Apr 182023
 
 April 18, 2023  Posted by at 8:53 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , ,


Vincent van Gogh Scène de rue à Montmartre 1887

 

Leaks Spelling the End for Ukraine (Lauria)
Poland Needs Ukraine As Anti-Russian Toolkit – Zakharova (TASS)
American Smart Bombs Are Failing In Ukraine (ZH)
Multipolarity Is About A Fair Redistribution Of Power (Sibal)
It’s All Hotting Up (Macleod)
Anti-Russian Sanctions Harm Developing Nations – Brazil FM
Russia’s Suicide (Gotev)
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many Documents Were Leaked – Spokeswoman (RT)
US Carries Out Provocative Course Towards Moscow In Ukraine – Envoy (TASS)
Canada’s State Media Quit Twitter Over Label (RT)
G7 Members Seek To Push Moscow Out Of Nuclear Energy Market (RT)
Russian Researchers Find New Way To Reuse Nuclear Waste (RT)
Call the Exorcist (Kunstler)
‘We’re Going to See a Lot of Bankruptcies’: Former Home Depot CEO (ET)
Cost Of British Food Basics Increases By Up To 80% In A Year (G.)

 

 


Monday evening – more than 280 anti-government rallies across France

 

 

Elon Tucker
https://twitter.com/i/status/1648131075133128709
https://twitter.com/i/status/1648121643439366144

 

 


Prague, Wenceslas square. Czechs want the globalist government to resign.

 

 

Comer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1648073662845820928

 

 

Gaetz
https://twitter.com/i/status/1648083568457859075

 

 

 

 

Bragg

 

 

 

 

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a little stroll in town one afternoon enjoying the sunshine. As they walked, they come across a sign: “Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world.” “I am entering!” said Snow White. After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, “Well, how’d ya go?” “I won First Place!,” said Snow White. They continue walking and they see another sign: “Contest for the strongest man in the world.”

“I’m entering” says Superman. After half an hour, he returns and they ask him, “How did you make out?” “I won first place too.” answers Superman. “Did you ever have a doubt?” They continue walking when they see a third sign: “Contest – Who is the greatest liar in the world?” Pinocchio quickly enters the contest. After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes. “What happened?” they asked. “Who the hell is Anthony Fauci?”

 

 

 

 

“Why would Moscow accept a deal now when Ukraine is at its weakest and Russia is poised to make significant gains on the battlefield?”

Leaks Spelling the End for Ukraine (Lauria)

A Washington Post headline last week was a bombshell for someone who has only been reading about the Ukraine war in The Washington Post and other Western media: “U.S. doubts Ukraine counteroffensive will yield big gains, leaked document says.” The story admits that Western media audiences have been misled about the course of the war, that essentially what mainstream media has been reporting about Ukraine has been a pack of lies: namely that Ukraine is winning the war and is poised to launch an offensive that will lead to a final victory. Instead, the second paragraph of the piece makes clear the leaked documents show the long-planned Ukrainian offensive will fail miserably — “a marked departure from the Biden administration’s public statements about the vitality of Ukraine’s military.”

In other words, U.S. officials have been lying about the state of the war to the public and to reporters who have faithfully reported their every word without a hint of skepticism. The Post said, as if it’s a bad thing, that the leaks will likely “embolden critics who feel the United States and NATO should do more to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.” That has begun to happen. Writing in the uber-Establishment Foreign Affairs, former State Department official Richard Haass and Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, write that “it is difficult to feel sanguine about where the war is headed.” In “The West Needs a New Strategy in Ukraine: A Plan for Getting From the Battlefield to the Negotiating Table,” they say:

“The best path forward is a sequenced two-pronged strategy aimed at first bolstering Ukraine’s military capability and then, when the fighting season winds down late this year, ushering Moscow and Kyiv from the battlefield to the negotiating table.” The article does not mention the leaks, though it was published after the disclosures made clear that the Ukrainian offensive, intended to break through Russia’s land bridge to Crimea, would fail. Filled with the usual talk about Ukraine having better “operational skill” than Russia, and that the war will end in a “stalemate,” the piece represents an emerging strategy in the West: namely that before negotiating, Ukraine needs to launch its offensive to gain back some territory, “imposing heavy losses on Russia, foreclosing Moscow’s military options, and increasing its willingness to contemplate a diplomatic settlement.”

But that is a tall order. Moscow would be unlikely to negotiate at the end of the Ukrainian offensive, particularly as the article admits the “Russian military’s numerical superiority” and that Ukraine is “facing growing constraints on both its own manpower and help from abroad.” Moscow was ready to cut a deal with Kiev one month after Russia’s intervention but the West, with its strategy of lengthening the war to weaken Russia, quashed it. Why would Moscow accept a deal now when Ukraine is at its weakest and Russia is poised to make significant gains on the battlefield?

CNN Russia

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“And when the border will be erased and the rest of Ukraine will be absorbed by Warsaw, then no one will talk to the local population at all.”

Poland Needs Ukraine As Anti-Russian Toolkit – Zakharova (TASS)

Ukraine is beneficial for Poland only as a tool of anti-Russian policy, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel on Monday. “Can you imagine, this is how Poland talks to Ukraine, while it still needs it as a subject, as an anti-Russian tool,” she wrote, commenting on the words of Poland’s Minister of Economic Development and Technology Waldemar Buda about the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain, “And when the border will be erased and the rest of Ukraine will be absorbed by Warsaw, then no one will talk to the local population at all.” Zakharova added that such a decision “is very revealing from the point of view of exposing the Westerners’ imaginary concern for the hungry and needy for food.” Earlier, the Polish minister recalled that the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain also concerned its transit to third countries.


Poland and Hungary on April 16 announced a temporary ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. It will be in effect until June 30. Both countries said they were forced to take this measure because of the lack of response from the European Commission to its demands to provide European aid to Hungarian and Polish farmers who are suffering significant losses due to the overstocking of these countries’ markets with agricultural products from Ukraine. On Friday, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic called for creating a single European mechanism for buying Ukrainian grain and introducing EU customs quotas on agricultural products from Ukraine. On Thursday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia imposed a temporary ban on the processing and sale of grain from Ukraine in the country. The ban also applies to flour already produced from it.

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“..Russia is using GPS jamming to interfere with the weapons’ targeting process..”

American Smart Bombs Are Failing In Ukraine (ZH)

American-made smart bombs are failing in Ukraine, based on successful Russian electronic jamming measures, according to a Pentagon document connected to alleged leaker Jack Teixeira. The highly-classified document not only reviews use of effective Russian countermeasures to make the smart bombs ineffective, but also says that in some cases technical problems are resulting in failure to detonate. A Biden administration defense aid program has involved sending the Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) to Ukraine in order to turn unguided bombs into GPS guided “smart bombs” capable of hitting targets over 50 miles away. According to Politico:

“A larger problem is that Russia is using GPS jamming to interfere with the weapons’ targeting process, according to the slide and a separate person familiar with the issue who’s not in the U.S. government. American officials believe Russian jamming is causing the JDAMs, and at times other American weapons such as guided rockets, to miss their mark. “I do think there may be concern that the Russians may be jamming the signal used to direct the JDAMs, which would answer why these munitions are not performing in the manner expected and how they perform in other war zones,” said Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon official and retired CIA officer.” The document mentions that “1,000 arming lanyards” were approved for Ukrainian forces, suggesting that over 1,000 of the smart bomb kits will be sent.

Far from being the ‘game changer’ that Kiev hoped for, other major US-provided systems are failing as well. The leaked Pentagon documents elsewhere make mention of M270 and HIMARs rockets being thwarted by Russian forces’ GPS jamming tactics. Some documents among the trove of leaks have consistently shown that Ukraine’s military is generally beset by ammunition and weapons shortages, despite the billions in defense aid pledged from the West.

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Kanwal Sibal is a former Indian foreign secretary and former ambassador to Russia, Turkey, Egypt, France and was Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington DC.

Multipolarity Is About A Fair Redistribution Of Power (Sibal)

Multipolarity is a code word for more equitable power sharing in the world. Although global power, especially economic, has been dispersing in recent years, mainly towards the East, it is still not adequately reflected in decision-making on global issues. The West, led by the US, still dominates international political and financial institutions. It seeks to impose its values and norms on others and uses human rights and democracy as tools to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It has not given up attempts to bring about regime change in other countries to further its geopolitical agenda. It is currently strengthening or building military alliances and partnerships to maintain its global leadership. It tries to shape narratives at the international level in its favor through the global information networks it controls. The power that the US exerts on all transactions in US dollars, along with the status of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, arms Washington with a unique weapon for financial domination including its use of sanctions as an instrument to bend countries to its strategic goals.

All of these deficiencies in global governance are epitomized in the unfolding of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia has been subject to a series of sanctions by the West without UN approval. Third countries are pressured to adhere to them under pain of secondary sanctions by the US. Losing access to the US financial markets is a risk that countries want to avoid. With multiple Russian banks arbitrarily excluded from the SWIFT payments system, bank transfer arrangements with Russia have been disrupted, affecting trade exchanges. Russian foreign exchange reserve holdings abroad have been illegally confiscated. Not only has the West broken oil and gas ties with Russia, other countries have been pressed to do so. A price cap on Russian oil has been imposed in a bid to limit Russian earnings from oil sales. The declared goal of these measures is to cause Russia’s economic collapse.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has been blown up to end Germany’s reliance on Russian gas. The property of private Russian individuals has been confiscated without due process of law, which casts doubt on the sanctity of private property in Western countries. Russian media has been banned in violation of Europe’s commitment to freedom of speech as a fundamental value, and Western media has long been propagating narratives demonizing Russia and its President. The essence of multipolarity is multilateralism. However, the structures of multilateralism have not functioned well in the field of international security in particular and have been weakened further with the absence of reforms in the international political and economic institutions. The UN Security Council, the World Bank and the IMF still reflect the world of 1945 in many ways and require a thorough overhaul and modern restructuring.

The UN Security Council needs to be expanded to give more representation to rising developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. This is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future with the deepening divisions between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other blocking even further an already difficult consensus from emerging. The expansion of the Security Council, in effect, constitutes a transfer of power at the international level, and this will continue to be resisted by the permanent powers for various reasons. Multilateralism means a willingness to accept the redistribution of global power that has already occurred on the ground, instead of looking for ways to limit its import by strengthening existing alliances and forging new ones, as is being seen today.

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“..if they all joined, the expanded BRICS would have a nominal GDP 30% larger than the United States, represent over 50% of the world population, and control over 60% of global gas reserves.”

Note that the GDP PPP would be well over 50%.

It’s All Hotting Up (Macleod)

Increasing numbers of national governments are abandoning the US sphere of influence. Opportunities from trade with Asia compare favourably with rising currency and banking risks in a dollar-centric world. Against an imploding banking system in long-established financial markets, China’s renminbi looks like a safe haven. Thanks to a savings-driven economy, China’s consumer price inflation remained very low, when those of the western alliance soared. Now we face a credit crunch, as banks struggle to reduce their operational gearing which has become uncomfortably high. Consequently, borrowing rates will be driven higher, taking interest rate control out of central banking hands. Higher interest rates and therefore bond yields due to a credit crunch will escalate the banking crisis, which is only in its early stages.

Consequently, central bank credit will be inflated to prevent the commercial banking network from collapsing and to fund rising government budget deficits. It is the prospect and realisation of these conditions which will lead ultimately to a collapse of fiat currency values, and foreign holders of dollars, euros and sterling are only beginning to understand the danger. In recent weeks, the threat to the dollar’s hegemony has noticeably increased. Like rats deserting a sinking ship, growing numbers of countries are backing off from the dollar in favour of China’s renminbi, and to a lesser extent other emerging market currencies. China has brokered a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and in turn the Saudis are now improving their diplomatic relations with Syria.

It appears that America’s divide-and-rule Middle East policy has been overthrown. Even Mexico is reported to be prepared to accept renminbi in defiance of its northern neighbour’s policies. And Brazil has always been the B in BRICS. Now Argentina has applied to join an expanding BRICS, alongside Algeria, Indonesia, and Iran. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Afghanistan are also said to be interested, along with other likely contenders for BRICS membership, which includes Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Senegal, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. All of them had their finance ministers present at the BRICS Expansion Dialogue meeting held last May. And if they all joined, the expanded BRICS would have a nominal GDP 30% larger than the United States, represent over 50% of the world population, and control over 60% of global gas reserves.

Following China’s diplomatic coup over the Middle East, President Macron of France and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited President Xi in Beijing last week ostensibly to see if he could persuade the Russians to consider a peace deal over Ukraine. That got nowhere. But the Chinese appear to see France as a more important trade partner than the European Commission. While Macron got the full diplomatic treatment, von der Leyen who recently delivered a hawkish speech over Taiwan was side-lined. Macron’s popularity with China’s leadership is undoubtedly connected with his longstanding policy of promoting diplomatic and trade relations between China and France, with China making substantial investments in France. And it was recently announced that a French exporter of LNG to China even accepted payment in renminbi instead of dollars.

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The only countries not harmed appear to be Russia, India and China.

Anti-Russian Sanctions Harm Developing Nations – Brazil FM

Unilateral economic sanctions imposed on Russia in bypassing the UN Security Council harm developing nations, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said on Monday. “I reiterated to [Russian Foreign] Minister [Sergey] Lavrov Brazil’s position on unilateral sanctions. Apart from not having been coordinated with the UN Security Council, they have negative consequences for economies around the world, especially for developing countries, many of which have not yet recovered from the pandemic,” the top diplomat told a news conference following talks with Sergey Lavrov. The Russian and Brazilian delegations, led by the foreign ministers, held talks on Monday morning at the palace housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Brazilian capital. Lavrov will be received later by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Russian minister will also meet with President Lula’s foreign policy advisor, former Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim.

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And now for something completely different. A Bulgarian voice who claims Russia is losing badly.

Russia’s Suicide (Gotev)

Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine, their Slav and Orthodox neighbour, is possibly only a symptom of a bigger illness. The Russian nation, the centre of a vast empire spanning Eurasia, is self-destructing to an extent unseen in modern history. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I was in my early 30s and naively expected that a modern Russian state, similar to the Western powers such as France, the UK or Germany, would be born from its ashes. As someone who comes from Bulgaria, a satellite country of the former Soviet Union, I knew the weaknesses of the Soviet system they had imposed on the countries of the then Warsaw Pact.

[..] Putin aims to resuscitate the USSR geographically, but what is less obvious is that he has also been replicating its failed economy. Putin’s Russia continued to focus on nuclear missiles that it cannot use, instead of developing the production of consumer goods, the backbone of any modern economy. And even for building missiles, Russia needs imported or smuggled semiconductors and other technologies. According to some reports Russia imports washing machines from the West in order to harvest their chips to build missiles. Unlike China, which not only produces everything a modern economy needs but is even ahead of the West on certain technologies like 5G, Putin’s Russia chose not to develop.

This suicidal policy may be decided by one single person, and we are not aware of a significant political opposition or alternative. What we may be aware of is the risk Russia’s suicide may entail for the rest of the world. Putin’s doctrine says that a world in which there is no Russia should not exist. “Why would we want a world without Russia?” he has famously said. Putin attacked Ukraine not because the latter had the ambition to join NATO, a defensive alliance. He did it because Ukraine, so similar to Russia until recently, has been developing fast and was on its way to becoming the window shop of all the opportunities Russia has missed. So, Putin decided it was better to burn this country to the ground rather than allow such an affront and political risk to his power.

I wrote this text on Orthodox Easter, a sacred holiday during which Russia’s attacks never relented. If this was only about Putin, who hypocritically attended a church service on Easter Sunday, I wouldn’t have used the title “Russia’s suicide’. But what is more shocking is the passive attitude of the Russians, including the vast majority of those living abroad, as I saw some of them enjoying themselves in the West, seemingly impervious to the tragedy their own country had inflicted on Ukraine. We are witnessing an entire nation, despite its rich culture and undisputed contribution to the victory over Fascism in World War II, sleepwalking into self-destruction and committing collective suicide. It is not only tragic to behold, but it’s also a big danger for the entire planet.

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“..some of the files could have been leaked as part of a Western “deception” campaign aimed at downplaying Ukraine’s military capabilities ahead of Kiev’s rumored offensive.”

Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many Documents Were Leaked – Spokeswoman (RT)

The US Department of Defense is still trying to “understand the scope and scale” of a document leak that saw a trove of classified information posted online, a spokeswoman told reporters on Monday. “We’re going to continue to find documents online,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a briefing. Singh added that the Pentagon does not “have a specific number” of leaked documents identified, and that the “scope and scale” of the leak “is something we’re still assessing.” The documents in question appeared on a Discord server at some point in the last month, before spreading to the wider internet and catching the attention of the mainstream media. The alleged leaker, a 21-year-old airman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard named Jack Teixeira, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday after the New York Times published his identity.

Files allegedly leaked by the suspect revealed that US and NATO special forces were active in Ukraine, that Ukrainian casualties were higher than publicly acknowledged by US officials, that Kiev’s forces were low on ammunition, and that the US has spied on its allies throughout the conflict. US officials have dismissed many of the leaked files as fake or doctored. The same media outlets – the New York Times and the Washington Post – that printed the leaker’s identity have continued to publish information from the documents following his arrest. Files from the leak cited by Newsweek on Sunday revealed the purported start date of Ukraine’s forthcoming spring offensive against Russian forces.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has responded to the leak by announcing an internal security review in order to “prevent this kind of incident from happening again,” the closest a top defense official has come to confirming the documents’ authenticity. Previously, the Pentagon would only say that some of the files “appear … similar in format” to its intelligence briefings. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday that Moscow had looked into the leaked documents. Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov suggested that some of the files could have been leaked as part of a Western “deception”campaign aimed at downplaying Ukraine’s military capabilities ahead of Kiev’s rumored offensive.

Rogin Beck

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“[Washington] handed over to the Kiev regime increasingly deadly and long-range systems that have purely offensive, not defensive, purpose..”

US Carries Out Provocative Course Towards Moscow In Ukraine – Envoy (TASS)

US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl effectively admitted Monday that the US Administration carries out a provocative course towards Moscow in Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said, commenting on Kahl’s remarks regarding the risks of escalation of the Ukrainian conflict. “The official’s considerations are full of shamelessness, hypocrisy and are saturated with arrogance towards out country. The Pentagon representative said it directly that the US Administration did not restrain itself in any way because of potential escalation risks when shipping weapons to Ukraine. Thus, the American admitted that Washington has been deliberately carrying out a provocative course towards Russia throughout the conflict,” Antonov said, according to the embassy’s press office.

“[Washington] handed over to the Kiev regime increasingly deadly and long-range systems that have purely offensive, not defensive, purpose,” he added. The envoy noted that he does not believe “the military official’s words that the US expressed concerns over the use of US-made weapons for strikes deep inside Russian territory.” “If the US truly took this most important aspect into consideration, it would have immediately thwarted such attempts of Ukrainian radicals. In reality, though, the unprecedented aid and enabling from the [US] Administration only push the agents in Kiev towards new crimes,” Antonov pointed out.

He added that Kahl’s statements are an “eloquent testimony that it was Washington who ‘inspired’ the standoff in Ukraine.” “In its desire to inflict a defeat on us, they forget literally about everything, and, most importantly – about the fate of the Ukrainian people and the risks of a global conflict,” the envoy concluded. Earlier, Kahl said in an interview for Foreign Policy that the US expressed its concerns over the use of weapons, shipped by Washington to Kiev, for strikes on Russian territory, and is not interested in getting directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, as well as in the conflict escalating into World War III. Meanwhile, the Pentagon representative said, the opinion that the US restrains itself on a number of issues due to fear of escalation is wrong.

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“Leader of the opposition Poilievre called on Twitter owner Elon Musk to add the label to the broadcaster..” “Now people know that it is [Canadian PM Justin] Trudeau propaganda, not news.”

Canada’s State Media Quit Twitter Over Label (RT)

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced on Monday that it was “pausing” its activity on Twitter after the social media platform labeled it as state-funded, arguing that this somehow impugned their editorial independence. “Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on Twitter,” the government-funded outlet tweeted. “Twitter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians, but it undermines the accuracy and professionalism of the work they do to allow our independence to be falsely described in this way,” CBC spokesperson Leon Mar said on Sunday evening.

“Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts.” The CBC is a Crown corporation, entirely owned by the Canadian state. In its 2021-22 annual analysis, it reported receiving 1.24 billion ($930 million) Canadian dollars in government funding. However, the outlet insists that its editorial policies are entirely independent of the government and guided only by “public interest.” Mar argued that Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as those in which the authorities “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,” which is “clearly not the case with CBC/Radio Canada.”

Leader of the opposition Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre reacted to the labeling of CBC by tweeting that “Now people know that it is [Canadian PM Justin] Trudeau propaganda, not news.” Last week, Poilievre called on Twitter owner Elon Musk to add the label to the broadcaster, saying it was needed to protect Canadians against “disinformation and manipulation by state media.” Describing the CBC as government-funded is a fact, the politician said, “and Canadians deserve the facts.” The CBC’s Twitter boycott echoes the actions of two US outlets, the National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Both stopped tweeting last week, in response to being labeled as government-funded.

PBS also insisted that it was entirely editorially independent and produced “trustworthy content that features unbiased reporting.” The outlet could not argue that it didn’t receive government funding, as 31% of its revenue came from federal, state and local authorities, with another 12% coming from regional public broadcasters and universities, also heavily subsidized by the government. Twitter originally rolled out the labeling of outlets in August 2020, tagging Russian and Chinese media as “state-affiliated” but exempting Western outlets such as the BBC and Voice of America (VOA). As documents published after Musk’s takeover showed, the platform was working hand in glove with what several US journalists described as a “censorship-industrial complex” of government agencies and politically motivated NGOs.


Elon Musk: “Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label “

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Sanction No. 823. Great success.

G7 Members Seek To Push Moscow Out Of Nuclear Energy Market (RT)

Five members of the G7 group have formed an alliance aimed at blocking Russia out of the international nuclear energy market. The US, UK, Canada, Japan and France reached the agreement on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in Sapporo, according to a joint statement shared on Sunday by the British government. Under the agreement, the allied countries have vowed to use the respective resources and capabilities of each state’s civilian nuclear energy sectors to “ensure the secure supply of uranium fuel through the development of shared supply chains that isolate Russia.”

The document further states that the five countries have “identified potential areas of collaboration on nuclear fuels to support the stable supply of fuels for the operating reactor fleets of today, enable the development and deployment of fuels for the advanced reactors of tomorrow, and achieve reduced dependence on Russian supply chains.” “Together, today’s G7 commitments deal a blow to Russia, demonstrating the international resolve to isolate Putin further internationally,” the British government said in a press release. British Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps declared that the UK has been “at the very heart of global efforts to support Ukraine” and “defeat Putin,” adding that the latest agreement is “the next vital step, uniting with other countries to show Putin that Russia isn’t welcome anymore.”

The move comes after it was revealed last week that a number of EU countries were also planning to cut their reliance on Russian uranium by turning to Kazakhstan for supplies, according to a Bloomberg report. Russia is considered to be one of the world’s largest uranium producers. However, after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine over a year ago, a number of countries have been seeking to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies. This includes the US, which is the world’s largest uranium consumer. While Washington has introduced a number of restrictions on Russian energy imports, these sanctions have yet to target uranium, despite pressure from US senators to place an embargo on imports. Meanwhile, experts in the nuclear energy field have warned that any disruption in supplies of Russian uranium would “shake” the market and cause “upward pressure” on prices.

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“..more efficient than expected”, but that’s all.

Russian Researchers Find New Way To Reuse Nuclear Waste (RT)

Russian chemists are researching a method that could improve the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, Moscow State University has reported. The process involves using a compound that readily binds to uranium, but not other heavy metals contained in reactor waste. Spent nuclear fuel rods typically contain amounts of uranium and plutonium which can be extracted and processed into new fuel. Other byproducts of nuclear fission include long-lasting radioactive elements, such as neptunium, americium, and curium. They have their own uses and pose a safety risk if buried with the waste. The nuclear industry uses chemical repossession to extract these actinides – as the elements are collectively known – and other valuable components before spent fuel is sent for long-term storage.

However, the process is relatively complex. The method that Russian scientists are exploring is an alternative to the industry standard and involves an additional phase, during which uranium is removed selectively. Called the GANEX (group actinide extraction) process, it uses a special chemical to extract uranium from nitric acid solutions. Scientists at Moscow State University’s chemistry department have tested an organic compound derived from phenanthroline for its ability to form ionic bonds with uranium. When switching from lab-simulated spent fuel to what industrial repossession deals with, they found it more efficient than expected.

“The compound can ‘grab’ macroscopic amounts of uranium, and each unit of the extraction agent can link with two units of uranium,” researcher Svetlana Gutorova explained. “One of the particles gets attracted to the positively charged cation part of the complex, and the other one to the negatively charged anion part. With smaller concentrations of uranium in model samples, no team has observed this effect before.” The team described their research in a paper published in the Inorganic Chemistry magazine earlier this year, and say the efficiency of the phenanthroline derivative in extracting uranium is on a par with the traditional method. The scientists plan to test similar compounds to see if they could work even more effectively. They hope that a particular chemical could bond exclusively to uranium, and not plutonium, streamlining its reuse in reactors.

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“If, for some reason, it escaped her attention, do you suppose that somebody among her ten-thousand-plus CDC employees might have alerted the director about all this?”

Call the Exorcist (Kunstler)

What more subtle minds are asking these days is: when does this insanity tip over into evil? Especially the insanity evinced in our authority figures. How about when someone positively refutes reality in the act of doing harm, for instance Rochelle Walensky, Director of the CDC. Ms. Walensky is, to this moment, still proffering mRNA Covid-19 “vaccines” for children despite the reality that reams of evidence exist showing these products to be harmful, even deadly — and, in particular, by the previously exacting standards of the CDC’s sister agency, the FDA, which hold that just a few demonstrated injuries will lead to a drug being withdrawn from medical practice. (Ms. Walensky is a medical doctor, by the way.) Is it possible that Ms. Walensky is unacquainted with the genuine news all over the Internet about mRNA injury and death? Rate that hard-to-believe… that is, at odds with reality. If, for some reason, it escaped her attention, do you suppose that somebody among her ten-thousand-plus CDC employees might have alerted the director about all this?


I would suppose so. The unappetizing conclusion is that Rochelle Walensky, in her very important role as a national public health officer, has tripped over the line from insane to evil. As a general rule, human societies give individuals and groups permission to act in certain ways. Is it not obvious, for instance, that the deans and college presidents have issued blanket permission for students (and faculty) to mistreat invited speakers who purvey ideas contrary to the Woke campus consensus? Or that many big city mayors give permission to young people to create mayhem in the streets, steal from retail shops, and even injure or kill other people? Hence, college no longer works to expose young adults to the reality of competing ideas and the public realm in our cities is one big danger zone.

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“It adds to the certainty of uncertainty, what’s going to happen.”

‘We’re Going to See a Lot of Bankruptcies’: Former Home Depot CEO (ET)

Bob Nardelli, the former CEO of Home Depot, is warning about more bankruptcies hitting the U.S. economy, and blames lawmakers for their delay in coming to terms regarding the country’s debt ceiling. “I think we’re going to see a lot of bankruptcies. Like Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We got Walmart not only laying people off but closing stores. We got Accenture laying people off. We got Amazon closing distribution centers. So, I think there’s a tremendous-mixed message,” Nardelli said in an April 14 interview with Fox. At present, the “complexity” of the American economy is “different than anything I have seen in my 52 years.” Nardelli also blamed Congress’ inability to work together to raise the U.S. debt limit as creating a burden on businesses, saying that he is “definitely worried” about the situation.

The former Home Depot CEO says he is seeing “inventory builds” in a lot of public and private businesses. He pointed to the 2007–09 period when the banking meltdown took “everything down.” “I think we’re in a very complex environment. And, of course, this debt issue only adds to that. It adds to the certainty of uncertainty, what’s going to happen.” Bankruptcy filings across the United States rose for the third straight month in March in all major industries. A total of 42,368 new bankruptcies were filed last month, according to data from Epiq Bankruptcy, a provider of U.S. bankruptcy court data, technology, and services. This is 17 percent up from the 36,068 filings in March 2022 and is the highest number of monthly bankruptcy filings since April 2021.

[..] Meanwhile, lending activity by banks suffered the biggest plunge ever in the two weeks ending March 29. Commercial lending in the country declined by $105 billion during this period—the highest since 1973. The collapse in lending was led by declining real estate loans as well as industrial and commercial loans. According to financial analyst Andreas Steno Larsen, tough times are ahead for the American economy. “Evidence is gathering that the SVB-fueled banking stress indeed will turn into a recession, but instead of a fast and rapid liquidity-driven recession, we are rather slow-walking into a credit crunch over summer,” he wrote in an April 9 post.

Read more …

Confusing numbers from the Guardian. 80% in the headline, but..”Year-on-year price increases for all groceries reached an all-time high of 17.5% in the four weeks to 19 March..”

Cost Of British Food Basics Increases By Up To 80% In A Year (G.)

The price of staple foods such as cheddar cheese, white bread and pork sausages has soared by up to 80% in some shops over the past year, in further evidence of how inflation is hitting those on the tightest budgets the hardest. Porridge oats topped the price increase ranking among a basket of British basics measured by the consumer group Which?, with prices up by an average of 35.5% followed by skimmed milk, which was up by 33.6%, and cheddar cheese, which rose by 28.3%. However, an 180g pack of Dragon cheddar cheese in Asda was priced 80% higher than a year before – putting it top of the study’s inflationary list for individual product lines. The same retailer’s own-label cheddar sticks were up by just under 79%. Asda’s budget Just Essentials pork sausages were up by 73%, a similar increase to Tesco’s Woodside Farms best-value pork sausages.

Sue Davies, the head of food policy at Which?, said: “Our latest supermarket food and drink tracker paints a bleak picture for the millions of households already skipping meals of how inflation is impacting prices on supermarket shelves, with the poorest once again feeling the brunt of the cost of living crisis. “While the whole food chain affects prices, supermarkets have the power to do more to support people who are struggling, including ensuring everyone has easy access to basic, affordable food ranges at a store near them, particularly in areas where people are most in need.” The Which? survey reflects a recent trend for price rises in supermarkets’ budget ranges as well as to their regular own-label goods and international brands as retailers pass on cost hikes linked to energy and commodity cost increases.

Such increases appear to confirm fears, raised over a year ago by the food campaigner Jack Monroe, that the poorest are being hit hardest by inflation. Which?’s tracker shows that while supermarket own-label budget items remain the cheapest overall, prices rose 24.8% in March year on year. The price of standard supermarket own brands was up by 20.5% in the same period, while branded goods and premium own brand ranges rose by 13.8%. Year-on-year price increases for all groceries reached an all-time high of 17.5% in the four weeks to 19 March, according to figures from the data firm Kantar.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 18 2023

Viewing 24 posts - 41 through 64 (of 64 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #133708
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Kick the UN out of the Empire of Lies or start another version, like BRICS is an alternative to the G7.

    Most of the world would welcome a break from the corruption of the UN, management there is a house of whores.

    Let the UN suffocate in it’s own squalor of hubris and hypocrisy

    #133709
    Red
    Participant

    Here! Here! Oroboros @133708 I’m trying this reply thing to your post to see what comes of it?

    #133710
    Red
    Participant

    Ha! not much.

    #133711
    maryballon
    Participant

    It's been a bad winter all over – Snow in Japan 56 feet high!


    Anthony Watts started this blog in 2006 and it has been my go-to site for information to counter the IPPC fear porn. It is worth a look.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Watts_(blogger)

    #133712
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Red.

    The UNIPCC has no credibility. It has had no credibility for over 20 years. Its purpose was, and still is, to promote fake ‘solutions’ based on chemical and physical fantasies to the very real predicament or Planetary Meltdown, and to allow corporations to make short-term profits from that meltdown.

    The international, multinational banksters own everything and everyone in all ‘official’ systems and decide what will be discussed and by whom.

    GDP: Globalised Deceit Paradigm, Grand Deception Programme, Gross Deceit Procedure.

    Note that there is NEVER any discussion about The Genuine Progress Index, which assigns negative values to negative outcomes, whereas GDP assigns positive values to negative outcomes. The banksters see to that!

    ‘Money makes the world go round.’

    Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money…

    And the international-multinational banksters will sacrifice everything in order to maintain their Ponzi Schemes a little longer.

    Of course, we know that it is angular momentum that makes the world go round and that without energy nothing happens.

    No official plan ever mentions energy, other than in the context of looting of The Commons or in the promotion of scams.

    #133713
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Refresher: Bit of history!

    F.S.

    #133714
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    It is fascinating to observe that so much of what passes for commentary and discussion amounts to arguments about the colour and size of the ticks that are sucking blood from a dead animal, arguments about the colour and size of ticks which will starve, die, and drop off once the blood can no longer be sucked out.

    #133715
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    I sure hope that Russia does not relent in the project Eradicate the Fascists because if it does, the local fascists will be emboldened to markedly increase the severity of their assaults on us.

    #133716
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Oh you ray of sunshine you. A happy Tuesday to you anyhow.

    Drink Shiner.
    Shiner

    #133717
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    The insane, deceitful fascists who control the US are rushing to provoke the next major war.

    #133718
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Henry: That may be a concise or more dramatic way of saying the same thing Luongo is saying. Or he’s saying that Powell is saying. He’s saying they lost control of the US$ market. Probably a long time ago. Was this the planned basis of Kissinger’s petrodollar? Or they just found a way to game it? Doesn’t really matter.

    If it breaks, which seems likely then of course they must return to national currencies. Because no the Euro is flawed, the EU is flawed far more. This is back to Armstrong where he said they forced the currency first and planned to catch up to the political side, which was fatal. They have no referendum support and even less now. So without the money to buy them off and hang over their head, the countries would seemingly have to move apart to their own cultures again.

    But probably it would only occur with something much worse happening, so it’s impossible to predict. You know, like collpasing economically due to Ukraine, being afraid Russia will invade, and being militaristic, therefore mobilizing war footing and repressing all citizens in their zone, ending with NoKo CBDC. You know, like that.

    I was going to mention the UN thing, glad you did, I haven’t done a deep dive. Reminds me of RBG who wanted 1) Legal sex work and 2) Age of consent at 14. Yay Progress! I’m sure that’ll go great and not cause hardship on young girls at all.

    They want the legal age at 0 because those are the ages of rape they are guilty of. They feel the hot breath of someone on their necks.

    “That is the lies that are told by the supposed leaders and swallowed whole.”

    As others have said. Yes. Without us, THEY can’t do anything. So although I do want to “get them”, there’s about as much truth in what they say: You’re a bunch of idiots, so why SHOULDN’T I abuse you, kill everyone, and take everything? I’ll stop as soon as you stop me. It’s not hard. But the peasants won’t lift a finger though we could crush them under our coffee cups. So this has given me a lot more respect and understanding for pure evil. Sure. Why SHOULDN’T they? Wouldn’t it really be silly for them not to?

    YOU, we the people, tell them, beg them, order them to. Like other con men, they just give us what we want them to.

    #133719
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    If you are in need of a some bizarre, rather sick, Orwellian entertainment, try this reversal-of-truth offering from Sky ‘News’ that the gullible masses are being fed. .

    #133720
    John Day
    Participant

    Real World Problems https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/real-world-problems

    The Fed Cannot Fix Today’s Energy Inflation Problem​ , Gail Tverberg​
    ​ ​There is a reason for raising interest rates to try to fight inflation. This approach tends to squeeze out the most marginal players in the economy. Such businesses and governments tend to collapse, as interest rates rise, leaving less “demand” for oil and other energy products. The institutions that are squeezed out range from small businesses to financial institutions to governmental organizations. The lower demand tends to reduce inflationary pressure.
    ​ ​The amount of goods and services that the world’s economy can produce is largely determined by fossil fuel supplies, plus our ability to use “complexity” in many forms to produce the items that the world’s growing population requires. Adding debt helps add complexity of various types, such as more international trade, more advanced education, and more specialized tools. For a while, the combination of growing energy supplies and growing complexity have helped pull economies along.
    ​ ​Unfortunately, the world’s oil supply is no longer growing. Without an adequate oil supply, it becomes difficult to maintain complexity because complex solutions, such as international trade, require adequate oil supplies. Inasmuch as we seem to be reaching energy and complexity limits, nothing the regulators try to do to change the debt and money supplies–even reeling them back in–can fix the underlying oil (and total energy) problem.
    I expect that the rich parts of the world, including the US, Europe, and Japan, are in line to be adversely affected by high interest rates this time. With their high levels of complexity, they are among the most vulnerable to disruption when there is not enough oil to go around…
    ..With their high per capita oil consumption, the combined oil consumption of Europe, Japan, and the United States amounted to almost 38% of total oil consumption in 2021.​..​ If this consumption could be brought to zero, the rest of the world could consume about 60% more than they would otherwise.​ [Note that US per capita oil consumption is 15X that of India.]

    ​ ​Of course, the US currently produces most of its own oil, so its oil cannot be obtained unless the US economy collapses to such an extent that it cannot access the oil that it now extracts and refines. As indicated in the introduction to this post, the US is very dependent upon imported goods. Even goods used in the extraction of oil, such as steel pipe used to drill wells, and computers, are imported. Furthermore, whether or not problems with imported goods occur, financial problems seem likely in the near future, either caused by collapsing debt, or by the issuance of excessive new governmental debt to try to offset the problem of collapsing debt. Such financial problems are likely to make imports of required foreign goods difficult. Problems such as these might be one way the US loses access to its own oil.
    ​ ​A loss in a “hot” war could also reduce the ability of the US to access its own oil. Poor countries most likely covet the US’s oil resources. In my opinion, the more oil the US leaves in the ground related to climate concerns, the more vulnerable the US becomes to other countries’ trying to access its resources. For most of the world, adequate food supply has priority over climate concerns.
    ​ ​If total world oil supply is shrinking, as seems likely with OPEC cutting its output, poorer countries around the world are now becoming concerned about finding workarounds for this expected oil supply shortfall. One workaround would be for oil exporting countries to reduce their exports to countries that are not their close allies. Another approach would be for the poorer nations of the world to reduce the quantity of oil now used for international transport by cutting back on exports of all types of goods to richer countries…
    ..​When the rate of growth of the energy supply is constrained, the system starts encountering more debt defaults and banking crises. I think that this is where we are today.
    ​ ​In a way, the economy with all its debt is like a Ponzi Scheme. It depends on a growing supply of energy and other resources to continue to be able to pay back its debt with interest. The higher the interest rate, the more difficult it is to keep the whole arrangement operating.
    ​ ​Something will have to “give,” as the growth in oil supply turns to shrinkage.

    The Fed Cannot Fix Today’s Energy Inflation Problem

    ​ Mish Shedlock observes new candor from ECB President, but she does not mention the “weaponized dollar”, which is fundamental to the 10 points he agrees with. Is global finance now opening for frank re-negotiation?
    ​ ​Christine Lagarde Made 10 Key Points Today and I Agree With All of Them.
    https://mishtalk.com/economics/as-amazing-as-it-sounds-ecb-president-christine-lagarde-is-making-some-sense

    ​ ​Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Troops Near Frontline In Ukraine
    ​ That should read “visits to front lines”​. Putin is shown landing in Kherson and Luhansk battle zone-oblasts, now members of the Russian federation​, walking openly with Generals outside and inside in both headquarters, and engaging in substantive meetings to be informed by the General staff. This is a bold statement to Russians, Chinese and Americans alike. This is a national leader.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-makes-surprise-visit-troops-southern-ukraine

    Christine sends this from Gilbert Doctorow: Russia in the world news today: visit of Chinese defense minister, high alert naval exercises in the Pacific and charm offensives in Brazil and India
    ​ ​The significance of cooperation in defense of these two superpowers is news too big to ignore… Li was responsible for acquiring military hardware, and he signed the contracts to buy Russia’s world beating air defense system, the S-400, and its most advanced fighter jets. It would not be surprising if during his 4-day visit Li continued his pursuit of other world-beating Russian equipment that could be very useful in any pending military clash with the United States over Taiwan. It would also be logical for Li to be discussing which Chinese hardware could be supplied to Russia if and when the clash with NATO over Ukraine escalates to a new order of risk and China decides to abandon its present caution and throw in its fate with Russia. None of these questions, of course, figure in the reports of Western media today.​..
    ..On Russian television today it was a very different ongoing event which took center stage: the snap high alert exercises of the Russian Pacific fleet…TASS today has the most informative text account… We are told that the exercises involve over 25,000 personnel, 167 combat ships and support vessels, including 12 submarines, 89 aircraft and helicopters.
    ​ ​However, the television coverage of the military exercises on Vesti tell a far more interesting story. We were taken aboard the ships, which are nearly all newly constructed, compact, with a sharply reduced radar profile, packed with the latest design cannon and rapid fire artillery such as we otherwise see daily on the battlefields of Donbas. And they are carrying Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which proved their worth in the devastating attack on a bunker used by NATO officers near Lviv on 9 March. We were told today that the Kinzhal also serves as an unstoppable and highly accurate destroyer of enemy aircraft. That it sinks ships to the scale of aircraft carriers was never in doubt.​..​..Russians decided to call their Pacific Fleet exercise, which operates in particular near the Kuriles and in close proximity to Japan, at the very moment when the G7 foreign ministers are meeting near Hiroshima. Nor can one ignore the close sequence between the Russian exercises and China’s massive show of naval strength last week in the waters around Taiwan…
    ​..​Today’s Vesti carries video reportage of the arrival of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Brazil for the start of his Latin American tour that will also include visits to Venezuela and Cuba…
    ​..​We may assume they have a great deal to discuss following President Lula’s visit to Beijing last week. Topics may well include the Brazilian position with respect to China’s 12 point peace plan for Ukraine, the question of creating a new BRICS currency for trade between its member states and the plans for further growing the New Development Bank in Beijing. The NDB is the BRICS’ answer to the IMF and World Bank. It is part of the new architecture of global institutions that China, and Russia, are building to underpin multipolarity. It is relevant to Lavrov’s discussions that Lula’s former protégé Dilma Rousseff was recently elected as the Bank’s president by its Board of Directors. Since 2021 the NDB has among its members Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay. There surely will be many more members to come.
    ​ ​Lastly, Russian news today is carrying extensive text and video reports on the talks that Denis Maturov, RF Minister of Industry and Trade, is having in Delhi, where he heads a substantial Russian corporate delegation. The Indian Foreign Minister is shown warmly receiving Maturov with words to the effect that Russia and India share the ambition to establish multipolarity in global governance.
    ​ ​Per Rossiiskaya Gazeta, one of the key tasks of Manturov’s delegation is to sway the opinion of the Indian government in favor of granting Russia a further contract to build a second atomic power station. The online news agency AEX tells us that Manturov is in talks to expand direct air links between the two countries to better facilitate business exchanges and tourism. Vechernaya Moskva informs that Russia and India are working to create a reinsurance company to provide coverage for oil deliveries by ship.
    ​ ​In the latter regard, if I properly caught the figure given by Vesti on the fly, Russian deliveries of oil to India are now running at the extraordinary volume of 1.5 million barrels a day. This has driven up the level of bilateral trade by 50% versus a year ago. To date the figure is 45 billion dollars.
    ​ ​Other subjects for trade talks include closer ties in the pharmaceutical and automotive industries. An agreement for a free trade zone is under discussion, as are legal protections for capital investments.
    Russia in the world news today: visit of Chinese defense minister, high alert naval exercises in the Pacific and charm offensives in Brazil and India

    #133722
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Christine also sends this piece from John Helmer​, where he asserts that the Pentagon-Paper leaks signify the approaching death of the “Emperor, Not the Empire” in Washington DC. The general staff are practical, have accepted the inevitable losses of US power and prestige in the world, and want to save what is left of their military forces, and the nation. Helmer sees this as the beginning of military coups d’etat in the US, similar to what Rome had after Caligula.

    THE PENTAGON PAPERS ARE THE DEATH RATTLE OF THE EMPEROR, NOT YET OF THE EMPIRE

    Also from Christine. US Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced a bill that would force the White House to seek Congressional approval before ordering a nuclear strike, insisting the president should not have unilateral authority to start a nuclear war.
    Introduced by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ted Lieu on Friday, the ‘Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act’ would prohibit any US president from “launching a nuclear strike without prior authorization from Congress,” as well as reaffirm lawmakers’ war powers under the US Constitution.
    https://www.rt. com/news/574780-democrats-president-nuclear-powers/ (link disabled with gap to post)

    The 21-year Old Leaker — Something Is Not Right , Larry Johnson
    ​ ​Before you join the mob eager to lynch the poor kid, let me share what some of my friends who are veterans of the CIA and the Air Force have said about this affair in the past few days.
    ​ ​Both men say that the story and alleged facts smell to high heaven. One longtime buddy, a veteran of the CIA, still provides consulting services to the U.S. Government and holds the same high clearances that he had prior to his retirement. He is an experienced operations officer. He has recruited foreigners to spy on behalf of the United States, managed highly classified programs and planned and executed many covert actions. In other words, he is no desk jockey…
    ..During our 18 years of working on these highly classified exercises we have never seen a E3 (i.e., an Airman First Class) anywhere in the SCIF. The enlisted personnel who worked on these TOP SECRET exercises were at least a Staff Sergeant (E5). So what is a lowly E3 doing in a SCIF with TOP SECRET material and no supervision? That is the first red flag.
    ​ ​Another red flag, as I noted in my previous piece, is the partial copy of the CIA Operations Center Intelligence Report. Both of us have had access to CIA systems available on the military servers and we have never seen the CIA Ops Center report on any of those systems. Never! How did this 21 year old kid get his hands on that?

    The 21-year Old Leaker — Something Is Not Right

    ​ ​It seems that European countries are going to pay for their attempts to profit on cheap Ukrainian grain, which, instead of feeding the starving African countries, is being transferred to quite well-fed Europe. Ukrainian grain has already brought farmers in Eastern Europe to the brink of bankruptcy, it also turned out that it is dangerous for its consumers.
    ​ ​On April 13, the Slovak authorities banned the processing and sale of Ukrainian grain and flour made from it on the territory of the country. The Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development of Slovakia stated that it found multiple excess of the maximum permissible concentration of pesticides​
    ​ ​In a 1.5 thousand tons batch of wheat from Ukraine, which was sent for threshing, “the presence of a pesticide that is not allowed in the EU and has a negative impact on human health was confirmed.” ​[Chlorpyrifos, banned in EU and US for serious medical risks including neurological, developmental and teratogenic.]​ ​The Minister of Agriculture of Slovakia explained that three independent accredited laboratories confirmed the increased content of pesticide residues.

    Video: Dangerous Ukrainian Grain Flooding Europe

    ​ ​EU slams Poland and Hungary’s ban on Ukrainian food imports as other countries threaten to join blockade
    ​ ​If Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland all block the transit of Ukrainian food products, it would effectively result in a geographical blockade in Europe

    EU slams Poland and Hungary’s ban on Ukrainian food imports as other countries threaten to join blockade

    #133723
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ The same evildoers who invested heavily in Ukrainian farmland, intending to break the laws and pay some bribes.
    ​Big Ag Panicking Over Bill to Require Labeling of Gene-Altering Products
    Missouri House Bill 1169 would require labeling of products that can alter your genes. Big Ag lobbyists strongly oppose it, because it would mean labeling livestock injected with mRNA vaccines

    Big Ag Panicking Over Bill to Require Labeling of Gene-Altering Products

    From Christine: Mexico’s government already faces the threat of international dispute settlements over its energy reforms and proposed ban of GM corn. It now wants to radically change the rules of the game for its huge mining sector.
    Mexico is the world’s largest silver producer, accounting for roughly one out of every five metric tons of the precious metal mined in 2021. It is also among the top ten global producers of 15 other metals and minerals (bismuth, fluorite, celestite, wollastonite, cadmium, molybdenum, lead, zinc, diatomite, salt, barite, graphite, gypsum, gold, and copper). For the past 31 years the country has functioned as a veritable paradise for global mining conglomerates, serving up some of the laxest regulations in Latin America. But that could all be about to change…
    ​..One thing that sets Mexico apart from most, if not all, other resource-rich countries in Latin America is the extreme preferential treatment it grants to the mining industry. In the country’s 1992 Mining Law, mining activity took precedence over all other industries and activities. Article 6 of the law reads:
    ​ “​The exploration, exploitation and beneficiation of the minerals or substances referred to in this Law are public utilities and will have preference over any other use or utilization of the land, subject to the conditions established herein, and only by a Federal Law may taxes be assessed on these activities.​”​ …
    ​..​In total, 11% of Mexico’s territory (20,853,928 hectares) has been licensed for mining exploration and exploitation. Of that, some 188,320 hectares are actually being actively mined by a grand total of 874 mining projects, according to a study carried out by the non-profit civil organization CartoCrítica. More than 80% of those projects operate without reporting the damages they cause or the pollutants they emit into the water, air, or land as a result of their operations, according to the study. Also, many do not report the volumes of minerals they extract from each project or how much water they use.
    ​ ​“Given the potentially toxic nature of contaminants associated with metal mining, such as cyanide and heavy metals, these results are especially alarming,” said Manuel Llano, a geographer with CartoCrítica.
    ​ ​The AMLO government’s new mining reforms are supposed to change this. The president insists that the reforms are not about expropriating mining companies’ assets but rather looking after the environment. But they also represent a rebalancing of power between the government and mining companies. They also form part of a growing resurgence of resource nationalism, not just in Mexico but across Latin America, that could have major repercussions for global supply chains.

    Mining Corporations Are Up in Arms Over Mexican Government’s Potentially Game-Changing Mining Reform Proposals

    ​An informative interview with the Argentine Finance Minister who negotiated their last debt restructuring with the IMF.
    ​ ​A Debt Crisis Looming in the Global South?​
    ​People are waking up to discover that another international debt crisis of enormous proportions looms on the horizon of a scale not seen since the early 1980s, after which Latin America and Africa slogged through a “lost decade.” Implosions of this magnitude can wipe out years of progress in health, education, and social stability. Yet not many people understand why and how this is happening.
    ​ ​As a new crisis gains momentum, economist Martin Guzman, former Minister of the Economy of Argentina and co-president of Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue offers his perspective on what has gone wrong and what can be done to address it. In his view, you can’t understand debt crises without confronting the power dynamics at play.​ [Those dynamics will be renegotiated.]

    A Debt Crisis Looming in the Global South?

    ​ Peter McCullough MD , ​ Novel Vaccine Technologies in Veterinary Medicine: A Herald to Human Medicine Vaccines
    Explosion of Genetic Vaccines in Animals Gets Human Attention
    https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/novel-vaccine-technologies-in-veterinary

    ​ Professor Anthony Hall, ​Canadians Organi​z​ing to Seek Accountability for COVID Crimes
    The National Citizens Inquiry on Cross-Canada Tour to Investigate “Canada’s Response to COVID-19”
    https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/canadians-organizing-to-seek-accountability

    #133724
    WES
    Participant

    Eurodollars:

    Henry the 8th provided a nice summary by stating “Eurodollars are a claim on US dollars”.

    For those who’s first language isn’t finance, I offer this English translation!

    1. Somebody with $1 USD in a US Bank 1 buys something in Britain and the seller deposits the received $1 USD at Bank A in Britain.

    The US Fed then transfers this $1 USD from the US Bank 1’s account to Bank A’s account at the US Fed. (Note the $1 USD has not actually left the US!)

    Also note that the $1 USD deposited in British Bank A is now a claim on the $1 USD held by the US Fed in British Bank A’s account at the Fed. This creates or births, one Eurodollar. (A claim on $1 USD.)

    2. Suppose the British seller then uses the $1 USD in British Bank A to buy something in France.

    The seller in France then deposits the received $1 USD from British Bank A into French Bank B.

    The US Fed then transfers the $1 USD from British Bank A’s account at the US FED to French Bank B’s account at the US Fed. (Again note the $1 USD still has not left the US!)

    Also note that the one Eurodollar deposited in French Bank B from British Bank A, merely transfers the claim on the $1 USD held by the US Fed, from British Bank A’s account to French Bank Bush account at the US Fed. (British Bank A’s claim to the $1 USD held at the US Fed is cancelled or extinguished or dies.)

    3. Suppose the French seller decides to buy something for $1 US in the US.

    The seller in the US then deposits the one Eurodollar received from French Bank B into US Bank 2.

    The US Fed then transfers the $1 USD that was holding, (ever since US Bank 1 sent the $1 USD overseas), to US Bank 2. By doing this the one Eurodollar claim on the $1 USD held at the US Fed by French Bank B’s account at the US Fed is cancelled or extinguished or dies.

    Thus this one Eurodollar is now cancelled or extinguished or dies.

    Note the US Fed actively promotes the use of the Eurodollar!

    This explains a simple cycle of how an Eurodollar is born, transfered to a new owner, then dies by returning to the US.

    Much more complex is the cycle of how $1 USD leaving the US can birth multiple Eurodollars but I am ending this comment as my tablet wants to crash!

    #133725
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D Rich said

    Also Snow white, Superman, Pinocchio and Fauci joke. I’m approaching the 40th anniversary of this very same observation about Tone Fauci

    Ha ha, agreed. It is incredible how some people just cannot stop giving evil doers the benefit of “the doubt” as if there was any doubt. I think some people are just afraid of taking a stand, afraid of stating that some people are extreme evil doers, they are only forgiveable people in the eyes of God, not in the eyes of normal humans. In the UK these reality-deniers would be considered to be “wet”, meaning mentally weak.

    #133726
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    ‘Substantial Threat’! Russia Moves Its Warship To Northern Base, Warning Issued – Is Moscow Planning Zircon Hypersonic Missile Test?

    The NAVWARN is between April 20 to 29, covering a distance of 3,500 kilometers from the Barents Sea to the East Siberian Sea.

    ‘Substantial Threat’! Russia Moves Its Warship To Northern Base, Warning Issued – Is Moscow Planning Zircon Hypersonic Missile Test?

    … fwiw,

    F.S.

    #133727
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant
    #133728
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Fascinating article posted at nakedcapitalism. [ I’ve always been fascinated by idiocy of my country folks!]

    The Increasing Number of Trial Balloons for Polish Intervention in Ukraine
    Conor Gallagher April 16, 2023

    The Increasing Number of Trial Balloons for Polish Intervention in Ukraine

    F.S.

    #133729
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    What stock brokerage is least likely to be taken under due to a severe bank run that is coming *eventually*? Basically, I don’t want to have an account that goes down first.
    For those interested in following the economy and getting a heads up before the eventually debt-based money implosion of the stock markets, tune into Gary Kaltbaum. The dude is golden. He catches Big Money bailing and sees problems to exit markets before they begin their decline and bust.
    GaryK.com is his website.
    He doesn’t know about Money Power Fascist Empire, so he actually thinks these Darth Operators are stupid instead of evil. Moar debt == eventually bankruptcy and asset stripping by the Money Power Royals and Rothschilds who lent the money based on our principle plus interest payback contract… and nothing more…

    #133730
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @aspnaz

    Yeah, you touched upon the myriad of societal responses to obvious frauds like Fauci. A more developed society like yours knows to shame his followers which in turn deprives him/Fauci of power as in no audience then no favorable press.

    Although the war against Fauci-like manipulators is unending because their power and authority derives from other sources other than “dumbfounded”. I submit the following describes two subsets of Fauci aficionados:

    1. The silent, secret admirers of Fauci too chickenshit to take a stand publicly or privately before their peers/family. (You already explicated the “too polite” subset)

    2. Then one has to confront what I call “Lower Level Operators” identical to Fauci in every regard except these lower level operators lack Fauci’s megalomania. Megalomania is easily confused with ambition and just as easily credited by society’s gatekeepers.

    3. In America, we’re conditioned from birth to Follow the Leader, no matter how inept the leadership or corrupt the behavior. The result is a nation of authoritarian followers and no it’s not a particularly unique observation. Notice how America pays lip service to whistleblowers or waits for Obama to imprison them.

    4. Then the prophets, keen observers, and diviners risk the wrath of those individuals stung by the embarrassment of having submitted to Fauci’s nonsense once he’s been exposed. We’re deep within this phase now.

    Well, that’s 4 not 2. Navy math.

    #133731

    A little late post entertainment
    “This is a transcript of an interview by Randy Engel, Director of the US Coalition for Life, with Dr Larry Dunegan on Oct. 10, 1991 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On tapes I and II (made in 1988) Dr Lawrence Dunegan, recounted his memories of the lecture he attended in 1969 where a New World Order insider, Dr Richard Day, revealed plans for a “World System” which is usually called the New World Order, i.e. the long planned and awaited feudal-fascist World Government.”

    As good as it gets in the “a guy talked about this long ago…” stuff.

    Wiki on Richard Day checks out.

    #133732
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @my parents said know

    Good citation.
    Dig up the essay/lecture from Pittsburgh same venue time circa 1969 by none other than RANDcorp/Stanfordman/NWO dude Alain Enthoven and you’ll find not the prediction but the plan for Medicine that we’ve seen implemented in the form of Fauci, Welensky, COVID response and the devaluation of the physician-patient relationship.

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