Feb 172023
 
 February 17, 2023  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Tomb of the diver, Paestum c480 BCE

 

Seymour Hersh Calls Pipeline Sabotage ‘Dumbest’ US Act In Years (RT)
The US Destroyed the Nord Stream Pipeline. Interview with Seymour Hersh (GR)
US Presidents Renege on Agreements with Russia (Parsons)
Ukraine Conflict Will Likely Have No Military Winner – Milley (RT)
Russia Has Lost ‘Strategically, Operationally And Tactically’ – Milley (G.)
The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine (Rickards)
Nuland Outlines US Goals In Ukraine (RT)
Beijing Challenges Western Press On Nord Stream Blasts (RT)
The West Has Long Planned A Proxy War With Russia In Ukraine (Sukharevskaya)
Russia Acted Out Of Necessity To Implement Minsk Accords – Kremlin (TASS)
Implications of US Destruction of Nordstream 2 Pipeline (Fuller)
Russian Diplomats Issue Dire Warnings that War with US Is Close (LI)
Bombshell New Emails Unsealed Between Epstein and JP Morgan Executive (TP)
NFL Players Association Urged to Screen for Vaccine Side Effects (ET)

 

 

 

 

Ukraine’s new troops
https://twitter.com/i/status/1626469724807696384

 

 

 

 

Douglas Macgregor – The Russian Onslaught

 

 

 

 

East Palestine water

 

 

 

 

Bulgaria

 

 

 

 

Trump
https://twitter.com/i/status/1620598762216517632

 

 

2019 Zel

 

 

 

 

“What [Biden] did is he said, ‘I’m in a big war with Ukraine. It’s not looking good. I want to be sure I get German and West European support,’”

Seymour Hersh Calls Pipeline Sabotage ‘Dumbest’ US Act In Years (RT)

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has slammed Washington’s alleged involvement in bombing the Nord Stream gas lines as one of the “dumbest” decisions taken in years, warning that the move will have “horrific” consequences for Europeans and further undercut the already “supremely useless” NATO alliance. Speaking to Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman for an interview on Wednesday, Hersh outlined his recent report on the destruction of the pipelines last year, which found that the US played a key role in planting and detonating explosives on sections of the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea. “I think the consequences politically for us are enormous,” he said, adding that the long-term effects for Europe would be “horrific” and “cut into the notion that they can depend totally on America, even in a crisis.”

“I think that this has probably been, in the view of some of the people who did it, one of the dumbest things the American government has done in years – and we’ve had four years of Trump.” Hersh argued that US officials have long seen cheap energy alternatives for Europe as a “threat,” noting that Washington has “always wanted to isolate Russia” to prevent oil and gas sales to the EU. He said the Joe Biden administration feared Europe would “walk away” from the conflict in Ukraine and felt the need to pressure allies to stay the course. “What [Biden] did is he said, ‘I’m in a big war with Ukraine. It’s not looking good. I want to be sure I get German and West European support,’” Hersh continued. He added that the president did not want Berlin to reverse course and reopen the Nord Stream lines, which had been under sanctions, “so he took away that option,” effectively telling his European partners “You’re second rate.”

“I know people that are paying five times as much now for electricity. People are paying three or four times more for gas. There’s not enough of it. It’s very expensive,” he said, arguing that Europe is now forced to obtain energy from other sources than Russia, including the United States itself. “And I think it’s going to undercut NATO, which I always found to be supremely useless,” he added. While the Biden administration has vocally denied Hersh’s report, with State Department spokesperson Ned Price calling it “utter and complete nonsense,” the journalist has stuck by his unnamed source, insisting the information relayed to him was accurate. He told Democracy Now! that he would continue to report on the issue in the future, saying there are “still things I need to write about.”

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“I can tell you that the people involved in the operation saw the president as choosing to keep Germany cold for his short-range political goals, and that horrified them.”

The US Destroyed the Nord Stream Pipeline. Interview with Seymour Hersh (GR)

Joe Biden decided not to blow them up. It was in early June, five months into the war, but then, in September, he decided to do it. I’ll tell you something. The operational people, the people who do kinetic things for the United States, they do what the president says, and they initially thought this was a useful weapon that he could use in negotiations. But at some point, once the Russians went in, and then when the operation was done, this became increasingly odious to the people who did it. These are well-trained people; they are in the highest level of secret intelligence agencies. They turned on the project. They thought this was an insane thing to do. And within a week, or three or four days after the bombing, after they did what they were ordered to, there was a lot of anger and hostility. This is obviously reflected in the fact that I’m learning so much about it.And I’ll tell you something else. The people in America and Europe who build pipelines know what happened. I’m telling you something important. The people who own companies that build pipelines know the story. I didn’t get the story from them but I learned quickly they know.
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[..] The secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, said a few days after the pipeline was blown up, at a news conference, that a major economic and almost military force was taken away from Vladimir Putin. He said this was a tremendous opportunity, as Russia could no longer weaponize the pipelines — meaning that it was not able to force Western Europe not to support the United States in the war. The fear was that Western Europe would not go along any longer in the war. I think that the reason they decided to do it then was that the war wasn’t going well for the West, and they were afraid with winter coming. The Nord Stream 2 has been sanctioned by Germany, and the United States was afraid that Germany would lift the sanctions because of a bad winter.
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FABIAN SCHEIDLER: According to you, what were the motives when you look behind the scenes? The US government was opposed to the pipeline for many reasons. Some say they were opposed to it because they wanted to weaken Russia, to weaken the ties between Russia and Western Europe, Germany especially. But maybe also to weaken the German economy, which, after all, is a competitor to the US economy. With the high gas prices, enterprises have started to move to the United States. So what’s your sense of the motives of the US government, if they blew up the pipeline?
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SEYMOUR HERSH: I don’t think they thought it through. I know this sounds strange. I don’t think that Blinken and some others in the administration are deep thinkers. There certainly are people in the American economy who like the idea of us being more competitive. We’re selling LNG, liquefied gas, at extremely big profits; we’re making a lot of money on it. I’m sure there were some people thinking, boy, this is going to be a long-time boost for the American economy. But in that White House, I think the obsession was always reelection, and they wanted to win the war, they wanted to get a victory, they want Ukraine to somehow magically win. There could be some people who think maybe it’ll be better for our economy if the German economy is weak, but that’s crazy thinking. I think, basically, that we’ve bitten deep into something that’s not going to work. The war is not going to turn out well for this government.

[..] What I know is there’s no way this war is going to turn out the way we want, and I don’t know what we’re going to do as we go further down the line. It scares me if the president was willing to do this.And the people who did this mission believed that the president did realize what he was doing to the people of Germany, that he was punishing them for a war that wasn’t going well. And in the long run, this is going to be very detrimental not only to his reputation as the president but politically too. It’s going to be a stigma for America.So what you have is a White House that thought it may have a losing card: Germany and Western Europe may stop giving the arms we want and the German chancellor could turn the pipeline on — that was always a fear. I would be asking a lot of questions to Chancellor Scholz. I would ask him what he learned in February when he was with the president. The operation was a big secret, and the president wasn’t supposed to tell anybody about this capability. But he does talk. He says things that he doesn’t want to.

[..] The point is that Biden chose to keep Germany cold this winter. The president of the United States would rather see Germany cold [because of energy shortages] than Germany possibly not supportive in the Ukraine war, and that, to me, is going to be a devastating thing for this White House. For me, and I think also for the people on the mission, it was appalling. [..] I can tell you that the people involved in the operation saw the president as choosing to keep Germany cold for his short-range political goals, and that horrified them. I’m talking about American people that are intensely loyal to the United States. In the CIA, it’s understood that, as I put it in my article, they work for the Crown, they don’t work for the Constitution.

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“..what possible explanation could be offered when the Biden co-conspirators, millions of Americans and Putin’s Security Council all know the truth..”

US Presidents Renege on Agreements with Russia (Parsons)

A week after Sy Hersh’s expose on the Nord Stream pipeline explosions, there is still no word that pretend President Biden who denies any knowledge or involvement in causing an Act of War in the Baltic Sea has yet to offer an explanation to the American public or reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin – but what possible explanation could be offered when the Biden co-conspirators, millions of Americans and Putin’s Security Council all know the truth. Even though the balloon distraction consumes the American mainstream media with the anonymous buoyant inflatable nonsense of a psyop as if to avoid the inescapable moment of truth – which will come inevitably. In any case, a good guess is that the Russians are not amused by whatever game the Biden Administration has conjured up to deflect attention from the reality of a world level Act of War crisis.


While the media remains aflutter with the guessing-game possibilities, TPTB appear confident that because Russia has been restrained and prudent in its reactions during its special military operation; including the unrelenting NATO lies but especially to the inhumanity of the Ukraine Nazi’s. There is a general refusal on the part of the Americans to believe that The Bear would ever retaliate, that they could never be pushed so far until there was nowhere else to go. Perhaps as the European mainland flounders in an energy and economic crisis of its own making, they are experiencing a resurgence of lost sovereignty and awareness of their loss of independence at the hands of the US. As the US and rest of the world await Russia’s response to the Biden Administration’s denial, legendary professor, historian, philosopher and political analyst emeritus Noam Chomsky has reminded us of the reckless and provocative impact of the US withdrawal of arms control agreements on Russia’s well-defined borders and legitimate security interests.

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Translation: we are losing.

Ukraine Conflict Will Likely Have No Military Winner – Milley (RT)

The Ukraine conflict can only end through a negotiated peace deal because neither side is likely to achieve its goals on the battlefield, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday. “It will be almost impossible for the Russians to achieve their political objectives by military means,” Milley claimed without providing specific reasons for his stance. “It is unlikely that Russia is going to overrun Ukraine. It’s just not going to happen.” He added that it also would be “very, very difficult for Ukraine this year to kick the Russians out of every inch” of the territory that Moscow’s forces have already captured.

America’s top-ranking military officer made his comments after traveling to Brussels earlier this week to coordinate efforts with NATO allies on shoring up Ukraine’s firepower for a planned spring counter-offensive. Kiev is burning through weaponry at a rate “many times higher” than its Western allies can produce it, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday. Milley said the ammunition strain has forced the Pentagon to review its weapons inventories and contemplate increases in spending. US officials are re-examining their assumptions about supply needs after decades of focusing on counterterrorism missions and unconventional warfare.

“One of the lessons of this war is the very high consumption rates of conventional munitions, and we are re-examining our own stockages and our own plans to make sure that we got it right,” Milley told FT. “We’re trying to do the analysis so that we can then estimate what we think the true requirement would be, and then we have to put that in the budget. Ammunition is very expensive.” The Pentagon’s current annual budget stands at $817 billion, exceeding the combined total for the rest of the world’s ten largest military spenders combined. Washington has already allocated more than $110 billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia’s military operation began last February.

Republican lawmakers, such as Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Andy Biggs of Arizona, have criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for severely depleting US weapons stockpiles to arm Ukraine. Earlier this week, Milley told reporters in Brussels that Russia has already lost. “They’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield.” Retired US Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor, a former Pentagon adviser, said such claims have eroded the Biden administration’s credibility. “General Milley has made it very clear that he’s aligned with the left, he is part of this administration, he’s going to say whatever they want him to say.”

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Translation: there will be no winner, but Russia lost.

Russia Has Lost ‘Strategically, Operationally And Tactically’ – Milley (G.)

General Mark Milley, chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff, has said Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically” and that they are “paying an enormous price on the battlefield” in Ukraine. Milley, speaking at a joint news conference with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, said President Vladimir Putin believed he could defeat Ukraine quickly when he ordered his troops to invade almost a year ago. [Putin] was wrong. Ukraine remains free. They remain independent. Nato and its coalition has never been stronger. Now, Russia is a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost – they’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield.

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“It doesn’t really make sense to send tanks to Ukraine unless you send combat aircraft to give them cover.”

The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine (Rickards)

I’ve written extensively about two facets of the war in Ukraine that you don’t hear from legacy media in the United States or U.K. The first is that Russia is actually winning the war. U.S. outlets such as The New York Times (a channel for the State Department) and The Washington Post (a channel for the CIA) report endlessly about how Russian plans have failed, about how incompetent they are about how the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have pushed back Russians in the Donbass, and how NATO weapons such as U.S. Abrams tanks, U.K. Challenger tanks and German Leopard tanks will turn the tide against Russia soon. This is all nonsense. None of it is true.

First off, the Ukrainian advances that took place in late summer were against lightly defended positions that the Russians quickly conceded to conserve forces. The Russians were willing to give up the land so that they wouldn’t lose valuable men and materiel. The Russians withdrew to more defensible positions and have been badly mauling Ukrainian attacking forces ever since. Ukraine has wasted incredibly large amounts of men and equipment in these futile and ill-advised attacks. In all, credible reports indicate that AFU casualties are nearing 500,000 and are increasing at an unsustainable rate. On the other hand, reports of 100,000 Russian dead are almost certainly wild exaggerations put out by Ukraine. The BBC attempted to verify these numbers and could only find about 20,000 confirmed Russian dead based on extensive searches on funeral notices, public records, etc.

What about the tanks NATO is supposedly sending? Well, the tanks have not been delivered yet and most won’t be for months or longer. Our own M1 Abrams tanks might not even arrive for a year or more. We actually have to custom build these tanks so that they don’t have the special armor and other advanced systems that our own M1s have. The Pentagon doesn’t want them falling into Russian hands if they’re destroyed or captured. Besides, we’re only sending 31 tanks anyway. When the NATO tanks do arrive, they’ll likely quickly be destroyed by Russian artillery, anti-tank weapons and precision missiles. They’re good tanks, but far from invincible. For decades, the Russians have been developing powerful weapons specifically designed to destroy these NATO tank models. The Russians aren’t particularly worried about them.

Aside from that, tanks rely on effective air cover for protection, which Ukraine lacks. They’ll be sitting ducks on the battlefield. It doesn’t really make sense to send tanks to Ukraine unless you send combat aircraft to give them cover. Meanwhile, Russian forces have nearly encircled the city of Bakhmut, which is a major transportation and logistics hub, with several key roads and rail lines passing through it. It’ll probably fall to the Russians within weeks. Losing Bakhmut will be a major blow to Ukraine, despite claims in the western media that it really isn’t very important. Ukraine’s entire 800-mile defensive line would probably begin to crumble, and they don’t have heavily fortified positions to fall back on. Ukrainian troops, while brave and competent soldiers, are exhausted and running out of supplies as it is.

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“..She also expressed a preference for Russians overthrowing their government for a “better future” offered by the West..”

Nuland Outlines US Goals In Ukraine (RT)

Unless the Crimean peninsula is at the very least “demilitarized” Ukraine won’t feel safe, while the ideal end to the current conflict is with a revolution in Moscow, the US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on Thursday. Ukrainians “have to get to a map that is more sustainable for them,” Nuland said in a video interview with the Washington think tank Carnegie Endowment. They have “significant chunks of territory they need to be a viable state, before you even get to the question of Crimea, and that’s what they’re focused on now.” The US position is that Ukraine is “owed and due all of their territory within their international borders,” which means Crimea as well, Nuland added.

Assigned to Ukraine by the Soviet Union in 1954, Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in March 2014, after the violent coup in Kiev that Nuland helped “midwife,” according to the infamous phone call intercept. “Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is – at a minimum, at a minimum – demilitarized,” Nuland insisted on Thursday, claiming that Moscow had turned the peninsula into a military base, with command posts, logistics depots and airfields for “Iranian drones.” “Those are legitimate targets, Ukraine is hitting them, and we are supporting that,” she said. Earlier this week, Politico quoted two anonymous officials to imply that Nuland’s boss, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had admitted the US was not “actively encouraging” Ukraine to seize Crimea and that any moves on the peninsula would be “Kiev’s decision alone.”

Nuland, however, told Carnegie that the battlefield objectives of Washington and Kiev overlap “in terms of what the Ukrainians want to do on the battlefield, and what we’re enabling them to plan to do.” Asked how she saw the conflict ending, Nuland said the West “must never trust, as long as Vladimir Putin is in power, or somebody like him, that this is truly over.” Even if the fighting ends on Ukraine’s terms, there “has to be a long-term plan” to build up Ukraine’s military as a deterrent. She also expressed a preference for Russians overthrowing their government for a “better future” offered by the West.

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“What exactly do they know? Is there anything they are trying to hide? I suppose any truly objective, impartial and professional media will want to seek out the truth..”

Beijing Challenges Western Press On Nord Stream Blasts (RT)

Beijing has mocked mainstream Western media for its apparent reluctance to look into recent allegations by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, that the US was responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream undersea pipelines last year. The sabotage of the natural gas routes last September had a major economic and environmental impact and caused global concern over the safety of cross-border infrastructure, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a press briefing on Thursday. “Immediately after the explosions, we saw extensive coverage in US and other Western media with one-sided speculations on who was ‘responsible’ for the sabotage,” he said. “What we see now, however, is that these media, hailed as free, professional and impartial, have fallen silent over Seymour Hersh’s detailed report.”

The veteran investigative journalist reported last week that US President Joe Biden had ordered a secret operation to sabotage the crucial energy link. According to his source, which Hersh did not reveal, the US colluded with Norway to plant explosives under the guise of a NATO naval exercise and detonate it remotely months later. Both nations have denied the allegations. Wang wondered if Western outlets really wanted to know the truth about what happened, suggesting that some may be covering up for the Biden administration. “What exactly do they know? Is there anything they are trying to hide? I suppose any truly objective, impartial and professional media will want to seek out the truth,” the Chinese diplomat said.

Russia, which argued from the outset that the US had most to gain from knocking out the Nord Stream pipelines, expressed similar sentiments. “We consider this incident an act of international terrorism that warrants a comprehensive and independent investigation,” Igor Girenko, the spokesman for the Russian embassy in Washington said. He urged Washington to “at least try to prove that they were not involved in the destruction of the gas pipelines.”

Clare Daly

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Olga Sukharevskaya is a former Ukrainian diplomat.

The West Has Long Planned A Proxy War With Russia In Ukraine (Sukharevskaya)

Western ‘aid’ is killing Ukrainians by the thousands. In November 2022, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, estimated that Kiev had lost at least 100,000 servicemen, before deleting her comments after uproar from supporters of Ukraine. Three more months have passed since then. Big expansions to cemeteries have sprouted up all over Ukraine. Trying to make up for losses, the authorities have ordered more mobilization. This process has turned into a hunt, with men being dragged to war by force, as dozens of videos freely available online show. Given equipment losses, it’s likely that attacks on the civilian population of Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson, as well as Russia’s border regions, are carried out almost exclusively using Western weapons.

Evidence of this is seen from video footage of destroyed civilian infrastructure in Donbass. American “gifts” in the form of HIMARS strike residential areas in Donetsk and in the deep rear of the Lugansk city of Schastye. The Kalinin hospital in Donetsk and a hospital in Novoaidar, Lugansk, were both destroyed by NATO weapons. And this is only a small portion of the slaughter being committed by Kiev, using Western supplies. According to UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, at least 7,100 civilians have been killed in the course of combat operations since February 2022. “The real numbers are probably much bigger,” Nakamitsu said. Norwegian Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen estimates civilian casualties at 30,000 people.

There is also evidence that some long-range missiles currently publicly only under discussion have already been provided to Kiev. The head of the administration of the Russian part of Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov, has reported that Ukrainian missiles hit the hotel complex ‘Hunter’s Camp’ in Melitopol, resulting in civilian deaths. However, the city is located more than 100 km from the frontline. The lives of the Ukrainian people have been sacrificed in the interests of a geopolitical confrontation planned by the West. At a meeting of the Council of Europe on January 24, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, “We (the EU) are waging a war against Russia, not against each other.” She was subsequently forced to take her words back, but other Western officials have said the same thing, even if in less straightforward ways.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed, “If Putin prevails, it will mean a defeat not only for Ukraine but for all of us.” As for Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, he went so far as to call the defeat of Russia “the Polish and European meaning of life.” Politicians generally tell the truth only after resigning. Statements from former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Francois Hollande have revealed that the 2014 and 2015 Minsk (peace) Agreements were signed only in order to arm Ukraine and buy it time before a full on military confrontation with Russia. In other words, waging war with Russia by proxy through Ukraine has been a meticulously planned strategy, long in the making.

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“The deal outlined moves to declare a ceasefire, withdraw weapons, declare amnesty, restore economic ties and conduct constitutional reform in Ukraine..”

Russia Acted Out Of Necessity To Implement Minsk Accords – Kremlin (TASS)

Russia took into account the need to implement the Minsk Accords and exerted numerous efforts to make sure that the commitments under the deal were implemented by Ukraine, France, and Germany, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. The Russian presidential spokesman responded with a negative reply to a question as to whether Moscow assumed that the deal would not be carried out once the accords were signed. “You know how much effort the Russian side invested into the negotiating track in order to force both the Ukrainian side and Berlin and Paris to go down the path of fulfilling the commitments that the parties had undertaken under the Minsk agreements,” he continued.

According to Peskov, Moscow “exerted a great deal of effort” into the Minsk Accords. He recalled that the talks on the issue involved the personal participation of President Vladimir Putin, ex-Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak. “Undoubtedly, the main objective was to force Kiev to fulfill its obligations,” Peskov told the news briefing. The Minsk Accords were the cornerstone of the Donbass peace process. The deal outlined moves to declare a ceasefire, withdraw weapons, declare amnesty, restore economic ties and conduct constitutional reform in Ukraine through dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR), aimed at decentralizing power and providing a special status to certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

However, the negotiation process had actually stalled because of Kiev’s refusal to fulfill the political provisions of the Minsk accords. In particular, Kiev rejected holding any direct dialogue with the DPR and the LPR, opposed the consolidation of the regions’ special status in the constitution, and also demanded that a section of the border with Russia in Donbass be placed under Ukrainian control until the political part of the deal was implemented.

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“These states of the Global South are also developing plans for new international reserve currency designed to undercut the ability of Washington to dictate international policy..”

Implications of US Destruction of Nordstream 2 Pipeline (Fuller)

The stunning recent and detailed reportage of direct American sabotage of the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline represents a major geostrategic watershed in two senses: First, the implications of Washington’s act of war with disastrous economic impact upon Europe will not subside easily. But more importantly this event has demonstrated America’s successful cowing of any public commentary on the event — across U.S. media but more so across all European media itself, including in the most economically victimized state —Germany. We observe stunning, nearly inexplicable silence over this major international event. And Russia has gotten the message — American policies and statements have deeply reinforced Russia’s long-standing belief that the West is implacably hostile to any Russian role in the West — going back to the bitter and irrevocable split of Christendom between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. That was later followed up by two devastating European invasions of Russia (Napoleon and Hitler).

Growing European trade ties — especially Germany — with Russia since the end of the Cold War have been thrown on the trash heap by NATO expansion east. The hostility of East-West relations has been reinforced and deepened. Washington has no desire to work out a new common-European security policy that includes Russian interests as well. And these U.S. policies have helped ensure that Russia’s future now firmly lies in the East–Vladivostok and with China in a shared rejection of U.S. global hegemony. The rise of a new Great Wall that blocks off Russia from Western Europe is one of the most striking outcomes of this war: European officialdom seems to have cast in its lot, perhaps reluctantly but irrevocably, with the American strategic goals in the world.

Those goals now even speak of creating a new “NATO Pacific” designed to challenge Chinese power economically and strategically in China’s own backyard — at great potential economic cost to Europe. But for all this demonstration of Washington’s hold over Europe, it is also striking to note how the great majority of the world has indeed not gone along with U.S. strategic ambitions to weaken and humble Russia or to impose Washington’s own geopolitical architecture on most of the rest of the world. Broadly speaking Latin America, the Middle East and Africa do not perceive their strategic interests as aligning with Washington’s. Apart from some lip service criticism of Russia, few states including large segments of Asia and India itself have imposed any meaningful sanctions against Russia.

More vividly, we see the emergence of new non-Western alliances such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) with many other major states lining up to include Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. These states of the Global South are also developing plans for new international reserve currency designed to undercut the ability of Washington to dictate international policy through U.S. dollar-based sanctions.

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“If you are dealing with a nuclear power and if you are citing the goal of inflicting defeat to this nuclear power, you should have all the options in mind of our possible response.”

Russian Diplomats Issue Dire Warnings that War with US Is Close (LI)

Starting in 2008, NATO has repeatedly declared its intention to someday allow Ukraine to become a member, again reiterating that pledge at a recent alliance summit. The move would cross the “brightest of all red lines” for Moscow, as was previously noted by then-State Department official and current CIA Director William Burns, who penned a 2008 memo warning of the geopolitical perils of extending membership to Kiev. Still, President Joe Biden has refused to change course, insisting it is up to Ukraine whether it would like to join the US-led military bloc while effectively making Kiev a de facto member in the meantime. In an interview with Newsweek on Tuesday, Russia’s UN envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy argued that the West has not respected Moscow’s core security concerns, and has become directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

“All the red lines have already been crossed by Western countries. There is already semi-direct involvement of NATO in the conflict because it’s not only weaponry but it’s intelligence,” he said. “It’s the situation when the targets of certain artillery systems, in particular HIMARS, these targets can be hit only with the coordination with Washington.” Last week, the Washington Post reported that Ukraine relies on American intelligence for selecting targets. Since the start of the year, the White House has authorized the shipment of main battle tanks and long-range rockets to Kiev. Additionally, NATO appears to be preparing to send Western-made warplanes to Ukraine. ”It means that NATO is not only providing weapons but also are choosing the targets for Ukrainian strikes,” Polyanskiy continued.

He went on to allege that citizens from NATO countries are already fighting – as well as getting captured and killed – in Ukraine. ”We know this from the people that we capture and from the bodies that we see on the battlefield.” The ambassador said Western weapons would only escalate the conflict, even warning that foreign intervention could eventually trigger a nuclear war. “It’s absolutely clear that any deliveries of weapons to the zone of conflict, of course, is like pouring oil into the fire,” he said, adding “If you are dealing with a nuclear power and if you are citing the goal of inflicting defeat to this nuclear power, you should have all the options in mind of our possible response.”

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Staley’s done. Now for the rest.

Bombshell New Emails Unsealed Between Epstein and JP Morgan Executive (TP)

Newly unsealed documents relating to the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit against JPMorgan begin to paint a larger picture of how the Epstein sex trafficking operation was conducted. Newly unsealed passages of a federal lawsuit have revealed that as far back as 2006, former top executives at JPMorgan privately discussed abuse allegations surrounding the late predator Jeffrey Epstein, and more than 20 of his sex trafficking victims were paid through accounts at the mega bank. “These women were trafficked and abused during different intervals between at least 2003 and July 2019, when Epstein was arrested and jailed, and these women received payments, typically multiple payments, between 2003 and 2013 in excess of $1 million collectively,” a passage states.

“Epstein also withdrew more than $775,000 in cash over that time frame from JP Morgan accounts, especially significant as Epstein was known to pay for “massages,” or sexual encounters, in cash.” Earlier, the allegations, along with some others, were concealed with redactions by the government of the Virgin Islands while submitting its legal action against JP Morgan Chase, citing its involvement in Epstein’s offenses. Late Wednesday, the Virgin Islands unsealed more documents relating to their investigation. The bombshell documents reveal just how involved JP Morgan was with Epstein. Not only did they know what Epstein was up to, but they were complicit. JPMorgan’s then-senior executive Jes Staley had a very close relationship with Epstein, sending him 1,200 emails that suggest he was involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.

“Between 2008 and 2012, Staley exchanged approximately 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JP Morgan email account,” the lawsuit says. “These communications show a close personal relationship and ‘profound’ friendship between the two men and even suggest that Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.” One Staley email was even sent from Epstein’s Little St. James in 2009 when Epstein was in jail in Florida. “So when all hell breaks lo[o]se, and the world is crumbling, I will come here, and be at peace,” the email read. “Presently, I’m in the hot tub with a glass of white wine. This is an amazing place. Truly amazing. Next time, we’re here together. I owe you much. And I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound.”

Read more …

“..a testing and screening program to determine whether players have been adversely affected by the injections and to develop a set of functional medical protocols and treatments in order to address and heal any deleterious effects of the vaccines..”

The players don’t want to be tested, afraid they can’t play.

NFL Players Association Urged to Screen for Vaccine Side Effects (ET)

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is being urged to offer players cardiac screening in light of the growing concern over COVID-19 vaccines causing heart inflammation. The Health Freedom Defense Fund urged the association in a recent letter to implement screening because the vaccines can cause myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation. Young males are the most at risk. Most NFL players received a COVID-19 vaccine under pressure from teams and the league. “Safety signals illustrate that the near and long-term health outcomes of the COVID-19 vaccines remain uncertain,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the fund, told DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the players association, in the letter.

RFK jr
https://twitter.com/i/status/1626318214325055490

“A multitude of adverse reactions to these injections, including myocarditis, are wide-ranging and confirmed, and as such, prudence dictates that the NFLPA investigate the extent to which the COVID-19 shots may have resulted in injury, compromised health or death of players,” Manookian said. She pointed out that Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during a Monday Night Football game in January. The reason for the incident remains unknown; Hamlin declined to convey during a recent televised interview what his doctors told him about the incident. Former NFL players also have suffered heart attacks and strokes following vaccination. The NFLPA should introduce “a testing and screening program to determine whether players have been adversely affected by the injections and to develop a set of functional medical protocols and treatments in order to address and heal any deleterious effects of the vaccines,” Manookian said.

[..] Manookian informed the NFLPA that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed a warning regarding myocarditis and a related condition, pericarditis, on the labels for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. She also pointed to research papers on post-vaccination myocarditis. Among them were a study by Florida authorities that found a jump in cardiac-related deaths among the vaccinated; a study that found an increased risk of myocarditis and myopericarditis after a second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine and the first and second doses of Moderna’s vaccine, with the highest risk in young males; a reanalysis of the original clinical trials that found a higher number of serious adverse events of special interest among the vaccinated; and experts in Germany reporting, after analyzing autopsies, that some of the deceased likely died from vaccine-induced myocarditis.

“We have a growing body of scientific evidence showing that there is a risk to young males in particular, and many of them have some critical cardiac problems,” Manookian said. The NFLPA did the right thing when it comes to concussions, supporting stronger protections for players, she said. “I think that we should be doing the same thing with respect to these COVID injections and the potential for subclinical cardiac issues,” Manookian said.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Biden walk

 

 

Salamander
https://twitter.com/i/status/1626276298694828032

 

 


In 1970, students in a fifth-grade class at Hawthorne School in Beverly Hills were assigned to write a letter to someone they admired, asking them “What makes a good citizen?”10yr old Joel Lipton wrote to Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz. Joel got a reply…

 

 

Abandoned ant hill
https://twitter.com/i/status/1626164699191451651

 

 

Cuttlefish
https://twitter.com/i/status/1626293722752188419

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle February 17 2023

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 64 total)
  • Author
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  • #129262

    Tomb of the diver, Paestum c480 BCE   • Seymour Hersh Calls Pipeline Sabotage ‘Dumbest’ US Act In Years (RT) • The US Destroyed the Nord Stream P
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 17 2023]

    #129263
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Another day of obfuscation and lies from The Empire of Lies.

    Meanwhile, Airstrip Five has lost between 1/4 and 1/3 of its crops for export and an unknown portion of its animal stock…probably around 5%. The regions devasted -from Northland right through to Hawkes Bay- were also major beekeeping regions, so we must anticipate shortages of honey and other bee-related products. We won’t know the full extent of the damage because there is little communication, due to there being no electricity in many districts.

    Whilst food prices on Airstrip Five are expected to surge even more than they have already, removing a substantial portion of the food supply from international markets is likely to have enormous repercussions, from higher prices to there being absolutely no product being available at all.

    At the moment, the only things that work in Napier are things that have internal combustion engines or run on bottled natural gas.

    “It’s a war zone,’ said one interviewee.

    Yes. But what the commenter failed to understand is that the war is between the government (managers of the Airstrip) and the people of airstrip Five. It’s been that way from the beginning. But in the past it was possible to get ahead. So the people could take the punishment, knowing that they could improve their lot a little. Now even that is gone and everyone gets dragged down, other than the well-connected 1%, who profit from everyone else’s misfortune.

    It’s much the same on Airstrip Two, of course, where the managers put into positions of power by Big Brother have absolutely no interest in the welfare of the populace or in protecting the environment or wildlife.

    “Doctor, the patient seems to be dying from loss of blood.”

    “Apply more leeches.”

    #129264
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    Ukraine

    It seems like the US wants to wrap up the war in a few months time, hoping Ukraine can make some gains so that they can negotiate with Russia from strength. Sounds like desperation.

    Russia talks about the conflict lasting another year or two!

    – Russia is draining the West of arms and ammunition – seems like a good idea to keep it going.
    – The sanctions are harming the West more than Russia so rub their faces in it.
    – After the revelations about Minsk II the idea of any negotiated settlement is really a non-starter.

    For over 8 years NATO has been training Ukrainian troops and giving them arms and ammunition. In addition over the past year the West has spent over 100 billion dollars of aid for Ukraine.

    After just 12 months almost ALL of this is gone! What will NATO countries look like after another two years? I don’t see that Russia has any choice but to conquer the whole of the Ukraine.

    This would give Russia the opportunity to seize foreign owned land, property and businesses in compensation for stolen assets.

    Then comes the trials for war crimes. I am sure that many will flee to the West, but this also helps to clean up Ukraine.

    It was interesting to read that Ukraine has so many resources it should be a wealthy country, but all this wealth has been sucked out by criminals. Potentially being conquered by Russia could be the best thing to happen to ordinary Ukrainians.

    #129265
    oxymoron
    Participant

    You know I may be a little reductionist in my perception of the Nord Stream thingy but I keep hearing a voice in my head say “Iron Bank – it was the Iron Bank”. All wars are bankers’ wars and I read Hersh and think to myself that here is a details guy and not a big picture guy. He is not a systems thinker. One of the reasons that Fabio Vighi resonates so much with me over the last 3 years is that he is rare (though not alone) in seeing the ‘burn it down’ insurance job going on. The BIS and the rest work for people who focus on the dynamics of accumulation. Not the even spread of wealth.
    They don’t want the trees in the forest to soak up the water – they want to know they have all the water available in the catchment in their dam so they cut down the forest blow up the pipeline when the drought comes.

    The drought is now and part of why I am a little quiet of late is that I am grinding out 10 -12 hour days getting ready for 10 years of austerity. I firmly subscribe the the idea that the global population outside the .5% will be immiserated and I would like some comforts and also to be of use. I am useless if dependent, debt-ridden and hostage to the State/Corp.

    #129266
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Bing Chat explodes spectacularly like all Microsoft products. Failing never affects them though because they’re a government-supported monopoly. Failure: It’s What We Do.™ Most insecure operating system ever created.

    But forgot to mention one of the prime reasons for this. As the Internet expands infinitely, Google can’t keep up even with all their servers. They’re already at the limit and using new tricks to run it every day. This is why the CEO said, “There is one answer to your question.” There is ONE answer to your question. Then they don’t have to search all the OTHER answers, just the one “you” want. Or in practice, the one answer THEY want.

    But that’s not working as even with overwhelming censorship, each person clicks a different “answer” (i.e. site) on the search page. What we need to solve all three problems (the third being eternal censorship) is to find out what each user wants, then put THAT click in front of them, that is, whatever dumb s—t they’ll believe that also supports our censorship. And only an AI can do that. They give ONE answer. Present the one answer only YOU will want and believe.

    Of course you COULD tell them the truth but that truth would say Google is Evil™, they are working to destroy you to help themselves, and are robbing you and making you more poor, miserable, and powerless every day. So that honest answer really won’t work.

    But AI will. Imagine an AI – backed with your whole social media posting history – answering “Should I take the Vax?” To one person it says, “Yes, the Appeal to Authority Fallacy says you should.” Meanwhile, the next person gets “Although Covid isn’t at all dangerous (0.03%) and the vax doesn’t work (on Covid) nevertheless JFK Jr is alive and he told me that the vax is a double-secret inoculation against a FUTURE bioweapon China is planning to release in next month’s surprise attack, ordered by the lizard people. So definitely take the vax.”

    And you can live your life where every word you’ve heard about reality is entirely different from what everybody else has heard and believes about reality. That’s obviously “seeking the truth” and “ending misinformation.”

    So that’s why they’re on AI right now. One Answer™ Sure saves a lot of time! The answer? “Whatever dumb s–t I have to say to make you Do What You’re Told.”

    Looks like they’ve got a Plan™ to stop the “died suddenly” problem: they’re going to “release” the new “mammal engineered” “gain of function” avian flu with a “60%” fatality rate. Or not, but there’s their story. Only kills those with a wildly reduced immune system.

    Yay. I just. Can’t. wait. That’s Time for you: just one d—–d thing after another.

    Ukraine kids: finishing Biden’s genocide. Ukraine ceases to exist right now. It’s like one of the Roman extinctions. I mean, “Ukraine” was never really that different than Russia, mostly fake, but I hope that matters.

    “• Ukraine Conflict Will Likely Have No Military Winner – Milley (RT) “

    Sure it will: China. Milley promised to call. Xi will say “Good Job Brownie”.

    “Ammunition is very expensive.”

    Only in America with 100x profit markups. It’s reasonable elsewhere. And actually U.S. ammunition is cheap in Ukraine. We should buy it off the black market there the way Russia does.

    “Russia Has Lost ‘Strategically, Operationally And Tactically’ – Milley (G.) “

    Losing = taking 1/5th of the country and 80% of the GDP. Can we lose now? We could really use it.

    “It doesn’t really make sense to send tanks to Ukraine unless you send combat aircraft to give them cover.”

    I have said this. It’s little known and thought of, but all these systems are part of a package, and all parts of the package must be working. Ammunition, parts. Air cover, surveillance. Soldiers, artillery. Rockets. Having any one piece is a “target” that makes you lose faster, not slower.

    “AFU casualties are nearing 500,000 and are increasing at an unsustainable rate. On the other hand, reports of 100,000 Russian dead are almost certainly wild exaggerations”

    So you, who we know are crooked and exaggerating, still tell US that Russia is beating you 5:1 on your home territory. Right.

    “Unless the Crimean peninsula is at the very least “demilitarized” Ukraine won’t feel safe,”

    Still after Crimea. In more plausible news, Nuland is working on that new Time Machine to put with her SkyHook and Perpetual Motion Machine.

    Moscow had turned the peninsula into a military base,”

    Yes. They did that under Catherine the Great. Use your Time Machine and go check. That’s why the USuk attacked it then in “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Equally uselessly. Can we move Nuland into video games where having bizarre and lavish fantasies is a good thing?

    “And I find it jaw-dropping that the EU is still not asking questions.”

    Because the “EU”, that is, the WEF, approves and ordered it. There is no other explanation.

    Western ‘aid’ is killing Ukrainians by the thousands.”

    Biden’s slavic genocide. You can think positively about it: like ISIS, it attracts all the Nazis and all the Crazies, the WEF supporters worldwide to be killed and removed from the face of the earth. How else can you identify them, get them in one place, and shoot them? Trials would take too long and be half as good.

    “demonstrated America’s successful cowing of any public commentary on the event — across U.S. media but more so across all European media itself,”

    The evil collaborators are all being identified and cut out. Look at CNN! They’re melting down with ratings lower than the Weather channel. NPD’s like Cuomo just said he’d kill himself (without their attention). Oh and kill everybody else at CNN too, presumably in a shooting spree. Nothing says “healthy and well adjusted” like that. Orange Man Bad.

    “NATO Pacific” designed to challenge Chinese power”

    The North Atlantic Pacific Treaty. Why not? They can’t win half a war, why not two? And isn’t that what the “Trilateral” was supposed to do? They no longer have the brains to recognize that Kissinger has the brains. Like monkeys with the typewriters.

    “Starting in 2008, NATO has repeatedly declared its intention to someday allow Ukraine to become a member,”

    Red Line for Moscow? That was literally forbidden in a signed treaty. “Moscow” didn’t just make it up.

    Is Joe Biden real?

    Well either is plausible, however, he changes from an 80 year old with dementia to a vigorous, well-spoken guy with no trouble walking about every other day. Kind of like how Hillary is 50 some days and 78 on others. I’m only telling you what’s recorded on camera, you figure out why.

    I am overreacting to Ohio, but it’s the response that, If you’re not safe in rural Ohio in the heart of Amish country, where are you safe? And you’re not. Not in Baltimore, nor SF, rich and poor. Not in KY which has gone ’round the bend and crime rocketed until very suddenly people mostly steal from Home Depot, not pay. Well, that’s what happens when you Close the Collapse Gap, and life expectancy drop 10 years with non-stop corruption. Not like there was any place to hide in the FSU either. Well, it’s expected and necessary, so here we are.

    Squid and octopus. Share almost no DNA with the rest of us. If intelligent alien life landed on earth, there it is. And it speaks with us every day, you can watch non-stop videos on it.

    #129267
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I think Russia raised the 500,000 to occupy Ukraine as Lira says, yes. But differently. They are waiting for it to organically collapse and be legally REQUESTED to enter and keep order, and not have a violent, well-armed, failed state with reactors on their border.

    They “took” the South, but that was a transfer via Minsk and referendum. Not ideal but plausibly legal. Sweeping in would make it a Russian vietnam and cause a “Pearl Harbor” and other problems (border with Poland). That can’t happen if Ukraine collapses and vacates itself, with Ze in Miami. If there’s no government until what government remains, even the EU can’t argue, PLEASE come in and take the place, restore order. Until then, no good.

    Yes, the BIS and WEF other “large thinkers” look at the EE, world EIEO charts and backtrack to the financial implications, then add/murder the appropriate number of people. That’s only logical if you are, e.g. the Pentagon. I don’t have opinions about it, we have working plans and responses. And they know (all) other nations do too, e.g. China and food. So they don’t care about what MIGHT happen, SHOULD happen, only what China will ACTUALLY inevitably do.

    However, having that approach they ironically insure the exact bad futures they predict instead of averting them. Anyone seen “Tomorrowland”?

    #129268
    tboc
    Participant

    They, they, They,…..they too!

    #129269
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    Keep hearing the sucking sound as “private equity” takes over entities, sucks them dry of cash and a future, and leaves the drying shell to swing in the breeze.

    Untold bankruptcies, often blamed on unions; Boeing cutting corners to kill hundreds (board of directors and major shareholders); CNN just ran a story on p.e. buying up ER doc practices and replacing costly docs with physician’s assistants; ad nauseum.

    And now “the” train derailment. Slap on the wrist and continue the push to (1) cut crews and (2) lengthen trains. “Hot box” specialists cost too much money, dammit!

    Take the money without the risk, without the liability.

    Won’t go on forever and history shows us that with certainly.

    And then it REALLY gets ugly

    #129270
    wwoofbum
    Participant

    Anthony Fauci…the Ancel Keys for the 21st century.

    #129271
    Henry
    Participant
    #129272
    John Day
    Participant

    @V.Arnold: There is a double banister up top, but the cutout is about 2 3/4 ft X 5 ft, so getting objects up and down is already quite restricted. Grabbing the cutout going down and climbing-the-ladder going up are pretty natural adaptations. A rail along the wall side would be the next addition.

    #129273
    Germ
    Participant

    Sarah Szanton is the Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and she is a fucking disgrace to her profession. The USA has clearly descended into some kind of anti-science medical fascism.

    Good grief!

    TVASF

    #129274
    Germ
    Participant

    #129275
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Chris Martenson gives a good Eulogy for German industry

    National prosperity comes from an industrial base.

    An industrial base comes from competitively cheap energy.

    Period

    No ifs, ands, or buts

    Deutschtardland® ‘leaders’ are says they can ‘make up’ the short fall in cheap Russian pipeline gas by finding ‘new efficiencies’ and buying far more expensive LNG from the Empire of Lies®.

    WTF, this officially renders Deutschtardland® industries permanently noncompetitive on the world stage for generations and thus the Morgenthau Plan finally becomes Reality.

    Deutschtardland® devolves into an agricultural backwater of turnip farmers plowing the furrows with solar powered plows on the few sunny days that happen outside of winter.

    This also renders Eurotardistan® to Theme Park Status (TPS) featuring the natives in colorful peasant costumes singing work songs when they’re not pulling turnips.

    It’s A Small World After All

    Sing along peasants in your ‘native’ language!!!

    #129276
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I didn’t like Trump; I don’t like Trump. I don’t like his style. But.
    I have come to respect Trump as president. He genuinely tried to do what he promised, accomplished some of it, worked towards much of it. I think he genuinely respects the office of President and respects the country. He loves the support of the people, the pageantry and the mythology behind it. He is lucid. He is not a warmonger. So, while I continue to disagree with much of his platform and messaging, I would consider supporting him as president in the future if I detested the alternatives, figuring that with Trump I would know what we would get and it is palatable.

    #129277
    Germ
    Participant

    Lancet systematic review & meta-analysis (pub 2/16/23), including 12 studies w/ “severe disease” data, CONFIRMS natural immunity is MORE ROBUST & ENDURING in preventing C19 hospitalizations & deaths, vs. C19 death-vaxx :

    https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2822%2902465-5

    TVASF

    #129278
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Germ
    Ironically, the first funder for that Lancet study is The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    #129279
    Germ
    Participant

    A wonderful presentation by the heroine – Dr. Jessica Rose:

    mRNA technology: Lessons and consequences

    TVASF

    #129280
    Germ
    Participant

    Listen for two minutes from 6min 12 sec about the LNP’s in the rat juice above – you couldn’t make this shit up! Incredible.

    TVASF

    #129281
    jb-hb
    Participant

    I was reading that article from yesterday “Wokeness” vs “Wokeism”: Soros and the Devil

    “Wokeness” vs “Wokeism”: Soros and the Devil

    It reminded me of my college NPD girlfriend, who, probably in what she thought of as a moment of interpersonal intimacy, explained how she would, for instance, in quiet secret rage, assume that if an object of hers was stolen because she had misplaced it because that’s what she would do.

    SHE would steal, casually even, from people closest to her – family members, whoever – AND would harbor a secret vendetta against anyone no matter how close, on the basis of assuming they would do only what she would do. Not even ask, because she knows they must think and act like her.

    It was a bit like someone pulling back a curtain in their house you thought was for a window to reveal a private abattoir.

    This writer describes capitalism as first thinking of an abstract idea of an “identified person,” then brainwashing them with marketing, to exploit them… and the writer doesn’t seem to think of providing a product except perhaps as an afterthought, in terms of its importance in this chain of events.

    Which of course fits perfectly with the current year Engelsean, Marcusean, Frankfurt Schoolean “theory” that anyone in “capitalism” is living in a lie, a Matrix Pod Of Capitalism in which nothing is real, therefore the person inside the pod is not a real person – extrapolated out to every sub-unit and sub-sub-unit of society. A version for environmentalism, gender, race, tv show franchises you like, etc.

    HE would start with an abstract idea and then impose/manipulate, therefore he can ONLY imagine that capitalism would be something like that.

    Uh, Marketing 101 tells you the FIRST thing you do is identify a need that you can fill for someone. Then you fill it. IE you DO STUFF. FOR PEOPLE. FOR people

    “Today the social battleground is not only, as Marx envisaged, a struggle for the control over the means of production, it has become a social, even a spiritual struggle between capitalism and humanity”

    Exactly. Current-year Marxism has gone into the Mystery Schools. Initiates are the only ones with access to reality. They access their own and YOUR reality – you do not. You are not an initiate.

    It is a “spiritual struggle” in which the non initiates are stuck in Capitalism/The Matrix and initiates are the holy chosen ones. Whatever claim they had to a definition of “materialism” even remotely connected to physical reality is gone. They’re gone, man.

    And they project THEMSELVES onto Capitalism. Dude could only IMAGINE capitalism as what he does. Think of an abstract thingy. Identify someone to manipulate. Isolate them, lie to them, indoctrinate them. Be the one to dictate their needs TO them. Uh, dude, that’s 180 degrees INVERTED Marketing 101.

    #129282
    zerosum
    Participant

    Selected hearing Memories
    Peoples memories are way too short or they are just a paid shill
    Denial

    ————
    Could it be that many Ukrainians feel cheated?
    2014
    After all, Volodymyr Zelensky had promised them peace with Russia during the 2019 election campaign.
    ———
    Why do the global masses continually swallow the lies from their governments?

    That’ll teach them for believing a politicians lies.
    ————-
    • Seymour Hersh Calls Pipeline Sabotage ‘Dumbest’ US Act In Years (RT)

    ————
    Act of War in the Baltic Sea has yet to offer an explanation to the American public or reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin – but what possible explanation could be offered when the Biden co-conspirators, millions of Americans and Putin’s Security Council all know the truth
    ————–
    Feed the military or feed the people
    Ammunition is very expensive.” The Pentagon’s current annual budget stands at $817 billion, exceeding the combined total for the rest of the world’s ten largest military spenders combined. Washington has already allocated more than $110 billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia’s military operation began last February.
    ———–
    • The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine (Rickards)
    Russia is actually winning the war.
    ———–

    Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in March 2014, after the violent coup in Kiev that Nuland helped “midwife,” according to the infamous phone call intercept.
    ——–
    How lovely is this Vicki Nuland. They give weapons, ammunition, target coordinates, they tell Ukraine to shoot, we support it. And right there, from all the electrical outlets, they declare that the United States is not embroiled in a conflict.
    ————-
    • Beijing Challenges Western Press On Nord Stream Blasts (RT)

    “What we see now, however, is that these media, hailed as free, professional and impartial, have fallen silent over Seymour Hersh’s detailed report.”
    ———-
    the US and Norway executed the Nord Stream gas explosion. And I find it jaw-dropping that the EU is still not asking questions.”
    ———–
    Western ‘aid’ is killing Ukrainians by the thousands and destroying everything.
    ——-
    Did you forget?
    Statements from former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Francois Hollande have revealed that the 2014 and 2015 Minsk (peace) Agreements were signed only in order to arm Ukraine and buy it time before a full on military confrontation with Russia. In other words, waging war with Russia by proxy through Ukraine has been a meticulously planned strategy, long in the making.

    “The deal outlined moves to declare a ceasefire, withdraw weapons, declare amnesty, restore economic ties and conduct constitutional reform in Ukraine..”

    • Russia Acted Out Of Necessity To Implement Minsk Accords – Kremlin (TASS)

    ————

    #129283
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    The Everlasting Dissatisfaction – aka God in Western Civ – created us to have some comic relief from the ordeal of eternity.
    We shall not disappoint.

    #129284
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    A few days ago I commented that “the people” are not stupid, and when “the masses” realize what has gone on that many will turn to legal apparatus to deal with it, rather than violence. There were some here that suggested that, no, violence was the answer.

    I urge you to reconsider.

    Although it certainly is technically “violence” to inject someone against their will with a poisonous substance, and although there was a level of coercion involved, for most of us it was not a life-or-death issue, nor an issue of physical pain whether or not to do it. The closest to that was economic pressure – the possibility of loss of livelihood, leading to loss of home, sustenance, etc. This sort of coercion has long been a topic of discussion on the left – they call it “structural violence.” For many of us (me included) the pressure to get vaccinated was purely social.

    This is from structuralviolence.org:

    Structural violence refers to systematic ways in which social structures harm or otherwise disadvantage individuals. Structural violence is subtle, often invisible, and often has no one specific person who can (or will) be held responsible (in contrast to behavioral violence).

    It has seemed to me that the term “structural violence” was coined in order to raise the magnitude of concern about the harm that is created when a dominant, empowered group persecutes a less-powerful group. The persecution does not meet the threshold of what we usually term violence, however, it creates actualized hardship.

    It is true that violence must often be met with violence, in order to stop the perpetrator. But it depends upon the situation. It is, truly, situational.

    One of my sons has various psychological diagnoses. When he was young and became acutely anxious, he would physically lash out at others. It was impossible for his similar-age siblings and peers to handle him. Hitting him did not improve the situation – because anxiety was at the root of the behavior. (Violence is usually used to instill fear, which is expected to inhibit. In this particular son of mine, fear is a catalyst.) Instead, he had to be contained by a power greater than his, until he calmed down, and then, over time, he had to be taught different ways of dealing with his anxiety, taught that lashing out physically was not, ultimately, in his own best interest.

    There is an aphorism: “violence begets violence.”

    When the problem is “structural violence” – (which isn’t quite violence at all, the vernacular use of the word “violence” being literally “behavioral violence”) – and we “up the ante” by responding to “structural violence” with “behavioral violence” – one of two things tends to occur: (1) a violent cycle ensues, where men (predominantly) go beserk and keep using violent means to enact vengeance upon one another, often in increasing ways, or (2) a greater power squashes the violence (often violently, or with threat of greater violence), containing it, and the original perpetrators of “behavioral” violence are seen as social pariahs.

    One of the reasons for the US Constitution is to prevent violent cycles. Jefferson urged revolution – but he urged that it be done by means of the Constitution. I am aware that government, generally, can’t be trusted very far – I grew up in a strongly conservative home; as a teen I was muttering, “Yeah, the money ‘trickles-down,’ but it FLOWS up.” I do not see our current age as so very different in government corruption than prior ages. There was government corruption in the 1800s. I read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle recently – what an eye-opener were his character’s view of the political machines in 1906 Chicago! (And it was both sides!) Are our politics more corrupt? I am skeptical. Sure, the tactics are a little different; the technology is more advanced.

    The US federal government is way too large. I have heard Republicans going to Washington talk about shrinking the size of the federal government since I was a teen. Never happened – it keeps becoming more and more gargantuan! Right now, I think that the answer is economic collapse – that can potentially truly shrink the size of the federal government. Maybe in the current and coming depression in the US we can look to states and local governments and entities to help us get out of it, rather than the federal government, because relying on the federal government during the last go-round (1930s) gave way too much power to the feds.

    The framers of the Constitution gave the inheritors and inhabitants of the US a document that we could use to convert anger and frustration into cool-headed democratic compromise rather than into a cycle of violence or the need to rely on a corrupt, self-serving “strong-man” to stop the violence. With the level of division and anger in the US, there is likely to be some level of violence in the future. That isn’t the point. Our goals are potentially achievable in great measure by cool-headed agreements, not by cycles of violence nor by threat of violence. (By “violence” here I mean the behavioral type, not the structural type.)

    I enjoy reading Orson Scott Card’s science fiction novels. He has written several in the same world as Ender’s Game, imagining the earth in the aftermath. In one of these novels one of the Battle School grads, a young woman from India, becomes a “goddess” to the people of India. Essentially, she is a populist leader who is beloved by the people for leading them to victory against an enemy that had occupied India. Because of “the nets” all in India are able to hear her words, the people of India follow her voluntarily, of their own free will, with no overt coercion. When the former elected leader of India returns from exile, expecting to return to some level of power in India, this “goddess” takes to the nets and tells the people of India to ignore the former leader that sold out India to the invader. Subsequently, the former leader finds that no one in India will sell him anything, give him anything, give him a place to sleep or anything to eat, no matter what price he is willing to pay. Ultimately, he turns to foreigners present on Indian soil to get something to eat, a change of clothes, a place to sleep, and soon leaves India.

    #129285
    Germ
    Participant

    How did this appear in the US National Library of Medicine?
    Oops!

    The pharmaceutical industry is dangerous to health. Further proof with COVID-19

    “Since the beginning of COVID-19, we can list the following methods of information manipulation which have been used: falsified clinical trials and inaccessible data; fake or conflict-of-interest studies; concealment of vaccines’ short-term side effects and total lack of knowledge of the long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccination; doubtful composition of vaccines; inadequate testing methods; governments and international organizations under conflicts of interest; bribed physicians; the denigration of renowned scientists; the banning of all alternative effective treatments; unscientific and liberticidal social methods; government use of behavior modification and social engineering techniques to impose confinements, masks, and vaccine acceptance; scientific censorship by the media.”

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610448/

    TVASF

    #129286
    zerosum
    Participant

    They know the truth about Ukraine War.
    The 59th Munich Security Conference will be held over Feb. 17-19, with several global leaders attending, including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

    #129287

    Five days ago I blew up a cheap (Chinese) “water” balloon and rubbed on the ceiling where it is still stuck, though considerably deflated. I wonder what it’s relaying to the home country. I have no intentions of shooting it down.

    Manuka honey is close to magical in its antibiotic properties. I guess I am now glad I bought a bunch a few months ago.

    I hope no fire ants were harmed in that artistic endeavor.

    I emailed CSPAN yesterday, chastising them for not covering the Ohio train disaster. They covered it today- a short segment with very few callers (one, “from the industry” was cut off). The “expert” did what such experts do: blathered on and on to waste time. At least a larger audience now knows about it.

    The “Children’s Crusade” in 1212 didn’t go very well.

    #129288
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Phoenixvoice – your description of crossing the line between structural and behavioral violence makes me think of Dune — and I’m just thinking aloud here, we probably have somewhat similar notions

    Going to the Landstraad instead of launching all out war – despite knowing that you are in an all out struggle for survival – because “the forms must be followed”

    Idunno if I could say Russia are definitely the good guys or not, but I can say they spent years following the correct forms. The things Putin has ACTUALLY said in public, the diplomatic steps Russia has taken over the years.

    Say he’s a dictator, say Russia is the new 30’s/40’s Germany. Okay, but they still successfully, by following all the proper forms, backed the NATO countries into adopting a particular type of persona, identity, etc that is highly disadvantageous. They SHOULD have been able to ACTUALLY maneuver themselves into being On The Right Side Of History as opposed to screeching and censoring. One is obviously more powerful to have than the other.

    Generally speaking, historically, when there’s a looming potential struggle, The Forms Must Be Followed so that IF things come to out and out violence, you’ve established what it is for, what it is about, which is most important when it reaches its conclusion. It establishes the trajectory of any resulting violence.

    It’s amazing how patiently cool people all over the West are keeping themselves. They’re following all the forms. Protests, legal action, elections, reporting. Following all the proper forms doesn’t even have to be about those forms working, although it would be nice if they did. But it certainly cements the MEANING of any violence that does arise. (and I too would be one to say no, let’s not go there)

    One way of viewing the Bolshevik revolution was that the forms were not followed. The Czar was trying like crazy to do reforms. And he had the right temperament and sympathies for the job. For instance, when a new kit for Russian soldiers was developed, he put on the uniform, packed up all the gear, and spent a day marching, cooking his own meals with the kit, putting it through its paces. When he got back home, the guards wouldn’t let him in because they didn’t believe he was the Czar. At least the Emperor of all the Russias was literally someone who wanted to put his feet in the little guy’s shoes.

    The Bolsheviks had to be unreasonable precisely because there was a both reasonable and sympathetic guy in charge who WANTED to fix all the problems, WAS in the middle of fixing them. Following the correct forms would have given them more reforms, more satisfaction, and no revolution. But not following the forms informed everything that revolution led to for 70 years.

    #129289
    jsnyder62@gmail.com
    Participant

    @AFKTT,

    It’s annoying the way you think we all know what Airstrip 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ad infinitum is.

    #129290
    jb-hb
    Participant

    we’re trapped in the Matrix pod of Civilization and are unaware, not initiates who See Reality. The zombies aren’t SUPPOSED to know what Airstrip 12345 are. They’re dumb zombies, that’s the point.

    #129291
    Farmer McGregor
    Participant

    @Dr. D “…he changes from an 80 year old with dementia to a vigorous, well-spoken guy with no trouble walking about…”

    Biden taken to coroner…

    #129293
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    I am a little quiet of late is that I am grinding out 10 -12 hour days getting ready for 10 years of austerity.

    I am going one step further, oxymoron.

    I am a little quiet of late is that I am grinding out 10 -12 hour days getting ready for collapse of the fake financial system, collapse of the fake economic system, and collapse of the ability for Airstrip Five to acquire refined petroleum products.

    When I came to Airstrip Five in 1974 a litre of milk was 4 cents. In the mid-80s it went to 40 cents. Currently it is almost $4.

    If there is still the same fake financial-economic system and there are still supermarkets in 2024, I expect a litre of milk to cost around $40. And I suspect there will be a lot of empty apartment blocks. Especially in Orcland.

    #129294
    zerosum
    Participant

    A small exercise for a someone (12 yrs old) to understand inflation %.
    (People should know how numbers can be presented by Politicians when they tell lies)
    $100.00 –> 10% = 110
    110.00 –> 9% = 119.9
    119.9 –>8% = 129.5
    129.5 –> 7% = 138.6
    138.6 –> 6% = 146.9
    146.9 –> 5% = 154.3
    154.3 –> 4% = 160.5
    160.5 — > 3% = 165.3
    165.3 –> 2% = 168.6
    168.6 –> 1% = 170.3
    170.3 –> 0 inflation = 170.3

    #129295
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    jsnyder62@gmail.com

    I am happy to keep repeating.

    Airstrip One = England (it is difficult to use the term UK when there is so much disunity, especially in the conquered territories of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

    Airstrip Two = America (Trading under the British East India Company Flag as the United States)

    Airstrip Three = Canada (still trading under the indigenous people’s name)

    Airstrip Four = Australia (the original name almost completely obliterated by the corporation)

    Airstrip Five = Aotearoa (trading under the fake name of New Zealand)

    All are run as corporations, run from The City of London, a private corporation set up in the mid-1600s.

    Please read ‘1984’ or watch the 1984 film version of it.

    War is Peace.

    Ignorance is Strength.

    Freedom is Slavery.

    The controllers are promoting all three as hard as they can. Hence ‘Russia (Orwell’s Eurasia) is suffering huge losses and is about to collapse’, ‘Putin is sick and dying’, ‘Upgrade to a clean and green electric car using the government subsidy now’, ‘Government to review legal status, following misinformation campaigns directed against vaccines’, ‘We need a lot more censorship’ (as declared by The Scorpion, Adern, at the UN). etc.

    Also read ‘Brave New World’.

    I believe we are in the 120th Year of Ford, (or thereabouts).

    #129296
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    I think we’re more likely for now to see the climate nazis go full retard. They’ll shelve Covid for now and bring on some other virus later which will likely do real damage to the now billions with weakened immune systems.

    Will 2023 Be the Year “Climate” Becomes the New COVID?

    #129297
    Oroboros
    Participant

    In light of the Empire of Lies® going after the Nord pipelines as critical infrastructure of an Ally then well, lying about it, what a shock, this opens up Russia going after critical infrastructure of the Collective West too.

    Like low earth orbit com satellites.

    Back in Oct 22

    Russia warns West: We can target your commercial satellites

    Well boy howdy.

    Next headline

    Not Only Stealth F-35s, Russian S-500 Missile Can Also Shoot-Down Low-Orbit Satellites

    .

    Not Only Stealth F-35s, Russian S-500 Missile Can Also Shoot-Down Low-Orbit Satellites

    That brings us to Musk and Starlink

    S-500s knocking out Starlink satellites from low earth orbit would cost Musk a shit-ton of money and explain why Musk is simping out on using Starlink in Ukronaziland.

    Please don’t shoot down my satellite network, Please!

    .

    https://eurasiantimes.com/not-only-stealth-f-35s-russian-s-500-missile-can-also-shoot-down-low-orbit-satellites/https://eurasiantimes.com/not-only-stealth-f-35s-russian-s-500-missile-can-also-shoot-down-low-orbit-satellites/

    #129298
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    This is what collapse off civilisation looks like after a bit of heavy rain.

    This shambolic response of ‘authorities’ is occurring when times are good and there is still plenty of fuel and food.

    I’m sure the government will patch things together eventually, until the next government-induced catastrophe occurs.

    #129299
    zerosum
    Participant

    Why won’t they tell the truth? Why are they afraid?
    https://securityconference.org/assets/02_Dokumente/230213_MSC2023_List_of_Selected_Registered_Participants.pdf
    Munich Security Conference 2023
    List of Selected Registered Participants
    February 17 – 19, 2023 f
    13/02/2023

    #129300
    Dr. D
    Participant

    NZ looks okay. Hard times, have to look at the people who lose their house or driven out, but as everywhere, buy that extra Netflix subscription, new iPhone before a $20 solar panel to charge your phone. Get a bit of food and camping gear to cover. And NZ has the best excuse as this almost never happens. What’s Florida’s excuse?

    Nah, makes a heck of a mess, camp out in the neighbor’s home, bring people together, maybe not build in a floodplain next time. Cooing over that golf course which is of course in the EXACT RIGHT place. Better even than if it had been a productive field.

    Yes, we see the setup with the White Hats, everything by the book no matter how frustrating or interminable. Never even do questionable things like send the Guard on Antifa looting. And that is because one side wants violence and civil war and one side doesn’t. One side needs the folks to take a swing and have been certain they would since the 90s, in fact convinced themselves they DID in J6 and elsewhere, justifying all the violence I’m aching to do to my neighbors anyway. Loot them, burn them, fire them, arrest them, and of course burn those black neighborhoods that coincidentally get “Urban REnewal” with major real estate developers.

    Okay, we know. So how do you STOP them? If your goal is to SUPPORT the Constitution, that is, the peaceful transfer of power never before seen, under such rules as are stipulated there? You win by breaking the rules at the last minute? Unfortuantely no, however, we aren’t children and know it can lead to violence and in fact already has, systemic for 50 years, adding another group for extraction each decade, and now open violence, widely and with top-level approval and defense, such as no DA’s doing their jobs, arresting anyone who would dare PREVENT looting.

    So we may reach violence, that’s understood, but when you’re the good guys, you have to tolerate a lot, way more than is “Legal” to endure. But then when violence breaks out, everyone knows which side you’re on and who to support. This “moral right” which seems so arcane, hippy-dippy, is a top consideration in War Schools like West Point. It wins wars, hands down.

    As you see from leaning towards Trump, just as Mr.Nobody did, or as say, Tim Pool did or Joe Rogan did. They are Left to Faaaar Left. Yet they also understand what you do, only chose it earlier. Trump is probably past, so please be open to the next gentleman the White Hats will present. You can identify him by the Media going complete, hebephrenic, lathering, foaming Ape on him/her, with lies such as the universe has never seen. But it’ll be the same thing and hopefully better than his abrasive, retrograde style. Seeing this the first time around will make it easier to see through the incredible fantasies they will spin on the next unfortunate individual.

    But really, it doesn’t come down to THEM, it comes down to US. The U.S. isn’t going to have f’ all to help anybody with, you’re on your own. But they’re not SUPPOSED TO. It specifically prohibited and never passed an amendment. Even the States which have the legal right we already expect very little from and none of that happens either, only more corruption, which is good as our expectations are low. If it’s the States, we already know we’re screwed. But that leaves “government” to “ourselves”. WE are going to have to “do it”, WE are going t have to help others if you think they should be helped. Nobody else but WE.

    And that’s okay since 1) that works and 2) that’s how our legal system was created, because of #1. We’ve just been ignoring the law and the effectiveness this whole time. So like the North Island, I hope YOU have those extra blankets and extra food so YOU can share when the time comes. Not the NZ police department who is busy right now, but YOU. That’s how the world goes ’round. With work.

    #129301
    Germ
    Participant

    Helicopter And Fixed-Wing Pilot Describes His Injury From The Covid-19 Injection

    https://usfreedomflyers.substack.com/p/helicopter-and-fixed-wing-pilot-describes

    TVASF

    #129302
    zerosum
    Participant

    Liar, Bobble Head, Chrystia Freeland


    Can someone please try to explain to me why our deputy PM Chrystia Freeland keeps nodding in front of the cameras?

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