Mar 202023
 


Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights, centre panel, detail c1500

 

UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In (ZH)
Xi Jinping Sees Shift To Multipolar World As ‘Irreversible’ (RT)
Russian-Chinese Relations Remain Strong As Tested By Time – Xi Jinping (TASS)
White House Says It Opposes a Ceasefire in Ukraine (Antiwar)
Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unacceptable’ – White House (RT)
EU Explosives Shortage Threatens Ukraine – FT (RT)
NATO Is Racing To Arm Its Russian Borders. Can It Find The Weapons? (Pol.eu)
Russia Has Hypersonic Weapons Now, But It Does Not Use Them – Putin (TASS)
Russian Files On Kiev’s Crimes To Provide Basis For Tribunal – Kremlin (TASS)
Poland May End Up ‘Joining’ Ukraine Conflict – Diplomat (RT)
Belarus Cracks Down On Pro-Ukraine Guerrillas As War Threatens To Expand (ZH)
Iraq 20 Years (Ray McGovern)
Elon Musk Fact-Checks Biden On Tax Claim (RT)
Germans Warned Of Energy Crisis Next Winter (RT)
Imran Khan Hit With Terror Charges (RT)
Total Weight Of Wild Mammals Less Than 10% Of Humanity’s (G.)

 

 

Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow today, and he means business. The US knows this, and refuses his ceasefire plans. Which he will sign with Putin tomorrow, and send them to Zelensky – after a short phone-call. Washington tells Zelensky not to sign. Not what Xi wants. What does he have planned after that? Will he cut exports to the US?

 

 

 

 

Nap/Macgregor The Russians have destroyed Three Ukrainian Armies

 

 

 

 

I Would Not Mess With Putin – Seymour Hersh + Rickards: Energy Armageddon

 

 

 

 

2017 Poroshenko Trump

 

 

Paris

 

 

Dinesh

 

 

 

 

The panic is tangible. Bypass laws, bypass shareholders… Credit Suisse must be in terrible shape. Will UBS survive being forced to buy them?

Egon von Greyerz: “THE CHF 16B WRITE DOWN BY SWISS REGULATOR #FINMA OF THE #Credit_Suisse AT1 BONDS WILL CREATE PANIC IN EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL DEBT MARKETS. BUY MORE PHYSICAL GOLD AND HANG ON TO YOUR SEATS.”

European bank stocks are plummeting.

UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In (ZH)

We finally have a deal, and what was at first a CHF1 BN acquisition priceof Credit Suisse by UBS, which then rose to CHF 2 BN, has now cranked up one final time to CHF 3BN (US$3.25 billion), or 0.76 per share, specifically shareholders of Credit Suisse will receive 1 share in UBS for 22.48 shares in Credit Suisse. As part of the deal, the Swiss National Bank is offering a 100 billion-franc liquidity assistance to UBS while the government is granting a 9 billion-franc guarantee for potential losses from assets UBS is taking over, i.e., this is a taxpayer-backed bailout. More importantly, however, the bank’s entire AT1 tranche – some CHF16BN of Additioanal Tier 1 (AT1) bonds, a $275BN market – will be bailed in and written down to zero, to wit: “FINMA has determined that Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier 1 Capital (deriving from the issuance of Tier 1 Capital Notes) in the aggregate nominal amount of approximately CHF 16 billion will be written off to zero.”


This wipe out, pardon, bail-in is the biggest loss yet for Europe’s $275 billion AT1 market, far eclipsing the approximately €1.35 billion loss suffered by junior bondholders of Spanish lender Banco Popular SA back in 2017, when it was absorbed by Banco Santander SA to avoid a collapse. AT1 bonds were introduced in Europe after the global financial crisis to serve as shock absorbers when banks start to fail. They are designed to impose permanent losses on bondholders or be converted into equity if a bank’s capital ratios fall below a predetermined level, effectively propping up its balance sheet and allowing it to stay in business. As Bloomberg notes, investors had been concerned that a so-called bail-in would result in the AT1s being written down, while senior debt issued by the holding company, Credit Suisse would be converted into equity for the bank. In retrospect, they were right to be worried… meanwhile equityholders get CHF3 billion; we are confident Swiss pensions will be delighted they are getting a doughnut while the Saudis get a not immaterial recovery.

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“The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order,,”

Xi Jinping Sees Shift To Multipolar World As ‘Irreversible’ (RT)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has set the tone for his visit this week to Moscow by touting improving relations with Russia in the ten years since he took office and vowing that the transition to a “multipolar world” liberated from US domination won’t be stopped. “The world today is going through profound changes unseen in a century,” Xi wrote in an article published on Sunday by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable. The prevailing trends of world multipolarity, economic globalization and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible.”

Xi, who’s scheduled to arrive on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted that the world faces “traditional and non-traditional security challenges,” as well as “damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying.” He added that countries around the world are “eager to find a cooperative way out of the crisis” as they try to get through a “long and tortuous global economic recovery.” “The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order. The common interest of all humankind is in a world that is united and peaceful, rather than divided and volatile.”

Xi made his comments amid escalating tensions with Washington over the Ukraine crisis and US interference in China’s sovereignty over Taiwan. Beijing has resisted Western pressure to condemn Russia over the Ukraine conflict, maintaining neutrality on the issue and promoting a 12-point peace plan to end the hostilities. Washington has dismissed the peace proposal and accused China of mulling military aid to Russia. “We believe that as long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the crisis, as well as a broad path toward a world of lasting peace and common security,” Xi said. He added that China’s plan takes into account the “legitimate security concerns of all countries.”

China and Russia have cemented mutual trust and fostered a “new model of major-country relations” over the past decade, as evidenced by a doubling of trade between the two nations, reaching $190 billion in 2022, Xi wrote. “We have been active in practicing true multilateralism, promoting the common values of humanity, and championing the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.” Xi called for increasing the quality and quantity of investment and economic cooperation between China and Russia, as well as stronger policy coordination. “We have every reason to expect that China and Russia, as fellow travelers on the journey of development and rejuvenation, will make new and greater contributions to human advancement.”

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Loud and clear.

Russian-Chinese Relations Remain Strong As Tested By Time – Xi Jinping (TASS)

Russian-Chinese relations went through tough periods throughout their history, but they had eventually proved to be strong, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in an interview with Russia’s Rossiyskaya gazeta daily. “At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will soon pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President 10 years ago,” Xi Jinping said in the article published ahead of his visit to Russia. “Over the past decade, I have made eight visits to Russia,” he continued. “I came each time with high expectations and returned with fruitful results, opening a new chapter for China-Russia relations together with President Putin.”

“Looking back on the extraordinary journey of China-Russia relations over the past 70 years and more, we feel strongly that our relationship has not reached easily where it is today, and that our friendship is growing steadily and must be cherished by us all,” Xi Jinping said in the article published ahead of his visit to Russia. “China and Russia have found a right path of state-to-state interactions,” Xi stated. “This is essential for the relationship to stand the test of changing international circumstances, a lesson borne out by both history and reality.” “My upcoming visit to Russia will be a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. I look forward to working with President Putin to jointly adopt a new vision, a new blueprint and new measures for the growth of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the years to come,” the Chinese president said.

“To this end, our two sides need to enhance coordination and planning. As we focus on our respective cause of development and rejuvenation, we should get creative in our thinking, create new opportunities and inject new impetus. It is important that we increase mutual trust and bring out the potential of bilateral cooperation to keep China-Russia relations at a high level,” Xi added. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold negotiations in Moscow on March 21. Earlier, Moscow and Beijing announced that Xi Jinping would make an official visit to Russia on March 20-22. According to previous reports from the Kremlin, negotiations would feature discussions of “current issues of further development of relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China.” The sides also planned to exchange opinions within the context of deepening Russian-Chinese cooperation on the international arena. They are also expected to sign a number of important bilateral documents.

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The White House attempts to pre-empt Xi.

“Russia cannot be defeated militarily in a year, and the warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on the “arrest” of Russian President Vladimir Putin deprives the West of the opportunity to negotiate with Moscow and will lead to an escalation of the conflict and new victims”
– Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

White House Says It Opposes a Ceasefire in Ukraine (Antiwar)

The White House has come out against a ceasefire in Ukraine ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow to potentially mediate between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart in Kyiv. Xi is due to arrive in Moscow on Monday and is expected to speak virtually to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following his talks with Putin. Xi’s trip comes after Beijing released a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine that called for the two sides to cease hostilities and for peace talks to begin. Zelensky expressed openness to China’s proposal, but it was immediately rejected by President Biden. “We don’t support calls for a ceasefire right now,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday, according to Newsweek.

“We certainly don’t support calls for a ceasefire that would be called for by the PRC in a meeting in Moscow that would simply benefit Russia.” Kirby’s comments come as Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to battle in the Donbas city of Bakhmut, which has become known as the “meat grinder” due to the heavy casualties. Ukraine has been pouring in barely-trained conscripts to fight in the city, and the US thinks Kyiv is wasting too many resources in the battle. The US wants Ukraine to launch a counteroffensive in the spring, although a senior Ukrainian official told The Washington Post last week that Kyiv doesn’t have the resources to pull it off. Kirby’s reasoning for opposing a ceasefire at this time is that a pause in fighting could concede territory to Moscow.

Kirby said the ceasefire would, “in effect, recognize Russia’s gains, and its attempt to conquer his neighbor’s territory by force, allowing Russian troops to continue to occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory and, of course, it would be another continued violation of the UN Charter.” The US and its allies discouraged peace talks and mediation efforts that were conducted shortly after Russia’s February 2022 invasion. At that time, Moscow was seeking a deal that would have reverted to the pre-invasion territorial lines. But now, Ukraine stands to lose much more as Russia has annexed the territory it controls in the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the breakaway Donbas republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

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Kirby about Xi’s visit: “State visit, if you will..”

Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unacceptable’ – White House (RT)

Washington is firmly opposed to a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said, branding any peace initiatives “unacceptable” in the current situation. The senior White House official made the remarks on Sunday in an interview with Fox News. Kirby touched on the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, stating that should any peace initiatives come out of their meeting, Washington would reject them. “What we have said before, and we’ll say it again today, that if coming out of this meeting, there’s some sort of call for a ceasefire, well, that’s just going to be unacceptable because all that’s going to do… is ratify Russian’s conquest to date,” Kirby stated.

Moscow and Beijing have been“increasing their cooperation and their relationship” lately, the official said, asserting that the two nations have joined to undermine and “rewrite” the so-called “rules of the game globally.” Russia and China “are two countries that are chafing against this international rules-based order that the United States and so many of our allies and partners have built up, since the end of World War II,” he said. Recently, China floated a 12-point roadmap for putting an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has been raging for over a year already. China has taken a neutral stance on the hostilities, repeatedly urging both parties to show restraint and stick to diplomacy in order to find a resolution.

While the Chinese roadmap has been welcomed in Moscow, it has received a cold reception in the West. Multiple top officials have brushed off Beijing’s efforts to act as a mediator, accusing it of siding with Moscow. US President Joe Biden, for instance, openly questioned Beijing’s motives and voiced suspicion over Moscow’s reaction to it. “Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good?” the US president said shortly after the plan was unveiled.

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“If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years..”

EU Explosives Shortage Threatens Ukraine – FT (RT)

The EU defense industry’s ability to provide Ukraine with military supplies has been hampered by a deficit of explosives, The Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing sources. Several European officials and arms manufacturers told the outlet that the bloc’s military plants are suffering from scarce supplies of gunpowder and TNT, which could delay plans to boost shell production by three years. The sources also complained that this meant the defense industry would be unable to meet the soaring demand “regardless of how much money is thrown at the problem.” “The fundamental problem is that the European defense industry is not in good shape for large-scale war production,” one German official told the outlet.

These concerns were echoed by Jiri Hynek, who chairs the Defense and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic. He said, as quoted by the FT, that while building a new artillery factory “is very easy,” it is impossible to produce shells without raw materials. The official proceeded to point out that “it’s not possible to increase, in a short time, nitrocellulose” production, which is the basic ingredient in gunpowder. “If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years,” he added. To remedy the situation, the EU needs to find new sources of supply, according to Italian defense official Gianclaudio Torlizzi. He told the FT that the continent needs to approach countries that it had traditionally stayed away from. “Each European country wants to protect its availability of raw materials,” he explained.

EU officials have repeatedly voiced concerns about their dwindling arms stocks due to the bloc’s support of Ukraine. Last December, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell lamented that years of underinvestment had resulted in military stocks quickly running out. Against this backdrop, several key European officials have urged the bloc to switch over to a “war economy.” Meanwhile, on Thursday, the New York Times reported that the US and its allies were running out of ammunition for Ukraine, which is burning through thousands of shells each day in the battle for the key Donbass city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine). According to the newspaper, Western officials worry that this process is “unsustainable” and could jeopardize Kiev’s planned springtime campaign.

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The narrative is that Russia will attack beyond Ukraine. It’s just a narrative.

NATO Is Racing To Arm Its Russian Borders. Can It Find The Weapons? (Pol.eu)

Add NATO’s military planners to the list of those concerned about having enough shells. In the coming months, the alliance will accelerate efforts to stockpile equipment along the alliance’s eastern edge and designate tens of thousands of forces that can rush to allies’ aid on short notice — a move meant to stop Russia from expanding its war beyond Ukraine. To make that happen, though, NATO must convince individual countries to contribute various elements: Soldiers, training, better infrastructure — and, most notably, extensive amounts of pricey weapons, equipment and ammunition. With countries already worried about their own munitions stockpiles and Ukraine in acute need of more shells and weapons from allies, there is a risk that not all NATO allies will live up to their promises to contribute to the alliance’s new plans.

[..] It’s a challenge NATO has faced in the past, and one that experts fear could become a persistent problem for the Western alliance as Russia’s war drags into a second year. While the U.S. and EU are making plans to source more weapons — fast — the restocking process will inevitably take time. That could run into NATO’s aspirations. Military leaders this spring will submit updated regional defense plans intended to help redefine how the alliance protects its 1 billion citizens. The numbers will be large, with officials floating the idea of up to 300,000 NATO forces needed to help make the new model work. That means lots of coordinating and cajoling. “I think you need forces to counter a realistic Russia,” said one senior NATO military official, underscoring the need for significantly “more troops” and especially more forces at “readiness.”

There are several tiers of “readiness.” The first tier — which may consist of about 100,000 soldiers prepared to move within 10 days — could be drawn from Poland, Norway and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), said Heinrich Brauß, a former NATO assistant secretary general for defense policy and force planning. It may also include multinational battlegroups the alliance has already set up in the eastern flank. A second tier of troops would then back up those soldiers, ready to deploy from countries like Germany in between 10 to 30 days. But the process could get tricky. Why? Because moving so quickly, even given a month, requires lots of people, equipment and training — and lots of money.

Some militaries will have to up their recruitment efforts. Many allies will have to increase defense spending. And everyone will have to buy more weapons, ammunition and equipment. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, said that “readiness” is “basically, do you have all the stuff you’re supposed to have to do the mission assigned to a unit of a particular size?” “An artillery battalion needs to shoot X number of rounds per year for planning purposes in order to maintain its level of proficiency,” he said. A tank battalion needs to hit targets, react to different situations and “demonstrate proficiency on the move, day and night, hitting targets that are moving.” “It’s all very challenging,” he said, pointing to the need for training ranges and ammunition, as well as maintaining proficiency as personnel changes over time. “This obviously takes time and it’s also expensive.”

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As NATO scrambles to arm Ukraine -and itself-, Russia has no such problems.

Putin was asked why Russia didn’t invade in 2014.

“There are other cutting-edge systems as well, though in 2014 there was nothing of the kind..”

Russia Has Hypersonic Weapons Now, But It Does Not Use Them – Putin (TASS)

Russia does not use hypersonic weapons in fact now, though it has them, same as other cutting-edge systems, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on Rossiya-1 TV channel published by journalist Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel on Sunday. “Indeed, we have to do much, let’s say, for the development of land forces, but back then [in 2014] there were no hypersonic weapons, though they exist now! Yes, we do not use them in fact, but we have them. Do you understand? There are other cutting-edge systems as well, though in 2014 there was nothing of the kind,” Putin said. Asked whether it was worth starting the special operation in 2014, he stressed that the reality has changed since then: “Conjunctive mood cannot be used here!”.

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Two can play that game..

Russian Files On Kiev’s Crimes To Provide Basis For Tribunal – Kremlin (TASS)

Russia’s Investigative Committee thoroughly records all Kiev’s crimes, with those files to potentially provide a basis for tribunal in the future, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday. “We know that the Investigative Committee is involved in this work. All crimes committed by the Kiev regime are thoroughly recorded. <…> The files will obviously be able to provide a basis for such a tribunal,” he said when asked how the Kremlin takes the idea of a tribunal on Kiev’s regime. Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said earlier that Moscow should establish an international judicial body in response to Western countries, which are preparing similar structures for Russia’s prosecution.

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There we go…

Poland May End Up ‘Joining’ Ukraine Conflict – Diplomat (RT)

Poland may end up “joining” the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine should the latter fail to protect its “independence,” the Polish ambassador to France, Jan Emeryk Rosciszewski, has said. The senior diplomat made the remarks on Saturday while speaking live to the broadcaster LCI. Rosciszewski squarely blamed the hostilities, which have been ongoing for over a year already, on Moscow, stating that it was “not NATO, not Poland, not France and not Slovakia” that was ramping up international tensions, but Russia. According to the diplomat, the situation now is “either Ukraine will successfully defend its independence, or we will be forced, in any case, to join this conflict.” “Otherwise, our principal values, which are the basis of our civilization and our culture, will be in fundamental danger, so we will have no choice,” Rosciszewski stated.

The hawkish statement promptly made headlines in international media, prompting the Polish mission in France to elaborate further on the remarks made by its head. According to a message released by the embassy on Sunday, Rosciszewski’s comments were not actually an admission that Warsaw was ready to go to war with Russia, but merely a “warning” and a pledge to continue supporting Kiev. “Listening carefully to the entire conversation allows us to understand that there was no announcement of Poland’s direct involvement in the conflict, but only a warning against the consequences of Ukraine’s defeat – the possibility of Russia attacking or dragging into the war more Central European countries – the Baltic states and Poland,” the statement reads. The embassy also condemned the purportedly “sensational” reporting on the bombshell interview, suggesting that some unidentified media outlets may have acted in “ill will.”

The remarks received a poor reception in Moscow, with a top Russian senator, Alexey Pushkov, warning Warsaw of the potential consequences and questioning its presumed resolve to fight Russia on its own. “A very presumptuous statement by the Polish ambassador in Paris. For the first time, an official representative of Poland said what its leaders have long had on their minds. However, all the ‘courage’ of the Poles is based on the support of the United States. Is Warsaw sure that Washington is ready to fight?” Pushkov said in a Telegram post.

Poland has been among the most active supporters of Kiev in the hostilities against Russia, sending in assorted military hardware, including tanks and artillery pieces, to prop up Ukraine. Apart from that, Polish mercenaries have been directly involved in the conflict in significant numbers, according to Moscow. Warsaw has also announced a major military buildup of its own, seeking to greatly expand the ranks of its armed forces and procure large amounts of modern military hardware from overseas.

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Is Belarus being provoked by Ukraine to spread the war? You’d almost think so…

Belarus Cracks Down On Pro-Ukraine Guerrillas As War Threatens To Expand (ZH)

The Belarus government is implementing widespread measures to crack down on dissent as pro-Ukraine guerrillas attempt to sabotage railways and other logistics that could be used by Russia for a future offensive from the north. The move comes not long after the guerrillas, part of an organization called BYPOL, used two armed drones to damage a Russian Beriev A-50 parked at the Machulishchy Air Base near Minsk. The early warning aircraft was lent to Belarus for monitoring the security of their southern border. The attack failed to destroy the plane beyond minor repairs according the the Belarus government, but did garner BYPOL headlines in the western media.

What they did not report was that the primary perpetrator of the attack was apprehended along with 20 other accomplices. Belarus claims that at least one of the guerrillas has ties to Ukrainian security services, though this remains unconfirmed. Last month, President Alexander Lukashenko warned that: “I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people.” If BYPOL attacks continue within Belarus they may provide the very rationale that Lukashenko needs to justify joining military forces with Russia, which would open up the northern border of Ukraine to attack and likely deal a devastating blow to the nation’s defensive posture.

Acts of sabotage have already been used as fuel for civilian restrictions including the issuance of arrest warrants for numerous activists as well as at least five journalists, two of them now sentenced to 12 years in prison for a variety of charges including “Tax evasion, organizing activities aimed at inciting racial, ethnic, religious, or social hatred, and public calls through the media and the Internet aimed at damaging the national security of Belarus.” The Belarus government seems to have abandoned optics in favor of policies akin to martial law, which suggests a near term plan to join Russia militarily as well as to wage an anti-insurgency effort against BYPOL. Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik stated at the end of February that the accelerated militarization of the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) represents a threat to his country’s security.

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” This one was prepared not to determine the truth, but rather to “justify” a preemptive war on Iraq, where there was nothing to preempt.”

Iraq 20 Years (Ray McGovern)

C.I.A. Director Tenet suggested basing a new draft on the National Intelligence Estimate of Oct. 1, 2002, “Iraq’s Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction.” That had immense appeal to Tenet and others who had been co-opted into “leaning forward” to facilitate a Bush/Cheney war on Iraq. Indeed, one can assume it had appeal to most of those involved in Powell’s speech preparation, given that the Security Council briefing was but a handful of days away. I have been referring to that NIE, advisedly, as The Whore of Babylon, wrong on every major accusation about WMD in Iraq. I speak from experience at the C.I.A. as a former chair of National Intelligence Estimates. This one was prepared not to determine the truth, but rather to “justify” a preemptive war on Iraq, where there was nothing to preempt.

To their credit, State/INR analysts had expressed formal dissent from some of its main conclusions back in September 2002. No, it is not possible that Powell could have been unaware of that. And it is not difficult to explain why Powell chose to spurn his own intelligence analysts, despite their relatively solid reputation. I will resist the temptation to guess at Powell’s motivation, even though I have had some considerable experience with him. Back in the day, we used to spend a few minutes comparing notes before my one-on-one morning briefings of his boss, Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, with The President’s Daily Brief. I am not surprised, though, as Draper quotes Powell explaining his decision to stay in place as secretary of state and to do what he was told: “I knew I didn’t have any choice. He’s the President.”

Draper adds that, “although Powell would not admit it, Bush’s request that he be the one to make the case against Hussein to the U.N. was enormously flattering. Cheney took a more direct approach: ‘The Vice President said to me: “You’re the most popular man in America. Do something with that popularity.”” Draper describes INR’s Director Ford as “heartsick” watching Powell on TV before the U.N. Security Council. Ford’s chagrin was widely shared among serious intelligence analysts — as well as by us alumni watching the prostitution of what had been our tell-it-like-it-is intelligence analysis profession. But there the National Intelligence Estimate was for plucking — an intelligence community-endorsed consensus already “on the books” — and with drafting time running out.

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“I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”

Elon Musk Fact-Checks Biden On Tax Claim (RT)

America’s richest man on Saturday took issue with President Joe Biden’s effort to sell voters on tax increases by claiming that billionaires get away with paying only 3% of their earnings, on average, to the federal government. Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushed back after Biden posted a Twitter message arguing that the mega-rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. “You know the average tax billionaires pay?” Biden asked, before answering the question himself with his 3% claim. “No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter.” Musk replied, “I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% federal and 13% state), so I must be lifting the average! I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”

He then invited Twitter users in the platform’s Community Notes program to weigh in on whether the 3% figure was accurate. Biden has repeatedly made the claim while promoting his effort to raise taxes on high-income Americans. When he made the same statement in a speech last month, PolitiFact pointed out that it was false. “Under today’s laws, the 25 highest-earning billionaires paid an average tax rate of 16%,” the fact-checking outlet said. The group added that most teachers and firefighters fall within an income range with effective tax rates of zero to 15%.

Biden’s 2024 budget proposal calls for raising tax rates on individuals with earnings of more than $400,000 a year and married couples making over $450,000. He also has demanded a 25% minimum tax on Americans with fortunes exceeding $100 million. “Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share,” Biden said. “I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%. It’s about basic fairness.” Musk countered, “I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes.” Such schemes aren’t necessary for low-income Americans because more than 40% of US households pay no federal income tax.

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Nord Stream fallout.

Germans Warned Of Energy Crisis Next Winter (RT)

Germany has managed to avoid an energy crisis this year, but there is a risk that the next heating season will be more difficult, Klaus Mueller, the head of Germany’s Federal Network Agency said in an interview with the Rheinische Post, published on Saturday. According to Mueller, the country’s gas storage facilities are currently 64% full, and even if it the weather turns cold in the next few weeks, German energy supply for the remainder of the heating season is secured. He warned, however, that “we should not relax, as things could be different next winter.” “We cannot rule out a gas shortage for next winter. Risk factors are that the winter of 2023/24 will be very cold, that households and companies will save too little, that the LNG terminals will not work as planned – we would also have to help our neighboring countries with their energy problems,” Mueller explained.

Germany largely managed to avoid energy shortages due to unseasonably mild weather throughout the past couple of months, but Mueller noted that with respect to the next heating season, the weather poses the biggest risk. “We cannot rely on the fact that next winter will be mild again. When it’s cold, many households immediately stop saving. In warm October they saved more than 20% of gas, while during the cold snap in December – only 7%.” The official also pointed to another risk factor – the absence of Russia’s energy supplies, which made it possible for the country to fill up storage tanks in preparation for the heating season last year. While the EU did not ban Russia’s pipeline gas imports, their flows dwindled significantly after Ukraine-related sanctions and following the sabotage that disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of the main routes for Russian gas to Europe.

As a result, Germany no longer receives Russian gas directly, and according to Mueller, energy prices will no longer be as low as they were when it did. “We don’t know what will become of Russia’s remaining gas supplies… We have to get used to higher prices, the time of cheap energy from Russia is definitely over,” he stated. Gas prices have been relatively low throughout the winter, helped by lower demand due to mild weather. Wholesale gas prices, which had soared over €300 per megawatt hour late last summer, fell to a level of around €50 in March. While that is far more than what natural gas cost in early 2021, it is “the new normal,” Mueller said, noting that in order to avoid further price spikes, consumers would have to continue efforts to conserve energy.

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Khan’s crime? He offended the CIA: “Khan built economic and diplomatic relations with Russia and China during his time in office..”

Imran Khan Hit With Terror Charges (RT)

Police in Islamabad have filed terrorism charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after crowds of his supporters rioted outside a courthouse in the Pakistani capital. Khan was due to appear at the court on Saturday to answer corruption charges. Khan, along with more than a dozen officials in his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and scores of his supporters, were charged with a litany of offenses, including rioting, obstruction, assault on police officers, arson, intimidation, and acts of terrorism, Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper reported on Sunday. The charges stemmed from a riot outside the Islamabad Judicial Complex on Saturday, in which protesters hurled rocks and fire bombs at police as they waited for Khan to arrive at the building. A dozen police vehicles were burned, and officers responded with tear gas.

More than 50 officers were injured, and 59 of Khan’s supporters were arrested, the Associated Press reported. Police raided Khan’s residence in Lahore earlier on Saturday, shortly after he left for the court date in Islamabad. A crowd of the former PM’s supporters attempted to block police from carrying out the raid, leading to clashes and 30 arrests. The raid was not the first on Khan’s home, and the former leader previously accused authorities of attempting to arrest and execute him. Khan never entered the courtroom on Saturday. In a video message to supporters, he claimed that police fired tear gas at his vehicle, preventing him from stepping outside. The judge postponed his hearing until March 31.

A former cricketer, Khan became prime minister of Pakistan in 2018 but was ousted in 2022. He is accused by the state of unlawfully selling official gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries during his tenure. Khan claims that the corruption charges are politically motivated and aimed at preventing him from returning to power. Khan built economic and diplomatic relations with Russia and China during his time in office, and he has since claimed that his removal was orchestrated by the US with the goal of installing a more compliant leader. The PTI has been leading protests across Pakistan and calling for snap elections since Khan’s ouster. During a November rally in Wazirabad, an attacker opened fire on Khan, injuring him and eight others. Despite his ongoing legal drama, Khan is the most popular political leader in Pakistan, with an approval rating of 61%, according to a Gallup poll taken earlier this month. Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sits at 32%.

Read more …

“Their total mass is around 22m tonnes which is less than 10% of humanity’s [..] ..add all our cattle, sheep and other livestock, that adds another 630m tonnes..”

Total Weight Of Wild Mammals Less Than 10% Of Humanity’s (G.)

The total weight of Earth’s wild land mammals – from elephants to bisons and from deer to tigers – is now less than 10% of the combined tonnage of men, women and children living on the planet. A study by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, published this month, concludes that wild land mammals alive today have a total mass of 22m tonnes. By comparison, humanity now weighs in at a total of around 390m tonnes. At the same time, the species we have domesticated, such as sheep and cattle, in addition to other hangers-on such as urban rodents, add a further 630m tonnes to the total mass of creatures that are now competing with wild mammals for Earth’s resources. The biomass of pigs alone is nearly double that of all wild land mammals.

The figures demonstrate starkly that humanity’s transformation of the planet’s wildernesses and natural habitats into a vast global plantation is now well under way – with devastating consequences for its wild creatures. As the study authors emphasise, the idea that Earth is a planet that still possesses great plains and jungles that are teeming with wild animals is now seriously out of kilter with reality. The natural world and its wild animals are vanishing as humanity’s population of almost eight billion individuals continues to grow.“When you look at wildlife documentaries on television – for instance of wildebeest migrating – it is easy to conclude that wild mammals are doing quite well,” lead author Ron Milo told the Observer.

“But that intuition is wrong. These creatures are not doing well at all. Their total mass is around 22m tonnes which is less than 10% of humanity’s combined weight and amounts to only about 6lb of wild land mammal per person. And when you add all our cattle, sheep and other livestock, that adds another 630m tonnes. That is 30 times the total for wild animals. It is staggering. This is a wake-up call to humanity.” The study, The Global Biomass of Wild Mammals, also reveals that those that do best – such as the white-tailed deer in the US and wild boars – are those that find it easier to adapt to the presence of humans. Both species can be found near settlements and are occasionally treated as pets. “Even within the wild, the fingerprints of humanity are obvious,” added Milo, whose team’s study is published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As part of the paper, researchers Lior Greenspoon and Eyal Krieger collected biomass data on about half of all known mammals and used machine-learning computational models on other zoological samples to calculate the other half.

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75yr old WYATT EARP – #botd in 1848 – at home in 1923.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephants

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 20 2023

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 54 total)
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  • #131636

    Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights, centre panel, detail c1500   • UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 20 2023]

    #131637
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights, centre panel, detail c1500

    I like that painting; but there’s a disturbing quality to it that I can’t quite figure out…

    #131638
    Germ
    Participant


    ☠️☠️☠️
    TVASF

    #131639
    Red
    Participant

    Brace for impact!

    We analyze U.S. banks’ asset exposure to a recent rise in the interest rates with implications for financial stability. The U.S. banking system’s market value of assets is $2 trillion lower than suggested by their book value of assets accounting for loan portfolios held to maturity. Marked-to-market bank assets have declined by an average of 10% across all the banks, with the bottom 5th percentile experiencing a decline of 20%. We illustrate that uninsured leverage (i.e., Uninsured Debt/Assets) is the key to understanding whether these losses would lead to some banks in the U.S. becoming insolvent– unlike insured depositors, uninsured depositors stand to lose a part of their deposits if the bank fails, potentially giving them incentives to run. A case study of the recently failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is illustrative. 10 percent of banks have larger unrecognized losses than those at SVB. Nor was SVB the worst capitalized bank, with 10 percent of banks having lower capitalization than SVB. On the other hand, SVB had a disproportional share of uninsured funding: only 1 percent of banks had higher uninsured leverage. Combined, losses and uninsured leverage provide incentives for an SVB uninsured depositor run. We compute similar incentives for the sample of all U.S. banks. Even if only half of uninsured depositors decide to withdraw, almost 190 banks are at a potential risk of impairment to insured depositors, with potentially $300 billion of insured deposits at risk. If uninsured deposit withdrawals cause even small fire sales, substantially more banks are at risk. Overall, these calculations suggest that recent declines in bank asset values very significantly increased the fragility of the US banking system to uninsured depositor runs.

    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4387676

    #131640
    Red
    Participant

    A coalition of midsize US banks asked federal regulators to extend FDIC insurance to all deposits for the next two years, arguing the guarantee is needed to avoid a wider run on the banks.

    “Doing so will immediately halt the exodus of deposits from smaller banks, stabilize the banking sector and greatly reduce chances of more bank failures,” the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America said in a letter to regulators seen by Bloomberg News.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-18/midsize-us-banks-ask-fdic-to-insure-all-deposits-for-two-years?

    …and…..
    UBS is paying 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) for Credit Suisse, about 60% less than the bank was worth when markets closed on Friday. Credit Suisse shareholders will be largely wiped out, receiving the equivalent of just 0.76 Swiss francs in UBS shares for stock that was worth 1.86 Swiss francs on Friday. Owners of $17 billion worth of “additional tier one” bonds — a riskier class of bank debt — will lose everything, Swiss regulators said.

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/19/business/credit-suisse-ubs-rescue/index.html

    #131641
    Red
    Participant

    #131642
    John Day
    Participant

    tboc explored the culture of yes-persons (previously “yes-men”) last night, and Noirette looked at corporate wokeness as the public manifestation of that kind of fawning obeisance to power/authority.

    Are we there yet?

    Zerosum took the cake with the video of Vlad-the-secret-agent driving around Mariupol all night in a car I couldn’t identify. he went to the opera-house, shades of the survival of Leningrad when the Germans retreated…

    #131643
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Bosch is high on psychoactive beer, but I often wonder why his people are all naked. Surely that’s not a given of visions.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Senate Republicans are set to introduce on a bill on Thursday that would codify the right to bear arms for self-defense outside the home.”

    You mean “The Constitution”? Federal Law #2? I just. Can’t. In many ways this is worse than just fighting the original rule. Pass a law to support the law of the law we don’t follow? Well pass another law then! Or have a third government to enforce the laws the first two governments won’t!

    “”The New Normal”: New York To Lower Math And English Proficiency Standards Due To Poor Test Result”

    Clearly NY has zero competency. Look at their leaders! But there’s a solution! Lie about the standards, Cheat by lowering them, and Steal unearned accolades that you graduated when you’re actually illiterate! That’ll fix everything! The next heart surgeon and bridge engineer is on his way. A whole school of these guys designed the F-35!

    !! SWISS AUTHORITIES EXPECTED TO CHANGE COUNTRY’S LAW TO BYPASS UBS SHAREHOLDER VOTE – FT”

    Whaaaat? And they didn’t want it and forced them anyway.

    “UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In; Swiss Govt Grants CHF9BN Guarantee; SNB Offers $100 Billion Liquidity Backstop”

    Okay, so after 60 days’ lead time they broke the law AND they broke the bonds? K….so you DO know that everyone who owns those bonds and doesn’t get paid are going to daisy chain other derivatives, right? That will take 30+ days to appear?

    If that’s your least-bad choice I have to wonder what’s going on.

    And we’re on the “22”s now. Wonder what they have cooked up for March? Feb 22 was to push Bakhmut and make it clear Ukr was lost.

    “Trump sends arms” And also was key in unprecedented sanctions on Russia. Now is it this way: Everybody everywhere is part of the Derp State and not trusted? There’s no hope? Or is it my way: Trump knows Russia is an ally against our common enemy, the only nation presently with mobility, and the sanctions he put on so Putin could blame us made Russia STRONGER as JUST HAPPENED? The way to “sell” Ukraine – a major DerpState Black Hat power base – to Russia to clear it out was to start a war. Trump moved the first pawns in that direction, not committed, but heading there.

    Also on that, we have a “clear” delineation, as much as anything is clear, of the U.S. Military in two parts: Above the Generals and Below the Generals. Colonel is the highest you can get and not be a blood-sucking fiend, and all the considerable talent organization-wide is locked below that level.

    But they also know it. Clinton took out the last Red-Hat generals making trouble in the 90s, the “America First” club. Obama purged anyone that moved in preparation for Hillary starting WWIII. So we have people like MacGregor now openly against the Milleys. Who keeps Trump alive? That he can wander around doing anything he likes and anyone who wants things done has to visit the kingmaker at Mar-Lago? Think about that when you ponder the question.

    Okay, suppose I’m right? How do you have every dog-face to colonel overturn every General in the U.S. Army without causing a shooting war that kills 30M people and hands off the country to China and Mexico? When they have and are happy to release bioweapons all day?

    Speaking of: I didn’t understand yesterday’s thesis on the USAF and the Labs. WHO are the players and what were their goals? Did they succeed in them? Things were suggested but not said directly. Could you repeat/translate?

    That goes with the rest of us as well. Grassroots Americans are against their leaders also at some “Colonel” level. But how do the floor assemblers take over the VP’s/HR office down in the factory? And so what if they did? They actually don’t know how to run the tasks up at those levels either. It’s a hostage situation.

    “If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years..”

    With what minerals? They came from Russia. With what nitrogen? You just outlawed nitrogen worldwide. Told every producer you would come and illegally burn down his factory, force-merge them against Swiss national law, without a vote. Oh SURE! I’m going to open a new expensive factory for you! Right after I invest in farming, pipelines, and gas-powered cars!

    They can’t be trusted. With anything. All commerce STOPS. This is the state of Rome in 200AD. All coins are buried, all people hide and go back to a self-contained Roman Villa run by the local power, not yet a warlord or Feudal Chief. Division of labor and economies of scale STOP. Commerce, travel on roads, STOP. Brigands in the forests, the collapsing roads cause even inter-town travel to STOP. All “modern life” STOPS. We go to the Middle Ages.

    You can reverse this and turn around any time you like. STOP STEALING. KEEP YOUR WORD. PUNISH THE GUILTY. Reward the industrious. They won’t. Those are anathema to thieves and communists, but I repeat myself. They need to “Share” themselves to your goods, your hard labor, the very hours of your life.

    Gunpowder? Surely you jest. Gunpowder is a step above food, and you don’t have that. Holland is proposing to re-plant her medieval forests. Try attacking Russia with a crossbow.

    “Some militaries will have to up their recruitment efforts.”

    Same as above: you already double-crossed, attacked, impoverished, betrayed, belittled, and killed everyone. And NOW we’re just going to “Sign up” for you as if you’re a real person and there’s a social contract? Don’t make me laugh. They’re training troops in high heels, and promoting gay rapes in the ranks (true fact, not hyperbole). Sign me up! Definitely! I’m all-in for a Sweden or France that is run for the pleasure of African migrants. I’ll definitely die making sure my blood and treasure goes to them and I’m a second-class citizen when I get home, arrested for standing quietly even NEAR a protected people, like in England.

    Uh: No. Newsflash: No. A thousand times: No. http://www.no.com No and no. No means no. No plus no with a side of no on the side. I’d jump in the Baltic and swim to the Faeroes before I’d join you, or anybody like you, until every one of you is hung until black and your bones stick out.

    I don’t fight on the side of Nazis.

    However, my job is also to survive and see them hung, unlike the White Rose in Germany. “The job isn’t to die for your country, it’s to make the other poor sap die for his.” — Gen Patton. You can go die in a hole. You first.

    “• Poland May End Up ‘Joining’ Ukraine Conflict – Diplomat (RT)

    There are still some Slavs not genocided. I don’t fight on the side of Nazi genocides.

    “justify” a preemptive war on Iraq, where there was nothing to preempt.”

    Yes, but you didn’t need a security clearance to know that, you probably didn’t even need to be literate. Was Iraq going to occupy us? Invade us? Shoot 500 ICBMs at us? WTF were they going to do to us? WTF was the risk to us? Oh, so we were protecting Iran and Syria, their neighbors from Saddam’s non-aggression? With Turkey having Europe’s largest army right next door? WTF was your premise here?

    20 years later they still focus on the WMD that weren’t found. But how would they even be used? What “Mushroom cloud” TF were they talking about??? And he DEFINITELY had them: Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush SOLD them to him for use on Iran, which he did on their orders. The Kurds, actually. Our bestest pals.

    Now with Russia. What is Russia going to invade Delaware? Occupy Detroit? WTF do you think is happening? Europe spends 0% GDP on their army and don’t have one, WTF would I do it for them if they won’t? Not. Hard.

    That’s to avoid discussing if Russia would take Paris which they don’t want and probably couldn’t even during the Soviet era. If Europe has no army I sure ain’t gonna provide one for them. Let them make their own and at least demonstrate the concept.

    What do you think would happen if you trained all of Europe in high explosives and firearms and sent them back to the streets of Paris? Oh, you wouldn’t survive a month? Too bad so sad. Sounds like you’re not really a government then.

    25 highest-earning billionaires paid an average tax rate of 16%,”

    It’s a tough call as they own Senators, write loopholes, and have dark money. But my point would be the top 100 people now pay half the taxes that come in. New Jersey – a VERY large state – lost some huge income with just ONE man leaving for Florida. Clearly THAT can’t continue in so many ways. For one, the balance of power is appalling. But also when you have only 100 people supporting the budget of a state of 10 million, you can’t double the taxes on them. They’re already far above tax limit, like UK is (again). You can’t “tax the rich” or plausibly claim to. YOU ALREADY DID. And what the little people will notice is although you already did, 0% of the money went down to them. Every year you say that, it’s worse than the last. Every State and City where this is done is worse than where it isn’t. People are dumb, but there are limits.

    “Imran Khan Hit With Terror Charges (RT)

    Pointed out that B in BRIICS has been sidelined, but most likely – and with Belt-andRoad – Pakistan is likely to meet India and replace them? What would that make it, the P-RIICS? (South Africa is barely functional right now too. Viral videos of black people saying they support White Rule again just to have order again. This is of course wildly racist: it’s not their melanin, you fools. It’s that the “Black” ANC, etc are all SOCIALISTS. White Socialists destroy countries just as fast and as thoroughly everywhere they’ve tried as well. Look at Argentina, once ahead of Germany in every way, until Lo! Socialism fell on them and they won’t give it up.)

    Anyway, this is about keeping P out of the BRIICS. Made-up BS, or the same crimes every politician does, only lie Bolsonaro, or worldwide, “It’s not a crime when MY side does it.” And we only arrest our enemies and overlook our pals.

    “Total Weight Of Wild Mammals Less Than 10% Of Humanity’s (G.) “

    Every model is always wrong and these guys can’t count to 10 without lying, so I wouldn’t bet on it. However I don’t favor the present balance and would change it substantially. I think most humans would agree with me, so who is driving them against their own wishes? When cows and trees make them happy, who’s making them miserable?

    Women’s Bathrooms. Protecting women every day in every way. Women Kneeling before men on National TV for National Woman’s Month. Know your place, I guess. Don’t you know wearing a dress and lipstick makes you a woman? There’s nothing more to it than that. Other than wearing that dress, you’re worthless. …That’s what I hear anyway. Would anyone like to stop now? Or do more women need to be raped and killed first?

    Mass Psychosis video yesterday very worth the time, so posting again if you missed it. Covers all points without being political or hyperbolic. https://youtu.be/fdzW-S8MwbI

    Too long to cover because it’s already entirely dense, but note it’s a form of torture, the point is to alarm you for nothing, then relax to get a good grip, then alarm again for no reason…you know, since 90-11. It is BETTER for everything to make no sense. That’s the POINT. Logic can be addressed. Illogic not so much. So it is the PLAN to have fake enemies, fake fears, fake arguments, the faker the better, it’s all part of the breakdown. In “their” language, the “deconstruction.” Deconstructing the modern. Post-Modern. That’s what all the really smart, cool kids are doing this year: illogic and murder, living in hovels with medieval diseases: don’t you want to join?

    Then at last, like “Three World Wars” they trot out their “Saviour”, “The Man”, who will “Fix” it all and bring “Order” again. Their order. Very simple. Should be taught in all schools with a refresher each year. But since teachers are the instruments of the illogic and torture, I expect not.

    Is Soros a White Hat?” No, but don’t be so simple. If my chess opponent puts a pawn somewhere we say colloquially, “He’s playing into my hands”. Now is he ACTUALLY me, moving for me at my direction? No of course not! And not every move wins: my job is to put him in a position where he has no good moves and HAS to put his pawn someplace it will be taken. This is the situation of the Trump arrest. They have no good moves, so they’re falling back on the (failed) old eliable. I see this morning that after floating that, they’re finally learning something and getting cold feet about it since it – as I say – will play right into their hands.

    Can we rephrase that? That chess move is one that can either stand as it is, — no arrest and he can do as he likes — or if addressed, the White Player has contingencies to address that will still be favorable to him. Black Player can see that: although they get the short “win” of taking a bishop or something, still capturing that White Bishop will open up the board and lose it in that area a few moves later. Now give in to temptation of the short win, or what? Or give in to it – although losing – because all the other moves are even worse?

    The same play, same board arrangement was set up with the Trump Mar-Lago FBI raid last month. They took the bait for a raid and got slapped silly all over the board. They are STILL releasing Biden Top Secret docs all over the world, another one just last week. Now does “Soros”, his DAs, and the Black Hats want to take this piece, this yummy bait again? PLEASE, PLEASE do this.

    And again, I’ve said the whole 6 years: Trump has like ONE play in his playbook, AND THEY STILL FALL FOR IT EVERY TIME. Why? Well when it stops working, he’ll stop using it. I’m happy to say after six years, they’ve finally learned Playbook One, and Trump has had to trot out Playbook 1.5. Not really 2.0 yet.

    They. Are so. Stupid. Why do you think they’ll win?

    Again, I’m begging you: go ahead and arrest Trump. Impeach him AGAIN, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth time. It’ll be HILARIOUS, and a total exposure, waste of time for you, while the rest of the White Hats below Colonels wander around the board kicking more pawns.

    “The US Govt dictates to Ukraine that it wants more war and more dead Ukrainians. What a friend”

    More exposure. Everything they do exposes them for the maniacs and mass-murdering psychos they are. You can’t stay married, stay obedient to a guy like that once you know. But denial of battered wives and children of abusers is very very high. Clearly.

    The current ruling western theology is very simple; profits over human lives.”

    This is merely a translation of “We kill people for power,” but implying a motive. This is the extra half-step that I propose. Don’t let them off the hook because “it’s all an accident.” If it’s not Murder 1, you can go away a long time for Man1 or Reckless Disregard. I actually don’t believe that when it’s become a lifestyle, but it’s easier to prove and does the job: they become a bad, terrifying example to others.

    “Half Of California Lifted Out Of Drought; Flooding Now A Concern”

    Drought prediction, drought model, 1,000 drought model, all part of the AGW model, dead again. The End.
    Again and again and again and again and again and again and again. That’s Science! Being wrong 100% of the time and never changing. When my hypothesis is proven wrong, I just change the data and do it again!

    #131644
    zerosum
    Participant

    More than a century of advertising, propaganda and mind control has brought us to this point

    We think that we are the good guys.
    We tell the truth. Our enemies tell lies.
    You are with us or against us.
    You are the bad guys.
    My way or the highway
    We are Born to rule and lead.
    “It’s not a crime when MY side does it”
    ———-
    Did you hear?

    1. Washington tells Zelensky not to sign the peace plan proposed by Xi Jinping.
    2. Nap/Macgregor – The Russians have destroyed Three Ukrainian Armies
    3. Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets of Paris to protest against the supply of arms to Ukraine and demand the withdrawal of France from the US-led NATO bloc and pension reform.
    4. • Xi Jinping Sees Shift To Multipolar World As ‘Irreversible’ (RT)
    “The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order,,”
    5. Did Buffett just fly all the regional bank CEOs into Omaha & offer a deal to SAVE the banks?
    6. Did Buffett have a meeting with Biden administration
    ———-
    Bank problems
    All central banks have set up a quick reaction/response team to watch for liquidity problems at their banks and avoid the crash of the financial system.

    Oppps!
    What about the liquidity problems of Ukraine?
    ————-

    #131646
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Switzerland’s uber-lofty so-called regulatory agency known as its Finance Market Authority (FINMA) is no such thing. FINMA just another sleazebag alphabet soup acronymical Gate Keeper like all the rest of the bullshit slinging “regulatory” agencies, watchdogs, ministries and similar totally opaque institutions on both sides of both big oceans. There job is to patch together a Rube Goldberg policy machine of deliberately undecipherable mind boggling ambiguous complexity of self-contradictory finance industry rules that all boil down to just ONE rule: OUR GANG OF KILLERS WINS NO MATTER WHAT.

    Their assignment is to do whatever it takes to keep the criminal con game running at least for the moment by lying, cheating, stealing , stalling, bamboozling and KILLING whoever they must, by whatever means that it can, to keep the suckers guessing and diving for financial cover so that the game continues with the same Satanic Masters as yesterday. It’s not really that hard to do, since their victims have only two modes of existence to deal with, both of which are EASILY managed when one controls all of the symbolic forms of money.

    Their victims are kept in a constant state of either slaveringly obsessed with greedy acquisition of “wealth” or stark staring pants-soiling terror of losing it all. Flip, flop, flip, flop. Easy Peasy . . . . until the symbols break and the triggers stop working . At which point it becomes IMPOSSIBLE, because the symbol is not the thing.

    Expect the regulator, banker, financier, and general sucker suicide rate to go out the roof (or maybe a better metaphor would be “into the sidewalk”).

    #131647
    WES
    Participant

    The US has given Ukraine enough air defense systems that Russian airplanes can not fly into Ukrainian air space. US air defenses can stop anything with wings from flying. Unfortunately US air defenses can not stop anything without wings, like pesty Russian artillery shells, missiles, and drones! Because these don’t have the angel wings! Air superiority US style!

    The US is clearly doubling down again, on the war in the Ukraine to the last Ukrainian, with no let up in sight. The US knows Russia will win, but the US is pursuing it’s “scorch earth” policy of having the Ukrainians and Russia destroy as much of the Ukraine as possible.

    The US provoked the Ukrainians and Russians to fight each other and are now standing back laughing while throwing more fuel on the fight whenever the two fighting get tired and want to stop fighting.

    So how did the US manage to get the Ukrainians to fight the Russians? Simple, since the Maidian coup in 2014, the US funded their proxy government to re-educate Ukrainians by banning the use of Russian in all public media and in the schools. The Ukrainian government declared war on the Russian language in 2014 with US’s help. That is how the US prepared the crime scene for the coming war they were planning.

    So when Russia finally wins, it will have to bear the costs of rebuilding the Ukraine. So the higher the future costs of reabsorbing the Ukraine back into Russia, the better!

    Now you know why the US is against ending the war in the Ukraine and all for continuing the war for as long as possible.

    #131648
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    False patriotism is not the last refuge of scoundrels and fools. Laws are.

    You do know (I dearly hope) that there is no such thing as law, with the possible exception of the ONE thing you can actually count on (this Universe is God’s sandbox, and the sooner you grok that and accept it then the better off you will be).

    What humans commonly think of as regulations, or rules or absolutely unbreakable iron clad laws of Science, are at best mere guidelines and suggestions for a happy life, because all of those strict strictures are subject to the coin-toss of interpretation as to whether or not the directive under review on has been obeyed or broken, or not.

    It’s Calvin’s Rules, mon frères, at least so far as human behavior is concerned, and the only way you’re getting out of here alive is by squaring it up with the Boss.

    #131649

    Thanks, Dr. D- an optimistic post again.
    Just in case anyone missed it- here‘s Meerloo’s “Rape of the Mind” online.

    #131650
    The Markster
    Participant

    LOL on the pink pronoun door. In the Summer and Fall of 2021, when the authoritarian Pfizer goons on the Portland City Council were pushing me out of my job with threats, shaming and bullying, I posted pronouns on my email signature for the first time ever while bombarding the Safety Officer (lol) and “Covid Team” with questions they refused to answer.

    Thee/Thou. Never let them take your laugh away.

    #131651
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Advice to NATO soldiers preparing to rush to the border to fight Russia. Hurry up, late comers might not be eligible for the limited supply of coffins.

    #131652
    WES
    Participant

    In case you are wondering why Ukr fighter pilots want to fly F-16 fighter jets over old UsSRfighter jets is very simple.

    Both the old USSR planes and the F-16 will quickly get shot down, but at least in the F-16 the pilot will have enough warning that he is about to get shot down, that he can eject and survive.

    Now you know why!

    #131653
    Oroboros
    Participant

    From Andrei Martyanov

    https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/

    From Indian Diplomat Dr Bhadrakumar

    Bitch slapping the Neoconjobs

    “The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin can only be seen as a publicity stunt by the Anglo-Saxon clique, with the US leading from the rear.

    Ironically, though, the ICC acted on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to horrific war crimes but the “judges” at Hague slept over it.

    Both Washington and London admit today that the 2003 invasion was illegal — based on trumped up allegations against Saddam Hussein. There’s no chance, of course, that the ICC warrant will ever be taken seriously.

    ICC has no jurisdiction in Russia, which, like the US, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. But the intention here is something else.

    The mud-throwing at Putin is yet another display of President Biden’s visceral hatred towards the Russian leader that goes back to a joust in Moscow well over a decade ago when Putin told him off brusquely….

    ….and is timed to distract attention from the state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow on Monday, an event that not only has spectacular optics but is sure to intensify the “no limit” partnership between the two superpowers.

    The Anglo-Saxon clique is watching with dismay the talks in Moscow tomorrow. To be sure, Moscow and Beijing have decided to stand together to bury the US hegemony.

    Again, Biden would have thought he was putting Putin on the mat with the Reaper stunt and the ICC scam.

    But Putin is nonchalant, choosing today to make his first-ever visit to Donbass.

    Putin toured Mariupol, the port city that was bitterly contested by the NATO operatives in league with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi brigade, drove a vehicle himself along the city streets, making stops at several locations and surveying reconstruction works.

    It was a defiant signal to Biden that NATO has lost the war.”

    #131654
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Putin Visits Mariupol By Driving Through It Himself

    He’s giving Presidementia Pedo Joe the FINGER and telling NATO to ‘blow it out your ass.’

    Feeble Old Bedpan Bidet gets lost walking away from the teleprompter, much less finding his car keys

    #131655
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Pedo Joe couldn’t even visit East Palistine and had to send his useless Buttplugigieg Secretary of Trans
    to be he Phuckwit standin

    .

    #131656
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @Oroboros

    Thank you very much for the Putin in Mariupol video. It’s like being de-gaslighted. When I see Western politicians doing their thing (and I mean almost all such video clips) all I see is posing, posing, posing and then more pretense committed in front of a camera. But when I see Putin in a self-driven tour of the rebuilding of Mariupol I catch a glimpse of simply watching a national leader doing his job. That’s what we saw. The leader of Russia going around actually going to where the work he ordered was being done, and inspecting how well the job was being done.

    What a relief! How completely refreshing! It actually CAN be done, and you helped us out by posting that video proof. Good one, man. Very good.

    #131657
    tboc
    Participant

    Dr. D

    “Speaking of: I didn’t understand yesterday’s thesis on the USAF and the Labs. WHO are the players and what were their goals? Did they succeed in them? Things were suggested but not said directly. Could you repeat/translate?”

    i know from publicly published video that “the players” considered the death of five hundred thousand children an acceptable cost for achieveing “limited policy objectives”. Are you looking for logic and the use of reason among those with that mind set?

    “WHO are the players and what were their goals?” Those who hold and publish the concept of Full Spectrum Dominance.

    “Did they succeed in them?”

    Considering that there is now an overhwhelming amout of information about the effects of the bioweapon on the global human population i consider the test to have been an enormous success. I do not find a segment of western culture that was not touched. Education, manufacturing, supply chains, banking and personal interactions have all been stress tested. The physical, emotional and psychological state of the west leaning world exposed to the bioweapon have all been measured. The move of another piece on the Grand Chessboard.
    No matter one’s assessment of the planning there is planning, and the methods and aims are for the most obscured. What i know from experience is the plans of the Military Industrial Complex rest on a foundation of disregard for life. Mine and yours. The design, purpose and molecular components of the innoculant administered to the human population is also a test and your reaction and mine will be determined and sorted by demographics. Remember Rumsfeld and the “known unknowns”? Is the weapon and the innoculant part of the same test?

    Full Spectrum Dominance, coming to the world near you. and bubba neither China nor Mexico is bringing it to you.

    as far the the labs – if you were to tell me you know where the weapon was engineered i would ask you to pull another finger

    #131658
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Kunstler is good this week. His latest post [ https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/this-has-got-to-stop/ ] is outstanding . Just a couple more inches and his Overton Window may be open wide enough for him to see ALL the way over the sill instead of four-fifth of the way, but, hey, good is good.

    #131659
    DarkMatter
    Participant

    @DBS
    “The leader of Russia going around actually going to where the work he ordered was being done, and inspecting how well the job was being done.”
    How often do we see US presidents listening instead of doing all the talking? I read that JFK used to pick his child up from school and ask the mothers there what they thought about his policies. Those days are long gone.

    #131663
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    I am reasonably prepared for collapse of the NATOstan-Oceania system by mid-year but if it takes until the end of the year for it all to unravel that will be a kind of bonus (other than the additional damage the maniacs in control of NATOstan-Oceania will manage to orchestrate over that longer period).

    #131665
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    It will clearly be those who have conformed the most to ‘official’ narratives who will stand the least chance of getting through the numerous bottlenecks that the controllers have manufactured/orchestrated.

    Who knows what the response of the conformers will be when the rug gets pulled from under their feet later in the year. I guess many of those who have accepted the ‘suicide jabs’ will be too ill or too confused to do much at all.

    Good luck with marching in the streets carrying slogans when up against ‘security’ forces armed with chemical weapons and other weaponry geared to controlling large numbers of angry people and well-practiced in the art of brutality.

    “..and to look at why non-conformity is an important ingredient in a life well-lived.”

    General rules: do the opposite of what officialdom promotes.

    #131666
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    What i know from experience is the plans of the Military Industrial Complex rest on a foundation of disregard for life. Mine and yours.

    Yep. And in the case of the mindless officials who promote insanity on a daily basis, disregard for their own lives and the lives of their progeny.

    But since they are mindless officials, they will never admit that.

    As long as they can keep making everything that matters worse by the second and get rewarded for doing so, they are happy.

    #131667
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Here we go, …

    “The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are today announcing a coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing U.S. dollar liquidity swap line arrangements. […]

    Coordinated central bank action to enhance the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity
    https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20230319a.htm

    … and so European Central Bank already moved, …Lagarde announced a 50 basis points rate hike while reiterating the ECB’s focus on taming inflation!

    Fed will follow coming Wednesday, …

    F.S.

    #131668
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Now that Bakhmut is pretty much done, the Russians will probably let whatever UkoNazi military forces are left there starve or surrender or get incinerated.

    Meanwhile, the focus has moved to the next UkoNazi ‘stronghold’, which is close to being cut off.

    . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV1nYqNpQbg

    #131669
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    #131670

    Here’s where I am at this point: There was no deadly novel virus, no leak, no bioweaponized disease. The PCR test as applied was, is invalid. There may have been a seeded pathogen that was not very contagious.
    There were fudged records, an extraordinarily effective psy-op, deadly stress-producing agendas, and iatrogenic murders and manslaughters.
    There is a bioweapon called the covid19 vaccine, which is more of a concept than a medical intervention. It has pseudouridine and patented sequences in its in silico design. It is unclear if this is in most of the injections.
    The purpose of the whole thing was to test compliance to, and emotional investment in, The Narrative- even as it began to kill and maim people.

    The fear we instilled made you hungry
    for the food that we offered: vaccines.
    Now you’ll eat any substance we give you.
    We’re the future: we are the machines.

    Bloomberg ads are aggressively pushing vaccines today- any and all of them.

    #131671

    I tried to edit the poem to say “now you’ll eat any nonsense we feed you”, but I got directed to a “you are no longer permitted to post on this site” junk page. And it still wanted me to prove I wasn’t a robot!
    Ah, well.
    I had to go over to Brave to post this.

    #131672
    those darned kids
    Participant

    CHINESE SPY BALLOONS DROPPING WHITE SUPREMACIST RACCOON DOGS ON AMERICA IN ORDER TO DESTROY FREEDOM IN UKRAINE!

    #131673
    John Day
    Participant

    The Manhattan DA case against Trump seems to be bringing Trump and DeSantis together against Soros-funded-DAs. A Trump/DeSantis ticket would be deadly poison to Soros, and would clearly be able to outlive Soros, and others… https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-gop-weaponized-government-panel-looking-manhattan-soros-da-plan-indict-trump

    #131674
    John Day
    Participant

    I don’t think this is about “saving” the banks, but about restructuring after the derivatives crisis crashes the system. I suspect that is already baked-in.
    Biden In Touch With Buffett On Bank Crisis
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/biden-touch-buffett-banking-crisis

    #131675
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @Dr. D

    Wtf you cracked me up today.
    Riffing on the meaning of O-6 or Colonel or Captain or full bird but the genuine brain trust resides below that rank. Then there’s Scott Ritter and Tulsi, the former won’t make it but the latter is “self” guaranteed.

    You proffer Col. Macgregor, my fellow O-6, as an antidote to Milley’s incompetent insubordination but you pay service, (or insincere is it?) to the lower ranks. Perhaps, you wrote the screenplay for Saving Private Ryan.
    Here’s a hint: junior officers become senior officers and a few become flag. If you think idiocy and criminal psychopathy is less prevalent among the enlisted, well, then you just don’t know why a commissioned officer on watch carries a sidearm.

    Beloved is not a sincere term among the troops and sailors.

    #131676
    Redneck
    Participant

    The most bizarre aspect of the pro Russia Western media is that they are saying the opposite of what the Russian media is saying, how bizarre , how bizarre.For what the Russian media is saying………..
    https://roloslavskiy.substack.com/p/red-list-13-moscow-is-just-making?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email#details

    #131678
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Holyshit Thanks Oroboros for vlad tour. He was actually listening to people. So refreshing.

    #131679
    Rototillerman
    Participant

    @my-parents-said-know: I thought that this summary from a recent post by Naked Emperor was pretty much on the mark:

    https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/a-summary-of-what-i-think-happened

    And, from within the comments I plucked out this moving essay from Walking with Goats:

    https://walkingwithgoats.substack.com/p/the-why-that-goes-in-all-directions

    #131681
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Pro-Russian Western Media” is quite an oxymoron.

    I disagree, there was definitely a virus. Yes, all the other things happened, but it was already knocking people flat before Jan 1. With near-certain suppression and refusal to admit it, the doctors at that time struggled to name and cure it. It only came back from the labs “corona virus”, meaning generic, the common cold. This does happen though. The cases I heard were sub-40, one asthmatic, while we know there is virtually no death rate below 50, and deaths were so rare even at 70 that the age of death was 78. Not sure who would notice a 80 year old getting pneumonia, the most common thing in the world.

    Not sure what exactly this was. Ideas: 1) They developed it using Uigher prisoners, already ill and violently lacking Vitamin D. This seems likely. 2) There WAS a dangerous virus and it was swapped with a milder one before release. If you released nothing, nothing happens; if you release the real, everyone dies. Likely but I don’t see the kind of panic of a real virus in the Black Hats, Pelosi in public, no real caution on their part. Amazon buys trucks, other guys all pre-position, but not to that level. 3) There are several things going on which is why it isn’t clear. Someone gets a release, it goes to the Army games, they are all unsure what’s happening, there are several strains all different as in Italy, Iran vs France or NY. This is why they immediately ran the deadly hamster experiments on the two cruise ships. 4) In this case we are sure that as this is unfolding, they are feverishly running scenarios, inventing narratives, and coordinating stories about China. 5) This part HAD been all pre-planned because we have their books and notes. So once they knew WHAT it was, they all did — were forced to — move forward with their pre-plan, as arranged 20+ years. This is why it was so goofy and didn’t match reality at all.

    6) It seems likely they were very disturbed by not just a low death rate, but near-ZERO death rate. THAT would not do, so Cuomo found 5,000 grandmas and murdered them on camera. They tried everything else, with nuclear attacks on gyms, sunshine, exercise, vitamins, and outlawing anything else that would make you even slightly healthy. Even that didn’t work, but it explains their bizarre and revealing behavior.

    7) The original plans are VERY CLEAR they need 10 year lock downs and constant forced vaccinations. They got none of it. No one participated, the participation was messy, there was a control group, and only the vaccinated got Covid again, so there was no re-uptake. But you can see IF they got real military lockdown, IF they got to shoot violators in the street, IF they got constant covid waves and constant vaccinations, — along with food shut offs and MS-13 roaming the streets, it WOULD have made sense and worked.

    Only digital Vax cards would get you food, money with 5+ years unemployment, or travel +100 yards from your house. All by PERMISSION of a Socialist government that provides everything…to only their friends and GOOD children. BAD children are punished. And you all have been very, very bad to Mommy.

    It’s confusing unless you understand what they MEANT to do. Heck, in a fever dream, knowing how bad that might run, if I were the White Hats I might release it myself just so the timing explodes in their face, as it has and did. Imagine they had those 4 more years to lock in, prove and acquire the chips, launch the CBDC as they’re doing now, and so on. Release “it”? Yes, a virus that has a 0.03% death rate and an age of death at 78? You bet. You probably save 4B people doing that instead of the real one.

    Nah, of course I wouldn’t, but I understand it. That’s why I’m not in that job.

    #131682
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Am I wrong to think Ron Unz is anathema for this website?

    On the other hand, this statement from Unz is fantastic and what I thought was emblematic in my career.
    UNZ: “Every regime can always recruit opportunistic hirelings to mouth its party-line, but when some of its leading thinkers become so alienated that they risk severe retribution by publicly denouncing official policy, its basic legitimacy begins ebbing away.”

    However, here and there my observation is we’re still stuck “…recruit(ing) opportunistic hirelings to mouth its party-line…” because:

    If Macgregor or Ritter or Carlson or Gabbard or Jeffrey Sachs represent the leading thinkers then the point of severe retribution won’t be reached since it won’t be recognized…by the shrewd political operators who coopt the stylized image of a plucky, bedraggled striver.
    In other words, let Trump rot in jail for as long as Lynne Stewart, Julian Assange, Jeffrey Sterling, Scott Ritter or John Kiriakou before we pass judgment again on his commitment to the cause or his bonafides. Patience is a virtue.

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