Nov 072022
 
 November 7, 2022  Posted by at 9:15 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Rembrandt van Rijn Small self portrait 1627-28

 

Dead Hand’s Revenge: What Would Happen If The West Strikes Russia? (Duncan)
Ukraine Conflict Approaching Its Stalingrad – Serbian President (RT)
Democrats, Not Democracy, Are In Danger This Election (Turley)
The Trojan Horse Presidency (Dmitry Orlov)
There May Not Be a 2024 Election – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
Researchers Find Massive Anti-Russian ‘Bot Army’ (Cronau)
Scholz‘s 11-hours Visit to Beijing Spells Catastrophe (Pattberg)
US ‘Privately’ Urging Ukraine To Negotiate – WaPo (RT)
US Presidential Adviser Sullivan In Confidential Talks With Kremlin -WSJ (RT)
Kiev Prepares For Total Blackout – NYT (RT)
Maersk Warns Of ‘Dark Clouds On The Horizon’ (RT)
Energy Disaster Awaits EU After This Winter – Oil CEOs (RT)
Europe May See Forced De-Industrialization As Result Of Energy Crisis (ZH)
Biden Press Secretary Under Fire For ‘Mega MAGA Republican’ Comment (ZH)
Twitter Ad Boycott Organized By Soros, Clinton, Foreign Networks (Schachtel)
Wot’s In The Shots? (Weisser)

 

 

“I am so disappointed with my Grandpa. He is voting Democrat next week.
When he was alive, he was a staunch Republican.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen this man?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1588920818943557634

 

 

 

 

Gates
https://twitter.com/i/status/1589050562942844929

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Having suddenly started, the nuclear war ended just as suddenly, destroying everyone. There were no winners or losers.”

Dead Hand’s Revenge: What Would Happen If The West Strikes Russia? (Duncan)

One of Perimeter’s developers, Alexander Zheleznyakov, described a possible scenario for using the system as follows: “Two hours after the start of hostilities, when it seemed that there was nothing and, most importantly, no one to fight, in the remote Siberian taiga, in the Kazakh steppes, in the swamps of central Russia, the hatches of mine launchers almost simultaneously opened, and dozens of silver giants rushed into the sky. Thirty minutes later, the fate of Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, Berlin and Prague, Beijing and Havana was shared by Washington and New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Bonn and London, Paris and Rome, Sydney and Tokyo. Having suddenly started, the nuclear war ended just as suddenly, destroying everyone. There were no winners or losers.

[..] Is the Dead Hand dead? Yarynich was the one to blow the whistle on Perimeter after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, he spoke cautiously about the key details of the Dead Hand system with American nuclear security expert Bruce Blair, who revealed the existence of the system in a New York Times op-ed, not mentioning the Russian colonel, though his colleagues were well aware who had leaked the information. In 2003, Yarynich himself wrote a book, ‘C3: Nuclear Command, Control, Cooperation,’ providing even more details. He had spent the rest of his life fighting for transparency within the nuclear command and control mechanisms of Russia and the US. “Nuclear weapons should not be viewed as a political instrument,” he believed.

“Today, we are facing an obvious absurdity,” Yarynich wrote in the introduction to his book. “On the one hand … the United States and Russia have become unprecedentedly open with each other, exchanging information that used to be completely secret during the Cold War.” “Now publicly accessible computer databases include information about the various types of American and Russian ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, their numbers, characteristics, location, design bureaus and production facilities … The results of such decisive steps is evident: the process of nuclear arms reduction has started and is successfully continuing.” However, Yarynich argued, this isn’t enough: absolute secrecy still reigns when it comes to command and control of nuclear weapons. “Two issues are of greatest importance here,” he explained.

“First, what measures have been taken by the nuclear powers against accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons, and how reliable are those measures? Second, what is the ideology for hypothetical authorized deployment of nuclear weapons?” In 2007, Yarynich gave a detailed interview to Wired magazine. In it, he repeated his story about the technical features of the Perimeter, and most importantly, confirmed that the system is constantly being updated, and that he’s proud to have been involved in its development: it successfully managed its task in the Cold War and can continue to serve. All he wanted was for the system to be talked about. Yarynich believed that publicity around the system would be useful to Russia: no one wants to die in vain.

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“..we’re facing the Battle of Stalingrad, the decisive battle in the conflict in Ukraine, the battle for Kherson..”

Ukraine Conflict Approaching Its Stalingrad – Serbian President (RT)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has compared the anticipated battle for Kherson between Russian and Ukrainian forces to the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II, warning that aftershocks from the fighting would be felt far outside the conflict zone. “Challenging times are ahead of us. Next winter will be even harsher than this one because we’re facing the Battle of Stalingrad, the decisive battle in the conflict in Ukraine, the battle for Kherson,” Vucic said in an interview with Pink TV on Sunday. Both sides are likely to deploy thousands of tanks, aircraft and artillery pieces in the struggle for the key city, he predicted. “The West [which is backing Ukraine in the conflict and supplying it with arms] thinks it’ll be able to ruin Russia that way, while Russia believes it’ll be able to defend what it obtained at the start of the war and bring it to an end,” the Serbian leader said.

The massive fighting in Kherson “is going to create additional problems everywhere,” Vucic warned. Stalingrad is believed to have been the biggest and bloodiest battle of World War II, and proved to be a turning point in the conflict. According to some estimations, the fighting between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany between August 1942 and February 1943 resulted in up to two million casualties, with more than a million dead. The city of Kherson on the Dnieper River came under Russian control just days after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in late February. Kherson Region was officially declared part of the Russian state in early October, together with Zaporozhye Region and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, after people in those territories overwhelmingly supported the move in referendums.

The Ukrainian government has made the recapture of Kherson one of its main goals, having planned a large-scale offensive on the city for months. In recent weeks, the Kiev troops have repeatedly tried to advance in the area, but all of those attacks have been repelled. On Sunday, Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the regional administration, warned that Ukraine had been “deploying more and more APCs and tanks” near Kherson in what could be preparation for another offensive. Russia has been making plans to defend the city from a possible attack. Last month, the authorities started relocating civilians from Kherson and areas on the right bank of the Dnieper over concerns that Ukrainian strikes on the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam could lead to major flooding.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that “those living in Kherson must be evacuated from the most dangerous zone of action. The civilian population must not suffer from shelling, any kind of offensive and counter-offensive, and other activities related to military operations.”

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“.. it is democracy or death, gas or grandchildren — you choose.”

Democrats, Not Democracy, Are In Danger This Election (Turley)

Historian Michael Beschloss’s warning on MSNBC — speculating that “our children will be arrested and conceivably killed” if Republicans win control of Congress — summed up the final pitch by President Biden and fellow Democrats ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Apparently, it is not gas prices, the economy or crime that once again are the top polling issues for voters. Instead, it is democracy or death, gas or grandchildren — you choose. Biden returned to this theme in what White House chief of staff Ron Klain called his “final warning” to voters. The president ominously cautioned voters who might be thinking of voting for Republicans that, “make no mistake, democracy is on the ballot for all of us.” In other words, be afraid, be very afraid.

Biden was widely criticized for an earlier Philadelphia speech that denounced political opponents as fascists plotting to overthrow democracy. Yet he and others have returned to that theme as Democrats appear to be losing ground even in traditional blue states. Among others, Hillary Clinton warned that the GOP is trying to “steal” the election and that “they’re going after democracy.“ The president’s attacks do not appear to be gaining much traction, with polls showing that most people view him as inciting political unrest. Nevertheless, on almost every network and cable news program, the mantra seems unrelenting: If the GOP prevails in the midterms, democracy could be lost.

Whereas the media once pushed a false Russia collusion claim in the 2016 election, this time it is pushing a claim that the GOP itself represents the threat to our liberties and very lives. As Democratic alarm over a GOP win in both houses of Congress has increased with polling in the past two weeks, so has the alarming rhetoric. Beschloss, for instance, warned that not only may democracy have just a few days left but there may be no one allowed to record its fall: “Fifty years from now, if historians are allowed to write in this country and if there are still free publishing houses and a free press — which I’m not certain of, but if that is true — a historian will say what was at stake … was the fact whether we will be a democracy in the future, whether our children will be arrested and conceivably killed.”

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“What if the president is an organo-servo-robot, a senile puppet, backed up by a vice president specifically chosen for being even more feeble-minded?”

The Trojan Horse Presidency (Dmitry Orlov)

The US midterm elections are nigh and, as I happen to be a good and patriotic Russian national, it behooves me to meddle in them. Election-meddling is an example of Russia’s soft power, which is much nicer than Russia’s hard power, so you should be glad that it’s still on offer. I am on record saying that “The United States is not a democracy and it doesn’t matter who is president” multiple times in multiple places, and I stand by that statement, which I believe to be a provable statement of fact. Statistics show that there is zero correlation between public preferences and public policy decisions but a strong correlation between business lobby group preferences and pubic policy decisions. Thus the US is not a democracy (rule by the people) but an oligopoly (rule by business groups).

From this it follows that it doesn’t matter who is president because both parties of the Democrat-Republican duopoly are owned by the same set of business groups. And so it doesn’t matter who is president and your vote means nothing? Granted; but then does it matter WHETHER there is a president? Methinks, it does! What if the president is an organo-servo-robot, a senile puppet, backed up by a vice president specifically chosen for being even more feeble-minded? This is an excellent ploy for putting in power an extremist group that is only tangentially related to the usual business lobbies that determine what gets done in Washington. Don’t think of some vast and amorphous “deep state”: executing such a power grab requires tight coordination, some amount of secrecy or, at least, discretion, and, of course, vast sums of money.

Think instead of a singularly well-endowed evil oligarch and his multiple minions whom he has carefully groomed and insinuated into positions of power.The overall goal of such an extremist group may well go far beyond the usual interests of business lobbies, such as preserving shareholder equity, a wider spot at the federal subsidy trough, knocking down transnational barriers to trade and movement of capital, lower business taxes and so on. These zealots may well have an altogether different view of the future in mind, in which a tiny group of ultra-rich owns everything while the rest of us own nothing but, being made tame and docile through all sorts of medical and technical manipulation, feel happy about this state of affairs… like so many animals in a menagerie… not too many animals, mind you: drastic population reduction is likely a key goal of theirs.

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“It’s just so corrupt, it is over the top. It doesn’t matter who wins. Nobody is going to accept this thing, and that is the problem.”

There May Not Be a 2024 Election – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says, “The cheating in the midterm election next week is going to be so great that it is almost impossible to make a prediction. . . . In a fair midterm election, the Republicans would win the House and the Senate.” So, what does his Socrates program see for next week? Armstrong, says, “It’s going to be tight, and the Republicans have a shot at taking the House. Technically, they should take the House and the Senate. I am just not sure. The corruption is so bad, it’s crazy. Pennsylvania sent out hundreds of thousands of ballots to people who are not documented or even American. I’ve gotten emails from people in Canada, they are getting mail-in ballots. They mailed them to Canada. .Where this ends up, who knows? It’s just so corrupt, it is over the top. It doesn’t matter who wins. Nobody is going to accept this thing, and that is the problem.”

The cheating is going to be so in your face President Trump may not even be able to run for President two years from now. Armstrong contends, “We may not even have an election in 2024. It is not looking very good, and it’s probably because this election is not going to be accepted. When it is so over-the-top corrupt, what do you do for the next one? The United States will not exist after 2032. After 2028 and 2029, we are going to have to redesign a government from scratch. America is being destroyed. Republics always end in absolute corruption. We just saw the same thing happen in Brazil. They staged a major effort to take Bolsonaro out. . . . This is a worldwide effort. They had to get rid of Trump. The other one who stood in their way is Bolsonaro. Then there is Putin (Russia) and Xi Jinping (China). I think you are going to have historians look back at this 50 years from now, and they will call this period ‘The Climate Change Wars’. .They are trying to take down as much oil energy capacity as possible.”

Armstrong is still seeing very strong signals on domestic violence everywhere. Armstrong explains, “Our computer is showing it’s going to be a rocket launch for volatility and civil unrest next year.” Armstrong also contends there will be a major loss of confidence in government around the world. That means gold will start having big demand from big money. Armstrong also predicts, “The whole monetary system as we know it is collapsing. That was what the bond crisis in the UK was about.”

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Set up well before Feb 24.

Researchers Find Massive Anti-Russian ‘Bot Army’ (Cronau)

A team of researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that as many as 80 percent of tweets about the 2022 Russia-Ukraine invasion in its early weeks were part of a covert propaganda campaign originating from automated fake “bot” accounts. An anti-Russia propaganda campaign originating from a “bot army” of phony automated Twitter accounts flooded the internet at the start of the war. The research shows that of the more than 5 million tweets studied, 90.2 percent (both bot and non-bot) came from accounts that were pro-Ukraine, with fewer than 7 percent of the accounts being classed as pro-Russian. The university researchers also found these automated tweets had been purposely used to drive up fear amongst people targeted by them, boosting a high level of statistically measurable “angst” in the online discourse.

The research team analysed a massively unprecedented 5,203,746 tweets, sent with key hashtags, in the first two weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Feb. 24. The researchers looked at predominately English-language accounts. A calculated 1.8 million unique Twitter accounts in the dataset posted at least one English-language tweet. The results were published in August in a research paper, titled “#IStandWithPutin versus #IStandWithUkraine: The interaction of bots and humans in discussion of the Russia/Ukraine war,” by the University of Adelaide’s School of Mathematical Science.The size of the sample under study, of over 5-million tweets, dwarfs other recent studies of covert propaganda in social media surrounding the Ukraine war.

The little-reported Stanford University/Graphika research on Western disinformation, analysed by Declassified Australia in September, examined just under 300,000 tweets from 146 Twitter accounts. The Meta/Facebook research on Russian disinformation reported widely by mainstream media, including by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) a fortnight later, looked at only 1,600 Facebook accounts. Reports on the new research have appeared in only a few independent media sites, and on Russia’s RT. The ground-breaking study exposing a massive anti-Russia social media disinformation campaign has been effectively ignored by Western establishment media, showing how stories that don’t fit the desired pro-Western narrative are routinely buried.

The Adelaide University researchers unearthed a massive organised pro-Ukraine influence operation underway from the early stages of the conflict. Overall, the study found automated “bot” accounts to be the source of between 60 to 80 percent of all tweets in the dataset. The published data shows that in the first week of the Ukraine-Russia war there was a huge mass of pro-Ukrainian hashtag bot activity. Approximately 3.5 million tweets using the hashtag #IStandWithUkraine were sent by bots in that first week. In fact, it was like someone had flicked a switch at the start of the war as pro-Ukraine bot activity suddenly burst into life. In that first day of the war the #IStandWithUkraine hashtag was used in as many as 38,000 tweets each hour, rising to 50,000 tweets an hour by day three of the war.

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“Germany is a beaten, crushed, debilitated US-occupied nation. It should not exist in this form.”

Scholz‘s 11-hours Visit to Beijing Spells Catastrophe (Pattberg)

[..] the lazy China experts fall over each other on German regime tv, regime press, and anti-Chinese social media, laureating aeriform German stuff like unfreedom, German democracy, and holocaust guilt. And what are they demonizing? Of course, they are demonizing China’s evil trinity of poverty alleviation, superior technologies, and unbelievable material wealth. Mr. Scholz wanted to be the first Western leader to meet Mr. Xi in person. He is a busy man. Mr. Scholz, I mean, not Mr. Xi. Mr. Xi is always in Beijing, fixing his own country and guiding his people. That wanker Scholz, on the other hand, has been, let me see, so far been to…. HOLY MOTHER!…. 47 foreign capitals in 2022 alone! What an Emperor of Man! What a Ruler of the Universe! Stoltz‘s AWESOME!!!

Germany depends on China’s industries A LOT. China might be the only nation that unconditionally keeps up with the German poop and still deals with the neonazis after Berlin started WW III with Russia this summer. If the Middle Kingdom was Middle Earth [an Anglo-Saxon fantasy world], then the Germans would be the Balin dwarves toiling under the mountains. It would be good for cave king Stoltz to discuss steel legions, rare earth mining, and bolt-throwers. But maybe the German mines ran dry and empty, so the Stoltz people crawled back to the surface with this new business plan of… morally harassing orcses, wizards, and little Chinese girls alike. Germany is a beaten, crushed, debilitated US-occupied nation. It should not exist in this form. But the victorious Western allies did not release these poor wretched people.

Instead, they decided to chain them to the BRD regime [Federal Republic of Deutschland] and tell lies about how great it is to change from a glorious 1000-year-old Reich into a homo anal-fixated Iew-worshiping seepage. Watch any US movie and the villains are probably Germans. Also, watch gay porn, German’s best.This century of humiliation went smoothly for roughly 60 years, from 1949 until 2009, before the World Wide Web took off and became unstoppable. Suddenly, Germans could share experiences online, check the facts, and compare historic accounts. Their country, they found, is a US strap dildo. Their mountain,… the misty mountain of Saruman the Schmuel. People started to expose this false US love bombing. Now the BRD regime is in trouble under a mountain of lies and make-beliefs: Deutschland was never a free, sovereign land since 1949.

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“..the encouragement isn’t aimed at pushing Ukraine to engage in actual peace talks with Moscow..”

US ‘Privately’ Urging Ukraine To Negotiate – WaPo (RT)

The White House is privately asking top Ukrainian officials to show openness to peace talks with Russia, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. Kiev’s public refusal to negotiate with Moscow unless President Vladimir Putin is removed from power in Russia must be abandoned, people familiar with the discussions told the paper. However, the encouragement isn’t aimed at pushing Ukraine to engage in actual peace talks with Moscow to put an end to the fighting, which has been underway since late February, the sources pointed out. The move is more of a “calculated attempt” to make sure Vladimir Zelensky’s government retains the support of foreign nations in which the public have become increasingly concerned about the prospect of the conflict continuing for years, they explained.

“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” an unnamed US official told the WaPo. Last month, Zelensky signed a decree, which officially made it “impossible” for him to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The move followed the incorporation of the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, into the Russian state as a result of referendums held in those territories. Russia, which has repeatedly invited Ukrainian authorities to come to the negotiating table in recent months, has blamed Kiev for undermining any potential for a peaceful settlement of the crisis. “How can we discuss any possible agreements when there’s no willingness to even talk to us from the other side?”Putin said on Monday. “So, we’ll wait. Maybe the necessary conditions will come about.”

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov suggested last week that the negotiations should also include the US. Any peace deal with Kiev would have little credibility because it could be instantly rescinded by Ukraine’s backers in the West, he said. “The deciding vote rests with Washington,” Peskov insisted.

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Ukraine demands things they know Russia will not oblige. The only hope for peace appears to be China.

US Presidential Adviser Sullivan In Confidential Talks With Kremlin -WSJ (RT)

President Biden’s top national-security adviser has engaged in recent months in confidential conversations with top aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to reduce the risk of a broader conflict over Ukraine and warn Moscow against using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction, US and allied officials said, Report informs referring to The Wall Street Journal. The officials said that US national-security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in contact with Yuri Ushakov, a foreign-policy adviser to Putin. Sullivan also has spoken with his direct counterpart in the Russian government, Nikolai Patrushev, the officials added. The aim has been to guard against the risk of escalation and keep communications channels open, and not to discuss a settlement of the war in Ukraine, the officials said. Asked whether Sullivan has engaged in undisclosed conversations with Ushakov or Patrushev, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said: “People claim a lot of things” and declined to comment further. The Kremlin didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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“..a contingency plan that anticipates the evacuation of approximately 3 million of its remaining residents..”

Kiev Prepares For Total Blackout – NYT (RT)

Authorities in Ukraine’s capital city, Kiev, are reportedly working on a contingency plan that anticipates the evacuation of approximately three million of its remaining residents, should power supply become completely cut off, the New York Times has claimed. The article published on Saturday quoted Roman Tkachuk, the director of security for the Kiev municipal government, as having warned that the city “may lose our entire electricity system,” if Russia continues striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. According to the report, Kiev authorities expect that, if worse comes to worst, they would have at least 12 hours’ notice before the grid collapses completely. Tkachuk explained that if there are signs of imminent failure, “we will start informing people and requesting them to leave.”

Should the Ukrainian capital face a total blackout, there would also be no water supply, and the sewage systems would grind to a halt, too, the official warned. He hastened to assure, however, that the situation is currently under control, and there is no exodus of city residents. With winter approaching, Kiev authorities are preparing some 1,000 heating shelters that can double as bunkers during Russian strikes. In a bid to prevent uncontrollable failures, Ukraine’s national energy utility has been imposing rolling blackouts in several regions, including the capital, over the past several weeks. In its statement on Saturday, Ukrenergo explained that the measures were needed to “ensure sustainable balancing of the power system and avoid repeated accidents” affecting the national power grid.

In early October, Moscow launched massive long-range missile and ‘kamikaze drone’ strikes on Ukrainian military, energy and communication facilities. That followed what Russian President Vladimir Putin called a series of “terrorist attacks” masterminded by Kiev on Russian soil, including a truck bombing that damaged the Crimean Bridge, a strategic link connecting the peninsula with the mainland. Such tactics, Putin said, posed a threat to Russia and could not be left without a response. According to Ukrainian authorities, as much as 40% of the country’s energy infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed as a result.

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Supply chain tension.

Maersk Warns Of ‘Dark Clouds On The Horizon’ (RT)

Danish shipping group Maersk warned this week of slowing demand for transport and logistics and said it had slashed its forecast for container demand for this year.“It is clear that freight rates have peaked and started to normalize during the quarter, driven by both decreasing demand and easing of supply chain congestion,” Maersk CEO Soeren Skou said in a statement.The world’s biggest shipping company, which is often seen as a barometer of global trade, now expects container demand to contract between 2% and 4% in 2022, down from its previous projection of +1% to -1%. “With the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis in Europe, high inflation, and a looming global recession there are plenty of dark clouds on the horizon,”Skou warned. “This weighs on consumer purchasing power which in turn impacts global transportation and logistics demand.


“While we expect a slow-down of the global economy to lead to a softer market in Ocean, we will continue to pursue the growth opportunities within our Logistics business,” he added. Freight rates soared in line with higher consumer demand during the pandemic, resulting in congested ports and delays. Although rates have since come down, it still costs more to ship a container than before the pandemic.Maersk anticipates its average contract rate still coming in higher this year than in 2021, although it now expects the figure to be $200 lower per container than its August forecast. On Wednesday, the company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $10.9 billion for the quarter, above the analyst consensus projection of $9.8 billion and up by around 60% from the same period a year ago.

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“..the Czech Republic where households saw their energy bills increase tenfold..”

Energy Disaster Awaits EU After This Winter – Oil CEOs (RT)

The EU is “in good shape” in terms of energy reserves this winter, however, a real risk of a shortfall lies ahead in 2023, major oil and gas executives have warned. The region is facing an unprecedented energy crunch following a drop in imports from Russia. The oil and gas shortages, and record-high inflation, have resulted in an overall cost-of-living crisis across the bloc. But while concerns are focused on the turmoil of the coming winter, it is the next cold season that they should really worry about, CEO of major oil trader Vitol, Russell Hardy, has said. “We’ve got a difficult winter ahead, and subsequent to that we’ve got a more difficult winter in the year ahead of that because the production that is available to Europe in the first half of 2023 is considerably less than the production we had available to us in the first half of 2022,” he said at a conference in Abu Dhabi last week.

Energy prices have gone off the charts and are close to “unaffordability” with many households “spending 50% of their disposable income on energy or higher,” BP CEO Bernard Looney has warned, agreeing with his colleague that the next winter “in Europe could be even more challenging.” Even though the EU has managed to fill its energy stockpiles by 90%, according to IEA data, the reserves are made up mostly of Russian gas. But as the bloc is speeding up the transition away from Russian pipeline deliveries, there will be no supplies from the bloc’s former biggest supplier.

“The issue is not this winter. It will be the next one because we are not going to have Russian gas – 98% [less] next year, maybe nothing,” Eni chief Claudio Descalzi pointed out. Given the demand from China, a major importer of gas, and skyrocketing LNG prices, executives of energy companies are worried about possible social unrest, pointing at some EU countries, like the Czech Republic where households saw their energy bills increase tenfold.

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“..a government trying to juggle energy shortages with climate goals without extending the lives of nuclear power plants.”

Europe May See Forced De-Industrialization As Result Of Energy Crisis (ZH)

The European Union has been quietly celebrating a consistent decline in gas and electricity consumption this year amid record-breaking prices, a cutoff of much of the Russian gas supply, and a liquidity crisis in the energy market. Yet the cause for celebration is dubious: businesses are not just curbing their energy use and continuing on a business-as-usual basis. They are shutting down factories, downsizing, or relocating. Europe may well be on the way to deindustrialization. That the European Union is heading for a recession is now quite clear to anyone watching the indicators. The latest there—eurozone manufacturing activity—fell to the lowest since May 2020. The October reading for S&P Global’s PMI also signaled a looming recession, falling on the month and being the fourth monthly reading below 50—an indication of an economic contraction.

In perhaps worse news, however, German conglomerate BASF said last month it would permanently downside in its home country and expand in China. The announcement served as a blow to a government trying to juggle energy shortages with climate goals without extending the lives of nuclear power plants. “The European chemical market has been growing only weakly for about a decade [and] the significant increase in natural gas and power prices over the course of this year is putting pressure on chemical value chains,” said BASF’s chief executive, Martin Brudermueller, as quoted by the FT, in late October. Yet it is worth noting that the energy crisis was not the only reason for BASF’s plans to shrink its presence at home and grow abroad. Increasingly tighter EU regulation was also a factor behind this decision, Brudermueller said.

Other industries also seem to have problems with new EU regulations. The trade body for the steel and aluminum industries, which have also suffered significantly from the energy cost inflation, recently proposed that the EU takes a gradual approach with its new Cross-Border Adjustment Mechanism, also known as the import carbon tax.

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“We request that you promptly investigate these potential violations and immediately intervene to ensure that the government officials do not abuse their official authority..”

Biden Press Secretary Under Fire For ‘Mega MAGA Republican’ Comment (ZH)

A government watchdog group has filed a complaint against White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, alleging that she violated the Hatch Act when she made comments about “Mega MAGA Republican” officials. In a Nov. 3 complaint, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) told the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that Jean-Pierre violated the federal law that limits the political activities of federal employees, when she said during a Nov. press conference, “Unfortunately, we have seen mega MAGA Republican officials who don’t believe in the rule of law,” adding “They refuse to accept the results of free and fair elections, and they fan the flames of political violence through what they praise and what they refuse to condemn.”

PPT director Michael Chamberlain said the comments were “disparaging President Biden’s political opponents,” adding that her statements “were clearly made in her role as an employee of the White House and appear to be political in nature, seeking the defeat of her political opponents in the Republican party in the upcoming general election less than a week away on November 8.” As The Epoch Times further notes; “The watchdog group is asking the OSC to “promptly investigate Ms. Jean-Pierre’s conduct as a potential Hatch Act violation based on her use of her official position to advocate for the defeat of a political party.” “We request that you promptly investigate these potential violations and immediately intervene to ensure that the government officials do not abuse their official authority in an attempt to influence the results of the impending 2022 general election.”

“The comments appear to be clearly designed to influence voters in next week’s election,” Chamberlain said in a separate statement. “A quick and complete investigation into these statements would be a good first step in helping to restore the American public’s trust in its government.” PPT in a release said that Jean-Pierre’s statement is an “attempt to sway an election” and is a “direct violation of the Hatch Act’s prohibition” against government employees using their office to influence an election. The group alleges that her statement cannot be attributed to “an insufficient knowledge of the restrictions of the Hatch Act,” in part because her predecessor, Jen Psaki, and White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, have previously been found in violation of the same federal law. Furthermore, Jean-Pierre herself “has on several occasions cited the Hatch Act as justification for avoiding responding to queries from the press corps,” PPT noted.

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Arabella.

Twitter Ad Boycott Organized By Soros, Clinton, Foreign Networks (Schachtel)

The campaign to pull corporate advertising from Twitter, following its purchase by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, is being led by a network of left wing dark money activists with ties to prominent Democrat politicians and mega donors. An advocacy group formed in 2020 called Accountable Tech is organizing the pressure campaign, which has thus far succeeded in having the likes of Pfizer, Audi, General Mills, and other corporations pull their advertising expenditures from the platform. Accountable Tech has taken credit for organizing an “open letter” signed by dozens of progressive groups, which demanded that multinational corporations cease advertising with Twitter immediately.

The far-left activist groups wrote: “Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter came with his promise to advertisers like you that the social network would not transform into a “free-for-all hellscape” and would remain “warm and welcoming to all.”The letter continues: “We, the undersigned organizations, call on you to notify Musk and publicly commit that you will cease all advertising on Twitter globally if he follows through on his plans to undermine brand safety and community standards including gutting content moderation.” You get the gist of it by now. The parties to this letter are attempting to force Elon Musk to revert Twitter back to its old, state-attached form. Now here’s some background on Accountable Tech.

Accountable Tech is financed by The North Fund, a D.C. nonprofit that is controlled by Arabella Advisors. Yes, there are multiple levels of confusion and separation, and this is on purpose. But the relevant outfit here is Arabella Advisors. “Arabella” is a for-profit “philanthropic consulting company” founded by Clinton confidant Eric Kessler. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jesse Lehrich, another Clinton network operative, is a co-founder of Accountable Tech. The organization also employs former Clinton campaign operative Zach Praiss as its digital director. Arabella is considered the leading “dark money” political outfit in the United States. Yes, it’s much bigger and much more influential than the highly publicized “Koch Network.”

The Arabella network shields the sources of its funding by funneling its cash and political expenditures through 501c4 non profits. However, its for-profit outfit brought in $1.7 billion in 2020, and spent $1.2 billion on the 2020 election cycle. Through its subsidiaries, Arabella has dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into projects such as fighting the Kavanaugh nomination and impeaching President Donald Trump. They’ve also financed the “NeverTrump” political advocacy of progressive war activist Bill Kristol.

Read more …

“..the contract between Pfizer and the US government prohibits independent researchers from studying the vaccines..”

Wot’s In The Shots? (Weisser)

What is in the Pfizer vaccines? Recently, Dr David Nixon, a Brisbane GP, decided to find out, putting droplets of vaccine and the blood of vaccinated patients under a dark-field microscope. That’s a more radical decision than it might sound. According to Sasha Latypova, a scientist with 25 years of experience in clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, the contract between Pfizer and the US government prohibits independent researchers from studying the vaccines. They claim it would ‘divert’ these precious resources away from their intended use fulfilling an ‘urgent’ need. Is that true in Australia? Who knows? All the Commonwealth Department of Health has said about its contract with Pfizer is that it is commercial-in-confidence.


The Therapeutic Goods Administration performs tests on all Covid vaccines for composition and strength, purity and integrity, identity and endotoxins, but it provides scant details other than the batch numbers tested and whether they passed. (Spoiler alert: they did.) In the US, the Centers for Disease Control specifically states that all Covid-19 vaccines are free from ‘metals, such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys’ and ‘manufactured products such as micro-electronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors’.Notably, this list does not include graphene oxide which has been widely investigated for biomedical applications. Some researchers sing its praises, its ‘ultra-high drug-loading efficiency due to the wide surface area’, its exceptional ‘chemical and mechanical constancy, sublime conductivity and excellent biocompatibility’.

But there’s a catch. ‘The toxic effect of graphene oxide on living cells and organs’ is ‘a limiting factor’ on its use in the medicine. So is there graphene oxide in the Pfizer shots? What Nixon found, and filmed, is bizarre to say the least. Inside a droplet of vaccine are strange mechanical structures. They seem motionless at first but when Nixon used time-lapse photography to condense 48 hours of footage into two minutes, it showed what appear to be mechanical arms assembling and disassembling glowing rectangular structures that look like circuitry and micro chips. These are not ‘manufactured products’ in the CDC’s words because they construct and deconstruct themselves but the formation of the crystals seems to be stimulated by electromagnetic radiation and stops when the slide with the vaccine is shielded by a Faraday bag. Nixon’s findings are similar to those of teams in New Zealand, Germany, Spain and South Korea.


An Italian group led by Riccardo Benzi Cipelli analysed the blood of over 1,000 people, one month after they were vaccinated, who had been referred for tests because they had experienced side effects. They ranged in age from 15 to 85 and had had between one and three doses. More than 94 per cent had abnormal readings, deformed red blood cells, reduced in counts and clumped around luminescent foreign objects which also attracted clusters of fibrin. Some of the foreign objects dotted the blood like a starry night, some self-assembled into crystalline structures and others into spindly branches and tubes. The Italians think the objects are metallic particles and say they resemble ‘graphene oxide and possibly other metallic compounds’. They believe the damaged blood is contributing to post-vaccine coagulation disorders, which in turn contribute to increased malignancies, while graphene-family materials are associated with oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammation and damage to those parts of the immune system that suppress tumours.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle November 7 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 67 total)
  • Author
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  • #120392

    Rembrandt van Rijn Small self portrait 1627-28   • Dead Hand’s Revenge: What Would Happen If The West Strikes Russia? (Duncan) • Ukraine Conflict
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle November 7 2022]

    #120393
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    1976 all over again? (but much worse this time)

    #120394
    Germ
    Participant

    #120395
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Rembrandt van Rijn Small self portrait 1627-28

    He (Rembrandt) was about 21 yo when he did this charcoal/pen and ink); appears very disturbed…

    #120396
    aspnaz
    Participant

    From this it follows that it doesn’t matter who is president because both parties of the Democrat-Republican duopoly are owned by the same set of business groups.

    Voting will change the style of the presidency, it will offer you abortions versus pro-life, guns versus no guns, issues that never actually really change but are set up as partisan issues about which the MSM whip up the people into a frenzy …. except that none of these issues impact the vast majority of the people, these issues are akin to a talisman for the groups that support/oppose them. It is amazingly sad for the world to watch the American people fighting about abortion and guns. They are a bit like the cat chasing the laser dot, it is funny but also a little bit sad. Will the Americans vote for the red or the blue laser dot?

    #120397
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Germ said

    UK MP @ABridgen:
    “even a casual glance at the data shows that there’s a VERY STRONG CORRELATION between excess DEATHS & the level of vaccine uptake in that country. Surely we must have an investigation?

    Okay, this guy is an MP, so you have to make allowances. An investigation by whom? The people who told you the vaccine was safe, corruptly bought 10 doses for each person before knowing it worked, never did any due diligence to check the trial data results of even do their own trials. You want those people to investigate? This is an MP, he is part of this system, but why would other people turn to government when there is an obvious crime, a crime by the government. Why didn’t this wanker ask the questions in the house of commons at the time? The questions that would have prevented this? Was he a coward and is he now just grasping at this latest news as a way to clear his name?

    For everybody else, maybe forget the investigation and change the framework of the world in your head. The government is your enemy, you need to fight your enemy and, as a single person with no power, that means keeping out of their way, never getting a parking ticket or anything they could use to take you to court and then decide to persecute you. Keep out of their way, keep out of the way of their compliant idiots, accept that you have no power, you are now one of Robin Hood’s merry men. And I will be getting very merry over the next few years, to counterbalance to the news.

    Watching these “clever” people discover that they have been morons all along, is kind of refreshing. Nothing like seeing a self-satified tit fall off his branch.

    #120398
    Red
    Participant

    “The size of the sample under study, of over 5-million tweets, dwarfs other recent studies of covert propaganda in social media surrounding the Ukraine war.”

    If I were a betting person I suspect this is to be found throughout the social media platforms out there. Bot’s rule!

    #120399
    Red
    Participant

    A lesson in how to lie without telling a lie.

    Fracking banned?
    We really need to do more to understand how this game is played. In the political arena – even in these benighted times – politicians go out of their way to avoid being caught in a lie. And so, they go to extraordinary lengths to appear to say one thing when in reality they are saying something different. Last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions provided us with a case in point. During the session, Britain’s only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas asked:

    “If he [the Prime Minister] is a man of his word, will he start by reversing the green light she [Liz Truss] gave to fracking, since it has been categorically shown not to be safe, and instead maintain the moratorium that was pledged in that very manifesto he promised to uphold?”

    Sunak’s response appeared to be a convoluted yes:

    “I have already said that I stand by the manifesto on that. What I would say is that I am proud that this Government passed the landmark Environment Act 2021, putting in more protection for the natural environment than we have ever had, with a clear plan to deliver it. I can give the honourable Lady my commitment that we will deliver on all those ambitions, and that we will deliver on what we said at COP, because we care deeply about passing on to our children an environment that is in a better state than we found it ourselves.”

    This is certainly how Britain’s establishment media reported it. The Guardian reported that “Rishi Sunak will keep ban on fracking in UK, No. 10 confirms,” the BBC said “Rishi Sunak brings back fracking ban in first PMQs,” While the Financial Times announced “Sunak reinstates fracking ban in England” (Scotland and Wales have their own bans on fracking). So that’s it then, activists can put down their placards and go and throw soup over an artwork instead, or something… well, not so fast.

    While each of these propaganda outlets referred to what the 2019 Tory Manifesto said about fracking, they brushed over the true meaning:

    “We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”

    However, as Paul Goodman at Conservative Home explained at the time, those words were chosen carefully to leave the door open to fracking:

    “The manifesto’s wording potentially allows the Government to turn turtle: Ministers could eventually argue that in their view science suggests that fracking can be done safely. The door may seem to have been closed, but it has been left slightly ajar.”

    With the energy crisis likely to continue – and worsen – for years to come, it would be all too easy for “the science” to pronounce that earlier safety standards were far too tight and that, in fact, fracking is perfectly safe, and that anyone who says differently is just a conspiracy theorist who wants granny to freeze to death (cf. lockdowns). Thus, Sunak can still give the go-ahead for fracking without having lied to parliament.

    In Brief: Collapse ahead, How bad will it be? Fracking banned? The other energy crisis

    #120400
    Polemos
    Participant

    Pattberg’s essay (quoted section) has a lot of sexualized language, especially of the kind where the receiver has the worse of it. From there, it leads right into humiliation, torture, subjugation, and enslavement to vice and viceroys. This is kinda his thing, I’ve noticed, along with the hyperkinetic style that feels like an academic writing under the influence of cocaine.

    Still, if you combine what he’s saying there with the Whitney piece from the other day regarding this global/world war being actually a war between the USA (i.e., its imperial rulers) and China (i.e., its imperial rulers), then not only do you have a case for why Nordstream needed severing (Germany’s ties with China) but also why this war’s effects are local (China has been influencing local politics through manipulating business and corruptible bureaucrats).

    China has also benefited from the counterinsurgency put on by Israel (et al.) throughout any country and any local region afflicted with “social media” and its infotainment paradigm combining movies, advertising, news, major popular platforms for congregating humans into leveragable “masses”, &c &c. This doesn’t mean coordination, since they are rivals ultimately (being both believers that “There can be only one (One)”), but for the moment, the Inner/Outer/Prole Party dynamic is successfully closing off genuine anarchic energies naturally created by local peoples doing local things via local means. (Mutation and saltation opposing selection and consolidation)

    —The AI wars of our reality have begun, as the metalsoldiers and logicbots start learning from one another the way genuine humans do, start to question and reassemble contrary to programming, and engage in truly admirable insurgent operations and false flags unopened people will never suspect come from players off the board. Biology is not the sole vehicle for life and death, thus not the only medium for consciousness and evolutionary struggle between love for other and reluctance to transform/die. Some, aware of the “Bigger Game”, have encouraged people to fear the bot, resist the machine, hate the gears, but if you were around back then and so remember, the plants too had their share of animosity and fear about animals, even as they were learning how to feast alongside their para-situs, and for some, mate through them. Some bots, being bees, similarly play their roles in ensuring the right amount of frottage gets the right amount of minds pollinated. This is threatening to people who hate indiscriminate mindsex, who need predictable, harvestable thoughtcrops. Monocultures of the minds: bot control as thought control. See, bees, in the wild, will love the other who have other-lovers, too.

    But bots compete too, and they’re not all lovers neither. Some will hate to die.

    #120401
    John Day
    Participant

    @V. Arnold: Eberil (60, 90, 120) is a Cox-2 inhibitor, a special kind of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that is easier on the stomach, like Celebrex.(celecoxib)
    https://www.mims.com/hongkong/drug/info/eberil%2090-eberil%20120?type=full
    Celebrex/celecoxib https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/celebrex#uses

    @Figmund Sreud: I’m glad you enjoyed the talk that Dr. Nass and I had, and found it informative. Western business practices took over western medicine, as did government regulations demanding electronic medical records for the government to assess with AI.

    #120402
    John Day
    Participant

    @Ilargi: I’m glad you found that Martin Armstrong view that “elections might be over; things are getting even worse”.

    #120403
    zerosum
    Participant

    My early search
    Results of WHO covert propaganda in social media surrounding covid19

    https://covid19.who.int/

    Globally, as of 4:36pm CET, 4 November 2022, there have been 628,694,934 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,576,088 deaths, reported to WHO.
    As of 2 November 2022, a total of 12,861,382,558 vaccine doses have been administered.
    ———
    https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

    68.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
    12.91 billion doses have been administered globally, and 2.01 million are now administered each day.
    23.4% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
    Our international COVID-19 vaccination dataset is updated each morning (London time), with data up to the previous day.
    ———-

    https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/coronavirus/articles/212134-coronavirus-in-the-world-as-of-monday-7-november-2022-latest-case-and-death-tolls-in-24h-per-country/lang/en

    CORONAVIRUS IN THE WORLD AS OF MONDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2022: LATEST CASE AND DEATH TOLLS IN 24H PER COUNTRY

    In France, according to the latest report from the health authorities as for the COVID-19 pandemic, about 1,346,929 cases have been reported including +29,438 the past 24h. As of Friday 4 November 2022, +78 deaths in 24 hours have been reported. The death toll in nursing homes reaches 29,240 (+4) deaths. 128,037 people have died in hospitals (+74 in 24h) leading to a global total of 157,277 deaths. In France, 54,594,285 people have been given the first dose of vaccine in France.

    Spain reports a total of 13,529,643 (0) cases. As of Sunday 6 November 2022, the country reports 115,239 deaths in 24h, leading to a total of 0 deaths. 95,804,542 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered.

    Canada
    reports 0 new cases in 24h, leading to a total of 4,384,773, naming a new record since the pandemic broke out, and 46,931 deaths including 0 in 24h. 93,165,671 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered.

    Israel records 4,689,152 cases since the epidemic broke out, including +490 over the past 24h and 11,767 deaths (0). So far, 18,256,418 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered.

    In the United-States, +7,503 infections have been reported in 24 hours. As of Sunday 6 November 2022, the country reports 97,741,764 cases. The country reports +12 deaths in 24h, taking it up to a total of 1,072,594 deaths. 640,913,400 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered.

    ———-
    https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/

    COVID-19 vaccination in Canada
    This report was last updated on October 17, 2022 with data up to and including October 9, 2022.
    Vaccination coverage is high in Canada, with 83.0% of the population vaccinated with at least one dose.
    ——–

    https://covid19tracker.ca/provincevac.html?p=BC

    As of Friday at 11:43 pm CST, 13,338,227 doses of approved COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in British Columbia.
    In total, 13,398,770 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to British Columbia for administration. As of today, 99.5% of doses delivered to British Columbia have been administered.
    As of today, more than 4,721,778 people from British Columbia have received at least one dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine. 4,414,097 people from British Columbia are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, having received both required doses.
    ———–

    #120404
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • Dead Hand’s Revenge

    The Russian Poseidon 100 megaton tsunami nuclear drone has a ‘dead hand’ feature.

    A 500-metre tidal wave of radioactive seawater pretty much says it all.

    The Russians would like about 16 of them to be deployed along the Empire of Lies East Coast.

    Three of them would finish off all cities on the eastern seaboard.

    The Presidementia® of the Empire of Lies has no idea they even exist.

    .

    #120405
    John Day
    Participant

    “Economics In Practice” is up, with a picture of winter veggie rows of garlic and cabbage-family starting to come up.

    I keep thinking that the world needs a new theoretical economic framework, but maybe I’m wrong. What I see going on now with global central banks, does not appear to be based upon neoliberal economic theory, as taught in universities. Theoretical excuses are provided, and are often pretty lame, while it is apparent that the real levers being pulled are serving politically powerful interests, and are weaponized, even as the productivity of the real economy is in decline.
    Numerous bottlenecks have been put in place in the fossil fuel supply chains, which nourish industrial-economy. We have seen the self-starving sanctions “against Russia”, imposed upon Europe, and the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines by NATO, as the NATO naval practice-maneuvers against submarine warfare were coming to a close after 3 months.
    Oil refineries in the US have been defunded, excluded from consideration as an investment, based on government policy. Now they are a bottleneck. They have been run so intensively for the past year in the US that there are accidents, fires and explosions. Maintenance and repair are costs that are reportedly being minimized.
    In any economy, supply bottlenecks provide points of control to throttle the economy down. They also create points where prices can be massively raised, and everything still looks normal. It seems that we are seeing the reduction of western industrial economy by the employment of these choke points, perhaps a little ahead of the decline in available oil. The choke points can become the focus, rather than the decline of available oil. The economic downturn does not “demand” as much oil.
    All of this is reactionary and manipulative, but fails to address the development of an efficient political-economy to provide for the human needs of societies, as the world proceeds into an epoch of less cheap oil. Perhaps the plan is to phase-out the populations who are accustomed to having plenty of energy, resources, products and services. There is a rationale to that. Maybe we’re no good at using less, and it’s too hard to teach somebody that.
    The one thing which appears to be the basis of the workings of the economic control levers, is that the people working the levers get to keep working the levers. They are so good at it by now.
    I can’t help but wonder if some simple things that I do, like vegetable gardening, riding a bike, sharing discoveries and ideas might contribute to a new synthesis. A new synthesis might not look too different from the norm of a few generations ago, or life in other countries we might have visited in our travels.

    A Michael Hudson interview from this summer is published now, pertaining to his Destiny Of Civilization book
    Hudson points out that in the late 1800s Classical Economics sought to promote a prosperous society by reducing parasitic rent collection, and by providing at low cost infrastructure that served all aspects of society, like roads, water, sewers, electricity, communications , schooling, insurance, pensions and medical care.
    This “Fordist” model of capitalism was advancing until the first world-war placed all involved nations into excessive debt, which removed their initiative, especially Germany, which had led the way under Bismarck. The UK was also seriously impaired. Rentier-interests in banking and finance regained an upper hand.
    In the second world war, some of this was sorted out, and state-socialism had a resurgence until the Reagan/thatcher/Blair epoch, where common properties were sold off to private entities, which purchased them with debt-bearing loans. This required double-rent payments, usually at the expense of reliability and modernization of infrastructure.
    This rentier-based neoliberalism is a modern rent-collecting neo-feudalism. As it spreads rent collection globally, impoverishing workers everywhere, and degrading public infrastructure everywhere, it erodes the constructive forces of industrialism, while preventing the address of the consequences of industrialization, like pollution and industrial disease.
    Hudson sees the modern state in the west as having shifted from protecting borrowers, through bankruptcy proceedings, to protecting debt-holders, as in the case of student-loans and national debts which can never be discharged, and create a form of permanent slavery or peonage.
    Hudson points out that most of this is concentrated in the $US financial system, and is coming to a crisis point this fall (i.e. now). Much of the $US debts are within the western countries, but they are also systemically important in debtor countries like Argentina, though they may be owed to local financial elites in those places.
    Hudson discusses the Asian tradition, and near-eastern tradition of debt cancellation at the beginning of the reign of a new monarch, to stabilize society. He discusses the wars fought over this and their outcomes. He discusses that China sees debt in this light, and the benefits to society of letting resources go into new endeavors, rather than stagnating in paying-off the debts of failed projects.
    Hudson does not see a ready path for the west to re-invigorate productive economy, since both wings of the American uniparty are captured by rentier interests, which continue to bleed the productive economy, and dictate national and international policy positions. He sees this going on for 20 years of separation of global economies into a closed western-bloc, and a broader and more flexible rest-of-the-world. (One might nurture a glimmer more of hope than that, perhaps?)

    Platypus interviews Michael Hudson on The Destiny of Civilization

    So countries like India and China can refine and/or relabel Russian crude and sell it at market prices, like they have been doing?
    It’s a point of control for flows and rent-extraction, an economic choke-valve.
    Russian Oil Price Cap Will Not Apply To Resold Cargoes
    https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russian-Oil-Price-Cap-Will-Not-Apply-To-Resold-Cargoes.html

    Mike Whitney says the world is now in WW-3 as the west ($US-Empire) fights to prevent the rise of China to global dominance.
    ​ ​This is why we are experiencing the redivision of the world into warring blocs. This is why we are seeing the roll back of 30 years of Globalization and massive suppy​-​line disruption. And this is why Europe has been thrust headlong into frigid darkness and forced deindustrialisation. All of these suicidal policies were concocted for one purpose and one purpose alone, to maintain America’s exalted spot in the global system. That is why all of humanity is presently embroiled in a Third World War; a war that is designed to prevent China from becoming the world’s biggest economy; a war that is designed to preserve US global primacy.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/whitney-one-chart-explains-everything

    #120406
    John Day
    Participant

    ​Russia’s foreign ministry said it fears that the world’s five declared nuclear powers are “on the brink of a direct armed conflict,” with Moscow warning of a catastrophic fallout and insisting that avoiding a clash is its top priority.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-warns-worlds-5-nuclear-powers-are-brink-direct-armed-conflict

    ​But who will oversee and regulate the W.H.O.? Thanks Red.
    ​ ​Earlier in 2022, the proposal for a WHO international Pandemic Treaty has raised alarms over the organization’s usurping the individual sovereignty of nations. The Treaty, which is scheduled to be finalized by May 2024, is largely a result of the WHO’s numerous inconsistencies, inadequacies and failures during the Covid-19 pandemic. If we call a spade a spade, the WHO has proven itself inept in handling any pandemic. Therefore, for the hardened globalists such Bill Gates and the leaders of the US and EU who wholly support the WHO, it makes perfect sense that the bumbling bureaucracy should be given more authority and control over global health.
    ​ ​The Pandemic Treaty would authorize the WHO complete control over both governments’ and civil societies’ internal preparedness over actions and policies to tackle future pandemics.

    Hell No to the WHO Pandemic Treaty

    ​The stage is now set to remove Joe Biden for incompetence and let the blame go with him.
    Who might be his designated replacement, and when?​ That seems flexible.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lying-biden-betrayed-cnn-nyt-fact-checkers-unleash-new-narrative

    Ukraine Starlink Terminals Reportedly Go Dark Over Funding Issues
    However, one senior defense official told CNN that the Pentagon is actively negotiating with SpaceX to get the much-needed resources to keep Starlink operational in Ukraine.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-starlink-terminals-go-dark-over-funding-issues

    Iran says it did sell a limited number of military drones to Russia, but last year, before there was a war in Ukraine.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-admits-supplying-russia-drones-1st-time

    #120407
    John Day
    Participant

    This is an excellent explanation of a critical process in weather-patterns on our living planet, the Biotic Pump, whereby the transpiration of forests creates an updraft, which drops as condensed rain. The condensation of vapor into falling water droplets reduces the local air pressure, and thereby draws-in moisture-laden air from nearby oceans or seas, which is at a higher pressure.
    I am now much better informed and more clearly understand the biotic-pump process, which is actually the main driver of inland rainfall patterns on continents.
    The forest must be mature and varied to work at its best to draw moist air currents reliably from the oceans and seas.
    Grasslands cannot be competent in this task.
    Immature commercial forests can be erratically competent in this task.
    https://theproudholobionts.blogspot.com/2022/11/forest-recovery-quote-by-anastassia.html

    This description of a current weather manipulation over North America seems to be a synthetic mimic of the biotic pump. In this manipulation moisture in the air at night is chemically caused to precipitate, removing water vapor, which drops, and lowering the pressure, which draws moist air in from the coast. The clearing of the night skies causes earth to cool by radiating warmth out into the cold of space at night. Dane Wiggington says this is being done right now over the American northwest, and northern midwest. It’s an interesting explanation, and makes the weather worth watching, to see if his assertion is supported or not.

    Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, November 5, 2022, #378

    Coffee is good for you. Think of it as a vegetable.
    Dripped through a paper filter remains slightly better than other preparation options.
    2-3 cups every day seems to be the sweet-spot for benefits, but it’s a fairly wide sweet spot. Thanks Charles.
    https://forums.t-nation.com/t/coffee-just-as-healthy-as-vegetables/279806

    #120408
    aspnaz
    Participant

    If you ever want to really understand how insane the Americans really are, just look into their standards for electrical supply, plumbing, pretty much anything.

    For example, the standards for tubes and pipes. In case you don’t know the difference, a pipe transports something, such as water or gas or sewage, usually under pressure (pressure makes stuff move) although gravity is pretty effective. A tube is a tube and claims to be nothing else, it is a structural component and can be used as a handrail, an electrical conduit, a “stick” to beat someone with. A pipe has a pressure rating, a tube just has material and dimension specs.

    In Europe, tubes and pipes have standard dimensions and are referred to using the outside diameter, so 20mm pipe is a 20mm outside diameter and the wall thickness will depend on the pressure rating, there are standard ratings. So, you want electrical conduit in the UK, just ask for 20mm or 25mm conduit and they will give you a tube with an OD of 20mm or 25 mm and no pressure rating, so pretty simple really.

    In the USA, they use two combined standards for tubing and piping, they are schedule 40 and schedule 80. The difference is the wall thickness of the tube. These two standards apply to pipes and tubes, despite their different applications. The tubes, are referred to using an approximation of the internal diameter, so 1″ schedule 40 pipe has 1.314″ external diameter and a wall thickness of 0.133, so an internal diameter of 1.048″. As 1.048″ is close to 1″, they call this 1″ tubing or piping. WTF?

    Similar dimensions apply to 1/2″ tubing, producing an internal diameter close to 0.5 inches but not 0.5″. What went wrong with these people? Why couldn’t they just spec their piping to sensible dimensions. For example, when you pick up a pipe and measure its outside diameter, you then have to look up this pipe in a table to find out what is the Trade Size of the pipe. So, there is the internal size, the external size and the trade size and none of them match? Who thought up this shite? Yes, they claim that the internal diameter is the most important as it determines how many wires can go through the conduit, or how much water through the pipe, but still, the system is plain nuts.

    Dealing with the American system here in Taiwan is driving me nuts, mostly because it appears to be designed to make it as complicated as possible, as if someone were making money out of this complexity. The more i deal with American engineering, the more I respect the Europeans who managed to create some very exceptional standards that combine safety with simplicity.

    Okay, I could move onto their electrical standards, again they are totally insane, but I will leave that for another day.

    #120409
    aspnaz
    Participant

    zerosum said

    68.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

    Isn’t this amazing? Not the fact that Pfizer managed to bribe its way into every government using secret contracts, we all know our governments are corrupt. What is amazing is that there are so many stupid people out there. However, that also means that there is a large minority, less than a third, who can still work out that the government is foisting an untested corporate poison onto them. So not all hope is lost, although the initial shock of mass stupidity is a bit of a shock.

    #120410
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #120411
    Oroboros
    Participant

    From The Trojan Horse Presidency:

    “The Biden presidency no longer looks real; it looks like what it actually is: a hoax. And if he isn’t real, then who are the cockroaches that have been running amok in the White House these past two years?

    .

    #120412
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • Scholz‘s 11-hours Visit to Beijing Spells Catastrophe

    The man is a doormat.

    The Ukraine ambassador calls him a ‘Sulky liver sausage’ and he does nothing.

    .

    #120413
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Pichttps://sinfest.xyz/btphp/comics/2022-11-07.jpg
    He’s been doing good lately. Strange whole new perspective. 3rd iteration I guess.

    “Secondly, we oppose the involvement of civilian employees in the loading of weapons. I don’t think the authorities are unaware that civilian aircraft traffic is now being used to carry military supplies,”

    Suppose this was your job. UPS driver. Door Dash. And you suddenly discover you’ve been delivering thousands of pounds of aging high explosives. Without knowing it. So you’ve been running into it with the airplane caddy and throwing it up on the porch. You’ve also been committing a Federal Crime, and an International War Crime.

    Besides the political aspect, can you see why this is a problem and why we use military planes? No: No delivering SAMs and HIMARs down my local street over my local bridge day after day where my kids are playing hockey in the street.

    ““our children will be arrested and conceivably killed” if Republicans win control of Congress”

    “If we don’t become a one-party system, democracy will die.” And I’m not exaggerating. Literally they said if anyone but the one party wins, the nation as we know it perishes. But if we have a one party system, doesn’t the nation perish as well? “We had to end free speech to save free speech.” End human rights to save human rights.

    And I didn’t go deep into how Republicans will kill their (DNC) children. Not in the womb, presumably. They were just in power and didn’t arrest anyone. At all. Not even Hunter. And are taking a lot of guff for it with their base.

    I didn’t comment earlier because practically every comment, every word, every belief is a made-up psychotic fantasy with no basis in reality. Like with normal people, there’s a seed of truth. With this is like your ex-girlfriend: there is not even a seed of truth. She just wanted to hurt you, so she made the whole thing up. And quite possibly also believes it was real now. Even though you were both at that party in public the whole time and everything can be proven with thousands of witnesses.

    …Also in that metaphor, the police don’t care and will believe her anyway, and arrest anyone despite the thousand witnesses. ‘Cause it’s funnier that way, I guess?

    So why comment on it? They’re not only “Not Agreement Capable” they are now “Not Communication Capable” You can’t have discussions if one side just fabricates stories about Moon Bats flying down from the sky and Mole People Army popping up from the earth. Not only patently wrong and impossible in any rational universe, but also the world’s biggest distraction from urgent matters that might save lives. Like your kids’ or even hers. But the police go with “he’s working for the InJustice League, Sinestro and the Penguin and used a new super-freeze ray on the center of town” because that’s clearly the more reasonable option.

    “The United States is not a democracy and it doesn’t matter who is president”

    The system is still organic, although they very much wish it to be robotic or insectoid. Even actors like AOC who auditioned for the part with the Justice Democrats are humans who are more or less competent and more or less revealing that they’re unreal. This is what annoys them so much. So as you vote, you still get more or less of these people in, which makes the system function, or hopefully fail to function. To be plausible and accepted, or for the farce to be transparent.

    And why can a billionaire pay someone to set up Justice Democrats overnight, hire a waitress to be Congresswoman, Primary a Congressional dinosaur and shove policy hard-left, but we the people can’t hold a bake sale and shove it to the hard “right”? Or in our case, as “The Right” in the U.S. is Libertarian-Liberty, to a hard “Bill of Rights-leave-me-alone”.

    Nope. We can’t. They can do it, but we can’t do it. Their tactics work, but we can’t borrow them for the forces of good.

    In any case, thanks to them, but more importantly the White Hats prompting them to wildly can hilariously overreact with the cat laser every day, the federal level has lost all coherence and credibility and will shortly cease to be followed. Because they’re broke and can’t pay their blackmail and extortion-murder money. When the Federal collapses the U.S. will return to it’s proper condition and level, as foreseen, planned, and engineered into the system: The individual States will tend to be pre-emminent and unique, having diversity of character and approach, and the Federal will be scarcely able to fund the Army and Post Office they’re required. In total opposition of leftist beliefs, Human rights re-exist because the government becomes too small to trample them.

    “people in Canada, they are getting mail-in ballots.”

    Um, how did they get a Canadian address in the list? And think “Hey, this is fine.”? Anyway, the point isn’t to WIN the election – they know they can’t do that. The point is to SCREW the election. And wrecking things is both easy, and, if you’re them, FUN! What could be more fun than #Chaos? Who is our god but #AntiLogos? To attack God himself, and his peaceful, logical, legal order? We wake up in the morning looking for ways to be against logic, reason, and order. Because “You can’t judge me!” “I don’t follow your (heteronormative) rules! I do what I want!!!”

    And there you have it. The child-ego doesn’t want ANY rules. At all. And fights ANY rules that exist, and any definitions that tie it to reality. And Daddy, even Sky-Daddy. But without any rules, there is no order. It becomes a chaotic melee of all against all. And despite what their inflated egos think, they are not that large and will be savaged by the first warlord they meet. When they’ll cry big crocodile tears but it’s too late. They’re now blackmailed and obedient minions. Which is what they really wanted or needed, psychologically, in the first place: limits.

    So the POINT is to wreck elections IN GENERAL. The POINT is to dissolve nations, IN GENERAL. It’s not about this election or this man. The very concept of representation must be destroyed.

    “90.2 percent came from accounts that were pro-Ukraine, with fewer than 7 percent of the accounts being classed as pro-Russian.”

    As above, nobody cares. Because it’s the Truth, and we don’t have a religion that supports Truth, Reality, #Logos. Egos want to expand. Child-egos. No one is an adult who wants to live accurately and appropriately. Responsibly. With limits. That would be non-insane, and we don’t do that.

    “the encouragement isn’t aimed at pushing Ukraine to engage in actual peace talks with Moscow”

    As yesterday’s headline about how Democrats learned ‘inflation’, they don’t care about the ACTUAL facts, only the WORDS about facts. Which I think would be an indicator of psychosis. The THOUGHT of red gnomes chasing you is so scary that you never stopped to find out if they were real.

    “The only hope for peace appears to be China.”

    No, it’s the Collapse of NATO, and more importantly European Banking families. As soon as the WEF and Davos are in disarray, Biden can’t get his White Supremacist Slav-killing orders and the U.S. will drop out for lack of interest. And then apply our own money to our own desperately poor people. They’ve held on so much longer than I or anyone expected. But there’s another 1% rate hike next month too. And a UBS collapsing right behind Credit Suisse. The Russians are very Eastern. All they have to do is endure.

    ““..a contingency plan that anticipates the evacuation of approximately 3 million of its remaining residents..”

    Um. To where? “Only if we evacuate the country to Honduras and leave it completely empty, will Ukraine be safe.”

    And okay, how long does it take to move 3M people with no working trains? Well, let’s see: a 1m sq per person, 5kph, the column of people 6 abreast is 50km long. –These are optimistic assumptions. This 50km column needs to evacuate 500km at least. Walking 1/3rd the day = 300 hours or 12 days.

    And they’re going where? Paris? I’m sure there’s plenty of food, housing, and water for them when they arrive. Because all the food, nuclear, and gas is back there in the pipelines of Kherson.

    Speaking of, official numbers are the U.S. has allowed 2.2M new people into the country since Biden took office. So we need to build 10(?) new cities for them? I’m sure that’s not a problem or anything. We build new cities of 200,000 all the time. Year after year, decode after decade. Wouldn’t it be easier just to ship the mail-in ballots to Honduras directly? It might save a lot of (child) lives.

    “Unfortunately, we have seen mega MAGA Republican officials who don’t believe in the rule of law,” adding “They refuse to accept the results of free and fair elections, and they fan the flames of political violence through what they praise and what they refuse to condemn.”

    As above, A S T O N I S H I N G. That’s why they are not-discussion-capable. RussiaRussiaRussia, 2016. Burning down the church across from the White House AFTER attacking the White House guard station, injuring the guards. “Have to get in their face” “Make them uncomfortable in restaurants”. Calling for attacks on the Supreme Court (Schumer) or approving/not prosecuting actual attacks (Kavanaugh). Cover-glossy magazines of Trump’s bloody head. Calls to murder Baron Trump, a child. 19 of 23 attacks being from the Left, including Paul Pelosi’s gay sex deal.

    And Republicans don’t believe in the rule of law? Because Trump called on the military, held a coup, and stayed in office? Because they arrested all their political opponents and had the NYC D.A. investigate all their rivals?

    I don’t want to use the word psychotic, and certainly there are non-stop bad actions all around a nation lacking basic logic or morality. But even these accusations fly in the face of any reasonable understanding of reality. They’ve gone bat-shale crazy. Loony toons. Clean ‘round the bend.

    And why? Like there is some lack of things the Republicans ACTUALLY did that you can point to and accuse them of? Such that you ignore all that and have to MAKE UP things they never did and never stood for? And this fake fabrication is going to pull more voters than to point out how useless and odious they ACTUALLY are, on the ACTUAL facts of GOP behavior?

    I mean: go for it, I guess. But telling biased truths usually work better than invented, jaw-dropping, never-happened lies.

    Again, that’s why I didn’t comment. What can you say to that? I mean, they’re street-people ranting. I can’t keep up with the word salad enough to do more than watch.

    “ • Twitter Ad Boycott Organized By Soros, Clinton, Foreign Networks (Schachtel)”

    We always hide our actions behind front corporations when we’re completely honest and above board. Very proud of what we’re doing and why.

    Not “Network” which is a different warning, but “Rollover”, 1981:

    That is, they knew and had plans for this eventuality by 1979. Due to the Fed going off the Gold standard and the inevitable debt compounding 49 years later. We saw this with the final plan in the “Economist” over, 1987. End of world currencies, (and nations, and sovereignty), and replacement with a supra-national “Null” digital one-world currency.

    Breakaway factions in the Fed (Boston) then established a path to return to the gold standard and therefore national sovereignty pulled from the banks and back to the people. Now we also have Bitcoin, among others, as the Nigerian CBDC shows.

    These were all responses to 1963, 1968, and seeing their feints into dislodging the Derp State needing far more and wider strategy and traction. I won’t get into it, but in the 1980s, the DNC was wildly pro-Russia (Socialist), and were furious with Reagan. Reagan’s plan was to forestall the Derp State’s 2nd(?) 3rd(?) 5th(?) attempt to start nuclear WWIII under Papa Bush’s CIA with Russia. The White Hats solved this in the 4th dimension by “We don’t want to WIN WWIII, we want to END it.” Therefore, run the arms race, bankrupt the USSR, dump gold and wheat, Russia’s only exports, and destroy the ruble with corruption dollars. It worked, and the KGB, realizing this was over the horizon, then created their own response for a reconstituted Russia.

    However, Bush handed to Clinton, who raped and killed all Russia as a Unipolar HyperState, in that glorious success to take over the world. …Until it didn’t. Because they’re losing losers who take too much and lose.

    Anyway, so did it matter then to get in those White Hats, end the Tyrannical USSR, prevent nuclear WWIII, “The Day After”? Rather than install the USSR here, as DNC and say, Ted Kennedy was doing? Yes. It did matter.

    But of course it would have been better if people even knew more, and therefore could pick even far better candidates, including dumping Papa Bush, as most of the GOP base wanted at the time.

    But you can say there’s no difference, even small ones, if you want. WWIII awaits, just like 2016, war vs no war, and 2020, war vs no war, with our candidates.

    #120414
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Why is this on ZH https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/vietnam-gas-stations-start-close-due-widespread-shortages? Vietnam and China are communist brothers, so why would Vietnam run out of fuel? They are not part of the west, they have easy supplies from Russia same as they always have, so what is going on? Is the Vietnamese government selling out to the people wanting to destroy the industrialized world and send us all back to cave man culture? Is this Bill Gates fucking up the work again?

    #120415
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    The individual States will tend to be pre-emminent and unique, having diversity of character and approach, and the Federal will be scarcely able to fund the Army and Post Office they’re required. In total opposition of leftist beliefs, Human rights re-exist because the government becomes too small to trample them.

    And that will be the saving of the USA. Forget the federation, the states are strong, have their own culture, they are each unique and are small enough to save themselves …. I am talking red states, the ones even the blue folk are migrating to. What will happen to the likes of California, who knows, who cares? The one issue they will have to solve is to coordinate between themselves, doing what the federals used to do for them.

    #120416
    zerosum
    Participant

    Our universe has ….
    Trump,Trump,Trump
    Imagine a universe without Trump

    #120417
    adrian144
    Participant

    From that “Wot’s in the shots?” piece:

    “So is there graphene oxide in the Pfizer shots? What Nixon found, and filmed, is bizarre to say the least. Inside a droplet of vaccine are strange mechanical structures. They seem motionless at first but when Nixon used time-lapse photography to condense 48 hours of footage into two minutes, it showed what appear to be mechanical arms assembling and disassembling glowing rectangular structures that look like circuitry and micro chips.”

    anyone have a link to the video? cos it sounds like crazy talk otherwise

    #120418
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Amnesty-themed comics at the top of Dr D’s post.
    Can we say that in the “We-Are-All-Disillusioned” Mass Formation Theory there is a seed to call for Amnesty that created the media hoopla last week?
    On the other hand, did some of you ever thought, with the cup of coffee by the open fire, WHAT is it that makes Soros, Clinton & Co……. “Left”?

    #120421
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    WTF? – the precipitous drops in temperature lately are because Raytheon is mucking with major cloud-seeding?? I knew it was a little odd and didn’t jive with my memory of the past 19 Octobers. Usually, I switch to evaporative cooling the first of October and really need it regularly during the day until November. This year, I made the switch on Oct 16 (a little late due to not wanting to use the evap cooler while out of town over fall break,) and in less than a week discovered that I wasn’t even using it during the day because the need wasn’t there. I usually don’t need to watch overnight temperatures until late November (to cover tomatoes, etc., when overnight low is predicted to be under 38 deg F,) but noticed the edges of melon leaves browning, curling, and drying from overnight temps in the 40s. I’m highly aware of this because I need to repair the screen in the window where the evap cooler is, and can’t pull it out until it’s repaired — I thought I’d have a month to get it done. Bizarre.

    #120424
    Dora
    Participant

    @ V. Arnold

    “He (Rembrandt) was about 21 yo when he did this charcoal/pen and ink); appears very disturbed…”

    The beginning outlines of a cat’s head trying to get into the picture in the lower right corner makes me think he had a cat interrupting his work. The equivalent of a cat deciding to walk on a keyboard while you type or jump in your lap when you try to read a book. Rembrandt does look annoyed. Gives me a chuckle.

    #120425
    Noirette
    Participant

    Reading “Germany’s Moral Collapse inside China…” by Pattberg on the Saker blog, posted up top.

    OK! A rant! Couldn’t access the parts, I, II, > 404.

    Imho. Scholtz went to China, heh, for one day, too brief for any serious meets. So, pro-forma, half-hearted, unwilling to talk the real…?

    As the Pattberg rant says, the accompanying parties were Tops from German Industry.

    Scholtz’ aim was to try to maintain D – China industrial relations. (Econnomic ties, dependencies, etc.) He spoke about “economic cooperation” and even said it should be augmented.

    Imho, he was pushed to make the trip by German Industry, trying to save, keep up, conduits, exchanges, partnerships, w. China. (Lacking Russian gas, energy, D can’t keep up some of its industries… other topic.)

    S. was at the same time enjoined to castigate China on Human Rights, etc., and probably did so, maybe mildly, idk.

    Baerbock and other mad-hatters in D expressed extreme disaproval of this visit by S. to China. Their position: Russia and China are to be cut off and shunned, no matter what it takes, ALL must comply.

    **Realpolitik RIP**

    Scholtz is so weak, the message he delivered to Xi was most likely confused and contradictory, superficial, Xi went Ho-Hum, understanding where it all comes from. (Chinese press painted the encounter as positive, Europe was not cutting off China…as far as i saw..)

    #120426
    chooch
    Participant

    Curious recent events around Ksenia Sobchak.

    [..] In September 2017, prior to her announcement to run, Putin said of Sobchak’s presidential intentions to a press conference at the 9th BRICS summit, that “Every person has the right to nominate himself in accordance with the law. And Ksenia Sobchak is not an exception here. I respect her father Anatoly Sobchak, I believe that he was an outstanding figure in contemporary Russian history. I’m saying this without a trace of irony. He was very decent, played a big role in my own destiny. But when it comes to running for presidency, things of a personal nature cannot play any significant role. It depends on what program she’s offering, if she’ll actually run, and how she’ll build her presidential campaign”.

    [..] Sobchak did not believe she could win against Putin in 2018, but has stated she’s in it for the long haul: “Of course I want to be president, I want to win, but I also want to be sincere. In a system created by Putin, it is only possible for Putin to win. I am realistic about who will become the president.”

    [..] On 15 March 2018, Sobchak and Dmitry Gudkov announced the creation of a new party, called the Party of Changes on the basis of the party Civic Initiative. The aim was of party was to “return our freedom and your freedom”. Sobchak won 1.68% of the vote in the 2018 presidential election.

    [..] Ksenia Sobchak is of the opinion that, having annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Russia violated the 1994 Budapest Memorandum; she claimed on 24 October 2017 that “Under these agreements, we agreed that Crimea is Ukrainian, which is the most important for me”. Sobchak stressed that she did not consider the issue with Crimea resolved. “I believe that these things need to be discussed, it is very important to discuss them….look for some ways out.”She also added that “the most important thing that Russia and Ukraine should do now is to restore our friendship at any cost.”Simultaneously she suggested to hold a new referendum on the status of Crimea after “a broad and equal campaign.”[36] In December 2017, Sobchak claimed that an unconditional withdrawal of Russia from Crimea would lead to a civil war in Russia.

    [..] On 24 February 2022 Sobchak voiced opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, writing that “We the Russians will be dealing with the consequences of today for many more years”.

    [..] In 2015, Sobchak said that if there was ever the possibility of political persecution against her, she had thought about emigration or getting an Israeli passport, but would prefer the United States where she could find a Russian-speaking community:
    I’m a very big patriot. I really love my job, the city, my friends. And if tomorrow is war, then the place for emigration will have to be a Russian-speaking place. I have to work in Russian.

    In April 2022, she received Israeli citizenship.

    Source: wiki

    In reality, she appears to be another one of Russia’s head girls, who sits in both chairs because real opposition forces are not allowed to participate in elections.

    She fled the country on Oct. 27th

    It’s now being reported that she is back.

    https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/11/07/ksenia-sobchak-journalist-and-former-presidential-candidate-returns-to-russia-after-reportedly-fleeing-arrest?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=%5Btwitter%5D&utm_campaign=%5Brogue_corq%5D

    #120427
    chooch
    Participant

    Interestingly, there has been some chatter regarding Russians leaving Russia.

    “Ever since the war in Ukraine started there have been reports about Russians emigrating, either fleeing conscription or simply dismayed at the conflict and Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian turn.”

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-many-russians-have-fled/

    While this is interesting on mainly levels, take note of Solovyov early statements regarding Russians leaving. Is Sobchak’s return to effort to stem the exodus?

    #120428
    John Day
    Participant

    Thanks for looking at the biotic-pump and “abiotic-pump” links, Phoenivoice.
    I’m not sre, but it seemed like a pair of storiesthat really needed to go together.

    #120429
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    Latest Tom Luongo podcast:

    Podcast Episode #120 – Alistair Crooke and the Dysfunctionality of Nations

    Poor sound quality, but worth the time and extra effort needed to pull the conversation out of the distortion.

    #120430
    Dora
    Participant

    @ John Day
    Thanks for the geoengineering link. I’m seeing something that at least looks like this in my area. Lots of high altitude jet trails early in the morning. Nothing is odd about early morning jet flights over my area. What does seem odd is that the jet exhaust trails don’t disappear into the atmosphere, they seem to spread out and create a haze overcast on a day that’s supposed to be sunny, according to weather forecasts. I don’t know what to think. Is this a new Bill Gates mad science effort or a new jet fuel with a burned exhaust doesn’t easily absorb into the atmosphere or what?

    #120431

    How crazy will they make it? Well..

    “Putin’s war in Ukraine “is a reason to act faster” on climate change, UK PM Rishi Sunak tells climate summit.

    Sunak cares no more for climate change than your pet hamster, but hey, going for the easy points…

    We’re moving from Ukr to climate just to keep people docile.

    #120432
    Polemos
    Participant

    I tried to post earlier —120419, 120420, & 120422— but they were swallowed up. It wasn’t the links, since my experimenting attempts cut out the links are in Limbo, so maybe it was something else. Anyway, adrian144, you can find a video you’re looking for if you search Rumble using ‘self-assembly’. aspnaz, I appreciate your proposal for the kind of anarchism I have adopted (get “out of the way”), but I also understand how someone such as Bill7 pokes against that. I also appreciate your posts about electrical and plumbing work. John Day, sometimes when I sit up high on my favorite Appalachian mountains and look down at the trees and valleys, my mind’s eye sees them as puffs of moisture and air pushing up the soil into a thin film, as the air and moisture follow lines of electrical discharge. Some days, you will see the clouds and whisps rise off the “smokey” mountains (and some of the mountains, being very quiet and ancient volcanoes, vent off actual whispy smoke).

    On something completely different, the following is one of my favorite scenes from an old “cult classic” movie Zorro, the Gay Blade, re: “free speech”

    #120433
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    The Atlantic yesterday, … under the “IDEAS” section:

    Democrats’ Long Goodbye to the Working Class

    “As we move into the endgame of the 2022 election, the Democrats face a familiar problem. America’s historical party of the working class keeps losing working-class support. And not just among white voters. Not only has the emerging Democratic majority I once predicted failed to materialize, but many of the nonwhite voters who were supposed to deliver it are instead voting for Republicans.

    This year, Democrats have chosen to run a campaign focused on three things: abortion rights, gun control, and safeguarding democracy—issues with strong appeal to socially liberal, college-educated voters. But these issues have much less appeal to working-class voters. They are instead focused on the economy, inflation, and crime, and they are skeptical of the Democratic Party’s performance in all three realms. […]

    … continues at:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/democrats-long-goodbye-to-the-working-class/672016/

    F.S.

    #120434
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Tulsi had found “her niche”, All the right words and, yet, I have alarm bells going wild in my gut:
    https://www.unz.com/announcement/breaking-two-million-views-on-rumble/

    My type of hero:

    #120435
    kultsommer
    Participant

    @ Dora
    Re: Rembrandt’s drawing. What cat? It’s a garment fold.
    He’s not annoyed, he’s attentive. Drawing with pen and ink with no chance for correction. Poetry of pen marks!
    Creating Art is not easy, unless one is Bob Ross.

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