Piet Mondriaan Victory Boogie Woogie 1942-44
The last thing they want is Biden debating JFK jr.
Comer: “There’s not gonna be anybody left for a Christmas picture… it’s the entire family..”
SHOCK: Congress now has evidence that at least 12 members of the Biden family received money from China, Russia, Ukraine, and/or the Middle East from the sale of Joe’s influence.
pic.twitter.com/WMcjVbnesi— @amuse (@amuse) April 23, 2023
Biden 2024
OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT
I hereby officially declare that I will be supporting Biden in the 2024 election.
Not Joe—Hunter!#HunterBiden2024 pic.twitter.com/XZSW5u8yBu
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) April 23, 2023
Macgregor
https://twitter.com/i/status/1650272330546049024
Cyber truck
https://twitter.com/i/status/1649791215703867392
RFK jr Bill Gates
https://twitter.com/i/status/1649969733838446594
“The good news is that there’s a solution to all this. The bad news is that it’s going to take a couple of decades of serious turmoil to get there.”
• America’s Empire Is Bankrupt (John Michael Greer)
We’ve still got some of the natural resources, but nothing like what we once had. The thrifty habits? Those went whistling down the wind a long time ago. In the late stages of an empire, exploiting flows of unearned wealth from abroad is far more profitable than trying to produce wealth at home, and most people direct their efforts accordingly. That’s how you end up with the typical late-imperial economy, with a governing class that flaunts fantastic levels of paper wealth, a parasite class of hangers-on that thrive by catering to the very rich or staffing the baroque bureaucratic systems that permeate public and private life, and the vast majority of the population impoverished, sullen, and unwilling to lift a finger to save their soi-disant betters from the consequences of their own actions.
The good news is that there’s a solution to all this. The bad news is that it’s going to take a couple of decades of serious turmoil to get there. The solution is that the US economy will retool itself to produce earned wealth in the form of real goods and non-financial services. That’ll happen inevitably as the flows of unearned wealth falter, foreign goods become unaffordable to most Americans, and it becomes profitable to produce things here in the US again. The difficulty, of course, is that most of a century of economic and political choices meant to support our former imperial project are going to have to be undone.
The most obvious example? The metastatic bloat of government, corporate and non-profit managerial jobs in American life. That’s a sensible move in an age of empire, as it funnels money into the consumer economy, which provides what jobs exist for the impoverished classes. Public and private offices alike teem with legions of office workers whose labour contributes nothing to national prosperity but whose pay cheques prop up the consumer sector. That bubble is already losing air. It’s indicative that Elon Musk, after his takeover of Twitter, fired some 80% of that company’s staff; other huge internet combines are pruning their workforce in the same way, though not yet to the same degree.
The recent hullaballoo about artificial intelligence is helping to amplify the same trend. Behind the chatbots are programs called large language models (LLMs), which are very good at imitating the more predictable uses of human language. A very large number of office jobs these days spend most of their time producing texts that fall into that category: contracts, legal briefs, press releases, media stories and so on. Those jobs are going away. Computer coding is even more amenable to LLM production, so you can kiss a great many software jobs goodbye as well. Any other form of economic activity that involves assembling predictable sequences of symbols is facing the same crunch. A recent paper by Goldman Sachs estimates that something like 300 million jobs across the industrial world will be wholly or partly replaced by LLMs in the years immediately ahead.
Another technology with similar results is CGI image creation. Levi’s announced not long ago that all its future catalogues and advertising will use CGI images instead of highly-paid models and photographers. Expect the same thing to spread generally. Oh, and Hollywood’s next. We’re not too far from the point at which a program can harvest all the footage of Marilyn Monroe from her films, and use that to generate new Marilyn Monroe movies for a tiny fraction of what it costs to hire living actors, camera crews and the rest. The result will be a drastic decrease in high-paying jobs across a broad swathe of the economy.
“..only 30% of military aid actually reached the frontline..”
“..Maria Zakharova said in October [..] she estimated the black market turnover at $1 billion per month..”
• West Knows Ukraine Weapons Leaking To Black Market – Seymour Hersh (RT)
Western-supplied arms are being sold by Ukrainian commanders to smugglers in Poland, Romania and other states, veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed. The Pulitzer Prize winner, speaking to Afshin Rattansi on his program ‘Going Underground,’ said the West is aware of this black market trade, as some reports about missing arms shipments have even appeared in the US media. Hersh claimed that, according to his data, almost immediately after the conflict broke out between Kiev and Moscow last February, “Poland, Romania, other countries on the border were being flooded with weapons we [the US and allies] were shipping for the war to Ukraine.” “Often, it wasn’t generals, it was colonels and others, who were given shipments of some weapons, [who] would personally resell them… to the dark market,” he explained.
The journalist noted that there was concern in the West last year that some of the arms sent to Ukraine, such as Stinger shoulder-launched missiles, could be used to “shoot down an airplane at considerable height.” As for Western-supplied weapons ending up on the black market, “CBS wrote a story about it that they were forced to retract,” Hersh said. When asked about why the piece was retracted, the journalist said the media is supporting the stance of the US government that “we’re on the side of Ukraine. We all hate Russia.” Hersh was likely referring to the documentary “Arming Ukraine,” which CBS aired last August. The promo for the film, which included a claim by the founder of pro-Ukraine NGO Blue-Yellow, Jonas Ohman, that only 30% of military aid actually reached the frontline, was removed, while the documentary itself and the story accompanying it were redacted.
Russian officials have on many occasions warned about Western-supplied arms being smuggled outside Ukraine, thus deteriorating the security situation elsewhere around the globe. “NATO military supplies intended for the Kiev regime end up in the hands of terrorists, extremists and criminal groups in the Middle East, Central Africa, Southeast Asia,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in October. At the time, she estimated the black market turnover at $1billion per month. An investigation by RT last summer also revealed how various weapons supplied to Kiev by the West were being sold on the dark net. The journalists were able to swiftly negotiate to the purchase of a US-made kamikaze drone with smugglers. However, it impossible to confirm whether the sellers actually had the weapons in stock, as the reporters did not complete the purchase.
Putin
Listen to the Russian side of the story from Vladimir Putin
Kiev regime sabotaged peaceful resolution
Ukraine took steps to enter NATO
Ukraine wants own nuclear weapons
Bio weapons labs in Ukraine under the command of the Pentagon
Would you want bio weapons labs within 600… pic.twitter.com/jQpe2sufgL
— • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ ™ • (@4Mischief) April 23, 2023
Melnik is a piece of work.
• Ukraine Says Western Military Aid Is ‘Not Enough’, Demands 10x More (RT)
Western nations should allocate 1% of their GDP for weapons deliveries to Ukraine amid the country’s conflict with Russia, controversial Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Melnik has said. “We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough,” Melnik wrote on Twitter on Saturday. The US has already provided more that $35.4 billion worth of arms to Kiev since the start of the fighting last February, with the EU and its member states adding another $13.3 billion. But Melnik insisted that “Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year.” “We call upon our partners to cross all artificial ‘red lines’ and devote 1% of GDP for weapons deliveries,” the diplomat said.
NATO demands that its member states allocate 2% of their GDP to defense spending. However, the bloc’s annual report, which was published in March, revealed that only seven of its 30 members had been able to meet that target in 2022. Kiev, which secured a promise to supply main battle tanks from the US, UK, Germany and some other countries earlier this year, is now pressuring its foreign backers to provide warplanes too. In another tweet on Saturday, Melnik mocked German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius for suggesting that Tornado and Eurofighter jets would be “unsuitable” for the Ukrainian military. “Oh, yes?.. Really?” the deputy foreign minister wrote. Berlin had originally ruled out delivering its Leopard 2 tanks, but is now “so proud” to be sending 18 of them to Kiev, he noted.
Melnik was Ukraine’s ambassador in Germany until last July, and often made headlines in this role with scandalous comments. He labeled German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “offended liverwurst” for his unwillingness to visit Kiev, but later apologized. He also told Elon Musk to “f**k off” in relation to the billionaire’s peace proposals. In one interview as ambassador, Melnik defended controversial Ukrainian hero Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII and is accused of the mass murder of Jews and Poles, comparing him to noble thief Robin Hood. Melnik wasn’t without a job for long following his dismissal, having been promoted to deputy foreign minister last November.
Chasov Yar is about 10km west from Bakhmut, Konstantinovka 10km from there.
• Revolts Erupt Among Ukrainian Troops In Donetsk Cities – Prigozhin (TASS)
Rebellions have begun among Ukrainian servicemen in Chasov Yar and Konstantinovka, as they are dropping their arms and walking out, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the PMC Wagner, said on Saturday. “Revolts have begun among the servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces in Chasov Yar and Konstantinovka. They are dropping their arms, rising and leaving,” said Prigozhin, cited on his press service’s Telegram channel. This is how Prigozhin responded to a request to comment on reports that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had demanded from Ground Forces Commander Alexander Syrsky that his troops stand their ground in Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) until May 9, so as “to prevent a big informational victory of Russia.” Artyomovsk, located in the Kiev-controlled area of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), is a major transport hub supplying the Ukrainian military grouping in Donbass. Yan Gagin, an advisor to DPR head, told TASS on April 18 that Russia’s forces had taken control of nearly 90% of Artyomovsk.
“..you can’t be shocked that the Times would be – as a good citizen – turning to the FBI… of course, I am [shocked], but you can’t be.”
• Seymour Hersh Reacts To NYT Helping Track Down Pentagon Leaker (RT)
Seymour Hersh has slammed the New York Times over its pro-government stance and treatment of sources, and the way it helped the FBI track down suspected Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira. The veteran investigative journalist gave an interview to Afshin Rattansi on ‘Going Underground.’ Teixeira, who posted classified US intelligence data on the conflict in Ukraine and other issues in an online gaming forum, was apprehended by the FBI last week. The arrest took place after the NYT and the Washington Post – in cooperation with Western-funded “open source investigations” outfit Bellingcat – tracked down the source of the documents and publicly exposed his identity. The NYT also located Teixeira’s home in Massachusetts and spoke with his mother.
“Don’t get me going on the press; the press is a no-win situation for me,” Hersh said when asked about the issue during the program. The veteran journalist mentioned that he worked at the NYT for many years and “won a lot of prizes,” at a time when the paper was much better at protecting its sources. “One of the most important stories I wrote [in 1974] about the CIA spying on American citizens had nobody named in it,” he said. The NYT has shown itself to be completely “pro-Biden” as it doesn’t criticize the US president at all, Hersh argued. The Pulitzer Prize winner said that along with other major outlets, the paper did not report on his recent bombshell article blaming the Biden administration for the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea last September.
They only published “counter stories given by the intelligence community,” the 86-year-old added. Hersh went on to claim that Donald Trump “terrified” the media when he became US president in 2017 despite “all the mocking they did… And they’re terrified again. I’ll tell you there’s a lot of people very worried that we might end with Biden-Trump ticket in 2024.” In such a situation, “you can’t be shocked that the Times would be – as a good citizen – turning to the FBI… of course, I am [shocked], but you can’t be.”
The CIA reprimanded Zelensky for his love of luxury and expensive Mercedes
The head of the CIA, Burns, reprimanded Zelensky as a boy for the fact that Ukrainian officials and generals are driving around Kyiv in new Mercedes.
told by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on RT. pic.twitter.com/m8iAvdEw7z— Spriter (@Spriter99880) April 23, 2023
Weaponizing UN headquarters.
• Russia Warns Of Repercussions From US Visa Refusal (RT)
The US has failed to grant visas to accredited journalists from the media pool traveling with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Moscow said on Sunday. Lavrov and his delegation are scheduled to take part in UN Security Council meetings in New York City next week, with Russia currently holding the rotating presidency of the UNSC. Russia’s top diplomat blasted the withholding of visas as “stupid,”exposing the true worth of Washington’s “oaths about protecting freedom of speech, about access to information, and so on.” “Of course, I understood how notorious our American colleagues are for such things but I was sure that, this time, given the attention that was drawn to their ugly behavior, everything would be different. But I was wrong,” Lavrov told reporters.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov revealed that the US had been “pretending” until the very last moment that it was trying to sort out the visa issue. Now, Moscow is compelled to respond to the fresh hostile move, he warned. “It’s yet another proof that not only should our colleagues in Washington not be trusted, but also not-listened-to altogether,”Ryabkov stated. “I stress, we will find ways to respond, to make Americans remember that things should not be done in such a fashion. And they will remember.” Lavrov is set to preside at two UNSC meetings this week, meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and to hold other bilateral meetings in New York. The diplomatic activities are set to become “major newsbreak events” and barring the pool reporters from participating is completely unacceptable, Ryabkov said.
Russia assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council on April 1, amid the ongoing standoff with the collective West over Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine. The UNSC presidency has been riddled with assorted issues, with the American side also delaying granting permission for the arrival of Lavrov’s plane. The pool journalists traveling with the Russian delegation were supposed to have a visa appointment as early as March 31 yet these meetings were canceled, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, revealed last week. The Russian Foreign Minister and multiple other senior officials were subjected to US sanctions last year over the Ukraine conflict. At the same time, as the host-nation of the UN headquarters, Washington has obligations not to hamper with the work of its diplomats and foreign dignitaries, or with that of accredited journalists, whatever the circumstances.
Weaponizing Starlink.
• Musk Claims He Donated $100 Million To Ukraine (RT)
Elon Musk claimed to have donated $100 million to support Kiev in its conflict with Moscow during an argument on social media with US author Stephen King on Sunday. Last year, the SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter CEO oversaw the introduction of the Starlink telecommunications system in Ukraine. “I’ve donated $100m to Ukraine, how much have you donated?” Musk asked King in a tweet on Sunday after the author suggested that the billionaire should donate a portion of the proceeds from the social media platform’s new paid-verification model to Kiev. Musk also retweeted an October message from Ukrainian Technologies Minister Mikhail Federov, in which he thanked the SpaceX CEO for the provision of the company’s Starlink satellite network to Ukraine, which he described as “critically important.”
The Twitter owner also noted that SpaceX had turned down funding from the US Department of Defense to help pay for the system’s operational costs – which he estimated last year would reach $100 million by the end of 2022. Soon after the beginning of the conflict last year, Musk made Starlink – a low Earth orbit constellation of satellites that provides internet access – available in Ukraine following a request from Federov. The communications network was deployed by Kiev to monitor troop movements and other military information-gathering methods, particularly as Ukraine’s pre-existing internet infrastructure was regularly inoperable.
However, in February, Kiev responded angrily after Musk and SpaceX imposed limits on the use of Starlink in Ukraine amid reports that the technology was being harnessed for the use of drones. Mikhail Podolyak, a senior adviser to Vladimir Zelensky, argued at the time that SpaceX must decide if it is “on the side of the right to freedom.” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer, said during a news conference in the United States last February that the system was not intended for use in Ukraine for “offensive purposes,” and that it was “never, never meant to be weaponized.”
“The Greens are subserviating Germany to the US agenda and are actively dismantling everything that has made Germany successful, in exchange for practically nothing.”
• The Greens Are Dragging Germany Down With Foreign And Energy Policies (Fomenko)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described her recent visit to China as “more than shocking,” arguing that while Germany should not “decouple” from Beijing, it should no longer be Berlin’s most important trading partner. Baerbock was in Beijing on an apparent damage-control visit, following Emmanuel Macron’s widely publicized trip to the country and subsequent criticism of the US. Her critical remarks on China came on Wednesday, as she spoke to the Bundestag. The Green Party of Germany, which is part of a governing coalition with the larger Social Democratic Party (SPD), has always been known for its hawkish and neoconservative foreign policies. This stems from the fact that ‘Green politics’, although based on a tradition of environmentalism, is simply a more radical offshoot of liberalism, emphasizing the preaching of universalist values.
Thus, many Western Green parties (the left-leaning, anti-war US Green Party being perhaps an ironic exception) have typically espoused human rights zealotry. Therefore, they have been hostile to China, which is why so many of the parties’ elected representatives are present in the international Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). Accordingly, the German Greens, having seized control of the country’s foreign ministry, are seeking to dismantle Berlin’s highly favorable geopolitical relationship with China while also going full-throttle in their confrontation with Moscow. Gone are the days of pragmatism, prudence and common sense, and here are the days of divisive liberal fundamentalism, which has allowed the US to readily dismantle the foundations of Germany’s prosperity and economic strength. Baerbock is a disaster, and she’s taking Germany down with her.
Despite being the largest and most powerful economy in Europe, which has shaped the direction and integration of a whole continent, Germany’s future now looks bleak. The escalation of the Ukraine conflict, combined with Washington’s likely but vehemently denied destruction of Nord Stream 2, has destroyed the foundations of the country’s energy security and its industrial competitiveness. The damage done is evidenced by the fact that it’s forecasted to scrape a 0.3% GDP growth rate in 2023, while year-on-year inflation stood at 8.7% in February. Baerbock now seems content to swing the demolition ball at her country’s relationship with China, its largest trading partner. She has sought to unveil new rules to discourage the expansion of German businesses in the country, using the talking point of “reducing dependence.”
Germany’s trade with China was worth €245 billion ($270.8 billion) in 2021. But the question is, if not China, then who? Because look at the consequences of this ‘reduced dependence’ on Russia. The Greens are subserviating Germany to the US agenda and are actively dismantling everything that has made Germany successful, in exchange for practically nothing.
The fanatical environmental policies of the Greens, mixed with their foreign policy, are making the situation even worse. Despite the fact that the country has suffered an energy crisis, having lost its partnership with Russia, the Greens have pursued their obsessive anti-nuclear stance. This has forced the country to stay on the self-destructive route of abandoning nuclear power, despite overwhelming consensus that it is cheap, safe, and of course strategically important in the environment they are creating. Germany shut down its last nuclear power plants last week in a move that baffled international commentators and energy experts.
Because of these policies, Germany is under threat of national decline. The legacy of the influence of the Green Party in Olaf Scholz’s government has been to dismantle the foundations of its economic growth, expand the influence of the US over Germany wholesale, and of course rip up geopolitical partnerships that were built on realism and self-interest. Under Merkel, Germany was a powerful and influential player because it acted as a maverick, without deviating from the values it deemed important. The price of ripping up these legacies, cheered on by US-sponsored think-tankers targeting Berlin relentlessly, has been to create a Germany which will be weaker, poorer and less relevant – an American vassal. Who needs multipolarity when you can put a Green Party in charge of your foreign ministry? Germany is thus experiencing a slow death at the hands of the Greens.
He questioned the legal status of former Soviet countries. Crimea! Shut him up!
• EU Legislators Urge France To Declare Chinese Envoy Persona Non Grata (TASS)
A group of 80 delegates from the European Parliament has sent a letter to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna requesting to declare Chinese Ambassador to Paris Lu Shaye persona non grata over his remarks about the status of former Soviet republics. “Ambassador Lu Shaye has publicly stated that the former republics of the Soviet Union do not have effective status within the framework of international law,” their letter published in Le Monde on Sunday said. “We urge to declare China’s envoy persona non grata over his unacceptable behavior,” the lawmakers demanded.
According to them, the Chinese ambassador’s remarks “insulted the history, culture and integrity of the countries.” On Friday on its Twitter page, France’s LCI TV channel quoted an interview with the diplomat who, commenting on Crimea’s status, said that “even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have effective status, as we say, under international law because there is no international accord to concretize their status as a sovereign country.”.
And China will patrol the North Sea?!
• EU’s Top Diplomat Wants Naval Patrols Off Taiwan (RT)
European navies should “patrol” the Taiwan Strait, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said, arguing that the move would help to maintain the “status quo” in the region. The diplomat floated the idea in an opinion piece published by the Journal Du Dimanche on Saturday. The EU continues to view China as “a partner, a competitor and a rival all at the same time,” in line with its strategy adopted back in 2019, Borrell wrote. The bloc should assert itself more firmly on the Taiwan issue, “which concerns us economically, commercially and technologically,” he argued. “This is why I call on European navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait to signify Europe’s commitment to freedom of navigation in this absolutely crucial area,” he continued.
“On Taiwan, our position is simple and consistent. In our view, there is only one China. But not under any conditions. And certainly not through the use of force,” Borrell wrote, claiming that “vast majority of Taiwanese people believe that [maintaining] the peaceful status quo is the most appropriate solution.” The EU official pledged to put the idea of conducting patrols to the bloc’s foreign ministers on Monday, when they are set to convene to discuss Brussels’ policies towards Beijing. At the same time, he admitted the patrols should be set up carefully, and EU nations should “be vigilant against provocations and overbidding.” The proposal is similar to the US practice of so-called “freedom of navigation” patrols involving military vessels routinely dispatched to the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and other regions.
The patrols have long been an issue in bilateral ties between Washington and Beijing, with the latter arguing that the practice only stirs up tensions rather than helping to bring ‘stability’ to the contentious waterways. In his piece, Borrell also touched on one of the most controversial international issues of recent months – the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While Beijing has maintained a neutral stance, urging all parties to exercise restraint and seek a diplomatic solution to the hostilities, it has been repeatedly accused by Kiev’s Western backers of supporting Moscow. “We have said it over and over again to the Chinese: it is not in your interest to support Russia. Especially since by supporting it you will only increase the polarization of the international system that you claim to want to fight,” Borrell wrote, pledging to reiterate this stance at the upcoming ministerial meeting.
There will always be buyers.
• China’s Big Refiners Snapping Up Russian Oil – Reuters (RT)
China’s largest state-owned and private refineries are buying more Russian crude, driving up its price, and forcing smaller independent producers, known as ‘teapots’, to search for cheaper options, Reuters reported this week. Top Chinese buyers, which shunned Russian oil when the EU and G7 imposed an embargo and a price cap on the commodity in December, have restored confidence since then and joined the race for discounted oil. In February, state refiners PetroChina and Sinopec resumed imports, and in March, large private oil refiners Hengli Petrochemical and Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co followed suit, according to traders and shiptracking data from Refinitiv, Kpler and Vortexa.
In March, China’s overall Russian crude imports, including pipeline deliveries and seaborne supplies, surged to a record 9.61 million tons, which is the equivalent to 2.26 million barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Friday. “China’s imports of Russian Urals are on track to break March’s record [in April] as more refiners start to tap on the discounted crude from Russia’s Baltics,” said Vortexa analyst Emma Li, adding that around 700,000 bpd of Urals may reach China in April, up from 600,000 bpd in the previous month. Meanwhile, smaller refiners had to opt for alternatives such as Russian Arctic grades, Iranian and Venezuelan oil as the big buyers are back on the market.
In March alone, a record 4.2 million barrels of Varandey blend from the Russian Arctic were delivered to China’s Shandong province, home to most of the teapots, Kpler data showed. Loadings of crude from Russia’s western ports in April is expected to reach the highest level since 2019, above 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd), despite Moscow’s pledge to cut oil production, trading and shipping sources said. At the same time, discounts that Russia was offering as it sought to divert supplies away from the West are narrowing. Discounts for the country’s flagship Urals blend contracted in China for July have reduced to about $9-$10 a barrel to ICE Brent futures on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis, from around $14 a barrel for March deliveries, according to Reuters.
100 years of oil, 300 years of coal.
• Russia Has Enough Coal For 300 Years – Energy Ministry (RT)
Russia has enough coal reserves to last for centuries, deputy head of the country’s Energy Ministry, Sergey Mochalnikov, said on Friday during a board meeting of the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency. When taking into account both tapped and untapped subsoil resources, the country will be well supplied with the coal for 300 years, he said. “We have enough reserves. In terms of coal, we have more than 100 years of explored reserves, and if we use all the resources, we can add another 200 years or more to that. We are doing well with both resources and reserves, and this allows the country as a whole to be secure in terms of energy,” Mochalnikov stated.
The deputy minister added that all domestic needs in coal are currently fulfilled by Russian producers. Meanwhile, he also noted that exports have been the main driver of the coal industry, with new deposits and energy clusters opening in the country’s easternmost regions. Russia produced 443.6 million tons of coal in 2022, a 0.3% increase from 2021. Exports fell 7.5% to 210.9 million tons following the introduction of embargoes last August on Russian coal by the EU and UK, which had previously been the recipient of nearly a third of Russian coal exports.
Coal producers ramped up supplies to the domestic market by 12.2% to just over 172 million tons while also boosting exports to ‘friendly’ countries, particularly China. Russia increased shipments to the Asian nation by 11.2% to 59.5 million tons last year, as Moscow sought to reorient its trade and China was increasing coal consumption amid the post-pandemic rebound in industrial activity. China has continued to stock up on Russian coal this year, with the volume of imports hitting a record high last month at 8.8 million tons, up 29% over February and almost three times more than in March 2022 (3.1 million tons), according to Chinese customs data.
“..nowhere is the feeling of having “lost the future” stronger than in Britain..”
• The UK Faces a Steep Climb Out of a Deep Hole (Spiegel)
Things aren’t going well for the United Kingdom these days. For the past several months, the flow of bad news has been constant, the country’s coffers are empty, public administration is ineffective and the nation’s corporations are struggling. As this winter came to an end, more than 7 million people were waiting for a doctor’s appointment, including tens of thousands of people suffering from heart disease and cancer. According to government estimates, some 650,000 legal cases are still waiting to be addressed in a court of law. And those needing a passport or driver’s license must frequently wait for several months. Boarded up windows and signs reading “To Let” and “To Rent” have become a common sight on the country’s high streets, while numerous products have disappeared from supermarket shelves. Recently, a number of chains announced that they would be rationing cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers for the foreseeable future.
Last year, 560 pubs closed their doors forever, with thousands more soon to follow, according to the industry association. Without Oxfam, the Salvation Army and other charitable organizations that operate second-hand stores, numerous city centers would have almost no shops left at all. Last week, the International Monetary Fund forecast that in no other industrialized nation would the economy develop as poorly as in Britain this year. Even Russia is expected to end up ahead of the UK. Whereas the number of billionaires in the UK – at 177 – is higher than it has ever been, millions of Britons have slid into poverty. Newspapers and television channels are full of cheap recipes and shows like Jamie Oliver’s “£1 Wonders.” Since December, hardly a day has passed without a strike by bus drivers, medical workers, teachers, public servants, university employees or rail workers. Last week, assistant doctors across the country went on strike for four days, with the media calling on the populace to avoid all activities that could result in injury.
For many, the situation is reminiscent of the 1970s, when high debt, punishing inflation and widespread protests brought the country to its knees – leading Henry Kissinger, who was U.S. secretary of state at the time, to grumble from across the Atlantic: “Britain is a tragedy, reduced to begging, borrowing and stealing.” To be sure, after two years of pandemic and one year of war, the rest of Europe isn’t doing particularly well either. But nowhere is the feeling of having “lost the future” stronger than in Britain, according to the public opinion pollsters from Ipsos. In 2008, the year of the banking and financial crisis, 12 percent of people in the UK believed that their children would be worse off than them. Now, that number is 41 percent, Ipsos has found. One significant reason for that pessimism is the fact that many simply no longer trust their speechifying politicians in Westminster to get much done. The Tory party, which has been in power now for a dozen years, has gone through four prime ministers since 2016 alone.
There’s a word for this: Murder.
“..Doe had already recovered from a bout with COVID and that her antibody numbers were actually stronger than those found in many people who were fully vaccinated for 90 days.”
• Mother of 7 Denied Kidney Transplant for Refusing COVID Shot in Georgia (ET)
On dialysis and potentially facing death, a 41-year-old homeschooling mother of seven young children has been rejected as a candidate for a life-saving kidney transplant by Emory Healthcare Inc. of Atlanta. The reason? The woman, who has already had COVID-19, refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on religious and medical grounds. To protect her privacy, the patient will be referred to in this article as Jane Doe. Emory Healthcare did not respond to a request for comment. Affiliated with Emory University, Emory Healthcare is one of the leading organ transplant centers in the South. According to Liberty Counsel (LC), a national non-profit legal organization helping Doe, she was referred to Emory by her nephrologist after suddenly coming down with end-stage kidney disease.
The seriousness of Doe’s condition necessitates her undergoing dialysis three times a week to keep her alive. Following an evaluation by one of the transplant center’s nurse practitioners, Doe was initially found to be an acceptable candidate for a new kidney, even though Doe reported she had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. Doe’s hopes were soon dashed when, after another consultation with Emory staffers, a social worker informed her that she could not move forward to the transplant program’s “active waiting list” until she took the shot. Emory Healthcare is one of 35 percent of the nation’s transplant centers that are still requiring their patients to be vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a Liberty Counsel analysis. This is despite the fact that on April 11, President Joe Biden declared the national emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic officially over.
On April 17, LC sent a letter to Emory Healthcare requesting that no later than April 30, Doe be granted religious and medical exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination mandate and asked that she be reactivated and placed on the kidney transplant active waiting list. The nine-page letter alleges that every available COVID-19 vaccine is associated with aborted “fetal cell lines.” It cites evidence from the public health departments of North Dakota and Louisiana as proof. Doe, a devout Roman Catholic, is opposed to ingesting or being injected with such vaccines based on her religious beliefs. The Liberty Counsel also informed Emory Healthcare that there were strong medical reasons for Doe’s refusal to get the jab. The demand letter stated that Doe had already recovered from a bout with COVID and that her antibody numbers were actually stronger than those found in many people who were fully vaccinated for 90 days.
Ian Plimer
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