Paulus Potter De stier 1625
Seeing this is more countries, UK, Holland. Housing markets are plummeting.
TikTok
#1 @DavidSacks says that the RESTRICT Act, also known as the "Tik Tok Ban," is a Washington DC ploy to seize power and a bait-and-switch, and American citizens using VPNs could potentially face penalties of up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in prison:
"This is going to give… pic.twitter.com/wehIb8Uz4z
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) April 1, 2023
M’membe
This is an extraordinary speech from Zambian opposition leader, Fred M'membe, addressing Kamala Harris and the evil US Empire that has assassinated progressive African leaders, plundered resources. pic.twitter.com/rjb44kgek6
— vanessa beeley (@VanessaBeeley) April 1, 2023
Economist Khazin : The US will limit China by fomenting hostilities in neighboring states. Thus , Washington will provoke Beijing to war with NATO. “ The Americans will set fire to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia. They will limit China in an arc. This means that the West will start a series of regional conflicts of low intensity ,” Khazin explained. According to the expert, the United States is going to play an extremely dangerous scenario against China, aimed at seizing military bases in the South China region. Already in the summer, a serious escalation may occur , during which Washington and Beijing may enter into an active military confrontation, which will create a new protracted crisis in the international arena.
Russian military analysts cryptically announce “good news from the fronts”
MIKHAIL ONUFRIENKO: THERE WILL BE THEM IN THE NEXT DAYS, BUT THEY WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF THE RF”. Realistically, Bahmut, Avdejevka and Marjinka are about to fall. For the Ukrainians who defend them – the growing problem of the half-ton Russian aerial bomb. Russian planes “drop” them while they are beyond the reach of the Ukrainian air defense, and they then fly like gliders 30-40 kilometers towards the target The President of the Crimean Parliament, Vladimir KONSTANTINOV, also radiates “new optimism”: “The situation is heading towards the end of the conflict, which will not end in peace, but in the complete loss of power over the country by the Kiev junta.” Their front will collapse. The UA tree that they cultivated for a long time will fall. Russia will regain control over its historical territories. It will happen closer to autumn”
“..Macron will give Xi a stern warning against providing Russia with weapons to use in Ukraine..”
He will be told: your house is on fire. Go put that fire out.
• France Names China Sole Broker For Possible Ukraine Peace Deal – CNN (RT)
China’s power and close relationship with Moscow means it may be “the only country on Earth” capable of brokering a deal in Ukraine, a source within the French presidency told CNN on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Beijing next week. “It’s obvious that China is one of the few countries on Earth – maybe the only country in the world – to have a ‘game-changer’ effect on the conflict, for both sides,” the source said. China has already positioned itself as a potential arbiter of peace in Ukraine, with the ruling Communist Party releasing its 12-point ‘Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis’ in February. Although described in the Western media as a “peace plan,” the document does not offer a step-by-step guide to ending the conflict, and instead lists principles to which Beijing recommends any future deal adheres.
Its 12 points include concessions to both sides. For example, it stresses that “the sovereignty of all countries” must be respected – a nod to Kiev’s insistence that its pre-conflict borders be returned, while also insisting that “the legitimate security interests and concerns of all countries must be taken seriously,” a reference to Moscow’s refusal to accept further NATO expansion along its borders. The Chinese position was welcomed by the Kremlin, but rejected by the US State Department as a “tactical move” to stall the conflict in Russia’s favor. In Ukraine, President Vladimir Zelensky said he only agrees with a handful of points in the document. French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to China on Wednesday to meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
According to CNN’s source, he will attempt to “find a way to identify solutions to end this war in the medium term.” However, Reuters reported that Macron will give Xi a stern warning against providing Russia with weapons to use in Ukraine. “Our message will be clear: There may be a temptation to get closer to Russia, but do not cross that line,” an anonymous French diplomat told the news agency. Whether Beijing will listen is another story. With Washington stepping up its military presence around China and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hinting at diplomatic consequences for Beijing over its relationship with Moscow, Xi signed more than a dozen agreements with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, while the Chinese Defense Ministry said it is ready to strengthen military cooperation with Russia.
“If the Western rhetoric is to be believed, liberal democracies can only be the targets and victims of other types of political regimes..”
• War Propaganda Evolves, But Never Changes (Buge)
In a 1944 text entitled ‘What is propaganda?’ (available on the site of the American Historical Association), Professor Ralph D. Casey drew a quite surprising conclusion: “These simple truths determine the underlying or governing principles of democratic propaganda. The Nazis blindfold their people against the truth. In exact opposition to the rules of Hitler, the democratic countries must present the truth in their propaganda. A free people will soon find out the truth in spite of official suppressions and distortions. And when propaganda has been revealed to be deceitful and distorted, it no longer is effective. Moreover, democratic propaganda must observe the right of the people to know the facts, however unpleasant they may be. The strategy of truth is not only in accord with the basic principles of democracy, but is also a hardheaded and realistic policy for effective dealing with allies, neutrals, and even enemies.”
Conversely, history shows that the war propaganda strategies that have been developed, both before and since Casey’s statement, fully contradict this recommendation. “When war is declared, truth is the first casualty” – while the quote may have been wrongly attributed to him, British politician Arthur Ponsonby had exhaustively worked on the matter. His book ‘Falsehood in Wartime’ (1928) describes the lies that were propagated by Western democracies against the Kaiser’s Germany. In 2001, Belgian historian Anne Morelli systemized Ponsonby’s thoughts and remarks in her work ‘The Basic Principles of War Propaganda’. Most of her arguments can fit the war propaganda of any type of regime, but Western democracies resort to them with exceptional effectiveness. Since the Cold War, the strategic approach has been dominated by the US, which has the biggest number of think tanks, bolstered by European strategic foundations which are largely Atlanticist.
Democracies do not want war, their adversary is the only one responsible. If the Western rhetoric is to be believed, liberal democracies can only be the targets and victims of other types of political regimes, which want to attack their freedom, destroy their values or undermine their model. According to the official version of historical events, Germany solely desired WWI, Germany and Japan provoked WWII, and the Soviet Union’s attitude was solely responsible for the Cold War. Currently, the Western mass media frame Russia as the only country responsible for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The simplicity of this political discourse is such that most Western populations are convinced that their country can’t desire a war because it is a democracy. With this tool in hand, arms races and wars can be justified as the only protection and the only way to guarantee peace. George Orwell warned about this in ‘1984’ – war is peace. Ponsonby, back in his day, already insisted on the fact that the German Emperor was systematically depicted as a criminal during WWI. This has been used and reused, as the personification of the enemy has a much more efficient psychological impact on the public than demonizing a whole population. The technique is so obvious that the French have invented the expression “hitlérisation de l’adversaire” (hitlerization of the enemy). Since 1914, very few conflicts have avoided this pattern.
During the UK-Argentina Falklands War of 1982, the rhetoric had to be used against a collective military junta, and during the Vietnam and Afghan wars, it had to be more focused on ideological matters. However, demonizing the head of state of the opponent is easy, costs nothing, and always proves efficient. To quote Francis Bacon: “Hurl your calumnies boldly; something is sure to stick.” Consequently, the ones fighting the incarnation of evil are not pursuing personal interests and can only be serving a good cause. George Bush’s crusade against the “axis of evil” or the West’s so-called noble task to immediately free Afghan women come to mind, but the “just war theory” is actually a constant in history that can be traced back to ancient Egypt.
“..Support Ukraine by turning down the heat. German factories are going bankrupt, British pubs facing closure, families are struggling to heat their homes, and US and EU leaders blame Russia.”
• EU and US Leaders Killed Russia’s Trust – And Europeans’ Cheap Energy (Kay)
European energy costs are soaring, driving inflation to heights not seen in nearly 50 years and strangling EU consumers and businesses alike. Unprecedented sanctions placed on Russia, Europe’s premier provider of affordable energy, coupled with the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, has alienated Europe’s most dependable energy partner irrevocably. Simply put – Russian energy is pivoting away from Europe. Replacing Russia will not be easy and bringing Moscow back to the energy security table will be nearly impossible. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov made this clear last year when discussing the diplomatic situation, stating, “It is no surprise that these relations are absent today. But we never shut down. I will only say that we will never trust the United States or the European Union again.”
The key word here is “trust” and it isn’t ambiguous diplomatic speech. Rational people understand the importance of trust. We don’t do business with people we don’t trust. People don’t buy a car from a sleazy salesman, eat in a dirty restaurant, and they certainly don’t invest their money with people that steal from others. This brings us to Europe’s current crisis. Europe on aggregate is a net importer of both fossil and nuclear fuels and has been for decades. Russia has been supplying large quantities of oil, gas, and petroleum products to Europe since the ‘60s and ‘70s under agreements first established between the West and the Soviet Union. Russia inherited the bulk of the Soviet Union’s resources and is an energy powerhouse.
[..] The West and the Soviets built upon that trust layer by layer with each year, bringing more trade between the two Cold War adversaries. Author Per Högselius details the evolution of this relationship in his book, ‘Red Gas: Russia and the Origins of European Energy Dependence’, and he notes how both sides worked diligently towards meeting their obligations to the other. Each of the partners was partly driven by ideological pride, and in the case of the Soviet Union, even sacrificed domestic needs on occasion in order to fulfill gas deliveries. While Högselius does take a somewhat cynical view of the growing energy dependence of Europe, a more balanced review reveals that the West and the East began to develop a partnership based on trust and mutual benefit – one that transcended Cold War animosities.
For 50 years, that relationship endured, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia continued to meet its obligations to its Western partners nearly without fail. Ironically, the only interruption of gas deliveries that has ever occurred before now took place in the winter of 2008-2009, when the newly elected Orange Revolution government of Ukraine stopped transiting gas for a short period of time, cutting off supplies to its European neighbors due to a supply and payment dispute with Russian Gazprom. The trade relationship between Russia and its European partners weathered countless political storms, social upheavals, border changes, and saw the development of a gas network rivaled only by the extensive pipeline system in the US. The mutual investments into the various pipeline networks, including Nord Stream 1 and 2, are mammoth and include principals and actors throughout Eurasia.
[..] Russia made several attempts at bypassing Ukraine as a transit state since Kiev continued to prove it was an unreliable partner due to corruption and its poor economic performance encouraged theft from transit gas (as happened in 2008-2009). The EU (encouraged by the US) stopped or delayed several initiatives such as South Stream (through the Black Sea) and the Nord Stream pipelines, which were plagued by delays on “environmental impact” grounds. By 2014, following the Maidan, Russia was hit with sanctions on its oil and gas sectors in response to Crimea’s referendum to join Russia. Where does that leave the EU populace? How will the EU replace that flow of resources at affordable prices? The short answer is – they won’t.
The numerous sanctions packages targeting Russia’s energy sector, the outright theft of Russian assets and holdings within the Western financial framework, and the ‘mysterious’ destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines with a completely opaque investigation by Denmark, Sweden, and Germany has reduced, if not erased, trust in the Europeans by outside partners – both existing and potential. Most of the reporting is focused solely on the economic consequences, such as the increased energy prices in the EU and the inflationary pressure it puts on getting goods to markets, which has exacerbated the challenges of ordinary Europeans. Meanwhile, people throughout the EU have been encouraged to “suck it up” and support Ukraine by turning down the heat. German factories are going bankrupt, British pubs facing closure, families are struggling to heat their homes, and US and EU leaders blame Russia.
“They want to squeeze us into this war,” he claimed, referring to EU leaders, but the question of “whether Hungary should take part in the war… or whether it should stay out can only be decided in one place, the Hungarian parliament.”
• EU Has Abandoned Peace And Prosperity – Orban (RT)
The EU has forsaken its goal of ensuring peace and prosperity for its members, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared on Friday. Warning that the bloc is considering sending troops into Ukraine, Orban insisted that Hungary will continue pushing for a ceasefire. “Those who are pro-war have put the whole European Union in danger,” Orban told Radio Kossuth, referring to the ongoing efforts by EU member states to arm Kiev’s forces. To date, Brussels has supplied Kiev with just under $4 billion worth of arms, while individual member states have donated tanks, artillery, and in the case of Poland and Slovakia, fighter jets to Ukraine. “We expect two things from the European Union; the first is to have lasting peace,” Orban continued.
“The second thing we expect of the EU is that it should preserve the prosperity it has achieved, but in comparison war and sanctions are destroying the European economy.” Energy costs and inflation have soared across the EU since Brussels embargoed Russian fossil fuels following the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine last February. This embargo and other sanctions have failed to cripple the Russian economy, as their proponents predicted. Instead, Russia’s economy is set to grow faster this year than that of Germany, according to IMF figures. The prospect of global war is more urgent than the economic threat, Orban said. The Hungarian prime minister claimed in Friday’s interview that EU leaders were considering deploying a “peacekeeping” force to Ukraine. This, he argued, would be a catastrophic escalation.
“When European and American leaders say that if this continues, we could end up in a third world war, it seems incredibly exaggerated at first, but where I work and where I see the events, this is a real danger at this moment,” he said. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that such a force would be Russia’s “direct enemies” and would be “ruthlessly destroyed” on the battlefield. “Peace talks are not what we should be talking about now, but a ceasefire,” Orban said, explaining that hostilities must be suspended before a settlement can be worked out. Whatever happens in Ukraine, the prime minister stressed that Hungary would not get involved. “They want to squeeze us into this war,” he claimed, referring to EU leaders, but the question of “whether Hungary should take part in the war… or whether it should stay out can only be decided in one place, the Hungarian parliament.”
Don’t believe it.
• Ukraine’s Offensive Force Fully Manned – Kiev (RT)
Kiev has completed the recruitment of its so-called “Offensive Guard,” which has been assembled with the aim of retaking territories lost to Russia during the ongoing conflict, Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko has said. “As of today, eight new brigades have been put together, and we’re ready for active offensive measures,” he claimed during a TV appearance on Friday. Klimenko didn’t reveal the exact number of personnel in the new force, but a brigade usually consists of between 3,000 to 5,000 troops. Thousands of men have volunteered to join the “Offensive Guard” since the recruitment drive began in early February, the minister said. No new applications are being accepted at the moment and those who have already submitted their papers are being assigned to reserve units, he added.
The Interior Ministry said earlier that it was putting together the “Offensive Guard” with the aim of restoring Kiev’s control over territories that used to be part of Ukraine before 2014. This includes the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, which voted to become part of the Russian state in referendums last autumn, as well as Crimea, which reunited with Russia nine years ago. The force has reportedly only accepted trained recruits, including members of the military, police officers and border guards. Earlier this week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov announced that Kiev’s troops would use newly supplied Western hardware, including German Leopard tanks, to attack Russian-held areas in multiple directions, starting in April or May. However, President Vladimir Zelensky said last week that the Ukrainian military hasn’t yet accumulated enough resources to launch the much-anticipated counteroffensive, emphasizing shortages of ammunition in particular.
Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told the Financial Times on Wednesday that Kiev was concerned that the planned advance wouldn’t result in Russia being “100%” pushed out of the territories Ukraine wishes to reclaim. “We should counter by all means the perception of the counteroffensive as the decisive battle of the war,” he insisted. Former Russian president and current deputy head of the country’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this week that Kiev’s claims that it would carry out a large-scale offensive that would also target Crimea were just “propaganda.” However, Medvedev warned that if the peninsula were actually attacked, it could become “the basis for the use of all means of protection, including those provided for by the fundamentals of the Doctrine of Nuclear Deterrence.”
Try get them out.
• US Troops Should Leave Germany – MP (RT)
Berlin must break with the existing “relationship of extreme subservience” to America and its foreign policies “marked by breaches of international law,” Sevim Dagdelen, the deputy head of the Left Party’s faction in the Bundestag, said on Friday. Germany must demand that US forces stationed on its territory be withdrawn, along with America’s nuclear weapons, the MP insisted. “After 78 years, it is now time for the US soldiers to go home,” Dagdelen said at a parliamentary event marking the 75th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. The US military bases act “like extraterrestrial zones where the [German] constitution does not apply,” the MP, who is also a member of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said.
Washington uses its bases on German soil to wage wars abroad and launch “lethal drone strikes,” Dagdelen said, adding that some of these actions are “in breach of international law.” She also criticized the regular NATO meetings at the US Ramstein base in Germany, where military aid to Kiev is discussed. Washington hosts these conferences “as if the Occupation Statute were still in force,” the MP said, adding that Berlin also allowed the US to put it “in the line of fire” with the German-made Leopard tank deliveries to Ukraine. The German lawmakers took a decision on the withdrawal of America’s nuclear weapons from the nation’s territory as early as 2010, but these arms are still in place, Dagdelen said. “We stand by our position: the US nuclear weapons must go,” she added.
“The US administration gives the impression that they do not want allies, just loyal vassals,” the MP said, pointing to America’s negligence toward its partners’ interests and demands. According to Dagdelen, “fewer and fewer countries around the world are prepared to accept this.” A true “friendship” should be based on mutual respect for human rights and international law, the MP added. Germany hosts by far the largest number of US military personnel out of all European nations. Over 35,000 American troops were stationed on its soil as of 2022. Italy, which hosts the second-largest number of American soldiers, trails far behind, as some 12,000 US military personnel were stationed there at the same time.
Dagdelen
Americans must leave Ukraine and Europe.
EURASIA German leftist lawmaker says US soldiers and nukes must leave her country
On the floor of Germany's parliament, Left Party MP Sevim Dağdelen called for the c. 38,000 US soldiers in her country to leave, and to take their… pic.twitter.com/HsBXb6wika— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) April 1, 2023
3 women: Ursula, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland (whose granddad was a Ukraine nazi. They might as well be just one person. They all hate Russia and like war.
• Von der Leyen In Line For NATO’s Top Job – The Sun (RT)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is “in the running” to replace Jens Stoltenberg, whose term as NATO secretary general expires in October, British newspaper The Sun reported on Friday, citing a diplomatic source. According to the tabloid, “a number of NATO members” proposed von der Leyen’s candidacy for the bloc’s top job. At the same time, the newspaper cited UK sources as saying that London “would likely veto” the move because of “her poor track record in charge of Germany’s Armed Forces.” The newspaper reported British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is backing Ben Wallace, the country’s defense secretary, for NATO’s top post. Wallace said in a radio interview in February that he was happy with his current position, adding that leading NATO would be “a great job as well.”
The report named Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland as other possible candidates. The Sun added that Kallas has reportedly declined to be nominated and that Freeland, whose mother is Ukrainian, was “unlikely” to succeed because Ottawa has so far failed to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense. Von der Leyen was appointed as the EU’s top executive in 2019, after serving for six years as Germany’s defense minister. Her work in the German government was plagued by shortages and delays in the delivery of Bundeswehr equipment. “The army’s readiness to deploy has not improved in recent years, but instead has got even worse,” parliamentary armed forces commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels said in 2018.
Von der Leyen spearheaded the European bloc’s anti-Russia sanctions and joint efforts to train and equip the Ukrainian military. She has also called on EU members to take a tougher stance when dealing with China. The NATO secretary general is appointed for an initial term of four years, after member states conduct informal consultations on the matter. Stoltenberg’s tenure was extended for an extra year shortly after an armed conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. The spokeswoman for the US-led military bloc confirmed earlier this year that the outgoing secretary general, who is Norwegian, was not planning further extensions of his mandate.
“..there’s a general logic of our former Western partners here. The logic is that Russia is responsible for all of the ills of today’s world. We’re not surprised by that”
• Risk Of Nuclear Weapons Use ‘Higher Than Any Time’ Since Cold War – UN (Az.)
The UN has warned Friday that the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is higher than at any time since the Cold War as Russia plans to deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, according to Anadolu Agency. Russia announced on March 25 that it had reached an agreement with Belarus to station its non-strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, a close ally of Moscow. “The war in Ukraine represents the most acute example of that risk,” UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu told the Security Council. “For the sake of all our security, I echo the Secretary-General’s call for the Russian Federation and the United States to return to full implementation of the New START Treaty and commence negotiations on its successor.”
In February, Russia suspended its participation in New START Treaty, the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between Washington and Moscow. The US stopped exchanging data on its nuclear forces in response to Russia’s suspension of its participation in the treaty. US deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood said that no other country than Russia was inflicting such damage on arms control.
“No country is threatening Russia or President (Vladimir ) Putin,” he said. “The Kremlin could end the war if it chooses.” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia defended his country’s recent move and said that “there’s a general logic of our former Western partners here. The logic is that Russia is responsible for all of the ills of today’s world. We’re not surprised by that”. China’s deputy UN Ambassador Geng Shuang opposed any nuclear war saying that a nuclear war “cannot be won” and “can never be fought.” Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya warned that Kremlin was “ready to threaten the world with nuclear apocalypse.”
Fighting a 1000-year old church. Why? Feels like Ukraine is trying to change one orthodox church for another, more docile, one.
• Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Crisis The Moment Of Truth For Ukrainians – Official (TASS)
The developments around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra will be the moment of truth, which will show if the people of Ukraine are ready to stand up for their values, Rodion Miroshnik, former ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to Moscow, told TASS on Saturday. “It would have suited [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky best if the expulsion of Orthodox Christians from churches had gone quietly, without any protests, without showing the entire world that the dictator went far further than many other vile despots. Brandishing a club, he went against the traditional religious denomination, against the 1,000-year history of Eastern Orthodoxy in Rus. Now it is the moment of truth for the Ukrainians: whether they are ready to stand up to defend their values or agree to crawl on their knees,” he said.
According to Miroshnik, the Ukrainian authorities “believe that now is the right time to finalize the process of dehumanization of the Ukrainians, by neglecting the norms of law, morality, and conscience, by turning arms against civilians.” “They have already been deprived of their native language and history, and taking away their faith will turn the people into a herd. And this herd can be raced into any slaughterhouse, Zelensky thinks that if he backs down on the Lavra, it will be perceived as his weakness, so he will resort to any tactics, including dispersals and arrests, as well as jailing, hunting and assassinating leaders,” the former ambassador added.
The situation around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra escalated to the boiling point after the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had refused to leave the monastery by order of the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Historical and Cultural Reserve. On March 30, a commission of the Ukrainian Culture Ministry arrived at the Lavra for a property inventory but the clergy led by Metropolitan Pavel alongside parishioners did not let them in, and did the same on the following day. On Friday, scuffles broke out near the walls of the monastery, and there were reports about a potential attack. On Saturday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) charged Metropolitan Pavel with inciting religious hatred and justifying Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Humiliate the leader of the church. Why?
• Kiev-Pechersk Lavra’s Abbot Placed Under House Arrest (TASS)
Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery in the Ukrainian capital, told reporters that he has been placed under house arrest. “I have been sent under house arrest,” he said in a video released by the Vesti media outlet. The information has not been confirmed officially yet. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) earlier announced that Metropolitan Pavel was suspected of inciting discord and working for Russia. SBU officers searched his residence. On March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra reserve terminated the open-ended lease with the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and ordered its monks to leave the monastery. Metropolitan Pavel slammed these actions as illegal and declared the monks’ refusal to leave.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture’s commission arrived at the Lavra for a property inventory but the monks and parishioners did not allow it to enter the monastery. Both parties went to court. However, the hearing of the case of the wrongful termination of the lease is scheduled for April 26, while the Ministry of Culture demands that the monks immediately leave the monastery. The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, founded in the 11th century, is one of Russia’s first monasteries and the oldest monastery in modern-day Ukraine.
Ankle brace
How dark. Bishop Pavel wears an electronic device on his leg
Church freedom in Ukraine is in dark pic.twitter.com/zgcqRgzlFb— Spriter (@Spriter99880) April 1, 2023
There are over 200 monks there.
• Kiev-Pechersk Lavra May Be Stormed At Night Or Weekend (TASS)
Ukrainian law enforcement units can attempt to storm the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the early hours of Saturday or at the weekend, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the ‘We are Together With Russia’ movement, told TASS. “No doubt there will be attempts to storm the Lavra either at night or at the weekend. They formally declared that they would come to evict the monks on Monday, or to take over in fact, but it is highly likely that at the weekend people’s attention will wane and they (law enforcement units – TASS) will storm into it, so no one should lower their guard,” he said. Rogov emphasized that the remarks of Mikhail Podolyak, advisor to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, about “physical purges” of the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) falls even under the articles of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.
Earlier on Friday, Metropolitan Pavel, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra rector, said that preparations for an attack on the monastery were underway, and according to his information, it might happen after 05:00 p.m. The metropolitan has asked believers for prayers and law enforcement officers for protection. The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is one of the first monasteries in Russia and the oldest monastery on territory of modern Ukraine. On March 10, the directorate of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Historical and Cultural Reserve announced the termination of the open-ended lease agreement with the UOC’s Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and ordered the monks to vacate the premises by March 29.
Metropolitan Pavel, the rector of the monastery, described these actions as illegal and said that the monks had refused to leave the monastery. In the morning of March 29, the reserve’s directorate warned that the UOC’s priests and monks would have to leave the monastery by 11:59 p.m. The clergy of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra filed a lawsuit with a Ukrainian court to challenge their right to the monastery.
“..For the despot, left to his own devices by political institutions that were always potentially – and are now actually – liberticidal, all forms of violence are foreseeable. .”
• The French Uprising (Frédéric Lordon)
On Monday, 20 March, the homepages of the French national news sites were overcome with excitement as they reported on the vote of no-confidence in the government: tallying how deputies were likely to cast their ballots, assessing the motion’s chances, envisioning the wheeling and dealing, playing the insider – what a delight. Political journalism: a passport for political inanity. Meanwhile, politics, with all its sudden force, has seized the country. Spontaneous events erupt on all sides: unannounced walkouts, road blockages, riotous outbursts and demonstrations, assemblies of student activists; youthful energy fills the Place de la Concorde, the streets. Everyone feels as if they are walking on hot coals, impatience coursing through their legs – but not on account of the trivialities which continue to occupy the Parisian goldfish bowl, its inhabitants each more ignorant than the next about what we’re now reaching: boiling point.
It’s beautiful what happens when the ruling order starts to unravel. Small but incredible things occur that shatter the resigned isolation and atomization on which the powerful rely. Here, farmers bring bags of vegetables to striking rail workers; there, a Lebanese restaurant owner hands out falafels to kettled protestors; students join pickets; soon, we’ll see individuals opening their doors to hide demonstrators from the police. The real movement has begun. We can already say that the situation is pre-revolutionary. What are its prospects? Might the ‘pre-’ be shaken off? In France, the legitimacy of the power structure has collapsed; it is now nothing more than a coercive bloc. Having demolished all other mediations, the autocrat is separated from the people only by a police line. Nothing can be ruled out, for reason deserted him long ago.
Macron has never accepted otherness. He is in conversation only with himself; the outside world does not exist. That is why his speech – if we focus on the real meaning of his words – bears no trace of the collective validation that comes from rational discussion with others. On 3 June 2022, he could affirm, without batting an eyelid, that ‘the French are tired of reforms that come from above’; on 29 September that ‘the citizen is not someone on whom decisions will be imposed’. Isn’t it obvious that, confronted with a leader of this kind, there can be no possibility of dialogue? That nothing he says can ever be taken seriously? Such a person is incapable of owning up to any error save factitious ones, since you have to listen to the ‘outside’, to the non-self, to realise that you’ve made a mistake. This is why Macron’s promises of ‘reinvention’ – so enchanting to journalists – can be nothing other than pantomimes, produced in closed circuit.
For the despot, left to his own devices by political institutions that were always potentially – and are now actually – liberticidal, all forms of violence are foreseeable. Anything can happen; indeed, everything is happening. The footage of kettling on the rue Montorgueil this Sunday sends a clear signal that Macronian politics are in the process of dissolving. From now on, power governs by roundup. The police will cart off and arrest anyone, including passers-by with no connection to the protest, scared men and women, stupefied by what is happening to them. A single message: don’t go out in the street, stay home, watch TV, obey.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1641357408680148995
“..CNN reported that Trump was facing more than 30 charges in the indictment, which will be formally unsealed once he is arraigned.”
• Details Of Possible Charges Against Trump Emerge – AP (RT)
The indictment against former US President Donald Trump over his alleged role in paying hush money to a porn actress includes at least one criminal charge, Associated Press reported on Friday, citing sources. According to two “people familiar with the matter” quoted by the agency, Trump – the first current or former US president to be indicted – is facing several charges of falsifying business records, including a felony offense. However, they declined to reveal the exact contents of the indictment, which so far remain sealed. Earlier, CNN reported that Trump was facing more than 30 charges in the indictment, which will be formally unsealed once he is arraigned. The procedure is expected to take place in the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.
According to AP sources, the former president is expected to travel to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight before he appears before the court. After the planned arraignment, he will be fingerprinted and photographed. It is unclear whether Trump, who as a former president is protected by the US Secret Service, will be handcuffed. Trump was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday over an alleged scheme to pay $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who claimed she had an affair with the ex-president, via his then-lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016. The scheme was meant to stop Daniels from going public about the sexual encounter, which Trump denies ever took place.
The alleged hush money payment, which is not illegal in itself, was later reimbursed by Trump to Cohen and recorded as legal expenses, according to the prosecution. This potentially opens the ex-president to further allegations of falsifying business records, which could amount to a crime in New York. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the indictment as “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” while claiming he “cannot get a fair trial in New York.” The ex-president also warned that “this witch-hunt will backfire massively on [US President] Joe Biden.”
“..the politics of envy taken to its ultimate conclusion. Racism, sexism, ageism, transphobia, LGBTQT+BBQ Sauce rights are all the same political position..”
• Indicting Trump is the End of US Politics (Luongo)
So, the Democrats and their Davos benefactors have finally done it. They have finally found something they can indict President Donald Trump on. Apparently 34 somethings, which makes for great headlines. The usual suspects have been thrown their chum — both TDS patients and MAGAtards. The social media war is now in full swing. And, frankly, it couldn’t be more tiresome. A few get why this is so inane but most are focused (or being focused) on the wrong thing, as always. Jonathan Turley has a good rundown of the questionable legality of this case. But, again, while he’s not wrong to focus on that and the shady politics, he also misses the larger implications of this indictment. This is a case so legally tenuous that even the Federal Government, famous for being able to convict a ham sandwich, wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole.
Because indicting Trump for any of these petty things is nothing less than the end of politics and a declaration of civil war. Davos through the Democrats have been running a culture war for decades to stamp out the past. It is quite Leninist. Turley and others have focused on it’s ‘just not done’ to indict a President, especially something as irrelevant as paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. But, ‘just not done’ is exactly the thing being indicted here, not Trump. Trump is just the fulcrum on which all of this rests. This is just the politics of envy taken to its ultimate conclusion. Racism, sexism, ageism, transphobia, LGBTQT+BBQ Sauce rights are all the same political position. They are all about tearing down the old institutional order.
It’s been going on for generations, invading male spaces like Augusta National, forcing female reporters in locker rooms, endlessly arguing the wage gap between men and women. Of course, these same people can no longer even define the women whose rights they fight for. Is the latest term ‘people who menstruate,’ or is that just so last week? I thought I was supposed to still wear my mask in my electric car to fight for the rights of Ukrainian men to get pregnant while fighting for freedumb from Putler! So forgive me if I’m a little confused.
“A Trump source told The Post Saturday that it was business as usual at the Trump resort, with no cancellation of events on Friday or Saturday.”
• Events Suspended At Mar-a-Lago As Trump Hunkers Down With Legal Team (NYP)
Events at Donald Trump’s Palm Beach resort were suspended for the weekend on Friday — as the former president was seen “huddling” with his legal team to hammer out a defense after a New York grand jury voted to indict him Thursday, The Post has learned. Trump, 76, met with his advisers at Mar-a-Lago where, a source said, they are all “shaken” by the news. The team is preparing for his arraignment before a New York City judge next week, on unknown charges related to hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. “It won’t be business as usual,” the source told The Post regarding events at Mar-a-Lago. “They expected this but there is shock now that it’s happened,” said the source. “It’s real now. And they are worried about a surprise.”
Lawyers, including Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina and Chad Seigel, are “chattering about whether there is something else in the indictment that people aren’t expecting,” said the source. “There might be something else that has been overlooked.” Among the issues Trump’s lawyers are hammering out with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office is whether the former president’s mug shot will be shown publicly and whether the former commander in chief will be seen in handcuffs, the source said. According to the source, Trump wants to use the arrest to drum up political support and donations to his 2024 presidential campaign. He’s said to be leaning on longtime aides such as Jason Miller, who left his role in February as CEO of GETTR, a conservative social media site, to work as a senior advisor to the former president.
“Trump wants the mugshot out,” the source said. “The funds will start flying in.” On Thursday, following news of the indictment, a somber-looking Trump was spotted arriving for dinner at the Florida resort with his wife Melania, 52, at his side. Photos shared by club members Thursday appeared to show guests standing to applaud the Trumps as they entered, hours after the unprecedented confirmation that he was to be the first former US president to face criminal charges. A Trump source told The Post Saturday that it was business as usual at the Trump resort, with no cancellation of events on Friday or Saturday.
“..it could solve climate change, cure cancer and enhance productivity.”
• Silicon Valley’s AI Civil War (DM)
Silicon Valley is in the midst of a civil war over the advancement of artificial intelligence – with the world’s greatest minds split over whether it will destroy or elevate humanity. The growing divide comes after the extraordinary rise of ChatGPT, which has taken the world by storm in recent months, passing leading medical and law exams that take humans nearly three months to prepare. Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and the late Stephen Hawking are among the most famous critics of AI who believe the technology poses a ‘profound risk to society and humanity’ and could have ‘catastrophic’ effects. The tech tycoons on Wednesday called for a pause on the ‘dangerous race’ to advance AI, saying more risk assessment needs to be conducted before humans lose control and it becomes a sentient human-hating species.
At this point, AI would have reached singularity, which means it has surpassed human intelligence and has independent thinking. AI would no longer need or listen to humans, allowing it to steal nuclear codes, create pandemics and spark world wars. DeepAI founder Kevin Baragona, who signed the letter, told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s almost akin to a war between chimps and humans. The humans obviously win since we’re far smarter and can leverage more advanced technology to defeat them. ‘If we’re like the chimps, then the AI will destroy us, or we’ll become enslaved to it.’ However, Bill Gates, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and futurist Ray Kurzweil are on the other side of the aisle. They are hailing ChatGPT-like AI as our time’s ‘most important’ innovation – saying it could solve climate change, cure cancer and enhance productivity.
Not completely asleep yet.
• 82% Of Berlin’s Voters Refused To Support 2030 Net Zero (NTZ)
Last Sunday’s “Berlin Climate Neutrality By 2030” referendum failed resoundingly despite the more than a million euros spent in a massive run-up campaign that included plastering the city with posters, concerts by famous performers, huge support and propaganda by the media and hefty donations coming from left wing activists from the east and west coasts of USA. Once the dust of the referendum had settled, it emerged that the “yes” side fell way short of the quorum 608,000 votes needed to pass the measure. Only 442,210 cast a vote in favor, which represents only 18% of Berlin’s eligible voters. The activists expected a far greater turnout. 82% refused to lend any support. Berlin’s rejection of the climate neutrality by 2030 mandate is a massive body blow to the the radical Fridays for Future and Last Generation movement in Germany, and it will take months for the radicals to recover, it ever, from this setback.
The Berlin initiative to make the city climate neutral by 2030 was led by rich, upper class youths like Luisa “Longhaul” Neubauer. But Berliners, having been harassed for months by activists gluing themselves to the streets and blocking traffic, saw the folly of the initiative and the high costs it would entail politically and financially. They decided resoundingly they’d wanted no part of it. The agony of referendum defeat was palpable as some of its leaders reacted by lashing out and insulting those who refused to vote “yes”, In a video, movement co-leader Luisa Neubauer sank into cynical accusations against the majority, even calling the uncooperative Berliners “fossil cynics” and “climate destroyers”. Neubauer added: “There are forces in this city that are doing everything to get the last spark of climate destruction out.” In Neubauer’s view these forces include the vast 82% of Berliners who refused to vote “yes”. So troublesome democracy can be.
Germany’s Pleiteticker here commented on the Berlin referendum: “Social Democrat Dario Schramm wept on Twitter at the gloating that would now come from the other side. But he and other supporters of the green ban politics need not be surprised. For years they have been spreading their ideas of good politics for years in a self-righteous, arrogant and sometimes aggressive manner. They, mostly members of the upper middle class, have declared war on the lower and lower middle class with their destructive climate measures. Outside the Berlin political bubble and the other urban feel-good oases of Germany, the Neubauers of this world never possessed much support. And now the bubble has finally burst. In the Marzahn, Köpenick and Lichtenberg districts, the majority of voters voted against the referendum. The normal working population of Berlin decided against the journalistic and political elite.”
Kermit
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642213132197064706
Door to Hell
In 1971, Soviet geologists working in Turkmenistan set a crater on fire to prevent the spread of methane gas, expecting it would burn for a few days. The hole has since been burning for over 51 years and is know as The Door to Hell: https://t.co/IT6uEkpBY5pic.twitter.com/r576hAIuz9
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) April 1, 2023
The acorn woodpeckers depend heavily on acorns for food: In some parts of their range (e.g., California), the woodpeckers create granaries or “acorn trees” by drilling holes in dead trees, dead branches, telephone poles, and wooden buildings
Flying fish
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642245755191607303
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