is to say, he always brought enough men and material to get the job done. Yes, this is the same Xerxes seen in the movie 300, but before the Persian Army could get to Thermopylae, they had to cross the Hellespont, what we call the Dardanelles today. It did not go exactly as planned.

    “Like a lot of things the Persian Army tried.

    “Xerxes was coming right off of victories over uprisings against Persian rule in Egypt and Babylon and had acquired a massive army, as-then-unheard-of in ancient times. Some 300,000 troops were ready to pour into Greece to avenge the ass-kicking the Greeks perpetrated on Xerxes’ father, Darius. Xerxes was not one to overthink things. The simplest way to get a massive army from one land mass to another was to simply build a bridge and roads to it. Xerxes even had the bridges built in advance so his army wouldn’t have to wait to get to Greece.

    “This did not go exactly as the Persian Army planned. Before he and his troops could arrive, the seas swelled up and swallowed the bridges, completely destroying them. When the King arrived, it was just debris. Infuriated with the seas, Xerxes marched out to the sea and whipped it with a chain 300 times as his soldiers watched and shouted curses at the water.”

    Curses! Foiled Again!

    #118201

    Forgive us our secrets as we forgive those of our friends and our loved ones.
    We only suppose our secrets are hidden from curious eyes.
    Let us not be mistaken: all secrets breed lies.

    Forgive us our secrets as we forgive those of our experts and leaders, who wear them like clothes-
    To hide indiscretions; for power; for ill.
    Let us not be mistaken: our secrets can kill.

    1983 (posted at TAE on 2020 mar 25)
    I shamelessly cite myself. It’s a topic I have thought about a long time.

    #118202
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.rt.com/russia/564467-russia-strikes-ukraine-goals-achieved/
    11 Oct, 2022 12:42

    Moscow reveals results of new strikes on Ukraine
    Russia has confirmed attacks on infrastructure for the second day in a row and says all targets were hit

    New missile strikes targeting Ukrainian military command and control sites and the country’s energy infrastructure were conducted on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported during a daily briefing.

    The attacks hit all intended targets and “achieved their goals,” the military claimed.

    Earlier in the day, Ukrainian officials and media reported more Russian long-range attacks in a rerun of Monday’s strikes.

    Andrey Sadovoy, the mayor of the city of Lvov in western Ukraine, said his city faced another blackout due to the damage inflicted by Russia.

    “A missile strike at a critical infrastructure object” had left some 30% of Lvov without power, the official reported on social media. He added that there were issues with the water supply in the city and urged residents to stockpile for possible cuts.

    In Vinnitsa Region in central Ukraine, the head of the administration, Sergey Borzov, reported drone attacks on a local power station, but later edited his post to a more neutral report of “explosions” in his region. The operator of the Ladyzhin coal-fired power plant confirmed damage to its equipment in a drone raid on Tuesday morning.

    Kiev introduces rolling power blackouts

    Reports of Russian missiles being engaged by Ukrainian air defenses came from the regions of Kiev, Odessa, and Vinnitsa. In the Rovno and Krivoy Rog regions, people on social media reported blasts on the ground, presumably caused by Russian strikes.

    The barrages came a day after almost all major regions of Ukraine came under a massive aerial assault. The Ukrainian military claimed to have intercepted roughly half of the missiles, but nevertheless 11 key sites all across the country were damaged, according to the Ukrainian government.

    Moscow targeted Ukrainian power plants and other critical facilities after what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a series of “terrorist attacks” orchestrated by Ukrainian special services on Russian soil.

    The latest of them involved blowing up a truck laden with explosives on the Crimean Bridge, a strategic Russian link. Russian investigators reported on Saturday that at least three civilians were killed by the blast, but the number may be as high as six, given that three people are reportedly still missing, according to the Telegram-based news outlet 112.

    Putin said Kiev’s tactics could not be left without a response and argued that Kiev had exposed its energy sector to Russian strikes by trying for months to sabotage key Russian infrastructure.

    #118203
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ oxy
    Key phrase, in my opinion, of AFKTT post was “kiln dried fire wood for sale”, followed by the “list”, that should make one to pause and think what in the world that “we” are doing? You skipped the phrase and decided for vitriol option.
    I can not decide but even more annoying than Greta are the folks that think that “old way of life” should continue unabated.

    #118204
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Gee and all I was going to say (again) was that the CO2 in the wood was only put there last week and is a net zero.

    Still no interaction with that basic fact.

    Kiln drying of firewood is most probably turning gold into lead: burn the natgas not the wood and save yourself some trips to the ER with chainsaw injuries. Obviously standard woodburning is NOT bad by any measure, even as they fabricate the “Air quality” and other rot.

    The Russian war is again: staging the U.S. to be Russia in 1917. We are supposed to have a lost world war, an internal civil war, kill the King, end the Constitution and install automatic space communism after the Red Bolsheviks (Antifa) murder all the White Bolsheviks (military and the middle class, aka MAGA, aka, “Everybody else who can read”). But you can see although that is “The Plan”, it is not “going to plan” because the Red Hats CAN read. And know history a lot better than their Blue-Hat counterparts who are first against the wall after the Revolution comes. Already BLM approval is in the toilet, and they both didn’t do anything AND haven’t had to fight anything. It was enough they were a) violent, and b) corrupt, to lose support. With everyone, Blue and Black included.

    Anyway, this fits in because like Russia 1917, the U.S. will withdraw from the world stage and end empire and that’s totally unavoidable. Thank God. Yes, among other reasons that’s because we have no industry and no bullets, our ships and jets are 50 years old, and we’re an hollow international embarrassment that can’t project power even over Pushtun goat herders, but that’s not the only reason.

    Lying, from the Internet:

    “when your dominant minority stays in power by lying, that’s a sign that it doesn’t have the strength to rule by force. The more blatant the dishonesty, and the more the minority believes its own lies, the more likely you are to see everything unravel in the fairly short order. The US uses as much fraud as it does because its dominant minority is extremely vulnerable. “

    #118206
    zerosum
    Participant

    Another report that will go missing in the west
    https://southfront.org/another-busy-morning-for-russian-missiles-over-ukraine/
    ANOTHER BUSY MORNING FOR RUSSIAN MISSILES OVER UKRAINE

    #118207
    Noirette
    Participant

    That Russia would take the high road after the cutting off of NS1 and 2, and the blow-up of the Kerch bridge, saying we don’t do terrorism, was a a faint hope on my part.

    > They did so for tourist visas and many sanctions, saying this is BS, we don’t act that way…but more of that is not acceptable internally..

    When the Kerch bridge was planned and rapidly built, I was a bit dubious about it, it looked like a ‘prestige’ thing in part, and too vulnerable – also not necessary really, if the by-land liaison could one day be assured, which looked to be on the cards. I was imagining alternatives – a floating link – super-duper ferries – etc.

    So, Russia sends a series of targeted missiles into Ukraine as riposte for these ‘terrorist’ attacks.

    Very few ppl were killed (I read 7; 10..) so there is that. Of course, taking out the infrastructure for electricity etc. ultimately resembles the US, bomb-them-to-bits, in say, Baghdad. Plus, it is presented as a ‘warning’ – a restrained response…More *!* could be forthcoming…

    On the surface, what we see is a slow, grinding on, tit-for-tat fight (hybrid asymetrical warfare) with prevarications, warnings, responses and ripostes that occur on different levels, registers — all of them, at each point in time, leading to escalation, seemingly .. inexorably?

    As for land control, Russia is the clear winner, which will continue, even maybe be accepted, imho.

    The ‘collective West’ – via Zelensky, have stated that no negotiations with Putin can take place. So it is…Do or Die. (Yes, I read that Bolton said Putin should be assassinated.)
    I listened to the Duran guy who walks around Greece, and a F. analyst X. Moreau. Both pretty good in their own style.

    Alex says, wait and see and seemed to hint that the W could, might, back down, they can’t enter into a direct confrontation w. Russia.

    Xavier says there is no way back, there is now no way to de-escalate, it is all – out, that is it, this conflict can only be ended, resolved, with a clear winner / looser, submission of the losing party.

    What are the alternatives?

    links below

    #118208
    Noirette
    Participant
    #118209
    citizenx
    Participant

    @VietnamVet

    There are no governments remaining that are run by and for the people.

    Even despite your best personal efforts, changing government by force and puppets?

    According to this drug smuggling agency- this Nation has it’s citizens priorities at heart.

    Vietnam adheres to a security doctrine called the “Four Nos” (no alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign bases, and no using force in international relations).

    https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/vietnam/

    All I can do, personally, is vote against all incumbents in this November elections.

    Again, the alphabet agency says- All votes ‘count’, every election, every time.

    Maybe Juan Guaido is looking for a job? Any openings in Ukraine, yet? Fuck the EU right Victoria?

    7.62/5.45×39 54R for the Win !

    #118211
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    kultsommer

    ‘Key phrase, in my opinion, of AFKTT post was “kiln dried fire wood for sale”

    It is encouraging that some people do actually read what is written and do engage their brains before engaging their fingers.

    I hope that does not sound patronising.

    Time and time again, people who are picking for a fight pick out a few words and use those to engage in pointless arguments.

    Picks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

    Unfortunately, that is not true, and most people do suffer the ill-effects of badly chosen words fired at them from a young age, sometimes thoughtlessly, sometimes deliberately.

    Anyway, I’m sure the government has it all under control via a combination of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘hate speech’ legislation.

    A lot of people have a huge lesson to learn about energy. Contrary to popular belief, and contrary to the bizarre theories of mainstream economists and politicians, energy does not magically appear whenever it is required. Nor are the various forms of energy carrier interconvertible. However, all energy transitions (cascades) have one common feature: the final result is low-grade heat, which is unusable and is frequently a nuisance. Every energy transition device is inefficient. Biological energy capture systems and utilisation systems worked extremely well in the past because they had been ‘tried and tested over hundreds of millions of years. What a shame ‘we’ had to mess up so many of them.

    I am still amazed that leaves can convert light energy into chemical energy so effectively. I will be encouraging plants around here to do so as long as I am able. And to use whatever energy is available to me frugally.

    The government, on the other hand, is committed to wasting energy as quickly as possible, and to causing maximum environmental damage in the process.

    .

    #118212
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    British Bullshit Corporation is “in no danger of being objective.”

    #118213
    WES
    Participant

    When I am at the cottage I burn trees and branches. When I am at home in Toronto, I burn kiln dried lumber.

    Why? Because of what is locally available. At the cottage there are always plenty of trees and fallen branches available. In Toronto only kiln dried lumber is locally available, so that is what I burn. I am aware that burning kiln dried lumber is like communist Polish farmers feeding their pigs with bread instead of grain. The irony isn’t lost on me. I didn’t make the rules, I was just born here.

    I remember years ago Resources Canada folks having to finally admit burning wood was a renewable “green” energy source, much to their total disqust!

    #118214
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Russia wanted a peace deal. Joe Biden and NATO stopped it.

    #118215
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    Terrorism was always a stupid word. It’s a word stupid enough to provide the semantic basis for a “War on Terror”. Violence is violence, period, whether one-on-one, many-on-one (our favorite kind) or many-on-many. Reasons may vasy, but killing is killing, maiming is maiming, and kicking ass is kicking ass.

    Also, wood is wood and carbon is carbon. In Euromerica, we switched from wood to coal because we’d run out of wood. We switched from coal to oil for similar reason plus the amazing flexibility of utility that petroleum provides. We’re gonna miss that stuff when it’s gone.`

    Alternate Energy Source

    Below is my favorite wood-burning device. Salvaged from a hunter’s cabin left to ruin, I used this to make conductive/convective heat from wood in a way that didn’t all go up into the air above before it could warm my bones a bit when I lived in the woods back in 2016:

    Fire in the Hole

    #118216
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ Noirette
    Do more …. I enjoyed the Kiev tour

    #118222
    John Day
    Participant

    “Straussians” is up, but I seemed to be blocked from commenting here at all. I’ll try the old google-blog link
    https://www.johndayblog.com/2022/10/straussians.html

    #118223
    John Day
    Participant

    That worked. Y’all know about my Substack blog. Let’s try a link and excerpts…

    Alastair Crooke lays out a contextual framework for understanding current events in the world, from politics, to war to global movements of oil, gas and resources and the collapsing western financial system. Thanks FS.
    Why are European Elites being so silent about NATO and Financial attacks on Europe?
    It appears that all of the key European bureaucratic elites have been captured by the security-complex with bribes and blackmail.

    ​ ​Western media is full of speculation whether, or not, we stand at the cusp of WW3. Actually, we are already there. The long war never stopped. In the wake of America’s 2008 Financial Crisis, the U.S. needed to reinforce its economy’s collateral resource base. For the Straussian current (the neocon hawks if you prefer), Russia’s then post-Cold War weakness was ‘opportunity’ to open a new war front. The U.S. hawks wanted to kill two birds with one stone: to pillage Russia’s valuable resources to reinforce their own economy and to fracture Russia into a kaleidoscope of parts.
    ​For the Straussians, the Cold War too never ended. The world remains binary – ‘us and them, good and evil’.
    ​ ​But the neoliberal pillage ultimately didn’t succeed – to the lasting chagrin of the Straussians. Since 2014 at least, (according to one senior Russian official), the Great Game has moved towards the attempt by the U.S. to control the flows and corridors of energy – and to set its price. And, on the other side, on Russia’s counter-measures to create fluid and dynamic transit networks through pipelines and Asian internal waterways – and to set the price of energy. (Now via OPEC+)

    ​ ​Why​ is this “WW3”?
    In my view it is a world war because it is an existential struggle for existence between a prevailing global economic structure in decline, and efforts by about 75% of the world to replace it with something less brutal and more equitable. The necessity for sustained exponential growth​ is the final failing of the exponential expansion of debt and debt-based money. The exponential-growth debt-economy was able to grow faster than other models in a time of abundant and inexpensive natural resources where using them faster allowed it to use them faster-er and swamp any slower competitors. On the other hand, Russia is finished with its collapse and has been rebuilding for 20 years. Much of the world, even the House of Saud, is aligning against global neoliberalism, as it appears to be unable to persist without expansion, which is effectively blocked.

    ​ ​One prescient financial commentator noted: “Bubbles bursting are not just about inflated prices falling, they’re about the recognition that an entire way of thinking was wrong”. Put simply, did the Straussians adequately think through their recent exaltation of the pipeline disruption? … Curiously, the sabotage coincided with reports suggesting that secret talks were afoot between Germany and Russia to resolve all Nordstream issues and to restart supply​..​.
    ​..​The ‘Straussians’ are the followers of Leo Strauss, the leading neo-con theorist. Many are former Trotskyists who morphed over, from Left to Right (call them Neocon ‘hawks’ if you prefer). Their message is a very simple doctrine about the maintenance of power: ‘Never let it slip’; block any rival from emerging; do whatever it takes.
    ​ ​Leading Straussian, Paul Wolfowitz, wrote this simple doctrine of ‘destroy any emergent rivals before they destroy you’ into the U.S. 1992 official Defence Planning Document – adding to it that Europe and Japan particularly were to be ‘discouraged’ from questioning U.S. global primacy.​..​
    ​..Straussians flit easily from U.S. political party to party. They have too their ‘useful’ auxiliaries deeply burrowed within the U.S.’ élite class, and institutions of state power. The oldest and most trusty of these auxiliary forces however, is the Anglo-American intelligence and security alliance…
    ..The ‘Straussians’ prefer to scheme from ‘behind the curtain’ and in certain U.S. think-tanks…Their alliances always remain temporary, opportunistic.​..
    ..The first such important impulse in the current reframing is liberal-woke, activist-driven, social justice-oriented identity politics. Why wokeism? Why should woke be of interest to the CIA and MI6? Because it is revolutionary. Identity politics was evolved during the French Revolution to upend the status quo; to overthrow its pantheon of hero-models, and to displace the existing élite and rotate a ‘new class’ into power. This definitely excites the interest of Straussians.​..
    ..Biden refers here, not to generic democracy in the wider meaning, but to America’s liberal-woke re-justification for global hegemony (defined as “our democracy”)…
    ​..​The second key dynamic – the Green Transition – is one that co-habits under the Biden Administration umbrella, together with the very radical and distinct philosophy of Silicon Valley – an eugenist and trans-human view that aligns in some respects with that of the ‘Davos’ crowd, as well as with the straight-forward Climate Emergency activists.​..
    ..​T​hese two distinct, but companion piece dynamics to ‘our democracy’, crossed the Atlantic to burrow deeply into the Brussels leadership class. And, put simply, the Euro-Version of liberal-woke activism keeps intact the Straussian doctrine of U.S. and western exceptionalism…
    ..The aim of Manicheanism (since Carl Schmitt first made the point) is to foreclose on any mediation with rivals by portraying them as sufficiently ‘evil’ that discourse with them become pointless and morally defective…
    ..At the tip of the European ‘spear’ reside the Green zealots— particularly the truly revolutionary German, Green Party. They hold the leadership in Germany and are at the helm at the EU Commission. It is Green zealotry fused to ‘ruining Russia’ – an intoxicating mix…
    ..With Russia weakened sufficiently, and with Putin effected, the vultures would prey at the Russian carcass for resources – precisely as occurred in the 1990s…
    ..What can the European Green zealots say? They wanted anyway to throw down the pillars of industrialised society. Well, they got it. The Nordstream ‘escape route’ out from economic catastrophe has gone. There is nothing else, but to mumble unconvincingly: ‘Putin did it’.​ ​​ (Note: ​T​hat’s not an action-plan.)
    ​..What next? The hawks likely will now play their next hand in the high stakes game of WW3 ‘chicken’. The soaring dollar is one vector. The question is who holds the stronger cards? The West believes it holds the Ukraine card. Russia believes it has ace economic cards of food, energy, and resource security – and has a stable economy…
    ​ ​Much will depend on the fall-out from the Bubble burst. As that one commentator put it: “The moment has come for central bankers to tighten and to unwind their various market distortions: The impact has already been catastrophic.”

    Europe’s Eerie Silence – The Curious Case of the Dog That Did Not Bark

    ​ ​The financial system based on trust that loan-interest will be serviced​, or collateral seized, is now completely in doubt.​ Massive losses must be imposed on entire nations and classes of assets and asset-holders. Killing a lot of people seems unlikely to extinguish enough property-claims, and it also destroys real-property.
    ​ One great appeal of the nascent BRICS+ system is the renunciation of $US debt. That chooses who loses, holders of $US debt, which is mainly western-banking-and-finance. Those debts are 75% owed by the west, as well. If the global south and Asia can default and live, then European and English speaking countries, and Japan, will also need to follow suit and join the new financial regime.​
    That will be a transition of great hardship, like the Russian 1990s, I think.

    #118225
    John Day
    Participant

    Yes, the link to my Substack blog is blocked. I just tried it again and alone.
    I’m moving up in the world. Same content on my Google blog (for now)

    Pepe Escobar has a lot more to offer than the sensational headline: Terror on Crimea Bridge forces Russia to unleash Shock’n Awe
    Russian President Vladimir Putin neatly summarized it: “This is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critical civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation.”
    ​ ​The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, confirmed face-to-face with Putin that Terror on the Bridge was carried out by the SBU – Ukrainian special services.​ [Except that maybe it was MI-6 that did it.]​
    ​ Escobar describes in detail the initial order for Bulgarian explosives, originating in Ukraine, and the transport route through various countries, where packaging prevented its identification. It was apparently planned to explode on Friday October 7, Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday, but it ran a bit late.
    ..The driver of the first truck is already testifying. Yusubov, the driver of the second truck – which exploded on the bridge – was “blind:” he had no idea what he was carrying, and is dead…
    ..The packaging most certainly took place in Bulgaria. That, as Russian intel has cryptically implied, indicates the involvement of “foreign special services.”​…
    ​..An assessment received by The Cradle from another Russian intel source is way more intriguing.
    ​ ​At least 450 kg of explosives were employed in the blast. Not on the truck, but mounted inside the Crimea Bridge span itself. The white truck was just a decoy by the terrorists “to create a mirage of cause and effect.” When the truck reached the point on the bridge where the explosives were mounted, the explosion took place.
    ​ ​According to the source, railroad employees told investigators that there was a form of electronic hijacking; the terror operators took control of the railway so the train carrying fuel received a command to stop because of a false signal that the road ahead was busy.
    ​ ​Bombs mounted on the bridge spans were a working hypothesis largely debated in Russian military channels over the weekend, as well as the use of underwater drones.​ [There is ​also ​a rumor and video of missile attack which seems untrue. https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-do-videos-show-missile-hitting-russias-kerch-bridge-crimea-1750364 ]​
    ​ ​In the end, the quite sophisticated plan could not follow the necessarily rigid timing. There was no alignment by the millimeter between the mounted explosive charges, the passing truck and the fuel train stopped in its tracks. Damage was limited, and easily contained. The charges/truck combo exploded on the outer right lane of the road.​..
    ​..​”Terror on the Bridge” yielded a short, Pyrrhic PR victory – duly celebrated across the collective West – with negligible practical success: transfer of Russian military cargo by railway resumed in roughly 14 hours.
    ​ ​And that brings us to the key information in the Russian intel source assessment: the whodunnit.
    ​ ​It was a plan by the British MI6, says this source, without offering further details. Which, he elaborates, Russian intel, for a number of reasons, is shadow-playing as “foreign special services.”​ …
    ..Americans rushed to establish plausible deniability. The proverbial “Ukrainian government official” told CIA mouthpiece The Washington Post that the SBU did it. That was a straight confirmation of an Ukrainska Pravda report based on an “unidentified law enforcement official.”​ …
    ..The face of Russian Shock’n Awe is Russian Commander of the Aerospace Forces, Army General Sergey Surovikin: the new commander-in-chief of the now totally centralized SMO/CTO (counterterrorism operation) …
    ..Surovikin has been commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces since 2017; was awarded the title of Hero of Russia for his no-nonsense leadership of the military operation in Syria; and had on the ground experience in Chechnya in the 1990s…
    ..Over 60 percent of Ukrainian power grids are already knocked out. Over 75 percent of internet traffic is gone. Elon Musk’s Starlink netcentric warfare has been “disconnected” by the Ministry of Defense…
    ​..​Ukraine is about to embrace nearly total darkness in the next few days. Politically, that opens a completely new ball game. Considering Moscow’s trademark “strategic ambiguity,” this could be a sort of Desert Storm remixed (massive air strikes preparing a ground offensive); or, more likely, an ‘incentive’ to force NATO to negotiate; or just a relentless, systematic missile offensive mixed with Electronic Warfare (EW) to shatter for good Kiev’s capacity to wage war.
    ​ ​Or it could be all of the above.
    ​ ​How a humiliated western Empire can possibly raise the stakes now, short of going nuclear, remains a key question. Moscow has shown admirable restraint for too long. No one should ever forget that in the real Great Game – how to coordinate the emergence of the multipolar world – Ukraine is just a mere sideshow.
    https://thesaker. is/terror-on-crimea-bridge-forces-russia-to-unleash-shockn-awe/

    ​ John Helmer, at Dances With Bears, has a lot of information about the Ukrainian power grid, which has been disabled several times this year, though official Ukrainian government statistics seek to paint a rosier picture. This grid is completely vulnerable to military attack going into winter.​
    http://johnhelmer. net/russian-army-fires-old-sparky-us-loses-the-electric-war-in-the-ukraine/

    ​ ​People in England, Scotland and Wales could be in for three hour power cuts this winter if it can’t import enough gas and electric imports from other parts of Europe, the British National Grid has warned. The utility said that the scenario was “unlikely,” but that a perfect storm of Russian gas cuts and a cold snap akin to 2018’s “beast from the east” could result in the rolling blackouts – reminiscent of power outages experienced in the 1970s.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/uk-national-grid-warns-3-hour-rolling-blackouts-winter

    #118226
    John Day
    Participant

    Global margin call hits European debt markets​ (No more free lunch​es​ at the expense of the real economy?​ How far can this load-shedding proceed?​)
    Hedges blow up after risk gauges in Germany’s government debt market exceeded those of the 2008 world crash​
    ​NEW YORK – Risk gauges in Germany’s government debt market rose last week to levels higher than recorded in the 2008 world financial crash, as margin calls forced the liquidation of derivatives positions held by banks, insurers and pension funds.
    ​ ​Big institutional investors that spent the past ten years insuring their portfolios against falling interest rates now face massive losses as hedges blow up. A key measure of market risk, the spread between German government bonds (Bunds) and interest rate swap agreements jumped above the previous record set in 2008.
    ​ ​The cost of hedging German government debt with interest-rate options, or option-implied volatility, meanwhile rose to the highest level on record.

    Global margin call hits European debt markets

    ​ There’s always the “kinetic option” Biden’s Options To Counter OPEC+ Are Limited
    OPEC+ bluntly demonstrated it can do whatever it feels it needs to do to protect its own interest, even if this means going against the interests of its traditional allies, including its biggest one.
    ​ ​As Bloomberg’s Javier Blas put it in a commentary piece after the meeting, “The US and its Western allies need to pay attention. For the first time in recent energy history, Washington, London, Paris and Berlin don’t have a single ally inside the OPEC+ group.”
    ​ ​One might argue that this tectonic change in geopolitics is more important for the future of the world than the war in Ukraine, although these are certainly not isolated from each other.
    ​ ​Saudi Arabia has already stated its desire to join the BRICS alliance in what can hardly be interpreted as anything less than a declaration of support for the Russia/China bloc. Its closest ally at home, the UAE, tends to follow Riyadh’s foreign policy, so it is on board with this distancing from the West and forging closing relations with a symbolic East and a very literal group that represents a substantial portion of global GDP.
    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Bidens-Options-To-Counter-OPEC-Are-Limited.html

    ​ Consciousness ​of Sheep has much more on the implications of the shifting power alliances which may soon cancel the petro-buck.
    ​ ​The political fallout from the OPEC+ decision to cut its oil production target by two million barrels a day – which would leave the world economy around six million barrels a day short of its pre-pandemic peak – is sufficient to push us closer to collapse. The Biden administration, who optimistically believed the President had secured a 200-million-barrel deal with the Saudis to replenish the USA’s strategic reserve, have treated the announcement as tantamount to a declaration of war.​..
    ..The Biden administration’s response is likely to be an attempt to implement the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels – NOPEC, geddit? – Act, which passed through the Senate in May, to bring anti-trust suits against OPEC+ states and to impound their US-held property.​..
    ..​In 2019​ … Saudi Arabia threatened to sell its oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar if Washington passed a version of the NOPEC bill. Such a move would reduce Washington’s clout in global trade by undermining the dollar’s status as the world’s main reserve currency, while also weakening the U.S.’ ability to enforce sanctions on nation states.​..​
    ..These latter concerns point to the likely next steps, as it is an open secret that Saudi Arabia is partnering with the BRICS states in their project to launch a new, commodity-backed reserve currency which is expected to encompass a third of world trade the moment it is launched…
    ..Concern has been increasing this year that OPEC states may no longer have the capacity to raise production. At the very best, the production cut may reflect the $150-$200 oil price which might be required even to maintain today’s level of output for a few more years. At worse, it may simply be the first recognition of an irreversible decline in output which will bring an end to the western parts of the global economy in short order.​..
    ​.​.If the 75 percent of the world’s countries which ​… have been historically exploited by​ ​the Western states were to deny those states the energy and commodities they have become accustomed to, then the remainder of the world’s people might be able to grow their standard of living for another decade or so.

    In Brief: OPEC and out, Prices up – inflation down, Constructive ambiguity, The essential difference, Pet cemetery, Another fuel shortage, Spam fritter

    ​The EU can censor the whole-world-of-Twitter: ​How the EU is Forcing Twitter to Censor (and Musk Can’t Stop It)

    How the EU is Forcing Twitter to Censor (and Musk Can’t Stop It)

    Tulsi Gabbard renounces Democratic Party membership in first 5 minutes of her new TV show. She cites war-mongering and divisiveness, the opposite of what drew her to the peace-protesting and inclusive party initially.
    Tulsi can only get elected in Hawaii as a Democrat, so she will need to run nationally if at all. 2024 Republican VP position looks about right,..
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tulsi-gabbard-abandons-elitist-woke-anti-white-democratic-party

    #118227
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    I think you should write a letter to Congress. Or Putin. Or someone. Tell them you don’t like how they’re doing war stuff. Or terrorist stuff. Or something. They’re not boom-booming right, right?

    Well put

    #118228
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ AFKTT
    I have already posted my observation about attention span of some readers. Aaah…the sweet rush to post one’s opinion
    using the snow shovel.
    Once, I think it was phoenixvoice who posted that beauty of this site that, in her view, readers welcome “different opinion”. I did not reply then so I’ll use opportunity to do it now: “Don’t make me laugh!”

    #118229
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    oxy I enjoyed your comment about firewood.

    AFKTT would benefit from living life in nature lessons

    #118230
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    If I was selling kiln dried firewood and for those who don’t know anything about firewood from someone living in nature, the wood firewood would be dried in a solar kiln, think greenhouse

    #118231
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Again, the alphabet agency says- All votes ‘count’, every election, every time.

    Because?

    What “good” would stealing an election achieve if “the people”, i.e. electorate, failed to consent to the “government” of your selected autocrat puppets?

    For fascism to function & expand, the majority of “the people” have to be hoodwinked into the support thereof…

    It’s not the “the alphabet agency’s” fault that “the people” are too stupid to realize that politics is a game of Three-card Monte.

    “The people” are sooo busy with the latest tomfoolery of their Collective Eg0ic Madness (e.g. Demorats good! Trump bad! MAGA are terr’ists!), why wouldn’t “the alphabet agency” want to “All votes ‘count’, every election, every time”, when the ‘count’ is rigged? 😐

    That “the people” haven’t grokked that the elections stink to high heaven, given the multitude of indications exhibiting that

      REALITY

    , when “the alphabet agency” et al. are infamous in their rigging of elections for geopolitical shenanigans, how could anyone blame the consent of tyranny created by “the people” on anyone beyond “the people” themselves?

    At this point I personally believe that “the people” want The Empire, how could it be otherwise?

    That’s like assigning blame to the gun & ignoring the murdering psycho that pulled the trigger 😐

    Oh, wait…

    So we have a War on Infrastructure, worldwide. And that is a War on all Civilians and Humans, worldwide.

    Because nobody will tell the truth AND every reporter and Western person is a drooling moron, I can’t figure out what’s happening.

    “when your dominant minority stays in power by lying, that’s a sign that it doesn’t have the strength to rule by force. The more blatant the dishonesty, and the more the minority believes its own lies, the more likely you are to see everything unravel in the fairly short order. The US uses as much fraud as it does because its dominant minority is extremely vulnerable.“

    Within the USofA, the “War on all Civilians and Humans” is multifaceted game gleefully played by the apparatchiks (Autocrat puppets) ~ The War on Poverty, War on Guns, War on Drugs, even the War on Misinformation.

    All of these wars further empower + enrich “The Empire”, which “the people” apparently consent to via their nonstop participation as the electorate ~ Even the “Open Borders” charade is part & parcel of the “War on all Civilians and Humans”. Cognitive dissonance is a POWERFUL drug…

    “Americans today are more likely to believe in witches, ghosts, and astrology than to trust the federal government.”

    Collective EG0ic Madness aka Mass Formation Psychosis is a state-of-being characterized by malignant flights of fantasy. The proliferation of horror, murder, criminal, super villain et al. “entertainment” (passing as “art”) is a *BIG* tell concerning the spiritual blackness of “Americans”…

    Sometimes the *TRUTH* is so harsh, only the sociopaths acknowledge & operate accordingly.

    #118232
    aspnaz
    Participant

    oxymoron said

    Okay, let’s get the manufacturing consent and framing out of the way first AFKTT.

    What is the relation between your post and AFKTT’s post? What has fire wood got to do with controlled burning of forests other than “wood”? AFKTT was talking about the collecting, curing and burning of fire wood, not forests. This is the second time you have written this rant about some Australian trees that used to be burnt by abos, please don’t make it three times. We get it, you know that abos burnt trees, great. It actually happens all over the world, not just in Australia and we understand that you have bush fires in Australia because your government refuses to follow abo traditions.

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